Immunity, immortality and improbability

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by Don H, Oct 8, 2002.

  1. Don H Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    642
    Best Intentions*

    By Don Hakman c. 2001

    Dedication: To Sarah and our sons.

    Explore
    the quest to rid man of all disease with gene vaccines. After 7 generations the problems begin...
    Fertility becomes challenged to the point clones are a more viable alternative. The meek inherit the earth to the extent that those without ancestors with gene vaccines procreate more successfully for a time...
    Spanning 2 thousand years and discovering an unknown culture closer to man than he would like to believe the nature of Man playing God plays itself out to a novel conclusion.

    Abstract: Bio-Science fiction novel in which genetic manipulation renders the human race unviable. The story spans 3,000 years and involves many people and technologies dedicated to the innate common goal of survival.

    Forward: There is nothing wrong with genetic science or the stem cell in particular. It is us or it is food. That has always been the way for all life. There does however seem to be a consensus against clones conceived or raised to maturity. One man’s good is another man’s evil. Good and evil are the temporal giants’ man must wrestle. The immortal that speaks with the ineffable voice does not have good and evil in its vocabulary. Should man become nearly immortal, there are questions to be asked, answers to be questioned, heaven to be praised and hell to be paid.

    Recall the politicization of a single cell:


    Alone with only the memories
    of millions of years, the stem cell
    waits in its glass house.

    Will it heal, will it grow
    Will it die, will it freeze

    A genetic double standard
    engineered chickens and cows
    vs. the eugenics of man

    It make fools of the devout
    and fools the scientific.

    Imagine the Hindu
    at the slaughter house,
    the Christian at McDonalds

    Is it Kosher
    Is it clean


    The little stem cell waits
    single issue politics has no room
    for common sense or compromise

    waste a life
    or save a life

    Families pray at dinner
    food corp. prays for profits
    no one prays for the stem cell

    Unless they're paralyzed
    on dialysis or shaking

    Amen


    Prolog.

    Genetic Vaccines, a form of recombinant DNA modification, were hailed as the singular greatest advancements since ORTs; organ regeneration transplants. ORT hearts, lungs and livers were only a close third to the second greatest advancement of knitting nerves together with crystalline. Although crossed nerve pathways often left the "healed" with strange new synthethesia challenges but at least paraplegics could walk and the nerve blind to somewhat see.

    Some claimed these advancements actually hindered an evolution of a survival of the fittest. Some religious sects called it a medical evilution but were marginalized by all those who wished to enjoy good health for themselves and children.


    Gene Vaccines had an advantage over traditional vaccines by passing on the disease resistance to the next generation. They were proven quite powerful and at times seen to have an ability to adapt a resistance to similar strains of disease be it bacterial of viral that the original vaccine had not been designed to combat.

    It was not that traditional vaccines were not strong enough but rather that the pathogens got the upper hand and often mutated into even more powerful bugs. There were many outstanding examples of success with the Gene Vaccine method. Originally researchers at the U.N.S.F. Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases created a mouse by adding a gene from a parasite that causes malaria to the rodent's genetic code. Delivering the protein isolated from the mouse’s milk produced immunity from malaria in 98% of the human subjects.

    An opposite approach was to transplant genes of naturally immune individuals into people of low or no immunity. In a way the people were now the mouse. People were not just getting a protein of protection but their very genes were changed. This so called Genetic Vaccine technique was extremely profitable since the people with the super immune genes were paid nothing while the drug corporations patented the genes for resale. The prices they demanded for Gen. Vac. were justified with the idea that the vaccine was not just for the individual but all their ancestors. Passing on immunity occurred in only a minority of cases at first but was refined in later years. It did not appear that the bugs were getting an upper hand in this technique.
    Gen Vac was of course not without its detractors. Initially the Gen Vac hype didn't inflame conservatives but they had found a leader (or visa versa) with Dr. Broadbarn. His notion that genetic vaccines would cause humanity to lose its soul one gene at a time as each genetic additions subtracted tiny bits of genome alarmed some people. One molecule at a time out of billions was virtually nothing but after dozens of regenerations the small changes could be multiplied. He painted humanity's greatest hope to be disease free, with a broad brush of eugenic abuse. Depending on your view he focused, inspired or duped millions of followers.
    His hypothetical conclusions were so far out in many cases he was easily scoffed at or manipulated by Gen Vac proponents and was eventually made to say, on air, “I prefer people die of preventable disease, for the common good”. That pretty much did him in. He was even likened to Kevorkian, a euthanasia provider from centuries ago.
    Over the next 50 years the few vaccine mistakes never caused alarm. The only scandal that people remembered was the fact that the very first Gen. Vac. treatments were made available over the course of seven years at the price of $1,000,000 per person. The arguments and justifications raged for years. The most common argument one heard was that there was not enough for everyone so the rich were subsidizing the eventual mass Gen. Vac. inoculation when stocks were available. Truth was there could be enough replicated in six to eight weeks to inoculate the world against seven of the deadliest pathogens known to man.
    The benefits so far outweighed the risks that medicine was in a supreme golden age. The one area that remained most difficult and was suspected of growing epidemic was infertility and embryonic disorders. With such dramatically increased life spans and survival rates, some considered fertility challenges a blessing in disguise. The worry about population explosion had become moot.
    As longevity records were being broken, childbirth by any means was accepted as being an exceedingly rare and blessed event. Even when fewer than ten percent of couples could have children there was no outrage. People hoped an environmental culprit would be caught and fertility would return. Those that were infertile felt a personal deficiency and had little or no urge to lash out or call attention to themselves. They actually felt an undeserved guilt.


    ………………………………………………………………………………

    IN THE BEGINNING

    Seven generations after the first genetic vaccines were given there was finally no doubt that infertility matched exponential computer models of genetic damage. Dr. Carlax was the first to announce the inevitable. The human race will have natural viability of less than 1% among 98% of the potentially conceiving gene pool. The reaction was likened to the pandemic of the original AIDS virus. People ignored what was happening or looked for a magic bullet. Too often people looked beyond the horizon of the obvious to save the day.

    If Dr. Broadbarn had still been alive he would have said “I told you so”, but he was completely unremembered in this new age of good health for the old but extreme challenges for embryos.

    If centuries ago anyone knew that Bill Gates and a controlling “country club” and would live for 454 years, gene vaccines might never have been introduced. Hindsight takes a back seat to cocktail courage when movers and shakers are being wined and dined.
    The beer belly bombast by the masses debated football. They had no clue of what a relative immortality for the wealthy would do to the world.

    The world fought back against the unintended assault on fertility.
    First surrogate mothers were recruited by the millions. Clones enjoyed a complete acceptance and freedom that would in later years fall under a repression of legislation that bordered on slavery and guaranteed a second class citizenship denying them opportunities more than rights.

    Other methods of fighting against infertility created flashes in the pan like ancient weight loss diets. The most promising hope stemmed from looking for original untainted DNA stem cells. DNA repositories became a library to look among the dead for those that had no trace of gene vaccines in their family.

    A multidisciplinary task force UNFS was formed worldwide. The first hope of the commission was devastatingly defeated. The DNA repository of 15 million samples in West Virginia had been hopelessly destroyed by the Great Oak Ridge Nuclear accident. Radiation scored a bulls-eye against fertility hopes. Oak Ridge had been a land of inventions by Edison prior to the nuclear age. Now it was a unique graveyard of past and future humanity.

    The new longevity did advance scientific discoveries from veteran scientists. New theoretical solutions to infertility had stalled for nearly a decade until a wild and almost desperate plan devised by a father and son received top secret status by the government of the United States which had fallen behind in fertility research in recent times.

    Chapter1.

    Pegra , still dreaming, incorporated the pulsing wake up alarm in her romantic dream. She is attractive with the wispiest dark blonde hair. Her appearance of wearing rouge or too much makeup was the effect of the sodium microwave lighting since she had an almost Polynesian complexion. Young by today’s standards, just a bit over 50, her wide set hips are the epitome of the current standard of beauty, perhaps a result that it symbolizes fertility. It seems many of the girls have no curves today while the men not on testosterone supplements are beyond androgynous.
    The QSA complex, although 1,000 feet beneath an Arizona desert, has its own reflective sunlight shaft that split off to all the private quarters. The sun panel opens silently and illuminates Pegra’s face. Eyes still darting beneath her eyelids, "What time is it" she said in a stretching groan. “6:48 AM” said a deep synthetic voice
    She shuts off the alarm and simultaneously gets her messages in a deep male voice "Pegra Curtis, you have 3 project messages and 5 private messages dated Tue. AM May 23 2208" She says "hold messages, kitchen, coffee black", she likes hazelnut creamer but likes to do that herself since the kitchen calibrations don't satisfy her sweet tooth. Pouring the creamer she watches the symmetric swirls when the spoon moved, reminding her of work and the sychro spin quantum cloud models. She says to herself “Today time will wait for us”
    Dean is 35 and key to project ‘twin spin’. He swallows an extra hormone supplement with his daily allocation hoping for an extra edge for today’s big test. After all it was his idea that clones offered the most success in quantum synchronization trials. After a “magnetic burn” accident last year he had a mental focus that was laser like compared to his creativity prior to the accident. Simple questions opened tracks of probabilities in his mind that were centuries before his time. The quality of shared psychic understanding between twins is remarkable just as it was between Dean and his father Ben. Dean had wondered about clones and temporal cognition…”what if two identical life forms were subjected to quantum spin cloud chamber experiments …” His father had wondered nearly the same thing and the birth of a virtual time machine began.
    For reasons not understood the single chamber quantum cloud spin chambers never rendered a survivor save for a few insects. The twin chamber was Dean’s idea and killed 99% of all the subjects they tested. When it was found that animal clones had a 90% survival rate they were anxious to begin human trials. Thanks to the Int. Clone Society six human volunteers were secured. Clearance from administration for the clones was denied for political appearance only should it ever leak but there was an implicit OK, while certain board members looked the other way. In the budget statement it is interesting to note that the clone lease expenditures were listed as integral laser copiers. Naturally Dr. Ben Crandel took most of the credit for merely authorizing project ‘twin spin’

    The human tests begin.

