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Part One: The Flyer
Charlie was an inventor; he and his partner Ben were working on a mechanical flying machine called the Flyer. They were gathering the gears and parts precisely to build the wings of the machine. Once they gathered all the parts, they would build for hours; Charlie would build all night. Ben fell asleep while Charlie was building the wings. “Ahhhhh!” Ben yawned, he awoke from the couch to find Charlie sleeping on the desk. “He slept in again, well, here we go…” He walked up to the yellow button and pressed it. An alarm clock started bombinating with buzz. Charlie moved and started to open his dark brown eyes. He rolled his eyes up and stood up, scratching his cheek. Charlie caught his consciousness and came to mind. “Why did you wake me up?” Charlie said in a sleepy, grumpy voice. Ben turned the aggravating alarm clock off, it bothered Ben as well. Today was test day, Charlie and Ben were to test-flight the Flyer and see how well they had built it. To test the Flyer, Charlie and Ben walked to the field nearby, carrying the unwieldy Flyer with them. When they arrived, Charlie and Ben tied the chunky rope to the tree. “Okay, Ben, I’m going to get in and lift up; when I tug the rope, pull me down.” Charlie said. Charlie lifted off and turned on the mechanical wings, he grabbed the controller and flew around. After a couple of minutes Charlie tugged the rope, and Ben pulled down the Flyer. “It worked!” Said Charlie. The flyer was working, but Charlie felt that it was not complete. “Let’s take it to the Greater-Inventor show!” Said Ben. “Not yet, it can’t go up or down, we need to design boosters.” Charlie said. Charlie hadn’t yet fulfilled his machine, he had felt that it was missing something. The next morning, Charlie went back to the office to get the Flyer and test it out. He walked to the field, tied the rope to the tree, and flew off; Charlie had fun flying it around for half-an-hour until the power supply had no more power. Charlie got bored of flying and tried to get down, but at that moment he realized that he could not do it. Charlie yelled for someone to help, but nobody was there. As Charlie sat there for a while, the wind started to howl, the clouds darkened, and it began to rain; Charlie realized that a storm was approaching. The wind knocked him to the side and he fell unconscious.
Part Two: The Land of the Strange
Charlie loosely opened his eyes and awoke to realize that he was not in the field where he had been testing the Flyer. Charlie looked up to the clear blue sky; he tried to pick himself of the ground only to realize that his whole body was undergoing reluctant pain. He glanced around the area until he noticed immense metallic skyscrapers, which he stared at for a while, as though his mind turned off, but his eyes did not. Charlie jumped and comprehended that he was staring at the skyscraper. He found that the Flyer had crashed next to him, and that, somehow, he was still alive. “Ay thaur!” Said a person coming by. “I’m sorry tae say, but uhh, yer ship crashed.” He said. “Weel, mah nam is Clint, Bloodworth, what’s yer’s?” He said. “My name is Charles, Charles Cantrell.” Said Charlie. Clint wore a top hat with bronze goggles on them, and a long coat that stretched to his knees; he had brown, scruffy beard.
“Whaur ye from?” asked Clint, looking at Charlie. “I, well, I’m not from here that’s for sure,” Charlie replied. “Ye swatch quite old-fashioned, ye don’t hae a top hat ur eyeglasses.” “I came here on a balloon with wings, I got into a storm and fell asleep, next thing I know is that I’m here with you,” Charlie said. “Yer lucky bloke tae survife a st’rm, well, want me to show yeh around?” He asked. “Uhh, sure,” Charlie replied. Charlie looked at the big metallic buildings around him and saw the packed city. The buildings had bridges all around them and trains rode from one building to the next. There were big metal gears on buildings and tubes with steam coming out . Charlie was dazzled , he never Imagined a city like this one. “Ye see, we hae tae gang thaur, that’s th’ train.” Charlie saw the bronze train on the ground near the field, it was hovering. “Thes is th’ train ‘at goes intae th’ city, we’re near th’ end ay th’ city, there’s th’ village near th’ rivers, an’ passed oan thaur goes th’ moontains. sae?” Clint asked, and Charlie nodded. “Sae, Ah shoods tak’ ye tae th’ mayur, he micht help ye.” The big, bronze train had arrived, Charlie and Clint stepped inside and sat down, still talking with each other. Charlie saw the whole, humongous city as the train rode on bridges from one building to another. He saw flying airships and hot air balloons across the sky. Charlie stared at the city, was this reality? Charlie asked himself. Soon they arrived at the station, the doors opened, and Clint and Charlie came out of the train. As they exited the station, they walked into a vast , brown building.
