Chapter 1: The Accident

Robert was closing his brief case getting ready to go home. It had been a long confusing day that presented more questions than answers. Robert, being a network analyst and department head, realized that management seemed to be moving to outsource the Information Technology Department. When Robert posed the direct question to the VP chairing the meeting, there was a pause and the meeting was adjourned.

Robert was young to be the IT Department Director, with the respect of management and those who worked for him. He had graduated from Stanford University with a computer science degree and a PhD in artificial intelligence from MIT. He was awarded his PhD degree on his nineteenth birthday, with tears in his eyes wishing his father, mother and sister could have seen his achievement. They had died when he was two years old, and he was raised by his parents' best friends.

Robert left his office in Santa Clara waving at the security guard, going to find his Toyota Corolla that probably had more miles on it than any other in the state. He had bought it when he turned sixteen, and drove it through high school, university, and at MIT. The car was twenty two years old and still in good shape, as his foster father liked to rebuild old cars, and kept Robert's in great shape.

Driving to his condo, Robert had many things on his mind, and he was not paying as close attention as he should have been when he started across a major intersection as the light turned green. What Robert did not notice was a Camaro and a Charger racing to try to beat the red light. Both cars struck Robert's car, one in the front and one behind the drivers seat. The traffic cameras caught the color of the lights and the resulting accident.

When the emergency teams arrived it was thought all three drivers were dead. The drivers from the two racing cars were extracted and pronounced dead at the scene. As one of the paramedics was checking Robert over he was asked if he was dead. The startled paramedic yelled for help to extract Robert, asking his name and address. Two fire trucks were attached to the ends of the car and pulled enough to allow the jaws of life to be used to get Robert out. As soon as he was released the paramedics saw that Robert went into shock and lost consciousness. They put him into a pressure suit that was inflated to twenty PSI to slow internal bleeding, if that is what caused him to pass out.

A medical helicopter was available, and flew Robert to the Stanford Medical Trauma Center. When Robert arrived at the Trauma Center he was recognized by one of the Doctors who had been a classmate of his when he was a student at Stanford. Doctor Brad O'Connor did not stop the stretcher, but had it taken directly to radiology for x-rays and ultrasounds to be preformed. When Brad reviewed the films and other data, he had Robert taken to a surgical suite. As he was scrubbing he gave an administrative nurse the information to contact Robert's foster parents, and had her have the California Highway Patrol bring them to the hospital. Being a trauma surgeon, Brad took the first part of the operation to repair the internal injuries. There was an orthopedic surgeon studying the x-rays, and she would set the thirteen broken bones. It was decided that before Brad closed Robert up, the seven broken ribs would be repaired with a new special glue used when the rib cage was put back together after heart bypass surgery.

Three hours later Brad went to meet Robert's foster parents, telling them that he had repaired ten internal lacerations that Robert had received in the accident, and the orthopedic surgeon was setting thirteen broken bones. Robert was in an induced coma, and would remain there for several days and maybe a few weeks. They would be monitoring him very closely to insure all the internal bleeding was stopped. The good news was that no organs appeared to have received damage, which was a miracle in itself. Brad also told them he would personally be Robert's doctor of record until he was full awake and well on his way to recovery.

Robert's foster mother knew Brad from their days at Stanford, and thanked him for looking after Robert and plead with him to continue to look after Robert.

Alice and Clem Callahan had known Robert's family for years, as Alice and Robert's mother had attended USC together and had marketing degrees. Clem and Robert's father had been friends since high school, and attended UCLA together with both obtaining aeronautical engineering degrees, and they owned their own consulting business. They had been doing some work for the Department of Defense and NASA when suddenly their home was broken into, and Robert's parents and sister were murdered. No one knows why Robert was not killed, as he was asleep in the nursery next to their parents' room. The theory was because Robert's mom was pregnant that the intruders thought the nursery was for the new baby, and the unborn child died in the mother's womb.

The will left by Robert's parents was that surviving children from their marriage would be raised by Alice and Clem, but were not to be adopted nor names changed. Robert always felt that the home invasion was not random, and had something to do with the contract that their company had with DOD and NASA. There was a huge insurance policy that provided for Robert and paid for his education.

