Emma's Six- New Adventures

Second Day

'Science is my first class today,' Luke says as he, Anne, Jane, and Maggie walk outside in their school uniforms. They spot Maria, Catalina, Anna, Kitty, Bessie, and Joan. Anne, Jane, and Maggie say goodbye and head over to talk to them. Normally, I would join them, but I've been suspended. 'Hey, Emma!' Anne yells. 'You can still walk with us to school.'
'Okay,' I grin and walk over to them. As we head off in the direction of the school, we see Alan making a start on the front garden.

'This feels better than driving to school,' Luke says. 'It's more...free?'
'It certainly is,' I agree. 'The only problem we get is Henry.'
'Henry?'
'Our ex-husband—Emma's future ex-husband,' Anna corrects. 'She hasn't lived through his reign yet. We try not to tell her too much in case she accidentally-on-purpose changes history.'
'There are two versions of me at the moment,' I explain. 'Me, the younger version that's living with Mum and Mummy, and the older version who's living at Catalina's place.'
'Okay. So, you travel in time?'
'Something like that,' I agree.

It's not long before we reach the school. 'This is where I leave you,' I say. 'Have a great day.'
'You too,' Luke says, and they head into the playground. I watch them for a moment before turning and walking back the way we came.

Mummy's not at home, but Mum is waiting for me. 'Sarah's gone to pay a visit to Coldfire Construction, so I thought we could spend the day together.'
'Okay,' I smile. 'What do you have in mind?'
'I thought we could visit somewhere related to your future. Hampton Court, maybe?'
'Maybe...' I say, unenthusiastically. I don't know if I want to go anywhere that's related to my future. It seems a bit risky. If I find out something I don't like, I might accidentally-on-purpose change the future.
'Maybe not,' Mum agrees when she sees my face. 'We don't want you changing the past too much.'
'No.'

We're not quite sure what to do with ourselves, so we head back inside. I check my emails before I do anything else. So far, I have no work to catch up on, so I decide to see what else we'll be learning this year. I check history, and I spot something interesting.

In this unit, we will make sure our students will learn creatively, and they get to decide on a happy ending for their favourite historical figures.

That sounds interesting. I go onto the group chat.

QuestioningHybrid: Have you seen what the history project is yet?
SpanishQueen: Just been told about it. We can work in groups of up to six people. Shall we team up again?
BeheadedBoleyn: Yes!
SilverSeymour: Let's do it!
QueenfromCleves: Woohoo! Six wives of Henry VIII is back in style!
LambethQueen: I'm down for it
QuestioningHybrid: Shall we do something similar to Ex-Wives? I enjoyed doing that
SilverSeymour: We still don't have costumes
QueenfromCleves: Costumes don't matter. I'm sure we can quickly sort something out
BeheadedBoleyn: Everyone think of a verse they want to do to give themselves a happy ending. No Henrat!
LambethQueen: #NoHenrat
QuestioningHybrid: Who's Henrat?
BeheadedBoleyn: Henry VIII. Will started calling him that after they first met. The name stuck
SilverSeymour: #NoHenrat
QuestioningHybrid: #NoHenrat
BeheadedBoleyn: #NoHenrat
GeekSmith-White: #NoHenrat
QueenfromCleves: #NoHenrat
SpanishQueen: #NoHenrat
Bessie: #NoHenrat
Joan: #NoHenrat
Maggie: #NoHenrat
LambethQueen: #NoHenrat
SpanishLady: Stop spamming the chat!
SpanishLady: #NoHenrat

I'm laughing so much that Mum has to come in to make sure that I'm okay. 'What's so funny?' She asks, leaning in the doorway. I'm still laughing, so I hand Mum my phone. Mum also starts giggling.
'Maybe you'll never like Henry.'
'I never will,' I grin.

Mummy hasn't returned by lunchtime, and we're both getting worried. 'I'm sure she will be fine,' Mum says, but her voice waivers a little.

