Ada stood at the gangway, head tilted back slightly to stare up at the ship that would bare her away. A much needed vacation from the chaos of New York? She was glad to snatch up the chance. A chance to seek new places. An opportunity to fill her pages with new writing. ADVENTURE! Her mother would be turning in her grave.

The woman had always thought her too energetic, and far too excited to run off into the unknown. It was a problem. At least that’s what she’d heard the woman say. Adeline could almost hear that thick Irish accent as the small woman cooked in the kitchen. ‘She’ll get ‘erself in trouble one day, you watch.’
Ade didn’t know what trouble was. Okay, correction she knew what trouble was she was just rather good at outrunning it. Today was the day that she was going to finally step beyond that unseen boundary. She’d ask for forgiveness in the life after.

“ Madam?” The man in the funny little round hat had leaned slightly to look at her. Adeline realized that perhaps drifting in her thoughts in public was a bit much. Smiling brightly, she cleared her throat, the brim of her dark hat covering one bright blue green eye.
“ Sorry. I was struck with how large she is!” There was excitement in her voice as she’d lifted on her toes.
A smile bloomed across the man’s face and he chuckled, “ No harm done madam. She’s quite a sight. One of White Star’s best!”

Ada had flashed another smile at him and she delved into her handbag, fishing out her ticket. It was taken with another polite smile and she tilted her head, “ Miss O’Connor. Your bags have been taken up to your cabin. Please enjoy the voyage.” She was waved through and the red head took a breath to steady her resolve and then headed up the walk to board the ship.

That had been almost a week ago. The voyage was going well. The money she’d spent for her place in the lavish first class quarters had been everything she had, but it was worth it. She was sailing across the sea, in a ship that was going to put her somewhere in the tropics. A perfect possible setting for a book! She’d spent most nights plotting. Sitting in her bed with a bottle of wine seemed a good way to waste the nights when she didn't know anyone well. But knowing that she was going to be having breakfast with a small group of ladies who had invited her after seeing her alone on the deck, Ada had fallen asleep earlier than usual.

It was perfect, at least until she rolled out of the bed as her entire state room listed to one side. The mirror swayed dangerously and her bag slid across the floor. Light flashed outside the porthole window but the groan of metal flexing drowned the sound of thunder and rain. The ship tilted again and this time she slid across the floor, scrambling for something to hold onto. Ada could hear the sound of people screaming somewhere down the hall. This time, as the ship canted, it did not right. Something was wrong and the red head grabbed the dressing gown from pile near the door, now tipped oddly on it’s side. People were scrambling from doors, or trying to. Some fell out into the inverted hall. Her heart pounded away in her ears and the young woman stumbled along clumsily until she had to catch herself on the frame of the door, staring down into the churning angry sea. Rain stung at her face, and wind whipped her shirt curls about her face, ripping at the soft robe she wore. Lights were flickering and people were already floundering in the water.

Someone planted hands against the small of her back and before she could protest they pushed, sending her tumbling wildly across the vertical deck, narrowly missing the railing before the cold water sucked the breath from her lungs. Everything after that became a blur. A desperate bid to stay above the water even as the waves crashed across her. Adeline wasn’t even aware of seeing the ship grow farther and farther away, only the floating piece of what looked like a crate that she clung to for buoyancy. Only when the waves died down did she consider sleep, and she woke with her feet dragging against the sand as she floated towards a shore line.
The sun was beating down along her face.
Adeline fell from her make shift raft and she waded through the water onto the sand. She could have cried in relief, if not for the uneasy feeling of being on foreign soil without so much as a clue as to where she was.

First was first. Looking for any sign of life would be a good way to go, right? So, the red head started down the beach. Before she set off into the trees she'd look around the places nearest the water. Less chance of getting lost.

Sep 23, 2020 (Duncan turns 21 in two days)

Three days ago he had finally succeeded in sending a probe through the time portal and retrieving it. That meant he was finally ready to make a journey through time. And he had a means to return not that returning was truly an option - not for much longer anyways. But when he had gone to his new girlfriend he had realized that he a choice to make - whether take her or leave her behind. If he took her, she would have to leave everyone and everything she knew behind as well.

He had considered taking his parents. He had considered handing the project over to the government. Only there really wasn’t time. The world as he knew it would be gone by Jan 20, 2021 … the day the next president would take office. Over the course of the past 3 days he had narrowed down the timeframe for WW III to Jan 4, 2021, a Monday.

