Time Heros

Sophie's Tale

Chapter One

Laying before me was a plaid picnic blanket. Sitting on either side were eleven people that I thought I could have met before but I wasn't quite sure. The atmosphere was light and comical.

I looked at them like they were crazy. They were all strangers to me, yet they all joked and teased at me as if I were an old friend.

"Excuse me," I said, "who are you?"

"She doesn't know us yet!" exclaimed one person as they face-palmed themselves.

"She's dreaming, again," sighed another.

All eleven started clapping loudly and randomly. "SOPHIE" they shouted, "WAKE UP!!"

I sat up in my bed and looked around my room. The calendar on my port-screen lit up, as it reminded me that today was the first day of work at camp. Wonderful.

*****

There were new campers everywhere. They swarmed the main building and ran in and out of over packed dormitories. It was so much more different then the winter when the only teens here were my siblings and me.

Uncle Jeff bustled towards me pointing towards the Skyline- a large swing that went around the whole campus dropping people off at regular intervals.

"Henry's sick and we need an attendant at Station B. Think you can fill in, Sophie?" Uncle Jeff asked.

My eyes flickered down the hill where all the activity was happening. I closed my hazel eyes, said a quick thank-you in my head, and then nodded to Uncle Jeff, my red hair flying in the wind.

"Yeah, I'll take my four-wheeler down there," I replied.

Uncle Jeff smiled gratefully then rushed away to deal with yet another problem.

I shook my head and headed over to Station B. Here at Camp Earth we had all the latest technology. Children from all over the world came here to spend the long, dull months of summer. I had lived at camp for fourteen-and-a-half years of my life and after about the eighth year it had lost all of its former appeal.

I reached Station B and slid my employee card through the slot. The lock on the back door blinked green and I slipped inside.

But someone was already there. Stations only needed one worker. But if this man- well teenager, since he couldn't have been any older then sixteen- was already there then I wasn't needed. But Uncle Jeff would never send me somewhere that I wasn't needed, right?

"Excuse me, are you Henry?" I asked him. Maybe Henry wasn't all that sick and decided to show up. We were constantly getting new workers and I knew for a fact that I'd never met Henry.

He smirked. "No. I'm not Henry."

"Then why are you here? And how'd you get in here?" I asked.

"I'm here because I heard a weird clicking noise. I got in here using this-" he held up a silver tube with a yellow light on the end "my sonic screwdriver. I got the idea from Doctor Who."

"That's an ancient show."

"Yeah, they dropped it in the twenty-third century. I was sad to see it go."

"Sorry?" I said as I tried to do the math. It was now the late 28th century, so for him to see the last episode in 2201 he'd at least have to be...

"I'm a time traveler," He explained. "I don't have my machine though. It was stolen, but someone's trying to retrieve it."

"Time traveling is impossi-"

CLICK!

My head snapped to one side, trying to see what made the noise.

Click, CLACK!

"What is that?" I demanded turning back to face not-Henry.

"I'm hoping it's my machine," he replied calmly. Then his whole face changed, he turned excited. He stared at something over my shoulder.

"Oh you beautiful, beautiful thing!" he cried clapping his hands. "Alex did recover you! He deserves a kiss- on the cheek!"

I spun to see what not-Henry was staring at, and at seeing it I decided not-Henry was also not the Doctor, or anything like the Doctor for that matter.

It was just a doorway: a sleek metal doorway that had appeared on the once solid brick below the Skyline's track.

"But that's impossible!" I argued staring at the doorway. "Time traveling could never work!"

Not-Henry raised an eyebrow. "Keep telling yourself that," he said walking towards the doorway."

"Hey!" I called out grabbing his wrist. "You can't just come in here. Tell me you're a time traveler then leave! At least tell me your name!"

He shook his head. "Enjoy Camp Earth little girl. Don't tell anyone what happened otherwise Area 51 will be after you."

He opened the door and stepped inside.

"You never told me your name!"

He stuck his head out the door, winked, and said, "John."

Then he disappeared into the doorway and the doorway vanished.