Chapter 19



I discovered that there is a middle ground or something like it. It seemed there was a place 'outside' of time, but I could observe time while I was in it! I found it by accident, really. I was thinking it would be great to be able to video something in time, something of historical significance, yet remain unseen.

I had been practicing with my video camera, going a bit into the past, and trying to come out unobserved so I could capture whatever was going on, on tape. That's when it happened. During the third week of my sneak videoing.

I was at the edge of a wooded area with my cam-corder, trying to videotape unsuspecting people. It had been hit and miss. I was getting angry at my inability to be sneaky enough to pull it off, when I did a little 'time dive', and something different happened!

I could "FEEL" the difference. I was not hurt, nor uncomfortable. I had left my own time, and was traveling to the past in my body. I was wishing I could just sort of stay out of sight. I could feel myself moving to the point in past time that I wanted, then I just... STOPPED!

I was not in my time, nor the time I was going to! I was in a sort of in between, or otherwhen. I felt good. I wasn't short of breath, or hot or cold. I could see perfectly well, but no one seemed to noticed me at all!

Well, I panicked. I could feel the difference as I moved back to my own time. It had been years since I had been this scared! I checked myself over, and found that I was perfectly fine.

This was something new! It was an ability to be sort of in-between, yet see and hear everything perfectly. It was similar to my ability to view and hear what had gone on in a place, that I had first developed when I was back in the eight grade.

I thought long and hard on what I had done. Basically, I had moved myself ALMOST to the time I had wanted, then sort of stopped just out of sight. Oh, I could see and hear, but no one had seen me at all! If I could repeat this, it would be the perfect way to observe and record a situation!

So it was that my every waking moment for the next month was spent developing and understanding this new ability. It didn't take me long to get to a point where I could slip 'between', as I was starting to call it, whenever I wanted to.

I was getting some remarkably uninhibited video, too! I was just testing, you understand, but I might have gotten a little carried away. I at least knew I had an ability that allowed me to video, or to observe people, as well as to hear what was going on.

It was also during this time that I inadvertently discovered yet another ability. I was, uh, videoing in a place that would definitely get me in trouble with the local law, if I had been discovered there doing what I was doing.

I had occasion to wait until the area was clear. Then I completed the movement to the 'between' that I was videotaping. I was set upon by a German shepherd. It was almost on me before I even noticed it, from out of the corner of my eye. I turned, and saw it launch itself at me with a growl, and I held up my arm wishing it was gone... and it was! I felt a strange drain, but the dog was totally gone!

I slowly dropped my arm and looked with disbelief at the place where it had been. Nothing. I carefully looked around, and could not find the dog anywhere.

I heard a loud voice from out of sight around the corner of the corridor say, "Bolo! Here, boy."

I quickly stepped back into 'between', and saw the dog. I had sent it 'between'! We looked at each other. It was no longer snarling, but it looked at me like I still might be suitable for a light meal.

The guard came around the corner, and the dog started barking. Of course, the guard heard nothing. Soon, it stopped barking, and started whining. The guard went down the hall and soon was out of sight from turning yet another corner. I looked at the dog, and sort of mentally 'pushed'. It 'fell' through to the 'then', that I had been recording. It ran down the hall, yelping.

Well, well! Two new abilities in a month's time. Or was it something I could always have done, but just hadn't known I could? I stopped that train of thought, since it just gave me headaches. Now was the time I wish I still had Levy or John to bounce ideas off of.

Both of them had guided me into my abilities, early on. I was grateful to both of them. I was very wary of John, though. He was too much of a control freak. He was obsessed as a child advocate, who would have had me going 24/7 for the benefit of 'the children'.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. I had moved a living breathing dog from the past out of it's own time! The world had not come to an end. The dog had not died. In fact, I had returned it to its time, and it seemed to be okay, just disconcerted.

I had been as careful as possible not to interfere with events from the past. Even the Avery-Smythes had been heavily researched before I visited them.

Did this new ability mean I could actually effect a change? If I could, should I? Was what had gone before immutable? This led me into thinking about divine providence, the law of averages, fate, and just plain old luck.

This was something that could really drive you crazy! If I did something in the past, would it change the outcome, today? Could I change something that had already happened, and was history? If I did, would the history books change to reflect it? No, I was going to try to keep to my original plan, and try not to do anything to change history.

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Several months went by as I investigated my new abilities. I also discovered another place in the 'between' as I had come to think of it. It was not connected to any particular time period. It was more of an insulated and timeless place.

I found I could store items there, and that no matter where/when I went, I could retrieve them as if they were right there with me! No matter the distance or time, it was as if I was in direct contact with something just out of sight, which it was! The place kept hot things hot, and cold things cold. All items came out in the exact same condition as when they went in. I had found myself a 'hole in time', a place where time did not exist.

Besides testing my new abilities, I was also getting into local politics. Both the Democratic and Republican parties were starting to annoy me. I looked into running for state office, and discovered that I was too young by a couple years yet! The federal level was even more restrictive with age requirements.