Part Three: Winslow Cantrell
Charlie and Clint were walking down the hall as Charlie was looking at all the portraits of the city mayors. One of them had Cantrell written under it which was Charlie’s last name. Charlie was muddled , how rare would it be to have his last name as a mayor, considering it wasn’t a popular one. Clint and Charlie approached a dark, wooden door. Clint knocked on the door. “Come in!” Clint opened the door. “Charlie, I want ye to meet the mayor, Winslow Cantrell.” “What?” Cried Charlie. “Hi there, wha… Charles! I, what!” Exclaimed the mayor. “You shouldn’t be here, get out of my office, I’ll see you later, not now, bye.” The mayor pushed them out and slammed the door. Charlie stood there baffled . “What happened in there?” Clint exclaimed. “I saw… Nothing, I’m probably going crazy.” “Yer nae goin’ a bampot! Ah saw heem tay!” Clint replied. “Yep definitely crazy, definitely crazy!” “Uhh, let’s tak’ yeh back in? shaa we …” Clint opened the door and Charlie saw the mayor. “Hi nephew,” said the mayor. “How did you… I thought you were dead!” Charlie exclaimed. “Well, I got lost in a storm just like you, I went flying on a hot air balloon, got lost, and the next thing I knew, I was here. I’ve been living here for a few years, I got bored, ran for mayor, that’s my life here. Anyway, how did you get here?” Asked Winslow. Charlie hesitated, it was hard to see someone who you thought was dead still alive. Charlie took a moment and continued. “Same as you, I made an invention which helped me fly. I stubbornly went by myself, not thinking that I needed a partner to get me down. I was up there for a long time, but nobody came, and then I was here.” Charlie spoke. “Well, this place is not as it seems to be honest, we make electricity out of steam, and that’s inefficient. It takes a lot of water and gives you little power and we’re running out of fresh water.” Winslow said, sweat coming down his forehead for an obscure reason. “You can use wind power,” Charlie said. “We don’t know how to do that,” Winslow replied. “Do you have coal?” “We ran out; I do miss the old times, technology, science, I wish I could go back, but I can’t, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get myself back, but I have failed.” Winslow responded with sadness. “Okay, but are you sure you even want to leave, you’ve got a pretty high position as a mayor.” Charlie asked. “I am not so sure, but I keep thinking about it.” Winslow acknowledged . “Well, I suppose I could make hydroelectric generators.” “Oh, that’s great!” Winslow remarked. “Do you have any motors?” Asked Charlie. “Motors? We have tons! You could work on the generators in the laboratory, Jefferson can take you there.” “Clint, if you mind…” “Ay, i’ll gang.” Clint responded. Clint left the door and went towards the exit, in two minutes, he returned with another man. “Ah, Jefferson, can you take Charlie to the lab?” Charlie followed Jefferson to the lab, they came out of the building and walked down the stairs, and eventually they entered a room.
