title page
Time Will Tell
Mary S. Palmer
...
An imprint of
Musa Publishing
Copyright Information
Time Will Tell, Copyright © 2012 by Mary S. Palmer
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.
...
This e-Book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual places or events, the names, characters, incidents, and locations within are from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or dead persons, businesses, or events. Any similarity is coincidental.
...
Musa Publishing
633 Edgewood Ave
Lancaster, OH 43130
www.musapublishing.com
...
Published by Musa Publishing, March 2012
...
This e-Book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. No part of this ebook can be reproduced or sold by any person or business without the express permission of the publisher.
...
ISBN: 978-1-61937-107-1
...
Editor: Jessica Robinson
Cover Design: Kelly Shorten
Interior Book Design: Coreen Montagna
Dedication
To my mother, Janie C. Schluter,
who made sure I had a good education
Chapter 1
THE CAR SKIDDED, SWERVED sideways, and spun around three times before cascading into the gully below. There were no houses on this stretch of the sparsely populated road in west Mobile County, and traffic was light at one a.m., so no one saw the accident happen. The driver lay critically injured at the bottom of the ravine.
Mona Stewart was motionless. Life rapidly oozed out of her twenty-eight-year-old body. The thirty-foot drop left the little red Volkswagen bug in one piece, but all sides were damaged. It landed right on top of Mona and threw one sharp piece of window glass directly through her abdomen. The heavy rainstorm, which contributed to the accident, continued. Blood and water formed a puddle of crimson liquid. Pep, her little Beagle, who was also in the car, revived and staggered over to his mistress. He sniffed around and lapped at the puddle. It did not suit his taste, so he crawled under the car, snuggled as close as he could to Mona, and lay down on the ground to stand guard.
In her unconscious state with her life ebbing away, Mona’s mind reviewed her existence. In flashes, she relived the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, her parents’ untimely death in a plane crash, her marriage and divorce, a couple of dateless years for fear of having a failed relationship. Now, in the last hour, she faced the discovery that her current boyfriend was no longer interested in her. He even laughed when he left her apartment saying, “What did you expect? I promised you nothing, and that’s exactly what you’re getting. There were no commitments.” She should have known this would happen. The notoriously fickle Lee Black III was chased by girls because of his rugged good looks and his charming, though superficial, personality. He had never been noted for his loyalty.
Nevertheless, Mona was crushed and outraged. Feeling that she had to get out of that apartment, she’d hopped in her car and sped away into the humid summer night, roaming around aimlessly, not even knowing or caring where she was. When an announcer’s voice blared out of her radio that “Hurricane Dennis is on a path headed directly for Mobile, Alabama, bearing one hundred and thirty mile per hour winds; please take heed and go to a safe place — shelters are open now,” she thought that it was no match for the storm going on within her, so Mona clicked off the radio. She couldn’t run from either one. A sudden downpour made driving hazardous. She’d never been on this road before and did not see the curve.
Now, strangely enough, as she relived the experience in her mind, she no longer felt resentment toward Lee or anyone else who had ever wronged her. Instead, she felt a sense of forgiveness toward them. A bright light hovered over her. With it came a complete sense of peace.
Pep growled and emitted a bark that sounded more like a frightened yelp than a threat. But when two people came over to his mistress, raised the car up, and lifted her out of the pool of blood, the dog instinctively knew they were trying to help her. He backed off, following as they carried her to a shelter.
“She’s almost gone. We’ll have to work fast,” said the taller of the two.
They laid Mona on a pallet and removed the glass from her stomach. Working rapidly and with dexterity, they stopped the bleeding in seconds. Employing no instruments other than agile hands, they closed the wounds and pressured the swelling to a nonexistent state. Only a few scratches remained. In minutes, Mona regained consciousness.
She looked up through squinted eyes and saw only a blur. When her vision cleared, she saw a couple of people leaning over her, but she could not make out their faces. Behind them was a brilliant light.
Oh, God! she thought, remembering a movie she’d just seen. There’s the tunnel of light. I’m dead or dying. She lapsed back into unconsciousness.
The second time she awoke, she stood with her feet propped against a wall. Half a dozen people with pug noses and completely round faces studied her. Mona felt no pain or desire to resist as they punched and poked at every part of her anatomy. For some reason, though, her ability to think straight was not impaired.
The people looked human and spoke the English language, but the unusual shape of their faces and noses made them appear quite different, along with their clothing. As they scrutinized her, she examined them.
Cortisone, Mona thought. Those round faces make them look like they’ve been taking large doses of Cortisone. She remembered her friend who had to take massive doses of the drug. After a couple of months, Della’s face became as round as a ball. She’d had terminal cancer, and cortisone was the only known treatment at the time. But it was to no avail; Della died anyway.
