The Clock Strikes Two

NASA has informed President Nolan Wyler of the approach of a mysterious anomaly headed toward Earth. After numerous tests and calibrations, it’s determined to be a temporal distortion – a tear in the fabric of time once relegated to the realm of science fiction, but lately believed to be a very real astronomical possibility. Jordan Marks is among the dozen or so experts brought in by the White House and Pentagon to offer advice on how to deflect the anomaly away from Earth – an urgent challenge given the fact that nobody – including the world’s leading astrophysicists – has any idea what effect, if any, such a temporal aberration might have on our world should it get too close. A pulsated particle beam is widely viewed as the best option by just about everyone – Jordan being the most junior-level yet most outspoken voice of opposition. Ignoring Jordan’s warnings, the Pentagon rigs a satellite tracking system located on a D.C.-based military research station to serve as the source of the beam and within two weeks, the device is put into action. As Jordan had feared, however, the beam not only fails to deflect the temporal anomaly, but actually draws it right to its source – a moth drawn to the flame. And within hours, the odd, multi-colored gaseous anomaly is closing in on Washington D.C. – a swirling vortex of hurricane proportions. The city survives the galactic storm but at an unthinkable cost: the capitol of the United States has been split into two distinct time periods – half of the city set in the present, the other half – including the White House itself – precisely as it was mere days after Abraham Lincoln’s re-election in 1864. Among the many thousands of people who have vanished as a result of the time schism are President Wyler, Vice President Kellen, Speaker of the House Preston and numerous other high-ranking officials. Are they dead or merely displaced somewhere in time until the anomaly has been eliminated? Nobody knows for certain. What everybody in D.C. – and soon the world – does know is that our nation’s capital has been plunged into a real-life Twilight Zone unlike anything humanity has ever seen before. For some, the newly-opened pathway between past and present will offer a miraculous opportunity to meet historic figures and marvel in the astounding technological and medical advances of the past century and a half. For others, though, it will be a nightmare that could jeopardize the very future of our nation. While Jordan and his colleagues scramble to return their city to normal, a new normal gradually sets in: Free to move back and forth between time frames, the people of both Old Washington and New Washington cautiously but excitedly begin to interact. The presence of the actual Abraham Lincoln in their midst is, of course, the most remarkable by-product of the temporal anomaly for those living in 2018, while citizens from 1864 are no less astounded to be transported to the almost-unrecognizable Washington of the future. But exuberance soon gives way to fear, greed and racial divide among many in both time sectors. And perhaps most concerning of all is the reaction to the time schism from our enemies overseas. With the capitol of the United States quite literally torn in two, with a power vacuum in the White House as a result of the President Wyler’s disappearance, and with many turning to a beloved President more than 150 years out of synch with the realities of modern-day America, there has never been a better time to strike the United States and perhaps bring our country to its knees once and for all.