Major Players in Stealing Some Time

Kallen Jahn Deshara - Our protagonist from New Meadows, Idaho.  Suffice it to say that I don't need to provide much information here.  You get to know him very well in the story.

Aaric Utzman - Aaric is from Pennsylvania and is a third generation American. He meets Kallen on a tributary of the Laurel River in Kentucky in 1820.  Their relationship is at the heart of this story.  You get to know him very well, too.

Tannert and Abalyn Deshara - Kallen's father and mother.

Naya Sommercorn - Kallen's one and only girlfriend.

Tiago Sandoval - Kallen meets him in boot camp.  He' s the first boy Kallen ever kisses and has sex with.

Dayler Madsen - The second boy Kallen ever kisses and has sex with, and his first boyfriend during operational photronics training school in Vancouver.

Acton Racelis - Lt. Racelis first becomes Kallen's  workout partner, then his second actual boyfriend while at his first duty station at Eastern Strategic Command (ESC)

Dwess Takeda  - Kallen meets Dwess, who is part Japanese, on the first day he's assigned to ESC.  Kallen is assigned to Maintenance section of Operations Squadron while Dwess is assigned to Acquisitions section of the same squadron.  He and Kallen become buddies.  Kallen learns some of the most important lessons of his life from him.

Mirani Ruiz - Mirani is Kallen's section's office manager.  She makes sure that everyone stays happy and gets what they need.  She becomes a good friend of Kallen's--at least at first.  Later, we discover that she becomes even better 'friends' with Dwess Takeda.

Commander-General Darka Torvadred - The head of Eastern Strategic Command (ESC).  Kallen hacked into his personal files and discovers things he shouldn't have--or maybe he should have!  After all, if it weren't for that data the story wouldn't turn out like it does.  The commander has spearheaded a long-range plan to use genetically altered humans in a war against the United Canadian Territories.  He and the North American Alliance's President Brin, plan to take Lake Superior so that they can have not only an unlimited supply of water, but a vast increase in power.

Dr. Els Ditmala - Dr. Ditmala is a genetic engineering researcher and behavioral scientist.  It's because of him that the genetically altered 'Children' were able to be 'born' and trained.  Dr. Ditmala is a personal friend of the Commander.

Colonel R.I. Vaulkner - Colonel Vaulkner is head of Security at ESC.  He also oversees the Black Guard assigned to the National Ground Patrol on that base.  He operates as the Commandant's right-hand man in the story.

Dr. Shon Katterjay - Dr. Katterjay is primarily a theoretical physicist.  He programmed a neural-core processor that is the heart of the photonogrid that  he and his colleague, Dr. Hatsuwakan, used to accidentally open a portal into the past.

Dr. Iwasenji "Senji" Hatsuwakan - Senji is an agricultural scientist working with Dr. Katterjay.  His theory to accelerate the maturation rate of staple crops grown in the NAA leads to the construction of the photonogrid.  Senji sees something in Kallen that he construes as 'different' and divulges information to him which creates the turning point in the story.

Nash Crane, wife Sarah, son Hale.
William Spatton, wife Betsy, daughters Rebecca and Elizabeth.

Buck Daniels, wife Sally, son Caleb, daughter Margaret.

These are the three families that Aaric traveled out west with from Baltimore.  The three men are surveyors moving their families to new lands opened because of the federal Land Act.  Aaric is with them to draw maps of the newly opened lands in the largely unexplored Missouri Territory for the Cartographic Institute in Washington, DC.

Sergeants Lackson and Guyez, Major Montarco - These men play peripheral roles while Kallen is in 1820.

Captain Errazquin - The photronics specialist who discovers that Senji knows more than he's been letting on.

Sgt. Raddo Craistok - Craistok, a National Ground Patrol (NGP) serviceman and member of the elite Black Guard becomes one of Kallen's arch-enemies as he hunts down Kallen to bring him back to 2479.

Sgt. Aubrin Biggert - Biggert is also a NGP serviceman and Black Guard.  He and Sgt. Craistok will bring Kallen back to the future or, failing that, will kill Kallen.

Joshua Saxon - A farm boy who lives outside Liberty, Virginia.  His invitation to have Kallen and Aaric stay at his farm for the 4th of July celebration completely changes his life.

Takkan Mera and Renda Koh - Time travelers from the 27th century.  They make a brief appearance at the end of the story.

Abbreviations

1. ✤    BG - Black Guard
   

2. ✤    ADF - Air Defense Force
   

3. ✤    NGP - National Ground Patrol
   

4. ✤    ESC - Eastern Strategic Command
   

5. ✤    AT - Airman Technician
   

6. ✤    ST - Sergeant Technician
   

7. ✤    NAA - North American Alliance
   

8. ✤    UCT - United Canadian Territories
   

The Countries

1. The North American Alliance (The NAA)

   

   
   The NAA flag consists of two blue bars representing
   major waterways, along with three sunbursts, which represent
   the three original nations that comprise the country.
   

Formed from the westernmost states and provinces of the old US and Canada.  It's  the home to those of Asian-Pacific ancestry, Mexican and Central American ancestry, some First Nation tribes, and those European cultures that lived in the region before Mexico, Canada and the US were 'unformed'.  This country is run by a socialist dictator, but most people think they live in a republic.  It is the country where Kallen was born.  Its people are kept in line by an elite military force called the Black Guard.  Military conscription is mandatory for all young people.  Every able-bodied Allian (pronounced: ah-lion) will enter either the National Ground Patrol, the Air Defense Force, or the Coastal Marine Observers for a period of 5 years.  Those unable to serve will be employed in the military or government in other ways.

