Empire of Fashion

[Pleater]

Hamish returned to the House.

He had been in hospital after the train accident, though no one would tell me what his injuries were, but I knew that the medical abilities of the locals were exceptional so did not worry about him all that much.

Sure enough when he arrived he seemed to be hardly the worse for wear at all, but he wore long gowns or robes rather than trousers, and seemed weary from the journey.

The male versions of myself naturally had more contact with such an august personage, but soon after the return they turned up with rather anxious expressions and requested any kilt lengths of fabric I might have.

'What colours would Hamish prefer, do you think?' I enquired.

'Ones that go with his shirts.' said the Chemistry master who was the fastest thinker.

'And who is going to be sewing them?'

'That is all taken care of, we just need the fabric.' said the Copper.

I selected three lots of eight yards in shades of brown and green, and handed them over, one to each man. I saw each one in turn raise his eyebrows at the weight and feel of the cloth and then look at the shelves where the remainder of my work was stored.

'They're all counted.' I warned. 'Just let me note down the ones they are - so I can keep a tally.'

I had put in a code number on the edge of what would be the lower edge of the under apron, so I knew where in the order of weaving they came.

'I hope that Hamish will soon have recovered from the journey and be back amongst us again.' I said, fishing for information.

'I expect that it will be only a few days.'

'In time for Christmas?' I dangled the bait.

'Possibly.' was all I caught.

'And how is the Chairman doing in the Laboratory?'

'Ah, well, he seems to be having some trouble with the focus.'

'If he needs any help with the maths, just let me know.' I said, putting on my most willing to be helpful expression.

They departed in a flurry of excuses, and I frowned at their backs. They might be me, but the local society was having a detrimental effect on them

Next day Hamish and the Chairman had a violent argument, the Chairman went to sulk in the Library, and Hamish followed him there and saw the empty shelves. There was an even greater row then, and the Chairman went to his apartment and locked himself in, calling for his closest henchmen to occupy the corridors outside.

I instantly saw my opportunity to visit the Laboratory, and see just how much work had been done using the disrupter to facilitate distortion of timelines. I hurried along the gloomy corridor, found the door unlocked and unguarded, and slipped inside, sliding the bolts home to prevent any disturbance.

[Pleater]

The benches were thick with dust, only one small area had been kept clean and a small space made for an experimental rig.

I spent several hours just working out what had been done, as there were no notes, but in looking for something to clean off some more space I found a clipboard with a wad of papers on it. The metal part had rusted and marked the paper through several layers, but I was able to write out the information, and once that was done I realised the problem. The measurements were in feet but the rig had been made using inches.

I was able to move one of the benches which had for some reason been unbolted from the floor, and laid out the components on the floor at the correct spacing. The exertion, the constant rising and crouching, lying flat or on my side, combined with a lack of water and to a lesser extent of food, eventually made me feel dizzy. Standing over the rig, I was contantly reminded of a stone circle, and felt that I should be walking around it chanting and waving - something.

The light was fading, and I glanced at my watch. It was almost sunset on the Winter Solstice.

The sun would be 180 degrees opposite to the sunrise at the Summer Solstice.

Feeling that it would in some way be a significant moment I made a control unit, using two of the eveyday sets of dials and four of the wiring harnesses. The diameter of the rig meant that I would have to place the control unit in the centre of the ring of components, and also stand there whilst working it.

As I neared the completion of the work a faint golden light illuminated the room, a light without shadows, which helped considerably in making the last few circuits. My arms and shoulders ached from crimping connectors onto wires, but it was rather at a distance by then, I was so light headed.

I had, fortunately, written down the settings I had decided to try, and so did not need to do any further calculations. I checked them three times and pressed the red button.

[Pleater]

I had tried a synchronous move, so the spatial coordinates were approximately the same, and the ley lines would do the fine tuning, so was still in the same place, at the same hour and day of the year, just in another century.

