THE TIME SAVER
Chapter Two
Jack opened his eyes, and saw the endless
stars above him. He saw perfectly, but he noticed that he had no glasses on.
"What the?" Jack asked, as he stood
up, and saw that he was lying on a bench. He was on a ship, and it seemed very
wide and...
"Oh, God. What year am I in?" Jack
asked, looking at his clothes. He saw a young woman run past him and yelled to
her. "Excuse me!"
The woman did not turn around or stop. She
kept on running like a jet plane. Jack followed her, since she was the only one
around in Jack's sight. He ran after her, and stopped to see the sight of what
she was doing.
"Hey!" Jack said.
The woman turned around, and said,
"Don't come any closer. I'll let go."
"Listen, you don't want to do
this," Jack said, coming closer to her.
"Did you hear me? I said don't come any
closer or I'll--" The young woman paused as Jack leaned over to see the
water.
"Wow, that's a long fall," Jack
said.
The young woman looked over and didn't say
anything. "Yes, it is," the woman said, as she started to climb over
the other side of the ship.
"Wow! Hang on!" Jack said, taking
his hand off of her.
"Get your arm off of me, you steerage
scum! How dare you put your hands on me!" the woman said, jerking her arm
out of his hand.
"Listen, you don't want to do
this," Jack said.
"Oh, that I do. Go away, and leave me
alone!" the young woman said, and began to climb over the ship again.
"Well, before you jump, can you at least
answer some questions for me?" Jack asked.
The woman sighed, and said, "What are
they?"
Jack gave a smile, and said, "Well, how
about your name first."
"Rose DeWitt Bukater, and yours?"
the woman asked.
"Jack Dawson," Jack said.
"My condolences," Rose said, and
went back to the stern of the ship.
"Wait! I have more than one," Jack
said.
"Then will you please hurry so I can get
this over and done with before I change my mind?" Rose said, with some
tears coming down her eyes.
Jack then felt into his pockets, and felt a
handkerchief. "Here," Jack said, handing Rose the handkerchief.
"Thank you," Rose said.
"All right. Well, what year is
this?" Jack asked.
Rose chuckled. "1912."
Jack felt goosebumps come over him.
"What's the date, and what ship is this called again?" Jack asked,
worried.
"It's the eleventh of April, and the
ship is called the Titanic," Rose said.
Jack said, under his breath, "Oh, my
God," and then chuckled. "Excuse me, but did you say that this is the
Titanic?" Jack asked.
"Why, yes. Are you on the wrong
boat?" Rose asked.
"No, it's just that I have to remind
myself that I'm actually on this ship." Jack laughed. Rose had to laugh
also, and Jack asked, "So, are you still gonna jump?"
Rose shook her head, and said, "No, I
don't feel like jumping anymore." Rose chuckled, and she wiped some of her
tears.
"So, can I go back to my cabin knowing
that you'll swim with the dolphins tonight?" Jack asked.
Rose laughed, and said, "Yes, you
can."
Suddenly, an old man with black and gray
hair, and a woman with red hair just like Rose's came closer to them.
"Rose, we have been looking all over
this ship for you. And here you are, at the very end of the ship. This is so
typical of you Rose, and in this weather. My goodness," the woman said.
"Rose, who is this man?" the woman said, as if he just appeared.
"Mother, this is Jack Dawson," Rose
said, standing up.
"Oh, a Boston Dawson," the man
said.
"Yes, that's right," Jack said,
chuckling.
Rose's mouth dropped wider, and embarrassment
covered her face.
"Well, what are you doing in the
steerage promenade?" the man said.
"I was looking at the ship. To see what
was different in between the different promenades," Jack said calmly.
"Oh, why yes. I guess we were,
too," Rose's mother said.
"Well, Rose, are you all right?"
Rose's father said.
"Yes, I'm fine," Rose said.
"Well, Mr. Dawson, thank you for keeping
my daughter company. Maybe you can join our table tomorrow night for
dinner," Rose's father said.
Jack shook his head. "No thanks. That's
all right," he said.
"Oh, now, everyone wants to talk to you.
Why, even the Astors," Rose's mother said.
Jack then turned around, and said, "I
beg your pardon, miss, but didn't you mean John Jacob Astor?"
Rose's father chuckled, and said, "Well,
of course. There is only one."
Jack chuckled, and said, "Yes, of course.
Well, it wouldn't hurt anything. Yes, count me in. I will be there."
Rose smiled, and said through her lips,
"Thank you," yet there was no sound. Just lip movement.
