The Airship

Joe's goggles still sat firmly against his eyes, in fact, he had forgotten they were there until entering the dark cave.

"Maxine, where can we go?" Joe whispered, "We can't stay here long or the guards will find us."

"I don't care," Maxine said harshly, "I don't care about anything anymore. My dad is gone, and he is the only thing that mattered to me in this world."

"Maxine," Joe said softly, "I'm so sorry that your dad was killed. I can't imagine how hard that is right now, but we need to get to safety. After we are safe, you can grieve however you need too."

Maxine turned and walked to the corner of the cave and sat on the ground. She picked a rock up and threw it into the darkness of the cave.

"Ding!" The rock struck something solid and metallic.

"What on earth was that?" Joe said surprised by the sound.

"It is a vehicle my father and I were working on." Maxine said, "We intended to use it to get far away from Justin. I was learning to create amazing things with Justin so that we could escape his rule. Ironic that he was teaching me to create, yet all I want is to escape his grasp. The car only needs a power source now."

"What are we waiting for?" Joe said feeling his way back into the cave.

"I don't know how to finish it," Maxine nearly shouted, "I was using the same design as the rolling shoes but on a large scale. Justin never gave away many of his secrets. I was trying to study the shoes and steal the component that powers it."

Joe found a rock that was blocking a large opening in the cave. He rolled it aside to allow more light to flood in.

In the middle of the cave sat a primitive car. It had wheels constructed of brass and wood, similar to the design of an old wagon wheel. The car's shape was similar to a horse-drawn buggy but with a longer body in front of the driver's bench.

In front of the driver's bench were all the components of a car front end. It even had a linkage connected to a steering wheel. The only part missing was a motor to power it.

"This is amazing!" Joe said in awe, " We need to find a way to power it! How can we get back in the creation room?"

"There is no way," Maxine said still sitting against the wall, "Justin practically lives in there."

Joe walked towards Maxine thinking of ways he could convince her to help him. On his way over to her, he tripped over a rock. He stumbled, running to keep his balance before crashing head first into the wall of the cave.

He lay on the ground holding his face, moaning in agony. The goggles from his head lay a few feet away with the glass lens shattered into pieces.

"Joe, are you okay?" Maxine said running over to him, "You are bleeding!"

Joe pulled his hands from his face to find them soaked in blood. He winced at a sharp pain over his eye. wiping away the blood he cursed under his breath. It was hard to focus as the entire cave was filled with shadows of himself.

"Maxine!" Joe shouted, "I know what we can do."

"We need to fix your eye," Maxine said pulling a piece of cloth out of her shirt pocket, "Here this is clean, put pressure on your eye."

"Maxine, stop," Joe said walking back over to the makeshift car, "maybe I can fix it by traveling back in time."

"Yes, you can but it isn't a good idea," Maxine said, " You may change something you don't want to change, and it will be hard to ever make it right again."

Joe ignored Maxine's comment and focused on one dimension after the other as he prepared to jump back in time. Wiping the blood out of his eyes so that he could focus, he touched the one he wanted.

Instantly his eye felt better and the blood was gone. He reached up to touch the place above his eye and realized that he still had the goggles back on.

"Ding!" The familiar sound of the rock hitting the car in the cave.

Not wanting to mess with normal time too much Joe said the exact same thing as before, "What was that?"

Joe did and said everything exactly the same as he had only moments before, except that he stepped over the rock instead of tripping over it.

After fixing his mistake, he allowed himself to look at the different dimensions, searching for the right one. All of the dimensions looked the same if he didn't focus on them, all except one. There was one that remained frozen, it didn't play out like a movie in front of him, it just sat still waiting for him to jump back into it.

Joe jumped back to the timeline he was supposed to be in. The moment he came back Maxine looked as though she was going to punch him in the face for Jumping through time.

"You don't list...." Maxine was cut short by a small earthquake.

From the roof of the cave, a large chunk of rock broke loose. It fell slowly at first, allowing Joe time to push Maxine out of the way before it fell where she had been standing.

"Ouch!" Joe shouted as a sharp pain seared his eyebrow.

