The Awesome Adventure of Abraham Lincoln-Chapter 4.7

Abe surveyed the area, trying to find some clue as to where Booth had gone. All he could think about were the last words the murdering marauder had spoke before his hasty exit.

“’I’ve got a play to catch’…what could that possibly mean?” Lincoln mused. It was highly doubtful that Booth was actually going to see a play, or even less likely, star in one. Obviously it was meant as a clue, maybe involving something to do with a play, or the theatre. But what in this desert environment could possibly fit the bill?

“Play…play…plays take place on a stage…stages consisted of floors, trapdoors, scenery, backgrounds and curtains…and if you wait behind the curtain, you’re waiting in the wings…if you have wings, you can fly...” Lincoln frowned in thought. Was that it? Was Booth catching a flight? But to where?

There had to be more to it than that. Maybe he’d been looking at the wrong part of the sentence. Booth had said he had a play to catch. Catch. You catch things with a net. Net is what you have after you remove the gross. If something is gross, you don’t want to look at it. You also don’t want to look at the Sun, as it would burn your eyes. Unless you were looking at it during a solar eclipse…which involves the Moon…

“Of course!” Lincoln smacked his fist against his palm. “Booth is going to fly to the Moon! But how? Unless…by the rocket’s red glare! That other building I saw, the one that said 3dIM. That must stand for 3-dimensional Interlink to Moon! I’d better get inside, and fast!”

Lincoln ran as fast as a Lincoln can, and just in time too. For already he could feel the ground shaking through the shockwaves of a building taking off. Luckily, one of the windows was still open. Abe grabbed at the frame and pulled himself in side just as the 3dIM left the ground, making sure to shut it behind him to avoid decompression.

Now safely inside, Lincoln quickly calculated how long it would take to reach the Moon. Given the slow movement of the building, plus its mass, he reckoned it would be at least half an hour before they made it. That gave him plenty of time to track Booth down, capture him, redirect the 3dIM and bring the devil to justice.

Then again, it could also be enough time to track Booth down and get shot. But that wasn’t a pleasant thought, so he tried to put it behind him as he made his way through the mazelike pseudo-building.