

The Tower Bridge

By: Steve Simons

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 Steve Simons

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INDEX

Chapter 1 – The Chase, The Tower

Chapter 2 – Just What Is This Junk?

Chapter 3 – Beyond

Chapter 4 – Eyes On Stalks

Chapter 5 – The Saysestrians

Chapter 6 – Don't Give Up Hope

Chapter 7- Determined

Chapter 8 - Convincing

Chapter 9 – Have To Stop Them, But How?

Chapter 10 – What Have You Done?

Chapter 11 – Work The Like You Have Never Seen Before

Chapter 12 - Interference

Chapter 13 – More Complications

Chapter 14 – Who's What?

Chapter 15 - Re-United

# Foreword

This book is dedicated to the staff and guests at the Tortworth Court Hotel, in Tortworth South Gloucester. This story was inspired by visits to the hotel and one occasion when the spiral stairs in the main tower, intrigued me.

h   
ttp://tortworth-court-hotel.four-pillars.co.uk

# Chapter 1 – The Chase, The Tower

The man, tall, thin, with dark hair moving quite briskly, with military precision, dressed in a smart uniform, is walking down the corridor towards the two boys. He smiles at them, but behind that smile, is he hiding the fact that he is onto their secret? The rather impressive tray he is carrying, could be for camouflage purposes only, to throw the boys off the scent. The boys dare not look into his eyes as he passes, in-case he can read the slightest hint of their purpose here. As hard as they can, they keep up their rate of walking, as if nothing is wrong. Their hearts beating at least three times their walking pace. Time seems to pass slowly. Despite the speed at which they are moving. It seems as if it would be impossible to gain sufficient ground, before the chase recommences. Perhaps someone else will be sent to observe them. The uniformed man is probably at this very moment summoning up reinforcements. The boys take a sneaky look behind them and see that the man with the tray has stopped and is talking to someone. Perhaps he is briefing this fellow conspirator. The man in the uniform points down the corridor.... in the direction of the boys. As both men turn to look towards the boys, Stuart suddenly feels himself being pulled to one side, it is Andrew's hand that is grasping his shirt and tugging him down a side corridor. Stuart is about to protest, but remembers the two men out to get them. The boys hope that the man in the smart uniform and his co-conspirator, haven't seen them disappear down this side corridor and chase after them.

This cat and mouse chase has been going on for about an hour now and whilst the people involved have all been different, the danger has always seemed the same, although some have appeared to be more suspicious than others. After all two boys aged respectively eleven and twelve, can get into a fair bit of mischief, if the will takes them that way.

having found themselves in this side shoot of a corridor, the boys need to find their way to safety, before those two chase after them. The new corridor leads to staircase, with its dark wooden railings and banister. The steps equally dark, but with carpet snaking its way down down the middle, following the curve of the stairway. Ahead lay its counterpart heading upwards. The decision awaiting the two boys, to go up or down? They had possibly encountered the lower set of stairs, whilst exploring the floor below, so to go down those would merely confirm that they had seen these stairs once before. Like a magnet they are drawn to the stairs leading upward. without a word being exchanged, they set off up the stairs.

Whilst the stairs themselves, are dark and foreboding, there is light streaming down from somewhere above, it is as if it is inviting them to journey upward, as indeed they do. Sure enough on the landing above there is a large window, that looks out across the roofs of the parts of the building building that stretch out below them. The grounds beyond look enticing with their formal gardens, lakes and woods.

There is a short length of corridor opposite the window, leading to yet more steps and a pair of wooden doors, set in an arched entrance, each door taking up its own half of that archway. The doors, large and imposing, made of the same dark wood as the stairs, looking equally foreboding, have glass panels that shine as if daylight lay beyond. Neither boy being tall enough to see through the glass panes. Perhaps it is some sort of balcony or roof garden. Will they be trapped up here? Their hearts still beating fast.

Andrew grabs the door handle and Stuart, in a whisper asks, "Do you think it is safe to go out there? Will there be anyone there?"

Andrew replies, equally in a whisper, "We can't stay here and we can't go back down, we just have to go through."

Stuart places an ear against the door listens carefully. After a short while he stands upright and announces, "Can't hear anything."

Andrew's hand reaches out for the door knob and gingerly turns it. The door at first, resists any movement, then suddenly gives. Andrew stops pushing.

Stuart resumes his listening again, in-case the door opening has attracted any attention from anyone the on other side.

The wait is painful and Andrew, not the most patient of boys, pushes the door open further.

"What are you doing?" whispers Stuart in a rather terse voice.

Andrew, encouraged by the fact that nothing has happened beyond the door opens it fully, without responding to Andrew's question.

Beyond the door is a room with large windows. It looks like an old fashioned lounge, with arm chairs and sofas around the edges, and small tables dotted around the room. There does not appear to be anyone in the room. Andrew steps inside, closely followed by Stuart. The boys walk to the centre of the room and stop, after having checked out the whole room for any sign of people or other entrances, but there are none. Although there is a strange black metal spiral staircase in one corner, it has rather ornate uprights leading to a rather plain curving banister. The whole leads up to the ceiling, where there is a hexagonal hole, into which the staircase disappears.

The boys stare out of the large windows. They overlook all of the surrounding grounds, at least those before the trees commence. The trees rising in height and blocking out the horizon beyond.

The boys' interest turns back to the metal staircase. There is a chain across the bottom of the stairs, with a sign that says, 'No Exit'.

A   
forbidden area. There must be something of great interest, or possibly danger beyond the staircase. Is it the former or latter? Both boy's parents had warned them from an early age, to take note of such signs and to obey them. But this was different wasn't it? They were on a mission and the mission was to find out as much as they could, without getting caught.

Andrew is first to walk to the spiral stairs, he looks up at the ever so dark stairs, leading to the even more dark metallic landing above. The edge of the landing has rails matching the pattern of the ones supporting the metal banister that spirals up with the steps. As Andrew tilts his head to one side, through the gloom, can just about make out something at the end end of the railings, it is dark, almost as dark as the railings and steps. The desire to to know what lies beyond those stairs is just too much. Andrew ducks under the chain and sign.

Stuart protests, "We can't it could be dangerous!"

Andrew says nothing, but starts climbing the stairs. There's a kind of bounce as the whole staircase reacts to Andrew's footsteps.

"Come down, it might collapse!" says Stuart.

Andrew replies, "The sign didn't say dangerous, or don't climb, it just advised that there was no exit this way. Come on, it probably doesn't lead anywhere anyway, but I have to admit its fun climbing the steps."

Stuart nervously looks about himself, as if expecting to see an adult who was going to tell him not to go. As the two boys are alone, it isn't going to happen. Stuart pauses a while longer, whilst making up his mind. Andrew is now half way up the stairs.

Stuart ducks under the chain, it rattles as it sways back and forth, tapping against the metal frame. The stairs feel really strange with the two boys climbing.

Andrew suggests, "Hey let's walk in step, just like army soldiers crossing a rope bridge. I read about it once in a book. When they walked out of step the bridge felt unsafe, but when they walked in step the bridge seemed much more secure."

Soon Andrew is standing on the metal landing and looking down watching Stuart approach. Stuart asks, "What is up there?"

Andrew doesn't reply but turns his attention to the end of the landing that is opposite the last few steps. The dark thing he could see from below, is a wood panelled door, which appears to be made of the same dark wood as used in the rest of this place. There are no glass panels in this door. there are however, dark leaden windows in the other four Walls, the only confirmation that they are made of glass being some reflections of light from below. There is no glimmer of light from the other side. So they are either boarded up the other side or there is no light beyond.

Andrew turns his attention back to the door. There is an old fashioned door catch, which has a spoon shaped thing sticking out of the wood. Andrew has seen one of these before at some old house that he'd visited with his parents. He remembered some old guy telling him that you had to push down on the spoon shape. Andrew pushes, but nothing happens, there's a little give at first but then just total resistance.

Stuart now behind Andrew, says, "Here let me have a go."

Andrew moves to one side, Stuart grabs the handle below the spoon shaped thing, he pulls and at the same time squeezes down on the spoon. There's a loud clunk noise coming from the other side of the door. Stuart pushes and the door opens with a creaking sound. It is dark beyond the door.

~~o~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 2 – Just What Is This Junk?

Andrew walks into the dark room, treading carefully. There is something in front of him, blocking his path, so he turns, then fishes around in his pocket and his hand emerges with a tiny torch, which is already on. Gingerly, he steps into the room. Despite the torch the room is still unbearably dark. The torch only managing to catch glimpses of things within the room. They just seem like unconnected shapes, some shiny some dull, none of which make any sense. The two boys stick closely together, as they twist and turn around the room. There is an overwhelming smell of dust and damp. This room, has clearly not been disturbed, for some considerable time.

Stuart stops dead, as if he has seen something that has disturbed him, he says, "This is stupid, we should explore this place in a methodical way, rather than catch small glimpses of this stuff. Shine your torch in front of you on the ground, then slowly bring it up, so we can see if these things are connected in any way. At the moment, it just looks like some sort of storage area."

Andrew replies, "Well that would make sense, after all we do appear to be in the roof. I think this is the tower that we saw when we got here."

Andrew does as Stuart had suggested, his torch starts on the floor and gently swings upwards.

There are black tubes running up from the floor to some sort of black metal box. The box in turn has other tubes emerging sideways and also towards the roof, but the torch isn't strong enough to show where those tubes go. Andrew follows the line of the tubes running out of the right hand side. There are three of them, one goes to a large green cylinder, the next to a box which has a large glass globe beside it. Somewhere behind the tube, there is some faint light, it appears to be coming from one of the leaden windows facing out onto the landing. The glass must be so dusty, however, that the light that is making its way through, is very dim. The globe has several things in it, but the detail is hard to make out. The third tube, runs further on round and enters a tall rectangular box, which has no front cover, so is more like a frame. Inside the frame are several layers, each containing glass cylinders and every so often shiny metallic tubes, inter-spaced with other darker objects. There are what look like smaller pipes running between these things.

Next is the doorway, with the door still standing open. The light from the room below is quite faint, but as the boys' eyes are becoming more accustomed to the low lighting levels, this light is now contributing more towards them making sense of this room and its contents. The boys are glad that the floor appears to be perfectly clear, dusty but tidy.

Andrew says, "Do you know this place reminds me of a very old laboratory. In comparison with a modern school lab everything seems to be super sized."

Stuart suggests, "Maybe it is just some form of old power distribution device, that has long since become unused."

Andrew agrees, "You could be right, it does look like it is electrical in nature. If only we could get to the windows, perhaps we could clean them and they would let a bit more light in."

Andrew swings his torch around a bit further and yet more racks of glass tubes and another glass globe can be seen. Then there is a series of large copper coils, two vertical rows of them either side of a space, which is now in front of them. There are two coils above, pointing in at an angle. The whole apparatus in this room seems to be focused on this one area. A number of the black tubes heading in towards the coils.

Andrew lets out an involuntary whistle and says, "Will you cop a look at that!"

Stuart, jumps at the noise and exclaims, "What the hell is it?"

"Heck knows, but I'll tell you what, it isn't a power thingy." replies Andrew, walking around it, not daring to touch, but fascinated with the thickness of the coils.

It is only then, that Andrew realises, that Stuart is no longer at his side. He spins around and sees that Stuart's shadowy figure, is over by the doorway. There's a sharp click noise, a flicker of light and suddenly Andrew realises that Stuart has managed to turn on some lights. Andrew catches sight of strange bulbs hanging from the ceiling, they are glowing a sort of orangey light which is gradually getting brighter and changing to white. There are numerous cobwebs strung between the hanging bulbs, like some form of organic network of fine thread bridges.

"Well done Stew, how did you know the light switch was there?" asks Andrew.

"I suddenly caught sight of it, just now when you swung your torch around."

replies Stuart.

"These bulbs must be really old, I have never seen lights come on like that before, except in really old movies." says Andrew, as he turns off his torch and stows it away in his pocket again.

The contents of the room, are now so much easier to make out. It looks even more like a really old laboratory, every bit of equipment seems to be connected to the rest, by way of the black tubes. It seemed very orderly, whilst also looking quite chaotic, well chaotic in comparison to modern devices.

Andrew remarks, "Well this is obviously where it ends, but where does all this lot begin?"

"More importantly,"Stuart says as he rejoins Andrew by the large coils, "What is it all for?"

"   
Given its age, probably more like, was for." corrects Andrew.

Stuart has moved and is by the first box that they had seen when Andrew fished out his torch. He suggests, "Given that these tubes go out to all bits of the room and the box is fed by by the tube from the floor, it probably all starts from here."

"I can't see any controls around here." replies Andrew, looking carefully around the room.

"Why do you want to find those?" asks Stuart.

"Because controls are usually labelled with what they do. We would then know what all this is for." Andrew smiles a smug smile. The sort that Stuart doesn't like, the type that says I'm smart and you're not.

Stuart determined to get his own back turns his attention to the black box in front of him. Stuart examines it closely and notices a small knob on the front, he pulls it and a small door opens, inside there is a large switch and a bank of strange white things, each one lining up with small tubes, no wires, each heading to one of the tubes to the sides and top of the box. "Hey come and see this."

Andrew joins Stuart and after a short while of examining the box, announces, "It's a fuse box, my grandma's house had one that was a bit like this, only those vertical bars were black. Hey its still on."

"So there's no power up here now then." replies Stuart, somewhat

disappointed.

"Not necessarily, each one of these white things has a piece of wire in it. They break if there's too much power going through." Andrew reaches out for the large switch and pushes it upwards. There's a clunk sound.

"What are you doing?" asks Stuart.

"Turning off the power so its safe." Andrew smiles.

"How do you know that's off?"

Andrew taps the upper part of the switch panel, where the switch is now pointing. The faint letters O F F can just about be made out, black letters against a black background, does not make the task easy.

Soon Andrew has all of the white fuse carriers out and is examining the wire within. He soon declares that they are all broken.

Stuart has been looking around whilst Andrew has been busy examining the fuses, he asks, "Will this wire stuff help?" He points to a small table just behind the box, it has a piece of card with some wire wrapped around it. Also on the table is a rather dusty and come to that rusty screw driver.

