Dulce Truths

“It started with Project Pegasus, which was a classified, defense-related research and development program headed up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency… or DARPA,” Mark begins. “The science behind it was based on the work Nikola Tesla did in 1943 when he developed schematics for a teleportation machine based on radiant energy. This type of energy had the power to bend space-time and would form a shimmering curtain between two elliptical booms. Going into that curtain would put you into a vortal tunnel that would instantly deliver you to your desired time and space.”

“God,” Turn says.

Mark nods. “It gets worse. They used children, as the strains of moving between the past, present and future was easier to handle at that age. Still, as the program really got going in the 60s, problems cropped-up. For instance, one poor young boy came back from his temporal voyage before his legs. He was writing in pain on the floor, stumps where his legs had been.”

“Jesus,” Bennewitz says this time, “I never heard that one.”

“Happened in ’71… was awful,” Walter says, shaking his head as if remembering it firsthand. Maybe he does, Turn thinks.

“Anyways, Mark continues, “John Titor is the man who knows the most when it comes to time travel.”

Turn rolls his eyes. “Well, if I never heard of Project Pegasus or all the rest of it, you know I’ve never heard of…”

“Commander John Titor,” Mark says. “First joined up with Florida’s Fighting Diamondbacks when he was just 13-years-old, though on an alternate timeline from ours, and in the year 2011. That lasted until 2015 when WWIII started, though the conflict was just a continuation of the Second American Civil War which had started in 2008.”

“Still followin’?” Bennewitz says, looking over at Turn with a big grin on his face.

“Man, I stopped followin’ back when Paul introduced himself,” Turn says with a chuckle, “now all I do is listen and hope some of it sticks.”

“Good enough,” Mark says, and goes on. “The US split into five separate regions and the fighting went on for years. During that time Titor stuck with the US government — now located in Omaha, Nebraska — and joined their Air Force, becoming an officer and pilot.”

“And can you guess where he was stationed at?” Bennewitz asks, a hint of a smile turning up one corner of his mouth as he looks at Turn.

“No, but I bet you’re gonna tell me.”

“Dulce.”

“Shit.”

Bennewitz smiles and nods. “He was one of the first to fly the TR-3B spacecraft… or what we might think of as those triangular-shaped UFOs.”

“His real test came in 2036, however,” Mark says, taking up the story. “By that time — and in that particular timeframe — time travel had been perfected to such an extent that a whole wing of the Air Force was dedicated to it.”

“This was the 177th Time Travel Division,” Bennewitz says. “Titor commanded it, and that all came about because of one mission he was on, the most critical mission the world has seen.”

“It all goes back to 1975, the year that IBM created their 5100 computer, a model that ran on APL and BASIC programming… two languages that relied on a signed 32-bit integer storage system.”

“Tell it to me in English,” Turn says.

“The 5100 could only calculate time and dates from 1975 until January 19, 2038. After that they’d suffer an internal meltdown, effectively bringing down their computer-reliant society with them.”

“If that happened it’d be back to cave man days,” Mark says, “and that’s why Titor was chosen to go back to 1975 to get an original IBM 5100 so as to debug those still propping up the systems in 2038.”

“Titor was chosen because his grandpa had helped build the damn things back in the day, if you can believe that!” Bennewitz says with a laugh.

Shit, I’ll believe anything at this point, Turn thinks to himself, but just nods silently.

“Anyways,” Mark says, “we should get back to the problem at hand. What we have to focus on now is the Trifecta, or dad’s original plan to take this planet back.”

“And where in God’s Name do we start?” Walter says.

Mark smirks. “Why, the time shed… where else?”

30 — The Time Shed

The Gates of the Mountains north of Helena, Montana

Friday, May 25, 1979

4:30 PM

The six men move down the smooth tunnel-like-hallways of the old Montana base, making their way to the room that holds the time shed. They hurry down one of hallway after another, turning corners here, passing doors there, and sometimes moving down stairs. Turn has no idea when it’ll end. Finally they turn a corner, see a door, and move through it. It’s another set of stairs and the men take them quickly, sometimes two at a time as they head down into the lower levels of the base.

“Listen, if we want to make this work we’ve got to get back into Dulce and we’ve got to do it around the time of the attack,” Bennewitz says as they move down the stairs.

Stu narrows his eyes and gives Bennewitz a sideways look. “Why Dulce and why at the time of attack?”