Tampered Destiny

By Gabriella Bradley

To save her mother’s life, Myra comes up with a plan to travel back in time and return without any of her team knowing.

Myra's excursion to the past goes according to plan until she steps through the portal to return to her lab. To her surprise and consternation, she ends up on an alien world with a hoard of dragons.

The time machine has malfunctioned and either killed her, and she’s gone to the afterlife, or she’s been badly hurt and hallucinating. But the exotic hunk called Odon feels far from a hallucination...

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Sep 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781487436001

Book preview

Myra needs to go back to the past to save her mother’s life. They are almost ready to send a human through time but the billionaire who’d funded the project stipulated that he be the first. Can she wangle it so that none of her team will know?

To save her mother’s life, Myra comes up with a plan to travel back in time and return without any of her team knowing.

Myra’s excursion to the past goes according to plan until she steps through the portal to return to her lab. To her surprise and consternation, she ends up on an alien world with a hoard of dragons.

The time machine has malfunctioned and either killed her, and she’s gone to the afterlife, or she’s been badly hurt and hallucinating. But the exotic hunk called Odon feels far from a hallucination...

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Tampered Destiny

Copyright © 2022 Gabriella Bradley

ISBN: 978-1-4874-3600-1

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

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Smashwords Edition

Tampered Destiny

By

Gabriella Bradley

Chapter One

Scientist Myralia Chambers tiredly brushed her light-blonde hair from her forehead and took her phone out of the pocket of her lab coat. It had vibrated several times, and she’d ignored it, but ringing so many times in a row was unusual.

She glanced at the display. It was her mother, who never bothered her at work, so she thought she’d better answer. Mom? Where’s the fire?

Hon, can you come over?

I’m still at work. What’s up?

I really need to talk to you. I know it’s late, but—

It’s okay. I was about to leave anyway. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. She took off her lab coat, draped it over the back of her chair, and quickly left the lab after shutting down her computer. Why her mother had asked her to come over so late was a mystery. It had to be important.

Why do you have to work such long evenings lately, hon? her mother greeted when Myra walked into the living room of her parental home.

Mom, I’ve told you many times. We’re working on an important project. Now, what’s so urgent for you to contact me at work, asking me to come over at this time of the night? It’s getting close to midnight.

I’m not even going to ask what kind of project because I’ll get the same answer as always. You can’t talk about it. I’m sorry, sweetie. I know you asked me not to call you for a few weeks and to wait until you called me. But this is important, and I’d made up my mind to finally tell you. If I’d waited, I might have changed my mind again.

Myra helped herself to a cup of tea. I only talked to you last night. Where’s Dad?

Gone to bed early. He had a tough day at work.

Myra sat on the couch and sipped her tea. So, tell me. What is bothering you?

I need to tell you the results of some medical tests. I’ve got stage four cancer.

Myra almost dropped her cup. With shaking hands, she set it on the coffee table. What kind?

Cervical. It has spread to my other organs. Even if I go through chemo, the specialist doesn’t think there’s much hope. I left it far too long to go see a doctor.

Hell, her mother was only fifty-four. How long had she had problems? Why had she ignored them? She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Mom, when did you first have symptoms? You must have known for a while that something was wrong.

I blamed it on menopause. Her mother shrugged. I’ve decided not to take the chemo treatment. And don’t be admonishing me. I know I was wrong in not going to the doctor years ago. Having you and your father beat me up about it is the last thing I need right now.

Myra couldn’t believe her ears. Mom, for God’s sake, why not do the treatments? You’re not going to fight this? What else did the specialist tell you?

It has spread to so many of my other organs that chemo may delay the inevitable for a bit, but it can’t be cured. Not anymore. It would involve a complete hysterectomy, and the chemo would make the last months of my life miserable. So, my decision is final.

Myra picked up her cup and drank the rest of her tea. More than anything, she would have welcomed a glass of wine right then, but she had to drive home. What does Dad say about all this?

I haven’t told him yet.

Mom, you have to tell him. Why haven’t you told us about any of this earlier? How long before... She fought the tears threatening to spill.

Hush, you’ll wake your father. The specialist doesn’t know. He said it could be three months, maybe longer. Doing the surgery and the chemo could add a few more months. But like I said, I don’t want to go through that misery.

Myra’s eyes burned with unshed tears as she scanned her mother. It explained why her mother had lost weight. Whenever she’d commented to her mom about how good she was looking, she’d assumed it was the fitness program her mother said she’d joined. She suspected now that it wasn’t true. It was difficult to accept that her mother would be gone in a matter of three months. All because she’d ignored telltale symptoms for quite a few years. And now that she really looked closer, her mother looked wan, tired, and the weight loss had happened too rapidly.

A door opened, and footsteps approached.

Her father came into the living room. What’s going on? Honey, what are you doing here so late?

Her mother shook her head and frowned, indicating for her to keep quiet, but Myra acted like she hadn’t seen. Dad, I’m glad you woke up. Come and join us. Mom needs to tell you something.

Let me get a glass of milk first.

