The 75th Magic Show 3/8

When she arrived at the Home, Abigail was waiting for her and was nearly as excited as she was.

“Can’t wait to try out your latest contraption,” she said, “can I drive?”

“I’d like to have first go if you don’t mind too much, but if you like you can drive on the way back.”

“Sounds fair enough to me,” replied Abigail.

Jennifer Jane went into the workshop and pushed her scooter out onto the lawn. If anything, it looked even nicer than she remembered from the day before. The golden dust really made the paint work sparkle in the bright morning sunshine. Abigail loaded some bags into the rear luggage space and then helped Jennifer Jane push it through the building to the castle side.

“We’ve cleared a nice space just the right size in one corner of the guard room. So both of your vehicles will be kept in the same place when we get back.”

Once over the drawbridge they both climbed on and Jennifer Jane headed off in the direction of Timber Creek. The scooter seemed to be much faster than her broom; either that or the windscreen was making a difference to the streamlining. Whatever the reason, she was enjoying the first long distance ride on her new machine.

“Through the fog and I’ll wish for Smallport,” said Abigail, leaning forward slightly and shouting into Jennifer Jane’s ear.

The scooter entered the fog and a moment or two later came out over the sea in sight of their destination. Strangely it began to head down towards the harbour without any guidance. Jennifer Jane was a little puzzled for a moment, but soon forgot the slight problem with the handling, as she saw the variety of shipping in the harbour below her.

Practically every type of boat ever built was moored alongside the quays. She recognised two of the Davy Jones’ fleet, some old fashioned steamboats similar to Barnacle Bill’s, as well as the most modern cargo vessels from her own world.

There were also some futuristic looking craft. They were boat shaped, but had no funnels or any other sign to show how they were propelled. She hovered for a moment over one of them and turned to ask Abigail if she knew what they were.

“They’re from a parallel world with a very advanced science. They trade with people like us because of our old fashioned goods. They take them back home to sell as curios, while we get the money that allows us to buy some of the raw materials we can’t get in our simple world. See the big window that covers nearly all the deck?”

Jennifer Jane nodded.

“Well I’m told that’s a solar power collector, those ships run on electricity, rather like everything in your friend Peter’s world, although they don’t come from the same one.”

Abigail pointed to the town on the far side of the port. “Over there you’ll see a large building with a huge parking area round it. Join in one of the queues and someone will wave us down and show us where to go.”

Jennifer Jane could see that there was a lot of aerial traffic, now that she was paying attention to her flying. So she joined on the end of one of the shorter lines and waited, until a man on the ground wearing a bright yellow jacket, beckoned her down in her turn.

He didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that a flying scooter was in line waiting to be parked. “That space miss,” he said pointing, “Travelator where there’s a red sign!” Then he waved down the next person in line.