Jack nodded his head, and the family went to
their cabin. "Holy Mary, I need to think," Jack said and sat down on
the bench. "Okay, I was on the Keldysh, the wind blew, and now I'm here on
the Titanic. All right. Think, Jack. Let's look through your pockets, see what
we have."
He dug through all his pockets, and found the
following: A first class ticket, cigarettes, and more than a hundred dollars of
money. "Holy shit, I must be a rich son of a bitch," Jack said with a
laugh. "So then why am I here?" Jack asked, looking around.
He started to put the items back in his
pocket, when he felt something. With curiosity, Jack took it out, and found
that it was a small piece of paper. Jack opened the piece of paper and read it.
This is what it said:
Dear Accustomed Time Traveler,
You have been picked for this mission,
which is to stop this ship from sinking. If you try to get out of this mission
by jumping off the ship, or trying to kill yourself...you will die and will not
make it back to the year that you actually live in. If you fix what is wrong,
you will be gratefully rewarded and will not have to suffer travel back in time
again. If you fail, you will be given a horrible mission that is worse than
this one. God bless.
"Geez," Jack said.
"Good evening, Mr. Dawson," a man
with a British accent said.
Jack then turned around quickly, and saw an
old man that was a little small.
"Good evening, sir. Do I know you?"
Jack asked.
"I'm afraid you don't, sir. I'm your
follower, sir. For this journey, my name is Franklin," the man said.
"You mean you're my valet? I have a
valet? I'm that rich?" Jack said with enthusiasm.
"Technically, no. I'm talking about your
time travel. To everyone, I am your uncle. To you, I make sure you don't do
anything crazy or absolutely bonkers," Franklin said.
"So you know what happened and why I'm
here?" Jack asked.
"Yes," Franklin said, and nodded
his head. "Yet, we don't have time to talk about it right now. We need to
start our mission."
"Mission? Already? It is only the tenth.
We have until the fourteenth," Jack said.
"Yes, Jack, but we must start now. Come,
follow me," Franklin said.
Jack followed Franklin, and they went towards
the bridge. "Wow. Hold up, Franklin. No passengers are allowed on the
bridge," Jack said.
"That's correct, Jack, yet we can weasel
our way so that we can look at the bridge," Franklin said.
"Cool," Jack said.
"I'm sorry fellows, but only crewmen can
come on the bridge," an officer said, blocking Jack and Franklin's path.
"Well, you might change your mind when
you hear this. We are part of a cruise company, and we would like to make a
column about your luxurious ship," Franklin said.
"Yeah, well what does that have to do
about your cruise column?" the officer asked.
"Well, I think that our customers would
like to know if the crew has the knowledge and education to steer this palace
on water," Franklin said.
"All right, but don't touch anything,
you hear?" the officer said.
"Yes, sir," Franklin said, and Jack
followed.
"Hey, no passengers allowed," the
officer said, blocking Jack's path.
"I'm his assistant," Jack said.
"An assistant? Why does there have to be
two people to write a column?" the officer asked.
"He is also my nephew. He has knowledge
when it comes to the sea," Franklin said.
The officer rolled his eyes, sighed, and
said, "All right, go on. The same thing I said, let it be minded by you,
too."
Jack nodded his head, and followed Franklin.
Franklin got out a notebook and pretended to write notes.
"Try and look for the binoculars,"
Franklin said in a whisper.
Jack looked around casually, and saw them.
"Found them," Jack said, and held them casually.
Franklin closed his notebook, and said,
"Excellent, now we got one thing done."
Franklin and Jack started to walk with the
binoculars when the captain stopped them in their path.
"I'm sorry, but no passengers are
allowed on the bridge," the captain said.
"May I introduce myself? I am Franklin
Roy. This is my assistant, Jack Dawson. We are part of a tour ship company, and
we would like to take a look at the bridge and see how well kept it is,"
Franklin said.
"Well, I can tell you now that it is
and--"
"We found these, on the floor. We
thought that these might help you during the night," Franklin said, and
handed the captain the binoculars.
"Well, will you--"
"Oh, don't worry, captain, this will not
be in the column," Franklin said.
Jack and Franklin then left the bridge.
"That was awesome," Jack said, chuckling.
"It's not over yet, my young
friend," Franklin said.
"What?" Jack asked, shocked.
"Jack, I'm disappointed in you. There is
still the fourteenth. But, we are done for the night. Good night, Jack. Oh,
yes, you might want to change your vocabulary just a little bit," Franklin
said, and headed to his cabin.
"My God I must be dreaming," Jack
said, and rubbed his forehead. Jack exited the boat deck and felt warm air wrap
around him. "Wait a minute. What's my cabin number?" Jack asked, and
looked at his ticket. The ticket read B-56, and he headed towards the cabin for
the night.