16. Isabel and the Time Machine
Dawn broke over a smoldering East End. Black, noxious smoke filled an early morning sky tinted pink with the promise of a new day. Richard Francis Burton, Chief Inspector Abberline, and Professor Challenger surveyed the damage near the docks.
Burton was bone-weary, his face covered in soot. Edward Bulwer-Lytton was dead, pulled underwater by some contraption built by a man who should not exist. The things that had attacked the city had all hopped, loped or crawled back into the water, hopefully never to be seen again.
Mycroft Holmes appeared, flanked by attendants, an angry scowl marring his features. In his hand he held a crumpled piece of paper.
“I demand to know the meaning of this,” he snapped, tossing the paper onto the charred ground.
Burton bent and picked up the paper, unfolding it to read.
Dear Mycroft Holmes,
While I am flattered that you are impressed with my Nautilus, and I admire your dedication to the British Empire, I must regretfully decline your dubious “invitation.” Herbert told me everything. The Nautilus is not a child’s toy for you to take apart and guess as to its operation. Nor does the world need an entire fleet of such vessels traversing the globe making trouble.
However, I am a friend to mankind, and will always provide what assistance I can to the noble cause of humanity’s survival. In that regard, I hope my specially designed torpedo machine stopped the latest incursion by our mutual enemies, the Deep Ones.
Burton laughed and passed the letter to Challenger, who started reading it.
“It arrived this afternoon, but I only just now discovered it,” said Mycroft Holmes. “I demand an explanation. Where is the Time Traveler? And how did he get a message to Captain Nemo aboard his Nautilus?”
“You’ll have to ask him yourself,” said Burton.
Mycroft paused, considering this. Then he reached into his coat pocket and produced another piece of paper. “This arrived a short while ago.”
Burton took it and read it. “Meet me in Hyde Park near Alexandra Gate, 2am. Herbert.”
“Hyde Park?” said Abberline. “What in blazes is he doing all the way out there?”
“We shall find out soon enough, said Mycroft Holmes. “For the hour is almost two. I’ve provided transportation for all of us. Let’s be off.”
Burton’s heart raced along with the fast-thumping hooves of the horses that carried them through London’s night time streets. Tired now, the rush of adrenaline from all that had transpired was starting to ebb. He intended to sleep for a week when this was all over.
When they arrived at the appointed place, Mycroft’s men spread out, scanning every inch of Alexandra Gate for any signs of movement.
A furtive movement to Burton’s right caught his attention, and he looked just in time to see the Time Machine flickering into existence. It was soundless as it grew into solidity, and Burton saw someone with Herbert, sitting awkwardly across his lap.
“Oof!” the figure said. “Calamitous contraption! Don’t think for a second I’m getting back on that thing.”
“I’m very sorry, my lady,” said the Time Traveler. “I never considered building it for two.”
The group ran toward the Time Machine, Burton taking the lead. The person with him was so familiar…
Burton stopped in his tracks as she spun around.
“Isabel?” murmured the explorer. “Isabel!”
He rushed up to wrap her tightly in a warm embrace. She returned it, holding it for a long moment before pulling back. “Richard! But you look positively dreadful. Have you been visiting brothels with that Swinburne sot?”
“No, my dear,” said Burton. “Just…” He searched his friends’ faces for an answer and, finding none, settled on, “Saving the world?”
Challenger bellowed laughter that boomed throughout the park, setting a distant dog to barking.
“Who are all these people?” said Isabel. “Why is it night? And where is that burning smell coming from?”
“I think I should explain,” said Herbert, coming forward to stand beside Isabel. “I rescued Lady Arundell here and brought her back with me, to my own time.”
“Your own time?” said Isabel. “What the devil are you talking about?”
“It’s a long, complex story, my dear,” said Burton. “If you will just suspend your disbelief for a moment, our friend here will try to explain.”
“He had better,” said Mycroft Holmes, glaring at the Time Traveler.
“Yes, well,” said Herbert. “I was afraid of creating more paradoxes, you see. I remembered what Captain Burton had told me about Lady Arundel’s disappearance. She went missing October fourth, last seen in Hyde Park near Alexandra Gate.”
“But it is August fourth,” Isabel protested.
I’m sorry, my dear,” said Burton, taking her hand. “But it is October twenty-third.”
“What?” Isabel’s face grew deathly pale.
“After I took back my Time Machine,” Herbert continued. “I went far into the future, when the walls of the Tower of London had long since crumbled to dust, and moved the machine to a spot where it would no longer be within the Tower’s confines once I returned to the past, er, present.”
“What on earth is he talking about, Richard?” asked Isabel.
“Darling, please,” Burton soothed. “Just listen.”
“It was tough going,” said Herbert. “I really should have put wheels on the confounded thing. Anyway, once that was done I hopped back on the Time Machine and went back through Time, to a point shortly after we returned from our undersea voyage.”
“How did you get a message to Nemo?” asked Mycroft Holmes.
“I’m getting to that,” said the Time Traveler. “I went to the telegraph office and dashed off—pun intended—a few missives to English language newspapers in or around the South Seas, even the southern coast of Africa. There I placed ads in each of those papers, worded so that the details would only make sense to Miss Marsh and Captain Nemo.”
“Telling them to arrive here by this night and time,” said Burton. “Thereby avoiding further paradoxes.”
“Exactly,” said Herbert, who was grinning from ear to ear at his own ingenuity.
“What about Isabel?” said Burton. “How did you bring her back to me?”
Herbert held up a finger. “That took some doing. As you know the Time Machine travels perfectly well through Time, but does not move in similar fashion through Space. After securing the advertisements, I had to hire a pair of large men with strong backs and a pantechnicon to move the thing out here to Hyde Park. I had to pay extra so that they would keep their mouths shut. Then I went back further still, to the day of Lady Arundell’s disappearance.”
“I was just taking a stroll through the park while visiting the city,” Isabel said to Burton. “I missed you, you big oaf. I neglected to bring along a chaperone. I was minding my own business when this, this ruffian accosted me. He told me he was a friend of yours and that I was in terrible danger. He practically dragged me to that queer gizmo of his, and made me sit on his lap! Before I could climb off the blasted thing, we were here, with all of you, and it was suddenly night. Would someone please tell me what is going on?”
“He just did, my dear,” said Burton, trying hard not to laugh. “You, Isabel Arundell, have just become the first Englishwoman to travel through Time.”
Challenger laughed. Herbert giggled. Mycroft Holmes uttered a snort of derision.
“Oh,” said Isabel. “I see. I’ve simply gone mad.”