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Post by malcolm on Jul 22, 2012 2:24:37 GMT -5
Continued....
“If only we knew what triggered the crystals.” Noel wasn’t sure what he could do if he had known the answer, nevertheless he spoke aloud what was running through his mind.
“Well we don’t have them even if we did know how they worked,” Yvonne sensibly pointed out.
“Yes, but there might be some substitute. Let me think.” Tossing the possibilities about whenever there appeared to be no logical solution had often helped him in the past. Noel was under no illusion that they were now dealing with something not only out of their realm of control but it was also way beyond anything known to the Science of the day. At the same time he knew only too well that simply going over all they knew would in some way put Phoebe/Yvonne’s mind at rest, for the time being at least.
“Would that be the new encyclopaedia on your bookshelves?” Gary and Phoebe were looking to the future of Michael’s education when they gave in to the door to door saleswoman and purchased the set. So far the said books had hardly been touched.
“Oh yes, go ahead and have a look, if it helps,” she offered.
Noel soon found what he was looking for to refresh the knowledge stemming from his extensive reading rather than the meagre learning he received at school. “Ah, here we are,” he enunciated in a voice that gave hope to at least one eager listener.
“As I thought, quartz produces a current when pressure is applied, but other stones come to life when they are heated. That would explain why the box you found contained a variety. Each one probably activated a different frequency, and that combined with the size, shape and grinding they were subjected to opened a door to a set time and place.”
Phoebe/Yvonne followed Noel carefully though one had a better inkling than the other of what he was talking about. Since neither knew enough to further his line of thought, she offered to make a fresh pot of tea. “Is there anything else you would like?” It was a little late for breakfast though she suspected that both men had already satisfied their morning appetite.
“Cat’s Whiskers!” Reg’s exclamation took them both by surprise. “What Reg?” they said in unison.
“Cat’s Whiskers,” he repeated. “Works a treat if you can tickle it on the right spot.”
A light was dawning in Noel’s mind, but the lady remained perplexed, surprised and not a little amazed at Reg’s sudden contribution to their discussion. Though what it could possibly have to do with refreshments was far beyond Phoebe.
“I think Reg is referring to an early form of radio reception,” said Noel.
Undeterred by Noel’s helpful solution to Reg’s unexpected burst of information, the former policeman carried on with his train of thought, “They’re not real whiskers, and for the life of me I don’t see how a piece of wire could be compared to a cat. There again,” he said looking profound and knowledgeable, “they could have something to do with the plant. As I hunderstand it,” Reg went on, now standing and hunching up his shoulders with head back and chin thrust out, “as I hunderstand it, they have thin little spikes on them. Just what you want to agitate a tiny piece of rock.”
Phoebe made a vain attempt to cut him short, “Just leave it there, Reg.” It was as if he hadn’t heard her, and possibly hadn’t being so engrossed with what he had learned from some past unknown source.
“There again,” Reg announced, apparently unaware of the moans coming from the others, “they didn’t have any pieces of tiny rock when I got a set for little Frankie. Do you know they was just a little metal box with two prongs on it? Nothing like a rock at all. What’s more you ‘ad to change them to ‘ear some radio stations.”
When Reg paused still contemplating the whole mystery of crystal radios, Noel saw his chance.
“Perhaps we may be able to establish where the box of crystals came from. Were they in the future to begin with or might they be here right now, under our very noses, so to speak. Did you, Yvonne my dear ever hear Gary mention a collection of coloured stones? They might have been something that a boy could have collected over the years and being precious to him though not having much value in the commercial world, he may have had them stored away in his little treasure chest.”
“Funny you should say that,” remarked a Reg in tune with the current discussion for once. “That was my hobby when I was a nipper. It weren’t long after the war when we went to stay with Auntie Connie up north for a family holiday. Funny name for a place where she lived. It were like someone’s name with an initial. I suppose it needed one seeing as there are so many ‘ams.”
Noel and Phoebe/Yvonne were mesmerised. They let him continue for experience had proved that any interruption could throw Reg miles off track. Nevertheless if he strayed too far from his coloured stones collection Phoebe would be ready to steer him back on course.
“You’ve got your Bucking, yor Chat, yor Peck even an Ersmiff dahn sarf. Cunning chappies them Geordies. They gave their ‘am an initial ‘C’.
“Ah,” said Noel seeing light between Reg’s eyes at last. Our dear friend Reg is referring to a small harbour town on the Durham Coast lying between Sunderland and Hartlepool going by the name of ‘Seaham’.
“Cor, you know it?” Reg was all smile and surprise. “There was all these coloured stones right there on the beach and so many I could only pick out the ones I really liked.”
“I know of it,” Noel affirmed. “I also have little doubt about the origin of those stones considering that the Candlish Glass Bottle works were in Seaham and when they closed down in 1921 large quantities of coloured bottles ended up in the sea.”
Now Reg looked puzzled. “But it weren’t just in C. Ham, I got more when we had a coach trip down to Brighton and me old mate, Dennis, he started his collection on a beach down in Cornwall.”
“That would also be correct, Reginald.” Noel’s wide thirst for factual literature was proved once more to have been well worth the long hours he had spent combing libraries where his active mind devoured the contents of book after book after book. “Quaite a lot of jewellery is manufactured from sea glass.”
“Yeah,” exclaimed Reg. “My old man did some of that. ‘E dabbled a bit with jewellery. “E ‘ad a grinder and a polisher in our back shed. I didn’t mind giving ‘im a few stones, I ‘ad so many. Anyway ‘e gave me back any ‘e couldn’t sell. ‘Ere, d’you know what? One time ‘e ended up with a necklace some lady gave ‘im instead of cash. There was no stopping ‘im then, seeing ‘ow many stones he could shape so they fitted into the little ring on the end.”
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Post by malcolm on Jul 22, 2012 16:48:11 GMT -5
A typical Sea Glass Beach. This one is at MacKerricher State Park, California, but there are many all around the world. Most comes from discarded bottles, so just how many bottles have been thrown into the sea before recycling? Attachments:
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Post by malcolm on Jul 25, 2012 3:33:48 GMT -5
Continued.....
SCENE – Canal Side Cafe Patio
Ron wasn’t at all happy. For a while everything went well. He had no trouble finding a car park and as luck would have it, it was right by the edge of the waterway and not far from the junction with the Regent’s Canal. Even better there was a cafe bar at the far end which also faced out over the water. The only downside was that it was on the opposite bank to the towpath which meant that he would have to sit at one of the patio tables outside and watch out for his friends.
Drumming his fingers impatiently on the plastic table top he began to wonder what he was doing there.
“How did they talk me into this,” he asked himself. “Here I am all on my own, and missing all the fun. Although it could be construed that spending a morning looking for something that may not even have any substantial form or visual presence in a time that is on the cusp of entry into the next symbolic sector of the zodiac is most unlikely to come to any worthwhile fruition. When we then take into consideration that the seekers of such enlightenment have little or no idea what it is that they might possibly find or experience then one would have to place some element of doubt into the equation and in consequence thereof any other individual or group of individuals who might be observing them could have serious qualms about their common sense and judgement.”
Ron wasn’t concerned that some stranger might hear his chatter for it was hardly spoken at some low audible level. He enjoyed hearing himself and in any case wasn’t bothered at all that he might be seen and heard sitting on his own and talking to the empty air.
“Oh yuk!” He had really carried on too long this time and let his coffee get cold, and that served to intensify his discomfort of being on his own.
“If it weren’t for the fact that I was missing you me old wack Sparrow, I would have a few choice words to greet you with.”
Ron was so lost in his thoughts he was quite unaware that some of his words had carried to another table not that far away, where sat a small group of people, no more than four in fact.
One of the young men perked up and after looking in Ron’s direction he rose and walked over calling out on the way, “You speaking to me mate?”
