Having revised the directional settings and repaired the damage, they try to contact home base. At first, the transmission is a bit garbled. But it soon becomes clear.
"Hey! What happened to you guys?" We’ve been expecting to hear from you long ago. You really had us worried!"
"Sorry, but we couldn’t call. We got pulled forward to the future by a transmat beam and were forced to fight in a senseless war. With the help of some strange natural phenomena, we barely escaped. Then we discovered we had a stowaway, of all things! But, fortunately, he had a device which enabled us to go further back. But we took off without him by mistake in 1490. Then the lever got stuck and the directional switch got moved somehow, so we went forward again to 1517."
"Wow! You guys sure have had some bad luck, haven’t you? But don’t worry. We’ve been working on something here which can help propel you further back."
"A new fuel formula." John’s voice breaks in. "By adding the right amount of alcohol to the fuel, you can add more force and increase the number of revolutions. And then, by adjusting the coordinate settings properly to allow for the extra buildup of speed before departure--"
"Save the details, as long as it works!"
"Yeah, that would be tremendous!" All three become excited at the prospect of being able to take longer leaps back in time.
"Listen!" It is Mark’s voice again coming over the communicator. "Do you guys still have that bottle of brandy that I suggested you take along for emergencies?"
"Yes, it’s still in the storage."
"Well, get it and a cup. Listed carefully. Pour 3 1/2 cups of the brandy into the fuel. Then set the coordinates to 006459."
"This should help to put you a little further back," adds John. "It’s not really perfected yet, so this will be the trial run."
"Walt goes to the storage area and retrieves the brandy. "3 1/2 cups--but this will be almost the whole bottle."
"Hopefully you’ll be able to find some more wherever you land."
"And," adds John, "call us when you land without fail."
"Will do. Roger, over and out."
Walt takes the bottle and the cup over to the engine and pours the required 3 1/2 cups into the fuel tank along with the necessary amount of new fuel. "Ready on the controls, you two?"
Kerry goes over to the lever, while Daniel sets the coordinates to the required number.
"Well, here goes nothing!"
************
Again, they land in a clump of trees in a field.
"How lucky can you get?!"
But, again, the indicator has broken in flight, leaving them to guess their whereabouts. A light fog covers the landscape, but, through the fog, they can see the outline of a huge castle surrounded by smaller buildings. The scene before them calls up memories of pictures they had all seen in books of legend and history.
"Camelot?"
"Seems to be."
"Ah! I was rather hoping we’d land here. This is really a fascinating era."
"You mean," asks Kerry, staring in unbelief at the scene before them, "that this place actually exists? I thought it was only a legend."
"That shows how much you know about European history. I guess you never read T.H. White. It was real, alight, even though many legends grew up around it. Too bad that indicator broke, or we could be able to establish the exact date. There’s a lot of dispute about that among history scholars, you know."
"I see! Well, let’s go and take a look, shall we?"
"But," objects Daniel, "Shouldn't we call home base first?"
"Nah! We can call later. That will give them more time to work on the new formula. Besides, we might have something interesting to tell them.”
"If we don’t run into any more bad luck."
"Ah, quit being so pessimistic. Anyway, we have to find more alcohol, don’t we?"
"Well, I guess you're right. We can come back and call later. We might as well all go and have a look around."
As they walk up the hill toward the city, they talk:
"Tell us, Walt, What do you remember of this era from your reading?"
"Ah, this was a wonderful time. Chivalry, might-for-right and all that. King Arthur was trying to develop a perfect society. And he would have succeeded except for--"
"Except for what?"
"Except that Lancelot, Arthur’s dearest friend, fell in love with Guinevere, Arthur’s wife, which led to a scandal, and then to a full-scale war, destroying Camelot."
"Ah yes! Now I remember that from my world history."
"Say, do you think that perhaps we might be able to do something here to prevent this situation from happening?"
"Perhaps. Anyway, we can try. This could be a sort of test case for the garden of Eden."
But their conversation is interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming. The scream seems to come from a clump of bushes a short distance to their left.
"Let’s go and see what’s happening."
They creep slowly into the clump of bushes and find a vantage point from which they can view the action without being seen. The poor woman is laying there almost completely naked and frozen with fright, while a big brute of a man begins beating her with a rough leather whip.
"Shouldn’t we do something?" whispers Kerry?
"Let’s not be too hasty," cautions Walt.
Just then, they hear another noise. Looking up, they see, coming from the left side, a knight in full armor, mounted on horseback, with sword in hand. He approaches speedily and brings his horse to a screeching halt just in front of the man. Dismounting, he draws his sword and aims a blow at the man. But the man is quick and jumps back. Twirling his whip in the air, he catches the knight’s sword with it. With a fling of the man’s wrist, the sword goes flying through the air, landing surprisingly close to where our three friends are hiding. The knight lurches forward and tries to strike at the man with his fist. But the man catches his fist and gets him in a headlock. The knight struggles and finally manages to break free.
