Time Ship

By Roger Greider

A meteor is about to destroy the planet Entamida, a light year from Earth. A human population has existed there for untold centuries. Gano and Elantra were bought as infants by Tyre from a business that sold reproducing human clones. Tyre and wife, Loua, raised the couple, educated them and hired them out. Elantra is a mathematician working in space science and is a space ship instructor. Gano is a doctor and an archeologist. They have two children, Lee, age 14 and Broni, 12.

Elantra and Gano are virtual slaves although Tyre is not cruel, letting them live together with their children as a family. Elantra develops a space ship that can move through time. Gano discovers radio signals from Earth and Elantra studies wormholes. The family secretly deciphers them and thinks Earth would be a wonderful place to live without the stigma of being clones.

Knowing of the meteor, only a few citizens and no clones are to be saved, by sending them to a nearby planet, The Farm. Elantra takes the family in a time ship, TC, to Earth through a wormhole she has discovered, landing at Area 51 in 1978. General Bob Simons agrees to trade them citizenship papers for TC and their help in reproducing it. They meet Bob’s wife, Mable. Later they find Kara, whose Entamidan spaceship had crashed on Jim Hogan’s farm near Roswell in 1947. Jim, who was four at that time was raised by Kara and is now a lieutenant colonel at Area 51.

Lee and Broni meet Bob’s son, Bill and neighbor, Betty.
Tyre and Loua follow Elantra to Earth with the help of one of her flight students, Jantu. Bob confiscates their ship, TC2, and ignores Tyres claim that Gano is a clone.
Tyre and Loua refuse to declare a suitcase of stolen diamonds they have brought from Entamida and die in time ship TC2, trying to leave with them.

Gano and Elantra realize that if people acquire copies of TC and begin manipulating time, the American dream will become a nightmare. They talk to Bob about it and go with him to Entamida to see how the survivors, if any, are coping with time-travel, and if they pose a threat to the US

They find no answers, but they bring Nelda, a clone friend, back with them. Bob has been temporarily replaced by Major General Hafton and a government committee is waiting to arrest them. The committee thinks they are spies and rejects their story about coming from another planet. To force them into confessing, the committee orders them to go to Entamida and bring two of the time ships back with them, promising US citizenship if they succeed.

Unknown to them, the committee’s assault team on the ship, led by Sergeant Logan, has orders to bring back a fortune in diamonds. Bob goes with them and sees evidence that Gano and Elantra might be clones. No diamonds and few people are found, and Sergeant Logan verifies Bob’s report. So the committee leaves, taking no action.

Lee and Bill want to marry, but Bob wants proof their parents are not clones. Elantra takes everyone into the past, where Jantu, having been a thief, steals records showing they aren’t clones. Elantra’s mother, Gesine, is found and Bob approves the marriage.

On Earth, Jantu is missing. Looking for him, Bob discovers he has been recruited to pilot a mission to The Farm in TC. Bob goes with Elantra, Gano and Nelda and they find TC, out of fuel. A young lieutenant led the mission, which destroyed the time-space-ship factory that existed underground.

Gano discovers a family trust has been set up anonymously in his and Elantra’s names. A few days later a letter arrives from Jantu, apologizing for yielding to temptation when he saw the diamonds in a safe on The Farm.

After many years, Jim’s farm is a large estate. The Trustees of Elantra and Gano’s Family Trust are the wedded couples living there: Bill and Lee, Jim and Mable, Bob and Kara, Hafton and Gesine, Jantu and Nelda, and Broni and Betty. Betty is helping Broni write the family history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Greider
• Release date: Jan 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465942371

