06-03-2016, 04:53 PM
The Object of Time
“Whaat?? What the bloody hell just happened???”
“Shh, You’re alright! I’m right here... I think you fell or something.
Don’t move until I’ve checked you out okay?”
“Buut.... but I... I was....”
“Shh now! You’ve given yourself quite a bump.”
“But, where? Where am I?”
“In the study of course! Where else would you be?”
Alan looked around the dusty old room and sure enough, it was his grandad’s study. With the familiar old wooden chairs stacked against the heavy, yet ornate wooden unit that grandad had used as a make-shift desk in the months before he had passed away.
![[Image: Grandads%20Desk_zpseakly24m.png]](http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag207/GSBUF/Grandads%20Desk_zpseakly24m.png)
“How did I get... I mean... what was I doing?” ...his voice trailed off as he saw the look of concern creep across Susan’s face.
“I have No Idea!” came Susan’s response, “I just arrived and was putting my boxes of stuff down on the kitchen table, when I heard a huge THUMP! up here. I didn’t even know that you were back yet.”
“Back?”
“Yes, back from your big adventure! Weren’t you checking out some “Big Lead” that you had found when going through your grandad’s old research papers?”
“I don’t, I mean I can’t remember...”
“Hmm, I think you need a cup of coffee – Give me your hand and I’ll help you up”
And with that, Alan limply held out his hand for Susan to grab and suddenly realised that he was holding onto something VERY tightly. He looked down at his clenched fist, the knuckles all scuffed and red from his fall, and just as Susan helped him into a chair, he slowly began to open his clasped fingers.
They both gasped as his loosening grip revealed the first glimpse of a rather curious object. It was black as night, and smooth as silk. Heavy and shiny, like a polished stone or even metal, but it was warm to the touch and it had amazingly detailed carvings on its surface...
![[Image: The%20Object_zpsd9d30y5j.png]](http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag207/GSBUF/The%20Object_zpsd9d30y5j.png)
What did it mean, and where had it come from?
“I, I think I’ve seen this before” said Alan, “in grandads’ papers”.
He jumped to his feet and pulled open one of the drawers in his grandads’ desk, quickly pushing aside various pocket watches and other antique time-pieces before grasping hold of a journal and flicking through its pages until...
“THERE! There it is! I KNEW IT!”
Susan peered at the open pages and struggled to take in what she was seeing at first.
There was a detailed drawing of the black object, which seemed to have been placed in a fancy receptacle of some kind. It had lights, buttons and dials, sort of like the dashboard on her car, and it looked like it was glowing or something?
On the page opposite was a Map of what looked like the old Murphy place on the outskirts of town. It had been abandoned for years since old Doc Murphy had disappeared, and the rumour was that the place was haunted by the “creepy scientist” who had lived there in isolation all those years.
“What does it all mean?” puzzled Susan.
“I have no idea! But I’m going to find out!” called Alan, as he bounded down the stairs and out the front door.
Susan heaved a huge sigh, then just shook her head and thought; “Ah well, at least he’s back to himself again!” before wandering downstairs, checking over the latest set of “moving house” boxes she’d brought over, and then heading back over to her old place to pick up the next load.
Alan meanwhile was already on the bus, halfway across town, heading for the old Murphy place, and staring at the strange shiny black object that had appeared. It was an odd “pointed oval” kind of shape; about 2 inches long, an inch deep and maybe an inch and a half wide. It was worn smooth and he got the impression that it was very VERY old.
“I wonder what the connection with grandad is?” he thought.
His grandad had always been a fascination to him. An eccentric but very jolly sort of a man; steeped in his scientific theories about Space and Time, he was always off on an adventure or coming up with some strange invention or other.
Alan giggled to himself as he remembered the time that grandad had tried to power his bicycle with the gas coming off of a bucket of chicken poop! Which had promptly exploded, sending big sploshes of smelly poop all over the assembled gathering of local dignitaries and scientific nobility!
“He never lived that one down!” Alan mused to himself.
Just at that, the bus came to a halt and the doors “SHUSHHHHHED” open, and Alan jumped off and began to walk up the dirt road that lead to the old Murphy place.
It was beginning to get really dark now, and he wondered if he should maybe have grabbed a torch before impulsively dashing out the door, because he could hardly see into the dense woods on either side of the road, but it was too late now, because there... towering above him... was the eerie (and quite frankly scary!) three-storey gothic building where Old Doc Murphy used to live.