    The shielded control room was immense and buzzing with edgy chatter. “Morning Dean” said Pegra. “Hi Peg the bank is fully charged.” “I guess administration is on our side today.” Then Dean practically whispers” If administration only knew that success today may have happened already or decades from now they might be as scared as I am”
    No one looked more nervous than clones D-42 and 43. Being 150 meters apart they couldn’t see each other but certainly felt a terrifying anticipation. Neither knew how being phased outside their current existence would feel - no human did – yet.

    For weeks the containment field was scaled up and down to insure no loose metal no matter how large or small would be ripped into the magnetic field again. The last time an oxygen tank was pulled from its mount 100 yards away with fatal results right into mag chamber one. Even a loose smart card was enough to kill anyone in its path.
    One hundred and thirteen year old Dr. Crandel , sturdy and handsome like many from the prior century, had made some corny quotes prior to the experiment in hopes of having some sound bite that would become part of history. After a number of failures he stopped the corny quotes. Today he merely announced the start of the field generation without a countdown but a simple - “Here goes!” Dean whispered “one small step for man one giant expenditure for mankind…” You could feel your hairs stand up first then your very thoughts seemed to be directionalized to the chambers 2 km away while watching the monitors in another direction. Clone D43 was screaming while D42 was stiff, grimacing and squeezing his eyes shut.
    The hum penetrated the chest of everyone in the control room. When Crandel pressed the sychro button the fields divided with a resounding crack you could feel in your bones, in the chambers simultaneously two men were dimensionally separating, now both screaming, in time and distance.
    Ben yelled “Spinning back” as the computer automatically reversed the polarity with another resounding crack. There was a blur in the monitor for 10 seconds. D-42 disappeared in an instant followed reappearing 5 second later but D43 had grown blurry but never disappearred.
    “They’re Back !” yelled Pegra. Celebration could be heard throughout the facility. You could feel the hair on your arms indicating the field was dropping.
    Essentially the contents of chamber one had gone back five seconds in space and chamber two had gone five seconds into the future – and returned. This was an eternity for mirrored quantum cloud spins. The longer the field remained at full strength, the more uncertainty would be created, the farther they would travel, but the main thing was that “IT” finally happened. There were some peculiar and surprisingly positive side effects. There was a single mindedness of each clone. It resembled uncanny remote viewing guess work of 65% accuracy or creative thought patterns that were noted on improved IQ tests. Yet it lasted only for about two weeks before returning to normal. Physically they were fine.
    As if after a tragedy, technicians and project managers alike were still in shock and were slow to have it sink in…Time was no longer the ultimate master of man.
    Time has become a tool. Its first job will be to help more parents to gaze into the liquid loving eyes of a new born baby.
    On the second test; clones D-38 and D-39 were presumed drowned in the Pacific and Indian Ocean respectively.

    Chapter 2.

    Remember the Maine
    Main what?
    Remember the Alamo?
    I thought you had it
    Remember the Revolution
    Whose?
    If we lived 700 years
    instead of 70
    Wars would be few
    but Veterans day
    would be HUGE


    Sandra’s European family had resisted Gen Vac treatments for three generations but ancestors were known to have passed on a few gene modifications of unspecific effects. She was one of the few blessed new mothers of adorable twin girls. The fees for surrogate mothers were at an all time low but she wanted the experience for herself and carried the in virtro fertilized twins. Whe also opted for here husband Lyle’s sperm rather than the patented DNA frozen zygotes.
    She was already from a family that was famous for genetic engineering. Even prior to high school she had endured her father’s lectures about damaged DNA being the limiting factor in longevity but not the only one. There is a terminating DNA code sequence for many kinds of cells. There are immortal cells that do not have the "end caps". If these "endcaps" were absent, many cells could easily turn cancerous in their never ending replication but if this were solved somehow , the longevity limited by - chemical and cosmic ray - damage to DNA could allow a person to live about 300 - 700 useful years. 1200 years is the outermost theoretical boundary.
    This had been Sandra’s fathers quest. She semi-secretly believed she had succeeded in this ultimate quest but she was always on the horns of the age old dilemma regarding if the end caps were tied to other genetic sequencing that would alter invisible traits like soul or conscience. Near immortality was heady stuff to some but to Sandra it was just another elective treatment.
    She knew when it came to mysteries, there will always be new ones to replace the old. Einstein attempted a unified field theory, but to make it work he needed to fudge the mathematics with a term called the cosmological constant (that needed to be changed in various scenarios). Sandra, only mildly religious, imagined that this cosmological constant is the scientific equivalent to the theological soul. Anyway, string theories unraveled by quantum computer calculations had made Einstein seem virtually quaint now.


    Sandra hated to leave her darling 18 month old girls to go to a conference at the Strong Institute in Rochester NY. She kissed her husband Lyle and turned and got in the airport limo. She could hear Lyle smilingly say “Have fun storming the castle” which he often said when she was off to a big meeting.
    Her paper on endcap manipulation had vaulted her into the international arena of immortality research. To many this field was evil or immoral but to others it was a means to buy time for the human race threatened with unviable fertility issues.
    The thirty minute flight from Geneva Switzerland was uneventful except they had to land in Toronto with no explanation. She opted to take the Lev Ferry across Lake Ontario to Rochester which was lovely during June. The lake smelled of fish and the stiff breeze refreshing.
    At the conference the demonstration outside was modest and not well mobilized. Many of the demonstrators off hospital grounds had megaphones. To their surprise many were being arrested for noise in a hospital zone. Inside she was paged almost immediately. The actual reason for her attendance was a job offer she received in a highly encoded communiqué. She was briefed in private by Col. Basset of the NSA branch of the USFS and asked if she would consider relocating for a secure research project called QSA in Arizona headed up by the famous Dr. Crandel. “I can’t speak for my husband but I could use a change of pace” Sandra said while remembering the months of no sleep with the infant twins. “Excellent” boasted Col. Basset, as his entire face full of creases warped into a smile. “We will Com link you all the details. By the way this project has a deeper security clearance than Majestic” That wasn’t saying much since UFO reconnaissance secrecy had been a reviled and open secret for generations. Sandra shrugged with acknowledgement and signed some requisite forms.
    Sandra knew of Dr. Crandel through her grandfather and wondered what link his theoretical physics expertise had on fertility research but the question made it all the more intriguing.
    Back home Sandra slipped her slender leg off her husband Lyle after making love for the first time since in countless months and broached the relocation issue. Although vulnerable at the moment, the great floods and avalanches of Switzerland made it an easy choice for Lyle as well, they were going.

    The goodbyes were especially poignant since Sandra’s mother and father were not there, having perished in the flash floods and avalanches along with many friends over a year ago. She so wished she could pull them back over the horizon into her life but she had two new lives to think about now.


    Chapter 3.

    The Immortal
    Compared to me
    she is immortal
    touched by artists
    and blonde hair so long
    Gaia's voice is heard as song
    This old violin
    of 200 years
    was in pieces
    and now plays like new
    I wish that I could do that too
    How many hands
    spidered down
    your strings
    until they'd cramp
    While you remained a genie's lamp

    Did you ever
    drown in the sea
    of an orchestra
    until no one
    heard you sing skip and run

    I wish that
    all the things
    you've heard and
    music that you bring
    were stored like water in a spring
    I would drink
    and feel the wind
    of generations
    go around and round
    And hear the lifetimes in your sound
    Smell the earth
    where your wood grew
    Fire in your finish
    Before you were new
    Know the tension of curves and hue
    Now you're silent
    your partner's gone
    at the peak
    of your marriage
    The new players
    are still in their carriage


    "Dry heat, my ass" said Lyle as they stepped outside the Flagstaff airport in 122 F July heat. He dryly added "I hope my violins have not cracked to shit in this move." Security procedures did not help his mood or his literally chapped ass.
    Arriving at the project orientation Sandra and the girls were quite happy with the wondrous underground playgrounds and living quarters. The areas for children were practically a monument to childhood. Trees, landscape and even creeks with exceedingly rare hatching baby frogs and birds, now pecking at this meal, were recreated for the adventurous little ones. Doting on children knew no bounds in this age, at least for the privileged.
    The speaker paged "Dr. Sandra Sitzenger, please report to L-22 level 1." They slightly mispronounced her name but Sandra was used to that now.
    Pegra and Dean were the first to introduce themselves with an informal "Hi Sandy" "Howaya doin". Dean giddily said "Welcome to the home of half of the research money of the USA. Pegra gave a disapproving glance and turned smiling to Sandra and said "Dr. Ben Crandel will be here momentarily. We would just like to fill you in before he arrives so you may ask Ben more appropriate questions should you have any." "Thank you" Sandra smiled. "Well, what is it you do here?" Sandra asked. Dean grinned first and said " We do search and rescue for the entire human race". Pegra rolled her eyes and added "As you know back breeding has not produced undamaged genomes so we are seeking to extract them from the past in a rather new method...we go back in time" Sandra could not help cocking her head sideways and staring at them with a skeptical grin "You're joking of course" she said. Dean chimed in "Nope were absolutely serious, and so were the ethics committees. They kept use tied up for almost 5 years until they realized that it really is do or die time. They were most concerned that this project could somehow cause our current problems but there is absolutely no evidence to back up their worry. Then others held us up because they assumed causalities have to occur. We proved them all wrong. We have gone back in time. We are all still here".
    "How is that possible?" a now alarmed Sandra asked. Dean said "sit down , there ... you see we send people in opposite dimensional directions at the same time. They have a similar experience but in different dimensions from one another and of course it helps if they are nearly exact to one another to begin with". Pegra scanned Sandra's face for any signs of disapproval. Sandra asked the trillion dollar question, "And how do I fit in?"
    Dr. Crandel walked in almost too conveniently at that moment. “Hello dear Sandra” “Ben it’s so nice to see you” Sandra said behind some apprehension.
    Ben did not miss a beat or engage in any pleasantries and immediately said, “Sandra you will be adding your genetic immortality endcap sequences to our travelers so they may survive long enough to arrive back in our time. We found the farther they go back and forward the less ability we have of spinning them back, as we call it. It seems they will have to make their own way back with 20th century DNA or future breakthroughs we so desperately need.” Sandra finally had time to gasp “this is, this is amazing!”
    “Well my dear Sandra, first it has to work. You see we have not heard from any one that has gone back over one year, let alone 180 years. But its worth a try, don’t you think? Sandra only managed a childlike “OK”. Ben smiles warmly and says “Fine, now aater our administration meeting what do you say to a dinner with all your family, I can’t wait to see the twins.”

