Edwin stood atop one of the mountains of Greenland.  He curiously watched as if he was waiting for something to happen. Then suddenly, he heard a noise and when he looked above, there was a helicopter and a gunman inside who aimed in the direction of Edwin.

Edwin gasped, and the gunman started shooting bullets in his direction.

Edwin ducked thinking he would be shot and then heard a scream from below. As Edwin looked down, he saw a man who laid unconscious on a ship.

Then, more people came out of the ship, sailors and scientists.

The gunman started shooting them ruthlessly. He did not see Edwin who lay flat on the top of a cliff and watched the scene aghast. The situation was getting worse.

The ship full of researchers had no ammunition to face the gunman. Then Edwin pondered for a moment and took out a gun from his freezing pocket. He looked carefully at the gunman. He had only one bullet left.

‘I am not going to miss my shot,’ said Edwin to himself as he pulled the trigger.

Next morning the report came in a leading British newspaper:

‘Attempts to assassinate researchers foiled:

Unknown pilot and gunman tried to assassinate all members of the crew of a research ship heading for an expedition in Greenland, but in the end a few injured members were taken to the hospital and there was no death on board. The government is on a lookout for the terrorist gang that carried out this operation. The credit goes to the captain and his crew who bravely faced the danger and shot the chopper down.

Reporter: Edwin Penn.’

Greenland                                                                                                          

Edwin was now in London. He had come back by evening to get the report published.

He was sitting in his office when his editor called him to his cabin.

‘Sir, you wanted me?’ inquired Edwin.

‘Yes. Have a cup of coffee,’ said the editor.

‘Thank you, sir,’ Edwin replied.

‘May I ask who gave you the permission to go to Greenland and cover an unexpected incident?!’ the editor exploded.

‘Well, sir, I went at my own expense, and it was urgent. My observations told me that as a ship full of researchers was going on an expedition, it would not be without risk. And a lot of ammunition was exported to Greenland from the terrorists who worked as labourers in the Manchester ammunition factory.’ 

 ‘You know your job well Edwin but not how to do it properly. We could have sent a message to their government, and they could have sent their forces.’

 ‘There was no time’ Edwin emphasized.

‘And how could you take such a risk and shoot down the chopper? Why were you carrying a gun while being a reporter? It’s illegal. You could have been killed, and we would have been questioned.’

Edwin was surprised and chose his words carefully.

‘I knew this kind of thing might happen, so I had a gun’, and then he raised an eyebrow ‘But how did you know that?’ he asked, ‘None of the crew members knew what happened.’

 ‘So, it is true and even that mention of the captain’s bravery was false. He did not even come out on the deck.’

Edwin threw a suspicious glance towards his boss. How did he know so much, when he alone knew what happened?

 ‘I admire your bravery Edwin, but you are a reporter, not a secret service agent,’ his editor continued in a soft manner ‘, because the next time you pull such a stunt, I’ll have you arrested. Now go,’ he completed.

Edwin pushed the glass door of his building as it glowed under the sunshine and came out, more astonished than angry. Was there a sixth sense which his editor hid?

Edwin stood there, on the pedestrian pathway, deep in thought when he suddenly felt a heavy weight object dropped in his pocket and he looked to his left and right.

The person had certainly gone, the one who had dropped this object in his pocket.

Suddenly, Edwin felt a force, as if he was being attracted by something. And in a moment, he was sliding on the ground at top speed without any rope or string to pull him!

He felt as if he was skating without skates and people were shocked to see him moving in thin air. Yes, and every next second, he started flying higher in the air and he shut his eyes. As he looked down, he could see the whole of London- jubilant and noisy and many tall and small buildings.

He thought it was a dream, until he saw an aircraft ahead. Edwin tried to force his body to go lower, however instead of flying, his body started falling to the ground. He closed his eyes, fearing the inevitable. He thought he would spiral to his death.

However, he felt as if he was supported by some invisible parachute.

