The Temporal Knights (74 page)

General Peebles was above with King Alfred, the Lady Ealhswith, Æthelf
læ
d, and an additional chair was moved from the living quarters for Sir Wulfhere, which was snapped to the floor much like the seats in a minivan. Everyone listened intently through the intercom as Matt and Murphy went verbally through their checklist. Alfred was surprised at first that he could hear the two pilots, but he remembered the magic helmet well and so was not afraid. The entire preflight process took less than five minutes, but to each it seemed an eternity.

“Checks complete,” Matt finally said. “We’re ready for take-off, Sir.”

“Whenever you’re ready, major. The ship is yours,” Peebles replied, knowing that Major Thane would be in complete control of the flight from here on out, since his own flying skills were minimal, and his understanding of the alien ship even less so. He looked over at his companions, his gaze lingering on Lady F
læ
d. He was again struck by her dark shining hair, her clean face, and bright intelligent eyes. F
læ
d looked back at him and smiled, causing a mild tremor to go through his nervous system. He smiled, thinking he was going to have to do something about this woman in the near future.

“I am
vary a’feared,” she admitted easily, still looking at him intensely. She was gripping the arms of the chair so tightly her knuckles were white, and he could see just a bit of perspiration on her lip.

“Tis like going into battle,” Sir Wulfhere agreed, but the King sat silently, feeling that it was not appropriate to speak of his own great fear.

“Oh sister, me heart is pounding also,” Giffu agreed from below, having heard F
læ
d through the ship’s systems. At first Alfred was shocked that his daughters could also converse through the little thing affixed to the wall, but then he realized that if the strangers could do it, so could they.”

“Ye can hear me Giffu?” he asked.

“Yah, father,” the young woman replied, and both the King and Sir Wulfhere shook their heads with wonder and admiration.

“Just relax and enjoy the ride,” Peebles stated, mostly to F
læ
d, but the advice was meant for all of them. He could feel them all tensing up as the ships humming grew a bit louder. The drone of the engines, which was whisper quiet when compared to the noise of jet engines, increased steadily until suddenly they began to rise off the ground. Alfred gasped but both Sir Wulfhere and Ealhswith remained quiet, frozen with fear, eyes round and wide. Below, the Lady Ellyn, who considered herself a seasoned flyer, gave a happy laugh. She was not the slightest bit afraid, her lover was flying and she had complete confidence in him.

“But where will we go?” Ealhswith whispered, never taking her eyes off of the ground. The ship had risen only about three hundred feet straight up, and for the moment remained motionless, hovering in the sky.

“Will we fly over Maiden?” Sir Wulfhere asked, as they suddenly shot forward going faster and faster, the force of the acceleration pushing them back in their seats, though at most they were only pulling three g’s. The General did not answer the Earl’s question since it was now irrelevant; the castle was far behind them.

“All systems functioning normally,” Captain Giles reported calmly through the intercom.

“Copy,” replied another voice the locals did not recognized.

“All systems go,” Thane added.

“In a way we will be going over Maiden and Wessex and all of England,” Peebles finally answered with a smile, hoping his timing was right. “I thought I’d take you to the moon.”

“Wot!” King Alfred spouted, his mouth falling open. Sir Wulfhere, the Queen and F
læ
d just stared at him, wondering if he was jesting.

“Activating main engines,” Matt’s voice said and a second later another burst of acceleration hit them and they raced very fast over the coast and then out over the sea. Faster and faster they went until Matt pulled up and they streaked straight up into the heavens. 

“Whhhaaaaaaaa,” the locals all yelled together, and truth be told the General felt like joining them, but didn’t. No one said a word, all eyes were glued to the forward window as the powerful thrust of the engines pushed them back into their seats. Of the locals only the Lady Ellyn was unafraid, her eyes watering from the sheer joy of speed. Within moments they were in and through the clouds, out into the bright blue sky above. They all gasped as the sun hit them and then the sky turned a darker blue, then darker still, until it was blue-black, finally, in the middle of the day, the sky turned black and the stars came out, thousands upon thousands of them, and then it was night. They were still accelerating but the pressure they felt became less and less, until finally it felt as if they were floating about in their chairs.