Brad was looking at an EEG that had just been completed on Robert, and the activity would indicate that his brain functions had not been affected, but he could not understand why Robert had not awaken from the coma. In fact there was an unusual amount of activity in the area of the brain where speech and logical thought were considered to be located.

Robert thought he was dreaming as the female in the gray jumpsuit approached. She was one of the most beautiful women Robert had ever seen. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Robert, she asked if she could speak to him about some gifts that she had for him. Robert asked if these had anything to do with his accident. She told him no, as she was going to visit him at home the evening of his accident and discuss them, but he had been in the accident which rendered him unable absorb the information until now.

She told him her handlers had reprimanded and demoted her, because she had been charged with Robert's safety and had not prevented the accident. She then told Robert that if he agreed, he would be given the ability to travel forward and backward through time if he agreed to certain conditions. He would have the ability to read people's minds and influence their decisions. He would have the ability to move objects and lift great weights. Finally he would have the ability to see the future up to five years in the future, however he would have to work with these skills to perfect them, except the time travel.

Robert had a thousand questions, but was told to wait until he returned home so lengthy discussions could be held. She then told him he should wake up now. As Robert opened his eyes a young doctor was providing a report to Brad O'Connor, and when she turned to show Brad something on Robert's arm she squealed as she saw his eyes open. Brad quickly approached Robert's bedside and started doing all the things that Doctors do when a patient wakens from a coma. Finally Brad asked Robert if he knew who he was. Robert replied that he was the ugly dunces that he had to carry through advanced math classes because he never learned to add or subtract.

Looking at the young Doctor he told her that his memory was almost perfect, but he was the one who carried Robert through advanced math classes. Turning to Robert he told him that his sense of timing was still terrible, as he almost gave Doctor Fitzgerald heart failure. All three were laughing when Alice and Clem entered the room to find Robert awake and talking. Alice took over, giving Robert a hug and then asked him if he had not been paying attention to his driving. Robert said that the light had turned green, and as he had started across the intersection that was the last thing he remembered until he woke up and saw Brad the ugly standing over him. Clem then knew that Robert would be fine, as he and Brad would always kibitz and were the best of friends.

Robert was tired, but wanted to know the date and what time it was. Brad told him he had been a coma for two weeks, and it was four PM. Brad was writing on Robert's chart, and then told him that with two broken legs and a broken arm he would be immobile for another six weeks.

A voice in Robert's head told him to request a complete set of x-rays to access the condition of the broken bones. After Robert voiced the request, Brad said it was too soon. Robert again made the request, saying he would pay for it as he wanted a baseline to start from, and that baseline was to start today.

The next morning Robert had returned from x-ray and was relaxing when the orthopedic doctor showed up, telling him that they wanted to redo the x-rays as they had been mislabeled. After the second set of x-rays were reviewed the doctor came in, and told him she did not understand how the bones could heal as fast as his did.

She then moved Robert into a examination room and started to remove all his cast and splints. When this was completed she had two orderlies standing by, and asked Robert to stand if he could. As Robert turned, sitting up on the edge of the bed, he felt a surge of strength and had a clear head. Cautiously he stood with no assistance, and then walked around the room just to assure himself that all was OK.

Dr Madeline Rogers was at a total loss for words, turning to put two sets of x-rays on the light box. The first set was those taken on the day he was admitted, showing all the breaks and fractures. The second set were those taken today, showing no broken bones or fractures, and no evidence that they had ever been broken. Dr. Rogers said that she would walk with him back to his room and sign his discharge papers, however she wanted to see him in a week, and to make an appointment with her office.

After the Doctor left Robert realized that he did not have any clothes or way to get home. As he was thinking about this Clem walked in with a bag of clothes, and said that Robert should call him when he was released. Robert said that as soon as he could get dressed they could leave, as he had his release papers in hand. After he was dressed and was getting ready to leave, a nurse appeared wanting to know where he was going. Robert showed her the discharge order, and when the nurse looked it over she said that Dr O'Connor had not signed a release so he could not go home. Robert opened his cell phone and called Brad. When he answered, Robert asked the ugly dunce if he could release him, as Doctor Rogers had released him but the nurse was not going to let him leave. He then handed the phone to the nurse.