It's late afternoon by the time everyone gets back. Mummy, Luke, Catalina, Anne, Jane, Anna, Kitty, Bessie, Joan, and Maggie hurry inside. Maria doesn't follow, and I wait for her in the hallway. She later walks in with Clyde. 'Why's Clyde here?' I ask.
'I've been chased by aliens at school!'
'What?!' I stare at Clyde in shock.
'We think the headmaster is an alien.'
'That would explain why he's so different from last year. And it'd probably explain why I tipped my dinner over him yesterday.' Clyde smirks at me.
'Did you know he was an alien?'
'I just had a feeling.'

We all head up to the attic. 'Right, what's going on in here?' Clyde asks, and he stops in surprise.
'Why don't you bring all your friends around? The whole school?' Mummy asks, annoyed.
'If Clyde tells anyone, who's going to believe him?' Maria points out.
'Hold on; aliens have just chased me, and—'
'Can you please be quiet a minute? We're busy, and right now, you're not important. Right, the Slitheen must have taken over Coldfire Construction, put up buildings all around the world. Why?'
'I think I know,' Luke tells Mummy. He joins her in front of the closed Mr Smith. 'I found a secret room at school. I have a theory, Mr Smith could help.'
'Who's that, your dad?' Clyde asks.
'My mums' computer,' I tell him. 'Mr Smith, we need you!' Mr Smith bursts out of the wall with puffs of smoke and his usual fanfare. Clyde stares at the computer in shock.
'Good afternoon, Smith-Whites.'
'Oh, my—is that a computer?' Clyde asks.
'Who is that?' Mr Smith sounds genuinely confused.

'Nobody,' Mummy says. 'Mr Smith, Luke would like some help.'
'Of course. Hello, Luke,' Mr Smith says as Luke steps forward.
'Hello, Mr Smith. Bring up our satellite image of London, please.' Mr Smith brings the map up on his screen. 'Now plot the exact positions of every school block put up by Coldfire Construction.' Mummy starts listing off some of the names of the schools.
'They're all at the ends of tube lines,' Clyde says. 'If I'm allowed to speak.'
'The end of tube lines...' Mum says slowly. 'Mr Smith, show us all the school blocks that Coldfire Construction put up in the last eighteen months worldwide and link them.' Mr Smith shows us a world map and places a red dot over the cities with a new building built by Coldfire Construction.'

The plotting of each of the buildings seems pretty random to me. Some are capital cities; others aren't. 'What links them?' I ask.
'They all have underground railways,' Clyde says. 'Mr Smith, can you link them?' Mr Smith links them. 'So, one Slitheen at every site. Luke, the secret room. What did you see?'

'I made the worst mistake possible,' Luke says. He turns to us. 'I told the Slitheen how to destroy the world.' Luke draws up the plans and shows them to us. 'It wasn't working until I went and gave them the answers,' Luke moans, placing his head in his hands.
'Oh, Luke,' Mummy says, placing a hand on his shoulder.
'The power cut last night must've been a test run,' Maggie says. 'That's why everything turned off.'
'But our candles went out, and they're not electric,' Maria says as she picks up the plans.
'When the capacitors are fully charged, they act as transducers, converting heat and light into electrical energy.'
'So, the loop's not connected physically?'
'That's correct.'
'But what have underground railways got to do with that?'
'The circuit must produce an enormous amount of heat, so the railways will act as a cooling system.' Mummy explains. 'So people falling ill, food going off, that's the effect of living or working close to the capacitors.'
'Even on standby, the transducers will cause cellular decay in organic matter.'
'Which is why the food at school was off,' Clyde says. 'Everything makes sense now.'
'The Slitheen can drain every drop of energy from the Earth with this machine. Our school is the last link in the chain,' Luke says.
'But it needs a whole chain to do that, right?' Maggie asks. 'If we can disable the link at the school, it will make everything ineffective.'

'My sonic can act as a cutting tool. If we can get in there, Luke, can you disable the machine safely?'
'Yes.'
'But how do we get past the Slitheen?' Maria asks.
'We bomb them?' Clyde suggests.