“Hey, they’ve got the lights working,” said Kaz as she peered over the edge of the brick vent into the now lit chamber below.
“Oh good, can we climb down now?” ventured Titch, starting to put a leg over the parapet.
“Hang on; I’ll just see if they can hear me.” She called out both of their names a couple of times but there was no response.
“Maybe they can’t hear you from here.”
“Perhaps,” said Kaz. “Okay Titch, you climb over first and I will drop the bags down to you … then I will follow.”
“Yeah!” said Titch, exalted in the thought of finally going down the shaft. Eagerly he clambered over the wall and climbed down the ladder with the ease of a monkey descending a tree.
“Be careful,” pleaded Kaz, as she watched Titch rush his way to the bottom.
“Okay, throw me a bag.” He caught the first two bags but dropped the last which just happened to belong to Andy. “Oh dear, missed that one,” he cheekily chuckled to himself as he picked up the now dripping-wet kitbag.
As Kaz hitched her left leg over the ledge to reach the first rung, she thought how lucky she was to be wearing long pants for a change. It was her mum’s idea as she was meeting the Reverend Jones today as she usually preferred her rather short skirts. She carefully felt for every rung, and then hand over hand made her way to the bottom. Jumping clear of the large pool of water she helped Titch with the backpacks.
“Wow! There’s a train down here,” said Kaz somewhat surprised.
“Yeah, awesome ain’t it,” replied Titch, “I wanna be a train driver one day.”
“You never know what life may bring,” smiled Kaz.
“Anybody ‘ome,” shouted Titch mockingly. The bunker magnified the sound which echoed around the vast emptiness beyond the train. Titch was sure he heard a faint sort of evil laugh, but dismissed it as Kaz didn’t seem to notice.
“Andy … Dave,” called Kaz, as they made their way past the rail wagons, paying no attention to the humming sound coming from within the last van.
“There not ‘ere,” said Titch. For the first time he seemed a little concerned. He then noticed the torch lying near the alcove on the back wall. “That’s me torch,” he said, as he gathering up one of his most prized possessions and switched it off. “I wonder why they left it ‘ere?”
Kaz called out once again in desperation, “Andy … Dave, can you hear me? Come on out if you’re hiding … this is just not funny anymore.” Receiving no response Kaz and Titch decided to search the bunker. There were passages leading deeper into the bunker on both sides, and on the same side as they had walked from the smoke vent, there were two small windows which indicated there was at least some kind of room behind them.
“C’mon Titch, let’s try this way,” offered Kaz, as she led him towards a narrow passageway. “They might have locked themselves in a room or something stupid like that,” she said, sounding not entirely convincing. The passage was fairly short and soon intersected with another passage running left and right. This passage still had a ceiling light working at the far end which gave the impression the passage was longer than it actually was. A number of doors lined both sides of the passageway. Kaz surmised the first door on the right should be the room with the windows she had seen from the bunker. She made her way to it and gently turned the doorknob. A momentary force was felt as accumulated dust and cobwebs gave way and the door creaked open.
“Wicked!” said Kaz as she stepped into the room gazing at the equipment lining the walls. There were instruments with dials, and panels with switches and box devices with meter gauges. “This must be a control room for the bunker by the look at all this cool stuff,” she said as she turned to face Titch.
“D’yer fink it still works?” asked Titch, moving closer to one of the larger panels.
“Dunno, but I wouldn’t risk playing with anything just yet. We need to find the others first,” suggested Kaz. “Let’s check the other rooms.”
As they moved back into the passageway another deafening boom shook the bunker causing some dust to sprinkle from the ceiling cracks. “Friggin’ hell … that was close,” said Titch grabbing the nearest door jamb for support.
“Come on let’s hurry up and check these rooms. Then will can get out of here,” insisted Kaz, quickly heading off to the next door on the right. It was locked. “Okay that’s locked … let’s try this one,” she said, looking at the door opposite. Kaz turned the knob and the door opened with ease. What she saw caught her breadth and she jumped back into the passage landing on Titch’s right foot. She was frozen to the spot. Titch was just about to give Kaz a mouthful when he too froze.
