[Sticks]

While my most recent Mystical Realms story is mired in writers block because time pressures crowded it out, I have come up with a brand new story idea inspired by recent commemorations and a late 70's early 80's show

[LeatherTrumpet]

nice to see you Sticks

[Sticks]

Episode One: Clouds of Death

Spoiler:

A noise woke Sarah up from her sleep in the school coach, she was still feeling very rough. Sarah had been sick twice on the journey down from the hotel in Ypes, the Belgium town they were staying in to Flanders field. This had been supposed to be a trip of a lifetime for this young teenage girl from Bradford to see some of the First World War battle sites, and she had succumbed to travel sickness.

If only they had not confiscated her medicine at customs, just because it was not cleared for sale in Belgium.

Because she had been so ill, Mr Franks had decided that she better sleep in the coach, under the watchful eye of their coach driver, a local provided by the travel firm, while all her classmates visited the battle field. If Sarah had not felt so awful, she would have contested this.

The noise was a banging on the coach door

Sarah heard the driver swear in what she had been told was Flemish.

The driver opened the coach door.

Mr Franks stumbled up into the coach, blood was coming from his nose, mouth and eyes and it looked like he was having trouble seeing. There was also the sound of breathing difficulties from the teacher.

“They’re all deh!” Mr Franks uttered before he collapsed on the floor of the coach.

Sarah glanced out of the coach in her confusion. In the distance lay the lifeless bodies of her classmates. She let off a piercing scream

* * *

Detective inspector James Taylor trudged over the field to the empty coach to meet with his Belgian counterpart. As he walked across he saw various men in what looked like oversized space suits carrying bodies to awaiting ambulances. They looked like the suits their fire service in England used when dealing with chemical spills, they were colloquially referred to by that American term, Hazmat suits.

If the reports were accurate, this had been a horrific incident, twenty children from West Yorkshire and their teacher killed on what should have been a relatively safe school trip and one lad was missing.

A Belgian police officer came up to him hand told him “Excusez-moi monsieur, vous devrez revenir à la route, c'est une scène de crime”

This officer was definitely not one of the Flemish speaking officers that James was expecting. James stopped and gently took from his top jacket pocket his West Yorkshire Police warrant card, but it did not seem to do any good, this officer apparently did not speak English.

Just then James heard a voice from another man in the local police uniform calling out, “Laissez-le passer, il est l'agent de liaison de la police britannique que je vous ai dit tout à l'heure”

The police officer then waved James through saying to him “désolé monsieur”

James walked up to the other police officer by the bus

“My apologies Officer Taylor” this police officer opened with, “I did not have your photograph when we were told by our foreign office that you were the one coming. We are deeply sorry about this tragedy to your children on our soil. It seems that Flanders field has become yet another killing ground. I am Officer Francoise Janssens”

Taylor looked at the ground, he was not sure there was much he could do or achieve, but protocol dictated that at an incident where British lives had been lost in such circumstances required a British officer present, if nothing else, he would be on hand along with the British consulate to deal with the relatives, should they come over.

“I was just told that they had their deaths were still being investigated” Taylor replied, looking Officer Janssens in the eyes, “I’m also confused, you are still collecting the bodies one day after the incident?”

“It does seem a long time Mr Taylor” Officer Janssens answered, “But from the symptoms exhibited by the teacher before he died, we could not take chances that there was not some dangerous pathogen, like Ebola perhaps. The two survivors our coach driver and your school girl are still in isolation at the hospital under observation”

“I will need to speak to them” James interrupted

“In due course” Officer Janssens interrupted back, “But I fear you will not learn much more, they were interviewed by the attending officer when the coach driver called this in”

“Without someone present from the British Consulate?” James said with a slight tint of anger

“The coach driver is Belgian” Officer Janssens said firmly, “He is under our jurisdiction, and he confirmed what the schoolgirl has said, she was asleep right up until the teacher banged on the coach door. She knows nothing”

James once again looked out across the Flanders field, the men in the white hazmat suits, their grim work was coming to an end as the door of the last ambulance was slammed shut. It was then he noticed other men in hazmat suits, carrying metal detectors of some kind and others carrying devices he had last seen on an archaeology programme on the television.

“We have a theory” Officer Janssens said, shattering James’ thoughts, “This field over the years since it was last a killing ground has been subject to farming and agriculture. We believe that as this area was near the World War one German trenches, the group may have inadvertently stumbled across an old shell of mustard gas that had been brought to the surface by ploughing and somehow they triggered it”

“Did the coach driver report an explosion?” James’ asked

Officer Janssens shook his head, “If there had been, your little girl would have been woken up by it, and we know she was woken only by the banging of the teacher on the coach door”

“But how?” James pressed
“It does need to explode to release it’ toxic payload, it only needs to be as you say it, breached”

“So these others?” James asked pointing to the other men in hazmat suits.

Officer Janssens turned around to look where James was pointing, “That is our army bomb disposal team” he answered, “As our best theory is a forgotten world war one shell, they need to make sure there is no further ordinance that could be a danger”

James sighed, if this had been a tragic accident with an old German gas shell it would make sense to make sure the area was safe, but what did not make sense was the location. This was where the German trench was, but the gas shells were never stored there back in World War One. They were further back with the artillery.

“I do not think” Officer Janssens began, “You can do anything else here Detective Inspector. The bodies of the victims are on their way back to Ypes, your schoolgirl is in hospital there also. As for the coach, and the driver, he is ours.”

