ALARM CLOCK DAWN (An Original Novel - Episode 21)

Welcome to today’s episode. In yesterday's episode Adam met with Johann Pfizer’s second in command at XenTek, Seth Busby. Mr. Busby made Adam feel as though his contributions at XenTek were finally being recognized. In fact, Adam felt appreciated for the first time in his entire career. Adam would've been wise to listen to his intuition and think about XenTek's agenda but wanted so badly to believe the flattery that he allowed himself to do just that.

Seth also shared with Adam top secret details of Project Phoenix. Today Adam learns much more. His imagination could never have prepared him for what reality was about to reveal.

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Did you miss Episode 20 of Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to catch up.

Are you new to Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to start at the beginning.

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As Adam’s full consciousness returned he saw Busby leaning over top his desk snapping his fingers.

“Mr. Harkin? Hello, are you with me?”

Adam ever so gradually drifted back to find Mr. Busby just a few feet in front of him.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Busby tilted his head slightly and studied Adam for a moment. “As I was saying, you were correct in your assumption that this is a particle accelerator but it's so much more than that. This, Mr. Harkin, is a time machine.” The hologram then projected two pulses of energy being launched from opposite directions and smashing together at the other side of the circle.

“You see, they collide in the very box that was on your desk yesterday. This incredible energy creates, shall we say, a kind of bubble in the space time continuum. With the aid of the machine, this bubble can be fine-tuned and suspended by applying huge pulses of energy to effectively bring people or objects backward or forward in time and theoretically carry them across very vast distances.”

Adam felt his mouth hang open and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Mr. Busby, this is incredible!”

Busby smiled. “Incredible indeed. Mr. Harkin, we recognize that you are truly special. What XenTek would like to offer you is a chance to make history. We have chosen you to be a member of the team to make the first jump forward in time.”

Adam tried to respond, but his throat was too parched. He sat forward in the chair, equally mesmerized by both the words that spontaneously came to him and the colorful hologram as it looped, the atoms smashing together again and again in a magnificent explosion.

The old Adam would have come up with a million excuses not to take the offer and then would’ve hated himself for it later. All of a sudden he began thinking of how this could be his one chance to escape becoming uncomfortably numb like the workaday zombies on the subway who repeated the very same routine day in and day out until they were all used up. That wasn't how humans were meant to live, devoid of adventure, substance, and all that it meant to be alive. Adam knew this was his chance to do something truly exciting and meaningful with his life. In his head, he kept regurgitating a phrase that he had read in a self-help book: The same response equals the same results . . . only new responses create different results. Right now, in this moment, it all made sense.

“Hell yes!” Adam answered so loudly he startled himself. He watched Mr. Busby stumble backward a few steps, surprised by the response.

“Well, I appreciate the enthusiasm, Mr. Harkin.” Mr. Busby laughing as he regained his composure and put the Holo back into his pocket. “Follow me. We need to get started.”

Mr. Busby led Adam to the stainless steel elevator doors, swiped his thumb on the security pad, and waited for the large doors parted.

“Step in, Mr. Harkin,” Mr. Busby said. He clearly annunciated the words “Level 16” as the doors closed and the elevator began a smooth but rapid plunge.

“Sir, t-t-this project. What will it entail?” Adam asked.

“Well, we've assembled a team of highly qualified individuals to carry out our objective. We were just missing one person with, shall we say, your skill-set.” The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Adam felt some of his initial enthusiasm starting to wane. “Umm, sir, d-d-do you mean we're traveling into the future—today?” he asked as they exited the elevator onto a small concrete platform that was whisper quiet.

Mr. Busby led Adam to a lone subway car that waited on the tracks just a few feet away.

“Why, of course we are, Mr. Harkin. Today is the day you will make history. In just a short number of minutes we will be sending a small team approximately five years into the future to carry out a highly classified mission. You've demonstrated an uncanny intuition, an ability to connect the dots unseen. Your role will be to be the brains of our team. You will also operate the controls to bring them back.”

They entered the train car. It was far more modern than any Adam had ever seen.

“Take a seat,” Mr. Busby ordered. “This train moves faster than you might expect.” Mr. Busby sat on the form-fitting seats designed for one purpose—to keep the rider from spilling out onto the floor.

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Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.

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