Time Terror

By Wendell J McCormick

Three African-American men while exploring a cave in Virginia, accidently get caught up in a time travel experiment taking place 200yrs in the future. These scientists have chosen this deep cave for their experiments. Choosing it for its isolation which allows it to remain unchanged over a long period of time, it also offers a safety factor that includes shielding living things from their experiments. Unfortunately, they did not take into account those who loved to explore these caves. The effect of the experiment sends two of the men into the year 1801. During some of the darkest years of American history. Especially for those of African descent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499039184

Book preview

TIME TERROR

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Wendell J McCormick

Copyright © 2014 by Wendell J McCormick.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4990-3919-1

                eBook            978-1-4990-3918-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/18/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Hawk’s Cave June 9, 2001

Chapter 2 Hawk’s Cave June 9, 2201

Chapter 3 2001

Chapter 4 2201

Chapter 5 1801

Chapter 6 2201

Chapter 7 1801

Chapter 8 2201

Chapter 9 1801

Chapter 10 1801

Chapter 11 1801

Chapter 12 1801

Chapter 13 1801

Chapter 14 2201/1801

Chapter 15 1801

Chapter 16 1801/2201

Epilogue

PART 2: TIME TERROR

Prologue

Chapter 1 Things are not always what they seem

Chapter 2 The Past is the Key to the Present (geologic saying) 1 week later

Chapter 3 Harvey and Billy Bob

Chapter 4 Mother

Chapter 5 Glimpse of the Future

Chapter 6 Going back

Chapter 7 The Disc

Chapter 8 David and Kareem

Chapter 9 Culpeper

Chapter 10 Washington, D.C.

Chapter 11 The Miracle

Chapter 12 All Together Again

Chapter 13 Tragedy

Chapter 14 The Angel

Epilogue

Dedicated

to my daughter Sarah

and to my family

and my in-laws

whose friendship, loyalty and courage helped

to see both Sarah and myself through our own time terrors

381

3 words

8 letters

1 meaning

I love you

The story -Three African-American men while exploring a cave in Virginia, accidently get caught up in a time travel experiment taking place 200yrs in the future. These scientists have chosen this deep cave for their experiments. Choosing it for its isolation which allows it to remain unchanged over a long period of time, it also offers a safety factor that includes shielding living things from their experiments. Unfortunately, they did not take into account those who loved to explore these caves. The effect of the experiment sends two of the men into the year 1801. During some of the darkest years of American history. Especially for those of African descent.

Main characters-

In the year 2001- Brothers, Daniel and David Hartford

          Kareem L. Johnson a friend from Pittsburgh Pa.

In the year 2201- Director of the time station Dr. Benjamin Lestor

          Assistant to the director Dr. Robert Beauche

Glossary-

Temporal - a word used in some instances to replace the word time

Time Station - a large complex of buildings, some housing the fusion generators, the giant magnetic field generators, the optical generators and the power generation buildings

Time Chamber - an enclosed unit, twenty feet by twenty feet that holds the time indexer. It also acts as a grounding source that allows the energy of the pulsed transmissions to be dissipated into the earth

Time Indexer - a wafer thin, circular device, that is the final transmitter of the energy needed for time displacement. The time indexer is placed within the center of the time chamber

Sensors - atomic particle sensing device

Pulse - individual time movement

Parent - a computer type device used for highly developed time computations

Tech - another computer device used for housekeeping duties such as countdowns, adjustments, etc.

Gov/Indus - a future style of government-industry cooperation

Luminators - storage facilities for fusion generator operations. Fusion and magnetic energy are used in this area to enhance the time movement process by bending space/time back upon itself

Paradox - a contradictory experience in time. One that will not allow the original experience to occur

Hologram - a three dimensional image

What saw I said the bird on high

of the troubles down below

was to chill the very marrow

of my tiny fragile bones

CHAPTER 1

Hawk’s Cave June 9, 2001

D aniel looked at Kareem through the rear-view mirror. He was sitting there moving back and forth to the rhythm of whatever music he was hearing through the headset of his cd player. Moving back and forth like he didn’t have a care in the world. Daniel thought about how Kareem had been as a student in his black history class at the University of Virginia. He had been a decent student. He never asked a lot of questions in class but he was interested and alert.

History, though, was not Kareem’s specialty, art was. Not only was Kareem an art major, he was an artist. When he took pencil to paper the objects he saw came to life in front of your eyes. That’s how Daniel had met Kareem. Kareem was sitting outside of the old history building sketching it in pencil. Daniel decided to stop and have a look. He saw a rendition of a building that had stood for over a hundred years. Yet Kareem had captured the essence of the building as the original artist might have planned it before the masons and the carpenters began their task of piecing it together.

Because of this visit Kareem had decided to sign-up for Daniels class to help fill up his elective requirments. Those classes outside of ones major subjects that the University and the education system in general, believed were necessary for a well-rounded college education.. They had become friends and had met for lunch on numerous occasions. Here they had learned quite a bit about each other. Daniel had learned that Kareem L. Johnson had come to college on a football scholarship earned from a high school in Pittsburgh, Pa. He lived in a small house that sat on the side of a hill that overlooked the confluence of the Ohio River. His mother and father were at first his foster parents and then had adopted him. He had no idea who his real father was and knew only that his mother had him when she was no more that a child herself. A young teenager that had not been in the city very long and had died as a result of a drug overdose. A friend told the agency where the baby had been taken that his first name was Kareem but was not sure of the mother’s last name.

