by Simon Hawke
A GUIDED TOUR OF HELL . . .
Below them in the dungeon, behind thick iron bars set into stone, were scores of creatures bearing only a passing resemblance to men and women. Their clothes were torn and filthy, stained with blood. Some were completely covered with hair, looking like rabid, snarling beasts. They hurled themselves against the iron bars and howled like wolves. Some attacked each other, jaws snapping, claws slashing, and a few had fallen and were being greedily devoured by others in their cells. Still others looked almost normal except for their emaciated appearance, their hollow, staring eyes devoid of any sanity, and their abnormally long and pointed canine teeth, visible as they opened their mouths to emit throat-rending screams and thrust their hands out through the bars.
"Here is the solution to your case gentlemen!" Dracula shouted over the uproar. "The dawn of a new race! The new breed brought forth by my creator!"
"Enjoyable action adventure." —Fantasy Review
Ace Books by Simon Hawke
PSYCIHODROME
PSYCHODROME 2: THE SHAPECHANGER SCENARIO The Time Wars Series
THE IVANHOE GAMBIT
THE TIMEKEEPER CONSPIRACY
THE PIMPERNEL PLOT
THE. ZENDA VENDETTA
THE NAUTILUS SANCTION
THE KHYBER CONNECTION
THE ARGONAUT AFFAIR
THE DRACULA CAPER
This book is an Ace
original edition, and has never
been previously published.
THE DRACULA CAPER
An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author
PIIIN7ING HISTORY
Ace edition / October 1988
All rights reserved.
Copyright C9 19801 by Simon Hake.
Cover an by Neal McPheeters.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part. by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: The Berkley. Publishing Group. 200 Madison Avenue. New York, New York 10016. ISBN: 0-441-16616-4
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are trademarks belonging to Charter Communications. Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF
THE TIME WARS
April 1 . 2425:
Dr. Wolfgang Mensinger invents thechronoplate at
the age of 115, discovering time travel. Later he would
construct a small-scale working prototype for use in
laboratory experiments specially designed to avoid any
possible creation of a temporal paradox. He is hailed as the
"Father of Temporal Physics."
July 14. 2430:
Mensinger publishes "There is No Future," in which
he redefines relativity, proving that there is no such thing as
the future. but an infinite number of potential future
scenarios which are absolute relative only to their present.
He also announces the discovery of "non-specific time"
or temporal limbo, later known as "the dead zone "
October 21. 2440:
Wolfgang Mensinger dies. His son,Albrecht. perfects the
chronoplate and carries on the work. but loses control of the
discovery to political interests.
June 15. 2460:
Formation of the international Committee for
Temporal Intelligence, with Albrecht Mensinger as
director. Specially trained and conditioned "agents" of
the committee begin to travel back through time in order
to conduct research and field test the chronoplate
apparatus. Many become lost in transition, trapped in the
limbo of nonspecific time known as "the dead zone." Those
who return from successful temporal voyages often bring
back startling information necessitating the revision of
historical records.
March 22. 2461:
The Consorti Affair—Cardinal Lodovico Consorti is
excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
for proposing that agents travel back through time to
obtain empirical evidence that Christ arose following His
crucifixion. The Consorti Affair sparks extensive inter-
national negotiations amidst a volatile climate of public
opinion concerning the proper uses for the new technology.
Temporal excursions are severely curtailed. Concurrently,
espionage operatives of several nations infiltrate the
Committee for Temporal Intelligence.
May 1, 2461:
Dr. Albrecht Mensinger appears before a special
international conference in Geneva, composed of political
leaders and members of the scientific community. He
attempts to alleviate fears about the possible misuses of
time travel. He further refuses to cooperate with any
attempts at militarizing his father's discovery.
February 3, 2485:
The research facilities of the Committee for Temporal
Intelligence are seized by troops of the TransAtlantic
Treaty Organization.
January 25, 2492:
The Council of Nations meets in Buenos Aires, capital of
the United Socialist States of South America, to discuss
increasing international tensions and economic
instability. A proposal for "an end to war in our time" is
put forth by the chairman of the Nippon Conglomerat e
Empire . Dr . Albr echt Mensinger, appearing before the
body as nominal director of the Committee for Temporal
Intelligence, argues passionately against using temporal
technology to resolve international conflicts, but cannot
present proof that the past can be affected by temporal
voyagers. Prevailing scientific testimony reinforces the
conventional wisdom that the past is an immutable absolute.
December 24, 2492:
Formation of the Referee Corps. brought into being by
the Council of Nations as an extranational arbitrating hotly
with sole control over temporal technology and authority
to stage temporal conflicts as "limited warfare" to resolve
international disputes.
