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don’t occur
naturally on Earth, or anywhere near it. Mr. Howe was able to get
some once, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing any more of them in
our lifetime.”
    He grew quiet again, then had some more
spaghetti and some more red wine. Afterward, we bundled up in our
sleeping bags and got the last good night’s sleep we were going to
have in a very long time.
    If not forever.
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
    Eli: WOMPERs and Wolf
House
    June 30, 2019 C.E.
     
    The next day, more men arrived. Some of them
belonged to a power crew, and got heavy-duty electrical lines up
and running to Moonglow by midafternoon.
    I asked them where all the extra power was
coming from.
    “It’s been arranged,” one of them said. They
didn’t ask us to sign anything.
    Dad and I took a walk while they worked. He
didn’t want to be near them. That was the first time we discovered
Wolf House. Dad read the plaque about the writer, Jack London.
    My dad stood and looked at the ruins of the
house. “Imagine everything you love going up in smoke like
that.”
    When we got back from the walk, Mr. Howe was
waiting for us.
    He just sat near the front door of Moonglow,
smiling again, this time like some out-of- town cousin who gets to
your house early and waits around for you to let him in.
    Next to him, by his feet, was a green box.
Made out of metal.
    “Sunny California,” Mr. Howe said. “At least,
when it isn’t raining. Good for you.” He stood up and held out the
box. “Housewarming present.”
    Dad just looked at him.
    “I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to see
you,” I said. Somebody had to say something. I pointed to the box.
“What’s in there?”
    “Top secret, son,” Mr. Howe said, winking at
me. I wasn’t his son.
    “I’m done with secrets,” Dad said.
    “Not these secrets,” Mr. Howe replied
confidently. “Wait till you hear what they are.” He leaned over and
whispered in Dad’s ear.
    “WOMPERs?” my dad said out loud.
    “You have WOMPERs? I thought they didn’t
occur on Earth,” I added, looking at Mr. Howe suspiciously. He
looked at me, then back at Dad. “Do you tell him everything ?”
    “The fact is, I haven’t told him everything.”
Dad looked at me. “We used WOMPERs back in the lab at Princeton.
They did supercharge the time sphere. And that’s what caused the
explosion.”
    “The one Mom was in?”
    “Yeah.” He was sounding far away again. Then
he turned to Mr. Howe. “You already cost me my wife. I’m done with
your experiments. I don’t care how many old space rocks you
find.”
    “These aren’t from space rocks. We have an
almost limitless supply now. Thanks to nanotechnology!”
    I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Nano — what?”
    “Nanotechnology.” Dad repeated the word,
looking at Mr. Howe, and looking a bit scared. “It’s when you build
things, Eli, molecule by molecule. A way to engineer living
machines, even new life forms.”
    “We have a nanotechnology project at DARPA,
too. Didn’t I tell you? We don’t concentrate only on time
travel.”
    “But a WOMPER isn’t a molecule. It’s not even
an atom.” Dad was giving Mr. Howe his don’t-lie-to-me look.
    “We can make WOMPERs from other particles
now. Call it… hyper-nanotechnology. It’s not easy… but we can do
it. There’s nothing holding you back now.” Mr. Howe thrust the box
at my dad again. “Compliments of the house.”
    “Nothing holding me back, except my disgust
for you.”
    Dad took me by the arm, stomped into the
winery, and slammed the door.
    I’m not sure how long we stood there blinking
at the soldiers who were already inside.
     
    At some point, I became aware the front door
was opening and Mr. Howe was letting himself in. For some reason,
he started speaking to me.
    “Your dad’s got to do it, Eli. Before
somebody else does. Somebody who might not be working for us . Besides, it’s his experiment.”
    “Don’t look at me.”
    Over the next few days, Mr. Howe kept