The Second Adventure: A Cat Called Britain (A Caper in Time Part 1)

by Evan Forman and Michael Robertson - 22.12.14


Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Cocoon
Chapter 2 - The Crossroads Inn
Chapter 3 - The Graveyard
Chapter 4 - Pentasensory Voicemail
Chapter 5 - The Shadowmen
Chapter 6 - The Lost City of Ubo-Chazil
Chapter 7 - Butchers and their Cattle
Chapter 8 - Art History
Chapter 9 - A Giant Robot with a Minigun for a Face
Chapter 10 - Shattered Mirror
Chapter 11 - A Collector of Rare and Precious Things
Chapter 12 - The White Palace of Death

Light.

Panel. Panel. Panel.

Light.

Panel. Panel. Panel.

Light.

The little gray grid that holds the panels up

Light.

Panel. Panel. Panel.

Light.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step, squeaking of the back wheel, DUF! Bump as they open the door with the body-trolley like you were a battering ram, like you shouldn't be up and screaming away from this white palace of death. They funnel into an elevator with you, easy listening music plays out your life.

That's the thing with hospitals: what horrors could require THAT much cleaning product to scrub away? You can smell the cover-up, feel the sterile air clog up in your nose and throat. Everything feels unnatural in the life factory, where the almost-dead are brought back to almost-life and hover between the two universes in comas and morphine dreams. That's how John knew he was in a hospital; it didn't smell like the ones from his time but the rows of empty deathbeds ready to be shushed away behind leathery curtains couldn't be used for much else.

Wake up, you're going to die.

Ignore the muttering of the men pushing you along and their footsteps in the otherwise silent halls.

You are going to die, likely in a few minutes, so wake up.

Wake up and smell the...air freshener.

But it's all so troublesome and sore, so much better to just...

...relax.

Why struggle against the inevitable?

Can you hear yourself!? What did they do to you this time?!

Maybe you're tired, maybe it's over.

Do you hear the black boots behind you? Can you sense the guns peeking out from their little holsters?

Why are ALL the beds empty?

SIGN. Top floor. Just for you? Hospital must be stuffed below. Did you hear them moaning?

Feel the belts on your wrists holding you down. Are they cutting into your skin? Wriggle, just shift your hand side to side. Feel the rope burn as you attempt impossible escape. More. More. Hurt yourself back to life.

DUF. Another door. Blacks boots gone. I do wonder where they're taking you. Doctors only.

Sliiiiide, stop. The light shines bright through the sheet of blood inside your half-closed eyelid.

Wake up, they're going to kill you.

Quick! What's the angriest you've ever been? Why were you angry?

Open your eyes. Further, further. Let the white light burn the stinging tears out of you.

Now you see him.

"John Boss," he says. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you." The syllables barely connect to each other, he doesn't get the opportunity to speak this language very often. He leans over the operating table, hidden behind a leather cap and a white facemask, the light giving him a halo. "I have been told that you have been a very naughty little chimp, so it is time for just a little procedure to help you calm down from now on." He slips his dry, rubbery fingers under John's eyepatch and peels it off. He gasps quietly, making an outline of his small mouth through the mask. "What is this? What have you been hiding from me?" You can see him grinning, just about hear it. He grabs a pair of pair of gleaming forceps and carefully reaches into the eye socket, biting down with metal teeth and pulling out some tiny, thin object from its hidden alcove. John winced as it popped out to leave a stinging pinhole wound. The doctor carefully examined the bloodied silver object in his hands, his eyes lighting up as he unfolded it into a lockpick. "Sneaky mouses, you get craftier all the time."

He placed the lockpick on the tray and inspected the exposed hole in John's head. "Hm, rather a mess. It seems I will have to go the more conventional route." John mentally tore through every method of escape he knew. Every part of his body was being held still, he couldn't even turn his head away from the long spike in the doctor's hand. "That basic collar just scrambles words, doesn't prevent you from screaming. So please, make all the noise you'd like. Don't be embarrassed, this room is completely soundproofed, you shall be singing just for me."

The surgeon's rubber thumb peeled John's eyelid upwards, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he frantically struggled against the bindings. John couldn't speak, couldn't do anything but grunt and growl as the cold steel spike slid across the veiny surface of his inner eyelid and gently pressed down on the back of his left eyeball. He was terrified it was going to burst like a grape. "And a three..."

He took a little hammer and positioned it against the blunt end of the spike.

"Two..."

He gently raised and lowered it, lining up the angle before raising it properly.

"One."

A doctor passing though the hall outside yawned as he pushed a door open at exactly the wrong time. A gentle scream in the distance wafted down the corridor and into the room where patients were sleeping. He quickly pulled it shut, trying not to disturb the peace. He noticed a woman sitting straight up and wide-eyed in her bed. The doctor did as best he could to whisper across the room. "Mrs. Aedhar, is everything alright?"

She turned away from the door to face the doctor who was now standing at the foot of her bed. She swallowed. "Fine. Just having trouble getting to bed with all the commotion."

"You mean the power fluctuation?"

She was silent for a second, glancing back at the door where she'd heard the scream. "Yeah, that."

He smiled reassuringly. "Well, don't you worry about the power. We've got more safety procedures than you could dream of. As for noise, things should be quiet now that everyone's asleep."

Beneath her baggy, tired eyes she forced a polite smile. "Okay. Thanks doctor."

"No problem. Sweet dreams, then."

The doctor fiddled with his stethoscope as he walked away. She turned away from him and lay down facing the doo...actually, no. She turned her back to the door whose small, circular windows let in annoying rays of electric light. Mrs. Aedhar pushed her pillow up a little to make herself more comfortable, and drew the thin blanket up to her face as she pretended to sleep.

How will John Boss escape from the sinister surgeon's operating table? How will Aerin Liette cope with the knowledge of the terrifying future? How will Chel Hagar be able to live with herself after her outburst against the world? And how will our hero and his biographer get back home to their own century?

JOHN BOSS WILL RETURN

IN

ACTION, THAT'S HOW! (A CAPER IN TIME PART 2)

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Cocoon
Chapter 2 - The Crossroads Inn
Chapter 3 - The Graveyard
Chapter 4 - Pentasensory Voicemail
Chapter 5 - The Shadowmen
Chapter 6 - The Lost City of Ubo-Chazil
Chapter 7 - Butchers and their Cattle
Chapter 8 - Art History
Chapter 9 - A Giant Robot with a Minigun for a Face
Chapter 10 - Shattered Mirror
Chapter 11 - A Collector of Rare and Precious Things
Chapter 12 - The White Palace of Death