The time portal filled up about half of a 1 million square foot warehouse. A large part of that space was occupied by portable fusion powerplants, negative energy collectors, tachyon condensation projectors. And they would all be gone in a little over 3 months. Even now he was trying to make sure they could survive a nuclear holocaust. But truthfully, he needed a place deep underground - a bunker - in which to hide them. And there simply wasn’t time to create one, move the equipment, then reassemble and recalibrate it. The complexity of anchoring the portal to the local gravity of Earth, the shape and changing geography with the movement of any specific point on the planet through space had been a nightmare. He had finally found a way to do this through the application of a gravitic anchor and begun a topological mapping of the Earth’s surface for the past billion years and developed a coordinate mapping system similar to latitude and longitude as well as a chronologically localized calendar to allow for changes to the Earth’s rotation.

There was still more work to do before they could travel through safely. One thing he had to do was choose a time and calibrate carefully - unless he wanted to come out of the portal in the past over a ravine or a mile underwater or the vacuum of space. Heck, it was possible to use the same portal to reach the Moon or Mars. At least he was pretty sure it was. And once he had created the Membrane to make sure he wouldn’t allow biocontaminants to pass through - or toxic gasses - he had actually locked on to the Moon and measured pressure differentials.

His first trip had been to 1881. It had still been Albuquerque, NM. He made a show of buying up land that would one day be owned by an energy firm, then Albuquerque Academy. For a year he worked hard to make a showing of running a 1600 acre ranch. At least that was what the public saw. Behind the scenes he had debated altering technology so that WW III would never happen. But he couldn’t think of a way. So he concentrated on gearing his research to stopping the war directly. In 1883 he moved his research to a tropical island and mothballed it before jumping a little further forward in time, leaving certain automated process going. Moving and getting restarted had use up another 6 months.

He had jumped forward, to 1917, the end of WW I. For the past 3.5 years he had been rebuilding his estate home, and a lab capable of nanotechnology. He had built an underground base that was home to his submarine, patterned after the Nautilus. His Nautilus was far superior to the one Nemo had built. He named it Nautilus III. Nautilus II had to be decommissioned while only half complete. He had to get supplies not available on the island at some point one way or another.

June 1921.
The storm season had officially started in May. Duncan monitored the weather and even listened for Mayday’s. A rather nasty weather system had come through. It hadn’t been the usual storm, but two storms that had merged. The captain of the passenger liner had probably been experienced enough to avoid the worst of one. But without modern Doppler Radar he couldn’t have foreseen the second storm until it was too late.

Isla Nublar, as he had named his island, was located not far from the Cocos Island, along the coast of Costa Rica. Unlike Cocos, Isla Nublar had never been discovered, despite being larger. Oh, it had been discovered by pirates and even used as a secret hideout, made famous by the fact that it was so hard to find. Duncan had shrouded the island in 1400 AD. It had only been discovered by accident.

And now another accident had brought the chance that survivors would find their way to his island. Duncan did NOT want uninvited guests. They would be a distraction from his work. With any luck they would all perish at sea and no longer be his problem. He simply wasn’t equipped or trained for sea rescue work. Well, he had TRIED to warn the Captain to alter course. But the crappy radios the ship had carried hadn’t had the strength to receive him over the power of the storm.

Duncan had begun to accept that death was something he might be powerless to prevent.

It wasn’t until mid morning the next day that he received a perimeter alarm coming from the beach. That was not good. Whoever was there might see the ancient wreckage of a pirate ship that dated back to the 1700’s that was submerged in the bay. It could only be seen from above. That would require a climb. But it was the only way one could be sure they were on the real treasure island.

A pack of six raptors were sent to respond. If the intruders were armed and dangerous the raptors were quite capable of doing anything a real raptor could do. But these were, in fact, merely a highly advanced form of animatronics. They were so advanced that you couldn’t really tell them from a living creature. If the intruders proved unarmed and simply ran, the raptors would herd them away from anything important and toward the means to evade being eaten by way of a small cave or something similar.

There was a whole list of thoughts that had filtered through her mind as she shuffled along the shore line, clinging to her soaked robe. At least it wasn’t too cold. Even with just a slight chill it was a little miserable. Fortunately though, with the sun peaking across the water, she was already warming through. Even if that sunrise was threatened by the promise of stormclouds. At least for a small moment she’d be granted reprieve.