“Hello Kaz and Titch, I’ve been expecting you,” said a softly spoken man’s voice from within the dimly lit room. Titch, hidden in the shadow of Kaz, stretched up on his toes and peered over her shoulder.
Sitting at an old rosewood table was a wizened-looking man with fair skin and piercing, but friendly blue eyes. An old black cloak was draped loosely over his shoulders. His hair was white, thick and long, and swept behind his ears and down his back. He sported a large matching moustache and a white beard that flowed majestically down his chest as it tapered nicely to a point. He sat motionless, with only his eyes glancing quickly from one person to the other.
“Who the hell are you?” Kaz asked bravely. She was ready to make a quick retreat if the situation presented itself.
“Come … sit down,” the man slowly gestured with an open hand. “We have much to talk about.” Kaz and Titch still did not budge from their position. Their eyes transfixed on the man’s every word and movement.
“Wot ‘ave you dun with Andy ‘n Dave,” asked Titch in an aggressive cockney tone whilst still hiding behind Kaz.
“Nothing I can assure you … in fact, I am here to help them,” replied the man in a cool, calm voice. “Come … sit down,” the man gestured again.
Kaz cautiously entered the room, closely followed by Titch as if he were stuck to Kaz with glue. Instantly they were surprised by the size of the room. It was stacked with old radio equipment, ammunition cases, dusty bottles of wine, and a number of maps on the walls. The solid table was centred in the room, and surrounded by six matching wooden framed chairs. They sat in the seats opposite the man and looked at each other in sequence for a moment. A dusty electric light globe hung motionless from the ceiling by a long black twisted cord. Fingerprints were visible where the light globe had last been touched. Kaz intensively studied the man. As she became more accustomed to the dim light of the room she could see the elderly man had many wrinkles, and was covered in a number of brown age spots on his face and arms. He wore clothes that were noticeably old-fashioned. The man did not seem to be any threat. In any event, Kaz thought, they could easily overpower him if need be - but she still kept up her guard just in case.
“You won’t remember me … but I remember you two,” he said, waving a friendly finger between Kaz and Titch. “My name is Peter and I have waited a long time for you to come.”
Titch turned to Kaz and whispered, “I fink he’s a nutter,” and started to get up from his seat.
“Let’s just see what he has to say,” Kaz said, as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the chair.
“What I’m going to tell you may seem a little strange and probably a little far-fetched, but it is vitally important you hear me out,” started Peter. “Andy and Dave are no longer with us …”
“What … they’re dead!” Kaz bleated.
“No, no, please let me finish,” asked Peter.
“Okay, but don’t scare me like that,” replied Kaz.
“Sorry, but if you let me finish, I was going to say that they are no longer here at this point in time,” continued Peter, “… and they will need your help to bring them back.”
“Back from where … where exactly are they?” asked Kaz.
“I’ll come to that in a moment,” assured Peter. “Andy and Dave have got themselves tied up in a bit of trouble and we have to help them before it’s too late.”
“Trouble?” queried Kaz. “What trouble?”
Titch copied Kaz, “Yeah, what trouble?”
“Please hear me out,” pleaded Peter, “… their lives depend on it.” The old man leaned forward a little. “Look, I think I need to step back a bit and explain myself.”
“That would be a good idea,” advised Kaz, “… because you’re not making much sense at the moment.”
Titch nodded in agreement, then spurted, “And by the way, was it you who stole Dave’s bag off the train?”
“Sorry, I don’t follow,” said Peter confused. “Dave had his bag stolen you say?”
“Yes, it was taken by a rough-looking man like you, who escaped on a horse,” replied Kaz. “It’s because we followed him that we ended up here.”
“I can assure you it wasn’t me. Do you know what was in the bag?” inquired Peter interested.
