"Well, we’ll just have to take short jumps again, that’s all."
"Anyway, it’s kind of fun and interesting visitant all these different time periods."
"Yeah! Isn’t it great? I wonder when and where we’ll land next."
"Oh no! Look at this will y'!” The indicator, now working, shows that, again, they are moving in the wrong direction. Now it reads: '1495', now '1500'.
"Not again! It couldn’t be that stupid transmat beam again."
"Nah!" Kerry stands to his feet. "Probably when this lever jammed, it also nudged the temporal direction switch. Let me take a look." He runs over to the switch and checks. "Sure enough. Let’s see" He pulls on the switch with all his might. "Uhhhhh--ah! There she is!"
Meanwhile, the time indicator has read '1510', '1520','1530', and '1540'. It is at '1545 when Kerry pulls the switch. Now the indicator shows that the cylinder is moving backwards again, but only for a short while. When it reaches 1517, it stops and the cylinder hangs suspended in mid-air.
"Looks like that’s as far as she’ll go, guys."
"But why?"
"Probably the shock of changing directions in-flight."
"But why doesn’t she land?"
"Probably because of this stuck lever. Let’s try it one more time."
They go over to the lever and, with their combined strength, pull again. This time, the lever gives way and the ship tumbles speedily through the air.
"Now that the lever is unstuck, do you think you could try to force another take-off?”
Kerry tries but, "It's impossible! All I can do is try to bring her down a little more smoothly."
In this, he is successful, and, as the others watch from the window, the capsule comes floating down into a field of grass and trees.
"1517! We’ve lost 27 more years."
"A freak accident. Couldn’t be helped"
"At least we won’t have to worry about finding water for the fuel," observes Daniel upon checking the fuel gauge. "We've used hardly any fuel at all."
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