“What about the missing schoolboy” James pressed
“We have a police helicopter equipped with infra-red looking for him now” Officer Janssens explained, “We suspect he was injured and has got lost trying to escape from the shell. We also have a number of locals ready to assist”

“Twenty children and one teacher dead” James pressed, “and you think it is just an accident?”

“Please detective inspector, we do not suspect any foul play at this time.” Officer Janssens insisted, “We will just have to consider these poor unfortunate children and their teacher some of the last victims of World War One”

“One hundred years on?” James asked with incredulity

“Indeed” Officer Janssens said in an agreeing tone, “Now we have been introduced you would be better served back in Ypes, working with your consular staff for when the families of the dead and that school girl come over”

“We will need copies of any reports you file” James replied, trying to justify his existence

“Of course” Officer Janssens replied, “And we will have them translated into English”

“What about the media” James asked
“Our media is a bit more circumspect than yours” Officer Janssens, “and as for yours, our border staff are making sure they get the message, that it would not go well for them to turn up here. Now go back to Ypes and let us finish up here”

James looked around, he was not sure why he had come out here since the police officer in charge did not think he could do anything, and besides if it was a tragic accident involving a World War One shell it would be a while before any inquiry would get underway.

Suddenly James court sight of two figures near where the men in hazmat suits were working. One was a tall woman dressed in a blue trouser suit and the other a man in a grey suit jacket.

James turned back to Officer Janssens, “who are those two?” James asked pointing at the two figures.

“Who are you pointing at” Officer Janssens replied

James looked again, but this time the two figures were no longer there, and there was no way they could have walked or run from the scene, and yet James was certain he had seen them

“Never mind” James muttered and turned and headed back to his hire-car.

The drive back to Ypres seemed uneventful, although James had the feeling he was being tailed, but every time he looked in the mirror there was no evidence of the same vehicle following him.

James arrived at the British consulate, apparently they had one bedroom which he was to use to save on hotel bills. Well it would have been public money after all. James drove into the consulate compound, got out the car and took out his bags from the boot.

He then walked around heading towards the front of the building. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw the two strange figures he had seen at Flanders field, but when he turned to look, they were not there.

James entered the consulate to be met by one of the consulate staff, a woman in her thirties. “Detective Inspector Taylor?” the woman nodded

James nodded and uttered a “yes”

“It’s been a horrific tragedy” the woman opened with, “Especially with our Consul General away in London”
“Why was he in London” James asked without thinking
“He was appearing before a select committee in the House of Commons” the woman replied, “but he is on his way back from London and is due in tonight”

“I need to unpack my bags” James began
“I will take your bags to your room Detective Inspector” the woman insisted, “You have a visitor in that side office” she added pointing to a door. “He is insistent on speaking with whatever police official they send from the UK. He says he has information on the accident at Flanders”

“So you buy into this idea it was some old World War One gas shell?” James asked.
“What else could it be?” the woman asked as she took James’ bags and went up the stairs.

James went towards the door to the side office.

“Are you sure you want to do that” came a voice from behind.

James spun around, but there was nobody there, instantly the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

James turned back to the office door, took hold of it and entered in.

Sitting at the desk was a very old man.

“I had instructions from my father to come here on this date” the old man began in a voice with a hint of German in it.

“Is he still alive?” James asked

The old man shook his head, “He has been dead for thirty five years”

A shiver went down James back, something was not quite right

“Have you seen them too?” The old man asked and fixed an icy stare at James, “A man in a grey suit and a woman in a blue dress?”

“How did you know?” James asked

The old man seemed to ignore the question, “You came here to investigate the death of children and their teacher”

“The local police are saying it is an accident” James replied

The old man shook his head, “It was no accident”
“What makes you say that?”
Again the old man ignored James’ question “There is one child unaccounted for”
“They’re looking for him” James answered back

“They will not find him here” the old man insisted, “That child died many years ago during the Great War. He was shot by the troops loyal to the Kaiser when he and his other friends appeared out of nowhere in No-Man’s land during one of their failed gas attacks. The rest of the children melted away, but he remained”

James stared at this old man and wondered how he had persuaded the consular staff to let him in and which home he had escaped from.

“My father” the old man went on, “Asked me to take this to you, on this date, and keep it from the man in grey and the woman in blue” at that he handed James an old envelope that was sealed with string, rather than an adhesive seal.

James pulled out the contents.

They were, a written itinerary of the school trip with the date written down that the coach was due at Flanders, the missing child’s school ID card and a fifty pence piece with the current year on it.

All had aged as if they had been around for about a hundred years.

Also in the package was an old photograph from the period of World War One, but as James looked at another chill went through him, this photograph from about one hundred years ago was of the missing child, lying lifeless in a German World War one trench.

To be continued – If I can!

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Sticks

Episode One: Clouds of Death

To be continued – If I can!
[/spoiler]

Hidden talent. I really enjoyed reading this, and you should continue it. I'm looking forward to reading more.

[Sticks]

Episode Two: Deadly Circle

Spoiler:

Detective Inspector James Taylor did not know what to think, he wanted to write this off as one sick hoax, and that the still missing child would be found, after all the itinerary of the school trip and the boy’s ID card could be aged by artificial means. The coin likewise. As for the photo, that could be the product of Photoshop plus artificial aging. But then, how did he get them?

