Book X Read online

  Time Travel Adventures of The 1800 Club

  BOOK X

  By Robert P. McAuley

  Published By

  Robert P. McAuley /Smashwords

  Copyright 2014 by Robert P. McAuley

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  Copyright © 2014 Time Travel Adventures Of The 1800 Club: Book X. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  The Premise

  The Time Travel Adventures Of The 1800 Club is a 21 st Century haven for people seeking to escape New York City’s frantic pace. Dressed in clothes their ancestors might have worn during the 1800s, members enjoy foods of the period and read periodicals featuring news of a particular date in 1865. However, the 1800 Club also has an astounding secret . . . Time Travel. Members travel back in time nudging famous persons and key events just enough to ensure history unfolds, as it should. Guardians-of-the-past, living in the future, send robotic probes back through the ages, discovered that, at critical time-junctures, pivotal figures stray from vital tasks and actions. These Time Watchers of the past can’t go back and fix the glitch in the timeline because the atmosphere they breathe has been cleaned up over the years and the air of the past is almost unbreathable for them. Then an 1800 Club member from the 2000s are sent back to guarantee that events get back on track. The 1800 Club’s members aid Lincoln, Roosevelt, Bat Masterson, Mark Twain and many others. Without subtle interventions by these unknown agents, the famous might have been only footnotes, rather than giants of history.

  Dear reader, I once read a time travel book where the main character went back over one hundred years in the past to retrieve an object from a house. He entered the house, picked up the object and brought it back to his time. To me it was upsetting that he took us back in time and never once said anything about the house! Never described anything! He might as well have just gone back to a park where things never change. That is why I try to bring the reader along with me as I travel through time. RPM

  A peek into chapter 1

  When one of the Time Watchers of the future finds out that he inherited a huge fortune, he decides to give it all to third world hospitals. However, it has been lost for centuries and is buried somewhere in Transylvania.

  A peek inside of chapter 2

  Italy almost changed history by signing a separate peace pact with the German war machine of World War One, which could have caused France and Great Britain to lose the war.

  Chapter 1

  The Vampire’s Treasure

  DATELINE: DECEMBER 20, 1713, PLACE: CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS, TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA

  The six men sat as close to the fire as they could, not just to keep them warm but hopefully to keep the howling wolves away . . . and another reason that they never spoke of. They wore red and gold military uniforms with a steel helmet that covered most of their faces, but the light of the fire that reflected in their eyes told that they were afraid and each kept a hand on their sword.

  Although they had camped against a wall of tall boulders that helped break the wind, the snow still whipped around and tried to cover them. A horse snorted and one of the soldiers said, “Helm, Janus, take a torch and see to the horses. Make sure they are secured well. I do not wish to walk back to the general without my horse.”

  Two soldiers gritted their teeth as they stood, grabbed a burning branch from the fire and left the protection of the group. They walked thirty paces to where the horses were tied to a stand of trees.

  “Hold the torch steady, Janus. I want to check the rope.”

  The ropes were secure and as they started back, Janus stopped and kicked something, sending it and a clod of snow in front of them. He stooped and picked it up. He held it so the torch could illuminate it.

  “A gold coin!” he shouted.

  “What? Let me see,” said Helm, “I get half.”

  The sound of a sword being drawn alerted the four around the fire and they all drew their weapons and ran towards the two men. Janus stood with the torch in one hand and his sword in the other as Helm stood at the ready with his sword out.

  The soldier who had sent them to check the horses shouted, “What are you two maggots doing? Fighting? I ought to hang you both.”

  “Gold, my commandant,” said Janus ready to make a deal to keep his life.

  “Put those weapons away and explain yourselves. What gold are you speaking of?”

  Janus held out his hand and the gold sparkled by the light of his torch.

  “Where did you get this?” asked his commander in almost a whisper as he fingered the coin.

  “By the horses. Come, we’ll see if there’s more.” Janus led the way and they saw that the ground around the horses’ feet was kicked up. “I think the horses disturbed the ground here and exposed the coin.”

  “Another!” they turned to see one of the soldiers bent down as he picked up coins. Immediately the six men were on their knees, torches held high as they searched for the gold coins.

  Janus had four coins when suddenly another fell in front of him and he scooped it up. He continued searching and suddenly thought, How come that coin came from above me? He looked up and saw a figure above him in the branches of the tree. He held the torch high and the light showed his commander stuck in the tree at an angle that only a dead person can be in without screaming.

  He spun around and saw two soldiers on their knees searching for the gold. Where are the other two men? And how did the commander get into the tree? As quick as he thought that, one of the two soldiers was picked up by a dark shadow and thrown twenty feet away into their fire. Immediately the other soldier landed in the same tree as his commander. Janus quickly drew his sword as a hand wrapped around his neck and he found himself flying through the air, but before he hit the ground he saw that the shadow was now in front of him and caught him. The fire illuminated the shadow’s face and Janus saw the red eyes staring as the teeth slowly extended from the thin slit of a mouth. He tried to remember a prayer his mother had taught him so many years ago but suddenly he felt cold and tired before going dark. The coins dropped from his hands into the mounting snow.

