Jump Gate I - Time Chair

Jump Gate I – Time Chair is the result of a thought experiment.

A Thought Experiment based on a version of Arthur C. Clarke’s well-known Rule: Any sufficiently advanced technology will appear to be magic.

We started with magic, but soon, tiring of inventing doors that open with a phrase (“Open Sesame”), mag-lev carpets, and bottles that connect a holographic genie to the internet, we turned to handicapping standard sci-fi memes.

We found uses for a quirky time machine, a half-assed teleporter, a broken FTL container-spaceship, and a one-way Jump Gate.

Together, we decided to write a book about the time machine. A strange time machine with the most interesting limits and quirks. It was the most fascinating. We would pass it from hand to hand to explore the multiple ways our time machine could be used.

He, the idea-man, and I, the storyteller.

We would use a small-time crook, a small-time private investigator, and a government courier. We asked ourselves how the government would use this invention. Could the tech be kept secret, and if so, for how long? Military use? The FBI?

As the storyteller, I was elected to write our tale… but of course, I put it off. Too busy. Work, family.

Then my best friend got sick. He needed an operation. A minor procedure. I visited the hospital, and we talked. Eventually, about our book.

Before heading out for his operation, he exacted a promise, “If something should happen to me, I expect you to write that book.”

I reluctantly agreed. I promised, if he wasn’t there to help, I would write it alone, thinking it was an empty promise. He would, of course, soon be home.

Then Denny died. And, to keep my promise, I began writing. Four hundred and sixty-one* written pages later, it was complete.

I believe Denny would approve.

Here’s our book.

*Pages via e-book, paperback & hardcover may vary.