Part Four: Arrest
Charlie started to shiver in the dark, cold room. Jefferson turned the old lightbulb on, and Charlie followed him through the desert of dust, as the light bulb glinted. “Come here!” Jefferson yelled. “The motors are here.” Charlie walked towards the dark, brown cabinet. He got the motors, put them on the table and started working. In several hours, Charlie was tired, he looked around the room and got up to leave. Charlie was on his way out as he saw a door. He opened the door, it lead to another room, Charlie entered and turned on the lights. He saw that there were many old rusty machines and engines, he also saw photos of groups of people who looked like scientists. On one photo Charlie saw Jefferson and four other people hugging in. Charlie came out of the building and headed towards the mayor’s office. “Oh, Charlie, you were in there for quite long, do you want to join me for dinner?” Winslow asked. Charlie could eat a horse, he hadn’t eaten for hours. “Okay, I’ll have something, I’m starving,” Charlie responded. They headed out towards a bronze colored restaurant called ‘The Pump’; they went inside and sat down. Charlie saw an old-style radio with a channel controller, he looked at the menu, and saw numbers on the food items. Charlie span the channel to the food he wanted, and the wheel above him started spinning around and only stopped when a white plate full of food arrived above him. The hooks holding the plate dropped down, and released the plate, Charlie was startled . Charlie and Winslow ate, and then headed back; Winslow gave Charlie a room for sleeping in, and they both went to sleep. Early next morning Charlie got up and started working on the generators. Charlie was working when someone knocked on the door, he came up and opened the door. There were two officers in blue uniforms. “You are under arrest for vandalizing the mayor’s office!” Yelled one of the two blue officers. “Come with us now!” “I didn’t…” Charlie tried to say. The officer hit him hard on the head with a beating stick and knocked him unconscious. The next thing Charlie saw was that he was in prison behind bars. There was an officer sitting in a chair reading a newspaper. “Why am I in here?” asked Charlie. The officer ignored Charlie and kept reading his newspaper. Charlie saw a window with bars to stop the prisoners from escaping. Charlie felt a sharp tool in his pocket, he quielty took it out and started cutting the bars. As he heard the two officers approaching, Charlie stopped cutting, placed the tool in his pocket and sat down. “Out of here! To court, go on!” Yelled the officer. The officers led him to court where he saw The Jury, Clint, Winslow, his lawyer, and the judge sitting on his bench. Clint gulped and stood up, he came with a sad look, and explained what happened. “er honur, thes cheil vandalized th’ mayor’s office, me an’ byron saw it happen.” Who was Byron, Charlie did not know. “I welcomed this man from the Far Lands hopi…” Clint spoke until the judge interrupted him. “The Far Lands! You know perfectly that strangers are not allowed without mayor Elinor’s permission!” Charlie sat there disoriented . He had heard mayor Elinor, not mayor Cantrell. A woman started talking. “Your honor, this man vandalized my office, he smashed all the windows, burned my papers, and spilled paint all over my office.” Charlie had felt that this was all planned, he was suspicious of everyone in the court. The judge ruled that Charlie had to serve a life sentence. Charlie was devastated , he didn’t deserve this. The officers placed him back in his cell. Charlie knew he didn’t have much time before they would put him in a bigger and stronger cell, not just a waiting one. He grabbed his tool and started cutting. He rushed and cut as fast as he could, he knew that the officers would come anytime soon. Some time passed, he had cut two out of three bars, and he had almost finished cutting the third one. Charlie felt the bar drop on him as he caught it. He climbed out of the window, fell on the grass, and dashed for his life.
