Andy was starting to get a handle on the sensations that surrounded him. He found he understood most of the images that flew at him, but was confused by random visions of the old man that he’d met in the museum just as reality snapped back into place.
He looked around and saw he was on a very long driveway that disappeared behind a neatly trimmed hedge. On his left he saw an immaculate sprawling lawn. On the far side of the lawn was the biggest house he had ever seen. It was three stories tall with green ivy climbing the walls. In front of the house were two old fashioned cars.
“Awesome,” he said to himself. “This Spencer-Brown guy must have serious cash.”
Andy’s observations of the Spencer-Brown estate were so overwhelming that he didn’t hear a car being driven flat out round the bend behind him. The driver saw Andy first and threw the car into a skid.
Andy spun round to see a huge green car sliding straight at him. He had nowhere to go. More by instinct than anything else he turned away and put his head in his arms. He felt his legs being pelted by stones as he waited for the impact.
It never happened. He opened his eyes to see the big car sitting stationary a few metres away. It was the same car he’d seen at the airfield. The driver leapt out of the car and stormed towards him.
“You bloody fool, I nearly killed you! How dare you trespass on my estate!” he shouted as he pulled his hat and driving goggles off.
When he saw it was Andy he stopped. It was Archie Spencer-Brown.
“You! You’ve got my flying helmet on too! By God you’ve got a nerve showing up here boy. Half of MI5 are out looking for you. They think you’re a midget Nazi spy.”
Andy was taken aback by Archie’s attitude. He struggled to find the right words and cursed himself for not having prepared something to say.
“I’m not a spy,” he said feebly.
“I can see that!” Archie replied. “You’re just a snotty little thief. Now give me back my flying helmet and I’ll give you a kick up the backside for taking it. Then you can go back to whatever miserable hole you crawled out from.”
Archie’s obnoxious attitude annoyed Andy. His temper flared.
“No, you’re not getting it and if you keep talking to me like that you can get stuffed. I won’t help you!”
Andy’s outburst stopped Archie in his tracks. He clearly wasn’t used to being spoken to like that, especially by a boy Andy’s age. He looked puzzled for a second then laughed.
“Firstly boy, that’s my flying helmet and if I want it, I’ll get it. Furthermore, what sort of help can a squib like you give me?”
“I can help you find your brother,” Andy said with as much courage as he could muster.”
Archie flinched as if he’d just been slapped in the face. He looked at Andy, sizing him up.
“That is not in the least bit funny, boy. My brother was lost out of India nine days ago. In fact I’m leaving tomorrow to look for him. What could you possibly know that I don’t?”
Andy patted his school bag.
“I have information in this bag that gives the exact location of your brother. It’s nowhere near Singapore by the way.”
“Really?” Archie snarled.
“Yes, really,” said Andy. “I also have information that you will die the day after tomorrow trying to cross the Alps.”
Archie looked shocked then laughed sarcastically.
“Pray tell, little man. How does one such as you find lost souls and predict the future?”
“Because I am from the future,” said Andy.
Archie stopped. His face looked blank for a second then he stepped towards Andy.
“Right, joke’s over. Give me the flying hat or I’ll give you the hiding you so seem to need.”
Andy backed away from Archie.
“Back off or I’ll disappear!”
“Where to? You’ve nowhere to run,” said Archie as he took another step.
“Back to the same place I went to the other day,” said Andy. “Ever wonder how I managed to avoid you and all those other guys on an open airfield when I had nowhere to run?”
Archie’s expression changed.
“Actually, yes, I did. So did all of the military types who were chasing you, which is why you’re now considered to be a Nazi spy. So, how did you do it?”
Andy looked Archie in the face warily, trying to size him up.
“Promise not to hurt me and I’ll tell you how I did it and I’ll prove to you I’m from the future.”
Archie sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Promise!” Andy said firmly.
“Yes, all right. I give my word to let you have your say and not harm you,” Archie said.
Andy took his schoolbag off his shoulder and started to open it.
“OK. In this bag I have technology from the 21st century and proof of what happened to your brother and what will happen to you.”
Andy pulled the laptop out of his bag and opened it up.
“This is a laptop computer. It holds all the information I need to show you.”
Archie was unimpressed.
“It looks like a typewriter that’s been run over by a steam-roller to me.”
Andy ignored him and went on.
“I need somewhere to sit while I get it going, then I’ll show you. Can we use your car?”
“I suppose you can.” said Archie. “But no tricks!”
Andy climbed into the passenger’s seat and Archie sat next to him. It was a surprising squeeze for such a mammoth car. He opened the laptop, pushed the button to start it and the computer began to boot-up. Archie was taken aback when information started appearing on the screen.
“What’s it doing?” he asked.
“It’s going through a series of self-diagnostic checks.”
“Self what?”
“It’s making sure it feels alright,” Andy replied.
Archie thought Andy was trying to make fun of him.
“Oh, of course,” he said. “We couldn’t make the poor thing work when it feels bad, could we.”
“Just be quiet and watch,” Andy snapped.
A few seconds later the computer finished booting-up and a picture of the Comet plane belonging to Archie’s brother appeared on the screen. Archie was stunned.
“Where did that come from?” he asked.
“From the computer’s memory. There’s thousands more images in there. See that little arrow there?” Andy said pointing at the screen.
“Yes,” said Archie, who was now paying close attention.
“Well, if I put my finger on this little pad between the keys here,” said Andy. “I can move the little arrow like this.”
Andy moved the cursor arrow to an icon on the left of the screen. Archie was staring at the screen in total disbelief.
“See that little yellow box the arrow is touching?” said Andy.
“Yes.”
“That is like a filing cabinet filled with all the information we could find on you and your brother. That box above it has maps from the 21st century and from 1936 and the one above that has some important dates from the 20th century.”
He clicked on the Spencer-Browns icon. A second later the screen changed and displayed the biographies of Archie and his brother Edmund that the boys had downloaded from the museum’s website.
“Have a look at this and read it carefully,” said Andy. “As we go through it I’ll open up other links about you and your brother.”
Andy watched Archie carefully. It soon became obvious that Archie was totally astounded by what he was reading. As they went through the biography Andy opened related pages about Archie’s crash, the recovery of his body and the inquest into his death. Archie went pale reading it.
Not giving Archie any time to recover, Andy showed him the page on Edmond’s death and the discovery of the wreckage in the 1990s. By this time Archie was far from the brash and arrogant man of a short while ago. He was thinking very hard indeed. <
br /> “What’s your name?” he asked Andy.
“Andrew Anderson, but my friends call me Andy.”
“Andy you are what, about 13 years old?”
“Yes.”
“Which means you will not be born for about another 60 odd years from now. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Archie stopped and thought some more staring at the computer.