Cordelia was reading a book, waiting for someone to knock on her door. She had a cup of tea next to her. Very strong tea with a splash of milk. She hadn't been able to find proper coffee here so she had to make do with what she could find. Even the brew David's family produced was still a far cry from the coffee she knew and liked. No amount of milk could make that nice. Some things of the future, of home, couldn't be beaten.
It had taken her some time to get used to actual paper books as well. They were heavier than the micro-thin reader tablets from home but there was a certain charm about them. Cordelia hadn't collected many of them yet. There weren't many titles available in this time, and most of them didn't really spark her interest.
The sound of the brass knocker on the door reverberated through the small hall. The time-traveller put down her book, making sure the bookmark was in place. That was also something she had got wrong at first. Paper books don't remember where you stopped reading.
The person at the door was a remarkably well-dressed gentleman. Cordelia knew him, he had asked her to 'keep safe' several small boxes and envelopes.
"Miss Lexington, how fortunate to find you at home."
"Mr Crankwell, how nice to see you again. Would you like to come in?"
The man shook his head. "Unfortunately I do not have the time today." He handed her a slip of paper. "Would you be able to collect this item for me? Someone will come over this afternoon to collect it, using the codename Harkness."
"Of course, Mr Crankwell." Cordelia accepted the piece of paper. "Could you ask your assistant to arrive between four and five? I have a few errands to run and it would be a shame if your assistant has to wait."
Mr Crankwell assured her that the pick-up person would be at her door at that time and thanked her for her services. "Enjoy your day, Miss Lexington." He tipped his hat and walked off, swinging his cane. He was clearly in a good mood.
Cordelia closed the door and looked at the paper. "Right. First trip of the day." This shouldn't take very long. She checked her notebook to see where and when she was going. This was a very easy pick-up so there was no need to change clothes. "Norbert, we're on our way. Are you ready for Ireland?"
"That is not the kind of question that requires an answer, Cordelia. I would like to remind you that the STAR's energy cell needs replenishing soon."
"Good thinking, thank you." Cordelia felt good about that. She slipped into her seat and powered up the systems. She typed in the temporal coordinates, consisting of time, down to the minute, and geolocation. The time-to-the-minute bit was somewhat of a joke, she thought. The STARs never made it exactly on time; there always was a five-minute margin which you had to take into account when starting a journey. That had never been a problem though. "Let's Go."
When the forcefield dropped, they were in Ireland, in the year 914. The STAR had 'landed' several miles south of the small settlement that, in the future, would be the city of Cork. Now it was nothing more than a trading post, established by Vikings.
Cordelia left the machine and stepped outside. Just like the first time she'd come here, the air was a surprise in freshness. There was no sign of industrialisation here, with its odd smells. All there was was a faint whiff from the sea mixed with grass and the few wildflowers that grew here. She took her time to feel this nature and only then did she walk over to the large stone beneath which she had hidden a wooden box. She shoved some sand aside to get to the box which she had, in local time, hidden here only half an hour earlier. In future reality, it had been here for half a year. After clearing away all of the sand from the box, she went back into the STAR and set the coordinates for the cellar in her house.
These were the easiest pick-ups. Small items that represented a large value for their owners. Simple to move about and hide. The biggest issue Cordelia had with locations like that was that she had to fight her curiosity. Sometimes that was hard because she was very eager to see how those Vikings back then lived. The danger of being discovered however was too big.
"This was hardly worth the effort of activating all the systems," Norbert informed her as she powered down the STAR.
"I know, but it pays well." Cordelia hid the box in a compartment and locked that with a fingerprint. "And we wouldn't get far with only half the systems activated."
With the box ready for the person who would show up this afternoon, she was ready to go out for some serious suit-acquisition. Cordelia judged her current outfit good enough to go outside and visit a few clothing shops. From one of her hiding places, she fetched a small pouch with money. It was nice to have money in the bank, but at times it was useful having some cash at hand, and today was such an occasion.
The street with the best shops wasn't far from where she lived. As she walked along, she kept watching men of a similar build to David's. At one point a gentleman stopped and looked back at her, which told her she had to be less obviously staring. The time-traveller assumed an attitude more geared towards this period and walked on, soon to find herself in front of the store of Grimwald & Wilson, two gay men who made amazing clothes. It was sort of a public secret that these two men loved each other. Cordelia was convinced they would be able to help her find something suitable for David. Suit-able. It made her grin.
"Miss Lexington!" Mr Wilson, who usually minded the store, held his hands out to her as he welcomed her. "What can we do for you this fine day? A new dress? Or would you like to see our latest hats?" She let him list everything new they had in store. Before the end, she wouldn't be able to get a word in.