Roger Greider

Roger Greider was born in Topeka, KS in 1924. In 1928 he moved with his family to Tulsa, OK where he lived until 1943. Graduating from Will Rogers High School, he attended Tulsa University for one year before enlisting in the Army at age nineteen. On the front line in Europe, he was promoted from Private to Staff Sergeant, earning three ‘Bronze Stars. After his honorable discharge in 1945, he attended Tulsa University, earning Bachelor of Arts Degrees in both music and mathematics and a Master of Arts in Math. He was employed as a mathematician in the Basic Research Division of Jersey Production Research Co. And in his thirties, while taking graduate work in both music and math at The Univ. Of Tennessee, he played first desk second violin in the Knoxville Symphony. From 1945 to 1970, he directed church choirs, played in many string quartets and Sang in barbershop quartets. From 1961 to 1964 he was an associate professor of mathematics at The State University of New York, campus at Oneonta. And while he was there, he played in the Oneonta Symphony, sang in a barbershop quartet and directed the Sweet Adelines In 1965 he enrolled at the University Of Oklahoma, where he earned a second Master of Science degree in math and a Ph.D. in mathematics education. He then taught mathematics at Oklahoma City university, The University of Central Oklahoma and Rose State College, where he was the Dean of the Engineering And Science Division. Roger now lives in Oklahoma City, happily married to his beautiful wife, Judy, who is a retired Doctor of Pharmacy. They enjoy membership in Quail Creek Golf and Country Club. Between them they have three sons, a daughter, six grandchildren and, at the moment, eight great grandchildren. He has published his war memoirs, “Warrior, A True Account of a WWII GI,” a 2nd edition, “Temporary Warrior” and five novels: “Moonfall,” “Time Tangle,” “The Chicken Yard,” “Time Ship,” and “The Trust.” As of November, 2013, he continues to write.

Book preview

Chapter 1

It was evening at Tyre's Z-element mine on the planet, Entamida, and the sun sank toward the horizon as the Clone School let out for the day. Broni raced home through the narrow unpaved alley and into the door of the family's quarters ahead of his sister Lee. I beat you again, slowpoke. I run faster because I hate Clone School; and you run like a lopsided toad.

I do not, you little runt, Lee shot back, and then appealed to Elantra, who had heard their exchange. Mother, Broni's mean. These shoes are too big; they hurt my feet, and they're not even new.

"I know, Sweetheart, but Loua gets us the best shoes she can find at the Clone Store. They’ll feel better after you’ve worn them a while. Remember, some of your friends at school don't have shoes. And I’m sure Broni will apologize for the ugly thing he said to you. He knows your feet hurt, and his words made you feel worse."

Well I feel bad a lot of the time too, Broni said. I don't understand why we have to go to Clone School and get our clothes from the Clone Store, anyway. We have a mother and a father.

Gano came in the door as Broni was speaking. It's a combination of religion and Law, Broni. The creation of Humankind started as a religious thing, but then, unfortunately, for economic reasons the law had to be dragged into the picture.

Lee interrupted, glaring at Broni. "You're only twelve, dummy. When you're as old as I am you'll know these things."

Broni raised his voice. "Just because you're fourteen doesn't mean you know everything. I know more than you did when you were twelve. And you're nose is crooked."

As Lee started to respond, Elantra put up her hand. Time out; Lee, your brother is not a dummy. And, Broni, Lee's nose is perfectly straight, and it's beautiful. We all need to practice self-control. When you both settle down I'm sure you'll want to apologize to each other.

Gano said, "There are things you are unaware of too, Lee. After the definition of a clone alluded to by Broni was accepted, biologists developed clones that could reproduce. And since then the government has passed a law that classifies a person as a clone if either parent is a clone. By the birth records that were shown to us, your mother's father was a clone. And though biologically you are as human as a citizen, legally you and Broni are both clones."

Elantra shook her head. And with the chicanery in the clone industries, no one knows for sure who’s a clone and who isn’t. When the government decides a baby is a clone, a number is tattooed on its arm, and that number becomes its legal name. Either your arm has a number or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t you're a citizen; if it does, you’re a clone and a slave.

"There’s a rumor your mother’s mother was not a clone but nothing about her mate, but Tyre says it’s not true and neither he nor Loua will talk about it.

Lee said, "It doesn't seem right for Tyre and Loua to be citizens. You and father know a lot more than they do.

