The Timefull Cruise

"I will not sacrifice my friends for my career! We are following this plan. I order you to help."

The First Mate let out a big sigh and then stood straight. "Yes, Captain."

"Wait a minute, Captain," interrupted Penny, "I wonder if there is anything else we haven't considered? Miss, do you have any other concerns about the practicality of our plan?"

The First Mate's brown eyes moved briefly over each of us. "I take it none of you has done any deep sea diving before?"

We looked at each other and shook our heads.

"Well, the sea bottom is quite far below us and the pressure is immense. Plus we are still over the continental slope. First, I don't think the plastic is going to protect the machine. The pressures will tear the plastic coating as the air inside the machine is compressed. I imagine those digital readouts will pop out of place or shatter. Sea water will get in and your 'time machine' will break down. Second, there are always undersea landslides going on and your machine is likely to be buried or damaged by one eventually. I have no idea how long it would last under those circumstances. I can't even consider the various undersea currents and where the machine might actually land. It could be carried out to a much more dangerous locale and promptly destroyed."

"So that leaves the 'bomb' plan as the only viable plan," I suggested. "We set the timer for just a little over thirteen hours and..."

The First Mate shifted from foot to foot nervously.

"Go ahead, miss," I said.

"Well, I don't think that is likely to work either. While a ship might be here in that short time, the Navy could fly a squad out in a helicopter much faster. They could examine the device, figure out it's not a bomb and then confiscate it. The inventor would probably be brought in as an expert and would therefore have access to it."

"We'll just have to convince them that it is a bomb, then," said the Captain. "Or Gerry and Penny use it to travel back to the beginning of the cruise and we're back to square one."

"No. One way or another I'm not using that device to travel back in time again. The thing is turning me into someone I really don't want to be. Gerry, too." I nodded in agreement. "So let's set it for four hours from now. You two contact the authorities and alert them to the fact that a bomb has been discovered. If the Navy doesn't get someone here in time then we take photographs of the device and toss it overboard and hope that Wally is charged. If the Navy does get here in time, then we hope that the commanding officer understands the dangers and is willing to lose a potentially invaluable scientific device."

"Uhm, we could use the device to travel back in time one more time, Penny. We contact the authorities and see how long it takes for them to get here. Then the four of us go back in time and then set the timer for an adequate amount of time so the Navy arrives just before it has to go over the side." I didn't think Penny would go for the plan, but I had to suggest it.

"No, I'm not going back in time with that device again," she said with unsurprising stubbornness.

XXV

Three and a half hours later a Navy helicopter showed up, just as we had managed to get the crate out of the hold and onto a deck. We made sure we treated the thing very gingerly so everyone watching would believe that we thought it was a bomb. The other passengers reacted in a number of ways. Some offered to help us. Some wanted to get in the lifeboats and abandon ship. Some just wanted to watch the goings on and ask questions instead of letting us work.

Five sailors and an officer were lowered from the helicopter before it took station high above the cruise ship. They greeted us and the officer was quite angry that we had moved the device.

"It could have blown up! You were ordered to wait for our arrival, Captain."

"This is my ship and I have to do what I have to do to protect everyone on it. One day when you have command of a ship, Lieutenant, you will understand that." The Captain's tone was icy and the Navy officer and sailors seemed to be standing a little straighter by the time Anson finished speaking. The First Mate was almost smiling.

"I apologize sir for suggesting you were derelict in your duties. Johnson! Flynn! Examine the device quickly. Bailey! Get our technical expert on the line."

My heart fell at that last command; their technical expert was very likely the man who had built this device, Wally Park. Penny did not look happy.

"Sirs and ladies, our technical expert claims the device is not a bomb, but is actually a highly technical piece of advanced scientific equipment that is of untold value to our nation. He has impressive credentials and I am inclined to believe him."

The sailors finished their work and reported back to their officer. "Sir, if it's a bomb then it is the strangest bomb I've ever seen. Its timer is counting down and will finish in about twenty minutes, though. If it is a bomb, then we don't want to wait until the last second before we heave it over the side and I don't think I could defuse it within twenty minutes."

"Sir, our TE states it is definitely not a bomb, that he built it and he can tell us how to stop the timer in a few minutes." Bailey waited for his officer's response.

"Very well..."

"Wait!" Penny interrupted. "Your technical expert is Wallace Park, Ph.D., correct? The man who built the device? I was his lab assistant until very recently and also his girlfriend. I know he had quite a bit of highly radioactive material in the lab and he is very angry with me. I think he wants to kill me and I think he's willing to kill everyone on this ship, as well."

"If that's so, then he'll go to jail for a very long time. I think he's smarter than that, ma'am."

"Sir, the TE recognized the woman's voice. He states it is his girlfriend, but she may be a little mixed up right now. Apparently they had an argument over their engagement."

The Lieutenant raised his eyebrow at Penny. She looked at the Captain, First Mate and I helplessly.

"Lieutenant, I'm Penny's husband," I announced in a loud voice. I watched with a grin as the sailor who had been relaying messages from the TE suddenly swore and pulled his earpiece out. "I'm guessing that Wallace Park doesn't sound so stable now, does he?"

"Sailor?" asked the lieutenant.

The sailor slowly put the earpiece back in. "The TE claims the man is lying and that Penny will only marry him, or something to that effect. Sir, the Navy men with him are trying to calm him down, but are not having much luck."

"Keep working on it, sailor." The lieutenant turned to me. "I fail to see why the lady's marital status has any importance concerning this device."

"Ask your TE what the device is," I asked, prompting a curious look from Penny.

The lieutenant turned to the communications expert and nodded. There was an exchange and some pleading on the sailor's part reminding Wally that there wasn't much time. "Sir, he says the device is a time machine."

The lieutenant rolled his eyes.

"Now ask your TE why he put a time machine, loaded with radioactive materials, on a cruise ship with his ex-girlfriend and failed to tell her about it," I suggested.

The lieutenant took the earpiece and microphone from the sailor and asked the question himself. He waited for a few seconds and then shouted. "Stop him! Stop him!" He listened for a few more seconds and then handed the communications device back to the sailor.

"Let's get this thing over the side and quickly."

It took several minutes of pushing and shoving, along with the help of the small crane, but eventually the device fell into the greenish waves and disappeared from our view. The Captain sent orders to the bridge to get the cruise ship out of the area in case the explosion happened before the bomb reached deep waters.

Penny and I went over to the lieutenant. "So, what made you finally believe us?" I asked him.

"He said the device was on the ship because he was 'going to fix Penny'. Then, apparently when he realized what he had said to me was incriminating, he pulled out a remote control of some type. The Navy men wrestled it from him before he could send a signal out to the device."

One of the sailors had overheard the lieutenant's explanation. "Whew! That was too close."

"We will need statements from each of the people involved in this, especially you miss." I waved a finger at the Lieutenant. "Sorry, ma'am."

I put my arm around Penny. "That can wait until later, son. Penny and I are on our honeymoon. Besides we're not leaving the ship." We went back to our cabin to celebrate.

For those who are interested, Penny's timeline is V, VI to start of VII, later part of X, early X, VIII to IX, III, XI, then coincident with Gerry.