The Amulet (The Time Chronicles Book 1)

by Michael Dodd

  President Wooten smiled at his wife. She always knew when to throw in humor to diffuse the situation. “I know, honey,” he said, “Get my coat. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

  “I’m not sure that would be a great idea right now.” The voice was familiar to the President, but…

  A face emerged into John Woote n’s slowly clearing view. He didn’t recognize it. “How are you feeling, Mr. President?” the man said.

  Suddenly, the President realized who he was. “Xylon? Is that you?”

  “Yes, Mr. President,” he said, smiling with satisfaction, “Your operation was successful and your future and the future of the county look very bright.”

  “Thanks to you, I believe,” President Wooten said. “I’m getting in the habit of thanking you. Perhaps when I get out of here, you’ll join the First Lady and I for dinner at the White House. There’s a lot I’d like to discuss with you.”

  “I’ll make a point of it, sir. In the meantime , you might want to find a new vicepresident; the one you’ve got is a disaster.”

  ‡

  2070

  Gates didn’t wait for his father’s return to get to work. As an expert in computer systems and software, it wasn’t difficult to figure out how to destroy TDDRS; that was obvious: a computer virus. The problem was in creating one that would wipe out, or, at least corrupt the TDDRS files and assure they would never be repaired. To that end, he enlisted the assistance of a person he had befriended in his early days at the University of Chicago. His name was Moshe Greenberg, and he was reputed to be the brains behind the Stuxnet virus that stymied the Iranian nuclear program in 2011 and 2012. The two had become friends in 2039 at UC when Moshe was an instructor there. Now long retired and over 90 years old, Moshe was still sharp as a tack.

  “How are you, my old friend,” Gates said as he shook hands with the wheelchairbound nonagenarian. “You look better than you did 40 years ago.”

  Moshe was a bit frail and not a little hard of hearing, but he was a quick wit. “That’s only because you’re comparing me to yourself. For God’s sake man, you look terrible!”

  Gates sat down in a chair beside Moshe’s wheelchair. Moshe’s nurse left them alone to talk. “That’s because you were such a hard taskmaster,” Gates replied, trying to stay in the spirit, “I’ve aged much faster than I should have.”

  Moshe smiled at Gates’ humor. “So, w hat have you come to ask me for?” he said. “It’s written all over your face: the anxiety from your desire to accomplish some pressing need and the guilt feelings for coming to visit your old professor under false pretenses.”

  Gates’ face reddened a bit. Was it that obvious? Moshe saw his discomfort and came to the rescue. “Oh, don’t worry about it, Gates,” he said, waving his hand to show it was of no particular concern, “I know how you feel about me and I know what kind of man you are. If you felt the need to get my input on something, it must have been pretty important. Besides, at my age, I get excited when the nurse brings me my blood pressure medication.” He rested back in his chair. “So, what can I do for you, son?”

  Having always trusted Moshe Greenberg with sensitive information, Gates laid it all out for him: the time-travel, the TDDRS and his need to destroy it. By the time he was finished, Moshe started to laugh. Gates assumed he was laughing because he didn’t believe his story of time travel and a machine that could communicate back and forth through time; however, he was laughing because he already knew about much of it.

  Unbeknownst to Gates, Moshe had been a member of the Israeli Mossad since long before the two had met. He was well informed about the Mossad’s and the CIA’s belief that President Wooten had been conversing with a man from the future and that Kenneth Graham was a man out of time, as well. The mysterious friend of the President did not concern the organizations because he seemed bent of truly helping the President; but, Kenneth Graham was clearly attempting to make himself rich and powerful at the expense of historical integrity. “Gates, I’d be more than happy to help you take down that son of a bitch, and, I know just the means to do it.”

  Moshe explained that he had invented a virus that he had never used, of which, he said, the Mossad and the CIA were wholly unaware. “I intended to leave it to you in my will. Now, I can give it to you in person. Wheel me to my room, will ya kid?”