The elderly man in front of him at the British consulate somehow knew what he was thinking, “May I show you my air ticket that says I arrived here only this morning from Bern” the elderly man told James as he pulled out a used ticket from one of the European budget airlines.

“Just in case you were wondering, I was miles away when that coach arrived at that field a day or so ago” the elderly man went on, “You are the police, you have to ask and be sceptical, I accept that but I had nothing to do with this tragedy”

James narrowed his eyes at the old man, even if this were a hoax what would the old man have to gain?

Fame?

Notoriety?

Attention?

“Let me get this straight” James replied to the old man, “You claim your father, who fought on the German side in World War One, says that during the war, a coach load of children and their teacher were somehow transported from our time to his time for a few moments during a gas attack and one of those children was shot and remained back in the killing fields of Flanders”

“That is what he told us” the old man insisted, “It haunted him for the rest of his life, especially because the child who was shot dead by our side. I know it was war, but it was obvious they were not combatants. The man who shot him was killed the following day by a British bullet if that makes it easier”

“I don’t buy it” James insisted, “If say these children were somehow transported back and then forward in time, except for the boy you say was shot, and your father had these details” At this James waved the itinerary in the air, “Why did he not arrange for this to be prevented, send a warning to the school”

The old man sighed and it seemed that James had struck a nerve, “He so wanted to, but he could not”

“Why?”

“My father was an avid reader of that author of yours, HG Wells” the old man continued, “He managed to get his copy of The Time machine translated in to German in 1898 three years after it’s original publication. From discussions about that book he realised the issues of paradoxes, such as what you call the Grandfather Paradox”

James had heard of this paradox explained as A time traveller goes back in time and kills his grandfather before his grandfather meets his grandmother. As a result, the time traveller is never born. But, if he was never born, then he is unable to travel through time and kill his grandfather, which means the traveller would then be born after all, and so on

It was good for giving one a headache.

The old man continued, “He was also warned not to by the man in the grey suit, along with the woman in the blue dress that you have also seen”

“Nice story” James replied, “but where did you really get these”

The old man shook his head and looked even sadder if that were more possible. “I am telling you the truth, my father had this experience during the Great War.” Then the man looked up at the detective inspector, with tears in his eyes, “That woman in the blue dress was right, nobody will believe me”

James thought he would try another track, especially given his glimpse of those two described individuals at Flanders and here in the town of Ypes, “So do these two people have names?”

“If they did they never said” the old man replied, “When my father passed away and that envelope passed to me they showed up at my door. I recognised them from my father’s description. It was as if they never aged at all. They demanded to know where that envelope was, but I refused to tell them. I thought they might take it by force, but instead they warned me to keep it safe and that there would be serious consequences if tried to tell anyone of its contents or what my father had told me, before today’s date. Yesterday she, the woman in blue showed up and told me it was time before vanishing before my eyes. Mr Police man, she had not aged one day”

A further chill went down James’ spine. Unless those people he had seen at Flanders were in cahoots with this old man, there was something not right about that couple he had seen.

How could they be at World War One, thirty five years previous and a few hours or minutes ago? It was impossible, it was absurd.

James thought for a moment, “If what you say was true, why did the children die so fast? Mustard gas did not kill that fast from what I read”

Again the old man shook his head, “The Kaiser was not satisfied with the mustard gas and had someone experiment with what they call a nerve gas, a forerunner of Sarin, except on its first use there was a change in the wind and it killed more German troops than allied troops. It was during that gas attack the children appeared on the battlefield.”

There was a knock on the door.

James turned away from looking at the old man and went to the door. It was the woman who James had met when he had entered the British Consulate. She was back from carrying his bags up stairs to the guest room. “I’ve put your bags in the room Detective Inspector, I will show you to it now”

“I just need to finish with…” James voice faded away as he turned back to where the old man had been seated.

He was nowhere to be seen, and there was no way he could have left the room. James was still holding the documents that the old man had given him.

“That was quick” the woman replied, “What did he want?”
“He just wanted to hand me some old papers” James answered
“Well I could have taken them if that was all” the woman said with a tone of being put out, “is it something I can deal with?” she added.

James shook his head, “It was just historical stuff, nothing much that would be of interest to the consulate staff” James lied, “I suspect he was from some old folks home nearby and has slipped passed the nurses”

“Do you want me to dispose of them?” the woman replied, “I do apologise, but he did ask for you by name”

James shook his head, “I have an interest in old documents, I will have a look through and then once we’ve sorted out this business with that school party matter we can try and track down which home he came from and return them”

“As you wish Detective Inspector” the woman replied

The woman then led James up the stairs to the room where he was to stay. “I will let you get settled before we arrange dinner. I’m afraid it won’t be much. The diplomatic service is not what it used to be on hospitality since they started applying the Daily Mail test to everything”

“We have the same problem in West Yorkshire” James reciprocated, “Although our chief constable tends to be more worried about the Yorkshire Post”

The woman left and James looked at his cases and at what wardrobe space there was. The expectation was that the following day, some of the parents of the dead children would be arriving, if they were not already. The Belgian policeman, Officer Francoise Janssens, whom James had met at Flanders field had a point, he would be busy talking with the relatives. Not a prospect he relished. He had had his fill of breaking bad news to wives, husbands or parents that a loved one had died, maybe that was why he was chosen.

