James was bored. His parents had gone out and he was all alone in the house. With nothing to do, James was yawning his head off. Suddenly he had a brainwave.

“I’ll sneak up to the attic and use the time machine to have a splendiferous adventure,” he thought.

James sped up to the attic. This was actually his uncle’s workshop. There were lots of machines there but the time machine was the only one that actually worked. James had experienced many hair rising and spine tingling adventures in the time machine.

“Where should I go today?” he wondered. He grabbed a large encyclopaedia from his uncle’s overloaded and dusty bookshelf and pressed the shiny red button on the time machine.

The sparkling glass doors slid open. James hopped inside and toppled over on to the chair. The heavy book hit a button. The machine whirred to life and James found himself strapped tightly to his seat.

The time machine spun on the spot and travelled back in time at the speed of light. It stopped suddenly with such force that the doors slid open and James stumbled onto the ground, still clutching the book. Before he knew where he was, two hefty men had grabbed him by the arms and were dragging him into a building. James looked around. He was in a large hall. There were paintings and carvings on the walls. James recognised the carved symbols. They were hieroglyphics. There was a huge raised platform on the far end.

On the platform was a magnificent throne with a man sitting on it. He was wearing a splendid jewelled headdress, no shirt, but something like a sarong. He was wearing a large gold necklace and lots of bangles and amulets on his arms. Two servants on either side of him were fanning him with large feathers. It was the pharaoh! He was staring at a map drawn crudely on a papyrus sheet.

“Egyptians!” gasped James. “And that’s pharaoh!”

“Who are you?” the pharaoh boomed. “Who are you to disturb the great Pharaoh Khufu at a worrying time like this?”

“My name is James,” he said boldly. “I have come to help you with whatever is worrying you.”

“Ah! The Assyrians have declared war against us!” cried pharaoh and burst into tears, sobbing into his hands. The court priests, slaves, scribes and advisors all fell to the floor and sobbed too.

“Oh, I can help you with that!” replied James cheerfully.

James loved anything to do with history. He collected pictures, information and fun facts related to the subject and kept them stored in his head. As he was from the future, he already knew about the great war between Egyptians and Assyrians and how the Egyptian army had defeated the invaders. He opened his encyclopaedia and went up to the king. The picture was a map of the battlefield and the text was all about the war.

“The Assyrians are the most powerful warriors ever,” said James.

“I know that!” snapped the pharaoh.

“And it is almost impossible to defeat them,” continued James, patiently. “But there is something I can tell you that they don’t know,” James read the paragraph and went on. “There is a deep ditch over… here!” he pointed it out in the book and then drew it on the Pharaoh’s map. “No one can cross it. But on your side near the edge are hills. If your men can climb them, they can shoot arrows at the Assyrians and it will be very difficult for them to fight back. Easy!”

Pharaoh Khufu looked as if an electric bolt had hit him. Then, he leaned over and hugged the surprised boy.

“Fetch the best royal garments that I have!” commanded the king to his servants. They hurried off and came back within a minute with a glorious headdress, a white sarong, bangles and a pure gold necklace. They started to dress James in these fine garments.

“Thanks!” he shouted hoarsely. “I have to go now or I will be late for my dinner.”

“You’re not going anywhere!” yelled the king, angrily. “You are needed here. You shall be my chief advisor. When I am dead, you will be mummified with me and placed in a royal tomb. Grab him!”

One of the servants dropped grabbed him by the arms. James struggled and kicked but it was of no use. The man was too strong. Still clutching his gifts, he bit his captor who let go with a yell and sucked his bleeding finger. James ran harum-scarum into the time machine and slammed the ‘Go Home’ button with his elbow. The machine gave a jerk and in a flash, James was back in the old attic. He looked down at the garments.

“Gosh, I hope mother doesn’t ask me about my blue jeans and T-shirt. And I have left uncle’s book behind too. Well, at least I will win the next year’s fancy dress competition,” he chuckled, looking down at all the finery. “What an adventure!”