Keep the Flow Going

With the abject failure again of my attempt to promote my work. I decided that many of my stories will not see Amazon. I thought I would try an excerpt for the discerning readership of my peers on here. Whose opinions I value. I have many story lines and follow-ups to other works that I would like to share.

The picture below was to be the cover for the follow up story to “Did we see him?” currently dying on a free KDP promotion on Amazon. This story takes over from the point were Charles Palmerston returned to the Bell club to find he had travelled forward in time.

Did we see them? – Prologue

As previously mentioned in my journal entry marked “Did we see him?” Things have happened in recent months that have questioned my sanity.

After returning from an experience that I find hard to come to terms with. I saw things no person should have seen. To give you some ideas, we were sent by an organisation called “The Glove” to try and find out what information Sir Percy Fawcett had obtained on his last trip up the Amazon.

What we saw. Or did we? Has haunted me since our return. Things that were neither man nor animal, beings that lived in neither the living world, nor were they dead. They worshipped a white man, who could have been Fawcett. As we we left, at Fawcett’s bequest. We witnessed the true horrors of this life as he was beaten, close to death before being eaten by ants, while the tribe devoured a person’s body. The poor soul was still alive as they tore him apart, the screams of agony, just helping their enjoyment.

Then, the horror of holding my best friend Tommy Curridge as he died in my arms with a spear in his chest. All the time praying we could get out of that hell yet fearing we too were doomed to a life as tormented souls.

On arriving back at the Bell club, here in Belgravia, London. After telling my story to my good friends Anthony Harkley, Christopher Jackman and Harrison Merrill, I went out to partake of some air and have a pipe to calm my shattered nerves.

********

I was only out of the club a few minutes, during which time a strange fog appeared. On my return I found I could not open the doors and had to be admitted by a fellow member. Up on entering I was told I may hold the answer to a mystery.
“What mystery could my return solve?” I pondered as I climbed the stairs of my old club, so changed I hardly knew it.
The mystery was a locked door, to which nobody in the club could open. As I looked at the lock, I fumbled in my coat pocket and found my old room key, this key did open the locks to my astonishment. I found myself standing in front of a swirling energy mass focussed to a series of light bulbs. On my bedside table lay an envelope marked “Did we see them?” Beside it was a note I had written, my hand clearly legible despite the obvious shaking. The note said “If you are reading this, you have passed through a temporal energy mass. The mist you were in has transported you, ten years forward, signed Charles Q .”

Even though being an adveturer and having an enquiring mind after years of seeing srange lands. I find this hard to believe. Yet, here I stand as evidence in my own equation, my keys opened a door locked for ten years. In part, therefore at least some of it was true. Which parts I have yet to find?

I stood transfixed by the beauty of the colours before me, as the machinery whirred away and the energy mass throbbed and hummed, we stood looking at this for some minutes in total awe of its powers before my new found friend commented.

“What is that?”
“That is a time mass. The clours you see are all the ages flying through the air like bubbles.”
“Are you serious?” my friend queried me, looking very much as though he thought this was some wild ruse.
“Totally serious, I stand here as the proof myself. Your keys could not open these locks as they are linked to the mass. If you had opened them, there would have been a time paradox of enormous dimensions.”
“Now you are joking! A time paradox. What in the good Queen’s name is that?”
“No, I am deadly serious. A paradox is when something happens that should not. Like you meeting yourself.”
“Or killing a relative, so I wont be born, you mean?”
“Exactly, this one would have involved people from all ages meeting people they would not have met and taking back all kinds of things to their time.”
“That would have catastrophic effects on the world we know.”
“Far worse than that, this world would not exist, as we know it. If at all.”
“How did your keys worked after all this time?”
“The only reason, I can think of is that they must have absorbed some of the energy. When my keys are placed in the locks, sensing the energy signature-time keeps in its place.”
“Sounds a bit far fetched to me!”
“I admit, it does to me. Yet, here I am ten years on from when I walked out of the doors only minutes ago. I am sorry I haven’t got to introduce myself yet I am…”
“Charles Palmerston,” my friend answered before I could finish. “I had an idea, when we met outside, when your keys opened this door I was certain. My name is Jeffrey Hollings, sir.”
“Nice to meet you Jeffrey, no need for the sir though, just Charles or Charlie is fine.”
“I cannot do that, sir.”
“Why not for heavens sake, Jeffrey?”

Still looking at me in awe, Jeffrey said,“Your theories on time travel, have become essential reading for scientists, philosophers and theologians.”
“But, they were just wild estimations without any real research. Jeffrey I can’t see how they could have been even close to correct. I was so rushed off my feet back then, with the Glove asking me to look for Fawcett and the need for money to finance this project. I had no chance to verify my findings or publish the work.”
“Sir, your calculations were only slightly off. I took time to check, re-check and triple check the tiny adjustments before I published the work last year. Although I got the final credit, I made sure that everbody knew it was your work that had pique’d my curiosity.”
“That was so kind of you Jeffrey, it would have been a great boost to your crediblity to have claimed the glory.”
“I know, but for a couple of reasons I couldn’t.”
“Oh, what were they then? If I may ask?”
Looking sheepishly Jeffrey said,“Firstly it is wrong to claim glory, for something you did not do. And I was never sure if your calculations would work in practice. The theory proved correct on small items, travelling small distances in time, but people? That is different, sir.”
“I am grateful for the thanks you gave me, Jeffrey. Yes, it is wrong to claim false credit. What if somebody had asked you to explain something about my work? Then found out you knew only the brief outlines of it. You would be banned from the club.”

Fidgeting nervously he asked,“Are you going to the Scociety to claim your rightful honours, sir?”
I looked at Jeffrey and replied, “I didn’t do this for the honours and money, Jeffrey. I did it for scientific curiousity alone. I have proved the theory of time travel.”
“I know, sir, you should be honoured by the Society.”
“That bunch of humble-bums, they are so out dated, Jeffrey. They would never accept the theory, even though I’m here as proof.”
“What do you plan to do then, sir?”
I laughed and said, “First of all, get you to call me Charlie from now on. I haven’t been honoured and don’t wish to be. I am a scientist, Jeffrey, not a Lord. I wont deny, the money and status would help our project immensely.”
Jeffrey blinked and replied, “Did you say our project?”
“Yes. Unless you don’t wish to be a part of it.”
Jeffrey didn’t take long to answer, “I’d be very honoured, Charlie. To think a mere student could be invited on such a trip is beyond imagination.”
“That,Jeffrey, is what I want to show you. How travelling in time is so rewarding in itself. The things and people we can see.”
“And talk to?”
“Sadly, we can’t interact, Jeffrey.”
“Why not, Charlie?”
“The laws of causality will be tampered with if we do, Jeffrey. Any contact we have will possibly alter time and events beyond our understanding.”
“What is the point of doing it?”