Mystery : Cozy Mystery: Murder on Board the Macedonia (mystery, thriller, cozy, shocking, short stories) (short reads, detective, murder, suspense) (9 page)

Once he had been accustomed to being in the time machine for the first time, Dr. Greene clenched his teeth, trying as much as possible to avoid his body from shaking right before pressing the red button and holding tight as his entire body disintegrated, separating on an atomic level.

“AAAAAAAAH!!!”

…Synopsis…Book 3

Dr. Greene was sent tumbling over the laboratory equipment, spilling all of the gadgets and fluids that he used for his research. Richardson wasn’t going to have any of this. As a matter of fact, it did occur as though all that they wanted to do was break his spirit first before they could torture him for the manual.

The truth of the matter was that no scientist had the audacity of operating that machine without his instructions. But first, Richardson wanted to make an example of him. And that was meant to scare any other scientists who thought themselves smart enough to cross him. If that were to happen, then they were going to regret having done so at the end of the day.

But as Dr. Greene was getting a beating of a lifetime, all he prayed for was an opportunity for him to get that golden chance to retaliate. And if that were to be the case, then they were going to have the worst time of their lives!!!

Chapter 1

-The pioneer

It did appear as though everything was falling into a blur and rather slowly, the good doctor began losing his sight as he felt as though the strength was leaving his body. If it were some subject, then he would have probably done something to study and record the findings. But since he was the subject himself, it was rather too darn late for him to do a damn thing about it.

But since it was too late for him to come back from it, Dr. Greene had decided that it was way much better for him just to proceed with the process and hope that everything was going to work out rather perfectly in the end. And so he clenched his teeth and made sure that he had completed the sequence right before pressing the green button and laid back, hoping that this wasn’t going to be his very last moment on earth.

And at that moment, his body disintegrated, and he disappeared.

Dr. Greene had made sure that he was going back to the15th century. And it wasn’t as though anything was intriguing back there; he just wanted to see how things were. Of course, there were plenty of dangers involved and some of the dangers included having a different language as well as a different outfit.

And since Dr. Greene had been a fun of watching epic movies, he knew that he could either be mistake as a message from god or a curse from Satan. And chances were than the latter was going to be the case and the outcome was sure going to be hella nasty. But since he was too darn curious to let the whole thing go, Dr. Greene decided to take his chances.

According to the fundamental rules of time travel, he didn’t have to put on his clothes because it could have had some dire consequences which included mixing his DNA with that of the clothes and shoes, resulting in immediate death. And that explained why the good doctor didn’t even bother brining a firearm in the name of protecting himself. And that said, Dr. Greene knew that he was to be extra careful.

In a village in the heart of Greece, children were seated around a fire, some sitting bolt upright while others were resting their heads in the arch of their two hands, pivoted on the ground while listening to one of the best orators of all time. He was giving them a story that they had heard way too many times before. But from the look of things, it appeared as though the kids just couldn’t get enough of it and so the orator decided to give them whatever the heck they wanted.

His story was all about Zeus, the god of gods and how he was responsible for the existence of the bravest warrior of all time – Hercules. It was the year 1541 AD but even so, it seemed as though the Greeks had made some incredible developments, some even looking to be much more complicated and sophisticated than the artefacts in the modern world which was more or less impressive.

Everyone wore a white robe made of thick cotton fabric and they paid attention to the orator as though their lives depended on it. And as they were doing so, no one expected that a very unusual thing was about to happen in the forest that was just a couple of yards away from the first village.

It dead in the night when lightning stroke in the heart of the forest and a naked man dropped out of thin air, shaking and groaning in pain. It was none other than Dr. Greene who had successfully travelled through time using the machine that the other doctors once laughed about. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know it was going to happen. He was very confident that it was all going to work out without a doubt.

The only problem was that he didn’t know that whatever he was missing could be fixed, a matter than he took care off almost immediately. But since he was already feeling the pain, Dr. Greene decided to take it like a man. Besides, nothing good in this world ever came easy. And that said, the good doctor knew that he had to work as hard as possible to keep himself together before the ancient beasts that dwelt in the forest sniffed him out and hunted him down.

Dr. Greene knew that he didn’t have much time. And that said, he decided to get himself up, look for something to cover up his nakedness right before he embarked on walking as slowly as possible, heading all the way to the edge of the forest where he could see some light and follow it into civilization.

And as he was walking there, it appeared as though he was shaking all over the place, the last thing that he wanted was to end up being dinner for these creatures that he suspected were strolling all over the forest. Many a times the good doctor wanted to stop for a moment, but he just couldn’t. he was just too darn scared to wait even for a second. 

*** 

It was almost sunset when the naked doctor hid behind the bushes, hoping that he was going to find some clothes to cover his shivering body. It had been a very long day and it, went without saying that he was really trying as much as possible to stay focused but the cold just seemed to be getting the better of him more often than not.

And that said, the only thing that he could have done at the time would have been to sit back and try his level best to get something to cover his body.

The world was different, from the buildings to the cultures of the people. And most people seemed to be out of their houses ad for a moment, Dr. Greene thought that maybe they had been summoned to a village meeting or worse, maybe the people were fleeing some plague of some sort.

And it was at that moment that he paused for a moment and got to think about life itself. How much it had changed and just how beautiful life seemed to have been back in the day. And that said, the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would have been to kick back and ensure that he had taken a good look at how life used to be.

There was a little boy bringing in sheep from grazing and Dr. Greene took a couple of steps back and made sure that he wasn’t really trying anything funny or else he could be detected. So he stood stock steel, trying as much as possible not to make a sound whoever hard the cold whipped against his naked body.