![[Image: The%20Old%20Murphy%20Place_zpsecxnxbsh.png]](http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag207/GSBUF/The%20Old%20Murphy%20Place_zpsecxnxbsh.png)
Alan gulped as he approached the huge front door because the house reminded him of “The Munsters” or “The Addams Family” and he half expected a crack of thunder and bolt of lightning to greet him as he stepped up onto the front porch.
“What next?” he thought, as he reached out his hand towards the doorbell; “a Monster Butler saying; YOU RAAANG??”
But, he never got a chance to ring the bell, because his attention was suddenly drawn to the shiny black object again as it had started, very faintly... to GLOW!
“What the...??” Alan turned away from the house to try and get a better look at the object in the last of the evening light, but as he pulled it away from the house.... the glowing faded.
He swung his hand back towards the house, and sure enough... The Glowing returned!
As his attention was focused on the amazing spectacle of this glowing “thing” in his hand, he accidentally leaned against the huge wooden door and it slowly creaked open.
“Uhm, Hello? Is... anybody there?”
Alan stepped into the hallway, instinctively holding the glowing object out in front of him to try and light the way, and... It got Brighter!
He walked across the hall, swinging his arm to the left, and then to the right and a pattern began to emerge; Every time he swung the object towards the doorway on his right, the object definitely got a bit brighter. It was almost like it was trying to tell him something?
So, he followed the glow and slowly, deliberately opened the door...
He peered through the doorway and couldn’t see much of anything at first, because the doorway led to a dark stone stairway which plunged down out of sight before him. He swallowed hard, forcing back his fears as he took his first steps out onto the dark, damp stone staircase. It was only then that he noticed there were lights down below. Dim at first, but becoming brighter as he stepped down towards them and finally out into an amazing tunnel!
It looked quite like an old underground railway station! There were various lights and cables running down each side of a large stone tunnel, with a rail track down the middle!
![[Image: The%20Amazing%20Tunnel_zpsugheeuci.png]](http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag207/GSBUF/The%20Amazing%20Tunnel_zpsugheeuci.png)
Alan paused for a minute. He knew that there were old mine-workings around here somewhere, but the mines were all shut down years ago and this place looked like it was still in use! The tracks were polished and all of the lights were intact. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to be wandering around down here, especially if the tracks were still being used? But there did seem to be a walkway by the side of the track, and he’d come this far already so... what the hell, he decided to press on.
Waving the object before him again, it became clear which way to go, and turning to his left it started to glow brighter than ever. Following the line of the rail tracks, he’d gone another hundred yards or so before the object started to dim slightly.
“That’s strange?” he thought aloud.
So, he backed up a few feet and sure enough the object began to glow brighter again just as he reached another door which was recessed slightly into the side wall of the tunnel.
Alan turned the handle and pushed open the door which led into a strange stone chamber. It was almost spherical in shape, and it seemed quite bright even though there were no lights to be seen. The walls were of a completely bare rock, and he suddenly realised that they were glowing! Just like the object!!
In the very centre of the chamber was a large Bowl-shaped device with criss-cross intersecting hoops forming a rounded “roof” of sorts, and as he stepped inside it, he noticed a row of little lights and dials on one side. It looked somehow familiar to him... and then he remembered!
It was the same set of dials and lights on the “dashboard” that were in the drawing in the journal!
He took the object and moved it slowly along the line of lights and dials until it glowed so hard that he thought it was going to Explode, then he gently lowered it onto the surface of the dashboard and to his astonishment a recessed slot began to emerge out of nowhere, immediately beneath the object!
As the object finally made contact with the slot, there was a moment of complete silence as Alan held his breathe, and then suddenly... A HUGE Explosion of sound and colour erupted all around him and he fell to the ground.
“Whaat?? What the bloody hell just happened???”
“Shh, You’re alright! I’m right here... I think you fell or something.
Don’t move until I’ve checked you out okay?”
“Buut.... but I... I was....”
“Shh now! You’ve given yourself quite a bump.”
“But, where? Where am I?”
“In the study of course! Where else would you be?”
Alan looked around the dusty old room and sure enough, it was his grandad’s study. With the familiar old wooden chairs stacked against the heavy, yet ornate wooden unit that grandad had used as a make-shift desk in the months before he had passed away.
