Laws of Time

by Jeff Yee

  Text copyright © 2010 by Jeff Yee

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  eISBN: 978-0-557-70074-5

  First Edition: September 2010

  Published by Lulu

  For more information, please visit: www.lawsoftime.com

  Preface to the First Edition

  Time travel is a fascinating subject, but in reality, we know very little about time itself. In recent times, we’ve progressed our knowledge of spacetime from the works of Galileo, Newton, Einstein, Hawking and countless others that have dedicated their careers to helping us understand the science of our universe. Yet, the time travel question still remains. Is time like an arrow moving in one direction, or can we manipulate it one day and send someone backwards or forwards in time?

  We may be closer than ever before to unlocking the mysteries of time, and if it is indeed possible to travel in time one day, we should expect our world to change significantly. The present will never be the present again. In a fictional way, the Laws of Time explores some of the questions about how our world might change – everything from politics to business to science – in a world where time travel is possible.

  To provide feedback about the book, to learn more about the research behind the time travel theories in the Laws of Time, or to engage in discussions with other readers, please visit the web site at:

  http://www.lawsoftime.com

  Acknowledgements

  My sincere thanks to the following individuals who kindly volunteered to read the first drafts of the Laws of Time: Alan Browers, Alex Ress, Ali Boehm, Alissa Rogers, Bryce Holmes, Chris Oleson, Christy Rogers, Glenn Holmes, John Embree, Josh Schumacher, Lixin Cheng, Lori Hamilton, Lyndsay Yee, Michelle Yee, Patricia Yee, Stacy Myrose and the many beta readers.

  To my wife Jennifer and my adorable kids Kyle, Ashley and Lauren, thank you for your patience and understanding when I took nights and weekends researching and writing this book.

  Prologue

  In an undisclosed location, the definition of time was about to significantly change in a small laboratory, buried deep inside the heart of a high-tech manufacturing facility. The lab was a cool sixty degrees when Sean and Stacey Harrison entered wearing specially designed suits made of a skin-tight synthetic material, intended for extremely cold temperatures. The rectangular-shaped lab, roughly the size of a basketball court, was normally used to manufacture heat-absorbing materials for spacecraft reentering Earth’s atmosphere. This would be an exception. For security reasons, there were less than thirty people who knew that the experiment was about to take place, and the majority had only learned about it in the previous twenty-four hours. There were even fewer that had the opportunity to witness it live and observe first-hand the experiment that would have a stunning impact on science.

  Three men and one woman, all dressed in solid white lab coats, anxiously watched as Sean and Stacey entered the room. One of the men was their oldest son Kris. “It’s time now,” said Kris with hesitation in his voice. “We have everything ready for you.”

  Their daughter Alyssa, equally hesitant, approached her mother with caution. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

  “I’m not going to back out now,” replied Stacey, with a slightly confident nod of her head. “I can’t leave your father and let him do this alone.” After a brief pause to collect her thoughts, she continued, “We’ll miss both of you very much.”

  Sean interrupted his wife to prevent a repeat of the emotional farewell that had occurred only hours before. “I suspect that they’ll miss us more than we’ll miss them in our state.”

  Laughter helped to ease the nervousness in the room.

  The remaining two men were lab technicians, performing their tasks without engaging in conversation with the Harrison family. They were busy adding delicate wires to designated points on Sean and Stacey’s suits. The opposite ends of each wire were connected methodically to two eight-foot cylinders, each resembling a rounded coffin made of stainless steel metal. A complicated monitor and control panel dominated the surface outside the cylinder where the wires were connected.

  “We’ve already said our goodbyes, so we’ll keep this one short and easy on all of us,” said Sean.

  “I know,” said Alyssa as tears ran down her face, “but I can’t believe it’s actually happening now. I’m scared that we’ll never see you again.”

  Although it was difficult, Stacey held back her tears and remained strong. “Don’t be scared Aly. We’ll all be together again soon.” After seeing that her daughter lacked the assurance to reply, Stacey changed the subject and said softly to her kids, “We have faith in you and Kris to make it happen.”

  “I do too,” said Sean, reminding his son and daughter of their mission. “We’re counting on you. Science is counting on you.”

  Kris smiled, feeling empowered by his father with what he believed to be the greatest scientific discovery of his generation. Despite his awareness of the life-threatening dangers of the experiment, he showed little emotion. Instead, Kris saw it as an exciting moment in history.

  The lab technicians finished connecting wires and prepared the cylinders for Sean and Stacey. One of the technicians looked at the group and said, “Sean, when you’re ready. We’re all set to go.”

  It was time. The moment that they had planned for months was finally upon them. Sean and Stacey gathered around their kids for a warm, four-person embrace. Tears continued to pour down Alyssa’s face, which brought water to Stacey’s eyes.

  “We love you very much and I’m very proud of both of you,” Stacey said to her kids while strengthening the group hug.

  “I love you too,” said Sean. Then, without saying another word, Sean gave Stacey an affectionate kiss and walked towards his cold, metallic canister. Stacey watched as Sean sat down in his cylinder. Eerily, it looked like a man crawling into his own casket, with only a head popping up to survey the contents of the room and to get a last glance of his family.

