Writers from 2010

by Romantic Twist

The ship from 5477 travels pilotless through time and space, until it emerges near a writers convention in 2010. Three writers find it and travel to the Land of the Giants, where they join the Spindrift team for new adventures.

Fitzhugh and Valerie were wandering through the giant city in search of food in the middle of the night. They found a small hole, which led into a small grocery store. They snuck in and began to look around, making use of the light from the street lamps outside, which partially illuminated the store.

"We need something that will feed us well, but be easy to take back to the ship," said Valerie.

"How about one of those small cans of pineapple chunks?" said Fitzhugh, "It's round, so that we can roll it all the way to the forest. It's small enough to fit through the hole we came in, and it will give us fresh fruit and juice for a long time."

"Even the giants would need a can opener to get it open. They couldn't do it with their fingers alone. How could we?" asked Valerie.

"The laser that Mark built would do it," said Fitzhugh, "Just think, my dear. We'd have the best nosh-up since we met O'Reilly."

"You've won me on this idea, Fitz. Let's try it."

Fitzhugh threw the grappling hook (a giant safety pin tied to a piece of string) up to the shelf, and began to climb, while Valerie remained below.

"When I push the can off, it will hit the ground and start to roll. See if you can steer it," he called.

Fitzhugh got behind the can, and struggled to move it. He was not as young and fit as Steve, Mark and Dan. Yet he had one useful quality, where food was concerned: determination. He forced the can to the edge of the shelf, and let it fall with a significant crash. It began to roll. Valerie ran behind it, and pushed one side, so that it headed towards the hole in the wall.

Suddenly they heard footsteps, and a light was turned on. Fitzhugh darted behind the next can to conceal himself, hoping to be in a position to help Valerie, if she was captured. A giant middle aged woman came into the room.

"So, you little people are stealing my stock!" she said, and ran over towards Valerie. She picked her up and retrieved the can.

Fitzhugh ran along behind the other cans, trying to reach another part of the shelf, to conceal himself. The giant store owner put the can back, and discovered the rope and hook.

"So that's how you did it, little woman," said the giant woman, "For the first time I'm glad to be so poor that I had to sleep in the back room. That's all going to change, once I turn you into the SID for a reward. I'll put in a call to that handsome Inspector Kobick first thing in the morning. I've had my eye on him ever since I saw him on the news near that cave-in sight, with the two children. Maybe he'll give me more than just the reward money."

Fitzhugh had reached the end of the tinned fruit section and came to some mini sewing kits. He pulled out a needle, and put his hand in the eye of it, and concealed the weapon behind his back.

"Madam!" he called, "Please let her go. You can turn me into the SID instead."

Valerie couldn't believe her ears. Fitzhugh had always had a certain charm to him, which appealed to the adventurous side of her nature, but he seemed to care only for money, food, and showed his altruistic side only for Barry's benefit. Yet here he was sacrificing himself for her. She recalled the time he had done the same thing, when the giant diamond thief had come after both of them and rolled a ball into the drain. Had she misjudged the man all these long months, since they had first crashed in the Land of the Giants?

"So, there's another one of you!" said the giantess, reaching towards Fitzhugh, "Two rewards are better than one."

"No, stop!" said Fitzhugh, suddenly brandishing the needle, and stabbing the giantess in the hand.

She pulled her hand bag in anger.

"You little!"

"Temper, temper, Madam," said Fitzhugh, "I will only exchange myself for Valerie, if you first put her next to the hole in the front wall. Then I will throw down the needle, and you can hand me over to the SID."

"Alright then," said the giantess, and put Valerie on the shelf above Fitzhugh, while she tended to her hand. Then the giantess came back with a long sharp knife.

"Your little weapon won't help you now," she said, "Throw it down, or I'll return the favour of what you just did to me!"

Fitzhugh could only obey.

"Two rewards are better than one," she said, and took both of them to the counter, along with the rest of the sewing kit that Fitzhugh had raided.

She took out the thread, and tied Fitzhugh's wrists together, and tied him to the lamp stand, and then tied Valerie's wrists together and tied her to the handle of the cash register.

"Sleep well, you little thieves. In the morning, you'll make me very rich, and possibly no longer a lonely divorcee."

"I don't suppose you'd consider settling for a tiny husband and no reward money," said Fitzhugh.

"No I wouldn't," laughed the giantess, "And anyone can see you'd do anything for this pretty young thing here. I wouldn't consign you to a life time of play acting, when I can go for the money and Kobick. A good wife might do him the world of good and take his mind of his obsession with little people for a while."

The giantess turned off the light and left the store room.

"You should have stayed hidden and tried to help me later," said Valerie.

"That might not have worked," said Fitzhugh.

"But she didn't go for your deal. She conned you."

"She tried to con me. I do know all the tricks," said Fitzhugh, "And she was very predictable, although I didn't anticipate the method she used to disarm me of that needle. I knew she couldn't resist two rewards. At least I can try to help you now."

"Now we're both tied up."

"Precisely," said Fitzhugh, "In my line of … err… work, I had to anticipate that happening on earth. I've been taking a precaution for the last 20 years, which is about to pay off here."

Fitzhugh twisted his hands, until he was able to undo the clasp on his watchband. Inside was a tiny wad of putty, which held a razor blade. Valerie looked on in amazement, as Fitzhugh was able to extract his miniature precaution and grip it between finger and thumb. It took him a while to file through the thread, and then his wrists were free. He cut himself free from the lamp stand, and then went to cut Valerie loose.

"Fitzhugh, what a command performance!" she said.

"The last time you used that phrase, I was pretending to be rather intoxicated at Professor Gorn's laboratory," said Fitzhugh, "This situation is rather different."

He soon freed Valerie as well.

"Nice of the giant to leave us the rest of the sewing threads from the kit," he said, and tied a long piece of thread to the cash register handle, and ran it off the counter, letting it fall to the ground.

The two earthlings climbed down to the ground, and decided not to risk another attempt at the giantess's stock. They ran back to the forest.

"Fitz, I need to get my breath back," said Valerie, and they stopped, still at least 10 minutes away from their Spindrift Base Camp.

They sat down on a rock, which was the size of a boulder to them, and panted a little in the moonlight.

Valerie laughed, attempting to test a theory.

"To think that giantess thought you were smitten with me. It was good to see your heroic side though. It reminded me of the time we first met the giant diamond thief. It's got me thinking though, Fitzhugh, why take risks for me and not the others?"

"Are you trying to embarrass an old fool, Miss Scott? We do what we can to survive in this land. I hardly thought you'd be interested in a con man, when you could have a captain, a co-pilot or an engineer."

"You're one to talk. I hardly thought you'd be interested in romance, when you could chase money, quick rides home to earth and a foster son."

"Barry? He never had the same antagonism to the only way of life I've ever been any good at, that the adults do. Even when he learned I was not a real naval officer, even when he saw me at my worst, he still reached out in friendship and encouraged me to change for the better. The boy brought out a side in me I'd left behind in my childhood dreams."

"There's more to you than you show the others," said Valerie, "But you've shown it to me at least twice now. It's just as wrong to presume on a woman's lack of feelings than on her feelings, you know?"

"Are you sure you're not just suffering from a temporary damsel in distress gratitude?"

"We've been here long enough to know that I need more than rescuing from a man."

"I wouldn't know where to start. I just thought I had to save you from whatever Kobick had in store. I know how bad you felt after he just appeared and grabbed you, when we were all under the influence of the Delta Device. You told us it was the most horrific surprise the SID had ever sprung on us."

"So you wouldn't know where to start, would you … Alexander B?" said Valerie, and put her arms around him.

Somewhere in space, a time travel ship was flying alone, without a pilot. It could hold two well built men, such as its original users Olds and Fielder, or its subsequent users Steve Burton and Alexander Fitzhugh. They were both heavy weights, Steve as a result of much fitness training, and Fitzhugh as a result of much eating. Three slimmer people might just be able to travel in it as well.

The ship was soon pulled into the large green space warp, which linked the giant world with earth's dimension. Yet its own time travel circuits were running erratically, with nobody at the controls. When Olds and Fielder had used it, Olds had deliberately overridden its preset controls and freed it up, enabling them to ignore their assigned mission in 5377 and travel back to the Land of the Giants in 1984.

When Steve and Fitzhugh had used it, despite being in contact with Mark, who had been studying the instruction manual's futuristic English, Steve had not learned enough to set the time controls. The result had been that the machine had arbitrarily taken them to earth in the early 20th century, where they had been mistaken for alien invaders, and had to return to the giant world and send the ship up empty, in order to escape the giant forest rangers.