The tragedy was on Belgian soil, so they had to take the lead. At least the theory of Officer Janssens that it had been old World War ordinance would be easier to sell than some fanciful story of children and their school teacher being transported back in time to World War one where they would be caught up in some German gas attack and then returned to the present.

This thought track got James looking at the documents in the old envelope again. This time he noticed another photograph in addition to the one of the missing child, apparently lying dead in a German trench.

It was of the old man, also lying dead in the German trench, from what he could make of the photo, he had also been shot.

Another chill went through James, if these documents were for real, something or someone was snatching people out of the present, to place them on a battle field where they would be shot by one side or another.

But that was just plain stupid, nobody would seriously listen to him if he spouted such nonsense.

For a moment James wished that these documents and the old man was just some sick hoax.

“I’m afraid it’s not” came a stern male voice from behind.

James spun round to see the man in the grey suit and grey hair looking at him. Behind him on the staircase was the woman in blue.

“Who are you” James said angrily, “and how did you get in here”

The woman walked up to be beside the man in grey, “Let’s just say we are in a similar line of work to you Detective Inspector Taylor, “We investigate and deal with dangerous situations and stop the bad guys”

“If you are working for another agency” James replied in a sceptical tone, “Then do you have any documentation to verify that, or at least a number I can ring”

“I’m afraid your limited communication devices could never reach those who send us in” the man in grey replied, “as for ID, we never need such trivial things, those we assist don’t usually demand it, and I doubt your superiors would have even heard of us or comprehend us”

“Are you the ones responsible for the deaths of those children?” James demanded
“No” the woman replied.

“Those deaths are just a symptom of something more serious” the man in grey interrupted, “something we have been tracking for a long time”

“Like one hundred years” James caught himself replying

“Yes”, the woman replied, “If you like. The thing we are investigating seems to have openings in this present and back then in what you call World War One. Whatever is doing it has an agenda, we need to find what it is and try and stop it”

“Before it does any more damage” the man in grey interjected.

“I suppose you have come to take these” James said angrily, waving the envelope and the documents

“If we had wanted them we could have taken them very easily” the man in grey said in a menacing tone, “we needed to make sure they did not see the light of day until after that’ school party had been to the battlefield and back to ensure causality was conserved”

“What?” James retorted, “You allowed those children to die”

“If you like, yes” the man in grey replied.
“Believe me, it was one of the hardest things we had to do Detective Inspector Taylor” the woman in blue replied
“Otherwise there would have been a paradox which would have been catastrophic to everyone on this planet.” The man in grey said in a matter of fact manner, “we had to allow this particular circle to complete uninterrupted once we knew about it. I’m afraid we had no choice,”

“There is always a choice” James growled angrily, “You could have allowed them to have.”

“Breathing apparatus so they could survive the gas. Is that what you were about to say?” the woman in blue interrupted, “The only problem with that was that the one survivor from the German lines that day, was the one who gathered those documents in your hand and he saw that they were unprotected. As for the child who got left behind, you saw the photograph, did you see any gas masks or bullet proof vest? In the photograph”

James slowly looked at the old photograph of the dead child. Through the old and grainy photograph, he could just make out he was just wearing the same school uniform as the children who had been taken to the morgue here in Ypres.

James look back up at the mysterious figures.

“Believe us” the man in grey went on, “If we could have stopped that we would have, but we could not risk creating a paradox which would have allowed something more dangerous to break in to this world. I mean your incomprehensible urge to celebrate one hundred years of one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history where ways of killing were developed on an industrial scale and exported all across this planet”

“Commemorate” James interrupted, “Not celebrate, we are commemorating the starting of World War One, and those children, by your own admission, you let die, were only there to learn about what went on”

“Very worthy I’m sure” the man in grey spat back, “Celebrate or commemorate, it does not matter, the collective psyche of you humans obsessing about that conflict has somehow weakened the very structures that keeps time from breaking through.”

“What do you mean by that” James said in confusion

The two figures looked at each other as if they were speaking to one another, but James heard nothing.

“Let me explain this” the woman in blue began, “I remember telling this to a teenager many years ago on one of our other cases.”

The woman thought for a moment, then muttered, “How did I put this” and then perked up, “oh yes” she added.

For a moment James thought he could see the eyes of the woman in blue shine as if they were illuminated.

“There is a corridor,” she began, “and that corridor is time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things, you can’t see it – only sometimes and it’s dangerous. You cannot enter into time, but sometimes time can try to enter the present. Break in. Burst through and take things. Take people. The corridor is very strong; it has to be. But sometimes, in some places, it becomes weakened. Like fabric, worn fabric and when there is pressure put upon fabric… Time comes in…”

“Except in this case” the man in grey added, “It took several people, sent them back in time and then returned them, except for two, the child and the old man who just gave you that envelope”

“You knew even about that?” James asked with incredulity
“So did he” the man in grey replied, “Before he came here today, that man who handed you that envelope put his affairs in order. Like his father before him, he realised the danger of the Grandfather paradox”

“STEEL” the woman in blue interrupted, “Another incursion, it’s created another incursion”
“Where from?” the man in grey asked
“First of April 1916” the woman in blue replied. Then the woman in blue pointed at the television in guest room, “Detective Inspector, put that on, on a news channel”

“I don’t know what the setting are” James replied

“JUST SWITCH IT ON” the woman in blue insisted.