 He couldn’t see anything, but he certainly felt something supporting his descent. As soon as he saw buildings, the invisible support vanished, and he started falling again. He landed on a parapet and tried to grab hold of something. He couldn’t and fell to the ground.

He gave several cries of pain, but the people outside the shopping mall did not pay any heed to this guy from the sky. Edwin checked his pocket and saw the object.

It was a kind of compass.

He took it in his hand and threw it in mid-air and painfully stood on his feet, when at that very instant, the compass broke the window of a mall, came into Edwin’s grip and pulled him again. Now it was flying much faster than ever, making noises, as Edwin was gushing through the clouds. When he came out, he saw a dark castle built on a rocky cliff and was now directed towards its window. He closed his eyes, praying for dear life and with a tremendous pressure, was thrown forward and crashed into it. He was now quite weak and saw candles in a passage, with no paintings on the walls, and the compass flew into the darkness.

Then a hand touched Edwin and he felt as if every part of his body was being healed. His injuries began to vanish and as he looked up, he saw an old graceful man smile at him and help him stand on his feet.

He took Edwin through the passage and stood in front of a door. ‘REVERT’ he shouted, and the door opened and the dark corridor behind it lit up.  They passed through the corridor and went into a room. It was warm, without fire and Edwin lay on a couch as the old man sat in front of him.

‘How do you feel now?’ asked the old man.

‘Much better’ replied Edwin, ‘What was that stuff that pulled me along?’ he questioned.

‘That is my most prized possession,’ the old man grinned, ‘It looks like an ordinary compass to deceive an unknown person but actually it is a super magnet which attaches itself with an identity and is attracted towards the metal plates inside the castle, thus it pulls the identity with it, though I agree it is an inconvenient way of bringing the desired person here, but it is the only way.’

‘Why so?’ asked Edwin.

‘That is because where you are, there is no time, there is no past, no present, and no future.  This castle is the portal of time and I am its timekeeper.’

Lightning could be heard and seen in the sky. Edwin was stunned for a moment.

‘I don’t believe what you say’ commented Edwin.

 ‘Well, that is certainly true, nobody does believe it, but whatever I say is for real. The super magnet moves faster than the speed of light at the end of its journey and thus one can enter the time portal. If time shall cease, everything that can shall freeze Edwin.

Here in this castle, in this time portal also you and me would have crumbled to death but we cannot as we are protected by forces which transfer us into an intermediate phase.’

‘But in that way, we are in an intermediate phase aren’t we, no past, no present no future?’ Edwin asked sarcastically.

‘No. We are where time has stopped Edwin. The Intermediate phase makes the time portal transfer people. The time portal cannot do it alone.’

Edwin surely did not understand a word of this person’s last sentence.  

‘This is all rubbish. You’re just making it all up. Time portal I ask you,’ he ended dismissively.

They both looked at each other for a moment. Surely Edwin was not convinced that whatever the timekeeper said was true.

‘I would like to ask, did you feel strange today when you spoke to your editor?’ said the timekeeper.

‘I certainly did. He seemed to know many things which only I knew.’

‘And so, did I’ the timekeeper said, ‘as whenever it pleases me, I can go in search of some event, so I travelled and reached Greenland and hid from you. I saw it all.’

Edwin was shocked.

‘Did you not wonder, Edwin what your boss was doing at his office in London when he had a conference in New York, U.S. the very same day you came back to London?’

Edwin realized that this was true. What was he doing in London?

‘If you might remember he was in London three days ago, when he was about to catch his flight. Today after watching you, I travelled back in time and met him at the airport. I told him to stay in London and to wait for you. He was suspicious of course at my knowledge, but he obeyed me. He knew what you were going to do even before it happened. As if he knew the future.’   

Edwin was amazed. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

‘You might think why I did this. I did this to see how you would react, and you realise that someone else knows your secrets. I hope by now, you would believe me.’

‘Why do you want me?’

‘I have an offer for you, Edwin and a very good one. I have found out that you are a reporter, who predict the future, and cover any incident merely on your observation. But I would like to know your potential and how many dangers you can face. Therefore, I want you to travel through five different stages of time and cover stories at each stage of time.

