CHAPTER THREE

That evening when Neville was on his way to work, his nerves were on edge. He was not sure why, it was not normally the case for him, but he was tense, He was really hoping that everything he had been through recently was just a bad dream, maybe with the exception that he was looking forward to seeing Kattie tonight. However as clouded as his mind was now, he was not even sure that conversation had taken place.

When he arrived at the pub he was greeted by Mr. Habersham and asked to come back into his office.

“I am glad you are early; I have a few things to go over with you, Take a seat lad.

As Neville sat, Finn handed him an envelope addressed to the Owner of the Round Table.

“Open it up and read it.” Finn told him.

When he did, he found a long letter that had been written in a very fancy form of calligraphy. As he read through it, he would pause several times and look up at Finn. Each time Finn would encourage him to keep reading. When he finished, he had a puzzled look on his face.

“I understand lad, it took me several time through, before I could begin to sort it out. Let me try to break this down for you.”

Finn walked over and locked his office door.

“As Mr. Chambers pointed out, there has been little to no contact between him and the pub owners over the decades. Obviously, that was a protection for all involved. However, as you read, something is going on now that there is a need for a change.”

“Yes, I see, but Mr. Habersham, why me?” Neville asked nervously.

“Slow down their lad, we are breaking this down into little pieces, remember? Look at the next paragraph again.” Finn urged.

“Who else do you think we could involve? The police? The Secret Service? Who would believe us? They would lock us up in the looney bin, for sure.” Finn stated.

“I see your point, but I am just a simple bar keep.”

“Read on lad. Read it out” Finn urged.

“Because Mr. Neville Windsor witnessed our last meeting, and saw fit to take it to you privately, I have confidence that he should be our contact.”

Neville paused and looked at Finn.

 “I still do not get it.” Neville stated.

“Look lad, Mr. Chambers did not provide any other information other than that dealing with you at this time. Now that the lines of communication have been opened, I am sure he will provide more details if the need arises. All we need to know now is that whatever may be happening, it is important that we keep an eye out for whatever way he may try to contact us.”

Finn paused a moment and took a deep breath.

“All I was ever told as the owner of this pub, was that these meetings went beyond just a bunch of forgotten heroes reliving the ‘glory days.’  It somehow effects our lives today. I do not know how or why, but that is the way it is worded in my ownership contract.”

Finn paused again.

“Look lad, throughout the history of this pub, the only contact any owner ever had with Mr. Chambers, with a few exceptions, was by letter. There had been several attempts, at least in the early days of these meetings, for some to try to eavesdrop in on them, each time the effort was stopped, and it was not pleasant. Apparently, something has changed.”

Finn took back the letter and a shocked look came over his face.

“What’s wrong?” Neville asked.

“This has never happened before. I have read this letter dozens of times, but now there is something here that was not there before. It says that the new bar keep that I just hired is to be the liaison between you and Mr. Chambers.”

Finn rubbed his chin.

“Now to think of it when Connor Adams applied, I could not think of any good reason to add him on, but I did it anyway…strange.” Finn said as he continued to rub his chin.

About that time a knock came at the door. Conner came in.

“We were just talking about you lad,” Finn stated.

Conner noticed that Finn was holding a letter.

“Oh good, I see you have been told the reason for me being here. I will fill Neville in on the details later, but for now you both should know that Neville is required to be at tonight’s meeting.”

Conner noticed that both Finn and Neville’s eyes were kind of glazed over from that statement, so he just quickly added,

“So, I will be leaving now, and Neville, I will be getting with you.”

Conner left as quickly as he had entered.

“Well…um, I guess that is that” Finn said awkwardly.

He gathered his thoughts and added,

“So, I guess you need to get out there and get ready for your shift.”

“Um…yeah, okay.” Neville stood.

“Mr. Habersham, I will not lie. I am really nervous about this whole thing”

“You would be a fool otherwise lad. However, I am sure you will be fine.”

