Grandfather Clock.

"Well the Time Control System's still busted, we'll have to run forward manually," Clark said, "watch out for the satellite signals so we know we're getting close."

"Aye," said Haster, "monitoring radio on sensors."

"Ready?" asked Clark.

"Ready," responded Haster.

And with that, the spacetimeship *Grandfather Clock* vanished from the skies of 1842.

----------------

"Okay hold on Clark, we're getting satellite signals already," said Haster, "Little blips on our timescale. Short lived stuff. Could be the early space race."

Clark lowered the lever, slowing down their progress through time. The chronometer slowed down to a few hours per second, and the blurred arcs of starlight visible as the Grandfather Clock orbited the Earth were reduced to merely very fast stars. "That can't be right. Look at the alignment of the giants, we can't be past... 1913!" Clark brought the Grandfather Clock out of timewarp and into normal spacetime, locking the lever down before pressing a few buttons to lock down the time machine.

"Look at the alignment, see?" Clark pulled out an ephemeris table of alignments of the giant planets, and compared them with the measured angles on the navigation screen. "Look at that, see? It oughtta be uh... 1912."

"Could be a problem with our sensors, we've had lagged sensors before," said Haster.

"I'll take a look in the astrodome, meanwhile you work on figuring out if those sensors are lagged," said Clark.

After some precise manual measurements of the positions of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, the result was the same. They matched the date of late 1912. Haster determined that the sensors were working fine, both in electromagnetic radiation detection and mass detection.

"I just don't get it. How can there be space signals this early? I mean were we visited by aliens in the early twentieth century and no one noticed?" Haster said.

"It is disturbing. But maybe they were spurious detections. Let's just run ahead a few more decades and wait for the 1950s," said Clark, "then we're sure to figure this out."

This time more carefully, Clark operated the Time Control lever, and the Grandfather Clock vanished from the skies of 1912. But it wasn't too long before the radio spectrum above Earth got significantly louder.

"Clark, I'm getting a lot of radio from high orbit now," said Haster.

"But... but it's nineteen forty seven! How can there be radio in high orbit!"

"It's worse than that. I'm getting some pretty huge mass readings with artificial signatures. Things changing orbits. This is more than a space race, this is as much space travel as we'd see in the 2100s!"

"But that's impossible! I've counted every single year manually! It's 1947!"

"I think you and I both know what this means."

"It... it can't be! We took every precaution, I don't understand how there could be this level of space activity this early! This is a SERIOUS breach of the timeline," Clark said, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Calm down Clark, I'm sure there's a way out of this. This isn't our first timeline accident and it surely won't be our last. We just have to gather information and see what we can do to fix these things."

"I'm dropping out of timewarp," said Clark, and he did.

Almost immediately, Haster discovered a spacecraft about a hundred kilometers away and rapidly approaching.

"Woah Clark, incoming!"

A lawn-dart shaped spacecraft 120 meters long was approaching the Grandfather Clock. No sooner than Haster spotted it did the spacecraft spot the Grandfather Clock, and a very annoying series of radio blips were now being beamed towards it. Grandfather Clock's computer very quickly translated the Morse Code into German, and from there Clark and Haster's linguimplants took care of the rest.

The translator mostly preserved the brevity and urgency of the message. "UFO, state ID or be fired upon."

"Shit. Haster, cloak the Clock and match orbits with that ship."

"Yep," said Haster, and pressing a mess of buttons. The Grandfather Clock vanished, and its engines fired, crushing Clark and Haster into their seats. A deep sinking feeling pooled into Clark's heart as he studied the white and black hull of the rocket ship. The only splash of color was the red of the Nazi flag, with a huge swastika painted along the sides of each radiator-ribbed wing.

"Fuck."

-------------------------------

From this distance, mass sensors and visual observations were used to determine quite an awful lot about the current situation. They learned that the nazi spacecraft they were parked next to was remarkably advanced in propulsion technology, with a water-propellant Nuclear-Thermal-Rocket of a design at least 40 years ahead in sophistication, but otherwise the vehicle was fairly low tech. Its weaponry appeared to be conventional chemical cannons, the hull was made out of steel, and there seemed to be an electromechanical computer in the heart of the command deck which supported 15 officers. The general shape of the vehicle strongly resembled a larger V2 missile, except a fair bit fatter, and the aerodynamics of the vehicle appeared to be largely decorative.

"Hey uh, Haster?" Clark asked, pondering in zero gravity over the dinner table while struggling to open a package of oatmeal,

"Yeah?"

