“Shit on a stick.” CPL Dawson looked over the vault door with PO2 Chambers and CSGT McGee. “This is a thick-ass bitch.”

“I have to agree with the Corporal.” The CSGT shook his head. His characteristic grin had vanished from his face. I can try to blast this bastard open, but I can’t guarantee it, and then I’ve got nothing to blow the objective to kingdom come.”

“Allow me, gentlemen.” Dr. Shaw pushed forward to the front and revealed a previously hidden panel.

She placed her hand on the panel, then leaned forward for an eye scan, and finally said a combination of words in what sounded like Russian. She turned around and grinned at the soldiers when the door hissed open.

“The doctor on my ID isn’t a cover story. I graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics before this whole war broke out. A crash course in Russian and I was the perfect candidate to go undercover on this project.”

“That’s all well and good, Doc, but move your arse.” The CSGT grabbed her and pulled her to the side as the soldiers stacked up on the door.

MAJ Ward took the first position. It was his job to open the door, and watch the rear in case the facility garrison came charging down the stairs. “Three . . . two . . . one . . . GO!” He yanked the heavy door and spun to cover them as they surged into the room.

“Motherfucker!” Was the first thing the MAJ heard as the room beyond erupted into an intense gunfight.

The MAJ didn’t hesitate. He spun back around, grabbed the door as he entered, and yanked it closed behind him. They were finally at their objective, and they weren’t going anywhere until they completed their mission.

He turned, looked for his team, and immediately took an energy bolt to the stomach. Getting shot in armor was like getting stung by a big ass bee that left a bruise that lasted for a week. Getting shot with a laser felt like someone tried to dunk you in boiling water and nearly succeeded.

By the grace of the universe’s particular sense of humor the blast didn’t penetrate. It severally damaged the outer layer of ballistic weave, but the laminate plates stopped it. He still felt like he’d gotten the world’s worst sunburn just above his crotch, but he’d live. He was just sweating like a whore in church now.

The impact made him stagger backwards where he tripped and was lucky again. A second blast soared over his head and scorched the vault door. Nearby cover fire cut off the enemy’s lasers and he rushed toward it.

“Stop sightseeing, Sir.” The CSGT’s grin was back. “There’s our prize.”

The MAJ took a quick peak before getting driven back behind cover by Chinese bullets. The room they were in was a huge cavern. Rock had been carved away to make extra room. Power cables and pipes ran all over those stone walls until they collected into two large conduits that snaked down and toward a machine at the center. Whatever the machine was the MAJ had never seen anything like it.

It had a solid, raised platform about the size of a basketball court. In the center were two golden idle rings. The MAJ didn’t think they were real gold, but whatever metal they were made of sure did shine.

Computer monitors and half a dozen supercomputers encircled the rings on three sides. Scientists in white lab coats were cowering behind the technology as laser bolts and bullets flew back and forth between the remaining garrison and the MAJ’s team. He could hear screaming going back in forth in Chinese and Russian.

“Bound forward in buddy teams!” He ordered. “Females and Cuthbert sit tight and let us deal with this.”

If they argued, the MAJ didn’t hear them. “Cover us while we move! Moving!” The MAJ and CSGT got to their feet and rushed forward and to the left for five seconds. Their goal was to get behind the supercomputers and rig the demo. If the computers died whatever this thing was did too. “In positon!”

“Moving!”

“Cover our asses!” LT Thrumball yelled out.

The three soldiers rushed forward toward a group of crates while the MAJ and CSGT flooded the area with bullets. The problem was that there was only two of them, and the garrison had at least a dozen people left.

The second buddy team was two seconds into their three to five second rush when the MAJ saw Dawson go down hard. It was the kind of fall a lifeless body did when momentum took over.

“Fuck! Check Dawson!” The MAJ wanted to rush and check on the marine, but there were fifty yards and sure death between him and where the CPL had fallen.

“Can’t get to him, but I saw him take the hit . . . laser to the head.” The LT’s voice had a hint of emotion in it.

The MAJ pushed down the anger before he did something stupid and refocused on the mission. “Cover us while we move! Moving!”

They made it to the outer supercomputer this time and slid behind it while barely avoiding heavy laser fire. The CSGT didn’t waste any time in getting a charge planted underneath the large, boxy device.

