Chapter 5

I made another search round the laboratory for any clue as to where it was. I kept coming up with nothing; quite rightly, as why should anyone want to do so. If you have arrived there from outside, you already know where you are. Then as I tried any drawer I could find, one revealed a phone book. It was a Greenock directory, so that indicated that the lab was somewhere in the Greenock area; which might include Gourock and Port Glasgow in its coverage.

I blinked at the date on it: 2026. Eh? 65 years in my future? I stared at the flashy colourful front cover it displayed, and realised that a display like this was not possible in my time. This was hi-tech stuff, so confirmed that it was the future. I had been through a genuine time machine!

Then it struck me: I had visited this laboratory, come into my future, despite not using the time control on the machine. How?

This led my mind to another answer. If the machine had been used previously to visit a place, it must have acted like a preset on a radio dial. You use that preset and it goes to that setting. It returned automatically to that place and time without any need to set a time.

At this realisation I sighed with relief, for if it had taken me to that spot without going into the future, I would have materialised far inside the tunnel’s rock walls and immediately be dead. It was just as well that the device acted so sensibly. Perhaps it had been set up to avoid that. Could you get a machine to remember various possible scenarios and act differently for each example? Mechanically, you can offer two possibilities and get the machine to select the one you want. Doing this for a number of possibilities like in a telephone network was much more complicated, but possibly some sort of switching arrangement might work

I also remembered reading about this unfortunate possibility in a science fiction story: landing inside an object would probably cause a massive explosion, the story suggested, when two objects tried to occupy the same space. The tunnel would probably have collapsed as well. Anyway, it didn’t happen, thanks to the good design of the builders of the device.

Following on with my logic, why didn’t I go back to the same spot in that school’s shower room? It would seem that there was an inconsistency there. Giving this question a little thought, I came to the conclusion that if there was an object in the spot where I had arrived previously, the mechanism (like with the tunnel time possibility) would shift its focus to the nearest free spot, and drop me there. Possibly the girl had got up and run to where I was when I appeared, and so prevented me from appearing there again. She did not find me, so the device did not dump me on her!

All the other visit sites were empty spots so far, so I should be able to get back to them, assuming no other person happened to be standing there at the time. Perhaps the equipment would have me arrive after the person moved away, if it was able to utilise the option. Thinking of that scenario, would there be a bang as my arrival shifted air out of the position where my body appeared? That would make sense, I should imagine, but the noise would make my sudden appearance noticeable. Possibly there was an inbuilt time lag, so that I would not arrive the moment the space cleared. Even a ten or twenty seconds shift by the device for my arrival time might not be observed by anyone. That would also apply to the shower room at the school. The naked girl had time to leave before I came back. She must have later admitted to seeing me, but regarded me as a ghost, as the story had got out, and that sighting later became connected to the unidentified dead man in the village. Two disconnected facts became conflated and turned into a paranormal event.

So, if I could now assume the lab as being within the Greenock telephone code area, there were so many tunnels in the overall area that identifying the correct one was not going to be easy. Of course, lines that remained in use could be dismissed; the present tunnel was long abandoned, and possibly for ever, unless rail made a comeback as a more fuel-efficient transportation method.

The fact that the track had been left in place suggested that the line had remained as a possible reinstatement, but by now the abandoned track most likely had been forgotten by British Rail or whoever was now responsible for the old track and tunnels. It would not be the first time that an abandoned railway line dropped out of the corporate memory. If there was no financial cost to leaving it, then there would be no attempt to make money out of it to counteract the cost.

To me, that was silly, as any tunnel had possibilities as an easily enclosed weatherproof asset (assuming there was no water ingress that could not be easily remedied). It could be used as a warehouse or other storage-type property. The short tunnels were best for that use; the long ones were a different matter. Possibly a site for a mushroom-growing company, as all you would need was a light-proof wall at either end, and an internal lighting system for the fruiting stage, and you would have a space stretching as far as you wanted. Another choice could be rhubarb growing, as the best crop of new leaf stalks is done using darkness, but that was done mainly in places around Yorkshire where they grow fresh rhubarb in sheds. A long tunnel in the damp west coast of Scotland might be just as good.