"Where's your engineering notes? The ones you were keeping in 1842?"

"They're in the cabi--oh," said Haster, stopping his stressed consumption of a turkey tortilla.

"What?"

"Oh no."

"You're kidding, right?"

"That'd do it."

"You left your engineering notes in the cabinet in the laboratory back in 1842."

"Yes."

"Someone must have found it when the house was repossessed after we left," said Clark, palm in face.

"I can't believe it. Everything I know about nuclear physics and rocket propulsion is in that book. That explains all the radio in the 1910s--ships were already flying around up there but they only got radios at the turn of the century."

"It shouldn't be too difficult to fix though, right? We just go back and take the book, right?"

"Remember though, our Time Control System is still busted, and we can't go backwards manually! We'll have to jump backwards, wait, and then jump back again, possibly several times."

"We'll have to do that then."

--------

The Grandfather Clock materialized in orbit around the Earth, 1892.

"We'll have to wait for four days before we can jump back again. We should keep a low profile," Clark said.

"I disagree. We're going to undo this timeline anyway, and as an alternate history this is inherently interesting. We might as well learn as much as we can about the history of this world."

"Fine."

"There's some kind of ship in a nearly coplanar orbit. I suggest we rendezvous with it cloaked and take a closer look."

And so the Grandfather Clock, still invisible, approached that some-kind-of-ship.

"It's HUGE! Half a kilometer across... it's a ring station! Heavy too, made of brick and mortar and glass with iron struts! I never would have considered making a space station like that," said Haster.

"Oh my god. They haven't had nuclear rockets for even 50 years and they've already built THIS?"

"It's amazing!"

"It's horrifying! We barely had something like this in 2050 in the original timeline!"

"We have to take a closer look!"

The ring module, with a glass ceiling pointed inwards and a conical mirror focussing light into the structure, was connected by huge spiral struts, perhaps staircases, to a central hub module. That hub was connected on the back, shaded side of the structure, to a non-rotating docking hub, where a dozen ships were connected to the space station. Dozens more drifted nearby, tethered to the station and kept under tension by a tiny amount of rotation.

"There must be a hundred ships out here!" Said Clark.

"65, in fact, not counting the twelve docked to the station itself," Haster corrected, "They're all vastly different configurations, some using chemical rockets, some using nuclear thermal rockets, all sorts of different propellants, but no liquid hydrogen--and that big one there: that's a nuclear pulse rocket! No wonder they got something this big up here, they didn't know to be afraid of nuclear bombs so they must have gone through a phase of using Orions for everything!"

"That might have caused irreparable damage to the Earth's biosphere!" Clark retorted.

"Earth still looked okay by the 1940s, remember?" assured Haster, "Besides, we're gonna undo this timeline!"

"I suppose you're going to want to get onto that station then, huh?"

"Hell yeah! We can use holography to make the ship look period-typical, there's no way they'd be able to tell us apart from those other ships!"

"See those flashes coming from that dome up there?"

"Looks like a lighthouse, flashing like that.

"I'm sure that's heliography. Decode some of those transmissions, we'll need to know as much as we can about what this station's for.

"Sure thing."

"I'll go fabricate some clothes. We're not sure just what they're wearing, so I'll go for something conservative. We have clothing for a steam locomotive driver in the database I think, that'll be better than showing up dressed like this!" said Clark, gesturing at Haster's button shirt and suit pants that he was still wearing from their adventures in 1842.

----------------

As Haster and Clark boarded the space station, which Haster learned was called The Grand Cathedral, the stationmaster--dressed in a suit and tie and fairly wide around--along with an elderly pastor, greeted the two, and exchanged handshakes.

"Ah, it is good to meet the two of you," said the stationmaster, "that is quite an interesting space craft you've got there."

"Ah yes," said the pastor, "it's very... ornate."

"Of course. It was... err... built for a publicity stunt with the uh...," started Haster.

"Furniture market in High Point," Clark finished.

"I am unfamiliar with any furniture market in High Point, where's that?" The stationmaster asked.

"North Carolina of course, and it's gonna be big!" Haster said.

"Well it's certainly an interesting piece of design you've got at any rate," said the stationmaster, "now er, do tell me, just what you've come to The Grand Cathedral for?"

"We're tourists! We were hoping to learn about the history of space travel and the cathedral itself!" Said Clark. The stationmaster gave a slightly puzzled face but shook it off.