James found the controller near the television set and pointed it at it. The television burst into life, it seemed to be on BBC News 24. It was talking about some domestic political story.

Suddenly the female presenter apologised to the correspondent she was talking to because there was a fast breaking story.

“This is it Steel” the woman in blue told the man in grey.

The female presenter on the news channel started saying that word was coming in of what seems to be a major terrorist bombing outside the north east town of Middlesbrough, but that casualty figures were not yet known, and all they knew was that three bombs had detonated in and around the town.”

“Those weren’t terrorist bombs Steel” the woman in blue told the man in grey, “They were from the German Imperial Navy Zeppelin L11, but that attack was on the first of April 1916.

To be continued – If I can!

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Sticks

Episode Two: Deadly Circle

Spoiler:

Detective Inspector James Taylor did not know what to think, he wanted to write this off as one sick hoax, and that the still missing child would be found, after all the itinerary of the school trip and the boy’s ID card could be aged by artificial means. The coin likewise. As for the photo, that could be the product of Photoshop plus artificial aging. But then, how did he get them?

The elderly man in front of him at the British consulate somehow knew what he was thinking, “May I show you my air ticket that says I arrived here only this morning from Bern” the elderly man told James as he pulled out a used ticket from one of the European budget airlines.

“Just in case you were wondering, I was miles away when that coach arrived at that field a day or so ago” the elderly man went on, “You are the police, you have to ask and be sceptical, I accept that but I had nothing to do with this tragedy”

James narrowed his eyes at the old man, even if this were a hoax what would the old man have to gain?

Fame?

Notoriety?

Attention?

“Let me get this straight” James replied to the old man, “You claim your father, who fought on the German side in World War One, says that during the war, a coach load of children and their teacher were somehow transported from our time to his time for a few moments during a gas attack and one of those children was shot and remained back in the killing fields of Flanders”

“That is what he told us” the old man insisted, “It haunted him for the rest of his life, especially because the child who was shot dead by our side. I know it was war, but it was obvious they were not combatants. The man who shot him was killed the following day by a British bullet if that makes it easier”

“I don’t buy it” James insisted, “If say these children were somehow transported back and then forward in time, except for the boy you say was shot, and your father had these details” At this James waved the itinerary in the air, “Why did he not arrange for this to be prevented, send a warning to the school”

The old man sighed and it seemed that James had struck a nerve, “He so wanted to, but he could not”

“Why?”

“My father was an avid reader of that author of yours, HG Wells” the old man continued, “He managed to get his copy of The Time machine translated in to German in 1898 three years after it’s original publication. From discussions about that book he realised the issues of paradoxes, such as what you call the Grandfather Paradox”

James had heard of this paradox explained as A time traveller goes back in time and kills his grandfather before his grandfather meets his grandmother. As a result, the time traveller is never born. But, if he was never born, then he is unable to travel through time and kill his grandfather, which means the traveller would then be born after all, and so on

It was good for giving one a headache.

The old man continued, “He was also warned not to by the man in the grey suit, along with the woman in the blue dress that you have also seen”

“Nice story” James replied, “but where did you really get these”

The old man shook his head and looked even sadder if that were more possible. “I am telling you the truth, my father had this experience during the Great War.” Then the man looked up at the detective inspector, with tears in his eyes, “That woman in the blue dress was right, nobody will believe me”

James thought he would try another track, especially given his glimpse of those two described individuals at Flanders and here in the town of Ypes, “So do these two people have names?”

“If they did they never said” the old man replied, “When my father passed away and that envelope passed to me they showed up at my door. I recognised them from my father’s description. It was as if they never aged at all. They demanded to know where that envelope was, but I refused to tell them. I thought they might take it by force, but instead they warned me to keep it safe and that there would be serious consequences if tried to tell anyone of its contents or what my father had told me, before today’s date. Yesterday she, the woman in blue showed up and told me it was time before vanishing before my eyes. Mr Police man, she had not aged one day”

A further chill went down James’ spine. Unless those people he had seen at Flanders were in cahoots with this old man, there was something not right about that couple he had seen.

How could they be at World War One, thirty five years previous and a few hours or minutes ago? It was impossible, it was absurd.

James thought for a moment, “If what you say was true, why did the children die so fast? Mustard gas did not kill that fast from what I read”

Again the old man shook his head, “The Kaiser was not satisfied with the mustard gas and had someone experiment with what they call a nerve gas, a forerunner of Sarin, except on its first use there was a change in the wind and it killed more German troops than allied troops. It was during that gas attack the children appeared on the battlefield.”

There was a knock on the door.

James turned away from looking at the old man and went to the door. It was the woman who James had met when he had entered the British Consulate. She was back from carrying his bags up stairs to the guest room. “I’ve put your bags in the room Detective Inspector, I will show you to it now”

“I just need to finish with…” James voice faded away as he turned back to where the old man had been seated.

He was nowhere to be seen, and there was no way he could have left the room. James was still holding the documents that the old man had given him.

“That was quick” the woman replied, “What did he want?”
“He just wanted to hand me some old papers” James answered
“Well I could have taken them if that was all” the woman said with a tone of being put out, “is it something I can deal with?” she added.

