43
One Year Later – April 26, 1793
Fairhurst Castle, England
Four legs dangled over the edge of the lighthouse walkway some 160 feet above the jagged rocks below. A cool ocean breeze off the Atlantic brushed softly across the faces of Ailsa and Spike while at the same time tousling their hair into a myriad strands of haphazard and tangled knots. The aroma of fresh salt air filled their nostrils and a thin layer of fog slowly dissipated far out at sea. The sun’s rays rode across the water’s surface tickling their skin with pinpoints of warmth while their eyes were rewarded with a beauty unsurpassed elsewhere on the land. Spike took in a deep breath of invigorating air and closed his eyes as he allowed the smell and taste to simmer in his body. Ailsa sat peacefully staring out across the vast expanse of water that she’d known since the day she was born. To her, this would always be home.
Spike opened his eyes. “I never cared much for the ocean. But after being here for awhile, it kind of grows on you.”
“That it does,” Ailsa said. “I grew up here with the ocean and the salt air everyday and I still love it. I’ll never tire of it.”
“I can see why. The serenity, the openness, the fresh invigorating air, the beauty, the animal life, it is all so soothing to the soul.”
“Different than the city life where you came from?” Ailsa asked, the breeze tossing her hair across her face.
“Completely. City life is nothing like this. City life is always on the go. Everything is hectic. There’s no time to just sit and think, or for that matter to just sit. There’s so much to do. Even though there are many more conveniences, in the end, they make life much more complicated and distracting. I’m not saying I don’t miss my TV or my stereo, my phones, car, microwave, computer or anything else. I do miss them. But not enough to make a big deal over them and not enough to be depressed.”
“So, you like this era, this life style?”
Spike paused in thought. Then, looking across the ocean, he said, “Yes, I do. I’ve been here what, a year or so?”
“A year today,” Ailsa said affirmatively.
“Wow! A year already. Sure doesn’t seem like it does it?”
“No, it doesn’t. I can still remember vividly meeting you in the lab. You and Slick appearing out of nowhere. I’ll tell you, that was an event I’ll never forget.”
“Nor I,” Spike said. “I had no idea the technology existed to time travel. In fact, speaking of Slick, I wonder what ever became of him. After I hit him with the metal rod, he disappeared into thin air. I wonder if he ended up somewhere he didn’t want to be. When the rod slammed into his midriff, I felt a crunch which must have been the control box he had on his waist.”
“I remember hearing something crunch that wasn’t flesh or bone.”
“Exactly. It was that box. If it was damaged, he probably ended wherever the damaged circuits took him. Since he had no control over the specific destination, he was probably just as surprised about his arrival as we would be if we were taken by force.”
A seagull flew by squawking loudly as Ailsa and Spike sat kicking their feet in the open air.
“Well,” Ailsa said, “I hope he got what he deserved. Especially after killing those other people in your time and then after leaving us to die in the lab.”
“I guess we’ll never know,” Spike replied.
Spike and Ailsa sat quietly for a few minutes.
“Hungry?”
Spike turned to reply. “I guess. What’s for lunch?”
“I have no idea. We’ll find out when we get back.”
“I guess we will.”
Standing up and stretching, Ailsa and Spike descended the steps to the bottom of the lighthouse.
Stopping over the drain, Ailsa said, “Right down there is where it all happened.”
“I know. It seems weird, doesn’t it? To think that we were down there, trapped, thinking we had no way out and then finding the secret staircase to your room. It just all seems so unreal.”
“I still dream about it at night sometimes.”
“So do I,” Spike said opening the door and stepping outside. “Mushroom?”
“Very funny,” Ailsa said playfully hitting Spike on the arm. “Like I want to experience horrible visions again. I guess that’s one good thing that came out of all of this.”
“What’s that?”
“That Slick told us about the effects of those mushrooms,” Ailsa said pointing to an area a little way’s away from the lighthouse. “You know, that’s where Slick got the mushrooms he needed for his drug. He said that’s why he chose this time and this place. The mushrooms were the best for what he was creating, so he said.”