  Once in his room, Moshe took his copy of the Torah from his nightstand and pulled a tiny thumb-drive from the inside sleeve. He handed it to Gates and said, “This ought to do the trick, my boy. The system will never know what hit it.”

  “What is it?” Gates asked, surreptitiously tucking it in his pocket.

  “I call it, Armageddon. When this thing’ s through, there’ll be nothing left alive. It uses a programmable logic controller rootkit which performs all the needed functions but hides all malicious files and processes, preventing their detection. The IT people will just think the system came down with a terrible virus. They’ll never be able to figure out where it came from and they’ll never be able to debug it. The system’s files will be totally erased and no one will be the wiser.”

  “Moshe, you’re a genius,” Gates said, “and I’m sorry for the subterfuge. I promise to start visiting you at least once a week from now on.”

  “I’m gonna hold you to that, kiddo,” Moshe said. “Now, get out of here! Tell my nurse on your way out that I need to go to the bathroom. She’s only 25 years old. It’s one of the few real bright spots in my day.” He winked and waved Gates off.

  “Okay, Moshe,” Gates said as he headed toward the door. “You’re a lifesaver.”

  “Tell that to my nurse! I’ve been trying to hit on her for weeks!”

  ‡

  2067

  Kenneth Graham, Dr. Alan Beamon, 2 lab technologists, a radiological technologist and a pathologist were rounded up by the Secret Service and charged with conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States. The VicePresident, while not formally charged, was informed that it would behoove him to resign from the vice-presidency, for “personal” reasons, and refrain from any future attempts at political office.

  Six members of the opposition party were also forced to resign from office, staggering the resignations in order not to draw much attention. The President didn’t want Washington to go through another Watergate.

  In the end, Kenneth Graham was confined to a rather diminutive jail cell in a supermaxim-federal prison called, ADX Florence. Located in Fremont County, Colorado, it is known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies and was constructed to house the nation’s most dangerous criminals. At Xylon’s suggestion, Kenneth would spend the rest of his life in a one-man cell and have no communication with other inmates. Of course, the arresting agents were instructed to confiscate Kenneth’s amulet, bag it and deliver it to the President personally; however, they never found it. Unbeknownst to anyone, the amulet was taken from Kenneth’s pocket the night before the police raid. He was totally unaware of the heist.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  2420

  Omni was feeling pretty good about himself. As he munched on a blueberry muffin and perused the timeline changes on his UT, he was surprised to see that so little had changed from the time of President Wooten. While he, more than most, understood that changes to the timeline were not immediately felt, particularly this far into the future, he would have thought that Kenneth’s assassination of President Wooten would have showed up by now. There should have been, or soon should be, a change in his timeline that reflected the President’s death and the resultant world war that would eventually make him leader of the entire planet. He was not a man who’d ever been described as, patient.

  Before he could expel a sigh of frustration, the door to his jail cell flew open and three uniformed security officers swept in, gathering up what little personal items Omni had and confiscating his UT, the only line he had to the rest of the world and beyond. “What is the meaning of this?” Omni cried out as two of the officers seized him by either elbow and bum-rushed h
im out of the cell.

  “You are under arrest for Temporal Conspiracy!” proclaimed one of the officers as they exited the cell door. “You have the right to stay silent, but that silence may be used to convict you in the mind of the judicial organism.”

  The judicial system in 25th century was not as messy as in previous centuries. Every movement during interaction between humans was recorded on both audio and video due to monitoring devices installed at birth. If a person arrives from another timeline, as Omni had done, the device is immediately installed. Further, all devices, particularly the UT, are monitored for temporal discrepancies.

  Unfortunately for Omni, he was unaware of this fact. His ignorance would not be a mitigating factor taken into account by the judicial organism. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for the breaking of law in the 25th century.