Part 5: Secret Help
Charlie was panicky , he didn’t know what to do. He thought to himself, and decided it was best to get the generators, publish the work and help the people. Charlie went to the laboratory and gathered the information on the generators. He rushed back to the mayor’s office while nobody saw him, entered, and put the work on the walls of the office. The door opened, and Charlie saw Clint. “Och, i’m sorry Charlie, Winslaw threatened me.” Clint started sobbing. “He said he wood make me donner th’ plank,” Clint said. “What’s so bad about walking the… Oh right.” Charlie suddenly realized that when he said, “walk the plank”, he didn’t mean jumping into the water, he meant jumping a five-hundred-meter drop. “Och, charlie! Is thaur onie way Ah can make it up tae ye?” Clint sobbingly asked. “Uhh, there is!” Charlie suddenly came to mind. “Do you know where the city gets most of its power? “Och aye, ay coorse, th’ main steam generatur, it’s near th’ big river.” Clint calmed down. “Can you fly us there?” Charlie asked. “Yeah, wa?” They left towards the train station, walking through dozens of people. “I’m trying to stop it.” “Whit! ur yeh it ay yer min’! th’ city will lose power, and…” Clint Hesitated. “Wait, the scientists’ must have some.” “Have what?” Clint was confused. Charlie led Clint to the science lab. Charlie opened the doors, and they came in. “Stay here,” Charlie told him. Charlie saw again the photo with Winslow and Jefferson hugging in. By that time Charlie realized that Winslow was not the mayor, but a scientist; but then why was Winslow trying to stop Charlie’s inventions? Charlie was puzzled . He searched the room, looked all around, and even searched the bookshelf to see if he could find out anything about this team of scientists. There was a desk cabinet, but it required a key. He searched for the key, but couldn’t find any clues. Charlie felt his shoes rubbing against something which felt unpleasant, he looked down and saw a carpet. Charlie picked it up, and underneath he found a key. He picked it up and tried it on the cabinet. He pushed the key in and twisted it. The cabinet opened. He saw files containing each of the scientists’ names. He picked up the first file, it read “Brennan William”. Inside it read: Time of Birth: 1883 Place of Birth: Okesville, Farnitse Time of Death: 1919 Location of Death: Sootan, Lavismad Cause of Death: Stabbed by knife on chest Killer: Unknown He kept on reading until he saw some writing in red paint. He turned to the next page. It read “Byron Pickle” in red paint. His heart started rushing, he didn’t understand what it meant. He took out another file that read “Eveline Kevinson”. He opened the file, it read: Time of birth: 1891 Place of Birth: Cutsan, Lavismad Time of Death: 1920 Location of Death: Sootan, Lavismad Cause of Death: Hanged herself; Suicide Charlie read on, and the file had writing in red paint on it too. He flipped the page, and it said “Byron Pickle”. Charlie was scared, what was this mysterious name written in red letters? Charlie took out the file that read “Winslow Cantrell”. He opened and read it. Time of Birth: Unknown Place of Birth: Unknown Arrival: 1910 Time of Death: 1920 Cause of Death: shot down Location of Death: Sootan, Lavismad Killer: Unknown Charlie flustered, he just saw something that wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be. He saw his uncle at the court, he wasn’t dead. He opened the next page and it read “Byron Pickle” in red letters again. He took out Jefferson’s file. Time of Birth: 1901 Place of Birth: Sootan, Lavismad The file had not said anything else as Jefferson was still alive. Charlie looked for more, he had found one labelled: Byron Pickle, it read: Time of Birth: Unknown Place of Birth: Unknown Arrival: 1910 Charlie grew anxious, who was this Byron Pickle? Why did Clint call Winslow Byron at the court? He went to Clint. “Clint, who is Winslow, is that his actual name?” Charlie quickly asked. “Uh, Ah shooldn’ teel yer, he wood kill me fur thes, pure, but Ah guess yer wanted an’ nobody else coods teel yer, Byron, that’s his nam.” Charlie gasped. Could it be that he killed all the Scientists just like he tried to with Clint? He rapidly came up with a response. “We need to get to your ship, now!” Charlie shouted. They rushed down the stairs all the way through, galloping through all the crowds of people, Charlie was hoping that nobody recognized him. “We’re here.” Clint told Charlie. They entered some building, Charlie saw a big ship with boosters at the bottom. Clint pulled the big switch; the lights turned on. He led Charlie to the entrance of the ship, Clint picked a remote from the desk and pressed on it. The gangway came down, and they walked in. Clint walked to what seemed like a