No Other Story (13 page)

Big spelled out the story of how she had hitched a ride aboard Captain Jibby's ship, making the four-week journey from Denmark to New England. With the help of a kind blacksmith named Mr. Lumley, she was able to repair the time machine, still hidden in the woods where Mr. Cheeseman had left it. It took only a week or so to fix the LVR's damaged ceiling panel. The remainder of the four months, she said, was spent learning how to operate the device. Jason already knew that Big was more than just a pretty face, and the fact that she had managed to master in a mere four months something that even the most accomplished scientists might take years to figure out made him all the more impressed.

And though her desire to see Jason again was certainly a major reason for Big wanting to jump into the LVR and speed along the Time Arc, there were other motivating factors as well. Jason should have realized this before choosing to lecture Big on the dangers of time travel. “You could have been killed,” he told her.

“The passion for discovery is in my blood, passed down from my father,” said Big. “And no amount of reason or logic can quell that desire. You must understand that. With or without you, I had no choice. So I set the controls for the time and place you said you were from and found myself
here, in the future, which, I must confess, is not at all what I'd hoped it would be.”

“But this isn't the future,” said Jason. “This is Some Times. It's a terrible place, and we've got to get out of here.”

“Some Times?” said Big. She scooped up the baseball cap with the white letter P for Police Pals and twisted it back onto her head.

“It's hard to explain.” Then Jason thought of something that gave him hope for the first time since their arrival in this strange world. “The LVR,” he said. “You came here in the LVR. Where is it?”

“Not too far from here,” said Big. “It's very near the ship in which you traveled, the LVR-ZX. When I first stepped out of the LVR and saw the condition your ship was in, I feared you might be dead. But then I saw tracks leading away. And I noticed that the tracks were the same as those I followed through the forest the day I first met you. I knew then that I would find you.”

Jason smiled at Big, not with love, but with admiration, which is a different and more meaningful kind of smile. To do as she had done, to hop into a machine of which she had limited understanding at best and travel alone along the unpredictable Time Arc, Jason thought that Big must be the bravest person he had ever met.

In no time, the courageous girl found herself surrounded by the rest of the Cheeseman family, who were almost as happy as Jason was to see her again.

“I must say, I'm in complete awe of you, young lady,”
said Professor Boxley. “What you did took a great deal of both brains and courage.”

“And that was some awfully nice shooting as well,” said Catherine, who knew a thing or two about archery, having taken lessons for several years.

“Thanks, Penny,” said Big, unaware that since she had last seen them, the Cheeseman children had begun using their real names. It had to be explained to her why the boy named Chip, of whom she had grown so fond, was now going by the name of Jason.

“It is my hope,” said Big, “that once you save your mother's life, you can stop running and that you'll never have to change your names again.”

“That's our hope too,” said Gravy-Face Roy, formerly known by such names as No-Face Roy and Rat-Face Roy.

Jason introduced his brave young girlfriend to Sullivan. “This is Big,” he said. “Or did you already know that?”

Sullivan smiled at Big. “I already knew that. My great-aunt Big,” he said, and gave her a hug. “It's great to see you again.” If this were not confusing enough for Big, Stig and Gurda approached her and offered their thanks in the form of a series of grunts. Gurda took a moment to admire Big's beaded braids. The girl seemed wary but tolerant of the intrusion, which lasted only until another blast from the faraway volcano reminded them of the urgency of the situation.

“Okay, we'd better move out,” said Jason, not quite ready to relinquish the role of leader that he had assumed while
his father was unconscious and in an amnesiac state. “Big says the LVR is close by.”

With the ground covered in ash, nothing looked at all familiar. Without an experienced tracker like Big, finding the LVR would have been like finding a noodle in a haystack, which is almost as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack, particularly if you're talking about linguini.

“I don't understand it,” said Big. “This concept of Some Times. The idea of being able to travel through time is strange enough. But traveling to several times at once is more baffling to me yet.”

“I know,” said Jason. “And believe me, I can't wait to get the heck out of here.”

