A One-Way Trip

By Ron Davis

Robbie is a self-aware robot. He isn't supposed to be - just became self-aware. His original purpose was to support a time travel expedition, but things went wrong and he ran away. But to be fair, he returned and in his own way - supported the mission.
The trip into the future is not sanctioned by any government agency but received private funding. As such, it was completely 'off the books' and flying below the radar. Secrecy was of the utmost importance and having a rogue, self-aware robot out there and running around didn't help lower the boiling point of several blood pressure readings.

Read & Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tim Conley
• Release date: Aug 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005099626

Ron Davis

Ron A. Davis is the father of two teenage girls living in Brighton, Tennessee. He is a computer programmer and has the good fortune of being able to work primarily from home.Ron has one of those 'deep minds' that sees several angles to the same conundrum at the same time without moving out of his chair. He came up with the story line for A One-Way Trip and passed on the idea. It became a book that is now published at www.tconlinedbp.net and is available in paperback and e-book formats.Ron has many more ideas that may in the future become best-selling books in their own rights. We wish him much success in the future.

Book preview

A One-Way Trip

Author: Ron Davis

Ghostwriter: TIM CONLEY

Dragon’s Breath Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Tim Conley

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1-4791-8430-6

ISBN-13: 978-1-4791-8430-9

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Appendix A

Dedication

Other Books by Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Ron Davis – without whom I would never have come up with the story and timelines that make up this suspenseful tale of government intrigue and second-guessing. Ron’s explanation of time and relativity got me to thinking and we both know things get sticky when I start to think about time and relativity. Thanks, Ron.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my wife, Carmela and my son, JD for sticking by my writing all these years.

C1 A Moment in Time

May 10, 2015; 14:00Z

I’m telling you, Martha, if we don’t stop these people now, we will be overrun with their kind within the year. Brother Adam raised his hand off the dinner table to emphasize his point. Martha, for her part, tried to ignore his ranting and raving. She had heard the diatribe before about other things. You couldn’t be married to a man for thirty-two years without having heard it before.

Who is it this time, Adam? she asked as she removed dishes from the table and placed them gently inside the sink. She looked back over her shoulder and he continued with his statements – not even noticing she wasn’t really listening.

"Them scientists are trying to move in next door to the church, Martha. We cannot allow that. Must get on the phone and get the elders to inform the congregation so we can get She looked back over her shoulder and he continued with his statements – not even noticing she wasn’t really listening.

Them scientists are trying to move in next door to the church, Martha. We cannot allow that. Must get on the phone and get the elders to inform the congregation so we can get a group out there to block their trucks and all. We aren’t going to let them use our community for their nefarious affairs. Must make that call. Got any of that apple pie left?

Martha sighed and pointed to the edge of the counter where she kept the pies until they were finished. Even after years Adam couldn’t see past his nose.

May 10, 2015; 16:30Z

Mark Fischer didn’t exactly relax after arriving at the new job site. Only the shell of the main research building was up and there already were protestors at the gate. Placards and all. Most calling for the eradication of scientists everywhere, but here specifically. Mark dialed a number he had for the police department and asked for a friend of his.

Allen, this is Mark. We have a situation here at the EMS work site. You’re probably going to have to remove some bigots before we can get to work today.

Hold one, Mark. Absurd elevator music took over the line as Allen put Mark on hold and stepped into the Chief’s office.

Chief, we got a situation developing out at the EMS site. Mark Fischer just called and wants us to remove some of the church folk from the area. What do you want us to do?

Chief Langley looked up and squinted over his glasses. Why can’t we just ignore this one? I never like having to bust up people before lunch, and it ain’t lunch yet. How many protestors are we looking at?

Mark didn’t say. Probably no more than a dozen – knowing how many people are members of that church. Can’t be more than thirty or so if they got them all to come out. What do you want me to tell Mark?

Tell him we will be there in a couple minutes. Get the team together and head that way. I have to alert the brass. He reached for the phone as Allen relayed the message to Mark.

May 10, 2015; 17:15Z

Martha cringed from her place on her porch as the police SWAT van drove up and parked in front of the church. Members surged forward to show their solidarity to the police, only to be pushed back.

