May 22, 1963. 110W. Longitude 10N. Latitude Pan Am flight 1042D is struck by lightning during a horrific thunderstorm at 15,000 ft. altitude. Immediate decompression occurs and the flight crew in the cockpit put on their oxygen masks. Despite attempts to control the flight, hyrdraulic pressure weakens and the plane loses control gradually by degrees over the next fourteen minutes. The Boeing DC-6 hits the water nose first and cracks in the middle as it's nose folds in upon itself like an accordion. The night time crash in the Pacific Ocean would lead the search efforts to believe few survivors could have survived on the water for long and the area they searched was nearly five hundred miles away. Over 70 survivors were left out of nearly 100 passengers and 12 crew members. The survivors would wash ashore on an uncharted island that had been spotted by sailors over the past three hundred years but forgotten when it came to mapmakers. The name of the island was Van Atta and had been dubbed that by an Irish sailor on a Cutty Sark that had been on a course for China during the 1850s. The island was only 33 square miles in area and the volcano that had created it some forty thousand years before had gone dormant. Only a total of twenty some sailors had stepped ashore over the past three hundred some years. A small lake was on the island, giving it some fresh water that was continually refreshed by storms and an upwelling passage in the mantle of the earth that led to the middle of the South American continent. Forty-Four women and Thirty-Two men had survived the air crash and had the presence of mind to inflate the life rafts aboard the airliner. They would wait for rescue until finally giving up around 1969. They made a life on the Island and despite the advanced satellite technology throughout the sixties and seventies that were made, the companies that did record the island, had simply written it off as unimportant or neglected to inform any nation-state of it's existence. Few Naval Carriers had gone by the area over the next forty some years. Some marriages occured and babies were born on the island over the years. The first baby was a young male born on May 24, 1963 and he was named Tony.

2232 AD. Valerian, the son of the famous Time-Traveler Varian, had decided to go back in time himself when he found an extra omni-disc. He went back to the year 197 AD where he settled in the Roman province of Syria, in the city of Palmyra. Beginning in 212 AD, Palmyra's trade diminished as the Sassanids occupied the mouth of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Septimius Odaenathus, a Prince of Palmyra, was appointed by Valerian as the governor of the province of Syria. After Valerian was captured and killed by the Sassanids, Odaenathus campaigned as far as Ctesiphon (near modern-day Baghdad) for revenge, invading the city twice. When Odaenathus was assassinated by his nephew Maconius, his wife Septimia Zenobia took power, ruling Palmyra on the behalf of her son, Vabalathus.

September 15, 2006. Valerie Valkenos, the CEO of the Tadmor Corporation held a Press conference at 1PM Eastern Daylight Time, announcing the discovery of Van Atta and of the missing passengers of flight 1042D and their descendants. Tadmor is the name of Palmyra in modern Hebrew. The exact etymology of the name "Palmyra" in this case is unknown, although some scholars believe it was related to the palm trees in the area.

Also announced during the Press Conference was the revelation of some surviving families of the famous eighteenth century english ship, Bounty, that had been forced off Pitcairn Island and removed to Van Atta Island during the Nineteenth Century. Aiden Krome stepped forward, announcing he was a living descendant of one of the crew members onboard the english naval ship, Bounty.

Watching the Press conference on TV in his office in the turqoise NUMA office tower, Dirk Pitt sat back in his chair and decided to send a NUMA ship to the area near Van Atta Island on a hunch he had.

