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The Inventors Quest
Written By Tony Franks-Buckley

Introduction

There was an inventor who was not just any inventor, but he was the cleverest of unknown inventors in the world. Why is he unknown you ask? Well, because none of his inventions have ever been invented. This did not matter to him; he knew one day, that he will be known for something spectacular, he just did not know what it would be.

William Withens and his family had not long moved into their new home of Montebello Manor, following their short but exciting move from the other side of Wallasey. William was an inventor who invented many things, just nothing of great significance to the outside world. It was not very often that William would be seen outside of the house because he was always hard at work on his next big idea.

William was a tall and scruffy but by no means poor looking man, for even though he has never successfully created the big idea invention, he would often be paid handsomely by rich merchants for advancements he made to their devices and machinery. He was also respected locally for his vegetables and fruit that his family would farm and sell in the local market. It was this reason why the move to the new and bigger house was necessary. In order to increase production as well as being able to house the elders in the family whom have all decided to invite themselves to live with him, William upgraded from his small farm house to the Manor in which there was more than enough room for all of the family to live.

And when I say all, it was not just Williams’s wife and two sons but there was also, Grandma and Grandpa Withens and his two brothers Alfred and Benjamin were also living in the house. Even though Grandma and Grandpa Withens age was getting higher, they still helped out working on the farm. Grandma would get up in the morning and collect the eggs whilst Grandpa would do the more strenuous work of milking the cows. Alfred and Benjamin tended to the vegetables and fruit, so there was no need for William to do any work around the farm. This is why William was not too bothered about having all of his family living under his roof as they allowed him to concentrate on creating his inventions.

William would spend nearly all of his working day down in his secret invention room, but it was not really a room it was a cave. When the Withens family moved into the Manor house little over a year ago, it was by chance that William found the secret cavern in which he could hide all of his new inventions without interruption from the outside world. William’s two sons Mark and Michael were running frantically around the Manor house with excitement exploring all the new rooms. The boys had made their way down to the cellar and jumping up and down ecstatically, Mark fell through the floorboards becoming lodged up to his shoulders with his legs dangling in the darkness below.

It was William Withens who rushed to the rescue of the two terrified boys who were shouting loudly for help. It was then that the inventor had found an entrance into the tunnels below. After pulling Mark out of the broken floorboards, William peered down to see what damage the boys had made and even though the light was scarce, he was able to make out the resemblance of a tunnel. He quickly ordered the boys to run upstairs and fetch a lantern so that he would be able to investigate further.

The lantern was burning bright following the ignition from a matchstick; William held the lamp down and was able to see that the tunnel was running in both directions. The drop to the floor of the tunnel was not that far and William was able to lower himself down into the passageway whilst ordering the boys to stay where they were, they had already had enough fun for one day. He found himself walking along a dark passageway for around five to ten minutes until he at last seen something in the distance, it was a door. William was confused as to why there was a door in a dark tunnel beneath his house, why and when had the door been put there. It did not matter though because the door was sealed shut and there was no way that he would be able to get through the door without a key.

With not having any tools with him that would be efficient to open the door, William decided to head back and see what was in the other direction. Feeling more optimistic, he made his way passed the opening in the passageway in which young Mark had fell through and carried on further into the other end of the tunnel. This time the tunnel was heading down in a route that was taking him round in a circular motion. He carried on for around fifteen minutes and then the tunnel was no longer a tunnel and had become a large cavern full of light. The place was huge and William Withens was stood in astonishment with a look of complete surprise on his face. It was then that he thought, he was underground and there was complete light in the cave, how was this possible in a sealed room?

He stepped into the cave and it all became apparent to why there was light, big mirrors were placed around within the cave and having read about an old trick that was used thousands of years ago, he understood it was the Egyptian mirror system. Years ago in the time of the pharaohs, Egyptian workers would work within stone structures such as the pyramids and tombs. In order to be able to paint hieroglyphs on the walls, they would need complete light much more than a few lit torches could offer. The mirrors were perfectly placed around the cave, with each mirror facing each other reflecting and bouncing the light from one to another. William followed the path of the mirrors to an opening in the top of the cave, which had been perfectly crafted in the form of a shaft. The cave was empty and William soon realised that this would be a perfect and hidden place for him to conduct his work in private without interruption from the outside world. For too many times people have copied and spied on inventions that he had created, only to see them stolen by business men and other inventors. But not no more, he now has his own secret chamber in which he can be certain to keep his secrets away from the outside world.

To Be Continued......

Release Due in March 2013