The History Club

Effendi and his feline companion had exited the train in Luxor feeling relieved to be out of the stuffy train cabin, but frustrated by the lack of simple travel options for the rest of the journey. They had crossed the Nile in a sail boat and then found themselves sitting on the back of smelly and fly covered donkey. Despite trying to convey to the donkey the need for utmost speed, they continued along the desert path at an amble. The Chaten sat uneasily on the saddle in front of Effendi, desperately trying to maintain it’’s regal posture, but failing frequently when the rolling motion of the donkey over rocks sent it slipping and scrambling about with a distinct lack of grace. After a few uncomfortable hours they reached a house made out of local mud and stone. The house was a hive of activity and excitement. Numerous men and women wearing clothes that really didn’t suit the desert lifestyle were milling about. As soon as he had climbed off the infernal donkey Effendi was greeted by ...

After a fantastic lunch of tacos created by Sam, the group set about their various tasks. Bert and Sal retreated through to the control hub and started looking at the coordinates. There seemed to be lots of scribbling on graph paper, scratching of heads and zooming in and out the time computer’s projections that Tom had encountered earlier. The projections didn’t seem to be having the same effect on Bert, but Tom stayed away, keen not to risk losing his lunch.  Mali had teamed up with Mo to work on her distraction plan. They were deep in conversation at the back of the room on the sofas, and there seemed to be quite a lot of laughter. Tom overheard words like fireworks and camels, itching powder and killer scorpions which made him feel a little anxious.  Delyth and Cai seemed to have paired up too. They had decided to look at all the artefacts that had been documented to have been in the tomb of tutenkhamun. Cai had pointed out at lunch time that in order to spot the time disr...

Tom’s Mum was surprised with the level of enthusiasm shown that morning, with Tom being up and ready to leave at 830, holding out her car keys and muttering “come ON Mum”. When they arrived at history club he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then jumped out the car shouting “see you at 4!” and rushed through the door. Tom’s Mum drove away, wondering what had led to this new level of enthusiasm before concluding that maybe there was a new crush in play. Sal and Sam were in their camp leader disguises, but quickly discarded their itchy wigs once everyone had arrived and they were sure of no other unexpected visitors through the door. The team sat around the main table, and waited for Sal to activate the projections.  Sal started the discussions. “I think we all agree that this Effendi person, along with the Chaten, are the ones who will have planted the time disruption device, and must have done it before the grand opening of the tomb. I carried on reading Carter’s diary after ...

As everyone was staring wide eyed at the photograph Sal and Sam suddenly stood up and started rapidly looking for their discarded wigs and hats. A few seconds later the rest of the group realised why when they heard the sounds of a car driving up outside.  “It must be 4’o clock” exclaimed Sal with some panic. He reached over to press the buttons on the side of the table that controlled the projection device. He then grabbed some books from the shelves at the back of the room, some paper and some colouring pencils and threw them on the table. “Quick - look like we’ve been doing normal history stuff!” Just as Sam had managed to get his wig on straight with the help of Mali, there was a knock on the door followed by a “hellooee!” as Tom’s Mum opened the door popped her head through the gap. “Here to collect Tom please!” she said to Sal who was doing their best impression of a normal human being.  “Of course, of course” Sal said, patting Tom on the back as he led him towards the d...

Bert brought up the projection of an aged document with dates and handwritten entries. The paper was a4 sized and neatly annotated in a curly script. The edges were hole-punched, with little reinforced rings of paper around the holes as if the papers had been carefully stored in an old fashioned ring folder. The title page said “Notes, Diary, and articles pertaining to;The Thebean royal acropolis and the tomb of Tutenkhamen.” The writing was clear but unfamiliar so it took some squinting and head scratching to read it. The entries were neatly dated on the left hand side. There were pages and pages of writing.  Cai seemed to be the best at reading the handwritten notes so he started to give a summary to the others gathered around him.  “This section of the diary seems to start in October 1922. He’s writing about returning from Luxor on a small sail boat, and starting work in the valley of the kings. He’s written that they were continuing previous excavations that had been star...

Stomachs full, the assembled children sat back into comfortable thought, realising that the next task lay ahead of them, and not really sure where to start.  Cai spoke up first. “So, what do we know about the people who have hidden these time disruption devices? Do we know what we are even looking for?” Sal and Sam looked at each other. Sal sighed and then started to speak.  “I’m sorry to say that some of the group come from our planet. That’s how they have access to the technology to move through time and space. They don’t like the work of the Time protection Force for some reason and seem to go out of their way to work against us. They have teamed up with another species called the Chatens. They are just a sneaky bunch who take pleasure in stealing objects of historical interest from wherever they can find them. The more iconic the better.” Cai was nodding and processing this information. “So, some of them will look like you? Quite human?” Sal and Sam nodded in agreement....