"Probably" replies Andrew, "Hey pass me the screwdriver as well."

Stuart does as requested and soon Andrew is industriously replacing the fuse wires. The job made somewhat easier as Stuart has also found a pair of pliers on the floor.

As the last fuse is pushed home, into its carrier, Andrew says, "There we're ready."

"Ready for what?" asks Stuart.

"Well to fire this lot up, that is if there is still any power up here. As the lights still work, I would think it is highly likely that there is still power." relies Andrew.

"What if its..." Stuart doesn't finish his sentence.

Andrew asks, "What?"

Stuart continues, "What if its dangerous?"

"Well we won't find out if we walk away will we?" Andrew replies.

"Yeah but my Dad always says don't mess with anything that you don't understand." Stuart.

"A true progressive your Dad isn't he?" asks Andrew.

Stuart grimaces, if there's one thing he doesn't like about Andrew, and there isn't a lot, is the fact that he can at times be a right smart arse and come out with posh stuff the meaning of which Stuart doesn't have a clue.

"If man had not experimented, he'd still be living in caves and eating raw food. Lets give it a go."

Stuart still rather dubious about the wisdom of this 'experimenting' simply says, "But we're just kids."

"Come on where's your spirit of adventure, one small step for man and all that." jibes Andrew as he reaches up for the on switch.

"I don't think we should, this stuff is old and there could be fire, we'd be trapped up here." replies Stuart, edging towards the doorway.

Andrew pulls the switch.

What seems like a million little lights start to glow in the frames that they had seen earlier and there's a faint hum. The overhead lights dim, obviously not able to cope with the sudden load.

Stuart gets even closer to the door. As he does he notices the faint smell of burning dust. He exclaims, "There I warned you, fire, can't you smell it?"

Andrew sniffs the air and replies, "Na that's nothing to worry about our electric fire does that when Dad brings it down from the loft every winter,it soon goes."

The million lights get brighter, almost as if they are compensating for the loss of overhead lighting. There's a clunk noise from the back of the room, from somewhere in the gloom. The globe nearest the fuse box, starts to glow with a purple light, its a rather mysterious light, not constant, but a sort of rhythm in the glow. Then there's a spark deep within the globe. At first it is a single spark, then repeated sparks, again with some sort of pattern.

As Andrew turns to face Stuart, his face is lit by the strange purple glow, he looks like some kind of fiendish scientist as he exclaims, "Exciting isn't

it?"

The globe on the other side of the room has now kicked into life too. There are more clunk noises and whilst the boys had not seen them before, there are other globes deeper into the room and they are also starting to glow.

Andrew sees Stuart pointing at the large coils, he spins to see that there is a sort of haze forming in the space between the coils.

Andrew finds himself drawn towards the haze that is forming in the space between those large coils. As he approaches, he can hear several high pitched whines, each with its own tune. Like a massive musical instrument, that also plays light. That is not the only thing it is playing with, as Andrew feels drawn to it like a bar of metal drawn to a magnet, he cannot resist the draw of the sounds and patterns.

Stuart implores, "Don't go near it, you could get a shock!" However, he also finds himself walking towards the shimmering patterns.

The area that the dancing light is taking up, seems to be increasing in size, by the second, the patterns generated, are more spectacular. Yet more colours are appearing now. The whole is more hypnotic, holding the boys whole attention. So much so, that they do not hear the frantic clicking taking place around them. It is like a gigantic clock that has gone horribly wrong. The passing of seconds, no longer counting out single seconds, but several at the same time.

The two boys standing side by side, totally unaware that the bubble that is the light show, which is enthralling them, has gown in size and is now enveloping them also.

The patterns before them, seem to have some order to them, like an artist painting a scene, at first you just see blobs of colour changing in size and the edges being merged with other colours as more detail is added. Whilst at the edges of the scene being laid out before the boys, remain blurred and continuously changing in shape and colour.

There's a loud clunk sound that brings the boys back to the here and now of the situation, but it is too late, the globe of light surrounding them expands and then sweeps them towards the coils and...... beyond!

~~o~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 3 - Beyond

Stuart is first to speak, "The air seems to taste strange, is it safe?"

"Who knows? I don't even know where we are, let alone whether it is safe here." Andrew picks himself up off the floor, the landing had been rather rough and he smarts as he dusts himself off and in so doing, brushes against some bruises. He asks Stuart, "You alright? I seem to have bruised myself a bit, but as far as I can tell no broken bones."

"My left leg hurts a bit, probably sprained it. Apart from that I think I'm alright. So what about the air, you noticed the taste?" asks Stuart.

Andrew pauses before answering, then replies, "Sort of metal taste, not unpleasant, but unusual. I wonder where we are? It is a very large room, you can tell by the echo."

"Also not been used for a while, you can tell that, by the dust." adds Stuart brushing himself down with his hand.

"Noticed that its not completely dark in here? Those panels above seem to be letting in some light, not much admittedly." suggests Andrew.

"Whoever owns this place is as house proud as the last room we were in." Stuart complains.

"Neither appear to have been used in a long time. Perhaps the same person owned both places and that equipment was just a quick way to travel between them?"

Stuart sighs, "Well there's no apparent way to get back, this place looks totally empty."

"Hey perhaps it was intended as an emergency escape route and only one way transport." Andrew suggests.

"So, so how are we going to get back?" asks Stuart in a worried tone.

"Probably shank's pony."

"What?" asks Stuart confused.

"My dad often calls walking, travelling by Shanks' pony." replies Andrew.

"But we don't know what direction or how far." protests Stuart.

"We'll probably see the hotel from this place. I can't imagine it'll be that far away. Whatever that device was, back there, probably couldn't transmit very far." Andrew starts walking across the large room, hoping that he is heading towards an exit. Stuart follows.

As the boys reach the far wall, there is a rumbling sound, they look behind them and see that a whole section of wall is opening, revealing the outside of the building. There isn't much to see as the light is quite dim, twilight, the light between night and day. The boys change their heading, towards the opening in the wall. They nearly reach it when they hear a strange sound.

Stuart suddenly takes a sharp intake of breath, as if he has had a shock. As Andrew has seen nothing out of the ordinary, he asks, "What's the matter Stew?"

Stuart stuttering says, "O o over the there, I saw something over there."

"Yeah? What did it look like?"

Stuart still having difficulty forming his words properly replies, "It,it wa, was hu, huge, had se, several legs."

Andrew reassures him with, "Probably a shadow cast from something a distance away. Light like this, plays tricks with your eyes, difficult to see stuff properly. We did something in science about that."

The sound can be heard, this time doubled up.

Andrew catches sight of something himself now and sure enough it does look huge. Large oval body, with several legs, with something sticking up out of one end. Now, as whatever the creature is, turns slightly, there's another something sticking up at the other end and several things sticking out of the body. It is difficult to make sense of it all, as whatever it is keeps moving. What is more trying to make sense of something, when all you can see is its shadow, is very difficult. It looks almost like two spiders, one standing on the ground and the other with its legs in the air, but two heads, both pointing upwards.

"There are two of those things!" exclaims Stuart. Sure enough a second one has now come into sight, or at least its shadow has.

"Quick lets hide, they could be dangerous." suggests Andrew.

Stuart is quite surprised, what happened to Andrew's, 'light causing strange images' theory and where should they hide, this place is totally open space, there's nothing to hide behind or in.

Andrew heads towards the doorway and flattens himself against the wall and indicates that Stuart do the same. As Stuart can't think of anything else to suggest, he follows suit.

The two boys wait. The noises get louder, then suddenly something comes through the entrance. It has a dark red, almost brown shiny skin, well more like a shell. It looks like a giant insect, there are several legs, quite thick, but multi-jointed. They are black and move quite slowly and smoothly. The head has several dark panels, presumably eyes. Whatever it is, appears to have seen the boys, the head has swung round and is pointed straight at them, the legs are navigating the creature slowly towards them. There are several limbs sticking up in the air, they each appear to have different endings and are moving independent of each other waving around in the air, almost as if their movements are assisting the creature in its navigation. The creature is about twice the height of the boys.

"Quick we may be able to outrun them." Andrew shouts and starts running away from the creature. Stuart follows suit and seems like he is making good headway and keeping up with Andrew, when suddenly he feels himself being picked up, his arms restrained. The hold is firm but gentle, which takes Stuart by surprise, as the creature looked as if it was made of metal, but clearly not. Stuart stops trying to run, it is pointless now, as his legs are horizontal and there's nothing to kick or interact with.

Stuart hears protests coming from Andrew, looks in the direction that the sounds are coming from and sees the second of these creatures has Andrew also in a horizontal position. The only difference being that Andrew is putting up a fight. Stuart feels guilty and wonders if he should also be putting up a fight. As he watches Andrew, he comes to the conclusion that it wouldn't achieve much if he did, as Andrew is making no headway at all and the creature doesn't seem in the least phased by Andrew's struggles.

Stuart can feel that his creature is turning and heading back towards the doorway. Stuart can no longer see Andrew. He hopes that the second creature will follow and that the two boys won't be separated. What is more, he hopes that they don't end up as food for either these creatures or their offspring.

The creature holding Stuart has moved him above its heads and changes its hold on him. Stuart is still horizontal but feels more comfortable. The ride is quite smooth, despite the fact that the speed of travel is increasing rapidly.

As the creature emerges out of the building, Stuart finds himself thrust into what seems like a sandstorm. He has to close his eyes and finds it hard to breath, if only his arms were free, he could attempt to protect his face. As he carefully breaths in, he can feel the grains of whatever is in the air, hit the back of his throat. Not a pleasant feeling and seems to be the source of the metallic smell, as there is a strong taste of metal now.

Whilst Stuart can no longer see, he can feel that the speed of the creature has considerably increased, perhaps it is also suffering due to the storm. Well perhaps storm, is the wrong description, as there is very little sound from the movement of air, apart from the noise that the particles are making as they strike the creature and Stuart's shoes.

Stuart struggles for breath, trying to reduce the amount of the particles that he swallows, yet at the same time trying to get enough air. He tries moving his head, to find a better position, to reduce his intake of particles, but there doesn't seem to be a best position. Stuart hopes the journey is short and also that Andrew is alright and following close behind.

Finally there is relief as the bombardment of the particles ceases and there is a metallic echo sound. Stuart's creature has slowed considerably now. Stuart tries to open his eyes, but there are still particles around and as soon as he tries to open his eyelids, he can feel the grit find its way into

the corner of the eye that he tries to open. If only his arms were free. He will just have to be more patient and wait until this creature puts him down. Stuart just hopes, that it won't be in order to feed its offspring. He will have to respond quickly, as soon as his arms are free. Stuart runs through plans in his mind, as to what his actions will be and he varies the plans in response to possible actions from the creature and the possible circumstances that Stuart will face.

The journey continues, so does the intake of particles, at least the ones still stuck up Stuart's nose. Not a comfortable position to be in.

Time ticks by. Stuart listens carefully, in-case there are any clues, as to where he is being taken, but thus far, echoes and yet more echoes of the creature's movements. Although Stuart is relieved that he can hear sounds from the second creature's movements also. There is a new sound now, the sound of metal scraping against metal, could this be a door?

Stuart's creature pauses, when the scraping sound stops the creature resumes its movement. The creature following, does not even pause and is now beside Stuart's creature, he can tell this from the sounds.

The journey continues for a little while, Stuart tries to open his eyes several times, but the pain from the grit just too much to bear, so he gives in.

The creatures come to a halt.

'Here it comes, the moment of truth.' thinks Stuart to himself. He can hear Andrew spluttering somewhere beside him, protesting at the grit. Stuart feels himself being lowered, he readies himself to spring into action as soon as his arms are free. His feet touch the ground. 'won't be long now!' thinks Stuart.

Sure enough, Stuart soon finds the creature releasing its grip on his arms. Stuart wipes his hands on his trousers, removing any last remnants of dust off them. He dives into one of the trouser pockets and pulls out the packet of tissues, he struggles to open it, easy when you can see, but not so when you can't. Then he pulls out a tissue and wipes his eyes and then blows his nose. He cautiously opens his eyes, they are still rather sore, but at least he can see. They are in a largish room, which by the looks of the walls is made of metal.

Stuart glances round and sees Andrew struggling to get his own tissues out. As he is within reach, Stuart fetches one of his own tissues and hands it out to Andrew and says, "Here take one of my tissues, to the left of you."Andrew swings blindly round and feebly reaches out until their hands connect and the exchange takes place. Soon both boys are able to see and glad that thus far the creatures that brought them here, seem to have no intent on eating the boys. There also appears to be no other threat to their lives at the moment. The reason the boys have been brought here, is not evident. They wait in silence, nervously scanning around the room and keeping an eye on these creatures, who like themselves are also remaining quiet.

The seconds tick by, with nothing happening and the boys wondering what the wait is all about. presumably something will be happening, but no sign as yet as to what.

Suddenly a whole segment of wall slides open.

The boys brace themselves for the worse possible scenarios, perhaps swarm of these insect like creatures will feast upon them, or perhaps it is to be the feeding frenzy of the children of these creatures. Thus far, there is nothing beyond the opening wall, apart from yet more empty space.

Then something appears behind the next segment of wall. It is a man, or at least appears to be a man, dressed in a somewhat old fashioned suit. He stands absolutely still, like a robot awaiting a command. The head suddenly moves, as if scanning the two boys carefully. Then the figure moves, it is walking, walking towards the two boys. They look at each other, their faces appearing to ask the same question of each other, to stand still or attempt to run for it?

The figure, now halfway, speaks. It is a man's voice. It says, "Hello, have you come from earth?"

The boys still alternating between looking at each other and monitoring the progress of this figure. They do not reply.

The figure still advancing at a fair speed, speaks again, "It is alright, I will not harm you. You do speak English, don't you? There I go assuming that English is still widely spoken, it may be different in the future. I presume that you are from my future, you seem somewhat strangely dressed, at least in comparison with those of my time. I am Henry Englefield by the way." The figure holds out a hand, as if offering it in friendship to shake hands.

The boys look at each other again, the unasked question being, to trust this figure or not?

