Excerpt from “Anna Karenina Comes to America” by Leia Tolstaya*, Millerskaya Ltd., New York, 2009. For earlier installments please click on the keyword phrase “Of Children and Peasants”.
Together, they walked into the dark backyard, straight through the acre-long property until they reached its edge, where there was a large wood. Levin guided them to its center, where he had hidden the time machine.
It was the technological version of a small, antiquated house that had been transformed through the generations by dormers, extensions, and modern conveniences. The time machine had begun as a horse-and-buggy, with a train steam engine added to the front, as well as multiple automobile parts, then a jet rocket added to the back. It had dials ranging from simple to futuristic.
Rather than rebuild, Levin had simply added pieces on from many times and places, borrowing the best of each era. The cab was now encased in the most advanced fire-proof, bullet-proof, bomb-proof clear protective glass. It could run on multiple types of fuel, so that he would never get stuck in a place with no energy to get anywhere. In addition, it had solar panels built in that could harness interplanetary energy while traveling; so that the more traveling he did, the more energy it had stored up.
The buggy have been originally intended to carry his own family, it was able to carry Levina’s entire brood.
“I’m setting it to take us to my farm,” Levin explained as he worked the controls. “That’s the safest place to meet. Kitty is expecting us.”
To be continued…
*Leia Tolstaya is a pen name for Elizabeth K. Miller, and as such her works fall under the same copyright.
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