TIME BEFORE TIME

By DAN DUBOSE and BEAU DUBOSE

Time Before Time begins with a genius professor (Emerson Whitmore) who is disgruntled with his mainstream scientist peers. His theories on many advanced civilizations developing on Earth over and over across millions of years got him crossways with most mainstream scientists and almost banned from institu

• Language: English
• Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
• Release date: Jul 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781684864591

DAN DUBOSE

Dan graduated from Texas A&M University with a major in Construction Engineering and a minor in Geology. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Air Force and served as a contracting officer at Lowry AFB in Denver until he left the Air Force with the rank of Captain. He has recently retired from his position as an Executive VP with Yates Construction where he was in charge of the cost analysis of close to $8 billion worth of construction projects every year.Dan is proud of his wonderful family. He and his wonderful wife and best friend, Beki, have two grown kids. A daughter, who is an accountant, and a son, who is a Senior Project Manager for Yates Construction. They have a granddaughter, 22 years old, who is a graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi in Marine Biology. They also have a grandson, 8 years old, who loves soccer.https://timebeforetimebook.com/

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PROLOGUE

MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE THE GREAT CATACLYSM, the people of Earth had developed the technology to travel to the distant stars. Over the centuries expeditions had been sent to other constellations. They discovered that there were many other races in the galaxy and the constellations of Leo, Taurus, Gemini, and most of the remaining systems were claimed by these other races.

Over the millennia ambassadors began traveling back and forth between the inhabited planets. Slowly and steadily the people of Earth established trade and tourism between a few of these different worlds. Upon discovering the nature and aggressiveness of some of the other races that refused to communicate and establish relationships, a very sophisticated, highly trained, and very effective worldwide defense system had been put in place. A space fleet of several large battleships and carriers was developed to protect the transports between the planets.

It was discovered that Orion and its neighbor, the cluster Pleiades, was the only constellations with systems not occupied. Due to the massive overcrowding of Earth at the time, colonies were established, and people were encouraged to relocate. Many did. Colonies were established on as many as two dozen planets in that system. Each nation of the Earth picked out a planet to populate and support. The colonists brought their own customs, traditions and beliefs to their new worlds. The trade and travel between the Earth and these colonies and between the colonized planets themselves flourished. Technology thrived.

Although at that time there were separate independent nations. There was no central world governing body. There was a combined high council with a representative from each nation that had been established to handle the business matters of the planet. They managed to work together well enough to create a very surreal and peaceful world that was extremely prosperous. All shared in the world’s wealth.

At this time Mars was a major trade partner with Earth and travel between the two planets was almost a daily routine. Many of the top scientists and theorists of the time believed that Earth was actually a colony established by the people of Mars eons before.

Sixty years before it collided with Earth, scientists discovered the massive asteroid that was on a collision course with the planet.

There was no doubt about the trajectory, and no doubt that when it hit it would destroy all life on the planet. The different nations on Earth came together as never before. For almost 20 years expeditions had been sent to intercept it. They attempted to change its course. Attempts had been made to blow it up. All the world’s best scientists using the most advanced technology tried to find a solution. Nothing worked, it kept coming.

It was decided that in order to save as many people as possible a mass evacuation had to be put in place. It was extremely difficult to convince the entire population of the planet of the impending disaster and the need to leave the planet. Most people not being able to actually see the asteroid had a hard time deciding they had to leave and basically start their lives over on a distant world. Finally, through the tremendous efforts of the high council and the unprecedented cooperation and agreement of the world’s scientists the general population became convinced. At the time the Earth’s population was still over ten billion, so it took quite a bit of planning and logistics to accomplish this.

All ships of the space fleet started moving people to the colonized planets. Several of the other constellations that trade, and peaceful relations had been established with sent transports to help in the tremendous task. The long and arduous process was underway. With only 110 or so vessels at their disposal they decided a hundred of these would be dedicated to people and the rest to the animals and vegetation of the planet. As many different species of live animals and selected species of plants were relocated to the planets that best suited them. The genes, chromosomes, and DNA of each of these species of plants and animals would be carefully collected and reproduced on their new worlds, thus guaranteeing the survival of most of the species that lived on the planet at that time.

It would take each vessel over 2500 trips. Many breakdowns and ships simply wearing out extended the evacuation to within a year of the predicted impact date. Most of the population had been removed and relocated. Because the trajectory of the asteroid was predicted to easily bypass Mars, almost a billion people had chosen to move to that planet in lieu of relocating to the colonies.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence. In spite of the drastic weather changes. In spite of the darkening skies and the asteroids shadow covering a good part of the Earth much of the time, there were those that thought it was all a hoax. The members of the combined high council traveled out and met with as many people as possible. The airways were saturated with the notices of impending doom. Through the efforts of the councilmen some of those changed their minds and left on the last of the transports. Others still stubbornly refused.