“Lord God, Lord God,” the Queen chanted softly over and over. Peebles looked over at Ealhswith, who seemed to be in a state of shock and he briefly wondered if this experience would be too much for them, but then he glanced at F
læ
d. She was breathing very fast, but smiling with obvious joy. King Alfred was quiet, expressionless, and was spending most of his energy trying to keep down his lunch, as he seemed to weigh no more than a babe.

“We’re moving beyond the power of the Earth to hold us down...” the General explained. “It’s a force called gravity, discovered by a brilliant Englishman actually,” he added, but no one was truly listening.

Suddenly the engines fell silent, or nearly so.

“We’ve reached Earth orbit,” Matt announced. “We will make three full revolutions while I confirm the coordinates, so you’ll have a bit of time to float around if you like.” As he said this he turned the ship in a carefully controlled spin so that suddenly the Earth filled the windows in front of them.

Everyone gasped at the beauty of the scene, even General Peebles, who’d only been in orbit once, having made a short visit to the ISS, or International Space Station, some years ago. His space experience was limited, but he knew both Matt and Murphy had spent considerable time on the ISS.

Slowly, carefully, he unbuckled his harness strap, and smiled at his guests who all showed varying signs of fear and queasiness.

“Your stomach will adapt quickly,” he explained, remembering his first experience with weightlessness. Once their body got over the shock, he knew they’d be able to ignore their inner ear and truly enjoy freefall.

“Come,” he told them all, and with a gentle push, began to float up and over the Lady Ealhswith, who was staring up at him as if he were some sort of god. But he did not wait for her consent, rather he tapped the ceiling lightly and floated down until he could get a hold of her chair. He carefully unbuckled her restraints, showing absolutely no modesty, though several of the buckles were close to personal places. “Major Thane will activate the artificial gravity for our flight, so we probably have less than an hour to enjoy this.”

“Ye fly,” Alfred exclaimed with wonder, for once forgetting the sick feeling in his stomach and then the Queen was free and moved easily upwards with hardly a push. Higher and higher she went and did not stop until she hit the ceiling. She pushed off again, much too hard and shot back down into the General who grabbed her, but her momentum carried them both down to the floor. Peebles released her and then moved to the King and quickly released him from his constraints.

“Move everything very slowly,” he instructed Alfred. “Push up gently, it doesn’t take much force to move about now.” Alfred did as he was told and laughed joyfully as he rose to the ceiling. Peebles then freed Wulfhere and then finally moved to the Lady F
læ
d.

She smiled at him as he slowly approached but did not try to unfasten her own restraints; instead she patiently waited for him to drift nearer. Peebles floated down but when he grabbed the armrest of the chair his momentum carried him closer to her than he gauged, his face stopped just inches from her own. He tried to concentrate on the buckles but found he couldn’t think being so close to her. He quickly glanced up and found her eyes boring into his, only inches away. They both froze for a long moment before Peebles quickly retreated, he moved too fast however, and his hand slipped. He lost contact with the armrest and slowly floated upwards. He
must have looked surprised because F
læ
d giggled and reached for him, but he was already too far away. On instinct she stuck out her right foot, her skirt fell slightly and he clutched her bare ankle. She felt nice, soft and warm.

He smiled at the touch and glanced up at her, worried he’d offended her, but to his surprise she did not seem flustered in the least.

“Come and release me,” F
læ
d demanded happily and Peebles pulled himself forward with her leg. Again he came too fast and they actually bumped heads lightly before he righted himself.

“Ye didna h’ve this trouble with thee others,” she complained teasingly.