September 19, 2006. Vandalia, Ohio. The once-bustling village of Tadmor willl be recognized for it's importance to Ohio and the nation at 10AM EDT when the Ohio Historical Society, in cooperation with Five Rivers Metroparks, unveils a newly completed Ohio Historic Marker at Taylorsville Metropark. In addition to Tadmor being an intersection for the National Road, the Miami-Erie Canal and Dayton-Michigan railroad also went through the town. Called the "Crossroads of America", Tadmor owed it's success - and it's ultimate demise - to it's location. The Great Miami River, the National Road, (U.S. 40), the Dayton Michigan railroad and the Miami-Erie canal all converged at this little hub on the outskirts of Vandalia. Even in it's heyday, Tadmor was never much of a town. Only a handful of structures were built there; a railway station, several farmhouses and the canal keeper's home that doubled as a post office and store. On a typical day in Tadmor, Vandalia residents caught a train, or picked up their mail. Farmers hauled produce to Tadmor and loaded it aboard a canal boat or railroad car. Families traveling along National Road stopped at this tiny way station to water their horses or stretch their legs. By 1850, rail transportation had begun to make the canal system obsolete. The 1913 flood sealed Tadmor's fate. The raging torrent of the Great Miami River washed it's few buildings downstream. After the floodwaters receded, the newly formed conservancy district rerouted National Road, and the railroad moved it's tracks to higher ground. Today, the canal is dried up. U.S. 40 bypasses Tadmor by several miles. The trains running nearby no longer have any reason to stop at this forgotten spot on the map. One side of the historical marker discusses the significance of Tadmor as a center of transportation, and the other emphasizes the contribution of the National Road to the settlement of the nation. Because 2006 is the 200th anniversary of the National road, Tadmor was selected as one of only three sites along the National Road to be awarded markers in 2006. While the final home of the marker will be at the former site of Tadmor in Taylorsville Metropark, 1.3 miles north of the dam along the Great Miami River Recreation Trail, the ceremony will be at Taylorsville at 2006 U.S. 40.

At one point in the 1960s, a small company was spun off from WaldenCorp, the large Defense Contractor. Trevor Valkenos had been part of WaldenCorp's project Blue Book and it's Electronic Warfare & Detection unit. Trevor had gone to Malachi Wolters and gave a presentation on satellite technology. Malachi Wolters liked the idea but said that it was not the right time or place for WaldenCorp's attention but did give Trevor a loan to start up his Tadmor company. Trevor went back to Dayton, Ohio and established Tadmor Corporation in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. Vandalia was Trevor's hometown, where he had grown up and had gone on to College and started working in the Defense companies that were near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base before moving on to WaldenCorp in Virginia. Malachi had asked Trevor to sign a non-disclosure contract before he was given the loan, stating that he would never talk about his involvement in the cold war technology of Project Blue Book. Trevor willingly signed it, despite his conscience bothering him about causing natural and man-made disasters that Electronic Warfare & Detection had been involved in. One of the many storms that occured over land or water included the one in the Pacific Ocean that caused Pan Am flight 1042D to crash into the ocean. When Trevor had read about that, he knew he could no longer stomach the secret cold war project and decided to leave WaldenCorp. Once he had Tadmor Corporation up and running, he made lots of advances in satellite technology. It was in late 1972 when he and a special team of technologists working for him discovered the existence of Van Atta Island and began to devise a special project that would involve the island. It was at a scientific convention where he heard the story about Fridjtof Von Battenkill's Equation and it's possible implications. Fridjtof Von Battenkill's studies had been commissioned by the United Nations back in 1961. Trevor and his special team began to develop programs for computer and satellite technolgy. Also embedded in the programs were Trevor's experience in Project Blue Book at WaldenCorp.

Valerie Valkenos had been born to Trevor and Ilse Valkenos in November of 1976 at the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. After graduating at Vandalia-Butler High School in 1984, she had gone on to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where she got her MBA. Starting at a minor job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Valerie came into contact with some local defense companies and was hired by one of them. After rising to Senior Vice President, Valerie went on to a small career as a lobbyist in Columbus, Ohio. After three years in that job she had gotten some attention from a major Defense Industry corporation just outside of Washington, D.C. When her father Trevor learned of this he offered Valerie a better job at Tadmor Corporation. Valerie moved back to Ohio and felt comfortable working in her father's company.

October 16, 2239. Victor Valkenos was offered the job as Fellow Traveler from the Time Council and it's leader, Nigel London. Succeeding Frederick Vanover, who had been the third man to hold the position of Fellow Traveler for 37 years, was a daunting challenge but Victor felt confident, having been well trained. Victor Valkenos will be the fourth Fellow Traveler of the Time Council, succeeding Varian, Alexander Vestrel, Frederick Vanover.

Trevor Guinaugh, a direct descendant of the Irish sailor who discovered Van Atta Island sat at his desk looking at a replica of the journal written by his great-great grandfather, Caleb Guinaugh, on the computer. Trevor had heard about the press conference on TV and after listening to an historian on a talk show discussing how his great-great grandfather had spotted the island. Trevor did some research and found the journal online. "Janine" Trevor calls out. His wife, Janine stepped out of the kitchen and he shows the journal written by his great-great grandfather, Caleb to her. "That's very interesting dear, I will have dinner ready in five minutes" she replies and kisses him before returning to the kitchen. Trevor is so excited he decides to call one of his friends but after some thought he realized his second cousin, Harrison Forrester would be more interested.

