Chapter 2

The 100 a discovery of time travellers

thank you to those who showed interest in the first chapter, I hope you enjoy the second one.

"We are all capable of becoming travellers

It is only a matter of deciding to learn"

The book of travellers (first edition) (p. 2)

Typing various lines of text in to google translate Simon smiled as it translated the ancient Arabic in to English, it didn't get all of the words but it got enough for him to understand the basic idea of what was written. 'You know this book really is crazy,' he chuckled looking up from where the book was propped open on a table over at Rebeca and their friends Cindy and Dan, who were still decorating the hotel room they had booked for the auction they were holding in spite of his insistence it was fine.

'In what way,' Rebecca asked finishing putting up the last of the science fiction posters they had bought and walking over to where he was sitting in front of the book.

'Well,' Simon smiled moving so she could sit down next to him 'I'm not getting everything this thing is saying because of how old the Arabic is but it starts out making out that we are all capable of being time travellers but then it goes on to start to explain all these complicated forms of meditation, the sort of stuff you'd be crazy to try.'

'You don't believe in what this thing says, do you,' Rebecca asked looking shocked sitting down next to Simon.

'No,' Simon laughed 'of course not, what I'm saying is that this thing makes out like anyone could do this but then starts telling you about all this difficult stuff so it's crazy.'

'Well one of the names written in the front of this thing was Nicola Tessellar,' Rebecca chuckled 'and another was Lovecraft so if those are to be believed the previous owners of this book weren't that well balanced.'

'Yeah, that's true,' Simon nodded looking over at one of the posters that Rebecca had put up which was based around one of Lovecrafts books. The other names written in the front page were similarly known for unusual out looks such as Sarah Winchester or George Orwell, Simon didn't really believe the signatures were real though, however much they might look to be real. This in mind he turned back to face Rebecca 'what about you,' he asked 'do you think this book really was the inspiration for the Necronomicon and your grandfather somehow got a hold of it or is it a clever fake.'

'Well,' Rebeca smiled 'if you ask me that in front of the people who are coming to try and buy this book I'll tell you how my grandfather was always a fan of science fiction and cosmic horror as well as being really secretive about where he got his books.'

'But if I didn't,' Simon laughed, glancing over at Dan and Cindy who looked to have finished putting up the decorations.

'I'd say,' Rebecca said slowly giggling 'if people want to buy something that is probably fake who am I to stop them.'

Bellamy Blake

Bellamy drummed his thumbs absentmindedly on the steering wheel of his car as he waited for the traffic to move at the same time listening to the news on the radio which only seemed to be bad. 'That's enough of that,' he whispered to himself twisting a nob on the dash and turning off the radio, being stuck in traffic was depressing enough without hearing more about global warming, humanitarian crisis's, financial corruption or whatever other shit was ruining the world today.

Craning his neck slightly as he continued to wait for the traffic jam to move again Bellamy looked over at the passenger side seat and his old warn rucksack that was sitting on it. It had been a gift from his mum when he started college so he kept it even though he could afford to buy another one now but that wasn't what drew his attention in this moment, it was the old book sticking out of the front pocket of his rucksack. The book didn't look like much really, it was an old paper back that was practically falling apart and the text inside it wasn't especially useful in regards to the mission he and the 100 had but it was where things had started for him so he had bought it with him today.

When Bellamy had come across a paper back in the used book shop he had worked in during college calling its self a twelfth addition of the book of travellers the real Necronomicon which claimed to hold the secrets of time travel he had been sceptical, but he had also been intrigued. On a whim Bellamy had bought the book and half as a joke he had decided to try out some of the meditation techniques it described if just to prove they didn't work which meant it had been a real shock when things had started to happen. He hadn't noticed it at first he had thought he had just been having some really vivid dreams but then some things had happened and Bellamy had realised he had started having dreams that were a window into his future.

Looking up from his rucksack and his first copy of the book Bellamy saw the car in front of him in the traffic jam had started to role forward so Bellamy did the same bringing the car to life and moving it forward. After he had realised the meditation had worked Bellamy had done everything else the book said to do studying the thing cover to cover but nothing more happened he never got beyond being able to trigger dreams that told him about things he was going to experience in the future. That was when Bellamy had started to look into the book more its self his thinking being that if he could get his hands on an earlier addition he could understand what was going on and that mission had ended up directing the last few years of Bellamy's life.