Anyway, the tunnel where the lab was hidden was not now being used for any purpose, which made me wonder why. Was there still a possibility of a viable rail line going through it, or had someone bought the tunnel with the idea of closing it off and hiding a lab within it? But in that case, why hide it? You could simply make the ends secure and erect buildings within the existing tunnel; no need to secrete the lab away out of sight.

That option made me think in the direction of an illegal laboratory that the owners did not want to be revealed any time soon. Locating it as a secret lab would mean a minimal level of staffing; only essential personnel (in this case, one man was my estimate), and without an audit trail to prove its reality. That in turn suggested a criminal organisation with only one man knowing of its existence and seeing to its funding. Doing that would mean having control of the tunnel, so probably purchased through another body; possibly a fictitious nature trust that supposedly wanted to maintain the tunnel as a habitat for bats or other wildlife that could use the tunnel; maybe even as a wildlife corridor for mammals to move around the area. It would not be the first time that an abandoned railway cutting supported a deer population; though a dark tunnel might not be to their liking.

Assume then that the tunnel was bought by such an organisation. It could arrange for protective fencing, etc. to stop humans interfering with the site, while allowing commercial companies to come along and build the laboratory for what they would be told was a government project. That would ensure that there was no publicity of the work being done.

I was building a major scenario based on little more than my own assumptions, but so far I could not pick holes in the scheme I was envisaging. I wanted it to be something of that ilk, for it would encourage me to make use of the facilities without worrying too much about people coming to inspect the place.

I could imagine a whole series of criminal activities made possible by such a transport system with a time element added to it. Possibly they were intending to shuttle gold from the past to the year 2026 or even farther on, to turn it into cash that would show no signs of being money-laundered. That would mean either stealing the gold, or even simpler, buying the gold at the price at that year and taking it to the future to sell it again. You could make a lot of money that way, so investing in this lab was a no-brainer. You just had to wait while the research staff ironed out the inevitable glitches to make it a reliable process. I expect they were still waiting for my presumed dead operator to let them know when he was ready. That assumption, that the scientist was also criminally-minded, would fit in with his device settings that might allow him to set up a theft scheme.

I needed to discover where this tunnel and laboratory was, but all I had to go on was the single track laid in the centre of the tunnel, replacing the previous twin track that the tunnel was built for. That change suggested a more modern alteration than my year, but when, where and for what?

As far as I knew, in my own time all the Greenock tunnels that were built as twin track were still twin track. Port Glasgow had the main line through Greenock Central to Gourock. The Wemyss Bay line branched off between Port Glasgow and Branchton and made its way to Upper Greenock station. The only line to Gourock was thus the coastal route. The Princes Pier line had been the landing point for transatlantic passenger liners and ran through several tunnels to Lyndoch Station and onwards to Kilmacolm and Paisley. Lyndoch had been the nearest station to my home; a quiet but very pleasant station for going to Glasgow, but now closed to routine passenger traffic at Kilmacolm, the remaining stretch to Princes pier used only for the boat trains.

I had tunnels everywhere, and few clues as to the one where the lab was hidden. It looked like I would end up having to walk out of the tunnel at whichever was the closest end, and see where I found myself standing. I hoped it was not simply into a deep cutting – given that most of the tunnels in town were entered from cuttings.

If I walked out of the tunnel, what then if my clothes said that I was not from this era? After all, if the phone book was an accurate date, this was sixty-odd years in the future and clothes would probably look different. And I had no idea in what way they would be different; maybe more zippers and few buttons, and a more streamlined fashion style?

