Unconfirmed Stories



This topic is intended as a "placeholder" for stories which seem to involve The Time Defenders but which have heretofore not been confirmed by empirical or independent data.

Room and Redemption 

Often dismissed as "fan-fiction" this tale of pre-revolution Russia intrigue has many hallmarks which suggest it is - if not a fully accurate recounting - at the least, a record of a legitimate TD action.

The story, little changed, was later published under the more clever and relevant title A Scramble for an Egg. See bottom of this page for the jacket copy.

SYNOPSIS

Visiting her friend Celia, Barty shares the story of the time that she and August faced the wrath of the Mad Monk, Rasputin.

Tsar Nicolas has a habit of providing his beloved wife, Alexandra, with a Faberge egg as an Easter gift. Inside this particular egg is a beautiful and expensive necklace, with a locket bearing the image of their beloved son Alexei.

Barty and August are in the same carriage as this egg while it is being transported to St. Petersburg and, due to turbulence on the road, the egg slips from its case and the necklace ends up, inadvertently, in the trouser cuff of August.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">When asked by Celia, to whom she was telling the story, why they hadn't chosen to use the manipulation of time to correct the matter, Mrs. A responds"... while it is not exactly a regulation, continuum manipulation is intended for use only when dictated by official business. [Also,] the effort involved is significant, both in terms of materials and physical and psychological effects, and in this situation would not have gained us much in any case. "

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">They first seek the courier, hoping that they can resolve the matter without involving the Tsar. However, this does ot transpire, and Mrs. A is reasonably wary of approching the Tsar - who is understandably paranoid at the current time.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">August and Mrs. A encounter the courier arm in arm with Rasputin, who has told the man that he saw thieves (the Time Defenders) in a vision stealing the Faberge egg for the purposes of blackmail. Mrs. A pretends that August is guilty of this, to his horror, in order to buy time to discover a way out.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Mrs. A's new friend, the street vendor Yevgenia, introduces her to her husband, Artur, who turns out to be an intimate of the international TD community through his brother. The three devise a deception through which Yevgenai deludes Rasputin and speaks with the courier.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">A cryptic message is received: “Greetings are sent from Transylvania, from which the lady now departs. A certain watery acquaintance is calling the shots in the current situation. Assistance is forthcoming.”

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Mrs. A notes that the description of a "watery acquaintance" could only refer to archenemy Admiral Aquamarine. Drusilla Nightshade appears and confirms that Aquamarine is taking advantage of the conflict between Russia's ruling class its people to make yet another grab for World domination.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Mrs. A. and Drusilla at last rescue August from the Tsar's dungeon, and help the courier to escape with his reputation ruined but his life intact.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US">WHAT HAPPENED AT THE MOVIES 

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US">In a 1934 Los Angeles movie theater, August battles a team of assassins sent by Doctor Gampu, while reflecting on his first eventful trip to the movies in 1910, when he was bitten by the space-travel bug, met Golden Jim Brandy, and helped Mrs. A stop a robbery by a gang of heavily-armed thieves.

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US">SWEET SIXTEEN 

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US">The prequel to the classic Time Defenders novel A Pharoah’s Ransom finds the Atherton family making lavish plans for April’s sixteenth birthday when a mysterious gift arrives, along with a desperate plea from the long-missing August!! The invitation to danger and adventure alongside her uncle suits her much more than the most extravagant party, but first April must find the other party guest who failed to RSVP and the only person who can help her: the most famous Time Defender of all, the amazing Mrs. A!!

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US">A SCRAMBLE FOR AN EGG 

<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Segoe UI";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US">With plenty of Russian dressing and a side order of street-cart sausages, Mrs. A herself tells the mostly-true tale of how August’s accidental possession of a Faberge Egg incurs the wrath of the Mad Monk, Rasputin.