GWYN Once upon a time, there was a group of time travellers… Or should I say a group of renegade time travellers? MICK Who cares? Keep going! GWYN After many adventures resulting in them being jailed by the time police, came the realisation that they needed to start a new chapter of their lives. After escaping the time prison, some of them chose to raise a daughter together, while the others decided to return to the life they had been destined to. A small group, however, chose to settle in a funfair in 1925. MICK What do you mean, settle in? I thought that this was only temporary? ALIE Shh! Don’t interrupt him! GWYN It was Christmas day. It started snowing heavily around four in the afternoon and Pearl predicted a snow storm. MICK As if one psychic wasn’t enough, now we got two of them! GIDEON Are you jealous, Mr Rory? ALIE Stop interrupting Gwyn! GWYN Indeed, the cards were right. A snow storm hit the funfair just as we finished closing for the day, and we all gathered in my caravan. FIONA (IRIS) And by “all”, he means Alie, Gideon, Pearl, Flora, Florbella, and also he and I. GWYN Flora had baked cookies and Fiona had prepared hot chocolate; we were looking forward to a quiet evening. MICK You kidding, right? It’s kind of the end of the world out there and you talk about a quiet evening? GIDEON I believe that Dr Davies was speaking metaphorically… FLORBELLA (TIIA) You have to admit that it is quite cosy in here with all of us gathered around Gwyn to hear a story! GWYN Indeed, it could be far worse; we could be lost outside in the storm, trying to find shelter and fearing for the lives of our loved ones… FLORA (KATY) This sounds so dramatic… FIONA (IRIS) But it’s such a great introduction to the events of that evening! GWYN As I was trying to tell a story without being interrupted, little did we know that a family had been caught in the storm and was desperately seeking shelter… FIONA (IRIS) …and protection. PEARL (LISA) While Gwyn was telling his story… GIDEON …or trying to! PEARL (LISA) I was just doing a reading, and what I saw in the cards puzzled me. As I grabbed Alie’s arm to get her attention… ALIE …I got a vision. I saw a man and a woman trapped in the snow storm, desperately looking for shelter. The woman was carrying a baby, trying her best to keep the baby warm. MICK (sighing) And of course, we had to get involved… FLORBELLA (TIIA) Of course we had to! FLORA (KATY) We couldn’t abandon them to their fate! FIONA (IRIS) But we needed to get organised. We couldn’t simply run into a snow storm and randomly search for them, hoping for the best. The risk of getting lost ourselves was too great! GIDEON While the rest of the group made sure that we would have all the necessary tools for a rescue mission, Dr Davies and I built a scanner able to detect movement and heat signatures. GWYN Since time was of the essence, we figured that this was the most efficient way to ensure the success of our mission. PEARL (LISA) Once we were ready, we launched the search party. FLORA (KATY) I remained at the funfair with Florbella and Fiona, in case the lost couple and their baby would reach it. FLORBELLA (TIIA) We even put the funfair’s lights back on, hoping that they would see them from a distance. FIONA (IRIS) We also had to make sure that everything would be ready to welcome our guests properly. GWYN Locating the lost couple and their child proved to be more difficult than we anticipated. MICK You bet it was! We couldn’t see a thing out there! And no offense, Gwyn, but those 1925 torches you gave us? They sucked! GIDEON Luckily, our scanner did eventually track those we were looking for, and we managed to find them. MICK And instead of thanking us, you know what they did? They fired their blasters at us! I bet you didn’t see that in your cards and vision! ALIE Obviously we didn’t! PEARL (LISA) Or we would have said so! ALIE Luckily none of us was hit, and we took cover. PEARL (LISA) It took us a little explaining but we managed to convince them that we meant them no harm and that they would have food and shelter. MICK I really doubt that they bought the whole “we saw you in a vision and my cards never lie” crap, but nobody got killed and they came back with us. ALIE We all settled in Gwyn’s caravan. FLORBELLA (TIIA) Again! FLORA (KATY) This time we could enjoy the hot chocolate. FIONA (IRIS) And the cookies! GWYN But we were all eager to know who those people were and why they had risked their lives travelling in such a dreadful snow storm. MICK Let me tell you; you’re not ready for what you’re about to hear. FLORBELLA (TIIA) It came out as a shock for all of us! GWYN Once we were all settled, Maria and Jonathan told us their story. They were time travellers from the future who had decided to retire once their baby would be born. They wanted to raise their child in a safe and stable environment, and they considered that time travel was none of those things. PEARL But before retiring, they wanted to time travel one last time together. Sadly, it didn’t go as planned. ALIE Due to a ship’s malfunction, they didn’t land where they were supposed to and as they were scouting the area, trying to determine where and when they were, Maria’s water broke. There was no time to return to the ship and Maria gave birth to her child in some stables in the middle of nowhere. MICK This story sounds strangely familiar… FIONA (IRIS) This chain of events caused a disruption in the timeline and a warrant for their arrest was issued by the time police. FLORA (KATY) They didn’t want their child to be raised in a time prison, therefore they tried to jump back to their own time period, hoping that if they effectively retired, the time police would drop the charges against them. FLORBELLA (TIIA) Can you blame them? Anyone would have reacted the same way! It was an accident, it’s not like they planned the whole thing! GWYN Alas, their ship crashed here and they got caught in the snow storm. MICK And when we showed up, they thought that we were time agents! GIDEON We decided to help them get back home. FIONA (IRIS) We waited until the storm was over, and while Maria and the baby remained with Flora and Florbella, the rest of us went to the crash site. GWYN Unfortunately, the ship was beyond repair. PEARL Luckily, Gwyn came up with an idea. ALIE He would use his time machine to get the family back home. GIDEON And we would salvage what we can from their ship and make sure we would erase any traces of it crashing here. MICK Since the family would have no means of time travelling anymore, we thought that they would be off the hook! FLORA (KATY) Or so we hoped. FIONA (IRIS) Gwyn and Gideon left with the family, while we took care of the ship’s wreckage. MICK We didn’t waste any time. ALIE Gwyn, Mick and I are still considered fugitives by the time police; therefore we wanted all traces of the crash gone… MICK We only kept the good stuff that Gwyn and Gideon could use. FLORA (KATY) When we were done, we went back to Gwyn’s caravan and we waited until he and Gideon returned. FLORBELLA (TIIA) It didn’t take them long! GIDEON For once, our calculations were correct and we didn’t take any wrong turns! GWYN We did good on that day. We brought a family back home safely. PEARL Maybe, we are the reason they named their baby girl Hope. We didn’t judge them; we simply offered a helping hand, placing ourselves in danger to save strangers. Maybe there’s still hope for a better world if we keep our hearts open… Merry Christmas!