Hesitantly, the kids approached her. They had returned without the nice clothes she had bought for them to wear on the Titanic. More importantly, they had returned without the TTT, the device that allowed them to text through time with her. Miss Z had invested a good part of her fortune to build it.
As a group, they were prepared for her to be angry. She had fired them after the Gettysburg mission, and she had every right to fire them again.
“We’re so sorry,” Isabel said. “We lost the TTT. That’s why you lost contact with us.”
“It got swept off the deck of the Titanic,” David added. “We tried to grab it, but it was gone.”
“I know you spent a lot of money on it,” Julia said. “We’ll pay you back, little by little. I promise. I’ll give you my babysitting money for the rest of my life.”
“Shhh, don’t be silly,” said Miss Z, a finger to her lips. “The TTT is just a bunch of circuits and silicon. It’s replaceable. We’re just so glad you’re back.” Then she reached out her arms for each of the Flashback Four to hug her.
This took the kids by surprise. Up until this point, Miss Z had not showed them a lot of warmth or compassion. She seemed quite serious and businesslike. But now, she was slobbering like a baby.
“Are we fired?” Isabel asked timidly.
“Goodness, no!” Miss Z replied. “Whatever happened out there was my fault. I made a big mistake. I never should have sent you on such a dangerous mission. I can’t imagine what I was thinking.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” David said.
“I do,” Miss Z continued. “My big mistake was choosing a meeting spot at the front of the Titanic. That was the first part of the ship to go underwater! I should have known that was going to happen. I wasn’t thinking. Now I’m kicking myself. If you kids had been stuck in 1912, I never would have forgiven myself. That’s why I’ve decided to discontinue the Flashback Four program.”
“What?!”
After everything that happened on the Titanic, none of the kids had any intention of traveling through time again. But even so, it was upsetting to hear that the whole program was going to be scrapped.
“My plan was to send you on another mission after you came back from this one,” Miss Z told them. “But I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of days. I can’t have you risk your lives again. We dodged bullets on the first two missions. Traveling through time is simply too dangerous. I thank you for everything you’ve done up until this point. I’m sorry it had to end this way, but I’m so grateful you’re back and safe. You kids had better go home now. I’m sure your parents are worried sick about you.”
Mrs. Vader opened the door, in case the kids didn’t get the hint that it was time for them to leave.
“But what about the museum you were planning to build?” David asked.
Miss Z had made her fortune by creating a dating service that brought millions of lonely people together. But that’s not how she wanted to be remembered after she was gone. She wanted to create a museum that would show the world photos of great events in history—especially events that had never been photographed before.
Miss Z sighed.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” she replied. “Look, I’m tired. My condition is worsening, and the stress of this Titanic incident didn’t help any. I’ve got to face reality. I’m running out of time. Most people in my condition only last a few years. I’ve been lucky. I think I should just retire, maybe do some traveling, and enjoy whatever time I have left. I probably wouldn’t have lived to see my museum completed anyway.”
“But it was so important to you,” said Isabel, looking around the office at the photographs on the walls.
“You’re right. It was,” replied Miss Z. “But I cannot in good conscience put you young people in the position of risking your lives just so I can have some photos. I’m not willing to play with people’s lives that way.”
“It wasn’t just so you could have the photos,” David said. “It’s so the world could have the photos.”
“I’m sorry,” said Miss Z. “My mind is made up.”
The Flashback Four got up and moved toward the door. It was at that point that Luke stopped and turned around.
“That reminds me,” he said to Miss Z. “We have something to show you.”
Luke took the little camera out of his pocket and turned it on. The battery was almost out of juice, but there was just enough to last a few minutes. Luke found the picture he’d taken of the Titanic and held it up for Miss Z to see.
She gasped.
“Oh my,” Miss Z said, her eyes getting moist with tears. “You actually got the picture?”
“You told us to get the shot,” Luke replied. “So we got it.”
Miss Z stared at the photo for a long time. She picked up a magnifying glass from her desk drawer to examine it more closely.
“So this is what it looked like when the Titanic was about to go down,” she said, holding the camera carefully. “It is marvelous! And it’s the only photo like it in the world. How did you do it?”
The Flashback Four gathered around her once again.
“After that Maloney guy disappeared from the front of the ship, we figured we would never get back here,” Luke told her. “So we tried to get into a lifeboat, but they were either filled up or they had already been launched half empty.”
“So we jumped off the Titanic into the water,” Julia said. “It was so cold.”
“They taught me how to swim,” said David. The others laughed, remembering.
“We managed to get over to a lifeboat,” Luke continued. “That’s where I took this shot. A few minutes after I pushed the button, the Titanic was gone.”
“It was amazing!” said Isabel.
Miss Z looked at the