The rock had grazed Joe's eye, right in the same place as he had been cut open by the run in with the cave wall. Blood began to pour down his face from the wound.

"I tried to tell you," Maxine yelled as she stood up off the ground, "If you change things that happen to you or others physically, it is like time tries to right what has been upset. Justin tried to save his wife after she died giving birth, he never did succeed. But every time he tried to save her, she died a more gruesome and awful death."

"I remember hearing in our family history that she died when she fell from a horse-drawn wagon," Joe said with a shrug, "Someone said after she fell, her head was run over."

"Yes, that was when Justin decided to never try again," Maxine said walking over to the unfinished car, "We may be able to get out of the country if we can find a way to make it go."

"I am not so sure I want to get out of the country," Joe said hesitantly, "I want to try and stop Justin from ruining anyone else's life. Plus what if he does succeed at changing the future and taking control of the world?"

"I just lost my father," Maxine said, "I want to be done with all of this, I want to run away and never come back. Justin can do whatever he wants as long as I'm far from him."

Just as Maxine finished her sentence, the roof of the cave began to crack and shake. Large chunks of rock fell all around Joe and Maxine.

"Hurry let's get out of here!" Joe shouted over the rumble of the falling rock.

The entire cave collapsed with an earth-shaking crash. The air was filled with dust and caused Joe to start coughing. The dusted caked around his eyes and mouth, leaving a gritty film in his mouth. They had escaped the collapse just in time.

Joe and Maxine both knelt down to washed dust off their faces in the cool water of the lake. Neither said a word as the rush of adrenaline wore off.

"There they are over there!" A soldier, with a dog on a leash, yelled from across the small lake.

He let the dog go, and it took off around the lake after them. It's bark echoed off the lake as it jumped over trees and branches.

"Run!" Maxine shouted with fear in her voice, "Those dogs are trained to kill."

Joe took off after Maxine as she ran back towards the castle. She was very fast and agile, jumping over logs and rocks while dodging low hanging branches. Joe quickly fell behind as she skillfully ran through the woods.

"Wait up!" Joe yelled out of breath, "Why are you going back towards the castle?"

Maxine slowed up just enough that Joe could catch up, "There is a guard post at the other side of the wooded area, they would catch us there for sure. Plus they have four dogs at each guard post. I know where we can go."

Joe and Maxine broke out of the forest with the Dog not far behind. The guards at the side of the castle ran towards them with swords drawn. Maxine didn't seem to care that the guards would catch them before they got to the castle.

Joe considered stopping when the guards were about twenty yards away but without much hesitation decided that he would rather be run through with a sword than eaten by a dog.

The guards readied their swords and swung at Maxine simultaneously. She leaped forward in a dive, gliding right under their swords. Tucking into a roll she springing up to her feet behind the two guards.

Maxine pulled two small daggers from somewhere on her legs and thrust one into each of the guard's necks. The guards fell into a motionless pile on the ground.

"Duck!" Maxine shouted at Joe who was standing with his mouth wide open.

Maxine drew her arm back to throw as Joe realized the dog was about to reach him. He did as he was told, and ducked so low his knee hit him in the face.

Joe heard a thud an instant before the weight of the dog knocked him forward onto the ground. He braced himself for the sharp sting of teeth on the back of his neck, but the teeth never came. Instead, he felt a warm spot spreading over the shoulder of his shirt.

"Hurry before more guards come," Maxine urged him, "We need to get into the walls."

Joe rolled to the side as the body of the dog rolled off him. He stood to look at the dead dog. It had one of Maxine's daggers buried to the hilt between its eyes. Joe grabbed the dagger and ran to catch up with Maxine.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Joe said amazed by the fighting skill of the woman, "We both would have been dead if it wasn't for you."

Without answering his question, Maxine ran to the place Joe knew was the root cellar of the castle. She quickly pulled up the door to reveal the stone steps.

"We can get into the cavity between the walls through here," Maxine whispered, "It is a place that very few people know of. My father and I learned this secret from the builder of the castle before he died."

Joe and Maxine found a shelf that looked like it had been built into the stone wall. Maxine pulled it away from the wall to reveal an opening. It was two feet wide, just enough to allow a small person to pass through. The wall they had entered ran up through all three floors, clear to the top of the castle. Near the top were small opening every few feet that allowed enough light to see where you were going.

