by T K Foster
“This is all very well,” Billy said of the excitement surrounding him, “but where do we go from here?”
Plain of Eighty Five Pillars, also known as England.
“I mean,” he continued, “do we go outside to the Elevator now, type #85 into that calculator of yours and off I go?”
“If it were that simple, Billy, Barry could have sent you home earlier because he would have known about your plain,” Bilson said. “By all means, for curiosity sake, give it a go, but now that I’ve got the number eighty five I can go and hide myself away in the workshop, do some recalibrating of a control or four, and finally send you home. It’s that simple.”
“Yeah really?”
“Well....” Bilson faltered, “I’d be lying if I said I knew what I was doing.”
Billy frowned, “Oh?”
In theory, Bilson was ready to expand his knowledge; he was willing to test his capabilities and his understanding of H.M.E, yet on the practical side of things, well.... Billy could either live or die.... Such is science.
After Bilson excused himself and then walked away tapping his index finger to his forehead, there was a short silence, and a few funny glances between our five companions.
“So what do we do now?” Gabby asked.
There were a number of suggestions put forward to her question, like they could remain in the library and read some more, or they could play rock-paper-scissors again, they could go and cut a slab of meat from the side of an animal and eat it, Cetra considered cleaning to pass the time; but the one thing they all agreed on was what might happen if they were to punch the number eighty five into Barry’s remote control.
“I assume it will come up with ‘Not in Use’,” Barry advised, having already experienced a number of different ramifications from punching in wrong numbers.
Yet their interest did not wane.
“We’ll try it anyway though, right?” Billy said.
By now the sun was on its decline, and as they exited the house and made their way toward the Elevator Billy re-hatched an old conversation with Barret.
“I’ve still got that feeling,” he said dully.
“Huh?” Barret grunted.
“Like being followed. Like someone’s watching us.” Billy paused to look at the glazed expression on Barret’s face. “I’m sure I saw something at the window when we were in the library, you know, out of the corner of my eye.”
Barret pursed his lips, “You’re not going to let up are you?” he huffed, annoyed with Billy’s persistence.
“Maybe we should scout around, see if we can find anything.”
“Billy, you’re forgetting one thing,” Barret said, “how could someone have followed us through into two different plains?”
“I get that, but remember both times we went through I was bumped from behind, like someone running into me?”
Barret groaned impatiently, “If we look around will that keep you happy?”
“Yes.”
“Happy enough that when we find nothing you’ll shut up?”
“Ok.”
By now the others had gathered together in the centre of the Elevator and were encouraging Billy and Barret to catch up and join them. When they were all there, encased within the structure built of three large stone pillars, Barry pulled from his satchel the remote control. He held it aloft in his left hand for all to see and proceeded with his right to punch in the numbers eight and five.
Everyone else held their breath.
The control let out an empty blip.
A short moment later, as if it had been thinking about the request asked of it, the message – NOT IN USE – flashed across its screen.
There was a unanimous sigh.
“Try it again,” Gabby prompted excitedly.
Barry punched the numbers again and this time the control blipped twice, vibrated, and the message – NOT IN USE – blinked angrily across the screen in red.
It was a letdown sure, but certainly if it had worked they would all be somewhere in England by now wondering how on Earth they were going to get back. Anyway, Barry’s confidence in its failure was unwavering, otherwise he would never have agreed to the whole thing in the first place.
“Shall we have an early supper?” Barry suggested then, “Just leftovers and sandwiches. We can sit and relax into the evening after that.”
They all agreed and set off back up to the house, but Billy and Barret broke away from the group in search of something entirely different. Billy’s agenda was to seek out his intruder; Barret saw it as an opportunity to say a heartfelt goodbye in private, yet still try to convince Billy to stay, maybe.
“How can I convince you to stay, Billy?” Barret began as they wandered around the yard.
“Are you going to miss me, Barret?” said Billy with a big smile.
“Well.... Cetra and Rod are.... and that Gabby looks like she’s taken a shine to you....”
“She has not.”
“She has too,” Barret smirked, “She’s all over you.”
Billy grinned and turned away. For a fleeting moment there was silence between them, until Billy broke it smugly.
“You’re going to miss me....”
“Yes I am,” Barret said sternly, “The last few days have been the best days I’ve had since landing in this place. Until you and Cetra pulled me out of that marketplace I was going nowhere, I was just a junk salesman. Now I’m going to travel the universe and discover new dimensions, how many people can write that into their resume’? You’re my friend, Billy, I want you to stay and do it all with me.”
Billy could feel the emotion, and a single tear presented itself in the corner of his eye. Barret’s friendship, along with Cetra, Rod, and now even Gabby’s was and always would be special, but no proposal made to him could ever convince him to stay; he missed his family, and he wanted to go home.
“You know I can’t stay,” Billy said softly and squeezed Barret’s arm for a quick second, “That’s what this whole journey has been about.... getting me home. You’ve known that all along.”
“But I seriously didn’t think we would ever get there,” Barret said, “Look at me, I’ve been stuck here now for five years it seems.”
“You still have the option to come home you know.”
“No,” Barret said flatly.
Billy spread his arms out wide and said, “Well, look at the adventure you’ve got waiting for you here.... that’s exciting.”
Barret turned away and discretely wiped away what Billy figured was a tear. When he turned back he grabbed Billy and hugged him, Billy felt himself lifted off the ground for a brief moment until being released again, then in an instant Barret had straightened himself up and cleared his throat before saying, “Finished looking now?”
The grin on Billy’s face went unnoticed, “Yeah sure,” he said.
Then they turned back toward the house in silence.
CHAPTER FORTY SIX