Your stories which you write, the incidents you find out, shall not affect the present, as when your work is over, they shall all be erased.

You have 14 hours for every incident. If you do not write every detail of your story, then your story shall start evaporating and you will have to write it all over again. If you do not cover the incident in 14 hours you shall never come back to the present.’

He handed Edwin a button, ‘Press this button and the portal shall open in form of a ring and not appear as this castle. Once it opens you will not be here in this castle but will directly land in the next stage.’

Edwin held the button and pondered over for a moment. Is it worth the risk?

‘Yes, it really is’ said the gatekeeper. Edwin looked at him for a moment. Then out of the blue, a golden ring appeared.

‘Please go’, the gatekeeper requested. And so, Edwin went inside the ring.

There was firing all around. It was the Second World War. Germany had been advancing towards Russia. And he was in Russia. There was snow all around and his spine could feel the cold. Edwin had no such clothes, which could help him face such bleak weather. He saw a jacket near his foot. He casually grasped it and wore it.

And he looked up to see the situation, and it was bad. A fighter plane was coming right towards Edwin and started shooting at him, and Edwin ran. He saw a city at a distance. He ran with full speed and the plane chased him. He saw a few huts and jumped on one of the roofs and ran. The plane had already used half of its ammunition and found out it was futile to use more.

Edwin was happy, he now slowed down a bit, thinking it was over, when the fighter plane started dropping bombs. Edwin jumped on another roof, and it broke and he crashed right into a hut and fell into a bunker. The fighter plane dropped its last bomb and blew the hut. Luckily Edwin was inside the bunker and after the plane flew away, he came out.    

‘A bunker under a hut, neat!’ he smiled and started walking.

After two hours of walking, he reached the city. It was in ruins. He had already spent 5 hours and had 9 more hours left. Where could have an incident occurred? He looked around, there was damage everywhere, with most buildings in ruins. Suddenly an aircraft dropped a bomb on a school, and it exploded.

A man picked up the rubbles. He started throwing them away and pulled out a kid. There were more coming out. This was the incident. Edwin started writing about it, each data, place, time, year as the man continuously with effort took the children out of their former school.

Then a tank was accelerating towards them, and it was about to fire, when it suddenly blew up. There was a grenade below it.

‘After him’ shouted a few soldiers and chased Edwin.

He ran as fast as he could and glanced to his right. He saw a post box there, and jumped on it, and put the report in it. He now pressed the button in his pocket and a time portal opened. Edwin looked back as the soldiers were chasing him and went right through the portal.

Edwin was falling in the sky, and he had never conceived that he would reach the second stage in this way. He looked down and saw a jungle, pulled out his jacket and tried to use it as a parachute, but to his surprise it started to tatter and wither away by itself. Edwin fell on one of the branches of a tree. As he tried to untangle himself, he saw a group of soldiers carrying slaves. These slaves were strong physically but weak in spirit. Edwin felt pity on them.

‘Go on, move!’ shouted a soldier to his slave who looked back at him, when another soldier stopped.

‘I think I can hear sounds’ he said in a low voice and looked back and so did Edwin.

A group of elephants were charging towards the people with great momentum. An elephant trampled a few soldiers who came in the path and was hungry for more. Edwin in the next instant lost his grip and fell on the back of an elephant which had a basket.

The other elephants wrapped their trunks around the slaves and put them in their baskets.

The elephants with their bulk ran at top speed and had left the soldiers way behind as the slaves somehow tried to cling onto their baskets. Edwin saw in front of them a whole area occupied by the soldiers, high huts as tall as a coconut tree but the elephants did not stop and broke a few and edged their way through, leading to a few people hanging on the trees.

As the elephants were running, a few chimpanzees emerged from the treetops and were hanging upside down. They clinched the elephant riders and Edwin and pulled them on their backs. It was amazing, with the speed it all happened. The chimpanzees jumped from branch to branch, and then all sat on another treetop which spread over a vast area. The whole group of men were amazed at what they saw.

