Read Paradigm Rift: Book One of the Back to Normal Series for Free Online

we're here. Right here, Normal, Illinois."
    Denver decided to play along with this clever scenario, or maybe he was starting to buy into it; he couldn't actually tell. He threw the Chief a curve ball. "But why here, I mean, why Normal ?"
    The Chief didn't even blink. "That's the one angle our experts ain't quite nailed down yet. Some think it has to do with the geographic makeup of the area, something ‘bout the land, and metal deposits—heck, who knows?" The Chief laughed and slapped Denver on the shoulder. “Hey, maybe there’s a secret military program around here!”
    Denver wasn’t laughing. "There was lightning and thunder last night," he admitted.
    "Not just a regular bolt of lightning, no sir. Doc calls it a Superbolt. Only one lightning strike in a million fits the bill. He says when a Superbolt hits one of those tears, those holes in the space-time-thing, it opens the portal wide enough to actually send an entire person back in time."
    They turned onto a new street, and the Chief waved again at a driver passing by. "That's how I found you so quickly. That's how we always find 'em, at least, most of 'em." Denver shot him a bewildered look.
    "The lightning and the thunder,” the Chief said. “When a Jumper jumps , the portal carries a part of the lightning and a lot of the thunder back with it. We call it a FLaT. Being a cop and all, I hear about all of the strange stuff. When you jumped, heck, my phone rang off the wall last night—it was a snap to find you. Lightning and thunder on a clear night, dead giveaway, son."
    Denver sat there, trying to take it all in. He could think of at least three good reasons why this was clearly ridiculous. The problem was, he could rationalize five better ones that made it believable.
    As he became distracted in his thoughts, the Chief appeared to be distracted as well. A little commotion on the sidewalk in front of a soda fountain had snagged his attention. He slammed on the brakes, inadvertently throwing his passenger into the dash. The Chief jumped out, and then leaned back into his driver's window. "Stay here. I'll be right back. I can't wait for school to start back up next month!"
    Three young boys were in a late summer scuffle, and the one on the ground was taking a severe thrashing. The Chief closed the distance, hollering at the boys. Denver looked over at the keys, still in the ignition. He glanced back up at Chief McCloud, who was occupied with diffusing the brawl.
    It's now or never. I could be out of this psyche study in five minutes. Well, that is, unless there are armed guards posted along the perimeter . Denver slid across the seat. "So long, freak show."
     
    He threw the car into drive and pressed the pedal to the floor.

Journal entry number 23
    Thursday, April 18, 1946

    Someone once said that knowledge is power.
     
    But what about Future Knowledge? Maybe Future Knowledge isn’t power. Perhaps it is DANGEROUS, like a nuclear bomb, powerful and dangerous. There are two issues at stake here, and neither is absolutely “knowable”:
     
    1. What happens if Ken or I accidentally reveal Future Knowledge to someone here in 1946? What effects will that have in the Time-Stream?
     
    2. What happens if I accidentally impart Future Knowledge to Ken, and then (hypothetically) we find a way to get back home? He will return to 1979 with Future Knowledge, which then could impact the world from 1979 on, and then I will return to the late 1980s, into a world (potentially) changed by Ken.
     
    This kind of thinking used to be a fun and fruitless exercise when I studied physics in college, usually leading to arguments in the frat house, especially after liquid-courage-enhancers in 12 ounce metal cans. But this is—real. These are real issues. To neglect them is to crack open something potentially far more destructive than the lid of Pandora’s Box.
     
    In war they say: “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” But, honestly, a few frigates doomed to the depths is nothing compared