I left that problem to simmer in my mind while I moved on to other things, such as why did the guy, who to my mind must have been the operator, simply collapse and die? Was it a side effect of the device, or was he already ill, or was it a completely random and unexpected occurrence, that his body happened to be susceptible to this ailment? If it was a side effect, did it require a number of times using the machine, or the frequency of use, the years of time travelled, or what ... there were so many possibilities, but I was hoping that he died of a stroke or heart attack that can happen to anyone! It would simplify my worries.

I had begun to notice that none of the other targets appeared to be in the future as everything had a 1960s feel to them, so perhaps the device doesn’t permit travelling into the farther future then the date of the first operation of the device. That suits me, as even 2026 seems a long way in my future, unrecognisable to a person of my time. I bet that all the technology will have moved on and be strange to me.

There is plenty to explore in my own time or around it. I didn’t know what I was intending to do with my life, but I enjoyed chemistry so perhaps something in that line. Looking back from where I am now, I had to laugh at that, for my actual career had nothing to do with chemistry, as it was a suggestion of one of my mother’s friends that diverted me. That proves that the future is not fixed, I would suggest.

Time for me to go back to the control panel and decide what to do next.

With all this cogitation, I felt that I had to make another foray to one of the unused targets on the dial. This time I selected Inverness, duration three minutes, and no stepping into the future.

When I operated the controls, I was immediately transferred to what was obviously the railway station. That choice indicated a wise precaution to avoid places with many people or obstacles, for the concourse was quite large but mostly open space.

I quickly had a glance around me in all directions, but no-one seemed to have been looking my way when I appeared.

Inverness was new to me, so I had a surreptitious search around. The rail platforms, yes, the cafe, the newsagents, staff doorways, where was the ticket office? I could see the main entrance/exit, so the ticket office was probably within that archway. That meant that the outside world was through there. I headed that way, at a nonchalant pace.

Coming to the outer side of the arch, I found myself in a semicircle of driveway and pedestrian pavement, where passengers arriving by car would alight. The driveway started and ended at the main road in front, preventing any vehicle from parking at the station frontage. To one side of the semicircle was the entrance to a hotel, and to the other the windows of a restaurant, both with a high-class look about them. These would have been major attractions when the railway first was built. They were still in use now. There was a notice board with basic information about the Highlands that tourists came to visit.

Taking a walk to the outside, I viewed the road ahead. It stretched in both directions, and was lined with shops of all kinds. This was for certain the centre of the city, and there were many people thronging the area, ready to spend money. I suspected a proportion were tourists for the Highlands, basing themselves in Inverness as the local hub for trains, buses and other transport. This being the only city in the Highlands, apart from being the Highland Council head offices, it also would be the central hub for the hospital service, and an industrial and commercial base catering for the extensive hinterland for a hundred miles to the north as well as areas around Inverness. Towns in this area were few and far between.

About 10,000 square miles in area but with a population of not much more than half a million. It was a sparsely populated region, the largest in area in the UK but with one of the smallest populations.

What could have drawn my traveller to this location? Nothing appeared obvious but perhaps there was an art gallery or museum that held valuables that might have attracted him to the city.

I had forgotten to check the time, and my four hours might be approaching fast. Then again, as I had transported from the laboratory to Inverness, was the four hours at the lab still in force, or did my 3-minute trip to Inverness interfere with that setting? I reckoned my three minutes were due to expire.

They were. I shot back to the lab, and made a point of checking the time there and relating that to my wrist watch. I had some time left here, if my guess was accurate. How many ingots did I see on the floor of that machine? Ten, eleven, twelve? I was not certain, but if I assumed ten as the minimum, then the total value would be ten times a single ingot. I needed to visit an estate agent to find out if the empty house was on the market and if so, at what price.

With a little time on my hands, I went back out to the corridor with its store rooms, to see what I might find of interest. If I was going to wander down the tunnel, it would be sensible to have a coat and a hard hat, in case of anything dropping from above.

With more confidence than previously I went through all the doors and switched on what lights I found. Much of what was on the storage shelves was pretty routine stuff you would find in most store cupboards, probably even at my high school, so I ignored these for now. I didn’t need pens and reams of paper and so on, but I did run across a hard hat, so I picked that up for later use.

