TIME SHIP (Book Two) - A Time Travel Romantic Adventure

by Ian C. P. Irvine

  She explained that the siege was now almost over, or would be very, very soon, as soon as they had talked with the Governor of the island. The majority of the pirates had, "...As many of you have just seen, laid down their weapons, and we are now all in this together. The pirates have already returned to you all the possessions they had taken from you. This was a mistake, and the Captain has apologized to me for those actions. I have accepted his apology."

  "Keep your face masks on at all times when outside of your rooms. Wash frequently. Stay hydrated. I will arrange for enough food for each room to be delivered to the door of your rooms, once a day. Someone will knock on your door when the food arrives. If you fall sick, use the internal phone to call reception. The internal phone works, but as you may have noticed, all other forms of communications have been suspended, which includes cell phones and internet access. If you report that you are sick, we will send a doctor to you as soon as we can. If you are sick, stay in your rooms. Do NOT leave your room -under any circumstances. We must prevent the infection being passed on by human to human contact at all costs. The risk of infection is so high, that a curfew will be imposed from this point on and a state of Martial Law has been introduced by order of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Under this state of emergency, any resident found walking around the complex may be summarily shot by the guards, who will shoot to kill. Is this understood? I repeat, stay in your rooms."

  "It is hard to ask you not to panic. I know some will. But please believe me that if you are not already ill or infected, and we stay apart from each other, there is a good chance that you will not get infected at all."

  "We believe that the infection is being transmitted through fleas, and droplets of infected moisture suspended in the air, which you may then breathe in. Hence, if you do not come close to others, you will not breathe in air which is infected. But, as there is a possibility that you may be carrying fleas in your clothes, which would be dangerous and silly to carry back to your rooms with you, I am now going to instruct all the residents remaining in this hall...and I mean EVERYONE, to strip naked, and to leave their clothes behind on the floor. Take only your hotel keys and valuables with you. When you get back to your rooms, wash yourselves thoroughly and also everything that you carry back to the room with you. To those residents listening that we have already sent back to their rooms, I would suggest that you put all the clothes you wore this morning into a bag, and put them in the corridor outside your door. They will be collected and burned."

  People in the hall began to cry, and some started to scream.

  Fearing chaos was just about to break out, Captain McGregor pulled out a pistol from his belt and discharged it into the air.

  The loud report and the flash of fire and the plume of smoke from the old-fashioned pistol had the desired effect and everyone shut up, internalizing their fear.

  "The hotel guards will be reinstated, temporarily, and they will be armed and will patrol the resort. I am hoping that we will soon be getting help from the government, and should that happen, please expect to see army or police personnel walking around the complex wearing biological protection suits: I am sure you will understand, that if they come to help us, they will not want to be infected as a reward."

  "When I give the command, all remaining residents in the hall please strip. Take off all your clothes, and leave as soon as possible. Walk, do not run. And keep your distance from your neighbors. If you can remember your days in Kindergarten, you will leave this hall in phases, row by row, starting at the front. I will point at each row when you are to leave. Move out in an orderly fashion. Do not come back."

  "After you leave we will collect your clothes and burn them. In the coming days we will be burning lots of different things on the beach, so do not be alarmed if you smell smoke."

  "Lastly, myself or other officials will keep in contact with you via the text and messaging pages on your television. Go to channel 500. If we want to tell you something, we will post a message there. In particular, later today or tonight we will tell you what symptoms to look out for that are caused by the illness. If you get the symptoms, call the number given."

  "Now, I never planned this speech, so I am sure that later on I will think of lots of things to say that I should have said just now. When I do, I'll write it on channel 500."

  "For now I want those dressed as pirates to walk to the back of the hall, and line up in a row, spaced apart, but remaining clothed, until everyone else has left the room. Then the Captain and I will address you separately before we instruct you to strip."

  The pirates grunted and complained, but did as they were told. Soon they were all standing at the back of the hall.

  Sally waited a minute, then gave the order.

  "Now everyone else, do as I say, and STRIP! Don't be embarrassed. Take of your clothes NOW! And then form yourselves into rows, one behind each other."

  Almost immediately the hall was full of crying and screaming people, tugging at their clothes and removing them as fast as possible.

  The scene which unfolded next reminded Sally of the many distressing video clips she had seen of the atrocities committed in Auschwitz.

  Sally felt sick. She couldn't believe she was doing this.

  She had never had any training in what to do should her resort be invaded by pirates carrying the pneumonic plague. After all, why should she have? She just hoped that what she was doing was correct.

  As soon as everyone was undressed, she pointed at the first disorderly row of naked people and gave the signal to move out. They left carrying their room keys and very little else.

  Some walked in silence. Others cried. But everyone left.

  Then Sally pointed at the next row, and then next…and so on.

  Within minutes the hall was empty, save for the pirates at the back of the hall, and hotel employees.

  Now it was Captain McGregor's turn.

  Holding out his hand he offered to help Miss Sally down from the table, but she shook her head and ignored the proffered hand, kneeling down and jumping down by herself.