Picking up some speed Bellamy began to smile, he wasn't far away now from the hotel where the convention was being held, where the action in turn was taking place and when he got there he would be able to make his bid but best of all he would be able to finally meet Clarke and the others in the real. Bellamy's dreams of the future had almost entirely been really average stuff like the faces of people he was going to meet the next day or what he would end up having for lunch to the point they had only once been useful one time when he had stopped someone from getting hit by a speeding car. This was a big part of why he wanted to get his hands on this book in order to see if he could change that, there had been exceptions though for years he had been having recurring dreams of the faces of people he never ended up coming across.

There had been all kinds of faces over the years; a Latin girl with long black hair, a scrawny like white boy face, the face of a young smiling brunet girl but most of all there had been the face of a blond, blue eyed, pale skinned girl that always seemed to find its way into Bellamy's dreams. To begin with Bellamy had thought she was just a fantasy mixed in with his dreams of the future but when through his research he had become a part of the online group that they now called the 100 he found that wasn't the case. When he had looked up various people in the group online Bellamy had found he already knew many of their faces the Latin girl was Raven and the scrawny faced white boy was Murphy the list went on as well, he had known most of their faces.

But chief amongst them there was Clarke who as it turned out was the blond blue eyed girl Bellamy had been seeing the face of more than any other. Clarke didn't know she played so much into what he saw of the future nobody did, the 100 all knew he had seen their faces before ever connecting with them online but he had never told anyone he had seen so much of Clarke's face in his dreams. Bellamy knew it was crazy he had never actually met Clarke but with his visions of her and how well they had gotten to know each other online he felt like he really knew her and even more than that today felt like it would be the beginning of something amazing.

It took more time than Bellamy would have liked but eventually he got to the hotel and as he pulled his car into a parking spot he started to go through the things he was going to need to say when he got inside. 'It's nice to meet you my name is Bellamy,' he whispered as he got his stuff and locked his car going through what he was going to say when he made his bid 'this is just a first bid, I'm prepared to offer more though if someone out bids me.' He didn't spend much time on this though he worked as a rare books dealer so this sort of thing really wasn't that new to him and besides with the backing he now had he was sure he could get this couple to sell him the book.

What really had Bellamy feeling nervous was the whole finally meeting Clarke for the first time face to face in the real, he wouldn't say he was in love with her or anything like that, the whole seeing her in his dreams thing to one side Bellamy wouldn't even say there was some kind of magic between him and Clarke. The two of them argued and debated a great many things online when they talked but he definitely felt like there was a connection between them, Bellamy really did feel like he already knew her and he was sure things would go well today but that didn't stop him from worrying.

'It's nice to finally meet you Clarke,' Bellamy whispered mulling this line over as he got to the entrance of the hotel and walked inside moving past several people dressed as space creatures. 'You can do better than that,' he scowled not liking how ordinary that line sounded 'you know I feel like this isn't the first time we've met,' Bellamy tried as he continued to walk further inside the hotel but he shook his head right away 'too much,' he said sniggering slightly.

Reaching a lift Bellamy pressed the button and then looked around at all the people gathered in the lobby dressed in various kinds of unusual costumes, this was a cosmic horror convention so he had expected some unusual stuff but still some of these people seemed to be taking it rather far. The green blob that seemed to have a person inside was the stand out so far, it wasn't that Bellamy judged people dressing up it was just he did feel like there was a limit and being around all these people did make him feel like he was standing out wearing the shirt and suit jacket he had decided to go with today.

A bing sound behind him singled to Bellamy the lift was here so he turned back around moving his attention back to the matter at hand pulling his rucksack further up on the shoulder he had it hanging off as he did so. A minute later the lift doors opened and a guy dressed as some kind of steam punk robot stepped out nodding at the guy a little impressed by his costume Bellamy stepped inside the lift and a moment later the lift doors closed.