“How did I get... I mean... what was I doing?” ...his voice trailed off as he saw the look of concern creep across Susan’s face.
“I have No Idea!” came Susan’s response, “I just arrived and was putting my boxes of stuff down on the kitchen table, when I heard a huge THUMP! up here. I didn’t even know that you were back yet....”
THE END
“Whaat?? What the bloody hell just happened???”
“Shh, You’re alright! I’m right here... I think you fell or something.
Don’t move until I’ve checked you out okay?”
“Buut.... but I... I was....”
“Shh now! You’ve given yourself quite a bump.”
“But, where? Where am I?”
“In the study of course! Where else would you be?”
Alan looked around the dusty old room and sure enough, it was his grandad’s study. With the familiar old wooden chairs stacked against the heavy, yet ornate wooden unit that grandad had used as a make-shift desk in the months before he had passed away.
“How did I get... I mean... what was I doing?” ...his voice trailed off as he saw the look of concern creep across Susan’s face.
“I have No Idea!” came Susan’s response, “I just arrived and was putting my boxes of stuff down on the kitchen table, when I heard a huge THUMP! up here. I didn’t even know that you were back yet.”
“Back?”
“Yes, back from your big adventure! Weren’t you checking out some “Big Lead” that you had found when going through your grandad’s old research papers?”
“I don’t, I mean I can’t remember...”
“Hmm, I think you need a cup of coffee – Give me your hand and I’ll help you up”
And with that, Alan limply held out his hand for Susan to grab and suddenly realised that he was holding onto something VERY tightly. He looked down at his clenched fist, the knuckles all scuffed and red from his fall, and just as Susan helped him into a chair, he slowly began to open his clasped fingers.
They both gasped as his loosening grip revealed the first glimpse of a rather curious object. It was black as night, and smooth as silk. Heavy and shiny, like a polished stone or even metal, but it was warm to the touch and it had amazingly detailed carvings on its surface...
What did it mean, and where had it come from?
“I, I think I’ve seen this before” said Alan, “in grandads’ papers”.
He jumped to his feet and pulled open one of the drawers in his grandads’ desk, quickly pushing aside various pocket watches and other antique time-pieces before grasping hold of a journal and flicking through its pages until...
“THERE! There it is! I KNEW IT!”
Susan peered at the open pages and struggled to take in what she was seeing at first.
There was a detailed drawing of the black object, which seemed to have been placed in a fancy receptacle of some kind. It had lights, buttons and dials, sort of like the dashboard on her car, and it looked like it was glowing or something?
On the page opposite was a Map of what looked like the old Murphy place on the outskirts of town. It had been abandoned for years since old Doc Murphy had disappeared, and the rumour was that the place was haunted by the “creepy scientist” who had lived there in isolation all those years.
“What does it all mean?” puzzled Susan.
“I have no idea! But I’m going to find out!” called Alan, as he bounded down the stairs and out the front door.
Susan heaved a huge sigh, then just shook her head and thought; “Ah well, at least he’s back to himself again!” before wandering downstairs, checking over the latest set of “moving house” boxes she’d brought over, and then heading back over to her old place to pick up the next load.
Alan meanwhile was already on the bus, halfway across town, heading for the old Murphy place, and staring at the strange shiny black object that had appeared. It was an odd “pointed oval” kind of shape; about 2 inches long, an inch deep and maybe an inch and a half wide. It was worn smooth and he got the impression that it was very VERY old.
“I wonder what the connection with grandad is?” he thought.
His grandad had always been a fascination to him. An eccentric but very jolly sort of a man; steeped in his scientific theories about Space and Time, he was always off on an adventure or coming up with some strange invention or other.
Alan giggled to himself as he remembered the time that grandad had tried to power his bicycle with the gas coming off of a bucket of chicken poop! Which had promptly exploded, sending big sploshes of smelly poop all over the assembled gathering of local dignitaries and scientific nobility!
“He never lived that one down!” Alan mused to himself.
Just at that, the bus came to a halt and the doors “SHUSHHHHHED” open, and Alan jumped off and began to walk up the dirt road that lead to the old Murphy place.
It was beginning to get really dark now, and he wondered if he should maybe have grabbed a torch before impulsively dashing out the door, because he could hardly see into the dense woods on either side of the road, but it was too late now, because there... towering above him... was the eerie (and quite frankly scary!) three-storey gothic building where Old Doc Murphy used to live.
