The Time Keepers: Evidence of Conspiracies

By E. Campbell McGregor

It starts with a stolen weapon of mass destruction and ends in a brutal war caused by one man. When Temporal Investigation Detectives Alexander Maxwell and Benjamin Farrell are called in to find the weapon. They soon discover that the theft was a much smaller event in a much bigger plan, it soon leads to lies, deaths, deceit and a conspiracy that has been lurking in the shadows for hundreds of years, and when it comes to light will plunge the world into the most devastating war the human race has ever seen. From the mind of the young Scottish author E. Campbell McGregor, his first Science Fiction novel, join the unique world of fascinating characters and page turning storyline as you uncover the conspiracy that could change your past as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447631590

Book preview

Conspiracies

1

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

March 13th 2081

The cold rain that was almost hail pelted down around Alexander Maxwell, his long trench coat soaked, his clothes were soaked as well, he was holding in his right hand his gun, one final round in the chamber, Maxwell knew who and what that round was for. The rain dripping down over his face, he looked directly up at the dark sky; the stars could not be seen because of the light that the city of London created. The rain fell like spears, firing down onto his face, there was no stopping them, looking back down to his feet at the man lying in front of him gasping for breath and pulling his body away from the figure that was about to kill him. Maxwell locked eyes with him, this man was about to die by his hand today, this man had taken too many lives and he was not going to take any more, Maxwell was to make sure of it. The rain was getting heaver and the spikes of rain were bouncing off of the rooftop they were on.

As I see it, there are only two ways off this rooftop, He was yelling over the rain flying off the ground. The first, you die with the bullet I have in the gun, or, he paused, off the edge. Either way, you will kill no more. Maxwell was still not able to see the face of the man on the ground as he walked up to him.

Under law three of the temporal accord of 2060, I hereby undertake my role as the jury in a court of law and find you guilty of all charges under the temporal accord, your sentence – death, to be carried out immediately.

Squeezing the trigger at his head, the firing pin struck the back of the bullet and it propelled the bullet into his offender’s head. As he jerked then he saw his face, the face was someone he had seen before, as

Maxwell focused, the face was to show as his own… Alexander Maxwell jumped and awoke, trying to squint and focus on the dark room, sitting upright in his bed.

Lights. The room lit up, dimly lifting the darkness from the room. Full illumination, Maxwell had to squint to allow his eyes to adjust to the sharp increase of light into the room. Sliding out of bed, still feeling clammy from the nightmare and the cold sweat all over his body, Maxwell stepped through into the bathroom to have the light automatically turn on to his presence. He leaned over the sink and staring into the mirror, pulling his eyelid down and looking into his eye; Maxwell in his late twenties was exceptionally fit, and with his brown eyes and auburn hair, he always considered himself to be a ‘ladies man’, but being a Time Keeper really did not allow much of a social life. The mirror he was looking into was suddenly substituted by the image of himself with a flashing square with the writing transmission.

Detective Maxwell, you have an incoming transmission. Origin, unknown. The female voice stated. The mirror changed not to

Maxwell’s face, but to an old man in his late fifties at least, the white hair combed back with almost military precision.

Alex? the mirror said in a stern voice. "Cartel here. We need you at

TID. I have called Ben, he will meet you at his house, you are to pick him up on your way here."

Good morning, boss, how are you this fine morning? Maxwell said.

Make it fast, Alex, I don’t have time this morning. I have had to activate inter-departmental protocols, we could have a crisis on our hands, Cartel said, with no change in his facial or vocal expression.

Maxwell made it his goal in the morning to annoy his boss to no avail.

Why, what is the situation?

Can’t go into it over an unsecured public transmission network, Alex, you of all people should know that.

Well, it was worth a try, I will be there as soon as I can.

Good, see you then. Cartel finished and the call cut off to the

Temporal Integrity Commissions logo of the eagle, then the image faded back to the bleary eyed Maxwell.

With the invention of the Artificial Intelligence, the whole world has one computer to control everything from the traffic lights to the communications network. Since the World Government was formed after the third world war, the world has come to accept the big brother notion. The Temporal Integrity Commission was the first to adopt the new AI into the workplace, then many large companies followed suit, soon all homes were linked to the system allowing complete control over the world infrastructure, the AI controls everything from your lights to flushing your toilet to running the temporal core inside the Temporal Integrity Commission. The World Infrastructure Artificially Created Consciousness or WIACC or just ‘Diana’ was first brought online in 2065 and controlled just the basic road traffic infrastructures, but as the TIC grew and required a more complex super computer, they created Diana. Maxwell very much appreciated the uses that Diana could be used for, in fact Maxwell decided that his life was so much easier with Diana. Even though she to him was just a glorified alarm clock and technology ruled, and controlled just about everything, Maxwell still wanted to make his own coffee in the morning.

