TimeTuner

Michael W. Blevins

Description

Palau, an island nation in the Western Pacific, is a tropical paradise mostly known to scuba divers. It is not a likely site of international intrigue and extraterrestrial doings.

Keola Santos, a clever engineer/inventor, uses his experimental TimeTuner to jump back a few hours and rescue a missing scuba diver, but that event triggers the hidden extraterrestrial INdez Federation to contact Keola. Although initially only concerned that someone on Earth had unwittingly tapped into Q-energy, the ETs ultimately find it necessary to team up with Keola, Megan, and Salik to follow clues that reveal a sinister alien plot against Earth.

This is a mystery that opens in unexpected ways to involve aliens seeking conquest of Earth’s oceans. Keola and friends discover a hidden world of flying saucers, starships, undersea alien bases, as well as both benevolent and creepy extraterrestrials.

Sujets

• Science-Fiction
• Toute la Science-Fiction
• Alien Contact
• Science Fiction
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 14 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977253446
• Langue: English

Extrait

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TimeTuner Rescue in Palau All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2022 Michael W. Blevins v5.0
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com
ISBN: 978-1-9772-5344-6
Cover Image by Michael W. Blevins.
Outskirts Press and the "OP" logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contents
Preface

1. Wall Dive
2. The Search
3. Tuning Time
4. New Assignment
5. Party Time
6. Police Raid
7. Megan
8. Regrouping
9. Aiox’s Dilemma
10. Finding Megan
11. The Aquada
12. Quantum Connect
13. Ship Tour
14. Killer Satellite
15. Revelations
16. Blue Holes
17. Who Blinked?
18. Obian Attack
19. Giant Squid?
20. The Pashifikkusuta
21. Creatures of the Deep
22. Orrak Island
23. A Diversion
24. Sebb’s Delight
25. Chumm
26. Dicksuw
27. Intercept
28. Hwamei’s Chirp
29. The Professor
30. The Right Tools
31. Rapa Nui Base
32. Attack
33. Sebb’s Quest
34. Memx

Appendix Giant Squid
Glossary
Also by Michael W. Blevins

Preface
The Republic of Palau
Having spent several weeks scuba diving in Palau, I have some understanding of the underwater beauty and features of the Palau archipelago. It is indeed a rare and worthy setting for this novel.
Palau is a polyglot community but very westernized in many respects. Drawing visitors from around the world, Palau is truly an international destination.

Language Considerations
When writing about extraterrestrials, there is the obvious question of language. How do you construct dialogue when any speculative alien language is unknown and probably has no relation to human languages or thought patterns?
For the sake of building an interesting story, I have retreated to telepathy and seamless use of universal translators to make the ETs understandable. The goal is to promote dialogue between humans and extraterrestrials.
Perhaps unfortunately I have also imbued ETs with some humanized Western values, but with a few twists. I trust that the reader understands the necessity and still finds this novel to be an enjoyable read.

