Ellen Blake Destined To Return

49 - The rise and fall of Valentino Martain

The Wolds of South Nottinghamshire merged into the lush rolling fields of Leicestershire as the train steadily wove its way through a patchwork of green, yellow and brown farm lands. Every now and then, in the distance, a French spire upon a Norman church could be seen nestled amongst the trees of a village or hamlet. All of which, even the occasional windmill, were largely overlooked by the four teenagers as they hung off every word Brook spoke.

'Valentino Martain started on the project in skullSTAR:purple. He was one of the scientists who created the serum. However once we moved into the phase of using the serum he moved to become head of the blue team and was one of the most frequent temporal visitors.

'His problem was that he was impatient. Once he was satisfied that the serum was proven and had been tested enough, he wanted to get on with the primary task and deal with the problems the terrorists had caused. But this was not the opinion of those in charge. Those on the project's steering committee. They felt that we needed longer to perform various tests over different and greater time periods. They knew the serum worked, they were just concerned about the whole paradox thing. It also didn't help having the odd member of the committee who was against the whole time-travel solution anyway. Members like the head of the army, General Noah Cheverall.

'Valentino was acutely aware that the General was swaying the rest of the committee and felt they all needed a kick up the backside. He believed they needed to be shown something that would prove it was safe, speed up the testing phase and help them get on with the mission. So he decided to use his next test visit as a stunt to get the project back on track.

'The problem was firstly that he never told anyone about this stunt and secondly in carrying it out, he inadvertently got a man killed.'

'Oh my God,' said Aaron. 'What did he do?'

'Well, he managed to trace the General's family tree and went to visit a very distant relative, called Tobias Cheverall, back in 1819. As I said the stunt went wrong and Tobias was mugged and murdered later that very evening.'

'Did Valentino do it?' asked Billy.

'No,' said Brook. 'But the implication was that Tobias was engaged to a young woman, Agnes Hack, who he was supposed to marry and have children with. Eventually, centuries later, they would have the General as a descendant. But, as you can guess, with no Tobias there was now no General.

'As it happened none of us knew that, because we were all from this new time-line. One where General Cheverall had never existed. I only discovered this when I asked Valentino for some information of his last visit, which he claimed was a simple test in the year 2082. The reason I asked was because I had been curious on another anomaly. That being that Valentino had not recognised me, when we both arrived early to a meeting. He thought I was new to the team and introduced himself and shook my hand. What sent alarm bells ringing was that he should have known me. We'd been working together for the last two years.'

'You've lost me,' admitted Marianne. 'I understand why the General no longer existed. Or rather I think I do. But I don't see how that has anything to do with you?'

Brook laughed.

'Valentino was unaware of both of these facts as well. It was why I spent every waking hour on extra research. I guessed that the death of Tobias had not just caused the General to cease to exist but for me to begin to exist. So I looked back through my family tree and guess who I stumbled upon?'

'Agnes Hack,' said Aaron, smugly.

'Exactly! It turned out that she spent a few years mourning over her fiancé. Then later she met, fell in love with and married another man. Henry Sawyer. They had children and we are their descendants.'