Refiner's Pyre Read online



  Refiner’s Pyre

  By Taylor Strop

  Copyright 2012, 2013 Taylor Strop

  * * * * *

  “I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God’”

  Zechariah 13:9

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Forward

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 - Alpha Test

  Chapter 2 - Cycle X+1

  Chapter 3 - The Consultation

  Chapter 4 - The Dilemma

  Chapter 5 - The Contractor

  Chapter 6 - The Implant

  Chapter 7 - Post Op

  Chapter 8 - The Coverts

  Chapter 9 - The Bot

  Chapter 10 - Priscilla

  Chapter 11 - Out of the Starting Gate

  Chapter 12 - The Departure Gate

  Chapter 13 - The Wave Schooner

  Chapter 14 - The Termination

  Chapter 15 - In a Rut

  Chapter 16 - The Goose

  Chapter 17 - The Pit

  Chapter 18 - The Image of God

  Chapter 19 - The Alligator

  Chapter 20 - Astro-forum Session Five

  Chapter 21 - Gone Fishin'

  Chapter 22 - Lickin' the Spoon

  Chapter 23 - Country Road

  Chapter 24 - Alpha Translation

  Chapter 25 - Salisbury Anyone

  Chapter 26 - Terah

  Chapter 27 - The Revelation

  Chapter 28 - Ceremony

  Chapter 29 - Omega Translation

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  My English are terrible but God is good. I lacked the necessary resource and had little hope of advancing beyond my initial crude manuscript. In what seemed to me to be a gift from God, I serendipitously met James Maccormick. James comes from a literary family and is himself a former English teacher, published author and presently in the book industry. I most humbly appreciate and acknowledge James Maccormick for his gracious edit, counsel and encouragement without which this book would never have reached publication.

  May God bless James and his lovely wife Susan for their patience and witness?

  Forward

  This speculative fiction is set in the present. The protagonist, Martin Trask, is an individual who for his own reasons volunteers for an advanced particle physics experiment.

  The scientists are delving into Einstein’s acknowledged “Spooky action at a distance” phenomenon, hoping to enlarge upon it with the ultimate goal of facilitating teleportation. In this account the experiment is designed to research the feasibility of transferring large data packages within nano-seconds. The data package in this instance is Martin Trask’s cellular essence.

  In the course of the experiment Martin finds to his surprise that instead of sending his cellular data definition over a distance, he is instead experiencing a leap in time and a lateral shift between parallel universes. Because he is secretly trying to escape the consequences of failing to receive a globally mandated RFID implant, he chooses to remain in the testing program hoping to return to an environment in which the implant is a non-issue.

  Each parallel universe exists with a varying chronology of history such that when Martin returns from a cycle of time travel, he returns to a possible shift in date and a somewhat skewed history.

  Each return places him at a time when the authorities have only an empty folder and are forced to start from square one in their pursuit to apprehend Martin as a fugitive.

  In his numerous travels he gains a respect for the nature and purpose of the “Refiner’s Pyre”; this physical universe. In this instance the Pyre is the mass used to fuel the crematory fire; part of the purification in preparation for our lives to come.

  In this interlude he is faced with an unexpected change that includes the implantation of an AI assistant, ANGL, which ultimately expands his understanding of the realities at hand. As a result he is again challenged to reassess his choice to remain on the run.

  Technological innovation is masked by both the future and the past. The author uses this fictional narrative as a platform to express various concepts; some lost and some yet to be found. He looks at concepts relating to various versions of flight; of tethered flight, of active channel winged aircraft and also a version of aircraft based on the Coanda effect. He also considers a possible seismic function of Stone Henge as a means of communication. He speculates on a possible nano-technology and bio-electronic blend that results in a thin film interactive optical I/O device. In addition he speculates on the nature of the recently confirmed existence of the Higgs Boson Particle, as well as a yet to be identified fundamental particle oscillation and its relationship to time, space and parallel universes.

  He presumes that we experience this existence as an interaction of three separate and distinct realms; impetus, capacity and order. In the Christian vernacular they are Power, Authority and Dominion. This physical universe is the manifestation of an immiscible Boolean like overlap of these three realms.

  It is likely that we are traveling on a somewhat circular journey whose only real purpose is to achieve the Refiner’s Pyre.