The Time Tractor

Chapter 1

Arrival

Each vehicle, a common sedan, widely seen on the road, nothing that would draw attention, drove down the old farm road in straddled order so as not to arrive all at once. Remaining as random as possible, each driver pulled into a nondescript entrance barely noticeable and well hidden by foliage. That old barbed wire gate looked just as ordinary and unremarkable as any other old farm turn off except that this one was much different. The gate mechanically opened for each car arriving at irregular intervals.

Once the single lane twisting path reached what appeared to be a vegetation covered hill, the entire landscape retracted and a underground parking lot ramp was revealed. Each driver slowly descended into the depths of the concrete sub parking lot as the sunset began to cast shadows. It took an hour for all guests to discreetly arrive, carefully in their irregular order so as not to attract the suspicion of any spy satellite overhead who might expose this unauthorized get together of brilliant minds who has a rendezvous with destiny.

The hilly slope met by each car as it entered the seemingly sleepy and forgotten farmland was actually a well reinforced military shelter designed for low profile and well-guarded concealment. Professor Darvon’s weekend getaway was much more than it seemed. Now he patiently awaited his handpicked group of co-conspirators all dedicated to one noble cause. That was to bring down the fascist dictatorship that had darkened the door of their society and plunged America into a nightmarish regime of brutal rule. He was expectantly anxious to get on with his presentation.

His well-appointed underground bunker appeared just as luxurious as any 5 Star Hotel that one could have rented for a short stay, only this facility had a dedicated purpose far outweighing the simple creature comforts of a hospitality operation. Over 5 years, Darvon had carefully contracted and built a multi-level facility without the need for building permits or county records that would have recorded any such building project. He had fastidiously designed this underground complex for secret plans, discretionary meetings, and his all-important work. The culmination of his efforts was about to be unveiled.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “Thank you for your attendance. I know this may have been a bit inconvenient, but I know that each and every one of you have awaited this moment, as all of you have contributed your expertise in one way or another so that we might at last see the results of this project!”

Darvon, wore a goatee and thinly framed glasses, appearing the part of an intelligent and important operative involved in something greater than himself though he was also trim and fit. He scanned an audience of a dozen men of scientific and military expertise who were just settling down. They all seemed just as ready to get with the proceeding as he was. All men of varying ages and backgrounds, they all held a secret that they were willing to die for. The future of their country stood in the balance, within the grasp of liberation or at the precipice of destruction. It was in their hands now.

“I’ve provided for refreshments and snacks, my compatriots please feel free to indulge,” the Professor added with a self-confident grin.

His colleagues were served glasses of wine, cognac, or simply water, while trays of appetizers were passed around. Darvon had arranged for some accommodations knowing some of his guests had driven on some time consuming routes so that their common destination remained as unrecognizable as possible. The authorities had become so formidable in their public surveillance capability that Darvon even doubted he could have gotten away with building his present facility if he were to start work on it today.

“Are we ready yet, Professor?” Colonel Darrel Richards barked. “Let’s not get too relaxed here.”

J.Stuart Darvon nodded, “I was merely being a good host, Colonel, I promise you won’t be disappointed.” A screen on the back wall lit up, and the guests quickly took their chairs and became silent. With a hand held laser pointer, the Professor was ready to begin.

Admiral, Lance Ewing, glanced at the colonel, “We’re just as anxious as you, but first, I’d like to thank our host for his courtesy. All here in our appreciation,” he said as he tapped his glass with a spoon. All their nodded and thanked the professor.

“All right, Gentlemen, the very opportunity we’ve been waiting for. A chance to finally fight back in a way that obviates all attempts by our totalitarian enemy to resist. We all know how past attempts have failed costing the lives of many patriotic men and women, but we now know everything we need to know in order to circumvent the technology of this evil regime!” The Professor savagely grinned. “We will hit them from a most unlikely source. They will not be able to filter out our time retrieval efforts as biological travel cannot be detected.”

Colonel Richards cynically quipped, “Let’s hope we eliminate any future blunders, Professor.”

“The Time Tractor, a creation that all of you in one way or another have been a part of, has been invented and successfully tested. I am glad to announce. Thanks to the stealthy utilization of the precise records of Paleontology digs all over the North American continent and eastern Hemisphere where the precise locations of all dinosaurs have been mapped! The very basis for our ability to extract a living breathing species of prehistoric animal that is restored to living condition once the Time Tractor beam captures it, isolating within a powerful electromagnetic field and then brings it back from the past and into our time dimension. The beauty of the whole system is that I can deliver the animal to any geosynchronous location on the face of the planet!”

All in his small audience sat in stunned silence for a moment until they realized what the implications were. Their eyes then opened wide in amazement! It was the most unconventional weapon of surgical assassination ever conceived, and Professor Darvon had fused together the scientific regimen of several fields to create a devastating tool of revenge using the retrieval of deadly predators from the ancient past and teleporting them into the future! It was much awaited solution to the failures of the past. With his laser pointer, Darvon, went about dissecting the very components that made the system work electronically, and how hacking into the records of their enemy, they had reports on locations and times when key figures of the ruling class could traced and the delivery of their weapon could be precisely targeted for effectiveness.

General Houston McGregor with his bushy eyebrows and intense focus glared at the screen with his hands folded in front of him and smiled, “By Jesus, man. I think you’ve done it!”

“Wait a minute!” Colonel Richards interrupted. “You say you’ve successfully tested your device?”