"We can hide in here until they stop looking for us," Maxine whispered, "We must talk very quiet, the sound travels easily."

Joe and Maxine walked along the wall until it intersected another. Joe couldn't tell where they were, but Maxine moved about like she knew exactly where she was going.

After a few minutes of walking through the walls, faint voices could be heard. They hit another intersection, and the sound of voices grew louder.

"They escaped you?" Justin's voice boomed, "How could you let this happen? This man and woman are dangerous, they intend to kill me and try to take over this country. It is treason at the highest level, we must find and kill them. They can't have gone far, hurry and find them."

"Yes your majesty," A commanding voice answered, "We have already sent for all the dogs, they should pick up the trail easily. Majesty, you should have the physician look at your arm, you are losing a lot of blood."

Maxine stiffened at the mention of the dogs, "We must find a way to throw them off our trail."

"Yes, but how," Joe whispered, "There will be guards everywhere now."

Maxine and Joe made their way back to the cellar and exited the wall cavity as soon as they were sure no one was in the old cellar.

Joe went to the door and lifted it just enough to peek outside. He could see both corners of the castle and no guards. Lifting the door slowly he and Maxine went out.

"If we run in and out of the cellar," Maxine thought aloud, "And run all around, maybe they will think the Dogs lost the trail."

"I don't have any better ideas," Joe said with a shrug.

"Over here!" A guard yelled from the corner of the building. He was quickly joined by at least a dozen more guards who all charged towards them.

Joe turned to run towards the other side of the castle, but guards had come around that corner as well. The hedge in front of them was much too tall and thick to try and get through, They were stuck.

Maxine had taken a stance to fight, her daggers in hand, "I am going to die fighting you cowards!"

As Maxine's voice echoed down the castle, Joe remembered that he had the goggles on that cut the other dimensions out of view. He quickly peeled them off revealing many versions of himself.

He focused on one after the other until he found one where he looked about the same age as he was currently. He grabbed Maxine's hand and reached out to touch the new dimension.

"What in Riley Duffin's name just happened?" Maxine yelled, "Where did the guards go?"

Joe looked down at his clothes, he was wearing the shirt he had worn a week ago. He remembered because he had torn it when he tripped and fell through the door of the cellar. The shirt was torn and the cellar door was caved in.

"We have come back to my time," Joe said with a smile, " Welcome to the twenty-first century."

Joe's head swam as he looked out across the lawn that sprawled out from the rear of the castle. Something was wrong, though here he was back in his own time, he didn't remember the hedge being removed.

"Oh, this is going to be interesting," Maxine said distressed, "Who knows what we have changed in the twenty hours since you arrived in the fourteen hundreds."

"We are both alive," Joe said sarcastically, "At least that is better than we could say if we hadn't Jumped to this time."

As Joe and Maxine talked, a loud rumbled filled the sky. It was a mix of high pressured air leaking from pipes and the high pitched whine of a high-speed electric motor.

Joe and Maxine instinctively looked up to see where that sound was coming from. Far up in the sky, a large airship sped in circles around the castle. Though it was shaped as a traditional wooden ship, it was clearly made of stainless steel and brass. It hung from a blimp shaped steam balloon with a great propeller forcing the whole contraption forward at the speed of a normal airplane.

"What on earth is that?" Joe said to Maxine, "I don't remember anything even close to that flying through the sky in my time."

"I know what that is," Maxine said staring at the ground, "It is the Ship that I designed for Justin to use as his time traveling device. It's a vehicle capable of traveling around the world in two days. With a person from the future, Justin can travel forward to that person's time."

"You are saying that he can Jump with that entire ship and a person at the same time?" Joe said in disbelief.

"Not only one person," Maxine said shamefully, "He can jump with the entire crew of the great airship as well. The theory was that if the deck was made of thin metal, as long as no one wore shoes, it would act as though Justin or whoever was jumping, was actually touching anyone who touched the metal."

The airship didn't just pass by, instead, it stopped over the castle and began to quickly descend.