Many monkeys were busy building a wooden plane and that too a huge one. A small monkey with a screwdriver fixed the motor engine as the others checked the wings. They were going to rescue the slaves. The big monkey gave the signal, and the chimpanzees took the people into the aircraft.

Edwin who was awestruck at all the events taking place saw all the necessities of an aircraft inside it. All the chimpanzees leaped away, and a huge one came into the scene.

Edwin could see no runway for the wooden aircraft, but the chimpanzee pushed the aircraft alone which stood on a huge wooden plank supported by several tree branches.

The chimpanzee then inserted the key and the plane started rolling on the plank and finally flew in the air.

When the aircraft had crossed some distance, the chimpanzee saw gunmen shooting at them. He took a huge bucket, inserted a few rotten fruits and gave it to another chimpanzee, an older one, which came from the back and took it.

The older chimpanzee started shooting the rotten fruits and the gunmen were having a fruity attack. Edwin had written the report with the heading

‘Animals save slaves from slavers,’ and he then pressed the button. To his surprise the time portal opened on the bottom of the aircraft, but he simply dived into it.

Edwin was now standing amongst a large crowd. There were thousands of people listening very carefully to someone’s speech. When he parted through the crowd, he could see the one and only, Albert Einstein. Edwin just could not believe his eyes. The great scientist stood in front of him in full motion in the most elegant way. He was talking about his invention.

He asked everybody, ‘Does anyone have any doubt or query?’

Then someone grasped Edwin’s hand and held it up. ‘What are you doing?’ Edwin asked angrily to the person.

‘Yes, young lad what do you have to ask?’ Einstein asked Edwin.

‘Well, I….’he hesitated and as he tried to find apt words, a weird helicopter cum Jet plane named Helicopjet suddenly broke the auditorium wall and came inside hovering above the ground.

‘I want your secret formula doctor’ yelled the pilot to Dr. Einstein.

‘Good gracious, who are you?’ cried Dr. Einstein terrified.

But the pilot did not wait and gripped his hand and put him in his Helicopjet. Then he started its engine and zoomed away. The crowd was amazed.

‘I must do something’ thought Edwin and ran out of the building and looked sideways.

A man came up with a black sedan and said, ‘Hop, in’ and Edwin sat inside. The Sedan rolled at top speed and after a few seconds the Helicopjet was in range.

Then the man pressed a button, and two guns came out in the front. They started shooting at it. The pilot then cunningly accelerated the Helicopjet in the reverse direction and was flying behind the car. The pilot then released two missiles and both the man and Edwin jumped outside the car, which exploded.

After some time, the Helicopjet was gone. Edwin was hurt and the stranger helped him get on his feet. Then they both slowly walked towards a tall building and the stranger opened the door of the ground floor. They entered a room. Edwin sat on the chair and so did the stranger.

‘Thanks. Who are you?’ Edwin wondered.

‘I am John from the future’ said the stranger and he shook hands with Edwin.

‘Why are you here?’ Edwin asked curiously.

‘The same reason as you are’ replied John.

After looking at Edwin’s puzzled reaction, John explained.

‘I have been sent by the gatekeeper of time portal though I am no journalist neither do I have to cover incidents. This pilot we saw is a mad cap scientist who like me comes from the future, which means we both come way ahead from the time you are living in.

But the time portal is only one which can be accessed by any individual in any period.

However, I had to reach the first portal, unlike you, by an ultrasonic jet, without a compass. That is because this scientist had already escaped into the past where we are right now to obtain an undiscovered formula, which if misused could destroy the world, which is exactly what the scientist wants to do in the future in my time.

However, I must prevent this from happening and the formula must remain undiscovered for all generations. What we must do, is to just send back this scientist to my time and bring back Dr. Einstein to his podium, though we need to find out his hideout first.’

‘In this city he must have arrived just a short while ago, thus he must have occupied an isolated area nearest from here,’ said Edwin.