Six months before the predicted impact date the members of the combined high council that had been overseeing the evacuation left the planet for the last time. Each went to their respective nation’s colonies. There was no hope for the people that remained.

The impact of the asteroid was tremendous. It literally knocked the Earth upside down. The North Pole became the South Pole. The South Pole became the North Pole. The orbit of the planet around the sun changed from almost a circular pattern to an elliptical one, totally changing the variations of hot and cold on different parts of the planet. Volcanoes all over the world erupted. The atmosphere was totally wiped out. Earthquakes ripped the land masses apart. It seemed the Earth was literally being blown to pieces.

By some miracle the Earth managed to stay together. Before the impact land made up over 75% of the surface. Afterwards 70% of the surface was water. The great civilization that had been developed and flourished for thousands of years was gone almost without a trace. No evidence left to let future generations know it ever existed.

It was the end of time; it was the beginning of time.

1

WHEN EMERSON WHITMORE INTERVIEWED JOHN CHANTRYREMOTELY, he was quite impressed with the 6-ft-7-inch powerfully built man. Knowing his background, he hired him immediately. All Emerson had told John at that time was that they were going on an expedition and he needed a bodyguard.

John had served two tours of duty in the Elite Special Forces division of the Space Rangers. His last few years were spent training new recruits with the special weapons used in zero and low gravity. Before being selected for the Elite Space Rangers, Chantry had served in the Special Services Division as hand-to-hand combat and survival instructor for the All Service Command. After serving for 20 years, with actions on the moon and 3 other planets, and being exposed to some pretty weird stuff, he decided he needed a change of pace, less excitement, so he retired. Whitmore had offered him almost four times the amount he was making in the service so signing on with him was and easy decision. He figured playing bodyguard to one of the world’s most elite scientists couldn’t be too difficult compared to the career he just left. If he would have only known.

John met Whitmore at his farm. Whitmore had not said much about the expedition, but he sensed that if this man had decided he needed a bodyguard then it was for a good reason. Not really knowing what kind of mess he was getting into he had brought a large assortment of weapons but left them in his vehicle for the time being. The huge barn on the property that his GPS had directed him to looked like most of the barns in this part of the country. He entered through a side door as he had been directed. When he entered lights came up and he could see that he was in the middle of what looked like a normal barn, complete with horse stalls with the smell of fresh hay and the other smells that accompany a barn. A medium-size man with glasses shoved on top of a shock of greying hair, dressed neatly in a white lab coat came out of a side door.

John Chantry, I presume, he said as he held out his hand.

Nice to meet you in person, Professor Whitmore, Chantry responded. Since we had our call, I looked you up, and you seem to be quite famous in the scholastic communities for what they call your rogue theories on everything from evolution, to the extinction of the dinosaurs, to why the Neanderthals disappeared, to disagreeing in general with mainstream science across the spectrum.

The Professor just glanced up at him but didn’t respond. That look made Chantry decide to talk about something else.

So, can you tell me a little about what you have in mind? What kind of expedition do you have in mind? Are we fixing to go into a jungle somewhere looking for a lost species to prove one of your theories?

Well, not exactly, but close, Whitmore replied. Let me show you something.

Emerson gestured toward a door. Let’s go through the airlock, he suggested. This leads to a decontamination chamber. From the decon chamber we will go into an ISO Class 1 clean room.

Chantry thought he was hearing things, a class-one clean room in the middle of a barn, this he had to see. He followed Whitmore into the small room. A steamy cloud flooded the room then dissipated.

They stayed within the chamber a few minutes then Whitmore gestured toward the opposite door. Shall we? he said to Chantry.

As they entered the inner chamber, after one glance around, Chantry’s face had bewilderment written all over it. Seeing this, Whitmore smiled and gestured at the large Pod in the middle of the room they had just entered.

This, my friend, is a time machine.

John did not think a time machine was even possible, much less in existence, but it seemed Whitmore had put one together without government help, or any help at all for that matter. No one other than himself was aware of the time machine or that it really worked.

Emerson explained, It’s really very simple, time is its own dimension. After discovering this, I’ve found a way to move outside of that dimension.

As Emerson was explaining, John took two steps back, leaned against the wall and simply said, Wow.

2

THE CIRCULAR POD WAS SELF-POWERED. Whitmore had found it amazingly simple to use magnets to provide the power necessary to run the Pod. There was an exterior shell that rotated clockwise and an interior shell that rotated counterclockwise. When putting magnets together, the like poles push away from each other. By creating a spring device that pushed the magnet back toward the other, the process would repeat itself over and over. By adjusting the pressure, the speed would increase. By attaching a simple gear system an unlimited speed of rotation could be created. This powered the rotating shells of the exterior of the Pod as well as the data centers and controls within the Pod.

