The Accidental Time Travellers

Chapter 12

And again, not for long.

He could hear Jess talking downstairs, and then he could hear her walking up the stairs, accompanied by the voice of Freddie.

At last, he thought, even though it was only ten past nine.

“Morning,” Jack and Freddie said at the same time. “You’re early,” Jack continued.

“Yes, sorry. I couldn’t sleep.”

“That makes three of us,” said Jess. She had sat on the bed, and was brushing the wood shavings into a pile in the middle of the duvet. “I think we all must be excited.”

“Yes, you’re right. Although I’m not sure why, to be honest. It’s not as though we’re going far.”

“No,” said Jack, “but for some reason it just seems to be that much more exciting. Come on, let’s get going.” He didn’t want to wait any longer.

With Freddie and Jess in their usual positions, Jack picked up the mobile phone, and went to the Settings.

“OK. Let’s change it to tomorrow. There. Done.”

“Shouldn’t you change the time as well? Otherwise we won’t know if we’ve moved or not, if all we do is move exactly 24 hours.”

Jack felt a little irritated that he hadn’t thought of that. It was obvious, really.

“I suppose so,” he said, reluctantly. “What do you suggest?”

“Well, how about twenty four hours and twenty minutes.”

“OK, but then all we’ll know is that we’ve travelled twenty minutes. We still won’t know if we’ve changed to a different day.”

Jack was getting even more irritated now. “OK, so what do you suggest?” It’s my time machine. I should be making the decisions.

“I don’t know. It only just occurred to me.”

“Oh, come on you two, stop arguing. Let’s get on with it,” said Jess. “Freddie, have you got your mobile with you?”

“Yes I have. But you can’t use it. My dad would kill me if anything happened to it.”

“No, I don’t want to use it in the machine. Just leave it on the bed, then when we’ve done the time-travel bit, we can check the time and date on your phone. Simple.”

Jack and Freddie looked at each other, and then at Jess. “Brilliant,” said Jack.

“Yes, good idea, Jess,” agreed Freddie. He took his phone out of his pocket and put it on the bedside table. “I’ll just have to remember to leave it there for tomorrow morning.”

“OK, so I’ve set the time to 9.45 tomorrow morning, one day and twenty minutes from now. Ready?”

Freddie and Jess both silently nodded their heads. “OK then. Here goes.” Jack made the final connection, and sat down in his chair. Should he turn the volume up? No, he’d wait for a few seconds to see what happened.

As usual, not much at first, but slowly smoke started to appear from the connections, and all the components throbbed just like before.

“I wonder how long it’s going to take,” said Jess, sounding a little less nervous than she had before.

“Well, let’s hope not too long,” said Jack, “I just realised I forgot to recharge the battery.” Unlike his sister, he was sounding and feeling very nervous now.

“Really?” said Freddie. “When did you last charge it?”

“Umm, I think it was the time before last. I can’t remember.”

“You can’t remember? Here we are, tearing a hole in time, and you tell us while we’re maybe not even halfway through to our destination that we might not have enough power to get there? What about getting back? Will we have to hide for a couple of hours while we wait for it to charge? Of course, we don’t know what your mum will be doing tomorrow, and whether we’ll be able to leave the bedroom. It’ll look pretty odd if you two disappear at nine o’clock in the morning to go to my house, and then all three of us suddenly walk out of your bedroom at ten.”

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry, I checked everything else, I just forgot about the battery.”

“Well, good luck when you get an iPhone, that’s all I can say.”

No one said anything for a minute or two. Jess was the first to speak.

“Jack, is it me or does the throbbing seem to be slowing down?”

“I’m not sure. I hadn’t noticed.” But he did now. She was right, the machine seemed to be slowing down, but not in the usual ‘here we are, we can stop now’ kind of way, it was more like a car running out of petrol, and coasting to a stop.

And stop it did.

Jack looked at the clock by his bed to check the time. 16.15. So they’d managed a few hours, but not the full twenty four. And twenty minutes.

He also noticed that Freddie’s phone was missing.

“We can’t even check what day it is. Your mobile’s gone.”

“Well don’t blame me. I’ve been sat here all this time.”

“By the looks of it we’ve travelled a few hours, but not the full twenty-four.”

“And missed lunch,” said Jess. 

But Jack had more important things than food on his mind. Like what were they going to do now, with a flat battery and the possibility of two versions having to avoid each other, or at least his parents.

But before he could give it too much thought, the bedroom door opened.

“Where the Heck have you lot been?” It was his mother.

And she didn’t seem very happy.