Seymour - "Lift going down, or up?" Pt4

Who: Young Seymour, 17 years old and Potential aka Pete Tenshal
Where: Earth, London
When: 24 years ago
<snip>
"What is so important that you have to travel back in time to show me?"
"The thing I want to show you is something which will allow you to release your
true... potential."
"Potential?"
"Yes. You have this stupid idea that you want to be a wine taster..." Said
Potential.
<end snip>
Seymour looked up at him. "Or an antique dealer!"
Potential rolled his eyes. "Yes but do you know how much impact on the universe
you will make if you become either of those?"
Seymour shrugged his shoulders.
"None." Said Potential. "Absolutely none. You'll live and die, and nobody will
care. But, if you become an officer in the Space Corps... you'll do much much
more."
Seymour tilted his head in interest. "How much more?"
Potential encouraged Seymour to stand up onto a parked car so he could see over
the crowd. They were all waving flags and throwing streamers to celebrate the
launch of the brand new SpaceCorps flagship, the SCS Ark Royal. The Captain of
the ship was dressed in a brilliant white uniform, and saluted the crowd to a
lot of cheering. The stood in front of the Ark Royal, a sleek spacecraft the
size of an aircraft carrier, which was parked on the Mall near Buckingham
palace.
Next to the Captain stood the King of England, and his pregnant wife. The King
threw a bottle of champagne on the Ark Royal to christen it, and the ship
rumbled and took off into the sky.
"Amazing!" Said Seymour, as he watched the ship fly up into the sky. "Good old
British engineering at it's best!" He put his hand on his heart and started
singing 'God save the King'. Others in the crowd joined in and soon there were
thousands of people singing to the King and his pregnant Queen.
When it was finished, Seymour turned to Potential, whom he knew as Pete Tenshal.
"So Uncle Pete, if you've seen the future, what happens to me? Do I become
Captain?"
Pete grinned. "I don't want to give too much away..."
"Pleeeeeease!" Said Young Seymour.
Potential nodded. If you try hard enough you'll become Captain, and more. He
stared at the King and Queen. Seymour followed the stare, and turned quickly
back to Potential. "What? Really? I'll be King of England?"
Potential simply grinned, then looked at his watch. "We should be heading back."
He said, and they flew back in the old Blue Midget.
When back at Seymour's house, Seymour bounced in the door shouting to his
parents. "I know what I'm going to do with my life! I'm going to join the Space
Corps! I'm going into outer space!"
His parents looked at each other and grinned. Then they looked at Potential, who
simply smiled and walked away. Then disappeared. The Niples family never saw
Pete Tenshal ever again.
-----------------------------------------------
Who: Seymour, Rosette
Where: Trapped in the broken lift
"So that's why I wanted to become a Captain." Seymour said. "Because of some
paedophile time traveller with rather large eyebrows." Seymour sighed. "If it
wasn't for him, I'd never be in this mess now."
He looked down at his dirty shoes, they used to be smart Armani but were now
scuffed and covered in crusted-on baked beans. "If it weren't for him... I'd
never have lost... her." He said.
Rosette put a hand on his arm. "If it weren't for him you'd never have had a
daughter!" She said. "Think about that!"
"Maybe it's for the best." Seymour said. "Then she wouldn't be alone on that big
empty spaceship for the rest of her life. I've sentenced her to a lifetime of
misery! She'll so young she'll probably forget who I even am."
The tense moment was broken by the sound of scrabbling and Justin Pancake
crawled into the lift shaft.
"You're saved!" He announced.
"Oh not you!" Rosette said, hanging her head in her hands.
"Will you please excuse us, I'm telling the story of how I ruined my life."
Seymour said.
"Oh yeah, I heard about that when I was climbing up." Said Justin. "You know a
time traveller with bushy eyebrows called Potential? Me too."
"No, not 'Potential' you imbecile. Pete Tenshal.... Oh..." The wordplay dawned
on him.
"Yeah, he's a twat that occasionally appears and convinces me to do twatty
things." Admitted Justin. "And then I do them."
"Why do them then?" Asked Rosette.
"Because I'm a twat." He admitted. Justin then turned to the control panel in
the lift and started pulling out wires. Soon the lift shuddered and started
moving upwards.
Seymour laughed at his own story. "So I've been living my entire life because
one man told me what to do." He stood up. "From now on...." He announced. "I'm
going to live my OWN life!" He felt his heart beating quickly as he got excited
about this revelation which will change his life forever. "And I'm doing what I
WANT to, not what someone else tells me!"
"What are you going to do?" Rosette asked him.
"Whatever I DAMN WELL LIKE!" He said. "I'm going to be an Antique Dealer!" He
felt his heart pounding in his chest.
Then he looked at Rosette, and before she could do anything he grabbed her and
pulled her close to his body. Then he pushed his bearded face onto hers and
kissed her.
With tongues.
<Tag SMAndy what's Rosette's reaction to this?>