Chapter 6



My four days in the past had been exciting. I remembered the smells and the sky, particularly the view of the stars at night! I had never ever seen them so bright! Once you got away from cities and people, the air had a clean smell that was amazing! We have been putting so much crap and pollutants into the air for so long, that there's just no comparison.

I kept practicing taking in energy. I took several trips into the past just to use the energy I had stored. I measured my progress. At the beginning, I could go ten years towards my own time with stored energy. In a short time, I was able to go twenty-five years!

Practice makes perfect, or so the old saying goes; but in this case, practice made for longer time trips towards my own home time. Practice also included going to crowded areas, and pulling in as much power from the people around me as possible.

All to soon, it was time to head back to college. I ran into Levy and John almost right away, and they were eager to hear if I had been able to do anything towards gathering energy, or seeing it. As usual, I told them no. I said I just couldn't seem to get a grasp on it. I also told them I still had no idea how to even try to go back into the past.

While they were disappointed, Levy always had projects to do, and John was working on mathematical formulæ that left me behind quickly. I was doing involved computer programming this year, and I had discovered I liked to break codes.

Oh, I wasn't a hacker or anything. I had seen a Sixty Minutes exposé on the NSA and their ability to monitor the airwaves and to crack codes. I wondered just how hard was it to crack codes?

Our class project for the year, was to come up with data retrieval methods for damaged computers, and computers who's programming no longer worked. Each group received a hard drive. We were to install it, and get out everything we could find in it.

The more I worked with my five-man group, the more I learned. Different members of the group came up with very creative ideas indeed.

No, I didn't ignore my other projects. I still practiced taking in energy. I did that almost all the time.

I discovered classes were a good place to gather energy. Everyone there was concentrating intently, and I reaped the benefits of their energy. Who would have thought I could get this much energy from students?

I regretted not being able to share each conquest I made in my abilities, with John and Levy, but I had to distance myself from them. I remained friends, but I told them I just didn't seem able to advance any further than just being able to look.

I also got interested in how money was minted in different periods. What was the metal content, and how it was mixed? I had decided that it was ridiculous to buy vintage coins, when I could either make my own coins, or find coins from the proper era, somehow.

The end of the school year arrived with my group taking an A for our project. It is always nice to get an A, since I still could not get above that damn 3.5 grade point average.

Despite prior warnings, John approached me twice during the year to do my thing for missing children. I did one, but said no on the second. I finally had to tell John if he said one more word about going after missing kids, finding missing kids, helping missing kids, then we were through as friends, and we should go our separate ways.

What was it that kept him harassing me? Yes, it was harassment. Despite all my previous talks with him, John was still narrowly focused on his crusade, with me figuring hugely in his plans. Well, more power to him and his crusade, just leave me out of it!

Summer break began as usual, with me going home. The place looked good, and Mom seemed fine, if a little tired.

"When is the last time you went on vacation, Mom?" I asked her.

"Well, it was that year we went to Yellowstone National park. Remember it?" she responded with a smile, her eyes taking on a faraway look.

"Mom! That was when I was 11 years old! You really need to take a vacation," I said seriously.

"Well, I can't just up and go. I have the cow and chickens to take care of," she said hesitantly.

I laughed. "Mom, we can hire someone to watch the place, and care for the cow and chickens. I think we should go on a vacation. I have a summer vacation every year, yet every year you stay here," I said

"Where would I go? I have everything here that I need," Mom said quietly.

"We could go together. My treat," I said, thinking of all the money I still had left over from the sale of those rare coins.

We talked well into the night. It was my first day back from school, and I really wanted to treat her to a nice vacation. She was stubborn, though. I finally got her to at least think about it. I asked if her passport was up to date, and she said yes.

I had gotten mine updated just the previous year. I was thinking of Europe. Maybe a nice month or so seeing the sites of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Germany. I had to do some fast talking, but I finally convinced Mom I had the money for such a trip. I had to show her my savings account.

"Where did you get that much money?" she gasped when she saw the amount I had.

"Well, I found some old, old coins, Mom. Before you ask, no, I am not into drugs or illegal activities! I just lucked into some very old rare coins, is all. You should see how much Uncle Sam took for itself!" I exclaimed, then groaned theatrically.

She laughed at me. "Well, you certainly have been a busy young man," she said, then got a sad look on her face.

"I wish your father could have lived to see how you are turning out," she said with her lips quivering a bit.

"Me too, Mom, me too," I replied, and went over and hugged her.

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It was during the first week in July that Mom and I started our European vacation. England was first. We hit all the obvious tourist sites: Buckingham Palace, the Tower Of London, and Piccadilly Circus.

I also took time to watch the past. England was a country rich in history. I was discovering that people were people, no matter where you were. You might be angry with a government; but people, on the whole, were just like your average neighbor next door.

The middle of August saw us back home. After recovering for a couple days, I set out for Missouri. I had an idea, and I was going to need one or two specialty items that Missouri was known for. Missouri mules.