Gano said, I agree with that, but it's not about how much you know; it's about ownership, and they own us. They bought each of us as an investment. And they increased our value by paying for our schooling. Now it's paying off for them. With my degrees in medicine and archeology, I have two good jobs. They receive my salaries, from Archeology Associates and from The Mental Health Department.

I was educated as a mathematician and a space scientist, Elantra said, and they get my earnings from the Space Travel Laboratory, and the money I earn as a pilot instructor. We know it doesn't sound right, but there's nothing your father or I can do about it. However, it could be a lot worse. We like our jobs and Tyre and Loua are better than some owners since they let us stay together as a family.

Gano said, I have to thank Tyre for Elantra, too. I was five when he bought her for my mate. She was only an infant. I didn't see her until she was twelve, but I felt a deep affection for her at our first meeting.

I was thrilled to be with your father too, Elantra said. And since then the only time we've been away from each other is when we're at work.

Lee asked, What do you do all day at work, father? Are you really a doctor?

Well, that's my title. You know the pills I give you? I do that for everyone in our area to be sure they're getting the correct dosage. And I also work at the archeology dig.

Do citizens get the pills too?

Yes, everyone is treated. It keeps the population happy, allowing the Entamidan government to function smoothly, without dissenters. It also helps the clones that have abusive owners to remain contented.

Lee said, Something doesn't seem right about that. Do you think what you're doing is right?

"No, I don't. Your mother doesn't think it's right either. Apart from the question of whether the population should be controlled this way, the average age of Entamidans before drug therapy began was longer than it is now. In grad school, they told us this was because of the increasing pollution in the atmosphere, but we're skeptical."

You mustn't tell anyone, Elantra said, but the reason the two of you are suddenly beginning to ask questions and are frequently cross is that your father has started reducing our drug dosage. It'll let us think more clearly but we'll have to use a lot of self-discipline to avoid getting into trouble.

Gano left the room and returned with a box, a little bigger than a shoe box. At the work site, I've found an underground room full of electronic equipment, thousands of years old. It was set up before the use of drug therapy. Back then clones hadn’t been developed yet, and the government got rid of dissenters by shipping them off on a ten-year journey to another planet, where they were left on their own.

Elantra said, Entamida kept outposts on the exile planet for a long time, monitoring the struggle of the outcasts to survive. But when drug therapy began, the planet was no longer needed. Communication stopped after that and the exiles were soon forgotten.

Gano opened the box, which was full of fingernail-sized wafers. These are records of signals sent centuries after the outposts had been abandoned. They have been spilling in a pile under the receivers. I haven't told the other workers what I've discovered and I collected this box full to bring home.

He handed each of them a wafer. Here, just attach it to your earlobe and listen. The planet is a light-year away, so these signals were sent at least a year ago; maybe long before that. Your mother and I have spent several hours at night listening to them. The language is called English and it has a similar structure to ancient Entamidan, which I've studied.

Elantra said, We're sure if the four of us work together we can decipher it.

And if what I've already learned is true, Gano said, we might be better off if we move to the exile planet. Just think; no more clone school, no more clone clothing. If we were there, we could live as regular citizens. Your mother isn't convinced we should go, but in any case translating the wafers will be interesting. Some of them are fun to listen to.

Lee tilted her head with a worried look. "I think Mother is right. I don't want to go either; you said it was a ten year trip. I don't want to do that. I'd rather stay here."

Broni frowned. "I don't know. It would be trading ten years in a spaceship for a lifetime as a citizen. I think I'd like that."

Your mother has discovered the location of the planet, but we don't have to go there if you don't want to. I discovered, from the parts of the messages I’ve deciphered, the colonists have named the planet 'Earth.'

Chapter 2

Away from her students and herjob at the Laboratory, Elantra was working independently on the mathematics of time-travel. And as her equations developed, she realized that traveling through time was possible. The other scientists she worked with at the Lab were citizens. They had talked about time-travel but believed the idea was nonsense. As professionals, they refused to waste their time pursuing the concept.

