Penelope Picton, Time Traveller

Penelope Picton had a close relationship with the speculative writer, HG Walls, recently famous for his story, The Time Traveller. Admittedly, Herbert was a bit of a womanizer, but to his credit, he was open to new ideas, even the concept of giving women the vote.

Penelope was intrigued that Herbert never let her in to his study but on one of her occasional visits she had found the study unlocked and, naturally, she crept in. It was a laboratory!

In one corner was an ornate chair with a fan like device and various controls. She took a quick look around, saw that Herbert was nowhere to be seen and advanced on the device. Naturally she sat in it... and pulled a leaver, rather hard in fact, as she had tripped over some tools in the process. As she pulled the lever backwards the room span and, then, disappeared!

Penelope fell on  stony ground and heard numerous alarmed voices. Surrounding her were people in Medieval garb. A large plump man in striped finery pointed at her and a monk charged her with a club! Penelope jumped back in her seat as she heard the angry cry 'Burn the witch'. She hurriedly pushed the control, forward this time.

The time traveler had noticed that the dial on the machine had stopped at 1450 AD but now it was racing ahead. When she stopped the lever it was at 1980AD. Perhaps the condition of women had improved; after all it was well in to the future.
She was in a street and a sign said Kings Cross. A woman with flaming red hair, tattoos on her limbs and a revealing green dress stood on a street corner. 'Er, do you support votes for women?'

 'This is my spot you #*@$ weirdo', the woman sneered in a broad colonial accent.
Penelope did not like the woman's tone and decided that retreat was the better part of valor. She returned to the time machine.

Then she saw the controls move of their own volition!

The journey took longer this time, at least ten minutes. It was 26 million BC Surrounding the machine was thick humid jungle. Huge insects buzzed past her head. Something enormous crashed through the trees. A fetid breath enveloped her as Penelope turned to face the giant reptilian beast. Each of its teeth was longer than her arm and its huge yellow eyes stared at her hungrily.                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                               

                                                                 

Penelope was not just a feminist; she was a British feminist. There was not a quiver in her British upper lip, even when the beast reached out to seize her waist. Penelope had accompanied her father on lion hunts in the Dark Continent. Our heroine gave the creature a smart whack, with her sign, on its claws, momentarily startling it in to dropping her. She raced to the machine. The weight of her body seemed to activate the machine and she again commenced a journey. In the prehistoric space the machine had just vacated lay a squashed rodent.   

          

The machine again came to a stop, at 2066AD. Penelope was getting used to the giddiness and the queasy stomach but she got a shock when she looked around, for there were the ruins of a Redian city. Although many buildings were of strange design she recognized some still standing from her own time. Next to one damaged building some stocky military looking men in silver suits and strange helmets were in communication. As she left the machine to approach them they turned and she saw that the helmets completely enclosed the faces, making them look like robo men.                                                                                               

"Do you have votes for women yet?" Penelope tentatively asked.
                                                                                               

"We have had gender equality for may centuries, even before we abandoned our fully organic bodies", one of them replied. The voice was very stilted and mechanical. When you assimilate with us you too can be free of your ridiculous fragile body."                                                                                                                      

"Well, that is very nice of you, but I have a prior appointment", said Penelope as she backed towards the time machine.                                                                                                                                   

At that moment five giant salt and pepper shakers, sporting various appendages, appeared .  Yet another mechanical voice emitted from the newcomers.                                                                               

"You are in Dalek domain. Leave or be ex-term-in-at-ed!"                                                                                

"You will be deleted", the Cybermen replied.                                                                                              

                                                                                         

This cheerful conversation was soon replaced by some very dangerous looking fireworks and Penelope decided that discretion was the wisest choice and ran for the time device.

Penelope felt something brittle crumble under her feet. Looking down she saw that she was running over bones, human bones. At last Penelope's composure broke and she screamed.
Meanwhile the battle between the cyborgs ended. Three Daleks were destroyed and all the Cybermen were in twisted pieces of flesh and metal. The air smelt of melted wiring, metal and burnt meat. The remaining Daleks turned to face her.

'Exterminate!' they chanted.
Penelope thought this option sounded as bad as the deceased robomen's offer of 'assimilation'.  Just at that moment, however, her options broadened as yet another group of figures emerged from behind a building and they appeared to be human!

Six people in tight fitting yellow and orange suits and transparent helmets emerged from behind a building and leveled their strange guns at the Daleks. Bright beams of energy shot out at the surprised 'salt and pepper shakers' and blew their tops off.                              

Colonel Leroy Jefferson removed his helmet and blew the smoke from his custom built  under and over Le Matt blaster pistol and his ray rifle. Hopefully that was the last of the vermin, although some of the Cybermen had been captured and rendered docile; he had plans for them. The new weaponry had been built with the assistance of Doctor Davros, the exceedingly visually repulsive but benevolent alien. He had fled his home planet to wage a war against his own creations, the Daleks, once he had realized their pure evil. Leroy had been the first contact on the farm colony of Europa and he had used it to his advantage to advance in the Confederate Space Fleet.

Then all thoughts of the every - day vanished as he saw the amazing vision - a woman in, of all things, a dress and an enormous hat! Not only that, she was very pretty.
Penelope noticed the seventh spaceman appear from behind some rubble and, if anything, he was more astonishing than the others. He had a bright red, blue and white tight outfit with low slung holster on his hip. He had removed his helmet to reveal rather long blond hair. As he walked towards her she saw his neatly trimmed moustache and sideburns. His face was chiseled like an Easter Island statue
 and his strong chin was dimpled. Then she saw his eyes - they were a very rarely seen, in people, mid green with speckles of gold brown! The man was now only two feet from her and he spoke.

"Well, jest when I thought I had seen everything this vision of beauty appears. What brings you here, Sugar?"
The time traveller dropped her sign. (For some reason she had kept it the entire voyage). "What was I doing with that silly thing?"  she thought, as she looked into those eyes.       

                                                                                                                                                           
.                           

Although increasingly mesmerized by the handsome officer Penelope still had the presence of mind to hide the control stick for the time machine in her clothing and made a note to find a more secure place later.

"Where are you frum?"

"I am a time traveler....", she began
"...from the Edwardian era", finished Leroy. "I am a student of history and have my own museum of rare artefacts but you can't really expect me to believe that you are from the 1900s."

Penelope loved his soft Southern accent and she wondered if that was really enough of a reason to trust him.
"Colonel, whoever this woman is we can't let our guards down. There could be more Daleks and Cybermen", said a female in a tight orange synthetic suit.

"You are right Captain. We'll head back to base".

"Captain! Have women progressed so far?" exclaimed Penelope.

"Are you from this planet?" asked Captain Beau Shelby.