One of the first things I was going to do, was get money. I had read with interest several old newspaper accounts of robberies gone wrong, and robbers who got caught, but somehow lost some or all of the money they had stolen.

I stopped in an east coast state, and went back in time, or 'Time Diving' as I called it. I got myself set at a specific location, and scanned to the proper time. Sure enough, a robbery was taking place, as reported by the article I had read.

I watched, as a chest of gold coins was lost over a bridge. It broke open, when it hit the bottom of the dry creek bed the bridge crossed, scattering bags of coins everywhere! A couple of the bags broke, spilling the newly minted coins like miniature golden waterfalls.

It was a long drop from the bridge overhead. I stepped into that time, and grabbed a bag containing almost two thousand dollars worth of gold eagles. I placed it in my backpack, and then used my stored power to go back to my time.

I didn't make it all the way back. I was about fifty years shy of my own time, but I was close to a town. I knew I would be able to get enough power there, to make it the rest of the way. It was a nice little hike, and I enjoyed it. Three hours later, I was back in my own time.

I flew to St. Louis, Missouri. I rented a truck, and horse trailer. I wanted two mules. I then drove to Platte City. Platte City was, or at least had been, known for its mules. Actually, a man named William Elgin took first place in several prize categories for his mules in the 1904 Worlds Fair. He lived and raised his mules around Platte City, Missouri.

If I could find what I wanted in my own time, I planned on buying them here. If not, I was going to 'back time it', as I was beginning to call it. I chuckled to myself. I was developing my own terminology for what I did!

While I had brought several items back and forth through time, this would be my first time bringing live animals through, if I could. In all honesty, it never occurred to me to test it by bringing a dog or cat or something, on a time trip. It either worked, or it didn't.

Another ability that was making itself known and felt, was sort of two fold. One, I was able to detect the power I used; and two, I was able to draw on the energy I used, without actually being inside the building or place.

What did I mean by detect? I was already seeing it, right? Well, I could be blocks away, and KNOW in which direction a concentration of the energy I used was at. It came upon me in Europe, and has been growing fast ever since!

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Who would have thought that two mules would cost seven thousand dollars? Thirty five hundred dollars apiece, and that did not include state and federal taxes! I asked him about packs, since these were pack mules. He showed me a standard set-up, but didn't have any extras to sell, at the time. Also, there were various types of packs, depending on what you wanted to haul.

We talked. I wanted to know how to settle the packs onto the mules. While I had grown up on a farm and could saddle and ride a horse, putting a pack on a mule was a little beyond me. It didn't take me to long to learn how to do it, though.

Why did I want these animals? Several reasons. If I was successful, I was planning on spending a lot of time in the past. I wanted to have food. I wanted to be able to travel, and set up a tent if I camped out. I did not want to have to rely on the trains for transportation, since a lot of places I wanted to go to, had no train service in those times.

I also wanted to try trading. Only they were called peddlers back then. If I worked it right, I could even make some money. This was going to be practice though, for another enterprise I had in mind. So living off the land and camping out were 'must know' items.

While I wanted this experience, I still had a year to go in school. I was twenty-one and Would graduate college at the age of twenty-two. After college was done, I was going to fly back to Europe. I wanted to see some history up close and personal, and what better way than as a wandering peddler?

I had five hundred dollars of newly minted 1821 gold eagles on me. The rest, believe it or not, was in my storage trunk in my room at Mom's house. She wouldn't bother it. I had the only key to the trunk, though I rarely locked it. This time I did lock it, just as a precaution. I was not expecting any trouble though.

Have you ever tried to outfit pack mules for an extended trip? The movies make it look easy, but it's not. I had been camping when I was a kid. Some of my fondest memories are of me and Dad, camping by ourselves.

I drove to Kansas City, and found a place that sold complete outfits, believe it or not. This store had every conceivable variation of a mule's, or horse's pack. I explained what I wanted. I wanted as close to an 1800's pack as possible. They could do it. Hollywood came calling to these people when they wanted authentic equipment.

I wound up with camping equipment and two packs for my mules. I was shown several tents I could choose from. Everything from modern to very old fashioned, but all were made with modern materials. I chose a sort of older looking square tent, that was easy for one man to put up. It was large and roomy, and was made of a lightweight material. I also purchased an old army cot. My one concession to the modern, was an air mattress. Everything else could definitely pass a cursory inspection of someone in the mid 1800's.

After driving out of town, I pulled off the road, and decided to test my ability to transport my mules and equipment. It took me a while to load my mules, and get everything just right.

I had pulled off the road at an old historical site. A church was part of the locale. It had a lot of power. Crossing my fingers mentally, I reached for the power. I kept a firm grip on the mule's leads, and found a spot fifty years in the past to go to.

It was the hardest step I ever took, bar none! I reached for the time with my mind. I saw it, I just needed to move into it. Yet, as I leaned forward to go, it felt like something was pushing me back. After I don't know how long, I finally broke through, dragging my mules with me!

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Edited by TeNderLoin

Volentrin

Chapter 7