An orderly rolled Robert to the front door where Clem met him with the car. As they were driving home, Clem told Robert that they should go car shopping tomorrow as he had no transportation. Handing Robert a picture of his old car he saw a pile of steel that he knew could not be repaired. He was thinking about what brand of car he wanted and what type. He knew that he did not want a two seater, nor an upper end car, maybe a BMW.

Arriving home he was met with a load of mail which he dealt with. Clem told him to gather a few clothes, as Alice insisted that he would be staying with them until he recovered. He started to protest when Clem asked him if he wanted to tell Alice as he laughed. Shaking his head, Robert gathered his clothes for a week, and left with Clem.

The next day Clem and Robert discussed what type of car he wanted, and which would be the best value for the money. Robert decided he wanted a car that was more sporty and had some zip to the power train. Clem had a friend that had a 1995 Audi Cabriolet Convertible that was in mint condition he wanted to sell, as the car had not been driven in a few years, except on special occasions. Clem called his friend and asked if he still had the car and wanted to sell it. Clem and Robert went to see the car and to drive it. Robert wrote a check for the car, and they drove to motor vehicles department and had the car registered.

As Robert drove to Alice and Clem's house, he thought he should return to work soon, as there were uncompleted projects that needed his attention. Thinking about work, Robert remembered the discussions with his boss and the feeling that the IT department was going to be outsourced. He thought that he should be the one to take the contract. He would have a discussion with Mack, and try to find out if the department was going to be outsourced and see if he could bid on the contract. Robert felt that he had until Monday to put a presentation together, and he felt that he had the best shot at any contract as he knew the network better than anyone.

Saturday morning Robert told Alice and Clem that he was thinking about starting his own IT business. Their concern was whether he had the financial resources for a start up company. Robert said that he had most of the insurance money left by his father, mother and sister. He also had been saving almost half of his salary for the last five years, so there should be enough.

Returning to his home that morning, Robert had forgotten about his visitor while he was in the hospital, and was not expecting anyone to be in his apartment when he arrived home. As Robert opened the door he heard his printer operating, and was immediately on guard. Seeing the woman in the gray jumpsuit, Robert remembered the dream he had in the hospital. He was puzzled about the printer operating, and was told that his proposal to takeover the IT department at his employer's company was printing.

She had scanned his thoughts then prepared the document, so they would have time to have the discussion she had mentioned in their earlier meeting. However, first they should review the proposal to insure it was as Robert wanted before proceeding to other things.

Robert asked her what her name was, as he could not call her hey you. She told him he could not pronounce her name, but he should call her Nancy.

Robert started to review the proposal, and was well into it when he came to the financial proposal. He was surprised when he saw the quoted price. He asked Nancy why the price was so high. She said she had scanned his VP's thoughts and placed the price fifteen percent below what he expected to pay. She felt that the VP would jump at the price and award Robert the contract. Completing the review, Robert said that the proposal was perfect and could be presented as is.

Nancy said that they should get started discussing the gifts she would be giving him. She began by telling him as soon as he could, he should start practicing his ability to scan other peoples minds. As he became proficient, he would be able to implant thoughts into people, and bend their will to do his bidding.

Next would be the ability to time travel. He could go anywhere in the past that he wanted to, however he could only travel five years into the future. If he felt that he needed to advance greater than five years, he could present his case to the council, and might receive permission to complete his request. He would not be allowed to make changes in the future that would effect future generations.

As far as the past was concerned, if he found things that could be corrected, so be it, and if it changed the course of humanity so be it. He might even find out what really happened to his parents and sister. He would be able to travel anywhere he wanted and as far back as he wanted. He could even take people with him on his travels if he wanted to.

Nancy then told him that he could go places, and he would appear to be invisible as he traveled among people, as they would not see him. He would not be invisible, but that he would be affecting peoples' minds to believe he was not there.

Finally, Nancy said that he could not tell anyone that had not been either given a special additive to one of their drinks, or he had not made love to. If he told anyone she would know, and they would have their mind erased never remembering that they ever knew him or any of his friends. She also told him that she could provide anyone with the additive if he wanted her to.