"I do hope you'll attend the ceremony tomorrow," said the pastor.

"Ceremony?" Haster asked.

"It's Sunday of course!" The pastor said.

"Ah yes, of course, we wouldn't miss it," said Haster. Clark glared at him.

"As I understand it you have lodging on the station itself?" Asked Clark.

"Ah yes. The hotel rooms are on the 2nd deck. Just through there is the spin ring, and you'll be able to take the stairs down to the habitat. Be careful, the change in gravity can be disconcerting for many guests!"

"I assure you, we can handle a little variable gravity," Haster said. With an exchange of smiles and the closest thing to a bow that one could do in zero gravity, Clark and Haster entered the station.

-------------

The top deck was a tremendous sight unlike any that Clark had ever seen, and which Haster--a Main Belt hopper in his youth--hadn't seen in over 20 years--or in under negative 300, depending upon how you looked at it. It was a vast inwardly-curved garden with trees that went all the way up to the ceiling, a stained glass canvass of artwork depicting various religious symbolism.

"This... this is incredible," said Clark.

"I knew it would be worth exploring this alternate history," said Haster, "look at this place! It's amazing!"

"I've never seen anything like it," Clark said, "I mean I'd seen pictures of some of the things they were building in the Main Belt, but..."

"I've been to Athena Station," said Haster. "About 20 years ago."

"More like negative three hun--"

"Cut it out, I know already."

The two chrononauts wound their way through the garden and found the entrance to the hotel. They checked in--money in space was using an easily fooled credit system--and found a surprisingly spacious room with two queen-size beds, fully furnished. An electric lightbulb dimly lit the room, but a porthole could be opened to let in mirrored sunlight through a cloudy window. Haster opened the sun-window first, but it was too bright for Clark, so he turned the mirror down and using a mechanical lever, opened up the cloudy window to reveal a clear window and a not-quite-dizzying rotating view of space. The Grandfather Clock had been moved back out to a tether and was visible, rotating against the background.

-----------------

*July 9th, 1849.*

"I've got something important to show you, doctor."

"I already told you pastor, I'm not that kind of doctor."

"No no, this isn't about that rash. One of my kids found something in the cabinet in the old laboratory next to the church while they were cleaning it up."

"Oh?"

"A book! And I think you'll find it interesting."

"Well unless it has something to do with either chemistry or aerodynamics, I'm not interested."

"Why not both, doctor?" The pastor said, smiling, "I've found plans for a most convoluted flying machine, and a detailed description of certain chemical concoctions I've never heard of. And there's more..."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Sir Cayley's work, would it?"

"I don't believe so, doctor."

The pastor brought the scientist to the old laboratory, and pulled the book out of the bookshelf it now rested in, and handed the book to him.

"It's a manual for some kind of flying machine," said the scientist, "called the Grandfather Clock."

"There's a lot of pages torn out, but what I've gathered is that this is--"

"Published twenty one oh seven? Pastor, what kind of trick is this?"

"Trick? Surely not! Doctor, don't you see? This book is from the future!"

"Two hundred fifty eight years into the future."

"There's terminology in here I've never heard, not even during your chemistry lectures."

"Well to be fair pastor, those are just introduction courses," said the scientist, "but I don't recognize most of this stuff. Like this--'nuclear' or uh, 'rah-deo-activity.' I'll have to ask around to see if anyone else has heard of this"

"From reading this book and some of the notes I gather that the 'Grandfather Clock' is some kind of vessel of time as well as flight, but the pages describing the time components have been torn out."

"Notes?" Asked the scientist, looking up from the book.

"The previous owner of this book kept extensive notes about repairs he was making, there's all sorts of scribbled diagrams and notes. I recognize some of the chemistry discussed here...," the Pastor said, turning the pages of the book and pulling out some notes. "Of course I can't make heads or tails of it, but at least I recognize the words."

"Peroxide... kerosene... methane... this seems to be a list of fuels for the propulsion engine of the machine. There's calculations in here about the energy of these reactions, and for something called ISP." By this point the scientist was fully enthralled by the contents of the book, and was beginning to walk away to study it further. But he stopped.

"Pastor?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't you think it's a little sketchy? This time vessel nonsense? I mean aren't we ruining God's plan by reading these notes?"

"If The Lord had not planned for you to read this book, He would not have let Jim find it."

"Sure, but..."

"I knew how much you love talking about your flying machine plans. I knew you'd be just the person to make use of this book."

The scientist smiled. "You're right, pastor. Thank you very much!"