Stirred out of his reverie, Ron turned and now aware that he was the one being addressed he flushed with some embarrassment before admitting that he had been expressing his innermost feelings and hadn’t realised that his words had carried to other ears.
“I’m really sorry to have disturbed you my friend, especially when you and your companions have been enjoying some precious moments of respite far from the onerous and arduous responsibilities that are imposed on all of us who have been locked into a plebeian course of life; not that I am implying that you yourselves are anything less than the highest and most honourable members of our society, but are deserving of those special private moments when one is able to escape from the pressures that are put upon us at all other hours of the day.”
Billy, for that was the stranger’s better known name, stood grinning though thoroughly mystified. Then deciding that Ron was completely harmless, he held out his hand and introduced himself, “Hi there, Billy’s me name and Pearly’s me game. You got me there with all that rabbit and pork. Ah fort ye knew me from somewhere when ye called out ‘Cock Sparra’.
Ron rose to accept the greeting and for once keeping it short, “And nice to meet you, Billy. You must excuse me expressing my irritations so vocally. The Sparrow in question though is one Gary Sparrow who with another friend today should have been seen on the towpath yonder quite some time ago. The name here is Ron...Ron Wheatcroft, better known to all and sundry simply as ‘Ron’.” Then added with a sheepish smile, “Has anyone told you Billy that you look a lot like Adam Faith?”
“Yeah well so they tell me,’ Billy acknowledged. “Look, why don’t you come and join us for a cuppa Rosy Lea, while you wait for your friends.” Ron needed no further encouragement for as we have noted loneliness was never his forte.
“Well this is Ma our Pearly Queen, and this here is our Princess, little Janet, and last but not least, Joy me Duchess of Fife.”
“What an honour it is,” said Ron to meet and shake hands with royalty. But forgive me if I am out of place, but isn’t it more usual for Pearly families to be more elegantly attired?”
The royal family of Hackney laughed heartily. “Oh Lawdy no.” Ma could hardly suppress her belly laughs. “Takes us Gooseberry Pudden’s hours of Kathy Burke stitchin’ all them sequins on. If we wez te wear ‘em all day long, they’d be droppin’ orf like snow.” With that, Ma nearly collapsed with a further outburst of unstoppable mirth.
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Post by malcolm on Jul 25, 2012 18:02:46 GMT -5
This is where our characters are at this point in the story. Note the London Olympic Stadium. When you watch the Olympic's just remember how close they are to the scene of our story. Attachments:
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Post by malcolm on Jul 25, 2012 18:06:32 GMT -5
Just another thought. If it weren't for the time difference - story presently in 2000 and Olympics in 2012 - the boats could cruise up to the River Lee junction with Duckett's Passage, turn right, and then a sharp turn to the left where another estuary of the Lee wanders north and passes right next to the Stadium.
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Post by malcolm on Jul 28, 2012 0:51:45 GMT -5
Sorry folks that this is going slow. Just a lot going on right now, and when I do get time I'm finding that I have a lot of research to do first.
Just the odd hint at this stage. Just to the south of Duckett's Canal or Passage is what was once a thinly inhabited village called Old Ford. Only a few roads down from the Canal there is what is now called Tredegar Road. But at one time it was known as Bearbinder Lane and there may have only been on solitary cottage there.
Something frightening and mysterious happened there which gave birth to the legend of Spring Heel Jack.
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Post by malcolm on Jul 28, 2012 0:52:40 GMT -5
Anyway here is a little bit more of my story...
“The fact is,” Billy explained we run a floating music hall on the good old ‘London Pride’, and there she is.” Billy had only to twist to his right to point out a gaily decorated barge that was moored only a few metres away from where they were sitting. The biggest variation from its days as a canal barge being the glass frame that curved up from the edges of the deck and formed a long see through roof that ran some two-thirds of the length of the vessel.
“She’s ideal for sightseeing and the old Regent is so varied with all kinds of buildings and long stretches that you would swear were far out in the country side. Well while the trees are green and you don’t look too closely through the branches. ‘Ere, come and have a butcher’s hook. It’s about time we stirred ourselves and got back on board for a bit of a dummy run for today’s show.”
Ma had subsided from her customary merriment and was more interested just then with a fresh teapot and Eccles cakes that were now on the table.
“You don’t need me, yet, me Billy Boy. Got to get through these Joe Blakes and then I’m goin’ for a bish bash bosh.” She grinned in anticipation.
Ron grinned too as he rose to follow Billy to the barge. “Is Right, Ma, if I may be so bold to address your ladyship in familiar terms? But do enjoy your Fly Symmetries.”
Billy slid open a glass panel in the framed glass wall of the barge and held out his hand to help Ron step up on board. Waving his arm he pointed out, “we use this part of the deck for our show while our audience can enjoy some Robin Hood in the Nude at the far end Aunts and Freds.”
“Wha......” Ron’s face was a picture mix of smile and question.
“Good Food, at the Aunt Mabels and Fred Astaires” came the quick rejoinder from Billy who knew very well that anyone not conversant in Cockey would misunderstand. “We have our changing rooms and a kitchen at the back. Then seeing that Ron was still bemused, he added, “Tables and Chairs”.
“Actually you’re just in time for the guys warm up,” which was Billy’s way of introducing a group of five young musicians who were emerging from the open corridor that led to the cabins and kitchen.
For a moment Ron thought they had been transported back in time some fifty years for the lads were dressed in dark red ‘Teddy Boy’ suits while the girl had the bouffant hair style of a bobby soxer. After a quick introduction all round and a bit of a tune up they launched straight into ‘Bobby’s Girl’.
“Hey!” There was no stopping Ron. He was straight on to the dance floor moving hips, neck and chin with his elbows bent and hands held high snapping his fingers at every beat. When the music came to a close he tossed his head to one side and then the other.
“That’s my scene,” he told Billy once it was over. “I thought you said you were a Music Hall show. Billy laughed, “Yes we are in the evening. In the afternoon we rock and roll to Little Venice dropping off anyone who wants to roam round Camden Lock Market, then pick them up on the way back. There’s plenty of time then to fit in some nosh while we give them a real taste of Cockney Life.”
“Give us a lift in then, Billy.” Ma, Janet and Joy were about to come aboard and the jolly old lady was doing her best to get a leg up on to the boat, ignoring the small set of steps that were well within reach.
“Where’s the others?” Billy asked as he reached out to grab Ma’s hand. “Not far behind. Jim’s ‘ad to go back for ‘is squeeze box, and Jack’s lost ‘is norf ‘n sarf Molly O’Morgan as usual. ‘Ere, are we ready te Scapa Flow?”
“Just got to stoke the boiler,” which was Billy’s way of saying that he had to start the diesel engine. “How about you, Ron? Are you going to hang on here for your mates or why not come along with us on the London Pride?
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Post by malcolm on Jul 30, 2012 4:00:18 GMT -5
Continued.... “We are ready to move off,” Billy explained, “and we’ve gotta cruise dahn to the River Lee to pick up some Japanese tourists from one of the old salmon smokeries. They’re shown how the fish is cured and prepared and then it is served up to them with a whole platter of gourmet fish dishes on board for their evening meal on the way back. Best part if you ask me is when we do Jellied Eels and then the Whelk Song. Me missus and princess bring ‘em in on trays joining in wiv the songs and all of us in our Pearly gear. So ow abaht it? You can allus jump ashore when we see your friends coming.”
Ron was tempted to ask whether there might be room for a little ‘un that afternoon and evening but his immediate attention had to be Gary and Kate and whether the walk had stirred any extra-sensory perception with his old friend. Nevertheless he accepted Billy’s offer of a cursory passage along that part of Duckett’s Cut.
