'Serenity' Finds A California Girl in Nottingham's Court

Chapter Two~Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Chapter Two~

Let’s Do The Time Warp Again!

The city was called Londonia and the lab was in this huge building, all shiny and metallic on the outside.  The same was true for the inside.  Everything was made of chrome or some kind of silvery  metal.  The furniture looked to be straight out of an Ikea commercial.   All edges and taut material of some unknown (to me, anyway), fabric.  ‘John’ told one of the men to fetch some guy named Fletcher, then he sat me down on the ugly couch and sat next to me.  The hard-faced man left us alone and ‘John’ spoke into his sleeve.  I didn’t catch what he said.

“Is your ancestry Scottish?” 'John asked.

“Aye.”  I said. 

Looking around, he turned back to me.  ‘What’s your name?”  He questioned in a hushed tone.

 Not sure if I should tell him, I lied, replying just as quietly.  “Allison Cloud.”

Somehow he could tell I was not being truthful because he then said, “Now lass, I can only help you if you tell me the truth.”

Looking up into his face, the face that looked so much like John, I wanted to tell him, but I wasn’t sure who to trust in this strange time.  I replied, “How do I know I can trust you?”

His voice barely a whisper, he said, “Because there’s people here that need that device of yours.  The Alliance is running an oppressive government and now they want to create time travel.   If we can get the tech before they do, maybe we can travel back before all this started.   We might be able to change the events that brought about this regime.”

‘What’s your name?”  I decided it was time for me to get some information.

“Bruce MacDonald.”  he answered and sat back.  I fought with the Resistance, but came to work here after the war was over.  Some of my friends convinced me to work with them,”  Here, he leaned in and lowered his voice even more.  “ on an undercover project. Time travel.”

At this point, the man, Fletcher arrived.  “They tell me you have a device that has transported you in time?”

“I do,”  I stammered, “but, well, you see, it’s broken and I don’t have the equipment to fix it.”

“Broken, huh?”  Fletcher retorted.  “Well, let’s just see if what you say is true.  He gestured with his hand for me to rise.  “ Come with me.  What’s your name?”

Noticing MacDonald nodding his head from side to side ever so slightly.  I replied, obsequiously,  “Allison Cloud, from the year 2020, sir.” 

We exited the lobby and walked down a long corridor.  The walls were painted white and the doors were brown with names or numbers on them.  Fletcher opened a door with the name “Nick Welkin”.  Under his name was ‘Technical Engineer’.

As we entered the room, I saw computer screens across one wall and a man sitting in front of the wall, touching places on the screens .  As he did so, some data would fill the screens and a holographic image would appear.   The man studied the screens and the images.  He turned his head at the sound of our approach.  A youngish man with brown, slightly curly hair and glasses peered at us, then walked toward us.  Once again I was taken aback.  This man so resembled Much, except for the glasses, that I almost ran to hug him!

Fletcher said to the man, “Welkin, this is Allison Cloud.  She has some tech I need you to identify.  Get going on it.”  He ordered.  “if this is real, I want to get started with repairing this thing as soon as possible.