Tachyon Tunnel 2: The Daklin Empire

Paula carefully stepped her way through the desert night, the jagged silhouette of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rising in the distance. The desert air was cool, but her skin was damp with sweat. She was surrounded by nature, and silence, the sky stretching endlessly above her. Because it was February, she did not worry about rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, or other critters that controlled the summer and represented a threat to human safety. Tonight was about having solid footing, something which Paula was well acquainted with.

To the north, she found the constellation Cassiopeia. Was it possible that she had been there, or was this all a fantastic dream? As she gazed at it, she felt an mysterious, timeless connection to the stars, as if she were somehow intertwined with them.

In the distance, she saw the lights of two vehicles approaching each other from opposite directions. A memory surfaced—somewhere along that highway, just a few miles away, was a distraught version of herself on a collision course with a tanker truck, leading to a sequence of inexplicable events that led her to this quiet desert location.

She had run the sequence of what was about to happen through her mind, and yet the entire thing seemed counterintuitive. And then, it happened. The calm night was shattered by the explosion, followed by the instantaneous fire that engulfed the highway with fury, turning the peaceful night into a chaos capable of waking the dead.

Paula was mesmerized by the scene unfolding before her. It wasn’t just a fire raging less than a mile away; it was instead the beginning of a timeline that would change her destiny—and possibly that of humanity. The fire pulsed like a demon, melting, evaporating, and incinerating everything within its reach. Fortunately, Paula—who was supposed to be in the middle of that pyre—was a safe distance away, merely an observer.

It took everything inside to resist the urge to walk toward the fire. She forced herself to continue the path away from the flames. However, she still walked backwards, transfixed and hypnotized through a new physics called tachyon tunneling. Paula Campbell found herself walking in the desert, instead of being incinerated in a tanker explosion.

Her shoe slid on loose gravel, and in an instant, she lost her balance and fell backward. She tried to twist herself to break the fall, but the sharp rocks sliced her palms, forcing her to pull back. Her head struck a boulder, and she attempted to rise, but her vision blurred as the world began to spin. A sharp pain shot through her temple, and then—darkness.

* * * *

The desert was bathed in the pale blush of dawn when John Prinz finally found her. He had been searching through the cold, dark desert, calling her name, his voice strained with worry. He discovered her lying in a small pool of blood and gently rolled her over to check the gash on her forehead. He hoped it was nothing more than a superficial bump and nasty gash.

John lightly touched her cheek. “Paula? Are you okay?”

Paula didn’t respond right away. After a moment, her eyes fluttered open, and she stared at him blankly. “John?”

“Paula! Oh my God!” He crouched beside her, brushing away dirt on her face. “Can you hear me?”

“John?” Her voice cracked. She tried to sit up, but he gently held her shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t move. You’re hurt.”

But she did move—just enough to push him away. “What are you doing here, John?” She tried to process whether his presence in the desert would create some type of time paradox.

“I got the news about the wreck last night. They said you had probably been incinerated in the fire, but something inside of me didn’t want to believe it. I’ve been searching for you all night.”

Paula winced as he helped her to her feet. Her knees buckled, but he steadied her. The words she wanted to say caught in her throat. She allowed him to guide her toward his car, parked at the side of the road about a mile from where the collision had occurred the night before.

The drive was silent at first. Paula stared out the window, watching the desert blur by. Her head throbbed, but it was the weight in her chest that hurt the most.

“You shouldn’t have come,” she said finally.

“You’re kidding, right?” He didn’t wait for her to respond. “You were bleeding in the desert when I found you. Why wouldn’t I want to help?”

“You ended our relationship,” she began, her anger rising. “In a text message.” She could feel her blood begin to boil as she remembered the message.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Sometimes we make mistakes…” he trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

“Sorry?” She tried to put the pieces together. It had just been a few days, but in that time, she had literally traveled to the edge of the galaxy, returned to her past, and come to the realization that the true love of her life had been Alex Durant.

“I came for you Paula. No one else did.” John’s knuckles whitened on the steering wheel as the words came out through his gritted teeth.