The MAJ and CSGT covered the LT and PO2 as they made their final rush. The garrison wasn’t as well-armed or armored as the MAJ’s team and it was starting to take its toll. A minute later and the garrison was down to half a dozen guys, and they started to fall back away from the machine. All while the CSGT moved around the supercomputers and planted more and more explosives.

The MAJ thought they had the mission in the bag when the room filled with a terrible whining noise and the rings started to spin. One ring was horizontal and the other vertical. The horizontal rings spun within the vertical one giving it a space-warping impression on the mind.

“No!” Dr. Shaw screamed from the back of the room. “Don’t let them . . .!”

The MAJ didn’t hear the rest of what she said as the pitch dramatically increased along with the rings’ speed. They were nothing but a blur now, and a gold-white light was emanating from its center. He scanned the room again. The garrison was still returning fire, but they were at the opposite end of the room seeking better cover. It was the scientists that were the real threat now.

“Take out the white coats!” He didn’t feel bad about giving the order, and his team didn’t feel back about executing.

Blood stained their white coats as they were gunned down, but the spinning rings didn’t stop and the light continued to grow. Two men started running toward the spinning rings with the clear intention of finishing the job.

The possibilities flashed through the MAJ’s mind. This thing looked like a Doomsday device if he’d ever seen one, and the mad scientists that were willing to die for it only solidified its danger in his mind. He weighed the life of his team, Dr. Shaw, Captain Tanaka, and Cuthbert against the possibility of what could happen to the United States and Commonwealth he’d sworn to defend.

The decision was easy.

“BLOW IT!”

To the CSGT’s credit he didn’t hesitate. He hit the detonator at the same moment the machine reached its crescendo, and his shit-eating grin didn’t even falter.

Light and fire reached out and devoured everyone.

***

Everything within fifteen miles of the facility located on the China-Russia border ceased to exist as an antimatter holocaust scarred the land. Even though the site was several hundred miles away from the battle at Vladivostok, the Eastern Block and Commonwealth governments hurtled accusations back and forth for years.

The invasion ended up being a success. The US Army suffered ten thousand casualties and half a dozen ships were sunk: four from the Royal Navy and two from the Japanese Defense Force. Everyone sacrificed for the victory. It allowed a break in the Easterner’s blockade of the Japanese islands that allowed food and to aide hundreds of millions in dire need. Despite the Commonwealth’s generosity with the island nation, Japan would declare themselves neutral and focus on their solar system assets and future colonies.

The four ships lost by the Royal Navy would come back to haunt the United Kingdom and its ruler King George VII – later know as Bloody George the Singed. The destruction of Vladivostok was a victory in the Battle of the North Pacific, but those four ships would be sorely missed when the Eastern Block feinted south while actually pushing north through civil war-torn Scandinavia. The airborne assault and amphibious invasion across the North Sea would embroil England in a months-long battle for its survival, which would culminate in the King’s infamous but necessary Burning of the Thames.

Ultimately, Vladivostok and the mysterious explosion would become just a footnote in a war that was just getting started. One day it would be known as the Last Terran War, but it wouldn’t even be close to the last war humanity fought against itself.

Major Thomas Ward, Lieutenant Allen Thrumball, Colour Sergeant William McGee, Petty Officer Second Class Dustin Chambers, Corporal Elijah Dawson, and the other fallen members of Operation Orpheus were posthumously awarded medals ranging from a Bronze Star for CPL Dawson to a Silver Star for gallantry in action during combat operations against an armed enemy for MAJ Ward.

Beyond those generalities, nothing else was written about their deaths. The operation itself was as black as night and the Commonwealth would never acknowledge that they had troops on the ground near the sight of an antimatter blast. Tensions were already boiling out of control throughout the solar system, and by the time things settled down a comparatively small explosion in backwoods China was nothing but a footnote in history. The soldiers and what they’d done were lost to the annals of time.

Literally . . .

MAJ Ward felt the rustle of grass beneath his head. It prickled his scalp through his short-cropped hair and the itching finally brought him out of his stupor. Years of experience told him not to open his eyes and to fight down the nausea in his gut before trying to sit up.

“Ugh,” he grunted as he breathed in deeply through his nose and out through his mouth. He didn’t remember anything from the prior evening, but it must have been a hell of a night.