She hoped against hope that Adam would allow things to be dissipated without the violence that had occurred a couple years previously when another group of worshippers had intended to move in next door. But she could see that he had a nose full of self-righteousness and was among the first to be handcuffed and removed to the van.

Mark drove his car inside the gates and stepped out to continue his work of detailing where individual items were going to be placed inside the completed building. He shook hands with Allen and the Chief and thanked them both for their support.

It’s good to know we can expect to be able to work here, he remarked. All three men smiled as the SWAT van drove away. All knew the protestors would be back and would have to be removed again. They also knew that the ‘brass’ downtown would have to do something to make them feel the pain of their actions.

December 7, 2015; 08:00Z

The building project went forward without delay. Sufficient muscle had been used to convince most of the congregation that they should stand down. Brother Adam still preached every time the doors opened about the sins of scientific men.

The fact that he thought they were leading the nation astray was at the top of his list of reasons why they needed to be stopped. He was mainly ignored after the meeting where several members pointed out that Martha was the recipient of a new diabetes drug that came from scientific experimentation.

Mark was really pleased with how the project had come along and was getting antsy for his research teams to arrive. A couple more days and they would be ready to start the real work. His head swam with all the details that still needed to be finished before the work could be started. He would have to be patient and let events come about as they may.

C2 Going beyond the usual

December 11, 2015; 14:00Z

Meredith Baxter looked up from her desk at the commotion that was raging down the hall. She never liked confrontations and especially when she was deep in thought with the designs she was working on.

The bell curve that the Floatation boys had returned to her was way off the specs she had initially designed. They had entered in the wrong data – of that she was certain. But she had to prove it and that was going to be difficult.

Judging from the yelling going on out in the hall between Mark Fischer, the head of facilities development and Professor Magnetz, head of the Floatation department, it was going to be another long day of getting down to the nitty-gritty.

Mark would need solid proof that something had been entered wrong for him to overrule Magnetz. The two gentlemen in question agreed to a meeting later in the day and Magnetz glared in her direction as he stomped away.

He was always showing his French connection – everything he did was an affront of some sort or another. Meredith worried again that they had chosen the wrong man for the position of determining the parameters they were going to have to work with.

She shrugged her shoulders again and tried to get back into the mode of finding the ‘pin in a haystack’ when Mark opened her door. Meredith, you must find something concrete or we’re going to have trouble with the professor, he stated with no prologue. Let me know when you are satisfied that you’ve isolated the problem, huh?

Mark didn’t wait for her answer as he recognized she was already in a groove that would take her mind through the labyrinth of figures that made up just one of the components they were having to work with.

He went back to his office – his thoughts mirroring hers regarding the hiring of the professor. Magnetz had not been his first choice for the position, but he was overruled and had to bow to the decision of the board of directors – who, for the most part, were an ocean removed from the work taking place.

December 11, 2015; 20:00Z

Meredith turned the spec sheets back over for the last time and realized she had been beaten on this one. The time was already late, and she had to get the analysis back to Mark so they could continue with the project.

Somewhere she had made a mistake in her early analysis of the run and now she was going to have to eat her words and listen to the boys in the Floatation department as they gloated. She was not looking forward to the prospect but pushed her chair back and stood up.

Her long blond hair fell across her face as she looked down at the sheets and prepared to admit her error to Mark, who would pass the information on to Professor Magnetz. Further tests would be started in the morning and she would have a chance to get some much needed sleep.

Mark took the news as well as she thought possible and told her to get some rest. He reached for his phone as she left the office – heading for her quarters.

His frustration ran deeper than he considered professional as he got the professor’s assistant on the phone and relayed the message that they were ready to begin the next stage of testing.

Meredith took a long shower and got ready for bed. She neither wanted company nor did she want to be disturbed as she placed the ‘Do Not Disturb’ placard on the outside of her door. From long non-association with other people she had developed a strong sense of how to take care of herself.

She hadn’t dated since high school and was satisfied with receiving her sense of worth in what she discovered from her studies of empirical data. She faded off to sleep with the sense that something was wrong with the data – still.

She was awakened rather rudely by the jangle of the phone that resided beside her bed. Sleep was still in her eyes as she tried to get her eyes to adjust.