James shook his head, “It was just historical stuff, nothing much that would be of interest to the consulate staff” James lied, “I suspect he was from some old folks home nearby and has slipped passed the nurses”

“Do you want me to dispose of them?” the woman replied, “I do apologise, but he did ask for you by name”

James shook his head, “I have an interest in old documents, I will have a look through and then once we’ve sorted out this business with that school party matter we can try and track down which home he came from and return them”

“As you wish Detective Inspector” the woman replied

The woman then led James up the stairs to the room where he was to stay. “I will let you get settled before we arrange dinner. I’m afraid it won’t be much. The diplomatic service is not what it used to be on hospitality since they started applying the Daily Mail test to everything”

“We have the same problem in West Yorkshire” James reciprocated, “Although our chief constable tends to be more worried about the Yorkshire Post”

The woman left and James looked at his cases and at what wardrobe space there was. The expectation was that the following day, some of the parents of the dead children would be arriving, if they were not already. The Belgian policeman, Officer Francoise Janssens, whom James had met at Flanders field had a point, he would be busy talking with the relatives. Not a prospect he relished. He had had his fill of breaking bad news to wives, husbands or parents that a loved one had died, maybe that was why he was chosen.

The tragedy was on Belgian soil, so they had to take the lead. At least the theory of Officer Janssens that it had been old World War ordinance would be easier to sell than some fanciful story of children and their school teacher being transported back in time to World War one where they would be caught up in some German gas attack and then returned to the present.

This thought track got James looking at the documents in the old envelope again. This time he noticed another photograph in addition to the one of the missing child, apparently lying dead in a German trench.

It was of the old man, also lying dead in the German trench, from what he could make of the photo, he had also been shot.

Another chill went through James, if these documents were for real, something or someone was snatching people out of the present, to place them on a battle field where they would be shot by one side or another.

But that was just plain stupid, nobody would seriously listen to him if he spouted such nonsense.

For a moment James wished that these documents and the old man was just some sick hoax.

“I’m afraid it’s not” came a stern male voice from behind.

James spun round to see the man in the grey suit and grey hair looking at him. Behind him on the staircase was the woman in blue.

“Who are you” James said angrily, “and how did you get in here”

The woman walked up to be beside the man in grey, “Let’s just say we are in a similar line of work to you Detective Inspector Taylor, “We investigate and deal with dangerous situations and stop the bad guys”

“If you are working for another agency” James replied in a sceptical tone, “Then do you have any documentation to verify that, or at least a number I can ring”

“I’m afraid your limited communication devices could never reach those who send us in” the man in grey replied, “as for ID, we never need such trivial things, those we assist don’t usually demand it, and I doubt your superiors would have even heard of us or comprehend us”

“Are you the ones responsible for the deaths of those children?” James demanded
“No” the woman replied.

“Those deaths are just a symptom of something more serious” the man in grey interrupted, “something we have been tracking for a long time”

“Like one hundred years” James caught himself replying

“Yes”, the woman replied, “If you like. The thing we are investigating seems to have openings in this present and back then in what you call World War One. Whatever is doing it has an agenda, we need to find what it is and try and stop it”

“Before it does any more damage” the man in grey interjected.

“I suppose you have come to take these” James said angrily, waving the envelope and the documents

“If we had wanted them we could have taken them very easily” the man in grey said in a menacing tone, “we needed to make sure they did not see the light of day until after that’ school party had been to the battlefield and back to ensure causality was conserved”

“What?” James retorted, “You allowed those children to die”

“If you like, yes” the man in grey replied.
“Believe me, it was one of the hardest things we had to do Detective Inspector Taylor” the woman in blue replied
“Otherwise there would have been a paradox which would have been catastrophic to everyone on this planet.” The man in grey said in a matter of fact manner, “we had to allow this particular circle to complete uninterrupted once we knew about it. I’m afraid we had no choice,”

“There is always a choice” James growled angrily, “You could have allowed them to have.”

“Breathing apparatus so they could survive the gas. Is that what you were about to say?” the woman in blue interrupted, “The only problem with that was that the one survivor from the German lines that day, was the one who gathered those documents in your hand and he saw that they were unprotected. As for the child who got left behind, you saw the photograph, did you see any gas masks or bullet proof vest? In the photograph”

James slowly looked at the old photograph of the dead child. Through the old and grainy photograph, he could just make out he was just wearing the same school uniform as the children who had been taken to the morgue here in Ypres.

James look back up at the mysterious figures.

“Believe us” the man in grey went on, “If we could have stopped that we would have, but we could not risk creating a paradox which would have allowed something more dangerous to break in to this world. I mean your incomprehensible urge to celebrate one hundred years of one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history where ways of killing were developed on an industrial scale and exported all across this planet”

“Commemorate” James interrupted, “Not celebrate, we are commemorating the starting of World War One, and those children, by your own admission, you let die, were only there to learn about what went on”

“Very worthy I’m sure” the man in grey spat back, “Celebrate or commemorate, it does not matter, the collective psyche of you humans obsessing about that conflict has somehow weakened the very structures that keeps time from breaking through.”

“What do you mean by that” James said in confusion

The two figures looked at each other as if they were speaking to one another, but James heard nothing.

“Let me explain this” the woman in blue began, “I remember telling this to a teenager many years ago on one of our other cases.”

The woman thought for a moment, then muttered, “How did I put this” and then perked up, “oh yes” she added.

For a moment James thought he could see the eyes of the woman in blue shine as if they were illuminated.