The sand stretched almost endlessly out before her and she was certain that there would be something. At least there would have been some sort of sign of people. She hadn’t found anything. Not a boat, not a dock. Nothing. Not even smoke from primitive camps . She frowned. Already she’d been going for what seemed like too long and Ada kicked at the sand in frustration.

With her salt crimped hair drying stiff and wild, she sat down in the sand, grumbling in frustration. Adeline had been taken out ‘camping’ with her brothers when she was younger, but in the current situation it was almost impossible to settle her mind enough to get herself organized right now. Shelter. Water. Food? What about predators? Her imagination could spin wild images for her. Giant beasts she’d only seen in photos charging from the trees. Lizards with gaping maws of teeth and bodies larger than the automobiles on the streets back home.

No matter how skilled she thought she was, Ada wouldn’t last long if she was faced with something like that. As it stood though she could hear birds, and the breeze in the trees. The water washing against the sand. It was all picturesque, or would have been if she hadn’t been stranded in a shipwreck with no idea how to get home. All thoughts of home and possible things going bump in the night were cut short when she heard birds scatter. Ada snapped her head round only to find something she’d only seen in storybooks come trotting from the trees.
Dinosaurs.

With their deadly looking teeth and claws, she did not think they were going to pass up a meal. How was that even possible!? She’d read something about extinction somewhere. There was no record of living dinos! She scrambled to her feet, and backed away down the beach. Could she outrun them? Not likely but perhaps she could get up a tree long enough for them to leave her to find shelter.
So, Ada turned and she ran barefoot towards the trees. With her heart racing in her throat and her mind set on flight, Ada had no time to think about anything else.
The underbrush was thicker than she had anticipated and as she fumbled through it she scraped herself up a bit.
Finally, the usually composed woman scrambled up a tree, just seconds ahead of the beasts.

Duncan adjusted his Ray Ban sunglasses to he could see the woman better through the eyes of the raptors. He tried to be clinical about it, but the sea and jungle weren’t being kind to the flimsy clothing she wore. The storm must have hot when she barely had time to throw anything on. He faded out all but one view. He’d have faded that one as well so as not to be such a voyeur, but the simple truth was that the woman was hard not to stare at. Redheads were a bit of a weakness. But he also wanted to make sure she was safe from other predators.

He also wasn’t born yesterday. He activated thermal scanning and metal detection as well as sensors to detect explosives. He did detect a faint signature of diesel fuel. But he guess that had come from leaking engines of the cruise ship she had been on. The thermal scanning didn’t help to keep him from staring as it made her flimsy clothing seem near transparent. He tried not to grin at the thought of how many young boys would kill to get their hands on HIS X ray glasses. He did his best to force his mind to be clinical. She could be a spy.

But if she was a spy, he found nothing. The only thing he noted was that she wasn’t panicking. Sure she was afraid. But she was using her head. She wasn’t screaming frantically. But she also drew no weapon. No gun, no knife, not even a nail file.

He sighed. Well, he couldn’t just let her sit there in a tree forever. Well, he COULD … The last thing he needed was some girl, cute or not, poking her nose into his work. This was the 1920’s so she was probably just some uneducated Daddy’s girl. That might not be so bad. She wouldn’t have a clue what she was looking at. Of course, even his simplest ‘inventions’ would be practically magical. Even his kitchen was going to have to require an upgrade to her education that he couldn’t explain.

He grabbed his Barrett Light 50, a 50 caliber sniper rifle that would resemble a rifle about the size of a large shotgun, but with enough punch to down an elephant with one shot but have no more kick than a 12 gauge firing a slug. He also grabbed a To Go bag which had some MRE’s and water bottles and a smart bandage - something he had designed for his adoptive mother. It was a couple miles of walking - painful walking as his left leg had never healed right. He managed to keep a good pace to get there in under an hour. That would be long enough for the girl to get dumb ideas. So he kept the raptors staring at her hungrily, and jumping to nip at her anytime she let part of her lower to within reach. It was mean, but effective in keeping from having to chase her all over the island.

When he arrived he made a show of being the Great White Hunter. He took aim and felled a 6 inch sapling with one shot. The raptors all snapped their attention in the direction of the shot, then took off running in the opposite direction - just as he ordered them to do.