He gingerly rolled to his right and smacked his face right into something hard. He silently cursed himself before opening his eyes as little as possible to get a look. His vision swam and the light felt like needles stabbing through his eyes and into his brain, but even with all the distractions he was able to make out the solid object lying next to him.

It was his helmet.

“What the hell?” He grabbed the protective headwear and looked at the HUD

CONNECTION LOST . . . SCANNING FOR SIGNAL . . . SCANNING FOR SIGNAL . . .

The screen never refreshed beyond that point which was odd. The military satellites in orbit were supposed to get some sort of signal just about everywhere. At a minimum, it should have been getting a hit from the nodes of the invasion of Vladivostok.

The invasion! Ward sat up so fast that his stomach revolted and he dry heaved a few times. Everything came flooding back to him: Operation Orpheus, the fight through the complex, the spinning rings, CPL Dawson going down, and then . . .

“Why am I still alive?”

“I’m not sure this constitutes as alive, Sir.” A groggy voice stated from a few yards away. “Feels like a bloody elephant sat on my skull.”

CSGT McGee sat up not far from the MAJ. Ward could have sworn he saw the NCO’s face bathed in fire and light before everything went black, but sitting here in this place made him reconsider a lot of things.

“If you’re there and I’m here then . . .” he pointed to their ten o’clock.

Sure enough, more groans could be heard in the bushes. That’s when the MAJ took a good look at their surroundings. They weren’t in an underground cavern surrounded by the enemy garrison, mad scientists, and supercomputers anymore. They looked to be in a forested area, and not the type of forest you’d find in China. In was a coniferous forest judging by the maples, oaks, and pine trees surrounding them. It reminded him a lot of where he’d grown up in New England.

“We need to get accountability.” The MAJ struggled to his feet. His vision was starting to get better, but his legs felt like Jelly. “Where’s my rifle?”

A Ranger never went anywhere on the battlefield without his rifle, and until he knew what the hell was going on, this was a battlefield. He found his M18 lying in the grass only a few feet away. That grass was knee-high so it was hard to see it until he was standing.

“Whoever owns this land could mow the grass every once and a while.” He grumbled as he heaved the double-barreled weapon and reattached it to his sling strap before he started walking toward where he thought the rest of his team would be.

PO2 Chambers and LT Thrumball were both on their knees dry heaving into the grass. Not far behind them lay the body of CPL Dawson. The LT’s quick synopsis of Dawson going down had been right on the mark. The young marine had taken a shot to the head. His helmet hadn’t been able to take the heat or energy of the blast. It had fused to his skull and melted a good portion of face right off. It was a shitty way to die.

“Everyone on me.” The MAJ took a knee and the CSGT trotted over to join them.

“Anyone else feel like they drank a whole keg.” Chambers grimaced, as he opened and closed his jaw to relieve some unseen pain.

“It feels like someone is playing the tambourine between my ears.” The LT shook his head and pinched his nose between his fingers.

“First things first, check for anymore survivors: Dr. Shaw, the Japanese captain, the scientists, or anyone else who can explain what the hell happened.” He pointed behind him. “LT, look for the females. Everyone else spread out and take a sector.” They quickly divided up the space in front of them into three equal areas of responsibility and moved forward.

They didn’t have to move far before they found something. What remained of the garrison force looked like they were doing what the MAJ’s team had just completed, plus something else. They were stripping down to simple, ragged clothing.

The MAJ didn’t hesitate. He didn’t have his helmet’s advanced optics, but he’d trained on nothing but an iron sight for just this occasion. He aimed so the cross was right on the man he determined to be the leader and pulled the trigger. A large hole punched through the man’s chest and showered the rest of the men in blood.

The enemy were veterans of the same war the MAJ had been fighting, so they organized quickly, but fell back.

“What are they doing?!” Chambers asked as bullets broke off chunks of tree trunks while laser blasts cut right through them.

“It looks like they’re retreating, the bunch of cowardly bastards.” The CSGT poured on the fire and took down two more before they slid behind a hill. “I count four left. Should we pursue?”

The MAJ looked around. Despite the familiar feel of the forest he didn’t recognize it, and it didn’t fit any of the terrain topography or satellite imagery he’d studied before the operation. He’d also heard some horror stories of how the Easterners tortured their prisoners of war, and he had to wonder if they’d been captured and this was some sick game.

“No. Fall back to the LT’s position. Hopefully the good doctor has some answers for us.”

