Time for Adventure

By Barclay Cox

If you could travel through time, would you? Where, or should that be when, would you gothe past or the future? How far would you go? These are just some of the questions confronting Zy when he discovers a strange house, a strange new friend, and an even stranger gadget . . . but is he dreaming it all?

Join Zy on his first adventure into the distant future . . . and into his own past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jun 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466939462

Barclay Cox

I have been interested in science fiction for a long time. I used to watch Star Trek with my father when I was a boy. I still enjoy watching science fiction movies and TV shows. I particularly enjoy movies involving time travel - "Back to the Future", "Deja Vu" and "Star Trek" to name a few. It is this interest that spurred me to dabble in a science fiction story. I live in Australia with my wife and two young children. I enjoy watching movies, either in the cinema or from my extensive DVD and BluRay movie library.

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Copyright 2007, 2012 Barclay Cox.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4669-3947-9 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-3946-2 (e)

Trafford rev. 05/31/2012

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Contents

Chapter 1

The House

Chapter 2

The Journey Begins

Chapter 3

Skin Film

Chapter 4

A Glimpse of the Future

Chapter 5

Recuperation

Chapter 6

The Field Trip

Chapter 7

Big Brother Tony

Chapter 8

Consequences

Chapter 9

Revelations

Chapter 10

Return to the Past

Chapter 11

Amnesia Strikes

Chapter 1

The House

While Zy was travelling home from school on the bus one day, he heard a barely audible humming noise. It only continued for about three seconds—just long enough to find out whence it was originating; curiously, though, it seemed he was the only one on the bus who heard it since nobody else reacted to the sound. Zy could not believe his eyes—that house was not there before, he was sure of it. It had literally appeared out of nowhere.

This needs further investigation, he thought to himself.

Zy was a part of an average family; he lived with his mother, his father and his older brother.

Like most ten-year-old boys, he was curious and loved adventures—in fact, he enjoyed having his own adventures. Today, though, adventure had found him . . .

Unlike the houses surrounding it, the house whence the sound originated was very futuristic-looking. From the school bus, Zy could see that the house seemed to have no doors, windows or roof.

The walls were shiny and smooth and made of a substance with which Zy was unfamiliar. Once he had absorbed the impact of this discovery, Zy realised that his suspicions were correct—the humming noise had also come from this strange house. He could hear it again, although now it was only audible when he was as close as he now was to the house.

I wonder what’s causing the noise, Zy thought to himself, and I wonder why that house is so unusual. Fortunately, the house was not too far from his and, as soon as he arrived home on the bus, he was eager to investigate further; however, his parents were not home yet and he knew that he could not go anywhere without their permission or without telling anybody where he was planning on going. He knew that this was for his own safety and because his parents cared about his welfare, but sometimes it was just so inconvenient to respect their wishes.

Zy decided that if he kept himself busy he could keep his mind off the strange house, so he ate a snack from the refrigerator and sat down to unwind in front of the television until it was time to start his homework. Well wouldn’t you know it? Just as Zy turned on the television, there was an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released movie Visit the Burnsides—about a family from the future. This was followed by another advertisement for a remote-controlled car which hummed as it idled, and then another for a ball made from a newly-developed material which did not cause you injury ‘even if it hits you hard in the face’ according to the claim.

Perhaps in the future whole houses would be made from that stuff so that if you walk into the walls you won’t get hurt! Zy concluded.

He could not stand it anymore. It seemed that instead of watching television to distract himself from thinking about the house, everything he saw or heard was reminding him about it. His parents were still not home so he wrote a note telling them where he was going.

Mum and Dad. Gone for a ride on my bike. Have my phone. Won’t be long. Left at 3:30p.m. Zy, he wrote.

That should make them happy, he thought.

After filling his drink bottle, getting his helmet, backpack and mobile phone, and leaving the note, Zy rode his bike down the street to the strange house. He had whet his curiosity