I stepped out of the circle and looked around. I recognised the electrical connections on the wall, but they looked new and shiny. Several leads hung on a hook nearby and I connected the rig to the mains to preserve the batteries.

The key was in the lock, so I removed it, went outside and locked the door.

The house was lit with electric lighting, and in splendid repair. I went along to the nearest bathroom and drank several glasses of water, drew a hot steaming bath whilst I washed my linen and hose, then sponged my kilt and plaid and hung them up, then placed my linen in the drying cabinet before sinking into the hot water with the greatest pleasure.

I had to keep my eye on my watch to ensure I did not soak for too long, but what time I had was sufficient to restore me and my garments to a presentable condition. I drank another couple of glasses of water, combed my hair and tied it back, put on my plaid and checked that the bathroom looked none the worse for my use of it, but other than there being one less towel on the pile and another damp one in the washing basket, there was nothing amiss.

I checked my appearance in the long mirror and drew myself up into an appropriate stance - the Victorians did not slouch.

I called in at the small room next door and reflected that the one thing which I had any regret at leaving behind was soft toilet tissue. I was greatly relieved to recall that I had a pack of tissues in my pouch, and did not have to use the hard shiny stuff.

I walked along the corridor on thick rugs and highly polished wood - a deathtrap for anyone in a hurry. The layout was entirely familiar to me but it was novel to see it furnished and at the height of its stately glory.

I stepped into the porter's room and stole one of the doorstep sized sandwiches from his tea tray, then went to the window to look out onto the long sweep of the drive. Down at the gate, visible in the darkness as it too had electric lighting, there was a carriage. As I watched, several outriders appeared and scanned the area around the door. One even stood on his saddle and surveyed the top of the porch where it is possible to hide quite a number of men. One of them retraced their tracks to call to the carriage driver to proceed, so I carefully dusted off any traces of sandwich and walked to the door to open it in good time. Three of the outriders entered and surveyed the hallway. I simply stood at attention holding onto the doorknob whilst the pageant unfolded.

One of the outriders returned to the doorway.

'Where is the Duke?' he growled.
'Taking tea in the Blue Drawing Room, Sir, the Porter has run to alert him, but he might have fallen, the corridors are treacherous to a man in a hurry.'
'Which way to the Blue Drawing room?'
'Up the main stairs, turn right and it is the third door, on the left.'
He nodded and must have run, but with his cloak streaming behind him he might very well have been flying up the stairs.

I glanced out and saw Prince Albert following Queen Victoria from the coach, just for a second before one of her men got between me and the Royals, and I quickly side stepped out of the hall and made my way back to the Laboratory. I turned off the power, disconnected the lead, reset the controls for the future and pressed the button.

Carefully I set the controls on the floor and stepped out of the ring. I turned off the power, and danced the few steps to the door. I unbolted it, stepped out cautiously and then put the key I had brought with me into the lock. It was difficult to turn but with a little jiggling it eventually went home, and I walked along the darkened corridor hugging myself in glee.

[Pleater]

My mood soon evaporated in the chill of the evening - not until the Hall cleared and I could sit down close to the fire on a padded bench with all the furs and blankets gathered up and spread around me was I warm and able to consider the options.

I suppose that for some the idea of time travel would only raise thoughts of getting tomorrow's racing results, whilst for others a quest to go through history averting tragedies might seen logical. Mister Brown and I had spent time in discussing the problems of altering things - or at least, he had spoken regretfully in terms I could not understand of how events had a way of happening despite every effort, or if affected, the consequences were more devastating that the original happening.

Getting Mister Brown into a talkative state cost quite a lot in the House's best brandy, so it was not a thing to be done lightly, and he could be diverted at a moment's notice into reminiscences of women throughout his life.

I considered, and dozed for some time, and then I heard quiet footsteps close by as Hamish came in and approached the hearth. He was fully dressed, and wearing a kilt made from one of the pieces I had woven. I sat up and greeted him. He seemed rather taken aback.