This story is one of seven novels involving the same alien science, technology, and history. In some cases there is even character overlap. There is no need to have read any of the other novels; this work stands alone.
It is my hope that you enjoy my "worldview" so much that you want to read some of my other novels. The appendix includes a brief discussion of these other novels.
Chapter 1
Wall Dive
Tiger shark, beware!
Megan’s underwater senses went to high alert as she spotted an extra-large tiger shark cruising off the lip of the wall. It was rare to see such a dangerous deep-water shark on a wall dive, but it was not unheard of. At least that’s what someone had told her.
Eighty feet down, Megan and eleven other divers were reef hooked into ancient coral rock to watch an endless show of marine life. Vast schools of barracuda, humphead wrasse, groupers, tangs, angelfish, Moorish idols and all variety of smaller fish were there because the upwelling current constantly pushed up nutrients from the deep. Such an abundance of marine life also brought in a steady stream of sharks and turtles who also cruised the wall.
Wall diving with upwelling current is considered one of the highlights of scuba diving in this part of the world. Divers use a large metal hook connected to three feet of cord that is in turn connected to their inlatable buoyancy compensator jacket (BC). Once hooked in they inject air into the bladder of their BC, which lets them bob like helium balloons on strings while observing the marine life cruising along the lip of the wall.
Whitetip and blacktip reef sharks are common sights along the wall. This time she even saw three small squid making their way, probably not so happy to be among all those predators. This was her second wall dive; Megan had already dived Palau’s famous Blue Corner.
But a tiger shark was rare and just a little frightening. They were known to be aggressive and potentially dangerous. Usually, however, they were found in deeper waters, 160 feet or more.
Checking her air reserves, Megan realized she had used more than half of her Nitrox tank (gas mixture with thirty-two percent oxygen) while hooked in at eighty feet. She caught sight of the divemaster signaling his team to unhook and retreat across the channel. As she released, she immediately felt the strong current sweep her back away from the wall.
There was little time to make eye contact with Crystal, her dive buddy, as Megan was pulled along by the strong currents. She emptied the remaining air in her BC to stay near the bottom of the channel.
For a vague reason, the divemaster wanted them to cross the channel while hugging the sea floor before rising higher into the water column.
Megan had her troubles as she fought the current to cross the channel. Finally she realized that the current was just too strong and began to kick upward toward shallower water. Once moving with the current, she realized that it was a very easy and fast ride.
Although knowing it was a risky strategy, she lost track of the others, as she was worried about her air supply and maintaining control in the current. She knew at least that the current would sweep them into the lagoon toward their dive boat.
Megan thought she saw the tiger shark once again as a dark object swimming into the channel, but maybe her imagination was on overdrive. We will have tales to tell this evening at the dive bar, she thought.
Spinning around, Megan couldn’t see any other divers. She decided she must be well ahead of her group as she rose toward the surface.
Megan had craved this adventure. To be out in the crystal-clear waters of Palau, with just a hint of danger; it doesn’t get much better.
Also it had been a delightful diversion from her job at the Office of Naval Space Tracking, part of the Defense Department. Her office provided space location services for NASA and the military.
Catching sight of a red underwater motorized scooter heading directly at her, she relaxed. She hadn’t realized that the dive operation was using scooters to retrieve errant divers, but who’s to complain?
The driver motioned for her to hold onto a second hang bar on back of the scooter. Megan grabbed on and soon they were cruising along. They rose to fifteen feet for a three-minute safety stop, as was standard practice in the scuba diving world. This safety provision ensured that divers equalized with the surface pressure and outgassed any residual nitrogen bubbles.
It was only when they surfaced behind a large, all black runabout that Megan realized that something wasn’t quite right.
"Where’s the dive boat?" she asked as she spit out her regulator mouthpiece and climbed aboard to a seat on the dive platform extending beyond the rear transom.
"Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered," said an Asian crew member as he lifted off the tank, regulator, and BC. He also took her fins onto the boat. But then Megan felt the sting of a needle through her wetsuit and almost immediately fell unconscious.

A sense of panic was slowly building as the boat captain finished checking off divers boarding the Deepwater Scuba boat named Albura .
"Where’s Megan?" he yelled, thinking that she had gone forward to the boat’s bow or maybe to the head.
"That’s what I was trying to tell you," exclaimed Crystal. "I lost track of Megan just after she unhooked from the wall. She seemed to be ahead of us and was struggling in the current. Sorry I wasn’t there for her, but it all happened so fast."
The captain was becoming concerned. After counting off the divers once again, he had two rescue divers jump in the water while he started the engines to make a pass around the inner lagoon in hopes of spotting a missing diver on the surface.
It was not totally uncommon to have a little difficulty collecting all divers after this wall dive, but it was outside of the usual routine.
After a half-hour search, Captain Jason Tibbits called the dive base to put out the word that a diver was missing out on the Shark Wall dive site. Other operators would soon spring into action to make an all-hands search.
Chapter 2
The Search
"Hey bro, great to see you again," said Salik as he walked onto the expansive outdoor deck at Keola’s new house on Arakabesang Island.
"Hey, Sal, fantastic to see you. Did you just fly in from Hawaii?" asked Keola.
"Yeah, I’m here to visit family, but now I’m picking up assignments as well."
"You should have just told them you were on vacation."
"It’s all routine politics," mumbled Sal, "but I’ll never get used to how you, of all people, could be so blessed with such a beautiful villa after being off-island for only six years to make your fortune."
"Just lucky, I guess," replied Keola as he stopped tinkering on his latest project and walked over to fully greet his long-time friend, Salik.
"Yeah, right, lucky as a clever bastard," chided Salik, knowing full well that Keola’s engineering work had resulted in several U.S. patents in telecommunications. They had netted him a small fortune, enough to become independently wealthy a