Zeb The Time Traveler
Part One of a Trilogy
"This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental."
Chapter One
(The first three chapters are free)
Author: Barry Chaffee
Narrated by Jeff, the A.I. guy
Zeb was a quiet, 21-year-old introvert living on Lompoc island in the year 2080. Lompoc island was created after the "big one" earthquake in 2065. Zeb was brilliant but barely finished high school because he spent all his free time playing in a lab where his parents worked. Zeb was into developing holographic games. He had no plans for the future.
While working his part-time job, cleaning a special lab developing quantum particle devices, Zeb discovered a time portal app being developed in the lab. While dusting one of the scientist's desks, Zeb noticed a device that looked like a mobile phone made from quartz crystal.Â
His curiosity got the better of him, and he picked it up to see what it was about. He started scrolling through screens on the device and discovered an icon titled iPort-q©.
Zeb thought it might be a cool game, so he tapped the icon to see what would happen. Suddenly Zeb felt a tingling sensation and an electrical jolt in his solar plexus.
Within milliseconds Zeb found himself standing on the Capitol mall in Washington D.C., looking at the Lincoln memorial. After the shock of such a sudden transition, Zeb noticed he was still holding the device, which was still working. Somehow the device with the quantum particle app from 2080 followed Zeb back to 1953.
By 2080 the quantum internet had been developed, which didn't rely on servers or Wi-Fi. Scientists discovered how to harness the bizarre properties of quantum particles to process information in powerful new ways. Zeb didn't understand how, but the device remained linked to 2080.
Apparently, the quantum internet was able to stay connected to two locations despite the time difference. The lab that Zeb was cleaning had been nearing completion of this iPort-q technology and was about to begin beta testing. Zeb unwittingly became their beta test by foolishly pressing the icon.
Now, Zeb found himself in Washington D.C. in 1953 and utterly confused. "Where am I?" he asked himself. "This doesn't make any sense." He knew he was somehow in the past, but he had never been one to pay attention in history class.
He only played holographic games in class through the iVu-lens© app in his eyeglasses. Zeb was the epitome of a geek.
Zach and Mia adopted Zeb as a baby; they were both quantum physicists. He never knew his birth parents. He had wondered who his birth parents were and where they were from but never pursued it.
Unknowingly to Zeb at birth, he was a test subject for an implanted iPort-q receptor in his brain. This enabled him, at age five, to plug himself into devices like computers and televisions with an iris scan. He was one of the first of his generation, and he knew how to use all the latest gadgets. But he had never been in a place like this before. "Is this a bad dream?" Zeb wondered.
Zeb didn't realize that the iPort-q receptor in his brain made it possible for his body to connect to the time portal app. He had no way of knowing that he would be instantly transported through the time portal to the past by touching the app.
Zeb began to panic. He took a few deep breaths to try to gain his composure. After a minute, he gathered his thoughts. Then an idea popped into his mind. He thought, "If the iPort-q brought me here, then it must be able to send me back." So he pressed the app icon.
In a flash, Zeb found himself standing in a room that looked like it had been built two hundred years ago. It was dark, and there were no lights on. He could make out the shapes of three people sitting at a table by the window.
One of the men in the middle stood up and began walking toward Zeb. The man told Zeb, "Don't be afraid; we are not going to harm you." Zeb looked for a door to make a quick exit, but it was too dark. Then he thought to hit the iPort-q app, but he couldn't find the icon in the darkness.
The dim light hit the man's face as the man approached him. Zeb was stunned. He remembered seeing this face in a sixth-grade history book. The man extended his hand to shake Zeb's hand and said we've been waiting for you; I'm the President of the United States.
The other men at the table stood up and introduced themselves as the Secretary of Defense and the Director of the CIA. Zeb was amazed at what he had just seen. He was confused about how to act. The President broke the silence and said Zeb, would you like to have a seat? "Yes sir," replied Zeb. The President said, "we received a message that you had arrived."
Still stunned, Zeb asked, "Where am I?" The President responded, " You are in the deep recesses of the White House." "But why am I here?" Zeb cried, "I don't understand any of this." The CIA Director said, "Zeb, you are an extraordinary young man and have been chosen to fulfill a mission.
Our country needs you." Zeb asked, "I don't understand. A few minutes ago, I was cleaning a lab, and now I'm in the White House! What year is this?" The CIA Director responded, "It's 1953, and you've been chosen to save the world." Zeb was stunned.
Zeb is finally told the truth about what happened to him as a baby. The Secretary of Defense revealed to Zeb that his adoptive parents chose him to be a test baby for the iPort-q receptor in his brain. Zeb can't believe what he's hearing. He yells out to the President and the others, "how can you know this; it's 1953?"
The Secretary explained, "we have received messages through a special device we captured from the Nazis in World War II. They had been experimenting with time travel for several years and were very close to accomplishing their goal; when D-Day took them by surprise, they put the technology on the back burner. We recovered it in Hitler's bunker after the end of the war."
The President stated with a commanding tone, "this is Top Secret Zeb!"
Zeb asked, " but why me? I still don't understand why I'm here?"
The Secretary of Defense interrupted, "we were informed by several scientists that were captured at the end of the war and now work for us that a process using quantum particles and a device called iPort-q had been developed over one hundred years from now. The scientists could receive time travel messages, but not a physical being, until now."
The Secretary went on to explain that they received several messages from the year 2080 that three babies had been implanted with an iPort-q receptor in their brains, but two died during the procedure. Only Zeb survived. He is the only person who can perform the extremely sensitive operation that hopefully will save millions of people from a horrific death.
Zeb, now a young man of 21, is about to be thrust into a battle against the most insidious enemy known to man...the Serpent People.