When he got to the tree he looked up. “You are trespassing. They are territorial. They eat pirates for breakfast. But you don’t look like a pirate to me. More like a drowned rat. My name is Duncan, Duncan Moran. And you would be?” He slung the rifle to his back and reached up to help her down. She looked small enough to catch and hold in one hand.

++++++++

Duncan seemed almost aloof in his demeanor toward the girl, maybe even irritated. This was a man who had become unaccustomed to social graces. But he at least had a few manners. And he wasn’t the sort to leave a woman as food for dinosaurs. And he offered her water. He told her she had better food back at his camp if she could wait. That explained the strange packages.

The trip wasn’t really that long as he led her back through the jungle. He almost ended up having to carry her part of the way. She really didn’t have the right shoes for a jungle hike. But instead he just slowed down and took short breaks.

The trip ended at a cave entrance that was extraordinarily well camouflaged. Even seeing where it was, Adeline had doubts she could find it again easily. The cave ended at a strange glass door that might have been something straight out of a book by EE Doc Smith. (Skylark series published 1915 - 1921.) But the truly amazing thing was that it opened by itself. And as they passed through lights turned themselves on.

“Ghosts,” he explained, trying to keep a straight face, but failing miserably. “The island is haunted?” He shook his head. “Not buying it?” He laughed. “Welcome to my home. Do you like sushi?” He frowned. “Hmm … you probably never had any. Raw fish with rice and spice. Maybe shrimp creole. That’s cooked. Manhattan clam chowder? I finally learned a good recipe. One good thing about soup, it keeps in a freezer. I also have boudin for snacks. I have a crawfish farm. I am still trying to find a way to tenderize calamari. Haven’t found one yet. But I did discover a way to use it to make a protein cracker. Freeze dry it. Oh wait, you’ve probably never heard of that. It’s a process invented about 20 years ago, but its only real use was to preserve a rabies virus to store it long enough to research a cure. Eventually people will find other uses.”

He had pulled out a plastic container of frozen shrimp creole from the freezer, and a small tub of rice from the refrigerator. He scooped out some rice into pyrex heating dish and popped it into the microwave and started it heating.

“Uhm … my kitchen. Don’t use it until I give you a safety lecture. You have probably never heard of cooking the way I do. First lesson, never stick metal in the microwave. It doesn’t cook the way a toaster oven does. It also cooks a LOT faster. And it can make a mess by making some foods explode.” He stopped and laughed. “Maybe I SHOULD let you experiment …” He looked at her. “Kidding.”

Suddenly he was serious. “You can’t tell anyone about this stuff. The world isn’t ready for it. Look at World War I. We took every piece of technology we had and turned it to killing one another. The next War will be a lot worse.” He stopped and abruptly shifted topics. “I didn’t see any signs of other survivors, but I am keeping my eyes open. I tried to warn your Captain.”

She was up just high enough that they couldn’t reach her, even jumping. Ada couldn’t get any higher since the branches thinned out considerably. The red head clung close to the trunk of the tree, trying to avoid the spines on the thinner branches protruding from the body of the tree. Staying as calm as she could manage, she watched the creatures pace, moving like a pack of dogs. It might have fascinated her to no end, if she wasn’t currently the one on the dinner table.

Sleeping in the tree wasn't exactly the best option, but with the determination of the reptiles circling the tree like they might figure out how to reach her, she realized there really wasn't much of an option. Even then she wasn't sure that they wouldn't figure out a way to get to her in the middle of the night. She might fall. She might not.

Ada glanced down at the creatures once more. One jumped ever closer, teeth catching the lace on the hem of her robe. She squeaked not unlike a startled mouse and she drew her legs up further. It would have likely been fast. That was about the only promising thing. They acted both like a pack of wolves, and a big cat all rolled up into one.

There was the sound of something in the brush and Adeline could only hope that it wasn't a larger lizard. The thunderous crack of a gunshot sounded and she almost fell right out of the tree. Then she spotted her would] be rescuer. A man who looked like he could have been about her own age. He was built like the men she'd seen coming in from the west. Muscle set upon a strong frame.
The gun he held was nothing like she had ever seen though. It perplexed her a little.

The hand offered to her by her rescue was accepted graciously. Ada tried not to make too much of a fool of herself as she clambered down the tree and pulled her robe around herself to hide the rather thin fabric covering her modesty.
"Thank you."
When her bare feet settled onto the ground she gave an uneasy glance around. Even with the massive gun slung over the imposing man’s shoulder, she didn’t want to end up face to face with those gaping maws of teeth.