John was deep in thought and answered.

‘But the city is too large, we do not have time to ask the locals about an isolated place.’

Edwin said, ‘We need to know the speed of the Helicopjet and the time it must have taken to reach its destination.’

John pressed on the side of his head with his finger, probably a chip, and found out.

‘This Helicopjet travels at this speed’ he showed it to Edwin ‘and how shall I find time?’ he asked.

Edwin replied, ‘Find out how much time does it take to empty its fuel.’

‘Why?’

‘That is because at its top speed it would have emptied its fuel gauge by now.’

John showed the time and the distance was calculated.

Edwin said ‘He could be anywhere in this range. Let’s go.’

John pressed his watch and another sedan rolled up and stood outside. They both sat inside and headed for an isolated area in the given distance. After some time, they saw a pond as they were passing by.

‘This does not seem to have any plant or weeds’ Edwin contemplated as he came near it.

‘It is so clean and that is not possible unless,’ he paused and touched the surface.

‘It is not water; it seems like some transparent metal. This must be it’, and he started searching for an entrance as John looked on.

‘Help me John’, Edwin requested and John moved his hands around the surface.

He accidentally pushed a plate and the surface parted. A large hall was visible. Both John and Edwin carefully looked from the top and saw no stairs, so they jumped down from the roof and fell on the hard-cemented floor.

‘I thought it was a soft landing with no stairs’ said Edwin as his back ached.

‘Need not be, after all, it is a landing for my Helicopjet’ said a voice in the dark, and the destructive scientist from the future came up to them.

‘Where is Dr. Einstein?’ asked John emphatically.

‘Do not raise your voice!’ the scientist furiously shouted.

‘Here he is’ he said and switched on the lights of the rest of the hall, as Dr. Einstein was roped to a chair.

‘What is happening?’ said Dr. Einstein.

‘Let him go. It will do no good’ implored John.

‘Come on, I shall not leave him without the secret formula, which he at the present does not wish to give.’

‘Oh well, I think I will have to tell the truth. I have it, professor dropped it when you took him away,’ said Edwin.

John looked at him. He felt betrayed.

‘Do not play games with me!’ roared the mad scientist ‘I know the professor has it.’

‘Did you check him?’ asked Edwin.

The scientist thought for a moment and checked Albert Einstein’s pockets. No, there was no secret formula with him.

‘Okay, give it to me’ commanded the scientist.

Edwin took out a small box and handed it to the mad scientist.

‘Open, there is the formula inside.’

The mad scientist opened the box. He saw a whole sheet of paper filled with the formula.

But there was a round pen sticking out.

‘Confounded pen!’ cried the scientist irritatingly and he pressed it. In a flash he vanished in thin air. Edwin happily chuckled.

‘He pressed the button for the time portal and has gone back to his time.’

‘And with the secret formula’ John sighed.

‘A fake one though. Well, done young lad,’ Albert Einstein said and patted Edwin.

The professor took out a scroll from inside his wristwatch.

‘Here is the real one. Thank you both. Also, I had lost the code for a vital device which I possess and have found it in this building’ he showed them both.

‘That is great’ both John and Edwin rejoiced joyously.

Edwin wrote a report of the discovery of the code with all the details. Then he and John took the professor to his venue and waved him goodbye.

‘How will I go to the next stage?’ Edwin asked John, realizing that the scientist took his button.

‘Well with the help of mine. You have helped me so much. I shall certainly travel with you’ John replied and pressed the button.

The time portal opened like a large empty ring and they went through it.

Edwin and John found themselves hanging to a Chinese kite and flying in the air.

‘Help! Somebody help!’ shouted John, ‘Edwin we are in trouble.’

‘Don’t tell me, I am getting used to this, first landing on a tree, and now this.’

They both cried for help, but the Kite runner smiled with glee as he flew his huge colourful creation in the sky eclipsing the presence of anything, even if it was that of two men hanging to it.

‘We must do something,’ John cried frightfully.