Elantra's math indicated an alteration of their existing spaceships would allow them to transport people through both space and time. Seeing her equations coming together so beautifully thrilled her, but being able to travel through time frightened her. She kept her discoveries secret and discussed them only with Gano, who continued reducing the family's required drug dosages. As a consequence, they were becoming less inclined to play their roles as obedient workers.

A thought has been worrying me, Elantra said, when she was alone with Gano, If the Lab administrators find out about my time-travel research, they will investigate it and then claim it as their own. It would kill them to admit that a clone had done something they believed to be impossible.

Gano said, "I'm worried about your safety. They might have more concerns than we do about your discoveries. They could destroy your papers and get rid of you. Not knowing the consequences of time travel is more than a little scary; it could be disastrous. Of course, you could always destroy your own work. But sooner or later others will probably discover it."

"Traveling in time might be dangerous, but what if it's not? It would certainly make life complicated, wouldn't it?"

Let's not get the children worried about it yet.

I don't know whether they would worry about it, Elantra said. But Lee has another worry. I think Tyre is about to sign a contract on a mate for her; I heard him talking to Loua about it. He's chosen a clone from an intelligence strain.

Do you know who it is?

If it's the clone I think it is, she said, screwing up her face, you can be sure he wasn't bred for beauty. But, worse than that, Tyre would probably sell the baby. It breaks my heart to see Lee go through all that. She'll probably never be allowed to have a family.

Yes, and I feel bad, thinking of what might happen to the baby - -our grandchild. All owners are not as good to their clones as Tyre and Loua.

I know; I'm putting together a statistical analysis of clone husbandry that will show financial benefits are to be gained by waiting for a while before breeding. My analysis is faulty, but I'm sure Tyre won't even understand it.

Elantra knew Tyre would accept her analysis because her math had increased the profits of the mining company he had inherited from Loua's father. It had also reduced the toxic mining waste emissions that were becoming a planetary problem. She was uneasy being dishonest about the advantages of delayed breeding, but felt that she had to do something to help Lee.

I'm glad you’re doing it, Gano said. "But I'm afraid all of us are going to have a big problem anyway before long. The government's beginning to worry that the use of drugs might not be sufficient to prevent a clone rebellion. I wasn't supposed to hear, but they're thinking of outlawing human cloning and forcing existing clones to work in camps where they'll be tightly controlled. The ultimate goal will be to eliminate us."

Elantra was not surprised by Gano's news but had a hard time believing their family was in danger. They had a good relationship with Tyre and Loua, and they were well thought of by the scientists they worked with. Gano respected Elantra's reasoning but still worried about their safety as they continued to study the wafers.

In deciphering the language, the family learned that the outcasts had not only survived; they had prospered, spreading into different areas of the planet. Each area had its own government, and advanced technologies were being developed. The new radio signals had begun to appear during the year 1920, by the Earth’s calendar.

The signals stopped in the late seventies, Gano said, but that could have been a long time ago. Most of them are radio broadcasts consisting of news, programs on religion, education and various kinds of entertainment.

Gano had been correct; the colonists had named the planet Earth, naming the original colony Eden, and one of the colonists had married a woman from another colony called Nod. The last signal to be picked up came from a place they called Denver. It was evidently a city in The United States, also referred to as America.

Lee and Broni enjoyed some of the entertaining shows. Elantra was interested in a broadcast referring to a location called Area 51, where advanced aircraft were evidently being produced. And the whole family was intrigued by reports that an alien spaceship was reported to have crashed; it had happened in 1947 close to a town called Roswell.

Chapter 3

Talking to Lee and Broni, Gano said, Living on Earth would be a good thing for all of us. No one would know we were clones, and your mother and I could teach advanced technology. But the best part would be the two of you could grow up as citizens.

Lee said. But we would already be grown up after that trip, living half of our life in a spaceship. What kind of life would that be?

