TEMPUS CHAPTER FIVE
For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.
Donald Williams, Astronaut USA
He could see the earth below him, as his eyes were coming into focus. He felt what Yuri Gagarin must have felt looking through the bubble of his Spacecraft that future April in 1961. It was awe-inspiring, he had no words.
“Watcher gravity off, I want to feel weightlessness.”
As Cristian floated inside the small ship he thought about how we were destroying our home, and he felt a little angry knowing what the people below were going to do to the planet over the next dozen decades.
The list of offences too numerous to list, all in our addiction and lust for oil, resources, and control over the masses. He suddenly felt like the man in that old commercial, Iron Eyes Cody standing by the side of the road, a tear welled up and floated away. Fucking sad what we were doing to our home.
“Gravity on,” he thought the command, and he dropped back to the seat. When they re-entered the atmos he wondered why they were not burning up.
“This ship does not compress the atmosphere on re-entry. Our slow speed and the field around the ship allow the air to flow around it. No friction, no heat, no flame” said, Watcher.
“Does this ship have a name, Watcher?”
“No one has ever thought to give it a name.”
“Every ship needs a name, Watcher.” After a moment he said, “Ascalon, for St. George’s Sword.”
“Ascalon it is. Good choice Cristian.”
“Thanks, Watcher, Where are we going to put her down?”
“In Stanley Park, near a livery stable. When was the last time you rode a horse, Cristian?”
“When I was six, my parents took me out on a trail ride. No one saw that I had cut a switch from some willow with my pocket knife. When I started whacking the back of that poor old trail pony, it rose up on two legs and ran for its life. It was like a scene out of the Lone Ranger. No one was more surprised than our guide as he tried to catch me and that supposed to be a docile pony. I was having the time of my life, my parents not so much. It’s like riding a hawg without the handlebars, ain’t it?”
“Sounds like you were a little mean to the pony, Cristian.”
“Watcher I was six didn’t really have the strength to hurt back then, and I’m sure that for a short while that pony got to do what he was born for, to run wild and free. Like all of us, he just needed a reminder of who he really was. I am sure he was smiling on the inside. He wouldn’t leave my side until I was dragged away by my Father.”
“Don’t damage the watch, Cristian. I have already had a bad experience on horseback. I will tell you about it later. Maybe we could consider renting a buggy.”
“Four wheels, with a view of the shitty end of a horse, yuck. Horses are beautiful from any other angle.”
They landed deep in the woods In Stanley Park. It was an early afternoon in the summer of 1889 as was reported by the Watcher.
He hired a driver and buggy from the first livery stable they came upon. He was impressed with the detail and quality of the buggy, with two seats in the rear covered by a ragtop that could be lowered on the sunny days. Ahead of a brass lantern on each side was the driver’s seat out in the weather.
“Where to, sir?” asked the driver.
“Hotel Vancouver.”
On arrival, he handed the driver a ten, then headed up the stairs for the front doors.
“What do have you available?” Cristian asked the man behind the counter.
“We have a room facing the inlet and the mountains of the Northern Shore,” said the clerk at the front desk. “How long will you be staying, sir?”
“A few days, maybe a week.”
“Very good sir, your luggage?”
“No luggage.”
“ Very well, sir. Arthur will show you to your room.”
“Thank you …” he said with a pause.
“Charles sir, if you have need of anything, please ask.”
“Thank you, Charles.”
A walk through the promenade led them to a grand stairway and to his room. “Thank you, Arthur.” He handed Arthur a crisp four-dollar bill.
His eyes popped a bit, “Thank you, sir, very generous. Is there anything you require?”
“I am feeling a little hungry.”
“We have a world-class restaurant downstairs.”
When he got to the restaurant, it was full of people, not many seats left. He noticed a man in his twenties, bushy moustache and round spectacles, sitting by himself. He approached the man and asked if the seat was taken. The man said, “no, please sit down.”
“Kipling, Rudyard Kipling,” said the man sitting at the table.
“Holy shit, it’s the man himself. Watcher, what is my name?”
“Your passport says James Stewart of San Francisco.”
“Nice touch Watcher. Is there a six-foot-high invisible rabbit next to me, or maybe an angel named Clarence?” He thought chuckling, thinking about a couple of favourite movies that James Stewart had starred in.
“No, Cristian Harvey is not standing there, and I do not detect any angels.”
“James Stewart, please call me Jimmy, Mr. Kipling.”
With a snide, “If that pleases you, Jimmy.”
“Mr. Kipling, what brings you here to this city?”
“A writer’s curse, a speaking engagement, after that I am on my way to England.”
“If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings nor lose the common touch” He couldn’t help himself he was sitting with the man who wrote his favourite poem.
“Cristian, he has not written that yet.”
“Well spoken, Jimmy, could I use your words,” said Mr. Kipling.
“I would be honoured, Mr. Kipling. Please allow me to make a small confession. I have read some of your work. You are a talented writer. I am sure you will go on to write even greater things.”
“Kind of you, Mr. Stewart. What brings you here?”
“Capitalism, I came to buy Real estate and develop. This will be a great city one day.”
“Cristian, he is wearing one of the known insignia of the Elders.”
“How can you see that Watcher?”
“I have many ways I can see, including through your eyes Cristian, I can see what you see, hear what you hear. He is associated with the Elders in some way. Many are duped into membership without knowing who they are and what they really stand for.
Cristian be careful, do not give any hints about your real identity or when you are from. You just gave Rudyard Kipling lines from his own unwritten poem. Be careful, the Elders are ruthless.”
“Watcher it is one of the poems that got me through some tough spots in my life. It is on the wall in my old kitchen. How do you know this isn’t where he got that line? Paradox found Watcher.”
Rudyard Kipling was writing down the words as this internal conversation took place.
“Real estate sounds like a sound investment, Jimmy,” Said Mr. Kipling.
“It can be Mr. Kipling. Real Estate is a fickle master, you can also lose at that game.”
“Cristian, Rudyard will lose money on investments made here on this very trip. He will be ripped off by a man named Steve, who will sell him bogus property on the North Shore. He will also buy some residential property and sell it at a loss after paying taxes on it for years.”
“I don’t plan on warning him Watcher, it is tempting though.”
During dinner, few words were spoken. He had thought it best to avoid detection. This was his first time out. The evening conversations went on general terms avoiding mentions of unions, race, and Imperialism when those subjects were breached Kipling would start to rant.
Mr. Kipling was outspoken about many subjects. He realized that he loved his writing but didn’t enjoy listening to him, especially choking on billows of cigarette smoke, which he expelled right through his words.
Cristian asked the waiter for some stationary and a pen.
“Mr. Kipling, would you mind, I would trade sound Real estate advice in exchange for an autograph, I know will be worth money in the future.”
“You certainly are a Capitalist, Jimmy.”
He wrote “Thank you for the enjoyable evening with a budding capitalist with a capital C” Rudyard signed his name at the bottom.
“Thank you, Rudyard Kipling. My advice is simply this, avoid investing money with any man with the name Steve.”
Goodnight Mr. Kipling.” Leaving Kipling with a perturbed look, he went back up to his room.
“Watcher, did he just insult me using the c word?”