Beyond This Time: A Time-Travel Suspense Novel

by Charlotte Banchi

  On April 5, 1963 Floyd Barnes and (Little) Carl Patterson vanished without a trace. Yesterday County Coroner Phil Young positively identified the remains found in a swamp near the Mississippi state line as Barnes and Patterson.

  Their remains had been wrapped in logging chains and shoved beneath a stone outcropping.

  At the time of their disappearance an intensive search of the area turned up negligible results. Since both were known to be active members of the local Ku Klux Klan many speculated they’d offended the powerful organization.

  Weather also contributed to the failure of the search at the time. Long time residents recall a big storm on April 5th which kept people indoors most of the day and evening, thus reducing the number of potential eye witnesses.

  Dr. Timothy Biggers told this reporter he’d been near the Mississippi state line that evening, but didn’t see anything unusual. “No one was out and about that night,” said Biggers. “I’m sure if anyone had seen any suspicious activity they would have contacted the police.”

  The early sixties were turbulent times for Alabama. In June of 1963 Medgar Evers, field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was assassinated. September 15th, four young girls died in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

  Maceyville also had its share of tragedies. A spate of house fires, linked to Barnes and Patterson, plagued the east Hollow and claimed numerous lives.

  It was this atmosphere of violence that fueled Barnes and Patterson’s racist attitudes. They were allegedly responsible for the arson fatality of Dilmer Richards and Tupelo Josephs. However, before an investigation or legal action could be launched the two men disappeared.

  “It was like they fell through a crack in the earth,” Robert Trewesman said of the missing men. “I liked those boys. They came in my bar, Bubba’s Julep Junction, all the time and never caused no trouble.”

  In an interview Pastor Lamar Gordon (Webster Avenue Methodist Church) implied Barnes and Patterson had participated in KKK harassment at his home when he was thirteen-years-old. The alleged visit occurred three days prior to the men’s disappearance. Gordon’s neighbors reported seeing the men set a fire that nearly destroyed the Gordon’s home.

  Another murder on this same date is believed to be connected to disappearance of Barnes and Patterson. In the early morning hours of April 6th, moonshine runner Billy Lee Mitchell’s body was found lying in the middle of Park Street. He’s been shot twice in the head with a .38 caliber handgun.

  When officers responded to the scene they discovered the body of Louis Smith (father of Police Chief Arlin Smith) shot and his body stuffed into the trunk of Mitchell’s black 1962 Chevy Impala.

  A note found at the crime scene implied Mitchell and Louis Smith may have had a falling out.

  Floyd Barnes and Carl Patterson’s involvement in this dispute is not known, however all four men had been seen together earlier in the day.

  The bodies may have been discovered, but the mysterious “why” still remains. Why did four young sons of the south meet with such violent deaths?

  “If anyone knows the answer, they aren’t talking,” said Chief of Police Arlin Smith.

  Kat looked up.

  “Billy Lee Mitchell is my daddy.” Carolyn’s cornflower-blue eyes twinkled mischievously. “God, no wonder Mom took off for Pennsylvania. You think it’s too late to change my name?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with your name. Be proud. The sixties were just bad down here. Lots of mean stuff going on, you’re lucky your mother took you away.”

  “You ever wonder what it must have been like back then?”

  “I don’t have to wonder. I know.”

  “Oh, that Black-Awareness thing?”

  “More or less.”

  “Want to hear something weird? The day all this happened is the very same date Mom and I left Maceyville. The story goes Billy Lee beat the shit out of both of us and from nowhere this wonderful man, kind of a guardian angel, appeared. He rescued us and talked Mom into leaving town. We’d probably both be dead if he hadn’t come along.” Carolyn opened her police jacket and folded back the lapel, reveling a copper and brass cowboy boot pin. “My angel gave me this pin. He said the boot was a reminder that sometimes I might have to kick the door in.”

  “He was right about the door, partner.”

  Carolyn touched the little cowboy boot. “I always wished I knew his name.”

  “Call him Elvis.” Kat blinked back tears. “You would have loved him.”

  “I think I always have.”

  OUR PLACE IN TIME

  PROLOGUE

  Wendell Altaha shook his head when his grandfather offered him the canteen. Twelve-year-olds didn’t drink water from a mountain spring, they drank soda. He and Grandfather Harmon had been climbing for three hours, and Wendell was tired. He glared at the old man’s back, which was the only thing he’d seen since they started this hike. He wondered why his grandfather wasn’t Grandfather tired. Jeez, the old coot had more energy than Superman. He never got tired or hungry. Just kept slurping that stupid water.

  “No point in asking him to slow down,” Wendell grumbled under his breath, when he slipped on a loose rock and twisted his ankle. Grandfather never paid any attention to complaints. He just closed his eyes, or looked in the opposite direction until Wendell shut up.

  By the time they’d reached the summit, the sun was setting. In spite of his determination to not enjoy this forced trip, Wendell found himself admiring the streaks of orange and pink, with a faint hint of purple around the edges of the wispy clouds.