Several rolled-up large sheets of paper were lying on one shelf, so I opened these up in hopes of finding Ordnance Survey maps of the area, but what I found was a set of architect’s drawings. My examination of them revealed them to be this exact site, the designs for building the place. The funder would have insisted on them being returned by the contractor after completion, so that’s why stored here: no loose ends. The contractor was probably paid in cash to keep his mouth shut, and with the bonus of not paying tax on the income! That would keep it out of government records as well.

There was one other roll, on stiffer paper. It proved to be the O.S. sheet I wanted to see: the location of the tunnel. It was indeed in Greenock. It was what was known as the Union Street tunnel as that was the last street it went under before emerging just short of the Princes Street station; or rather what I thought was the Princes Pier station. The plan labelled it ‘disused station’, and the nearby building was labelled ‘disused goods yard’ but the tunnel was left unmarked and the map symbols indicated twin tracks running though it. There were other rail tracks still there at the end of the tunnel, but ending abruptly before the site of the station. This must mean that at the time this map was made, plans were still afoot for using the rail line again. Perhaps that had happened, but how? The only thing I could think of was using the pier site as a terminal for cargo ships delivering goods from around the world. The rail line would be handy for delivering goods to Glasgow and other parts of Scotland. Then why switch to re-laying the track as single track in the middle of the tunnel?

The only logical answer must be the size or shape of the cargo being moved by rail. It must be too large for the lower roof at the sides. The middle section had a higher clearance, so the cargo must be so tall that only the central part of the tunnel was high enough to take it. However, you don’t go to great expense to relay track just for one piece of cargo, so logic insists that most of the cargoes must be much larger: either taller in themselves, or packed in tall units that would fit unto a low rail wagon. Perhaps this was timber being imported; in which case it must be very large logs, too tall to fit one of the twin tracks.

I knew nothing of imports of timber at the Clyde, so this possibility seemed marginal at best. It would make more sense if all the goods were packed inside large containers.

Come to think of it, one port in England was now using large metal containers, but I would have thought that the containers would be designed to fit normal rail systems. They would also have to be used for the cargo ships, so would have to slot together easily. That sort of system would make sense, as you could seal the container at the departure end, load it on the ship, unload it at the arrival port, and transfer it immediately onto a rail system and thence direct to the customer who was buying by the container load. That would allow for the many food imports that came to the UK.

Why hadn’t we done this before, I asked myself? Then I remembered the many men employed to shift cargo from shore to ship, then from ship to shore and thence into lorries or train trucks. They would all lose their jobs in the upgrading process, but then so did other people when technology changed. Coaches pulled by horses, the coach drivers and the coaching inns almost vanished when the railways arrived, as they could not compete in timing or on price with the new rail companies. Long distance freight pulled by horses also suffered by the same change in technology.

By the time of the First World War, almost all the military supplies of ammunition, food, etc. was provided via the railway system. There were even guns mounted on massive rail wagons, as I recalled from my reading. Mind you, most of that was on the plains of France, where tunnels were not prominent in the flat landscape. They were more or less non-existent.

Still, why the switch to single track in the middle? It must be to do with height, for any normally-sized passenger coach or goods wagon fits fine on double tracks through a tunnel, and container-loads would be designed to also fit the same dimensions. The solution probably was a redesign of some containers to be taller and so more capacious to cut the unit costs of the items carried. If the railway company knew this was coming, they could re-lay the track inside the tunnel to allow for the taller unit. Outside the tunnels and any bridges running over the rail line, the normal tracks would be adequate for any height or wagon design.

Okay, I mused, assume the tunnel became disused and was selected for the secret laboratory. Why have a house in Gourock at an earlier date, with a duplicate set of controls for the space and time device?

Then I thought: if the lab is secret, you have to allow for its possible discovery at some time, so arrange for a subsidiary set of controls at another location. Selecting a place and time unconnected with the lab would be essential to maintain the level of secrecy demanded by the funding body.