Somehow the ships controls were always drawn back from any journey, to the giant world in 1984 in the forest, probably as a result of something Olds had done. When it went to the earth side of the warp, there was no telling when it would come out.

On this occasion, the ship emerged in 2010 and came to rest in the outer gardens of a large convention centre in the early evening.

Later that night, three writers from the convention came walking through the gardens, on their way to the more distant parking spaces that they had found, having arrived after all those closer to the centre building had been taken. Peter had been reciting a mixture of his poetry and short stories at the workshops. Louise and Cindy had both written science fiction novels, and seemed to know each other already.

When they came across the curious looking time ship, they were flabberghasted.

"It looks like something from one of your yarns," said Cindy, "I tend to write more about people than science fiction technology."

"I know what you mean," said Louise, "But there doesn't seem to be anyone in or near it."

"I wouldn't mind a look," said Peter, and led the other two towards the ship. He found a button on the side of it, pressed it, and saw the door open.

"It's more than I could have described in my style of writing," said Louise.

"It reminds me of an old prop from some science fiction show I saw once. I was thinking of an episode fairly late in the series, when the writers had clearly used up all their better ideas. What was that episode called? Oh yes: Lost in a Junkyard," said Peter.

"What's this do?" asked Cindy, pressing a button on the inside.

The door closed, leaving all three of them inside the ship.

"Look at these controls," said Peter, "The instruments have both year date numerals and space vector coordinates. It could be a space time machine of some sorts."

"It could also be something the fans left behind from that other convention that was on here last week," said Cindy, "I found a poster in the bin. Something called Land of Defiance. Some of the geeks are far more into the weird stuff than us."

"There's one way to find out," said Louise, "Let's see if the controls work."

All three writers were out of their depth, but began adjusting controls, to see the ship fire up and take off. They flew up from the earth's atmosphere, and into space.

"I don't suppose it knows the way to New Zealand," said Louise.

"It seems to know the way to that!" said Cindy, pointing at the cockpit window, where they saw a huge green shimmering mass of confusing substance, or possibly just light.

"It looks like the reason I never partook of the nachos with my church friends at the Mexican restaurant on Sunday nights," said Peter, recalling his preference for cheese, mince meat, corn chips and nothing else in a nachos.

"You should have tried Tacos," said Louise.

"It's drawing us into it like a fast talking sales pitch," said Cindy.

"I'm beginning to feel like those two guys who are always tumbling helplessly," said Peter.

"Pull yourself together. Think of all those readers we're going to lose," said Louise.

"It's no use. We're in the control of another writer now," said Cindy.

The time ship plunged into the weird green warp, and emerged apparently unharmed. It travelled down and landed in a forest. The three travellers found the door release button again, opened the ship, stepped out, and surveyed the forest.

"It looks like a normal forest," said Cindy.

"Then how do you explain the disproportionate scale of everything?" asked Louise.

"I was thinking I'd had too much junk food at the convention. Anything wholesome costs a fortune in those places. After a whole packet of lollies, and three bars of chocolate, I can start seeing anything," said Peter.

"There are some people coming now," said Cindy, "Maybe we'll learn more when they introduce themselves."

Captain Steve Burton, engineer Mark Wilson and stewardess Betty Hamilton reached the small party.

"I'm Captain Steve Burton," said Steve, "This is my stewardess Betty Hamilton, and an engineer who crashed here with us, Mark Wilson. I must say, I thought we could make out that time ship returning, but I really didn't believe it, until we got closer."

"I'm Louise. These are Cindy and Peter. We found this ship on a writer's convention garden strip."

"Writers convention?" asked Steve, "I didn't think they had those in 1910."

"1910?" said Cindy, "It is 2010, isn't it?"

"You came from 2010?" asked Steve.

"Yes," said Peter, "Didn't you?"

"We came here in an ordinairy spaceship called Spindrift two years ago, for us anyway, in 1983. Our ship was damaged in struggles with a giant boy and a giant cat, the natural size of the inhabitants of this planet, by the way. In mid 1984 we were visited by two rogue time travellers from 5477. When they were arrested by their people, their ship was left behind. I tried to fly it to earth with one of our crew Alexander Fitzhugh, but we ended up in 1910 and had to return here. Now it seems the ship has gone to your time after I sent it up empty. How is that possible, Mark?"

"If the ship was unmanned, it could have drifted through time at random, much as a motor boat might do in the sea, with nobody steering it," said Mark, who seemed a little distracted by Louise.

Louise and Cindy were studying the two Spindrift men. Cindy was instantly drawn to the captain's debonair welcoming smile. Louise was more fascinated with the slightly older man, Mark Wilson, who seemed to be more reserved and withdrawn, keeping his cards closer to his chest. He was the one to speak next.

"Did you all come here in that ship? It's only supposed to take two people," said Mark.

"Well I'm fairly slim and girls don't usually weigh as much," said Peter, noticing the sweetness on Betty's face.

"I guess that makes sense," said Mark.

"Did you say giant boy?" said Cindy, keen to strike up a conversation with the handsome Captain.

"Yes," said Steve, "Everyone on this planet is giant sized, along with every animal, except for us and a few other lost travellers from earth. We can't get my ship running without reliable parts, which are very difficult to find on the giant world, and the time ship can't be counted on to get us to the right time in earth's history, which is different for us and you anyway. You are welcome to join us at our camp site and try to get my ship repaired though."

"And live in 1985 on earth," said Louise, "There'd be no internet."

"What's that?" asked Mark.

"I'd love to explain that to you in depth," said Louise, remembering the simplicities of 1985 technology, "If you're an engineer, you might even end up inventing the thing ahead of time."

"Maybe we could discuss it over one of the make-do meals we have here," said Mark.

"Do you have a list of what you'd really need for repairing the ship, if you could just get it on earth?" asked Peter.

"Yes, but we have to improvise all the time. Everything here is giant scaled, not designed for our ship, and a high risk to obtain, with so many giants looking to capture us and claim rewards," said Mark, "I'm fighting an uphill battle to get any serious repair work done on the space ship at all. I'll show you the list back at the camp site. It would be good if you three got in the habit of knowing what to look out for."

"We can go into all that later," said Betty, "I'm sure our new friends would like to meet the others and get settled in here first."

The Spindrift trio led the writers from 2010 back to their camp site, and introduced them to Dan the co-pilot, Barry and his dog Chipper, and the group's one budding romance of late: Alexander Fitzhugh and Valerie Scott.

As the next few days progressed, Mark and Louise found themselves spending all their time together. This was largely at Louise's instigation. Unlike the Spindrift team, the writers had not been conditioned to put romance out of their minds in an all-consuming focus on survival. Writers were more imaginative, sociable and romantic. Louise was used to running her own fiction website, and had the natural confidence to make fast moves on Mark. She had been shown the existing precedent of Fitzhugh and Valerie, which was evidence that a relationship could blossom on this planet.

Mark enjoyed the attention, and found that Louise had studied small snippets of information about technology, in order to write more believable science fiction. So she found Mark's technical dissertations easier to absorb than the others did. The two soon found any excuse they could to go on foraging missions together, which isolated them from the rest of the group.

Cindy was shyer than Louise, although no less set in her determination to win the heart of the sturdy caring Captain of the group. She took it upon herself to ask the captain and Barry many questions about the rules of survival and the adventures that his team had been through.

"Didn't you ever feel a little under-appreciated?" asked Cindy, when she and Steve were alone in the cockpit one day, "The way Barry tells it, your leadership has gotten them out of so many scrapes, and they're out pulling new stunts a week later. You've seen through almost every giant trick to capture you all, and led the team safely back here time and time again."

Steve found himself warming to this woman. She had a fresh outlook on their situation. Maybe it was her writing background. It gave her more scope for imagination and open mindedness. She saw the good in what he'd been trying to do, often with so much opposition from his more familiar charges. There was something in his memory of their time there, which had caused him so much guilt, that he'd bottled it away, not knowing how to discuss it with the others. This woman seemed to be more sympathetic, more likely to listen without judgement, and she had not been involved in the incident.

"I was the danger myself once," he said, "It's pretty shocking. I don't know if you'd want to hear about that story."

"Tell me, said Cindy, "It takes a lot to shock me, Captain."

Steve went on to explain what he had done to the team, while under the influence of giant toadstool dust. None of the earthlings could have known the hallucinations and paranoia that the alien drug could have induced in him. He had misinterpreted a small comment made by Mark to Betty, assumed the team were out to hand him over to the giants, and then lured them all into his traps, tied them up in a the vent of a vacant real estate office, and prepared to hand them over to Inspector Kobick.