Billy didn’t wait for an answer. After all who in their right mind would refuse a trip on the London Pride? “You can man the lines, while I steer her out into the stream.” The Pearly King was on his way to the tiller before Ron could solicit any further clarification of what he was expected to do.
Looking fore and aft along the quayside it soon became obvious that the lines in question had to be lifted from the anchoring bollards. He had hardly had time to toss the forward line on to the small bow deck when the sound of the engine turning over encouraged him into a hasty jog down to the stern. Huffing and puffing he only just made it back on to the barge before Billy put the engine into gear thus causing an initial surge of water from the propeller and then they were on their way, slowly at first but up to a steady three knots in no time.
SCENE The Narrow boat Emerald Crystal in the chamber of the Middle Lock on Duckett’s Cut.
While Kate was doing her best to occupy the Bargee and his family, something stirred beneath the sheets that covered the timber cargo.
Jack was not your average mental case. He had veered in and out of sanity from the time one of his magical acts went horribly wrong. When questioned his mind was already out of kilter, so much so that he really did believe that he had been attacked by fiery demons who wanted to tear him to shreds. Wouldn’t anybody else have done the same, and fought back tooth and nail? Well that was his excuse, and the bloodied mess that was all that was left of his young lady assistant was completely erased from his memory.
It was just unfortunate that the act called for him to be made up to look like a devil with sharp claws or that the tiny latch that held the door of the magnesium lantern hanging by a chain around his neck should loosen and let go of its charge at the same moment when he expelled long strands of blue and white ribbon from his mouth.
The burns had him in the throes of agony as he lashed out the fiends attacking him. Jack was scarred for life not only over much of his body but mentally as well. Yet he had survived. Though physical pain had passed and he had managed to block out all recollection of that horrific night, there were times when something sparked. It could be as little as the sudden flash from a burning candle or the roar from a boiling kettle, and then it was happening again.
Years went by in the asylum and as chance would have it nothing untoward occurred to set him off again. Admittedly his outward appearance caused some revulsion to anyone seeing him for the first time, but this was alleviated by hiding the worst of his scarring with close fitted oilskin clothing that extended to cover much of his head in balaclava style. In time his lucid and knowledgeable mastery of the English language was enough for him to be deemed thoroughly sane and safe for release into the community.
Jack’s ability to solve the greatest mysteries of the time eventually came to the notice of the new Peeler Force who were in those days beset by some of the most baffling crimes and were therefore in dire need of the few loose scholars who had the time to unravel the few clues left behind at the crime scene. Jack Springfield was a natural detective. His relapse didn’t eventuate totally out of the blue, but as the result of one or two incidents that he was called in to investigate, followed some months later when those events were stirring his hidden consciousness by a simple flash of light.
As we shall see what happened became more than local folklore but a story that got out of hand. It was elaborated and expanded at each telling, nationwide. Suffice to say at this point of our story Jack had had to escape capture whenever he flipped and committed some new atrocity. This he managed well for more than a decade until the night when he sought hiding in between the freshly loaded timber on board the Emerald Crystal.
Who can tell whether Jack was recovered and sane once more by the time that he came to his senses still hidden under the cargo covers. Perhaps it was the noise of rushing and pouring water as the lock emptied that wakened him from a deep slumber. He was not to know that a century and a half had flipped past while he slept or that the dark cloak and Victorian attire were on their own enough to raise unease in anyone who might see him.
At the other end of the boat Kate was desperately trying to think of some new ploy to hold the interest of the unwitting time travellers from the 1850’s. Reginald was getting very restless and he would have insisted on getting back to his horse and getting the boat on the move again had it not been for Kate’s quick thinking and her newshound knowledge of the Bargee’s era.
“I was hoping not to frighten you good people, but it is for all our good health that we stay on your boat until Gary returns. There’s another boat moored up ahead and it looks like they’ve got cholera. They shouted out a warning, so we didn’t get close.
There was no need to say more. Kate could see by the look of horror on their faces that the eagerness to be on their way had melted away like the morning dew.
“Lost half our family already, wot wiv the pox an all.” Tragedy was written all over Rose’s expression. Even the young lad knew the word that was the terror of their time.
Kate rushed to reassure them already regretting that she had reminded the simple boat people how disease and death were always knocking at their door. “Now you are not to worry. All we have to do is sit and wait. Gary will let us know when it is safe to move.” There was a deathly silence for a while, but brought to an end when Kate saw something which would surely help them think of happier times.
“Can you show me your necklace, Rose? It really does go nicely with your dress.” In reality there was little enough of the chain to be seen for the upper length was lost beneath the fold of the rather large frilly collar that was the top of Rose’s costume and the rest was hidden by the colourful shawl she had around her shoulders and pinned across her bust. Again Kate was using words of expediency to allay their fears.
“Oh yes, my dear. ‘Ere it is and a mighty fine jewel it ‘as to the bargain.” Rose was full of pride as she drew the chain up with her family heirloom mounted at the end. “Tha’s uh hemerald would you know. Been ‘anded dahn for genewations.” Then with a further burst of pleasure and delight she told Kate, “It’s ‘ow our boat got its name. But to be sure Reginald ‘ere fixed a piece of green stone on the top of the tow rope mast. Just so as people don’t get too curious. Kate thought she got the idea but let it go without any question. Looking closely at the emerald that now lay at the end of the necklace in the palm of her hand she couldn’t help but think about the strange finds and events that had brought her down to London. “Could jewels really have extra-special powers that we all knew naught or little of?”
Jack deemed it safe enough to take a peek outside from the safety of his hiding place. The covers had been tied down securely after he had lodged himself between hull and timber and lucky for him his presence there had gone unnoticed. A ray of light shining through a nearby ragged hole caught his attention. Then with the aid of the knife he always carried, he enlarged it just enough to see what lay outside. The dark slimy wet wall of the lock chamber was still dripping and not many inches from his eye. After a little more work on the opening he was able to get his head through. The lock gates were still closed and there was no sign of any activity up above. Jack decided to lie low a bit longer, at least until he had a better opportunity to get safely to the tow path.
SCENE – Ted Cocteau’s Boat below the Lower Lock on the Hertford Union.
“It really is a matter of time,” Gary repeated. “More importantly do you have time to help?”
“First of all,” Ted asked, “you may humour me and call me ‘The Doctor’. This is ‘Jo’ by the way.” That was enough to bring on Gary’s silly smile again, though this time it was fully understood by Ted and his young assistant.
“I know, I know. I do have similar traits and the look of an earlier regeneration but I assure you that we are not about to go anywhere untoward in this Tardis. If that is the nature of your request then I am so sorry to disappoint you. If however you are looking for some assistance more closely allied to this place and time, then I am your servant.”
“In that case,” said Gary, “we need your help towing a narrow boat to the Lee, turning it and then towing it back to the Old Ford Middle Lock where she is, well let’s say ‘stranded’ right now.”
“Stranded?” Ted interjected. “Do you mean broken down or just moored?”
“Not really.” Gary wasn’t sure how to put it for a moment, but then plunged right in with “You could say stranded in the wrong time.”
“Ah, now that we understand well, isn’t that so, Jo?” The lass nodded and grinned.
Ted had the Tardis on the move in no time and as Jo let go the lines and hauled them in, Gary began his story. For expediency he made little mention of his frequent but bygone adventures into War torn London. Anyone else might well have put him ashore. It seemed to Gary that it was a huge stroke of luck to be falling in with perhaps the one person with a boat on the canal who really believed such things possible.
There was little time to tell all for passage through the lower lock only took a few minutes and the middle lock where lay the Emerald Crystal was only metres away. By the time they got there Ted and Jo knew that they looking at something quite extraordinary. It is true that the Canals today are full of faithfully restored traditional craft. This was very different for it was still a working boat and with a real live crew from the height of the Canal trading days. More than that, there stood the faithful Shire horse waiting its master’s bidding.
