Emperors of Time by James Wilson Penn Page B

at hand.  Tim imagined
they had gone to watch the commotion at the bridge.
    Rose’s eyes were
wide, and Tim guessed that she, like him, had reserved judgment on whether this
time travel story was bogus until the last possible second.  That last
possible second had come.
    If Rose’s eyes
were wide, it was a wonder that Billy’s didn’t pop out of his skull. 
    “What just
happened?!” he asked, alarmed. 
    “We went back in
time,” answered Julie calmly.
    Billy looked at
her like she was crazy.  “What?  No!  Of course we didn’t. 
Was this the Russians?  Did they make everyone vanish?”
    “Look, Billy,”
said Tim calmly, “I grant you that if the Russians could make people vanish, it
would be a neat trick.  They probably wouldn’t pick Columbia, Pennsylvania
to try it out, though.  And you’ve got to admit, there’s no one on Earth
who would want to create a weapon that would make 21st century Columbia look
like it did in the 19th century.”
    “And there’s not
many people who would know this is what it should look like if that was their
goal,” Rose chirped.
    Billy looked
around at the scenery and the three other teens.  “So you’re seriously
saying that we travelled back in time?”
    “Yes,” confirmed
Julie.
    “Well… 
why?” asked Billy, who seemed to be halfway between perplexed and irritated.
    “To see the
Civil War!” answered Tim, nearly bouncing with excitement at this point. 
Maybe it was a bit of a weird thing to be excited about, but he had spent a lot
of time reading books about the Civil War and had never imagined that he would
actually be able to see Union and Confederate soldiers in action.  He
began to walk toward the sound of the shouting, the Susquehanna River, and the
bridge that spanned it.  The others followed.
    Julie rolled her
eyes at him.  “Well, yeah…  But more importantly, we’ve got to meet
Dr. Hopkins.  He’ll be here soon.  Plus, we needed to prove to you
that time travel is real.  And Tim, make sure you stay away from
people.  We’re not allowed to change events, remember?”
    “Why couldn’t
you have told me first?” asked Billy, whose emotions now seemed to be leaning
more toward irritated.
    “You wouldn’t
have believed them,” said Rose in a friendly but matter of fact tone.  “I
mean, I didn’t.  This is the first time I’ve time jumped, too.  And,
I mean...  I came today because I wanted to hang out with July-- that’s
what I call Julie--, and because you and Timothy are pretty cool.  But I
wasn’t expecting anything to actually happen.”
    “Besides, you
don’t actually have to do anything about it,” said Julie.  “We’re going to
see Hopkins in a bit, and then he’ll try to convert you to the whole saving the
world cause.  Seriously, Tim, I think this is far enough.”
    They were within
view of the river and the bridge.  They could see a railroad station for
the Baltimore and Susquehanna line.  A bunch of people were around the
building, including men on horseback.  Some were clearly soldiers, with
guns and uniforms to prove it, while others seemed to be ordinary civilians
caught up in the ruckus.
    “Yeah, we should
stay back,” Rose agreed.  “We are in nothing even approaching period
attire.  We could freak people out.”
    “They’re already
freaked out,” said Tim.  “And no one’s paying attention to us
anyway.”  But he didn’t go any further.  They were blocked from view
by a building between them and the gaggle of civilians and militia at the
river.
    “What do you
mean saving the world?  And who’s Hopkins?” asked Billy.
    At that moment,
several small explosions went off.
    “That must mean
it’s about seven o’ clock!” said Tim, completely forgetting not to be
noticed.  But still, no one was paying the four out-of-costume teens any
attention.
    “There’s some
people in the future who have taken over their world by changing events in the
past.  This guy, Hopkins, wants