"So you were drugged," said Cindy, "You should see what goes on in our time on earth these days."

"I still somehow knew what I was doing, although I had a brief blackout for a few moments, when the stuff wore off. I remember it all now. Everything I did was way out there, the actions of a nut, but my motives came from somewhere. I have to look at where those feelings came from. I called Valerie 'little miss tricksy', judged Fitzhugh's level of trustworthiness, took out my ferocity on Mark (from our past feuds) at the giant pocket knife trap, all because of inner resentments I'd harboured about their past behaviour, resentments that had been building long before the toadstool dust incident."

"And you're beating yourself up needlessly. What about Dan? You attacked him too. What motive would you have there?"

"I can't think of any. He was my best friend before we left earth, and he's always remained that."

"So you see," said Cindy, "I understand human psychology well. I've incorporated it into all of the character depth in my stories. It's the reason mine can go for 150 pages, while Peter usually only writes much shorter yarns or poetry. You had no resentment of Dan, no logical reason to attack him and deliver him to Kobick. It was all brought on by the toadstool drug. It's fair to assume, that whatever resentments you had of the other three constantly undermining your leadership and risking the group's safety, you'd have attacked them anyway, while not responsible for your actions. For all the other time in the two years you've been here, you've done nothing but look after all of them, which it seems that they haven't made an easy job."

"I never saw it that way before," said Steve, "We've needed someone like you to stabilize our thinking processes for a long time, Cindy. I almost wish you'd been on the Spindrift flight."

Cindy laughed.

"You're forgetting the time differential, Steve. I'm from 2010."

"Sorry. Mark was always better at that stuff than I was."

"Don't apologize. You're a good man, and by all Barry's accounts, a very brave man, Steve Burton."

Cindy kissed him. He flinched a little, and then went with it.

"Do you mind the distraction from your usual role?" she asked.

"Strangely, no," said Steve, "Betty's a colleague and I always found Valerie to be the unreliable sort of distraction best avoided. I was hardly surprised when she latched onto Fitzhugh. In a way they're two of a kind. I don't know how much of Fitzhugh's stolen million dollars survived our adventure with the Piper and Fitzhugh's time as a giant, but he might have a secondary interest in our wealthy society girl."

"Not from what I've seen of them," said Cindy, "He can always find another get rich quick crime to commit both here or on earth, but her affection is something he seems to cherish."

"Well I've seen what's gone on with Mark and Louise too," said Steve, "Maybe we'll all be in better frames of mind to outwit the giants, if our hearts aren't so wound up with nothing to release the tension.

This time Steve took the lead, which Cindy much preferred, and embraced her properly for a second kiss. She imagined the day when he would be flying her back to earth. She would welcome a marriage to this man, even in 1985. There were many benefits actually. Global warming wasn't nearly as advanced. September 11th 2001 hadn't happened yet. So all of the overworked security mentality which caused so many administrative problems on earth in the 2000s hadn't started. As well as that she could be a real woman, back in the last decade or two of the times when it was still common for women to wear long feminine skirts and dresses, rather than trousers and business suits. As she noted the lovely fashions worn by Betty and Valerie, Cindy felt ashamed of her own time period. What had gone wrong with the women lately? Too many TV shows depicted women in leather jackets, black pants, and other uninspiring clothes, drinking beer or wine straight from small bottles, and doing nothing feminine towards men at all. Betty seemed the sweet model of decency that any woman could aspire too. And right now, she was curiously absent from the campsite.

Peter quickly fled away from the Spindrift camp site, and back to the time ship. He took out a sheet of paper and began looking at it.

"Shopping list?" came a voice.

It was Betty.

"It's Mark's list. I can go to earth in whatever time the ship takes me to, and hunt down all he needs and bring it back, instead of the weight allotment being used up by another passenger. There'll be no giants to grab me on earth. I'll get the supplies, and some better tools and bring it all here for Mark. Tell the others to expect me."

"But Peter, the risk of going alone is too great. Fitzhugh told you what happened to him and Steve last time."

"If it gets us what we need, the risk is worth it. Don't you trust me, Betty? I can do it for all of us."

"Alright then. But please be careful, Peter. I …. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

Betty walked towards the bushes, and was just taking up a position to watch Peter's take-off, as Peter started up the steps of the open door.

Suddenly a giant hand reached down and grabbed Peter. It was a woman, unfamiliar to Betty.

She was wearing a white long lab coat, and a skirt and shirt. She had long dark hair. She put Peter into the top pocket of her coat, and used both hands to pick up the ship.

"Please, don't take it. It's my only hope," said Peter.

"What hope should I offer you, after what Wilson, Fitzhugh and Valerie did to my husband and his lab?" asked the woman, "My husband gave half his life to a project, and then your little friends usurped the glory and cost him his life. It's taken a year to rebuild the laboratory, but nothing can bring Franzen back after your little friends blew up our experimental guidance system, killing my husband and Logar. You're coming with me."

"I wasn't part of that team then," said Peter, and was about to add that he had only arrived recently in the ship she had just found. Then he recalled all of the stories that Steve and the others had recently told him about the giants' attempts to locate and capture the Spindrift.

Peter decided to let the giantess think she had captured the only earth ship on the giant planet. That way she'd never go hunting for another and find the Spindrift base camp.

"It's Altha," Betty realized, remembering what Mark and Steve had told her. The woman had been resentful of Mark's assistance, and set them up with the SID and the neutralizer so called 'accident.' Now she was taking the results out on an innocent person who'd not even been part of their team then: Peter. Betty had to save him. There was no time to go back for the others. She had to follow Altha to her new laboratory. Carrying the ship was slowing the woman down a lot, which enabled Betty to run after her.

Back at the ship, Louise and Mark were enjoying each other's company in a private lean-to set up for their use. Fitzhugh and Valerie had taken to snuggling up between two large fresh picked leaves, leaving Steve and Cindy to make out in the ship. Barry and Chipper had felt like fifth wheels and gone off on walks by themselves of late.

"That's enough of my boring engineering lectures," said Mark, "What about these stories of yours. Will I ever get to hear one?"

"Louise took out her notepad computer, pleased that Mr Gates had come up with one small enough to have carried to the convention in her handbag. She dug up a series she'd written called The Spendthrift Chronicles, and read Mark a fascinating tale, which held his attention while he stroked her hair and rubbed her upper back.

Betty had to use a vent to get into the lab, recalling Steve's account of how it came out at table height. Thankfully a new table had been fitted there, and she was able to see Peter properly caged, as she peeked through the vent opening.

Peter looked at the giantess. There was something arousing about the thought of being with such a towering beauty of a woman. His mind had been playing with the thought of winning her over, exploring all the possibilities, but he realised that his own stories had moved away from action and science fiction in recent years. Everything he had written lately had taken on a more down to earth romantic focus, and his volumes of poetry had increased dramatically. He was ready to think like a mature adult now, and thought of the joy of throwing his arms around a woman who would always be there for him, someone he could wake up to every day, cuddle in bed; and someone who would be sweet, feminine and supportive. This was not the giantess before him now. This was someone encapsulated perfectly in every aspect of Betty, who even now was probably alerting the others to his recklessness and organizing a rescue. By the end of this adventure, if he ever got free, Steve and Dan would have him classified in the same disdainful category as Valerie and Fitzhugh, going by all he'd been told.

Betty would not be impressed, once he'd copped a proper chewing out from the captain, after allowing himself to get caught by a giant so soon after joining their team.

Altha was working on something on the other side of the room.

"Do you have any engineering knowledge?" she asked, "Not that I'd let you boast about it to the Supreme Council."

"No," said Peter, "I'm a writer."

"Of what?"

"Poetry, and stories."

"Poetry? Recite me something. The government insurance policy paid out on the lab, and I did well out of my widow's pension too. I don't really need an SID reward. Maybe I'll be able to keep you around for entertainment value. This ship of yours will certainly make up for my husband's lost work after what Wilson's gang did to the old lab," said Altha.

"I haven't learned any of them off by heart," said Peter, "I brought some with me in a book I desktop published, when I left earth. I'd just used the book at a writer's convention. It's back with my friends now, and I'm not going to tell you where they are."

"I didn't think you would," said Altha, "So you have no poetry at all on your person."

"There is just one, that's on a piece of paper in my pocket. I started writing it, before I set out this morning," said Peter, "but it's rather personal."

"Your situation is rather personal, as it depends entirely on what I decide to do with you," said Altha, "Now read it, little man."