"I may surprise you, Mr Wilson, but I am looking for a few suits. Not for me, of course."
Mr Wilson didn't miss a beat. "Of course not, Miss Lexington. Can I ask about the lucky fellow who is going to fill the suits? Can you describe him to me? Why, pray tell, did you not bring him with you so we could feast our eyes on your taste?"
Cordelia explained that her fellow was currently at work and that the suits were going to be a surprise for him. After that, she did her best to indicate David's proportions. Mr Wilson listened attentively, nodded and asked questions while taking notes. When she was done talking, he excused himself and walked off.
Moments later he returned with Mr Grimwald in his wake. "Bradley thinks he knows exactly what you are looking for," Mr Wilson said. "Don't you, dear?" The two men trusted Cordelia and didn't make any effort to hide who they really were when only she was around.
Bradley Grimwald smiled and escorted Cordelia to a corner where they had premade suits. Usually, they made clothes to fit and order, but sometimes they invented new creations and displayed them. "You need this one, dear," he said, pointing at a dark grey, silk suit. It was decorated with a red rose and a white shirt, while a black tie completed the ensemble. "It will adjust itself to the wearer. It is the very best. You could also opt for this one..." The second choice was black cotton, a black tie and also a white shirt. No red rose, which Cordelia thought was a pity. This was much more conservative than the flamboyant grey suit. She loved the silk one but she was convinced David would feel much safer in the less remarkable black suit.
Mr Wilson was very helpful in holding the black suit up for her. It might be a little narrow in the shoulders, Cordelia thought, but for an evening it would do. As if they read the thought on her face, the two men asked if there was a problem. After hearing about the shoulders, they said they could alter that and have it ready for her by five in the afternoon.
"Your fellow must be a very strong man," Mr Grimwald said as a giant smile flowed over his face. "Don't worry, dear Miss Lexington. The suit will be ready on time."
Cordelia then asked them the total price. She had the money with her and didn't want to carry it over the street twice. The suit was by far not as expensive as she'd assumed. The silk one would be much more costly, but she knew she'd made the right decision with this black costume.
The men thanked her for her purchase and both escorted her to the door, wishing her a nice day.
~
Back in her house, Cordelia had a quick early lunch and went down to the STAR again. She hadn't forgotten Norbert's warning to recharge the device. This was a tricky enterprise because this model hadn't been completed when she had acquired it.
STARs were recharged by space radiation. That should be easy because the S in the name stood for Space. Unfortunately, that particular part of her STAR wasn't fully in place. The system wasn't yet air-tight, so going into actual space hadn't been an option for her until after a few trips to 2136. During the last of those, she had managed to get her hands on an old-fashioned spacesuit. The previous owner had been a space miner in the asteroid belt who had reached an age where he no longer needed to work, and the suit was collecting dust in a room. Cordelia had located him through an advertisement online, contacted him and gotten the suit for free, just because he liked her. It was too large for her but she didn't have to work in the suit, just wear it while recharging the STAR. The former space miner had thrown in a small breathing apparatus that held oxygen to survive five minutes, which Cordelia always held in a small cabinet next to the pilot's chair. You could never know when an emergency came up.
The suit was in a corner of the cellar, hidden under a large, black piece of fabric. Before she could get into it, she had to change into her jumpsuit again. As she did so, she considered a trip to the early 23rd century. Maybe she could find a few new jumpsuits there, or something that would be as easy. This one was really showing signs of wear, and she had patched it up so often that it started to look ugly. For now, however, it had to do.
"Norbert," she said as she dragged the spacesuit into the STAR, "we're going up." The only convenient way for Cordelia to get into the suit was to get it inside her time-machine, put it on the floor and wiggle herself into it. Doing so in the cellar had taught her she couldn't get into the STAR due to the (for her) oversized suit.
"Good," the system intelligence said. "You realise that you look very silly doing that, don't you?"
"You are here to help me run the STAR," Cordelia told him, "not to make comments on how I get into this suit."
"I am here because you stole me," Norbert corrected her.
"It was an emergency." Cordelia felt rage rise up inside her, which was bad. She had to stay calm now. "But that aside. Let's recharge." She worked herself to her feet in the suit and shuffled over to the chair. That wasn't made for this bulk but if she sat down on it the right way, it wouldn't hurt. Norbert stopped commenting and became helpful while Cordelia set the coordinates for the trip up and back down. "Here we go." She put the helmet on, waited for the suit's system to activate and watched the Heads-Up Display tell her that everything was fine. The counter for remaining oxygen was important from now on.
Her gloved finger hit the "Go" button.