I think I could stand it, Broni said, except for being cooped up with bossy Lee.

Elantra said, We would be in suspended animation most of the time, so you wouldn't even be aware of who you were 'cooped up' with or how long the trip was.

But, Lee said, "We would lose ten years of our lives. I would be twenty-four years old."

Yes dear; but because of the suspended animation you would appear to be about fifteen, and the best part of your life would be just beginning. You would live longer and you would be a free citizen, facing a wide open, happy future.

Even with her reservations, the idea of living in the United States was intriguing to Lee, and everyone enjoyed listened to the shows, Leave It to Beaver and Andy Griffith. I don't understand, Lee said. Wasn't the Earth used as a place to get rid of all the trouble makers and criminals? What happened to all the bad people? Listening to the wafers, I have the feeling that the people on Earth now are no different from the citizens here, except for being more interesting and having more fun.

The recordings you're talking about were made for entertainment, Elantra said, so they might not give a true picture of life on Earth. However, I think most of the colonists were good people. They probably just had different ideas on how Entamida should be governed, and sending them into exile was the way the government kept them from causing trouble.

Gano said, From the number of governments existing there now, it looks like the disagreements about governance have continued. But your mother and I think the government of the United States is a lot better than what we have here on Entamida; especially for you. Just think of how good it will be to grow up as citizens. And don't forget, the future of clones here on Entamida looks bad.

At home Elantra was spending so much of her time enjoying the records with the family that she began doing some of her time-travel research at the Lab, trying to keep the other scientists from seeing it. Gano was working overtime at his job to make up for time he spent hunting and studying the wafers, so they got Nelda, a clone that was one of Loua's maids, to baby-sit with Lee and Broni. When they told the children about getting Nelda to baby-sit them, Lee was insulted but Broni said, I think I like that. Nelda was only a few years older than them, and after only a short time, both enjoyed the time they spent with her.

The schedule arrangement worked all right until several of Elantra's co-workers at the Lab became curious about the folder of papers on time-travel she always carried in her briefcase. When the head of the Lab was told about the folder, he insisted on seeing it. There was nothing Elantra could do but show it to him and apologize, saying she delayed revealing the work because it wasn't completed.

No errors were discovered in Elantra's work, and within a few days, the electronic government, that had nothing in its data base on the dangers of time-travel, insisted that the Laboratory gear up to make alterations to their spacecraft. Enlisting her help, the engineers were to convert the ships to move through both space and time. Elantra was consulted at every point. She saw what they were doing and understood the controls they were installing.

Elantra was given two assistants and assigned the job of redesigning the simulators, but her work was frequently held up by the slow progress of the engineers. During this time, she studied the subject of wormholes (holes in the time-space continuum through which rapid transit could be made between locations in the universe that were light-years apart), and she made a startling mathematical breakthrough.

Chapter 4

The existence of wormholes had been known for a long time. But they were thought to be inherently unstable, and no one had a clue about how to create a wormhole, or even how to find one. However, in an extraordinary bit of research, Elantra discovered that the mathematics of wormholes was closely related to the mathematics of time travel.

In studying the combined concepts, she discovered that naturally occurring wormholes were unstable, but making a space journey between two planets effectively created a stable wormhole between them. A spacecraft moving through the universe apparently acted on space like a stirring spoon on cake batter. It folded it in on itself, making stable paths through another dimension, bringing distant portions of space close together but not disturbing existing lines of sight in the 3-dimensional universe.

Continuing her study, it wasn't long before Elantra solved the problems of finding and entering. But she kept quiet about her latest discoveries, still smarting from the theft of her time-travel work. When she told Gano, he asked her if she could operate the modified spaceships.

Yes. I've never done it, but the engineers are following my design in the alterations. I program the droids for diagnostic and maintenance tasks, and I'm one of the operators that will program the simulators for practice flights, so I'm knowledgably about the flight procedures.

What about traveling through a worm hole?