"Alright," said Peter, and took the poem out of his pocket, "It's not finished. I was going to take it with me in the ship and do the rest on earth while I was there."

"Just read what you've written so far," said Altha.

"OK.

You dressed in pink, the day we met, but now I'm glad I've seen

The fashions you've gone back to, which were best in red and green.

I've wondered if your foster son's the only one you see.

You're worth much more to me than to the giant S.I.D.

We come from different periods. Does destiny have flaws,

Or was I always meant to make my home with you in yours?

Though I'm a stranger in your camp, and hardly know the ropes,

I wish that I could tell you: you're the focus of my hopes.

Compared to all the others, you're more selfless, kind and sweet.

The giants may just chase you down an endless one-way street;

But I would bear my heart to you, help you raise your son,

If you could see your way to life with me, Miss Hamilton.

That's as far as I'd gotten with it."

"You wrote from the heart," said Altha, "I've wanted to express myself like that, ever since I lost Franzen. I take it your little friend has no idea how you feel."

"No."

Concealed in the vent, Betty felt her heart melting. This handsome newcomer, with his even featured boyish face and neatly trimmed wavy brown hair and incredibly cute eyes had taken her fancy from day one, but seemed distracted. She had assumed that he'd been preoccupied with lifting Mark's list of materials needed, and sneaking off to earth in the time ship to get them. Now she discovered, without him knowing she had eavesdropped, that he had been thinking of her all this time, been too shy to express it, too concerned with her motherly devotion to Barry, and had confined his thoughts to a heart warming poem instead. Betty thought of the indignity he must have felt, having to bear his thoughts to a giantess who'd held him captive, as he sat there thinking he was caught forever.

"Maybe I should send a copy to Inspector Kobick," said Altha, "It seems you little people have poetry writing skills 500 years in advance of ours."

Actually the Inspector had been busy himself lately. He had instructed his officers, who had extra time on their hands, resulting from the scarcity of little people reports lately, to move through the city, posting detailed notices asking for any new reports about little people, however unimportant or out of date they might have seemed.

One of his officers entered the store, which Fitzhugh and Valerie had attempted to burgle in the night. Mrs Moorehead, the widow who owned the shop, greeted him.

"I'm approaching one store in every street block, asking permission to post notices requesting information about little people sightings," said the officer.

"I'll gladly let you post it," said Mrs Moorehead, "I had two of those little thieves in my clutches only a few weeks ago."

"That's by far the most recent sighting we've had lately. What were they doing?" asked the officer.

"Trying to make it out of here with a can of fruit," said the woman, pointing to the hole in the wall, "That's where they got in."

"If they're targeting this area for food, it's probably because your shop is in the block closest to the forest. They can't travel easily at their size. They'll probably try to hit this are again. It could be our best chance of getting them. Do you mind if I use your phone to call Inspector Kobick. He'll be very interested."

"Of course, young man. I'd be very happy to give him a detailed account of the incident."

Inspector Kobick wasted no time in driving down to Mrs Moorehead's store in person.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs Moorehead," he said, "The officer has shown me their entry point. Can you tell me how they got away after you found them?"

"I sleep on the premises. I can't afford to do otherwise. I've had no income since my husband died without a pension. I heard a noise in the night, and came in and switched on the light. I surprised a tiny woman dressed in yellow. She was attempting to roll a can of fruit to the hole."

"I'm familiar with that one," said Kobick, feeling a great sympathy for the charming woman, and the first stirrings of his heart since the middle aged bachelor had given up on ever finding a wife and devoted all his attention to his job, "She even tricked two civilians into releasing her from a cage in my office once. Don't feel bad, if you couldn't catch her in time."

"I did catch her, Mr Kobick. I was about to tie her up for the night and bring her to you in the morning, when a little plump man called me from the shelf, and challenged me. I saw a rope and safety pin hook and realised the girl hadn't attempted the robbery on her own. I tried to grab him and he stabbed me with one of the needles from those little pocket sewing kits we sell."

"I'm sorry to hear that. They're real little monsters. One of them, their Captain, threw a small bomb in my own office."

"I'm glad you survived it, Mr Kobick. You're too valuable a man for this city to lose."

Was he imagining it, or was this woman fawning over him?

"It's kind of you to say so. So what happened then?" asked Kobick.

"He tried to persuade me to free the woman and take him. I played along, and then threatened him with a long kitchen knife. He tossed down his needle and gave in. I had them both. I tied them to separated objects on the counter with thread from the sewing kit. In the morning I found them gone, and Inspector, the threads weren't snapped. They were cut."

"How could you tell?"

"You feel them, Sir. No little person could break that. I had their wrists tied closely together as well. One of them must have concealed a tiny knife."

"It was a valiant effort, Mrs Moorehead. Don't feel discouraged. They've been outwitting me for nearly two years. How long have you been living on the shop premises alone?"

"A year now, Inspector."

"Call me Dobbs. You've been very helpful, and I'll have my men patrol this area regularly and make sure you're not troubled by the little malfeasants again. Sergeant, would you go out and look for some suitable places for your men to observe this place, where the little people won't spot them at nights?"

"Yes Sir."

"Oh, and Sergeant?"

"Yes Sir."

"Use the radio in my car, and contact Lieutenant Grayson. Tell him I'm pulling him off whatever case he's on at the moment. He's to leave it to his next in charge and meet me here as fast as he can get here."

"I'll get on it immediately Sir."

Kobick smiled as his man left the room. He was sure that he had read the signals properly, and wanted to test his chances with her.

"Now that we're alone, I was wondering if you'd like to talk of more pleasant matters than the little people. There's not much going on at SID headquarters these days. You're the first person in ages to give us a useful report on the little people. Could I take you to dinner, after you've closed the shop for the day?"

"I'd like that very much, Inspector, and thank you for coming so promptly and giving me your personal attention."

"The little people always gain my prompt attention, Madam; but this is the first time I can ever say it was such a pleasure to do my duty."

"The pleasure was mine too … Dobbs."

Betty continued to eavesdrop on Altha's conversation with Peter, until the woman made a more useful announcement.

"I'm going to leave the room now. I could do with a walk in the fresh air this afternoon, to decide what I'm going to do with you," she said, "I'll be gone for a couple of hours at least."

"I guess you won't lose any sleep over it, whatever you decide," said Peter, "It's a little different from where I stand."

"I'm glad you understand that," said Altha, and left.

Betty came out of the vent and over to the cage.

"Oh Betty, thank goodness you're here. I didn't think any of you would ever find me. You'd better call the others in to force this cage door open. I can't do it from this side."

"They're not here. I came alone," said Betty, "I had to keep Altha in sight."

It occurred to her that she could have collected the original Spindrift men, who had all been to the original laboratory before and knew the way there. But she had wanted to save Peter herself. She found a crude metal compass and used it to lever the cage door latch open. Peter came out and thanked her. She decided to keep her knowledge of his poem and his feelings for her a secret for now. They had more to think about.

Inspector Kobick waited for Lieutenant Grayson to arrive at Mrs Moorehead's shop.

"Lieutenant, we'll conference in my car," said Kobick. The other men can go back in the car used by the officer who took Mrs Moorehead's first statement before I got here."

Kobick and Grayson walked to his car.

"You're the best operative available in the SID," said Kobick, "You were the natural choice to take charge of SID, while I was on special assignment for the Supreme Council, after Swan was murdered by Sergeant Barker. I read the whole case report. It's a shame you didn't see any little people, but in this case the offender was one of our own. Not a pleasant thing to have to deal with in your first job as acting head of the department, was it?"

"No Sir, but we don't get to choose our lot," said Grayson, glad that he had been successful in dissuading Bertha Frye from leaking the fact that the little people had been there to warn him of Sergeant Barker's attempt to kill Grayson himself. Dr Jelko had certified Barker as delusional, and corroborated Grayson's altered version of events, so that there was no record of Grayson's one act of gratitude in freeing Steve Burton and his friends.

"True," said Kobick, "But I was just talking to a victim of an assault and attempted robbery by two of the little people. I recounted a previous case to her, which got me thinking. I had a little person in my office, and she somehow escaped from Dr Berger and Andre while I was out of the room. That was my main annoyance at the time, but I've just remembered a vital clue we can use. Dr Berger led me to the place where I caught her, telling me that he had found the Spaceship encampment of the little people. If he was telling the truth, and that I'll forever wonder about, then their base camp must be somewhere in the vicinity of the place I caught that girl in the forest. Those earthlings are tricky, clever to the nth degree. I don't want them outwitting my incompetent Sergeants and officers. I want you to come with me and help me search that spot, if I can recall where it was. I'll take whatever little people I can find at the campsite, and leave you there to lie flat and hide in waiting for the rest, when they return to find their ship gone. Are you up for it?"

