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Episode summary:
"On
September 13th 1891, the sailing ship 'The Elizabeth Downes' was wrecked off
the coast of North Scotland during a strange and sudden storm. There were
several survivors who escaped in the ships longboat and made it to landfall.
The survivors slowly began to realise that maybe, they were no longer in 1891.
Jericho Tibbs and his team are on the scene because a passenger off the ill-fated
ship wasn't even supposed to be on board and is a VERY important historical
figure; the Time-Line could now be under serious threat."
“All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Author’s notes about this episode:
[1]
This episode is currently NOT PUBLISHED and is a working draft copy.
[2]
The original Title for this episode was: ‘THE PRINCE WHO TRIED TO VANISH.’
[3]
A ‘Jericho Tibbs’ original story.
[4] "THE WRECK OF THE ELIZABETH DOWNES.” This episode, was conceived and written by the author. Copyright © 2011-2025 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without written permission. The episode illustration is an original drawing created by the author. It is copyright ©2011 - 2025 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without written permission.
Concept
date: 1st August 2019
First
published: Unavailable
Status: IN DEVELOPMENT & UNPUBLISHED.
Location:
BOOK SERIES 0 – EPISODE 0.
Revisions:
0 [Last revised unknown]
Version: Working draft copy.
Published Episode No. 00
Previous
episode: NONE.
Next
episode: NONE.
Age
recommendation: 12+
Average
reading time: Approximately 60 Minutes.
Angel-in-charge: Peter
Team Assigned: Team 74
Mission: 0 - 399128 - 8 – 1891
Human years:
Jericho and Divij
walked in front with Alex and Owen just behind quietly talking with each other.
A police ‘Panda’ car slowed, and the two constables smiled at Alex and said
something to each other, and both smiled again. Alex threw them a sideways glance and
the slowly looked around the busy London street and gripped her shoulder bag.
“Owen, is it me, or is there something strange about all this? I mean we’ve
jumped from the same year [1974] so we’re dressed for the period yet look
about.” [See episode ‘Regression’.] Owen finished scoffing his ‘Mars’
bar and stared about, then slowly nodded in agreement. “Why are most of the
women wearing black collars with – apparently – their family name on? I don’t
recall that fashion for this year, and as you say, we just jumped from there.”
Alex stopped at a shop window and gestured to the poster in the window: it was a young woman in nothing but a pair of bright red panties holding a bloody saucepot of the same colour, declaring all a woman wants for Christmas is a new saucepan set! “I don’t remember advertisements like that on shop fronts, they were normally reserved for ‘Men’s’ magazines. The 1970’s were bloody sexist, but I don’t think they had dropped to that level!” Owen agreed and then pointed out the shop display opposite, “Well, that won’t make you happy.”
Alex turned and stared – a little amazed and slightly horrified – that two young girls were parading around in just panties and clinging T-shirts, handing out flyers about a launderette! That’s when they both saw the General Election poster and Owen called Jericho and Divij back. The little group stood reading that Prime Minister Edward Heath had used his win to outlaw strikes in essential industries. Jericho rubbed his chin and looked a little puzzled, “Unless I’ve gone a little nuts, didn’t Labour win the election this year?” Divij tapped his arm, pushing his mirror back into his pocket, “Our hotel is just around the corner, let’s get there and check out the TV. That’s bound to cover a proclamation like this.” Everyone agreed with that and headed for Victoria Street and the Victoria Hotel.
It was quite plush and very well maintained and the male receptionist was pleasant and helpful, his badge said his name was ‘Frank’. He handed out the keys and with a big smile and told Jericho that if they needed another lady’s company, the hotel employed two women who would provide personal services and they could just put it on the bill! Jericho managed a smile and took the keys, saying ‘No thanks’ and they headed for their rooms, frankly a little shocked that such a famous and old established hotel had such a service and offered it openly!
As they ascended in the elevator Divij said quietly, “I think something is really wrong here. 1974 appears to have changed and changed drastically.” Jericho nodded, “We need to consult our mirrors. The timeline has changed, but to what extent?”