The LT was only a few hundred yards back. He was down in the prone with Dr. Shaw, Captain Tanaka, and the British spy Cuthbert. The short skirmish with what remained of the garrison had sent bullets and lasers flying too close to their heads. Dr. Shaw was visibly shaken, but that was to be expected. She wasn’t used to other people trying to kill her as part of her job.

“Did you get them?” She asked frantically as they approached.

The SEAL kept looking behind them to make sure they didn’t take a counterattack up the ass. “We got enough of them,” he replied.

“I’m not asking if you got enough of them you Neanderthal ingrate. I’m asking if you got all of them?!” She shrieked, taking everyone by surprise.

Captain Tanaka came to the rescue by putting a hand on the frantic woman’s shoulder.

“Ma’am, they ran off. You’re safe.” Chambers tried to make up for whatever slight she felt he’d inflicted on her.

“It’s not that,” the Japanese captain replied in perfect English. “We cannot allow them to escape. If they are able to accomplish their mission everything is in danger.”

“What mission?” The MAJ stepped up and took charge again. “What the hell is going on?”

“This is bad. This is really bad.” Dr. Shaw started to chew on her fingernails, but forcibly stopped before looking at the soldiers. “Have you ever heard of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?”

“Of course. . .”

“Who hasn’t. . .” were the replies.

“Do any of you understand it?” Dr. Shaw got nothing but silence in response. “Einstein theorized that time flows like a river, bending around things like gravity and mass. This is a contradiction to Newton’s thinking that time was an arrow that once shot flew straight and true.”

“Wait . . . wait . . . wait . . .” The CSGT threw up his hands. “Are we talking about time travel?”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” The MAJ hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Did I just step into the twilight zone?”

“No, Major, I assure you that you did not. Time travel has been theorized and proven possible for over two hundred years. One day mankind might travel freely throughout time. We might evolve to become four-dimensional beings instead of existing in our current three-dimensional thought process.” Her eyes filled with zeal. “The only thing that has been standing in our way was the lack of technology and power to complete the process.”

“I still don’t believe it,” the CSGT stated.

“Ok,” the doctor took that as a challenge. “You military men always have paper. Someone give me some.”

The MAJ pulled out a little notepad he kept in his pocket and ripped off a sheet for her.

“Ok,” she drew a line on the paper. “This is a basic representation of time. To a two-dimensional person standing at one point it would look like it was linear and only moving forward. To us as three-dimensional beings we see the line, but we see it from beginning to end, and we can even,” she folded the paper in half so the lines met, “change it.” She smiled at the CSGT who still didn’t get it.

“You have to look at this from a four-dimensional perspective.” She took her pen and poked a hole in the paper before unfolding it. Now, there were two holes on the paper at the beginning and end of the line.

“That is what we did.” She pointed at the hole. “We broke a hole in space and time to make a bridge between the past and the present.” She crumpled up the paper with a flourish to complete her explanation.

“That seems too simple to be true.” Chambers was squinting into the distance, and brought his rifle up to get a better look.

“It’s a gross oversimplification.” She waved off the argument. “The calculations necessary took all of those supercomputers in the lab, some of the brightest minds in the Eastern Block, and enough power to . . .” she stopped like she’d just realized something.

“You!” She pointed at the CSGT. “You did this!”

“You’re a loon. Sir, she’s a fucking loon.” The CSGT looked at the MAJ for assistance. “I did not make us time travel, if that’s what even happened.”

“The explosions.” Dr. Shaw was talking to herself now. “We didn’t have the power requirements on any of the previous tests, but the explosion must have pushed it past critical mass. Then it sucked us through the rip in space-time before the explosion could kill us.” The look on her face was an eureka moment if there ever was one. “If only there was a way to duplicate the experiment.”

“Everyone, we need to move.” Chambers had his rifle trained on something in the distance. “We’re going to have company in about five minutes.”

“Hostiles?” The MAJ put on his helmet and brought up his own rifle.

He exited the menu that continued to remind him there was no connectivity, and instead linked with the scope of his weapon. It zoomed in and gave him a crisp, clear picture of what was coming their way.

“Sir, it looks like women.”

A gaggle of young women were moving perpendicular to their location on some type of game trail. They were wearing long dresses in muted colors that went all the way to their feet. The MAJ had only seen that kind of clothing in period TV dramas and at tourist destinations like Colonial Williamsburg.