  DATELINE: JANUARY 20, 2070, PLACE: JOSEPH SERGIE’S HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY

  Peggy Sergi stirred a cup of coffee then put the teaspoon in the sink. She walked over to the hallway and called up the stairs of the two-story home, “Joseph, your coffee is ready.” She placed the full cup on top of the banister and called out again before she went back to the kitchen, “Joseph, did you hear me? Your coffee is sitting on the banister. I have to get dinner ready.” She turned to leave then hesitated as she shook her head, “Oh, that man.” She picked up the cup and went up the stairs to their attic. Peggy peeked into the room almost illuminated with a single light hanging from the center of the roof. Movement came from the dark, right hand corner and she said, “Joseph! Did you hear me call you?”

  The crouching figure turned and the round beam of a flashlight momentarily blinded h
er, causing some spillage from the cup.

  “Sure I did, hon, and I answered you: leave the coffee on the banister and I’ll get it.”

  “Too late now. Here,” she said wiping the bottom of the cup with a paper napkin, “come get it. If I come in I’ll trip and break a leg or something.”

  For a second Joseph forgot where he was and bumped his head against the attic’s ceiling as he tried to stand.

  “Oh! That hurt!”

  “Did you find the box of toys? I want to bring them to the school for the ‘Help A Child’ program.”

  Joseph took the coffee cup and sat crossed legs as he rubbed his head. “Yep! I found them. Only problem is those toys are like ten years or more old. What kid wants old toys to play with?”

  She shook her head and pinched his nose as she said, “I pity you, Joseph.”

  He shrugged, “Well anyway, I found this old family bible. I haven’t seen it in years.”

  “Slide the box of toys over here.”

  Joseph shook his head and his long, untrimmed black hair flopped in front of his black eyes. “They’re too heavy for you, I’ll bring them down.” He passed her the bible, “Here. You bring this down.”

  “What about your coffee?”

  “Leave it on the floor. I’ll drink it when I come back up. There are some old boxes I want to go through.”

  “Okay, but dinner is in one hour.”

  His eyes opened wide as he asked, “Meatball heroes?”

  She rolled her green eyes and said, “No! Lasagna with red sauce. Save the meatball heroes for work.”

  After dinner and helping his wife with the dishes and putting their two little boys to bed, Joseph sat in the living room and picked up the old bible. The first page of the 8X10 leather bound book had a long block of copy written in Romanian, his native tongue.

  Peggy left the kitchen, sat on the couch and picked up her E-Reader and said as it powered up, “I glanced at it when I brought it down. Can you read it?”

  Joseph made the mistake of shaking his head as he said, “No”, and once again his hair covered half of his face. “I’ve always said that I was going to learn Romanian but, well, you know how it goes.”

  She nodded, “You do know that you can have it translated on the Uni-TV? They’ll charge it on the monthly TV bill.”

  “I know.” He put the book down and noticed something odd: There was a piece of yellowed paper that could be seen in a torn corner of the book’s spine. He picked it up and felt the spine. A small section of the spine was not as thick as the rest of it.

  “Hey, Peg. There’s something in the spine to make it sturdy or maybe a note or something. He went into the kitchen and took a serrated knife and slit the leather binding on the spine just enough to be able to get a grip on the paper. He slipped it out and gently unfolded the creased paper. The old note had a drawing of a castle and a printed message.

  “Hon,” Peggy asked in a whisper, “What is this?”

  The big man shrugged his shoulders. “It’s old. That much I know.” He put on his TV set and said, “Translations, please.”

  The screen immediately showed an animation of someone placing a book facing the screen as a scanner bar floated across the screen. He followed the instructional and after the bar had scanned it a printout slid out of their printer. Joseph went and got it and they both sat down to read the old message.

  At an unknown year, Count Sergi Custance moved the family treasure from Castle Sergi Custance and hid it in the Gyulafehervar section of the Carpathian Mountains. Although his family and advisors were unsettled by this move, he was proven right when the Habsburgs claimed the territories of Transylvania in 1683 and demanded half of all treasures in their newly conquered territories. The move took 56 nights and the fortune was said to be: 316,094 gold coins: 227,000 silver coins, 783 pearl necklaces, 231 gold bracelets and rings.

  Jon Dieupen, August, 1702.

  Joseph Sergi knocked on the conference room’s door before opening it. Jerry Sullivan sat at the large conference table gazing at a hologram. He looked up at the open door and smiled. “Hey, Joseph, I thought Maryellen had the next session?”

  “She does,” the big man answered as he pushed back his hair. “I just wanted to get someone’s opinion on something.”

  “Come on in, everything seems to be going along great in the history tracking business. So, what’s up?”