As he rode it upwards Bellamy began to wonder about who else here today would make a bid on the book, people like him and the rest of the 100 who actually believed in it were rare but there were others who would want the book. Supposedly the book was what had inspired the idea of the Necronomicon with Lovecraft and there were a lot of other similar ideas out there about other things, so there would be a lot of nerd types that would want it and then there were of course the collectors who would want it just because it was such a rare book. Bellamy was decently confident he would be able to outbid all of them though thanks to the backing he and by extension the rest of the group had now, but there had always been stories online about groups that wanted the secrets the book could reveal so there was a concern there.

As Bellamy thought about this the lift door opened on the correct floor so he got out of the lift and started walking down the corridor that was decorated all in red. It took him a minute of walking around but eventually Bellamy found the correct room which helpfully had a poster on it saying that the auction was taking place here and that they would be inviting people in individually to place bids.

Doing as he was asked Bellamy moved to wait for the door to open; dropping his rucksack on the floor he leaned back on one of the walls in the narrow corridor and started waiting. He was early, the convention had just been starting down stairs so there was only one other person waiting with him at the moment who curiously seemed to be a catholic priest judging from the collar, Bellamy didn't think it was a costume either judging from how smartly dressed the man looked.

'You here for the auction,' Bellamy asked trying to make conversation gesturing at the door with a flick of his head as he spoke.

'Yes my son,' the man nodded speaking in accented English smiling a smile that left Bellamy in no doubt he really was a priest.

'Interesting someone like you would want this book considering all the stories that are out there about it,' Bellamy remarked, he felt like he knew the answer but he was still interested to see if he was correct.

The man smiled again in response to this but the smile seemed more amused this time 'have you ever heard of the Vatican Apostolic Archive my child?'

'Yeah,' Bellamy nodded; this had been what he had thought so he smiled a little at being correct.

'Well I am from the Archive,' the man sighed 'were hoping to buy this copy of the book of travellers, it would be much safer if the Archive were to have the book.'

The way the priest said that last part was directed at him Bellamy could tell which was something he didn't appreciate 'knowledge is meant to be shared not hidden away,' Bellamy said gritting his teeth 'which is what I plan to do if I'm able to buy that book.'

'Some knowledge shouldn't be shared,' the priest said his expression stony now 'I doubt you'd like it if everyone knew how to make a nuclear bomb.'

'No of course not,' Bellamy admitted 'but I do challenge the idea that the church gets to decide what knowledge is too dangerous to be known, we both know where that has led in the past.'

The priest opened his mouth to argue this point but just then there was a clicking sound to the side of them that distracted both of them. Turning Bellamy saw the door to the room open and a sandy haired guy stepping out of it, Bellamy moved forward right away so he was the one standing in front after the conversation they had just had he didn't care if the other guy was a priest he wanted to be in front. 'Are you ready,' he said politely smiling at the guy 'I'm looking forward to making my bid once I've gotten a look at the book, which is one I think you will like,' Bellamy added feeling like that would be a good thing to include.

He was right as well because once he said this, the guy stood aside and gestured for him to go inside 'thank you,' Bellamy nodded doing as he was directed shooting the priest a deliberately smug smile as he did so. Bellamy wasn't especially anti religion or anything like that but he did have a problem with the idea of a religion hiding knowledge away from people, a lot of knowledge that could have changed the world for the better had been held back throughout history because of religion. So yes some things shouldn't be known sure but in Bellamy's mind organised religion did not have the best track record of judging that impartially.

Getting inside the hotel room which was decorated with various kinds of posters Bellamy did as he was directed sitting down on a sofa in front of a table that had a cloth covering on it covering what he assumed was the book. Trying his best not to let his excitement show Bellamy forced himself not to stare at the book and instead look up at the guy from earlier who had sat down on the other side of the table and the brunet girl the guy was sitting next to who Bellamy assumed was the girl from the listing Rebecca.

'OK,' the guy Simon Bellamy now guessed began clearing his throat as he spoke 'here's how this is going to work, to start with were going to show you a page of the book so you can see we have the real thing but that's it.'

