Time is an Illusion: The Ptolemy Expedition (Carina Book 1) Read online

  “No need for the agita. They are implying, with the new title, we have a common goal. A goal which will take us on a journey of discovery. A goal which is likely the result of assessing information from our munificent friends: The Others. Information received by way of the Mayans.”

  Miss Cassandra Brady, PhD, Mesoamerican Studies, is the newest member of the leadership team. Cassandra’s primary role is to translate the xylography of the Mayan library section in the Xunantunich subterranean chamber. The chamber is under the central plaza of the Xunantunich temple in western Belize. Mostly consisting of translations only interesting to academic archaeologists, a few of Cassandra’s translations have given Corb the ability to contact the Others. Cassandra’s myopic work ethic, and fastidiousness, is the source of the frustration creating an organic and freeform relationship with Ragnar Jensen.

  “A reise to where? Sorry, reise is a Norwegian word for journey or adventure.”

  Ragnar Jensen is a Norwegian national, a Member of FSK – Forsvarets Spesialkommando. The Norwegian equivalent of military special forces. The quiet and soft-spoken Ragnar is, like Nick, one of the original Alpha strike-team members. Ragnar is expert in the use of all types of hand-held weapons. “Expert” is a polite euphemism for lethal and effective. Normally quiet, Ragnar’s stoic demeanor accentuates his too tall, too fit, too blonde Scandinavian heritage. A classic special-forces operative, Ragnar is an extremophile. He is trained, and continues to practice, to survive anywhere under the most extreme conditions.

  “There’s the rub… I imagine Corb and Janish have cooked something up but are playing coy. My guess is: Corb has learned something from the Others.”

  Lucinda Louise Raitt technically reports to Davinder and is second in charge of Q'eqchi' and the former strike-team. Lucinda claims she is an American who grew up in Colorado. Lucinda’s true sponsor affiliation is not known to the group, and she is not saying. Speculation is Lucinda is an independent contractor hired by Davinder when the Alpha team was chartered.

  People love to speculate.

  Lucinda infiltrated Morningstar’s security team at the Dallas and Waxahachie facilities. It is also rumored Lucinda and another operative, Bert Simons, took out Robert Rynsburger. Rynsburger was the founder and majority owner of Morningstar Pharmaceuticals. Rynsburger was also the architect of the plot to exterminate seventy-five percent of the human population. Also, Bert is out. Way out. Bert betrayed the group to both Vivian Treacher and a competitive sponsor.

  After a couple of years of mutual tension, Lucinda and I became an intimate couple. I am not confused or delusional. Lucinda is a trained warrior. She is probably an assassin. And, she is one of the kindest, sweetest, people I have ever known. Am I worried Lucinda’s experiences might move her personality to become something hard-boiled? Or that, she might suffer from post-traumatic stress issues? No. But if she does, I will be there for her. Besides, she sleeps too hard, and snores too loud, to let past duties trouble her conscience.

  After a brief couple of seconds to comprehend Lucinda’s, “learned something from the Other’s” comment, everyone’s head snapped to focus on Corb.

  “All in due time. The doubts, the concerns you have about planning for an unknown, will be alleviated. With an oath of honesty, I request you all be patient and let Corb and I finish the discussions. All will be known in the next few days. Until we have completed our negotiations, can we agree to the new name for this contract of bonding and leadership?”

  Janish Anika Roa is not nearly as innocent as she wants you to believe. Miss. Roa is a thirty-year-old, Indian born, freelance counter-intelligence spy. Her original mission was to “get close” to Corb. She failed “getting close” to Corb because Corb and Michelle are almost inseparable. Two things are remarkable about the petite, willowy, Miss. Roa.

  First, the process by which Miss. Roa gained the Summitate ability is strikingly similar to the way Corb obtained the ability. Both Corb and Janish had bad colds and ingested, snorted to be accurate, the ColdStar cure. The correlation is, they both resumed heavy physical activities the day after ingesting the cure. Corb’s premise is the physical activity tied to the ColdStar compound is causal in their receiving the expanded Summitate abilities.

