Today I’m having a little fun with the main character from my novella Time Lines.
Imagine that you are sat behind at your computer and about to enter a chat room.
Choose an avatar and when you are ready, press enter and you will be admitted…..
Hi, welcome to the Virtual Reality World. I like the avatar you’ve chosen. Come in, join us and take a seat.
Well hello everybody, I’m pleased that so many of you have chosen to visit the Time Lines room. Cool in here, isn’t it?
Let me introduce you to our author, Karen J. Mossman. She is a writer who lives on the small island of Anglesey, which is off the north Wales coastline. She writes different genres, and today we are in the science fiction and fantasy realm. Maybe she’ll invent other reality rooms rooms for you to visit.
So, without further ado, let’s begin. My name is Julie, and I’m the main character in the book Time Lines.
I live way, way in your future. I work for the government and I’m a time traveller, which, of course, enables me to be here in the 21st century. My colleague Ricardo was supposed to be with me today, but unfortunately, he’s been called away. So, it’s just me!
Some of you may have read Time Lines, others may not, so I’ll try to answer questions without spoilers. So please feel free to ask anything as we go along.
I- oh hello. Nice to see someone get their hand up quickly. Yes?
“Hi, Julie. I just wondered if you are really from the future and if so, what’s it like?”
Ha – ha, I can assure you I am six hundred years in front of you. Life is very different from what you have here in this century. Everyone has their future mapped out there and I was going to be a time traveller. Yes?
“Hi. I’ve read the book, and you work for the government, don’t you? Do you get the choice of working for the private sector too?”
No. There is no private sector. The government runs everything. Ha-ha. I can see the expressions on your faces. Ours is not like the governments you have today. Ours is much bigger, thousands of people, really, classed as ‘the government.’ They cover everything that makes our country tick.
“Wow, I can’t imagine that.”
No, you’re not supposed to, either. Having too much information can blow your mind and possibly even change how things are supposed to be. There is only so much I can tell you about that. What I can talk about is time travelling. It’s where I visually collect information about things that happened in the past, which are used against other world governments. We then can claim more land and become even more powerful. Yes?
“Is that what Time Lines is about?”
No, I’m just giving you a bit of background information. I’ve been doing this job for many years. I had a lot of training to become fully competent in coping with the things I might see.
“What might you see that you need to cope with?”
Well, atrocities, murder, needless accidents, and just the general sadness of what some people go through. You have to be a certain kind of person, I guess. When your career path is chosen at an early age, your life and education are geared to putting you on that pathway. When we are ready to enter the adult world, we go into an intense training program for five years. That in itself is tough, and some people don’t always make it through.
“Excuse me, but how can your career path be chosen at an early age if you then fail the training?”
Your career path doesn’t mean just one thing. Those who fail the time travelling course will have other opportunities within that field. Some become technicians or back-room staff. The director of my department is called Jason, he’s a whizz in physics. Then there is Marcus, who is in charge of sending us back to the past making sure all the equipment does what it is supposed to do. He has lots of people with amazing knowledge in relation to complex equations that make everything work as it should.
We, Ricardo and I, are the front of house. We do the best bit, ha-ha. At least we think so. The others can only imagine the things we see. It’s amazing. I love my job so much and I know Ricardo feels the same.
We normally travel in pairs, but there is the odd occasion when we travel alone. It doesn’t happen often. It depends on the circumstances.
Our physical presence stays in the Travel Room, but our ethereal being is, um, well, let’s not get too technical about that. We are invisible to the people from that timeline. We are unable to intervene, nor can we bring any physical evidence back with us.
“That’s cool.”
It is. Generally, everything is straightforward, and the one that didn’t go as it should is documented in the Time Lines book.
“I read it, and you were…”
No spoilers please!
“No, sorry. I wasn’t. I was only going to say as you were stranded in the past, how did you feel?”
When you are sent back via the travel room, it’s a bit like waking up from sleep. You know what the mission is and what you have to do. I awoke and didn’t even know who I was, let alone know the mission. Generally, we walk amongst you, unseen, but this time, it was very different.
“I haven’t read the book yet, so what happened? I mean, how did you know there was something wrong? Without giving away any spoilers, of course.”
I only knew afterwards. At the time I thought I lived there, but the fact I couldn’t remember anything about myself, made me think something was wrong.
“Where exactly were you? Where did you time travel back to?”
I was in WW2 in Poland. The Germans invaded the village, rounding people up, and killing some. I felt all the emotions they did, including fear, and panic. Not knowing what was going on was terrifying. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. Even though I didn’t know who I was, I’d never experienced such feelings before.
“How did you know you were one of them?”
I assumed I was because like them, I was terrified. The fear clouded everything at first. Before I knew it, I was in a blind panic, too. Everything else went out of my mind. The soliders were shooting people and for the first time I knew what it was like to know you could die at any time. Like for you, I suppose.
“I don’t feel like I’m about to die at any time. I mean, I feel safe here.”
What I mean is that you have diseases that strike unexpectedly. Or you could have an accident, like a vehicle crash, that if you don’t die, you are badly maimed.
“And you don’t?”
No. Disease has been eradicated. Transportation is safe, run by robotic automation. There are no accidents. My people expect to die only of old age.
“Wow. Really? That’s hard to believe.”
You’re not supposed to know because it is beyond your comprehension. I’ve said way too much, but it’s a fine line to keep this talk interesting without revealing what’s inside the story. If you know what the future held, there’s a chance that you could change it.
“So, how did you get back in the end? I presume you didn’t get shot?”
No, I didn’t. Something incredible happened. It blew our world apart really, with long ranging repercussions for us and our team. It changed our future for the better.
“Why? What happened?”
I can’t tell you. You’ll have to read Time Lines to find out.
So, thank you for coming. I will leave you with this thought. Wherever you are, whatever you do, just know that one of us may be walking amongst you. Always think about your actions and the mark you leave on this world as it may affect the future.
If you read about my adventure in Time Lines, don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. They exist in the future, only in a different form.
Peace be with you. Thanks again for coming to the Virtual Reality Room that is Time Lines.
World of Stories 