  When Sean had settled into his cylinder, Stacey walked to hers, turned to her kids and said, “It won’t be long…”

  Sean gave a simple nod to his son and daughter. Then, he turned to Stacey as she was entering her cylinder, gave her a smile and said, “Our greatest adventure begins.” Then, he received a quick shot in both arms and legs before being forced to lie down as the top of the cylinder closed down upon him.

  Stacey received the same treatment in her arms and legs, although she continued to sit upright in her cylinder to prevent its closure. She wanted one final look at her family before she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and lay backwards into her tiny eight-foot space. As the top closed down upon her, the sound of a vacuum seal could be heard as the two ends met.

  “Goodbye Mom and Dad,” whispered Alyssa, so softly that only Kris could hear her.

  Kris and Alyssa watched the technicians roll their parent’s cylinders into two form-fitting cavities in the wall that were designed to completely surround the long metal tubes, leaving room for only the cylinder’s monitors and gas lines to be exposed.

  After a few minutes of safety checks to ensure that everything was secure, a single button was pushed. Immediately, a loud roar erupted from both cylinders, followed by a sustained, high-pitched noise. Gas leaked from the valves where the pipes connected into the cylinders. All of a sudden, there was a chill in the air.

  Alyssa
felt a touch of panic as she looked around the room. An odorless gas quickly filled the lab, visible by the steam that was produced as the gas condensed when it met the warmer air in the room. With a sense of fear in her voice, she turned to her brother and screamed, “Kris! Is this normal?”

  Chapter 1

  A few months earlier, a cold blast of wind blew at near hurricane force against a tent staked into the snow atop the world’s largest mountain range. Startled, but not surprised, Stacey Harrison woke up and realized that it was dawn at 17,600 feet in elevation. She was exhausted and oxygen deprived at Mt. Everest’s South Base Camp in Nepal. Her husband Sean was even higher in elevation, although she had no idea where he was. She attempted to get an hour of rest after spending most of the night on the radio trying to reach her husband, but all attempts to communicate were painfully unsuccessful.

  Stacey unzipped her North Face mummy-style sleeping bag, which was the perfect length for her five-foot, six-inch frame. Her beautiful naturally brown, but highlighted blonde hair, fell to her shoulders as she sat up and removed the hood of her bag. The zero-degree sleeping bag had done its job. Physically, Stacey was warm from head to toe. Yet emotionally, she felt cold. It became suddenly colder as she opened the door to her tent and allowed the fresh mountain air to rush through the entryway. Stacey gently made her way outside into the fresh powder of snow and inched towards a second tent in her boots.

  “Anything from Sean and Dawa?” Stacey asked Pemba, who manned the radio in the nearby tent.

  “No, I’m sorry,” said Pemba as she stared into Stacey’s light green eyes with sorrow. “Still radio silence.”

  Stacey entered the tent and crawled closer to the radio. “May I try again?”

  “Please, go ahead.”

  Pemba was concerned for her friend Dawa Sherpa. Dawa was a Nepalese mountain guide that helped navigate and accompany Stacey’s husband Sean to the summit of Mt. Everest. It was Dawa’s fourth summit of Everest. For Sean, it was his first. Their ascent to the summit had gone according to schedule. Two days before, they rose to the top of the world’s highest mountain, where they stayed for an hour at the summit and communicated their progress and excitement with Base Camp by radio. Then, nearly twenty-four hours after starting their descent from the peak, Dawa and Sean ran into an issue. Sean had fallen ten feet, injuring his right leg. While the injury was not severe, it was enough to slow the descent to Camp II where they had initially planned to stay the night before returning to Base Camp. A few hours after Sean’s injury, a storm rolled aggressively into the mountain range with strong winds and blowing snow. It was the last contact by radio with Sean and Dawa.

  “Sean, Dawa… can you hear me?” Stacey yelled loudly, as if increased radio volume would re-enable communication.

  Silence.

  “Sean, please answer. If you can hear us, we can’t hear you. Please send us a sign, like a flare, so that we know you’re okay. I am not sure what has happened to your radio and we’re very concerned. Sean, can you hear me?”

  Stacey and Pemba peered out of the tent’s side window in the direction towards the enormous mountain and waited a few minutes in the hopes that the radio was at least capable of one-way communication. No sign of Sean and Dawa. No flare.

  Dawa Sherpa was a good friend to Pemba. They grew up together in the small town of Lukla, Nepal, which was commonly used by tourists as an entry point into the Himalaya to reach Mt. Everest. Together, they helped to navigate mountains and prepare treks for thousands of tourists from around the world. Dawa was an experienced guide and mountain climber. Pemba was slightly nervous about the lack of communication, but she knew that Dawa had been in similar situations before.