Nancy told him she would leave him to consider everything that he now knew, and when he was ready he could think about a request for her to return, and with that she was gone.

As Robert sat there he thought that he needed Nancy to return to answer a couple of questions, and with that Nancy returned. He asked her if all women that had the additive were destined to be sexually attracted to him? Nancy told him that he controlled his supporters, and he could direct their love to himself or a person more suitable to them.

Secondly, Robert asked about the men that were be given the additive, and their actions. He was told they would be loyal to him unless he wanted them as lovers.

Robert then asked Nancy to have the additive given to Alice, Clem, Brad, and Amy, Brad's wife, and they were to have a deeper and stronger love for their partners. He asked if there was anything that would keep Brad and Amy from having children. He was informed that Brad was sterile. Robert asked if Nancy could correct the condition, she told him it would be corrected.

Nancy then told Robert to have the four of them over one evening, as he had a matter he needed council on. At that time he would lay out everything that Nancy had told him, and they would be his loyal followers.

All evening Robert considered all the things that he had been told. How it would affect his life and the lives of those around him. He thought that with the ability to travel through time, he might correct some injustices that had occurred in the past. He would like to find out why his family had been killed, and see if he could prevent that. Could he invest in the stock markets in the past and reap the gains now. Oh, so many questions.

As Robert went to work he had his presentation with him, and sent an email to the operations VP requesting a meeting at his earliest convenience. Robert received a reply to come to Mack's office now. Robert began by telling him of his impression of their meeting a few weeks ago about the IT operations being outsourced. Then he presented his plan to be the contractor if that was the case, assuring him that none of the current employees would lose their jobs. At that point Mack told him that the department was to be outsourced, and they were just waiting for his return to release the information. However, with Robert's proposal, he wanted to take it to the management committee and recommend that it be accepted as presented, as he thought it was fair, and that the space that the department now occupied could be leased to Robert along with the remainder of the floor.

Mack also told Robert that he would have to deal with the new building owners, because of the economic times, the company was going to sell the building to raise capital to remain competitive. Robert requested that Mack ask the management committee to give him a week to see if he could obtain the funds to buy the building. Mack said he would ask.

On Tuesday morning Robert had an email to come to Mack's office as soon as he arrived. As Robert was seated in Mack's office there were two other men there, both who he knew. The company President congratulated Robert on the IT contract, asking Robert to have his attorney contact theirs to finalize the contract. Secondly, rather than buying the building, would Robert consider investing in the company, receiving stock and an ongoing dividend. Since the company was family owned, he was waiting for his daughter to complete her education so he could turn the company over to her in five years, as he and his wife wanted to take early retirement. Robert requested a day to think about it.

When he returned to his condo that night he thought he wanted to talk to Nancy. She appeared and wanted to know what she could do for him. He requested that she accompany him into the future, as he would like to see the condition of the company he presently worked for at that time.

Nancy told him to close his eyes, as time travel sometimes gave people vertigo. Robert felt a swirling sensation but nothing else. When Robert opened his eyes he was in the same condo but the furnishings were much different. There was an electronic pad on the table with the daily news headlines displayed. The leading story was about a young company executive who had been raped and murdered the previous evening. When he saw the name he knew that it was the daughter of the president of the company he worked for. As he read the article he found that the company had been the target of a hostile takeover, even though it was privately owned. The company owners were being forced out of their own company.

Robert asked Nancy to plant a thought in the company's president that he should sell the company if there were interested buyers, and to find a new company for his daughter to manage. Even though the company had been in the family a long time, the life of the products were limited, and in a few years will be obsolete.

Robert then had Nancy return him to 1988 to open a bank account, and to buy Microsoft, Intel, and IBM stock. He had $1,500,000 in the account left from the insurance after his parents death, and invested $100,000 each in Microsoft, Intel and IBM. He then moved to 2003 a week after the Microsoft stock split, and had his broker start to sell his stock and realized over 190 million dollars in his account. From the other two investments he realized over $400 million dollars. He then accessed the IRS accounts, erasing all evidence of the stock transactions both buy and sell.