This story is for persons of eighteen years or over. All comments, good or bad, are welcome and all will be answered.
Part Ten
They spent the rest of that day on their bed, only leaving it for food and the toilet. Next day they had the pleasure of being able in taking a shower together and to wash with care, certain parts of each other as they did so.
They had a big breakfast for they wanted to work through lunch till dinner and so with the donning of helmets, went off to work. A labour of love rather than work for they were both anxious to see just how far they could go into the past's future, which was a delightful way of Audrey putting it.
It's a good thing we didn't move this mother,' he said looking at the map screen, for the co-ordinates have changed. We'd have one hell of a job getting back to the right place.'
Naw. We'd only had to go back twenty whatever it was to where we started from, no problem,' she replied, sitting down in front of the Earth screen. How far do we go?'
`Try anything to see if the grid numbers change,' he said. So Audrey punched in 0190 0001 0001 and pressed enter while he watched the grid map. The light hum came with the small tremor that lasted for about six seconds before it settled down.
The grid stayed the same,' he cried. Let's go look!'
They both quickly went up to the dome but were disappointed that the scenery hadn't changed that much. A bit more sparse than before, otherwise it was the same.
`No, I don't see much change,' Brendan said.
`Brendan. Even if we landed within a year of our first coming here we wouldn't see anything, would we?' she asked.
`No, you're right. It would be different if we were near some habitation like La Copelina. We'll have to find the new co-ordinates for the town. Can you remember the sequence of squares we moved?'
It's in my notes,' she replied and went to the table and sorted the pile that had been steadily growing, the notes for each screen she'd been working on were held together by a bulldog clip. Yes, here it is with the old grid reference. One right and two up on the big screen and then one left on the small grid map.' So going and sitting back down in her chair, sent it round to that screen. Brendan changed the reference numbers on his ordnance map as Audrey called them out at each change until they were at the correct grid square.
Okay, here we go,' she said as she typed the code in and pressed the enter button. Let's go look,' she said when the ship had settled. They went up and looked out to see nothing of note.
`We'd have to go out with our visors up to see if we've hit the right place again,' Brendan said.
`You're right,' she said.
They went down below and put on their helmets and waited for the door to open and they went down the ramp. Once clear of it, they lifted their visors and saw that they had indeed landed in the same place as last time, right on the edge of the market square.
So the co-ordinates work,' he said, now let's go back in and see how far we can go in this thing.' Visors down to reveal the ship again, they turned and went back inside and up to the map room. As Audrey sat back down at the Earth screen he spoke.
There must be some way in the computer to be able to store the grid references and time shift to be able to work from up in the dome on the console's there,' he said, for I don't see them going up and down like yo-yos every time they wanted to move the ship.'
`Do you think you could find it?' Audrey asked.
Not without a manual written in English. It could take months if not years and then I could still cock the whole thing up and get us stranded,' he said gloomily. Put another fifty onto what's there and see if there's any change outside. We won't have to go out to see because we would be in their time.'
So Audrey typed in 0195 1774 2523 and pressed enter but still no change outside. They then began to add fifty to the middle set and their excitement started when they reached the 1924 mark for they could clearly see that some of the land had been cleared and what looked like two rough shelters about a quarter of a mile away.
Eureka!' Brendan cried out for he was up in the dome while Audrey was at the screen. Audrey! Come and look,' he shouted out which sent her hurrying up to look. She held him tight as they gazed at the primitive site of the future town.
`Let's go and look closer,' she said in an excited voice, hugging his arm and starting to drag him to the central well. He agreed and so they went down and put on their helmets and moved out into the see their first humans of the past.
They were indeed rude shelters they saw as they got closer, just brush and mud and didn't look much unlike a beehive.
`Look!' she exclaimed, grabbing his arm as they saw a small browned skinned woman emerged from the shelter's opening. She was small and bare breasted which showed she wasn't that young for they were almost flat and drooped down her chest. About her waist was some kind of animal skin which was all that she wore and she moved round to one side and in a squat, defecated.