He watched as the little boy who was bare feet with long, curly almost gingery hair just drove the huge herd of sheep into the barn and then ran through the tiny pathways and disappeared. It was then that Dr. Greene realized that maybe there was some kind of important meeting going on. 

He also knew that he didn’t have any time left and so without wasting any, he took that opportunity and dashed through the bushes and into one of the houses with the intention of finding some garments to put on.

Lucky for him, there were some while linens that had just been washed and dried. And since he had seen how the boy had been dressed up, he quickly took one, carefully wrapped around his naked shivering body right before he turned around with the intention of following the little boy. But as soon as he turned around, he did so only to find three heavily built men staring at him. 

They were carrying huge machetes and judging from the long and hard stare that they had on their faces, it just showed Dr. Greene that they didn’t have any problem with killing.

“Guys, this isn’t what it seems. I come in peace.” Dr. Greene tried to defend himself, only to realize that these good people didn’t speak any English.

In fact, it seemed as though they were getting a little bit angry the more the doctor tried to explain that very awkward situation to him. They then started sizing him up with their clubs and swords ready to hack him to death.

“We have been having trouble with people stealing our things. And now, we think we have found him. Brothers let's hack him to death. Leave him little pieces so that we can have the chance to feed our hunting dogs with this filthy man with a foreign tongue.”

Dr. Greene didn’t understand what these Greek barbarians were talking about. But that said, seeing them advancing slowly towards him made him go down on his knees and started begging, thinking that going down on his knees was some kind of universal language. But the men weren’t really in the forgiving mood.

From the look of things, they were just too darn fed up with the thief and since Dr. Greene was the only one that they didn’t know, he automatically fitted into that category which was more or less the reason why they wanted to see him dead.

And without warning, one of the men decided to throw a spear at him, missing him with only a couple of inches since Dr. Greene ducked and used his slenderness to his advantage, dodged a couple of times and when he found an opening, dashed outside at the speed of an arrow and ran for his dear life, the barbarians hot in pursuit. 

All that the good doctor hoped was that the time would just elapse and then he would end up in his laboratory, trying to make sense of any damn thing that was just about to happen. Dr. Greene wasn’t precisely the marathon champion material and that said, the only thing that he could have done at the time would have been to run as fast as possible. But he was pitted against born warriors who had experience when it came to hunting and shooting on target.

But before any of them could launch a spear at him, the good doctor disappeared into thin air, leaving the Greek hunters stuck in limbo, not understanding whatever the heck that just happened.

Chapter 2:

-Fresh from the other realm-

Dr. Greene got back into his time machine and let out a scream as a sharp pain engulfed his entire body. It was such severe pain that he felt as though his ear was ringing from the screams of pain that he was experiencing. But either way, the good doctor was in a celebratory mood. Even though the pain seemed way too much for him to bear, Dr. Greene always let out a smile.

And just like that, the impossible had become possible, and that called for a celebration without a doubt. But first, there were a couple of tests that Dr. Greene had to make sure that he had carried out. For instance, he needed to make sure that he was in a position to take samples of his blood and see to it that he had carried out the blood tests from the company lab since he didn’t have the relevant equipment.

He was shaking a little bit and his skin seemed as though it was about to change to white. All of these were symptoms that he couldn’t explain since they were a first. And even though he might have been scared just a little bit, the good news was that he was still alive. And if there was anyone who was more qualified to check any unusual thing out, then it was none other than Dr. Greene.

And so he just closed his eyes, repeated the phrase ‘I am going to be fine.” Like a mantra until he got to the point where he was calm.

And it was at that moment that he picked up a hug syringe. And using some cotton wool dubbed in methylated spirit, Dr. Greene made sure that he had gotten it all sorted out by disinfecting. It was before plunging it in his arm, pulling a handsome amount of blood from it, pulling it out and pressing his arm with another clean cotton wool dubbed in methylated spirit and clenched his teeth for a while until the discomfort subsided.

He then lifted up the syringe and shook it a little bit as though he was trying to check out for any anomalies. Thankfully, his blood was all good from the look of it. But the good doctor, as everyone was now making a habit of calling him, put it away in a freezer with the intention of getting to check it out the following day when he was to report to work after his week of being sick.

Once everything was all sorted out, Doctor Greene sat down and started writing down every single thing that he had experienced, something Neither the rat nor the baboon could do. And from the look of things, he had plenty of things to write about and he was all excited as he did so. Firstly, no one could believe that he met the Greeks when they were at their peak of civilization. 

What was much more impressive than any other thing that he had seen was the fact that people seemed a hell lot more organized than they were in his present realm.

The weather was fantastic and the wind smelled of sweet soil and the land looked very fertile and well taken care of. Pollution nowadays just seemed to have ruined virtually every single thing for them which was more or less the worst thing to ever happen to the earth. When Dr. Greene was still in grade school, he always hated the human race for polluting the earth for the animals.

And his first visit out of this realm just made him hate his race even more for not following the way of life that their ancestors followed. He wrote about the trees, the social organization, the food and diets and even their mode of dressing.

In another life, Dr. Greene would probably be some writer since he was always very descriptive in virtually anything that he had the opportunity to describe.

It was just amazing and every fiber in his body wanted him to get back into business and make sure that he had made a follow up by maybe visiting another place in another timeline. But Dr. Greene had to stop himself as soon as possible and cast that thought out since he just couldn’t tell the kind of damage that the serum would do to him unless he took the necessary precautions.