Timecachers

Timecachers

BY
GLENN R. PETRUCCI

Although portions of this novel are derived from real events, all characters and organizations portrayed are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any living person is intended or should be inferred.

Copyright © 2011 Glenn R. Petrucci

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the copyright holder except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Published by ReturnSide, LLC, New Castle, Delaware

For Kathy...
who fills my life with love and my writing with clarity.

Table of Contents

T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS

T
IMECACHERS
M
AP

C
HAPTER ONE

C
HAPTER TWO

C
HAPTER THREE

C
HAPTER FOUR

C
HAPTER FIVE

C
HAPTER SIX

C
HAPTER SEVEN

C
HAPTER EIGHT

C
HAPTER NINE

C
HAPTER TEN

C
HAPTER ELEVEN

C
HAPTER TWELVE

C
HAPTER THIRTEEN

C
HAPTER FOURTEEN

C
HAPTER FIFTEEN

C
HAPTER SIXTEEN

C
HAPTER SEVENTEEN

C
HAPTER EIGHTEEN

C
HAPTER NINETEEN

C
HAPTER TWENTY

C
HAPTER TWENTY-ONE

C
HAPTER TWENTY-TWO

C
HAPTER TWENTY-THREE

C
HAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

C
HAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

C
HAPTER TWENTY-SIX

C
HAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

C
HAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

C
HAPTER TWENTY-NINE

C
HAPTER THIRTY

C
HAPTER THIRTY-ONE

C
HAPTER THIRTY-TWO

C
HAPTER THIRTY-THREE

C
HAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

C
HAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

C
HAPTER THIRTY-SIX

C
HAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

C
HAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

C
HAPTER THIRTY-NINE

C
HAPTER FORTY

C
HAPTER FORTY-ONE

C
HAPTER FORTY-TWO

C
HAPTER FORTY-THREE

C
HAPTER FORTY-FOUR

C
HAPTER FORTY-FIVE

C
HAPTER FORTY-SIX

C
HAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

C
HAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

C
HAPTER FORTY-NINE

C
HAPTER FIFTY

C
HAPTER FIFTY-ONE

C
HAPTER FIFTY-TWO

C
HAPTER FIFTY-THREE

C
HAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

C
HAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

C
HAPTER FIFTY-SIX

C
HAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

C
HAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

C
HAPTER FIFTY-NINE

C
HAPTER SIXTY

G
LOSSARY

A
BOUT THE AUTHOR

Timecachers Map

Chapter one

A
dam shook his head as he looked through the storm door at the rain drenched package. “Crap!” he muttered. “I wish that delivery guy would put the packages under the awning when it’s raining.” His next thought was that he was probably expecting too much from the sleepy-eyed deliveryman.

Springtime brought frequent rainstorms to Delaware. This year they were a welcome nuisance, a wet promise of warmer weather after a particularly cold winter. And rain was much better than snow.

It was still cold enough outside to form a layer of condensation on the storm door window, the moisture droplets tracing slim, wet tracks in the fog as they dribbled down the glass. Adam used his sleeve to wipe a porthole in the condensation, inspecting the front yard and noticing the thick, pale-green tips of daffodils peeking through the sparse remnants of melting snow; the victors of winter’s final battle against the coming of spring. It wouldn’t be long before he would have to find time to fire up the lawnmower.

Contrary to the geek stereotype often associated with engineers, Adam Hill led an active lifestyle, was well-groomed, dressed stylishly, and had an athletic build. He didn’t consider the pudgy “Dilbert” physique to be a very accurate portrayal of his colleagues. Some of the hardcore gamers who seldom ventured into direct sunlight let themselves become as squishy as gummy bears, but most of the folks in his circle led very active lives and kept in pretty good shape. He believed that staying physically active kept his mind sharp; as much as the mental calisthenics he performed to keep abreast of new technology. Adam spent as much time as he could outdoors—hiking, biking, swimming, and rock-climbing—whatever he could do that would let him replace the glow of his computer monitor with the radiance of sunshine. His preference was for non-competitive activities; while his taller-than-average frame gave him a physical advantage, his easy-going nature could sometimes be a handicap in fiercely competitive sports.

Not that his choice of activities were limited; there were always plenty of invitations to join one outing or another. His swarthy good looks, intelligent conversation, and pleasing mannerisms assured Adam’s popularity among his peers. He was more troubled by how often he had to decline their invitations. Finding enough time to spend with his friends was often difficult for the twenty-eight year old business owner.

Covering his head with his shirt, Adam retrieved the soaking wet package and brought it into the house. He wiped away the droplets of water to read the hand-written priority mail label with his name and address, and a return address showing the shipper as
TSO, Inc., Natick, MA
. “At least he brought it to the correct address,” Adam conceded. He carried the package to the kitchen, found a handy dishtowel to sop up some of the water, and then used a steak knife to cut through the packing tape. The box hadn’t been sitting in the rain long enough to soak through, and the pink Styrofoam peanuts inside appeared to be dry as they spilled out onto the countertop. More peanuts bubbled from the box as he fished out an object about the size of an electric razor. It was wrapped in a pink plastic bag and had the proper ESD cautionary labels required for Electrostatic Devices.

“They passed the packaging test,” he thought. He was always amazed at how many companies failed to use anti-static packing materials to ship electronic devices. “So this is the latest in spaceman navigational devices.”

The peculiar phone call came about a week ago. Not that it was unusual for a company he’d never heard of to contact him about testing a new product; most of his business came by word of mouth referrals from development engineers who had used, and appreciated, the service he provided. Adam’s company, Overhill Engineering, LLC, specialized in testing microprocessor-based devices, specifically the embedded software that allowed the devices to function. Adam started the company with his former partner, John Overton, a few years ago when the bean-counters at his former employer decided it made good financial sense to eliminate the product test department and have the development engineers perform their own testing. It wasn’t long after that misguided pronouncement that the company began having quality issues, especially with the usability of their products. They had learned a hard lesson about the difference between what engineers thought was user friendly and what the typical consumer considered easy to use. The company ultimately had to contract the work back to Adam, paying him a lot more than they used to, benefits notwithstanding.

Having his own company gave him the luxury of choosing which products he wanted to test, and allowed him to offer his services to several other companies. Adam and John had since gone their separate ways, but the business was already established and Adam saw no need to change the company name—a not-very-imaginative combination of their names.

What
was
peculiar about this phone call was the description of the device, and the relatively obscure explanation of its functionality. Adam had received the functional specification the day after he agreed to test the product. Even after his initial scan through the document he wasn’t quite sure how to begin the test plan. He was exceptionally technically astute and kept abreast of most emerging technologies, but the covariant space-time operators, infinite-component wave functions, and proper-time Schrödinger equations mentioned in this document went far beyond his understanding of physics.