    With all the burning questions Sandra had for Ben, she imagined that it would be demeaning to have to present them in front of the Administration Control Board so she asked no questions at the meeting. She had never seen most of the two hundred people here in this concert hall sized meeting, save for Col. Basset and a few project leaders and geneticists. Ben and Dean were sitting in the front row while the seats on stage were being filled with board members who looked twice Ben’s age. As the lights dimmed she watched the in depth top secret overview of Project Life Line.


    Later at dinner the twins were happily squeezing between peoples legs including old Ben Crandel when he almost lost his balance. “whoa there! I’m not as steady as I used to be”
    Lyle asked Sandra what it was all about and she said “My endcap research is going to be fast tracked but you must not say anything. It would be best not to speculate on what you think is obvious. You know how it is” As a music teacher Lyle often hated ‘how it was’ in the scientific circles. He often thought if music were taught with the same scientific secrecy his wife endured, no one would get past scales and arpeggios. “Is it dangerous?” he asked. “I don’t think any ethical fundamentalists can get down here, besides you know how vital fertility research has become.” Lyle still bewildered to a degree automatically nodded.

    Chapter4.

    There is no doubt
    that ancient religions
    do not apply to our day
    we have different conditions

    We need new myths
    that apply to the world
    not just fight each other
    over whose religion was soiled

    The cost of conquest is lost
    on each generation.
    Exploiting resources or each other
    is a sad veneration.

    Man against nature
    nature against man
    God casting man from Eden
    Such confusing commands

    The ineffable is beyond
    the gaze of our scientists
    Our civilization has forgotten
    what truly did exist.

    No doubt there was wisdom
    and inventions like magic
    to build and go anywhere
    that they are lost is tragic

    Ethnocentricity
    like electricity
    is a brief spark in time.
    Ruins were once a city.

    Since the last apocalypse
    there are hints in folklore for you.
    Its not that the good books are wrong,
    In a way they are too new.

    Pegra stopped by in the lunch commons to chat with Sandra, “Hi Sandy how is everything at home?” Sandra sincerely said “I have to admit we’ve never been happier. We are really looking forward to vacation and visit to ‘Warnerland’ with the kids. Their big enough for some of the rides...” Sandra felt she was running on andpaused when Pegra said. “May I join you?...I mean at the table” Pegra chuckled. “Please do”. Pegra paused and came right out with it, “Have you thought about giving your daughters Dana and Debby your immortal gene therapy?” Sandra frowned and said “Of course I thought about it but we have a family history we would like to keep intact. My father would have strongly objected. Sometimes I think there is no greater gift I could give them and other times I just don’t know. Why do you ask?” Pegra looks down,“ I suppose I have been wondering what kind of freedom this would lead to in combination with the coming ability to live in ages of one choice. It must as close to godlike as we may ever get. I know I would never want to outlive my child should I ever have one. “I can only hope there will be time to make difficult choices with more informed outcomes” Sandra said. Pegra looked relieved and said “ We live with all our choices even by not choosing. Oh by the way I would skip the bananas today if I were you, they tasted like they were modified to death,” Pegra grinned.

    Ben Crandel had outlived three wives. His last bio scan confirmed his suspicion that the early flawed longevity treatments were resulting in the cancers that he had kept under check until now. The endcap treatments were probably too late to help but nothing was out of the question now that he felt he was so close to solving the current plague of the species.
    He felt responsible for the death of four men. One pair did not survive the transfer since the QSA apparatus had attracted some loose debris and the subjects were literally killed by accelerated dust. Their transponders were picked up tracing the body of one clone at the bottom of a precipice near Castro Valley California. The other test subject was tracked in the Pacific and presumed drowned. Sabotage was considered but nothing was conclusive. Gallows humor circulated the “illegal clone fall” and what do you get when you drop a cologne in the ocean jokes.
    The one pair that did manage to spin back via the QSA after traveling about nine months back/forward had to be terminated due to mental aberrations. Administration did not want to take a chance on breaching security by institutionalizing them. After all the scans that could be done were finished the clones 40 and 41 were silenced by lethal injection. Ben took this hard and was on antidepressants for weeks afterwards. Reverse synchronization was deleted from the process in hopes the chaotic effects would be eliminated. That the QSA was a one way trip and meant that the agents in the past would take a full 180 years to deliver the prize while the future agent was entirely uncertain but may have an improved QSA to instantly deliver untainted DNA back to 2008 AD.
    The likelihood of seeing this project through in Ben’s lifetime was unlikely but he was obsessive. Especially now that administration was in an uproar that there were four unsupervised agents that possibly changed the time line everyone was living. The fact that these four were now dead was little consolation to the DOD let alone the ethics committee. That this information did not reach any politicians was crucial but still compromised everyone in the know whether they worshipped Crandel for his genius or hated him for going beyond the scope of his authority. The board realized they all had to make the best of it. Secrecy had saved their ass more than once whether it concerned tremendous successes or horrendous failures.


    Chapter 5.

    Life on a distant stable planet
    -----------------------------------------------------
    The Earth is attacked almost every 6,000 years
    They have no time to waste.
    Extinctions and impacts means they are in a hurry
    The race there burns, especially below the waist.
    Somewhere in the Triffid constellation
    lives an ancient planet.
    It is safe from asteroids and gamma rays.
    So perfect, God could not plan it.
    The life that evolves there takes its time
    and remembers all the lessons.
    The civilization is mostly female.
    For an unknown reason there were less sons.



    The year was 5001 AD; the descendants of space colonizing mankind were only vestigial humans. Their tiny size and exponential mutations were only surpassed by an artificial intelligence which was a treatment that lasted for a few short weeks before they required a booster. Their large bug eyes were oversensitive to the light so they all wore contact sunglasses. When they left Earth in 2600 they had missed the Gen Vac correction therapy by only one year. The hyper-dimensional probe they later intercepted had left its unique mark on the colonists for 1,500 years. The colonists had their pick of uncorrupted DNA but back breeding was limited and slow to overtake the mutated colonists as if by a curious form of racism. There was an ethnic pride that made back breeding seem de-evolutionary as well as less suitable for space travel. Truth to tell, the non symbiotic digestive systems of the “throw backs” was so inefficient and frankly made such a stench, that they were socially ostracized for the smell alone.

    Super computers had been grinding for 24 centuries for one solution to stabilize their peculiar fertility calamity. It was now too late to restore an original human form. Computer models came up with innumerable suggestions like more chemical interventions, but always at a cost. The ancient leprosy drug Thalidomide restored gamete viability to full function. At the cost of random deformities, increased viability might at least benefit the future of the species now no longer trapped in the closet of clonal repetition.
    The only computer model that had the best solution was to have never introduced Gen. Vac. . When and how this could be done was beyond the prowess of any silicon or DNA computer alive. The discovery of a second time line for Earth only multiplied fears of their own, no matter how innocuous, had already splintered a segment of time for life on Earth.
    For all the god like qualities that surveying time embodied, there was no knowledge of the dangers inherent in parallel time lines. Questions of benefit vs. risk were again the primary focus of such investigations into time. Were multiple time lines a good defense against extinction? Inconclusive. Do multiple time lines introduce a dangerous instability? Unknown. Scenarios by computer instantly ran into infinity without advantages or instabilities being understood in any reasonable fashion.

    The realities of the borrowed time travel technology was one of distortion along unpredictable parameters and could never be dialed with any precision. The only certainty was an uncertain outcome.
    The colonists welcomed the found technology as they welcomed the uncertainties of life itself.
    …………………………………………………………………………….

    Treeon had often wondered if there was still the possibility of bypassing two millennia of suffering by contacting the past but backward time travel was still the ultimate decision of the council. Wondering such things was the most exciting speculation for Treeon. There were time periods on Earth that was so hazardous that they had lost numerous craft and teams.
    Once after an AI treatment Treeon thought of creating a genetic intervention search program to trace anomalies over extremely wide time spans. Treeon noticed a most unusual finding. A striking genetic loop had occurred way back in 2203 to 2500 and was traced to several genetic lines by name: Bond, Crandel, Krupps, Mandel, Pinkman, Sitszenger, Zeller and a clonal series D1-50 yet the names were verified non clonal and the original donors for D1-50 were unrelated. This was the most unusual throw back he had ever seen although aberrations of all types were possible. It met the criterion to report it to council so Treeon prepared the data for committee.
    Dreeon saw her husband at the observation panel. “Tree, I missed you at supplement hour” she said. Dreeon still gazing out said “I can hardly see the blue light of earth due to blinding glare of Venus”. They were both glad to be on a Dropa class ship in the Terra system even though the Sirius system was what their recent ancestors called home. Earth Guardian duty always had a satisfaction and prestige that New Earth colonists envied. The dangerous and tenuous relation they had with their ancestors of post 19th century Earth was still safer than being on Sirius 6 when a gravimetric burst occurred every 200 years from a nearby shared mass binary star. Sirius 6 had no future worth fighting for.
    The Temporal High Council decided a communiqué with ancient Earth was a threat to their existence. There were members who believed the genetic loop may have been their own doing but by a future timeline that had not verified its intent and action to them for some reason, perhaps a rogue faction had done it. This was troubling so it was decided that a message should be sent to 2208 AD Earth and monitor reactions for any clues. Of all the names in the loop, a current time Comlink address was found for 4 descendants ; father and son Ben and Dean Crandel, the mother of the end cap therapy herself, Sandra Sitszenger and Adam Zeller. This could be the long sought beginning of Earth’s initial time experiment. The message was sent.

    Dean was doing a systems check of the Q-com center for any possible communication from the agents out in the ‘time field’ as he called it.
    He opened the file and there was a message alarm. There was no authentification ID from James or Conrad Bond BUT THERE WAS A MESSAGE . It was -“Contact Freq. 9m 440 at 22:00 with confirmation of this message”. Dean thought “who the hell sent this, administration, one of the 4 test subjects prior to their death, practical joker, who?” Dean’s mind was racing whether clarification would either kill the project or condemn them to oversight that would replace him. It’s probably a scam anyway. Dean deleted the message and noted on the log that he had conducted a test of the message alarm, but not before recording the return address on his personal memo minder.



    Chapter 6.

    When I was very young
    I would grow old
    in the eternity of a single day.
    There was fantastic energy to propel me
    into the world with a will not my own.


