With a blinding flash of light, two time machines from different universes collide, and a doorway is opened. In an instant Alan Trinlin finds himself transported from 1972 Earth to the small pocket universe of the Droxlens where time and space have unique properties. Fleeing from the wreckage of the alien time machine he discovers that he is being hunted by an unknown assassin who believes his murder can improve the timeline. Struggling with the high gravity and dense air of his new home he is desperate to find a safe place to rest. 

Fortunately, he is not the only human that has been trapped in this world. Alexavier Pittman finds him and guides him to the cave he has called home for nearly twenty years. Once there Alan is taught to use the many tears in spacetime to travel to distant locations in other epochs of time. He is also introduced to the Droxlen people, a peaceful race that has almost gone extinct, and they have a secret.

When Alan discovers what destroyed the alien civilization he must decide if his own life is worth more than a world full of strange aliens that never existed or if he should allow the assassin to succeed and re-write the future of the Droxlen people.

FOREWORD

Welcome to my sandbox.  This book is my second attempt at writing a novel. The first one was a manuscript I wrote in the Star Trek universe and later found out that it was nearly impossible to get published. As someone commented to me in an online sci fi group, “Don’t play in someone else’s sandbox.” It was their way of telling me I should focus my efforts on writing a story that I had complete control over. It was good advice.

I gave that comment a lot of thought and decided to create my own universe with its own quirks and universal constants. Since my youth I have been a big fan of time travel and pocket universes and this story combines them both. I also tried to avoid the classic time travel paradox that plagues science fiction. You know the one that goes “If you build a time machine then go back in time and murder your father before you are born, how did you build the time machine?” I find paradoxes and parallel universes utterly annoying, so I fixed that in my universe.

The idea of the song playing in every Droxlen’s mind was inspired by my own experience after I became a Christian.  I heard music in my mind for months following that event and chose to expand the experience into the Droxlen universe.  The physical marriage between the Droxlen halves and the Creator being the center of the universe, are also allegorical to classical Christian beliefs.

Also, the crystals are not intended to be a parallel with anything new age.  They are a natural technology in this universe that focuses the unique interaction of the magnetic, gravimetric and radioactive energy around Drox and Dram. They were never intended to be anything related to new age spiritualism, except for the yellow ones. Those were definitely new age. 

I have also included many themes in the story that appear to be male dominant on the surface that may anger some readers. The assumption that the personality of the female half is dominated by the male half when they join together is the foundation of the Deucexis Incident. It is actions based on that assumption that ultimately destroyed the Droxlen civilization. All I can say is keep reading, then decide if you want to be angry with me.

I enjoyed writing this story and sharing it with my wife Lana who helped create and develop some of the characters. It was an experience that brought us closer together as I shared my thoughts aloud and she would offer inspiration and generate discussion. This story was made better because she was involved.

I hope you enjoy my sandbox.