Book 11

by Robert P McAuley

  They sat quietly as the water lapped gently against the hull of the wooden sailboat. Rocko checked his watch and whispered, “Soon, gents. It’s 10:05. Let’s stay quiet but vigilant as sounds travel fast and far on the ocean.”

  It happened suddenly: a rolling gray cloud of fog came out of nowhere and enveloped the other boat. Rocko said through clenched teeth, “Sails up, guys, this fog moves fast.”

  Matt and John moved quickly and in a split second the sails were up and filled with an unfelt wind. The three men tried to see the ship they knew was in there when Rocko pointed at a faint red glow trying to pierce the dense fog. The oil lamp, he thought as he expertly guided the swift boat towards the front of the fog bank and entered.

  Suddenly, it was as though cotton was stuffed into their ears. Not a sound could be heard in the thick gray matter. Rocko thought as he steered the boat, I hope I calculated right. This tack should place us right on the starboard side of the ship.

  Suddenly there was a wall of gray wood next to the sailboat, both heading south at the same speed. Having been a sailor his whole life, Rocko was used to sea stories of monsters and ghost ships and it came in handy, as both Matt and John seemed to be mesmerized when he needed them most.

  “Guys!” he half shouted, happy that his voice could be heard at all, “Guys, come on, I need you!”

  Both snapped out of it at the same time and Rocko, seeing that the ship’s old planks were warped and uneven, said, “Matt, hold the tiller as we climb up.” he looked at John and said, “John, follow my lead. The planking is uneven after years of neglect and it’s like climbing up a ladder.” He grabbed one and pulled himself up far enough to get a foothold and then a handhold. John followed suit and immediately they were on the top rail, peering onto the ship’s deck. It was empty.

  There were frayed ropes lying about, a cask of old wooden nails rolled back and forth with the motion of the ship. The sails were ripped and tattered but taut with the noiseless wind. Long lines of green, wet moss hung from the spars and grew up the masts. A hatch cover was half off the hatch. Out of the corner of his eyes Rocko saw movement that was familiar with many ships he’d been on: rats scurrying around. The only light was a red tinted oil lamp on the lookout station high above the deck. Looking aft, they both spotted a small light coming from a peephole in a door.

  “That’s usually where the captain’s cabin is located,” Rocko whispered as he threw a leg over the top of the rail. “We’ll try not to disturb him.”

  John nodded vigorously as he threw his leg over the rail and caught himself as he slipped on the moss-infested deck. He followed Rocko towards another door at the front of the ship.

  “The crew and passenger’s quarters should be behind that door,” Rocko whispered with mentally crossed fingers.

  They opened it slowly but it still creaked. They saw a light down a small flight of wooden stairs and heard murmuring drifting up from the bowels of the ship.

  Chad’s voice drifted up the short flight of stairs and John and Rocko were stunned to hear the conversation.

  “So, old man, you went back in time to help the president of your United States? I must say that you live a wonderful life with all of this time travel convenience at your fingertips. I do believe that if it were me, I’d step back and go to India! The Empire was truly thriving then.”

  “Well,” said James as he twisted his thin mustache, “if it were I traveling through time, I do believe that I’d go back to the Mayflower and see my great aunt off as she boarded her.”

  “Well, it’s not that easy, fellows,” said Bill as he dabbed his mouth with a thin gray piece of material, “You see the time portal is located in New York and stepping back in time just places you in New York at a different time and you must travel from there to India or wherever the Mayflower sailed from.”

  “I would shop in old France,” quipped Etta as she filled her plate with seconds, “they had the cutest frocks a person could ever want.” She faced Elizabeth and asked, “Where would you like to travel to, Elizabeth?”

  Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and answered, “To China when they were building the Great Wall. That would be a sight to see.”

  John whispered in Rocko’s ear as they hid in a dark area of the short corridor, “That’s Bill! He’s telling them about traveling in time! Something is really wrong, he’s not himself.”

  “Yeah! It’s like he’s a different guy,” agreed Rocko. “We have to get them out of here.”

