Time travel is a fascinating subject for a writer. All manner of causality problems create endless fodder for storytelling. In ANCHOR I explore not only linear time travel, but parallel dimensions and multi-dimensional time/space.
I’m fascinated by parallel dimension theory and the concept of life outside of linear time. It hurts my head to consider all of time happening at once, and multiple versions of myself existing on a multitude of parallel and near-parallel timelines. I wondered what sort of beings could keep it all straight and came up with the Time Keepers. They have a genetic understanding of how to bend time to their will and consider guardianship of the Time Roads a sacred trust.
Time Keepers are mystics as well as time cops. The Time Roads are both theoretical and real, and are traveled as much through conscious intention as by physical means. There is just one hard and fast rule for any time traveler — they must have an anchor to ground them. The person serving as anchor isn’t tied to a place as much as to the person they are anchoring. Without an anchor, the Time Roads are impossible to travel safely. Many people, myself included, feel at times as if displaced from another time period. This was the genesis of Lucy Dean’s amnesia.
Time Keepers are not human, although related through ancient Egyptian bloodlines. They have agents at way stations along the time roads. By tradition, Time Marshalls are always men, while Time Wardens can be of either gender. After you read the story see if you can figure out who the local Time Marshall is in the time zone where Lucy is marooned.
The Tregarians are related to Time Keepers but consider themselves far more advanced scientifically. The original Time Keepers were mystics on a world outside of linear time. The Tregarians invaded with the intention of stealing time portals and using them to invade various points in human history. A small group of Time Keepers stopped them with the aid of a human scientist. Thereafter, the Time Keepers chose a larger role in guardianship over all the time roads.
It is impossible for an ordinary human being to recognize an agent of the Time Keepers, or a time traveler. You have even met one yourself. Ridiculous, you say? How would you know…