Unfortunately, it backed the Doctor’s time travel story.

“Major, we need to find out where we are and what time we’re in. It will give us the key to discovering the enemy’s mission.” The doctor pleaded as the women drew closer and closer. They hadn’t spotted the group of soldiers yet.

“Ok, but I want minimal contact, just me and the doctor. Everyone else,” he scanned the terrain, “give me an OP on that ridge back there. Maybe we can figure out where to go after we talk to these people.”

“Take off your helmet and armor, Major. We are already conspicuous enough.”

“Ha!” the MAJ gave a short laugh. “I’ll lose the helmet but the armor is staying on.” He removed his helmet and handed Chambers his helmet and rifle.” He patted his holstered sidearm when the SEAL gave him a quizzical look.

After all, they were going to talk to a bunch of young girls. The tallest of which hardly reached the big Ranger’s chest. If they were Eastern Block assassins then he’d accept his death with dignity.

“After you, Doc.” He stepped aside for her to lead the way. The woman would probably be less intimidating to the women. There were definitely different standards in whatever time they were in.

If they were in a different time he reminded himself.

“Cover me.” He whispered to the LT as they hurried across the forest to intercept the women.

When they reached the group of girls they were only three hundred yards away – more than close enough to be covered by the M18 or L96A1.

“Hello.” Dr. Swan stepped out from behind a tree in front of the women and nearly scared them half to death. The MAJ stood behind the tree out of sight.

“Good day, Madame.” They took a look at the doctor’s nicer clothes and made the assumption she was a woman of means.

“I seem to be lost.” She tried to act nervous, but her excitement from the interaction was ruining it. “Could you tell me where we are?”

“Just north of Boston. The road to the city is not far behind us. We are here to do laundry. We beg your pardon if we have trespassed on your land.” There was genuine fear in the women’s eyes.

“No. You’re not in trouble. Thank you for the information.” She tried to reassure them. “Also,” she asked before they scurried off. “I have been traveling for a long while. What is the date?”

“The eighteenth of April in the year of our lord seventeen hundred and seventy-five.” The girls gave the information and quickly left.

The MAJ frowned. April 18, 1775, the date meant something to him, but he just couldn’t figure out what. He thought about it all the way back to the observation post the team was securing.

“Sir?” The LT asked when they walked into the small camp. He must have noticed the confused look on his superior’s face.

“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” The MAJ rubbed his eyes and gave up digging for what that date meant.

“As far as I’m concerned none of this is good news.” The LT gestured around them.

The MAJ chuckled. “Well, the good news is that we’re just north of Boston.”

“That’s great news.” Chambers chimed in. “I could use a good meal. They’ve got a great DFAC.” The SEAL grinned.

“That brings me to the bad news.” The MAJ paused to think of the best way to put this. “To start, we are still in enemy territory.” That got a lot of confused looks. “We, ladies and gentlemen, have found ourselves in the late eighteenth century, seventeen seventy-five to be exact.”

Recognition dawned on just about everyone’s faces.

“Ah bloody hell.” The CSGT summed it all up eloquently. “Doesn’t the war with America start tomorrow?”

It was like a lightbulb went off in the MAJ’s head. “April eighteenth!” Everyone looked at him with confusion. “April eighteenth!” He repeated.

“You said that the first time.” Dr. Shaw frowned. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ok.” The MAJ organized his thoughts.

He’d studied military history at the War College when first being promoted to major, and was a little embarrassed that the date hadn’t immediately been clear to him.

“The night of April eighteenth is Paul Revere’s ride.”

“That arse in all the movies who’s yelling about the British coming?” The CSGT shook his head.

“Exactly, but that’s not how it went at all, and he never actually said that.” A grin split the MAJ’s face. “Revere and other riders awaited a signal from the Old North Church to determine how the Redcoats were going to advance. Revere and William Dawes set out by different routes to Lexington to warn people along the way. They met up with Samuel Prescott, and he was the only one who actually made it to Concord to warn the Revolution’s leaders. Revere was captured by a British patrol and Dawes was thrown from his horse.”

“That’s a great bit of history, but what good does it do us?” Dr. Shaw sat with her head in her hands.

“That’s what I was about to ask you…?” The MAJ’s and every other eye turned to look at her.