The United Canadian Territories (The UCT)

Made up of old Canadian maritime provinces, Quebec, some of New England and bits and pieces of eastern seaboard states and provinces that weren't flooded in the old US and Canada.  This is a free society and is powerful due to its large water resources.

Post-Colonial America (USA)

1. 

   US Flag on July 4, 1820 (23 states)
   

The US contained 23 states as of July 1820. Manifest Destiny is still pushing US claims westward, but most of the settled states are still east of the Mississippi River. 

Time

Each chapter is conveniently labeled with a date stamp.  Although a chapter may begin on a particular date, it might not end there.  So, the next chapter tells you when you are again.  In Book III, it is very important to pay attention to the time stamps in the chapters and scenes so you can keep track of what's happening and when.  As that volume progresses, some 'seesawing' in time occurs as the story is told.

Maps

Go here to view a photo gallery of maps.

Timeline

This timeline will help you visualize the salient events spoken of in the prologue. 

[Note: these events might not be true!]

Year ____Event___________________________________________________________

2076 Lake Michigan pipeline completed

2086 Lake Superior pipeline completed.

2092 Most of the world derives its energy from hydrogen at this point.

                                                                                                                                                                                            

The First Wave       2087-2101

2087 Summer didn't come.  It was very cold.  Harvests failed all over Europe and Asia.

2088 Winter started becoming a non-event.

2092-2102:

                Winter, like it had been known for centuries, failed to arrive at all in North America.

                Avg. yearly global temp was rising steadily.

                Polar ice caps began to melt.

                Coastlines began to be altered.

                Hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones more and more often.

                Coastal flooding.

                Public works projects failed.

                Topsoil blew away.

                Wildfires commonplace.

                People migrated from their countries to others.

The Second Wave      2102 -2112

               Disappearance of the last bits of rain forest due to too high temps.

                Sahara and Kalahari connected for first time in history.

                Oceans became way too warm and fisheries fell.

                Millions started to starve when the fisheries were no longer sustainable.

2108-2118       

                North American Midwest still was producing food, but 2118 was the last good year.

                                                                                                                                                                                             

The Third Wave         2119-2123

2119 1st of three harvest failures.

2123 A good harvest, but too late.

                                                                                                                                                                                             

After the Third Wave

2124-2144:  Hundreds of millions around the world die each year for 20 years
                    after the breadbasket of the world fails.

2131    The Great Central Desert begins in Nebraska. Within 11 years it has bisected all of North America.

2155    Black Guard elite force formed from the National Guard and the Marines.

2165    North America's political systems have completely collapsed by this year.                                                                                                                                                                                            

2260-2261:  The political reorganization of the US, Canada and Mexico is completed by this year.  Two new nations,
                     the NAA and the UCT are formed, both at odds with each other.

                                                                                                                                                                                             

After the formation of the NAA and UCT:

2262 The UCT shuts down the Lake Michigan pipeline which supplies the NAA with much needed water.

2263 War with the UCT over the Lake Superior pipeline.

2264 Treaty signed with the UCT over water from Lake Superior (later amended).

2380 Q-Cell invented in the NAA (quantum nucleonic energy cell).

2389 First waterdomes are built.

2392 Payette Lake waterdome completed.

2459 Kallen Jahn Deshara is born in New Meadows, Idaho.

2477 Kallen enters the Air Defense Force at 18 years of age.

2479 20 year old Kallen goes back to 1820.

Time Travel

Writing a time travel story is tricky.  You have to aware of classic 'time travel paradox' issues.  The time travel paradox issue is where a set of circumstances appears to be possible from one perspective, but impossible from another.  There are four types of paradox perspectives that most time travel stories are written from.

                  A.  The Past is Mutable

          This model says that there is no predestination.  You can go back in time and kill your grandfather (eg, change the past) and you can still exist in the future from whence you came to even go to the past in the first place.

                 B.  The Past is Immutable

          This type of time travel story says that a chain of events will occur that will prevent you from killing your grandfather no matter how hard you try.  In other words, the past, present and the future are set and there's no way you can change a thing.  If you existed in the first place to even travel into the past, it is because you have a lineage that allowed you to exist in the future.

                  C.  The Time Paradox

          The movie Millennium is an classic example of a paradox that will ripple up thru time if you change something in the past.

                  D.  Parallel Universes

          Not only is the past changeable, but when something is changed, that instantly creates a changed 'universe', or parallel universe to come into existence.  The TV series Sliders is an example of how parallel universes are created when something is altered, even slightly in our 'past', paving the way for an alternate future to come about.

1. Stealing Some Time utilizes a variation of the  Parallel Universes model and the Time Paradox model to achieve its goal.  In the story, as long as the neural-core processor is energized, it is 'linked' to the time period it has opened a portal to.  No matter how many changes occur, as long as the portal is opened, none of those changes can affect the present.  As soon as the portal is closed, eg, as soon as the link to the past is severed, accumulated changes will instantly affect the future.  The story's epilogue demonstrates the parallel universes aspect of time travel.