  He wanted to ask ‘why’ when Grandfather told him to take his clothes off and go inside the sweat lodge. But something stopped him. Maybe it was the Medicine Man-look in Grandfather’s eyes, or maybe, deep down inside, buried beneath his twelve-year-old scepticism of all things Apache, Wendell was interested.

  The sweat lodge was filled with aromatic sage smoke, and Wendell breathed deeply.

  “Drink,” Grandfather ordered, placing the canteen in Wendell’s hands. “Drink now.”

  As soon as he’d swallowed a mouthful of the water Wendell’s aching muscles stopped aching. His hungry stomach stopped growling.

  Grandfather beat out a soothing rhythm on the rawhide drum, his chanting rising and falling like a long, long highway filled with dips and hills.

  Wendell’s vision blurred as the lodge filled with snake-like tendrils of smoke. And he saw¼

  A ship. A misty green ship and¼.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Shenandoah National Park

  October 29, 2006

  August 15, 1943

  Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

  My dear son David,

  After years of preparation, today the U.S. Naval department entered the final stage of the highly secretive Project Rainbow — creating a fleet of invisible warships.

  The interior of a destroyer had been redesigned to make room for the installation of four extraordinarily strong generators, Tesla coils, and electron tubes. A city’s equivalent of cable roads run throughout the passageways and across the deck.

  To simplify, by connecting cable to the generators, Nikola Tesla and I, created a gigantic magnet. Modified Tesla coils oscillators (see the attached schematics)were used to convert the direct current (DC)to an alternating current (AC) which is harmonically increased, in a specific sequence, thus bringing into existence a magnetic field—with enough depth, width, and length, to encompass the entire ship.

  Yesterday, I presented a detailed report of the problems Tesla and I encountered during the dry run aboard the Eldridge several days earlier. I explained how, in an attempt to determine the effects, on both living organisms and inanimate objects, our scientific team (after off-loading the entire ship’s crew) strategically positioned small animals in cages (made of varying materials) throughout the ship. Then we proceeded to render the destroyer invisible.

  When the generators were shut d
own, the ship once again became visible. However, some animals had vanished. Others, because of their condition, did not survive more than a few minutes. Afterwards, we quite adamantly cautioned the military authorities of the potential danger of continuing on schedule with the experiment.

  In spite of our warnings, the scheduled August 12th experiment was not cancelled. Those in charge of the project ignored our repeated and quite ardent pleas to delay the operation, allowing us to determine what had happened to the animals— before using human subjects.

  The military authorities denied our request, explaining their decision as a simple window of opportunity. Another of which, they adamantly reiterated, would not be available for six months.

  With the war raging, the military felt any delay would be too costly. Considering the urgency of our military position, on both European and Pacific war fronts, and the alarming loss of men and ships, Tesla and I felt compelled to agree. On another level, the timing of this experiment was crucial, due to the fact that scientists have postulated that the earth’s gravitational field peaks in 23- year cycles—which if true, would occur on August 15, 1943. In light of this, I (and you, in the future) must take advantage of this natural occurrence.

  After several sleepless nights, I convinced myself that as long as I maintained absolute control—by remaining on board the Eldridge during the test, rather than on the scientific vessel following behind the ship, as I had done previously—I could stop the experiment at the first sign of trouble.

  As the USS Eldridge (with a minimal number of men) sailed down the Delaware River into the harbor, all of those aboard both heard and felt the unusual vibrations. The strange humming sound emitted by the four generators grew in intensity and pitch as they approached the higher frequencies.

  Routine seaman duties came to a halt as the vibrations became stronger and stronger. My hair stood on end due to the uncommon electrical sensations flowing about us. A few of the younger seamen played with the static discharge, as others looked cautiously about, concern etched on their faces, and a degree of fear in their eyes.

  I felt no apprehension, knowing I could put and end to all this at any time.

  At the break of dawn, and well out to sea, I switched the generators full on, pulsed in a counter-clockwise rotation.

  The ship was almost immediately engulfed within a heavy green fog. The bulkheads became translucent, I could see from one compartment into the adjoining. The deck, however, completely disappeared from beneath my feet. Yet, somehow I remained standing. Although, I could not see the deck, I felt the hard surface beneath me.

  Within seconds, there was a brilliant flash of light so intense it momentarily blinded me. I had the painful sensation of my body being propelled outwards, breaking into thousands of fragmented pieces. An intense piercing and paralyzing sensation seemed to fill my entire being. I thought I was dying.

  Gradually, the pain and my disorientation subsided. The ship no longer hummed or vibrated, it had become entirely transparent. I found I could easily move through the bulkheads. At this point, I came to the shocking realization that I too had become transparent.

  In an attempt to end this madness, I reached through the wall for the generator switch. Like my hand, it had no substance.

  Twenty-four hours later the Eldridge materialized on its own.

  In the wrong location!

  Our initial intention had been to move the ship instantaneously in time from one physical linear location(A), Philadelphia, to physical linear location(B), the Norfolk shipyard. We accomplished the first goal: Moving unseen from A to B. However, I believe that the 23-year global magnetic surge sent us from August 15, 1943, from our point of origin in the Atlantic Ocean, to an unfamiliar location — ON LAND! As well as a different year from which we began.

