Time Travel

Part One: Chapter Three

The time machine exited the vortex, Calvin and Hobbes inside of it. Hobbes turned towards Calvin as soon as they were out. "Calvin! Why on earth didn't you stop to find them?"

"Hobbes, it was too dangerous! The realm of time travel is dangerous! We could have ended up in a black hole if we turned around like that!" Calvin answered.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Hobbes looked at him. "I still think we should look for them."

"They stole our time machine! Let them stay lost in whatever time they went back to!"

"We have the time machine right here. We have to rescue them!"

Calvin just shook his head stubbornly so Hobbes pounced on Calvin. "Ow! Leggo, you bloodthirsty carnivore!" He protested, "Quit biting!"

Not that far away, Nurf stood in front of the PA monument, looking around for her two friends. Like her other two friends she had brown hair, which was cut short, going just past her ears. However, she had now discovered that she had no idea where either of them had gone. "I thought they were right behind me…" She said, glancing towards the High Water Mark, "Maybe they went that way…"

She started towards the High Water Mark, looking around as she went. "This is probably the thousandth time I've walked this stretch of ground… Where are they?" She said, speaking mostly to herself.

As she reached the spot, she say Calvin and Hobbes still fighting and cleared her throat. "Excuse me… excu-… Hey!"

Calvin and Hobbes both froze and looked up. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Calvin demanded.

"I'm Nurf," She replied, "I'm looking for two of my friends. Star and Dana? You see two other girls around lately?"

Hobbes looked at her. "Star and Dana? Um, yeah, we saw them not too long ago."

He poked Calvin to which the boy protested. "Ow! What?"

"Where'd they go?" Nurf asked, "I thought we were all together but they disappeared."

"Oh, yeah, they disappeared all right," Calvin said, "Back to eighteen hundred something-or-other. They fell out of the time machine on the way back."

"Actually, they jumped out," Hobbes pointed out.

"They what?" Nurf looked around in surprise. "They're in the 1800's?"

Hobbes nodded and glared at Calvin. "Because HE wouldn't turn around to go find them!"

"We've been over this a million jillion times already!" Calvin said, "I couldn't turn around!"

"Well, you could have done something to help!" Hobbes replied.

Nurf crossed her arms. "Let me get this straight… my friends are in the 1800's… I am not… is there possibly ANY way that you can get us there?"

Hobbes put out a hand to stop Calvin from saying anything. "Actually, yes." He pointed to the time machine. "We have a time machine right here. The same one your friends fell out of."

"Jumped out of," Calvin said crossly.

"Could you take me?" Nurf asked, looking at the time machine.

As Hobbes started to nod, but Calvin interrupted. "Hold it, Mr. Stripey-pants! I thought you never wanted to get in that thing in the first place!"

"This is different!" Hobbes said, "This is a rescue mission!"

Calvin threw his hands into the air. "Who cares! We've had enough unauthorized passengers in that thing for one day and I am not going to-"

He didn't get out his last works as Hobbes pounced on Calvin again to make him be quiet, resulting in more insults being hurled.

Nurf rolled her eyes. "Hey! My friends are in the 1860's without me! As an officer of The Civil War RPG I order you to take me to them!"

Hobbes climbed off of Calvin, who spat out grass and dirt, to salute Nurf. "It will be my pleasure ma'am!"

"Hey!" Calvin protested, "You're not going without me! It's MY machine!"

"Calvin we don't have time for this, let's go," Hobbes said rolling his eyes and handed vortex goggles to Nurf. "Put these on and get in."

"Ummmm alright…" Nurf raised an eyebrow and jumped into the machine.

As they climbed in, Hobbes and Calvin put on goggles of their own and Calvin revved up the machine. "Hold on tight!"

For once Hobbes sat up straight, his face determined as the time machine took off into the vortex. "You sure this is safe?" Nurf asked.

Calvin nodded. "We've done this I don't know how many times before. We haven't crashed yet."

"So," Hobbes looked at Nurf, "Who exactly was that Lo guy they were clinging on earlier. He disappeared."

"They-? Lo?" Nurf gave him a blank stare as she raised one eyebrow. "He disappeared?"

Calvin shrugged. "Time travel is risky, I tell you. We're almost there now though." He pointed to a field as they exited the vortex. "See?"

Soldiers were lying dead on the field, others seriously injured, a few stragglers remaining as they crossed the field, Pickett's Charge just having ended. Nurf turned to face it, stared out across the field. "Wow…. I've imagine it but…"

Hobbes eyes were wide and although Calvin frowned, he was otherwise unfazed as he jumped out of the machine. "Well, come on! Let's go!"

They had landed right were they had left on the field years earlier, from their time, the High Water Mark. Nurf stepped out of the time machine and stared out at the field in a daze. "Pictures don't do this justice…"

Silent for a moment, Hobbes stared around the field in astonishment. "This makes me proud not to be a human, actually…"

"Can't argue with ya there, Hobbes," Calvin replied.

Nurf continued to look around, starting to feel incredibly awkward. "Did you see where they had gone?"

"They fell out of the vortex," Hobbes said, "They should be around here but I'm not sure where."

"Maybe we can ask the officer guys." Calvin pointed to where Hancock, Armistead and Pickett were standing not overly far away. "They look important enough."

Looking in the direction Calvin was pointing, Nurf raised an eyebrow. "That's… they're…" She remembered the uniform that she was wearing, her Union Bucktail uniform. "This is wonderful…"

"How so?" Hobbes asked curiously.

Nurf gestured to the group. "Right there stand some truly amazing people… I can't just walk over, especially in this…" She looked at the uniform. "It's just a little awkward."

Calvin rolled his eyes. "Whaddaya mean, if ya wanna find your friends, we should ask! Come on!"

He started walking over towards and officers as Nurf sighed. "For me anyway…"

Hobbes shrugged and followed Calvin. Nurf put her face into her palm for a moment, following them. "Not how I had pictured this… ever…"

Not paying attention to how Nurf felt about the situation, Calvin walked up to Armistead, Hancock and Pickett. "Hey! You three guys with the stars on your shirts!"

"Calvin!" Nurf raised an eyebrow at the way he went up to the generals.

Turning to Nurf, Calvin asked. "What? What did I do?"

"That's not- you don't… nevermind…" She glanced up at the officers, incredibly nervous. "My apologies sirs…"

"Don't worry about him, he meant no harm," Armistead said, looking from one to another.

Pickett raised an eyebrow. "If you say so, Lo." He turned his attention to Nurf then. "How can we help you, miss?"

"I'm looking for some friends of mine," Nurf said, straightening her jacket. "About my age, two girls?"

"Could one of them possibly be the girl who grabbed me in the middle of the battle?" Armistead asked.

Nurf smiled at him. "Possibly, sir yes, I imagine that would be Star…"

"There was another girl with her," Armistead said, deciding that a description would be helpful. "They both looked to be around the same age, had dark hair and glasses. Both wearing a Confederate uniform."

"That would be them!" Nurf smiled.

Armistead pointed to the trees. "They were back there doing I don't know what. The three of us were just talking over here. I think they wanted to give us a little peace."