by gerald hall
Harold knew that trying to introduce technology from the twenty-first century would draw all of the wrong kind of attention to his activities. Some attention was unavoidable with the nature of the rapid growth of Harold’s wealth. But the technology that he used had to be fairly close to that generally available at the time period. There was also the danger of other unintended consequences as well.
Harold worried every day about the long term impact of the things that he has been doing. But in his mind still, nothing could be worse than what he witnessed on that terrible day in 2040 when the world came to an end.
One of the new buildings under construction had a sign in front of it already proclaiming the building to be the new home of Cavill Propulsion Systems. Harold had just driven to the building after inspecting some work at the power station.
“What is this Cavill Propulsion Systems Company of yours going to be building, Sir?” One of the older white men standing nearby asked Harold. Jeffrey Kyle had been a resident of Derby long before Harold had arrived. Jeffrey also traced his ancestry back to some of the original convicts that had been sent to Australia during the colony’s earliest years.
“We are going to be building a wide variety of engines. Eventually, I want to be able to build engines here for all kinds of things; ships, aircraft, trucks, even farm tractors. We will be making the steel for all of this as well with the foundry and mill that I am constructing just about three kilometers southeast of here. I already have a supply of iron ore available from one of my mines, of course.”
“You are sure constructing a lot of buildings out here. Are they all for making engines like you said?” Jeffrey asked, not realizing just how truly extensive Harold’s new facilities would be, especially the underground excavations.
“No. My future plans also include the construction of an aluminum production plant although I am also interested in purchasing an existing plant if possible. Owning an aluminum plant will take advantage of the bauxite mines that already own. I will use electricity from my electrical power generators at the power station to refine the ore into aluminum. This will be available for sale as well as for use in some of my other industrial ventures.”
“What about all those caves that you are digging out of the hills? I heard that you made a lot of your money mining, but those big holes in the ground don’t seem like mines to me.” Jeffrey pointedly asked.
“We are doing a little mining there, but that is not the primary purpose of the excavations, Mister Kyle. I am going to put more factories, offices and warehouses inside of those caverns after they have been finished.”
“Won’t the people working down there feel like cave dwellers? I know that I would.” “Of course, not. The caves will be much cooler and more comfortable in the summer heat than a regular building. These caverns will also be well lit with electric lights in addition to having a plentiful supply of fresh air forced in via blower motors. I am certain that I can make them very comfortable, secure and productive places to work in.”
“I still think that they are a waste of your money, Mister Cavill.” Jeffrey persisted.
“Well, Sir. It is my money to waste, isn’t it?” Harold replied with a knowing smile. When the war came, these caverns would not merely be workplaces and warehouses. They would also be bomb shelters and defensive strongpoints. The warehouses would allow Harold to keep hidden from prying eyes the actual amount of equipment that he has produced as well.
In peacetime, the costs of heating and cooling these facilities would also be far less than for a conventional building, saving Harold an immense amount of money over the years as well. But Harold has been thinking very far in the future for a great many reasons.
Money was something that Harold needed to continue to acquire in large quantities to pay for all of these projects that he was building. For some of that, he had to invest overseas and use his knowledge of the future to make as much profit as possible. This money would be used to create the changes in historical events that Harold hoped would save humanity’s future.
Harold spent the next few years continuing to build upon his fortune and disproving the naysayers. But he stayed close to Derby for the most part, burying himself into his work and avoiding the limelight as much as possible. The reconstruction plans for the old battlecruiser, the secret projects north of Derby where theAustralia’smain guns were sent, the various factories that were under construction in and around Derby as well as the various projects to help the aborigines all took up a tremendous amount of Harold’s time and resources.
Harold also went out into the Outback by himself for his walkabouts whenever he had the time. He would tell his workers that he needed to go and think. But in reality, Harold felt that he needed the distance from the rest of humanity because of how badly he continued to hurt.
Even though Harold thought that he was all alone out in the desolation of the Outback, the aborigines were always watching him from a distance. Even they prayed for Harold in the own way as they heard him at night, crying out in terror during his nightmares.
The work was always there when Harold would return back to Derby though. There were some business activities that Harold had to do from a distance away from his center. The most important of these were the targeted investments of the profits that his various enterprises earned. These investments would eventually be plowed back into other important projects at the appropriate time.
The town of Derby continued to grow as Harold built more facilities for his various factories and other business entities. The town spread further out as well as more homes and businesses were constructed to support the growing population there.
The extreme tides of the King Sound meant that it was just too difficult to supply Derby by ship alone any longer. So one of the projects that Harold began during this time was the expansion of his rail transportation network from a narrow gauge line running from the port to the town to a standard gauge line. This new railroad initially ran parallel to the narrow gauge line. But then Harold expanded upon it to run along the coastline north and south. This railroad would continue to be lengthened in the decades to come.
