I had no idea what or where Norwood Mine was, but the way took us along a dirt mountain road which snaked upwards. The road had once been broad and seen much use, but the greenery had started to encroach on it. Along the sides were half-hidden wrecks.

I observed the others and saw no sign of them regaining their own freedom.

I remembered now about how the Mind Oracle had told me that my ancient mind was different from those of men today, that I was harder to hypnotize for this reason.

“Stop this vehicle at once, soldier,” I ordered, trying my best to sound the way Rathdrum sounded.

“Sir?” the man at the wheel asked.

“You heard me. Pull over to the side of the road.”

“I heard Lord Radon order you to the mine with us. Would you disobey him?”

I sighed. “I'm not disobeying, I'm... heeding the call of nature.”

Captain Rathdrum would probably have tried to beat the insolence from this officer, but luckily my excuse was enough satisfy him.

The car door swung open and I stepped out and walked to a ledge.

I looked back and saw them all waited in expectation. In the original version of events the Captain probably just went to the mine and took care of business. I wondered what they would do if we strayed too far from that scenario? Would they just carry on thinking they were their characters or would they eventually break free from the influence?

Standing on the ledge and looking down on the surrounding country, I realized two things: the first being that I didn't have time to wait for these others, and the second being that I was armed with both a raygun and a whip now.

The hillside that sloped sharply down from the road was covered in tall evergreen trees, the upper branches of which were before me across a short gulf. I took a step or two back and threw myself out into the branches.

I heard the confused calls of the men from behind me, and I ignored them.

I gripped tight to the tree trunk and worked my way down. Then raygun fire broke out!

“Stop!” one of them yelled. “He's turned traitor!”

I tried desperately to climb down faster “You idiots!” I shouted. “You don't even know who you are!”

A ray exploded the bark right near my hand and I let go.

I tumbled downwards, scraping and bouncing against the trees as I went. Twigs and branches painfully slowed my fall, but when I reached the dirt the angle of the ground sent me tumbling for quite a ways.

If my friends up on the road were still shooting I couldn't tell. My fall carried me far down the mountain, until I finally came to clearing. The ground leveled out into a kind of mound and I collapsed against dense grass.

Had it not been for the durable materials of my uniform, I might have been in pretty bad shape after a fall like that. As it was I just brushed myself off and walked away when I finally felt up to it.

From what I could tell it was a little after noon and the day was bright.

As I started to walk back through the forest in the direction I took to be where the ship was, I took stock of my situation. For the moment, I had my freedom, and I might keep it if I could only avoid coming too close to Lord Bowen's infernal device. I had a weapon again, and that might at least protect me from the guards that waited outside the rocket. My friends were still prisoners and I didn't know how to retrieve them without risking being a permanent prisoner along with them.

During my long walk I sometimes found overgrown skeletons of smaller rocketships, some of which must have been from the same evil era that Lord Bowen's base dated from. I couldn't help hoping for an intact vessel with a good set of guns and a lucky shot to take out the power source of the infernal machine!

I strolled across a log bridge between two cliffs, far below which the river roared.

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The scenery around me was magnificent, a parade of intimidating beauty from a vital and primal Earth, but all was lost on me as my thoughts completely blocked out my surroundings.

So distracted was I by my own burden that I hardly noticed the group of men lurking around me in the trees as I entered the shade.

Hands clasped my shoulders and three men appeared before me holding rayguns.

“Easy, friend,” one of them said. “What are you doing around here?”

These men wore red leather rather than silver, and they looked grave as opposed to the bemused sated look that Bowen's men had. “My name is Cylas Renford. I'm here to free my friends from Lord Bowen.”

“Are you the same Renford that killed Count Hassium?” the leader asked.

I shook my head “Count Hassium was killed by an agent of Bowen. He had his father killed so that he could rule. He wants to dominate the world.”

The leader, a handsome man with a reddish pallor, walked up to me, with the gun still trained on me. “I suppose you can offer proof of some kind?”

“Your man Pule was trying to free me from Bowen's rocket when he was shot down. They recaptured me shortly after.”

“You could be one of Bowen's puppets.”

I shook my head “They tried that one me. I have a kind of immunity, it can't work on me at a distance like it does everyone else.”

“What kind of story is that?” one of the men holding me asked.

“Wait, it makes sense,” the leader said. “You're some kind of neanderthal, aren't you?”

I laughed “Technically I'm a homo sapien, but that's close enough.”

They believed me and led me away to their camp, a camouflaged tent on top of a cliff with view of the rocket, a little over a mile away. Here they kept a hover-car and an impressive amount of supplies.

One of their number was a medical man and he treated what scratches and bruises I'd taken in my fall and in my escape attempt at the rocket before.

I confess, I often forgot about the great progress that came during my long sleep, for I was stunned by the instant results of my medical care.

Through a telescope set up that peered though the camouflage down at the rocket, I observed the decaying length of the ship and the battered paint and holes rusting through it. In it's day it had been a mighty thing, but at the moment it was fearful.

I saw the car return with the men who were supposed to be under the command of Captain Rathdrum. I guess the hypnotic waves called them back in the end. It made sense since the rays had manipulated Novom in the city and beyond.

“The Event Record Transmitter must be destroyed,” the leader, Korton, said beside me. He echoed my thoughts exactly.

“I'd like to do that right now,” I said. “I'm just not sure how to go about it.”

“You can't go about it all scattershot. You know perfectly well that as soon as you're inside the ship again that machine will start to work on you once again. Bowen has probably already realized what went wrong and he'll correct it.”

I sat down on a fold-out chair and nursed a drink “Just how can he do that? Aren't he and everyone else in there slaves to history as it played out?”

“Not quite. First off, the device only plays back the records it has. Bowen probably only wanted to re-live Radon's most successful years.”

“That makes sense, no sense in living out his death or anything.”

“Well, the machine also allows one subject the ability to opt out and re-manipulate events. He is left just enough will to change things as they happen, deviating from the record.”

“Could I do the same thing? Is there a way to get near enough for that?”

Korton nodded and reached into a bag he had resting on one of the fold-out shelves. He pulled out an object, it looked something like a football cap. “Pule had some of these, we had to shave his head and hide it under a wig. It's a shield against the rays of the machine.”

I didn't hesitate to put it on “Just in case,” I said. “I'm really not in any hurry to become Captain Rathdrum again.”

“Well, the helmet has a second purpose as well. You can use it to send through waves into a machine like the Event Record Transmitter, but it must be done directly.”

“Directly?”

He took the helmet off me and showed me a disc on each side with small holes in them. “See these? On the control consul for the machine, which I believe is in back on the second level, there should be some cables. These will connect into the holes here. Once you do this, you can start to manipulate the record, it's fairly intuitive, the machine has a picture read-out also. This is also dangerous because Lord Bowen, given his special status, will know immediately that someone is tampering with the record. The first thing you'll have to do is revoke his special status, that way he will be as helpless as the rest of them. Each person under the influence of the machine will have a readout showing his character and you will be able to alter their course. Whatever you do there, you will have to destroy the machine soon after.”

“I think I have an idea about all that. Do you have anything like explosives or will Bowen have those aboard ship?”

At that Korton laughed a little and handed me back the helmet “That's a funny thing. Pule reported to us about the large force of men and hostages that Bowen had, and about a stockpile of rayguns, even the couple of vehicles. What Bowen did not appear to have were bombs, cannons, or much in the way of fuel or supplies to repair the rocket. If he thinks he's going to take over the world, he doesn't seem especially prepared.”

I shook my head “The man is insane.”