“Yeah, right, so I will be going then,” Neville said and left the office still in a daze.

Neville took his place behind the bar and started filling the drink orders. As he finished the last one on that ticket, Kattie came in and sat at the bar, she was with two of her classmates. Any other time Neville had seen her, she was always sitting at a table.

“Good evening, Neville,” she said with a pleasant smile.

“Ah, good evening Ms. Duncan, it is a pleasure to see you this evening, what may I get for you and your friends?” Neville said in a businesslike manner.

All three ladies smiled broadly.

“Please, call me Kattie. These are my friends, Ann and Mary.”

“A pleasure to meet you, what is it you would like?”

Neville’s head was spinning in several different directions. He was still concerned with this whole secret meeting business, and he now found himself more distracted by Kattie be close by. He was curious about the conversation that Kattie and her friends were having. Neville was not good with science, but they were talking about some sort of energy surges that had been happening in the area.

“Look Anne, our research has been verified on so many levels. We just have to narrow down the location a little bit more.” Kattie stated.

“Kat, you know Professor Larson won’t accept anything under 100% confirmed evidence.” Mary argued.

Mary then motioned for Neville to come over.

“Yes Ma’am? Neville asked cheerfully.

“First, I want another round for the three of us.” Mary said with a smile.

“Yes ma’am,” Neville said, but before he could begin mixing the drinks, Mary added,

“And tell me what you know about Genomic energy.”

“About what?” Neville asked puzzled.

Kattie slapped Mary’s arm.

“I am sorry Neville; my friend here believes that I have long conversations with you about all my theories and projects that I am doing for school.”

“No, we believe, that as much time as you spend here, as much as you talk about this bar keeper, we can only assume you talk about a lot of things.” Anne stated and gave Neville a wink.

Neville was sure his face was a bright red, tried to compose himself. When he did, he asked,

“Should I get those drinks then?”

The three nodded, and as he moved away to start, he heard Kattie say in a low tone,

“I don’t need your help.”

When Neville returned with the drinks, he looked at the three of them.

“Ladies, I really have no interest in science, however I spent most of my summers when I was younger with my Uncle Albert. He was well into his nineties. Anyway, he used to try to get me interested in science and physics.”

Neville chuckled to himself.

“You know, I have no Idea why I remember this, but when you said Genomic energy, it brought back a memory of my uncle going through this long-drawn-out formula. ‘Genomic energy, the process of Zeno waves intertwined with Drax signals, with intermittent fluxes of light sources from all the color spectrums. Crazy stuff.”

Neville shook his head. It took him a moment to notice that all three ladies were sitting there with their mouths wide open. Kattie was the one to manage to speak first.

“Was your uncle the famous Albert Doyle?” Kattie asked in awe.

Neville laughed,

“Fame is a subjected term. He was not looked upon by his friends, colleges, or most of my family as anything but a loon.” Neville replied, then continued.

“I did, however, enjoy listening to his rattle on about things that no one else would listen to. When he died, he left me all his notes and papers. I have them stored in my basement.”

“Neville, if you understood what he was talking about, why didn’t you pursue a science degree?” Kattie asked.

“Understood? Well, maybe some, but it was not interesting enough for me. I did not want to overcome all the criticism of my Uncle’s reputation, and I did not care for research. Besides, I am a people person, that is why I chose barkeeping,”

Neville walked away to work on drinks for others at the bar and orders coming in from the tables. The Pub had gotten busy, so it was a while before he got back over to Kattie, who was now sitting by herself.

“Can I get you anything else?”

“Just a few minutes of your time.”

“I have a few, what is on your mind?”

“No, not here, not now, um, would you stop by my place after work?”

Neville would have loved to say yes, but he knew he need to be around for the secret meeting that was happening later tonight. He did want to sound like he was making excuses, so he decided to ask her stay to closing time, and he would take a few minutes with her before cleaning up and shutting down.

