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Bruce had his eyes closed tight. He'd stopped screaming, but he was still falling. Somehow, though, it didn't feel like falling---not like the feeling he'd had in his pirate dream.
It was more like sailing----or flying. He opened his eyes slowly. He might be spinning as he fell, but he couldn't be sure. There was nothing he could focus his eyes on to see how fast, or how slow, he was moving.
It was dark, but he could see flickering lights far away. There was no sound, not even the sound of wind that should've been created by his movement.
During one of his spins (or was he spinning?), he thought he saw the strange man floating along with him. But the sight lasted only 1 second, and he wasn't truly sure he'd seen it.
Now some of the lights seemed bigger, and some weren't flickering. They looked like stars.
Was he floating in space?
He closed his eyes again. Then he heard a sound. It was wind. It was the sound of his own movement.
He opened his eyes and saw that it wasn't dark anymore. Now he could see that he was spinning
He was also falling at an incredible speed, and the ground wasn't very far away. He was about to make contact with an open field near the river.
He caught one more glimpse of the man, falling and spinning like him. Then he closed his eyes tightly, dreading the moment of impact.
It wasn't what he expected. Not quite. Bruce hit the ground with a tumble, feeling as if he'd only fallen from a ladder about ten feet high. He rolled a few feet, then lay still on his back.
He was surrounded by reeds that must have been almost as tall as he was. He stretched out with one arm, then another. Then he did the same with his legs. No pain. Probably no broken bones, either.
Then he heard a familiar---though unwanted----voice. "Ohhhhh!" the man groaned. "Just once, I'd like to land on a haystack. A nice, soft, sweet-smelling haystack."
Bruce sat up, but he couldn't see anything through the reeds. "What happened?" he asked. "Am I----are we alive or what?"
He heard a rustling in the reeds, and then saw the strange man standing over him.
"Oh, no!" the man said upon seeing who had asked him the question. "Yes, we're alive. And the first thing I have to do is get you back to where you belong. Now what year was that?"
He was studying a bronze something-or-other strapped to his wrist. All Bruce knew that it was too big to be a wristwatch.
"Uh---what did you just ask me?" Bruce said.
"What year were we in?" the man said impatiently. "And I'd better not hear you say 1862! I know for a fact that buildings like that didn't exist in 1862."
"They exist in 1983."
"Look, mister...."
"My name's Bruce. Bruce Wayne.
"Bruce Wayne. I'm Michael. As in, Michael Strogoff. I warn you, sir, that I'm not a man known for being patient."
"What's that thing on your wrist?" Bruce asked.
"This is called an Omni. My particular Omni has circuits that go no further than 1970 A.D. So don't give me any 1983 nonsense, unless...."
He was fiddling with the dials on the Omni, and now he started slapping it with his fingertips.
"It's malfunctioning again!" he fumed. "I told them to issue me a new one! Shazbot! Those technicians never listen to anyone but each other!"
"Shazbot?" Bruce said, grinning.
"Young man, do you have any idea what it's like to repair one of these things in the field? Where's my guidebook?"
He began searching the ground through the tall reeds. Bruce rose to his feet. Except for the nearby river, all he could see was miles of more tall reeds.
"Help me to look for it," Michael said. "It must be around here somewhere."
"Are you talking about a black book?" Bruce asked.
"Yes! Now, look for it! I can't do anything without out!"
"About this thick?" Bruce said, holding his hands in front of him.
"Correct. Do you have it?"
"No. Joker's got it."
"Who is 'Joker'?"
"My dog."
Michael's face went pale, the way it had been when he looked down at the street.
"Dog? That big fur coat with all the teeth?"
"That's Joker," Bruce said, nodding.
"Joker," Michael repeated, the color returning to his face. "In---1983," he added, the color rising until he was bright red.
He looked at the sky and raised his arms into the air. "Will somebody please give me a break?" he pleaded.
Then he turned to Bruce. As he talked, he slowly moved closer to him.
"Do you realize what you've done?" Michael screamed. "History is going to change because you couldn't control your lousy dog! Empires are going to fall! Wars are going to rage!"
He grabbed Bruce by the collar and then got to the root cause of his anger.
"I'm going to be put out of a job1"
Bruce felt tears welling up, but he wasn't about to let them flow in front of this bully. He tightened his face muscles and stared Michael in the eye.
"Your job!" he said as loudly as he could. "Who do you think you are? You broke into my room! You knocked me out the window! You brought me here, wherever here is! You should lose your lousy job!"
"Oh, yeah?" Michael said, threateningly.
"Yeah!" Bruce answered.
Michael stared silently at him for a few seconds. Then he let go of the collar. He stroked his chin and looked off into the depths of the landscape around them.