“No…noI didn’t,” the General replied. “You distract me,” he admitted and F
læ
d flushed happily, feeling like a young girl. In less than a minute he had her lose. She sprang out of her chair too fast and careened into him laughing. They tumbled end over end until they finally struck the ceiling lightly. For a brief instant Peebles felt his body pressed against hers but then he rebounded off and floated toward the floor, leaving her motionless near the ceiling.

Alfred and Ealhswith were laughing and playing, flying about the cabin and weren’t paying the slightest attention to their daughter. Sir Wulfhere was doing flips and spins near the large front window. F
læ
d pushed off from the ceiling, this time softly, but to her surprise it was still too hard and she swooped down to the Genaral. He caught her but her momentum started them spinning around as if they were dancing. He held her close until they bumped into one of the chairs and then he steadied them both. They continued to hold each other, faces close, both smiling, and then she jumped ever so lightly.

“Easy...easy,” he said softly as they spun and floated up and hit the ceiling once again. This time her back hit flat against it with his body directly below hers. He grabbed two of the hand holds put there for freefall and effectively pinned her against the ceiling.

“Your muscles don’t have to fight the force of the Earth anymore. The smallest movement will send you across the room,” he said his face and body pressing lightly against her own. She smiled and nodded, then suddenly became aware of their very close proximity and blushed.

“Relax your muscles,” he said again and turned her slowly around so that they were right side up again. “Relax,” he repeated, and she blinked and he felt her arms go limp.

“Don’t move,” he added and gave her just the slightest push, and like a soft breeze they began to float away from one another, F
læ
d giggling and laughing like a young girl. Peebles looked down and saw that King Alfred had figured out what the handles on the ceiling, walls and floor were for and he was pulling himself along effortlessly, his Queen was hanging on to his shoulders and laughing joyfully. They floated into the far room just as Captain Giles and Giffu drifted up the tube stairway. F
læ
d smiled, hit a side wall and pushed off very gently in the direction of her sister. The two women laughed happily as they closed on one another hugging and spinning. Both Peebles and Murphy were struck by how similar the two women looked. They were obviously sisters, same black hair; same dark prominent eyebrows over brown sparkling eyes; same sharp nose and wide mouth. Either man would have been hard pressed to declare which one was lovelier. The General took a moment to find his own equilibrium, did a quick somersault that made F
læ
d laugh again and then pushed himself toward Murphy.

But the Captain was a true zero gravity virtuosos and was soon bouncing and spinning off the walls with an uncommon grace. He moved about effortlessly, in complete control in an uncontrolled environment. The women watched his antics with wonder and hooted with appreciation at some of his more impressive tricks. Sir Wulfhere guffawed and tried to imitate some of the easier moves and was soon careening around the room utterly out of control. The
girl’s applause and peals of laughter soon attracted the King and Queen and they floated in together serenely.

Alfred, still utilizing the handholds stopped so quickly that his wife nearly flew on by but she grabbed at his waist and finally caught hold of his hair before she finally halted her momentum.

“Ow woman!” Alfred bellowed but then began to laugh with the others. They floated and played, twirled and flipped and the hour was over far too fast for any of them.

“Artificial gravity will activate in two minutes,” Matt announced over the loudspeakers. He did not join the others in freefall. He was not yet so comfortable with the ship to leave it unsupervised, and the Lady Ellyn was content to remain with him.

“Prepare yourselves,” Murphy said and showed them how to use the handholds on ceiling to right themselves, and get their feet pointing to the floor. The effects of the gravitational field were light at first, but gradually grew stronger, pulling them gently to the floor. It reached its peak at six-tenths that of Earth’s, comfortable enough to move around in, but they all had to walk with care so as not to leap from the floor and bang their heads against the low ceiling. The group experimented with the light gravity for several moments. The General tried to impress everyone by lifting Sir Wulfhere off the ground with one hand, but it paled next to the miraculous feat of flying.