Ugh, how disgusting,' Audrey said. Right by where she's living!'
`That's probably to keep the flies out of the shelter,' Brendan laughed. They were crossing what looked like a small vegetable patch and as they did so, two young children came out of the rude hut, completely naked and absolutely filthy. That they were a boy and girl was obvious and they could now see an older man and a youth tilling another patch of soil on the other side of the hut. They were very thin but wiry and were wearing the same type of hide round the waists as the woman.
`What year do you think this is?' Audrey asked.
`Not the slightest idea, B.C. probably. There's no newsstand with the daily paper to give us the date.'
`Cretin,' she said, giving his arm a pinch.
Even though they couldn't touch them, Audrey still steered Brendan away from the dirty children who she now saw had sores and looked half starved.
`Thank God we can't smell them. How can they live like this?' she asked, still clutching at his arm.
Even in our time there are people round the world living exactly like this. In hovels and having to try and live on the brink of starvation,' he said soberly. I've seen enough. Let's go back to the ship.'
Yes,' replied, quickly turning round for them to retrace their steps. Thank God we're civilised,' she said when they were back in the craft.
`Let's move on to more modern times then,' he said.
`No. I want to go back to the camp for a shower, I feel dirty and I'm sure those children had fleas,' she said scratching her head. He laughed.
`We couldn't have touched them even if we wanted to.'
`That's not the point, just seeing them makes me want to wash myself,' she said petulantly.
`Okay, back to the camp then. I could do with a beer anyway.'
Ten minutes later, Audrey was in the shower, scrubbing herself while Brendan had his cold beer, deep in thought. He got up and checked the lap top, but nothing from Robin. He picked up the other mobile phone and put through a call to his parent's house in Boston.
Hi Dad,' he said when the connection was made, glad I caught you in.'
Hello son,' his father said. How's married life?'
`Great. Couldn't be better.'
`Are you still in the Argentine, it seems a rather long honeymoon?'
`Yes, we're still here and it's really a working honeymoon.'
Yes, I've read the book you've written between you. It was great, almost as if you were actually living amongst them.' which made Brendan smile, how's Audrey?'
`Blooming. Married life suits her.'
`Blooming? She's pregnant already?' his father asked.
No,' Brendan laughed. We've got too much work to do before we start thinking of a family. How are you and mother?'
His father went on say that they were well and other small bits of news about his uncles and aunt.
The reason I'm calling dad,' Brendan managing to break in, is because of our book. Having read it you'll note that the Brontosaurus was believed to originated in the north but we found the evidence that they migrated from down here. Now you have contacts high up in military circles and so can probably get me what I need.
I want copies of the first ever ordinance survey maps done of both North and South Americas and also the latest for comparisons. Do you think you could get these for me?'
Shouldn't be a problem,' he laughed. I'll cut off their oil supply if they don't. Where do you want them sent?'
`The American Airlines desk at Bahia Blanca, I'll pick them up there.'
`Good as done son, they owe me a few favours too. A couple of days, okay?'
`Thanks dad, give my love to Mom.'
`Will do,' and the connection was broken. Satisfied with that, he went and got two more beers out of the fridge and stopped to watch Audrey return from the shower. Just looking at her roused him as she came towards him with a smile on her face. She had her boots on and the towel was only round her middle, her breasts bare and he noted that they were turning a nice brown colour. Not quite as brown as her shoulders, but she was slowly getting rid of her white bits as she called them with her naked sunbathing.
`Well you look clean and healthy now,' he said, offering her an opened bottle of beer.
`I feel it, thanks,' she said as she took the bottle and took a hefty swig before sitting down.
`You look absolutely gorgeous,' he said, his eyes running over her breasts.
`Are they giving you ideas?' she asked, seeing where he was looking.
`Yes,' he said, his voice thick with emotion.