    AOL Time Warner ABC GE Disney Land was fun for Lyle and the kids, for Sandra it was an ecstatic relief. The rides were fantastic. They had almost forgotten what real smells and wind felt like after being in their underground “paradise” for the last 3 months. In fact this vacation was vicariously casting doubts on ever going back.
    Lyle’s eyes inquisitively looked at Sandra and he asked with his mouth full “Dju wanna bite a blipsnort, s’good?” She did, but after seeing Lyle’s mouth full she said “No thanks, how about some ice cream for the girls?” That she would willingly share. Dana and Debby in their tandem lev stroller were going to take an afternoon nap with or without ice cream. Sandra announced, “Why don’t we go to the planetarium, it might give the girls an opportunity to rest up a bit.”
    If getting there is half the fun they had a barrel full of it by the time they got there but even from the outside it was magnificent. The building itself was a gigantic Saturn with the ring tilting up so one could walk up the ring to an upper entrance. Even the mezzanine lobby was full of resplendent holograms of nebula and constellations you could walk through and see the internal details. Parking the twins near a full size replica of Hubble 7, Lyle scanned for another snack bar. Sandra sat on the air bench next to the twins and gazed at a slowly moving twin red and blue tailed comet hologram gently gliding ten feet away.
    “ Are you Sandra Sitszenger?” asked a well dressed man suddenly appearing on her left. Behind him was another man with an empty lev chair. Sandra nervously glanced for Lyle but could not see him. Stalling she answered “Who is it you are looking for?” “Maam you are Sandra Sitszinger and we are instructed to bring you immediately back to the project.” Simultaneously the lev chair man delivered a hypo spray to her lower neck and she was still able to see the twins as she was lifted into the lev chair and was moving away.
    When Lyle came back with another blipsnort he waited 15 minutes before decided to page Sandra or call security when a man with a familiar tree lofo project badge said “Oh there you are, I’m terribly sorry but Sandra was called back to work for and emergency, I’m sorry for the inconvenience but here is her note”. Lyle relieved, read the porta print message from Sandra – Sorry honey I’ll see you and the girls back home, Love Sandra.

    Pegra exploited her good fortune of having had a fling with Robert, one of the assistants assigned to Sandra’s research lab. Robert had said at their last encounter “at least we will always have Paris” but that was because of their encounter in the Paris lounge after closing one night. Now she had a lab keycard , and made sure the alarm was bypassed. The lust of gold did not compare to the lust for near immortal life. She had never known an obsession like this that justified any nefarious act she could think of. She always had a good intention for every security breach and ethics violation she contemplated to treat herself to endcap therapy. She felt her stealth was beyond compare as she gained silent entry to the lab without a single alarm when she saw Ben Crandel looking more surprised than she. Pegra chokes “I thought I heard something” “Well Pegra Curtis nice of you to join me, I could use your help.” Ben says in a pitch higher than normal. “What do you mean?” Pegra feigns. “Lets not kid ourselves, I’m here for the same reason as you. Now the catalyst will take twenty minutes of a slow I.V. tonight and the follow up tomorrow. Now help me find a vein. Today is the first day of the res…”, “Shut up Ben, I’m going first !”

    Sandra remembered being conscious but paralyzed until she was put in a lev limo back at the amusement park. She was still groggy as she watched a nurse tap the shoulder of a young man who turned to look at her. He walked toward her in a halting manner as if he was trying not to wake someone. She was still recovering her senses when he said “Big Breathes there that’s the thing..’” Big breasts” Sandra virtual whispered. Emanual stuttered “No no I mean yes that is just breathe deeply, there now. Everything is fine and I deeply apologize for your unexpected trip” Sandra said in a gravely voice “who are you?”
    “Sorry, I’m Emanuel Hortez, I’m on Col. Basset’s staff.” Sandra asked “Where is my family?” Emanuel smiled and said “They are happily watching holo-movies by now back in their park hotel suite. Let me assure you that we only have a few crucial questions before you will rejoin them back at the project tomorrow.”
    Sandra protested “This was not in the job description”. Emanuel turned serious “When two of our most black secret projects are compromised at the same time we have to act quickly. You know that if word of either a temporal or immortal project were leaked, anyone authorizing such, how shall I say, forbidden activities could be compromised beyond redemption.”
    “So the boss is worried” Sandra cynically said. “Emanual looked away and said “Not just worried but bewildered. We intercepted a message that calls into question the true identities of the Crandel’s and you. Are you aware you are genetically related?” Sandra’s eyes widened, and she squeaked out “no”. Emanual added “Have you any extraterrestrial contacts? Sandra glared at Emanual Hortez as if he had two heads and said, “I want to call my husband”.

    Chapter 7.

    Now I'm old
    A day is short like a lifetime, a teen till ten,
    middle aged through two and a slow decline until sleep.
    My dreams are now real, they come true when I wake
    I struggle to stay awake and remember
    until I gently
    succumb to
    bittersweet sleep.
    I
    was still
    quite young
    when I found out
    my magical dreams full of treasure
    were just dreams, not part of the real world
    I was sad the treasure chest was gone when I awoke


    Both Ben and Pegra had splitting headaches and on top of that were undergoing interrogation. Dean was first and gave all he knew including the address he had noted but did not implicate anyone else in the message deletion. He was in hot water and figured everyone else was going to pile on with god knows what against him.
    After the interrogations were over Pegra gave Ben a look of relief but he still had a concern on his face. Most of all Pegra was glad there was no mention of last nights rendezvous as well as the fact she had secreted the endcap booster in her hazelnut creamer container back in her quarters. Life had a new ecstatic promise like when she was 16 , despite the headache.


    The twins were crying their heads off as Lyle was juggling diaper duty. He was practically amazed that the twins had the ability to puke in unison. Maybe I shouldn’t have shared that twinky, he thought.
    Sandra was expected to return within the hour and the apartment was a mess and smelled despite the ionized air and circulation. He thought; maybe if I save some of this clean up for when she walks in and sees me busily cleaning it will be better than having it look immaculate. Tending the twins had not emasculated him in the slightest but there were now more little things that he felt he deserved to procrastinate more than ever before. Lazy to begin with he had not recovered from the year of sleep deprivation the twins had bestowed him. Lazy, tired and worried he decided he would wait till she arrived. Four changes of barfy twin outfits later and the apartment a mess, Sandra came in looking shell shocked.
    “Honey, you look like you’ve had quite an ordeal” Lyle said while hugging. Sandra said limply “you too”. She then nuzzled the twins with her nose a bit scrunched. “Oh my little sweeties” she cried. Lyle implored ”well, what happened?” Sandra floomped on the sofa and said “Let it be said this whole new job thing was a mistake”. Lyle knew when Sandra said “let it be said” it was like the Pharoh saying “let it be written-let it be done” and any further discussion was unwise. They just sat silently cuddling for awhile when the moment was interrupted by a stereophonic eulck! from the twins.

    Millions of kilometers away Dreeon and Treeon were cuddling in their quarters. Drreeon murmured to his wife “well what do you make of the tl-3 fertility treatment?” she said “it doesn’t seem like it is for us”. They laid together quietly for some time. “you know there is another GV monitoring mission of Earth cattle scheduled next week” said Dreeon. “Hmm I love when we move into the Earth lunar orbit. It is so pretty”. Dreeon says happily “ I’m glad were not them, the thought that everyone there virtually dies in infancy is so sad.” “Well honey that sounds a little condescending. You keep forgetting we were them, but you’re right, I can not imagine a complete life that is less than 1000 years.” Dre pointedly remarks “Is that you talking Tre or the Sirius legend of the ancient ones that had built the ruins on New Mars?” Treeon responded “ Hey I'm not being condescending, its just a fact that longevity is an advantage, besides wasn’t it you that said High Council Blacked out all genetic information on what was thought to be the Ancient’s remains. It is as though they are treating us like Earthlings!” Dreeon inwardly smiled and said “All things are relative…” the familiar argument was again a happy pretense. They both giggled into an intimate embrace…

    Pegra had completed her booster which caused a second headache worse than the first but that was expected. Soaring above the pain was the elation of being born again – of living ten lifetimes instead of one. She wanted to celebrate but she had to contain her excitement. Deciding to run despite the headache her mind was racing with exciting unimagined opportunities of immortality.

    With the multitude of free floating and only semi dissolved endcap genes, one tiny branch deep inside her brain began to create a small log jam of sticky proteins. As she ran the current of blood became faster and stronger but instead of flushing the debris away the log jam turned into gridlock and finally a full blown stroke. Pegra stumbled and fell. Trying to talk she sounded a bit like a duck. She was found nearly an hour later. The golden hour of recovery was past. The damage was done, of course an ORT transplant could one day provide a new landscape for thoughts, muscle control and sensation to roam free but for now and evermore that part of the metropolis of her mind was gone forever. The persistence of dying memories before Pegras eyes was like balloons looming and popping. In a curious way it was practically entertaining for her to watch.

    Chapter 8.

    DO NOT WORSHIP CHRISTMAS
    ------------------------------------
    If ya don't find Christ inside
    yer not gonna find him
    If ya don't know the Buddha’s you
    You'll never meet him
    If ya have no idea yer a creator
    Creations not for you
    If ya don't know yer the merciful
    Ya missed Allah too
    If ya don't become the Santa
    Your presents will be few.
    IF this somehow offends ya
    Let me tell ya what to do
    Look inside and ask yourself
    Is it words that you believe
    Have you confused the metaphor
    and worship Christmas Eve?
    Some may think this sacrilege
    because they missed the point
    they listened to a guy "in charge"
    That God did not appoint
    The hero is inside you
    When you follow dreams
    Worship the God in all
    it's easier than it seems
    Ben Crandel was crushed at the news. He loved her but the age difference was too much for him to ever consider romance. The immortality treatment for both of them had changed that notion in his heart entirely. Now it was dashed before it began. He knew without the booster his now loosened chromosomal end caps would contribute to the unbridled growth of his cancer. He could appeal to Sandra to breach security and deliver the booster to him but surveillance was tighter than ever.
    With Pegra so gravely ill, perhaps never to be the woman she was again, everything seemed too dark for Ben to see an alternative. He was resigned that this was his last Christmas. He took some antidepressants left over from the clone tragedy and swallowed them with the water on the hospital tray. Then he began to read out loud to Pegra who was asleep. He wished it was could trade places with her now.