~
The STAR appeared two hundred miles over the earth. This was space. The very space that this STAR wasn't made for, but it had to be here for at least half an hour, collecting space radiation coming from the sun. Cordelia had tried to understand the theory of how this worked but, lacking someone who could explain certain concepts to her, that had failed time and again. She had to sit here all that time. Alone. Even Norbert hadn't been able to find a way to connect to the suit's communication module. Even though the HUD said it was fine, it never made a sound. Norbert suspected that something was broken. Cordelia had accepted that as the truth since she didn't know how to fix this. The last thing she wanted to do was to take the suit apart and look for something she probably wouldn't recognise.
The only way she could communicate with Norbert now was by reading the words it displayed in front of her. They had worked out a system where she would use hand movements to respond. That limited things but it was better than sitting here for half an hour and 'saying' absolutely nothing.
Cordelia routinely checked her oxygen supply. Down to 55% was her average indication that they'd been up here long enough. She also kept an eye on the screen that showed her the outside of the ship. Norbert made sure the STAR would slowly rotate, so the sun wouldn't burn the hull on one side, and the other side wouldn't freeze over. At first it had made her dizzy but that had soon changed. Now it was something soothing to watch.
For a while she sang songs from home. With a bit of a grin she thought it was good that Norbert couldn't hear her now. She wasn't particularly good at singing and at times she had to improvise the lyrics, but it made time pass faster. She knew she couldn't sing for long as that would rapidly reduce the oxygen she had available.
Recharged. The word appeared on the screen. Hooray for that, with 57% oxygen remaining. Her gloved finger carefully pressed the lever on the directional-control box which she had set to shove the home-coordinates into the system and hit "Go". The STAR vanished from its spot over the earth. "We survived yet again," Cordelia said after taking off the helmet.
"In the case of any danger I would have taken the STAR back here on my own," Norbert stated. "The energy cells had enough power left for safety." It was merely a kind of status report but Cordelia felt good hearing it. Norbert was watching over her safety this way.
"Thank you. And I suggest you turn the cameras off for a few minutes if you don't want to be offended by my way of getting out of this suit." She lay down on the floor, pressed a few buttons on the hip-panel and waited for the release of the suit so she could wiggle out of it. Norbert made no comment.
With the suit stored under its dark sheet again, Cordelia took the small box from the compartment where she had hidden it and took it up to her bedroom where she put it in a hidden closet behind the robot arms. She changed back into clothes that fit this era and went back to her small living room where she picked up her book again and waited for Mr Crankwell's courier.
~
The courier arrived far past five in the afternoon. Cordelia had paced around the room already, thinking the person might have forgotten to come over, or somehow had missed her address. The sound of the knocker was a pleasure for her ears.
"Hello?" she said to a young woman after opening the door.
"Hello, Miss," the woman said. She looked quite average. "I believe you have something for, ehm, Mr Harkness?" She articulated the name very clearly so as to make certain Cordelia understood it. It also sounded quite funny this way.
"I do indeed. If you would wait a moment..." Cordelia closed the door. She always did. No one should accidentally start to roam around the house and find things they wouldn't understand or weren't supposed to see. There were too many such items all over the place. She quickly gathered the box from its second hiding place, placed it in a bag and went to hand it to the young woman. "Here it is. Give my regards to Mr Harkness."
"Thank you, Miss." The woman held out a small pouch. "This is a little extra, he said, for your trouble and continued, ehm, loyalty."
Cordelia accepted the bag. "Thank you. Have a nice day and do convey my regards."
"I shall. Good day, Miss." As the woman walked off, Cordelia wondered how Mr Crankwell managed to find a new courier each time. She admired his sense of safety, but he had so many packages all the time that by now half the town must have functioned as a courier.
The time-traveller closed the door and inspected the pouch. Twenty-five gold sovereigns. A small fortune for this time. She wondered what had been inside the box, making it so valuable to Mr Crankwell.
She took the bag to her small safe in the kitchen. Cordelia thought it quite clever of her to have the safe there. Who would expect something like that in a kitchen? Putting the 'extra' away meant that her regular workday was over. She now had time to herself until the clock reached five in the afternoon, after which she could collect the suit from Grimwald & Wilson.
~
"Miss Lexington!" Mr Wilson beamed as he saw her enter the shop again. "How punctual." There were a few more customers in the store, so he treated her more formally than he had done earlier that day. "You will be pleased to hear that your order has been completed. If you would please follow me to the next room so you can inspect the alterations..." Cordelia smiled.
The suit looked perfect to her. Mr Wilson held it up in front of him. He'd probably drown in the coat but for David this had to be exactly right.