Luther and Diana Johnson had raised Kareem from a baby. They were a good Christian family and had raised him to be a hardworking, decent fellow. Luther had died when Kareem was in middle school and he and his mother had done their best to keep things going.

Kareem had won a football scholarship and knew he was not destined to play professional football. He had some talent in the game and used this to pursue a path to his real love. When he graduated he went home and was offered a job doing the artwork and paintings that decorated the halls and walls of the Pittsburgh Steelers new football stadium.

Daniel was glad when Kareem had accepted his invitation to come back down to Virginia and spend a couple of weeks with him and his brother David.

Daniel looked over at his brother. David looked back and saw Daniel nod for him to look at Kareem. David looked at Kareem and laughed. Then he turned back to watch the scenery rushing by. Daniel and David Hartford were born in the western Virginia country side. Today they were going into the foothills of the mountains to explore a cave that Daniel had told his brother about. They were cavers from way back. They were close as brothers go but as they pursued their respective careers they had less and less time to spend together.

Daniel was thirty years old and David was nearing 29. David as a budding geologist and Daniel as a well-respected scholar. Daniel taught African-American history at the University of Virginia in the city of Roanoke. His main talent was writing and he had already published a best seller in his field entitled The Lost Paths. It was a treatise on the Underground Railroad and based on the routes used by escaping slaves using the lesser known paths snaking through the hills and valleys of central Virginia and what was now West Virginia. Daniel had spent years searching out these paths and had walked their entire length at one time or another.

They turned off of the main highway and headed into the countryside. They passed thru a small town that was situated at the base of the hills where they were planning to spend the weekend. At the edge of town they turned onto an old dirt road and started up into the hills. The road began to narrow as the car came up over a rise alongside of a very prominent ledge. When they had driven as far as they could Daniel pulled the car over onto a rock strewn flat and parked. They got out and took their packs out of the trunk. Daniel tossed a pair of boots to Kareem and told him to put his shoes in the car.

These are nice boots Daniel. Kareem said. I’ve never worn boots with Velcro straps.

Oh yeah? replied Daniel. How do they fit? Do they feel ok?

They feel great. Said Kareem. Nice and soft.

Yeah, they’re great hiking boots. Daniel said. I wouldn’t hike without them.

Kareem enjoyed these country settings. He reached down and picked up one of the many stones that lay tangled in the tall grass. Hey David, why are these rocks here so smooth?

David reached down and examined one of the stones. There used to be a river here at one time. Said David. I think around the early 1900’s the old town’s lumber company decided to divert it. The river rolled the rocks against one another and they smoothed themselves out. The water must have run pretty fast to round off some of these rocks. This one must weigh a quarter pound. When we get back I’ll show you some pictures of the area before the lumber mill flattened it. The trees in this area grew so close together it was said that a man could walk along the tree tops.

"No way’ said Kareem.

David laughed. It’s just a story. The trees here were very tall and grew close together. There was hardly any undergrowth. It was easy to walk in these woods.

Good hunting if you wanted. continued David.

I don’t think so, said Kareem. I do all of my hunting in a supermarket.

They may have laughed louder and longer at this than it deserved but they felt good and were ready for a good day. The conversation died down as the trio made their way into the hills. It was a clear, beautiful Virginia summer morning. The heat was starting to come up and they soon found themselves in need of a water stop. The mood was upbeat when they began again. After a while Daniel pointed up to a rocky outcrop. There it is, Hawks Peak and with it, Hawks Cave.

The cave was difficult to get started into. The opening was less than three feet high with sharp, hard rocks jutting up thru the dirt. They had to drag their packs behind them or push them ahead. After about six feet of some nasty pain from the initial scrapes and bruises, the cave floor began to smooth out. After about fifty feet of struggle the floor of the cave began to fall away. This allowed them to find a better comfort level. They could at least begin to straighten up their backs.

Ouch’ shouted Kareem, smacking his knee on the side of the cave wall. What the heck kind of fun is this?"

Daniel laughed. It gets better. I’ve been in this cave a little ways. Not too far down from here you can stand upright.

Well, Kareem said as he rubbed his knee. So far, this spe-e-e-lunking or whatever you call it, hurts like hell.

Kareem was however, feeling a whole lot better now that he could stand. In fact he was beginning to enjoy himself. They were moving steadily thru the tunnels with occasional stops for David to discuss some rock formation or other or Daniel to talk about how the Underground Railroad used these caves as hiding places on the way north.

Kareem liked being with David and Daniel. His life was in the city but these guys had knowledge you didn’t find on the South Side. David’s nose was always in a book or he was out in the field looking for new discoveries. While Daniel loved passing on his knowledge to the next generation.

They stepped around a corner and the tunnel opened up before their lights. Before them was a beautiful cavern only about twenty feet across and maybe fifteen feet long but it stretched upward forty feet or more. It was a spectacular view. David would not be surprised if more people than just the handful who had recorded their visit hadn’t come here just for this site alone.

They walked along with David talking about the walls and formations and just enjoying back and forth conversations. They stopped and had a bite to eat. After a well-deserved rest they began again. According to the map the second cavern was approximately a half a mile ahead. It was a little tighter in places and David said he figured if they took their time they could