The Time Travel Trilogy: Book I

Chapter 1: The Trip

By: AFYTXR

March 31, 2013 Augusto Fernandez (Alberto's Grandson)

Augusto set his backpack on the ground and looked around at the clearing. He was high up in the mountain where he had found a clearing among the trees. He and his friends were planning on going hiking sometime soon and he had decided to scout the area and look for possible campsites that they could use. He looked around at the clearing and decided that this could definitively be a possibility.

Augusto brushed the sweat away from his forehead and looked up at the sky. The bright sun was already descending over the peak of the mountain and soon it would cast its shadow over the city. He then walked over to the edge of the clearing and set down his backpack.

He was beginning to unzip the backpack when he heard crackle similar to thunder and a sonic boom combined together and a flash of green light that temporarily blinded him even though it had originated from behind him. Augusto rubbed his eyes and turned around and tried to focus his vision. In the middle of the clearing now hovered an odd looking craft. Yes hovered, the craft was floating a foot above the ground. It seemed to be made of some sort of metal that was painted blood red and had a window curved around the cockpit similar to a fighter jet. In the back was a huge turbine from which hot gases where steaming out into the air. All in all the craft was around the size of a small car.

There was a hiss of air and the cockpit glass was slowly lifted upwards revealing a two seat cockpit inside full of complicated looking buttons, levers and circuitry. One of the seats was occupied by a guy who looked around the same age as Augusto and seemed to have similar physical traits to him.

"Greetings," said the guy.

Augusto simply stared at him in awe.

"You do speak English, right?" the guy asked.

"Y-Yes," Augusto managed to say.

"Good," the guy responded, "so I take it you're Augusto, right?"

"Umm yes," Augusto replied.

"Good," said the guy as he unbuckled his seat belt and jumped out of the vehicle. "I'm your grandson," he said as he stuck out his hand in front of Augusto.

Augusto stared at the hand before slowly reaching out his own hand and shaking it. He continued to express a face of shock and disbelief.

"Alright," said the guy, "I should probably explain what is going on. First of all my name is Avelino and as I already told you, I'm your grandson. Now I came here in a time machine that was actually invented by your grandfather and together we're going to travel back in time in order to stop an evil time traveler from my own time who is trying to destroy history by assassinating one of your uncles. Do you understand?"

Augusto's mind raced as he tried to process all the information and make sense of it. He finally decided that no, as a matter of fact he did not understand and told that to Avelino.

"Okay," said Avelino as he realized that he was going too fast for Augusto, "let me explain this more slowly. First of all you should understand that time travel is possible. Considering the fact that you have just witnessed my arrival here I don't think you'll have much difficulty believing it. Second of all there is an assassin who is planning to travel back in time in order to kill your uncle Mauricio and prevent him from ever becoming mayor."

"Wait a second," Augusto interrupted, "assuming the assassin succeeded in killing my uncle, wouldn't time have already changed since it already happened?"

"But here's the thing, it hasn't actually happened," Avelino began to explain, "well if you simply look at it on the chronological timeline then yes that moment is in the past, however if you look at it in the kairological timeline, then no it hasn't happened."

"Kairological?" asked Augusto.

"Oh right," said Avelino, "I forgot you haven't heard of the two-time dimensions theory."

"What?" asked Augusto, "two dimensions of time? How is that even possible?"

"Umm," said Avelino, "think about a horizontal line. There is a point in the middle of that line, that point is the present, everything before that point is in the past and everything after that point is in the future. This is how you imagine time right?"

"Yes," Augusto replied.

"Well now thing about a Y-Axis. This axis also has a middle point that is the present and a past and a future. This time however tracks the changes of events throughout time and a change in that event affects X-time as well. Basically imagine a point above the X-Axis and to the left of the Y-Axis. This point is in the past X and in the future Y. This is the change that will occur. It hasn't occurred to the X-timeline, but it will occur. What we have to do is arrive to the past X and make sure that that change doesn't happen so that the X-timeline stays the same," explained Avelino.

"I think I understand it, well sort of," said Augusto as he tried to wrap his mind around this concept.

"Anyways, there'll be plenty of time for you to understand it later. Let me just show you how the time machine works and then we'll be off," said Avelino.

Avelino led Augusto to the back of the time machine. The turbine had by now cooled down enough so that it no longer emitted hot gasses. Avelino tapped a compartment that looked like the cover for a fuel tank on a car and it slid open revealing a small tube around 2 inches in diameter.