Duncan. “Adeline,” She stated in turn, lifting her blue green eyes to get a peek at him. He towered over her, and her nose wrinkled a little bit. “ Adeline O’Conner.” The woman tried to sort herself at least a little bit. Pushing her fingers back through her hair, they caught in the salt dried curls.
Ada took the offered water gratefully. Then the hard part started.

The walk was grueling, even as he moved slowly for her. Her feet ached from the punishment of stone, stick and thorn. She was certain that she’d have blisters but Ada never complained once. She wasn’t a frail woman. The red head was strong and set to prove she could make it on her own, even if right now she wasn’t terribly sure where she would start on this island.

When they entered the wide mouth of the cave she frowned a little bit. No wonder she hadn’t seen any smoke. If he was living in a cave the smoke would disperse. They moved back through the cave to the point where it tapered down to a small point where glass separated the sections, she jumped a little bit when it moved out of the way on it’s own. Ada found herself stock still just the other side of the glass when the lights came on on the other side.
This was something out of a novel! It both excited and scared her to no end. Ada let her wide eyed gaze wander for a moment.

Ghosts? No. Not likely! And the grin trying to curl across his face was enough of a give away to tell her that wasn’t the truth. His laugh flustered her slightly and Ada huffed at him, looking around the space as she followed him further in. It was like nothing she’d ever set eyes on. Sure she might have read about such things in books, but it was not like this. As he spoke, she just kind of watched him like he was from another world. For all she knew he WAS. Ada watched curiously as he explained the device he’d tucked the food into. Microwave. Right. She’d remember that. Not likely.

“ Pardon my bluntness. But who am I going to tell that would believe me?” Her voice was quiet, perhaps filled with curiosity. The furrow of the red heads brow smoothed a bit.
“ I would be put in an institution in moments!” Ada moved past him to get a look at the strange device he’d called a microwave.
“ It is human nature to fight and war. So is the way of things. People get upset, or angry and the only way they know how to solve problems is through violence. It’s a tale as old as time, I’m afraid.” The Irish womans voice softened a bit, “ And the innocent suffer for
the cruelty of their own kind. We can only point ourselves forward and try to push for a better life.”

She brushed her fingers across the top of the cooking device and then turned to look at him, “ The ship listed onto it’s side. We were sleeping. I don’t know how many made it out of their cabins. “

Duncan heated up some food for Adeline in a few minutes, complete with heated rice. He also took a little time to demonstrate the dangers of the microwave with a small bobby pin. It sparked as soon as he turned the microwave on. “And that is a small piece of metal. Heat up something in a pie tin and you’d have a mess. Microwave radiation is really hard on electronics.” He shrugged. “Just wanted you to see. If you want to heat anything up, use the pyrex or plastic …” He stopped. “Yeah, you would have heard of plastic - not more advanced forms - but polyethylene such as that used in records, certainly.” He showed a tupperware type bowl. “Some types of plastic don’t do well in a microwave though. Their melting point is too low. So stick with pyrex for now. If you want to heat a potato, poke holes in it or pressure will build up inside until it explodes. To cook vegetables, add a teaspoon or two of water. Microwaves heat food by affecting the water that exists in it. That’s about as simple an explanation as I can manage without having to teach you Chemistry. I’ll show you some tricks for cooking a variety of foods. I use it a lot for snacks. But to be honest, I prefer making stews and soups.”

Duncan set the food in front of Adeline, then asked to see her feet. “You should have said something. I’ll get something to soak your feet in to prevent infection. Then I’ll measure you for shoes.

He stepped out and returned shortly with a rectangular tub about 3 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot. It was filled to the 6 inch mark with mildly hot water. He also had bottle of powder that he sprinkled into the water that fizzed as he did so. “Go ahead. Not the best remedy, but it will help disinfect and clean. Then we can treat any blisters and cuts. I have peroxide. Sorry, but I never expected company here. I came to this island to get away from people.”

“So .. what year is it now? 1921? Yes … right. Well, I you may as well make yourself useful and tell me what has been going on around the world. You strike me as someone who didn’t hide in her home, more … adventurous. The way you handled yourself around those raptors was pretty impressive all things considered. We can play 20 Questions if you like. I am sure you have questions for me. I am afraid there isn’t much else to do on the island - especially until we get you some shoes.”

Another thought that began to dawn on him was that he didn’t even have a guest room.

