Time Ship
(Book One)
A Time Travel Romantic Adventure
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By
IAN C.P. IRVINE
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Copyright 2013 IAN C.P. IRVINE
The new exciting adventure novel for grown-ups and teenagers where 'The Perfect Storm' meets 'The Philadelphia Experiment' meets 'Pirates of the Caribbean' meets 'Contagion'.
For my friends Brian Patterson, Rudiger Rohloff and Jerome Connor.
Absent but never forgotten. I miss you.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright observed above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Please note: This is the first book in a two part series. The story begins with Book One and carries on seamlessly and concludes with Book Two.
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Alternatively, you will have the option to purchase an Omnibus version containing both Book One and Book Two, which readers are strongly recommended to purchase.
Other Books by Ian C.P. Irvine
Haunted from Within
Haunted From Without
The Orlando File
Crown of Thorns: The Race to Clone Jesus Christ
London 2012 : What If?
The Sleeping Truth : A Romantic Medical Thriller
Alexis Meets Wiziwam the Wizard
Please note: This is the first part in a two part series. The story begins with Book One, continues and concludes with Book Two. Readers who wish to read the whole series in one book are strongly recommended to purchase the Omnibus Edition: Time Ship (Omnibus Edition containing Book One and Book Two)
Chapter 1
Bush Center for Geo-Electromagnetic Studies
New York
Sunday 5.55 p.m.
Once every six hundred years. The odds weren't exactly in Derek's favour.
Although that didn't stop the U.S. Defense Department from taking only three months to approve $5 billion for the project's initial funding. Enough and more to build the Bush Center for Geo-Electromagnetic Studies in New York, and to fill it with the latest technology that money could buy.
Derek, or Professor Derek James Martin, as the sign on his office door read, picked up the carton of Chinese take-away, and kicked back in his chair, slowly devouring his Sweet and Sour Chicken, whilst simultaneously scanning the incredible arrays of sensors and computer screens spread across every inch of the surrounding walls. With the lights off, he sat in the semi-darkness, lit only by the myriad of glowing screens, the flickering stream of incomprehensible numbers and pictures casting an ever-changing set of shadows and colored light across the Derek's face.
He hadn't left the office now for three days, and the smell of stale sweat, Chinese takeaway and old pizza had long since scared off even the most die hardy of the institute's cleaners. Whenever he felt hungry drinks and food arrived at his door magically, simply by dialing a few digits on his phone and telling the department secretary what he wanted.
The risk of leaving, and coming back to find that he had missed the event of the millennium was far too great. If this was going to be 'the one', he was damn well going to make sure his team captured the event in all its glory. All the equipment was primed and ready to go, two ships and five aircraft had been redirected to the area, and he'd borrowed time on two of NASA's satellites, which should be in position in the next few hours. He already had one of the military's satellites scanning the area, it's high resolution cameras capturing every microsecond of what was happening forty miles below.
The center had been operational for two years now, had over twenty Ph.D.'s, and a staff of thirty junior researchers, mostly recruited from the army or on secondment from other government agencies.
As from yesterday, they'd all been working round the clock. Everything was ready. If it happened just as Derek predicted, it would only last a few minutes, maybe even seconds, but more than likely they would spend the rest of their lives analyzing what they saw and recorded.
If it happened.
The green phone on the desk rang, and Derek took the spoon out of his mouth and spoke aloud,
"Phone answer. Derek here."
There was a small beep, and the voice recognition system answered the call, and piped the voice on the other end onto the loudspeaker without Derek moving.
"Derek, are you watching the G-V-scope?"
"Hey Mick, sure thing. I've got in on Screen Two, and I'm just watching a live video feed that I'm getting back from the Stormchaser flying around the epicenter. It looks like it's starting. It's large okay. It's going to be bigger than '84, that's for sure."
"Do you think this could be the one?"
"Too early to say, but it's looking promising?"
There was a high pitched beeping sound, and one of the high-density printers in the corner started spewing out some color images.
"Hey, Mick, the pictures from the satellite are just coming in. Why don't you pop down to my office. I could do with a second opinion."
A couple of minutes later Mick Samuels walked through the door, flicking on the lights before making his way around the large desk and standing behind Derek, peering over his shoulder at the pile of photos on the table.
"Bloody hell, Derek, it stinks in here!"
Derek ignored his protests as he spread out the photographs for them both to study.
Mick bent forward and whistled, his eyes quickly scanning the graphics and assimilating the information.
"It's huge. Forget Hurricane Donna in 1960. This one's even bigger than Andrew in '92 and Katrina in 2005."
Derek pushed back with both hands from the edge of the desk, propelling his chair on its wheels across the floor to the far wall, where he hit a couple of buttons on a computer console, and ripped off a read-out after it was printed.
"Take a look at that!" he said, giving Mick the computer printout. "The Gauss readings have just gone off the scale!"
Derek walked across the room to the window, staring out at the black night.
"Any idea what time it is?"
"It's six o'clock."
"Evening or morning?"
"Evening."
"How's the evacuation going?"
"Don't worry Derek. It's all done. We're clean. There's no ships left in the area, apart from ours. They arrived just over an hour ago. Southern Florida and the islands around the storm center are on alert, but if you're right, they'll blow themselves out, way before they hit land."
"They won't hit land. Now the Gauss readings have come in, it seems there's a good chance it's going to be exactly what we predicted. It looks like this could be 'the one' we've been waiting for. When these four storms collide, they'll combine to produce the biggest electrical storm in a thousand years! Hurricane Josephine will just miss Jamaica, and collide with Hurricane Kyle, and then almost immediately afterwards they'll both smash into Hanna and then Isaias coming from the north and the south. When they meet, all the energy from the four storms will be driven towards a common epicenter, combining into one massive cauldron of raw power. Their energies will be warped together, and their incredible power will be focused onto the collision center. In such a small space, the internal energy of the storms will only have one escape route: inward, in on its
elf. The kinetic and geothermal energy of the storms will be transformed to electromagnetic energy, and the atmosphere will shatter. One moment it'll be like Armageddon, and then a few minutes later, it'll all be over. It'll be as quiet as a duck-pond. All that energy will be gone! But where to? That's what we have to find out!"
"Relax! If we've prepared for this correctly, we'll know soon enough." Mick replied, getting up to leave, and patting Derek reassuringly on the back.
"And if we haven't? Can you wait another six hundred years?"
"Only if I get paid overtime?Seriously though, the speed these things are moving, they'll collide in six hours. We've not got much time left. I'd better do the rounds, and double check everyone's ready."
"Remember Mick, we only have one shot at this, so make sure we do it right."
Chapter 2
The Sea Dancer
Captain McGregor's Pirate Ship
AD 1699
Sunday
8 p.m.