Fifteen minutes later, Maxwell was downstairs, dressed and in the kitchen. Maxwell walked over to his storage locker in the hall just outside the kitchen. He punched in his six digit security code on the glowing panel that was in front of him, and the door slid open, a small tray slipped out with several guns in their slots, Maxwell removed one and placed it in his shoulder holster, he took another and placed it into his belt holster, and again he took a third and put it into a small holder. The first gun that was in his shoulder holster was a standard TIC issue, it fired bullet projectiles enclosed in plasma, the old bullet projectiles were banned about twenty-five years ago, but some people still used them. The second gun on his belt holster was a temporal tagging weapon; it allowed agents to take things back from the past with them. It did no lethal damage. Maxwell tapped a button and the first tray rolled back in then a second appeared, it was ammo, he stocked up by placing the ammo into a small pouch attached to his belt, the good thing was that all ammo was the same for all the guns, the guns just changed the ammo to suit the gun type. Maxwell tapped another button and a third tray appeared. This was his equipment drawer. He picked up a small box, no bigger than the palm of his hand then he picked up a few more things, he then sealed the storage cupboard shut.

He checked his watch, it glowed 0526. He grabbed his long overcoat and put it on, the long overcoat stopped just below his kneecaps, it was black and it was more than just a waterproof, it was a bulletproof jacket. Enclosed in the lining was a gel that was totally lightweight and stopped just about any projectile ever made, half the time Maxwell never knew it was there. He slipped the equipment he had in his hand into the inside pockets of his raincoat and walked out of the room. I just know this is going to be a long day, he said to himself as he walked out the front door and into his car.

He got into his car and Diana asked, Please state your destination.

Detective Benjamin Farrell’s house, Maxwell said.

The car jolted off down the road and into the night towards Farrell’s house.

Maxwell was lying back in his seat as his car drove itself, navigating its way though the early morning traffic. The traffic never stopped, in fact London never slept. Maxwell looked out his side window to see the other car’s headlights blurring by, he looked up at the massive sky scrapers, more traffic was flying above him on a sky motorway. The other cars were at least five miles off the ground, and the motorway above them was just as busy as the one he was on.

The car’s screen situated in the centre console beeped and a small stop sign appeared on it, Maxwell looked at it, he knew that he was about to take the next exit to get to Farrell’s house, he would be there in just a few minutes. His car moved itself across the lanes and it started to descend down the ramp that took him off the motorway and down to street level again. As the car pulled into a large street, he could see a figure standing on his side of the road. Maxwell could not see the figure’s face, but he could just make out that he was wearing a long raincoat like his, so he knew that it could only be his partner, Detective Benjamin Farrell. The figure waved to Maxwell, signalling him to stop, he was still on the pavement at the time.

Stop the car, Maxwell said, and the car came to a slow stop just next to Farrell. The figure walked over to the driver’s window and bent down to speak though the window that Maxwell had just opened.

Farrell was too tall to see into the car so he bent over and stuck his head through the open window. The car’s internal lights lit up Farrell’s face. His hands were dug deep into his raincoat pockets.

Good morning, his deep voice said. It’s about time you got here, it’s cold and it’s starting to rain.

Well, stop moaning and get in, Maxwell said. Tapping the passengers seat next to him.

Farrell took his head out of the window and walked in front of the car, the headlights lit him up he was illuminated completely then he went dark again until he got into the car.

Rubbing his hands together, he spoke, Well, go, go, go, he said.

New destination – Temporal Integrity Commission, East Wing.

Maxwell said.

The car sped off down the street and into the light rain and darkness of the morning.

2

The light rain had changed into a total downpour. As the Temporal Integrity building came into view through the rain, the building was the same as any other, totally lit up, with little office lights on all over the building. The building was one of the biggest in London. It was built on the old MI5 building that was since relocated to the main World Government building on the outskirts of the city. The temporal investigations department was one of many departments in the Temporal Integrity Commission.