'Did you wish to be alone?' I asked, well aware that he would only have come there either to be alone or to meet someone without an audience.

'Whatever are you doing here?'

'I think I have found a way to return us to our correct homes, I was just thinking over the consequences.'

'Your intelligence is dangerous.'

'If it was not equally matched by my discretion, I would agree with you.'

He started, and then laughed lightly.

'When you go, can you remove all the projectors, all the Fashion Furs equipment, so we are left with only the natural means of transport?'

'Yes.'

'Don't you want to know why?'

'You only asked if I could do it, and I could - do you want it done?'

'I consider it essential to the renewal of this world.'

'That's a 'Yes.' then? Very well. As soon as I can organise it.'

'Thankyou.'

'Not even leaving one for emergencies?'

He considered for almost half a minute.

'Not even one.'

'Very well. Be careful about building cities close to geological fault lines, down on flood plains, and below dams and spoil heaps. Don't cut down all the trees, catch all the fish, or kill every animal of one kind.'

'People would do that?'

'If the incentives are there, yes.'

He glanced at the clock.

'I'll leave you to your meeting.' I said, and hurried away to my room, leaving him there by the last glow of the fire.

[Bugbear]

I'm still following your storry, Pleater. Thank you.

[Arlen]

Ooooh. This story just gets better and better.

[Pleater]

I roused the five other visiting versions of myself before dawn, and we went to the laboratory. I had coated the key in soot and the old trick worked well so the lock was not so difficult to operate.

I showed them the rig I had made and explained what I thought could be done to get them home. I thought it a little ungrateful of them that they did not wish to have a hand in the removal of the Fashion Furs equipment, but I did feel that the return to my own world could not come soon enough.

They went to get ready, to dress in their original clothing, gather what they had brought with them. I also prepared what I would need, and checked the rig carefully then my calculations three times.

I looked into the Laboratory at the time I intended to go back to, and found it empty, so when we were all assembled I locked the door and put the key in my pocket.

Carefully we stepped into the circle and I set the controls and pressed the button.

'Is that it?' someone enquired. 'No noise, no lights?'
'Sorry - there seems to be nothing to indicate that the move has occurred, other than the change in the room. Be careful of the wires as you step out of the circle.'

We went out, I locked the door and shouldered the rod which I intended to place in my own continuum, then we walked out. Knowing the routine of the House it was easy enough to avoid those corridors which would be used at that time of day, and we went out and around the House on the West side.

With a few words and nods we separated, and I went to the walled garden to wait. Each version of myself would be doing the same thing, at different points around the grounds.

I watched the gate, and as soon as the scene on the other side of it altered, I walked through, placed the rod where it was not too obvious, then walked back into the other continuum. In a few minutes I heard the sound of myself approaching, so I stood on the far side of the lean to building until I left with the Captain. I then sprinted back to the Laboratory and returned to my time of departure.

[Pleater]

In the hours that followed I used up the new paper I had discovered, covering it with numbers as I calculated all the combinations I needed. With great abandon I used time travel to be in several places at once, until my head reeled and I had trouble working out when I should be to have all the equipment I collected ready and waiting to be transported.

I had not intended to use time travel to move myself and all the equipment back in time, but somehow I must have left the rig switched on, or powered it somehow by trying to move it through a portal.

However it happened, when I tried to move myself and the equipment, and the projector I was using, into the walled garden in my own continuum, rather than the single ring I had projected moving over the line of pallets and projectors once in a smooth transition, several of them danced and swirled around eachother and the line, for what seemed a brief moment - so fast I had only time to experience the joy of its perfection and the lovely blue and gold colours. Even before the first biochemical reaction to the terror of it, it was gone and I was left with all my hair standing on end and gasping for breath in the walled garden in Springtime, with the equipment all lined up before me and my hand still on the button of the projector I had used.