The figure continues to advance and is now only about two and a half metres away. Almost close enough to touch them and advancing still closer.

He looks human, has a human face, eyes that even in this light have that human sparkle that shows life. his movements appear very human like. If it is a replica it is a very good one.

Almost a metre and the figure stops. At least it understands personal space. The hand still extended in a friendship gesture. Although it is gently lowering now, as if the man, if it is a man, has given up achieving that demonstration of friendship. He speaks again, "Don't blame you, being carted around by these hulking great things and then greeted by me. You do understand English?"

Stuart finds himself involuntarily nodding in agreement. The figure says, "Oh good, thought I was going to have to struggle with trying to piece together some other earth language and languages not really my thing you know. How did you get here?"

Stuart looks at Andrew as if for permission to speak. Andrew shrugs his shoulders. This is not good for someone who was usually the more confident of the pair. Stuart takes it that the decision is his to take, he pauses a moment then says, "We could ask you the same question. Presuming you are not native to this place."

The figure laughs, "Do I look like I'm native to this place? Nothing like. I came from England, my arrival here was an accident. I was experimenting with cross modulated radio waves, when I opened up some sort of, what would you call it? A sort of corridor through space that swallowed me up and brought me here. How about yourselves? Oh please delight me by saying that mankind has developed some sort of sophisticated long distance travelling machine that will take us all back?"

"You don't even pause for breath, are you a machine?" asks Andrew, taking Stuart and the figure completely by surprise.

The figure smiles as it replies, "Well I have been called many things in my time, but a machine is not one of them. Tend to get rather excited when I speak and forget about the breathing bit, just tucking it in between bouts of speaking. So I can see why you would think that."

Andrew remarks, "It could be a machine that believes its a person."

The figure has a very surprised look on its face, "My what a furtive imagination you have young sir. Do you have such things now in your day and age? We would not even have dreamed of such things, let alone have the capability to make them."

Stuart says, "I think he's genuine, his explanation of how we got here would seem logical."

"Well thank you for your vote of confidence and your name would be?" the figure asks.

"I'm Stuart and this is," he pauses and looks straight at Andrew as if seeking his permission to mention his name. As Andrew's ace is wearing a rather don't care less look, Stuart continues, "And this is Andrew. We came across your device by accident."

"What year do you come from?" the figure asks.

Stuart replies, "Twenty Eleven."

There's a silence for a while, then the figure replies, "Ah I see two thousand and eleven, wow what a considerable leap in time, I came here in nineteen twelve. Nearly a hundred years between the two journeys, my goodness, that long."

There is another pause, then the figure continues, "I suppose my granddaughter will be dead by now. Certainly my son and his wife will no longer be around." another pause, the figure's face contorts as if in pain, then it continues, "How, how did you get into my house in the first place? Do you live there?"

"Well not live there, we are staying there." replies Stuart.

The figure smiles as he asks "Are you related to the family?"

Stuart is quite surprised by the question and asks, "What family?"

"My family of course."

"No we are just staying at the hotel, your house is now a hotel."

"Why? What happened to my family? Or do they own the hotel?"

"I don't know I'm only a kid. I don't know who owns the hotel."

"A kid? What do you mean?"

"A child, I am only a child." Stuart's face clearly shows his fear, fear of what this man will do to him.

There is a long silence as the figure tries to make sense of the exchange that has just taken place. Stuart and Andrew look nervously at each other.

The figure speaks again, "Sorry it is just a shock to find out that your house is no longer your own and also there is no trace of your family. I did not mean to scare you. What also amazes me is the fact that my apparatus still works. I could not believe it when I got the report that you had arrived."

"Did you try to get back home?" Stuart asks.

The figure seems quite surprised at the question at first, but then replies, "I did at first, but this place is very different to our own world, there is no electricity, you see. So I was unable to replicate my apparatus. I could not set up another sympathetic field to trigger a tunnel back home. I missed my granddaughter, dreadfully at first, but it is surprising how you adapt, especially when you have things to do, such fascinating things. Why the things I have invented and made will have your eyes out on stalks. There am I waffling, let me take you there and show you."

Stuart whispers to Andrew, "Still think he is a machine? Only a man could show such emotion. Did you see the tears?"

Andrew whispers back, "Granted it all looked genuine, but I am still not 100 percent convinced. For someone who is over a hundred years old, he doesn't look that much older than your or my Dad. It could still be a robot duplicate. For the time being however, I am prepared to admit it does seem quite convincing and if it is a duplicate it is a really good one.

Henry has turned and is walking back the way he had come, he is so confident that the boys will follow, that he doesn't even look round to check.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 4 - Eyes On Stalks

Andrew starts following Henry.

Stuart asks, "Do you think we really should?"

"I thought you were the one who trusted this Henry fellow." Andrew replies in a low voice, with a somewhat despairing look.

"I just said I thought he was genuine, as in, it was him who built the stuff that brought us here. I didn't say I trusted him." Stuart whispers back.

"Well I suppose we haven't got anything else to do, might as well find out what Henry has been up to in the 99 years that he's been here. Hey that's a long time isn't it, you could achieve a lot in that time couldn't you?"

Andrew replies, then continues to follow in the direction that Henry disappeared.

Stuart follows suit. Andrew disappears round the corner and Stuart picks up speed. As he draws up level, Stuart says, "For someone who is over a hundred years old, he doesn't look, sound, or even move like someone that old. When you think my Granddad is eighty four and can just about get to the newsagent and back, this fellow moves as quickly and easily as my dad."

Andrew pauses a moment and replies, "Yes, which is precisely why I'm not so sure he is the original Henry Englefield. Perhaps whoever owns this place has made a robotoid copy of the original Henry, to keep themselves amused.

Perhaps our Henry is the companion of whoever owns this place."

"What like a servant?" asks Stuart.

Andrew pauses for thought, then replies, "Probably not a servant as such, more like something to talk with." It is then that he notices that they are being followed by the two large creatures. "I don't like the look of that, those things are following, presumably to make sure we follow Henry."

The boys jump, as they hear Henry say, "Oh do not worry about them, they are quite harmless, I assure you. The Saysestrians let me have them, to help me with my work. It would be good, though, if they had more than a basic intelligence, but however, they are quite strong and having so many limbs often comes in handy."

The boys continue to walk, getting closer by the moment, to Henry, as he stands still waiting for them to catch up.

Andrew asks, "These Say whats-its."

"Saysestrians." Henry corrects Andrew.

"Yes them, who are they?" Andrew continues.

"They are the natives of this place." Henry smiles.

"Will we be meeting them?" Andrew asks somewhat nervously.

"Inevitably, but do not worry." Henry had obviously detected the sense of fear in Andrew's voice. He continues, "They will not harm you. They are a totally peace loving race. Not far to go now, just down to the end of this corridor."

The 'just down to end of this corridor', is actually quite a distance and the boys are finding it tiring to keep up.

Finally they reach what looks like a dead end, but as Henry approaches it, the wall slides to one side. Before them is what looks like a shimmering curtain.

As the group exits the corridor, they enter a massive area, it is well lit, the walls so far away and roof is so high up, that at first the boys think they are outside the building. There are so many strange and fascinating things around them, some taller than others and each seems to have a vibrancy and dare I say it, a life of their own?

The shimmering curtain that is just inside the door, is almost like a waterfall On closer inspection, it doesn't actually look like it is falling, or that it is a liquid in the conventional sense. It almost appears like a mixture of liquid and gas.

Stuart holds out a hand to touch the substance.

Henry quickly warns him, "Do not touch that, unless you want to lose a hand or worse. It looks harmless, but it is in fact quite dangerous. I had to abandon all my experimentation on that, as we were losing too many limbs."

The boys look at each other, the fear in their faces, quite unmistakeable.

"What is it?" Andrew asks.

"Some sort of life form of a lower order, it seems to eat most things that it comes into contact with. Luckily there are some things that it doesn't eat, in fact I found it contained in one such substance. The basin that it is standing in is made of the same stuff. I only keep it as it is fascinating to watch and I love throwing it something to digest every so often. As for a name neither I nor the Saysestrians, have come up with a name for it. Open to suggestions if you have any."

Henry heads off to another of his exhibits. He waits for the boys to conclude their fascination with the last one and join him.

"This was one of my earlier discoveries, I call it a problemator. I have played around with the materials of this place and found uses for most of them. Some when combined with others can produce quite interesting effects. The four components that this is made of interact with each other and can switch states depending on what state the segments before it are in. Sometimes it will let light through and other times it will not. Not making myself clear am I?"

Andrew replies, "On the contrary, quite clear, it's like a computer."

"A what?" asks Henry.

"A kind of thinking machine." Stuart adds.

"So you have also discovered a logic switch." Andrew suggests.

"Now you have me confused." Henry replies.

"A switch can be in two states, on or off, add sufficient switches each dependent upon those before it and you have a device capable of making decisions."

"Right I understand now. You are quite correct. I have long since moved on with tri-state. In fact these the Kelidons." Henry points to the two large insect like creatures following them. Then continues, "The Kelidons work on tri-state. It was the Saysestrians that taught me about tristate."

Stuart fascinated by Henry's problemator, asks, "So how does it work?"

"Well you have these inputs here."

"It's like an unlabelled keyboard." suggests Andrew.

"Most disconcerting young man, the way you throw in these names. Anyway, the inputs are made here and the outputs appear on this screen here. Mind you it is so long ago since I built this thing that I forget exactly how it works now. I can no longer remember what the displays mean. I used it for quite a while to solve various design problems. Then when I discovered tri-state it seemed to be pointless to continue with this antiquated machine, but I kept it out of sentiment more than anything else." Henry moves onto the next exhibit, the boys following closely at his heals.

The latest item is a large transparent cylinder with a large tube going in at the bottom and snaking its way towards a wall and disappearing through the wall. At the top of the cylinder are several short lengths of pipe sticking out and curving downwards, the open end pointing towards the ground.

Stuart remarks, "Wow the air seems to be quite different here."

Henry replies, "Yes, this is an air cleaner, it takes that awful metallic taste out of the air and makes this room more comfortable. If you look closely, you will see small creatures crawling up or down the interior of the cylinder, or on that circular net about half way up. They filter out the metallic elements, they actually eat the stuff. Then if you look down in the lower half, you will see somewhat larger creatures, they actually drive the pump that circulates the air. Those creatures feed on the, what should I call it? Hmm, waste products that the others produce. A very dependent partnership, that works really well. The end product being a much more pleasant air as you have noticed."

Andrew says, "How clever. How did you realise that these two creatures could

help you out like this?"

Henry most pleased at Andrew's enthusiasm replies, "Well I had noticed that one creature appeared to eat anything metallic, the Saysestrians suggested that I could adjust the creatures so that they could extract the metal from the air. It worked, but the creatures couldn't get enough air to keep them alive. So I needed to make some sort of pump, I had noticed that there were some creatures that liked crawling and in so doing, they expanded and contracted. I had an idea that I could use that movement somehow. The Saysestrians suggested that I could modify the creatures so that they drive a sort of bellows arrangement. I also managed to alter their diet so they feed on the waste products of the first creatures. As you can see from their size, they thrive on it. Oh I am forgetting, you didn't see them when I first put them in the apparatus. Anyway, this arrangement works rather well. One creature extracts its metal diet and their waste feeds the others who in return provide enough volume of air to keep the first set well fed. I in turn, get metal free air. A truly symbiotic relationship."

Andrew says, "Sounds like something that they are messing about with back home, genetic engineering."

"What did you call it?" asks Henry.

"That's right, genetic engineering, where they alter the genes, the building blocks of life." adds Stuart, pleased that he had something to say on the subject.

"Does sound similar, except we adjust the cells that the creature is made of." replies Henry.

"It is very clever." says Stuart.

"You will like this next one." Henry walks off towards another of his exhibits.

The boys can see that it is giving out a rather attractive light that it is a light orange in colour similar to the skin of an apricot.

"These are very small creatures that you need a really strong magnifier to see. When I first discovered them, they gave out a very faint green light. I managed to modify their diet and now the light they give off is much stronger and towards the red end of the spectrum as you can see. I have made lots of panels of these things, they just need to be fed with water. In fact if you look at the tops of the walls they are lined with them. Extends my day nicely."

"Reminds me of some of the sea creatures that glow in the dark." Stuart suggests.

"Really?" asks Henry.

The tour of Henry's laboratory continues, much to the amusement and fascination of the boys.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 5 - The Saysestrians

Henry leads the way to what he has referred to as the chamber of conversations. He has promised that the boys will meet with the Saysestrians. They arrive at a very ornate doorway, the rectangular frame has quite fanciful figures carved into it. The door itself has a rather exotic scene that looks like a tropical garden.

Stuart says, "Wow this is amazing, who made it?"

Henry replies, "Well don't look at me, I have no artistic talent at all. This was done by the Saysestrians, before the time of conversion."

Andrew asks, "The time of conversion, what is that?"

Henry smiles as he replies, "You will understand when you meet the Saysestrians. Now stay here, I just have to go in on my own and let the Saysestrians know that you wish to meet with them. They are really nice, but sticklers for protocol, so I will have to make petition on your behalf for an audience."

The door opens as Henry waves his hands before a dull looking bump sticking out of the carved patterns of the right hand vertical frame element. The room beyond is totally white, but never-the-less looks quite luxurious, decorated to the hilt with flowing curved cloths and items of furniture with delicate carvings. The boys do not have time to take it all in, as the door slides shut again.

The boys can hear mumbling, as Henry makes his 'petition' to the Saysestrians.

Suddenly there is a booming voice, that asks, "Here? They have come here? Did you summon them?"

Further mumbling and then the booming voice replies, "How many of them?"

Stuart whispers to Andrew "The Saysestrian do not seem at all pleased about us being here, do you think it will be alright?"

Andrew pauses a moment before replying, "Probably just a shock that after all these years. Then suddenly arrive out of the blue."

The booming voice says, "Very well, bring them in."

The door slides open again and Henry re-appears. He says, "Sorry if you overheard any of that, the Saysestrians were as surprised as I was about your arrival. Please go in, don't worry I will come with you."