“There is a corridor,” she began, “and that corridor is time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things, you can’t see it – only sometimes and it’s dangerous. You cannot enter into time, but sometimes time can try to enter the present. Break in. Burst through and take things. Take people. The corridor is very strong; it has to be. But sometimes, in some places, it becomes weakened. Like fabric, worn fabric and when there is pressure put upon fabric… Time comes in…”

“Except in this case” the man in grey added, “It took several people, sent them back in time and then returned them, except for two, the child and the old man who just gave you that envelope”

“You knew even about that?” James asked with incredulity
“So did he” the man in grey replied, “Before he came here today, that man who handed you that envelope put his affairs in order. Like his father before him, he realised the danger of the Grandfather paradox”

“STEEL” the woman in blue interrupted, “Another incursion, it’s created another incursion”
“Where from?” the man in grey asked
“First of April 1916” the woman in blue replied. Then the woman in blue pointed at the television in guest room, “Detective Inspector, put that on, on a news channel”

“I don’t know what the setting are” James replied

“JUST SWITCH IT ON” the woman in blue insisted.

James found the controller near the television set and pointed it at it. The television burst into life, it seemed to be on BBC News 24. It was talking about some domestic political story.

Suddenly the female presenter apologised to the correspondent she was talking to because there was a fast breaking story.

“This is it Steel” the woman in blue told the man in grey.

The female presenter on the news channel started saying that word was coming in of what seems to be a major terrorist bombing outside the north east town of Middlesbrough, but that casualty figures were not yet known, and all they knew was that three bombs had detonated in and around the town.”

“Those weren’t terrorist bombs Steel” the woman in blue told the man in grey, “They were from the German Imperial Navy Zeppelin L11, but that attack was on the first of April 1916.

To be continued – If I can!

Brilliant.

[Sticks]

Episode Three: A Convenient Lie

Spoiler:

The man in grey pushed past James and turned off the television. “That’s enough of that” he said with an air of irritation.

The television burst back into life, as it did so, James noticed that the woman in blue’s eyes glowed.

“Sapphire” the man in grey said again in an irritated tone as once again he turned the television off.
“We need to see as much information as we can about this Steel” the woman in blue replied, “We have never dealt with an incursion that had a global reach before, normally they have been confined to one location”

“That’s because this whole planet is engaged in this obsession with that infernal war” the man in grey replied, “I doubt we can learn much from that primitive news report”

“Well it is about one hundred years since that war” James objected, “You can’t expect us all to forget about it as if it never happened, and anyway, those attacks in Middlesbrough, what makes you think they are the result of some German Zeppelin raid during World War one and not some terrorist attack.”

James saw the man in grey glower at him, then the woman in blue spoke up as if she had been in some conversation with the man in grey that James was not privy to.

“I suppose it is a fair question for the Detective inspector to ask” the woman in blue said to the man in grey, “He has no reason to trust us, especially given what he believes we did, or to be more accurate didn’t do.”

“I don’t trust you” James replied, “I see you two lurking round a crime scene. You claim that the ramblings of an old man, that his father in World war one saw the children from our school in South Yorkshire appear and disappear from what was no-man’s land, is true. You claim to be from some agency, but do not say which one nor do you have proof of identity”

James thought for a moment, “You call your selves Steel and Sapphire, are those real names or code names”

“I suppose that is one way of looking at it” the lady in blue replied, “but they are who we are. There are a number of operatives with similar names who could have been assigned”

“Apart from the transuranics” the man in grey interjected.

“We still have a problem here in Ypres” James cut back in, “We will have parents arriving tomorrow wanting answers, what do I tell them, their children when on a field trip back in time to the middle of a war zone and back?”

“Well that will go down well” the man in grey retorted

“Why not stick with the line that Officer Francoise Janssens proposed” the lady in blue suggested, “unexploded gas shell”

“We could easily arrange for someone like Silver to plant something that will give that appearance” said the man in grey.

“You know that’s not his speciality Steel” the lady in blue chided.
“I know, it’s probably Copper’s field of expertise” The man in grey replied

“So you expect me to lie, while you swan off back to England to investigate those bombings in Middlesbrough” James answered back.

For a moment James saw the lady in blue’s eyes again glow blue, “Whoever is doing this is still here Steel, they are still in this region, the bombing in Middlesbrough, it must be something to throw us off the scent”

“Or testing out its ability” the man in grey replied, “get Copper to pay a visit to Middlesbrough and then meet us here”
“He may be busy on another assignment” the lady in blue objected.
“Just do it Sapphire” the man in grey insisted in an irritated tone.

“Hey!” James interrupted, “Still here!”

“You asked us if we expected you to lie” the man in grey said with what seemed like a menacing tone that irritated James, who was after all a serving policeman who in his time had seen a number of criminals try their luck with him.

“Some people can tell” James replied back in an angry tone.
“We have given you an option” the man in grey replied, “We can arrange for Silver, or Copper to plant a device in that field which will look as if those children and their teacher unearthed some ordinance from your first world war. It would make our job easier if that were to be the official explanation”

“How?” James hit back

“It would keep people away from visiting that area” the man in grey replied, “It was their obsession with that area’s blood soaked past that allowed whoever has done this to break into the present. It was this obsession with wanting to see where it happened that could have been the trigger”

James looked at these two mysterious figures, it seemed they were probably from some kind of agency, but it rankled him that they refused to say which one. There was also what the old man had said about them not aging and visiting him and his father through the years, but then could he trust the memory of an old man, who was now suddenly missing, and if the photographs he had been handed were correct, had also been sent back to die in a World War one Trench. It would just be James word, with no corroboration from this old man.