steering wheel, he pulled it up, and they flew away. “Hold on!” Clint shouted. Charlie felt nauseous as they flew. “Tae the generatur!” Clint loudly stated as they were souring through the air. Charlie held on to the metallic handles as they were flying fast through the air. Charlie looked out and saw a big waterfall, and on top, he saw a building reaching out towards the river. They landed and walked off the ship. “So, here is the pump station, if we were to turn it off, we could change the power source, and save water,” Charlie said. “I’ve got generators with me, we could plug the cables into them.” Clint led Charlie to the door, he took out his blaster, shot the lock, and opened the door. Inside Charlie saw huge cables, the size of his arm, connecting to the water extractors and big tanks. Charlie turned off the power. Then he got his generators from the ship, steadied them near the water, and attached them to the grid. Charlie plugged the big cables into the hydroelectric generators and turned the power back on. The generators started flowing power into the cables, and Charlie was satisfied. Clint opened the door and led Charlie outside, they climbed onto the ship, until Charlie noticed him. Charlie saw him. He saw the man who threatened Clint, who pretended to be Winslow. He saw the man who had murdered all those scientists. Byron stared at him. “I know that you have seen all those files, why do you think I placed the key under the carpet? All those reports are correct, except for Winslow’s.” Byron grabbed his own face and pulled it off. He pulled of his disguise mask that looked like Winslow. His hair was dark grey, and he looked nothing like Winslow. “I hid your uncle in that station, and soon the water will fil itl, and he will drown, you can save him, or you can save Clint.” Byron pulled out a blaster and threatened to kill Clint. Charlie had no idea what to do, he was petrified, he would either save his uncle’s life, or save Clint’s, he had to do something, or both would die. Charlie ran to Clint to hug him, and secretly took out Clint’s gun. “Oh, Charlie chose Clint, well I guess that leaves his uncle to blow up into little pieces!” Byron shouted in craze. Byron took out his remote detonator, but Charlie shot him in the hand, Byron screamed with agonizing pain and dropped the detonator, while Charlie quickly caught it. Clint stayed and made sure that Byron wouldn’t escape while Charlie ran to save the real Winslow. He opened the station door and searched the place. Charlie found another door, he opened it, and it had a staircase leading down. He ran down the stairs and found Winslow tied to the wall, in the room filled with water and remote bombs all around him. “Charlie?” Winslow was surprised, he thought that nobody would come to save him. Charlie untied the rope, and they both ran out. “How did you get here?” Asked Winslow. “I knew that you were here, why else would Byron tie me up and fake my death, but how did you get here?” “I flew into a storm, and it led me here. How did you get here?” Asked Charlie. “I went on travel by ship, we fell into a storm, and I ended up near here, me and Byron were the only survivors,” Winslow replied. “Byron?” “Yeah, me and Byron, we were partners, and when we came here, we tried to replicate the energy sources. We had failed, and he started going crazy, especially when you did it, he grew jealous and wanted you to get out of his way, so he tried to put you in jail. He wanted to create a new source of energy so that he would be in a high position, that’s what he always wanted.” “Ay, let’s gang awreddy,” Clint interrupted. They climbed aboard the ship and chatted their way back. Once they got back, they handed Byron to the authorities and came back to the ship. “So, how will I get back?” Asked Charlie. “Um, about that, I don’t know,” Winslow said. “Haven’t you tried?” asked Charlie. “No, not really.” Responded Winslow. Charlie was stuck, he didn’t know what to do; he thought for a while. “I could try to fly into a storm again, I don’t know if that works.” They climbed onboard again, Clint raised the ship and flew off. Clint flew past the place where Charlie landed. Charlie saw the storm, and Clint flew close to it. “So, I guess this is goodbye, I’ll see you later Clint, and Winslow.” “You thought I was staying here! No! I’m coming with you, this is not where I belong.” “Bye Clint, it was nice meeting you,” Charlie sadly said. “Cheerio th’ noo Charlie,” Clint sadly replied. Charlie and Winslow jumped into the spiral, they felt the air blow on their faces, and they passed out.
The Return
Charlie felt his head rub against the hard soil. He was finally home. Charlie stood up, woke Winslow up, and headed home. He went back to his office, and ripped the Flyer’s design.