by Robert Blevins

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 20, 2009

From 'The Corona Incident' - Chapter 10 - 'Funny Shoes'

PREMISE: Dr Ray Stafford, young whiz kid, former MIT instructor, and serious geek, has succeeded in time-traveling back to 1947 New Mexico in an effort to discover if the Roswell Crash actually happened. Stafford, along with Marion Campbell and her boyfriend David Anderson, are standing outside the time machine and preparing to walk into the village of Corona. They are miles out in the desert. Their plan is to reach the actual site of the supposed crash before it happens and find out if the whole story is real or fiction. They are dressed in clothes and use equipment from the period. But it's still a dangerous proposition:

Together, they spread the tarps over the machine until it was completely covered. They gathered sticks and dead branches and tossed them on top to hold the tarps in place.

"Hopefully, no one will happen along up here and find it," said Stafford. "My research of this area showed the nearest house is at least ten miles away. It should be safe here for a while."

"Well, we don't have much time, anyway," said Anderson.

"I was aiming for ten days before the crash," said Stafford. "I haven't figured out how to hit the time target exactly on the jump. Three days should still be enough time to do what we came to do."

"This is a lot for my brain to handle," said Marion.

"Try to think about time as a river," Stafford said. "Imagine that the present, as we know it, is like being on a boat floating down that river. What we have done is to travel back upriver for some distance, to an earlier time. Now, we're moving down the time river again at normal speed, but in an earlier period. The theories will drive you crazy if you think about them too much. Try to stay focused and settle into this reality. You'll sleep better."

"What about changing the future? You think it's possible?"

"I don't know," said Stafford. "But we should avoid interacting too much with anyone from the past. I can't say whether it's possible for us to alter the future, but we should be careful, just in case."

"Interacting?"

Anderson laughed. "He means don't tell anyone about the moon landings, lasers, microwaves, or future events."

"Exactly." Stafford took an old gas station map and spread it out on the ground. He laid a compass on it and studied the results. "We're here," he said pointing to a spot on the map. "We need to reach the main highway ... here ... in Corona. Looks like a ten-mile walk. We'd better get moving." He folded

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