Tom Fleet was a bit of a misfit as the second son of a minor English noble in the 1880s. Once he finished his schooling he had little to do. His grandfathers had left him adequate finances for his needs and with his elder brother set to take the title, he gave in to his fascination with gadgets and began to tinker and invent. His goal was to create a sky craft to go to the moon. Surely if Jules Verne’s characters could go there and many other places, he could do as well.<br><br>Rowan Farrell followed in his Uncle Gordon’s footsteps, joining the UniFleet, but went a step farther and became an officer. Assigned to his first command level post, he takes a small patrol ship out to scout a region of interest to the Council and report if any signs of the enemy Angevirian Empire in the area. When one of his crew spots a strange, tiny craft, he decides to capture and study it. After all it could be an Angevirian Trojan horse. But the odd cylindrical vessel holds only one man, unconscious and suffering from hypothermia and lack of oxygen. When the man comes to, he claims to come from the earth ... five centuries in the past!

Tom Fleet’s Machine

Rowan turned back to the airlock where Muldoon waited. When he beckoned, the NCO pushed the release and stepped out into the bay. “What have we got, sir?”


“Damned if I know,” Rowan replied. “Guy looks like a normal standard human type. How he managed to survive this high above the planet is a mystery to me. No oxygen, no protective gear, nothing. Craziest thing I ever saw.”


He glanced at Muldoon. The red-headed spacer’s face reflected his amazement. “Crazy is right. Damn near impossible, if you ask me.”


“Where he came from with this jerry-rigged machine beats me,” Rowan continued. “Far as I know there isn’t anyone hanging out on these little planets unless the Angevires just established a colony. Someoneshould’ve been aware of it if they did. Or maybe we are now. Give me a hand and we’ll carry the guy up to sick bay. Doc can go over him, be sure he is human and fix him up if he suffered some damage from his travels. Then maybe we can interrogate him.”


Chapter 6