“I remember hearing that.”
“I can attest to their potency. Some of the nightmares I was having when I ate those were so real that I thought I was going to actually die. Fortunately, I didn’t ingest enough to kill me.”
“I’m glad. If it hadn’t been for you, I don’t know where I’d have ended up. For all I know, I might have been hanged or something evil like that.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I do. A strangely dressed man coming from somewhere no one’s heard of with technology they’ve never seen. They’d be tempted to think I was a Devil worshipper or something.”
Ailsa didn’t say anything. What Spike was saying was possible, although she hoped the people that lived with her would give someone more of a chance than that. Spike and Ailsa looked at each other.
“I’ll race you to the castle,” Ailsa said.
“What? I’m eleven years younger than you. I can take you easily.”
“Oh, really. And who told you this?”
“No one. I just know.”
“Okay, then let’s see. Ready, set, go.”
Ailsa and Spike took off across the field toward the castle. Spike was in the lead partway until he started to tire. Ailsa had chosen a steadier pace, so her energy level was still high. Nearing the drawbridge, Ailsa zipped past Spike and across the bridge sailing into the inner bailey. Spike stumbled in behind, out of breath.
Stopping and leaning forward, his hands on his thighs, Spike spoke between breaths.
“I can’t believe…you were able to…beat me to the castle…I thought I had…you with ease.”
“I guess not,” Ailsa said. “Looks like you better work on getting some muscle on those skinny bones of yours.”
“Hey, be nice.”
Ailsa laughed as Spike caught his breath.
Wandering up to the two of them, Cuthbert stopped, staring at them.
“A race, huh?” Cuthbert’s slow, articulated speech made Spike feel like he should look up at him in slow motion.
“Yup.”
“You win?” Cuthbert said to Ailsa, a smile crawling across his face at the pace of a snail.
“Why, of course. You know I did.”
Spike looked up at the two of them. “Does she work out or something?”
“Work out?” Cuthbert asked.
“Yes. You know, run, exercise, lift weights, and stuff like that.”
“She does to an extent. She’s been a runner since she was a little girl. Always liked to keep in shape.” It took Cuthbert at least five seconds to expel that sentence from his mouth. “I remember as child how she would run her little legs off. From the time she got up until she went to bed, she was always on the move, most of the time running.”
“Well, I guess I need to practice more.”
“I guess so,” Ailsa said grinning.
The bright sparkle of something small on Cuthbert’s ear scintillated in the sunshine.
“Cuthbert. You’ve got something on your ear.”
“Oh, where?”
“Right there.” Spike reached up to brush it off when he realized it wasn’t on his ear, but in it. “What’s this?”
“An earring. Why?”
“You, an earring? What in the world?”
“You saying I can’t copy some of your fashion tastes?”
“Well, no. I didn’t say that.” Spike stood dumbfounded looking at Cuthbert’s earring. It just looked so strange in an older man in the late 1700’s. He was 200 years ahead of his time.
“Hey,” Cuthbert said, “I could be a pirate.” A sparkle in his eye indicated to Spike and Ailsa that perhaps that was something he’d always wanted to be.
“You’d probably make a good one too,” Ailsa said. “You’re quiet, conniving and smart. I wouldn’t doubt it if you were the Captain.”
“Hey,” Cuthbert said, speaking as if in a pool of syrup, “I could call my crew the Pirates of Penzance. That has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?”
“I like it,” Ailsa said. Spike looked a bit surprised. “What do you think Spike?”
“Uh, sounds good. I think it might go over well, in fact I know it would.” Spike was thinking in the back of his mind about the history he knew from his time era. The Pirates of Penzance was an opera that premiered the last day of December in 1879, a little less than 100 years from now. Spike wondered if he or Cuthbert might be the inspiration behind the name of that future opera. What a strange thing time travel could be.
“Well, I say let’s go eat,” Ailsa spoke up.
“I’ll second that,” Spike said.
“Want to race me to the kitchen?”
“NO!” Spike said, finally having caught his breath. The three of them laughed.