  The Captain climbed up onto the table.

  "Men," he said, beckoning them with his hands. "Come forward please, and join me. But keep a little distance from each other."

  He waited a moment for them to arrange themselves.

  "These are dark days, men, there is no doubting that we lads have got ourselves into a bit of a pickle. I know you are all a little confused about what the hell is going on, and where the devil we are. Some of you, I have heard mutter as I have walked past, even think that we are in hell, and that any moment the devil himself will come and claim us. Well, that ain't true, let me assure you, lads. And in case you don't believe me, think back a few moments...I was watching you lads, men who have been at sea for months and who ain't seen a woman for longer than is healthy. I saw all you men ogling the flesh of the women as they stripped down, following the orders of Miss Sally. And I'm not going to lie to you men, some of the women were beautiful. Their bodies were pictures of perfection, and yes, I did had a wee look for myself too."

  The men laughed, and nodded their heads at each other.

  "And there, men, lies the proof that we are not in hell! If, as Mr Silver and some others think, that we have somehow arrived in Hades itself, then the fact that such fair beauty was momentarily on display for all the world to see proves that we are more akin to heaven than hell. There will be no such beauties in hell, I can assure you!"

  The men laughed again, nodding again and approving the Captain's reasoning. It made sense. They were not in hell!

  "So, where are we lads? One minute we are in the roughest storm the like of which no man on this earth has ever encountered or sailed through, and the next, after our prayer to the Almighty, we are on flat, calm seas with glorious sunshine and fair winds! Can you all remember the strange noise and the dizziness we felt afore we fell asleep in the storm? Can you all remember the need to retch over the side when we woke up? Somethin
g funny happened to us lads. Something strange. But not something bad. Something good. And in a moment, I'll tell you why whatever has happened to us is the best that could have happened. But first I'll tell you where we are. 'Cos I know lads. I know! And so does Mr Silver, although he ain't yet allowing himself to reckon with the truth. And just to confirm it, less than two bells ago, I asked Mr Tanner to take a reading from the sun. And guess what lads? He and his charts and that little sextant of his say that we are in Puerto Rico, exactly where we wanted to be. But, and this is the dandy thing lads, the year ain't 1699 no more. The year, and I tell ye no lie, is 2014 in the Year of our Good Lord. Now, by my reckoning that means that somehow either we all fell asleep on the Sea Dancer and she carried us safely in our sleep for three hundred and fifteen years, or somehow, and don't ask me how lads, the Sea Dancer danced through time itself to get us clear of the storm and God has seen fit to put us down in the same place, in the same ocean, but three hundred and fifteen years into the future!"

  The men started to cough, and talk amongst themselves. Some even laughed.

  "It ain't funny lads, although I know ye are laughing not because it is funny, but because it just seems so plain hard to believe. But it is true, and ye can ask Silver to attest that what I say is true. Miss Sally has proved it to us both, and anyone of you men who were on the beach with us earlier would know it was true when ye saw the display that they put on for us. Hands up any man who was on the beach with us when the metal birds flew over and fired their cannons? Come on lads, hands high up in the sky!"

  The Captain paused a moment, and a number of hands went up.

  "Good lads, well done. After I've finished my little speech, I want you boys to share the sight of what ye saw and heard with yir shipmates. So that the others who didn't see it, come to know exactly what we saw."

  A few men started to gesticulate wildly to the others, trying to explain graphically with hand and sound what they had seen.

  "Not now lads, later. Hush for now, because I know that some of you, probably all of you, are asking the question and wondering why, if this is now 2014, just how it is that this is such a good thing? Well, the answer is simple. Because lads, some of you have the plague! A few are already dead of it onboard the Sea Dancer, and others will follow..."

  The men fell deadly silent now, staring at the Captain.

  A lone hand went up in the air.

  "Mr Painter, what wish you to say?" the Captain pointed at the man who had raised his hand.

  "Do you mean, the 'Black Death?' "

  At the asking of the question, a cold chill ran around the room, and fear began to spread amongst the crew.

  "Perhaps, Mr Painter. Perhaps. But I am no doctor. Mr Bones on the ship thinks so, and the doctor of the Palace, Mr Mitchell, he is also of a similar mind. It doesn't look good lads...but..and here is why it is a miracle that the good Lord has sailed us through time and berthed us in this place three hundred and fifteen years later: because lads, if we were still in the year 1699, one death from the Black Death amongst the crew of a ship like the Sea Dancer, would have meant death to almost everyone else too. At sea there ain't no way of stopping the sickness from striking down one sinner after the other, until everyone in the confined spaces of a ship has been taken! We all know that lads, don't we?"

  They all nodded, James Silver included.

