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“Anyone ever asked you ‘If stranded on a deserted Island what books would ye take?’” Scott had bought both battery-driven and kerosene lanterns for light when the late summer sun eventually set, and an abundance of reading material.
“Is that what you are asking me now?” She lay on the couch, resting her head on her arm, staring out of the window at the mountains behind the cottage. The evening sun slowly descending through the clouds made the sky the colour of heather in flower, indicating tomorrow would be a beautiful day. Hard to believe chaos had erupted in the world outside of this peaceful glen.
“It’s what I asked mysel’ when considering the reading matter to bring. Ye see, I had to consider what you need to know in the future when ye lead.”
Caitlin sat up. Again, he’d commented on her being some great future leader.
Was he serious?
“So, what did you bring?” She rummaged through the box directly in front of her. She held up a Dictionary and Thesaurus. “Why? What about spell-check and Google?”
“Computers break down and become rare. We have one or two. I never used one. Forget your Google. What ye called ‘The Internet’ crashed, permanently.”
There were many history books, both modern and ancient and works of great literature.
“I often wonder where the world would be if people didn’t ignore this wee book.” Scott had a soft leather-bound tome in his hand.
“What’s that?”
“The Holy Bible.”
“The Bible!”
“Aye. Dinnae knock it. Ye ken it predicted The Stock Market Crash?”
“Really?”
“Really. One day ye should read the Book of Revelation.
Caitlin screwed up her brow. “Put it on the list because I expect there are a few things here you want me to read.”
“But you were well educated, Caitlin.” He held another book and sat back looking directly at her. “All your education and opportunity have to pay off, aye? Ye have a responsibility to share your knowledge and the experiences ye have gained as a member of a privileged family. You must, and you will, use it for ‘The Greater Good’ as they say. Noblesse oblige.”
It was a lot to take in. Caitlin blinked. Was she up to this? She hadn’t gone to a Private school as her cousins had, but Scott was right, she’d had a good education and gained opportunities from her relative’s wealth. She’d travelled, learned languages, sort of. Viewed historical sites and famous works of art. But leadership? Her only leadership experience was as a team leader at work. She could barely imagine leading a whole community, as Scott said she would.
“Where did you go to school?” Caitlin asked.
“Well, by the time I was school age, schools were not functioning properly because of the infrastructure collapse after The Stock Market Crash. My mother was a clever woman, and she taught me to read and write and do simple arithmetic. I read everything and anything I got my hands on, which was nae much. You taught me a lot, Caitlin. And the people of our Community. You insisted they educate the children. Many people who joined our Community as young adults, like mysel’, had never been to school.”
Caitlin sat back on the couch. “Wow. I never thought I’d have much impact on anyone.”
“Caitlin, ye’ll be surprised at how much influence you have on a great number of people.”
They were both quiet for a while. Her gaze went from one box of books to another and then back to Scott. She broke the silence with another question.
“How did you choose which books to bring?”
“I tried to remember the books in our library at the Community. And I made sure there were ones with information about time travel, aye?” Scott inspected the books closely, particularly their publishing dates and edition numbers. There were books covering theoretical physics, biology, chemistry, politics, law, languages and other textbooks. “Och... that’s amazing,” he said, an open book in his hand. “This is the same edition as the copy of Homer: The Iliad we had in our library. You ken I loved reading this, and it annoyed me it had a coffee cup ring on the inner sleeve. Ye see they were all old books we’d had for a long time....” he trailed off. He shook his head, eyes wide. Looking up at her, he turned the book to show her the inner sleeve. There was a brown-coloured ring. “It’s the same book!”
“No. Coffee stains all look the same,” she shook her head.
“I ken this stain,” he exclaimed. “How can you get coffee stains to be identical? This is the book. Wow, that means I brought it. Maybe I brought them all.”
Caitlin was silent for a time, watching Scott while he continued to look at the rest of the books with his eyes wide, exclaiming often as he recognised familiar books from his future... Allegedly. Was he putting on a show for her, or was he serious? She pursed her lips. Her assessment of him as an honest man was in jeopardy.
“What else did you bring, Scott?” She stood, then dragged over another large box to where they sat and opened it.
Sitting at the top were a pack of cards, a game of Scrabble and a Chess and Checkers board. During the following evenings, card games became a habit. Caitlin always enjoyed playing cards with her cousins and these times with Scott were just as agreeable. She found herself smiling often.
“Chess now,” Scott announced one evening.
“Oh no. I am no good at Chess.”
“How so? The Caitlin I know is quite the strategist.”
“Ask Uncle Kieran, he tried to teach me. I was hopeless!” She said Uncle Kieran’s name without thinking. She rubbed her thighs and bit her lower lip.
Scott’s eyes flicked from her hands to her face.
“So, you ken the rules then?”
“Aye. I ‘ken’ the rules,” she imitated his Highland accent. Scott sat back and took a breath; a slow smile began at the corner of his mouth. Then he set up the Chessboard.
“In the future, ye have actually said to me that you love ma Hieland accent. Yet here ye are mocking me.” He placed the queens on the board.
“Oh, that sounded weird. ‘In the future,’ ‘You have said.’” She mimicked inverted commas in the air with her fingers with each of these statements. “Not grammatically correct, you know. My Higher English teacher would have a fit if she heard you.”
