16. A Close Call

Henly quickly pocketed his tricorder and slipped up the spiral stairway in the corner of the room to rendezvous with Lord Myron in the foyer.

"We have to get out of here," he rasped anxiously.

"What?" Lord Myron rasped in kind.

"We cannot remain here..."

His cohort appeared to be having a full blown panic attack. "What did you see down there?"  Myron could see Henly's forehead wrinkle above the goggles.

"We can't talk here," whispered Henly.

"Understood."

As they stepped from the front door, Henly trained his attention to a fob watch he'd extracted from a breast pocket.

Lord Myron confronted His Right Honourable Chairman to the Ministry of Science on the approach.  "Your Honour!"

Henly stepped beside Myron, watch in hand... "Ah, Right Honourable Sir!  We feared we would miss you," he said with a convincing rush in his voice and pocketed the fob watch.

The pale man appeared to be fit yet of a slightly meaty build, not quite that of a wrestler.  It was not likely that he relied on his elaborately etched brass and mahogany walking stick.  He had silvery white hair pulled back with no facial hair save long sideburns and bushy eyebrows.  His eyes were an intense blue-grey.  The pupils were a bit strange for a human and resembled that of a Terran goat or sheep. Henly would estimate this humanoid to be the equivalent of mid-seventies.  He was well-dressed, sported finely crafted cufflinks and a gold watch chain.

He noticed the man caught a glimpse of the device on Henly's arm, an item which utilized technology from either of their futures by half a millennium.

"Forgive me," he said graciously with a bow, revealing a long silvery ponytail, "whilst I would normally be more accommodating to our citizens, today is a busy day, and I await a visitor."

Henly bowed as Lord Myron allowed him to do the talking. "Our pardon.  I hope to repyay you with a visit very soon.  I met with a most strange phenomenon and seek an explanation with which to reconcile my senses."

"In that case I look forward to it!" The gentleman smiled warmly, his cheeks flushing pink, presumably over the prospect of a mystery to challenge his savvy in things temporal.

Myron and Henly bowed slightly, then made way for His Right Honourable Chairman to pass, where he disappeared behind the door.

Henly and Myron continued along the docks toward the center of town.

"Where to now?" whispered Myron.

"City Hall.  I must look over any records of missing persons as quickly as possible."