Something did not seem right with that. By forbidding me the ability to run for office, they were restricting my abilities to affect change. At my age, hell even at 18, I could be called upon to be drafted and die in a war I might not agree with, but I could not drink legally, or run for public office, because I was too young.

But you can vote, I was told, therefore all your objections are null and void. You are affecting change by voting. Actually, you're not. If three million vote no on a tax hike, but three million and one vote yes, your vote is canceled and is as if it never was. No, the real power was in the hands of the few men and woman in the state and federal houses and senates.

I still had a good year before I would be able to run for state office in Massachusetts. I was doing good things with my foundation. I was becoming known to city and state power brokers, and the to the citizens. The local news channels had already done a story on me, about my donations to what were considered to be worthy causes.

Perhaps just getting to know the power brokers was enough. Did I want to get involved with the back room deals and the dirty side of politics? This was something to think about. What if I become a background contributor? A power behind the throne so to speak?

While I thought about that, I started designing myself a deep time survival kit. What I mean by that is, I was going to put medications, gold dust, raw gems, survival food, and toilet paper (can't ever have enough TP), and modern weapons into my kit. Since I could store everything in the new 'timeout' place that I had found, it didn't matter what I put in there, as long as I was careful not to reveal it to the locals.

I practiced putting things into 'timeout', and retrieving them from different locations. Worked like a charm. I put an item in 'timeout' storage from the living room of my home, and drove a hundred miles away. I got the item out as easily as if I was still at home. The same was proven true when I took a flight to Las Vegas!

I started searching for a place to go, after I returned from my Vegas trip. I lost ten thousand dollars altogether, in Vegas, causing me to believe I sucked at gambling. I was cruising the internet looking at old castles and such, when I ran across the mention of a walled city which was still in existence to this day! Rothenburg, Germany was made a free city on May 15th in1247. While I could not go back in time that far, I was definitely going to go see a genuine walled city!

Let's see, German. Ok, I was going to have to take an intensive German language course. Everyone should learn a second language, anyway. The world was getting smaller by the day, after all.

When I set my mind to something, I usually get that something done. German was a hard language for me to learn. The guttural R sound was hard to learn. I frequented German restaurants and areas in town that served the German population and where the language was spoken.

I did this for three months. I studied German for three hours a day, worked in my office a couple hours, refined my "survival" kit, and practiced my growing German language ability some more, afterwards. I also learned to appreciate German food. As for the politically correct words of learning to appreciate a culture, or the 'diversity' of the German people, well I considered the source, and just soaked in what seemed fun to me.

All in all, I liked the German population as I discovered them in Boston. What I would find in Germany, in the past, would be different. I knew this. Still, cultural diversity aside, German's were like people anywhere.

I researched clothing of the time, and assembled a small wardrobe. This was a little more difficult to get. My normal costume shops did not have anything ready, and I had to have them custom made.

Still, after I tried them on, they felt good. I decided to wear a couple of them, and to wash them several times over, to get rid of the 'new' smell and look. While there were prosperous people in that era, I did not really want to stick out too much.

I looked at the currency of the time, and decided that it would be best to take gems back and convert them to local currency using traders of that time. I was planning to live there for several weeks. Maybe even longer if I enjoyed myself.

In the meantime, there was something I wanted to do for a family in Boston. A very young couple, married, gave birth to four children. They were already struggling before the multiple births, just to make ends meet. While they had insurance, they still had associated costs that they simply could not meet.

This is where I came in. I got the names of the children, and bought education policies for each of them, through the Masters degree level. I paid the policies in full, at the outset; so they would accrue interest, which would let the kids have some spending money when they went to college. If worst came to worst, the kids could cash the policies in, if they chose not to go to college.

I also paid for a new house for them. They were too cramped in the little apartment where they had been living. With college taken care of, and a new house, it would be up to them to provide food, clothing, and love. Lots and lots of love. I wished them well. They were extremely grateful, and it got a bit embarrassing before I left.

After that, I cleared my calendar. I told my office staff I was taking a two-week vacation. No matter how long I spent in the past, I knew I would return to almost the exact moment of departure. The reason for the two weeks, was that I might want a little recovery time from my 'time dive'. There was also travel time to consider, to get to Germany. Then I would have to find a place in the present to set up in, and go back to the past from.

I flew into Stuttgart Germany. Rothenburg was in the state of Bavaria, and was about a two-hour drive from Stuttgart. I practiced my German like mad while I was traveling. Most of the Germans were appreciative that an American had taken the time to try to learn German. They were apparently used to dealing with lazy Americans, in the form of soldiers, who expected everyone to speak English to and for them.

I was in luck. I booked a tour to Rothenburg, which included a three-day stay in the walled city itself, at a small bed and breakfast inn. It looked like I was set. I tested my 'survival kit' and it was easily accessible to me. Good, that was something that was no longer nagging me! Now all I had to do was find a target, and do a 'time dive'!

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Edited By TeNderLoin

Volentrin

Chapter 20