“How did that get here?” The Doctor appeared to be more interested in the animal than the job in hand. “Yes, I wondered about that too,” Gary admitted. “Since it did come through time with the boat then I can only surmise that the doorway was wide enough to transplace anything else that was close. Something like a big surge of energy like you get in the vicinity of any high powered electrical lines.”
None of the crew or passengers on the Emerald Crystal became aware that the gates had opened until Kate noticed that they were leaving the lock. She only had to stand up; look along the length of the boat to see Gary waving to her from the stern of the boat that now had them in tow. The man standing beside him seemed different and she only wondered where she might have seen him before.
“Stay below.” Reginald and family certainly had no intention of leaving their cabin until they were miles away from any new cholera outbreak, so the Bargee was quite happy for Kate to take the tiller.
“We’ll soon have you on your way home again,” she assured the frightened family though she could only hope that transiting the middle lock in the reverse direction would work as well as the other Duckett’s Passage time portal. Jo remained ashore patting and stroking the old horse’s head knowing that it might have been unhappy when its boat and master left it behind. The old fellow though was more interested in grazing once it felt the proximity and caring of a human being.
Jack was terrified by the roaring sound somewhere above even before the boats passed under the great A12 overpass. The moment they were underneath there was the added eerie echo of the Tardis’ engine. He knew then he had to escape from his hiding hole and make for the empty lanes of Old Ford which he knew so well.
The two boats fitted easily side by side in the lower lock which had been made ready by the passage of the Tardis on her way up. Furthermore nothing else was moving on the waterway so it would be ready again once they had turned the Emerald Crystal at the River Lee junction and made its way back whence it had come.
As soon as Gary wound up the gate paddles on the bottom gates, Jack recognised the rattling sound of pinion over ratchet and readied himself. He waited until the sound of footsteps was well to the stern and then he made his move. One fast slice down from the ragged hole and he was through. Then in two bounds he leaped off the narrow boat on to the lock side and headed for the nearest trees and bushes.
“Did you see that?” Kate called out to Gary. Both Gary and the Doctor were visibly shaken. “It was like some black vulture with human form and a great wing flapping in the air behind it,” was all Gary could say.
“I doubt it was human, but he would have known.” Ted was wondering what his alter ego might have made of it.
Jack waited only for the Tardis to leave the lock, pick up its tow and get under way again, before making one almighty dash back up the tow path in the hope that that was the way back to his old haunts. The boat crews never noticed. Their attention was now centred upon the way ahead. This time Jack hardly noticed the overpass so intent was he on getting away from the great walls of unknown buildings either side of the Cut. He was past the middle lock in an instant, and kept running until he ran out of breath just by the upper Lock that had caused himself and the innocents to be tossed into a modern world he knew nothing about.
He literally jumped back a few yards when he saw what was closing in on the upper lock. This was worse than anything else that he had seen this crazy day. There was hardly anywhere to hide. Worst of all, this thing, shining like the Sun as the rays reflected from the great lengths of glass, had no team of horses but was moving as it appeared on its own accord. The London Pride looked all the larger having been a full size barge with twice the beam of the narrow boats, and filling the lock from end to end and side to side.
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Post by malcolm on Aug 3, 2012 2:24:47 GMT -5
Continued... It was all too much for Jack. He needed a substantial retreat where no one might come upon him unawares. The wooden structure filling the back end beyond the field of glass should he hoped provide some nook or cranny where he might remain until it fell dark with night fall, a time that was his world where he was king and master. He waited until the tiller man was on his way to the far end of the lock to drop the bottom gate paddles and then he was on to the stern of the London Pride in a flash. Not another living soul saw him as he opened a door into the narrow corridor that ran between cabins and kitchen to the entertainment deck.
As luck would have it the first cabin door on his right was unlocked. He had it open and closed behind him as he plunged recklessly into the cabin, not really caring whether it was occupied or not.
The solitary occupant hadn’t thought it necessary to fasten the door latch so his surprise when suddenly confronted by the apparition was doubly so, for the thing that had just come through the door was almost a mirror reflection of himself and the costume he was wearing.
The only thought he had time for, before being knocked unconscious to the floor was that nobody had warned him that he might just be auditioning for the part of Spring Heeled Jack.
SCENE – The Club Room at the Turk’s Head in a parallel dimension.
Sir Francis and his director were still concentrating on the holographic story being played out on Duckett’s Cut. Terry was especially on edge for the whole scene was going out live to the far end and beyond of every universe that ever was. Though the playwright had every confidence in his right hand man he still felt the need to give a little nudge from time to time.
“See how the crystal content glisters out of each wall of granite stone. Doth not each gleam signal the charge and amplify the power that changes time? But hold, I sense restraint that should not be. Hast given thought to amend direction of each charge? If nay then best hasten for the chamber empties fast and countless currents are in play.”
Terry checked yet again at the eternal master’s urging and confirmed that the errant flow of time had been reversed. “‘Tis done Sire, yet as accurate as the crystal frequencies go when used en masse there is ever the chance of some unforeseen excessive gush. Should the barge find itself out of tune, it will be minor and easily adjusted on its return. More pressing is the need to bring the Emerald Crystal narrow boat and crewing family back to their allocated era. We’ll switch the Crystal Pillars polarity as soon as we have the barge out of the lock.”
The Director had already observed the imminent arrival of the errant traditional working craft thus leaving him no spare time to check the hour, day and year co-ordinates for the London Pride. Satisfied that the time jump experienced by the Emerald Crystal and its crew and horse had been cancelled out, it was deemed safe enough to allow the barge to descend and pass out of the lock while remaining in the same time zone. The lock could then be made ready for the ascending narrow boat to return to its period and then the destiny that lay ahead for the young Isambard Deadman.
There are so many events in life that can affect our futures. It can be as simple as a sudden breeze chilly enough to cause a shudder, which in turn makes one halt and button up an overcoat. In that fleeting instant a familiar face is spotted and a cheery exchange takes place, long enough to spot a speeding vehicle that is going to crash and fatally harm pedestrians only metres ahead.
Had it not been for the lackey announcing that lunch would soon be served Terry would not have left the Crystal Pillar controls without ensuring that they were firmly locked. Unfortunately once the pressure of his hand was removed there was the slightest of movements that did register on a thought monitor but he was already out of range.
SCENE – The Old Ford Upper Lock on the Hertford Union Canal
As we have seen the London Pride was safely enclosed in the lock chamber when Jack secreted himself on board. Whilst Billy had left the Tiller and made his way up to the bottom gate on the two path side of the lock, Ron was helping out with the other gate. No sooner were the Tardis and Emerald Crystal safely moored below the lock, Kate helped Jo arrange the Shire horse’s towing harness. That done she looked up and spotted Ron carefully winding down the gate paddle giving him a cheery wave which was returned with some exhibitionary gusto.
“Hiya Kate,” Ron called out, “I see they’ve got you working too. Come on up and meet Billy and his Pearlies.”
Acceding to Ron’s invitation Kate made her way up the path where Billy introduced himself and helped her aboard where Ron now stood waiting beneath the glass clad deck.
Ma and Janet were happily consuming yet more beverages while their Princess stood waiting on the dance floor for the pop band to try out their next number for their afternoon programme.
“Well greetings once again,” Ron began, “I see you’ve met the skipper. Billy is a real live Pearly King no less.”
Kate too was struck by Billy’s cheeky cockney countenance, “Do you know you look so much like Adam Faith?”
Right then the boys at the back struck up with a very loud thumping “Have I The Right?” which was so irresistible it had Ron clutching Kate’s hand and shouting out, “How about it Snake, shall we wriggle?”
Fortunately for Ron his words were lost below the overall volume and Kate conceded that the music rhythm and beat had a toe-tapping magnetism that set her feet dancing, legs twisting and body swaying.