So, build an apparent house in the adjacent town of Gourock, with only the necessary appearance of a domestic residence: Walls and roof, doors and windows, and a piece of garden ground; plus whatever these glass things were on the roof of the building and the roof of the vestibule at the front. Why put up windows if the light can’t get through to the inside? It did not make sense to me, but possibly had a meaning, and perhaps a purpose, in the year 2026.

Whoosh: I was back in Gourock without any warning. Was I touching anything, holding anything at the time? I looked at my hands, and I was holding that O.S. map of the tunnel. Interesting. That meant you could move things if you were holding them. That meant that the gold ingots were probably filched from a bank or such. Then I remembered taking the two ingots back home, so I had already established that you could transport items with you. And they went through time, from 2026 to 1961 and back again, in my pockets, so that proved you did not have to be handling the items. Bringing back that map was no different.

Was the map of any use other than identifying the tunnel? Apparently not. It was of a fairly large scale, so did not show much of anything else. It had been held for the use of the people who had built the lab inside the tunnel, and nothing else.

Checking the time, I realised I had a few hours left of my day, so I headed back down to the town centre to look for an estate agent. I discovered there was only one currently open, so I went in and browsed the many A4 sheets extolling the advantages of each property on offer, but without finding the building I sought. As I stopped to wonder what to try next, I was approached by the member of staff who had been sitting at her counter watching me.

“Can I help you, young man? Having a look on behalf of your parents?”

She was a little taller than me, good-looking and well-groomed; mid-twenties I guessed.

I drew myself up to appear taller and more mature, taking on the customer persona now.

“No, having a look on my own behalf, madam,” I responded. “I had noticed an empty and apparently abandoned house on Great Ashton Drive. I wondered if it was on the market.”

“Oh, I know the one you mention. That is a rather unusual property with special demands set by the owner, which is why we don’t make a point of publicising it. The owner left instructions with his lawyer that it was only to be sold to a person who could pay for it in gold bars and without inspecting the interior! Imagine that, gold bars instead of a mortgage or cash! It is difficult enough simply to secure a mortgage for a property, yet this owner will only sell it outright, for gold bars. And with that proviso of selling without a chance to go through it for inspection, it becomes almost unmarketable. It has been on our books for ages. So, if you are interested in it, you can forget it.”

“Ah,” I said. “That is interesting. Anyone who can produce the gold can get it, no questions asked?”

“More or less. Why should that matter to you?” She was downgrading me by the minute.

“Can I clarify the amount? How many gold bars, of what weight, is stipulated?”

“You are lucky we are quiet, today, young man, or I would dismiss your request out of hand. Just to amuse myself, I will go check the figures, as it is so long since I last saw them.”

She disappeared through a back door to an office. I browsed while I waited, and noted the prices varied tremendously, based mainly on the size of the property and number of rooms and additional pluses such as an attached garage or very large garden. I wondered where the empty house fell within these ranges.

She returned with a broad smile, and told me, “Our records stipulate that the price is fixed, and of course with it being gold bars, the value will tend to go up each year.”

“I understand that, missus, but to repeat, how many gold bars and of what value of each?”

“Oh, yes. The stipulation is that it must be in denominations of ten troy ounce bars, and the price is ten of them. Do you know what that amounts to?”

Before she could show off her knowledge, I upped the challenge, “If we assume a rate of about seventeen pounds per ounce, a ten-ounce bar would be worth a hundred and seventy pounds, so ten of them would be a value of around one thousand seven hundred pounds. Am I in the right general area?”

She spluttered a little before admitting, “Yes, approximately. The gold price varies a little, and there is a conversion charge made by the bank, but in general terms it should be around one thousand seven hundred pounds for now. Are you happy with that answer? Do you have the gold bars to offer for the price?”

“Indeed. Do I produce these gold bars to your company, or to the selling lawyer you mentioned?”

She gawped, and her breasts became more prominent, I noticed absently.

“Eh? Are you serious?”