"Certainly Sir," said Grayson, wondering if he had been wise to let the little people go last time, "What kind of assault, Sir?"

"A little man stabbed her with one of her own sewing needles, after she caught him and a little girl trying to rip off her store in the night. This time we'll get them, Grayson. You're my best bet and we're heading out there now. Given the proximity of this store to their camp and my recollections of the Dr Berger case, I'm sure I can find their camp now. Let's get our feet busy."

Back at the Spindrift base camp, Mark and Louise had stripped down a panel and begun work on the ship's internal mechanics.

Fitzhugh and Valerie were manning the outpost.

Steve had taken Cindy and Barry and Chipper out to look for picnic leftovers which they could use as food, since it seemed unwise to make another midnight raid on the shops so soon after the last one.

Steve and Cindy found a giant stick of celery.

"We'll carry it back to the ship, while you two keep looking. Use your radio if you need us," said Steve, knowing that Chipper was their best early warning system for sniffing out approaching giants. Barry would be fine.

Steve and Cindy each took one end of the celery stick, and started back towards Spindrift.

"I like these harmless foraging missions most," said Cindy, "Almost as though you were taking me on a picnic."

"I know what you mean," said Steve, "And we gave Mark and Louise all the privacy they needed back at the ship.

"Not to mention Fitzhugh and Valerie at the outpost."

When they got closer to the ship, they heard loud footsteps. Giant footsteps.

"Drop it and duck back into the bushes!" said Steve, pulling Cindy with him.

They saw Steve's worst nightmare come into being. Inspector Kobick arrived at their base camp, accompanied by Lieutenant Grayson.

"I guess he meant what he said about my expecting no more favours next time he came after me," thought Steve, remembering Grayson's warning, after Steve had put him onto Barker's attempt to stab the Lieutenant with a fatal curare dart.

"Are they SID men?" asked Cindy.

"The two top brass. Kobick and Lieutenant Grayson. I didn't even think they ever worked together. Hang it! They're taking the ship."

Kobick's eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

Inside the ship Mark felt the movement, and quickly closed the door to the room they were using. Now Kobick wouldn't see them. He turned his radio on and whispered into it.

"Steve, can you hear me? Answer quietly," said Mark.

"Yes, are you and Louise alright?" said Steve.

"We're just surprised. Who's got us?"

"Kobick, and Grayson's with him. They don't seem to know you're in the ship. Stay hidden. We'll see what we can do. Has anyone seen Betty and Peter today?"

"No, but I was going to add something to my list of materials before. It's gone," said Mark, "You don't suppose they …"

"I don't want to think about it," said Steve, "We'll have to back off, before Grayson starts looking for us."

Kobick now held the ship almost at eye level and looked inside. It seemed to be empty.

"We did it, Grayson. This is the key to all of them, and their tricky advanced technology. I'm taking this back to headquarters now. I want you to wait here as planned. Get down low and take them unexpectedly. I particularly want the little captain. Without him, the others are more likely to make mistakes that will put them in our hands much sooner."

"Yes sir," said Grayson.

As Steve and Cindy watched, Grayson crouched down in the bushes, waiting for the return of the other earthlings.

Steve ran away with Cindy, until they were far enough from Grayson, to chance using the radio. He contacted Fitzhugh, who took a suspiciously long time to answer the radio.

"Yes Captain," said Fitzhugh.

"Kobick's got the ship with Mark and Louise inside. Why didn't you warn them?" Steve spluttered, irate that things had gotten to this stage.

"We … err… things were getting … We must have fallen asleep…" said Fitzhugh.

"Don't tell me. I don't want to know. I swear, Fitzhugh, if we come out of this with a way to leave, and you're not around at the time, don't expect us to come looking for you! Now meet at the time ship location as soon as you can. You've got the furthest to walk to it."

"Let's get the time ship out of here," said Betty, as they looked across from the cage and saw it apparently intact on the far side of the table. Altha hadn't damaged it at all.

"How. She's closed the door?" said Peter.

"Look at the skylight. This lab has one. It's glass. We could crash the ship through it without hurting ourselves, if we're inside it."

"I don't know if I can pilot it that well."

"You got it all the way here from earth 2010," said Betty, "I know you can do it, Peter. Let's try it."

"Better than being caught again by Altha," said Peter.

They entered the time ship and Peter lifted off, with Betty at his side. They rose higher and higher, gaining as much speed as Peter could manage. They got closer to the skylight, and then the crash echoed through the ship. Huge slabs of glass fell past them, to shatter into smaller pieces on the laboratory floor far below. Peter flew them back to the forest, and the ship settled in the same spot that they had taken off from. Hopefully Altha would not expect them to return to it, but Olds' programming had ensured it would always return to that spot from any point in time and space. They would have to be careful to check for giants any time they went near the time ship.

"Oh Peter, you did it. You got us back!" said Betty.

"Did I? I got us into this. You came and saved ME. Steve sure picked the right person to bring on his 1983 flight."

"He didn't pick me. Miss Collier assigned me to that flight at Los Angeles Airport, but it's nice to be noticed and appreciated … especially when I'm in red and green."

Peter realised that she'd heard his poetry reading.

"Just how long were you in that vent?"

"Don't be embarrassed. I think it's the sweetest thing I've heard since I came to this world, and that even includes Biff Bowers' jazz performance with Dan. I'll tell you about that some time. Your plan to get parts from other times on earth is still a good one. We just have to be more careful."

"Steve to Betty! Come in Betty!"

"Betty here. What's up Steve," she said, turning on her radio.

"Inspector Kobick's found our base camp and taken the ship, leaving Lieutenant Grayson and his men to watch for our return. Mark and Louise are in the ship, but I don't know if Kobick saw them. The rest of us are headed your way to hide. Is it clear?"

"For now," said Betty, "Altha, the widow of that scientist Mark helped, found the time ship and captured it, but we snuck away with it by flying it through the skylight."

"You two did that! Well done. We'll be with you soon. Watch for giants and call me if you see anything," said Steve.

"You didn't tell him I was part of the problem, and that you were the heroine of the rescue."

"I don't tell him everything," said Betty, "He wasn't too pleased, when my last love interest turned out to be a temporarily shrunken giant going by the name Joe."

"Did you just imply that I'm a love interest?"

"Whatever happens to make the men of 2010 so shy?" asked Betty.

"Probably the feminist movement gone out of control," said Peter, "You don't want to read my poems on that subject."

"I rather like being the subject of your latest one though," said Betty.

Peter knew that Spindrift was gone. He knew that much ado would be involved in freeing Mark and Louise, and that the others were on their way to the time ship site. Yet there was only one suitable response to make to Betty at the moment, and the dashing writer did it with enthusiasm.

When they heard running footsteps, they both immediately came up for air.

It was Barry and Chipper.

"The Captain filled me in," said Barry, "What now?"

"This ship could get us away two at a time, and we'd have to take our chances on what time period we ended up in," said Peter, "But we can't use it without Mark and Louise."

Soon Steve and Cindy and Fitzhugh and Valerie had joined them.

"Captain, my deepest apologies," said Fitzhugh.

Steve shoved him into a bush.

"You always are! Now let me talk to Mark in peace. Don't make any noise that could be audible to Kobick through the radios. Barry, take Chipper into the time ship and shut the door, so it'll muffle any barking he might suddenly make."

Kobick took the ship to his office and put it high on top of a large filing cabinet, which was now filled entirely with reports and case files on little people incidents. Mark and Louise heard him go to his desk and dial a number.

"Put me in contact with the secretary of the Supreme Council," said Kobick, "… This is Inspector Kobick. I am happy to report that I have personally located and captured the space ship belonging to the little people. My best man Lieutenant Grayson expects to have at least some of the earthlings in custody by the end of today. If you'd like to come to my office with your best scientist, the ship is available for examination at your earliest convenience. It's actually on the little people files cabinet, as we speak."

"Do you think they'll find us?" asked Louise.

"Not if my old back-up plan works," said Mark, "They won't even get the ship."

"We'd better listen to the rest of his call," said Louise.

"Five o'clock today would be fine, Mr Secretary. I'll see you then. I'm headed back to the camp where I found the ship to assist Grayson with the capture of any returning little people."

Kobick left his office.

Mark called Steve.

"Steve, Louise and I have still escaped Kobick's notice. He's on his way back to Spindrift camp site to ambush the rest of you."