'OK,' Bellamy nodded breathing in deeply as he spoke, he was finding it surprisingly difficult to hold himself back now that he was actually here about to lay his eyes on the book that had been a part of his life for so long.

'After that,' the girl Rebecca said speaking now 'you'll place you're bid, give us your contact information, then we'll get back to you,' she gave a kind of smiley shrug as she said this last bit which was maybe meant to be reassuring but Bellamy paid it no attention.

'Got you,' Bellamy rushed out gesturing at the cloth in front of him and the first addition of the book of travellers that was below it 'let's see it then.'

'OK then,' Simon said smiling a bemused smile pulling off the cloth revealing a large fin book of old leather, he briefly swivelled it around to face him so he could open it on a random page but once he had he turned it back around and once he did so Bellamy couldn't help but let out a small gasp.

Being an old manuscript type book not unlike an old illustrated bible the back of the previous page which Bellamy could see as well was blank so his attention was only on one page but there was more than enough there to send his mind racing. There was hardly any text on this particular page but it seemed to be written in an archaic Arabic anyway so he wouldn't have been able to read it even if there was, however the illustration which was really more of a diagram that took up most of the space on this page was really something. A series of interconnected circles of different sizes and designs seemed to almost dance on the page forming a kind of fractal image that went on and on along certain curves on the page creating an effect that reminded Bellamy of something in his copy.

Quickly Bellamy pulled his copy of the book out of his bag and started flicking through the pages, it took him a minute but eventually he found what he was looking for. The page in his book was simple by comparison with only three circles each lying within each other but Bellamy was sure this was the page that corresponded to the one that he was seeing in front of him now. In his book the diagram was a guide to help with one of the first meditation exercises you were directed through when you were learning how to as it was put in the book expand one's mind and learn how to travel through time.

It got you to layout words in a circle which was very hard to do in a way that was effective but once you managed to learn to do it you started to see things in a different way when it came to the passage of time which according to the book was a key aspect of time travel. However effective this exercise was though comparing his diagram to the one he was now seeing within the first addition Bellamy had to guess that this excise had been simplified in latter additions of the book so the one that was in front of him right now must be very different. Thinking about this Bellamy's eyes darted from the text in his book to the text in the first addition wishing so much in that moment that he could read the Arabic and understand how things had changed over the years with this exercise.

He would have continued to compare these two pages but a hand slowly closed the book bringing Bellamy's speculation about how things might be different in the first addition to an end. Looking up Bellamy saw both Simon and Rebecca looking at him uncertain expressions on their faces, seeing them looking at him this way made him straighten up right immediately remembering what he was here to try to do. 'Ok,' he began breathing in a deep breath trying to be professional 'I am definitely interested, so how do you want to do this then?'

'Wright down your bid and how we can contact you and we'll get back to you,' Simon said in an unnecessarily firm voice handing Bellamy a clip board with papers on it.

'Thank you,' Bellamy nodded forcing a smile as he took the board and wrote his bid down along with his phone number. 'This is only a first bid you understand,' Bellamy said handing the clip board back trying not to give anything away 'if someone bids more I'm prepared to up my bid however much I need to.'

Taking the clip board from him Bellamy saw Simons eyebrows perk up as he looked at what he had written 'look,' he said grinning showing Rebecca.

'Wow,' Rebecca smiled looking from the clip board to Bellamy 'really, ten thousand are you sure about that?'

'Yes,' Bellamy nodded smiling at this reaction 'and I'm prepared to up that bid if I need to so I hope if someone bids more you two will call me and give me a chance to change my bid.' If it was up to Bellamy he would have bid more but it wasn't his money he was bidding with and the person whose money it was had given him strict instructions on how he was allowed to act with it.

'Ok,' Simon nodded 'we have your bid and your phone number, I imagine we will be calling you soon enough.'

'Thank you,' Bellamy nodded putting his own copy of the book of travellers back in his bag and standing up. Standing now Bellamy out stretched his hand offering it to Simon and Rebecca his thinking this would be a good way to send a good impression and make him come across as professional as a pose to a giant obsessed nerd which he definitely was.

'Thank you for coming,' Rebecca smiled as she and Simon took Bellamy's hand and shuck it one after the other 'who knows you might be the highest bid,' she added quickly clearly trying to be encouraging.