The other annoying issue was that this mysterious couple, going by codenames taken from the periodic table, except for the woman in blue, whose codename was a gem stone, irritatingly had a point. The evidence that James had, that a bunch of children and their teacher had been transported back in time briefly, to be exposed to deadly nerve gas and then returned, was thin and open to scepticism to say the least. Documents could be forged, images changed using photo shop. The man who had given them to him could be written off as someone with dementia, except here was now missing. It would be, as this mysterious couple suggested, easier to tell the grieving parents, that their children had triggered some kind of forgotten chemical weapon from a distant war, which had been brought to the surface by agriculture.

The sweep by the Belgium army of Flanders field for any potentially dangerous ordinance left from World War One would probably last a week or so. Officer Francoise Janssens, the one in charge at the scene and so convinced of the unexploded ordinance theory, would probably take the lead when the grieving parents arrived from England. James was there as a mere courtesy. If these mysterious figures were right about their friend planting evidence to bolster that theory then that would be classed as the official cause of the tragedy.

James was never a fan of “the convenient lie”. He had seen it used back at the West Yorkshire force, when officers had to speak to young children about the death of say a parent, telling them that they had gone to “Heaven” James was not a believer in God and never felt comfortable with people saying that to young children, thankfully, his experience was in breaking bad news to older people, although that was hard enough. The theory of the unexploded ordinance was, given the evidence from the old man, such as it was, and the confirmation by these people calling themselves, Sapphire and Steel, was another such “Convenient lie.”

James would have to play along with the convenient lie because he effectively had nothing, except for one thing. One child did not return.

James need to find where that child was buried, maybe if he could, then any remaining DNA evidence would be compelling to prove what really had happened.

James narrowed his eyes, “So it looks like I don’t have a choice but to play it your way”

“No you don’t” the man in grey replied
“Well, I have to get on” James answered back, “I have to unpack and then go down stairs, ring England to confirm I have arrived and then find somewhere to eat”

“You do that Detective Inspector” the man in grey growled, “just give those grieving relatives an official shoulder to cry on, and let us do our job”

“When you have finished” James asked, “whoever has done this, is there any chance”

“No I’m afraid not” the woman in blue interrupted, “Even if we can shut this down, we cannot allow those responsible to stand trial in a human court, it would be too dangerous”

”Human court?” James observed, it almost sounded as though these mysterious figured were aliens, surely not

“But we will make sure they can never do the same thing again” the man in grey added.

“We will let you get on” the woman in blue told James.

The television burst into life, instinctively James turned to look at it, it was the news report about the Middlesbrough bombings. James turned his head back, but the two strangers were gone.

James had a strange feeling and looked inside the envelope. It was empty!

Those two had been there to get the contents of the envelope after all, they had lied

James did some minimal unpacking and then went down the stairs to find the female consular staff member that had shown him his room.

He found her in a common room, along with others staring at a TV with more news about the Middlesbrough bombings.

It had been three devices with unconfirmed reports that they had fallen from the sky. There was a report of a radar anomaly shortly before the attacks, but experts were saying it was some possible radar glitch. The devastation caused by the explosions would have to have been made by a device, too heavy to be carried by a light aircraft, the only other thing that could have caused the radar glitch.

From James’ knowledge of history, the figure quoted by the expert as to the size of the device, was well within the size limit of a World War One Air ship.

More circumstantial evidence that someone was bringing World War One into the present, but not enough to go public and try and expose where ever agency had sent those two called Sapphire and Steel to take the contents of the envelope.

Could this be the result of some secret government experiment gone horribly wrong – Equally farfetched but was it more so than “Time Breaking in to the present?”

James noticed that there were tears in the consular staff member’s eyes, he should have known from her accent earlier, even though she tried to hide it, that she was from Teesside.

“Sorry to interrupt” James apologised, “But that old gentleman, did you get him to sign in”

The woman nodded and asked James to follow him as they headed back to main reception. There she got from the security guard the signing in book and opened it to the page for that day.

The page was torn out.

Someone was going to great lengths to prevent James from finding out who the old man was

James looked at the page left behind, it was blank, but he could see some indentations.

“Do you have a pencil?” James asked the guard
“I have a pen” the guard replied in a thick North London accent
“That won’t do, I need a pencil” James insisted

The guard looked in his draw, “Sorry guvnor” the guard replied, “All I have is a child’s pencil crayon”

“That will do” James replied and crabbed the pencil crayon, then turning to the female consular staff member if she remembered where on the page the man had signed in.

“Just before you arrived” she replied

James closed his eyes and tried to remember where on the page he had signed in.

It was near the bottom!

James took the pencil crayon and lightly started scribbling where he had signed in, and slowly his signature started to appear as white space not filled in by the pencil crayon and his first and last name that he had had to print, then he scribbled just above and got the feint scribbling of the old man’s signature and printed name. James peered at it and then wrote the name on a small notelet pad the security had on his desk.

There was some cover up going on. This secret agency that the two people calling themselves Sapphire and Steel, were involved, and with this only lead, he was going to get to the bottom of it

To be continued – If I can!