"I have a hard time dealing with smart kids," he said under his breath.
Then they were both startled by a sound neither of them would have expected to hear in this broad, open field. They heard a baby crying.
Michael started wading through the tall grass. Bruce hesitated for a second, realized he didn't want to be left alone, and followed Michael.
"Where are we going?" Bruce asked.
"We're not going anywhere," Michael said, searching the reeds for the source of the unexpected sound. "I'm going to save what's left of my job. You're going to get lost."
"I am lost."
Michael ignored him and continued searching. Then he quit and stared at the water. Bruce followed his gaze to the edge of the river.
There, caught up in some overhanging reeds, was a basket bobbing in the water. Inside the basket slept a baby, wrapped in a white sheet.
"Is that what we're looking for?" Bruce asked.
They slowly made their way to the basket. Bruce watched as Michael bent over and looked closely at the baby. The annoyance drained from Michael's face, and he found himself smiling at the infant. Then, remembering that he was being observed, he straightened up and looked businesslike.
He lifted the basked, pulled it free of the weeds, and placed it on firm, dry ground. The baby gurgled happily.
"Well," Bruce said. "Is it?"
"Is it what?"
"What you're looking for."
"I'm not sure."
"You're not sure?"
"I could be sure if I had my guidebook. Now I'll have to figure it out for myself."
He began fiddling with the Omni, and Bruce stepped closer to get a look. It did look something like an everyday wristwatch, but in place of the usual face and hands, there was a small globe.
Around the globe were several rings with numbers in them. In the upper corners were a tiny green light and a tiny red one. The red one was blinking.
Michael frowned and shook his head. "No," he said. "This isn't it."
"It isn't what?"
"It isn't right, that's what!"
"Then what would be?"
"Without my guidebook, I don't know!"
"Look," Bruce said, getting more frustrated by the second, "will you tell me what's going on! I might be able to help you. Who are you? What are you?"
Michael stared down at Bruce for a long time. Then he let out a deep sigh.
"Very well," he said. "I am what is called a Voyager. Ever heard of one?"
Bruce shook his head. Something told him he wasn't going to like this explanation.
"No, of course you haven't," Michael said. "Nobody has. We're the folks who are plucked out of our times and trained to travel through the ages. Our job is to help history along. You know, give it a little push whenever it's needed."
He knelt next to the basket. He reached in and straightened the sheet under the baby's chin. Bruce thought he also saw Michael toss in a little tickle under the chin, but he couldn't be sure.
Michael stood up again and half-smiled at Michael. "The trouble is," he went on, "everything we've got to know is in the guidebook."
"But your guidebook---"
"Was your fur coat's dinner. So....here I am." He read his Omni. "I'm in Egypt, in 1450 B.C. And I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do."
He bent down and picked up the baby. "What about you, son?" he said, chuckling the baby under the chin. "Do you have an idea?"
"Maybe," said Bruce softly.
"How so? You didn't even know where we were until I told you."
"But I do now. You said we're in Egypt?"
"1450 B.C."
"We traveled through time," Bruce said.
"We most assuredly did."
Bruce walked over and took the baby from Michael's arms. "This is Moses!" he said.
"Be careful with him," Michael said. "And quit talking nonsense. Moses is an old man with white whiskers who looks like Santa Claus with a part down the middle."
Bruce put the baby in the basket. Then he lifted the basket and carried it to the water's edge.
"Stop!" Michael said. "What do you think you're doing?"
The basket was in the water, already floating downstream.
"He needs to be in the water," Bruce said.
"He'll drown!"
"No, he won't. Watch."
Bruce pointed downstream, and Michael looked. Four people stood on the shore. They were clothing from ancient Egypt. One of them----a young woman---spotted the basket and called to the others.
Bruce whispered, "Moses was found by the Pharaoh's daughter in the Nile River."
Michael looked at his Omni. The red light was no longer blinking. The green one glowed steadily.
A grin of amazement crossed Michael's face. "That did it!" he said happily. "We got the green light. How did you know what we were supposed to do?"
"I know a lot about history," Michael said, watching the princess carry the baby from the shore. "My father was a history professor. Can I see that thing?"
He was pointing to the Omni. Michael's first reaction was to pull his hand behind his back.
"Hey, I did get you out of this fix, you know," Bruce said.
"Yes, yes. Of course." Michael held his arm out so Bruce could get a better look at the Omni. "Just be careful," he added.
Bruce moved closer to look at the rings. He reached out to point one of them and got closer than he should have.
"Which one do you press to...."
And then were gone. Gone from Egypt, and sailing back into the black void from which they had just escaped.717Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySIM3SeX0Y