"You did fabulous work, Mr Wilson," she said. "Would it be possible for you to have it delivered to my house?" It was a courtesy question. They would never let her carry anything around herself.
Mr Wilson asked her to wait for a moment and walked off. He returned a few minutes later and assured her the suit would be delivered soon. Cordelia knew she wouldn't have to worry. The young men they employed for their deliveries were always on time and very careful with what they carried around.
"That is wonderful. Thank you, Mr Wilson, and give my respects to Mr Grimwald if you please."
Cordelia left the store and walked home. She had been there for no more than ten minutes when the knocker sounded through the small hall. It was a young man with the suit. It surprised her how fast this had gone. She handed the young man some money for being so prompt and then carried the bundle down to the cellar.
After a simple meal, Cordelia entered the STAR and set the coordinates for the barn in Lexington, where David was probably waiting already.
He was there, waiting outside as she had ordered him to, long ago. She was never certain where exactly the STAR would arrive and the risk of him ending up beneath it, or even worse, partly inside it, was too great. She had heard many a horror story back in the early days of her job, when the STAR system was in its infant days. Over a dozen people apparently had died because they were there where a STAR appeared. After those events, a system had been developed to make the chances of this happening as small as possible, but there was never a full 100% certainty that an arrival would be safe.
"Cordelia..." David wrapped his strong arms around her and held her so tightly that she couldn't breathe for a moment. Experience had made her prepare for that, though.
"David. I am so glad to see you again." Almost instinctively she looked at his hands. They weren't much worse than the evening before so she decided not to mention that. At home she had some medication from somewhere in the future that would fix his hands a little. "Come with me. I have a suit for you and I want to know if it fits."
And so David followed her into the barn and into the STAR, where she presented the package to him. He carefully opened it, treating the wrapping as if it were something precious. He had probably never seen a box like that before, closed with ribbons and the name of Grimwald & Wilson in fine print on it.
"That looks..." He looked at her, at a loss for words. She had feared this moment but she had to get through it. He probably thought this too good for him and she knew it wasn't. The silk suit would have been far too much.
"I will go outside so you can try it on," she said. Before she left the STAR, she kissed him on the cheek. "You will look handsome, David."
"But..."
She refused to hear him out. He was going to object. Leaving would be the only way to make him put on the suit. "I'll see you outside."
Cordelia left the barn and looked up at the sky, where the last rays of the sun set some clouds on fire. It was a sight she couldn't see at home, in the town. She'd have to go to the harbour for that and even then there wouldn't be enough free space. Here that was present in abundance. She hoped David would manage with the suit. She wouldn't have a problem going back in to help him, but she knew his dignity would be hurt if he had to call upon her for that, so she waited and gave him all the time he needed. She wasn't in a hurry.
The barn door creaked as David pushed it open. He carefully came outside. Cordelia stood and watched him. The suit was nearly perfect. Perhaps a bit too wide in the shoulders, and she would have to redo his tie, but...
"David... you look astonishing."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really. Come. Back inside. I will show you how you look." She grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to the STAR, where she ordered Norbert to set a camera on David and show the image on the largest display. David had seen that happen before and he probably still thought she was dealing with witchcraft, but when he saw himself on the screen he fell silent as he stared.,
"Cordelia... Is that really me?" He stepped closer to the screen, moving himself out of camera range. "Oh?"
"Come back here, silly. Norbert, zoom in and show this man how he looks in close up."
Together they watched the image on the display, showing David in his new suit. He felt more and more at ease in these clothes and in the end he actually admired how he looked.
"Cordelia, I can't believe this, and it is real." He ran a hand over a sleeve. "Such fine material."
"I am so happy you like it, David. I will keep it safe in my home in England, and on Saturday evening I will come to pick you up. You can change clothes there, and then we go out for dinner. Just the two of us." She had already made a plan on how to explain his foreign way of speech. He would be an American who had arrived by boat, and she was showing him around. "Tomorrow I will go to the restaurant and make reservations."
"This is all so... so special." David took her hands in his own. "I have thought of you today. And how my life would be had I not met you. I would be a much poorer man." He sighed. "I fear I need to return to my family."
Cordelia had a word for that but didn't use it. It was from the future and it would confuse him. "Best to put your own clothes back on then. I will walk you home most of the way so we can spend some more time together."
Again she waited outside the barn but not so long this time and they set off towards Lexington.
Several miles before they reached the first houses, Cordelia had to say goodbye to David. They did so with a kiss. A proper one.
"I will be back soon, my love," she promised.
"And I will wait for you, my Cordelia." David touched her cheek for a moment. "Be careful."
"Of course..."