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Elizabeth's Mirror
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, was standing, as was her custom during meetings in her Privy Chamber. She was discussing, with Lord Hatton and Lord Burghley, a letter from her ambassador to France. Walsingham already knew the content of the letter and her likely action upon it. It would have to wait. "Majesty, I most humbly beg your pardon. There is a matter of some importance I must bring before you." Elizabeth did not dismiss her ministers. "Speak, my lord." As the Queen's spymaster, Walsingham had access privileges above any other servant of the Court, even though the Queen did not like him much. "Majesty," Walsingham edited his words "there is a man in the library under guard." He was uncertain of saying more in front of the other men. "A literate thief, or a spy perhaps?" "No, Majesty." Walsingham lowered his voice. "He is a warlock, or sorcerer, or the Devil himself! The guards are unable to lay hands on the man. He is surrounded by an evil barrier that has substance, but cannot be seen. Force of arms is useless against it. It repels both battle axe and musket. Witchcraft, Majesty!" He regretted the fear behind his rapid words, and hoped the Queen would not know it. He saw her razor sharp intellect rising in her clear blue eyes - a look he knew well. "I will see this," said Elizabeth. "Majesty, there is great danger." "There is always great danger, my Lord Walsingham. I will see this now." Dylan Abrahams had been trying to correct the audio static on his link to Base 2 when the guards rushed forward. One of them was almost knocked out when he collided with the force field. Abrahams clung to his target acquisition, a first edition of the magnificent world atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. "Mike, I've been discovered!" Mike Collier, head of Elizabethan Acquisitions for the Golgan Museum in Prague City leaned in close to the com panel. "We're working on it. Lightning just hit both of the primary coils at once." "And they went down? My god, I thought we had a failsafe on that." "The manual says yes. The lightning says no." Lightning was a severe problem, striking the earth five hundred thousand times per day, even from clear skies. Shortly after ionosulfides from nano-pollution impregnated the atmosphere, lightning became omnipresent. "Got the book?" "Right here in my hands. But I'm going to lose the book and my head in about forty-five minutes when the field goes dead." "We're working on it." "So you said." "Dylan, it'll be an Emergency Recall when the coils kick in. So don't expect any warning when we pull you back." One of the guards had just fired a musket and stared with a slack jaw as the iron ball momentarily stuck in the air and then fell to the floor. Another guard swung a great axe only to have it recoil and bounce out of his hands on impact. Abrahams momentarily locked eyes with Walsingham, white as a sheet, standing just outside the room. Walsingham departed quickly, and five or ten minutes passed as more guards entered the room and surrounded Abrahams. Several were preparing to fire more muskets. "Halt!" the Queen commanded as she appeared at the doorway to the library. The guards instantly lowered their arms. Silence filled the room. Elizabeth walked slowly towards Abrahams. Walsingham was at her side, and Abrahams had a pretty good idea who the lesser luminaries were just behind her. Only the Queen's face was not drawn with worry. "You, sir, are a trespasser and a thief. Surrender yourself to my guards this very instant." Abrahams had a great admiration for Elizabeth, bordering on love. His career as a historian was inspired by studies of her remarkable reign in the first years of his schooling. Now he would speak directly to her. He was almost grateful for the lightning. "Your Most Royal Majesty, you are correct, as usual. I am both trespasser and thief. I have come to steal this book," he held it up for all to see, "delivered to this royal library last week I believe." "Sir, you will surrender!" "Majesty, as your Lord Walsingham may have informed you, I am indeed all that you say that I am... and more. And on the topic of more, you surely have questions... questions that I cannot easily answer from the Tower, or with my head on a block." He gave her his warmest smile. "Majesty, I will answer your questions, and hold nothing back. But I must answer in this room and no other." He was thinking that Emergency Recall is a very tricky operation, and it is much better to stay in his current position. Elizabeth boldly advanced and touched the force field. Gasps and cries filled the room. "Majesty!" shouted Walsingham. She rested her hand lightly on