A/N: Takes place during the original cartoon series "The Adventures of Jonny Quest".
Past Tense
[Note from the publisher: due to the length of the preceding game, we join our story already in progress]
"Race, don't let him go!" Dr. Benton Quest yelled.
"Don't worry Doctor, he won't be going anywhere" Race Bannon, Intelligence One agent and constant companion of the Quest family assured him. He held a slightly-built man by the scruff of his coat, dangling him a few inches off the ground. "Not unless it's in the company of the authorities, that is. You boys cover that door" he ordered, and Jonny and Hadji ran before sliding to a stop and took up a defensive posture near the exit. The Quest bulldog Bandit sniffed the electronic equipment.
"You fools! Don't you see what my invention can do? The good that can be done?" Randolph Castlehurst cried as he squirmed in Race's tight grip. Now that he was excited, his inflection changed slightly so that a mild northern English accent crept into his words.
"Maybe, if you had presented your work in the proper way through testing, demonstration and with due care" Benton explained. "But to kidnap my son just to get my attention? I can't trust your intentions OR your judgement. And you call yourself a scientist."
"I meant no harm, you must believe me! I felt that only you would appreciate and understand my time machine. Don't you believe it can work?" he implored.
"There's no question of that. I saw you demonstrate by bringing back artifacts from the past that I spontaneously requested, objects that could only have been retrieved from a specific place and time. An exercise I wholeheartedly objected to" Benton adamantly stated. Castlehurst's assistant had operated the machine while the scientist had made his retrievals. Now the assistant slept peacefully nearby courtesy of a karate chop from Race.
"But it was the only way to prove it Doctor Quest! Just making the claim would be no good; I actually had to use the machine."
"But you don't know what damage you might have done, Castlehurst. If you go gallivanting through the past you could change history countless ways."
"By bringing back a Dodo bird? Finding out what happened to Amelia Earhart? Or who really killed Colin Ray Campbell?" He stopped squirming and stared at Race. "At least give me the dignity of standing on my two feet!"
With a nod from Benton, Race set the man down but gave him a glare that said in no uncertain terms what would happen if he tried to run out of the room.
"Thank you. Now as a scientist Dr. Quest, you know the pursuit of knowledge as no other. What harm is there in simply observing history?" he asked as he began to pace. "Don't you want questions answered? Isn't that your life's work? We doctors seek with the best tools we have!"
"You're a doctor only because you bought a title through correspondence. And just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD. We could tear apart the Sphinx stone by stone to discover all of its secrets, but that would destroy it in the process no matter how painstakingly we put it back together. The originality would be lost, no longer in situ. Now you want to yank things out of the past and interact with people and events from long ago; I'm afraid I'm going to feel shame the rest of my life for what I've been a part of just today." He looked over at the table that held the artifacts that were retrieved earlier, artifacts that he really didn't believe Castlehurst would be able to retrieve. "It makes me sick."
"And it makes me sick to NOT use my talents when I can" Castlehurst countered. "If a medical doctor can save a life by picking up a nearby scalpel, wouldn't he? Galileo was rebuked for his telescope, but he still looked through it towards the heavens." As he spoke, Castlehurst continued to pace until his steps brought him close to Bandit. With a quick motion he scooped up the dog by the collar.
"Bandit!" Jonny yelled.
"Now you stoop to kidnapping animals too?" Benton asked.
"Let me take him" Race growled.
"No Race, let the man talk for now. What do you want, Castlehurst?"
The crazed scientist held the dog carefully so as not to get bit. "I want the same as every scientist, Dr. Quest; acknowledgement and respect. But I can see now I'll get neither when the scientific community is filled with closed-minded individuals. You leave me no choice." He backed to the apparatus and started flipping switches and turning dials while holding the dog out. "If this time won't treat me as I deserve, then I shall find another where my work and knowledge will be revered; one that embraces scientific advancement. I think some early pre-Industrial Revolution should suffice. As a coincidence, I have a distant relation that was hanged wrongfully for the Appin Murder in Scotland. I'm going to travel back in time and clear his name by traveling to London of that year and set up a defense." He threw a master switch and the machine hummed while a glowing field started under an arch.
Jonny inched closer to the scientist, who responded by motioning to throw the dog into the field. "Stay back! Now I'm rather partial to September 5th since it's my birthday, so I will go back to use the time and my talents to free an innocent man."
"Castlehurst, you don't know what that will do!"
"Maybe I don't, or maybe I do. Maybe I already did!" He laughed. "Sometimes grammar lags behind scientific achievement. Goodbye Dr. Quest, see you in the history books!" With the last line his tossed Bandit high into the air at Jonny, who caught his pet before he hit the ground. Bandit rewarded him with a round of face licking as Castlehurst ran under the arch. With a flash he disappeared and the hum faded.
"I guess he's gone" Dr. Quest lamented. "I just wish I knew what was going to happen."
"I'll bring him back" Race interrupted as he ran to the switches. "While you were examining the artifacts earlier, I watched his assistant operate the machine. I know how to reverse it." He reset the dials and switches before throwing the master switch. However, instead of the expected hum and glow the machine simply displayed a red error light. "I don't understand it; I did it exactly like his assistant did each time."
"Maybe you could wake him up and have him do it" Hadji suggested. "He must be the most experienced here."
"I think there's something else going on" Benton pondered out loud as he walked over and inspected the machine. Trying to remember what Castlehurst had explained as he showed off the time machine previously, the scientist examined all the settings. At last he found himself staring at the display of the destination setting:
Central London, England, 5 September 1752
"Something about that date is bothering me" Benton said as he took to pacing. "England, 1752...George the Second is ruler. The colonies in what would be the United States had been founded. The Industrial Revolution was gearing up. In September...wait, I've got it!" he shouted as he snapped his fingers. "Jonny, do you remember when I was telling you about my cousin that was born on February 29th?"
"Sure. That day only comes once every four years, so he technically doesn't have a birthday on the calendar the other three."
"That's right. Well, in 1752 England changed its calendar to match the rest of Europe and much of the world. To put their calendar in alignment they skipped all of the days from September 3rd through the 13th. One day it was September 2nd and the next day it was September 14th in England. Nothing happened on those days because they never existed. Our man Castlehurst went to a time that didn't exist."
"What does that mean Dr. Quest?" Hadji asked.
"It means that you boys should study your history as much as your other subjects. My guess is that Randolph Castlehurst doesn't exist. Won't exist. Did exist? I don't know if we can use the past tense or not. I guess he was right about one thing; time travel can really wreak havoc with grammar" Benton shrugged.
"What about his machine?" Jonny asked. "What if someone else gets access to it?"
"Don't worry, Jonny. Race and I will make sure no one uses it again."
"I'll go get some of the high-explosives we have stored on the plane" Race offered. "It shouldn't be too hard to bring this building down and demolish all the equipment and notes."
"And bring back some rope to tie up our friend here. He was just an operator, but we'll take him back to the authorities later for questioning to make sure how little he knows. Let's get working and make this time machine history."
The End
A/N: The original series lasted just one year, but the animation style was pretty unique and made for a good adventure show during it's time, particularly for a cartoon. When I came across a story about the Calendar Act of 1750 and the missing days I wanted to write a short story with a somewhat crazy scientist who finds his end in those missing days. But what show could do that? Well, there was this cartoon that occasionally had delusional people thwarted by a scientist and his group...
For additional historical references see the Appin Murder in 1752 and a nod to a certain yellow journalist.