“Most certainly. I might have to deliver them a couple at a time, due to the weight involved, but I have access to these bars.”

“Well, you really have to go through this estate agency. This is the rule. We get a fee as the go-between. That is how an agency works. The fee will come to us from the lawyer handling the sale. You look a bit young to have access to such a large sum of money, and particularly in the form of gold bars.”

I happily informed her, “Oh, I was left a decent amount by my favourite grandfather, and some of the loot, I was told, is in the form of gold bars in the ten ounce size; something to do with a hedge against inflation.

Because of my youth, I don’t want my name on the transaction documents. My parents are unhappy that they were more or less bypassed in the will, so I could never expect them to sign as guarantor for me, thus my reticence. But you would be paid in full as stipulated by the seller. Can it be done that way?”

“I will have to check with my boss before confirming that, but a sale is a sale, so I don’t expect he will object to getting that property off our books. None of us have ever met the actual vendor, just his solicitor. Can you call in another day or phone me?”

“It is easier for me to call in, once I see about my scheduled business for the next few days.”

The woman’s eyes blinked at this reference to ‘business’ by the teenager, and asked, “Aren’t you still at school?”

“Oh, yes, but the pressure from other directions pays no regard to my other legal responsibilities, such as attending school, though that will shortly be finished. My grandfather was involved in running several businesses, and he seems to have expected me to take over as soon as I learn the basics of business. I assume he has been keeping an eye on my results in things like English, mathematics and science. I am doing well in physics and chemistry,” I bragged.
I was having fun with pretending to be a rich young man, but I hoped she didn’t expect me to flash cash, because I couldn’t! She did take the idea on board, for her next comment disturbed me.

“I can’t offer to assist with learning business practices, for that would be unethical for me in this business, but I have a much younger sister who is studying for a business degree at the University of Glasgow. She might be worth speaking to about your business needs until you pick it up for yourself. You can ruin a business by not knowing what you are doing.”

Oh, yes, just what I want: someone who will want to poke around my supposed finances. My heart sank as I searched for an answer that would not offend her, nice enough though she looked.

“Umm, I appreciate the offer, but my grandfather had a business adviser who helped him with his decisions. I think I am expected to take on the same adviser, you see, but I will wait and see what’s what.”

“Oh, well. If you decide you want someone younger and better-looking, I think my Alexandra might fit the bill. Tell me you will at least not dismiss the idea of an adviser.”

“Oh, I won’t, I promise you. The thought of a pretty girl as an adviser is not one I would lightly dismiss,” I said jocularly, and she smiled.

“Lovely. So we will see you back here once you organise your funds to be able to produce the required payment in gold?”

“In installments, yes. I presume there is no need to ask that my offer to purchase will put a hold on the property, to prevent other offers being considered?”

“Oh, my goodness! After all these years, I should think that another offer is extremely unlikely, so take it from me that you have no competition; though that does not enable you to offer under the price demanded. It is a fixed price deal, you understand? We have no leeway.”

“I understand, madam. The price is acceptable, I assure you.”

I swiftly left her presence and departed, on my way home. I would need to make fairly regular trips to Gourock, in order to retrieve gold ingots from the future. Two at a time would mean five visits to the estate agent’s shop.

Then what do I do about these ‘targets’ of various cities around Scotland? For me, are they simply places to visit in this easy way, or should I be regarding them as of more import? What am I to do with my discovery of this mechanism of time and place? Do I need to keep it hidden, or dare I risk revealing its existence?

Then a dark shiver overtook me. There may be in 2026 a criminal mind expecting to be informed of a successful construction of a time machine. If I was to let it be known in 1961 that such a machine existed, his learning of it as history might lead to something nasty coming my way in that year 2026. By that date through normal aging I would be quite old and less able to fend off any physical pressure on me to hand over the device. Even if I was dead by then, whoever was then in control of the machine would be in receipt of the same malign influence. No, it would be safer at all times, now and in the future, to refrain from revealing its existence at all.