Bantam stopped and furrowed his brow. «So you heard about that, huh?»
Cleveland nodded.
«And of course you don’t believe me.»
Cleveland shrugged and laughed. «I don’t know, to be honest. But just like Doctor Hardin, I can’t resist a good puzzle. And boy, are you ever one! You say you’re from the future, yet you don’t know anything about the past. Your predictions are all horribly wrong. And yet, you’ve undeniably somehow infiltrated the most secure Army base in America.
«Then there’s your glocky little devices. Sure, they don’t work. But Hardin says that even still, they are made of materials nobody has ever seen before. Then there’s the volcano.»
«Volcano?»
«Oh, my pardon. Did I say your predictions were all wrong? Well. You did get one right. You said Vesuvius would erupt. And it did — right down to the minute you predicted. How could you know that? There is something to you, Mr. Bantam. But I don’t know yet what it is.»
Bantam sighed. «I did travel back through time. I promise you, I’m telling the truth. I arrived on the right day, in the right year. But for some reason, world history here is all different than what it should be. Something somewhere went wrong.
«And then there’s the matter of electricity. There should be — “
Just then there was a sharp pfoot! sound nearby. Bantam started.
Cleveland blinked and then laughed. «What, you’ve never heard a tube before?» When Bantam shook his head, Cleveland pointed up.
Bantam saw that high above the ground, a network of pneumatic tubes branched and forked and twisted and turned high in the air. They were just like the tubes he had seen in the newspaper. Small cylindrical packages zipped around inside of them.
«Huh,” Bantam mused. «It really is a series of tubes.»
«What?» Cleveland said.
Bantam enjoyed Cleveland’s expression for second and then said: «Listen. Is that the Pneumanet up there?»
Cleveland nodded. Just then two cadets on bicycles with large front wheels and tiny back wheels whizzed by. They waved at Cleveland, who shouted back, «Vim and vigour, boys! Good for you!»
«Mr. Cleveland. Cliff. Exactly how long has the Pneumanet been around?»
«Let me see. At least twenty years. Parts of it were up and running before that. But the serious construction started around the Day of the Red Sun. After the Difference Engine was — “
«Wait, what?» Bantam said. «Rewind that. What’s the Day of the Red Sun?»
Cleveland whistled. «See, that’s why I almost believe you, saying something crazy like that. Huh.
«Well, the Day of the Red Sun happened back in 1881. The sun went crazy. It bulged and swelled, red as blood in the sky. Then, it spat out a coronal mass ejection. A massive one. And the sun aimed it straight at the earth.
«It hit like a ton of bricks in Europe, mostly. It burned people alive. It destroyed whole forests and crops and buildings. Anything or anyone that wasn’t underground got cooked in some way. Then, after that, a lot more people died from radiation and starvation.
«Germany was hit the hardest. They were right smack dab at the center. They’ve struggled to recover ever since — that’s why this space race is so important to them now.
«Anyway … there were a lot of rough decades after that. But the world rebuilt. One good thing that happened from the disaster of that Day: a lot of good men took it as a challenge. Men of vision. Men of progress! They toiled and labored and pushed themselves to the edge and invented all kinds of modern technologies: liquiputers, material sciences, medicine, and of course the Net itself.»
«But no electricity,” Bantam interrupted. «That’s the one big difference between my world and yours. Are you absolutely sure there is no electricity here?»
Cleveland nodded. «Oh, I’m sure. There are people who wrote of it in ancient times, of course. But it’s mythical. Like Greek Fire. Or lodestones. Or dowsing rods. None of — “
«No lodestones either? You mean you don’t have compasses?»
Cleveland guffawed. «No. Nobody takes the old reports of sailors who talk about such things seriously. They talk of mermaids and sea monsters as well. Who believes in those things today, here in this Age of Reason?»
Bantam chewed on this for a moment.
«But none of that is why I brought you out here, Ben Bantam.»
Oh?
Cleveland grinned. «No. You see I must confess to a slight prevarication. I have a question I want to ask. And it is a singular species of question that can only be asked in person.»
«What’s that?»
«This.» Cleveland slugged him clean across the jaw. It was the kind of punch that turned him around like a top.
What the — ?
But Bantam was not about to take that. He lurched to his feet, and smacked Cleveland square in his lantern-jaw. Cleveland fell down laughing.
«Ho! Is that uppermost limit of your physical prowess?»
Bantam snarled. Now he was pissed.
Cleveland rose and began dancing around with his fists curled back in a fisticuffs-style boxing stance. «Okee, Bantam. Let’s see what your made of.»
A full-out brawl ensued. But very quickly, Bantam began leaning away from Cleveland’s boxing-style punches. Cleveland swung at air, and not connecting clearly began irritating him. «Whatcha standing so far away for?» Cleveland growled.
It wasn’t long before Cleveland’s irritation got the better of him and began leaning in, trying desperately to land a punch. That’s when Bantam launched a roundhouse kick as his over-extended head. Cleveland instantly crumpled to the ground with a groan.
«Oy! What was that?» Cleveland said.
«Tae Kwon Do,” Bantam responded. «Want to see some more?»
Cleveland shook it off and bounced to his feet. He threw another punch; Bantam sidestepped and placed his leg behind Cleveland’s — and swept him to the ground with his free arm. Cleveland landed with a thud, again befuddled at how that had happened.
Bantam reached out to help him to his feet. Cleveland took the hand — and then sucker-punched Bantam as he rose. Bantam went flying backwards.
He was about to snarl when he landed at the feet of an angel.
Bantam found himself staring up at a gorgeous brunette.
She was covered head to toe in a very conservative dress and carried an open parasol. Frills spilled from her neckline and the ends of her sleeves. He hair was pulled up into a bun with a fascinator clipped to the top. Bantam coughed a laugh: she almost looked like a cartoon schoolteacher.
Bantam rose to his feet. She was clearly annoyed. Eyes bright as lasers, Bantam thought. Stunning.
«Hi,” Bantam said with an outstretched hand. «Benjamin Bantam.»
The woman looked at his hand with a raised eyebrow. It was then Bantam realized she was wearing white gloves — and that he was now covered in dirt. Self-consciously, he wiped his hands on his trousers.
«Ah. The prisoner,” she replied. «We have made acquaintance, but you would scarce remember.»
«This is Doctor Rachelle Archenstone, Benjamin.» Cleveland said, wiping dirt from his own mouth. «She’s the one you have to thank for fixing you up.» As she looked at Bantam, Cleveland made the same mock-serious frowny-face he’d made back in the room. «Doctor Archenstone, a pleasure to see you.»
«I wish I could say the same for you, Mr. Cleveland! Brawling? Truly? And this mere weeks before your mission?»
Bantam decided immediately that he liked the way her nose crinkled when she scolded.
«Ah well …» Cleveland said. «We astronauts are crazy. You know that, ma’am. And I’m pleased to say Bantam is every bit as crazy as I am.»
«Oh? And this is a boon?»
«Why, yes it is. He says he's a chrononaut; you'd have to be just as crazy to do that. So I guess what I'm saying is, I believe his story now.»
Rachelle looked between them, unsure of what to say next. Then: «So … you injure one another to adjudicate veracity?»