Lizzie
When the lift came to a gentle stop and her stomach caught up with it, the doors opened to reveal a brightly lit morning. With Karl’s arm wrapped tightly around her, she stepped out of the enclosure with her friends and walked out into the sunshine.
‘Heavenly Father, we humbly thank Thee for Thy wondrous bounty set before us,’ Rose prayed beside her, her voice filled with awe and reverence.
‘Just as I promised you, ladies!’ Karl said with a triumphant little laugh, leading them over to the colourful tent set out on the immaculate, green lawn.
The air was warm on her skin and Lizzie turned her face up to greet the sun, her eyes closed to enjoy the sensation of the golden rays on her eyelids. She could smell the flowers on the air, wafts of rose, jasmine and fuchsia blending together in a bouquet of sensory delight.
‘Let us get these coats off. I am sweltering already,’ Karl said as he let her go, helped her out of her overcoat and then pulled off his own jacket. He took their discarded garments over to a bench and dropped them there.
All around them, she saw people following his lead. Coats, jackets and woollen scarves were being discarded into big piles or collected by the white gowned people who were now moving gracefully among them. These people looked like angels or ancient marble statues come to life.
‘Oh my!’ Lizzie gasped as she got a better look at one young man’s costume. He wore a short, white, Roman tunic, belted at the waist by a golden chain. Beneath it she could see bare, muscular legs. On his feet were sandals. His hair was shaved short all over except for a long lock of hair that fell forward over his forehead.
‘I forgot to tell you about the clothes.’ Karl sounded annoyed with himself at his omission. ‘I hope you are not too offended. We all adopt the classic robes of the ancient Atlanteans for comfort and efficiency. As you can see, the women’s gowns are somewhat longer, although not nearly as long as you are used to. And no one wears corsets or stays or much of anything except shorts under them.’
‘It feels like I’m on Mount Olympus with the Gods,’ said Felicity, her usual languid tone replaced with awe and pleasure.
‘I suppose it does. Come along, the locals will have refreshments laid out in the pavilion. Let’s get something before the children scoff the lot! I find I am quite famished.’ Karl gave a little laugh and led the way.
As they moved toward the pavilion, Lizzie caught sight of a dark-haired woman from the ship. It surprised her to see the tiny woman here because she hadn't known she was a Target. Lizzie couldn't remember seeing her at the extraction point either. Certainly she wasn't part of their little group of pregnant women.
Karl followed her gaze. ‘That is Giarn. She is one of the Researchers. From the looks of it, she is just about to make the Jump to the Titanic.’
‘But she will drown!’ Rose exclaimed in horror.
‘Hopefully not. The passenger whose name she will be taking is listed as having survived. She will bring back a first-hand record of the sinking so that those who need closure can see what they left behind. It will not be for everyone. However, for those who need it, it will be there. And there will be many of our people who will want to experience that whole journey from start to finish. Our VR rooms in the Knowledge Centre can give them our experiences once we have downloaded them from our memories.’
‘This little woman – Giarn did you call her? She hasn't been on the Titanic yet?’ asked Trudy slowly.
‘No. They would have scheduled her for after we got back to make sure our mission was successful.’
‘But I saw her. She was always wandering around the ship at all hours of the day and night. How can I have seen her if she has not gone there yet?’ Lizzie asked in bewilderment.
‘That is the wonder of time travel as well as its inherent danger. We can go back from here at any time and become part of those few short days in 1912. It may well be that, sometime in the future, another mission will be undertaken to rescue more of the victims – possibly the engineers. Our world will have to have altered substantially for that to happen. But ten years ago, I would have said that a Jump to save children would have been impossible.
‘Our society is evolving, slowly and reluctantly at times, but it is evolving. There may come a time when men such as those in the bowels of the ship will be needed here. It may be tomorrow; it may be a hundred years from today. But as far as those on the Titanic are concerned – if they were meant to be rescued, they will be; some time.’
‘So, sometime in the future, Oliver might be rescued?’ Trudy asked tentatively.
‘Unlikely, I'm afraid. Oliver will never have the kind of mind required to adjust to all this,’ Karl admitted gently.
Lizzie watched the expressions flicker across Trudy's face. There was relief, followed by sadness, and finally acceptance.
‘Maybe I should go back with Giarn. There is more I could do...’ Lucy said reluctantly, looking around her as if her stay in Heaven was about to come to an end.
‘That is impossible. Giarn will enter the timeline on the day the ship sets sail. If you went with her, there would be two Lucys on board that ship. Crossing our own time-line is very dangerous, and is forbidden. You did your part Lucy. Let it go and accept that now it is about you and your baby. I am afraid you are stuck here with us for the foreseeable future.’ Karl chuckled boyishly.
Lucy frowned for several long moments, and then it was as if she finally accepted her good fortune. With light-filled eyes, she beamed at Karl before turning to take in more of her new world.
For the period that it took them to stock their plates with fresh, colourful food, Lizzie and the others were silent. Then, once the edge of her hunger was relieved and they were all relaxing on blankets beside the canal, Lizzie’s mind turned back to the miraculous rescue.
‘I am so glad you came along,’ she said, curling up against Karl's shirt-covered torso and resting her head on his shoulder, as if she’d always done it. She could feel the dampness of his skin under the warm bombardment of sunshine. Her nose felt burned already but she had no desire to move out of the sun. It was far too soothing.
‘Came along?’ He looked down at her quizzically.
‘That first morning when that oaf nearly knocked me over; what if we had not met? I might have missed all this, missed you… I cannot imagine…’ Her thoughts turned dark for a moment, remembering the disaster they had left behind them. It didn’t seem quite real. But then, neither did the world she saw around her now.
‘It was fated, my darling girl. How can you think there was chance involved at all? I had felt the pull of the Titanic since I was a boy hundreds of years ago; hundreds of years after that doomed Titan drowned. I had a connection to it then as I have now. I was always meant to find you Lizzie, always meant to save you. It was our destiny.’
She looked up into his warm, hazel eyes that were staring at her with such love and adoration. ‘Yes, I do believe you are right. Destiny. Four hundred years separated us, but we have found each other at last. It was our destiny.’