As Whitmore continued to explain, he added, We know from the theory of relativity that the faster you go the slower time moves. The exterior shell of the Pod and the interior shell both moving at close to light speed in opposite directions had the effect of slowing time down to almost a standstill to those inside the Pod. I discovered that when this happened a special isolation enhancer set to the right frequency will take the inhabitants of the Pod and the Pod itself completely outside of the time dimension, which in turned allows the movement back through time.

After hearing Whitmore’s explanations, John realized that this was really happening, time travel was real. Seeing the absolute look of amazement on Chantry’s face Whitmore chuckled and said, Get ready, because tonight, you start work.

As they were loading up and making final preparation, Emerson told John that their first trial run would be going back in time only about four hundred years. Based on his calculations it would take them about 10 minutes of actual time to traverse that many years.

After the briefing Chantry decided he needed some time to ensure everything was ready to go. Not knowing exactly what they would be doing and why Whitmore would need a bodyguard Chantry was prepared for a lot of different scenarios, but this one was not one he had thought about.

He went out to his vehicle and moved it inside the barn as Whitmore had suggested. Opening the rear storage compartments, he selected the 707 Glitzor, a laser rifle with a special choke that could be instantly modified from a long-distant thread-like beam to a short-range widespread blast. He then selected a Glock LT10 sidearm. It had an adjustable beam that could range from lightly paralyzing to disintegrating his target. He had carried it for years, and began affectionally calling it Little Big Man. In addition, he added a refurbished Browning Space Force Special. The design taken from the original Browning 12-gage pump shotgun first made in the 20th century. Perfectly designed for close combat in space, on a planet with no atmosphere, or in the atmosphere of Earth, the thing was deadly. The Browning held 15 super-effective anti-matter proton shells that were capable of reaching out 100 feet or so. If they came in contact with anything, that object be it living or not, no matter the size, would be annihilated. A replacement magazine was attached to each side of the weapon. This weapon would stop anything. He preferred this weapon for close action when a lot of firepower made the difference. He also grabbed two of the new high-tech survival suits. It took a while, but he finally convinced Whitmore to wear it.

Settling into the Pod, Emerson looked at Chantry and asked, Are you ready to do what, as far as I know, no other human has ever done?

Chantry looked at Whitmore, and raising an eyebrow simply stated, Since you put it that way… I reckon.

Whitmore removed the lock on the magnets and the two outside shells started rotating. It took several minutes but soon a loud whirring became prevalent inside the Pod. As the intensity became stronger and seem to stabilize Emerson turned a dial slowly, and suddenly everything was eerily silent.

We are now outside of the dimension of time, Emerson stated.

John could feel no difference.

How do you make this thing move? John asked.

We don’t. We actually are in the same place, and we will stay in the same place we were before we started, just not there. Time actually slides by us, not us by time, Emerson answered.

Oh, well, that really makes a lot of sense, John answered in an ironic tone. He figured he might as well be quiet from now on and watch. He was pretty sure he would not understand any of the answers he would get if he asked anything anyway.

Now we will elevate, Emerson stated looking at John.

John nodded silently.

While we are outside of the time dimension, the Pod has the ability to move vertically up and down. We are going to elevate up to about 500 feet for this trip. The ground elevation should not be much different at this location than it was 400 years ago. However, if we were going back several million years, we would elevate to around 10,000 feet. Who knows what the Earth looked like back then? The last thing we need to happen is to come back into the time dimension inside a mountain or a lake or something.

After about 10 minutes Emerson adjusted the dial again. This was the tricky part.

We have stopped the movement of time and now need to see what is under us before we enter back into the current time dimension. Emerson flipped a switch and studied the lines on a small screen to his right. Everything seems clear, ground elevation is only 8 inches higher than our beginning point and the terrain is clear.

Having adjusted for the final elevation Emerson eased the Pod back to the ground. The loud whirring sound was again prominent inside the craft. He then slowly moved another dial and the whirring started to slowly subside. When the speed of the outside shells of the Pod reached less than half of light speed the exterior that was surrounding them started becoming clear.

We are supposed to be in approximately October of 1881, Emerson told John.

I bet we are scaring the crap out of anyone from this time period that saw nothing turn into us, John stated.

In theory, at this moment we are invisible to anyone outside the Pod, Emerson answered. As long as we maintain the speed of the outside shells where they are, we will remain invisible. Hopefully we will remain so until we are sure of our outside surroundings and if there are any people around.

