“Anyway, before we had time to take all this in, there was a whirring noise and the outer door closed, shutting us in. Seconds later, the craft started bouncing around. Steve and I were thrown against the metal walls and were knocked unconscious. When I came to, everything was still. The bandages I was wearing were soaked in blood. Steve wasn’t moving. I pulled off his mask. He was dead. His head was…” She started to weep, but then bit her lip and continued:“On the inside of the outer door was a lever. I pushed it and the door opened a bit, and water came flooding in. It was salty water, so I realised we were under the sea. I tried to reclose the door but was unable to do so. I took a deep breath and grabbed my rucksack, which I had brought with me to the party. I tried to carry Steve but his body was too heavy. I shoved the mask into the rucksack and then pulled myself out through the door and started swimming upwards. It was difficult – the bandages were weighing me down. We were obviously deeper underwater than I had expected, and I passed out before reaching the surface. As I lost consciousness, I assumed I was drowning.
“Some time later, I woke up on a beach, still grasping the rucksack. There were some trees nearby. I walked up to them and found they were pear trees. I ate a few pears and it started to rain, so I took shelter in a hole in a large old tree. When the rain stopped, I walked through the orchard, hoping to come to a road. I was in a daze. Eventually I did come to a road, a rough road, without tarmac. Tarmac is something that people put on roads in the future. I walked along it and before long a vehicle appeared from over a hill. To my surprise, it was a horse and carriage. Inside the carriage were an elderly couple. I didn’t understand why they were dressed so strangely. I told them what had happened and they said they would help me. I climbed up into the carriage. They drove me to a nearby building. A big white building. It looked like some kind of hospital. As we pulled up outside I collapsed, exhausted. When I woke up I found out that it was a lunatic asylum. It was terrible. I came to realise that I had somehow travelled back into the past. After a year, I managed to escape, and that’s when I created the persona of Professor Manley. History and drama were my best subjects at school, so I was easily able to convince the university of my academic credentials, and was able to manufacture a plausible disguise.”
“But why a man?” I asked.
“Tch! Look around you! This society treats women like dirt. As a woman, I would have no option but to work in a mill. Or to be a seamstress.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Can’t sew.”
“Fair enough.”
“After I escaped from the mental asylum, I made my way to the pear orchard near the coast, the one I had staggered into after being washed ashore. I found the tree that I had taken shelter within, and the rucksack was still there, inside the hole. I had left it there a year earlier when I had walked to the road. Inside it was this werewolf mask of Steve’s, and his Game… this device, which was wrapped up in a plastic carrier bag of boiled sweets that we had brought with us to give to children. That’s how it survived the seawater. ”
She turned to me. There were still some tears in her eyes. "So, what do you make of all that then? Quite a story, eh?"
"Yep," I said. "Quite a story."
"I'd rather you didn't tell anyone."
"Don't worry. Mum's the word." I ran the pressed tips of an index finger and thumb across my lips, as if zipping my mouth closed. I stood up, walked over to the bedside cabinet, and looked down at the Gameboy. She had been playing The Empire Strikes Back. I knew the game - it had been one of my favourites when I had a Gameboy. It was paused on one of the early levels - a platform level set in some underground ice caves.
"May I? I asked, gesturing towards it.
"Oh... yes. Please take a look."
"What a peculiar device!" I remarked, trying to sound surprised.
"Yes, I suppose it is," she said.
“How does it… What fuel does it need?”
“Electrical batteries. Unfortunately, I don’t have any spares. That’s why I only play it once a year, on my birthday, which is today, by the way.”
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you. Look, would you mind stepping into the other room while I dress?" Closing the door behind me, I went through and sat at the desk. I was still holding the Gameboy. Without thinking, I unpaused the game, and completed the level. A few minutes later she came in, wearing a tweed suit, and bent down to pick up a grey wig and moustache that were on the floor near my feet. She must have dropped them there when putting on the werewolf mask. As she was positioning the wig on her head she glanced down at the Gameboy.
"You completed the level!" she exclaimed.
"Oh... err... yes. Just messing around with it. Got lucky I suppose."
"I was trying for ages to get past that monster."
"Oh, the Hoth monster!" I blurted. "That's a bit of a trap for young players. What you've got to do is get right to the edge of the rock and then do a force jump just as it..." I stopped, seeing the alarm on her face. "What I mean is that you've just got to muddle around and see what happens."
She gave me a funny look, shrugged, and then pressed the moustache onto her upper lip. "We've got some catching up to do," she said, examining her appearance in a mirror on the wall. "Fancy a mutton pie?"