  “Let’s just walk in and escort them out,” said John with a shrug of his wide shoulders.

  The doorway was narrow allowing one person at a time to enter and John stepped into the galley. “Hi Bill,” he said, “can I have a moment?”

  All looked up with a look of this being an every day happening.

  “Why,” said Bill as he saw John and now Rocko standing by the doorway, “It’s my friends!” He turned to the others and went on, “These are two of the people I told you about.” He looked back at John and said, “John, tell my friends about the time you went back to meet the Wright brothers.”

  John was in shock, but thought quickly and said, “Yes, that was one heck of a trip.” He looked at the group eating at the wooden table. They were all dressed in tattered clothes and were pale from the lack of sunlight. “Hey, Bill, can we speak on deck. I have a message from the club.”

  “The club? Well, sure,” he turned to the others and said as he stood, “Please excuse me a moment.”

  Rocko smiled at Elizabeth and said, “Elizabeth, please join us on deck.”

  “Well,” she said, “can I finish my dinner first?”

  “Oh, it’ll stay. We just need a moment to give you a message from your editor.”

  “My editor?” she said as she stood, “Well, I have a few things I want to tell him. I thought that getting seasick would stop me going on the trip we planned, but now I know that it doesn’t bother me at all when I take an ocean trip.”

  John led the way into the short corridor followed by Bill, Elizabeth and finally, Rocko brought up the rear. Suddenly the captain and a few of his men stood between them and the stairs to the deck. Each had a cutlass in their hand.

  “Where would you be off too?” he hissed through broken teeth as he waved his cutlass back and forth menacingly.

  “Captain Hendrik van der Decken,” said Bill as he introduced his friends, “allow me to introduce my friends from our club. This is . . .”

  “Step back into the galley all of you.”

  “But,” said a puzzled looking Bill, “these are my friends and they’ve come to visit us. Let me show them about your fine ship, my friend.”

  “Get back inside,” he said in a menacing voice as his eyes actually glowed a fiery red, “The deck is off limits.”

  Suddenly a voice cried down from the open door on the deck: “De Kaap, we hebben net zeilde via de Kaap de goede hoop! We zijn vrij! We kunnen varen voor huis, we zijn gratis!”

  (“The Cape, we've just sailed through the Cape of Good Hope! We are free! We can sail for home, we're free!”)

  The captain looked at his men and said, “Kaap de Goede Hoop? We passeerden de Kaap? We zijn gratis! Set voor thuis!!”

  (“The Cape of Good Hope? We passed through the Cape? We're free! Set course for home!”)

  He quickly put his cutlass back in its scabbard, turned and ran past the two crewmembers who also put away their cutlasses and followed him up on deck.

  “Well,” said Bill, nonchalantly, “he’s acting strange today, isn’t he?”

  John half escorted and half dragged Bill up onto the deck as Rocko did the same with Elizabeth who said, “”I believe that I’ve left my shawl on my chair. I’ll just go back and get it. I won’t be but one moment.”

  Rocko answered by picking her up and throwing her over his wide shoulders and followed Bill and John up onto the deck.

  They headed towards the place they had come aboard when another figure stepped out of the fog and grabbed John�
�s arm. John turned and was about to throw a punch when the figure said, “John, follow me, I had to move the sailboat further back.”

  It was Matt and he guided the four of them to a different section of railing. John saw the sailboat’s anchor digging into the soft wood of the railing where Matt had tossed it up from the sailboat to keep both vessels together. Matt easily slid down the rope and stood looking up from the sailboat.

  “Over the side,” John said to Bill.

  “Why? Why would you leave the ship?” asked Bill without getting an answer as John got him into the sitting position on the rail and said through clenched teeth, “Listen to me, Bill. You go over the side on your own or Rocko and I toss you over. Got it?”

  “Certainly, but why? Is this a fire drill or something?”

  “Yes, it’s a boat drill. In case the ship is sinking, that’s all.”

  “Got it,” said Bill as he slid down the rope and followed Matt’s instructions to sit.

