“Oh, call back yesterday, bid time return.”

(William Shakespeare; Richard 11, Act 5, Scene 2)

 

Ria stood beside the landing site, waiting for Simeon’s time machine to return. Her instinct was screaming that something would go wrong. How she hated that machine. For the hundredth time she recalled their conversations about the wretched thing.

 

~ * ~

 

Simeon had said, “If this works, Ria, we can explore all the planets in the Alpheratz solar system. Humans have been stuck on New Earth since emigrating to the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s time we widened our horizons. My final port of call will be Goneril”

 

“Goneril? Oh, no you can’t go there. We know nothing about it. Who knows what you’ll find? It’s too dangerous.”

 

He laughed. “That’s the exciting part, Ria: first contact.”

 

Ria shook her head. “New Earth’s horizons are wide enough for normal people. It’s only idiots like you and your dingbatty-brained boffins that want to mess with time. The future comes soon enough. I don’t want you getting stranded in it.”

 

“Don’t worry. Nothing can go wrong.” Pushing to one side a clutter of information chips on planetary history and astronauts’ autobiographies, he spread a chart of the solar system onto their kitchen table. “This is where I’ll be going.” He pointed to three planets, each marked with a cross. “Time won’t pass for me inside the machine. Each stage of my journey will take only a few seconds but when I reach Viola it will be six years in the future. It’ll be another ten years in the future when I reach Perdita and another forty when I reach Goneril.”

 

“How can that happen?”

 

“Because that’s how long each stage of the journey would take if I didn’t have a time machine. It’s something to do with the space time continuum. Of course, those journeys would usually take a conventional starship even longer than that, due to having to avoid meteor showers, electric storms and suchlike. I won’t have those problems when I travel through time.

 

“Doesn’t make sense to me.”

 

He shrugged. “Me neither, but the dingbatty-brained boffins understand it.”

 

“How will you get back?”

 

He grinned. “That’s the clever part.” He took from his pocket a small gadget with a dial. “The machine can’t travel into the past, but this smart-ass thingymajig can take it back instantaneously, with me in it. We call it a boomerang. I’ll leave here at noon and set it to return at 12.30. I have to leave a gap so I don’t bump into myself coming and going.”

 

Ria groaned. “What if you lose it? You’re always losing something because you try to think about ten things at once. You put stuff down and can’t remember where you left it.”

 

“No, I don’t. What do I lose?”

 

“Socks.”

 

He laughed. “Come on, Ria, there isn’t a human alive who doesn’t own an odd number of socks.”

 

“Maybe not, but you’ve honed it to a fine art.”

 

Next day he brought home a young man with wild hair and thick-lens spectacles. “Ria, this is Rudy, one of the boffins. He has something to set your mind at rest.”

 

Rudy handed her a small, black box with a button on top. “It’s a tracker, he said. “It locates the boomerang from as far as half a mile away. Press the button.”

 

She obeyed and a searing white light shone out from the side of a cushion on the couch. Simeon said. “Ah, that’s where it got to.” He pulled the boomerang from under the cushion.

 

Ria turned to Rudy. “You see why I worry?”

 

~ * ~

 

At the landing site, a batch of boffins joined Ria, awaiting Simeon’s return. Rudy walked to her side. “He left this behind.” He held the tracker in his hand. “But it’s not important. I’m sure he won’t lose the boomerang.”

 

Ria wasn’t listening. She was crying inside. 12.30 arrived. Simeon didn’t. Minutes passed. Murmurs spread around the boffins. She saw some of them glance at her, looking embarrassed.

 

One by one they drifted away, except Rudy. “I’m so sorry, Ria,” he said. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

 

There wasn’t, but there was something she could do for Simeon and for herself. She couldn’t tell Rudy what she planned because he’d try to stop her, but he had something that would help. “Would you mind if I kept the tracker?” she asked. “It’s no use now but I’d like to have it.”

 

He handed it to her. “It was Simeon’s so it’s rightfully yours. Would you like me to walk you home?”

 

“Thank you, but I’ll stay here alone for a while.”

 

He nodded and walked away.