3

THEY WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEMI-ARID REGION OF THE MIDWEST. Emerson’s family was in the farming and ranching business and owned several hundred thousand acres in the western side of Kansas. Not much having an aptitude for farming Emerson’s four brothers ran the operation. Emerson kept the books, and in doing so had plenty of time to pursue his science experiments. He had taken over one of the large barns and turned it into his lab. Emerson had been experimenting with different variants of time for over twenty years and come up with the initial theories of a static time field as a dimension of its own and had figured out the way in and out of this dimension. He was not sure why a couple of chickens that he used in his early experiments with the first prototypes did not come back with the Pod, but he continued developing it, and after a few more chicken rides with no incident, he had decided it was time to trust his work and take a trip himself back in time. Realizing he could run into any number of situations he had elected to recruit Chantry.

After about an hour, the two men had determined that they were pretty much alone in the area. The Pod could pick up the sounds of the surrounding area while in the stealth mode but outside of the immediate area things were not visible. Emerson knew their mobility would be limited so he had designed and built a drone that when launched would fly a preprogramed grid and be able to detect any signs of life within the area. One of the problems Whitmore had not taken the time to solve was that the Pod had to be completely shut down before anyone or anything could enter or exit.

As soon as he could, Whitmore raised the sides of the Pod so John could exit. Chantry figured if they were truly in the 1880s then the antique Browning and his side arm could probably handle anything they encountered. Wellarmed, he scouted around the immediate area, and when he found nothing alarming in the vicinity, he concluded they were alright for the moment. He motioned for Emerson. Emerson exited the craft and after a few adjustments launched the drone.

As it climbed higher the magnificence of the landscape started revealing itself. To the north was vast open plains with grass shoulder high moving in vast waves as the wind moved over the land. The vast grasslands giving way to the low foothills in the far distance. Scattered across the plains were small herds of deer and antelope. Emerson could see why this area turned into the farmlands of the future and thought to himself this was a good indication they had traveled back in time.

Emerson expected to see large herds of American Bison, but none were visible anywhere. Emerson then realized that most of these animals had been wiped out by this date in history. Whitmore then turned the drone south. After several miles the drone started coming closer to the Arkansas River. The terrain was slowly changing from the grassy plains to scattered trees to heavily forested areas as the drone approached the river.

The Arkansas is about 5 times bigger than it is in the future, he told John. We are definitely looking at it before it was used to irrigate millions of acres of wheat fields.

Suddenly Whitmore spoke excitedly. John, look at that! There is a path or a road of some kind following the path of the river.

Whitmore had the drone follow the road and it was not too far before a cluster of buildings came into view.

As the drone got closer, Emerson realized they were looking at a stagecoach stop. Silver Springs Relay Station was the sign over the gate. Horses were in a corral and a couple of people were walking across the property.

Whitmore was pretty sure they had gone back in time. There was no farms or wheat fields as there were when they started their trip. The Arkansas was full and almost wide enough to be navigable, and there were no stage stations after the early 1900s. Despite these pretty convincing observations, Whitmore still wanted more definitive proof.

After a few minutes of discussion, it was decided that Emerson would stay with the craft, while John went to the stage station to try and find something with a date on it.

John got his gear together. First thing he had to strap on a body camera. He waited for Whitmore to confirm the audio and video was transmitting back to the home monitor. The audio was one way only to prevent any unintentional or intentional transmission exposing Chantry.

John changed his mind about the need for the shotgun, the only weapon John decided to take was the Glock sidearm, Little Big Man. The weapon had taken care of him for a long time in some pretty tense situations. Even on stun he figured it would handle just about anything this time period could throw at him. Now ready, he looked back at Whitmore who gave him a thumbs up. He was not looking forward to the cross-country hike, especially in the midsummer heat, but the years in the Special Forces had honed his physical condition to perfection. Without giving the heat another thought, he turned and started the trek to the station.

One of the traits of the survival suit he was wearing was its chameleon capabilities. It would adapt its color to the surrounding area. He was unconcerned about being discovered as he was keeping under cover anyway while walking through the shoulder-high grass. As he approached the forested area, his suit changed with the terrain, and by him moving slow and steady, timing his movements with the wind, he was almost invisible. In this way he stealthily moved closer and closer to the station. He used a line of trees along a small branch that ran across the back of the property toward the river to make his way closer to the buildings. Slowly he made his way to the edge of the backside of the barn and waited patiently for someone to show.

4

RICK HANLEY AND HIS WIFE MYRA RAN A STAGE STOP FOR THE OVERLAND STAGE COMPANY, located just north of the Arkansas River. He had been struggling to make a living off the section of land they had settled when the stage company decided he was in a strategic location and offered him a pretty good deal to care and feed for their horses as well as provide a rest stop and meals for the passengers.

As Chantry waited, he started hearing voices coming from out of the station. "Ben, the