April 21, 2493:
On the recommendation of the Referee Corps, a
subordinate body named the Observer Corps is formed,
taking over most of the functions of the Committee for
Temporal Intelligence, which is redesignated as the
Temporal Intelligence Agency. Under the aegis of the
Council of Nations and the Referee Corps, the TIA
absorbs the intelligence agencies of the world's
governments and is made solely answerable to the Referee
Corps. Dr. Mensinger resigns his post to found the
Temporal Preservation League, a group dedicated to the
abolition of temporal conflict.
June, 2497 -
Referee Corps presides over initial temporal confrontation March, 2502:
campaigns. accepting "grievances" from disputing
nations, selecting historical conflicts of the past as "staging
grounds" and supervising the infiltration of modern
troops into the so-called "cannon fodder" ranks of ancient
warring armies. Initial numbers of temporal combatants are
kept small, with infiltration facilitated by cosmetic
surgery and implant conditioning of soldiers. The results
are calculated based upon successful return rate and a
complicated "point spread." Soldiers are monitored via
cerebral implants, enabling Search & Retrieve teams to
follow their movements and monitor mortality rate. The
media dubs temporal conflicts the "Time Wars." 2500-2510:
Extremely rapid growth of massive support industry
catering to the exacting art and science of temporal conflict.
Rapid improvements in international economic climate
follows, with significant growth in productivity and
rapid decline in unemployment and inflation rate. There
is a gradual escalation of the Time Wars with the
majority of the world's armed services converting to
temporal duty status.
Growth of the Temporal Preservation League as a peace
movement with an intensive lobby effort and mass
demonstrations against the Time Wars. Mensinger
cautions against an imbalance in temporal continuity due
to the increasing activity of the Time Wars.
September 2. 2514:
Mensinger publishes his "Theories of Temporal
Relativity," incorporating his solution to the Grandfather
Paradox and calling once again for a cease-fire in the Time
Wars. The result is an upheaval in the scientific community
and a hastily reconvened Council of Nations to discuss his
findings, leading to the Temporal Strategic Arms
Limitations Talks of 2515.
March 15. 2515:
T-SALT held in New York City Mensinger appears
before the representatives at the sessions and petitions
for an end to the Time Wars. A cease-fire resolution is
framed, but tabled due to lack of agreement among the
members of the Council of Nations. Mensinger leaves
the T-SALT a broken man.
November 18, 2516:
Dr. Albrecht Mensinger experiences total nervous
collapse shortly after being awarded the Benford Prize.
December 25, 2516: Dr. Albrecht Mensinger commits suicide. Violent
demonstrations by members of the Temporal
Preservation League.
January 1. 2517:
Militant members of the Temporal Preservation
League hand together to form the Timekeepers, a
terrorist offshoot of the League, dedicated to the
complete destruction of the war machine. They
announce their presence to the world by assassinating
three members of the Referee Corps and bombing the
Council of Nations meeting in Buenos Aires,
killing several heads of state and injuring many
others.
September 17, 2613:
Formation of the First Division of the U.S. Army
Temporal Corps as a crack commando unit
following the successful completion of a
"temporal adjustment" involving the first serious
threat of a timestream split. The First Division,
assigned exclusively to deal with threats to
temporal continuity, is designated as "the Time
Commandos.”
October 10. 2615:
Temporal physicist Dr. Robert Darkness
disappears without a trace shortly after turning over
to the army his new invention. the "warp grenade,"
a combination time machine and nuclear device.
Establishing a secret research installation
somewhere off Earth, Darkness experiments with
temporal translocation based on the transmutation
principle. He experiments upon himself and
succeeds in translating his own body into
tachyons. but an error in his calculations causes
an irreversible change in his sub-atomic structure,
rendering it unstable. Darkness becomes "the man
who is faster than light."
November 3, 2620:
The chronoplate is superceded by the temporal
transponder. Dubbed the "warp disc." the
temporal transponder was developed from work
begun by Dr. Darkness and it drew on power
tapped by Einstein-Rosen Generators (developed
by Bell Laboratories in 2545) bridging to neutron
stars.
March 15, 2625:
The Temporal Crisis: The discovery of an alternate
universe following an unsuccessful invasion by
troops of the Special Operations Group. counter-
parts of the Time Commanders. Whether as a result
of chronophysical instability caused by clocking
tremendous amounts of energy through Einstein-
Rosen Bridges or the cumulative effect of
temporal disruptions, an alternate universe comes
into congruence with our own, causing an
instability in the timeflow of both universes and
resulting in a "confluence effect," wherein the
timestreams of both universes ripple and
occasionally intersect, creating "confluence
points" where a crossover from one universe to
another becomes possible.
Massive amounts of energy clocked through
Einstein-Rosen Bridges has resulted in
unintentional "warp bombardment" of the alternate
universe, causing untold destruction. The Time
Wars escalate into a temporal war between two