'Crossed fingers,' Bellamy said moving to the side forcing himself to laugh at that, again trying to hide how much he wanted this to work out. He really didn't want to leave without the book but Bellamy knew he had to so he forced himself to move towards the door, Simon moved with him opening the door to let him out so before long Bellamy was standing back out in the corridor again now watching the priest walk in. There were two other people waiting in line now but they were both wearing rather weird costumes so Bellamy paid them no attention and just started walking back the way he had come distracting himself from his anxiety's around the book with thoughts of Clarke.

The two of them had agreed to meet at the hotel bar before meeting up with those in the 100 who had said they would be able to come and help with the groups plans to get their hands on the book so that was where Bellamy decided to head too now. It was a little before the time they had agreed to meet but he couldn't really think of anything else he wanted to do in this moment and right now he really felt like he needed something to distract himself from what he had just seen. He was nervous about meeting Clarke for the first time face to face, Bellamy was very nervous in fact but those nerves would also be a good distraction from the anxiety he was feeling about the book, with the backing he had he was confident about getting it but that didn't stop Bellamy from worrying.

Getting into the lift and pressing the button for the ground floor Bellamy started to think about Clarke and all the things he could say when they first laid eyes on each other. He was very worried about saying the wrong thing but Bellamy did have a slight feeling he shouldn't be, after all it wasn't like he and Clarke didn't know each other. He would say they knew each other very well in fact plus there was this sense he had of her and what their future would be. Bellamy had no detailed idea what that future was going to be but he could sense enough from his visions of the future that it would be on some level good, none of this stopped him worrying about meeting Clarke for the first time though so as the lift doors closed he continued to think about things he could say.

USA

Outside Denver

'Where going to be late,' an average looking white man said to his equally average looking companion in a calm but firm voice as they both waited in the car they had stolen two hours ago for the traffic to start moving again. 'We were on a schedule,' the man continued his voice remaining calm but still firm 'one we could have kept to if not for you spending so long getting a car when any car would have done.'

'If we were going to steal a car in order to cut down on people tracing us I don't see why I couldn't steal a nice one,' the second man countered 'and besides I'm sure we will be able to get our hands on the book when we get there.'

The first man's facial expression didn't change from the passive expression that was always etched on his face but his eyes did role ever so slightly in response to his companion's defensive comment. Remaining silent the man gave the interior of the car a once over as the traffic jam edged forward ever so slightly, his companion was right this was a nice car with its plush black interior and leather seats but the point of stealing a car before they went after the book was not to steal a nice car. The idea was once they got to their destination and did as they had been instructed if by chance someone tracked them back to their car all they would have to track down would be a stolen car and the trail of evidence would end there, so the idea of stealing a nice car just didn't seem necessary to him.

Thinking about this the man scrutinized his companion like him the man just looked like an average white guy, the only thing about him that would perhaps signify otherwise was the small square tattoo that could be seen on his for arm because of the short sleeve t-shirt he was wearing. However he wasn't like him and the man knew that for sure, his companion might have the same mission as him today but he didn't believe in the mission like he did, he could tell this wasn't a calling for his companion like it was for him. The fact that the movement needed to use people like him was a great disappointment to the man but in the end it wasn't his place to question the things those above him directed him to do, it was just to do as instructed.

As the man thought all these things over his companion started to fiddle with the cars radio 'how about some music,' he mumbled under his breath 'should make the time pass faster.' It took him a moment but eventually the two men heard the line 'there must be some kind of way out of here,' come out the cars speak as it started to play the song that was playing at a local radio station at the present moment.

The man had been about to say to turn the music off but there was something about this song that spoke to him so he sat back and let it play. Listening to the line 'all along the watch tower,' the man looked out the passenger side window at the street as it passed by as the traffic jam moved slowly forward and thought about the mission they had. Getting there hands on the first addition of the book of travellers and killing anyone who had seen it was going to be a challenge at this point but he was sure he and his companion would be able to do it.

well there we are that's the second chapter i hope you enjoyed it if so please review i would love to hear your thoughts.