As the boys enter the rather brightly lit room, the lone tall figure cloaked in black shiny material, stands out really well against the background of the pure white walls. The figure seems to have its back to them.

Each step takes the boys yet closer to that cloaked figure. The boys move slowly and nervously towards the entrance, their heads scanning back and forth between the cloaked figure and Henry. Henry has an encouraging smile, whilst the cloaked figure has nothing visible with which the boys can judge it's intent. Only the recollection of the voice that they had heard. The one that had seemed so menacing. Nothing in it indicated any real desire to meet the boys. Yet why is Henry so keen to introduce them? Each step, seems like a step further towards danger, big danger.

Henry joins the boys as they walk through the doorway. The group head towards the black figure. The boys jump as they hear the door slide shut. Their escape route now blocked. Yet Henry seems oblivious to their fear, he seems quite joyous at the prospect of the meeting. He must have grown to know and trust these Saysestrians quite well. After all he has been here nearly a hundred years. How many such meetings has he held over all that time?

Henry walks in unison with the boys, they advance as one group.

The black figure has, in all this time, not moved even the slightest amount, almost as if it were a statue. This in itself makes the meeting even more foreboding.

The figure, does not turn around as they approach, it is almost as if it is not aware of their presence.

Henry stops and the boys follow suit. Henry says, "These are our visitors. Oh I sorry I have forgotten your names, I have not had need for names in all the time I have been here."

The boys look nervously at each other, as if the telling their names would give extra power to this cloaked figure.

Andrew responds, "Hello, I am Andrew and this is my friend Stuart."

The cloaked figure does not move, but does reply, "We welcome you, And Rew, and Stew Art, citizens of Henry's home. We welcome you amongst us, as we first welcomed Henry."

There is an embarrassing silence.

Henry breaks the silence, "These boys accidentally switched on the same device that bought me here. Their parents are probably worried about them. Where were your parents when you came here?"

Stuart says, "They are staying in the hotel also."

"Oh yes." Henry suddenly seems to have lost interest in the conversation thread as he continues, "The boys have seen some of my work and are quite enthusiastic about it."

The cloaked figure asks, "Could they help you in your work?"

"I doubt it they are children." Henry replies.

"What are these children that you speak of? Are they a lesser species?" The figure asks.

"No!" Henry seems somewhat disturbed by the accusation that the boys are somewhat lacking in intellect, he continues, "They are the young of our species, our progeny."

"Ah yes, we used to have those at one time. Perhaps these.... children of your future bring with them new knowledge that you could benefit from."

There is a pause before Henry thoughtfully replies, "You have a point there. They may be of help in my work."

"It may be that their arrival is timely, after all we have not made sufficient progress to the present time." The accusation by the Saysestrian, causes some discomfort to Henry, it shows in his face, like a child being told that their school report did not come up to their parents' expectations, yet the child believed they were doing well.

Henry finds it within himself to defend himself with, "I thought I was making good progress, I was not aware that you had any sense of disappointment in what I was achieving."

"You have achieved small steps along the path, but our overall aim does not seem to be within close grasp."

Henry counters this with, "I have had some success. You must admit that."

The boys detect the desperation in Henry's attempts to convince the figure that his work has been worthwhile.

The figure pauses before replying, "You have achieved a lot. With these, these children from your future you may be able to achieve a lot more."

Andrew asks, "Excuse me, but surely it is most important to try and find a way to get us home and back to our parents?"

"Parents?" The figure asks.

"The progenitors." Henry replies to the figure, then turns his attention to the boys as he continues, "As I explained it will not be possible to get you back home there is no electricity here."

"Is there something else that we could use instead?" Asks Andrew.

"No, I am afraid not, I have searched, but found nothing." Henry replies.

"It may help things if you can make these progeny comfortable." suggests the figure.

Henry asks, "What do you mean?"

"Provide for their immediate needs, like you required when you first came here, things to eat, drink, somewhere to, what do you call it?"

"Sleep?" asks Henry.

"Yes. That may help things." the figure, whilst it does not say anything extra, somehow gives out the sense that the audience is drawing to a close. Perhaps it is the slight rotation away from the group.

Henry responds, "Yes, yes, quite, we must go now. Thank you for this audience. Say good bye boys. No doubt you will meet the Saysestrian again."

Stuart starts to ask a question and gets as far as, "What there is only..." But Henry's look tells him that the audience is over.

Henry turns and walks towards the doorway and it in turn, responds by sliding open again.

The boys turn to observe Henry's action. When they turn back again towards where the black figure had been, there is just an empty space.

~~0~~0~~0~~

# Chapter 6 - Don't Give Up Hope

The two boys are now in a room on their own. Henry has provided some bedding material, that is light brown in colour but feels really soft and warm. It has the texture of some sort of spun fibre, like cotton wool.

Andrew has waited some considerable time before saying, "That Saysestrian, must have been a projection of some sort, to disappear like that. Perhaps this whole place is some sort of virtual world, not real at all. That Henry beggars belief, he just followed whatever the Saysestrian suggested."

"Are you back on your entertainment theory again?" asks Stuart.

"What?" Andrew asks somewhat confused.

"You know, what you were saying before, Henry is a robotoid built by the natives of this place, to keep them entertained?" Stuart replies.

Andrew says, "Not so much, to entertain, more like make things for them. Did you hear what the Saysestrian was saying about Henry's work and his progress? Sounded like they have set him a particular task and he hasn't quite come up with what they were looking for. It also looks like they are going to hold onto us, so that we can come up with it instead."

"I didn't like the way that the Saysestrian, didn't challenge Henry when he said that it wouldn't be possible to get us back home." Stuart remarks.

"And why should they or it? Because they want us to work for them, that's why." Andrew states, then he sits down on his pile of bedding.

There's silence for a while, then Stuart asks, "Do you think we are going to end up trapped like this Henry fellow?"

"Not if I have anything to do with it. I'm sure there's got to be a way round this problem, after all just look at the marvels that Henry has managed to produce so far. There is probably something already which he has invented, that combined with our flair for making stuff will produce a way home. Don't give up hope like Henry has." says Andrew.

Stuart is rather annoyed that Andrew should accuse him of giving up hope, he was merely seeking Andrew's view on the situation, he wasn't declaring that he had given up. Stuart just sits silently looking at the floor.

Andrew realises that Stuart is not happy about his accusation, but cannot think of a way to ease things, so he simply says, "Lets get some sleep, tomorrow could be a really busy day."

Stuart settles down without a word, but although he is tired, he finds himself too worried about what his parents will be thinking about the disappearance of the two boys and come to that will he ever see them again? He finds himself also thinking about that cloaked figure in that white room, just what has it got planned for the boys? If they refuse to help Henry with whatever he is supposed to do for these Saysestrians, what will they do to him and Andrew? Perhaps they will end up being foodstuff for those large insect like creatures.

The light fades, there's just dim light now coming from the ceiling, Stuart can make out the stars through the window in the roof. He wonders how far away his home is, and whether they are looking at the same stars, but from a different direction?

~~o~~o~~o~~o~~

Stuart didn't think he had slept, but the daylight streaming down on his face now, brings him round. He feels a little groggy, like someone finding it difficult to wake up. He looks around to see if Andrew is awake, but his pile of bedding is empty. What has happened to Andrew?

"You OK?" Andrew asks, "I thought it best to let you sleep. I think our Henry is up and about, I heard someone or something go up the corridor earlier."

There's a tap tap on the door.

Andrew responds, "Yes, it's OK to come in."

The door slides open to reveal Henry standing at the entrance with a tray in his hand. He says, "Good morning I thought I would bring breakfast to you, hope you had a good sleep."

Both Stuart and Andrew are standing now. Henry enters and offers them the tray. There are three glasses with coloured liquid in them. Henry takes one and invites the boys to take theirs.

Andrew is first to take a sip. He spits it out with the protest, "Yuck! Its so bitter."

Henry smiles and replies, "Sorry I should have warned you, it is an acquired taste, made from a local berry, but very healthy, contains lots of vitamins and other helpful substances that pep you up first thing in the morning."

Stuart says, "Sounds like coffee, my Dad says he wouldn't be able to get started without it. I tried it once and it was so bitter. Do you have any sugar perhaps that would help?"

Henry pauses a moment then exclaims, "Ah I think you have it, wait here I'll get some Yazi fruit, that's very sweet, in fact so much so that I can't eat it on its own. I will be back in a short while."

Henry hands the tray to Stuart and departs at speed.

Stuart examines the fruits on the plate nearest him, the cautiously tastes one. He exclaims, "Hey try this it has the feel of bread and yet it is quite tasty."

Andrew finds some on the plate nearest him and soon replies, "Yes very nice, I could go for this a breakfast food."

By the time Henry returns with a new glass of a rather green liquid, the boys have almost finished their plates. Henry tops up the glasses with this new liquid an suggests, "Try that, let me know if it isn't sweet enough."

The boys do as suggested, Stuart likes his as it is, whereas Andrew asks for a little more. He is soon happily polishing off his drink. Henry is catching up.

Stuart asks, "How did you find out what was safe to eat and drink here?"

Henry smiles and replies, "Good question. Well mostly, it was the Saysestrians who helped me identify what things were likely to be safe. I did have one narrow escape though, they had directed me to a sort of fungus that they used to consider as a delicacy, luckily I only tried a small amount, as I nearly died. I was ill for several days."

"Lucky you didn't eat a lot." Stuart comments.

Henry nods and replies, "It certainly was, I did not like the taste. As we have now finished breakfast, I suggest we go to my laboratory as the Saysestrians want me to show you what I am currently working on."

Andrew asks, "You said yesterday that you have investigated all the materials of this place, were any magnetic?"

Henry looks puzzled but answers, "No, there were no magnetic materials at all, which I thought was most strange."

"How about crystalline?" Andrew asks.

"Well a few, in fact these glasses are made from one. I have a collection of them in my laboratory, some are quite attractive. In fact I have a large one as a paperweight on my desk." Henry replies.

"Could you show them to me?" Andrew smiles.

Henry says, "Well if you are that interested, of course. Come with me now."

The group make their way back to the large room that serves as Henry's laboratory.

Henry leads the boys past the exit that they had emerged from yesterday and instead travel up the corridor into a smaller adjoining room. There are several benches inside and a rather untidy rectangular table, that is covered with various things, presumably things that Henry is currently working on. Sure enough in one corner is a rather attractive brightly coloured object that looks like it is made of glass. The object has several spikes sticking out.

Andrew carefully picks up the object from Henry's desk, he turns it over in his hand, observing the changing colours as the light from the roof panels catch each of the spikes in turn. Andrew says, "I can see why you like this one, rather cool eh?"

"You think so? I thought it seemed to retain ambient temperature." Henry is rather surprised at Andrew's observation.

"Oh I see, I mean it is interesting. I wasn't referring to its temperature." Andrew puts the item down.

"You have a strange way of speaking, you people from the future. You do not seem to mean what you say some of the time."

"Suppose so." Andrew replies, then asks, "Where are the other samples of crystallines?"

Henry walks over to a bench in the corner, and comes back with a tray of what looks like pieces of different coloured glass blobs. "Here they are."

Stuart asks, "What are you looking for?"

Andrew replies, "I'm not sure, but I know that some crystalline structures can, when squashed, produce electricity."

"That's right, isn't quartz one?" asks Stuart.

"I think so, they use the effect in electronic lighters. Henry have you got anything that could squash these?"

Henry looking somewhat confused, doesn't reply immediately, then his face changes to a look of delight as he leads the boys back out into laboratory and over to some large device with a pile of round smooth stones beside it.

Andrew declares, "Excellent, we are in business. right if I may?" Andrew reaches out and takes one of the glass like objects and places it in the centre of the device. Henry places a large board on top then starts placing stone on top of the board, one at a time. Henry asks, "How will we know if it is producing electricity?"

"We'll see sparks jump across the surface." Stuart replies.

"Quite so." Andrew relies>

Henry volunteers to reduce the lighting and in so doing, show off yet another of his inventions.

Several samples latter, Andrew suddenly lets out a yelp of pain and jumps.

"What's the matter Andrew?" Stuart reaches out, but Andrew's warning stops him.

"D don't! You'll get a shock. We we've found it!"

Henry smiling, says, "Well done, I would have never though of doing that. Shame you had to suffer an electric shock in the process. All we need now is to replicate the oscillators and somehow change the direct current to alternating current."

"I may have a few ideas there, that you and I could explore. Looks like we have quite a lot of work ahead of us." Andrew suggests.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 7 - Determined

"Well it is certainly looking looking good now." Stuart remarks.

"It certainly is young Stuart, how are things going in the energy generation department?" Henry asks.

Stuart, full of pride replies, "Only one shock today and that was because I was a bit careless when I was removing one of the stones and dropped it, causing a bigger charge than normal. Made me jump, I can assure you. We now have 40 batteries charged. I had a peek earlier at your work, seems to be coming along well, Andrew tells me that you have the first stage of oscillators completed and tested, how much more work do you think will be involved?"

Henry encouraged by Stuart's enthusiasm says, "We have three more stages to complete, but as we now know how to build them it should be much faster. I have to give the Saysestrians a report on the progress of our work, this afternoon."

"Surely they are not interested in this?" Stuart waves his hand in the direction of their handiwork.

"Er, no, they still think we are working on their project." Henry replies.

Stuart asks, "You never told us what that was. Just what do they want us to do anyway?"

Henry somewhat embarrassed says, "Well make bodies for them."

"What?" asks Stuart.

"Oh of course, I didn't tell you did I?"

Stuart looks rather worried, "Tell us what?"

"Well the Saysestrians are a very advanced race and they tinkered with cellular manipulation in order to improve themselves. At first it was to eradicate some pretty nasty illnesses. Spurred by that success, they went further and further and eventually ended up freeing themselves from the need for a body. It was seen as the ultimate improvement of their race and is referred to now as 'the time of conversion'. In preparation for this they devised the kelidons to act as their bodily representatives and servants on this world. The problem was, they neglected one small detail, they have no way of communicating with the kelidons, they are basically machines that take programmed steps or simple verbal commands. The task that the Saysestrians set me to do, was to invent new bodies for them, to give them back their bodily presence."

