Chapter 1

Talk about your unexpected inventions: a time machine! But this was an invention with unexpected limitations. It would only jump to a specific time and place in the past. The target was southeastern Alabama some 50 million years ago. What was surprising about this was that the other end of the "time tunnel" was in Auburn, Alabama, at the physics lab of the University. Was this spacial shift of about 100 miles caused by continental drift? It didn't seem likely, but nobody had a better explanation.

Dr. Henry Murchison had not been looking for a time machine, exactly. He had been experimenting with an obscure facet of the obscure science of "string theory." He had postulated that a certain modulation of dimension number 5 would allow one to travel to a parallel universe. To the surprise of Dr. Murchison and his graduate students, they wound up not viewing a parallel universe, but a place populated by giant carnivorous flightless birds, tiny mouse-like mammals, and a lot of things in between.

Dr. Murchison was nearly reduced to tearing out what little hair he still had—the paleontology people at Auburn University were driving him nuts with requests for viewing time and requests that he move the target in time and space to satisfy their particular interest. He was sick of telling people that they did not yet have the fine control over the viewing device to be able to direct it to specific coordinates; they needed time to refine the system.

These requests by other departments of the university were severely cutting into his own experimenting time. Finally, he went to the dean and begged for him to muzzle the rest of the faculty so that he would have time to do the essential work on the system. The fourth trip to the dean was finally the charm: the dean agreed to stop people from bothering Dr. Murchison just to stop his own nagging!

At last, they were able to do the scientific testing needed to insure the Nobel Prize in Physics, Dr. Murchison's primary concern. His graduate students knew that they would be lucky to be mentioned in a footnote on any papers related to the discovery, so they were trying to find something they could tie themselves to which would give them the recognition they needed to get a well paying job after graduate school.

James "Jim" Ward was one of those struggling graduate students who was looking for a crumb from Murchison's table. He was a striking young man of imposing proportions; all of the females who had ever seen him described him as a "hunk." Jim was somewhat older than the average graduate student, having spent 8 years in the army, much of it as a Ranger. He was an expert in most forms of combat, both with weapons and what the Japanese called "empty handed" combat. He was a master at thinking on his feet and had a reputation for never being caught at a loss for the proper action to counter a threat. He also had the makings of a first class string theory physicist.

His PhD thesis dealt with some of the finer ramifications of the 5th dimension and he was assigned the task of trying to move the spacial target of the experimental machine. His time with the machine was 3:00 to 7:00 AM, which was indicative of his relative standing in the pecking order. Oh, well, any time was better than no time.

On this particular summer morning, it was already 85 degrees Fahrenheit and 90% relative humidity—a typical Auburn August morning. This lab was not air conditioned, which was the main reason it had been available for Murchison's use. It was 6:15 AM, and Jim was as frustrated on this uncomfortable morning as one could get with 4 hours of sleep and 3 hours of unrelenting failure to get the double-damned machine to respond to his changes. As Jim's grandfather would say, "he was pissed enough to chew logs and spit toothpicks!"

Nothing seemed to be going right and Jim was so agitated that he crashed his fist down on the wooden workbench hard enough to crack the wood. This caused the resonating coil to shift position relative to the feedback coil. Suddenly, the room was filled with the smell of a subtropical rain forest and there was the sound of insects permeating the lab. A monster dragon fly sailed through the viewing screen!

Without giving the matter any thought, Jim swatted at the bug and missed. His hand passed through the view screen and smashed against something covered with large feathers. In surprise, Jim jumped back just as a large bird's head came through the screen, as if it was trying to grab Jim's hand. Jim reacted with all the acumen he was famous for in the Rangers: he killed the power to the system. A giant bird's head thumped onto the workbench in front of the view screen.

A little blood was dripping from the severed neck; otherwise, the bird's head looked like an example from a museum exhibit. It was now 6:20 AM and Jim took a seat at the desk to ponder his next action. Fortunately, he had noticed the relative position of the two coils; they were large enough that they dwarfed practically the whole rest of the machine.

He restored power to the system and checked: Yes, the view screen was now allowing him to push his hand through where it should not be able to go. He moved the coils back to their former position and he was unable to push his hand through the solid screen. Jim moved the coils again and was able to push his hand through the screen; he moved them back and the screen was impenetrable. He used the lab's digital camera to photograph the two coil positions and stored the pictures on a CD which he slipped into his backpack. He left the coils in the original positions and went back to the desk.

He pondered some more and then got up from the chair and went to the trash can, where he found a discarded copy of the Birmingham News. He used this to wrap the giant bird's head so that he could carry it without it being seen. Jim donned his backpack and picked up the wrapped package. He went out, locking the door to the lab and headed to the office of the head of the paleontology department.

Jim had to wait two hours outside Dr. Albertson's office. He was afraid that the bird's head might start to smell bad in such warm weather, but he couldn't detect anything. Dr. Albertson greeted Jim warmly, he recognized the helpful graduate student from his visits to Murchison's lab. "What can I do for you, Mr. Ward?" he asked as he unlocked his office door.

"I have something to show you, Dr. Albertson. Can you give me five minutes of your time?"

"Yes, I can spare that much time. Pleas come in and have a seat."

"Thank you. May I unwrap this package on your desk?"

"Certainly, go ahead... Where did you get that? It's perfect! That's the best representation of a... It real! That's impossible!"

"Yes, Dr. Albertson, it is real. Would you like to hear how I got it? The story may take a while."

"Yes, please tell me! I must know! This is fantastic!"

"This head nearly took a bite out of my arm this morning in Dr. Murchison's lab. I was working with the machine this morning and..." Jim proceeded to give a detailed description of his adventure with the bug and the bird. He did leave out the part about the coils, but he told Dr. Albertson everything else.

"Fantastic. You certainly thought fast and saved yourself a nasty bite. Please leave the head with me. I'd like to show it to my colleagues."

"Of course, Dr. Albertson. Keep it as long as you wish, but I recommend that you put it on ice. It will go fast in this weather."

Jim left the office of a very excited Dr. Albertson and spent the rest of the morning in his usual pursuits. It was shortly after lunch when he got a summons to Dr. Murchison's office. He was expecting the summons, but not the result.

Jim knocked on Dr. Murchison's door and was called in. He had hardly got in the door when Murchison verbally attacked him for his actions that morning. Murchison dispensed a tirade of majestic proportions on Jim's disloyalty and abuse of Murchison's trust. He should have never shown that head to anyone but Murchison and he was forthwith dismissed from the project. Jim had to gather his belongings and be out of the Physics building within an hour. His graduate assistantship was canceled and his grades were frozen. He could kiss his PhD goodbye!

Jim was absolutely floored by Murchison's reaction. He had never expected anything like this! In a daze, he gathered up his belongings and returned to his apartment. By this time, Jim was too pissed to think straight. He decided that his best action was to catch up on some of the sleep he had missed lately, so he cranked the air conditioner to 65 degrees and crawled into bed for a few hours sleep.

About 7:00 o'clock that evening, he was awakened to a banging on his apartment's door. He groggily struggled to his feet and went to the door. "Who is it?" he called.

"It's Susan, you lamebrain. Open this door immediately."

"OK, hold your horses. Let me take the chain off the latch. OK, come on in."

Susan grabbed Jim by both ears and pulled his head down to match his lips with hers. She placed a heartfelt lover's kiss on him and he responded in kind. "Oh, Susan, it's great to see you. I was going to call when I woke about 8:00 o'clock."

"I should hope so. I just heard about your clash with Murchison, today. What the hell brought that on?"