"We'll never get Spindrift out of there now," said Steve, "There's no further point in trying to repair it, now that the SID have got it. We'll have to use a suggestion Peter and Betty have just brought to my attention, take off in the time ship, two at a time, and send it back by remote from whatever time periods it lands in on earth. It'll always return here, won't it?"

"I'm convinced of that," said Mark, "But I'm not letting Kobick give this ship to the Supreme Council. I built a destruct bomb into it months ago, that even you and Dan didn't know about. I'm going to open the port door, lower a rope to the floor, set the timer and then jam the rope in the door. We'll climb down, get out of here and take all Kobick's files on us out in the same explosion. It's the least we can do to save Kobick the trouble of looking for us anymore."

Louise flashed Mark a look of admiration at his quick thinking.

"I've just arranged for you to make the most desperate race of your life, with some strenuous climbing involved," said Mark, "I'm surprised you're so positive."

"I'm amazed you thought all this up so fast, on the go," said Louise, "I'm sure I could come up with equally good or better, but it takes me ages to dream up my stories and pull all the relevant plot lines together."

"Both skills have their value," said Mark, "Can you start lowering this rope from the edge of the filing cabinet top down to the floor, while I program the destruct bomb? Let me know when you're finished, so I can press the final button. After that there'll be no going back."

"I'm on it," said Louise.

She took the long rope that had been made out of knotted pieces of string collected from various raids on giant properties, and found that it reached all of the way to the floor with plenty of rope to spare.

"Mark honey, I'm done!" she called.

"Here goes Spindrift," said Mark, and pressed the countdown button. They had ten minutes to get out.

He ran out of the ship, grabbed Louise's end of the rope, pushed it in the doorway, closed the ship door from the outside, and then led her down the rope to the floor. They ran for the vent and made it to the street with two minutes of the countdown left. The sun was starting to set, and they had to duck under a post box to avoid being seen by two returning officers.

"I hope they're not in there, when it goes off," said Louise, "They may be oversized bureaucrats, but they're still human like us."

"Kobick locks his office, and our ship should only make enough of a bang to destroy the filing cabinet and a few surrounding giant meters of the office," said Mark, "Let's get to the park before it goes off. Those two will be searching this spot for us, when it does."

Mark and Louise ran across to the park, and got deep into the bushes, and looked back just in time to see the sparks flying towards the front window of Kobick's office, to the tune of a colossal explosive sound.

"Let's head for the time ship," said Mark, holding Louise's hand as they ran.

"We don't know how long we've got, or how far Kobick and Grayson will search the forest, if they decide not to wait for us to return to camp," said Steve, "Some of us had better go now. The rest will hide in the bushes until the ship returns. At least that way if it lands in view of approaching giants on any of its return journeys, they'll only find the ship and not us."

"I want to wait and go with you," said Cindy.

"It may well not be 2010, nor even 1985," said Steve.

"It'll be the two of us in any time period," said Cindy.

"Alright. Mark and Louise are blowing Kobick's office up with Spindrift and all the SID files on us, even as we speak. They'll be the last to get back here. I'm assuming Fitzhugh wants to go with Valerie."

"Sure Skipper, and sorry about the foul-up," said Valerie, "It was as much my fault."

"It's done," said Steve, "The final numbers will be hard to work out."

"I'd like to go with Betty, if it's not too presumptuous," said Peter.

Betty nodded in agreement.

"Captain," said Barry, "I'm just a child. So I'm smaller. Peter and Cindy and Louise made it okay. Dan and Chipper and I should be sufficiently light for the ship to take us somewhere."

"Alright then. Fitzhugh, you take off with Valerie. Remember Mark's lessons on activating frozen time, if you do meet hostile receptions on earth. Come back here and try again for a different time period. Send it back empty for the next of us, and we'll take our best shots, and Valerie?"

"Yes Skipper."

"Don't let him foul up again. Now go."

Fitzhugh and Valerie got into the time ship, and took off.

"Hi Grayson, any luck?" whispered Kobick, after crawling up behind him.

"No Sir, and it's almost nightfall."

"Let's wait until it is. We've still got our flashlights," said Kobick.

After half an hour, an officer came racing through the bushes.

"Sergeant Stone! This is supposed to be a covert operation!" muttered Kobick, "Thanks to you, any little people in the area will head for the hills now."

"I don't think they're here, Sir. I came out to tell you as soon as I could get here. I think they broke into your office and tried to get the ship back."

"Did you catch any of them?" said Kobick, fairly sure it was a rhetorical question.

"No Sir. They blew up most of your office. From what we can tell, the ship was ground zero. All of your files are ashes."

"The ship! They were hiding in it all along!" barked the Inspector, "I checked it visually, but there must have been a hidden room on the inside. Let's get back and see if we can find any of the little monsters!"

Louise was an excellent plot strategist, having written mountains of complex fiction. She apprised Mark of her predictions of Kobick's reaction. The two of them took a detour to the new time ship camp site, making sure that they didn't fall foul of Inspector Kobick and Lieutenant Grayson.

Fitzhugh and Valerie arrived on earth, managing to land in New York Central Park in the middle of the night, unseen. It was familiar to both of them. Fitzhugh sent the ship back, and they began to explore their new surroundings.

"We'd better find out what time we're in," said Valerie.

"Let's sleep the night in the park, and then go and buy a newspaper," said Fitzhugh.

"We don't even have the price of that," said Valerie.

"On the contrary, my dear, we have the surviving bulk of a million dollars. We'll have to spend it wisely, not giving people time to spot the early 1980s markings on it, but it's ours."

Fitzhugh began turning out the pockets of his naval trench coat, producing one wad of currency after another.

"No wonder you started wearing that thing again lately. I wondered why, since you discarded it in the Spindrift soon after we first crashed on the giants' world."

"I wanted to conceal my loot, expecting that the time ship would somehow be the solution to our problems," said Fitzhugh.

"Alexander B, is that why you suggested that we be the ones to sleep outside under leaves, claiming that your trench coat would keep you warm, and offering all the spare blankets to me?"

"You read my like a book, my dear."

"We're almost millionaires," Valerie giggled.

They snuggled close to each other in Central Park, and woke the next morning, walked over to the nearest news stand, and learned that it was 1927.

"New York in gangster time. Just right for you really," said Valerie, recalling the amusing gangster voice that Fitzhugh had used on the telephone when challenging nightclub owner Hanley by pretending to be the giant city's newest mob boss.

"But sadly not some time becoming a lady of your distinction," said Fitzhugh, "Never mind though. I think I have the makings of a way to profit from it."

"Blast those little monsters!" said Kobick, "This time they've gone way past too far. I can only hope that some of them went up with it!"

"What do we do now?" asked Grayson.

"You're in charge of the investigation, Lieutenant. I need a week off to recover from this, and I'm going to start by taking a certain widow to dinner."

The ship took relatively little time to make each journey, since its flight was aided by both a space warp and the ship's own futuristic capabilities.

Mark and Louise arrived just before the ship's return.

"You should have seen the bang," said Louise, "He timed it perfectly."

"Yes, I think the slate between us and the SID is just about wiped clean for a long time to come now," said Mark, "Though I'm glad we'll be getting off this rock at last."

"They'll want us more than ever after this," said Cindy.

"You two want to go next?" said Steve.

"Okay," said Mark, "We'll do our best to put it down in a useful time period. Steve, if you go last, remember the frozen time overload mechanism. It's the only way to make sure the ship's not found and used by some unsuspecting earth person who'll end up here and probably get caught by giants."

"Just one thing," said Steve, "I found a strange note written to myself a couple of months ago. If you do get back to Los Angeles Airport just before our original take off, don't try to prevent it. Something tells me you'll just open a can of worms if you do that."

Mark took Peter aside and gave him a similar explanation, handing him the instruction manual, which had been in his pocket ever since the 2010 writers had brought the time ship back to the giants' planet. He opened the relevant page, showed Peter the diagrams of the controls, and told him what to do.

"Very cryptic," said Louise, "You're the expert on this ship Mark."

"For once I'm not," said Mark, "I'm flying blind and trusting the dice of the time stream like the rest of us."

Mark and Louise flew the time ship to earth and sent it back by remote. They found a time that was unfamiliar to both of them, and soon learned that they were in 2045 in Christchurch New Zealand.

"Of all the ridiculous luck," said Mark, "Everyone who knew me as company director would be long dead now."

"We're away from the giants, and if anyone can adjust to the technological updates of this period, it's you. You'll be designing again before you know it," said Louise.