"Surely they can talk to the Kelidons surely, we heard them talking to us." Stuart ask.

"Actually I thought that, first time I met them, but in fact, they communicate by thought not by sound. So the Kelidons just totally ignore the Saysestrians, as they don't have a mind as such, but a machine brain."

Stuart is amazed, "Wow so they are like robots? So what are you going to tell them?"

"Tell who what?" Henry asks.

"The Saysestrians, when you do the update report." Stuart replies.

Andrew has walked in and suggests, "You could just say that we are working on some side research that you think will help with their project."

Henry enthusiastically replies, "Yes that sounds good, but what if they ask for details?"

"Give them some bull about bio-mechanics." Stuart suggests.

"What?" asks Henry.

Andrew throws Stuart one of his scowling, 'that wasn't very helpful' looks, and suggests, "Tell them that you have found out from us that you had been almost on the right track, but we introduced you to bio-mechanics and give them some blurb about moving and controlling things with the aid of electrical impulses. Then tell them about our ability to generate and store electrical energy. If they ask any more detailed questions, just tell them that you don't know anything more at this time, but it looks promising. No, very promising. That should do the trick."

Henry looks somewhat confused and admits, "If only I could remember all that."

Stuart adds, "Well it doesn't really matter if you don't, they will think you have just become confused by the future technical terms. So long as you sound enthusiastic, they should buy it."

"They have no money so why would they want to buy anything?" Henry asks.

"Just do your best Henry, just do your best." Andrew encourages him.

Henry sets off back to the task he was doing, whilst trying to rehearse what he is going to say at the afternoon meeting.

~~o~~o~~o~~

Henry enters the office with a rather sullen look on his face.

"Didn't go well then?" asks Stuart.

"No, they know we are not working on their project and have told me that they are most displeased and if we do not get back on target soon, it will be the worst for us all." Henry replies.

"What do they mean by that?" Asks Andrew, looking up from his work.

"They were not specific, but clearly indicated their level of displeasure and I can only assume that the punishment would match." Henry replies.

Andrew protests, "But that's not fair, you are not obligated to help them out, now that we may have found a way back home. After all, you have given them 99 years of your life."

"I do not think I have actually been here for 99 years, we had assumed that to be the case, just because 99 years have passed between our two journeys. However, thinking about things logically, I do not look nor feel like I am aged 60 let alone well over a 100 years. As I have never kept any records of the passing of time, I have no real way of judging how much time has passed. Looking back at things, I do not feel like it could possibly have been anywhere near that length of time." Henry replies, ignoring the fairness aspect altogether.

"Well we had wondered ourselves on that score, as you look around the same age as our Dads." Stuart says.

Henry most intrigued asks, "Oh and how old are they, may I be so bold as to ask?"

"Don't know for sure, but early 40's, wouldn't you say Andrew?"

Andrew nods in agreement, obviously unable himself to provide a more accurate estimate.

"As I was 41 when I came here, that means I have probably only been here ten to fifteen years at the most, as I look and feel no older than in my early fifties. Interesting; so as well as being able to travel considerable distances, my device can allow the user to travel in time."

"If we carry on with our own work, what is the worst that the Saysestrians can do to us? Have you seen the Saysestrians do anything aggressive?" asks Andrew.

"Well, no I have not, but I can imagine it would not be wise to annoy them." Henry replies.

Andrew smiling says, "There's wise and wise. We would be unwise to abandon our search for a way out of here. I for one want to get back home. The thought of being stuck here for the rest of my days does not appeal to me. Are you up for continuing with our work or are you going to continue to bow to the wishes of the Saysestrians?"

Henry does not answer immediately, there seems to be a great deal of torment going on in his head as he works through the options. Eventually he smiles and says, "Feels like being a rebel, but I have given enough of my time and life over to these Saysestrians, time for me to help you get back home."

Andrew, not comfortable with the reply, says, "No Henry you have to be doing this for your benefit too, otherwise this lot will convince you to stay here and complete your work for them and you deserve to return home, who knows, you may be able to find members of your family."

"You are right, I must want this for myself. Let us go for it and hang what the Saysestrians have planned for us, I have been away from home too long."

Stuart says, "OK then, its one for all and all for one!"

Henry smiles and asks, "Wasn't that the three musketeers?"

"It sure was." Stuart raises his hand and asks, "Who's with me?" The three touch hands and repeat Stuart's phrase, "One for all and all for one."

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 8 – Convincing

Henry says, "The Saysestrians want to see me, they must know that we are still not working on their project."

"How do you know that they want to see you?" Stuart asks.

"I just get the idea in my head that they desire an audience. Normally I would drop what I am doing and go straight to the chamber of audiences." Henry's face shows that he's worried.

Stuart replies, "The Saysestrians will only want to tell you again that they are displeased that we haven't stopped our work and just to get on with their work, so it would be a pointless meeting. As they haven't done anything to us yet, it just goes to show how big and powerful they aren't."

Henry looks a little more relaxed as he says, "You are right, it would be a pointless meeting. We have too much to do anyway. We still have to make the wires for the coils. I am glad the oscillators are working so well. All we have to do now is find something that will give them a steady input signal. Andrew is working on some ideas on that front. Frankly I am at a loss as to how it could be done at all."

Stuart replies, "I have been trying to think of something myself, but so far nothing. He has been messing about with with those crystals for ages as if they would have the answer, but I can't see how they possibly can. He managed to buckle the plates of one of my batteries with his experimentation."

Suddenly Henry clasps at his throat with one hand and then starts waving around wildly with the other arm, as if having a fit.

Stuart realises that Henry cannot breathe, but he does not know what to do about it. Then suddenly remembers something about slapping backs. Not knowing why, he sets about slapping Henry hard on the back, hoping that whatever is stopping Henry breathe will be cleared. Stuart slaps and slaps, Henry still struggling to breathe now tries to contend with stopping Stuart. However, Stuart convinced that his actions are in Henry's best interest, persists. He calls out for Andrew to help.

Andrew appears at the office doorway, not believing what he is seeing, he thinks that Stuart has either lost his wits and is attacking Henry, or he is defending himself from Henry. Andrew cannot quite figure out which it is, he does not know whether to join Stuart in his apparent attack of Henry or attempt to defend Henry from Stuart's slapping. Andrew shouts, "What's going on Stew?"

"He can't breathe dork! Quick help me." Andrew pleads.

"We need to do Heinrich something or other, not the slapping." suggests Andrew.

"Well, quick he's not been breathing for some time." Stuart says.

Henry collapses.

"Oh heck can't do it when he's on the floor. What else can we do? Come on, come on brain think! I know, lets roll him over and get him on his back, I'll do mouth to mouth." Andrew kneels down, "Well come on give me a hand!"

Stuart joins Andrew and the pair roll Henry over. He is like a very large and heavy rag doll now. Stuart asks, "Do you really know how to do this?"

"No, but I've seen it on a video at school and we did it on dummies a long time ago when I was in scouts."

"Get on with it then, before he..."

Henry suddenly breathes in deeply, making both boys jump.

Andrew says, "OK recovery position, roll him onto his side. It looks like whatever it was, has cleared itself. Perhaps your thumping, did the trick after all."

The two boys roll Henry over onto his side, Andrew grabs one of Henry's arms and slides his hand under Henry's head.

"What's the point of that?" asks Stuart.

"Stops him rolling over and supports his head I think." Andrew puts his head down near Henry's mouth, he stays there for a while, before declaring, "Its OK he's breathing. I suppose I had best check his pulse, but as I don't know what it should be, I don't know if that would do any good."

"Surely if he's breathing you don't need to check the pulse, I thought that was only if you think they're dead." Stuart suggests.

"Probably right."

"What next?" asks Stuart.

"I don't know this is usually the bit where the ambulance arrives."

"Well there certainly isn't going to be an ambulance here." Stuart says.

"You are right there, its all down to us. I suppose all we can do is keep watching him to make sure he keeps breathing." Andrew says, as he gets off his knees and makes himself more comfortable sitting beside Henry.

The boys stay like this for some time.

Eventually Henry comes round and tries to get up, then lets out a yelp of pain.

"Sorry about your back. Do you want a hand to get up?" Stuart says.

Both boys help Henry get up and help him to a nearby chair. He winces when he sits down. He says, "You did a good job on my back Stuart."

"Sorry about that. You OK now?"

Henry replies, "Apart from the back and a really bad headache, yes thanks."

Andrew asks, "What happened, did you choke on something?"

"No it was the Saysestrians, they told me that next time they would finish me or one of you two off, just to prove that they mean what they say about us getting on with their work." Henry replies.

There is a noise coming from the office. The three look at each other and Andrew suddenly runs off to find out what is going on.

Stuart is unsure if he should join Andrew or stay with Henry.

Andrew exclaims, "No no they can't!"

That is the decider as far as Stuart is concerned, he has to find out what is happening. He runs off to join Andrew, only to see that the circuits that Henry and Andrew have built are on fire. Andrew runs across the office and fetches a container of water and throws it over the flames.

Stuart joins in the effort to put out the fire, he darts out of the office door and runs down the corridor to the food store, he fetches two more water containers. Andrew is waiting at the doorway and takes the containers off of Stuart. Whilst Stuart rushes off to fetch more. The two boys repeat the process several times until Andrew declares that the fire is out.

Henry is standing in the doorway, he asks, "How much damage has been done?"

Andrew says, "Difficult to tell, although I think the first stage oscillators are beyond repair, the second and third stage ones look OK, but I won't know for sure until I remove the damaged parts and test them."

"That does it as far as I am concerned, they have gone too far, there is no way that I will give in to their blackmail and I will not let them do anything to you two." Henry turns and starts to head off across the laboratory with considerable determination.

Andrew protests, "You should rest."

"No time!" Henry replies and continues to head towards the door that is now opening.

"What are you going to do?" Asks Stuart.

"Can not tell you the Saysestrians will know if I do." Henry sweeps out of the room.

The boys pause a moment then follow at speed, not to stop Henry, but to find out what Henry is going to do.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 9 - Have To Stop Them, But How?

Henry heads off along the same route as that the boys had come into the building through. Henry stops off long enough in a side room to fetch the two Kelidons and some face masks. Henry says, "If you are determined to follow me, you will need these." He hands the boys two of the masks.

The three put their masks on. Henry checks that the boys have the masks on properly, before heading for the final exit door. The dust starts entering the building as soon as the door starts to slide open. The boys follow Henry as he heads out into the storm. The Kelidons faithfully follow behind the group of three.

Stuart and Andrew notice that the ground has the same sort of look and feel as sand. Except that this sand is actually metal dust. It is very dark grey in colour. Stuart bends down and scoops some up in his hand. Expecting it to be sharp, yet it is quite smooth. The boys wonder how far they will need to walk across this stuff, as it is not easy to walk on and is quite tiring. Henry determined to reach his target soon, picks up speed and for a while the boys seem to be loosing ground, until they get used to walking on this stuff. They soon catch up. Whilst the Kelidons lumber steadily along, gradually falling further behind.

Henry glances round to check that the boys and Kelidons are still following. Assured that they are, he presses on.

Andrew and Stuart are suddenly aware that they can hear the Saysestrian as it's booming voice warns, "You must get on with the task, otherwise what happened will be less than what will be happening next."

Whilst the sentence, not phrased in normal English, it does make sense. The boys and Henry are not put off by the warning though, if anything it makes them more determined.

Henry's voice can be just heard as he suggests, "Just ignore them."

The booming voice resumes, "You can not hide from your fate, return now to the task and you will suffer no more. We intend you no harm, but what you bring on yourself."

Henry turns right and the boys can see an even larger building behind the one that they have just emerged from.

Progress is slow, as the air movement is considerably stronger than on the day the boys arrived at this place.

Andrew suddenly stops walking and appears to be grabbing his throat. Stuart realises quickly that he is suffering the same attack that Henry had suffered. Stuart knows he will not be able to cope of his own, so he rushes to catch up with Henry. At first Henry ignores Stuart's attempts to get his attention, but Stuart persists. Henry darts over to Andrew, picks him up and throws him over his shoulder. Stuart tries to challenge Henry's decision, fearing the worse for Andrew. Henry, however points to the second building which is so much closer now. They are soon inside and as the door slides shut, Henry puts Andrew down on the floor and rips off his and Andrew's face masks.

Andrew has passed out. Henry checks and by the time he looks up at Stuart, he has his face mask off too. Henry is about to speak, when the door slides open again and his words are lost in the sound of the wind as it whips up the corridor. Henry waits until the two Kelidons are safely inside and the door has closed again. Henry bends down to check Andrew again.

Henry says, "He is breathing, but it is quite weak, this dust does not help. We must get him to somewhere more comfortable, I know of such a room further in and to the left." Henry picks Andrew up gently and this time carries him in his arms. Stuart follows closely behind Henry. The two Kelidons stay where they are, as if they are guards on duty ready to protect the small group from intruders.

The room that Henry had referred to is quite a way into the building. Henry asks Stuart to wave his hand before the dull bump sticking out of the wall. Stuart does as asked, but the door does not open. Henry says, "Probably dust on the detector, just wipe it and try again."

Stuart wipes the detector and tries again and again, but nothing happens. Henry steps back and takes Stuart by surprise as he quite violently kicks the bump. Then exclaims, "Ruddy Saysestrian devices, as temperamental as the owners!"

The door slides slowly open. Henry gets impatient with it, muttering things under his breath. As the door opens wider, Stuart can see that the room appears to be quite comfortable, a long bed, strange looking chair and a table with various containers on it.

Henry soon has Andrew laying on the bed and he is checking his breathing again. Henry declares, "That is a lot better now. His breathing more steady and regular. That dust definitely didn't help. Right you stay here with him, I'll leave the door open. I just have to fetch the Kelidons."

"What are you going to do?" Stuart asks nervously.

"The rule still applies, if I tell you, they will know." Henry points towards the ceiling and Stuart knows that Henry is referring to the Saysestrians. Henry continues, "Although I suspect they have guessed already." He points to Andrew, then disappears.