  "But in the year 2014, lads, guess what? The doctors here in this world say that they can treat those who catch the plague, and help them get better. In this world, with help from the doctors, the plague has lost its bite. With the right powders, the right potions, most of ye will survive! So, instead of us all dying from the blasted plague, most of us will live, lads! So, I vote we stay here in this world. I vote we make friends with them that built this place, this palace, and I vote that we take a little bit of our gold and pay them to treat us with their potions and their lotions and their clever medical minds, and I vote that we survive this accursed pox and live! The way I see it lads, is this: the Good Lord didn't deliver us into hell, he delivered us into the Garden of Eden. There is a Paradise out there lads, beyond them walls. A world of plenty and milk and honey...and we have the gold to buy whatever we want!" the Captain said, raising his voice and thumping one fist against the palm of his other hand.

  "So lads, let me put it to the vote. Do we get back on the Sea Dancer and set sail back to 1699, where we will most certainly all meet the Grim Reaper and his friend the Plague? Or do we stay here and take the medicines, survive as best we can, and then find some way to spend our riches in this world, and not the other! What say you lads? If ye want to go back to 1699, say 'Aye!'"

  The room was silent. Not a man said a word.

  "Okay lads, then all those that want to stay in the year 2014 say 'Aye!'".

  A roar went up from the men, not a man remaining silent. Every man raised his hand in the sky as far as it would go and cried 'Aye!'.

  Every man, apart from one.

  James Silver spat on the ground, turned and walked out of the room.

  The Captain watched him leave.

  After the Captain had supervised the pirates stripping, Miss Sally told them all to run down naked to the beach, wash themselves thoroughly in the sea, paying particular attention to their hair and their pubic areas. Each pirate was given a small bottle of shampoo and soap. Every man was then issued with one of the grey cotton one-piece suits that had been delivered earlier by the helicopter on the beach.

  It couldn't have worked better: hotel workers and guards were easily identifiable by the black hotel uniforms, and all the pirates were now wearing grey cotton.

  After the men had been equipped with the latest fashion from Paris, as Sally had joked to the uncomprehending Captain, several of the staff members had been tasked with finding and allocating them each rooms in the hotel.

  Luckily the work on the new extension to the hotel complex had been progressing well, and over a hundred rooms were now available for final painting and decoration. Whereas they were not up to the standard that would be needed for guests at a five star hotel, they were comparative luxury for the pirates used to sleeping with rats and a hundred other stinking men. Some rooms even had beds! For now, a few of the pirates might have to share, but, if as they were being warned, the death rate was going to soar as the plague spread, overcrowding may only be a temporary issue.

  Soon the beach was quiet again, and Sally and the Captain sat down and took ten minutes off to relax and enjoy their pineapple juice drinks.

  "Can I ask a question, Captain McGregor?" Sally asked, sitting a few feet away from him.

  "Please do, Miss Sally."

  "When you speak to the men, you speak differently than you do with me. I may be wrong, but it seems that sometimes you speak as if you come from a more...how shall I say this, without insulting you or anyone else...sometimes you sound more educated and you speak really well, but then at other times, it sounds almost as if you are changing who you are so that you can be more accepted by your crew..."

  The Captain smiled.

  "So whom do you prefer? The educated man who studied at University before he joined the British Navy, or the rough, tough, handsome Captain who leads a band of cold-hearted, bloodthirsty pirates on the high seas?"

  She smiled, and the Captain detected the very slightest change of color on her face, almost as if she was about to blush.

  "Obviously, the first...although, the latter may have a certain appeal,...under certain circumstances..."

  "And what, pray tell, Miss Sally, would those circumstances be?"

  Sally smiled back, contemplating if and what to answer.

  Luckily, the sudden sound of an approaching helicopter saved her.

  They both jumped to their feet and watched as a helicopter came in across the bay, and hovered above the beach. Dr Mitchell came running towards them from underneath the trees where he had been attending Richard Tyler and others in the shade.

  Sally edged as close as she dared to th
e hovering helicopter. Still about twenty feet above the ground, the side door of the helicopter opened and a man in a white biological suit lowered a bag on the end of a rope.

  Sally caught the bag, and quickly looked inside. There were a few things in the bag, but the most important for now was a large, green, army field radio.

  It was already switched on.

  The man standing in the doorway of the hovering helicopter waved at Sally, gesturing with his hands and making it clear that Sally should put it against her ear and talk to them.

  "Hello," a voice at the other end of the phone said.

  "Hi," Sally replied, quite surprised.

  As soon as she spoke into the phone, the helicopter flew up and away, leaving the bay behind.

  "Miss Davis," a voice said to her, coming from the device in her hand. "This is your phone. Keep it safe. It's the only way you can communicate with the outside world. Don't let anyone else get their hands on it. It's tuned to a restricted army frequency and it operates on a different network than commercial carriers. There is a battery charger in the bag. If we call you, answer the phone. If you need us, just press 'M1' : it's pre-programmed to come straight through to me."

  "And who are you?" she asked.

  "General Dwight Kemp. The President has put me in charge of the operation to manage the biological threat your terrorists pose, both to you and the world. I now report to the Governor and the Superintendent of Puerto Rico."

  "The President?"

  "...Of the United States of America, Miss Sally. His nephew is one of your guests."

  "The President's nephew is here?"

  "Yes. Which is why the terrorists have attacked your resort. This is probably a kidnap attempt."

  Sally laughed.