“Gold coins,” said Titch, “… lots of them … and worth a fortune.”
“Really,” said Peter, “… and this man led you here?”
“Yeah sort of,” said Titch. Kaz frowned at Titch for mentioning the gold coins to this total stranger. She quickly changed the subject.
“So what were you going to explain that was so important?” quizzed Kaz.
Peter took a deep breath and began again. “Well, towards the end of the Second World War in Europe the German’s were desperately throwing anything at the enemy, including us here in Britain, in an effort to ward off defeat. Much of the wealth of Hitler’s Third Reich was already being secretly moved out of Germany into neighbouring countries, like Austria for example. Art works, national treasures and even gold bullion was shipped out at ever increasing speed. However, the huge advances in nuclear research and scientific experimentation were also of great value. Some of the leading-edge technology was relocated along with its physicists. Much of it was secretly hidden and some was never recovered after the war ended.”
“So what’s all this got to do with us?” asked a confused Kaz.
“Well, back in August 1944, a plan was conceived by Hitler to infiltrate remote areas of Britain and attack the ‘British Warlords’ as he called them, from the inside out. This would be accomplished by various means, but the decision to detonate an atomic bomb in London was the ultimate plan. This would undoubtedly bring Britain to its knees and lead to an immediate surrender. Their plans were delayed a number of times as their nuclear fission testing was incomplete. It seems the development of the atomic bomb was being rushed in an attempt to appease Hitler. Eventually two bomb devices were secretly shipped by U-Boats, each with a remote control device, along with crates of other experimental equipment. One of these pieces of equipment was supposed to be able to instantly transport an object from one place to another,” explained Peter.
“Yeah, so?” said Kaz, not really grasping the moment.
“This experimental transfer device was damaged during transit and some cracked cooling tubes went unnoticed during initial testing. When the device was activated, it kept overheating and failing. The scientist in charge was under threat to fix the machine by the brutal Captain Krause who wanted the time machine for his own evil means.”
“Time machine … what a load of …“, Kaz was about to finish when Titch cut in.
“Bollocks!” mouthed Titch in no uncertain terms.
“Um, exactly,” agreed Kaz. “You’ve been drinking too much of that,” she said pointing poignantly at the empty wine bottles nearby.
“Told yer ‘e was a nutter,” said Titch restating his beliefs, “Can we go now I’m hungry?”
“Please you must believe me … I don’t have much time,” pleaded Peter. “Those big bangs you’ve been hearing are due to the machine malfunctioning.”
“That thing is here?” asked Kaz. Titch was silent as he watched Kaz and Peter battle it out.
“Yes,” replied Peter, “The device was originally developed in two parts which had to be at least a mile apart, or about one and a half kilometres these days. This allowed the device to set up a time and distance reference. The base machine then transmits an ultra-high frequency signal which when received by the receiver returns the signal beam, but at double the modulation. This continues at a rapid rate until it reaches a set frequency at a very high penetration level, almost reaching the speed of light.
“So wot happened,” asked Titch, now sitting up with interest.
Peter continued. “Well because of the damaged tubes the transport device did not stop the signal wave at the predefined level, but just kept building up in intensity due to overheating, until suddenly it went …”
“Bang?” interrupted Titch.
“No, silent,” Peter paused, and then continued, “… but the damage had been done.”
“What damage,” Kaz inquired.
“They did not realise that the device had unknowingly caused a time shift, or a rift in the time-space continuum. According to a knowledgeable friend of mine, the effect was similar to the creation of a time wormhole, but without the hole. However, over time the rift has been leaking, which points to the possibility of a white hole.”
“Don’t you mean a black hole?” questioned Kaz.
“Well theoretically a black hole must be present for a white hole to exist, but when the German physicists played with the atom, God knows what they were capable of creating. In essence, this white hole has created the capability of time travel … but at a cost. The problem is that the machine is now doubling its range capacity every six months so it won’t be long before it is large enough to implode in on itself, which will create a ‘black hole’ here on earth and I think you know what that means.” Peter paused and hoped some of this was sinking in.