I sat down on the edge of one of the raised beds to recover, then I moved the projector away from the rest of the equipment and looked at the surveillance equipment in the porter's lodge. Allowing for the time taken to drag the plants man's box to the garden, and for my return to place the pin, my time away had been reduced to a few minutes.

Fortunately I had remembered to bring the trolley back with me, and I spent the rest of the morning moving the smaller items of equipment from the walled garden into the Rotunda. There was a problem, however, as I had moved the palletised things through a ring, and the narrow gateway was now a barrier to my physically transporting them, plus they would not fit into the Rotunda even if I could get them there.

I went to get the pin and carried it to the Hall. I rolled up the carpet and spread the contents of the paper recycling bin on the floor, then went back and used a ring to move the pallets.

Finally I checked everything was switched off and I realised how tired I was. My feet ached, everything hurt

I went home, fell onto the bed and slept.

[Pleater]

The sounds of construction woke me.

I looked at my watch, which told me it was Christmas, so I looked at the clock by the bed.

'Quarter to April.' I mused, and reset my watch to the same numbers.

It was still early, but I had slept all of Sunday and felt in need of a shower and several meals.

When I wandered downstairs there was a basket of fruit on the table and a note 'Welcome back' it said, and there were the initials J.B. inscribed with a flourish, and two full stops.

I looked in the 'fridge', then went upstairs and checked the wardrobe and the washing basket. I pulled back the covers and looked at the sheets on the bed. I looked in the bathroom cabinet and on the shelves.

My Mister Brown writes his initials as J B with no full stops.

I was not in the house that I had left two days before. Somehow I had arrived back soon after the time I had left but in another continuum.

I had placed the pin, I had moved it into the Hall, but between placing it and moving it, someone else must have transported it to another very similar continuum.

Either that or I was going mad.

The thought struck me and I considered it for half a second, then I ate breakfast and dressed and went to find Mister Brown.

I started in the Rotunda, his usual haunt, and it was good to see it once again intact, with roof and windows, and weatherbeaten old door. I rang the bell, and after a minute the door opened and there he stood in his gray dressing gown with the maroon and white cording, his pyjamas were white with blue stripes, and suede slippers.

'Is something wrong, Madam?' he enquired, all innocence.

'Yes. This is not my world.'

'Ah. That was quick, but then you are.'

'So you don't deny it then?'

'No - of course not. It is just that there is a lot to do and it seemed better to do it here. The budget for the new building is much larger, your salary is higher, your job description will be -'

'But I don't belong here.'

'You can, if you want to.'

'And I was going on a cruise -to the Norwegian fjords, and then to a Scrabble tournament.'

'In April.'

'Yes, I was rather looking forward to a rest, even before Fashion Furs.'

'You can still go on a cruise. I'll find one for you. Perhaps something tropical - with men in kilts and dancing - you'd like that I'm sure.'

I felt myself go hot.

'I can't - '

He waved a hand. 'It will be fine, really - you are looking a bit pale, it will do you the world of good.'

'What about the me who should be here? What is she going to say finding me here?'

'Ah - well - there was a lot of turbulance when you were all being removed. I'm afaid that the local version of you seems to have got lost.'

'You knew what happened?'

'I do now. I only got back here a few hours ago.'

'So there is a version of me lost somewhere. That is dreadful.'

'I am sure you will be able to survive until you are found. I sent Ian to look for you, he is very conscientious.'

I nodded, the McGeek was indeed very conscientious.

'There is nothing to worry about.' he assured, 'but now - I really must get some sleep.'

'With that noise going on?'

'I can isolate myself from it. Later on, we can have a look at what you brought - if you like.'

'Yes, if you can explain some of the features, I would be obliged, but - is it possible to get back now you removed the beacon.'

'Perfectly possible. I know the -direction - of your continuum. It will not be a problem to find it for you.'

I sighed, but he closed the door and left me to make my way back through the Springtime garden.