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Chapter 2: The Switch

Marcus watched the wretched woman weep in the garden.  He had obviously realised what had happened and he was feeling an overwhelming desire to get up and comfort the woman, but he was as confused and disorientated as her.  When at last the woman climbed wearily to her feet, Marcus strode forward, looking as serious as a man wearing a golden unitard and high heels could.

Therese didn’t react at his sudden appearance, which unnerved Marcus, as he was always looked at with great respect in his world.  His eccentric appearance was also something that attracted people’s glances.  His good looks- which involved a great amount of silky black hair and his equally black eyes- were also the cause of many stares.  However, Therese’s grief made her look right through him and his curious ensemble.

Marcus decided to break the silence.  “Hello.   My Name Is Marcus Anderson.  Who May You Be?”

Therese started.  She noticed his strange and unnaturally formal way of speaking (and his clothes- I mean, who wouldn’t?), so instead she enquired sadly, “Where’re you from, Mister?  I’ve ne’er heard your accent anywhere ’round here…or seen anyone dress so…em…interestingly,” she added as an afterthought.

Marcus had a little difficulty keeping up with her.  He was used to a slower and much less affected accent, and he was also used to some more respect.  However, he answered her enigmatically, “I Come From Afar, And In My Land I Am Known As A Famous Professor.  What Profession Do You Practise On This Here Land?  And Who May You Be?”

Therese, feeling even more desperately confused, answered, “My name’s Therese Donovan.  I work as kindergarten assistant and I’m a single mother with two kids.”  At this, she remembered her children’s disappearance and started crying again. 

Marcus was alarmed.  In his land, he had never experienced a woman that had such violent mood changes.  The women always walked with bowed heads and were considered as nothing more than maids, a step ahead of the robots, the machines that Marcus himself had had an important role in their making.  The robots were slaves, enslaved after a botched attempt at trying to kill their human inventors and taking over the world.  The only women he knew who had any real ability to show any emotion where his Queen Triponte and her maiden sister, Rosa.   

Marcus looked around him for what seemed like the first time.  He saw that he was in a quiet village with small brick cottages.  He didn’t see a single skyscraper or a single car-jet, a common sight in his days.  He didn’t hear the usual electrical whirr of thousands of robots working.  He felt Therese look at him, and her blue eyes, so like her son’s, met his black eyes, and a connection flew between them.  From that moment, they became soul-mates, friends that would do anything for each other. 

Therese took him inside, and they sat down around the table with a cup of coffee, a new prospect for Marcus, who only drank protein shakes.  He then proceeded to talk about his life and the surroundings that he was so used to, and in return, he got a full inside view on Therese’s life, the pain when she was told that her husband, a sergeant in the Royal Army, had been killed in action, the pain of never seeing him again.  She talked about the pain of losing her children, and here Marcus silenced her.

“I Told Thee That I Invented A TimeMachine, Yes?  Well, Yesterday Was A Terrible Day.  I Almost Died When My Machine Set Fire To The Research Papers.  I Decided To Try It, And It Transported Me Here… This Is Where I Did A Foolish Thing.  I Left My Machine Alone, And Your Children’s Curiosity Was Too Much For Them.”

“Oh!  But…but…” Therese was on the verge of tears again.  This was so bizarre that it couldn’t be happening.   Why her?  Why her??!!  She had asked herself this question many times over the past few years, to no avail.  It was never answered.

***

Brian was the only one who hadn’t hysterically started screaming and banging frantically on the door.  Girls.  Sheesh.  He kept his head, and it was also a great excuse to hold Lauren’s hand and try and comfort her. Reeee-sult.

However, he was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic, and he started probing around, trying to find an open button.  Finally, he found a tiny green button, he hit it and the door opened with a HISS. 

Brian fell out and landed face up.  He stared up at the unfamiliar sky with an expression of utmost amazement.  Lauren stumbled out, holding Meredith’s hand tightly.  Brian stood up, and all three of them stared around them.  Without any doubt, they had somehow travelled in the future.