We were all surprised by the variation of stories this month, philosophical, historical, fantasy, science fiction and commentary. Joan E wrote about being lost on a mountain. Joan R on moving to France. Sue a desperate couple try wing walking. Sheila's a holiday romance. Ann's story of missing children in time. Sally's a dog with its pups. Rosemary continued her story about her German life long friend.
But the two winning entries were Brian's historical story on the Templar's and my story on teleportation.
Brian's story first
But the two winning entries were Brian's historical story on the Templar's and my story on teleportation.
Brian's story first
THEY ARE ON THE BRINK.
Philip of France swept his hand carelessly across the table,
sending parchments scattering.
"You heard what the treasurer had to say, the Royal coffers are
all but empty. How do I fight a war, put down these rebellions
when I cannot afford to put an army in the field." He rose and
began to pace, " and yet I must. If I do not take action, my
people will think me feeble".
" My Lord, there is one....
"I must think Monk," Philip thrusting his hands into his hair, " I
cannot tax the clergy." Monk took a step forward, trying to distract Philip's
concentration. " The Jews" Philip snatched a parchment from the floor and
waved it at Monk. "My Grandfather did this when he needed funds."
" What my Lord" He exiled the Jews. Confiscated their money, property, and
drove them out from the kingdom.
" But, my Lord" said Monk. " The plan has merit and will
generate a large income quickly, enough I would wager to
mount a small campaign. The funds would dry up quickly and
we would have to forsake the yearly tribute the Jews pay us.
The Jews are rich, certainly, but they are relatively small group.
How do you obtain enough wealth to sustain the Royal domains
you already secured as well as expand your land in the coming
years?" Monk smiled when Philip shook his head.
"THE TEMPLARS" Philip frowned, but Monk continued swiftly, " The church aside
the Temple is the largest most affluent organisation in
Christendom. The Order owns property throughout Europe,
hundreds of manors and estates; many generate their own
income through farming, they even govern several small towns"
Monk was now pacing, " They own mills and bakehouses, shops
and vineyards. They are moneylenders, given special
dispensation from the Pope to collect interest, as the Jews do, on
those debts. They have a fleet of ships; you can take theirs, as
yours was never completed.
" Monk, murmured Philip.
The minister spoke on not hearing, "no doubt they possess vaults full of treasures and holy relics, which could create
revenue from pilgrims."
"There would be an uproar", said Philip.
"Would there, you know how many people blame the Knights
for the loss of the Holy Lands when we first learned of Acres
fall. My lord the people do not care for crusading any more. They
care that their kingdom is strong and safe from attack." " But the pope is the only power on this earth who has any
authority over them" "We can deal with the dwindling fortunes and Pope Clements in
one swoop, the pope is our man"
Monk continued " I have thought about this long and hard, men are in place, and at your command will move and arrest all the
Templars at the same time"
"Can it be done soon," asks Philip.
"Yes Lord, in three weeks time.
How about Friday, October 13th."
"Good" said Philip, let it be done."
The first of the eighteen ships slid alongside the jetty. Men
grabbed the ropes that were thrown to them and looped them
through iron rings pulling off the slack to steady the vessel.
The gangplanks were set down with a clatter and a host of men
began to disembark, their faces brown and rough with sun and
wind. The white mantles they wore were sodden from the fog
that clung to the river and flowed sluggishly around the mast of
their ship, where a piebald banner hung limp.
Will, one of the Knights went to the ships side as the men in front
of him made their way down. He headed for the planks where
the last of the knights were disembarking. A voice behind him
said The Grand Master wants us to walk with him at the van, I think he might have forgotten how to get to the castle; it has
been 30 years when he was last here.
The voice was of his friend Richard. They had fought together in the Holy Land, and were one of the last Knights Templars to
leave.
The Grand Master Jacques de Molay was a bull of a man, in his
early 50's, with course grey hair that fell in thick waves around
his shoulders. Like all Templars he wore a beard, clipped and
neat. " Speak to the Seneschal and find out where he has planned to
place the groups treasury and the Special objects. Take six
knights and twelve sergeants with you. Then tell the captain to
have the fleet over hauled and provisioned ready to sail to
England on the 12th October" Just then a young boy ran up to Will, placed a piece of
parchment in his hand, and ran off.
For a moment he stared after the boy, then opened the note.
BEWARE OF PHILIP; THEY ARE ON THE BRINK OF
DESTROYING YOU ALL.
It was signed A FRIEND.
My entry
They are on the brink
They are on the brink of succeeding in teleportation according to the initial press release I was reading. I doubted that very much, it is 2009 not 2090, no way can any science lab do that. I was still curious though it would be a good excuse to get away from the office. I work as an assistant editor so I can justify any absence from the Globe a syndicated newspaper known for its well researched reporting. I had worked in the science supplement section for twelve years before promotion to the current position and have always kept an interest in anything new from the science community.
Richardson the section head had come to me that morning asking if we would cover the event and what was my opinion, Did I think it a joke or could it be possible. We both new that quantum physics had proven in an experiment that parts of an atom even when separated by vast distances kept in touch and would be affected like twins are supposed to be aware of each others feelings. I decided that it could not be a hoax as the company had a good reputation and would hardly call a major seminar to demonstrate the more than ground breaking event.
I told Richardson we ought to both cover it as it was so important. He quite liked the idea despite his obvious disbelief. The usual hospitality was exceptional at HiCorp's two acre development centre in Blanding, located in southeastern Utah. It was a week away so during that time I found out as much as I could about the company. It was well respected and with a rich benefactor contributing billions of dollars it unlike many other companies in research did not use government funding and especially not military funding. If it had been military there would have been no public announcements and a total secrecy would have been maintained. The day came I met up with Richardson and we took a press van with recording equipment as this if it worked would be major news and we now like most newspapers had a video presence on the Internet.