They dumped their bags in their rooms and gathered in Jericho’s with Owen switching on the big TV as Jericho and Divij consulted their mirrors. “Oh great, snooker is on the set.” Owen announced and then said quietly, “You had better come and watch this.” He turned up the sound. Alex stood – hands on hips – and shook her head in disbelief at what she was watching. Everything looked normal with one man playing the table and the other sitting down. The referee stood behind him, but it was the young woman that caught everyone’s eye. She was wearing a black collar with the name ‘Johnson’ on, a neat blue jacket and black shoes. The only other items of clothing she was wearing was her panties which had a triangle on them - containing snooker balls - black stockings and frilly suspenders and matching black high heels! The young woman had a magnificent pair of breasts with big dark nipples that had small silver triangles hanging from them. All she appeared to do was replace the balls on the table, bending well over the table and receiving applause and some cheers, doing so. The commentator announced that this afternoon’s ‘Ball-Girl’ was “Julia” and promptly gave her measurements and that she was – unbelievably [his words!] – still unmarried, but expected that 'problem' would soon be sorted since men could see what she offered.
[Note: Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; 8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892) in the original timeline.]
Divij coughed, “It appears that women now do not even have the vote. The Suffragette movement either died out or was crushed. With no First World war to promote their cause for equality with men, it clearly floundered. It also appears there was some sort of sexual revolution in the 1960’s but nothing like the original with women’s liberation and sexual freedoms. Just simple exploitation of women for sexual purposes. They now have few career options, the only major one is marriage and the production of children!” Alex eased into a chair and shook her head, “You mean we are just sex objects for fucking men?” Divij didn’t smile and nodded, “Quite so Alex. Only married women can access contraception by law and there is no social security provided for unmarried, single mothers. So a woman who has a baby out of wedlock is in very dire financial straights unless their family supports them. Just like before, in Victorian and Edwardian ages, they received no assistance from the state whatsoever.”
“It appears that the timeline started to change from 1891 and that’s our new mission: find out what the fuck happened in that year and change it back! Pretty simple and the first thing we need to discover is what the hell happened to prince Eddy in that year.” Jericho said and lowered his mirror, adding “We’ve only witnessed some minor changes so far, but the Senior Time Controller informs me that the changes further down this altered timeline are even more drastic. The old European Empires still exist with Emperor Alexander V ruling Russia, Kaiser Fredrick William III presides over Germany, and this is the best bit, France is in it’s Third Empire under Napoleon V. It appears that the Presidents of the USA remain unchanged with Gerald Ford becoming president after the death of President Nixon that year. There was no ‘Watergate’ apparently and he died in office of pneumonia. There was no ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ and Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 as in the original timeline. But the social changes have been enormous with women being the greatest losers.” Jericho sighed and told Owen to pass around the brandy from the room’s mini bar.
“You can bloody say that again. It’s like the bloody Victorian times except women are even more sexually exploited with marriage the only protection they can gain, and we all know that’s no bloody protection for some.” Alex said, folding her arms, now a little calmer. “We really need to get the timeline back on track and bloody quickly too.” She added, accepting a welcome glass from Owen who nodded, “Apparently there was no law passed legalizing Homosexuality, here and now, you can get ten years in prison for such acts, even in private between two consenting adults. According to my mirror, there were some protests in the late 60’s which were crushed quite brutally with really harsh prison sentences bestowed on the protesters and the vast majority of the public supported the bloody government!”
Jericho sipped his drink, “I think we need to act and act quickly as Alex said, so it’s back to 1891 and ensure that prince Eddy meets his fate as ordained. Somehow his survival prevented the First World War, which we know, was the catalyst for changes across the world and civilisation. Everything points to that simple change as the start of this new world nightmare.” Owen tapped his mirror, “Jericho, I just been reading prince Eddy’s Human Record and the new version says that the prince was not seen around the Royal court or reported on for almost two weeks in 1891. He appears have vanished from sight and when he returned, it’s reported frequently that his character was far more acceptable to the royal family, politicians and the British public. Something happened in September that year and he was a changed man and wasn’t even in Britain in 1892 when the pneumonia epidemic struck that should have killed him. He avoided that by being on a royal tour of India. Something – again – that wasn’t in the original timeline. Also he appears to now have a really good relationship with his cousin, Kaiser William II and they corresponded frequently with the Kaiser attending his wedding in 1892 and the couple spending their bloody honeymoon there! It appears they become good friends, really close it seems.”
"THE WRECK OF THE ELIZABETH DOWNES" CONTINUES IN 'TEMPORAL DETECTIVES' BOOK SERIES 0 [EPISODE 0.]
End of Preview.
Copyright © 2011-2025 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without permission.