  Janish’s Summitate proficiency is second only to Corb’s proficiency. Corb and Janish are the only known Summitate who can teleport, long distances, at will. Vivian Treacher can teleport short distances. Vivian is not part of the leadership team.

  Vivian Treacher no longer resides on the planet.

  Corb and Janish are also able to teleport others. They cannot send someone to another place. They can take a person, or a couple of people, with them when they teleport. Corb takes teleporting in stride as if it was as natural as breathing.

  Corb continues his daily workouts, in an ad hoc Dojo. He believes the Summitate ability is expanded, and a person has better control over the ability, when the person’s mind is calm. To enhance his Summitate ability Corb has adopted an Eastern philosophy of mental calmness, through physical discipline. Japanese Shintoism, coupled with Chinese Zen, blended with traditional martial arts training, is the best way to describe Corb’s new philosophy. Janish agrees with Corb about the calm mind being a benefit to the ability. However, after all these months, despite significant practice and copious assurances from Corb, Janish remains nervous and actively limits her teleportation events.

  Second, Janish and Nick are a couple. Yeah, I know, go figure. Opposites attract?

  “This is all kak.”

  Jan Willem Kruger. A former South African Commando in Group 9 HQ. Jan is third in line of the strike-team’s command structure, after Davinder and Lucinda. Jan joined the strike-team for one simple reason. Revenge. Jan’s wife, Melika Kruger, worked for Morningstar Pharmaceuticals.

  Living in Johannesburg South Africa, pre-and-post apartheid is not an easy life for a mixed-race couple. As they say: Love conquers all. What Jan and Melika did not count on was Melika being killed by Rynsburger. Melika figured out the Morningstar plans for global genocide. When she confirmed her findings to the laboratory director, Doctor Baruti Edward Wolmarans, she was killed.

  Originally, Jan thought Doctor Wolmarans killed Melika. Later, with help from Corb and Nick, the strike-team was able to confirm Rynsburger issued the kill order. Also, another interesting bit of data, Wolmarans was Melika’s real father. When Melika’s white mother rejected the child, Wolmarans guided her upbringing, through foster parents. Melika’s foster parents were Wolmarans’ sister and brother-in-law.

  “No Jan, this is not all shit. This is Janish and me being cautious. With Davinder’s assistance, we are attempting to remain as far off the radar as is possible. As you know, the number of people who want what we possess would fill a stadium. Or, they want to control what we possess. The only way for them to control what we possess is to control us. Davinder and I are being circumspect and taking our time to ensure we all remain safe. Davinder will confirm, there are daily inquiries from governments, businesses, and more than a few clandestine organizations.

  Nick keeps our communications spoofed. He routes everything through a series of anonymous servers. If it has not already been leaked, eventually, one of our sponsors is going to leak our location. The groups inquiring about our abilities are throwing everything at us. Promises of unimaginable wealth. Assurances of safety and security. You name it, they are offering it. Even the libertine Nick has turned down a life of sensual pleasure.”

  “Piss off ya gobshite. Your effrontery knows no limits.”

  He tries to make everyone believe he is cantankerous, but Nick’s gregarious nature is enjoyed by all. When Nick gets going and is too much, Janish will gently place her hand on Nick’s forearm. This was one of those times. Janish, touched Nick’s arm, causing Nick to turn and smile. Turning back, Nick continued.

  “Apologies. My life is now a long billet-doux.”

  Turning back to Janish, Nick smiled.

  “A billet-doux? You always su
rprise Nick. A billet-doux is a love letter. In this context, Nick is saying Janish has made him a better man.”

  Michelle’s all-girls prep-school education came to the front with a timeliness, pulling the mild tension from the room.

  Chapter two

  A Brief History of Mutable Time

  “If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.” – Benjamin Franklin

  Everyone groaned and guffawed. Nick smiled and beamed. Janish slowly smiled and shook her head side-to-side. When the chortling subsided, Cassandra asked a direct question, reasserting to everyone they are all part of a team.