  Sean Harrison, on the other hand, was not an experienced mountain climber. For Sean, summiting Mt. Everest was one of many items on his list of things to do in his lifetime. As the CEO of a major aerospace company, Sean had little time to prepare for a major mountain climb. Five years before his pursuit of Mt. Everest, Sean had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa – his first major mountain over 19,000 feet in height. He, along with his wife Stacey, had visited Nepal three years before that to trek more than one hundred miles of the Annapurna Circuit, which was used in the old days as a trade route between Tibet and Nepal through the Himalayan mountain range. However, a lack of experience did not stop Sean from achieving his goal to ascend to the top of the world at 29,029 feet in elevation. His issue was returning from the summit.

  A few moments later, Stacey tried again. “Sean, please let us know if you can hear us. Or send a signal if you are not able to communicate back to us.”

  Once again, only silence. No reply from Sean and Dawa.

  “We try again in fifteen minutes,” said Pemba in slightly broken English. Although English was not her native language, she had mastered it after serving as a trekking guide to foreigners for many years. However, she was very tired. After spending most of the night attempting to resolve the radio issue, Pemba was not in the mood to focus on grammatically correct statements. “The storm breaks today and we radio Dawa.”

  At Base Camp, two expedition teams waited for the end of the storm for their chance to ascend to the summit of Mt. Everest, including a German team and a team of five Americans. The storm had set back their timetables, but for experienced climbers, it was typical. Mother nature sets the calendar.

  David Podolsky, from Denver, Colorado, was up early that morning making hot coffee for the American team. He knocked on Pemba’s tent and asked, “Would either of you like a hot cup of coffee?”

  “Yes, please,” said Stacey. “Thank you very much, David.”

  Pemba politely declined.

  “Any word yet from your husband?”

  Stacey reached to widen the door opening of the tent for David, who had his hands full with two cups of coffee. With a sense of fear in her voice she said, “No. Radio silence. It has been nearly a day now since we’ve heard from Sean. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I’m sure they’re fine.” David handed Stacey a cup of coffee and used his free arm to hold Stacey’s shoulder in comfort as he continued, “It is not uncommon to have a radio break or get lost in a shuffle. And storms happen. It’s the life of a climber. The storm will break today and my team will head to Camp II first thing in the morning tomorrow. We will report any news as soon as possible. In the meantime, please let us know if there’s anything else we can do to assist today.”

  “Thanks David. I appreciate it.”

  David departed and Pemba closed the tent door behind him. The temperature in the tent dropped a few degrees while the door was open for David and she was quick to close the entryway and remain warm.

  Stacey knew that Pemba was tired. Turning to her Nepalese guide she said, “Pemba, why don’t you get some sleep - it’s my turn. I’ll keep trying periodically until we reach them.”

  “Okay,” Pemba replied.

  “You’re welcome to use my tent, if you’d like.”

  “Thanks. I stay here, but I close my eyes.”

  All morning, like clockwork, Stacey attempted a radio transmission to reach her husband at fifteen-minute intervals. Each time, there was no response.

  Then, shortly after lunch, the sun broke free from captivity, hidden earlier by dark, violent clouds that covered the range. The storm had passed and left a clear view of the world’s tallest mountain. The expedition teams slowly emerged from their tents. David was in the middle of a clearing with his binoculars studying the mountain, searching for any signs of movement.

  Stacey exited her tent and approached David. “Can you see anything? Any movement? A tent? Anything?”

  “No, sorry. But, don’t worry. I have a feeling that they’re out there and that they’re fine. It’s just difficult to determine their position from where we stand.”

  Stacey frowned. Positive encouragement was helpful, but she wanted a radio transmission, a flare, a sign of movement or anything that would comfort her in knowing that she would see her husba
nd of twenty-nine years again. He was her rock and he had been her best friend and companion since they had met at a football game as students at the University of California, San Diego campus. The fifty-two year old mother of two was physically fit, but she knew that she was not prepared to ascend to the summit of Mt. Everest. It had always been in the plans for Stacey to stop at Base Camp. However, she now had second thoughts. She wished that she had accompanied Sean on his expedition to the top of the mountain. If she had joined her husband, she would have known exactly where he was at that moment.

  A few dreadful hours passed and then all of a sudden, positive news finally arrived. “I see two figures moving on the ridge ahead!” exclaimed Josh, a member of the American expedition team, who was scanning the mountain with his binoculars.

  Stacey ran hurriedly to Josh. “May I have a look?”

  “Of course.”

  Stacey lifted the binoculars to her eyes as Pemba rushed quickly to her side. Josh pointed in the direction of two bodies descending a ridge in the far distance.

  “Yes, I see them,” shouted Stacey, “and it is certainly Sean and Dawa!” She handed the binoculars to Pemba, but Pemba’s vision had already allowed her to see faint images of two bodies without the assistance of a magnification device. Pemba looked at Stacey with a big smile.

  “I know Dawa,” said Pemba, once again with confidence. “He is a strong man. I knew he would lead Sean back safely.”

  Two hours later, Sean and Dawa arrived back at Base Camp. Sean walked with a slight limp, but the leg injury described over the radio was not as bad as they had originally feared. As Sean approached camp, his walk turned into a jog – directly towards his wife.

  Sean lifted his goggles, removed the mask protecting his face from the cold and gave Stacey a long hug and kiss. “I’m sorry if you were worried. I lost the radio in a crevasse.”