Kattie thought he might be being respectful of her reputation, so she agreed.

“That was stupid,” Neville thought as he went back to his duties.

“Can I get her to leave in time? Would having someone in the bar after closing jeopardize the meeting even happening? Great, I just keep adding more things to worry about.” Neville continued to mumble to himself the rest of the night. By the time the call was made for last drinks, only Kattie and one other couple was left in the pub. After that couple left, Neville lacked the door and began his clean up.

“Now what was on your mind?” He asked.

“Neville, have you ever regrated you career choice?”

“No, actually I am quite happy. I believe I have learned more about life and what is going on in the world from my inner actions with my customers here than I could if I limited myself in one field.”

“That’s interesting,” Kattie said as she gently put her hand on his.

About that time a swooshing wind sound started up in the corner of the room. Neville looked at his watch.

“It is only ten after, that is much too early!” Neville said in a panic.

“What’s going on?” Kattie said nervously.

Neville grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the store room.

“Kattie, you have to trust me, and stay very quiet,” Neville instructed, with a shaky voice.

They just had time to get out of sight when a bright light flashed.

There Mr. Chambers appeared all decked out in a Victorian three-piece suit. He quickly dimmed all the lights and shut the curtains and blinds.

“Just can’t find good help these days,” He mumbled.

He then went about setting up all the chairs the way he wanted them, went to the bar, and poured nine pints, and took them to the table.

“Who is…” Kattie said in a whisper.

Neville quickly covered her mouth.

“The names Chambers. You two can come out of hiding now.” Mr. Chamber stated.

Neither of them moved.

“Come now, I know you are in there, and I don’t like talking through walls. I don’t bite.”

Neville and Kattie slowly entered the room.

“Well, there Neville, I see you have a pretty young friend with you tonight, Kattie? I believe that is your name, is that correct?”

Kattie nodded her head slowly.

“Well, do come sit, I only have a short time before the others begin to arrive. Short time… time, yes that is a good one.” He laughed to himself.

“Neville, and now Ms. Kattie, there will be much to learn in a very short period of time. You will get an idea of the scope of things tonight. It will be a lot to take in, but I will take it as slow as I can so it can all sink in.”

He glanced at his pocket watch and fiddled with a few things on the back of it out of their sight.

Then a few seconds later, the sound of a strong breeze field the room and five bright flashes of light. Where the flashes of light occurred, now stood five figures.

“Chambers! If I told you once, I told you a thousand times. You must give me a warning before you do this, I was in the height of battle!”

“Height of battle, Sir Galahad? From the looks of things, you were in full surrender,” Mr. Chambers said as he wiped lip stick off Sir Galahads cheeks.

“Come, sit and drink my friends, we have much to talk about tonight” Mr. Chambers said as he encourage all to sit. He looked at Neville and Kattie who were both quite pale from shock.

“I will start with our two newest “ghost” friends,” Mr. Chambers said with a chuckle.

“This is Neville and Kattie. They are from this realm and have been invited tonight because of a disturbing development.”

“You seem to be a master at causing disturbances.” Sir Galahad grumbled.

“Our grumbling knight is Sir Galahad, to his left is famed Robin Hood, then Paul Bunyan, and his bull Babe. Next is the Lone Ranger, and last, but not least is Sinbad, the Sailor.” Mr. Chambers concluded.

“Can we just get on with this Chambers? Sir Galahad insisted.

“Do not worry Sir Galahad, as you know you will return to the very instant that you left. Besides, we have an important matter to discuss. An old enemy of mine in planning on invading this realm, not only causing major disruptions in time and events in this reality in all of yours and others we have swapped stories with.”

Mr. Chambers now looked at Neville and Kattie.

“I have involved you two because I needed someone from this reality that I could trust, and someone who could assist me in how things could be done in this time period.”

Mr. Chambers was not sure that what he had said made sense to the two of them or not, but he had too much more to say to explain now.”