“Who are these guys?” Charlotte said almost under her breath as he loaded a couple of boxes of food onto the boat
“From the look of the military equipment and uniforms it looks like they’re from my time.” Taylor said.
“But which world?” Richard said trying to hide his bony hand.
“I’m guessing that their from our world but I could be wrong and who are you again?”
“Charlotte’s ex-husband!”
“I didn’t know you like them that old Charlotte.” Taylor said.
“I don’t,” Charlotte said getting irritated “he caught his hand in one of those tears and we weren’t married for long luckily enough.”
“It’s okay mate she’s really not my type.” Richard said slapping Taylor on the back before going back for more boxes
“He’s gay.”
“So why did you marry him then?”
“I didn’t know until I caught him with the best man.”
Back at the house David and Milton were desperately trying to finish the spaceship in time. While they worked David filled him in on how they got trapped on this world in the first place.
“So you’re from the twenty fourth century man like Captain Kirk?”
“I’m nothing like Captain Kirk Milton,” David said with a raised a eyebrow “in my time humans are on the brink of extinction so we roam time collecting people who have died from accidents.”
“You mean like Charlotte’s daughter?”
“That’s right.”
“Do you want a brew a man?” Milton said standing up. He had been welding metal plates to the ships hull all day and he was getting thirsty
“Here you best take this with you,” David said tossing him a rifle “and I’ll have a coffee white with two sugars, ta.”
“I’ll go with you,” Laura said abseiling from the top of ship where she had been putting in new glass windows with Elizabeth “I could do with a walk.”
It was nearly dark by the time they got back to the house and Milton wasted no time in flicking on the kettle grabbing cups from the cupboard and sticking in a couple of rounds of bread in the toaster for himself, starving. That’s when the lights went out.
“I’ll go and put more fuel in the generator.” Laura grumbled as she headed out of the house. Hearing the front door slam shut Milton started whistling to himself. When the lights came back on he saw Laura calmly aiming a gun at him
“You’re the saboteur?
“I don’t want to leave Milton! I’m tired of saving humanity! So when the ship detected the tear I sabotaged the ship to strand us here. Me and David were happy until you and your buddies turned up. ”
“So your going to shoot me?”
“No I’m going to feed you to a dinosaur, now move.”
“Drop the gun,” David said aiming a riffle at Laura “and kick it over here.”
“How long have you known?”
“From the moment we crashed here. You’ve never seemed bothered about getting back.”
With the boat loaded up they headed out to sea and it wasn’t long until they reached trouble. Every since Charlotte and her people were attacked by a Plesiosaur she had avoided going anywhere near the water but now a rematch was unavoidable as it was back. It’s jaws were almost as big as the boat itself. The boat rocked wildly as the marines desperately shot at the monster but was it no good.
“Give me a knife” Taylor yelled over the din of flying bullets and the roar of the Plesiosaur. Charlotte handed him a knife. Taking off his uniform he dived into the sea with the knife clenched between his jaw and started hacking and slashing at the dinosaur until it swam away having decided a boat load of people wasn’t really worth it.
“Good work,” Richard said pulling him out of the water forgetting about hiding his bony hand.
“Who are you?” One of the marines asked Richard before taking a good a good look at Charlotte and Taylor “Come to think of it I don’t remember you two either?”
They were now tied up as they reached their destination a ship called the USS Eldridge. It was cloaked in an eerie green smoke. All three of them were now tied up and marched onto the ship. Taylor recognised it as a ship from world war two. They were taken to the bridge where they were met by the captain and Troy who were laughing and joking with each other.
“I’m Captain Russell of the U.S Navy and your friend here has been telling me all kinds of crazy shit about time travel and tears in the fabric of reality and people who can see the future. Is this true?”
“That’s right,” Charlotte said wearily rubbing her eyes feeling very tired, she hadn’t not slept properly for nearly forty eight hours “look all we want is my people back and the bomb you took from us and we’ll be on our way.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Captain Russell said stroking a bushy grey beard. His head was completely bald and his eyes were grey and devoid of life “we also need that bomb for a little time travel experiment of our own.” Captain Russell said before taking out his radio “Bring him out” He then turned to Charlotte, Taylor and Richard “There’s someone I’d like you all to meet. He’s also the reason why we’re all here. A few minutes went by when a then a door opened and out stepped the older version of Charles Carroll Taylor.
“So you’re me?” Taylor said walking around his other-self
“I’m the version of you who never went on Flight 15 and I’ve regretted it ever since. So when I across at time machine at a U.S Military base I stole it and here we all are.”
“What do you mean what has it got to do with us?”
“When I turned it on it cracked the fabric of reality creating all these tears you lot fell through. The machine wasn’t calibrated properly and now it’s out of juice. That’s when I met Captain Russell. He’s agreed to let me have the nuclear bomb in exchange for a ride home.”
“We’ve also found a way home,” Taylor said “and we need the bomb as well to open a tear.”