"Maybe we should go into the wall cavity until we know what's happening?" Maxine said, "Who knows how things are now."

"You go hide," Joe said running down the back of the castle, "I need to go warn my family."

Joe ran as fast as he could around the castle until he arrived at the front door. Standing in front of the door was a man dressed in clothes similar to that of Justin's steam powered vest with gears and gauges here and there. Atop his head was a clock hat, just like the one Justin had described in his letter.

"Joe, what are you wearing." The man said gruffly, "Hurry to your quarters and change, Master Justin will be here soon! You know better than to go to dimension one let alone find clothing and wear it. The penalty is death for that kind of behavior, at least for anyone but you."

Joe left the man confused by the things he was saying. He ran inside to find his parents sitting on a bench across the room. They didn't even move when he walked in, they sat motionlessly.

"Mom, Dad, we have to get out of here," Joe yelled, "Grandpa Justin found a way to come to the future."

Joe walked up to his mother and touched her face, it was cold to the touch. He withdrew his hand quickly and stared at her. She wasn't even breathing. she was dressed like Maxine dressed, but was so cold she could have been frozen.

"Ah, another rough day longing your mommy and daddy huh?" Justin's voice echoed in the entryway, "It's okay, only a few more days and you will be able to join them in this humanoid state."

"What are you talking about?" Joe yelled as he faced Justin, "What have..."

"DARE YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE?" Justin Screamed as he raised his arm up with a hand that morphed into a whip before Joe's eyes.

The whip cracked him across the face, breaking his lip opened. The pain radiated from his lip and spread through his entire face. He was going to charge after Justin, but two guards seized his arms moments after the crack of the whip.

Joe watched the whip turn back into a hand. It looked real, but Joe remembered that it was the hand he had cut off in the creation room. Justin had created something to replace his real hand.

"I see you have traveled to Dimension One using my time slave again," Justin said angrily, "You know I have forbidden that type of behavior, those time slaves are for me to use not you or anyone else."

Justin turned to a woman who had appeared in the doorway of the Dinner room. She wore a knee-length red skirt with black leggings underneath. Her shirt was red to match the skirt and had long sleeves. She also had a black leather corset on that laced up the front like Maxine's.

"Ah, Penny!" Justin smiled, "Please wind up Joe's poor mother so she can keep me company at dinner tonight."

One of the Guards put a gag in Joe's mouth to keep him from yelling out. Joe struggled to free himself from the iron grip of the guards but to no avail. He could only sit and watch as Penny walked by to do whatever its was she had been told to do.

Joe watched Penny grab a small crank type handle off the wall and walk towards his mother. Penny stood right in front of her and pushed the crank right into the place her heart should have been. A small hole in her corset allowed the crank through, Penny then began to gently crank the handle around until it was spinning in her chest on its own.

Joe watched in a state of shock as penny pulled the crank out. His mother opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. Her movements were slightly rough, not smooth like they should be, but more like that of robots.

"How long was I asleep for?" Joe's mother said softly, "I feel a bit stiff."

"We just pulled you out of cryo-freeze a few hours ago," Penny whispered, " You will be fully thawed in a couple hours now that your blood is moving and your heaters are working. You have been out for six months."

"Ah, Justin!" Joe's mother exclaimed, "How wonderful to see you again. It is just so nice to not have to suffer through our absence from you. You just turn us off and in a nights sleep we wake to see you again!"

Tears streamed down Joe's face as he continued to fight against the guards holding him. He didn't know what Justin had done to his parents, but he knew that the parents he loved didn't exist anymore.

"Take him to his room," Justin said to the guards, "Set up a twenty-four-hour guard. We have only a few days until the moment that he is needed in history. Until that time, he can stay in his room."

Joe sat in his room with two guards outside the door. The window had bars on it and it looked as though he had been locked in the room before. He watched many different dimensions walking around the room, but not one of them looked like a version that would help him out of the situation he was now in. So he laid on the bed staring at the ceiling.

Joe drifted to sleep as he lay on the bed thinking of his mother and father. His last thought before sleep set in was the way she had run to Justin without even noticing her son gagged and held captive by two guards.