Beyond Forever: Journey to Tulmic
Book 2 of the Forever series

                                                                                
    In Four Paths to Forever, Sandra Adams found the Sipapu, the gateway to another world. Along with her new husband and four other friends, they stepped through into the unknown. Now they find themselves in a new world, human and animal life destroyed by the arrogance of their ancestors. Settling in the long dead cliff city of Tulmic, they begin their search for life. Mysticism and technology blend in this story of re-birth and treachery, where the city holds the secrets to their ultimate success or failure.



   Here is an excerpt from, Beyond Forever: Journey To Tulmic

                                                                          Prologue

    Jerry Sims had never really believed. He was a tenured professor of archeology, for God’s sake. The Sipapu was only an Indian legend, a story told around campfires. Who reallyvbelieved that there was a gateway between two worlds? In fact, who believed there was another world that the “First People” came from? True, most legends had some basis in fact, but no educated person would believe in this one. It was utter fantasy.
    Sandra Adams, or should he say, Sandra Bentley believed. Jerry ground his teeth. That woman was a royal pain in the ass. She was the reason he was in this God forsaken place. He should be home in New Mexico, sitting on his couch, drinking a nice glass of port.
    She had been an associate professor of archeology at his university, not a very good one in his opinion. He still could not believe that the university had sent her to run his site in Kentucky, an undisturbed Adena Indian mound, when an appendicitis attack sent him to the hospital. Not long after that, she was informing the university that she had discovered an unknown race from four thousand years ago. Her proof? She had allowed a volunteer, Tom Bentley, who was now her husband, to take artifacts from the site to be carbon date tested. Jerry smiled as he remembered watching her try to support her position during the hearing held at the university. She had been on thin ice for years, but letting items leave the site and then telling everyone they were four thousand years old had sealed her fate. 
    Thinking back, he had to admit that she had found something in Kentucky. He had gone back to close the site and spent some time in the burial mound. He agreed that this was not from the Adena Indians who had lived in the area a thousand years ago; the clues did not fit with what he knew. The tablets were a set of translations, simple in design. The animal skin did seem to show a map, though obviously incomplete. She said there were two bodies perfectly preserved, but there had been only ashes when he returned to the site. Her find was just intriguing enough, combined with what she had confided in him years ago, to have a private investigator follow her. Jerry would hate to miss an opportunity to advance his career; he wasn’t above stealing. First Sandra had traveled to Alaska, to meet with an old woman from a local tribe. Next she and her friends had traveled to northern California, to a sacred tribal cave. Jerry had seen some of what Sandra and her friends had found; the private investigator following her had sent pictures. They found more tablets with translations very similar to the ones from Kentucky. During this time, the university had recovered all of the information and artifacts Sandra had related to the Kentucky site. It was all interesting, but he still didn’t believe in the Sipapu. 
    Finally, Sandra and her friends had packed up vehicles and headed west from Denver. His private investigator followed them to central Utah and informed him that they had set up camp in an isolated canyon. Did they really think that this Sipapu, this gateway, existed? He decided to follow and see what happened. Taking an emergency leave of absence, he traveled to Utah, found their cars and moved down into the canyons. He found them settled into a side canyon with six carts full of equipment and supplies. They really did believe they had found it. Taking a hiding spot in another nearby canyon, he watched and waited. 
    He knew three of the group. Sandra and her rich husband Tom. Sally Tinker, who had also been at the site in Kentucky was an archeology student. She had shown Jerry no respect and he made sure she wouldn’t make it into the field. He wasn’t all that surprised she had joined Sandra. The three others he had seen in Denver, all employees of Tom. He could only wonder why they had come. 
    On the fourth day, deciding this was a waste of time and preparing to go home, Jerry sensed that something changed. He moved in closer and saw that the carts now formed two rows, facing the box end of the canyon. There was a slight charge to the air, a tingling on his skin. He saw one of them checking video equipment that would record the event. At least that was what he assumed. As the day progressed, the air crackled with energy, and he thought Sandra might actually be right; the legend might turn out to be fact. Packing his backpack, he stayed close. 
    As dusk settled over the canyon, Jerry watched with amazement as ghostly pillars, arched like fingers, formed in the canyon. “The Cave of Fingers,” he whispered. Sandra had mentioned it once. The air thickened beneath the pillars and started to swirl. The sight made him think of clouds, but these were not clouds, this was something out of a science fiction novel. The air seemed ready to explode with energy when an opening started to form at the top of the pillars. It moved down to the ground and parted, like curtains opening on a stage. The air continued to swirl, but the center held only darkness. The gateway to another world stood before them. He saw Sandra reach out and take Tom’s hand. They grabbed their carts and started forward, preparing to step through the Sipapu. 
    Jerry made his decision and burst out of his hiding place. If anyone were going to go through, it would be him. He must have made some noise, for he saw Sandra hesitate and look in his direction. He was in full stride when he felt a sharp pain on the side of his head. He tripped, twisting his ankle on the way down and slammed hard into the canyon floor. The fall stunned him and it took a moment to clear his head. As his eyes focused, he heard a screech above. Looking up, he watched an eagle fly out of the canyon. The damn bird had attacked him preventing him from getting to the gateway. Shifting his gaze to the canyon’s end he watched in anguish as the last of Sandra’s group disappeared into the gateway and he screamed out his frustration. As he crawled toward the opening, it appeared to shiver, and then blinked from existence. The Sipapu was gone. All Jerry could do was wonder what had happened to them.