But that wouldn’t explain the pug noses. Mona rationalized that a lot of people have pug noses, but she had to acknowledge that she’d never seen so many with pug noses all together in one place. Completely bewildered, she became afraid. But when she attempted to leave, she realized that she could not move a muscle. She was glued to the spot. In utter fear, she recalled the stories of the outer-space aliens who had allegedly captured two men in Pascagoula, Mississippi, which was only thirty miles from Mobile, perhaps even closer to this particular spot. A chill went through her as she thought of the predicament she might be in. Those men in Pascagoula had been released to tell of their experience, but Mona realized she might not be so lucky.
A voice spoke. It had a hollow sound and came from a man wearing a white tunic belted at the waist. He had long, golden hair and piercing gray eyes. From the appearance of his clothing, he could have come from ancient Greece or Rome.
“We are moving along in space faster than the speed of light,” he told her solemnly. “Do not be afraid. We will not harm you. It is fortunate that you happened to have your accident in our hidden Earth area. Otherwise, you would have died. You see, we have technology unknown to your medical men. Besides, they would never have found you in time. The scene of your wreck is a completely deserted area.”
Mona’s body tingled. It felt like it had been asleep and now she was coming out of it. She wondered what type of drug they’d given her. She felt limp, and in an instant, someone pushed a chair under her. She slid d
own into it and wondered if she could talk. Words would not come. The terror must have shown in her eyes because the voice said reassuringly, “Your speech will return. We will explain more later. Right now, you need to rest.”
As much as she fought it, Mona could not control her exhaustion. Her head slumped forward. Unwillingly, she fell into a deep sleep. She had no way of knowing the surprise that awaited her when she awoke.
Much later, Mona’s eyes opened to the bright light of high noon on a sunny day. But there was no visible source of the illumination. She managed to get to her feet, stumbled to a window, and looked out. She could see no sun, no artificial light, not even a streetlight. What was making it? She had no answer. It completely baffled her.
Looking around, she realized she was alone. But the knobless door offered no means of escape because when she pushed it, it did not budge. Escape? She smiled at her own stupidity. Escape to where? If, indeed, she was in space, or on another planet, there was nowhere to go. It suddenly occurred to her that this might all be some sick joke. Could it be possible that some cult found her and decided to play tricks? But that couldn’t be, either. How could she explain the lack of cuts and bruises caused by the wreck? She looked at her body and saw no scars, only places where it appeared that the skin had been kneaded together. Mona decided it was no joke, but there was little she could understand anyway. Her injuries were real, but the healing process was an unreal, unbelievable enigma. Still, hopefully, she was alive. Or was she?
“Can this be a place between death and eternity?” Mona wondered, shuddering at the thought.
The door opened, and three men and two women entered the room. All of them looked alike, except they were of different heights. Their body structure was much the same, and all had pug noses and round faces, gray eyes, and blond hair, much in contrast with the oval face and blue eyes of Mona, who was the only person with brown hair in the room. She stood up to her five feet three inches and realized that her captors were taller than she thought, probably close to six feet, every one. When she tried to speak, she was grateful to discover that her voice was back. She addressed the man who had spoken to her before.
“Where am I?” she asked, not daring further questions.
“We will show you. Come with us,” he said as he led her through the door that opened on signal. The others followed.
Mona shivered. If they were through experimenting on her, what was going to happen next? Maybe they were taking her to be executed. But they carried no weapons of any kind. That gave her some hope that they wouldn’t harm her.
Her thoughts were diverted. To Mona’s amazement, an entire village spread out before her. The bright light spilled onto streets made of a hard, clay-like substance. Small huts of carefully placed polished rocks lined the streets. People, all dressed alike in their belted tunics, walked aimlessly to and fro, as if they had no place to go and nothing to do. One woman made a real production of going to do her laundry. Basket in hand, she stopped at every door and discussed where she was going and how long each step of the procedure would take. A bored, solemn nod was the only reply. Mona wondered why all of their faces had such a serious expression. No smiles were seen.
After allowing Mona time to look around, the leader spoke. “My name is Eric. They call me King. We are living in a future dimension of time. Back in two thousand ten, there was a brief atomic war. Many of the people of Earth were destroyed, but a quite a few survived. Some people from different nations managed to commandeer rocket ships, and they went to a space station. From there, they searched the universe until they discovered a way to survive on another planet. Fortunately, there were enough scientists to accomplish the feat. This planet, which we call Svar, has water and plant life, so we can produce energy. But its plant life is not edible. Unfortunately, we brought no seeds, so we had to develop a life-sustaining substance from available materials. We can produce energy. We’re in the twenty-second century. What I have just told you is history. You are in the year 2105. But that does not matter; we can transgress time.”
He paused, giving Mona time to absorb what he had told her. “You see, we live in another era, another time frame.”