The company was out side of the town in what was previously desert I read that when the company was first built the stipulation ws that all of it had to be self efficient with its own power and water. I was looking forward to meeting the CEO of the company apart from seeing the demonstration of teleportation.
We were not far from the destination when we were met with a road block manned by the army. The road only led to the HiCorp so it was obvious that the press call for the teleportation had brought out the military in force. Despite our pleading that we were invited it cut no ice with the four heavily armed but seemingly uninformed state guards who vigorously told using no certain terms that we had no business being there.
Reluctantly I turned around and drove back the way we came. It made no sense, why the blockade? "Stop!" Richardson said suddenly. "We are out of their sight and this is a four wheel drive all purpose vehicle we don't need a road, let's cut across over the desert it is only a couple of miles and they are not likely to cover the whole area with troops. Something big must be happening to bring in the state guard, we can't afford to miss it." It didn't take me long to agree, it was exciting to take part in what could be an historic event so without saying anything I gunned the Suburu out into the arid dust bowl that was the Utah desert. It took only a quarter of an hour to get within sight of the huge complex but all they could see was a circular cup shape at least 200 feet in depth and diameter. "Jesus", Richardson exclaimed. "they've teleported the whole bloody works!" "Whatever happened here" he mutttered his voice betraying the awe and fear we both felt.
I knew instinctively that was one question we would never know the answer to.
THE 'CREATIVE WRITING' SERIAL!
[commenced Monday, 29th June 2009]
She came awake immediately, sitting up abruptly, her heart thumping crazily, her eyes wide and staring as they roved wildly around the room, trying to pierce the dense blackness, her ears straining for any sound. Had she been dreaming? She had no recollection. What had woken her in such a panic? She clutched the sheet under her chin and continued to listen intently.
Gradually, as the seconds ticked slowly by on the illuminated dial of the clock beside her bed, she began to relax. Her heartbeat slowed and she sank back on the pillows, her hands releasing their frantic grip on the sheet. She started to recognise the reassuringly familiar night noises; the rustling of the ivy outside the window in the breeze, the hoot of the resident owl in the old oak opposite her window and the usual creaking of the floor boards in the old house. Eventually her eyelids fluttered downwards as they became heavier and she started to drift off to sleep once more. Then she was wide awake again as she recognised the noise which had so abruptly awoken her before. There it was again. What was it? An alien sound intruding into the familiar, a sound which shouldn't be here in this time and place – and it came from the hall outside her bedroom door.
She lay there biting her lip a habit she had when she was nervous or afraid. She reached for her phone and then realised it was down stairs. She started to remember the stories her grandmother used to tell her about the house, which was about 300 years old.
For the past 200 years, generations of her family had lived here. In that time there had many births and deaths, which had all been recorded in the family diary. However the first 100 years were a mystery there was a legend that a great evil act had taken place but nobody knew exactly what but her grandmother was convinced the house was haunted. She always thought that this was her grandmother's imagination, after all, there was no such thing as ghosts. There was the sound again she knew she had to find the courage to open the bedroom door, she got out of bed and reached for her glasses put on her slippers and dressing gown something she was always told to do by her mother and started towards the door when she stopped, had the door handle moved she could hardly breath she watched, waiting for it to move again, eventually she told herself of course it did not move she took hold of the handle opened the door and stepped out onto the landing.
Before she could put the light on, she felt something brush past her legs. She screamed and froze rigid. Then the hall light went on and her son was coming towards her obviously worried and still half asleep. With the light on she could see that the thing that had brushed her legs was a bird - a big black bird that was still flapping its wings in fright, trying to find a way out. Her son took off his pyjama top and threw it over the bird. Then he opened a window and released it, watching the bird as it flew away, not appearing to be hurt at all. They went downstairs, checking that all the windows were shut. They got to the kitchen and made a welcome cup of tea and talked about what had happened. Once back in bed she made a mental note to find out how the bird had got into the house.
Back once more in bed, she tried in vain to sleep. She twisted and turned and sighed wearily as the grandfather clock in the downstairs hallway struck two o'clock. All in vain she tried to count sheep, but all she could see in her mind's eye was that huge, ugly, black bird and the feel of it against her legs. She thought again about her grandmother's conviction that the house was haunted, and remembered too how her mother who was ALSO superstitious, had said that seeing a big black bird was a bad omen......EVEN a harbinger of DEATH! She shuddered, and as she did so she heard what sounded like the breaking of crockery and a loud screech coming from downstairs. What in the world was happening? After all, there was no chimney in the house, and all the doors and windows were shut and locked, her son has made sure of that. Whatever could it be?
A dream of course. She breathed a sigh of relief from escaping the nightmare brought on by that bloody bird. The light, streaming through the thin curtains from the early morning sun lit the room in a friendly glow and warmth that reassured her of the benevolence of the universe. She felt silly to have even had the dream now, which was like all dreams fast fading away. She thought how could she have dreamt of there being no chimneys, the old house had one in every room. She laughed at the recollection. Her body was wet with sweat and she hastily got up to shower away the lingering feeling of something best forgotten. Throwing off her clothes she admired her splendid well-proportioned body in the full length mirror. "Sue Arrowsmith" she addressed herself " you are a lovely woman and the world loves you too." Sue smiled at her own vanity but firmly believed going through the little routine each morning. that it helped her to face the day Now reaching forty she had kept age at bay by vigorous exercise and good diet and aware that even now she attracted many an admiring look from both men and woman.
Having showered and changed into a tight fitting tunic dress in light pink she made her way downstairs. The postman had already delivered the mail and she picked up the post mostly rubbish with offers of cheaper assurances She then noticed an envelope stamped in the USA, her heart leaped.