Jason's sentiments were shared by all but Sullivan, who had no intention of leaving a chaotic world that seemed well suited to his quirky sensibilities. He agreed to accompany them on their quest to find the LVR, but he had no interest in joining them beyond that.

“It's right over this hill,” said Big after they'd walked for about thirty minutes. As they neared the top of the hill, the Cheesemans held their collective breath, half expecting to see the LVR smashed like a grape or torn apart by wild animals. But when they finally laid eyes on it, the LVR was perfectly formed, without the slightest trace of wildlife or construction workers needing to go to the bathroom. With a thin white ash coating, it resembled a giant goose egg—the most beautiful giant goose egg in the history of eggs. Or of geese, for that matter. For once, things seemed to be going their way.

“Awesome,” said Sullivan, with no shortage of wonderment and reverence. “So this is the original LVR.” He walked a slow circle around the machine. He wanted to touch it but refrained from doing so, as if it were some ancient, holy relic. Meanwhile, Ethan carefully inspected the repair work done to the ceiling panel.

“Well, I'll tell you one thing,” he said. “That Mr. Lumley is an awfully good blacksmith.”

“And an awfully good friend,” said Big.

“Do you mind if I have a look at the interior?” asked Sullivan.

“Not at all,” said Ethan, and he began keying in the password needed to open the pod door from the outside. But when he finished, he found the door remained locked.

“Oh, sorry,” said Big. “I forgot. I had to change the sequence.”

“You figured out how to change the password?” Ethan marveled.

“Took me three days,” she said, punching in the new
numbers. “I changed it to C-H-I-P so I would always remember.” She pulled open the hatch, and Sullivan peered inside.

“Go ahead,” said Ethan.

Sullivan ducked his head, stepped into the prototype time machine, and let out a chuckle. “So it's true,” he said when he saw the seats and the control panel. “You used parts from an old motor home, LOL.”

“You work with what you have,” said Ethan.

“I know all about that,” said Sullivan. “I used parts from an old 2087 model hover-van for my LVR-TS714 version 8.0.” As he inspected the rest of the LVR, his eyes widened and a broad smile pushed that scruffy blond beard aside. “I'd love to take just one ride in it. Maybe someday, if you're ever back this way.”

Sullivan stepped out of the LVR and took a few more moments to admire it, then said, “Well, I guess this is goodbye.” He turned to Simon and put his hand upon his shoulder. “It was great seeing you again, Grandpa.”

For once, Simon didn't mind being called Grandpa. In fact, he found that he rather liked it. It made him feel older and, more importantly, grown-up. Slowly, he pulled Steve from his right hand and offered him to Sullivan. “Here,” he said. “I can't take your good luck charm.”

“But your mother made him for you,” said Sullivan.

“It's okay. After we save her life, and after we go for ice cream, I'm going to ask her to make me a brand-new Steve.”

As Sullivan took the tattered sock puppet in his hands, tears formed in his eyes, and Simon hoped it wouldn't damage his eyetop computer like the time Simon had ruined a
perfectly good laptop by accidentally dousing it with hot chocolate.

“This is the second time you've given this to me,” he said. “I'll treasure it for the rest of my life. Thanks, Grandpa Cheeseman.” Sullivan then gave his eight-year-old grandfather one last hug before Jason stepped forward and offered his hand.

“It's us who should be thanking you, Sullivan,” he said. “Not only did you save our lives, but you gave us all hope for the future.” Jason held up the autographed baseball as proof of this.

Sullivan gave Jason's hand a squeeze and a shake, then turned to the future President of the United States, Catherine Cheeseman. “Don't worry,” she said. “We'll stop them. Once we save our mother's life, we'll go after Plexiwave.”

“I know you'll succeed,” said Sullivan. “You've all got what it takes, and I'm proud to call you my ancestors.” He walked to the wagon, lifted the pile of animal skins, and handed them to Ethan.

“Take these,” he said. “Just in case. You never know.”

Ethan wished Sullivan luck and cautioned him to make sure to turn away from the LVR when the engines kicked in. The bright, bluish light was of such intensity that it could be blinding.