Stuart bends down to check Andrew himself. Sure enough he is breathing, his eyes tightly closed as if trying to block out an image he does not wish to see. Stuart feels helpless, he wishes he knew what Henry was planning to do, especially as it involved the Kelidons. Henry's earlier words come to mind as he remembers Henry had said that the Kelidons were really useful as they were really strong. Stuart wonders if this is why Henry has brought them along.

Soon Stuart hears the familiar noise of the Kelidons coming down the corridor. Henry and the Kelidons can be seen in the doorway now. Henry briefly stops, whilst the Kelidons march on. Henry asks, "Is he alright?"

"Yes his breathing much more even now. Can I come with you?" Stuart asks.

"No stay here you will do more good here, looking after Andrew."

"But what if the Saysestrians attack you again?" Stuart asks.

"They probably will, but it is too late now, the Kelidons will complete the task, with or without me. I just want to tag along to experience the satisfaction of seeing the job done." Henry is careful not to give too much away.

Stuart now knows that whatever the Kelidons have been told to do, will only be completed because the Saysestrians have no way of influencing them. Very clever.

Henry disappears in the direction of the Kelidons. The noise of the Kelidons fades away. The wait seems to take an eternity. Stuart wonders if he will know when and if the Kelidon's mission has been successful. If anything happens to Henry, how will Stuart know? What if Henry does not come back, have the Kelidons been told to come back and fetch Andrew and Stuart when they have finished their task?

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 10 – What Have You Done?

The wait had been torment, sheer torment. The fact that Andrew had been out of action during mos of it, did not help. No-one to share thoughts and feelings with.

The clunking noises, at the same moment reassuring and also torture. Was Henry safe, was he accompanying the Kelidons, the creators of the noises, or was he laying in a heap somewhere deep within this building? Was he alive or was he dead?

The wait was sheer torment, only the noises to gauge time by. The countdown to some form of knowing.

As the Kelidons make their way past the doorway, Andrew and Stuart are convinced that they have arrived unaccompanied. As nothing else appears to have changed, there has been no massive explosion, no declaration of surrender or anything else come to that; Henry must have been unsuccessful in his mission.

Stuart asks, What do we do now?"

There is silence as Andrew thinks over the options open to them.

There is suddenly a voice from the doorway, "Well come on you two, we have work to do."

Andrew asks, "What about the Saysestrians?"

"What about them? They have enough to worry about. I do not think they will be bothering us for a while, although I suppose they might want to try a bit of revenge." Henry smiles a very mischievous smile.

"What have you done?" Asks Stuart.

"I think its safe to tell you now. I have given them a taste of their own medicine, clipped their claws for a bit at least."

"How?" Andrew gets up and walks over to the doorway.

"Yes I forgot, how are you now, bit of a headache? Do not worry it will soon go."

It is Stuart who picks up the question again, "How have you 'clipped the Saysestrian's claws'?"

"Oh quite simple really, the fact that they are now beings without need for bodies, they feed on pure energy and I have just cut back on their source of supply. You see deep in this building there are several shafts that go deep below the planet's crust, down into the core, were there is a continuous chain reaction taking place, which results in energy waves being released. The Saysestrians discovered this many centuries ago, they used to power their devices with it, but at the time of conversion, discovered that it was also the foodstuff of their new form." Henry pauses.

The boys wait, but as he shows no sign of continuing, Stuart asks, "So what have you done?"

"I closed most of the shafts off and as the Saysestrians have no bodies or physical influence, they are unable to open them again." Henry wears a satisfied grin, like a child who just bagged himself the largest bag of sweets.

"But that may kill them!" Andrew exclaims.

"No it won't kill them, just clip their claws. The have to concentrate their energies on surviving, rather than mounting attacks on us and our experiments." Henry pauses a while, reflecting on his words, then says, "Well come on we have work to do. I don't want to starve the Saysestrians any longer than I have to. I am not a cruel man. I just want to protect ourselves."

The group set off down the corridor, to catch up with the Kelidons. As they near the entrance, face masks are put back on and they head once more out into the dusty region that is the outdoors.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 11 – Work The Like You Have Never Seen Before

For days the group of three toiled at fixing what the Saysestrians had ruined, recapturing lost ground. In so doing, Andrew had a sudden inspiration and said that he thought he had the answer to the problem of how to generate the pulses that would drive all this circuitry.

Henry and Stuart are talking out in the main area of the laboratory, whilst Andrew persists in exploring his solution on one of the benches in the office.

Henry says, "I can not quite understand what he is trying to do. He has been messing about for ages with that disc with those slits in it. But for the life of me, I can not figure how it will work."

Stuart says, "He did try to explain it to me, but I couldn't understand how it was going to work either. He said that the string..."

Henry interrupts by asking, "What the twisted fibres that he has spent so long perfecting?"

"Yes that's right. The string is wrapped around the spindle that the disk is mounted on, the string goes over another spindle higher up and a weight is attached on the other end. As the weight drops the spindle turns, the disk spins and interrupts the light beam, causing pulses of light to enter the first oscillator, which in turn triggers the rest of the chain of oscillators."

"Yes, yes, I know and understand that, but when the weight reaches the floor, the spindle will stop spinning and the pulses will stop. Where is the use in that? I can not see the tunnel being opened and us three being able to travel down it in that short space of time. In any case the frequencies will be all over the place as the disk speeds up. For the device to work it has to be steady." Henry shakes his head as if in disbelief at the situation. Then he continues, "Yet Andrew will not be told, he insists on continuing with his experimentation."

"He's just stubborn. Doesn't want to give up on his idea." Stuart agrees.

"Perhaps if we both approach him, he might see some sense." Henry suggests.

The two set off for the office, where Andrew has his invention operating at full pelt. The disk and spindle are making quite a noise as the weight heads for the floor. The weight gently settles on the ground followed by a 'slap' noise as the string heads over the top spindle and the newly free end whips across the office and lands on the floor, issuing another 'slap' noise. The disk continues to spin, even though the spindle is no longer being pulled by the string.

"How did you manage to do that?" asks an excited Stuart.

Andrew quite proud of himself, replies, "I came up with the idea of using one of the stones, to keep the motion going once the string has detached itself from the spindle. Then this device here, has two arms that get thrown out as it spins, which slows the whole thing down a bit. As it slows the arms get pulled in again. Whilst the string is still attached, if it speeds up gain, the arms get thrown out again. That process repeats over and over and keeps the speed quite constant."

Henry is now quite enthusiastic, as he says, "Well well, you have re-invented a speed governor, you are quite a little genius after all. I have to give you credit for sticking with it. How long do you think it will keep going?"

"I don't know, this is the first time I have tried it out. Took me ages to get the speed limiter to work properly, but as you can see it is going nicely now. That thick liquid that you had over the back of that bench over there, is really slippery and acts like a good quality oil and should help keep the device going longer. The string glides so much easier over that top bar too." Andrew looks at his watch and asks, "How long do you reckon we would need? It still seems to be going strong."

"Difficult for me to say, as it was some considerable time since I last travelled through the tunnel, You would probably have a far better idea than me." Henry replies.

Stuart says, "Well it took us far less time than this to get sucked into that thing back home, wouldn't you agree Andrew?"

Andrew glances at his watch again, "Er, yes, you are right, it is slowing down now. I would have thought that would be more than enough time."

"Excellent work boys, now we need to solve the problem of converting the light pulses into electrical ones and converting the battery power into alternating current." Henry says.

"Have I got to solve all the problems?" Andrew asks.

"Sorry I did not mean that I was expecting you to come up with all the answers." Henry responds.

"Just messing with your head. I have already solved both of those. Found some stuff amongst your samples that only conducts electricity when light shines on it. Then I came up with the idea that final signal from the oscillators, will trigger my new device. I was messing about and wired one circuit up one way and the next the other. I accidentally connected them both together and ended up with, what would you call it? " Andrew looks at Stuart for help.

Stuart replies, "Don't ask me."

Henry asks, "Was it positive one moment and totally negative the next, without a gradual change?"

"Yes" Andrew replies.

"Oh I have it, its called a square wave." suggests Stuart.

"That's right, will it work Henry?" asks Andrew.

"I would think so," Henry pauses for thought, then continues, "It probably doesn't matter if it is a smooth transition or a step change. Its the fact that there is a change and the end frequency patterns that matters more."

Andrew says, "I have the circuit set up already, but it is not connected to anything on the output side yet, as we haven't made the wires for the coils yet. It is just over here." Andrew points to a cloth covering a collection of odd shaped items at the end of the bench.

Henry asks, "What is the cloth all about?"

Stuart adds, "Looks more like a magician's table than some device."

Andrew replies, "Light, its all to do with light, if my devices were exposed to light all the time they wouldn't work would they?"

Henry replies, "That is excellent, we are almost finished then, as I have been cooking a collection of rocks that should make us some really good conducting metal. I tried a small batch yesterday and I am ashamed to say that in testing it out, I managed to buckle the plates of one of your batteries Stuart. Sorry about that, but at least it proved the concept."

Stuart smiles, "At least you owned up, unlike some round here."

"Hey I was just proving my concept too, can I be let off the hook too if I say sorry?" Andrew protests.

Stuart nods.

Henry says, "I wondered if you boys had any ideas as to how my metal can be stretched from crude bars into lengths of wire? I have something that we can coat the wire in to insulate it, but I just can not work out how to stretch it."

Andrew grabs a piece of paper and sketches something out then asks, "How about this?" Then goes into details about his sketch.

~~o~~o~~o~~

"Have you brought us more bars?" Stuart asks.

Henry replies, "No, I am sure it is the Saysestrian's handiwork, but something went wrong with the last lot, I think the melting vessel got too hot. I think the Saysestrians had a hand in its ruin, in the hope that it would stop us."

"Perhaps we need to guard the next batch." Andrew suggests.

"I do not know if that would do any good, what could we do to a Saysestrian who took it upon themselves to try and ruin it, we may not even know if they are doing it?" Henry replies.

"If we watched the surface, we would see more rapid bubbling and know they are trying to do something, we can cut down the heat we are putting into the mix and control things that way, we wouldn't need to do anything to to the Saysestrian." Stuart suggests.

"You are probably right. Excellent thinking young Stuart. We will have to have regular breaks, otherwise it will be boring watching the mix and it would be too easy to fall asleep."

Andrew offers, "Do you need a hand to clean up the last mix? I have finished here, Stuart can wind this lot up and when I get back I can help him with the insulator dipping."

Henry looks at Stuart, who nods and says, "OK with me, I can finish up here and take break, I could do with a rest.."

Henry and Andrew set off for the metal foundry, putting on face masks as they leave the laboratory.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 12 - Interference

Stuart is rather startled as he sees Andrew and Henry standing at the office doorway. Stuart had been asleep, so had not heard them enter the laboratory. He asks, "So how did it go? Took you long enough."

"You should have seen it." Andrew replies, "It was so baked into the pot, we ended up abandoning it and making another pot. Tough stuff that rock. Where did it came from?"

Henry replies, "What I think was at one time a volcano, it took the Kelidons hours to hack lumps of the rocks off. So I had a good idea that it was tough stuff before I got it back here. Right Stuart if you take the first watch, Andrew and I can coat the latest batch of wire. I have left one of the Kelidons by the exit door to take you to the foundry, don't forget the face mask. It was a good idea of yours, young Stuart, to put seats on the Kelidons, it makes travelling on them a good deal more comfortable."

Stuart asks, "Thanks, but how do I get the Kelidon to take me?"

Henry replies, "Oh Yes I forgot that part, just say GO and it will pick you up and take you. If you need to come back at any time just tell it RETURN. Oh Andrew has packed you some food and drink it is also by the exit door."

"What am I supposed to be doing when I get there?" Stuart looks rather embarrassed as if he should really know the answer to his question.

"I am forgetful today," Henry apologises, then goes on to say, "Just watch the mix and if it starts bubbling really fiercely, it means that one of the Saysestrians is interfering with it."

"What do I do then?" Stuart asks.

Henry smiles as he replies, "There is a lever by the pot, pull it towards you, that will shut off our supply of heat. When the bubbling settles down again you can push the lever forward again, the will resume the heat. The Saysestrian may try again, you just need to repeat the process until it either gets fed up or runs out of energy."

"OK." says Stuart, not sounding at all convincing regards his understanding of the situation, however determined not to let the team down, he sets off out. As he exists the laboratory he overhears Andrew ask Henry if he thinks Stuart will be alright.

Henry replies, "Oh yes he is eminently a sensible boy, I know he will do his best to stop the Saysestrians and protect himself into the bargain."

Sure enough the mask, food and Kelidon are where Henry had described them. The Kelidon moves as Stuart approaches, almost as if it were asking for his command. Stuart gathers the mask and food together. Then issues the command "Go."

The Kelidon ignores him, Stuart repeats the command and again the Kelidon ignores him, apart from turning its head towards him. Stuart wonders why it isn't picking him up, then he comes to the conclusion that it is his accent, so he tries again, but this time sounding more like Andrew. The Kelidon responds immediately, picking Stuart up and placing him on the first seat on it's back.

Once seated, Stuart puts the face mask on and makes sure he has a firm hold on the rather rough cloth bag containing the food and drink. The door opens and the familiar dust starts swirling around inside the entrance, the breeze can also be heard. Stuart isn't looking forward to the journey, but he is glad that he has the face mask to protect him.

~~o~~o~~o~~

The foundry is a smallish isolated building next to a rather rocky hill. It had been quite a long journey, so Stuart is glad to arrive, but rather worried about what lies in wait for him inside. The Kelidon deposits Stuart on the ground in front of the doorway.

Stuart understands why the Kelidon is not coming inside, the building looks too small to take the Kelidon and Stuart. He soon sees the dull bump, to one side of the door, he waves his hand before it and nothing happens, but no real surprise there, it is covered in so much dust. Stuart cleans it and as he does so the door starts to slide open.

Inside is quite dark and bare. A chair to one side and a large stone bowl in the centre, with the lever that Henry had described, to the right. The door slides shut behind Stuart as he enters, he looks around the gloomy single room, whilst there is a window in the roof it does not let much light in, probably due to all the dust collected on top of it. As the door finishes closing, a glow starts to emanate from the roof panels, gradually the getting stronger.