    The Christmas tree and toys were heart warming sights while the squeals of delight from the twins playing with the boxes and paper was at the pain threshold for Lyle. The smell of mulling spices from the kitchen made the air velvet with cinnamon. The girls were showing off for daddy and soon they engaged him in a game of hide/chase and seek. Lyle’s heart was full and he felt the urge to play the violin for the girls, their favorite, The Orange Blossom Special.
    As Sandra poured the hot spiced cider she was thinking of mom and dad and a collage of Christmas’. The feeling that this Christmas was set outside the bounds of time crossed her mind but she rededicated herself to the moment and brought out the cider. As she is walking in with a little train of four cups on the tray Lyle starts playing the violin. He makes it sound like an old fashioned steam train starting up chugging, bell ringing and the whistle blowing. Sandra feels all is right again with the world.


    Chapter 9.


    questions that are to deep

    For some there are questions too deep and mysterious
    they demand an answer finding only anguish or disappoinment
    I haven't an answer nor am I going to lose any sleep
    waiting for an answer to
    unknowable mysteries.
    That there are some
    unknowable things
    that we may sense
    but can never describe
    is peace enough for me.
    Ah but what I can discover
    I am hungry to devour whole.
    It makes me sad that some literally do.
    Like when some creep cut down the Methusala tree to display
    in a Los Vegas casino where smoking patrons
    do not even glance at the corpse that labels which rings
    Were formed when Christ was born


    Like many children with elderly fathers Dean Crandel felt detached from his father but with Pegra’s stroke and Ben’s lapse into depression again he felt sympathy him. He had every confidence Pegra would pull through, no one he knew was more tenacious. Memories of his mother and Ben’s life together flooded back to him. He also felt the entire project falling upon his shoulders. Instead of bursts of creativity he needed to attend to the daily nuts and bolts maintenance of the equipment and delegating with wisdom the things he could not do. With the upcoming project review there were sure to be military and espionage applications that would exceed his security clearance. Not that he would be out of a job but the writing was on the wall that he would be out of this job. He never got the deserved credit he should have. When he complained he came off like a spoiled brat. It was funny to think that time was running out now that they were about to take the first uncertain steps into time itself. The legacy of the Crandel team would be buried so deep in national security and black budget secrecy they would not even be a footnote in history.

    While he was still here there must be something big if not bigger than having helped man crawl out of the trap of time itself. He reached for his data keeper and studied the message that called for a short wave response at night. He was following his nose and this wasn’t his destiny. Sending a transmission from down here was impossible without detection. He felt he had a key without a door. No this message is a dead end hoax.

    What he had always dreamed was having the key to the ancient world. To watch the builders that exceeded 23rd century abilities in Machu Pichu, to meet the Zep Tepi who preceded the builders of the Sphinx ,to watch and hear the Great Pyramid in action as a hydraulic ram pump, these are the secrets he wanted. It would be a simple matter to leave a diary that listed exactly where he would bury the information he could discover so that his own generation could read the answers of the great mysteries and know he was the pioneer that accomplished the impossible. Yes a treasure map that would list all the possible burial locations of his findings of all the possible places he could end up. All he needed was a near identical twin willing to go into the future so he could purchase the past. This would be near impossible too but the raw truth that he was his father’s clone gnawed at his guts. This may be my last big chance. His daring to open these taboo thoughts made him nearly delirious. Could he sacrifice his dying father for a chance to own the past?
    Dean did not sleep that night but worked feverishly until the following noon. Interpolations showed the QRS would have to run for nearly fourteen hours to reach as far as 12,000 BC. There was not enough data to determine how the QRS would function with an energy consumption to the power of ten, if that would even be survivable. If it was survivable, four minutes would do the trick.

    No he knew he would not, could not kill his father and steal the past but he was now satisfied to know the unthinkable was at least possible.

    He also knew a military time mission would not find unthinkable sacrifices to be the slightest impediment.

    ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    The Dropa class ship glided into a Earth lunar orbit. The craft 4 km. in diameter released a tiny triangle with points of red light on each tip/ The Triangle glowed from the center and moved into entry vector with Earth. Samples of Earth cattle for mutagens was their age old mission.
    They all suffered from an unspeakable blood lust. The fact they extracted all the hemoglobin for food processing if not contaminated beyond repair was an unspoken depravity that they all shared. The blood made them feel wonderful although feeding on light with the aid of their symbiotic bacteria could sustain them. Whenever hemoglobin was ingested aboard ship the ammonia stench virtually disappeared. They were like wayward vegetarians on a meat binge, they knew it was wrong and unnecessary but kept it to themselves.

    It was in the front of every Seth’s mind but it was not polite to say it or even insinuate it – which to a Seth was like mind reading. Mind reading nouns was fairly simple but verbs were so different from person to person that it was never used to communicate maneuvers or tactical information. The unauthorized use of verb insinuation was the official stated cause for several scout ship crashes although everyone suspected it was lightening or a sudden field loss leading to one of their most grievous mid air collisions in New Mexico with 4 High council members on board. Since then Council officials never leave the Dropa ship much to their displeasure.
    Accidents still happen. like the time over Phoenix when Nealon Rudon spilled his drink and lost all the outer skin ionization rendering the great triangle ship visible for half an hour before it was repaired enough to return to the Dropa ship. Some were relieved Nealon went back to Sirius 6, that is everyone exept for those on Sirius 6. Nealon had a knack for creating situations. He served the council well since they were always anxious to pin any accident on Seth error.
    Although it is not an error per se, the Technology the Seths use to phase into the past is extremely imprecise. Like scrolling a million page document the slightest scroll of the wheel may send them centuries beyond or short of an intended time frame. Future jumps are normally within weeks of their intended target. Searching Earths emerging time control technologies were developed by trial and error.
    Having never found this time in Earth history they felt time control was the largest chasm separating them from the people of Earth. Early carelessness in a million years BC mission was thought unimportant but some of their technology in the form of discarded capacitors were in fact discovered in the 20th century.

    No Seth error today “HARD LEFT” came the captains orders both vocal and insinuation. We are under attack. A particle weapon streamed by them with only a km. to spare. “Well the natives are restless tonight” said the captain. “Let’s hold in a SA 42 outer orbit and return to the other hemisphere at night later.” Normally they would just return to the Dropa but it seemed that the commander was more wary than usual. “Here comes another one” They did not need to evade this one since this was way off the mark. The trajectory of the Earth based particle beam from a ship in the Pacific Ocean was headed for the mother Dropa ship. Fortunately the beam was very diffuse by the time it reached the Dropa ship. High energy sensors could see a Dropa but the human eye would see nothing. As the particle beam hit the massive ship it glowed briefly even to the naked eye. It remained uncertain if the Dropa was a target.
    This incident did not miss the attention of Seeon the Director of the Council. In fact he was incensed. That is to say, as angry as the most compassionate species in the known galaxy could be. “This is the first time any Dropa ship was met with a bellicose action of any kind. And it happened on my watch. That we have drawn such particular attention must have a reason. I want to know what that reason is. Then I want to know how to negate the aggression.” The Seths had their orders. Dreeon was now working overtime doing what he knew best, searching records and decoding family lines. Treeon was thrilled to idle those extra hours away from Dreeon at work in the nursery. Life did have less stimulation at times than the various natural wonders on Earth but there was more love and constant empathic attention to every single child, all twelve of them. The two throwbacks did have social problems since they were very active and precocious while the other caretakers found it hard to overcome the repugnance to the smell. The older Seths were apprentices on various non threatening areas of the ship on a rotating basis. To know the Seths best one need only see them on holidays when they stopped the ½ g spin of the Dropa ships and flew together with the children the ballet in mid air was as graceful as dolphins in the surf.


    Chapter 10.

    Some scientists believe
    blue eyes see a wider spectrum
    from ultra violet to infrared
    brown eyes see a narrow spectrum
    but with much more intensity
    to every color they see
    If you could choose
    which would it be?