SCENE – The Emerald Crystal Canal side.
No sooner was Kate ashore than Gary bounded off the Tardis to take her place on the Narrow Boat and keep the boat people’s attention safely diverted from a world they could never understand. The Doctor now fully acquainted with most of the strange events that had altered Gary’s life so much and were now being magnified to move not just one man but a fully loaded canal boat and its crew hurriedly followed. His enthusiasm for the Time Lord he emulated couldn’t be curtailed. Ted the would be Doctor was about to brush with something he had waited for and practically worshipped over many years. Only his maturity held him back from confusing Reginald and Rose with questions about the England they had just come from.
“This is a friend who helped us safely pass by the cholera victims.” Gary was picking his words cautiously, but then very nearly caused an upset when he introduced Ted. “You can call him the Doctor.” Before Gary could make it plain that there were other kinds of doctors Rose burst out with a worried, “‘Ere, ‘e ain’t bin treating them poor souls, ‘as ‘e? ‘E could be wiv the sickness already. Get ‘im orf our boat.”
“No he hasn’t been anywhere near them,” Gary assured her. “Mr. Ted is a doctor of sorts but not one that cures the sick.”
Reginald looked puzzled, but then as anyone who knew him would vouch that was quite natural and hadn’t it given him a certain air of authority during his Peeler days?
“A doctor of sorts, you say. Well now you ‘ave to be talkin’ abaht the letter carriers, the two penny postman wot sorts the letters afore he delivers ‘em.”
“No ‘E ain’t,” Rose objected, “’E means them doctors wot were in a church until they got a bit above themselves.”
“Doctor of Divinity,” Gary said hoping that would end the exchange. Alas, it only made matters worse for now Reginald was off on another tack. “Div...Inn...It..Tea,” he pronounced syllable by syllable. “Now that means ‘e ‘as somethin’ te do with an Inn that serves tea. Fancy that a beer house wiv tea.”
Ted stared unbelievingly, not knowing that everyone else was quite used to the Bargee’s misconceptions. Rose however soothed her irritation with her good man by fiddling with the emerald on her necklace.
SCENE – PHOEBE AND GARY’S APARTMENT 1946
Phoebe/Yvonne and Noel looked at each other with the same surprise when Reg furnished the news that he had a box of coloured stones, possibly jewels, and a necklace to boot. It had to be what they were looking for.
Noel was first to put the question. “Would you have direct access to these jewels and necklace, Reg, dear friend? Or to put it in simpler terms, have you got them with you?”
“Well not on me. I keep them hidden in a safe place, only me and Margie knows.”
“Yes Reg,” said Phoebe, “but are they in this building? Can you get them and show them to us now. It is very important,” she pleaded.
Noting the frown on the commissionaire’s face Noel rushed to reassure him that his treasures would be thoroughly safe. “We only want to examine them Reg, they might even contain a clue to tell us where Gary has got to.”
“Really. A clue. Now that’s different. Clues can help a lot in police work. I mind the time when....”
“I’m sure you do,” said Noel interrupting Reg before he came up with one of the many stories they had heard many times before.
Reg was still muttering, ‘A Clue’ as he made his way down the stairs to his cubby room which he at least regarded as sacrosanct and safe from all intruders.
The moment he was out of the room, Yvonne had some doubts. “They cannot be the same jewels. I only removed the ruby from the box and that came with me along with the necklace, except that they’ve gone again. So they must be all back in Ron’s apartment in 2000.”
“I think not,” said Noel. “Remember that we still haven’t reached that future date. All we have to do is to convince Reg that it will be much safer to hide them away in the hidden recess in this apartment. If it will make him any happier, you could perhaps offer him a key and let him check them whenever he wants.”
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Post by malcolm on Aug 4, 2012 20:34:38 GMT -5
One of the many Crystal Power Concentrators in one of the subterranean levels far beneath the surface of the Earth. Attachments:
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Post by malcolm on Aug 5, 2012 2:00:58 GMT -5
Continued.... Reg was as pleased as Punch and as proud as a Peacock when he spread some of his precious collection of ‘jewels’ across the coffee table. Phoebe/Yvonne was naturally attracted to the finer stones and those that had been shaped by the owner’s father. Nor could she resist picking up the necklace which Reg had also laid out on the table. She had no doubt at all that this was the same one that had been instrumental in some mysterious way in transporting her back to join with her earlier self. Yet it was hardly more than a few hours since she had arrived with necklace and ruby in her hand, and there it was the gem stone that had seemingly whisked her back to Gary. Only he was gone now.
Yvonne picked up the gleaming red stone and turned it in her palm speaking her thoughts aloud, “If I am holding it now, then it can’t be with Gary.”
Noel was ahead of her though, “We cannot be sure of that, my dear. You yourself were in some sense separated in time and you were both there and here simultaneously.
(Note: We are only learning today that an object really can be in two places at the same time, except that either may not exist if not observed.)
Reg was already lost what with trying to come to grips with some suggestion that Gary had one of his prized stones and here was Noel confusing him further with another of his long words.
Phoebe/Yvonne shot upright as it suddenly came to her that the ruby in her hand might reactivate and send her who knows where. “Oh no you don’t,” she gasped replacing the ruby on the table with great alacrity.
In some odd way her action relieved Reg from further deliberation on the matter of Gary and the necklace along with Noel’s use of lengthy expressions. “Yeah,” he drawled, “I sometimes feel that the red colour is a bit hot. What do think of this one?” With that he handed her the brightest of his green stones which like the ruby had been worked on by his Dad until it was almost translucent although a bright ray of sunlight shining through transported its colour in many directions. “I allus like the green ones best and look it fits into the necklace just like the red one.”
Quite often our reactions take place without much thought. So it was with Phoebe/Yvonne. She automatically brought the emerald to the necklace and fiddled with both objects until the jewel slipped into place. If Reg hadn’t commented, she might have reflected and remembered that there could be unexpected consequences. Thankfully her thoughts were elsewhere. They were still very much focussed on Gary and where he could be at that very moment.
SCENE – The Emerald Crystal Canal side.
“It’s about time you got your finger out, Reginald Deadman. Are you gonna let these gennulmen do all the work?” Rose’s irritation with the Bargee was such that she tensed herself to such an extent that her thumb pressed hard on the emerald. It was too much and just as the ruby had when Gary had handled it, the stone popped out of the collet and fell bouncing on the cabin deck.
Being closer to the ever open cabin doors than Ted and certainly sprightlier than the older boatman, Gary squeezed down into the narrow cabin. Kneeling down he kept his eye on the tiny stone, and once retrieved he offered to fix it back in place.
“Go on then,” said Rose gratefully. “Me swollen joints won’t let me do much these days.”
“Arf Righteous they calls it now,” said Reginald, helpfully.
Coincidences never happen by accident. They are all part of the great scheme of things or to be more exact they are planned by the story teller. We are amazed for a while when they happen and all the more so when there is a sequence of synchronised events. Yet, when we do know and accept this truth we rarely have any idea of the planning that it has taken to arrange the strings of actions to fall into place at or very close to the same instant.
The story had been written but it could only be enacted through the resourceful contrivance of a good director. We are fortunate then that Terry was the one responsible for bringing two time continuums into place. The fine tuning of one dimension to correspond with the other came right down to the most careful and sensitive adjustment. We should remember his accuracy on this occasion and forgive him for what was yet to happen to the London Pride.
Gary couldn’t help but gaze at the emerald before putting it back in place and as he did so he was wondering once more how and when he could get back to his loved one. He could see in his mind both faces as if they were one but also as they were apart. Both images kept merging then parting. Gary clicked the gem back into its holder and in a flash Yvonne was back. There was so little space in the cabin that they couldn’t help but fall into each other’s arms.