As Stuart can hear no noises, he comes to the conclusion that the heat needs to be turned on. Sure enough the lever is in the off position. Stuart glances in the rough stone pot, inside there are lumps of rock, varying sizes and colours. Stuart pushes the lever back, there is a rumbling noise deep below the building. Nothing seems to happen apart from that. Stuart decides to explore the room. There are various tools hanging from the walls, he recognises some, like hammers, but others seem very strange indeed. At the back of the room are a pile of stone and metal items, of varying shapes. From the fact that some seem to have indentations in them, Stuart comes to the conclusion that they must be moulds that the molten metal can be poured into. He had seen a video about a men pouring melted metal into such moulds and waiting for it to cool down. Stuart looks closer at the nearest moulds, trying to imagine what the finished item would look like.

The light much brighter now, Stuart can make out what looks like writing on the walls. Writing, it is actually more like pictures, like the Egyptians used to use. Stuart studies the patterns trying to make some sense out of it, but no matter how he tries, he cannot figure it out. He has been so busy that until now he has not noticed the bubbling noise. He walks back to the bubbling pot. The contents are now smoking and glowing bright yellow. The liquid inside merrily bubbling away. Stuart cannot stand too near, as the smell is atrocious. He wonders why the whole room is not filled with the smoke. He looks up at the roof and can see several holes, that the smoke is swirling around and disappearing through.

Stuart decides that as everything is well he will settle down and watch the pot. The chair is a bit too far away for him to see into the pot so he drags it closer and settles down on it. Then turns his attention to the food that Andrew had packed for him.

Periodically Stuart glances at the pot, watching its regular bubbling patterns.

Food finished, Stuart is now bored. He turns his attention back to trying to interpret the patterns on the wall.

Stuart is deep into his task, when he suddenly notices that the bubbling noise has changed and seems more ferocious. Stuart turns and sees a hazy shape the other side of the pot. It looks like steam with a torch behind it.

Quick thinking, Stuart lunges for the the lever and pushes it forward. As he does so, he sees that the hazy shape before him has moved further away from the pot. Stuart thinks, 'Strange behaviour for a creature that is supposed to have no physical form, it is as if it is in fear that I will catch it. I wonder if Henry's assessment of the Saysestrian's is correct, perhaps they can be touched and touch things. After all I can just about see it.'

The pot still bubbling away, but much calmer now. The hazy figure, moves back closer to the pot, the bubbling starts to increase again.

'What can I do to stop it again?' thinks Stuart, 'I must not put myself in danger, but I have to stop it somehow. Perhaps I can get it away from the pot again.' Stuart slowly moves towards the hazy shape, keeping a close eye on it. The shape again moves away from the pot, the bubbling subsides again. Stuart gets closer, the hazy shape retreats further away, swings around the back of the pot and approaches the side opposite to Stuart. The mix bubbles furiously again. Stuart walks over to the pile of moulds, rummages through it and settles on an item. He picks it up, and aims it straight at the hazy figure, then throws it. Stuart's aim is good and he hits the area where the hazy figure was. However, the figure has reacted by moving away again. The two continue this chase for a considerable while, when suddenly the figure seems to slump to the floor. The bubbling liquid settles down.

'I wonder if this is a trick to catch me out?' Stuart thinks. He has an object in his right hand, poised and ready to throw at the figure. Stuart carefully walks around the pot, getting ever closer to the creature, expecting it to pounce on him at any moment.

Stuart can see the creature laying on the floor before him, it is curled up almost in a ball, its outline seems to be fading. 'It looks hurt, I wonder if it is genuine or if it is a trick. I must be really careful. Should I lob the item I have in my hand at the creature and attack it before it has a chance to take me by surprise? It hasn't moved and looks as if it is in difficulty though, I could kill it if I do lob the item. Perhaps it will be better to wait and watch.'

Stuart aware that the mix in the pot has almost stopped bubbling, decides to turn the heat back on, after all he doesn't want to end up with a solid blob in the bottom of the pot, that will help no-one. The creature's outline is fading considerably now. The pot starts bubbling again. The creature's outline is barely visible now, it hasn't moved at all.

Patiently Stuart waits watching the creature, it seems to have stabilized in terms of the outline fading. Whilst it is no longer clear, it still can be made out. Stuart thinks, ' I wonder if the heat is sustaining the creature. It still seems to be in trouble though. I wonder if I can take it back to the others?' Stuart fetches a container and tries to scoop the hazy outline up, but the edges of the container go straight through it.

'There is nothing I can do for the creature here, I must get some help from the other Saysestrians, it might be a trick, but I can't take the chance.' Stuart sets about setting off back to the main building, grabbing his food bag and putting on the face mask. He takes one last look at the creature before putting the item down that he was going to lob at it. There seems to be no change in the creatures position or outline.

The door slides open, revealing the Kelidon faithfully waiting for Stuart. He yells "Return!" at the Kelidon but it ignores him, the door slides closed. The creature has still not moved. Stuart yells "Return!" again and the Kelidon faithfully picks him up and places him gently on the seat, then starts lunging off back in the direction of the building where Andrew and henry are.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 13 – More Complications

Stuart enters the white room, the chamber of conversations, Henry had called it. His hands are shaking, yet he enters the room with a an air of confidence. Perhaps he should have fetched Henry and got him to deliver the message. Stuart half expects to see the tall figure in the dark silky robes, to be standing in the centre of the room as had happened before, instead the room is empty apart from the statues and the two totally white chairs to the left. Stuart had not noticed these before.

The door slides shut and it makes Stuart jump. Again he expects to see the cloaked figure behind him, but there is nothing apart from the sliding door, trapping him in the room. Stuarts hands are shaking more now. What should he do to start a discussion with the Saysestrians?

Stuart waits patiently, but nothing happens, Stuart's thoughts turn to the creature back at the foundry, he must somehow arouse the interest of the Saysestrian's in the plight of the poor creature.

Something grabs Stuart's attention, it is the flicker of some activity in the corner of his left eye, he turns and sees the figure in black standing in front of him. He hears the booming voice ask, "What of our fellow Saysestrian, what has happened to him? Your thoughts are al over the place.

Stuart thinks back to the events that preceded the creature's collapse, Stuart is embarrassed as he recalls the events where he threw items at the hazy creature back at the foundry.

The Saysestrian takes Stuart by surprise as he says, "Thank you for telling us. We will see what we can do to help him." The figure fades away.

Stuart turns and walks towards the door, it slides open.

Soon Stuart finds himself in office, there is no sign of Andrew and Henry, Stuart remembers they were going to coat the wire and the equipment for that is in the laboratory. They are surprised to see Stuart, especially coming out of the office. They ask if he is alright and Stuart tells them what has happened. Henry sets off for the foundry as soon as Stuart has finished.

"Do you think we should follow him?" asks Stuart.

"What and leave this lot unattended, I don't think so. I'm sure he can take care of himself." Andrew replies.

Stuart asks, "But what if the Saysestrian's turn nasty?"

"They probably haven't got enough energy to do that, if your visitor is anything to go by." Andrew replies, then says, "Lets get on with this, we are nearly finished now. We really need that last batch of wire and we will be finished and can get away from this place."

Stuart takes over Henry's duties.

~~o~~o~~o~~

Henry enters the small room, the journey here had seemed to take an eternity, to be here at last was at the same time great, but also nerve wrecking. Henry expects to be attacked at any moment as he steps in, but instead he finds the pot bubbling away nicely. The room is empty apart from the usual items, although many of those are not in their usual place, having been thrown by Stuart in his attempts to stop the Saysestrian. Henry is impressed by he number of items that Stuart had thrown, he certainly put up a good fight.

Henry does a complete loop of the room trying to spot any sign of the injured Saysestrian, but there are none. Henry sets about tidying up the room, before turning his attention to the boiling pot. He is still somewhat nervous that the Saysestrians may either be laying in wait somewhere in the room, or may return. The noise of the bubbling pot is both reassuring, but also could be covering other things. Henry can't help but remain nervous as he sets about his task of removing the unwanted materials off the top of the bubbling liquid, then preparing the moulds.

~~o~~o~~o~~

Henry is most surprised as he enters the laboratory and removes his face mask, to see that the two boys are not alone. There is another man chatting with them. He is tall, thin, has short dark hair, a rather longish and worried looking face and is smartly dressed, he seems somewhat distressed. Henry wonders where he has come from.

As Henry strolls across the room the three pairs of are eyes looking straight at him, two look inquisitive and the third just frightened.

Henry transfers the second bag of clanking metal bars from one hand to the other. Then extends a hand towards the stranger and Henry says, "Henry Englefield and you are?"

The man somewhat nervously says, "David.... David Johnson, pleased to....er....meet you, Andrew and Stuart.... 'ere......told me you were here."

Henry somewhat nervous himself asks, "Where.....have you come from?"

"The hotel sir, I was sent to the tower to investigate an annoying hum, reported by a guest, when I noticed the lights on in the roof space and I went up to explore and somehow ended up here." replies David.

Andrew excitedly says, "Your device is still on and it still works, isn't that great?"

Henry seems somewhat disappointed at the news, after a moment's silence Henry replies, "That could actually work against us."

"How?" asks Stuart.

Henry turns his attention to Stuart and says, "Well if we fire up our device the two my compete against each other, rather than work together to open up the tunnel. I will need to calculate some new sympathetic frequencies, which will mean more work, as Andrew will need to redesign or at least adjust his speed governor. This could all put us back. In addition to that we now have four people to transport back and I'm not sure the tunnel will stay open long enough."

David says, "Sorry to be such a bother."

Henry replies, "It was not your fault, you just got caught up in all this. At least I know that my device the other side is on, all this could have been a waste of time if I didn't know that. We could have been stranded here forever."

David says, "At least my trip was some good then."

Henry smiles and exclaims, "I have it, we don't need to to change the frequencies, just change the coil winding ratios. We just need to reverse the coils and put more strength into the horizontal coils. My previous device had greatest concentration in the vertical coils. Of course polarisation is the key."

Andrew, sounding like a right little professor says, "Wouldn't the two polarisations cancel each other out?"

Henry says, "Normally yes, but with this device, the multi circuits produce sliding oscilating patterns, the two phases will slip in and out of each other, rather than working against each other they should strengthen the field tunnel."

"Oh wow! That's great!" Andrew explains, whilst David and Stuart look at each other still mystified as to what Andrew and Henry are talking about.

Henry excitedly says, "Right boys we have work to do, we need to wind the coils. How are those formers coming on young Stuart?"

Stuart, big beaming smile, replies, "Almost finished, just got eight of those strips of rock to glue on."

Henry says, "Right, you and I can finish that whilst Andrew and...... er.... David." Henry looks to David for confirmation that he has his name right, David nods, Henry continues, "Can get started on the windings, or perhaps it would be better if David and I did the windings, as they need to be quite carefully wound."

Andrew sounds rather hurt as he says, "I can do careful."

"I know but once David has seen how they need to be done, he can team up with you and I can team up with Stuart." Henry suggests.

Andrew does not reply but his face shows that he is not happy about the situation. However Henry ignores this and takes David into his charge, the two disappear across the laboratory.

"Come on then, Stuart, the sooner we start the sooner we will finish." Andrew's tone reflects the disappointment his face showed just now.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 14 – Who's What?

"Don't forget the Kelidons." Stuart nervously reminds Henry.

"Thank you, with all the preparations I had quite forgotten that part of the plan. I just hope I have built in enough of a delay in their programming." Henry replies.

Andrew asks, "Do you think we have enough batteries?"

Henry replies, "I would have thought so. I will just go and instruct the Kelidons, Stuart can you fetch the food and drink."

Stuart asks, "Do you really think we need to take any?"

"Yes we might not end up on the earth, remember, this has never been tried before, with two devices operating at each end of the tunnel, we might end up anywhere. Now don't hang about young Stuart we will not have much time to spare, I will be back shortly." Henry says, just before leaving the office on his mission to set the Kelidons on their task.

Stuart sets off at speed for the kitchen, David follows.

Soon the group of four are assembled back in the office.

"Right Andrew, release the weight." Henry says.

Andrew does as instructed, then quickly rejoins the group. The familiar humming starts and patterns start to form in the space before the coils. It reminds Stuart of the Saysestrian that he saw in the foundry. He is about to remark on the fact when Henry is snatched by the ball of ever changing light patterns. The line of three move forward and Stuart is snatched next.

As Andrew and David shuffle closer to the ball of light, Andrew says, "Exciting isn't it?"

Before David has a chance to reply Andrew is gone.

David soon finds himself also enveloped by the ball of light. The familiar gloom and smell of burning dust of the loft area are the next senses that hit David.

They have successfully returned!

Henry announces, "Well done boys! We made it safely back, now to shut this device down."

Henry opens the black fuse box and turns the power off. Just as he does, the glowing patterns of the ball of light, seem somewhat brighter and a large oval shape emerges from the top of the bubble. It disappears as quickly as it appeared.

Stuart asks, "What do you think that was Henry?"

"Who knows, could have just been a disturbance caused as Andrew's device stopped working." Henry replies.

"Of course, the disk spinning would be slowing by now. I forgot that part." Andrew comments.

"Well done professor, you got us all home safely." David says.

Henry smiles, "I am not actually a professor David. What we don't know is what time frame we have returned to. It could be a few moments after I left, in which case you lot have travelled back in time, or it could be soon after you, David, had left, in which case I have travelled to the future. This is strange is it not? Who's future, who's past?"

Stuart replies, "In either case a chance for you to re-connect with your family."

"True, true I had quite forgotten that aspect of the situation." Henry looks somewhat serious now.

David says, "Whatever, home is home. I am just glad to be back, that place wasn't too nice by all accounts, what with those say-whats-its."

Henry suggests, "Well let us find out what awaits for us below." He heads for the door and the spiral staircase. As he descends the stairs he exclaims, "My, my this is impressive."

As Andrew descends, he is at the same time pleased and sad, pleased to see that the room below is exactly as he remembered it, sad that Henry has not returned to his family.