At that moment another kite came and hit them and both fell on a fruit cart.

The fruit seller became angry.

‘You have spoiled many of my fruits, pay me the money’ he ordered.

‘We are sorry. But we don’t have money,’ Edwin explained as they both tried to slip away.

John started running and Edwin followed him.

‘Chase them’ cried the fruit seller to two soldiers who were tall, lean but tough and chased Edwin and John.

Edwin was sweating heavily as he ran and overtook John.

Then a large pole fell on Edwin’s head from above and he murmured in pain, ‘I am getting used to pain too.’

Now for John, Edwin had gone out of sight, but the two soldiers were still behind his back. He got an idea. He took a few marbles out of his pocket and threw them towards the soldiers. They both fell. John for a moment thought he should now take advantage of the situation when he realized his time portal button was not with him.

He looked back and he saw it was lying near the soldiers who had not noticed it. He ran back to get it but fell and the men caught him. He swiftly put the button in his pocket as they took him away.

Edwin who had lost sight of John rested on the wall for a while as he was exasperated. As he tried to get his breath back, he saw a huge man and short man running in his direction. After them were the two soldiers who had chased him.

‘There he is’ one of soldiers cried and they ran after Edwin too.

Edwin again started running, behind the two men – one muscular and one short. Then he suddenly tripped on a stone and fell on both. The soldiers caught all three and took them to the palace of the king.

There the two men on whom Edwin had fallen were taken to the prison and Edwin was presented before the Chinese emperor.

Edwin bowed to the emperor and the emperor spoke ‘You, O’ foreigner have done well. You have caught the thieves who had stolen the gold from the royal palace.’

‘Thank you’ Edwin said, responding for this involuntary heroism.

‘The men who were chasing you’ the emperor continued ‘were my guards. They have been stationed in the kingdom to prevent any theft from taking place.

You and your friend did not pay the money to the seller and he cried for help, hence they chased you. As far as your friend is concerned, he is in prison locked up, but as a gratitude for what you have done, I shall release him.

Also, it would be great if you would be able to find where the gold is hidden as these thieves shall not break easily. I know the village in which they live. I shall send you and your friend in a chariot with my chariot driver to the place.’

John was released, and he was relieved.

‘I need some bandage on my head’ Edwin told the King.

‘Sure’, he answered.

Then both Edwin and John sat on a horse driven chariot and headed for the village. As they had started, John asked the chariot driver how much time it would take to reach the place.

‘Around 6 hrs’ he replied coolly.

‘That’s going to be very long. We also need to get to the next stage of time’ John whispered to Edwin.

The chariot was moving slowly. John looked around. There was not a soul near them.

Then he looked at his at his watch and pressed a button.

He could hear thunder in the sky. It started to become dark like a cave. John looked up and so did Edwin. A golden ring started emerging and expanding. John waited for a moment.

And then his car, the Sedan came out of it and started falling vertically downward. When it was about to touch the ground, it rotated in the air and then fixed itself at the back of the chariot.

The chariot driver could not notice anything as it all happened behind his back. Then he felt a jerk and the chariot sped like a racing car. That was because the car started driving by itself and pushed the chariot from the back.

‘Your horses must be of a special breed’ John complemented the driver.

‘Thank you’, he said, trying to hang on to the horses.

After some time, they were nearing a village. John pressed another button on his watch and the car became invisible. As the chariot and its passengers passed through the village like a wind, the villagers stood astonished.

 Finally, they had reached their destination, the village where the thieves lived. It was near the sea. John and Edwin thanked the driver who tried to fix his hair and then strolled in the village.

‘What should we do?’ thought both and went into a narrow street.

As they were walking, they stood along the corner of the sidewalk to see if they could see something. The floor beneath them cracked and they both fell into the darkness. They got up and kept moving though they could not see something.

Finally, they reached a point where they could feel as if they were at the bottom of a slope. They crawled upwards and could finally see light. They came out and realized they had come outside a cave. Their eyes were wide open at what they saw.