  Omni’s future was not a bright one. He would be taken to the Bergeron Penal Facility and await trial and sentencing, which in the 25th century was just a formality. Upon being declared guilty of Temporal Conspiracy, he would be transported into the Timeless Zone: an area of space-time especially created to be used as a prison. In it, the prisoner does not exist in the space-time continuum, per se. They are in a, sort of, temporal fugue state: conscious, but unable to interact with others or communicate with those in the space-time continuum. In this state, the prisoners have no need of food or water. Their timeless state of existence precludes the physical. They are continuously fed a series of positive thoughts. This keeps them from going insane in the traditional sense.

  Nevertheless, no one who has ever experienced the Timeless Zone would wish to return. Omni’s sentence is for life; however, since the Timeless Zone is, in fact, timeless, the prisoner would technically be sentenced to eternity, since they could not become ill, grow old or die.

  ‡

  2070

  When Michael returned to 2070 from his successful trip to stop Kenneth from killing the President in 2067, he had timed his return with such accuracy that Gates had barely noticed his absence. Of course, it was enough time for Gates to plant the virus Moshe had given him and virtually destroy the TDDRS. Kenneth Graham would not return from his trip to 2067 and would soon be considered a missing person. His wife would gain control of the company and, having no concept of what the company did, immediately sell it and pocket a multi-billion dollar profit. The new owners of LDS would turn it into a computer software corporation, eliminating the linear data concept from the company’s overview. During the interim, Gates would be the company’s CEO, slowly steering it away from anything that had to do with time travel or temporal data information. Within a year he would resign and join his father in the early development of MJ technologies.

  After two years, MJ Technologies would take off on its meteoric rise. Though Cindy was not around to provide the computer expertise, as she’d done before, Gates more than made up for her absence. Though Michael continually missed his late wife, he managed to go forward with the help of his 62 year old son and the need to care for his 2 year old son, who happened to be the same person. Let the temporal psychoanalysis begin!

  By 2075, the 35 year old Michael Xylon was the owner of one of the nation’s largest computer technology corporations. 5 year old Gates was growing like a weed and learning at an exponential rate; however, 65 year old Gates, who’d lent his expertise and experience to MJ

  Technologies in its initial chapters, was now chomping at the bit to go off on an adventure.

  “Why do you want to leave, Gates?” Michael asked.

  “Well, now that Little Gates is growing up, I think it’s about time that Old Man Gates makes a graceful exit. He…I was not meant to grow up with myself as a role model; that’s what you’re for.”

  “I know, son, but he…you were also meant to have a mother. Things change. We have to roll with it.”

  “I’ve made my decision,” Gates replied. “I’m going away and allow you and Little Gates to grow together. Besides, what’s the little guy gonna say when he grows up and realizes that I’m not his grandfather, but an older version of himself? It would create a whole new field of psychology. I’m not willing to inflict that on him…me.”

  “I know it’s always been a little strange to think of me as your father: me being 30 years younger and all, but I’ve grown to truly love you like a son, if that makes any sense.”

  Gates gave his father a hug. As he released him he responded, “It makes perfect sense, dad. In the last five years, I’ve come to appreciate what a great father I have. Now, I want you to spend all the time you couldn’t spend with me as the father of Little Gates. That’s the way it should be. That’s the natural way of things.”

  ‡

  2140

  Mick Jagger and Helen sat in the cafeteria, drinking a cup of the quickly diminishing coffee. It had gotten to a point that they were going to have no choice but to brave the unknown elements of the new timeline just outside TimeCorp’s door. From the looks of the “new world”, it did not look promising or safe.

  “I’ve got to admit,” Helen said, “This has certainly been interesting.”

  “How do you mean?” Mick asked, draining the last of his coffee.

  “Well, here I am, having coffee with a man who was born 61 years from now, yet is 41 years old. He traveled back in time from 40 years from now to stop and asteroid from destroying the earth. He then sent another man back to 2065 to stop World War III. That man creates MJ Technologies, a company that I now work for. Then, just as things couldn’t get any weirder, one of my co-workers grabs the amulet and goes back in time and screws up our timeline, making the outside world frightening at best. Then, just to top it all off, another of my co-workers invents a time-travel device and disappears into thin air, we know not where. Does that about sum up the situation?”