Stuart unable to contain his excitement asks, "Who's what is it?"

Andrew simply replies, "Ours."

David mystified by all this asks, "What time have we returned to?"

Stuart now standing on the landing and about to descend the stairs replies, "We appear to have come back to our time, but as for the year and date, who knows."

There is a faint jingle noise as the "No Exit" sign is removed by Henry.

"This room is amazing!" Henry enthuses and continues, "I knew it had potential to be a great space, but we never got around to realising it. We just had a few chairs up here, but with this furniture you can really enjoy this space and the view."

Stuart says, "David, I had best explain that this place used belong to Henry's family. All the equipment upstairs was built by Henry about 100 years ago."

"Oh I see, confusing isn't it, this time travel?" David replies.

"So Henry what are you going to do now you have arrived home?" Andrew asks.

Henry replies, "I don't know really, I was selfishly hoping that I would arrive back at my time frame and this would still be my family home. Instead of which I am homeless and strangers are living in what would be my home."

Stuart says, "That is a horrible thought really isn't it."

"Especially when you add to that the fact that my immediate family are all long dead." Henry replies.

Andrew suggests, "Ah but don't forget, we may be able to find living relatives that we can hook you up with."

"Do what young Andrew?" asks Henry.

"Sorry introduce you to." Andrew says.

"In the meantime where am I going to live? I can hardly live up there." Henry points towards the spiral staircase and the ceiling.

"Good point." Stuart says.

David says, "I'm sure if we explain the situation, the hotel manager will be able to help you. We are not full at the moment, I am sure he could spare a room."

"You are assuming that you have returned to a time soon after you left this place." Henry suggests.

"Hey there's a newspaper on the table here, assuming it is only a few days old, if not today's paper, that will give us a date." Stuart says as he picks up the bulky paper.

David says, "It is most likely to be today's unless a guest has been keeping it in their room, as the staff clear this room every morning, first thing."

"Well, what is the date?" asks Andrew.

"Three days after we left. See here." Stuart passes the paper to Andrew.

"I suggest we go to see the manager as soon as possible, after all I have to explain why I have been gone and these boys parents must be frantic with worry, oh and we have to sort out somewhere for Henry to stay." David says.

~~o~~o~~o~~

The manager is delighted to see that David and the boys are safe and well. He is so delighted that it takes some effort on David's part to get the manager to listen to their story and to consider Henry's plight.

"Well I must say this all sounds absolutely incredible." the manager says, then goes on to say, "Are you sure you are all OK?"

"How do you mean sir?" asks David.

"Well I would imagine it is a very confined space up in the roof area, you didn't bang your heads or anything like that?" asks the manager.

"It is all true sir, I can assure you." Stuart implores.

"It is just that you disappear for days and suddenly re-appear with this strange tale."

David suggests, "Why don't you come up and see the device for yourself sir?"

"David, I am running a hotel, I cannot go exploring at the drop of a hat." the manager picks up his phone and starts dialling a number.

Andrew says, "At least you would be able to see if there was likely to be any chance of truth in what we are telling you. Please come and see for yourself."

The manager has finished dialling, he waits a moment then says, "Ah inspector, the boys and our member of staff have turned up in my office with a gentleman who is unknown to me. Could you send an officer to interview them?" There is silence, then the manager says, "Thank you that will be fine, I am sure there will be no problems, no here in my office will be just fine."

David asks, "Why get the police involved sir?"

T   
he manager smiles as he explains, "David the police were already involved days ago, when the boys here were reported as missing, Then your disappearance added to the mystery. But do not worry the inspector and his men are really good they will get to the bottom of this matter quite quickly I am sure. They have to talk to you all, just to make sure that the situation is as you have told me and that there have been no criminal actions. I am sure you understand that they have to follow their procedures and close up the case properly. I am sure that everything will be straightened out very quickly and painlessly. If I or anyone else come to that went up to the roof space, I may in my innocence disturb some evidence." The manager then speaks in a quiet secretive tone and says, "I can say that to some degree I lean towards believing your story, as when the police went up to the roof space, they found some electrical equipment was on and asked me if they should turn it off. I had a strange feeling about it at the time, I still cannot explain why, but I told them to leave it on. Maybe in the depths of my mind I had linked it to your disappearance. They wouldn't let me go up to see it and I know they still wouldn't, in-case I disturb anything. Let us talk again when the police have finished their interviews."

Henry sounding very upset by this turn of events asks, "Why after all I have been through, am I going to be treated as a criminal and be handed over to the police? I have always been an upright and law abiding citizen, never been in trouble with the police in my life.".

The manager replies, "It is alright sir, if you have not done anything illegal, you have nothing to fear. The police just have to follow their procedures."

Henry protests, using the phrase circumstantial evidence, over and over again, much to the confusion of Andrew and Stuart. David explains in whispers that if the police can find no other evidence as to what had happened to the boys, the fact that they re-appeared with Henry would indicate that he had something to do with their disappearance.

There is a knock on the door. The manager shouts, "Come in."

Nothing happens, apart from a further knock. The manager gets up from his chair and opens the door. There are two police officers outside. There are mutterings at the door, then the three enter.

The manager asks if the officers would like him to leave. One officer asks if they could have use of a further room to carry out the interviews. The Manager arranges for a room to be made available. The officer who had requested the room takes Stuart with him, the other officer stays with the remaining group.

Each person in the group is interviewed one at a time, at the end of which, Henry is taken away by the police in handcuffs. He is in tears. David goes with him, to help.

~~o~~o~~o~~

# Chapter 15 - Re-United

The wait for news of Henry is torment to Andrew and Stuart, two days have gone by and nothing heard from Henry or David.

As Andrew crosses the reception area to head towards the stairs, the receptionist, Gareth, calls out to him, "I have a message for you young sir from David."

Andrew knows Gareth quite well, they have often had chats about cricket, something that Stuart has never been that interested in. Gareth, like Andrew, is a real fan and the two have been exchanging information about the test match that has been taking place. Andrew changes direction and heads for the desk.

Gareth waits until Andrew is close enough and resumes, "David rang about fifteen minutes ago and said that the police are releasing Henry as they have no evidence on which to hold him. Our manager asked me to tell you and your friend, Stuart isn't it?"

"Yes Gareth, that's right." Andrew replies.

Gareth smiles, I thought so, the manager asked me to let you know that Henry will be welcome back to the hotel, he has reserved a room for him."

"Wow that's great news, thanks very much Gareth. Any idea when he is likely to get here?" Andrew asks.

Gareth looks across at the reception computer screen, he is silent for a moment then replies, "Oh yes, that was it, David reckoned it would be about an hour and a half by the time the police finish the paperwork and arrange transport. Oh and Henry's room is in the same block as yours and on your floor, about six door down from yours."

"Thanks." Andrew says and sets off for the stairs again.

"You're welcome, you off up to the tower?" asks Gareth.

"Yes Stuart said over breakfast that he thought he had found Henry's granddaughter's, daughter and what is more, it appears that she does not live far away. We are going to call her. Dad has lent us his mobile, he doesn't know who we're calling though, so don't say anything OK?"

"Mum's the word." Gareth replies.

"What?" Andrew asks.

"I'll keep it to myself dork." Gareth laughs.

Andrew heads off again for the stairs.

~~o~~o~~o~~

The door of the tower room opens, both boys stand as soon as Henry enters. They run over to him.

"How did you know we would be here?"Stuart asks.

Henry replies, "Someone called Gareth told us you would be here. Oh he said he has arranged to send up some cakes and drinks, managers treat apparently. Excellent news about my room, is it not? Just down from yours apparently."

"We have some good news for you Henry." Stuart hands Henry a piece of paper, "This is the telephone number of your daughter's, daughter. We found her and have spoken to her, she wants to meet you. She lives about an hour away, just outside of Gloucester."

"Is this really true, how did you?" Henry holds out a shaking hand and gently takes the paper, then says, "Why am I taking this, I do not know how to use this information."

"What do you mean?" Stuart asks.

"I have no idea how to use these numbers, to see my, my, great granddaughter."

Andrew steps forward and says, "Don't worry we can help out there, it is a number that allows you to speak to her, using one of these." Andrew holds up his Dad's mobile and continues, "I will dial it for you and you can talk to her and invite her over here. She knows you are staying here."

"That is amazing, but then why am I so surprised this is the future." Henry replies.

Andrew dials the number and Henry speaks to Alison, between them they arrange to meet at the hotel that very evening. As Henry hands the phone back to Andrew he says, "Incredible, absolutely incredible, apart from a slight accent, she sounds just like my daughter. Even to the things that she said."

~~o~~o~~o~~

Henry has been pacing up and down the reception, as if he were being held prisoner. He closely eyes everyone who comes through the entrance, scanning their faces with great interest and care.

David looks up from the newspaper he has been reading and remarks, "Hey this is pretty weird, have you seen this article on the incident at Hinckley Point?"

Henry replies, "I do not have a clue as to what you are referring to David, I don't do newspapers, it was my wife who read those. What is this Hinckley Point anyway, is it some sort of monument, like one of those, what do you call them, oh yes, obelisks?"

"No Henry, the nuclear power station at a place called Hinckley Point. Not far away. But south of here."

"What is a new clear station?" Henry asks.

"Now you have me, its a bit complicated, but basically there is some sort of reaction chamber where they bash atoms into each other, that generates a lot of heat, which heats up steam, well water, to make steam, that drives a generator which makes electricity. Anyway the paper said there was some sort of scare yesterday, some technicians were changing rods, when they saw what looked like a ghost, it walked right through the reactor wall and emerged again an hour later, glowing even more than before. This thing went straight through the shielding walls and burnt a hole right through. Some scientist chap reckons it was ball lightning or some such thing."

Henry notices that Andrew is as white as a sheet, as if he had just seen the ghostly apparition himself. He asks, "You don't think it was a Saysestrian do you Henry?"

"I never thought of that, it could be, perhaps one came back through the tunnel with us." Henry suggests.

Stuart remarks, "There was that strange thing that disturbed the bubble, just before you shut it off, wasn't there? Perhaps it was a Saysestrian."

Just then Henry's attention is taken away from the conversation as he sees a lady and small child enter the hotel, the lady's dress swirling as she walks, she has an air of sophistication about her. The child a girl, quite young about three judging by her height and the way she walks. Behind the pair walks a tall thin man, smartly dressed and as he turns his head to look at something to one side of the entrance, his face is lit up and a wide smile can be clearly seen.

As the lady steps out of the shadow of the entrance archway, Henry exclaims, "My goodness don't you look the image of your grandmother?"

The lady lets go of the little girl's hand, much to the little one's surprise. The lady then runs to Henry, hugs him and exclaims, "It is you, I don't believe it, I would recognise you anywhere, Mum and I often looked through the pictures of you. She talked about you so much, I almost feel like I know you." She hugs him even tighter and continues, "Oh I can not believe it, you really are here!"

"Oh Alison, I can not believe it, it is just like having my daughter and grand daughter back again. Who is the elegant young man with you Alison?"

Alison steps back, grabs Henry's hand and says, "This is my partner Jason Fredrickson. Jason, this is my, er, great great grandfather, my that sounds awfully impressive doesn't it?"

Jason steps forward and shakes Henry by the hand and says, "Delighted to meet you sir, Alison didn't give your name, is it Henry?"

"My she does talk about me then, yes Jason, likewise delighted to meet you also." Henry bends down and holds out a hand to the little girl who seems somewhat abandoned and lonely, Henry asks, "And your name little one, would be Princess delightful would it not?"

"Oh My God!" Alison exclaims, then holds her hand up to her mouth as if she had just sworn, "Sorry I don't believe it, you used to call my mother that."

Henry smiles, "Well I do believe, some traditions must be passed on, do you not?"

Alison nods excitedly.

The little girl looks up at her mother for re-assurance that it is alright to talk to the stranger. Alison responds by saying, "It is alright sweetie this is your great great great grandfather, his name is Henry."

The little girl nervously holds out her hand, grasping Henry's hand, she does a clumsy curtsy, almost collapsing in the effort and asks in a nervous voice, "That is a lot of greats isn't it gramps? How do you get them?"

Henry large beaming smile replies, "I don't know really, but with a princess like you around, I am going to have to work hard to earn them, am I not?"

Alison smiles as she replies, "I am sure for you Henry, that will not be hard, if you live up to what my mother told me."

"I just hope she has not set me up for a fall." Henry replies.

"Do you do a lot of falling then Gramps?" asks the little girl.

"With you around to look after me, Princess delightful, I am sure I can avoid falling too much."

The little girl looks all worried as she says, "You know I am not werally a Princess, I just live in a ordin-warry house you know."

"Most secret Princesses do. What is your normal name then sweetheart?" Henry asks?

"Alicia, Gramps." The girl replies.

"Such a pretty name, but then it just had to be, didn't it Princess?"

David says, "The manager has asked me to invite you all to have dinner on the hotel, he has reserved a table for you all. Oh and a message for Andrew and Stewart, your mothers say you have to clean up before dinner."

Stuart replies, "Awe you can just tell that we're back home, the bossing has started already."

Andrew adds, "Yeah, but it is nice to be back with family isn't it?"

Henry says, "Absolutely right young Andrew, absolutely right. Get off with the pair of you and get cleaned up, see you in a moment."

# Epilogue

http://tortworth-court-hotel.four-pillars.co.uk

If you ever find yourself at the Tortworth Court Hotel and you find the tower that this story is set in, here is a piece of friendly advice issued by Henry, "If you find yourself in the tower of my ancestral home, sit and look at the spiral staircase and re-live my adventures in your mind, but please do not be tempted to climb the stairs, to see my device for yourself. If perchance you did manage to get it to work, you may not be so lucky as myself, Andrew, David and Stuart. It was by the fortitude of good luck, our combined knowledge, skill and sheer determination, that we escaped the world of the Saysestrian's. You may not be so lucky, you could even find yourself somewhere completely different and be unable to get back. I would hate for that occurrence to be on my conscience."

<THE END>

If you enjoyed this story, have you checked out " **The Gateway** "

(<https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4142>)

or one of the other books by Steve Simons.