Suddenly, another noise is heard, this time from above, as a third man, dressed all in black, hurls himself down from a tree, yelling "Down with might-for-right!" As he falls, he tries to grab the knight and pull him down but fails. He falls but immediately gets back up again. Meanwhile, the knight and the other man are still fighting. The man in black grabs the knight, pushing him backward with a mighty thrust. As he does so, he cries out: "Tell Arthur that Mordred is here!"
"Now?" asks Kerry, poised for action.
"What can we do?" asks Daniel, a little frightened.
"Let’s go!" urges Walt, "At least we can bluff them!"
Walt reaches for the sword and our three friends rush forward out of the bushes, yelling as they run. Walt points the sword at the two men, who, taken by surprise, take off running.
The knight, who has fallen backward from Mordred's push, gets up with a start and shakes himself. "Wow, and glory be! Where did you fellows come from?"
"You might say we just dropped in," blurts out Kerry.
"Ah--we were looking for Camelot," corrects Walt.
"Oh, you want to become knights also, eh?" Well, you certainly proved yourselves today. I’ll certainly put in a good word for you." He points toward the castle. "It’s this way. Let’s go."
The woman, meanwhile, obviously stunned by the whole thing, gets up and starts walking off in the direction from which the knight came. But she suddenly turns and waves at the four, yelling, "Oh, thank you, kind sirs, thank you indeed!"
**********
"Wow! It’s even more glamorous than in the books!” exclaims Walt, as they enter the huge and splendorous "Great Hall" of King Arthur. At the end of the hall, the king, arrayed in his royal robes, sits erect on his marble throne. The throne beside him is vacant. They approach the throne respectfully, and, after the customary greetings, the knight relates the whole story of the encounter and of their timely aid and adds: “In light of the valiant way that they handled themselves today, I’d certainly recommend them for knighthood, Your Majesty."
The king lifts his golden crown and scratches his head. "We’ll have to see about that. But what was that you said the man in black, who came from the tree, called himself?"
"He said, 'tell Arthur that Mordred is here.'"
"Are you sure he said 'Mordred'?"
"I’m certain, Your Majesty--Mordred."
The king frowns. "Oh, no!"
"Who’s Mordred?" asks the knight, curious.
"He’s my―“ The king hesitates.
"He’s your illegitimate son, right, Your Majesty?" blurts out Walt.
The king is taken aback. "How do you know that? It’s been my secret! Nobody knows about it--nobody!"
"And," continues Walt, "if he’s here, it means that Lancelot has arrived also."
"Sir Lancelot? He came over a fortnight ago."
Walt leans in close to the king. "And has he been making advances toward the queen?"
At this, the king becomes flustered. "A-a-a-Sir Dividend,” he turns to the knight, who has been trying to hear what Walt is saying, without showing interest, "a-you may leave now. I shall like to continue talking with our new friends in private."
"As you wish, Your Majesty." The knight departs.
"Th-th-this is absolutely amazing! How do you know about this? I was doing my best to keep th’ whole thing a secret. And they have been very discrete. Why, I hardly noticed anything myself, but since she’s my wife,--. Anyway, I’ve decided just to ignore it. But, how did you know?--about this and about Mordred?"
"We possess knowledge beyond the scope of this time period."
"Then you are soothsayers!"
"Of a sort, I guess. Actually, we’re travelers in time if Your Majesty can understand that. We come from your distant future."
"Merlin sent you, didn’t he?"
"We came to warn you that your kingdom is in great danger."
"But everything has been going so well. My dream is working. The thing I’ve waited for all my life--the answer to the problem of evil in the world---." He holds up his right hand, triumphantly, "Might-for-right! The perfect society! It’s wonderful! I think this thing with Lancelot is just a passing disturbance. I’m trying to forget it, hoping that it will soon pass. Except for this one little thing, everything is wonderful."
"Except for this and the arrival of Mordred--a deadly combination which will ruin your dream forever."
"That’s right, Your Majesty,” adds Daniel. "Your own system will backfire, so to speak."
Arthur scratches his head and sighs. "Then, there is no hope for the world? I had so hoped that Camelot would be the answer! Is the world doomed to perish with hatred greed and violence? Is there no answer to the problem of evil in the world?"
"Ah, but there is, Your Majesty, there is! In fact, we ourselves are trying to do this very thing--to eliminate evil from the world. And we may be able to do it, with your help."
"But how?"
"By getting rid of the cause of evil, namely sin. You see, Your Majesty, we are attempting to go back to the beginning of time in order to prevent the first sin. But, in order to do so--in order to make our device work more efficiently, we need a certain quantity of alcohol."