  Mick smiled and said, “Yep, that’s about the size of it.”

  The two shared a subdued laugh before Mick said, “In actuality, I’m only 36 chronological years old. You and I are just about the same age.”

  The way Mick said it made Helen feel that he was flirting with her. She’d always looked up to him and sort of…worshiped him from afar. The idea that he was attracted to her made her blush a bit. Coyly, she answered, “You’re right, Mick. I’m only 32 years old.” She rolled her eyes. “This coming and going through time tends to make you forget things like that.”

  “Well,” Mick said, grinning with the understanding of their mutual attraction, “If we ever get out of this…”

  Mick didn’ t finish his statement. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, Catherine Akers appeared at their table, sitting right beside Helen. “Hey guys, what’s up?” she said, a big “guess where I’ve been?” grin on her face.

  Helen almost jumped out of her chair. “Cathy!” She repeated it again as she turned to embrace her dear friend. “Cathy! What happened?” The two hugged warmly and passionately.

  Mick’s eyes were wide open and his mouth was open wider. “Cathy, what happened?” he said, parroting Helen’s question. “Where did you go?”

  Cathy and Helen broke their embrace and Cathy turned toward Mick. “That would take far longer than I have time to explain. Suffice it to say: All things are as they should be.”

  “What do you mean?” Mick asked. Helen was still draped over Cathy.

  “Come on,” Cathy responded with a bright smile, “I’ll show you.”

  Mick and Helen followed Cathy down to the first floor lobby, unconsciously holding hands as they walked. When they got to the lobby, Cathy led them to the front door, where they looked out to see that the outside grounds around the building had returned to its previous state. “Does this mean…”

  Cathy interrupted Helen. “Yes, that’s exactly what it means. The timeline has been restored; Kenneth has been caught and was placed in a jail cell in 2067.” She stopped for a second to let the news sink in, then, “Oh, and I almost forgot,” she said, reaching into her pant pocket and pulling out the amulet. “I got thi
s back for you. Kenneth won’t be needing it anymore.” She handed it to Mick, adding, “And, I found out that the amulet will still work for you. Basically, it works by reading your mind. If you want to go to a certain timeline, you just press your thumb on it for five seconds and think about where and when you want to go. Then, presto, you’re there.”

  The other scientists, technicians and maintenance workers were way ahead of them; they’d noticed the change that had taken place outside and were piling out the door, again giving the scene a look reminiscent of the Three Stooges trying to exit a room at the same time.

  Helen grabbed Cathy by the hand and tugged. “Well, come on,” she said, “Let’s go find a nice restaurant. I’m dying for some wine and pasta.”

  Cathy provided just enough tension to her grip to indicate to Helen that she didn’t wish to follow. “What?” Helen said, “You’ve got to come and eat with us. We have so many questions.”

  Cathy smiled hesitantly and gave Helen another hug. She then turned to Mick and embraced him as well. “Actually,” she said, “I’ve got somewhere I’ve got to go.” She looked at Mick with a little more serious expression. “Mick, I’ve done a little exploring. I visited 2125 in the other timeline and watched you speak to Xylon and me about him going to 2065.”

  Mick was nonplussed. “What? How could you visit an alternate timeline? That amulet won’t allow that.”

  Cathy pulled out her Tempron and held it up. “I’ve got something with a little more kick to it,” she said. “I got it in the year 2640. You wouldn’t believe what this thing can do.”

  “So,” Helen asked, sadly, “Where are you going?”

  Cathy looked at Mick and gave him a knowing smile. Mick smiled back and turned to Helen, taking her hand as he did. “If I’m not mistaken, Cathy…or, should I say, Juno, has someone she needs to go visit.” He turned his head to Cathy. “Am I right?”