  “Corb, will you tell us what the Others have given you? Or, will our knowing what you know put us in danger?”

  Cassandra’s question put a sober tone back into the room. Everyone’s head moved from Cassandra to Corb. Adopting his trademark smile, removing his hat, and placing it gently on the table, blue eyes glistening, Corb leaned back before responding.

  “Yes, I will give you the information and yes, it will put you all in the cross-hairs of those targeting us to gain our knowledge and ability.”

  Not waiting for a response, Corb continued to speak over several people trying to interrupt and ask questions.

  “I have been meeting with Ire and Yari. Most of you know, they are the Mayan priests who first contacted me when they became aware I was moving through the fabric of dark matter. Ire and Yari saw me teleporting. More accurately, they are Shamans and they are the last of their kind. The last with the knowledge of how to contact the Others. Cassandra has deciphered the codex which gave me the ability to contact the Others. The Mayan dialog is a pleasant euphony of words and utterances. It was Ire and Yari who aided me, guided me, and confirmed to the Others…

  Ire and Yari confirmed, to the Others, I have the strength of character to act in the role of Earth’s emissary. Ire and Yari verified to me the process to establish direct contact with the Others. I cannot express to you how generous and magnanimous Ire and Yari have been. They have facilitated, and ensured, the convergence of our different cultures did not devolve into conflict.

  I need to stop a moment and explain something.

  Ire and Yari are, likely, the last of those with direct knowledge of the Others and possess an understanding of the ability we call Summitate. Ire and Yari are indigenous Mayan Shamans and are people we would call ‘High Priests’. They are incredibly old. Until they found me, they believed they were the end of their line. The last in a line which stretched for over a thousand years. Had they passed on, a loss of Ire and Yari’s knowledge would never be recovered. Now…

  Now, Janish and I can traverse… we can teleport using the dark matter fabric. We understand the teleportation process. Ire and Yari know they do not have a lot of time left. They have requested I meet with them daily. They are teaching me the old ways. Cassandra is helping me document and catalog the information. Janish is our sounding board. She looks for problems we do not yet know exist. Decisions we make today, and in the future, cannot be allowed to negatively affect my ability to meet with Ire and Yari.

  If we are the Novi Cives, the New Citizens, then it is our responsibility to ensure the ancient knowledge is not lost. Our penultimate objective: To preserve the knowledge for future generations.”

  Corb paused and looked from person to person, receiving a nod of agreement and confirmation of understanding before he continued.

  “Cassandra’s Mayan codex translation, and the guidance from the Shamans, gave me the ability to contact the Others. Contact is easiest from a portal chamber. Once, a few hundred years ago, there were more than a dozen portal chambers, now only three or four portals remain. The closest to us, here in West Virginia, is the portal chamber under the courtyard at the Xunantunich temple complex in Belize.

  The process is simple, I sit with Ire and Yari in the library where they give me information in the form of a saga. A historical saga. Mayan lore. Cassandra listens, documents sections, and correlates the information to one or more of the codices. Usually about an hour, daily, is all the Ire and Yari can provide. When they have completed the day’s saga, we thank them and return here, to the compound.

  Cassandra and I review the session in the form of a debrief with Janish. We look for meaning and contextual reference. So far, almost everything has been about living well and striving for a harmonious societal structure.

  Because of the blood rituals, the ancient cultures seem barbaric to us and the advanced Western cultures. However, to the indigenous Mayans, and other native peoples, the blood sacrifices were a necessity to ensure societal harmony. I will provide more on the sagas later and you can read Cassandra’s copious notes.

  Now, the question you want answered…”

  Corb paused, sipped his unsweetened iced tea, rubbed his hands and eyes, and leaned forward with his forearms on the conference room table.

  “The Others know who we are and have been observing Earth for more than a thousand years. And, no, they do not abduct people to perform deviant experiments. The teleportation chambers have a harmonic frequency, or harmonic vibration, at a frequency of 110-kilohertz. The entirety of a complex, usually above the teleportation chamber, thrums with a resonance. The other portals, across the Earth, vibrate at the same frequency. There is a link between the frequency harmonic of 110-kilohertz and the human anatomy. Using the harmonics, at 110-kilohertz, transition into and through the dark matter fabric is facilitated.