“Wot’s a ‘black hole’?” asked Titch confused.
“It’s a hole in the universe that sucks in everything around it,” explained Kaz simply.
“That’s pretty well it,” said Peter impressed. “So, to stop this happening we need to get to the core of the problem and fix the damage to the machine.”
“Why don’t you just pull out the plug?” asked Titch.
“Um, it’s not that simple,” responded Peter. “Yes it could be powered down, but everything will not immediately return back to normal. There are some loose ends that may take years to resolve. Either way, if the machine is destroyed or if the machine fails, we cannot fix the problems as we have lost the ability to travel back and fore in time.”
“This is crap. Time travel is just not possible because …” Kaz stopped mid-sentence as another boom rocked the bunker. But what shocked them both, was that Peter became a little fuzzy and started to fade in and out.
“Oh, sorry,” apologised Peter, “I afraid my hologram is affected by the strong electromagnetic shock waves caused by the rift convulsions.”
“Y-y-you’re a hologram?” stuttered Kaz.
“Wot’s an ologram?” asked Titch, still confused.
“Yes, I’m losing signal … so I’ll be brief,” advised Peter. “I am transmitting from another place. It’s the only way I could reach you. Please, don’t be afraid. I am here to help you. If you really want to save Andy and Dave, you must go to the farmhouse located to the south of here. It’s called ‘Lewis Farm’ and stands derelict. You need to enter the main house, go up the stairs and locate the smallest bedroom. Under a floorboard is …” Peter’s image suddenly flickered and with a slight crackling sound it disappeared. All that remained was the chair he was sitting in. Kaz and Titch sat staring at the empty chair with their mouths open and speechless. They waited for Peter to magically reappear … but there was nothing.
Titch jumped up out of his chair and raced around to where Peter was sitting. He then waved his hand through the empty airspace and turned to Kaz, “Yep, he’s gone. How did he do that wicked trick?”
“This just gets weirder by the second,” said Kaz, looking straight at Titch, “I’m really having a problem getting my head around all this.”
“Wot d’yer fink we should do?” asked Titch, looking for direction.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Kaz, rising to her feet and feeling a little unsteady. “I need some fresh air.” She grabbed her backpack and headed into the passageway. Titch put on his backpack and carrying Andy’s by the strap, then followed after her. They passed the junction that led back in to the bunker and continued along the passage to what seemed a dead end.
“This is the wrong way,” said Titch, tugging Kaz’s arm.
“I can see light coming in what looks like a door … just let me check.” Kaz stopped and fumbled for a moment, then slid back a door that had been painted in the same ominous dark brown paint as the passageway.
“Wow that’s sneaky,” said Titch, “I never would have known there was a door there.” Kaz stepped out into the daylight and Titch followed. They were surrounded by a thicket of dense gorse bushes. Titch slid the door closed behind him. “Follow me and watch out for these bushes as the thorns are sharp as needles,” advised Kaz as she slipped through a small gap between the bushes.
“Ouch!” cried Titch, “The bugger pricked me.” He clasped his arm where the thorn had drawn blood. Kaz checked his arm.
“It’s only a scratch … you’ll live,” smiled Kaz. They entered a small clearing with defined pathways in three directions. The main path ran south to north, while a narrower path opposite them headed west. Kaz looked back to where they had just exited.
“You’d never know that place existed. All you can see is a hill and bushes,” said Titch looking back towards the bunker.
Kaz took in some fresh breaths of air and felt a little better now that she was out of the claustrophobic bunker. “Okay, let’s find this farmhouse … it might lead us to a road so we can finally head home.”
“Wot about Andy n’ Dave?” asked a stunned Titch.
“Oh, they’re big enough to find their own way home,” replied Kaz, and casually headed down the track leading south.