    A speaker emerged from a subtle hologram of the Earth and took several steps to a podium.
    Ladies and gentleman, esteemed members of the NSA, UNFS, QRS project team, MJ 22. and the Federal Institute of Ethics, the consortium of think tanks, esteemed Board members. Cabinet science advisors to the President and DOD welcome to this unprecedented watershed meeting. This interdisciplinary meeting will explore the tapestry of our heritage, the current state of progress and new findings. There will be an intermission followed by a presentation of projected actions and an open forum regarding these new projects. Now I would like to present our Board President, Dr. Adam Zeller.
    The gaunt Zeller moved slowly to the podium from his seat on the stage. His snow white hair was gleaming in the spotlight.. He carefully surveyed the audience for a moment subtly acknowledging various members and stared at the back of the hall with a contemplative pause. When he began to speak his deep commanding voice spoke with conviction “Einstein said if you go far enough you will eventually meet yourself. Well here we are. Imagine my surprise when it was shown to me that I had a hand in creating my own conception. As have some of you here. “there was enough pause to hear murmuring from the audience. “A handful of you already know that we have broken the bonds of time. We have gone back in time albeit a one way trip and in a small way spawned who we are. There is the greatest hope that within 180 years our original genome will be restored to us.” There was almost a reflexive applause but Adam raise his hand and cast his gaze down, “In so doing it is my honor and supreme hope that all of mankind will learn who we have become. We have become other species, we have become alien to our very home Earth and most remarkable, we have become Gods of a sort that may now claim dominion to time. There is evidence we have recreated ourselves in the most remote worlds of the past and continue to do so in the future.” The holo images behind Dr. Zeller revealed a revolving collage of various ruins, some easily recognizable from Earth Moon and Mars but some were quite alien.” Dean Crandel’s mouth gaped open as he leaned almost out of his seat to study the images behind Dr. Zeller. “The great care and stewardship we must treat these God like powers granted us, is not ours alone” this pregnant pause revealed alarmed sounds among the members. “Perhaps more difficult than the long road of scientific and technological development that has produced a limited control over time itself, is our urgent responsibility to cooperate with our ancestors and children far in the future… HERE AND NOW.” This was a cue to change the holo globe to reveal pictures of the traditional innocuous looking Greys, a more malevolent red eyed species and some that appeared as giants. There were now segments of tittering among a few in the darkened hall. “So now ladies and gentle man I would like to introduce our antecedent , our pioneer and your ambassador back to his original home Earth, Dr. Seeon. The lights came up and from stage right the diminutive Captain made his way with the help of a small lev like platform and glided to Dr. Zeller’s side. The audience was stilled. “I will read from his prepared statement since verbal language is nearly impossible , despite what some of you had imagined”.
    Seeon looked out through dark protected eyes as Adam spoke “Dear ladies and gentlemen and ancestors. I am Seeon born in the Earth year 4200. I and my family call our species Seth. My family was on the Mayflower colony ship that eventually reached Sirius 6. We appear to you party as a result of our travel and partly a result of Gen Vac counter measures that were a mixed blessing at best. The moment of your discovery of a quantum leap in what you call time control was obscured to us by its very uncertainty.
    It is imperative that we have a dialog from this moment forward that is open , honest and peaceful. It was only last week my family and children were attacked by Earth based particle beams. Any continued aggression would be counterproductive to more than ourselves but to a time line so vast that we Seth in 25 centuries have not plotted its beginning or end. There are certain Time-Nexus of great genetic importance that have been found right here and now among you. Some others were among your ancient Sumerians, Zep Tepi and even prior to our arrival on Sirius 6 by half a billion years. My message to you besides love and peace is leave these special time nexus sacrosanct. They must not be interfered with.
    Just as an arrow misguided by ½ a cm. at its beginning flight, it will in flight increase its error by many meters by the time it reaches its intended target.. Interference in these times could effect on or all of our common families and species with extinction. Indeed there were times a species perhaps used our common future/past as a weapon. This incursion was overcome but at great cost. It was your Earth that served as a secret sanctuary to rebuild life and civilization from about ½ billion years ago. All we know for certain is that an ancient timeline had been erased along with the advanced Sirian race. The Sirians were as different from us as we are now to you. Only their historic relics remain along with their magnificent Dropa ships.
    For the last 200 years we have had various degrees of communication and cooperation with you and your families. We realize we are to some degree portrayed in your culture but full disclosure was not then practical or necessary. Today would be a good time to start. I honor Earth with sanctioned use of a Dropa ship which in part was a gift to us by our prior selves and the great ancient Sirian race. We hope this token of good faith will impress upon you the gravity of the situation and solidify a trust between our people. The technology you use for time experiments is unlike anything we have which is why we could not trace it. We regret we can not exchange all of our technology with you but we fully disclose all of the effects our encounters and technology have upon the Earth. We have handed over a detailed factorial to this council that may answer many of your questions.
    I understand that there are moments that worry you such as handing the keys to your teenaged children on a Saturday night and I assure you that is how many of us Seth feel today, With respect , love and caution I implore you to safeguard all of our creation.
    Now you must weigh the consequences of your time experiments that could condemn everyone including ourselves to non existence or a universe so different that we may not recognize our surroundings or each other. You must choose wisely. We have questions for you to consider but have no answers. There is an inability for us to phase into your recent future which indicates that you do undertake an excursion into time that will affect your current time line. The answers will come from your actions including your possible choice of inaction. Thank you, Thank all of you for your attention to these awesome and historic choices.”
    There were tears and a roar of celebration and congratulations as applause thundered for the remarkable speakers. Some of the DOD and MJ22 types were not so thrilled and were discussing what the catch may be while others looked forward to the second half of the meeting no one was even feeling hungry at this point with their heart in their throat.
    The entire auditorium flickered and winked out as the holographic simulation concluded. Minister Creon announced, “Gentlemen and ladies of the High Council, you have just witnessed the best scenario based on the current intelligence we have at the moment.”
    The Simulation you have just seen with Dr. Seeon has been given a .001% probability of being positively received and embraced by the ruling councils on Earth.
    I put it to the chair to ask for a vote regarding global contact with the people of Earth. “thank you Minister Creon, is there a second to casting our vote at this time?”
    Yea.
    “Very well, I ask you now to enter your choice…”



    Chapter 11

    The frog in the shallow well
    met a kindly crow
    The crow said "If you want out
    just let me know".

    "Isn't this all there is," said frog
    The crow grabbed him and flew
    Now in a mud puddle, the frog was agog
    "This is unbelievably huge".

    With that they went to the lake
    The frog was dizzy with infinity
    "This is all I can take"
    They then flew to the ocean

    The frog's brain exploded
    his cerebellum fell
    its atoms are part of the sea
    rain in the lake and shallow well
    even a small part of me

    CMN had just aired a 10 minute detailed explose’ of project Life Line. After the first hour of an emergency meeting an intermission was announced. Most of the conversation seemed elated while those already in the know seemed almost smug. The heated conversations probably had the best intentions at heart but most likely were fighting for the existence of now redundant projects and authorities.
    “Ben, Ben” yelled Sandra in the Commotion. “Ah, Sandy, did you get the detailed transcript” “Uh, yes but I haven’t read it yet, I wanted to ask you if you knew of any relation years ago when you knew grandfather and…” Ben interrupted “sandy I am completely surprised myself. I was told not to say anything two weeks ago when I was told a security breach was being investigated but I guess everything is out in the open now” Sandy rushes on “But Ben don’t you get the message that a form of incest or in breeding has occurred?” Ben said “I didn’t take it that way but it is too soon to say, I have yet to see the Seth genealogical data base.” Just then Ben was been summoned toward another group, apparently DOD. “I’ll see you later” he said “How’s Peg.” Sandra said but it went unheard.
    Dean was crushed and elated at the same time. All his ambitions of seeking the secrets of past monuments and their meaning have been done, and done better than he could ever hope to do it himself. Such is the nature of sudden wisdom. He was paralyzed in that department but felt grateful for the new scope of the galaxy. He thought that the open policy and throwing classified information to the wind of folks who had signed confidentiality statements was not the same as broadcasting this on CNN. Wait. That’s what I should do. Get a tape of this to CNN. The DOD and Cabinet advisors will be hung up for weeks. Once broadcast, President G. W. Blush will have no place to go but forward with full disclosure. This I can do and not get caught. Dean was back in his element.
    Pegra was in her hospital bed watching the news. All news after what she was allowed to see briefly this morning was pithy fluff. The thought of waking every morning with the sudden realization of what has happened to her made her shudder. The good news is that in time she could walk again but speech will take a year or more to retrain. With here right hand she turned up the volume. CMN all the news in 5 minutes…Today President Gloria Wasserman Blush read to a class of 3rd graders when a re… “Hello Pegra,” said Dean”. “Arra” said Pegra. Dean laid a folder on the sheets. “Here’s the expanded transcript. I heard you were there. You know they did not confiscate notes. There was no warning of the secrecy oath at the end of the open forum so I expect they are looking for this to be leaked as soon as possible. Introducing this monumental news in this way is weird but if that’s what they want , I can give it to them and CNN he he”, as he glances at the monitor showing the news, “I figure you will be watching this again on the news tomorrow. I gotta go. And please don’t tell anyone, see ya” As Dean turns to go, Pergra says “aAssO”. There was that feeling again of knowing she had forgotten something important.
    Col. Basset was drinking another nutra shake out of the can. He had been in staff meetings constantly for the last fourteen hours. All sorts of Generals and Admirals had to weigh in on the matter just so the can say they did. It was like all the other disclosure discussions but twice as loud. The only thing that had changed to Basset was that the whole mess now had an added twist of time. It made all the difference in the world but not to Basset. To him disclosure was just a messy formality. Even deathbed confessions of Presidents were dismissed as rumor. The only Presidential documentation was from centuries ago when a President Clinton had put some papers he got from a Mr. Hubble in a safe deposit box to be opened upon his death. That too was countered by having something to do with revenge over an alleged oil scandal.
    What really made this different was that America’s first woman President was still an unknown quantity. That she had invoked executive privilege three times in two years was a good sign to some DOD mavens.
    Meanwhile back on the Dropa ship Seeon and the Council were suspected of trading temporary safety for long term jeopardy. To subdue wild speculation a surprise holiday was announced and the gravity spin was stopped. It was as though everyone was heading for the swimming hole of the grand concourse which was nearly 2 km in diameter


    The President’s science advisors were still in deliberation with a now growing panel of Generals and Admirals. General Anderson had so far brokered a workable compromise. “Gentlemen, it is clear we can head off any disclosure of our various time projects if we allow public disclosure of the Seths. Whatever does leak regarding time travel can be discredited as easily as extraterrestrial speculation. People will think the UFO fans are just trying to grab at a new hobby to call their own. So with the kind permission of our Cabinet advisors I suggest the President be apprised of the Seth’s existence as though this is day one of our knowledge they are here. I can not say this strongly enough – No mention of time related matters should be put in the political arena at this time.” The advisors were now nodding in agreement perhaps more from political reasons for re-election than any other reason. Heads were now turning toward the sound of Col. Basset snoring loudly. Deny everything, It is the time honored answer.
    Ethics meetings were more heated. Ishmael Heshman was exclaiming “This leak looks pretty damn careless to me. Here in their data logs they admit to have lost a cloned life form in Puerto Rico yet there are no injuries ever reported from these discharges or the accidental quantum bubbles some have seen pass right through walls and…
    Similar meetings were all trying to put the pieces together long into the night and some through next morning.

    Dean had a chat with the event coordinator of the meeting hall and was told a belated secret classification had been passed down. Worst of all was that the diffuse earth hologram on stage had expanded to surround the Seth so visual recordings showed only a fraction of a second of the Seth. All Dean had was a chip audio recording of Dr. Adam Zeller speaking for the Seth. He prepared the chip recording as an attachment to a credit card encryption payment to CNN as an order for some archived shows of the Gloria Blush inauguration. Dean pressed the send button.
    Inside Pegra’s brain astrocytes and radial glial cells were differentiating into stem cells that were growing new neurons at a phenomenal rate. At her last scan it looked possible an ORT procedure would be redundant. The secret of her immortal treatments that could expand her life span a thousand years was now a secret even to her.







    Chapter 12.


    Good times, End times
    As events turn worse
    It's too late to learn
    If you're carrying the curse
    It may be our turn
    With sorrow to come
    Still the Dark Ages
    Were Golden for some


    It has been 4 weeks the last endcap treatment had been delivered to the last and only veteran clones of the project. D-42 and 43.

