TimeArc: Parts I & II

By David Doucette

Time Arc is a Science Fiction / Social-Political Parody story. Part III (the conclusion) is published in October, 2014.

Jake Peregrin has it all: Intelligence, drive, youth, wealthy parents, and a lovely girlfriend. But things aren’t going as expected. His simulations of advanced physics theory are returning unexpected results. His faculty advisor, who is also his grandfather, doesn’t understand how his research comes together.
Jake decides to take matters into his own hands and attempts real-world experiments. When those experiments include himself. Jake finds himself alone and naked in a primeval forest with only his wits to survive. He discovers, and is accepted by a primitive civilization that is learning to cope with ocean levels rising at alarming rates from thawing glaciers.
Eventually he returns to modern day time to find everything normal, only he had changed. His family is scattered across the country, and band together to help him confront the implications of the technology he has discovered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Doucette
• Release date: Oct 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9780988531505

David Doucette

David Doucette (aka, Frank Paine) is an elected city councilor, technical professional and executive with a career at the cutting edge of computer technology as a product manager and engineer for security, software/network/system and infrastructure products and solutions. He has successfully delivered products and solutions for businesses and consumers. He brings a passion for the benefits of advancing technology that enrich, assist, or entertain customers, while making a profit for the business. Time Arc is his second book.

Book preview

Time Arc

A cautionary tale of Time Travel

A compelling tale of Global Warming

Parts I & II

by Frank Paine

Copyright © 2012, Frank Paine. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-9885315-0-5

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

Part I

Chapter One: Meeting at Classroom

Chapter Two: Trip to Restaurant

Chapter Three: Dinner at Restaurant

Chapter Four: Call from Father

Chapter Five: After Dinner

Chapter Six: End of the night

Chapter Seven: Epilogue to Part I

Part II

Chapter One: Early Morning

Chapter Two: Calls and Travels

Chapter Three: Breakfast at Professor Savior’s House

Chapter Four: Midday Mashup

Chapter Five: Perigrins' flight lands

Chapter Six: Lleslie does her own research

Chapter Seven: Call from Maddie

Chapter Eight: Evening storms

Chapter Nine: Stories from Maddie & Jake

Chapter Ten: Jake and Rich - Father-son time together

Message From The Author

eBook License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. This license does not allow reproduction, copy or distribution for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please visit TimeArc.us and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Photograph used on cover takes at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska by T. Rains of the National Park Service, and is in the public domain. Logo crafted by the author.

Time Arc

Part I

CHAPTER ONE

Meeting at Classroom

The ceiling lights in the University hallway were turned off. Indirect lighting spilled from door windows on the western wall, stretching away from the setting sun. The polished floors shined in preparation for the new academic summer semester that started the next morning. One door was open. The florescent light from the lecture hall spread out from the door like a spotlight. The only sound that could be heard was the scraping of chalk on the blackboard, emanating from the lecture hall, and echoing out into the hallway.

From the doorway, you could see a white-haired main standing in front of three chalkboards full of mathematical equations at the front of a large lecture hall. One chalk board was stacked above the other on the wall. Professor Mark Savoir was writing in the lower right of the third chalkboard. He stopped writing a complex mathematical equation and stepped back. There was little room left on the chalkboard. He stroked his goatee while looking at the board. Stepping further back, he pulled a digital camera from his pocket and took a picture of the chalkboard. He walked towards the wall, reached down to a metal tube under the chalkboard and twisted it. The chalkboard full of equations rose up to the level of the other chalkboard, and revealed a clean chalkboard underneath.

The professor heard a voice from the doorway. Professor Savoir, what are you trying to do?

The professor looks back at the doorway. The man was in his early twenties. A little over six feet tall with dark, bushy, curly hair that was long overdue for a hair cut. Mister Jacob Peregrin, Professor Savior takes a few steps back, and waves the man in. Good to see you, I'm glad you could make it.

The Professor stretches his hands out in the direction of the chalk boards. Sometimes you need to put the equations out in front of you, he stretches his hands out and wiggles his fingers, filling the space in front of you so you can take it all in, and get the feel of the numbers.

That looks like an interesting approach to analyze mathematical problems, the student replied. But I prefer simulations. There's something called a computer, he smiled. You should try one some time. It can run simulations, check the output, tweak the input, run the simulation again. He eyes widened, And you can feed the results into a spreadsheet to graph the output. He gasped, waving his hands in front of him. Ooooh.