"Have you heard of a warp-drive?" asked Avelino.

"Yes," replied Augusto, "I heard NASA has begun to work on one. It compresses space-time in front of it and expands it behind it allowing a space ship to travel through space at tremendous speeds without actually moving."

"That is correct," replied Avelino, "the time machine however uses something called a hyper-drive. The hyper-drive works in a similar way except it allows you to travel through time instead of space."

"Amazing," said Augusto, "but how is it powered?"

"Ah, that's the tricky part," said Avelino, "the hyper-drive actually requires massive amounts of power even for short trips. The only thing that provides the necessary power, are thermo-nuclear battery cells made purely from Element 115."

As Avelino said this, he took out a silver briefcase from the inside of the time machine and opened it up. Inside where a total of 10 black tubes with foam padding in-between them.

"Wow, wow, wow," said Augusto, "isn't this radioactive or something?"

"The battery cells are found inside the tubes and the tubes are able to insulate 99.99% of the radiation. They're actually very rare and hard to make, these where stolen from an illegal secret nuclear lab," said Avelino.

"Wait, what?" asked Augusto, "There's such a thing as illegal nuclear lab in the future?"

"Oops, I shouldn't reveal too much about the future, but to answer your question, yes there are illegal nuclear labs in the future." said Avelino as he placed the tube inside the fuel chamber. A vacuum sucking noise was heard and the fuel chamber was sealed back into place.

"Well, now we're ready to go," said Avelino.

Augusto entered the time machine through the right side and sat down on the seat. There was a display in the middle of the time machine and buttons and levers to either side. Avelino entered through the other side and clicked a button. The hatch slowly closed over them and a hissing noise was heard as it sealed itself. Augusto felt butterflies in his stomach as he wondered in excitement what travelling through time would feel like. Was he actually about to travel through time? Was he actually about to do it? Avelino clicked the power button and the display whirred to life.

"The computer is equipped with a highly advanced AI system. He is named Xeno," Avelino explained.

"Hello Travelers," said Xeno through the speakers in a robotic monotone voice.

"Hello Xeno," said Avelino, "set our destination for February 27, 1970."

"The destination has been set," said Xeno, "I see that your encounter with The Traveler was successful."

"The Traveler?" asked Augusto. It felt weird to talk to Xeno because there wasn't actually anything to talk to. He just spoke out into the air as if an invisible person was also there in the time machine with him.

"Yes, you are The Traveler," Xeno stated.

"Xeno, open up the database and bring up the family tree," Avelino commanded.

The display flashed as the database opened and hundreds of archives flashed through the screen. Eventually the display stopped with the images of 6 people on the screen. Below them where their names and what Augusto guessed where their nicknames. They read: Gaspar Fernandez (The Theorist), Rafael Fernandez (The Designer), Alberto Fernandez (The Creator), Alvaro Fernandez (The Dissolver), Augusto Fernandez (The Traveler), and Avelino Fernandez (The Helper).

"This is our family," explained Avelino, "each one of them is the son of the one before them. You can see how each one of them contributed towards the creation of the time machine."

"Dissolver?" asked Augusto when he realized that his dad's nickname didn't make sense.

"I'm not sure what that means yet," Avelino explained.

"But this all means that work began years ago," said Augusto.

"Yes, the time machine has taken many generations to create," Avelino said.

"I never knew," said Augusto.

"After your grandfather (Alberto) created the time machine he decided not to tell his sons about it and instead sent the time machine to the future so that it would be safe, and no one would use it. Now however it is time for us to stop the assassin from changing history," said Avelino.

"Why does he want to change history?" asked Augusto.

"I don't know but I was hoping to find out once we stopped him," said Avelino.

"I have been analyzing your conversation these past minutes and have come to the conclusion that it would take approximately 1.2 years for you to fully explain everything to Augusto," said Xeno, "therefore it is my recommendation as the official AI of this time machine that we depart immediately and explain everything to Augusto as it comes up."

"I agree," said Avelino, "now prepare yourself."

Avelino clicked a few buttons on the display and then moved a lever forward.

"Destination set…" said Xeno, "Preparing hyper-drive…"

"Analyzing route…"

"Engaging main thrusters…"

"Undergoing final system checkup..,"

"…"

"All systems go. Trip initializing…"