    The Seths had monitored CMN and recorded several different versions of the Seth encounter/intrusion but it was a two day story that lost its legs when yahoos joined the public forum and the President made no announcement other than a sardonic remark “If it was as important as people say I would think I would have been informed. You all know where I have been these last few weeks”. She had been in Florida meeting with the governor Ernesto Vega to head off yet another secessionist movement.

    The vote aboard the Dropa ship served to cement the decision to proceed with intelligence gathering but have no intention of the Temporal High Council (THC) to formally contact Earth. The plan to have over 200 volunteers from Earth on board the Dropa ship was shelved. No one had yet addressed the fact that the aroma of the ship would have been unbearable for most human visitors. Years earlier a few unwilling Earthlings had objected the ammonia pine tree pungent aroma from the Seth’s symbiotic bacteria in their epithelia skin layers that aided photosynthesis of sugars. A current supply of bovine hemoglobin kept this to a minimum but the greater the light exposure the more intense the smell became. Most Seths considered the Earthling’s methane and hydrogen disulfide production to be akin to the odor of necrotic tissue.

    *

    In his office deep underground Dean was planting encoded data bases for future retrieval of pertinent facts of this day - should the future exist. No database was to be capable of being decoded for 175 years.

    The training of the clones was intense with the burden of the entire world on their shoulders. Languages, customs, rules for contact, cell collection and preservation techniques and more were revised and extended daily. Their credit ID chips were removed and transponders replaced. Physical training was equally rigorous including mountaineering and swimming.

    The day of the experiment was somber. There was the realization that for the greater good this may be their last day alive as they knew life. Opponents safeguarded their opinions just to be part of this monumental leap, just in case it succeeded. Many felt valiant about what was to transpire. Almost all felt like soldiers in a fox hole awaiting the big battle.

    The Seths were apprised of the exact moment of the test so they could be safely phased and could choose the remaining time line rather than risk annihilation by remaining in one or the other.

    The QRS control room was at capacity along with all the other ancillary facilities nearest the experiment. Ben was at Pegra’s side and felt truly elated that if this were his last moment it was the pinnacle of his life. Pegra looks up at Ben and half smiled a “thankew Ben”. Sandra insisted on having Lyle and the twins there . Lyle was herding the 2 year olds around while Sandra seemed a bit too dreamy. Dean was there but quarantined in the meeting room with a monitor, due to his latest breach of security. About 4 times the number of scientists and military men and women ever inside the QRS facility were scattered throughout the base, watching the monitors and each other.

    Now on March 15th , a month that nothing important ever seemed to happen, the most powerful plasma coils were charged for the single most important event in history – if there was going to be one.
    Where ever there was tube lighting it was brighter than they had ever been before. Skin tingled and crawled, thoughts were were focused and like people at a sporting event all eyes were trained on the players; about two km away. Everyone in the facility literally every one would feel their skin crawl for days as the magnetic charge was still discharging. The hum was in all our bones as t counter rotating quantum spins began with a fog like quality. As uncertainties increased there was a crack and a god awful noise of a sustained searing electric buzz that continually rose in pith as another descended. For twelve long minutes everyone that was going to pray were praying. Some were on their knees

    The quantum spin to the interpolated era 182 years ahead and behind, took nearly twelve minutes, compared to the few seconds in the first test.
    The fog grew bright white and the twin travelers were gone as the plasma coils continued there Herculean efforts. The fate of the clones was unknown but they were in many people’s prayers.
    The travelers were both surprised that the agony and forces were relatively less than their first 10 second test despite this twelve minute one way trip, perhaps because the spin was not reversed. The burning feeling of weight and disorientation was like no other type of pain but ended as abruptly as it began. Landings always tended to be in similar latitudes but longitude was virtually random. The repelling charge tended to keep subjects from emerging inside solid matter but a fall of ten to fifteen feet was not uncommon.
    D-42 hit the desert floor hard beneath a starry sky with a sound like thunder in reverse. The flash he arrived in dissipated quickly except for a ring in the sand and brush around him. His eighty pound survival pack was intact. He took off his small foam helmet. Well this was it. He was free but alone. He thought to himself there is nothing more alone than a clone alone. Now he was the only clone presumably in the year 2002.
    The idea of having a family, unless he adopted, compounded a feeling of loneliness. Although laws that called for all clones to be sterilized were starting to be relaxed back home only those who volunteered at thirteen for donor programs were allowed to remain intact. Consent procedures were a running joke among clones. His vasectomy at age twelve was his first awakening to his clone status but it was quick and easy, especially since he had an undescended testicle.
    He wondered about his deliberate twin somewhere in a future that he would never see. He had at least fifty brothers and perhaps a few sisters for that matter. He was a second generation clone from America . The first generation clones were Federal clones, largely a cold war response to China’s clone program that was already two generations ahead at the time. Back then they didn’t know nothing about birthin no clones.
    D-42 was technically the property of CMS Inc. , a privately licensed company. Now every country in the world union had some state or private sponsored clone clinics except the Socialist Republic of Italy and that was merely on paper to satisfy Vatican lobbyists.
    Still, D-42 was a wealthy man with the 500,000 carats worth of diamonds. With the engraving marks removed he had enough to support himself for a lifetime even without investing in the sure fire companies’ like Kamen Industries that historical data from his own time had provided. His job was to bring back the holy grail of pre Gen Vac DNA – alive. If he could not survive the mission there were other scenarios he was taught to pass the grail to younger hands that might deliver it in time to the future. If only funeral practices had ceased embalming with DNA destructive chemicals none of this would be necessary. All they would have to do is use cadaver DNA. The few errant accident victims that were found still did not supply viral free or sufficient amounts to be of value to the geneticists.

    He began walking toward a distant glow in the night when he happened upon a road. He initiated the hitch hiking behavior and was thrilled to get a ride in an authentic 2001 Pontiac Bonneville with two girls in the back seat. “Where are you guys headed” asked James. “Where else? Los Vegas” said Ted the driver. James asked again “Where is the best place to stay there?”

    After dinner in the Bellagio, D-42 was feeling much better. He ordered two items he always wondered about, swordfish and cod , both were endangered in his time and not legally available. He was devastatingly handsome and floating about in a sea of mostly young beautiful women. A rare sight indeed compared to home. With the name chosen by the institute, James Bond was easy to say, trace and hopefully lucky.

    Chapter 13

    D-43 is (will be) in a much more dangerous predicament and was always considered a necessary evil compared to his counterpart in the past. His arrival was greeted with a splash. “Dark cold water I don’t know which way is up I haven’t much breath to hold any longer, my god I’ drowning” He feels some substance beneath his feet when he pulled the rip cord for his floatation device and his survival pack floats six feet up to the surface. Conrad straightens out and finds he can keep his head above water by just standing on tip toes. Conrad’s first glimpse is of a city shining brightly at the shore of this harbor a mere hundred yards away. He first noticed differences in the color of the white lights in the windows , and the buildings were more terraced and of my God it’s a 18th century sailing ship moored across the harbor but no its alright this is defiantly the future but where and when?”
    “Brr. I have to catch my breath. Gortex or not, I’m cold. I should be dry in a bit if I can find a less exposed bit of shoreline to change”…Conrad looks back at the floatation device with survival pack but its not there, farther out it is now just a speck in the water as the undertow was dragging the dangling survival pack. He ran four or five steps and resigned his rescue when he could not make it out in the black water any longer. With little or no scenarios or survival pack devices to fall back on Conrad Bond feels isolated. Without his diamond currency he is poverty stricken in a strange land. Later he discovers his diamonds would have been nearly worthless in the 25th century. D-43 did not yet know the Russian mafia had flooded the market with man made diamonds. A de Beer etched diamond was foolish to buy at 100 times the cost besides a natural diamond would not fluoresce beautifully in black light. What they should have given Conrad was that the most valuable commodity, some viable archived vegetable seed. He had been warned his features could stand out like a sore thumb next to the deformed, aged and mutated citizens of this current future but so far people appeared relatively normal. For the scant few modestly attractive young women he noticed he practically leered at them.
    Having no retinal scans on file, air travel or even a lev license was out of the question, unless the entire project becomes exposed with unknown consequences. Still he had a freedom, unless he found out that he did not enjoy in his day when clones were tightly regulated. Now it was wide open with clones even intermarrying for any last ditch effort to keep the species alive a few more generations.
    “Hello handsome, been swimming?” said the diminutive maiden in her apparent forties “Would you like a little company… if I could scan your scan your Gen strip…” “Uh, perhaps later” said Conrad and shuffled off shoulders slumped. From the Baltimore harbor walkway he glanced at the giant cargo seaplane on the dark orange and violet horizon. Damn, Conrad thought, I can’t even buy a newspaper temp chip to find out what was happening in this world. What the hell, I need a friend “HEY MISS, wait a minute!”


    Chapter 14

    James Bond put $200 on nearly all the black numbers at the roulette table and won 4 times in a row. With four beautiful women hugging him it did not occur to him he should try to lose and avoid any resemblance to celebrity status. Too late. He won a fifth time with $2,000 on nearly every black number. He was now in the sites of the Casino owner, IRS, hundreds of guests, and reporter that was anxious to get James outside the Casino where he could take a picture.

    Conrad was lucky as well. After getting lucky in an apartment while his clothes were in a dryer, he noticed his harvesting kit was missing. Cherie said “I have some friends you should meet”. Through tunnels they went for what seemed like an hour. The scene changed dramatically after awhile. There were more unsavory types everywhere in this section of the tunnel walkways and few if any two wheeled scooters.
    He was delighted that this society had an underground population of self imposed castaways that seemed to welcome freaks of every description.
    These people were either unwilling or unable to live in the authorized database world above.
    What made this rebel world possible were the venerated hackers that provided the lifeblood for their survival. Cheri pressed a button and a shriveled nerd answered. Cherie said “Conrad this is Gene” The little guy said “that’s Jen, come in”
    Within minutes Jen seemed to have an insight to Conrad that was uncanny and asked him if there was anyone he would like to contact. Conrad only wanted to learn as much as he could and said “truth is I need a place to stay and read up for awhile” Jen smiled “I know just the place”.

    James Bond was back in his hotel suite with three ladies. He figured if he could deliver a hypo spray of progestex to them there could be a chance of harvesting several dozens eggs from any one of them if he was lucky enough to have them back in the room within five to eight days. His harvesting kit had everything he needed except for frozen nitrogen. With no way back to the project it all seemed like an exercise in futility. He smiled as he thought of the ideal time to deliver the spray.