"I’m not sure I understand exactly, but rest assured, anything you need--"
Suddenly, the door swings open and in walks a huskily built old gentleman lead by a huge Saint Bernard on a leash. Under the dog’s neck is fastened a large keg of brandy.
"Your Majesty,--" the man starts, and then, upon seeing our friends, "Oh, pardon me, Your Majesty. I didn’t realize that you had guests."
"King Pellinore?" ventures Walt.
The man is obviously taken aback. "Why, he knows my name!"
"Our guests know many things, Pelly. They’re my new soothsayers, and they’re going to help me to eliminate evil. Isn’t that wonderfully, Pelly?”
"Oh, wonderful, wonderful,” agrees the befuddled Pellinore, bowing to our three friends.
"The only thing is,” continues Arthur, “that they need a certain quantity of alcohol." Arthur turns to our friends. "Do you think that (pointing to the keg) will be enough?"
"That," answers Kerry, who has been silent until now, "will do perfectly."
"B-but,” protests the baffled king Pellinore, "th-that's for an emergency."
"Well, Pelly,” counters Arthur, “believe me, right now we are in a real emergency. I wouldn’t ask you if it weren’t the case."
"Anything you say, Your Majesty." King Pellinore unstraps the keg from the dog and hands it to Kerry.
"Thank you very much, Your Majesty. You won’t regret it."
"And,” adds Daniel, reassuringly, "We’ll return the keg."
"Then," says Walt to Arthur, "with Your Majesty’s permission, we shall take our leave, and return shortly."
************
Back at the ship, they succeed in contacting home base and getting the revised formula. John and Mark are thrilled to hear that they’ve reached as far back as Camelot, and John promises to look up the different views of the date of the fall of Camelot so that they can discuss it when they call back. Kerry manages to repair the indicator, which now gives the date as August 15, 875 A.D.
Meanwhile, Daniel obtains the necessary water from one of the many small lakes which dot the forest. Then, having measured out the amount of Brandy needed, they return to the Castle, bearing the keg, which unfortunately did not contain enough for two leaps.
************
The befuddled King Pellinore is still there when they return. "Oh, I’m glad to see you brought that back. Pooch feels lonely without his keg, don’tcha boy?"
Kerry hands the keg to the king.
This time, the throne beside Arthur is occupied. "Ah! My soothsayers!” greets Arthur, as they approach the throne. "Allow me to introduce you to my lovely wife, Guinevere."
"Good day, ma'am, I mean Your Majesty."
"Charmed indeed."
"And," asks Arthur, "did you succeed in eliminating evil from the world?"
"We haven’t finished trying yet, Your Majesty. We thought we'd better see if we could help out here more first."
At this moment, the door swings open again, and a tall, handsome knight enters. As he approaches the thrones, he throws a few endearing glances toward the Queen. Having approached, he says: "Sir Lancelot reporting, Your Majesties."
"At ease, Lance," says Arthur. "Let me introduce you to my new soothsayers."
************
Tired from the trip and the repairs, they decide to stay the night, and Arthur obligingly puts them up in one of the lavish spare rooms of the huge castle.
“Now, this is what I call living,” observes Walt.
"How long are we going to stay here?” Kerry asks the following morning. "Don’t you think it’s time we left?"
"Just a little while longer. I want to see if there is anything we can do here. Besides it’s really a lovely place, is it not? Why don’t we go for a walk in the woods?"
"Well, all right."
As they walk along, enjoying the beauty of the woods, listening to the sound of the brook babbling and the birds singing, they suddenly hear voices.
"Yeah, it sure is getting rather dull around here. Who needs all this goodness?"
"And Arthur is getting too pushy, right?"
"Sometimes, yeah."
"You can say that again!"
"So, what d’ y’ think about tryin’ t' uh-overthrow 'im?"
"It’d never work. He’s too powerful."
"But I’ve got a perfect plan."
Peering into the clump of trees to their left, they can see the speakers, most of them knights. But the one who had mentioned the plan was the man in black they had run into earlier, namely Mordred.
"So, he’s already forming his own band to overthrow Arthur."
"What can we do?"
"Nothing yet. Let’s just keep walking."
They walk further into the forest. Suddenly, their thoughts are interrupted by a sound of a different kind--the sound of heavy kissing followed by soft breathless conversation:
"Oh, my darling, I love you so much!"
"And I love you. But how much longer can we go on like this? They're bound to find out somehow, and then what?"
"Nah! Nobody suspects anything. Anyway, what can we do?"
"Now's our chance!" whispers Walt, and our three friends emerge from behind the trees to the great surprise of the lovers.
"Give up this ill-fated love affair!" yells Kerry, excitedly.