This project and many others would fill Harold’s life up to the time of the Great Depression. That event affected everyone’s life in a dramatic way.
Chapter Ten: Ocean Liner SS Bremen
Southeast of the Gulf of Aden November 5, 1929
As much as he hated to be away from Australia and his carefully hidden treasure trove of information, Harold needed to travel out of the country to personally take care of his investments now. He did not have the high tech means to communicate that people of the twenty-first century had available at their fingertips now. But the amount of earnings that Harold’s overseas investments had earned now needed his personal attention. Harold knew that the worldwide economic depression could devastate even his wealth if he did not intervene personally.
This latest visit to England would also allow Harold another opportunity to visit with Winston Churchill. While they had continued to correspond via letters and telegraphs, Harold knew that he had to reestablish the personal relationship with Churchill. That personal relationship would be vitally important in the years prior to the beginning of the Second World War as Harold would seek to influence Churchill to make certain decisions that would differ from what were made in the previous timeline.
Air travel was still in its infancy at this time, so Harold had little choice but to travel via ship. A week earlier, Harold boarded theBremenand took a first-class cabin onboard that ship. This gave him a lot of time to think about what he wants to do and to worry about what might happen. The time alone in a ship’s cabin also allowed him to think about how much he missed Judith.
By the time that Harold arrived in England, he was not in a very good mood at all. To deal with that, Harold tried to coldly focus on his work and his mission. But that limited focus for him would not last for very long.
London Financial District London, England
/> December 12,,1929.
Harold Cavill had just flown to an aerodrome near London after disembarking from the German ocean liner SSBremenat Bremerhaven. He then made arrangements to be picked up by a Hackney for the final few miles to meet with his London stockbroker. It had been over two years since Harold’s last visit to England. But he had continued to conduct business there through intermediaries that he corresponded with via letter and telegraph.
Harold’s Hackney stopped in front of the address that Harold had given its driver. “Please remain here until my return. I should be back in less than an hour.” Harold told the driver while giving him a generous tip.
Harold got out of the vehicle and walked into the small brokerage. There, he was greeted by an attractive young woman in perhaps her early twenties with long red hair and a pretty freckled face who sat at a desk in the front office. He also noticed that she did not wear any rings on her fingers.
“Good afternoon, Sir. How may I help you?” The young woman asked.
“Would you please tell Mister Bentley that Harold Cavill is here to see him, Ma’am?”
“Certainly, Mister Cavill. Please take a seat. I’m sure that it will only take a minute.” She said in a very pleasant voice before walking back through the hallway behind her.
The young woman returned with a slightly portly, middle-aged bearded man who appeared to have spent quite a bit of time hunched over a desk himself. While the young woman quickly sat back down at her desk, the man walked towards Harold with his hand outstretched.
“It has been a long time, Sir. Let’s come back to my office. I am sure that you will be very pleased with your current holdings.” Darren Bentley said before he and Harold walked back through that same hallway and into one of the side offices.
“I have had few clients who have given me such specific instructions as to where they wanted their assets invested as you have, Mister Cavill. But your business insight has been utterly remarkable. Every single one of your investments has been profitable far above that of any of my other clients.”
“I’m sure that they are. I appreciate that you have been following my instructions as I have requested.”
“I would like to be able to make the same recommendations to my other customers so that they may also benefit as well.” Darren pleasantly asked.
“Mister Bentley, I cannot allow you to make those recommendations or to share any of my information to any of your other clients. If you attempt to do so, I will have no choice but to have my barrister contact you with a legal writ to bring you to court. “A coldly furious Cavill quickly informed the stockbroker.
“Certainly, Mister Cavill. I was simply inquiring about the possibility of this. I would do nothing of the sort however without your permission. Clearly, you have made your preference very clear.” A clearly shaken Darren responded.
“Thank you. My business investment activity is something that I wish to keep confidential. Now, I would like to see a statement concerning the value of my current investments, Mister Bentley.”
“Of course, Sir.” The stockbroker quickly answered before going into a file cabinet and pulling out some papers. He quickly read through them and was clearly surprised himself by the numbers.
“Mister Cavill, it appears that your investments here are now valued at just under one hundred million pounds Sterling. I wasn’t even aware of just how much you had earned during the past few months, Sir.”
“Thank you, Mister Bentley. I’m sure that we will meet again concerning my investments prior to my return to Australia.”
Harold walked back towards the front entrance when he saw the young red-haired woman that greeted him initially. Just on impulse, he stopped and spoke to her again.”
“What is your name, Miss?”
“Dorothy Wilson, Sir.” The young woman innocently answered, a slight Scottish accent apparent.
“Well, Miss Wilson. I need someone to show me a good place to eat at. Would you be so kind as to join me for dinner this evening? I can arrange to pick you up at your convenience.”
Dorothy’s bright blue eyes twinkled as she stood up and looked at Harold. At a height of just over one hundred and seventy centimeters, Dorothy was very nearly as tall as Harold, but he didn’t mind at all.