`Well let's not waste them then,' she said getting up and moving over to their bed. He undressed and began by kissing and stroking her breasts, raising the nipples up for him to suck on before carrying on by moving down the bed, kissing her body as he went. She parted her legs for him to get in between and had him dive straight in with his tongue. Licking the inner folds first before rasping her clit, bringing it up into a hard nodule for him to just be able to get his teeth on.
She gave a little jump making his teeth rake it as it came out from between them. His tongue went and explored the opening to her vagina and stuck it in as far as he could before kissing his way back up her lovely body and letting his fingers take the place of his tongue as he kissed her.
Enough Brendan, enough,' she cried out after a few minutes. I want you inside and fucking me now. Please, now!' she squirmed, his fingers slipping out of her wetness. He moved up and felt the head of his prick find the wet trail that his fingers had left behind and homed in and he gave out a groan as he slid inside. `My darling,' she breathed as her legs clamped themselves around his waist.
`My treasure and her trove,' he said, now lifting himself up onto his elbows and began to move and fuck her. That they both enjoyed their emissions goes without saying.
I spoke to dad a little while ago,' he said an hour later as they lay together, her head resting against his chest. He's sending me down some up to date maps of the Americas. So we'll have a couple of days off during which you can plot a course for Bahia Blanca.'
`What will you be doing?'
`I think I'll do a little sunbathing myself,' he said as he stretched himself.
`Yes you could do with losing these white underpants though don't get this burnt,' she said touching him, then burst out laughing.
`What's so funny?' he asked, not being able to stop himself following her infectious laugh.
`You can always lie there with a sock on it,' she said which set her off laughing again. He joined in and so they stayed in bed for another hour.
Next day she spent her time poring over the grid maps, noting down the references on the map on the table. Brendan had checked the water level of the tank and she explained the marking system and he reckoned then that they needed to run the pump for three hours to top it up. So while she was in the sphere, he went off to the river and got the pump going and stayed there, poring over an atlas, making notes on estimated distances and directions to take the ship up through the isthmus of Panama up to the United States. It was more guess work than anything but it kept him occupied for the time it took for the pump to fill the tank with fresh water.
Late that afternoon, they took the ship to her estimated position of Bahia Blanca and found she was two grid squares out from the centre of town. It took another two moves to land as close as possible to the airport, the reference duly noted for them to visit in a couple of days time.
Though the trip back to camp only took them four seconds, they saw when they took their helmets off that the light was fading fast and they had to finish their evening meal by gas light.
`Who needs television,' she murmured from the bed as she watched him undress before turning off the gas lamp and moving into her waiting arms. Following the pattern of all newlyweds, they couldn't get enough of each other's body and did not get to sleep till after they had had a satisfactory coming together.
Next day they sent the sphere to La Copelina and set it down in the usual place and from the dome they could still see the hovel that the poor wretches were living in.
Let's now go on ahead,' Brendan said. Put some other numbers in the second two sets of their time scale.' Audrey then typed in 0195 2000 0001 and pressed enter. Nothing happened. No hum and no slight vibration to show they had moved.
Look,' she exclaimed, pointing at the small display unit above the keys in front of her. The things flashing and keeps switching back and forth between the two sets of numbers.
`Very strange,' Brendan said and Audrey sat there with a puzzled look on her face.
I can't understand it,' she said. It hasn't done that before.'
I think,' Brendan said slowly, the fact is we are asking the machine to take us into the future which it can't do.'
`That makes sense. Let's drop down the middle set of numbers tens then till it begins to move again,' she said. To which Brendan agreed, so they did this till the machine moved at 0195 1962 0001.
Great. Now let's increase the third set of numbers by one thousand,' Brendan said, until it stops moving. Then we start decreasing until it starts moving again.'
This Audrey did and it stopped when this last set was at 9001.Then it was just a matter of dropping by the hundreds until it moved at 8401. Now it was a matter of increasing by tens and then single numbers until they found that the final and ultimate numbers read as 0195 1962 8427.
`End of the line darling. Now it's the moment of truth. We know where we are and it's now time to find out when we are,' he said.
`I'm feeling very nervous,' Audrey said as they descended down the central well.