Myra ignored the angry expression on her mother’s face. But her mother’s reluctance wasn’t fair. Her father needed to know. And what was her mom thinking anyway? It would soon become obvious that there was something seriously wrong with her.

Her dad sat on the couch next to her and looked from her to her mother. Okay, what’s going on?

Myra glared at her mother. Mom, tell him. Tell him now!

Arnie, I’m so sorry... I... I didn’t want to tell you yet.

Tell me what?

I’ve got stage four cancer and have about three months left to live. Her mother couldn’t have put it more bluntly.

The glass of milk tumbled to the floor, and for a moment, Myra thought for sure her father would have a heart attack. He stared at his wife, and his face turned chalky. After a few moments of silence, he stood and went to the kitchen, returning right away with a dishcloth to clean up the spilled milk.

With shaky hands, he set the glass and cloth on the coffee table and sank back onto the couch. How long have you known? he questioned his wife.

About three months.

Myra sat silent while her father fired the same questions she had asked and got the same answers. She finally pulled herself together and spoke up. Mom, if you do the hysterectomy and then the chemo, who knows... other people have beaten stage four.

Her mother shook her head vehemently. The specialist says it’s too widely spread. And I’ve seen what chemo and radiation do to you. Remember me telling you both about Margie and her battle with breast cancer? Yes, she ended up beating it, but it had not spread to her lymph nodes and other organs. The chemo really did a number on her. She’s still not back to her old self.

If you don’t do anything, there’s no hope at all, Arnie pointed out. And I’m quite upset that you kept this from me. I’m sure Myra is as well.

Doctor Harford, the oncologist, made it very clear that even with treatment and the surgery, there’s little to no hope. Sorry, but I would like my last months with the two of you to be ones to remember, not have me sick as a dog all the time only to pass on anyway. A five to ten percent chance isn’t good enough for me.

Mom, what about seeing another specialist? Get a second opinion? Myra suggested.

I agree with Myra. I’d like you to see another oncologist, Arnie said.

I trust the oncologist I have now. No more doctors. No more tests. It’s my body. My decision. And it’s final.

Myra realized that at this point, there was no chance of changing her mother’s mind. And probably wouldn’t ever be. Melinda Chambers was as stubborn as a donkey.

She got up, walked to her mother, and gave her a hug. I’m going home now. It’s past midnight, and I have to get up early. I’ll call you tomorrow. She swallowed hard to get rid of the lump in her throat.

Come for dinner Saturday night? You always came on Saturdays, but the last few months, you haven’t, her mother asked.

Yes, Mom. I promise I’ll be here. She kissed her mother again and hurried out the door. She needed to digest what she’d just learned about her mother, absorb it all, and come to terms with the fact that soon she’d be without her.

While driving to her apartment building, she allowed the tears to flow freely. She parked, wiped her eyes, and took the stairs up to her apartment. I’ll take time off work. But as she stuck the key in the lock, she realized she couldn’t really take off.

Myra, who had written the equations and found the funding for their project, was the head scientist of the eight-man team working on a time machine, which was close to success. All the scientists she’d hired were single and had several science degrees to their name. They were all highly motivated, but none as much as her.

They had been developing the highly classified project for eight and a half years, and they were almost ready to send a human through time.

For the past seven months, they had been experimenting with rats. It was only in the last few months that most of the rodents had returned successfully and in one piece, even after being gone for a week. Unfortunately, they couldn’t attach recording devices to the rats because they were scavengers. They could easily get picked up by pest control, get caught in a trap, or ingest rat poison. Which had probably happened to some of the ones that hadn’t come back. Myra could only imagine what an exterminator would think if he found a tiny camera attached to a dead rat. Next on the list to send to the past or the future was Harry, their monkey.

Financially supported by eccentric billionaire Marcos Drankosteyn, the team had been able to work undisturbed on perfecting Myra’s equations and design. Drankosteyn owned the building that housed the lab, funded whatever equipment they needed, and paid their salaries.

Myra threw her purse on the couch, kicked off her shoes, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of wine. As she watched the ruby liquid fill the glass, an idea took root in her mind, causing the glass to almost overflow. She noticed just in time and set the bottle on the counter.

She carefully sipped from the glass before taking it to the living room. When she relaxed on the couch, her feet on the coffee table, she took a few more drinks and allowed her idea to roll around in her brain. Why not skip the monkey and use a human subject? Would the team agree? Probably not. But if she could travel back in time, she could convince her mother to have a hysterectomy.

How could she persuade her coworkers? They hadn’t even sent the monkey through yet. Nothing larger than a rat. What if the machine malfunctioned when transporting a human? She’d be taking a huge risk, but she was willing to take that risk to save her mother. She didn’t want to think about what life would be like without the only person in the world she trusted a hundred percent.

Before anything, she needed to somehow get her mother’s medical files. And then there was Drankosteyn to win over. His condition for funding them had been that he would be the first human to travel back or forward in time. Should she even talk to him about it? She decided against it. The man would never agree, no matter what the reason. Though she was eternally grateful to the man for funding them all these years, he was