 

She ran to the star-ships’ hanger. They looked exactly like the time machine but they could only travel through space. She climbed the retractable steps of the newest model and boarded it, knowing it was mission-ready, capable of processing a lifetime supply of water, nutrition, clothing of whatever size she entered into the programme and anything she’d require to sustain her through long, lonely years.

 

She heard a shuffle behind her and turned to face Rudy, standing by the open hatch. He said, “I guessed what you planned. Don’t throw your life away. You can’t save him.”

 

“I can. I’ll follow his route and find the boomerang so he can turn back time and come home.”

 

“You’ll be an old woman when you reach Goneril. There may not be sentient life there and who knows what you’ll find?”

 

She shook her head. “He won’t know he’s lost it until he needs it. Maybe it’s on Viola or Perdita. Their residents partake in the onscreen conferences. They speak the interplanetary language. They’ll help me search for the boomerang and I might find Simeon before he leaves for Goneril. I won’t need to come home. He’ll turn back time, arrive at 12.30 and I’ll be waiting for him. What happened today will never have happened, will it?”

 

“In theory, no, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with. It’s too dangerous.” He grabbed her arm, pulling her to the open hatch while he balanced on the steps.

 

Slamming her other hand against the control that retracted them, she pushed him away from her. He fell onto the concrete below and she heard his skull crack. She felt sick. “I’ll make it right, Rudy,” she sobbed. “I’ll send Simeon home. You’ll be alive again, I promise.”

 

She closed the hatch and began her six-year journey to Viola. She would ask their political leader, known as Caretaker, for help in her quest.

 

~ * ~

 

Now aged twenty-eight, Ria landed at Viola’s Government headquarters’ spaceport. A delegation of the peaceful androgynous people awaited her. A spokesperson said. “Ria of New-Earth, Caretaker wishes to speak with you. Come.”

 

They led her to a conference room in the building. Caretaker, dignified and serene, touched Ria’s forehead in greeting, inviting her to sit. “Your planet contacted me six years ago. They wish me to imprison you for murder.”

 

Her heart sank. She had one chance to win their help. She told them the full story, adding, “If I’m imprisoned Rudy will still be dead. If I find the boomerang and locate Simeon he’ll turn back time and Rudy will be alive. Which do you consider the better option?”

 

After a few seconds silence Caretaker said, “I am informed the astronaut has already left. We will help you search for the boomerang before you follow him to Perdita.”

 

Ria sighed with relief. “Thank you. Do the Perditans also know that I’m accused of murder?”

 

“Yes, but in ten years time I doubt they’ll care. Many fugitives from authority take refuge on their planet.”

 

The Violans helped her search all areas Simeon had visited: mainly libraries and museums. She kept the tracker activated but they didn’t find the boomerang. After five days she thanked them for their efforts, bade them goodbye and began her ten-year journey to Perdita. When she slept she dreamed of Simeon but when she was awake she thought of Rudy.

 

~ * ~

 

Ria, now thirty eight, climbed down from the star ship. A tall, fair-haired man of about her age approached her. He said, “Greetings. I’m Karl of Perdita.”

 

“Greetings, Karl. I’m Ria of New Earth.”

 

“Are you another time-traveller?”

 

“No, I’m looking for the one who came here. Were you expecting me? Your Administration was notified sixteen years ago.”

 

He laughed. “The Administrators have changed three times since then. As each lot hated their successors they would have been unlikely to pass on information. I’m an astronomer. I picked up signals of your approaching space craft, so I came to investigate, as I did when the time-traveller, Simeon, arrived.”

 

Good, she thought. No murder charge. “Is he still here? I must find him.”

 

“I’m not sure. Do you drink coffee?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“There’s an excellent coffee bar nearby. I’ll treat you while you tell me the story.”

 

The coffee was much better than starship swill. She liked this man. She told him everything, except what happened to Rudy.

 

He said, “I know where we should look for Simeon. Perditan folk enjoy life. We spend our leisure time in taverns, eateries and greeteries. He was happy to join in the fun. He took an interest in our lives, our occupations and our history.”

 

She nodded. “That’s Simeon. He’s brave, intelligent and curious but he’s chaotic and disorganised. He needs someone to take care of him.”

 

“And he lost the boomerang?”