Mona shook her head, but she couldn’t clear it. It was mind-boggling to hear that she’d been transported to another planet, a century in the future. Was what this odd-looking creature told her true? She didn’t know. Nor did she know what to ask. And she wasn’t sure she’d believe his answers anyhow. So, instead of addressing the real issues, she ventured a mundane question. “Why do they call you King, and why do you wear those clothes?”
Eric nodded. “I thought that might seem odd to you. I’ll explain. When we formed our community, we decided that we’d need a leader, and since I had the most education, they chose me. It was a group decision to have a King as a leader and that it would not be a figurehead position. You may have noticed that we generally speak formally, too. It is befitting our situation, we think.” He looked down at his attire. “As for the clothes, well, they’re easy to make and simple to wash and keep clean. They’re comfortable once you get used to them, too.”
Eric tapped his pug nose. “Our facial features are quite another matter. We must take certain medication to survive in this atmosphere, and it changes our physical appearance somewhat. It gives us an unlimited longevity. However, we have two factions on this planet. Some have broken away from our government and started their own. They have managed to kidnap some of our men and women — and by withdrawal of the medicine, allowed them to die.”
Mona interrupted. “Exactly how old are you?” She looked at his almost unlined face.
“One hundred and twenty,” he answered. “I was an American nuclear scientist when the war came, and I also had a medical degree. We pooled all of our brainpower on how to survive to find the answers that allow — or almost allow — a work-free and stress-free life, along with the possibility of immortality. After that was accomplished, our reason for unity diminished. As in Earth situations, men become jealous of each other. Even here in so-called ideal circumstances, compatibility is impossible. After a time, Torpi, the instigator of dissent, became power hungry. He broke off from us and took some people with him. So we are divided and live on different sides of this planet, each in fear of the other. Up until this time, we had no weapons, nor a reason to need them. Now, we are afraid that the ones who call themselves the Aliens are fashioning weapons out of rocks and stones.”
He sighed wearily, and Mona used the opportunity to ask, “But why? From what you’ve shown me, you have everything you need and enough for everybody. It seems that this is a paradise on Earth — ” She stopped herself, inwardly laughing at the error.
For the first time, Eric smiled. Quickly becoming serious again, he told her, “Ah, you do not know. None of us are happy here. We soon found out that permanent leisure is boring. Being nonproductive is worse. What we thought would be an ideal life turned out to be just the opposite. All creatures need a challenge, and we have none here. So we want a place where that is once again available to us.”
The statement allayed Mona’s fears somewhat. Just like normal human beings, she thought, always wanting what they can’t have. Never satisfied. She soon found that they had something else in common: reasons to be at odds with each other that led to war.
Eric explained what they were. “And now each side thinks the other will find a way to return in time, to go back to Earth and leave the others behind,” he said. “You see, when we first found a way to travel back in time, only those involved in research were aware that we were working on such a project. Some of the others became suspicious and thought if we returned to Earth that we would simply leave them here. But what we intended to do was to return to Earth, gather information, and try to find a way to exist there without using the drugs that cause our features to distort. As you can see, it would not be possible to live on Earth until we once again look like Earthlings. We would not be accepted.
“We must find the way to conq
uer this problem soon, for we do not reproduce. Sometimes, one of our clan does die, and we have not yet discovered the cause, so if we do not soon solve this problem, we will become extinct. Let me explain how that affects you as well as us.”
Looking intently into her blue eyes, he continued. “We returned to Earth for the purpose of bringing a subject back. But you were not to be the one. Our motives were unselfish. We planned to take a subject dying with cancer. We found a young man. The difficulty was that for some unexplainable reason, he continued to live. And every minute we waited increased our chances of being caught on Earth.”
Mona looked so bewildered that Eric knew he had to tell her more.
“We know the cure for cancer. Our plan was to disguise ourselves as morticians, persuade the family to have a closed casket, then remove the body that we had already put in a state of suspension. However, you happened to literally fall into our hands. You were dead, and we were the only ones who could revive you. So we felt entitled to your remains. We returned you to life and if we can get back to Earth, you will have many more years to live there. Also, if you agree to help us, we can do a great service to mankind with our cancer cure.”
She thought it over. If they were the great humanitarians they claimed to be, many lives could be saved. If not, she could be in grave danger. At least she had a choice; it appeared that they were asking her cooperation and permission. However, as a scrupulous reporter, Mona was not easily convinced. Admittedly, they’d brought her here for experimental purposes. She had no assurance that she would ever get back to Earth. Suppose they tried a medication that did not work? What would happen to her then? And how about the Aliens? They might decide to take her for their own and use her as a pawn. She didn’t like this at all.
It was as if Eric read her mind. He saw that Mona was upset and needed to calm down. This was too much for her.
“Come with me,” he said as he took her hand.
Time Will Tell Page 1