As much as the Cheesemans hated good-byes, they were very anxious to say good-bye,
adios, auf Wiedersehen
, and
sayonara
to Some Times and hello to something resembling what they considered a normal existence. As they stepped
into the Luminal Velocity Regulator, they felt relief being somewhere familiar. With one final wave to Sullivan, Gurda, and Stig, Ethan shut the hatch door. He and Professor Boxley wasted no time setting up at the controls.

“That knob tends to stick, I find,” said Big, the self-taught scientist and time traveler. “Try turning it as you push.”

“Thanks, Big,” said Mr. Cheeseman, both pleased and amused to find Big's suggestion worked like a charm. “Okay, everyone. Buckle up. It's bound to be a bit of a bumpy start just trying to get back on the Time Arc.”

The children did as they were instructed, and Ethan hit the ignition switch, quickly bringing the engines up to full power. When Ethan took note of the various readings on the control panel, he suddenly looked worried.

“What's wrong, Dad?” asked Catherine.

“The battery. It's pretty low. I just hope it'll take us as far as we need to go.” As far as they needed to go was the day before Olivia was poisoned. Ethan punched in the necessary coordinates.

“Okay,” he said. “Here we go.”

But when Ethan flipped the switch, they went exactly nowhere.

“This is a smooth ride,” said Simon. “Doesn't even feel like we're moving at all.”

“That's because we're not,” said Jason. “Dad, what's going on?”

“It looks as though getting out of Some Times and back onto the Time Arc is going to be more difficult than I thought,” said Ethan.

“It's the angle of trajectory,” said Professor Boxley. “It's got to be changed to account for the Great Sync.”

The Great Sync to which the professor was referring was that mysterious and tenuous connector along the ever-expanding Time Arc where the beginning of time meets the end of time. Hitting it at the wrong angle was what caused them to be bumped off the Time Arc and into Some Times to begin with. Now it was the very same issue that seemed to be preventing their return to the Time Arc.

“Yes, but changed to what?” said Ethan. “The numerical possibilities are endless. We could try guessing, but odds are overwhelming that we'd use up our remaining battery power before we figured it out.” Ethan sighed and hung his head. “I hate to say it, but I'm afraid we're going to have to face the facts. We may be stuck here for a while longer while we try to figure this out.”

This news was deeply troubling to Simon, terribly frustrating to Jason, and incredibly intriguing to Catherine, who stood up and exclaimed, “
Face the facts
. That's it!”

“What's it?” asked Ethan.

“In the middle of the avalanche”—Catherine scrunched up her forehead and closed her eyes in an attempt to help relive the moment—“I saw Mom, and she spoke to me.”

“What did she say this time?” asked Simon. “Did she ask about me?”

“No,” said Catherine. “Though I'm sure she would have if there'd been time. But it happened so quickly. She just smiled at me and said, ‘Face the music, face the facts, back to front and hurry back.'”

“I'm sorry,” said Ethan, who, despite Catherine's history of ghostly encounters, was still skeptical of them. “But I don't see how that helps us.”

“I don't see either,” said Catherine. She plopped back down into her seat and kicked at the air in frustration. Group morale was plummeting, nearing rock bottom, when Catherine again sprang forth from her chair, this time snapping her fingers and pointing at her father.

“Dad,” she said. “I know the answer.”

“What?” asked Ethan. “What's the answer?”

“It's in your back pocket.”

For all Ethan knew, his back pockets were completely empty. But when he inspected them further, he found several pages of paper. “What is this?” he asked as he slowly unfolded the sheets of paper to find them covered in musical notes.

“It's the
William Tell Overture,
” said Jason. “You wrote it when you got conked on the head and thought you were that composer guy.”

“Yes, but it's more than just the
William Tell Overture
,” said Catherine. “I just know it. It's what Mom was talking about.”

Ethan gazed at the pages again, then turned his focus back to Catherine. “Are you saying that within these notes lies the formula we need to get back onto the Time Arc?”