 

“He must have or he would have come home.”

 

They began their search. Perditans were the friendliest and most joyful people Ria had ever met. For the first time in sixteen years she was enjoying herself. She and Karl were growing close. Too close.

 

One night they made love. Afterwards Karl said, “Stay here, Ria, You don’t even know if Simeon’s still alive and if he’s in Goneril you’ll have to spend forty years following him. Is it worth it?”

 

She sighed. “I have to, Karl. It’s not just about me and Simeon.” She finally told him about Rudy.

 

He nodded. “You’re a noble lady. I’m glad to have known you.”

 

The following day the tracker located the boomerang’s light emerging through the window of the ‘Pride of Perdita’ a tavern they’d not yet visited. The manager remembered Simeon. “He was in here last week. Said he was about to time-travel to Goneril. I thought he was mad. After he left I found this on his table.” He handed the boomerang to Ria. They thanked him and left.

 

Karl said, “Let’s go to my observatory. I’ll show you a chart of Goneril. We can work out where Simeon would be most likely to land, but I have to say it all looks pretty uninviting.”

 

The chart showed vast expanses of ocean and only one landmass, mostly volcanic mountain ranges. The land was lined with high cliffs and one low coastal plain. Karl pointed to it. “He’d land in that area. Agreed?”

 

“Agreed.”

 

They walked together to her starship. He said, “I understand why you have to go, Ria, but I want you to know that I believe we could have been happy together.”

 

“I believe that too, Karl, but when Simeon turns back time none of this will have happened. I won’t have come to Perdita and you’ll find happiness with someone else.”

 

They kissed for the last time and then she left.

 

While she slept she dreamed of Karl. After time was turned back she wouldn’t remember him and she wondered if she’d still see him in her dreams. Who knows? She hoped she would.

 

~ * ~

 

Ria, now a lonely, sunlight-starved woman of seventy-eight, stepped onto a rocky coastline. The sky was dark, apart from twin moons: pale ghosts haunting a black night. She carried the tracker, so the boomerang could be her torch. She saw undulating life-forms emerging from the ocean. A tentacle wrapped itself around her leg. Sharp teeth tore her flesh. She screamed in pain and turned on the tracker. The boomerang’s searing light sent the predator slithering back to the ocean. Blood gushed from the wound. First contact was draining her life away. She must find Simeon or they’d both die here.   

 

She held the shining device high, illuminating the darkness, and saw the outline of the time machine. She limped towards it. Drawing closer, she watched Simeon walk up the retracting steps. Did he know yet that he’d lost the boomerang? She shouted, “Simeon.”

 

He saw her and she knew he understood. She hurled it, sending it arching through the air towards him. He held up his hand and caught it. She fell to her knees and with her final breath, cried out, “Go home.”

 

He retracted the steps, closed the hatch and activated the disc. History changed. Ria’s body disappeared. Time unravelled, spinning backwards, faster than sound, faster than light until it arrived at the time and place setting on the boomerang. It then resumed its slow, forward roll, at its natural pace.

 

~ * ~

 

Ria and Rudy stood alongside the landing site. He was holding the tracker and looking worried but her instinct changed. Her anxiety drained away. Simeon stepped out of the time machine thirty minutes after he’d left. He and Ria ran to each other and began their journey into the future together in normal time. 

 

~ * ~

 

Seventeen years later New Earth was enduring a pandemic. Millions were dead. A tiny minority of the population had natural immunity. Ria was one of them. Simeon wasn’t. He was dying. “This planet’s finished, Ria,” he said. “Take the time machine. Set it for Perdita. It’s a wonderful world. You’ll arrive a year after I was there. An astronomer, Karl, will observe your approaching signal and he’ll be waiting for you at the spaceport. I think you’ll like him and I know he’ll like you. He’ll help you to settle in. Go and be happy.”

 

The man she sometimes dreamed about was called Karl. How strange. She’d never met him; but in her dreams she knew him well.

 

She said, “I’m going nowhere while you’re alive, Simeon.”

 

He smiled. “I know.”

 

He died in her arms. She burned his body as required by the Planetary Health Service, scattered his ashes into the wind and then she travelled through time to the man in her dreams.

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