its surface and slowly followed its curve around Abrahams. "You are brave, Majesty, and have the natural curiosity of a scientist." "You do not have my leave to speak, thief." She lowered her hand and walked to the shelf where the stolen book had been stored, an empty slot among the other books. She said nothing for a full minute. "My lords Walsingham and Hatton, you will stay, and one guard. All others leave me." When it was done she turned to Abrahams. "Now, sir, who are you?" "Majesty, my name is Dylan Abrahams." "You are a Jew?" Elizabeth recalled Walsingham's warning of sorcery. There were virtually no Jews in England, certainly none with brown hair and brown eyes. "Yes, Majesty; by birth, not by practice." "And what is your practice?" "In my time, Majesty, Jews may be whatever they wish - Catholic, Protestant, atheist, or Hindu." Now there was a moment of fear in the Queen. Abrahams could see her suppress it with some effort. "What do you mean, 'in my time'?" "Now is not my time, Majesty. I am from the future, about three thousand years in the future." "Witchcraft, Majesty!" spat Walsingham. "He is the Devil, dripping with lies." "And does the Devil need to steal a map of the world, Lord Walsingham?" The Queen frowned at him. The future! This revelation was a shock. Elizabeth decided to sit down. "Tell me, Mr. Abrahams, does everyone in the future surround themselves with an invisible wall?" "No, Majesty. But were if not for my invisible wall I would be under arrest, instead of having this very pleasant conversation with you." He could tell instantly that she did not like what he said. She rose straight out of her chair and came close to the field. "You may be in the Tower yet, and under the executioner's blade if you do no remove your wall and speak to me directly. I will not stand on the other side of anything visible or invisible. I am the Queen of England by the grace of God, and you are in my palace, my home, and have no right to erect a wall of any kind on this sovereign ground of England. Do you understand?" Abrahams was joyous. What a privilege this was. It was surely worth risking his life, although he now felt there was little danger. "Majesty, please accept my sincere apology. The wall is down. Do with me as you see fit." "I see fit to test your word. Guard, place your hand on Mr. Abrahams' shoulder, but do nothing else." The guard bowed deeply. "Majesty," he said, and did as he was told with a trembling hand. "Very well. You may leave the room, guard." Lord Hatton quickly raised his sword. "Majesty, I strike at your command." "Lower your sword, Lord Hatton. No one is to threaten our guest, our man from the future. Please be seated. Everyone be seated. Now, Mr. Abrahams, tell me about your invisible wall." For the next hour and thirty minutes Queen Elizabeth I and Dylan Abrahams talked about the future. He told her of the coming Spanish armada, spies and plots, the Industrial Revolution, the rise and fall of America as a great power, the fate of England, world wars, automobiles, airplanes, disease, colonization of other worlds, death, and a dozen other things. Hatton and Walsingham wrote copious notes. Abrahams gave the Queen a solar wrist watch, a calculator, and a digital voice recorder. All the while he kept possession of the stolen book. "I must ask you this," said the Queen, "Is not the telling of the future to us, who are in the past, to have consequences for your time?" Abrahams thought, "How quickly she's arrived at temporal cause and effect. Her two lords do not even understand the question. They are still mesmerised by the trinkets. " He ran his hand over the binding of the atlas. "Yes, Majesty," he smiled kindly, "but in this case, my time is protected." "Your time? Is it not ...?" Her eyes grew wide as Abrahams faded for a moment, and was gone. In the following weeks Elizabeth's engineers and scientists examined the marvels from the future. Surprisingly, they were beginning to understand that electricity played a role in their operation. This was especially gratifying to William Gilbert, a court scientist who had coined the term "electricity" several months earlier. Gilbert managed the research, while Elizabeth turned her attention to defeating the armies of Spain. At the same time, armies of birds began to fly inland, and then across the channel to France. It seemed that all of the animals of the realm were uneasy and behaving strangely. Then on a clear Friday morning, Sir Francis Drake was returning to Plymouth, fourteen leagues out, aboard The Golden Hinde. He spotted a wave that filled the horizon behind him. It was four thousand feet high and quickly approaching England.
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© Ken
Seamon, 2006