Dan, Barry and Chipper made the next trip, and their location was surprisingly familiar to Dan.

"It's Hyde Park London, not that far from the airport that we were originally headed for," said Dan.

"My cousins live nearby," said Barry, "They'd put us up for a while, I'm sure."

"You're forgetting the time factor, Barry," said Dan, "Let me send the ship back to Steve, and we'll work out when we are."

They soon found that they had arrived in 1986.

"Only out by one year. I can tell the airline about the giant world, and hope to goodness someone believes me," said Dan, "At least I can pick up my old life as a pilot."

Barry's Uncle and Aunt adopted him permanently, not convinced by his wild story about his three year absence, but gradually accepting that he had only aged two years and not three and a half. To a boy of Barry's age, this was a noticeable distinction.

Steve and Cindy were the next to go. Steve had argued that he should be the last to leave the giant planet, as he felt responsible for the safety of his party.

"I'm as likely a leader for our party as anyone," said Peter, "And I think you have the best experience in piloting that ship to another world and sending it reliably back for us. Whichever way we play it is a gamble."

"It's alright Captain Burton," said Betty.

"I don't know," said Steve.

Then they heard a noise.

"Giants!" said Cindy, "Let's just either group of us go now, and the others hide!"

"You two go!" said Peter, "Hopefully the giants will think we've all escaped in the ship, and they won't come back again and find it returning on its own later. It's a chance we'll have to take."

Betty, concurring with Peter, ran off, before Steve had time to argue. He took Cindy into the ship and closed the hatch. Peter and Betty hid themselves far in the bushes, and soon heard voices as Steve began lifting off with Cindy.

"Little People taking off in their space ship!" called a man.

"But honey, what about that explosion in SID headquarters on the news? It was reported that the ship was destroyed."

The voice must have belonged to his wife, as Peter and Betty saw both of them come into view. It was now well into the next morning, after the first flight of the ship with Fitzhugh and Valerie to earth. The giant couple were taking a walk in the forest, and had arrived just in time to see Steve and Cindy lift off.

"They must have had two ships," said the husband, "I guess that's the last this planet will see of the little people. I don't know if Inspector Kobick will be relieved or annoyed to know they're gone. We'd better turn in a report when we get back."

"Later darling. Let's have our picnic first. We've still got a long way to the spot where we went on our first date all those years ago."

"That's good," said Peter quietly, "By the time they have their outing and get back to report this location to the SID, we'll be on our way to earth-when."

Steve and Cindy arrived in Ohio, and wasted no time in learning that it was 2013.

"How about that? The world didn't end last year," Cindy mused.

"Huh?" said Steve.

"Oh, just a bad movie with little regard for accurate Bible prophecy," said Cindy.

"I doubt that whoever's running my airline will believe our story and retrain me as a 2013 pilot," said Steve.

"Well I'm not too displaced in time. Besides, I have an idea on your credibility. It just depends what times the others got to," said Cindy.

"Oh yes," said Steve, his mind dawning on the possible side effects of fractured group time travel as rapidly as it had once conceived the plan he'd once forgotten, to use a Space Time Manipulator to return to Los Angeles 1983 and rewrite Spindrift history.

Peter and Betty waited for the giants to continue on their way, and both of them crossed their fingers that no giants would come their way before the time ship returned. Fortunately Steve got the machine back to them on its own by the middle of the afternoon. The giant couple were still off picnicking.

Peter and Betty boarded the ship and travelled through the warp to earth. Peter managed to land the ship in a large bush reserve on the upper North Shore of Sydney Australia.

"We can't use it again. If anyone else does, they'll end up back on the giant world," said Betty.

"I know. Mark told me something in privacy, just before he left. There's a destruct mechanism he read about in the manual. All we have to do is set frozen time and then leave the ship for too long. When we're not back to reset the controls, it will blow up."

Peter set the frozen time, and suddenly noticed a butterfly outside the front window of the ship stop movement in mid air.

He led Betty out to the Kuringai National Park, and along the fire trail, up to the oval, where they saw that the oval was deserted. Looking up, they saw a plane frozen in mid flight in the distance.

"If they're still using planes, it must be some time before 1983," said Betty, "I'm used to sub orbital flights."

"Time's just about up," said Peter, "Let's watch the bang, and then time will resume for everyone else."

Peter and Betty looked down at the time ship's location. Then there was an explosion, and they heard the sounds of birds chirping and the barking of dogs. Peter recognised their location.

"We're in Wahroonga. I used to stay here at my grandparents' place as a little boy, but the house was knocked down by the new owners when I was 12."

"I wonder when it is now," said Betty.

Peter was an Australian, who had only gone to the United States for the writers' convention, as Louise had done from New Zealand. Now he had landed close to one of his favourite childhood haunts. He led Betty to the Wahroonga shopping centre news agent, and looked at a paper without buying it. The date was 1968.

"That's 3 years after my grandparents first bought the house," he said, "I can see them in their earlier years."

"If they believe you're you," said Betty, "1968 is even more significant for me. I was born in 1960. My 8 year old self is alive in the United States now, watching her first science fiction TV show once a week. This was the year the show first aired. Little does she know she'll end up living one in 1983."

"That must be why the ship took us to Australia instead of the United States," said Peter, "It was time's way of avoiding the problems of two Betty Hamiltons meeting each other."

1927:

Using all of Fitzhugh's knowledge of history, he invested his cash in stock market transactions, making a quick fortune before his money was even suspected as counterfeit. Fitzhugh and Valerie soon retreated to Switzerland, taking all of their money with them, and set up house and home under foreign names, using Fitzhugh's familiarity with the language. In his own time, the con man had learned German, Austrian, English and Swiss. The couple lived out their lives in comfort. Fitzhugh died of old age in 1952. Valerie remained in seclusion up until her death in 1978.

1968:

Peter and Betty knocked on his grandparents' front door.

As his grandfather was at work, his grandmother opened the door.

"You look a little different today," said his grandmother. Is anything wrong at home?"

Peter realised she had mistaken him for his father. People had always said that they looked alike. Since he'd returned to the time that his father had first become her son-in-law, it was a natural mistake.

"I'm not who you think. I'm your grandson from the future," said Peter.

"That's a bit of a story," said his grandmother.

"You drink several cups of tea a day, leave the cups in various places in the garden. The gardener's always finding them there, or in the mail box. You used to live in Killara in your youth, then in Turramurra. You watch movies in the middle of the night. You went around the world in the 1950s. Your middle name is Isabelle. When I'm 8, you and I jokingly make a 'Conventional Cuppa Calendar' detailing all your tea drinking schedule. You hate the noise of cars on the road, have never wanted to learn to drive, catch taxis everywhere. You hate the sound of crunchy eating noises, like apples and chocolate and chips. Yet you will generously spoil me with such things in my early years, making sure I don't eat them with you in the room. You have a billiard table room, with a deer's head mounted on the wall and a wine cellar in the basement that doesn't get used but looks out on –"

"I don't know how, but I believe you," said his Grandmother, "Both of you better come in and tell me all about it."

He filled his grandmother in on all of the detail, while they waited for his grandfather to come home and hear a condensed version of the story.

"So where are you going to live in 1968?" asked his Grandfather.

"I hadn't thought of that," said Peter, "It's just so amazing to see you both alive and young, at a time when I couldn't have been around to see it, if this time travel hadn't happened."

"To think we once let the erratic time travel qualities of the time ship put us off coming to our home world," thought Betty, pleased that at least one of them could benefit from such an anachronism of a family reunion.

"This house was always much bigger than we really needed. You can stay here," said his Grandfather.

"We'll just have to make sure you never meet your younger self here in the future, Peter," said his Grandmother.

1986:

Dan Erickson was now a full pilot, and ready to show passengers into his first flight in the hot seat. He had advised the airline company of the space warp's existence, and suggested that sub-orbital flights be discontinued. Proper studies by astronomers had confirmed his warnings of the warp's existence. Modern ships like Spindrift were still used, but would never climb high enough to encounter the warp.

He flew the ship to Sydney Australia, let the passengers disembark, took his furlough, and then prepared to pilot the next flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. The stewardess, Rosetta M'Bana, who had become his girlfriend, began showing the passengers to their seats. When they were all strapped in, Rosetta advised Dan, who came aboard, and looked in awe at one of them.

"Betty!" he said.

"Dan! You're as young as ever. What time did you get here? You remember Peter?"

"Slow down, and don't say so much. The other passengers will think you're a bit odd. I'll tell you at the other end."

Dan flew them to Los Angeles, and then took Rosetta, Betty and Peter with him to the airport café and sat down for a chat.