  Joseph sat and pushed the old manuscript in front of Jerry. “This slid out of an old bible that has been in my family for years. I’ll translate it for you.”

  He did and Jerry said, “Wow! I didn’t know that you can read . . . uh, what language is this?”

  “It’s Romanian and I can’t read it. I had it translated.”

  “Wow!” said Jerry with raised eyebrows, “That’s a lot of money and it belongs to your family?”

  “As far as I know. I’m the last of the Sergi Custance family. I used one of those ancestry programs and I’m the last that they can find.”

  “So, you’re royalty?” asked Jerry as he stood and did a deep bow to his friend.

  Joseph shook his head and laughed, “Yeah, maybe I’m a prince or something.”

  Jerry sat and took a quick peek at the running hologram and, satisfied that all was right, said, “Anyway, what are you going to do: take some vacation time and go digging around Transylvania?”

  “Close,” Joseph said as he sat at the table, “but no. However, I’d like to call the group in and talk about it.”

  Jerry removed his glasses and cleaned them with the tail of his red and black-checkered shirt. “Sounds good to me,” he said. He looked at his watch and went on, It’s ten o’clock so I’m sure they’re all finished breakfast. And you are lucky,” he said as he looked at the duty sheet, “everyone is in town.”

  Joseph opened the door and summoned the young man sitting there. “Francis,” he said as the man looked up, “Is Ted on vacation?”

  “Yes, sir,” the young man answered, “He’ll be back in a week and I’m taking his tours. Can I help you?”

  “Yes, can you call the group together?”

  “Yes, sir,” he said as he walked down the long hallway.

  One hour later the Time Tracking Group sat at the conference table. “John, did you catch that History Channel show on the birth of the railroad engine?” Alexis Shuntly asked as she squinted her green eyes behind her thick glasses at John Hyder.

  “Yes. Thanks for leaving me a message that it was going to be on. It was one of the best shows I ever saw on the engine.” He absentmindedly scratched his long, bushy sideburns as he added, “I truly believe that the government should add tracks to our existing system as that would be fewer people on the roads, especially on holidays.”

  Maryellen Muldey opened her laptop and asked, “So, Jerry, what’s up? Did you find a hiccup in the timeline?”

  Jerry shook his head and said, “No, not me. All is well on my tour.” He turned and said as he tipped his head towards Joseph, “But Joseph has a unique problem that needs to be addressed, and instead of waiting for his tour, we decided to call you all in.”

  Maryellen fluffed up her short white mane of hair and said, “That’s why we’re here. What’s up Joseph?”

  Joseph smiled at the group as he started to pace the floor, a sign that he was nervous.

  “Joeseph,” said Jerry Sullivan, “Cut to the chase. I think it’s a great idea.”

  He stopped his pacing and sat heavily into his chair as he took the old yellowed piece of paper out of his pocket. “First off, I want to thank you all for coming in when there are no crises. Now let me tell you a short story. Way back in my ancestral country of Transylvania, my family ran a large section of the country. They ran it by taking care of the people who worked their land. My ancestors had homes built for them and protected them from the many invasions that happened back then.”

  “Back when, Joseph?” asked John Hyder

  “They ran the area known as the Pauboui section of
the Carpathian mountain range from as early as 1410 all the way up to World War I.”

  “Wow!” said, Maryellen, “That’s a nice run. Why did they stop with World War I?”

  “They couldn’t compete with the modern weapons of war and they lost everything they owned.” He lifted up the small piece of paper and went on.

  “However, I just discovered this old piece of paper hidden in the spine of an old bible that has been in my family for years. It says that my family once kept their treasure in the castle’s dungeon but at one point in time they moved it.”

  “Treasure?” said Jerry Sullivan as he rubbed his palms together, “Are you a knight or something?”

  “Yeah, Joseph,” added John Hyder with a grin, “should we bow or something?”

  Joseph rolled his eyes and continued, “The bottom line is that the treasure they hid was huge! Let me translate the message, At an unknown year, Count Sergi Custance moved the family treasure from Castle Sergi and hid it in the Gyulafehervar section of the Carpathian Mountains. Although his family and advisors were unsettled by this move, he was proven right when the Habsburgs claimed the territories of Transylvania in 1683 and demanded half of all treasures in their newly conquered territories. The move took 56 nights and the fortune was said to be: 316,094 gold coins: 227,000 silver coins, 783 pearl necklaces, 231 gold bracelets and rings.

  Jon Dieupen, August, 1702.

  “Castle?” asked Maryellen with wide eyes, “Joseph, you own a castle! I say we do a road trip!”

  “Maryellen, I thought of that but first I must find out where the treasure is hid and if it’s intact. There’s no sense in going there only to find out that some invader took it centuries ago.” He shrugged his wide shoulders and went on, “The reason I asked you all here is to put forth a request: Let me have someone from the 1800 Club go back to 1900 and try and find out where they hid the treasure. If it is located then we can go to that spot and retrieve it.”