“Well, we cannot all speak posh English, My Lady,” His voice was mocking but light-hearted, and he added a slight bow of his head.
“Are you knocking my Edinburgh accent?”
“Posh Edinburgh accent,” he corrected.
They both laughed. Caitlin’s smile lingered. This was the first time they had genuinely laughed together.
“So, this time machine, how did it come about?” she ventured.
He hesitated for only a moment and looked her in the eyes. She returned his gaze without faltering. He swallowed as he sat back in his seat.
“Well, ye mind I said we lived in a Community?” he began. “We have all sorts living with us. Being mostly Scots, and Scots being mostly clever, we have a few brilliant minds amongst us. Thing is, with brilliant minds, the day-to-day tasks of keeping a Community going are quite boring to them. ‘Mind numbingly so’ to quote one. Of an evening, much like we are the noo’, we would get together over a game o’ cards or Chess and, naturally, we would discuss things. We covered many topics. One certain topic came up often—the concept of time travel.” Scott paused. Caitlin continued her stare. “You see, it was the view that all we had to do was bide our time, protect ourselves and wait for the world to get its act together again. But unfortunately, it was nae happening quickly. Consequently, we had plenty o’ time. So, the discussions got away from the theoretical and into the practical.” Scott paused and chewed his lower lip, then he added. “Ye ken the physicist, lass. He’s your cousin, Martin.”
“Martin makes it to this Community?” Caitlin blinked. “Wow. So, he’s okay?”
“Aye, lass. He’s the brains behind the time machine. He and our engineers then came up with their plans for one.”
Caitlin then sat forward with her elbows on her knees, trying to absorb every word Scott said. Martin was smart. They’d often discussed the concept of time travel while on holiday. It fascinated her—as a concept.
“Gradually, they collected what they needed. What people who joined the Community brought with them. Things from the black market. It’s amazing what turns up on that.” He continued, “So, with the assistance of a very clever mechanic, they built one. Theoretically, time travel in the backward direction used approximately half the energy in the universe.” Scott smiled broadly. “Or so our physicist claimed. That’s half of the sun, half of me, half of you. But our team found in reality, this was no’ the case. It only took the energy contained in the object or living thing to be transported. We had to increase the amount of electricity our wind turbines generated for the Community, so we slipped in some extra for our wee secret project. They tested The Time Machine on small animals, then larger ones and tweaked it a bit and announced it should be ready for human trials. They had devised a mechanism for pinpointing times in history.”
“So, that’s how you managed to come here when you did? Right before the stock market crashed?”
“Aye well. I’d been here for about a month before I met you.” His lips pressed together. She held his gaze in acknowledgment that their meeting was more of an abduction. “That’s when I got this place sorted and bought all the equipment and stores. Also, kept an eye on the news, and you. Worked at the castle of your uncle’s for a wee bit, as ye ken.”
Caitlin moved the first chess piece, distracted by her thoughts. Scott had planned with care and regard for her. He cared about her in the future, or so he said, and he cared for her now, in this past. He had always been respectful and had not taken advantage of her. If he wanted to, she would be unable to stop him, the same as it was on this chessboard! She moved one more pawn; he had already taken three. She moved her bishop diagonally to the edge of the board.
Bishop’s gone. Damn his knight. She moved one of her knights, then another bishop. She tried moving a rook, but lost it as well. Scott’s queen edged ever nearer to her king, and she moved her own queen to save it.
How could it be checkmate already?
“Well, that was short and sweet.” He cleared the chessboard and set it up for another game.
“Told you I was rubbish.”
“Just need tae practice, Caitlin.” His tone was patient.
“You said you came via a time machine that was a prototype. Had any trials with humans been done?”
He shook his head.
“You mean you used a time machine that could have failed? You could have ended up anywhere! Or nowhere!”
“Aye.” He raised his eyebrows and let out a slow breath.
“Why?” Caitlin blinked and shook her head slightly. He looked at her but stayed motionless. “Okay, I need to know. How do you know me in the future?” Her voice was firm, demanding.
“I am your husband.”
“What?” she whispered. Many thoughts raced through her head, at first few of them were coherent. Then her mind-spin settled. It was a fact to her now—he was a truthful man. All he’d predicted so far had happened. Why would he lie about this? If he wanted to use it as a ruse for sex, he would have tried something before now. He behaved like a man who loved her.
Her attraction to him was undeniable, even though she was uncomfortable at times, as, in some ways, she still regarded herself as his captive. She had come to realise it gradually and had tried to suppress it, but it was no use. It was there every time their eyes locked.
Her intense gaze had not lifted from him. “If in the future, you are my husband, why have you left me to protect me in the past?” Her voice took on an accusatory tone.
Scott hung his head. Silent moments passed. He massaged the empty ring finger on his left hand.
“Well?” she asked.
He lifted his head. Tears were in his eyes. He opened his mouth and closed it again as if struggling with what he had to say.
“You died,” he swallowed. “I went straight from your deathbed into The Time Machine and never looked back. We’d previously set The Time Machine for the date of one month prior to The Stock Market Crash hoping someday one of us would come back and try to change things. Vain hope that was. Caitlin, my love, I could not stand a world without you in it. So, I came to a world where you still are. I only want to be with you.”