Speed of Thought
an excerpt

Einstein’s theory of Relativity states that time is relative. Time travels slower at greater speeds. Therefore, as you approach the speed of light, time slows. If you were to reach the speed of light, time would stop. If you could exceed the speed of light, time would go in reverse. This is the secret to time travel. Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. But what about the speed of thought? The mind can process information at incredible speeds. What if this could be harnessed and used as the solution to traveling to the past?

This method would render the traveler unable to have access to his or her body when in the past – the mind would travel back while the body would remain an empty shell in the present. This would prevent interactions with anyone living in past times, and would also prevent catastrophic changes that could alter the present.

But when the person’s spirit is absent from the body, it leaves the hollow shell open to horrors unimagined by the inventors of this new technology…

-----------Excerpt - Chapter 1-----------
Trench awoke with a jolt. It took him a few moments to catch his breath and realize where he was. The next second he bolted straight up. An inky shadow in the corner moved. He could have sworn to it. Gradually his brain caught up with the rest of his body and he realized he had been dreaming. With reality having set in, he relaxed.

His own bedroom. The room was shabby and small – not what he would have liked, but the downgrade had been necessary. It was still dark and the red light from his alarm clock told him there was still plenty of time before the morning.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he sank back down. 3 AM. It was a long time until morning, but Trench had the feeling sleep would not come easily.
The dream had returned – the nightmare. It was always so vivid. So real. And yet he could never remember it when he woke. Not once. And it had not been the first time he’d had it. It was always the same dream…he was sure of it. Lately it had resurfaced with a new intensity and a disturbing frequency.
His ex-wife would have told him it was not the same dream. The mind can play tricks on you, after all. Generally when one gets the feeling of a repeated dream, it means the mind replayed the same instance twice the same night, all in an incredibly short period of time. It felt like you were watching a rerun.

That was a load of crap, he thought – and had told her so. Psychologists! Think they know everything! But he had never told her about this dream. He had nothing to prove since he couldn’t remember it. He hadn’t told anyone else, either. It made him appear weak, being susceptible to nightmares. Illusions. Simple tricks of the mind.

His heartbeat had slowed to normal by now, but his mind still worked, trying to remember the dream while pushing the residual feelings behind him.

He closed his eyes, then opened them. Light poured from the single window of the room, illuminating the small area and serving as a reminder that he really ought to finish his laundry sometime soon. The clock read 8:00. He had not expected to fall back to sleep.

Pushing the covers to the side, he slid out of bed and made his way to the bathroom to shave.