  Each time we obtain solid form, we attempt to conduct a survey of the damage and initiate repairs. One generator has been destroyed by fire, and the electron tubes continue to explode because of the electrical overload. With our loss of power, we are unstable, and totally out of control.

  Periodically, we materialize, generally for less than seven minutes, then once again become transparent, engulfed in the green fog. Occasionally, one of the crew is able to identify our location, or we can see evidence of the year. However, most of these brief stops are in an unknown place and time. We are bouncing around the earth’s magnetic field like a rock skipping across a pond.

  To us, time has no meaning. We shift from materialization to materialization with no sense of the passage of time.

  I have heard rumors that on occasion we have “taken on” passengers, and later on, a few of these visitors have been able to get off the ship. This I have not been able to confirm. For unknown reasons, unlike our “visitors”, the original crew members have so far been unable to leave the ship. Another field, or barrier of some sort, appears to prevent this. I have been working on the problem, and I am close to a solution.

  To understand how we are traveling, you must focus on the earth’s magnetic lines of force (diagram 124). Pay close attention to how the grid lines of force and fluxes intersect with each other, both horizontally and vertically. (See the attached graph) We are being pulled along these lines, hop scotching through the time continuum.

  It is the year 1983, (I know this because I can see a large Happy New Year banner displayed on the side of a boat). I believe you will be able to locate our future locations in advance by closely monitoring the earth’s gravitational and magnetic changes. This data should allow you to narrow the dates and locations I have provided, and pinpoint our exact materialization place, within a 24 to 36-hour window.

  Please understand, the future dates and geographical locations listed below are only approximate, since I am still conducting research. (Note: In my world, these reappearances will not be in the chronological order listed, as we are randomly jumping. For example, we may jump from 1966 to 2006 and so on. But, the materializations will follow in the proper sequence order in your world)

  1966 Shenandoah National Park

  1983 Colorado River

  1987 Lake Mead, Nevada

  1992 Idaho

  1996 UNKNOWN

  1997 Michigan

  1999 Death Valley, California

  2002 Virginia

  2006 Shenandoah National Park

  2006 New Mexico

  My intentions are to toss this letter from the ship today, with the hope it will be passed on to my son, David Roger Shaw. With luck, he will be able to reach those individuals who are now involved with the recovery of those lost in the Eldridge Project.

  Dr. Roger Shaw

  Jewel Shaw Ph.D. finished reading Roger Shaw’s letter aloud, then carefully replaced the letter in the yellowed envelope before looking up. The four members of her team remained silent. Two stared at the worn carpet in the Sky View Lodge room; one studied the slow-moving ceiling fan, only Eric Linden met her gaze.

  Ruthe Nantan, William Ramp, and Steven Hill had been selected from the dozens of physics, mathematics and computer science doctoral candidates and assistant professors from the finest universities. Eric Linden had come to her team through a different route, but was well qualified for the job.

  Each of these individuals played an integral role in her project. Until this point, they had been given only the goals of Jewel’s experiment, But, now that they knew part of what lay at the heart of the matter, she waited to see how they would respond.

  Ruthe Nantan shifted her gaze from the revolving fan, to Jewel’s face. “How did you get the letter?” she asked, her voice a mere whisper away from scornful.

  Jewel felt her stomach tighten. Although, very fond of the young woman, Ruthe’s headstrong and independent personality had proven to be the most difficult to accommodate. A full-blood Apache from New Mexico, she carried a silent distrust of anyone outside her culture. A brilliant physicist and mathematician, she frequently voiced open disdain of authority—which, until recently, had thankfully not included Jewel.


  Jewel had often heard complaints that some of the other students found Ruthe aloof. Too preoccupied with her own ambitions and unable, or unwilling, to interact on a personal level. If not for Ruthe’s outstanding work in differential equations and mathematic modeling, she would have been eliminated from the project early on.

  “My father, David Shaw, gave me the letter, Ruthe. Shortly before ¼” She paused and looked about the room. “He verified its authenticity.”

  “Verified? Come on, Dr. Shaw, don’t you find this,” Ruthe motioned toward the letter. “A bit irrational? The United States Navy conducting secret experiments? Invisibility experiments in 1943? I would have thought their concerns would have been directed toward fighting the war. Besides, I seriously doubt the technology needed to pull off something that advanced even existed.”

  Jewel placed her grandfather, Roger Shaw’s, letter on the night table. She had wondered if Ruthe’s hyper-rational mental makeup would prevent her from taking the leap of faith. But, it was too late to withdraw, the information had been presented. However, Jewel refused to allow Ruthe’s derisive attitude to dictate the direction of this discussion. There were three additional team members whose views had yet to be voiced. However, in order to maintain her position of authority, Jewel felt she must address Ruthe’s concerns.

  “I’ll take your doubts in order, Ruthe,” she said, using her most intimidating professorial tone. “One: Verification. This letter was placed in my father’s hand in 1983, via the fisherman who personally witnessed a materialization of the Eldridge.”

  Ruthe rolled her eyes. “An eyewitness, isn’t that an amazing coincidence? And convenient. Did you see the note thrown from the ship?” Ruthe asked, her tone skeptical.