There were heaps of gold scattered here and there on the shore after which lay the sea.

‘This must be the royal gold’ Edwin spoke and as both charged towards the gold, six mighty men from behind surrounded them.

‘Surely, the king must have sent you after catching our friends. But you shall not go back alive’ one of them said and swished the sword towards Edwin.

However, Edwin ducked it and a fight between Edwin and John on one side and thieves on the other started. There were punches, kicks and martial arts that took place.

In the end John and Edwin unarmed the thieves and tied them up. They then took the gold and filled in the sacks which were kept there. Out of a hut nearby many citizens came out. They felt jubilant and cried with happiness.

‘We all reached this place like you, by accident and these thieves had hidden us here. Now thanks to you we are free.’

Edwin started writing a report on this. However, the paper had started burning. Some information was missing. He went inside the hut and found out.

As he put his hand inside the sandy ground, he took out a shield. It must have been the shield of the royal family. He filled in those details talking about the complete discoveries.

Then all of them reached the palace by a secret passage underground which was quite short, with the thieves. John and Edwin returned the shield to the emperor who was very happy and then went through the time portal.                                  

Two men were busy smoking and chatting inside a dark tunnel, when suddenly they heard an odd buzzing noise. As they looked back, they saw a round ring appearing and largening itself in the darkness, out of which two figures stepped out. Frightened both the smokers ran away as Edwin and John came out of the time portal.

They both walked along and left the tunnel behind. Edwin could see a more fascinating world in front of him.  Not one but thousands of Helicopjets were hovering above their heads and moving swiftly in the sky.

‘Welcome to my present and your future Edwin,’ said John.

As they both advanced towards a tower Edwin could see what future had in store for him and all humanity. As they entered the tower, a boy came to them.

‘Sir work in progress, arrangements are being made’ he handed a report to John and went away.

‘You can very well see Edwin how developed the world has become’ explained John ‘machines perform most of man’s work and cars, planes, all modes of transport have become much faster and efficient and now our  home is no more restricted to the earth   but the whole Universe.’

They both had reached a room where a large screen stood on which one could see the whole space and all the planets, moons.

‘This is unmistakably a real image of the whole universe. It is now possible for human beings to tour many   planets, and after some time may be even live on them. There are more than 20 new planets that have been discovered after your time and the aliens who live there are ready to cooperate with us. Even on the original eight planets life has been discovered and we can visit them. We have achieved 50% success, and we are trying to shake hands with more species of the planets so we can visit them.’

‘So, you manage all this?’ asked Edwin.

‘I am actually supposed to look after the extra-planetary relations.’

A phone started ringing. John picked it up. What he heard he could not believe.

‘Edwin, an asteroid just struck one of the planets we have contact with. It has already damaged a major part of their planet leaving craters’ he said and he spoke to someone he could see on a monitor near him, ‘Jake, call everybody now.’

After a few seconds many people came running into the room.

‘What happened?’ everybody asked and John explained to them.

They then checked the planet on the large screen.

‘Find out path taken by the asteroid,’ he commanded.

But nothing was visible. They still tried to find the path. Then Edwin came forward.

‘It is impossible. No natural object in space is such that its path cannot be detected especially with such technology. Perhaps it was not an asteroid.’

Heads turned. What did he mean?

‘I request, please get a survey of the craters formed’, said Edwin.

The message was sent to the planet.

‘Here is the report sir’ Jake handed to Edwin ‘Metal scraps have been found, hard metals.’

‘My observation is correct,’ said Edwin ‘an object disguised as an asteroid is being sent through space.’

‘To track its source, try to send X-rays. When they hit something that is invisible to us, they would be deflected and thus the object can be known.’

X-rays were sent through space and after a few minutes some signals started coming.

‘Sir, please come and see.’

Jake called Edwin and everybody came with him.

‘The X-rays were passing without getting deviated when they’ he pointed on the screen ‘were deflected by something here,’ he pointed.