The TIC is the sole regulator of the law that prevents people from travelling in time, ever since the technology was leaked from a classified research lab about thirty-four years ago. The TIC has full power to be the judge the jury and the executioner. There is only one punishment for deliberately changing the timeline and that is to be erased from time itself. The same is if you commit murder, but murder is a bit more complicated. The Temporal Investigation Department for Murder Prevention and the Temporal Department for Murder Investigations, are the most complex and mind bending departments in the whole of the TIC.

The car slowed to a stop at the first checkpoint and Maxwell put the window down so that the checkpoint guard could talk to them. Good Morning, Detectives, what are you doing up so early? the checkpoint guard said, handing Maxwell a clipboard sized computer pad.

The boss phones us in the middle of the night and he says jump so we naturally say ‘How high? Maxwell said, joking to the guard. He placed his hand onto the pad and the computer scanned his handprint. The pad chimed as it accepted his handprint.

Well, you know that we never close, the guard replied, taking the pad off of Maxwell and hitting the button to raise the barrier.

Whatever happened to just nine till five? Maxwell said, as the car moved off again towards the parking garage.

Maxwell approached the main entrance to Temporal Investigations with Farrell following just behind him. Maxwell reached into his left pocket and pulled out a small black wallet, holding a corner he flipped it down and held it to the camera next to the door. A small red laser scanned it and seconds later, a voice said, Detective Alexander Maxwell. Cleared for entry. Have a nice day Detective.

The large heavy metal doors started to slide open, cracks of light slipping though the half open door. Maxwell stepped in followed quickly by Farrell. The large door slowly slid shut again and they were left in the massive main entrance of the Temporal Integrity Commission.

Maxwell started walking in large strides, Farrell trying to keep up. Each footstep Maxwell and Farrell took was echoed up to the great dome of glass hundreds of feet above them. The floor was shiny and was plastered with the Temporal Integrity Crest. The logo was an eagle with its wings spread wide, in its left talon was an old style pocket watch, and in the other was a magnifying glass. Maxwell could remember the first time he had walked into the foyer and was stunned at how big it was, but walking though it every other day, he got used to it and really never noticed it; it was just another room he had to get through to get to his desk. The foyer was empty and all there was were the two echoes of footsteps, but another set of footsteps started to come into earshot. Maxwell knew who the only person that would be here at this time in the morning would be.

Good morning gentlemen, a female voice said, from the large archway directly in front of Maxwell and Farrell. As Maxwell got closer, he could see that it was just who he knew it would be, Ms. Brenda Weir. The chief temporal data analyst at TIC, Weir stepped forward, she was holding a silver data tablet to her chest, she was small, blonde and despite her hair colour, she was as smart as they get. Weir was the county’s top temporal physicist. She knew more about time travel than Maxwell and Farrell put together, and yet she had never been travelling through time before.

Tell me, Brenda, do you ever go home? Farrell said.

I don’t have the time, Detective. she replied.

Weir was also as witty as you could be in this line of work, she always had a small joke or pun that always broke the silence in an awkward moment, and most of them pertained to time.

Farrell chuckled, knowing fine well that it was not funny nor did it answer his question. What’s the situation that the boss has to pull us in at six in the morning? Maxwell asked as they continued through the metal archway and into the elevators that waited at the end.

The ‘boss’ has not told me anything, he wanted to brief both of you, me and the rest of the department at the same time, Weir said, stepping into the first vacant elevator and pressing the button for the sixteenth floor. Maxwell stepped in just as the doors closed. Farrell was already in looking out the glass windows as the elevator started to ascend.

The elevator ascended faster as Maxwell turned to look out of the glass elevator to the busy streets below, as they got higher along the outside of the building, the skyscrapers of London city matched their height, the Temporal Integrity Commission was the highest building in the world, with ninety five floors, all glass windows, the sunrise reflecting off the glass was the most magnificent sight anywhere in

London.

The elevator was high enough now that the morning sun was just starting to make an appearance from just below the horizon. Pulling his eyes away, Maxwell turned to ask Weir more questions.

Did you say the whole of the department is in?

Yup, the boss has not just called the whole department in, he activated the TIC interdepartmental Alpha Protocol.

"You mean he pulled in the whole of the Temporal Integrity

Commission?" Farrell said, spinning around on his left heel to face

Weir.

It must be big if he pulled in the whole of the TIC in with us, Farrell continued.

Well, all will become clear in about five minutes, Weir said, as a woman’s voice announced that they were