This time it was Rose who fainted with the shock of a woman coming out of nowhere. Reginald was stunned and wide eyed, but little Isambard never even noticed. The youngster was lying on the cabin bed fully engrossed in a well worn and greying picture book.
“It’s just me.” Yvonne could have cried with joy at being back with Gary but she also felt a great loss having left her other self behind.
“I know,” said Gary.
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Post by malcolm on Aug 8, 2012 3:15:50 GMT -5
Continued...
“I’m beginning to get the hang of this.” Gary really did believe right then that the necklace and stones somehow held the way between his turn of the millennium world and that of the 1940’s. How it all worked and how it could be used was still to be investigated. The notion that it was the only way left for him and his amazing two timing lady to be together was soon to change. There were bigger moves afoot or should we say afloat?
“Are you really?” Ted questioned. There was an enigmatic look on the Doctor’s face and one that virtually gave away the fact that there was more to the would-be Time Lord than he had so far revealed. “You may have been aboard my floating Tardis, Gary, but did you ever look inside?” Now Ted the Doctor was smiling, but was he kidding?
“Ehhh...” Gary’s quizzical smile showed that he was bemused and not at all sure whether Ted was pulling his leg or maybe, just maybe, he had constructed a model with trick mirrors or some other illusionary trick that might fool those who wanted to be fooled.
“Oh come on Gary,” butted in Yvonne, “can’t you see he’s having you on.” Ted’s similarity to one of the doctors along with mention of a Tardis and his quaint dress hadn’t gone unnoticed by the northern lass. “Look where your obsession with the 1940’s has landed us.” But she was grinning from ear to ear when she chided him further, “You’ll be off to some alien planet for tea tonight then?”
The teasing never went further for Ted pointed out that the flow of water through the lock’s paddles had eased and the gates were nearly ready for opening. “They may need a hand,” Gary called out, already off the narrow boat and heading up to the top of the lock, passing Jo and the horse on his way.
“Oh ye gods and little fishes! Come quickly and look at this.” Gary’s excitement brought Ted and Yvonne running up to join him. Reginald too would have followed had not Jo urged him not to leave the Emerald Crystal.
The London Pride was sinking further than was possible. It was as if the water remaining in the lock was swallowing her up. Not only had most of the hull vanished but as she went lower and lower what was left of the superstructure was slowly but surely dissipating into a fuzzy mist like form and then it was gone.
Not believing their eyes the three observers glanced quickly over the still closed gates, but all was still and the surface water without the lock rippling only through the activity of some ducks in the reeds over on the opposite bank.
“Ah yes,” breathed Ted at long last, “There may be a Time Lord at large after all and I must say she has a magnificent craft. Just the job for the Martian canals.” Then noting the disapproving looks from Gary and from Kate he quickly added, “Just joking.”
SCENE – The Club Room at the Turk’s Head in a parallel dimension.
Terry frowned, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.” Sir Francis though was unperturbed, “Perhaps not, Terry, but who are we to make every story invariable and go strictly according to the lines? It is the unexpected that makes the action all the more delightful. Look thee then at the second level hologram. Time has only stretched a near immeasurable distance and like an elastic band this diversion is going to snap back into the planned co-ordinates when the jump has exacted all it can from the scene about to be displayed delivered.”
These words from the Master were all that were needed for the display to switch ahead twelve years and bring back the London Pride and the players on board back into the scene that was now being broadcast, somewhat like the live monitor in a television studio.
SCENE – The London Pride emerging from the Upper Lock on Duckett’s Cut.
Not only had time jumped forward for the entertainment barge and those it carried, but night had fallen.
“Did somebody put the Sun out?” Ron didn’t just complain about the sudden lack of day light but had quite a bit to say about the phenomena even though the only person in close proximity was Kate whose arms had dropped from her dancing partner when it happened. “Correct me if I’m wrong but I can think of no reason why the normal daylight we have been accustomed to should be inconsiderately extinguished without any plausible explanation or warning such as would have been the case had Old Moore’s Almanac predicted the hour, minute and second that a solar eclipse would take place. Oh yes, I am aware that the depths of a canal lock are not conducive to the diffusion of solar luminosity and furthermore to my way of thinking there would have to have been great black clouds of immense expanse forming overhead in the twinkling of an eye to cause a blackout of this intensity. Neither...”
Kate could take no more and cut him off before he could get to the thoroughly clean condition of the glass roofing. “Haven’t you even noticed that there are many people here now who weren’t even on board just moments ago?”
“Ah yes,” Ron agreed, “I was just getting to that, but why are they all looking at us?”
Not only had daylight vanished and the barge’s full lighting come on, but the tables had filled with guests who were just as astonished at the sudden appearance of Ron and Kate in the middle of the erstwhile empty dance floor as were Billy, Ma, Janet and Joy who were now fully clad in their Pearly Suits.
Billy was ever the resourceful one. Rather than get to the bottom of Ron’s disappearance that afternoon and his sudden manifestation together with a young woman he hadn’t seen before, he used it as a highlight to his introduction of the Show’s scary thriller, “Spring Heeled Jack the Terror of the East End”.
“You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet, folks. Anything can happen tonight as we give you a glance into the darker side of London’s East End. It all began within four months of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne in 1837 when the area skirted and are now entering was a hotbed of poverty, disease and criminality. You’ve all heard of Jack the Ripper haven’t you?”
“Whoooo.....” howled the audience urged on by Joy and Ma.
“Well, this was long before and the dark alleys and empty lanes could conjure up some of the most ruthless and heartless murderers from the depths of their hidden dens and lairs.”
With everyone’s interest directed at Billy on the stage Ron and Kate sidled off to one side and out of the limelight.
“Look carefully round at where you are sitting. Is there somebody behind you who looks shady? Were they there when you came in?” Billy’s tone of voice sent shivers up some spines.”
“I don’t believe it,” whispered Kate. They all suspect each other. Ron grinned, “Human nature. We all love a mystery and they are being wound up.”
“Some of them killed for no reason at all. It became an obsession. There was one who was most feared of all. Some reckon that he was the Devil himself. Not only was he of a fearsome diabolical appearance his hands were clawed, his eyes resembled red balls of fire and his breath was a bluish-white flame.”
All the time that Billy held his audience’s attention the London Pride was under way manned by the members of the rock band who had given way to Jim and Jack the Accordionist and Mouth Organ player who played appropriate notes to colour the drama of Billy’s presentation.
“We are now only a few streets away from Bearbinder Lane where it all began. It was a dark and chilly night when the doorbell jangled violently at the lonely Bear Binder Cottage. Jane Alsop was sitting with her family and being close on nine in the evening none of them could think who might be passing by their cottage so far from the village of Old Ford.
Then the bell rang longer and louder. “Better go and answer it,” said Jane’s mother. The girl stared back as if asking, ‘should I’? But her mother’s nod was a command and so she got up and walked to the door standing there for a moment or two. The silence was as much of a call as the urgent ringing had been, so very cautiously she undid the latch and opened the door slowly. At first she could see nobody standing outside the door which gave her the courage to proceed as far as the garden gate.
While Billy continued to hold his listeners enthralled, the young Princess had made her way to the dressing room cabin to give the Cloaked Player his cue. She rapped on the door singing out, “You’re on.”
Though Jack had gagged and firmly tied the unfortunate actor who was to play his part to a chair he had passed the time, not sleeping but resting with eyes half-open on the bunk. He was just about to see if it was safe and dark enough to leave the barge when Janet knocked. He mumbled. The poor player groaned.
“Come on,” urged Janet, “It’s time,” and with that she flung open the door. Fortunately for Jack the girl didn’t spot the restrained man in the chair for he was in the corner behind the door and out of sight. “Come on,” she repeated pulling at a fold of Jack’s cloak.
