Time Twist: Timer Slicers, #1

By Roger Chappell

A Time Travel Novella Prologue to the time travel novel 'Time Slicer'

What if you were never meant to exist?

It's 2021. Physics scientist Phillipa Harris had spent years perfecting a device that would change everything. She planned to use it on herself, to go back in time and fix things. But after the demonstration went wrong, the only thing that could fix everything was her unborn son, Isaac, from 22 years in the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Chappell
• Release date: May 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9780645346800

Roger Chappell

Roger Chappell is the best-selling author of Timer Slicer, which of course he based on his own Time Travel adventures. Shhh! He’s a fan of Star Trek, Star wars, Stars, Carl Sagan and The Formula One. He was born in the English coastal town of Eastbourne. At age three he was living on the French island of Guernsey, and at age five he had moved to New Zealand. By age six, his home was Tasmania, Australia. After finishing school in 1986, he moved with his parents to Brisbane, Queensland In 2001 he and his partner created their company Media Two Web Development. He met his wife online in 2003 and in person in 2006. She moved from Norway to Australia in 2007, and they married in Seattle in 2010. They had their first of three children in 2016. During all this time, his stories wrote themselves in his mind, until one day, when he found the right moment, they started to climb out and onto the screen. Visit www.rogerchappell.com.au

Book preview

Chapter 1

July 1, 2021

Philippa Harris was blissfully ignorant of the events, both past and future, that she was about to set in motion. That was probably the most fortunate part of the entire story.

Despite that, she stood frozen in thought, her mind racing and feeding her excitement for what she was about to do. It was a rare quiet moment that she allowed herself to enjoy on that otherwise ordinary Thursday afternoon. The winter sun had reached the windows, tinting the room with ochre, and warming the silence which filled the cool lab. It helped calm her thoughts. She felt ready.

In front of her was the result of the last five years of her life. She stared, trance-like at it waiting innocently on the table. It was a metallic device, no larger than a hard-cover book, and thinking about what it could do, what it meant, quickened her pulse. Flashes of memories cut through her mind like shrapnel, images of the past carefully preserved.

She knew what she was planning was risky, but it was now or never, and she was tired of waiting.

As she stared, she became caught up in the moment. A moment she felt might last forever if she could allow it, a lonely moment of emptiness stretching into the cold future. But if the evening's plan was a success, all that could change in an instant. She felt her skin tingle, while the curious sunlight crept further into her lab, finally reaching the shiny box, and giving it a magical orange glow.

A wave of nausea came from nowhere and snapped her out of her trance. Steadying herself on the nearby chair, she made it back to her desk to sit down. She was about to go over her checklist again when her assistant, Arjun, burst through the door with a train of words in an excited Indian accent.

‘Slow - down - Arjun.’ Philippa couldn’t help but grin at his excitement.

‘Sorry, boss.’ He took a breath and started again. ‘The TV show. Six pm, they confirmed it!’ Arjun was pacing around the lab in excitement. ‘It's on; you're going to be famous!’ He finally found a chair and rolled towards Philippa’s immaculately tidy desk.

Philippa's work for the last five years had been about space-time and a theory of quantum gravity. The theory suggested space-time had a foam-like structure full of microscopic wormholes. In theory, she'd found a way to enlarge those wormholes and send particles through them to any other point in time. Now, she had a device to demonstrate it.

But the possibility of making a monumental scientific discovery felt almost trivial to her. The idea of fame and fortune that would make most scientists fall over themselves with excitement held little allure for Philippa. Her motivation, known only to herself, was personal.

Arjun's grin faded as he noticed Philippa's discomfort. ‘Are you okay, Boss? Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you bursting in like that, but I just saw the email—’

‘It's okay, Arj, just a little nausea. I'll be fine. But yeah, great that the TV crew will