  Bill turned to help Rocko just as the captain ran out of the fog, cursing as he swung his cutlass over his head. Rocko quickly tossed Elizabeth into Matt’s arms, turned and ducked under the cutlass thrust as he rammed his fist into the man’s stomach sending him reeling backwards.

  “Jump, Rocko,” John shouted as another sailor burst out of the fog and went flying across the wet deck.

  “Really felt that I had to do that,” said Chad who stood there with one foot sticking out. “Just not cricket to attack an unarmed man.”

  John and Rocko waved their thanks and disappeared over the side.

  In a flash Matt untied the anchor rope from the front of the sailboat and they shoved off the side of the ghost ship.

  “Good bye, my friends,” called out Chad as he waved from the ship. “Hope to see you again.”

  The fog swallowed the ghost ship up and the four people found themselves alone with a moon-filled sky and not a hint of fog anywhere.

  Elizabeth looked nervous and Bill patted her arm and said, “Don’t worry, Elizabeth, it’s just a ship’s fire drill. We’ll be back aboard before long.” He looked at the three men and said with a smile, “Right, fellows?”

  The trip back to New York found Bill and Elizabeth sleeping most of the time wrapped in blankets the railroad supplied for those passengers who wished to nap on night trips. When they were awake they were quiet and sipped lots of water. Once Bill asked where the rest of the group was and if they were walking the deck without them.

  After the train and ferry ride they hired a large carriage that seated three facing two and pulled by two horses. At the club’s garden, Matt secretly entered March 29, 2014, 11:30 P.M. into his Time Frequency Modulator and as they walked through the garden activated it.

  DATELINE: MARCH 29, 2014 11:30 P.M. PLACE: THE 1800 CLUB, NEW YORK CITY

  On the landing, scratching and sniffing could be heard as Samson tried to open the door. Matt threw the door open, grabbed the leash from its holder and said to John, “Sir, will you watch them as I walk the dog?” He was down the stairs before John or Rocko could answer.

  TWO WEEKS LATER, APRIL 12, 2014

  The sun was at its highest and all four sat around the table in the alcove eating a lunch of sliced egg and tomato sandwiches and sipping tea and coffee.

  “It’s been two weeks now,” said John, “and today is the first time you both seem to be your old selves.”

  Bill shook his head, “I can’t thank you, Matt and Rocko enough, John, for staying here at the club while Elizabeth and I tried to walk the deck. I still can’t believe that we spent all that time aboard the Flying Dutchman and if not for you three we would still be there.”

  “No,” said Matt as he poured coffee for Rocko, “Mr. Sullivan, from the future, said that should you be unable to leave, he would go back and stop you before the mission began.”

  “Well,” added Bill, “we were able to bring back a lot of information for them on the Dutchman and that’s one of the reasons the club is in business.” He rubbed his temples, “I just can’t get over the fact that we both just accepted the idea of staying aboard that ship for, well, for eternity! And I can still hear myself telling the others all about the club and how we traveled in time.” He shrugged and went on, “It was as though telling them all about the club was the thing to do. And they just smiled and asked questions as though time travel was an everyday thing.”

  He turned to Matt and added, “And Matt, I didn’t know that you spoke Dutch nor did I know that you knew of their quest to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.”

  Matt said with a nod, “I hoped that by making as though I was one of their crew members and saying that they passed around the Cape, they would run forward to see for themselves, and they did.”

  “Perhaps, gentlemen,” said Elizabeth with a grin, “it is an every day thing for you to travel in time, but for a girl who was just let in on the secret, it is enough to stagger a person.”

  Bill nodded, “Sorry if we seem to take it for granted, Elizabeth, but in fact, when we are on a mission we are very professional with just one thought: complete the mission successfully.”

  She took a sip of her drink and asked, “Does it hurt?”

  “You mean does it hurt to time travel?” asked Bill. At her nod, he went on, “Did it hurt when you came up the stairs of this building two weeks ago?”

  “No, not that I recall.”

  “Well, there you are then. When we left the carriage Matt brought us all forward to the year 2014.”

  Her eyes went wide as she said, “2014? You mean we are in 2014 at this very moment?”

