Roisin Gogarty 6th class, St Canices

The old yacht was floating on the calm, crinkled water while the cheiftan was standing at the top of the bridge checking what the weather was like up ahead. There was a loud mutter coming from below the deck. The flag had the letters: 'CONCENTRATION' on it. You could hear the crack of a whip and cries from below. The door was banging but was locked and steady. The captain yelled furiously "Quiet down you little thieves!". There was a sudden silence. No one could have dared to disobey Captain Tory. The ship had the words 'Locating to Canada' on it. There were lots of carts with mysterious blankets on them. You would never know what might be hidden on those carts.

Two secretaries of Captain Tory came along and pushed the carts off the ship to be loaded with.......
"Off the ship and on to the bay now!" ordered Tory. The secretaries raced off the ship. When they got to the delivery truck they were rooting in their pockets for 10 sterling. They left the cart alone. Movement was going on under the blankets. Suddenly a boy with raggety old clothes and a ripped hat popped out of the blankets. He had a scar on his left eye and a bruise on his knee. He wore cut shorts and a brown top. He ran on ahead with his number on his top away in the distance. The boy dodged people and trucks.

Meanwhile on the ship Captain Tory was counting the boys on the ship.
"Bruno, Mike, Frank, Bobby and Jack?"
"Yes" they muttered.
"What about Theo?"...... There was no answer.
"THEO!!" shouted Tory.
"Darn that boy has done it again!".
He slammed the door and raced off the ship. Tory ran along the pier muttering to himself quietly.

He looked in every shop asking everyone but no one had seen him. Captain Tory was yelling his name over and over again but everything stayed quiet.
"If I do not find that thief I will leave without him!" whispered Tory. The boy was checking the ground for pennies and if he was lucky he might find some sterling.

Suddenly Tory spotted him kneeling on the ground trying to get some money from a beggar. The Captain walked slowly up to him and grabbed his scrawny little arm.( They only got two pieces of bread a day!). Theo sighed. He knew he was in trouble. They walked slowly to the pillar. He swung the lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared.

Captain Tory by Eimear Conway

I knew it was wrong to take the boy, to plant ideas in his head, to steer his life in the one direction. But I had to, because his work would one day save the world and nobody wants the world to end, do they?
I was shaken awake gruffly. When I opened my eyes I expected to see my stepfather ordering me up for another day of slave-like labour in his shop downstairs. Instead, I saw the unshaven face of a man in a sailor’s uniform peering down at me. I tried to scream, to run away from this stranger in my bedroom trying to do God knows what with me. But I remained frozen in fear, my mouth unable to open wide enough to scream. Staring.  The last thing I remember from my bedroom before the sailor man bound my hands and pulled a sack over my head  was  the carved wooden letters that my real father had made for me, spelling out my name, Tory.
I was bundled out the window by the sailor. I wanted to rub my leg which hurt after the drop from my second floor bedroom but the sailor had tied my hands too tightly. As he crudely carried me away, I had the first chance to think.
The operation had gone smoothly. I had the boy and was making my way through the Victorian town I remembered so well. I wanted to put the child down to let him decide his own life. But I couldn’t, not with the lives of so many people at stake. I could sense the fear radiating from the child, and knew the exact thoughts going through his head...
What would Mother think when she saw I was gone? She’d probably look for me for days, weeks, possibly even months before she gave up. But when she did....well I didn’t want to think about the misery my disappearance would cause her. Where was this strange man taking me? A thousand scenarios popped into my head, none of which I could bear to think about.
The man put me down and took the sack off my head. We were at the port.  The sailor hunkered down so that his eyes were level with mine and told me, 
“We’re jus’ goin’ to put you on a boat and have a little chat. There’s no need to be afraid.”
“What boat?” I wondered out loud.
The sailor grunted. He waved his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared.
I was led aboard and tied  to a chair, but when he was finished tying me up, the sailor flashed me a smile and gave me a small piece of chocolate cake. I began to wonder if this was all a dream. After all, why would a kidnapper give the person they’ve just kidnapped something as delicious as chocolate cake. And how would he know I liked it so much anyway?
When the boy finished eating I started talking.
“In the year 2012, scientists discovered a massive asteroid hurtling towards earth. All would have been lost if not for the pioneering work of ex-sailor, Captain Tory Burke.” The boy looked up as he heard his name. I continued “ Tory Burke achieved things many thought were impossible, including a prototype time machine. What inspired him to become a scientist was a strange dream he had as a boy about being kidnapped by a man in a sailor’s uniform who gave strange predictions about the future.” I took off my hat and said “my name is Captain Tory Burke,” before I smashed his head off the table and picked up his unconscious body to take him home.
I woke up just as dawn was breaking from a very strange dream about a man in a sailor’s uniform. I couldn’t remember much of it but the part I did made me think.
“I wonder what  it would be like to be a scientist?”...