There was a blinding flash of light, and Kimberly closed her eyes. I love you, Billy, but sometimes these inventions of yours test my nerves....

"Kimmy, we did it!"

She opened her eyes. Her husband stood across from her, still holding her hands. He had a big grin on his face. Behind him was a brick wall -- they certainly weren't in the lab anymore.

She looked around. There were a couple of garbage cans by the stucco wall behind her, and a tall wooden fence at the end of what (she guessed) was an alley in which they stood.

Thank You, Lord, that we are both in one piece, she thought to herself, nonetheless feeling proud of her husband, and flinging her arms around his neck. "You did it, Billy! Way to go!"

He put his arms around her waist, picked her up and spun her around. "No, Kimmy, we did it!"

Billy put her down, then gazed at their surroundings. "Well, Kim," he said after a moment, giving her a boyish smile. "Shall we go exploring?"

His wife rolled her eyes. "O-kay, you big child, but...."

Billy nodded, taking her hands again. "Yes, of course. First things first."

They both bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Billy said, "Lord, we thank You for this time we have to explore a part of this universe You made. We ask that You keep us safe, and help us to be influences in the way You would have us to be. In Jesus' Name, amen."

"Amen," Kimberly repeated, opening her eyes and looking down at her left hand. Her husband was holding both it and the little device that had gotten them there at the same time.

"Hon, you'd better put that thing away where you won't lose it."

Billy nodded, and slipped the little device into the breast pocket of his shirt. "Okay. Now let's go exploring."

Kimberly shook her head and let him grab her hand and pull her toward the end of the alley.

They found themselves on the sidewalk in what appeared to be a rural area of---?? Large ironfront buildings lined the street on which they stood.

"Hm," Billy mused, rubbing his chin. "These buildings remind me a bit of Victorian England, but...."

"I'll bet that doesn't!" his wife said with a gasp, pointing skyward.

Billy looked up. A red vehicle of some sort -- a car? -- went streaking across the sky above them. Behind it came another -- which was a metallic silver color. They heard a siren blaring.

"Um...." Billy murmured, adjusting his glasses. "You're right, Kim -- that doesn't!"

Kimberly glanced at her husband's breast pocket. "That thing doesn't tell you what century it dropped us in, does it?"

"I set it for the twenty-second, remember?"

"Oh, brother...."

"OOF!"

Billy slammed into Kimberly, and the two almost fell. When they both regained their balance, Kimberly looked to see a stooped, deformed-looking man standing at her husband's side. There was a scowl on his pale face.

Billy stood up straight and looked down at the man. "I'm sorry, are you all right?"

The man shook his head as if to clear it, then looked up at Billy with bulbous yellow eyes. The eyes widened as if in surprise for a moment, then his scowl disappeared.

"Ah, excuse moi, m'sieu," the little man said in a gravelly voice, bowing slightly. "Eet was my fault entirely." He looked up at Billy curiously a moment more, then scurried off.

"Yike," Kimberly said, looking after the man. "Wonder what happened to him."

Her husband closed his eyes and shook his head. "Who knows? It's like I tell the kids in my Sunday School class, things happen to people for a reason."

He grinned widely at his wife. "Now can we go exploring?"

Kimberly rolled her eyes, but grinned herself. "Oh, all right."

She allowed Billy to grab her hand and pull her down the street.

---

A block away, the little deformed man was running, occasionally looking at his watch, then at the sky. "Oh, Master will be angry with me, but it could not be helped...."

He ducked into an alleyway by an abandoned warehouse. Looking around to make sure no one saw him, the little man hurried to the doors of what appeared to be an old storm cellar. Looking around once more, he opened them and ducked inside, closing the doors behind him.

The stairway on which he found himself was dim, lit only by a lamp on the wall every few feet. When he finally made it to the bottom of the winding staircase, he found himself in a large room.

A dark-haired man sat at a computer terminal with his back to him. Without turning around, he growled, "Fenwick, where have you been! It's been an hour since you were supposed to report back to me!"

The little man bowed. "I am sorry, M'sieu Professor, but a Yardie cruiser was patrolling the sky everywhere I went. I did not want to get caught."

The man in the chair spun around to face him, his dark eyes flashing. "As if that would have mattered. Did you get me the combination to that safe?"

With his head still down, the little man said, "I am sorry, my master. I was not able. The cruisers---"

"The cruisers." Professor Moriarty harrumphed, standing up. "You are a poor excuse for a lackey, Fenwick."

"Oui, M'sieu Professor."

The little man looked up. "I deed find out something rather eenteresting, however."

Moriarty rolled his eyes and tossed the shock of white hair he had out of his face. "And just what would that be?"

Fenwick looked up and grinned, showing teeth as yellow as the whites of his eyes. "On my way here, I ran into a man and a woman -- who were not from here."

The Professor looked bored. "Tourists, no doubt."

"Oui, M'sieu Professor. Tourists from another time."

The bored look disappeared only slightly from Moriarty's face. "Another time, you say? And just how did you come to that brilliant conclusion? Perhaps they were wearing last year's version of what the people of this century call fashion?" With that remark he brushed a miniscule piece of lint off of his Victorian-style vest.

His lackey grinned even more widely. "No, m'sieu. The man was wearing glasses."

For the first time, Moriarty looked intrigued. "Glasses, you say? But that's not possible. From what I understand, the need for them was done away with over a hundred years ago."

Fenwick looked up and grinned. "No, M'sieu Professor. I looked right into the man's face."

"Hmmm." Moriarty turned to the computer screen, placing his hand on his chin. "This man could very well be from another time -- after all, I am, as is that annoying Holmes. If this stranger possesses the ability to travel through time and space...."

He turned back to his lackey. "Fenwick, we must find this gentleman and have him as our--'guest'."

Fenwick cackled. "Oui, Master, of course."