17
When Ken had dressed, he had thought about the possibility of arriving in any sort of weather, but he had also thought about the possibility of arriving in any sort of culture. He was dressed in brown, with laceless boots, slightly baggy, zipperless pants, and an anorak that would pass for a tunic from just about any era. He was not at all sure how people he might meet in another time, if indeed he did meet people in another time, would react to his dropping in, so he wanted to seem as little like an alien as possible. Communication might be a more difficult problem. His Google Galileos would translate any known language for him, but if he also used them to speak it might seem very strange for the sound to be coming from behind his ears, with the default speakers, or from a medallion hanging like a necklace, connected with wifi, as he considered using. He had decided that the best option was probably a neck piece, rather like a torque. Then the sound would come from near his mouth, and he hoped he could hope to lip sync well enough not to rouse too much suspicion. He had purposely let his moustache grow rather long, to cover much of his mouth, so lip readers would be frustrated. He hoped he would not arrive at a time when facial hair was alien.
Now he just felt silly. All his work and preparation and forethought wasted because of lightning’s striking the Hyundai and his dozing off to sleep. Rather than being in some other time, he was in the dregs of someone’s Halloween party. Two of the ‘knights’ walked towards him. One of them spoke. He spoke in Middle Welsh, in Cymraeg Canol, the language of The Mabinogion.
II
18
Kenneth’s little cottage spoke several languages. Wednesday afternoon, it recognized Nora and Marcus, welcomed them in English, and invited them in. Still not having heard from Kenneth by Tuesday, nor even from his telephone, Nora had remembered that the house had a number as well, and had called it. She wasn’t quite accustomed to the internet of things, but was happy to hear that Kenneth had left for Glastonbury late Halloween. It was a clue, at least, to her son’s whereabouts. She had taken the Teslatube over and met Marcus on Wednesday morning at the Tor. Marcus had gone over the details of Kenneth’s printing project, and had begun to suspect what might be involved in the ‘field trip’. As he had expected, there was no evidence of Kenneth nor the Hyundai at Glastonbury. So, they had gone to Kenneth’s cottage to see if they could find more clues.
The two guests accepted the host house’s offer of coffee and biscuits and sat at the table. The more they looked around, the stranger everything seemed. Indeed the car was gone. But Ken’s I.D. and money cards were on the counter. There was no sign of any sort of break-in or violence. Everything was spotlessly neat. Of course the house kept everything spotlessly neat, but it would also have sent a distress signal if anything unwanted had happened.
It was now two days after Halloween, and Kenneth had suggested to Marcus that that might be the date of some field work, so he laid his Google Plexus on the table to share the most recent correspondence he had had from Ken with Nora.
II
18
Kenneth’s little cottage spoke several languages. Wednesday afternoon, it recognized Nora and Marcus, welcomed them in English, and invited them in. Still not having heard from Kenneth by Tuesday, nor even from his telephone, Nora had remembered that the house had a number as well, and had called it. She wasn’t quite accustomed to the internet of things, but was happy to hear that Kenneth had left for Glastonbury late Halloween. It was a clue, at least, to her son’s whereabouts. She had taken the Teslatube over and met Marcus on Wednesday morning at the Tor. Marcus had gone over the details of Kenneth’s printing project, and had begun to suspect what might be involved in the ‘field trip’. As he had expected, there was no evidence of Kenneth nor the Hyundai at Glastonbury. So, they had gone to Kenneth’s cottage to see if they could find more clues.
The two guests accepted the host house’s offer of coffee and biscuits and sat at the table. The more they looked around, the stranger everything seemed. Indeed the car was gone. But Ken’s I.D. and money cards were on the counter. There was no sign of any sort of break-in or violence. Everything was spotlessly neat. Of course the house kept everything spotlessly neat, but it would also have sent a distress signal if anything unwanted had happened.
It was now five days after Halloween, and Kenneth had suggested to Marcus that that might be the date of some field work, so he laid his Google Plexus on the table to share the most recent correspondence he had had from Ken with Nora.
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