Adeline was had been watching him closely. Her gaze trailed him slowly, trying to soak everything in. The writer in her wished desperately that she had a paper and pencil to take notes. That thought alone made her fingers twitch slightly against her side. It was going to nag at her for quite some time really, not being able to write. Especially when she was having to learn new things like what this Microwave did.
The sparks off the hair pin made her brows shoot up. " Fascinating," She leaned forward slightly and looked inside of it. When she'd moved back again and he had set the bowl of food at the table she sat down slowly, sighing with relief to be off her feet.

" I have never seen anything like that..." her hand hovered over the food, only a little surprised to find it was actually hot. Well, she HAD just seen it spark across metal! Of course it was hot! The red head tilted her head a little bit as he asked to see her feet.
" It's not bad. Just some blisters. I've had worse in the silly shoes they make you wear to events!" Ada flapped her hand a little bit, taking up the utensil and tucking quietly into her meal with a bit of curiosity.

It was delicious. She nibbled the food while he went to fetch whatever it was he was getting. Adeline obliged to put her feet in the water, wincing a little at the sting of it.
" 1921. Yes," She nodded her head a little bit, " I haven't ever been really confined in my home. My father was an explorer. I traveled with him a lot after Mother passed." Her green eyes followed him lazily, " I'd be happy with something to write with, but for now I'd like to know why you're here. Where you got all this..." Adeline made a vague motion around her and took another bite.

Duncan looked around. Where had he gotten everything. Truth was, he didn’t really have a whole lot that wasn’t simply functional. He lived pretty simple. “Well, I bought what I could - what was available that was on any use. Most of what I bought was raw materials. The rest I made from scratch. I am something of an inventor. But I think you gathered that.”

He looked at Adeline. “You are still wondering how the microwave works. I once read a source (wikipedia) that described the process incorrectly. It said the radiation made the water molecules rotate. That is incorrect. It excites the rotational energy of the hydrogen oxygen bond. Take the two atoms in a molecule of water. Think of the various ways that can move relative to one another. They can move back and forth together - translational energy. They can move back and forth - vibrational energy. And they can rotate on the bond in opposite directions - rotational energy. Metals are essentially metal nuclei in a sea of electrons. When microwaves hit the metal is scatters and drives off energy in the form of an electrical arc and heat.”

He stopped and looked at Adeline. “In layman’s terms … the microwave makes the water in food hot. The heat energy gets transferred to the rest of the food.” He laughed. “I used to teach a little. I had real skills at putting a class to sleep when I wanted to. But I also took student who had failed repeated times and helped them excel.

“I am afraid you can’t tell anyone what I have here. I really shouldn’t even let you see the microwave. Or the lights that turn themselves on. Or the self-opening doors. But what I am about to show you blows all that away.

“I said I was going to measure you for clothing and shoes. Uhm … I have a chamber - a small room that maps the topology of a subject … uhm … by bouncing rays of light off its surface. Uhm … coherent light.” He struggled for a moment, then brightened. “Death rays!” Then he winced. “But really really weak ones that can’t actually hurt you - except for your eyes. You’ll need to wear a special pair of sunglasses. Even without them you’d be fine - especially if you just shut your eyes. But the … uhm .. light will measure your topological … uhm ..” He blushed and gestured up and down at her body. “Anything you wear will alter the mapping and make you look … bigger. The clothes that get designed won’t fit right.”

His eyes avoided Adeline’s. He cleared his throat. “Oh .. and I will see what I can come up with to write on. I’m sure a chalkboard won’t do. I am something of a writer myself. Uhm … questions. My turn I think? Besides writing, what sort of interests do you have? Hobbies and the like.”

Adeline was a little surprised at the fact that he began to explain the microwave thing to her. She grasped most of what he was trying to say. It wasn't too terribly hard. He even took the time to try and simplify it which was nice. Ada smiled politely and nodded occasionally. These were things she was certain scientists would love to get their hands on.
A teacher. That could explain some of his words. Even some of these strange things he kept around. Yet how did a teacher end up here? That would be her next question.

" I have no one to tell. After all, I am stranded here. I don't even know where here is really..." Adeline shrugged and made a vague motion before returning her attention to the food. Besides, it wasn't like anyone she could tell was going to actually believe her. They'd call her crazy. Many of them already did- all things considered.
" Are you asking me to get naked, sir?" Her head tilted, and the smile that canted across her lips was witty and sharp.
A laugh curled in her throat despite the situation she found herself in.