`So am I,' Brendan replied. They reached the bottom and picked their helmets up and put them on and agreed to keep their visors up to start with. They stepped on the mat for the door to open to be the ramp and they went down till they stood in the market square that was bustling with activity.
`Are you ready?' Brendan asked and she took hold of his hand and nodded, not trusting herself to speak and they both flipped down the inner visor.
They were still in the square but it was very different. There were only a few stalls and not many people moving about. Their dress was pretty much the same but the buildings looked in a much better condition that were surrounding the market place.
`Well it's definitely not the same year,' Brendan said.
`Not just a few years either,' Audrey said, looking at the buildings.
`Let's walk around to see if we can find any indication as to what the date is,' he said which Audrey agreed to do.
After two hours Audrey complained of her feet aching after constant walking about but not finding anything to give them a clue to what period of time they were in and wanted to go back to the ship. Brendan admitted that he too wanted to return and so they made their way back getting the impression that they were still quite some way out of their own real time period.
`Well we've gone about as ferr as we can go,' he sang, parodying the song from Oklahoma when that had got back inside and had taken off their helmets.
One horse bloody town!' Audrey said getting up to the dome to massage her feet and then lay on one of the couch seats for a back massage. She had seen from up there, the peasants moving about but by lying down, all she could see was the sky. Not one bloody newspaper. I didn't even recognise anything! How far out are we compared to our real time do you think?'
I don't know,' Brendan said stretching out on another seat. Could be thirty, forty or maybe fifty years. These kind of places don't change that much.'
`Well this one certainly has. The shops we've bought things at weren't there and just look at their clothes!'
`We'll have to try Bahia Blanca then.'
Not today,' she groaned. Tomorrow. We've got to go there then anyway for you to pick the maps up.'
Well let's get back to camp and we can rest there much as I love this chair,' he said, giving out a groan himself as he got up. You stay and rest dear till we get home, I'll drive.'
`Hah! Sarcasm is lifting its head. One minute is all I get then,' she said, but didn't get up for another minute which by then they were back at the camp.
`I've been thinking darling,' he said as they now lay on their bed in the old mess tent.' I've got a funny feeling that the ship has a brain inside it.'
Oh come on!' she said. Have you been talking to it?' she snorted.
Now don't pooh pooh the idea without listening,' he said, propping himself up on an elbow. I think that machine knows we are in the damn thing and that's why it will only go so far. Why before you ask, because it cannot take us to a time where we can meet ourselves.'
`You've seen too many science fiction films,' Audrey replied.
`Come on! You'd certainly freak out if you turned a corner and met yourself, don't deny it for I certainly know that I would. Okay, it hasn't got a brain per se, but I think it knows our age and therefore won't allow us to go any further. I wouldn't be surprised if we couldn't get any closer than seventy years of our present time.'
Shit,' Audrey said. We've got wedding photos that we haven't yet seen by the way, but I would liked to have seen us on our wedding night in the Pelican Hotel,' she grinned, looking up at him. `Now that would be worth looking at.'
You're incorrigible,' he laughed as he rolled onto her and kissed her. Isn't it better doing it than watching it?' he asked between kisses.
`Yes darling, ever much so.' But she found it just exciting to watch as it was being done as it was for him. The smiles that they gave each other as he loomed above her, to watch her face and expression as she first felt the head of his cock touch her in the right place. Then to see her eyes light up as he entered her. It was the same but in reverse at seeing his smile when he entered her to steadily plough her furrow and come inside her.
`Do you think the maps will be on today's plane?' Audrey asked her husband as they ate their breakfast.
I hope so,' he replied. We'll move up early so that we can look round the town first to try and find out the date before we go to the airport. So full dress kit for today's jaunt, we'll have lunch in the city where you can be waited on for a change.'
It always felt strange to be putting on city clothes after weeks wearing as little as possible, the same as after a dig. Brendan declined wearing a tie as Audrey shunned having to put on her constricting bra. So simply, but well dressed, they went to seek the date of their place in the past.