“Yes indeed!” the Professor replied sternly with some irritation in his voice as if being doubted and resenting it. “Please, everyone, Quiet please. My assistant, Astrophysicist, Myron Yoric, has worked diligently with me for weeks on perfecting the locations and timing as well as ensuring the power field wave forms remain intact. This was a limited experiment that requires a relatively large amount of power. I was able to deviate the demand to a massive backup generator, a diesel model like the kind we used to power up missile silos so that the crews had power for life support. This way, no detectable power drain would register on the local grid here.”

“You’ve been very thorough, Professor. I applaud your thoughtfulness,” Admiral Lance Ewing nodded. “Can you show us the results of your test? I can’t wait to hit these bastards where they’ll hurt the most!”

“Everyone follow me down to the lower level,” Darvon replied as he tapped a button that opened two metal sliding doors to an elevator. “There’s enough room for us all,” the Professor assured them.

Once the lower level doors slid open with hardly a whisper of mechanical sound, Professor Darvon made a hand gesture, “Down this corridor all of you. Now, I’m going to explain to all of you what happened. Yoric and I were able to teleport a young male Velociraptor alive and well and even though it was a small one, it was very vicious and hungry. Apparently, traveling through the Time Tractor field excites their already swollen appetites. We were forced to euthanize the animal, but I’ve kept body in refrigerated storage.”

“How long has the specimen been stored Professor?” General McGregor asked.

“Almost a week now!” the Professor replied with all the glee of a little boy. “Can you imagine the difficulty I’ve had in holding back my excitement?”

“You’re sure the damn thing is dead, right?” Colonel Richards frowned.

“No worries, Colonel, when it first arrived we used a high intensity Taser to stun the animal. It was a beautiful specimen! Then we took some tissue samples to analyze before having to inject a lethal dose of an anesthetic, much like a death by injection execution. It is quite deceased. We have monitored the carcass on camera as well.”

“Incredible!” Admiral Ewing said as he nodded and looked down at the beast partially wrapped in a clear plastic sheeting.

Intelligence agent, Rod Branson, knelt next to the dead behemoth and touched it, “this damn thing looks to be 7 feet long, and you call this what, a teenager?”

“According to Paleontological data, I doubt this specimen was more than a few months old,” Professor Darvon answered as he removed his fogging glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief. “They are probably instinctive hunter killers not long after birth.”

“Good God Almighty!” General McGregor gasped as he stared downward at the greenish yellow scales of a predator from earth’s prehistoric age.

“All right, gentlemen, follow me to the elevator. We’ll need to discuss logistics and strategy. There will be weeks of planning before we can launch one massive assault in order to take out the executive and command structure of our oppressors! If we are successful in cutting off the head of the serpent the rest of their empire will start to collapse. However, we will still need boots on the ground, air support, and Naval back up to ensure victory!” Professor Darvon advised as he led them back to the elevator area. “I’m leaving that part of the planning to our military experts. Do you think it can be done, Gentlemen?” Darvon asked with a sly smile.

“Professor,” General McGregor said as he slid his 5 star cap off his forehead, “I have enough connections and loyal men just as hateful of this damned regime as I am, who could pull off this coup!”

Admiral Ewing with a grim expression assured everyone there, “I can have an aircraft carrier covering every major port as a show of force. I sincerely doubt any fools will argue with that!”

Agent Branson blew out a thoughtful sigh, “the problem is going to be to keep this operation compartmentalized long enough to avert exposure. The longer it takes for this project to be deployed the greater chance we have of being discovered. I will say right now that there may be some people we trust implicitly that may cave when the pedal hits the metal.”

“And that’s going to be your job, Agent Branson, to run dossiers on everyone we’ll need in order to maintain secrecy until our date of deployment. I will need the expertise of every man here so that we do not fail!” Darvon replied with a forcefulness that surprised his compatriots.

“Yes,” Branson agreed, “I’ll need to instigate thorough background checks on everyone so there is no doubt!”

As they all piled back into the conference area they had originally been seated at, Professor Darvon gestured for all of them to sit down so that more discussion could undertaken. Once again he invited them to imbibe as he patiently awaited without even indulging in a drink himself. The atmosphere was excited and intense. A buzz of hope seemed to be emitted by the gathering of important and well trained men. The Professor looked on hopefully as he would have to depend on their cooperation and loyalty in order for this dangerous venture to work.

“Damn!” Colonel Richards shook his head, “A real damn dinosaur! Professor, I’m amazed!”

“There’s one thing we are going to need that I have not had a chance to work out yet, and that will be the expertise in electrical engineering as we will be needing someone who can facilitate a conversion from my facility here to the main power grid. I have only made some initial estimates of power requirements that will have to be expanded to accommodate a massive assault but first hacking into the main grid. That will create a problem. A draw like that will attract attention! We may have to create a diversion of some sort to keep the grid from shutting down. Anyway, if we can get the Army Corps of Engineers involved in this?” Darvon asked the collection of co-conspirators.

General McGregor nodded in reply, “I have the man who controls the team that can get it done under the aegis of a public works project! We can get that power just as long as we don’t overload the grid.”

“I’ll need to run a security check on your man, General,” Rod Branson said thoughtfully.

“I know that,” General McGregor shot back.

“By the way, Agent Branson asked through narrowed eyelids, “Where is this Myron Yoric?”

Professor Darvon grinned, “Why, he’s at the local university right now doing what every normally employed professor of tenure does, maintaining a presence and doing some calculations for this project.”

“That’s fine, Sir, we just need to make sure he uses all precautions, and I’ll go over that with you,” Rod Branson advised.

“I assure you, Agent Branson, we will exercise the utmost in security measures,” The Professor nodded.

There was an uncomfortable silence among the group as they quietly acknowledged the enormity of their mission. They were inspired, committed, but also mindful of the pitfalls that could occur as everything went into motion. It was either do or die, and they knew it.