  Using the teleport chamber is like a mini-blackhole. No… It is more like a point-to-point warp tunnel. I spent a lot of time deliberating about the complexity of teleportation and always come back to a few simple terms. The light in the teleportation tunnel initiates an Alcubierre Warp[2] tunnel. Something about the 110-kilohertz harmonic causes the light to initiate a negative-mass bubble. Once the negative-mass bubble forms, the high-density mass is pulled forward to fill the negative-mass space. A harmonic wave is created causing the positive mass, within the local harmonic wave, to move and travel faster than light.

  It only works point-to-point. The far end-point is not fixed but must be connected prior to initiating the negative-mass bubble.”

  Stopping to sip his tea, Corb looked over his tea glass, with raised eyebrows, in a manner to invite questions. Nick obliged.

  “I believe you believe all of what you told us. However, cowboy, there are some gaps in your story. I know you all, often, view me as a kibitzer, but I am dead serious. If I dissect this story, there are several constituent parts.

  First, how do you know where the other end of the bubble is located, or do you have a way to establish the other end? Second, negative matter is not proven or likely possible. How do you know it works and is safe? Finally, the implication of your story is interstellar travel. Even at a speed faster than light, humans could not possibly survive the time it would take to reach a habitable planet in the nearest constellation. What are you not telling us?”

  Nick stopped and looked around. Everyone, except Corb and Janish, had eyebrows raised in surprise at Nick’s knowledge, vocabulary, and “on-point” questioning.

  “What? Ya buncha heathens and non-essentials. I read. I pay attention. I am not gormless, ya porgies.”

  Everyone was silent, not knowing if they should laugh or be concerned they had been insulted. Janish touched Nick’s arm and translated.

  “Nick said he was insulted by being marginalized. He has been studying and is, therefore, not clueless. And, he affectionately referred to you all as delicious pork pies.”

  A cacophony of apologies flowed. Nick sat back, winked at Janish for smoothing over the sharp feeling in the room. Janish smiled and waited for Corb’s response. Corb sipped tea again before continuing.

  “Nick, your questions imply you believe what I said but want proof. Trust but verify? A good plan. The first question, the other end of the tunnel. How do I know where it is?

  The Shamans of indigenous people, all over the world, in a
ll cultures, have been traveling on the dark matter fabric for as long as there have been humans on this planet. They use any combination of rhythmic chanting, recurrent drumming, intense dancing, hallucinogenic compounds, and simple meditation to achieve a connection to the dark matter fabric. The connection is not a new phenomenon. The ColdStar compound awakened a lost ability.

  Only those elected to the high position of Shaman, the High-Priests, were taught the ability to connect. Of course, some people learned on their own. Mostly, the knowledge was handed down in oral histories.

  I decide the destination before I open the bubble. It is a straightforward mental process to identify the end-point.”

  Corb waited for everyone to stop looking at each other and refocus their attention on him.

  “Yes, I can create the bubble and move easily via the dark matter fabric. Once I understood the concept of the bubble creating a pull through negative matter, controlling the process became effortless. Teleporting was hard because, like us all, I was expecting the process of force, like muscles, to propel my body mass forward. When I understood the warp-bubble pulls the adjacent mass into the void of negative matter, the teleportation process became like breathing. Janish understands the principle but is not yet comfortable with letting go and giving over to being pulled.

  I pick the end-point, meditate about the harmonics, and step forward into the bubble.”

  Corb stopped, sipped, and let the information gestate.

  “Which brings us to your second and third questions. Surviving a long teleportation is not easy but not too difficult. The harmonic wave, created by the Alcubierre Warp Bubble, creates an almost instantaneous connection. Consider the two points as being side-by-side with negative space in between. In Sci-Fi stories and movies, they call it ‘folding space-time’.