"I want to see your other gadgets," She nodded, " You are a strange man and I am curious."
Ada then tilted her head as he turned his eyes away from her and cleared his throat.
Her question had been too broad she felt, but his was precise. He must have done this before.
" I loved to swim. I also draw quite often. I enjoyed adventuring with my father when I was young. Seeing new places. " She stirred her food slowly, already nearly done.
" I think that's it really. Not too terribly interesting I suppose. "

" My turn again? " Adeline cocked her head to the side once more, " How did a teacher end up here?"

“Uhm .. teacher? No, I wasn’t actually a teacher. I did do a little teacher assistant work and substitute teacher work. Plus as a grad student I mentored other students - which was a little awkward sometimes. I … graduated high school in my early teens. So I got an early start on college.” He frowned and seemed to concentrate. “But the question as to how I got here is fair enough. Thing is, it won’t make much sense. And it will make me sound utterly mad. But I can promise you this - my answer will be the truth.

“I discovered this island in 1400 AD. I returned in 1883 or 84? I forget exactly. I had a little trouble finding it … again. I had to be careful to avoid the locals and pirates. Every now and then pirates would blunder right into my island. I did my best to misdirect them. I swear that the rumors that some pirates can only find a place when they are drunk is true.” He chuckled a little annoyed. Then I returned here in 1919.” His eyes glittered with amusement. He seemed a little annoyed with himself.

Truth was, Duncan hadn’t really wanted to tell Adeline - or anyone for that matter - about what he was. But the dates he had just given were going to bring up more questions.

“1400 AD. I had to make sure I got here before anyone discovered the island. That meant I had to get here before the age of piracy…”

“As to your interests, they are more interesting than you might think. I saw more of the world by the time I was 11 than most people see their whole lives. Nice to meet a fellow traveller.” He gave a wry smile. “I visited Germany and - very briefly - Rome. I … flew there and back. Never actually travelled on a large ship across the ocean until I came here. Scariest damned trip I ever took. But I had my reasons for taking the risk. I also lived in what you will soon know as Turkey or the Republic of Turkey. They won’t be officially recognized until 1923. They just declared their independence and are throwing off the shackles of the sultanate.”

He stood up and looked down at her. He tried not to grin. “Okay, let’s get you measured for some new clothes. And … uhm .. yes, I was asking you to get naked. But you’ll be alone in the room. Just fold your stuff neatly and stand in the center of the room - with your sunglasses on.” He leaned down and scooped her up to keep her from having to walk. “And I will continue my explanation while you are getting scanned.”

Duncan might have been strange, but at least polite. And he was as good as his word about her being alone in the room. However, his voice carried through a speaker. He did a soundcheck, reminded her about the sunglasses - twice - before starting the scan. It was a strange experience. It was like taking a shower in light aimed from every direction. It felt a little like an invasion of privacy and perhaps a little perverse.

“Where was I? Oh right. Turkey. I lived there when they were celebrating their 50 years of independence. I visited the tomb of Ataturk - well, I don’t think he’s known by that name yet. He’s still known as Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Uhm I suppose it isn’t a good idea to talk about the tomb of a man who hasn’t passed away yet.

“I still haven’t quite answered your question yet. How did I come to be here. The answer isn’t a matter of where as when. Have you ever read any books by HG Wells. The Time Machine? I travelled to 1881 from the year 2020. I invented time travel. It began as sort of an accident. Again, I have already told you far more than I should. But you know that Great War? I call it World War I. There will be a World War II. World War II begins in 1939 after the Great Depression of the 1930’s. After World War II come the Korean War, then the start of the Cold War, then the Vietnam War. Finally the Cold War ends - without us destroying the world. But soon after that comes the conflicts in the Middle East - the War on Terror. Finally … World War III.”

Duncan was silent for a moment. “Okay, scan is complete. Go ahead and get dressed and you can join me to select the style of clothing you want. For outdoor work, though, I suggest jungle boots. Indoors, maybe some sneakers.” He laughed at the sound of the name of that latter. “Sneakers are … well, you’ll see. Easier to sneak around in.

“My turn I guess … oh wait … “ He looked around. “Hummm .. uh … I need to figure out where you are going to stay. I never expected guests - never planned for them. I don’t even have a couch. Just a bedroom and labs and greenhouses.”