That seems even more impossible than time-travel, but I'm sure the ships will do it. The components of wormhole theory coincide with those of time-travel theory, and are based on solid mathematics. The engineers need only the installation of hardware to detect the entrance to a wormhole.

Then we don’t need ten years to reach Earth; the wormhole already exists, having been made by the spaceships transporting outcasts. Those expeditions left from the spaceport next to the Lab and the other end of the wormhole was at Eden, which must be close to Denver, where the recorded broadcasts originated.

My guess, Elantra said, is that Eden is close to Roswell; assuming the ship that crashed there came from Entamida.

And Roswell, according to the wafers, is not far from the Area 51 you are interested in, Gano said. Maybe their advanced aircraft production started with salvaging that spaceship.

He gave her a hug and a kiss. Get the technicians to make the installation. If you can fly one of those things through a wormhole, it might just be our salvation; our ticket to a new world. I know you and the children want to move to Earth as much as I do, and the only problem has been that the trip would take so long.

Elantra returned his hug. MMM. This is nice. Are you sure we need to be saved?

Gano laughed, Yes, I am. And I like this hugging too, but don't change the subject. You know how unjustly we've been treated. I've heard talk at the office. She held onto him as he continued. I think the government is going to make conditions unbearable for us. I don't know the timetable, but it looks like the plan is to eventually eliminate us, replacing us with droids.

Elantra smiled and reluctantly released him, giving him a peck on the cheek. That's almost impossible to believe. But there's not much to flying a time-space-ship. They can be programmed to fly themselves if the operator knows the destination. For small movements in space, there's a joystick with a speed control. When we go into the wormhole we will be entering another dimension and that's really scary, but there's no prediction of danger from the equations. As long as we stay in the capsule we should be safe.

The signals we've been receiving from Earth, Gano said, were sent about a year ago. It was 1977, Earth time. And if life in the US is as good as it is in the recordings, living there would be wonderful. The probability of Earth-people ever discovering that we are clones is practically zero, so we could live as citizens. I'm ready to go; how about you?

The wormhole is already there, all right, and I'm sure the ship will fly through it. But I still don't know what to say. Most of our colleagues at work are citizens, and they treat us well. I can't imagine them turning on us. My bosses often defer to me on decisions, and come to me for help with their math problems.

That's true, and they also steal your research and claim it as their own. We could probably count on a good word from them when the Government cracks down, but their influence will be minor. The citizens, especially those who control the electronic government programs, are afraid of us. And when the time comes, they'll think nothing of squashing us like insects. I'm not sure about Tyre and Loua, but I'm sure he will follow his greedy instincts in whatever he decides to do.

I can see what you're saying; we could have problems if we remain here. But the wormhole trip is not without a certain amount of risk. According to my research, the ship should zip through a wormhole like one of your drug therapy capsules sliding down a throat, and I’m sure it will, but there’s always a chance I’m wrong.

Gano said, "I have faith in your research. The ship even looks like a capsule. The droids would probably help if we got into trouble.

They wouldn't be of any use in route. The trip wouldn't take long, so they wouldn't have time to do maintenance procedures, and I’m not sure how useful they would be, with the ship in motion. However, they might be useful when we got there; so if we decide to go we should take them.

A few centuries ago people were worried about whether they could remain alive while traveling faster than the speed of sound. Now they'll worry about whether they can live while going through another dimension.

Well, if they travel in a time-space ship they'll be safe. As for us, why don't we wait on making a decision until we see how this government action develops? And while we're waiting, we can look for space charts of the area around Earth.

Gano said, I like that idea, I think the children will be eager to go, now that it won't take ten years.

Shall we tell them what we're thinking of doing?

No, I don't think we should; not till we're sure anyway. We should discontinue our drug regimen, but the children should continue with their reduced dosages. We may see and hear some very upsetting things, so we'll have to keep control of our emotions. If the owners or government representatives detect a change in us, they might suspect us of being dangerous.

Chapter 5

The other scientists were working with Elantra's equations, trying to understand how they applied to the real universe, and the government was putting pressure on the