After a hearty lunch, Spike informed Ailsa that he was going to his shop to work some more.
“So, what are you doing today?”
“I’m finishing repairs on the underwater grate in the moat.”
“Isn’t it a little cold for that?”
“It would be, but thanks to Slick, I have a wet suit I can use.”
“Oh yes, that suit that fits over your whole body as snug as a glove?” Ailsa asked.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
A few months after Slick had disappeared, Spike had started organizing Slick’s old underground lab. After talking with Ailsa and Cuthbert, it was decided that Spike would do a lot of the maintenance around the castle thus relieving Cuthbert of some of the load he experienced living there. It allowed Cuthbert more time to concentrate on the landscaping, gardening and other necessary details. Cuthbert would rather do that anyway. He never cared much for maintenance although he did it when required.
Spike had always enjoyed fixing things, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so to his heart’s content. He had taken over the old lab and turned it into his shop. He’d also built a small entry portal over the drain in the bailey and had fixed the rusted and missing ladder rungs that penetrated the ground below. He used this as a means to get to the lab. Although it required some climbing and crawling, Spike didn’t mind. In fact, he thought it was kind of neat.
Today, Spike was going to work underground. After entering the shaft in the bailey, Spike would continue down to the bottom and past the point where Slick had welded the grate shut preventing them from exiting into the bailey. Dropping another twenty feet to the floor below, Spike had a choice of three directions in which he could travel. If he went to the left or the right, he would be following a series of tunnels that connected periodically to overhead drains throughout the castle. These were used for water runoff and helped keep the castle from puddling up during heavy rains. The third direction he could travel was straight ahead. Moving forward, his flashlight illuminating the tunnel ahead, Spike would be able to travel only about fifty feet before running into water. The tunnel itself angled downward so that at the far end of the water the ceiling of the tunnel disappeared beneath the surface. The reason for the angle was to prevent flooding of the drainage system behind Spike.
Spike was going to complete some repairs on the underwater gate in this body of water which exited out into the moat. This was yet another port of entry into the maze of underground tunnels beneath the castle. Of course, the gate guarded this entry, but if needed, it was available. Once Spike had completed repairs here, he would go back to his shop and work on a few other projects that he’d started.
Ailsa looked up at the sunny day and then back at Spike. “You’ll be done by dinner this time?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’m going to hold you to your word. Last time you got so involved you forgot about dinner.”
“I know. I’ve got my watch on. I won’t forget.”
Ailsa looked at his watch. “You still have to figure out how to make me one of those. It would be so handy to have.”
“I’ll work on it,” Spike said with a smile. “But remember, these things are intricate. As I explained before, machines were used to construct many of the very small items that we used. A human could never build something so small and precise. I’ll see what I can do though.”
“Thanks Spike,” Ailsa said. “I’ll see you in awhile.”
“Okay. See ya.”
Spike turned and walked across the bailey stopping in front of the entry portal into the labyrinth of tunnels below. Opening the small access door, Spike entered and disappeared down into shaft underneath. Upon reaching the bottom of the shaft, Spike walked a few feet to where he had previously arranged his tools. Putting on the wet suit, Spike prepared to finish repairs on the underwater gate at the far end of the tunnel where it met the moat surrounding the castle.
After a couple of hours of work, Spike finished repairing the gate. Checking his watch, he noted that it was 4:17 p.m. Dinner was served at six. He still had time to go back to the lab, put his tools away, and do a few odd jobs before heading back to eat. Picking up his gear, Spike turned to leave. Instead of going straight back to the shaft that led to the bailey, he would take another tunnel back to his lab. Spike turned right, putting his back to the water he’d just left. Walking about 50 feet or so, the tunnel made an almost 90º turn to the left. From there, Spike walked another 100 feet until he reached a spiral ladder that he’d installed several months ago. This ladder led upward into another small entry portal. Climbing the steps, taking care not to drop his tools, Spike reached the top and opened the door. Stepping out, Spike was standing in the middle of the lab where his life in the 1790’s had all begun.