    Conrad Bond sensed his new acquaintances suspected him of either amnesia or a psychotic break. The girl that brought him to meet Jens had long since disappeared. He figured playing it from the angle of an amnesiac was as good as any so he played along with some of their suspicions. Jens the hacker asked his friend Frank to show me quarters I could call my own and was led to old sub basement with a rumble of a mag levway noise somewhere in the distance. There was some white packing foam on the concrete floor that may have served as a bed and what looked like a spider scurry. He heard the door latch and bolt behind him. Rolling his eyes he resigned that he was tired anyway and laid down feeling his way in the dark. Frank yelled through the door. “Hey Conrad, who do you want us to call for the ransom credits?”
    Conrad sighed “good grief”

    Chapter 15



    Conrad sorely woke to a bit more light under the door than when he fell asleep. He heard voices and footsteps amidst the sound of a low electric rumble and the squeak of his makeshift Styrofoam bed. He was thirsty and had to pee. The door opened just as he began to relieve himself on the far wall. Jens the hacker exclaimed “’Hey there is a bathroom right there ya know” as he pushed open a tight door with no knob on the left which revealed a really nice furnished bedroom and ½ bathroom to Conrad’s surprise and sudden pain as he tried to stop the stream but couldn’t. “Uhhh sorry…oh bother” winced Conrad. Jens said “Didn’t Frank show you around?” Uhh no..” “Well that’s Frank for ya. “c’mon in here and have a seat, did you really sleep in the hall?” Conrad just glared. “Anyway you know you have no retinal or print data anywhere? And where is your Gen strip anyway?” Conrad started to answer but hesitated and said indignantly “I thought I was being kidnapped.” Jens smiled and said “ Oh , Frank ha ha what a fiend. He has done a couple of those in the past but I have a feeling you could be more help to us here; I’m just not sure what yet. Now really where are you from?” Against his better judgment Conrad kicked off his expose’ with “I was born in 2198”.

    James Bond woke up with just one lady still in his bed. “Morning, what’s your name again?” “mmm, Alexene Krupps, Mr. Bond,” she giggled and stretched.



    she

    walked bare
    across the room
    with an ageless beauty
    swaying gently with each step
    now returning ripe and ready
    her pale skin white in the morning light
    her supple fingers caress her perfect breast
    full and free, closer now she leans over him
    gold flecks glitter in green eyes, wide open
    seeing his very soul she kisses him sweetly,
    lays down beside him, calm in repose
    awakened by her touch, arms open
    embracing breast to breast
    alpha and omega…




    . James Bond felt terrible, he felt wonderful. He barely had the objectivity to realize he was in love. Living like a king after a rather institutionalized existence can be a rapturous descent into temptation or like rising above the clouds and peering at the vista from a mountain top, it just depends on whether it is happening to you or someone else. Jame’s most prized possession was Alexene’s phone number. He called often whether he knew she was there or not. Another part of him felt guilty that he was losing sight of priorities but putting that off for another day felt too good to ignore.

    Conrad Bond was looking at the modest holiday decorations on street level. He was showed the areas that did not have face recognition cameras at the intersections so he did not venture farther where some incredible displays were said to be. It reminded him in a lonely way of holidays back home. Jen had told him that there had to be some way to exploit his knowledge of the past. Knowing the future would have been Conrad’s ticket to the stars but the past was all he felt he had right now.

    BOFF WOW RING A DING ! Everything was an explosion of sound and billions of lights in Los Vegas as James Bond walked down the strip hand in hand with Alexene. Her smirking green eyes were the most colorful thing he had ever seen.


    Chapter 16
    the dreaming poets
    all effect one another
    crafting one great verse

    James Bond and Alexene were planning their honeymoon. Alexene was thrilled with the idea of going to Paris. It had been her dream to one day see Paris. When she was a child she played a French cello and often imagined what France was like. The only problem for James was the ID required to get a flight. There were people in Vegas more than willing for a price to give a national tax identification number for a fee far exceeding the tax they would pay but a retinal scan and passport was a different matter. James was hoping that a bogus birth certificate along with the genetic tests for the marriage license would lead to an ID he could use for travel but there were no genetic tests for marriage in 2002. Fortunately retinal scans were still just beginning to proliferate after the Arab attack of the USA a little more than a year ago.
    So far James had beat the odds and was about even after all his outrageous bets at roulette which he felt he had a reasonable system to even the odds. His winning had attracted the appropriate unsavory people that enabled him to fence nearly all his supply of diamonds. He was told him the best bank in town for his purposes was Multi Bank. They required a retinal scan for deposits and issued a card with his name and scan information. The advantage was that they were notorious for not running national checks on all scans and even had software to shift new accounts that had anomalous scan results in a loop that kept them from further scrutiny. Everything seemed to fall into place easily. James trusted his cautious nature, except in affairs of his love Alexene. James was ready to risk the travel when Alexene said “Honey, I’m pregnant.” For an instant it looked like Jimmy’s eyebrows had hit his hairline. “Honey that’s wonderful, if it’s a boy he will be Barry and if it’s a girl you can name her.” “I’m so glad you’re happy. You know I’d rather keep my last name and all, it has been a life saver at times”. James exclaimed “That’s fine with me as long as there are no hyphens – I hate hyphens in a name. Puzzled,Alexene asked “Why is that ?” “If I told you , you wouldn’t believe me” James said smiling.

    “Good grief” said Conrad. On his dingy hackers computer set up, Jen had found a passable retinal match for Conrad within the boundaries of acceptable error caused by laser injury but it belonged to an elderly woman. Jen said, “Don’t worry, some more matches may show up. I may have come up with an idea how we could use your knowledge of the past for some profit. All I have come up with so far is an idea for a book, but who reads anymore”. Conrad shakes his head and says, “Perhaps if I write down everything that has happened to me it would somehow help the past. I don’t know but there has to be some record and legacy to the time travel experiments”. Jen says, “The only historical accounts I have found of such projects are either speculation or fiction. But I figure if I am able to believe you there has to be others that will..” Conrad interrupts “Those that know about the time projects would probably want me dead.” “You know” said Jen, “You’re a real blockhead sometimes. Anyone who has the truth about time travel would pay a king’s ransom just to talk to you. Here… press this for word activation and here to punctuate. Now get started, and by the way, don’t use your real name. use umm … Charley.” Conrad scowls and says, “My real name was D-43”. Jen says while leaving “Whatever, by the way happy New Year, now get to work.”
    Staring at the monitor Conrad thought “you know he’s right, officials would want to know about my journey. Here I am living like some Bob Cratchet when I should be telling my story to people who have the most to gain or lose. To hell with the rules of minimal contact. Its time to go.” Conrad walked away with his head up.
    Chapter 17.

    Some have the very best intentions.
    No matter what
    they proceed
    They are on a holy mission
    and just might succeed.

    Great intentions are dangerous.
    The ends justify the means
    they claim to help everyone,
    like one religion, race or creed

    There is one greatest intent of all.
    To teach how to plant a seed
    that grows love and freedom
    so that those we help are freed.

    Since the CMN leak of project life line, objective minds outside the administration began to see the pattern that was emerging from the facts.
    1: The project had created several of the members of the research team from a person they placed 200 years in Earth’s past.
    2: Namely, Ben Crandel and in turn his son Dean, Pegra Sparka, Sandra Sitzenger and of course all their ancestors for the last 200 years were related. Speculation that these people have been working in concert for many years could not be ascertained.
    3: No immediate relief of the infertility crises had been noted.
    4: Near space observations marked an increase in unusual phenomenon but could not make any direct link to the time experiments.
    5: There was no trace of the original individual sent back in time surviving today but does not rule out their real time existence. Like wise no trace of the person that may have been planted in the future.

    Political, Defense, Scientific, and Social recommendations were at odds with one another but agreed to a cessation of the current project while a search for more potential descendants from this project are sought.
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………

    Lyle took the news of his wife’s newly discovered extended family rather well. Lyle said “I was always told you can’t choose your family but I guess there are no absolutes in this world”. Sandra watched the twins play in the sunshine transmitted through the light shafts far above. “I’m sorry I got us into this situation” Sandra said. Lyle hugs her and said “I know you had no idea that this job would lead to this lock down but if there was ever a case for destiny, this is it.”
    Dean had been denied any visit with Pegra who was making a remarkable recovery and was now at his father’s bedside. “Dad, we sure have one crazy mixed up family, do you think we’ll ever have a reunion?” Ben was tired as faded chrysanthemums but said life will out even if our family is separated by space and time. Son, you have a legacy you didn’t count on, hell I never imagined this but if there is one thing for sure, you have a greater imagination than I ever had.
    Aboard the Dropa ship Dreeon discovered a plasma quantum foam that formed bubbles the size of a softball. They were seen to pass right through their hull. His wife noted that ribbon like lifeforms as clear as glass were in fact living within and beyond Earth’s atmosphere. For the couples aboard the ship life was full of mysteries just beyond the grasp of time and immortality.
    President Georgia W Blush met with her father James for a story that she had never been told of the roots of their family and the brave researchers that have aged but a few years compared with his 222.

    Continued in book 2 The extended family of Man
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2002
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Clockwood You Forgot Poland Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,467
    God, I hope we never become immortal. Death is one of the few just things in the world.

    The Grim Reaper strikes all of us with an average accuracy of far les than 100 years. That is infinatesimal to the length of the universe.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. pumpkinsaren'torange Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    2,159
    speaking of vaccines...i am against them. just thought i'd throw that in...not, that it really matters to anyone..it's just that i don't particularly like the idea of a live or even an attenuated piece of virus or it's insidious constiuents (that could have possibly been proccured from a horse or monkey, etc) floating around in my body forever and ever. amen.
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. C6H Anion Prophecy Registered Member

    Messages:
    26
    Doing some googling, and this came up from a while back.

    Ouch. Very scary from those on the inside of things.
     
  8. mackmack Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    123
    i think that if humans are looking for immortality they are looking in the wrong place. it isn't medicine thats going to bring immortality its computers. nanotechnology that wil change the structure of dna to prolong human life. another thing is that stem cells is just to manipulate the gene code. with computers we can build the genetic code or modify the genetic code.
     

Share This Page