"What th'--!” screams Guinevere. “What do you mean, startling us like that?!"
"Well, if it isn’t the king's soothsayers," observes Lancelot. “What a surprise!"
"We came to warn you,” explains Walt in a somewhat calmer voice, “that you must abandon this love affair before it’s too late."
"B-but that’s impossible--we’re in love!"
"Are you sure it's really love you feel and not just lust?” asks Daniel.
"You know, of course," adds Walt, "that what you are doing is a terrible sin. How could you, Lancelot, of all people—you who have always prided yourself on your virtue—how could you allow yourself to fall into this sinful lifestyle?"
"But, since we really love each other, it can’t be that bad."
Lancelot’s words are echoed by Guinevere. "Yes, love is really all that matters, isn’t it?"
"But what of the love you once had for Arthur, your husband?"
"I don’t know. It’s grown cold, somehow."
"Well," sighs Walt, “I can see there’s no use talking. There’s no hope for you, or for the world if you persist in this; for, your so-called love will certainly destroy Camelot."
"Well," replies Lancelot, hesitantly, "Thanks for the warning. Perhaps we’ll think about it. And now, if you wouldn’t mind leaving us alone--"
"As you wish. But remember, there is great danger. We shall try to warn you again when it is nearest. For now, goodbye."
************
"I feel so frustrated. We couldn’t get anywhere with them.”
"I wonder if it will be that way in Eden."
"Nah, they’re already set in their sinful ways. In Eden, it’ll be the first time, so we should have an easier time of it."
"I hope you’re right. Say, let’s go back and try to contact home base again. Maybe they found the date or, at least, a good idea of what it might be."
"Good idea."
************
“Yeah, we found it alight!" John's voice comes droning over the communicator. "Of course, there are different viewpoints, but the predominant theory is that fall of Camelot began the night of August 16, 875 A.D.”
"That’s tonight!” observes Kerry.
"It all started,“ continues John, “when the queen, Guinevere, was captured in her room in the act of adultery with Lancelot, who escaped, only to try to rescue her, causing the final war."
"Oh, my goodness!” exclaims Walt. “We’d better go and try to warn them."
"I’m afraid it’s too late," observes Kerry.
"What do you mean?"
"Just take a look out that window."
Looking out, they see a group of knights in battle array, surrounding the capsule. "Oh no! It must be a contingent of Mordred's men, sent to prevent us from interfering."
"Shucks! What can we do now?"
"We could try to blast them, but It’s probably too late anyway. I’ll bet at this very moment, another contingent of Mordred's men is arresting the Queen for unfaithfulness."
"Then, this is the beginning of the end of Camelot, eh?"
"Sure as shootin'!"
"Well, we might as well be on our way. I’ll break out the new envelope of fuel. Kerry, bring the water and the brandy over here, and the measuring cup too. Daniel, stand by at the controls."
************
Meanwhile, the soldiers surrounding them are talking also:
"Wow! What kind of device is that?"
"Beats me. All I know is we’re suppose t' keep 'em surrounded. Fortunately, they didn’t hear us followin' 'em."
"Fortunately, we saw 'em leave the castle.”
"Well, now what do we do?"
"Just stand here and wait, like we were told, dummy!"
"Well, how long we gonna have t' wait here?"
"I don’t know--till we hear somethin' from Mordred."
"Sure was lucky runnin' into him, eh? I mean things were gettin’ t’ be real dull around here."
"Y' c'n say that again."
"Things were gettin' t' be real--hey, what th'--?!"
"Fer th' love o' Murd, would y' look at that!"
"I can’t believe it! It’s just hangin' there, goin' round and round in the' middle o' th'-- well, bless my soul, it’s disappeared. Did you see that?”
"Yeah! It was goin' round 'n’ round and then it up and disappeared, all of a sudden like!"
"Well, either we’re all crazy, or that’s th' most special kind o’ magic I ever saw."
"We’d better not say anything t’ anybody."
"But how are we gonna explain t’ Mordred?"
"Maybe we won’t have to. If he succeeds in what he’s tryin' t' do, he’ll be so happy, he’ll forget about us."
"I sure hope you’re right."
"Well, let’s go. Nothin' else t’ do here."
************
And, inside the capsule:
"What a take-off!"
"Wow! I bet they were surprised!"
"But do you think their presence here means--I mean, maybe it isn't possible to change history."
"Nah! That was just a stroke of bad luck."
"Say, old King Arthur came pretty close to eliminating evil in the world, didn’t he?"
"Yes, but he failed to deal with evil at its source--sin in the heart of man."
"And that’s what we’re going to prevent."
"We’re sure going to try."
"I hope this new formula works."
"Yeah, I can’t wait to find out how far back we go now."
"Any bets?"