The Time Traveller: The Future from the Past

By Elvin Shawyer

With his newfound ability to time travel now fully embraced, Nick goes on his first couple of missions to collect the first pieces of technology required to build the time machine, but he soon gets entangled with his own past.
Or is it his future?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: May 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524681524

Book preview

CHAPTER NO. 1

Power

Checking first that the coast was clear, Nick quickly ran across the gap in between the two Army barracks buildings before him, while all the time keeping as low to the ground as he could. Once there, trying to be as quiet as he could, he carefully crawled along the gravel pathway on his hands and knees. He kept going until he reached the relative cover of the corner, where he allowed himself to stop for a moment to catch his breath.

Although it had only just gotten dark, what little warmth there had been while it was still light had very quickly faded with the onset of night. Nick’s plan had been to use the cover of darkness to avoid detection from the many guard patrols that kept watch over the Army buildings. But in this cold October weather, even with all the running about he was doing, he was still struggling to keep warm.

Nick was only wearing a black shirt and a thin pair of black trousers. So as he crouched there, with his back to the brickwork, trying to keep out of sight, he started to rub his arms with his hands in an attempt to keep warm. Sadly he wasn’t very successful, he even failed to make his goose bumps go away. The trouble was that Nick knew he couldn’t have worn any more clothes, not with what he had in mind.

Nick looked down at his wrist device, which was still operating in scan mode. He could see that there were two guards on patrol just around the corner. The movement of the two blinking dots on his screen, which represented each of the guards, did suggest that they were moving away from his location, so he decided it was time to move on.

He rolled forward onto his hands and knees and peered under the corner of the barracks building. These large wooden huts were sat on a number of brick-built pillars, which raised them off the floor by a good couple of feet. This enabled Nick to see under them without too much trouble. With help from the perimeter flood lighting, which went around the edge of the entire Army base, Nick was able to make out the backs of the two guards as they walked along the line of the fence. Believing that this was as good a time as any, and keeping as low to the ground as possible, he got to his feet and darted across the road in front of him.

On the other side of the road there was a two foot high brick wall, which ran the entire length of the road for as far as Nick could see. Upon reaching the wall he dived over it, head first, and landed on the other side in a graceless barrel roll. Lying flat on the floor, he pulled himself back in tight to the bricks and tried to remain as silent as he could, hoping that he hadn’t been seen.

As he lay there perfectly still on the damp grass he tried as hard as he could to listen for where the two guards had gotten to. The first thing he was able to hear was the sound of their footsteps as they drew nearer. Nick hadn’t stopped to observe their patrol pattern, but they must have reached the point where they would turn around, and now they were on their way back.

Not wanting to use his scanner through fear of the light from the screen being seen, Nick decided to whisper an instruction to Julie, which she could reply to via his earpiece. He asked her to inform him when the coast was clear.

As he lay there, the sounds of their footsteps got louder and louder, until they could be clearly heard on the road’s surface directly adjacent to where Nick lay.

Is it me, or has it suddenly got colder? Nick heard one of them say.

It’s not you mate, I’m freezing. When we get back to the hut I’m gonna put on an extra pair of socks. What about you?

Oh, my feet are fine, but I think I’m getting frostbite on the ends of my ears.

Nick listened intently as the two men walked away, complaining about the cold as they went. He would have liked to have stood up and proclaimed: what about me, I haven’t even got a coat, but obviously he couldn’t.

Nick then heard Julie talk to him via his earpiece.

The guards have now turned the corner, so you’re clear to proceed without detection.

Nick jumped to his feet and ran off along the grass between the two buildings on his side of the road, keeping low just in case. While running in this hunched-over manner, he was still trying to use the map on his wrist controller to show him the way. He was holding it out in front of him, but with the contrast between the light of the screen and the dark of the night, this became more a hindrance than a help.

Despite this, Nick was soon past these buildings, then, quickly looking around, he found shelter behind some bins. This refuge point was located directly opposite one particular brick building, which was in fact the focus of his efforts so far. Looking up, Nick could see it had a sign over the door which said ‘Quartermaster’s Store’.

Nick glanced down at his scanner and, seeing that the coast was still clear, left the shelter of the bin compound. He walked up the short concrete path which led up to the store doorway, and once there, tried to peer in through the window by the side of the solid wooden doors. All the lights inside were off, so Nick was unable to make out anything.

Looking back over his shoulder, still fearful that a patrol would take him by surprise, Nick tried the door handle, only to find that it was locked. He was disappointed at first, but he hadn’t really expected to find it any other way.