The date/time was already set and it was just a matter of typing in the grid reference and pressing enter and they were whisked away to Bahia Blanca. They'd chosen the city part, one grid from the airport as being the most likely place to find out the date.
They were stunned when they did see a newspaper though they couldn't pick it up, the date was clearly seen. Friday, June 13th 1919.
Eighty years!' Audrey cried inside her helmet. After one hundred bloody million years and this is as close as we can get? And just look what day it is?'
That's just superstition but I would have liked to have got closer too,' Brendan said, putting his arm round her shoulder, but it's better than being a thousand away. Come, let's get back to the ship and take stock.' She nodded and let him lead her back and wasn't sure whether to be elated at knowing the date or to cry because they couldn't get any closer to their own time.
Back in the map room, he quickly went to the Earth screen as they called it and changed the last digit on the display to read as a six and pressed enter. The ship trembled for a fraction of a second and became still.
`Come on. We can now work out their time sequence if we can find a newspaper again,' he said, and so they went back out again and made their way back to the newsstand and looked at the papers on sale and eagerly looked at the date. Tuesday the 10th of June 1919.
`Three days! Christ, their planet must have been massive to take three days to revolve in their solar system. How long was their year then?' Brendan asked, though he was really only asking himself the question.
`I don't know darling but can we go and eat, I'm hungry. We can still talk and I so do want to sit at a table with a cloth on it instead of bare wood,' she said.
`Okay, let's find a quiet spot where we can take our helmets off.' This they did and it wasn't long before Audrey had the luxury of sitting down at a brightly chequered table cloth and being served a meal instead of cooking it herself.
`So is there anything else we need to get while we're here, apart from the maps?' she asked as they dined.
Yes,' he said. I want to get a pack of sticks or something like that. You know, the type of thing that has an ice cream on the end. Mmmm, this steak is delicious.'
`What do want the sticks for? This fish is good too.'
`We've got to get an accurate measurement of the grids before we start the trip north.'
`Why north?'
`Well I've a hankering to visit our ranch where I grew up. You'd like the place and I thought that if you saw it, you might fall in love with it too. We could even use it as our new base camp, then we could search out herds or individual Dinosaur and then do a dig for the remains. We could become the world's foremost fossil seekers with the help of the ship.'
What about the history we could uncover? The Alamo? Custer's last stand? The Boston Tea Party?' she laughed. It did start the War of Independence.'
`We could, but I thought that we would leave the pleasure of that to our children. We'll be the palaeontologists and they can be the historians.'
You would like to have children?' she said shyly. You've never mentioned it before.'
Darling Audrey,' he said putting down his knife and fork and putting his hands across the table to take hers. I do, but only when you are ready. That is also part of the reason I'd like our base to be at the ranch. That was where I was born and I think it would tickle father pink if his first grandchild was born there too.' She saw the tears in his eyes and decided there and then that she would stop taking the birth control pills, for she too wanted a child.
`A boy or a girl?' she asked.
`Both, it doesn't matter in what order though I'd rather they came at separate times.'
`Why?' she asked, then felt she'd walked into a verbal trap.
`Because I like the way they are created,' he said with a big smile that made her laugh.
`When do we start?' she asked with a big smile of her own.
`As soon as we can,' he said.
`What have we been doing since we got married then?' she asked, not letting him know that she had been taking the pill.
Practicing,' he laughed. So you can stop taking your birth pills as of when you want.'
`You knew?' she said a little bit shocked.
`Of course, but I knew you would stop when you wanted to, and I think it's about time you did.'
`You want me to stop taking them now?' she asked with a secret smile on her face.
`Well I suppose I could do with a couple of weeks more practice,' and they both laughed and then got on with their lunch.
They found a hardware shop after their meal and bought a packet of seed sticks which would do as markers and then returned to the ship. This they shifted to the square grid that they wanted for the airport and soon found a place to take their helmets off and walked the short distance to the airport and went inside and to the American Airline desk.