2025 — Lyle Drew

Duncan Pell, a Geologist of his day, Michael Kent, Duncan's childhood friend, and Keith Sanders, an engineer and inventor of the tunneler Rhia, were each 144 years old. In a way, they were also discoverers of the Earth's concave surface, the inner world of their planet. Actually, they didn't discover the Earth's hollow center; they were merely the latest in a long list of people who stumbled upon it without any previous knowledge of its existence. Duncan and Keith collaborated to discover why Earth's magnetic field was weaker than calculation said it should be. When Michael's family couldn't afford to send him back to college after the first year, he joined the Navy to see the world. During an early attempt to explore Antarctica, he saw more of the world than he ever thought existed when, as the sole survivor of the USS Flattery crew, he stumbled into the inner world. All three could have left at any time; they did, but only for short periods to enlighten humankind of the convex (outer) surface that a better life existed if only they would give up their fighting and greed. That was easier for them to say than for those of the outer surface to do and so they all returned to Edena to rest.
Edenans lived on the concave surface for almost as long as modern man lived on the outer surface. The Edenan's advanced technology allowed them to visit the convex surface whenever they wanted. Some of the convex surface dwellers took their message to heart and lived together in harmony, eventually disappearing en mass suddenly. Their disappearance was a planned move to the concave surface; yet their friends never knew where they went -- they simply disappeared. Before the Aztecs left, they applied what they'd learned from the Edenans to create a calendar that predicted the end of the outer surface world; it coincided with the end of the next Tunn, the year 2012.
Theodore (Ted) Elwood, born in 1954, chose a life as an engineer. Although successful at his profession, his disenchantment grew with the direction the technology of his day was headed. Always, any new technology, although initially developed for good, received the majority of its funding as an implement of war. Moreover, Ted's nights became increasingly restless when nightmares of impending doom for humanity invaded what should have been pleasant dreams. When he confided them to his wife, she chastised him, eventually divorcing him. Alone, Ted became depressed, but finally came to believe that there was more to life than war. As the turn of the century approached, the economy went bad, people lost their jobs, although Ted didn't. He did what he could to help people, but the drain on his resources was evident. How would he survive if the economy didn't turn around?
In the 142 millennia, aliens of incredible power attacked Earth, driving the peaceful surface people to their knees; defeat appeared inevitable until Renee Devens recalled that Devin Roarke left her with the secret of time travel before he died. She promised not to use it unless it was absolutely necessary; the present invasion appeared to fit that criteria. The craft built by the Kryloneans, Olympians, and Terrans was incredible, as well as powerful, with the capability of time travel. Renee and her friend Beck defeated the aliens, but it sent them back in time, almost to the beginning of time. The adventures that followed were humbling as well as enlightening while they struggled to return to their own time, if for nothing else than to fulfill their mission. But, was that to be their true adventure? Time would tell!