Nick left the doorway and walked around the perimeter of the building. He was trying to see if he could find another way of gaining entry to the store. When he had nearly completed an entire lap, and had almost given up hope, to his surprise he looked up and spotted an open window. It wasn’t very big and was also out of his reach, with the sill being at least a couple of yards from the floor; but if he could get up to it, Nick believed he would just be able to fit through.

Looking around for something to stand on, Nick’s attention was again drawn to the bins he had hidden behind only moments ago. They were quite big, with a wheel in each corner and an arched lid on top. Any one of these would easily be high enough for his needs. The wheels on them also meant that he would be able to move one of them across the path, on his own, and push it under the open window with little difficulty.

Nick went back over to the bin compound and gave each one of them a little push, trying to find out which one was the lightest. The yellow bin seemed to be the best candidate at first, but as this one, with its bright colour, would stand out more, Nick decided that it would be far safer to use the slightly heavier green bin.

He pushed this bin over the path and into position beneath the open window. Then, using the U-shaped channel on the side of the bin, which the dust cart’s mechanism would latch into, as a foothold, Nick was soon stood up on top of the bin. Feeling very cold, and fearful of being seen, he quickly unhooked the window catch and stepped up onto the window sill. Then, with his arms through the window, he dived in head first. With a little wiggle of his hips, it wasn’t long before his legs and feet soon disappeared from sight.

Once inside, Nick finally managed to turn himself back up the right way, only to find himself stood on a toilet cistern. He jumped down onto the floor and instantly felt relieved to be out of sight, but he was also conscious that he hadn’t a moment to lose. He had to get the bin back across the path and back into the bin compound before it attracted the unwanted attention of a passing patrol.

Nick walked out of the toilet, directly across the corridor towards the front door, and turned the finger catch on the main lock. After checking his proximity scanner, he tentatively opened the front door and looked out.

Luckily for Nick, at this time of the evening, this area of the base seemed to be quite deserted. Through the barely open door, he quickly snuck out and pushed the bin back to where he had found it, then darted back up the short path and into the store building again, immediately locking the door behind him.

Nick paused there for a moment with his back against the front door and studied the layout of the building, based on his view of the corridor before him. There were a number of plain wooden doors, each with a brass plaque, leading off the central corridor. Each plaque was engraved with the name and rank of the officer who worked there. But Nick wasn’t interested in anything that could be found in an office, he was looking for something rather more particular.

Using the light from his wrist controller, and checking each brass plaque as he went, Nick made his way down the dark central corridor. When he reached what he thought was the end he discovered that the corridor turned to the left, and a few paces later, turned back to the right, abruptly ending at another pair of wooden doors. He lifted his wrist controller up to the plaque, enabling him to read it clearly: he had found the main store.

Nick took hold of the round door handle, then, biting his bottom lip, as if to be more delicate, carefully turned the handle. To his surprise this door wasn’t locked and opened without any difficulty. Nick pushed the door open and shone the light from his wrist controller into the store, revealing a small waiting area, with a serving counter blocking access to the shelves beyond. Looking around the store room in the dim light, Nick could just make out the silhouettes of windows in the side walls. There was at least one window in between each of the shelving racks, which meant that he wouldn’t be able to turn the lights on. If he did, they would be visible from the outside and would attract plenty of unwanted attention.

Not seeing the liftable section in the poor light, Nick jump over the serving area of the countertop and worked his way down the rows of shelving units until he found the one labelled ‘Uniforms’. Then, trying not to disrupt the piles of clothes too much, he searched for all the pieces of uniform he needed in his size.

This was where Nick’s choice of clothing came into play, as once he had found the relevant trousers, top, jumper and coat in his size, he was able to just put them on over the top of his existing clothes. This meant that he didn’t have to hide his clothes and then return for them later, or worse still, carry them about the base.

With Nick soon dressed in his new uniform, and already starting to feel a lot warmer, he headed back down the length of the store towards the serving area. As he went past the first rack, he grabbed a cap from one of the hooks on the end and with this held tight in his hand, he jumped back over the countertop. Once on the other side, he composed himself by putting the cap on his head, making sure that it was straight by running his hands along each side of the peak. Then, stepping back out into the corridor, Nick closed the double doors behind him and made his way back towards the front door.