No one else did. His words struck a chord. No one else came. Where was Alex?

“You don’t get to make assumptions and just stop things, Paula.”

“Stop the car,” Paula demanded.

“No. You need to listen to me.”

“I don’t need anything from you anymore.”

John’s foot pressed the gas. The odometer jerked as the speedometer gradually climbed.

“Slow down!”

“Not until you talk to me.”

“John!”

She barely saw it coming—the curve in the road, the sudden tilt as the car veered off the pavement. The tires skidded, and the world started spinning as the car rolled. The sounds of metal crumpling, glass shattering, and then a heavy impact filled the air.

* * * *

Paula woke to sterile light and the steady beep of a heart monitor. Every inch of her body ached, and her head was pounding with pain.

“Miss? Miss, can you hear me?” A nurse leaned over her.

Paula tried to recall the events but was unable to put the pieces together. She glanced at the nurse through blurry eyes, her lips cracked as she struggled to speak. “Where… am I?”

“You’re in the hospital. You were in a car accident.”

Her thoughts spun in a blur, memories slipping away before she could catch them like water running through her fingers. Her throat tightened. “I don’t… I don’t remember. I was in a car? What car? Where?”

“That’s okay,” the nurse said gently. “You have a concussion. It’s not uncommon to experience short-term memory loss, but thankfully, you’re going to be all right.”

Paula stared at the ceiling, her mind a blank slate. What car? Where was she going?

“Can you tell me anything? Was anyone… with me?”

“First things first,” the nurse responded. “Can you tell me your name?”

“Uhhmmm,” she thought for a moment, trying to clear her head, to make sense of the situation. “It’s Paula.”

“What’s your last name, Paula?”

“I’m Paula Campbell,” she stated, feeling a bit of relief. “I’m a professor doing research at University of New Mexico. Was anyone with me in the car?” she persisted.

“There was someone in the car,” the nurse replied, “but we haven’t been able to contact their family yet, so I’m not at liberty to tell you who it was.”

Paula struggled to remember where she was, where she was going, and who she was with, but found nothing in her memory.

“Is he dead? Is the passenger dead?”

“Paula, can you tell me what day it is?” the nurse changed the subject.

Paula closed her eyes, trying to focus. Her entire body throbbed with pain, and nothing seemed to make sense.

The nurse waited a moment before asking again, "Paula, what’s the date today?"

"February 2025," she replied.

The nurse nodded, “February what?”

“The second? The third?” Paula guessed.

"Today is March first, Paula," the nurse replied. "Try to get some rest." She turned to leave, then paused at the door. "The doctor will be in shortly."

Paula closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. When she woke, she found a doctor studying the monitor and looking at his electronic pad.

“How are you feeling, Dr. Campbell?”

“I hurt everywhere and can’t seem to remember much about the last few days.”

“My name is Dr. Moralez,” he said. “You suffered a concussion in the wreck.” He paused to look into her eyes before checking her pulse. “You were in a pretty serious accident. Your car spun off the road and rolled 100 feet down an embankment. Honestly, you are lucky to be here.”

Paula stared at the doctor, not able to remember any part of the wreck.

“We often see memory loss from this type of incident, but it generally returns,” Moralez added.

“Why wouldn’t the nurse tell me who was in the car with me?”

“Well, she was sticking to her HIPAA guns,” the doctor answered.

“Her what?”

“HIPAA is federal law regarding privacy, Dr. Campbell,” Moralez explained. “The nurse can’t disclose anything because she isn’t certain you knew the driver. When they brought you in, you were a Jane Doe with no ID, phone, or any other items that could help us identify you.”

“I’m certain that I’m Paula Campbell,” she replied, pausing for a moment. “But you can just call me Paula.”

He made a note on his pad. “Okay Paula,” the doctor paused for a moment. “I am sorry to inform you that a Mr. John Prinz was in the car with you. We did everything we could, but he didn’t make it. We notified his family a few hours ago.”

Paula closed her eyes, tears slipped down her cheeks. She wondered when this nightmare would end—it felt like it would never stop.