“Of course, I would love to show you some great places to eat dinner at. Would seven o’clock this evening be too soon, Mister Cavill?”
Harold smiled.
“Seven o’clock this evening would be excellent. Where shall I pick you up?”
Dorothy quickly wrote down her address on a piece of paper and handed it to Harold. He folded the paper, stuffed it inside of one of his overcoat pockets.
“Thank you, Miss Wilson. I look forward to seeing you then.” He said with a tip of his hat before walking out of the brokerage.
At the appointed hour, Harold arrived and waited inside the rented Hackney outside of the London lodging house where Dorothy lived. A few moments later, the front door opened and Dorothy stepped out. She was dressed in the normal women’s attire of the day with a pretty blue and white dress topped by a matching hat.
Harold waved from the window of the Hackney. His wave was returned by Dorothy with a tremendous smile as she walked up to the Hackney’s opened door. She was obviously unafraid of meeting someone like Harold that she had just met without an escort of some sort. That sort of confidence was also very much like Harold’s long dead Judith, he realized.
Dorothy stepped inside of the Hackney and sat down in the seat beside Harold.
“Hello, Mister Cavill. How are you doing this evening?” Dorothy quickly asked.
“I am doing very well, thank you. I am pleased that you accepted my invitation for dinner. I do hope that you can help me find an excellent dining establishment in the vicinity.”
“Of course, Sir.” Dorothy replied before quickly giving the driver an address.
About twenty minutes later, they arrived at a small, quiet restaurant not far from the fisherman’s wharf that Dorothy had pointed out. It seemed to be very ordinary with most of the patrons appearing to come from the local merchants and professional craftsmen. Dorothy got the attention of one of the restaurant’s waiters and was able to get a quiet table in the corner.
“I suppose that you are quite familiar here, Miss Wilson. May I call you Dorothy?”
“Of course, Mister Cavill. My dad and mum would bring me here sometimes when I was younger. So I got to know a lot of the people who work here.”
“What do your parents do, Dorothy?”
“I’m afraid that both of my parents are dead now. My father died in the Great War. My mother died a couple of years ago of consumption, although I feel it was more due to a broken heart. She always said that my father was the love of her life.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I know what it is like to suddenly lose someone close to me. It sounds like we both have had enough sorrows for a lifetime.”
“It’s alright, Mister Cavill. I do still have an aunt who lives in Glascow and a few cousins living elsewhere in England and Scotland. But my dad and mum were originally from Edinburgh, Scotland. We moved down here to London when I was seven years old.”
The waiter arrived a few moments later and began to take their order.
“Well, Dorothy. Perhaps we can move on to a much more enjoyable subject. What would you recommend that I order for dinner then?” Harold asked Dorothy.
She pointed out several of the different entrees, of which Harold picked out one. Dorothy selected the same. Harold requested a bottle of sherry and a pair of glasses to drink from.”
“This is delicious, Mister Cavill.” Dorothy commented after her first sip of the sherry
“Thank you, Miss. I’m not exactly a connoisseur. But I do know a good vintage or two. One could say that I am very well read.”
“Are you a reader of Mister Wells’ writings, Mister Cavill?” Dorothy sweetly asked.
Harold was surprised that a woman of Dorothy’s time would b
e interested in reading science fiction. Even in the twenty-first century, science fiction had been largely dominated by men though women had significantly increased their interest in the genre.
“Yes, Miss Wilson. I am familiar with Mister Wells’ stories, though I must admit that I am not in agreement with his political philosophy.”
“How so, Sir?” Harold’s dinner guest asked with one eyebrow raised.
“It is well known that Mister Wells is a socialist. I personally have very strong objections to his political philosophy as result. Socialism does not address the real needs of the human heart or create a viable long term solution to fulfill a citizen’s physical needs. There are far better ways to improve the human condition than to make one’s fellow man a ward of the state.
At the same time, much of Mister Wells’ speculative fiction is quite visionary.”
Harold had to quickly stop himself from adding ‘for his time’ to his statement. Harold feared that his criticism of H. G. Wells was not going over very well with Dorothy. So he had to act quickly.
“What is your favorite of Mister Wells’ writings, Miss Wilson?”
“The Time Machine, of course. With all of the incredible technological developments occurring in our time, the possibilities for the future are endless. The aircraft and the wireless telegraph are only a couple of the newest inventions. Just think of what the future holds. Obviously, Mister Wells was looking at what would happen if the worst possible things happened. I’m sure that he is wrong about that, however. Don’t you agree, Mister Cavill?”
Harold hesitated for a few moments. Dorothy was correct about the technological wonders of the next one hundred years having so much potential for benefitting mankind. What did not see were the horrors that were also produced, ending with the nuclear holocaust that Harold had escaped only by the discovery of the temporal portal.