“A tear that might lead anywhere Lieutenant. I’ve got a way to reset all this.”
“Where is this time machine?” Charlotte said intrigued. If there was a way to use it safely then maybe they didn’t need David’s spaceship after all.
“It’s on board the ship I’ll take you to it”
Chapter 5 - Doing Time
A tense stand off between Laura and David was only interrupted by a rumbling noise in the distance. “What’s that?” David said out loud still aiming his gun at Laura.
“What do you think would happen if someone switched off that telepathic field of yours,” Laura giggled with an evil laugh. “You know the one that’s keeping the dinosaurs placid.”
“Please tell me you didn’t?”
“But before you answer that question darling I think you should be pay attention to the window.” But David was too late as one of his crew who had woken from stasis only a few hours ago, had just thrown a flash grenade through the window.
“Both of you close your eyes.” David shouted but it was was too late for a bright flash later and Laura was gone. When his sight returned he only had a few seconds to grab Elizabeth and dive under the dinner table before a hail of machine gunfire racked the wooden walls. As if things weren’t bad already they just got a whole lot worse when a Velociraptor came screeching through the window along with his buddies.
“These things are vicious man,” Milton said blasting one in the face with a shotgun “Just ask Alan Grant.” That bought Elizabeth and David enough time as they started crawling under the dining table to reach the door but one of the Velociraptor’s must’ve heard them for it jumped onto the table and started ripping it to shreds.
“Milton we need some help over hear.” David shouted but Milton was desperately fighting a pack of the fuckers himself before he ran out of ammo and twated one in the face! The Velociraptor didn’t like that one bit and slashed out with its claws slashing him in the face with a screech. Just as it looked like they were done for a piece of toast popped u
p. All at once the remaining Velociraptors charged over to the toaster and started attacking it. Milton, Elizabeth and David legged it outside only to be met with Laura again with the ships crew behind her.
“I’ve got no quarrel with you Elizabeth but I need to motivate these two dick heads.” Laura said before aiming her gun at Elizabeth and pulling the trigger.
Elizabeth dropped to the floor with blood spurting from her chest. Milton ran over to her but Laura stopped him dead in his tracks “Move another step and I’ll blow your brains out,” she cried “I want the time machine.”
“The what? Man you’re fucking crazy.”
“We detected a massive power sauce emanating from this world right before we crashed so I sabotaged the ship. A quick chat with this bitch,” she booted Charlotte in the rips “revealed that it was her grandfather Charles Taylor who is the one who caused all these tears. I want that time machine Milton. I want my freedom. And you’re going to get if for me.”
“Like hell I will man!”
“Unless you get me that machine Charlotte’s daughter will be blown to smithereens. I packed enough c4 to level that spaceship.” Laura held up the detonator to make her point.
USS Eldridge
The time machine looked like a giant washing machine from the outside with a round circular window in the middle of a steel cube like structure. It sat on the deck of the ship making an ominous humming noise. Opening the door they walked up a spiralling iron staircase and came to what looked like a control room with blinking lights and levers on a control panel and a floor that was made of glass with a clock with Roman numerals below the glass. Hovering above the glass emitting a low hum was a black crystal.
“So this is what caused the tears?” Richard said with a whistle.
“Where’s Troy?” Taylor said worried.
“Forget about him,” Charlotte said inspecting the spinning crystal “Radio David and tell him we’ve got a new way home.” She turned to Old Taylor “If that’s okay with you?”
“More the merrier,” Old Taylor said with a smile “From what I can tell this crystal is what powers the machine; maybe we can jump start it using the bomb. From what Troy told me you’re used to work with moving and dismantling nuclear bombs. Maybe you can wire it the crystal?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I have you gone nuts?” Taylor shouted “That thing,” he pointed to the crystal “is the reason my wife is without her husband. My airmen are still missing and their children are now without their father’s and you want to activate it again? What will it done do next time? Blow up the universe? We should destroy it.”
“What is with you,” Charlotte said exasperated “the moment you stepped onto that spaceship you wanted to destroy that as well.”
“If you destroy that Taylor and you never get home” Old Taylor said. That’s when the radio burst into life…
“Charlotte are you there?” Milton said “We’ve got a problem.”
“So unless we give Laura the time machine she’ll blow up my daughter?” Charlotte cried struggling to contain her emotions as Milton met them on the ship and brought them all up to speed.
“That settles it,” Old Taylor said pacing up and down up hearing the news about Elizabeth “my grand daughter wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for me. We activate this time machine tonight.”
“I’d hate to throw a spanner in the works,” an unseen voice said “but if anyone’s going to time travel it will be me,” Charlotte looked around the control room and found Troy high up on a gangway with a sniper rifle trained at the crystal. “vacate the machine now or I’ll shatter the crystal and something tells me your going to kind of need that.”
“Everyone do what he says” Richard said shaking his head in as he started walking towards the door. They all filed out one by one.
They were in the mess hall discussing what to do with Laura and Troy who both wanted the same thing and were willing to spill untold blood to get it including Charlotte’s daughter.