Somehow he felt safe and followed her before she might see that he was not alone. The bright lights outside the corridor in the entertainment room dazzled. Then seeing so many people sitting facing the strangely attired figure on the stage he stopped, unsure whether to allow the girl to lead him further or make a run for it. He was pulling back and intending to escape when she gave another tug and pointed to the stage.
It was the mysterious magnetism in Billy’s delivery that held him back to listen.
“The girl’s eyes took some time to adjust to the darkness of Bear Binder Lane. Then she saw him. Enveloped in a cloak with some kind of headgear there was a man standing in the lane just yards away.” Billy’s next words electrified Jack. “I am a policeman,” the man snapped at Jane. “For God’s sake, bring me a light, for we have caught Spring-heeled Jack here in the lane.
The young lass ran back inside to get a candle. She knew like everyone else in the village and for that matter like everyone all around London that there was some mysterious demon who appeared as either a ghost clad in armour or as the devil incarnate. She had also heard the stories of his hideous appearance and his supernatural ability to leap high up in the air and escape over great walls. Spring Heel Jack was so frightening some had collapsed in fits and seizures.”
This was all too much for Jack. Despite his blackouts he knew intuitively that he wasn’t that bad. He needed to speak up for himself and ran screaming into the arena heading straight for the unwitting orator.
The audience howled, ‘Ohhhh........”
Billy grinned, and his next words saved him from suffering the fate of those poor victims a century and a half ago. He boomed out loud through the microphone and speakers, “Here he is folks, Spring Heeled Jack himself!”
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Post by malcolm on Aug 9, 2012 1:49:44 GMT -5
continued...
The effect of those few words of announcement brought him to a standstill and had him thoroughly puzzled. The loudness of Billy’s amplified voice was terrifying for a man who knew nothing of the world we live in now. At the same time he was under the impression that his presence had until that moment been undetected. If they knew he was on board then it was likely that they had him covered.
Jack held his cloak covered arm up to shield that part of his face that was not hidden by his helmet mask. He looked round the entertainment arena furtively. The audience loved it, totally convinced that this was all part of the show.
Billy too believed that the actor he had hired was playing his part well and so he continued.
“In a flash Jane was back with a candle, shielding the flame from the cold night breeze with her free hand. ‘Here,’ she gasped as she handed it over to the figure in black.
It would have been better for Jane had she fainted at the phantom’s reaction. She might then have been out of reach long enough for her parents to arrive on the scene. With the candle in his hand he held it up to his much scarred and tight pinched face revealing the hideous damage caused by the burns. His eyes blazed red and when he snarled blue and white balls of fire shot out of his mouth. Before she could scream he had her head pinioned under his arm where she had no defence from the clawing talons ripping her clothes and face.”
Jack was horrified. It was all lies. He couldn’t let such horrible fabrications carry on unchallenged. He held up an arm in protest fully intending to rush at the perpetrator of the despicable and slanderous account, but his cloak grown somewhat ragged over the years brushed the deck in front of his foot and he tripped falling head over heels. For the time being he lay comatose unwittingly allowing Billy to finish his scary story.
“Yes, my friends, Jane did escape. She managed to wrench herself free and she ran to the front door where an older sister yanked her in and slammed the door in the mad man’s face.”
Jim and Jack rounded off the scary story with a resounding arpeggio played on their instruments.
By this time the London Pride was transiting the shallower lower lock and it would soon be time for them to disembark. They might even have to find their way through the very same eerie streets of Old Ford that had harboured the likes of Spring-Heeled Jack.
“I could do with a drink before the bar closes, Ron.” As accustomed as she was to the paranormal side of life, Kate had to admit that the events of the last forty-eight hours were way beyond anything else she had investigated.
“Give you a bit of a thrill then?” Ron gazed at Kate with moon eyes hoping and even anticipating that his quarry’s customary iron clad guard was softening towards himself.
“Ron, you don’t seem to have noticed that it is late into the evening. Look at your watch and tell me if you can how it is that several hours have elapsed in little more than half an hour.”
“Yes,” he replied thoughtfully and very knowingly, “there does appear to something we’ve missed. I’m sure I can explain it.” Now Ron was thinking desperately, ready to clutch at any idea which would not only clarify the mystery, but prove to Kate that he was very much her kind of guy.
“Go on then.” Ron looked this way and that before getting up from the corner table and saying, “I’d better get you that drink. Vodka on the rocks, isn’t it?”
Neither of them had taken much notice of what was happening on the floor. Jack was out cold and he was being carried out to the safety of his dressing room.
Kate didn’t have to say another word. Ron got the message from the look on her face. “Alright, a Vodka and Coke it is.”
Neither they nor the rest of the guests on board heard the loud shouts of surprise coming from the cabin at the rear. At that moment the London Pride had reached the River Lea and was turning sharply as it entered the river. Every eye was looking up through the glass roof, locked on to the enormous bright lights that towered into the sky just beyond the opposite bank. They stretched for hundreds of metres and lit up a great frame above a brightly lit wall. Even more breathtaking were the enormous five rings of fire rising slowly higher and higher into the sky. Then came a crescendo of cracking explosions followed by showering fire falling from every one of the rings.
“Where the hell did that all come from?” was all that Ron could say. He didn’t have long to wait for an answer. Another round of flashing fire and the interlocked rings unmistakeably Olympic flamed up in the far distance.
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” said Ron, “but this has to be a mirage of the Opening Ceremony to the Games in Sydney bounced from cloud to cloud all the way round from the southern hemisphere to London. I was intending to watch them on Tele in the morning and that means that our watches are not lying. Ingenious people down under, putting on such a show without the need for cameras transmitters satellites and receivers.
Kate was both exasperated with him and totally baffled. “You are wrong; Ron and you are fooling yourself if you believe that. The simple explanation is that we have gone forward in time and London has got the Olympics.
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Post by tabs on Aug 9, 2012 11:59:45 GMT -5
Really enjoying the story. Will we find out what happens to Yvonnes body when she jumps back? And i take it when she jumped forward she was back in her own body?
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Post by malcolm on Aug 9, 2012 17:31:16 GMT -5
Thank You Tabs. I think that here we have to consider what was happening with Gary's body when he goes through the time portal. It is a bit like the transporter scenes in Star Trek. He fades out of one place and reforms not just in another place but a different point in time.
We can regard this if we want as part of the story and just accept it. Or we can try to link it to some possible and yet unknown part of natural science and what the universe is all about.
My own personal experiences tell me that this world we live in isn't real and cannot be real. This seems to be what some scientists are now discovering through quantum mechanics. Several aspects of this have just been published in the New Dawn Special Magazine Vol 6 No 4 on sale in Australian newsagents right now. There are articles on Time Travel, the Multiverse, Reality, Time entanglement and Consciousness.
There is also a good documentary which you can find on youtube called "What is Reality". Some experiments show that particles can be split and no matter how far apart they become they remain connected in some unknown way. Furthermore if an object is observed it ceases to exist.
We also know that what we see and sense is all in our own heads. None of it may be real.
Sir Francis Bacon could have been far ahead of his time when he wrote as Shakespeare that all the World's a Stage....
That could mean that every story ever written could be as real as anything we see with our own eyes.
"The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot looks at this in great depth.
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Post by malcolm on Aug 10, 2012 19:58:19 GMT -5
Apologies for being slow with the next part of the story. A lot of my time has been eaten up because of Multiply closing down all social groups and forums by 1st December. I'm having to copy many threads into my own Word files before they shut the door.
The next scene could take me a little time to get the best out of it, and you can imagine now how it will be with Gary Ron and Yvonne crossing verbal ripostes with each other once more. They'll all have a lot to say and the retorts I hope will be funny. If not, then you can come up with suggestions.
I'm also researching much more on time and what the scientists have been missing. Have discovered some quite amazing facts.
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Post by malcolm on Aug 11, 2012 1:43:02 GMT -5
Continued.....