After Slick had left and he’d taken over the lab, Spike had rearranged things to his liking. In doing so, he’d found another drain in the middle of the room which had been hidden underneath one of the lab tables. After some exploration, Spike had decided it would be an easier way to the drainage system should he have to work on it than it would be to walk the upper tunnel, cross the small room, crawl through a 20 foot tube and climb back down again. This entrance was immediate and got him where he needed to go quickly. He’d also installed several lights in the tunnels he used the most. A generator that Spike had built powered these. The generator had been built by putting a waterwheel on the outflow side of the stream that ran from the moat to the pond outside the castle walls. Spike had found several cases of light bulbs and wiring that Slick had been storing in the lab. As long as the bulbs didn’t burn out very often, he should be able to use what he had for several years.
Spike had also discovered in a room off the lab another storage area that Slick had been using for all sorts of parts and electronics. Spike would be able to use those items for years to come. He even thought that maybe by introducing some of them in a sly way to some of the scientists of his day, history might show Spike as the inventor of what he’d taken for granted in the 21st century. He didn’t know if he would, but the idea crossed his mind.
After re-organizing his tools and doing a few other odds and ends, Spike decided he’d better get going. It was now 5:47 p.m. He didn’t want to be late. Leaving the lab and shutting off the lights, Spike turned on his flashlight and entered the tunnel that headed in a northeasterly direction. Walking to the end, he descended several steps, reached underneath the bottom one, pulled a lever and opened the door to the spiral stairs. Pulling the door shut behind himself, he ascended for several minutes going around and around the spiral staircase. Upon reaching the top, he stopped in front of the door leading into Ailsa’s room. Putting his ear to the wall, he could just barely make out the sounds of her in her room getting ready for dinner. Pushing, Spike was able to move the door inward a few inches. Pushing again, he opened it enough to squeeze through. Ailsa was across the room with the window open looking out at the sea while fixing her hair. She was singing to herself. Spike walked stealthily up behind her and reached around her waist. Screaming, Ailsa elbowed Spike in the ribs dropping him to the floor. Turning around, ready to fight, she instantly saw who it was.
“Spike! What are you doing?”
Trying to catch his breath, Spike managed to say, “I snuck in to surprise you.”
“Well you certainly did. How many times have I told you we can’t be seen together up here, especially since we’re not married yet?”
“I know, I know. I just wanted to see you and surprise you.”
“Well, that you did.”
Ailsa helped Spike off the floor and gave him a big hug.
“I’m always glad to see you. It’s just these surprises that I don’t like. Besides, we don’t need anybody else talking, at least not until we’ve set a date.”
“You’re right. I know. It’s just that I love being with you.”
“And I you.”
Both paused and looked at each other before embracing again. Then Ailsa spoke.
“Why don’t we go downstairs and see if we can slip into the dining room without anyone seeing us exit from the stairs?”
“Okay. Sounds exciting.”
Ailsa gave him a silly look and then led the way. Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, she stuck her head out and looked around.
“Okay. No one’s looking.”
Spike exited the stairs behind Ailsa and then they casually walked through the hall and into the dining area. The kitchen help were scurrying around getting the last minute details arranged for dinner. Sitting down at the table, Spike and Ailsa quietly talked. Cuthbert came into the room and glanced at the two sitting together. Looking at Spike, he gave him a wink of his eye and turned to help the others preparing dinner. The earring sparkled in the bright glow of the torches on the wall.
Spike was used to this life now. After having been here for a year, it had grown on him. He enjoyed the peacefulness, the quiet atmosphere, the slow pace and the lack of stress and troubles he’d had at home. Besides, he and Ailsa had talked about getting married a few months before. They hadn’t yet set a date, but would soon. When they did so, it would be the biggest news in town. Everyone expected it, but no one said anything. Spike was happy with how his life had turned out. Thanks to Slick, his life was actually better now than it had been in 2006. Spike couldn’t complain, wouldn’t complain. Looking back at Ailsa, he smiled. She smiled back at him, and dinner was served.
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