Alan gulped as he approached the huge front door because the house reminded him of “The Munsters” or “The Addams Family” and he half expected a crack of thunder and bolt of lightning to greet him as he stepped up onto the front porch.
“What next?” he thought, as he reached out his hand towards the doorbell; “a Monster Butler saying; YOU RAAANG??”
But, he never got a chance to ring the bell, because his attention was suddenly drawn to the shiny black object again as it had started, very faintly... to GLOW!
“What the...??” Alan turned away from the house to try and get a better look at the object in the last of the evening light, but as he pulled it away from the house.... the glowing faded.
He swung his hand back towards the house, and sure enough... The Glowing returned!
As his attention was focused on the amazing spectacle of this glowing “thing” in his hand, he accidentally leaned against the huge wooden door and it slowly creaked open.
“Uhm, Hello? Is... anybody there?”
Alan stepped into the hallway, instinctively holding the glowing object out in front of him to try and light the way, and... It got Brighter!
He walked across the hall, swinging his arm to the left, and then to the right and a pattern began to emerge; Every time he swung the object towards the doorway on his right, the object definitely got a bit brighter. It was almost like it was trying to tell him something?
So, he followed the glow and slowly, deliberately opened the door...
He peered through the doorway and couldn’t see much of anything at first, because the doorway led to a dark stone stairway which plunged down out of sight before him. He swallowed hard, forcing back his fears as he took his first steps out onto the dark, damp stone staircase. It was only then that he noticed there were lights down below. Dim at first, but becoming brighter as he stepped down towards them and finally out into an amazing tunnel!
It looked quite like an old underground railway station! There were various lights and cables running down each side of a large stone tunnel, with a rail track down the middle!
Alan paused for a minute. He knew that there were old mine-workings around here somewhere, but the mines were all shut down years ago and this place looked like it was still in use! The tracks were polished and all of the lights were intact. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to be wandering around down here, especially if the tracks were still being used? But there did seem to be a walkway by the side of the track, and he’d come this far already so... what the hell, he decided to press on.
Waving the object before him again, it became clear which way to go, and turning to his left it started to glow brighter than ever. Following the line of the rail tracks, he’d gone another hundred yards or so before the object started to dim slightly.
“That’s strange?” he thought aloud.
So, he backed up a few feet and sure enough the object began to glow brighter again just as he reached another door which was recessed slightly into the side wall of the tunnel.
Alan turned the handle and pushed open the door which led into a strange stone chamber. It was almost spherical in shape, and it seemed quite bright even though there were no lights to be seen. The walls were of a completely bare rock, and he suddenly realised that they were glowing! Just like the object!!
In the very centre of the chamber was a large Bowl-shaped device with criss-cross intersecting hoops forming a rounded “roof” of sorts, and as he stepped inside it, he noticed a row of little lights and dials on one side. It looked somehow familiar to him... and then he remembered!
It was the same set of dials and lights on the “dashboard” that were in the drawing in the journal!
He took the object and moved it slowly along the line of lights and dials until it glowed so hard that he thought it was going to Explode, then he gently lowered it onto the surface of the dashboard and to his astonishment a recessed slot began to emerge out of nowhere, immediately beneath the object!
As the object finally made contact with the slot, there was a moment of complete silence as Alan held his breathe, and then suddenly... A HUGE Explosion of sound and colour erupted all around him and he fell to the ground.
“Whaat?? What the bloody hell just happened???”
“Shh, You’re alright! I’m right here... I think you fell or something.
Don’t move until I’ve checked you out okay?”
“Buut.... but I... I was....”
“Shh now! You’ve given yourself quite a bump.”
“But, where? Where am I?”
“In the study of course! Where else would you be?”
Alan looked around the dusty old room and sure enough, it was his grandad’s study. With the familiar old wooden chairs stacked against the heavy, yet ornate wooden unit that grandad had used as a make-shift desk in the months before he had passed away.
“How did I get... I mean... what was I doing?” ...his voice trailed off as he saw the look of concern creep across Susan’s face.
“I have No Idea!” came Susan’s response, “I just arrived and was putting my boxes of stuff down on the kitchen table, when I heard a huge THUMP! up here. I didn’t even know that you were back yet....”
THE END