“I’ve got it!” Milton said snapping his fingers “Why don’t we give Captain Russell and his crew a tow through the tear?”
“Because the last time I checked Milton Navy ships can’t fly.” Taylor said taking a sip of his coffee.
“But the Star Ship Velociraptor must have some sort of tractor beam!”
“Shut the fuck up Milton,” Charlotte snapped “you’ve been watching too much Star Trek.”
“No, I think he’s onto something,” Richard said “we can tow the US Eldridge through the tear.”
“Okay maybe we can use that as leverage to secure our people.” Charlotte said.
“And what if he doesn’t go for it?” Taylor said.
“Then it looks we have three objectives: locate and secure the bomb, rescue my people and stop Laura and Troy.”
“I think you’re forgetting someone,” older Charles Taylor said walking into the mess hall. “Guards seize them and throw them in the brig.”
The air smelt dank and sweaty deep in the belly of the world war two ship. Everyone from camp Lucy were huddled in a corner looking scared and hungry. Rats scurried about or rather they were supposed to as they looked like they were frozen in time. Taylor couldn’t figure out why at first but then he remembered what Milton said to him the first day he had met them that time ran at different speeds depending on where you went in this world. It looked like in this part of the world time had frozen still.
“I think I might have a way that we can get out of this mess.” Taylor said searching the brig for more patches of time dilation.
“What are doing you doing man?” Milton said looking like he had gone mad as he patted the walls and floor with his hands.
“Look at the rats,” Taylor pointed “They’re not moving in that area of the brig.”
“So what man they’re fucking rats what else do you want them to do. Suck you off?”
“No look he’s right,” Charlotte said also on her hands and knees “as well as the tears in reality there’s different pockets of time all over the place” she said pointing to one corner of the room “So it could be tomorrow over there and yesterday over here.”
“I think I might of found what you’re looking for.” Richard said pointing to his watch, the hands spinning backwards like crazy.
No sooner had they walked over to Richard then the rest of Charlotte’s people suddenly vanished.
“What the fuck man, where did everyone go?”
“They didn’t go anywhere Milton.” Taylor said working it out.
“They’ve just not been captured yet. We must be in the past!”
“Or the future.” Charlotte said with a worried look on her face.
“Only one way to find out.” Richard said walking out of the cage that wasn’t locked any more.
Chapter 6 - There’s No Place Like Home
It was now a piece of piss to move about the ship now wearing Navy uniforms. They had gone back in the past by a few hours.
“This is cool man,” Milton gushed as he walked straight past Captain Russell “we can warn Elizabeth and David about Laura.”
“No,” Taylor said sternly “we can’t change anything it will blow a whole in the universe of something.”
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t alter little things to work in our favour.” Charlotte said as they waited for Troy to arrive. A few hours went by until they saw Troy escorted to the brig by the marines at gun point. When Troy was thrown in the brig and the marines had left Taylor unlocked Troy’s cell.
“I’m going to enjoy this.” Taylor said clenching a crowbar in his hand.
“I didn’t think you had the balls.” Troy said spitting blood.
“That reminds me,” Taylor said standing over him “how’s yours after our last encounter?”
“Go ahead kill me,” Troy said with a defiant look in his eyes “but if you do you’ll never find out all your girlfriends dirty secrets.”
“I’m not going to
kill you,” Taylor said smashing him over the head with the crowbar “I just need you out of the way for a while.” Now that Troy had been dealt with that just left Captain Russell and Laura and his older self to be taken care of. Taylor just hoped that Milton had got to the bridge in time while Charlotte destroyed the time machine.
Charlotte was just about to set the charges of the C4 to blow up the time machine when she felt a gun barrel at the back of her head. “Did you really think it was that easy?” Troy hissed. Charlotte was frog marched onto the deck of the ship and was greeted by older Charles Taylor and Laura.
“Where’s David?” Charlotte said.
“He’s a bit tied up at the moment,” Laura said with a giggle. “I was going to thank you for procuring the time machine for me but from what I hear you were about to blow it up. Naughty girl.”
“Its not safe,” Charlotte said as it started throwing it down with rain.
“Luckily for you you’re not going to live much longer to find out.” older Charles Taylor said cocking his gun.
“Drop your guns.” Milton said as he held a gun to Captains Russell’s head.
“Kill him,” older Charles Taylor said with a shrug “we don’t need him any more.”
“Yeah but you’ll need this.” Taylor said holding the detonator. He had just finished setting the charges while everyone else was distracted.
“Troy,” older Taylor shouted “do something about this bastard.”
“With pleasure.” Troy said with an evil smile as he advanced on Taylor.
“Back off or I’ll blow up this thing I swear I will.” Then something completely unexpected happened. The ship started to rise into the air.
“Ladies and gentlemen I’m your captain for today. Please fasten your seat belts.” David’s voice boomed coming from the Star Ship Velociraptor that was now hovering over the US Eldridge.
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