Nothing could be seen. They all seemed to have lost hope, when something started appearing. They were shocked at what they saw. It was a colossal spaceship in a far-off galaxy which was releasing missiles which from outside looked like asteroids.

‘The cowards!’ shouted John ‘they are hiding and trying to erase every planet we want to establish relation with. They would probably want to erase the earth.’

Then Edwin quickly wrote this whole incident as a report and through a video transmission warned all civilians-humans as well as aliens on all planets to take cover.

‘We are ready for war!’ John declared and all the people raised their hands in support.

The missiles were going to attack a planet any minute. The armies of the planets were ready. One by one the missiles disguised as asteroids flew in the direction of the planets, but the armies of each one of them blew the missiles and ruined the enemy’s efforts.

After a few seconds the huge spaceship emerged in front of a few planets. It sent from inside several ugly masculine creatures, zorts, who started shooting laser on the armies.

While here on earth the humans were running for their lives.

Edwin assembled all people with him, who flew from different continents, and they were armed and prepared.

‘Any moment, they shall be here’ John anxiously waited.

And in a flash of second a zort jumped on Edwin from the sky. Many of them jumped on the ground from the sky and took out laser swords. It was a terrible battle which took place. One could feel as if the sky was filled with thousands of knives.

The zorts were hungry for more human lives and one could see their evil grin which reflected how the attack of the humans was being crushed. While fighting with a zort

Edwin remembered the words of the gatekeeper of the time portal.

If time shall cease, everything that can, shall freeze Edwin. You and me would have crumbled to death but we cannot as we are protected by forces which transfer us into an intermediate phase.

They started to make sense. He needed a source to create an intermediate phase. That must have meant shifting between two periods of time.

And the source would now be…the time portal button!

He pushed away the zort and realized that he did not have his button. Except John, neither of the people fighting furiously had a button on them. Only if the gatekeeper could help...thought Edwin and in a flash the sky darkened, a ring formed and millions of time portal buttons fell through the sky. 

Edwin noticed that they had a golden chain around them, and one of the buttons hung on his neck like a locket.

‘Do your duty Edwin’ a voice said through the ring in the sky and he pressed the button.

He felt as if he was pumped with energy and his voice boomed, ‘Everybody wear the time portal button’ he said and all the humans wore it.

Even in the other planets the good aliens were wearing the button and pressed it. A golden ring started forming around them and Edwin’s ring shone most brightly. As the others resumed fighting with the zorts Edwin looked up at the Big Ben.

There was the clock. And for now, it was not ordinary, as it was controlling time. If he could stop the needle he could stop the time. And he could stop the war.  

With all his might he jumped and clung on to the surface of the Big Ben.

He then started climbing towards the clock above, as fast as possible, but a zort was climbing after him to stop him. Many a times the zort threw laser swords which would miss Edwin by an inch.

Edwin caught a sword and threw it down right towards the Zort. It looked in fear and was struck on its heart and fell. Edwin then inched near the needle.

‘Okay one...’he said and the seconds watch pointed at 4. ‘Two…’and the needle went on 5. ‘Three…’he shouted and leaped on the seconds’ needle and hung on it. Time stopped.

The zorts started to freeze and crumble where they stood. Swords fell from their hands and ashes were left.

The war ended. Relations were established between earth, and the planets and Edwin had to bid goodbye to John.

‘Edwin, I wish to see you again’ expressed John as he hugged Edwin.

‘Maybe, someday’ said Edwin and he waved to the people who waved back to him as tears ran through their eyes, for they valued his bravery. He then went back through the time portal.

Edwin was sitting in his office reading a newspaper, while the journalists were busy at work.

‘You’ll find this strange’ said his boss as he came up to his table.

‘What is?’ asked Edwin.

‘My daughter left these cuttings from very old newspapers. The time during colonial rule of one of the old empires, I guess.

‘Read this,’ he said and thrust the yellowish newspaper into Edwin’s hands. Edwin choked as he saw the details.

Title:

 ‘Animals save slaves from slavers.’

  By Edwin Penn