"We arrived in 1968," said Betty, "In Australia, where Peter lived before the giant world episode. We trusted our secrets to his grandparents, who made us at home until they died. We're alright on our own now. I knew that by 1986, I didn't have any younger counterparts of myself in the United States of America or on the giant world. It was finally safe for us to go back to my home country and show Peter around, without causing any time paradoxes for the younger Betty Hamilton."

"I got here with Barry only a few months ago. He's living with relatives in London now."

"No wonder we took a much longer and lower flight path," said Peter, "Did you warn the government about the warp?"

"I had to. Rosetta's the only civilian I've confided in about the Land of the Giants."

"Oh Dan, I'd love to meet Barry again. For him it won't have been so long ago," said Barry.

"He'd love that. I'll take you on my next London flight next week, if you want. How long did you two plan on staying here?"

"A week would be nice to start with. I guess I can reclaim my old place now, and hope nobody notices I've gained nearly 20 years in the three years I've been gone to my neighbours," said Betty.

"You don't look it," said Peter, "I'm sure you'll fool them."

She kissed his cheek for his flattery.

"Let's call Barry," she said.

Later they made their way to London for a special reunion with Barry.

"Now I really do feel like your mother," said Betty.

Barry Lockeridge hugged her.

"I'm just glad you made it and lived safely all these years for you two," said Barry.

"Did you encounter any others from our party since 1968?" asked Dan.

"No. I did some checking, while Peter and I were just staying at my place in Los Angeles. There's not even a mention in the obituaries. They could be anywhere in time."

"Maybe they've yet to arrive, from our perspective," said Peter, "Why don't we keep them in our thoughts in the years ahead? Maybe some of us will meet up with some of them."

2013:

Cindy let Steve stay at her place, while she resumed her career as best she could after a three year 'sabbatical' from the locals' point of view.

Steve approached the airline, asking if Dan Erickson had turned up at all.

"Dan Erickson?" said the manager, "He's almost ready for retirement. Are you friends of him and Rosetta?"

She must be his wife, Steve thought. Dan had been here for some time.

"I haven't met his wife, Sir. When did Dan get back from his absence that began in 1983?"

"1986. His absence is classified. How did you know about it?"

"I was a friend of Dan's … when I was younger."

"I'll check his flight schedules on the computer… Yes, Dan will be coming this way tomorrow. I'll call him now and you can talk to him, if you like."

"Thanks," said Steve, and waited until the manager got Dan on the line.

"He wants to talk to you, sounds excited," said the manager.

"Steve!" said Dan, "Did you just get here?"

"Umm, yeah. I hear there's a Rosetta on the scene."

"Has been for a long time, buddy. Cindy with you?"

"Close by."

"We'll meet you tomorrow for a catch-up."

"It's good to meet the legendary Captain Burton and Cindy at last," said Rosetta Erickson, as they all sat around Cindy's dinner table, Barry Lockeridge included.

"What of the others?" asked Cindy.

"Peter and Betty came out in 1968 and stayed in Australia, until we met them taking one of my flights in 1986, shortly after Barry and I arrived. They both died recently, within a year of each other. As far as I could tell, they lived happy fruitful lives," said Dan, "I'm high up the chain now. I've got a position on the airline board. I'll swing it so they can update your training and get you flying again, Steve. We don't go sub orbital anymore, but the ships are faster."

"Thanks Dan."

"I don't think we'll be around when the others show," said Cindy.

"Or they weren't still around when we showed up," said Peter.

Mark and Louise went on the internet, at the first internet café they could find. Mark wondered what had happened to the memory of Louise, as she was the least displaced in time of the two of them. He learned rapidly, as Louise taught him how to use the internet, and soon came up with an interesting item.

"'The Fantasy Worlds of Louise'. This article says that your science fiction novels were published posthumously after being found by a relative after your unexplained disappearance and presumption of death in 2010," Mark read, "They were a huge success, leading to a series of movies about the Spendthrift Chronicles and various other one off films. There was even a TV series about some of your minor characters. They were published in 2015. This 30th Anniversary biographical movie of you is due to premiere in a month."

"I suppose we should let them know Louise is back from the dead," said Louise.

They went to the government scientists of the day, who accessed police forensic records taken from Louise's known doctors and dentist from the 2000s. All the evidence confirmed that she was in fact the Louise who had gone missing in 2010. Her story was cross referenced with government files opened in 1986, concerning Dan Erickson's reports.

Dan Erickson had passed away. So had Barry Lockeridge, despite being the youngest member of the combined time ship team of travellers. There would be no reunions between them and the two who had emerged in 2045.

"Let's go to the premiere screening anyway," said Louise, "The actress playing me will not look like me. So I won't be recognised. It'd be nice to watch it, and the government will see to it that we get access to my estate, once they confide in my executors of this time. We'll be quite well off."

Mark and Louise attended the screening, and the special function which followed in the cocktail lounge afterwards, where they were surprised by two time worn but familiar faces:

"Steve! Cindy!" said Mark, "It has to be you!"

"We thought this was worth seeing," said Cindy, "Although we didn't know we'd find you two."

"We just got here 2 months ago," said Louise.

"A legend in your own time," said Steve.

"Just wait 'til you see the websites she'll make now," said Cindy.

"Anyone seen the others?" asked Mark.

Steve filled them in on the chain of reunion information that had been passed through time. Mark and Louise were pleased to learn how Peter and Betty had emerged in 1968, which had played to Peter's love of the modern past immensely, and how they had finally met up with Barry and Dan in 1986, and how Barry and Dan had later met up with Steve and Cindy in 2013.

"The only ones we've yet to see are Fitzhugh and Valerie," said Cindy.

"If they do turn up in the future, I think Mark and Louise will be the only ones who live to see it," said Steve, "We've had a good life together, Mrs Burton."

"I wouldn't have had it any other way, Steve. I admire the way you threw yourself into retraining and adjusted to my approximate time period," said Cindy.

"You know they might have ended up in the past. Fitz and I went to 1910 the first time," said Steve.

"Then we can't possibly find out," said Mark.

"Don't say can't, my love," said Louise, "You did once tell me that Valerie mentioned being on the covers of magazines in her society days. Why don't you all come back to our place, and we'll have some fun on the internet."

When they got to Louise and Mark's place, they googled up some early 1980s photographs of Valerie Ames Scott.

"Now watch this. I'm a fast learner too," said Louise, "The internet in 2045 has photographic search engines. I saved the photos of Valerie from 1981 and 1982 to the desktop. Now I enter them into the photographic search engine. If anyone's uploaded photographs of her in any time period, we'll find them and attached articles."

The search brought up more articles of Valerie from 1979 to 1983. There was nothing to mention her death in 1979, which would remain unknown to any of the others, as she had never crossed paths with Peter and Betty, even when they had all been co-existent in earth's past from 1968 to 1978.

However, after ploughing through all the early 1980s references to Valerie Ames Scott, they came up with another photograph, which was clearly of Valerie and Fitzhugh, taken in 1932. They all read the article.

MRS AND MRS ALEXANDER AND VALERIE FITZHUGH

ARE WANTED FOR QUESTIONING OVER SEVERAL

STOCK MARKET INVESTMENTS, WHICH HAVE TURNED

OUT TO INVOLVE COUNTERFEIT MONEY WITH FUTURISTIC

DATES ON THE ILLICIT CURRENCY. BOTH ARE BELIEVED

TO HAVE FLED THE COUNTRY FOR PARTS UNKNOWN,

AFTER AMASSING A FORTUNE TO DWARF FORTUNES.

"Fitzhugh's stolen loot from 1983," Mark laughed, "I wonder if any of the bills were left over from 1932.

"They must have settled comfortably overseas in the past. Probably Germany. Fitzhugh did speak fluent German," said Steve.

"He wouldn't have gone then," said Cindy, "The Berlin wall hadn't come down yet."

"Ah well, we'll never know now," said Louise, "But it looks like those two made a go of it in their own sneaky way. I guess we've had our last reunion."

Steve and Cindy remained close friends with Mark and Louise until the older couple died. It had been interesting for Mark to be younger than Steve, rather than older. All their old feuds on the giant world had been forgotten.

1983 (Land of the Giants)

Somewhere, in another part of the universe, Lieutenant Grayson was taking a report from two picnickers about a tiny space ship that had lifted off in the forest.

Inspector Kobick didn't want to know, at least for a week. After that, he was convinced that the little people had left the planet. He turned the SID's attention to more routine cases, and his own private time to making a home for the woman he intended to marry: Mrs Moorehead.