  “Yes. This is our time: your future.”

  She said as she looked around, “I thought, well it never dawned on me that we were anywhere but 1890.”

  “That’s because we furnish our club to mimic the past.”

  “A-And I have to stay here while my family and friends . . . “

  “No,” answered Bill. “We’ll send you back to any date you wish.”

  She sat up straight, “You must trust me to send me back after I traveled in time.”

  Bill grinned, “Of course we trust you. Who wouldn’t trust Nellie Bly?” At her grin he went on, “Besides if the great Nellie Bly told people that she traveled in time, they might think that you bumped your head too many times and let your imagination run away with you. Now that could stop a few newspapers from wanting you to write a story for them.”

  She put her cup down, dabbed her mouth with a white linen napkin and said, “I’d never tell anyone about this-this great adventure I stumbled into. Of course, no one would ever believe me anyway, so I’ll just keep it to myself.” With a smile she looked up and said, “So, how much do I owe you for these clothes I’m wearing?”

  “No charge,” answered Bill, “it comes with the trip.”

  She cocked her head and asked, “And when am I allowed to go home?”

  “Any time you wish,” he answered, “Just tell us what date you would like to return to and it’s done.”

  “Just like that?”

  He nodded and mimicked, “Just like that.”

  “I do believe that I would like to return to October 20, 1889, however, I’d first like to visit a plant that manufactures 55-gallon steel drums.”

  Bill and the others sat back puzzled and he asked, “A plant that makes 55-gallon drums? I’d have to look that up, but why?”

  She put her index finger up to her head and said as she tapped it, “I’ve an idea that I’ve been bouncing around and if I come from the past that means that if I go back and act on it, I’ll be able to see if the idea came to fruition today.”

  Before Bill could say anything, Matt said as he closed his smart phone, “Third Avenue and Second Street, Brooklyn, The Iron Clad Manufacturing Company.”

  “I’ll gladly take you there,” said Bill.

  “I’ll phone ahead, sir,” said Matt. “Meanwhile, I’ll take Miss Bly up to the wardrobe room and let her select something to wear.”

  Matt
escorted Elizabeth out of the room and John and Rocko stood. “Bill,” John said, “I don’t think you need us two anymore, you’re back to being your old self and I’ve got some mail to go through.”

  “Same here, Bill,” added Rocko.

  Bill shook their hands and said, “Guys I can’t thank you both enough, not only for going back and rescuing us, but for staying here in the club for the last two weeks.”

  John patted his back, “Don’t sweat it, buddy, just get us some missions to go back on.”

  “I promise,” said Bill as the three men hugged.

  They left and Bill sat playing with Samson as he waited for Matt and Elizabeth to return. Boy, he thought, there’s something I need to do, but I’m not sure if it’s doable. He shook his head, I need to meet with Jerry Sullivan from uptime.

  After a tap on the door, it opened and in walked Elizabeth followed by Matt. She was transformed into a young lady of 2014.

  Her face was flushed and shaking her head, she said in an excited voice. “I can’t believe the styles that today’s women are allowed to wear! It’s-it’s wonderful! Why, my dress from home could be material enough for two of today’s outfits . . . I love it! Look! How do I look?” she asked as she turned around. She wore a pair of tight, low-rise, boot-cut jeans that flared over a pair of dark brown, Cuban heel boots, a midnight-black silk blouse that buttoned at the neck and wrists and a light, waist length, black cotton jacket. Her hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, which allowed one to see small clip-on pearl earrings, and she wore slim black leather gloves that matched her black leather grip.

  “Dare I step out in these?” she asked nervously.

  “Why not? As you said yourself: today’s women are allowed to wear them, so why not you? And to clarify something, the word ‘allowed’ shouldn’t even be used, as today’s women have all the rights as today’s men.”

  She looked in the mirror, turned and smiled, “I like this time period.”

  Bill wore a black mock turtleneck sweater, black slacks and shoes and a tan jacket. He grinned as he offered her his arm, “Shall we go to see some 55-gallon drums?”