The professor scratches his nose. I suppose I should expect from you some colorful 3D images as part of your thesis?

The student grinned, with animations to show results over time.

The professor snapped back, and what does that truly mean? What do those fancy graphs tell you? You get a feel for the output, but how can you understand the equations that drive your simulation engine?

The room's dialog was interrupted by the sound of a string quartet, playing a soft melody. The student pulled his iPhone out of his pocket, a request to iChat was on the screen. He accepted the call. Hello mom.

Hi Jake, the woman on the small phone screen smiled. Happy birthday son. Got any hot plans for your twenty fourth birthday tonight?

I'm going to have dinner with grandpa, he replied. I came back from vacation early to meet up with him.

Well, she said. Please tell him, I said hi.

You can say hi for yourself, he said, and pressed a button on the screen to use the camera on the back of the phone, facing to the professor. The professor appeared as a small image on the screen of Jake's phone.Say hi, Grandpa.

The professor grumbled and waved, Hi Maddie, how's the weather in California?

Jake, can he hear me?

Yes, Mom, you're on speaker phone. We're all alone in a lecture hall. The student said. Your voice is echoing through the rafters. He can't see you, I'm too far away from him and the screen is facing me.

Hi Daddy! She said. Are you making sure my baby is keeping out of trouble?

He was okay until the summer semester break, the professor said, I lost track of him for the past few weeks.

Jake coughed.

The professor immediately perked up, But he is here right now! He cleared his throat. We have reservations at the Dolphin, we're actually late.

Jake saw Maggie smile on the screen. Okay, I don't want to hold up you boys, I'm heading out to the airport for an early morning meeting. Have a goodnight.

Jake switched the camera to face him, Goodnight, mom, love you.

Love you too, Jake. His mother's image faded from the screen.

Jake looked at the chalkboard while putting his phone away. Wait a minute, he said. Are those equations from my paper?

Yes, the professor said. The latest draft of your second paper. It looks promising. Your equations show an intriguing exponential relationship between mass and energy.

Really? Jake said. Where is that?

Look about halfway down the chalk board I just lifted up. But Jake, I have a concern at a higher level.

The professor walks to the open chalk board. Let's say this blank chalkboard is a two-dimensional map of quantum space-time research. That is the broad topic of your PhD. The papers I've seen so far, in an assortment of draft revisions, are... He stops talking and marks the board 5 times in almost random locations over half the board, In these areas of research.

Professor turns towards Jake. I understand each of those topics, and comfortable that you can complete your work. I can explain the individual topics it to the facility.

He waves his arms over the chalkboard, He takes a deep breath, but I don't see it all coming together. it looks like a shot gun, or you started to throw things against the wall to see what sticks."

I need a roadmap! The Professor exclaimed. But Jake, it's fantastic work! That last draft of your first paper is exceptional. I've seen the same level of analysis in a completed PhD thesis.

Jake pauses, Why don't I just finish one or two papers and claim victory? He asks.

I suppose I need to remind you about my deal being your facility advisor. He said, I am holding you up to a higher degree of achievement than other students, because you are my grandson.

Oh, yes, he said. Thanks for the reminder.

Jake, I know you can do this. The professor says, This is an honest critique of your research so far. The pattern to connect the work together isn't apparent. You need to demonstrate a common link, theory, model, or experiment. Whatever you do needs to pull all your research together. I know you're working within a common theory, but it's not understood within the current docs, which are getting numerous and almost random. I need to understand the common thread that fits this all together.

Jake looks at the grandfather, How much time do I have?

I can distract the department head until the end of this semester, The grandfather said in desperation, after that there would be hell to pay.

Jake sat there, quietly in contemplation. Then turned to face the professor. I need to apologize to you, Grandpa

His professor reacted to his grandson in shock, For what?

I got my dad to pay to create my own lab, Jake said. I told Dad you knew all about it.

Lab? What lab? He said, You do computer simulations in the cloud. Did your dad buy a dozen racks of 4 processor, 8 Core Xeons?

No grandpa, Jake said, "It's a small scale, high energy experimental lab, dad is leasing a warehouse behind Broadway street while I'm at MIT. My dad was thinking I was purchasing equipment when it was available to warehouse. To my father I was buying equipment to be used at some future date. That's the way it started, but it turned into ordering equipment for assembly