The spectacular glimpse into the future was short-lived. The firework display had hardly subsided when the rubber band of time became stretched to the limit and like any other over extended length of elastic it snapped back pulling the plane in which the London Pride with its passengers and crew existed back to its firing point.
The vessel was still lowering in the emptying lock chamber but full daylight was restored and the evening audience was gone. It was still only late morning and the hour when Jack began his vigil in the dressing room, the rock band was still playing, and Ma, Janet and Joy were finishing off their liquid refreshments, Billy was on his way to join them, and Ron and Kate were back on the dance floor.
The only thing was that they were aware that something stupendous had just passed them by comparable to the imperceptible fleeting appearance of an apparition in the corner of one’s eye. Nevertheless the whole memory of what had happened in the time slip lingered on in each mind.
“Ooh,” said Ma, “sumpin’ just walked over my grave. I’ve still got the shivers. Like a day dream that never was.”
Ron and Kate stood still, facing each other. “You felt it too,” Kate queried.
“Sure did, Pussy Cat.” Ron was never one to miss an opportunity and as flabbergasted as he was he just had to give it a try. “What say we find some secluded corner where we can mull it all over with a broader degree of intimacy?” Then just to keep Kate on side yet guessing he supplemented his suggestion with words that would hold her not quite sure, “I mean to say nobody else is going to believe what I imagine we both experienced and as far as that goes until we do retire to some private retreat where those of more sceptical attitudes may not overhear us and we can compare notes neither of us will know what the other really saw. If you get my drift?”
“Can it,” said Kate. “Oh alright, but don’t get any ideas. All the same it is too loud in here, perhaps we can go outside on the stern deck by the tiller?”
Billy who was heading in the same direction, towards the back corridor, was just ahead of them. He too could recall enough to know that there was more to worry about than the amazing Olympics display. His first reaction had been to go aft and check out the actor he had hired to play Spring Heeled Jack. When he saw that Ron and Kate were following he stopped and waited until they were close.
“You know something strange just happened?” The two friends nodded. “Ah, then so it did.” Now Billy was very much concerned. “As I recall it we carried that thing to the back cabin, and when we opened the door, the fellow I had come to play the part was there, all tied up as it was. One of the lads got a close look at the impostor and real shocking it must have been for he virtually screamed. Then before I could look closer, everything changed again and we were back here under the glass just like we were before it started.”
Billy paused, looking at Ron and Kate in the hope that they might have some idea of what they should do next. “Well then, I suppose we had better take a look in that back cabin?”
Ron wasn’t so sure but he had no choice in the matter for Kate answered for them, “Now don’t you worry, Billy. Ron will go first, won’t you, big fella?”
Ron pulled a half smile not sure whether that was a compliment or another chubby chops tease. “Of course I’ll have a look for you Billy if that is what you would like; only I don’t want to steal your thunder. After all it’s your Ship, your Domain. You are the Captain and a King no less.”
“Thank you, Ron. I knew you would help.” Billy stood back, ushering Ron towards the corridor and the Scouse had no option but to lead the way. When the trio got to the door, Ron raised his hand to knock, then dropped his arm swiftly as he thought about it all a little more. What might there be behind the Green Door?
“Oh yes, the old Green Door,” he muttered, playing for time.
“Hey do you remember that one?” Billy and Kate just looked back at him.
His arm went up again and as before it dropped before he took one rap.
“Midnight, one more night without sleepin' Watchin', till the morning comes creepin' Green door, what's that secret you're keepin'?”
“Get on with it.” Kate was getting a bit exasperated as she understood that he might find some excuse to walk away from the door.
As for Jack, he could almost hear every word and was ready to go for whoever or whatever might come through the door first.
Ron puffed himself up having decided what he had to do. He whisked the door open quickly keeping his hand firmly on the handle, never letting go, and then just as fast he slammed it back hard and shut fast again.
“Phew,” he gasped. “Did you see it? It was terrible, horrific and awful. Ron hadn’t had any intention of looking at what might be inside the cabin, nor had he seen more than a dark cloak and hat near to the entrance.
“Out of the way,” said Kate firmly and with one determined swing she had the door open and propelled it inwards with such a driving force that this time it caught the now unsuspecting Jack clean on the face just as he had leant forward in surprise at the door opening and closing so suddenly.
The poor demon was flat on his back with the now two courageous men holding down each arm to the floor.
SCENE – Lock side at the Upper Old Ford Lock on Duckett’s Cut.
Gary, Ted and Yvonne were still gazing down in amazement at the disappearing London Pride when every line of the vessel changed back from fuzziness into sharply defined clarity. Not only was the barge back but lay higher in the lock for the water level had risen two or three feet.
“That was just like the time I saw you fade through the gate in the back yard of ‘Blitz and Pieces” Yvonne remarked.
Though Ted had heard Gary’s side of the story it was something else to learn that from another that it was not just a wild tale. “You really saw him going through the Time Portal?” he asked Yvonne.
“Don’t you believe it,” she challenged the Doctor.
“Oh but I do. Of all the people in the World you have found the One Who does believe, dear friend.”
For a while the two of them elaborated. On the one hand Yvonne spoke from observation and experience while the other told how he had been drawn in by one of the longest running stories in the history of televised drama. Gary said not a word, being mainly anxious that his own devious manoeuvrings were not brought up. Though he now knew that in some sort of spiritual way Phoebe and Yvonne were one and the same, either of them might at any time make an issue of his philandering simply because he wasn’t aware of that at the time.
Fortunately for Gary the discussion came fairly abruptly to an end when the familiar figure of Ron emerged on to the open stern deck. Looking up and seeing both Gary and Yvonne together, he yelled out casually as if nothing untoward had happened, “What Ho, my friends. I see that it hasn’t taken long for you to find the way home.”
“Never mind that for now, Ron,” Gary called back, “Let’s get you and the barge out of the lock. People are waiting to come through.”
“Hi Yvonne, Hi Gary.’ Kate sent up a cheery greeting, and then as Billy also peered out through the stern door, she added, “And this is our Billy, the Pearly King of the Canal.”
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Post by malcolm on Aug 11, 2012 2:01:03 GMT -5
From time to time in the telling of this tale, I'll insert a few facts which perhaps will demonstrate that there is more to the story than pure fiction.
You will recall how I described the holographic scenes being played out above the Literary Club Room table. Let's look at how this may be possible. The main thing is the amount of information that is necessary to bring about one still in a holographic image, never mind in a moving hologram display.
From "The Holographic Universe" in the chapter on 'The Brain as Hologram":
"Interestingly, holograms also possess a fantastic capacity for information storage. By changing the angle at which the two lasers strike a piece of photographic film, it is possible to record many different images on the same surface. Any image thus recorded can be retrieved simply by illuminating the film with a laser beam possessing the same angle as the original two beams. By employing this method researchers have calculated that a one-inch-square of film can store the same amount of information contained in fifty Bibles!"
Holograms are created by splitting a single laser light into two separate beams - using a beam splitter. The second beam is then by means of mirrors reflected back to collide with the first beam and this sets up an 'interference pattern'. How this works isn't really understood, well not by me anyway, but it does work.
The Universe is full of interference patterns in all the energy which fills up all empty space.
For example if you toss a pebble into a lake of still water you cause ripples to extend outwards in every direction. If you then thrown in a second pebble another circle of ripples spread out and where they meet, they don't just collide but they somehow merge and keep travelling. The result is an interference pattern.
It is now thought that this is how our brains store all memories and especially images.
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Post by malcolm on Aug 13, 2012 1:28:34 GMT -5
Something odd has happened in my last part of the story. Brackets and quotes have not copied correctly.
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Post by jrichard88 on Aug 13, 2012 1:32:11 GMT -5
What word processor are you using, Malcolm?
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