Once there, Nick used his wrist controller to carry out a revised proximity scan, which showed him that the area was still clear of guard patrols. He quietly opened the front door and left the Quartermaster’s store, making sure that the doors were perfectly closed behind him. Then, again keeping himself as low as he could, he darted across to the bin compound and, after a short pause, back down the grassed surface between the next two buildings. It wasn’t until he was a decent distance away from the store that he calmly stepped out into the middle of the road and, boldly walking tall, headed off in the direction of the Motor Transport Section.

Nick was still reliant on his wrist controller for directions across the base and would on occasion try to discreetly glance down at it. This was now easier to do, as when his arms were down by his side, the long sleeve of his Army coat would cover the device.

As he continued across the base towards the MTS, he noticed a two-man patrol walking towards him. He became nervous at first, as he wasn’t sure how to respond if challenged, or even if he should salute. But as his uniform was just standard issue, with no rank on it, they took him to be a private and let him walk by with nothing more than a nod.

When Nick finally reached the MTS he tried to maintain this confident posture, and walked straight in through the open roller-door, and up to the chest-high countertop desk.

Evening Sir, Nick said, as he put a requisition slip down on the counter.

There was a Corporal sat on the other side of the desk who didn’t look too impressed at Nick’s arrival. He didn’t say anything to him at first, and just grunted as he picked up the slip of paper. Nick wasn’t sure if this was him being grumpy, because he now had to do some work, or if it was because Nick didn’t have a rank of any worth. Either way, it meant him having to put his newspaper down.

It was while the Corporal was checking over Nick’s requisition slip that another soldier came out of an adjoining door.

Err, Barnaby?

Yes Sir?

Have you seen anything out of the ordinary this evening?

No Sir, the Corporal said, and then paused for a moment, but if you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by ‘out of the ordinary’ exactly?

I’m not completely sure. It’s just that I’ve got the main gate on the radio. It’s rather odd really. Apparently they have a Naval Officer there, a Commander Mason, and he’s insisting that we have an active breach in our security.

Sir, a Naval Officer?

They’re just asking about. It seemed only polite to do so, after all, he is a Commander, so the Navy must rate him of some worth.

Nick, overhearing this conversation, started to feel quite nervous. He started to look around for possible escape routes and tried to think of a way of making his excuses without raising too much suspicion. But given that he was inside an Army base, with armed patrols everywhere, and quite a way from both the main gate and Julie, he wasn’t sure that he had many options at all.

No Sir, I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary tonight. Maybe the Navy ought to stick to maintaining their own security rather than worrying about ours.

Careful Corporal, we’re all on the same side you know. I’ll let the gate know that we’re all okay in motor transport. And with that, the Sergeant turned around and left out of the same door.

Nick had to calm himself. After all, who in the world could know he was there? He was suddenly snapped back from his thoughts of escape by a loud bang on the desk.

There you go, Corporal Barnaby said, as he handed the piece of paper back to him, now complete with an official stamp.

With the form open in his hands, Nick gave it a look over. Julie had prepared this requisition order for him just before he had left the safety of the time machine, but he hadn’t given it much attention before now. His main concern had been getting his part of the mission memorised, and to Nick, this piece of paper wasn’t something that he had to think about.

The Corporal then got up from his chair and went over towards a locked metal cabinet, which was on the back wall of his office. It wasn’t very deep, and after the lock had been opened and the doors flung wide, Nick could see that it was their key press. Barnaby looked along the many lines of keys and unhooked one particular set, which he then tossed towards Nick. Nick, not expecting this, did manage to catch them awkwardly. The Corporal then walked back towards the counter, sat back down on his stool and continued reading his newspaper.

With the keys in his hand and feeling very relieved that all had gone as smoothly as it had, Nick walked off towards the vehicle pool. As he went, he looked down at the keys in his hand and, turning the shiny metal fob over, noticed that it said bay 2022. He smiled wryly, as the year was currently 2022.

When Nick arrived at his bay, he could see that the vehicle parked there was a relatively ordinary small lorry, the style of which didn’t seem that different to the Army lorries of Nick’s time. This was in stark contrast to some of the other vehicles he had walked by. During the short walk from the MTS main desk, Nick could honestly say that he wouldn’t have even known how to get into some of the other vehicles, let alone drive them.

The thought of driving a lorry like this would have normally worried him. But after driving the van, and imagining being asked to drive some of the other vehicles that were in here, this lorry didn’t seem too bad.

The lorry was painted in differing shades of brown, the sort of camouflage paintwork that would be used in a desert. It had a high cab, solid sides, and Nick could just make out a tail-lift on the back.

He decided to take a walk around the lorry first, to see if