The Islanders were stunned at being back in the regular world. The young kids and few teenagers took to it quickly. The Tadmor Corporation was nervous about the citizens talking about the strange happenings on the island over the past 40 years. But it had been decided to remove the people off the island so that they can be monitored for any special effects of the Marten Initiative on them and the island. Valerie and her father had constructed a small community over the past two and a half years for the survivors to live in while being watched surreptitiously. The community had been placed strategically so that it would look like any other suburban community.

Joachim Marten was proud of his work that he had been conducting on the survivors of the downed airliner for 40 years and was now watching his subjects acclimate back into the general populace in the suburban community of Benchwood Heights, a suburban community especially built for the survivors by Tadmor Corporation. Benchwood Heights lay on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas. Watching the bank of video monitors that occupied the three walls of the surveillance room, Joachim was watching each household as the people were rapidly getting accustomed to the advances in technology over the past four decades that they had missed out on.

The press was hammering away at Tadmor Corporation to be allowed into the suburban community of Benchwood Heights but Valerie said that if there was to be any contact with the survivors it would be under strict conditions as to allow the living survivors of the downed airliner to feel comfortable and not hounded by several questions thrown at them simultaneously. Valerie decided to set up the guidlines for the meeting of the press with no more than four of the survivors. Joachim was ordered to select the four strongest, intelligent and mature persons who would be able to communicate effectively.

After a successful press conference, Tadmor Corporation felt relieved to have gotten that out of the way. During what seemed to be a normal day, news of a NUMA Ship approaching their islansd startled Trevor and the project leaders. A meeting was called. Joachim, Valerie and Trevor headed the meeting and despite the brainstorming session, no one came up with a soluition.

Aboard the NUMA Ship Vulcan, Ida Maldonado, sat in her chair, staring at Van Atta Island as it became bigger on the Video monitor as the ship approached steadily. Deciding it was time to stretch, Ida walked out onto the deck and saw how beautiful the island looked. Captain Loren Leigh Willis approached Ida and looked towards the island himself and could see why it would be a haven for those wanting to get away from civilization. Gray haired and with a slight beer paunch to his stomach, Loren felt he still could attract the ladies with his tall, lean body despite his love of the bottle. Looking at Ida, he appreciated her raven haired beauty as her fine spanish skirt hugged her figure closely. Noticing the big engagement diamond ring on her left hand he felt disappointed and wistfully looked away. Ida turned towards him and smiled. "Who is the lucky man you are engaged to, Ida?" "His name is Ryan Browning. He proposed to me recently on a beautiful beach down in Mexico. We are to be married in four months." Later, on the island, Captain Loren Leigh Willis felt unsettled as he looked at the settlement the downed Airliner passengers had built and lived in for several decades. The island gave him the heeby jeebies for some unknown reason.

Maggie Manton was pleased as she sat back in her chair staring at Trevor Valkenos, who had just given her an update on the data from the Benchwood Heights residents. The chairman of Deep Number Nine was most interested in the data base she had just acquired from Tadmor Corporation's four decade long project and it's relevance to her Channel project was most intriguing. Later in his office, Trevor wondered what could the knowledge gained by her acquisiton of the Van Atta project would be used for. It was a relief to have washed his hands of the project after many years of hard work on the behavioral studies of the survivors.

It was just before dawn when a plane could be heard buzzing overhead on the island, when only Captain Willis was still partially awake and wondered what was up. He stepped out of the tent and saw the plane leaving in the distance and sensed the gaseous cloud settling on the island and before he could get out just a few words on the radio to his crew on the Vulcan, he died in a paroxysm reaction to the irradiated poison of the gas. Ida Maldonado, in the other tent gasped in her sleep and bent over in pain in reaction to the gas and died. The NUMA crew on the Vulcan argued about going ashore on the island but better minds overwhelmed those who wanted to save the captain and their guest. When Dirk Pitt was informed of the Captain's passing, a cold rage built inside him. It was his first meeting with Ryan Browning that he had to inform the younger man of his fiance's death on the island in the Pacific.

In late 213 AD, Valerian was tossed into the cell after his protege Septimius Odaenathus had been removed from power after ruling for only a year by the Sassanids. A young woman was already occupying the cell. Valerian took to the young beauty who was 17 years old. "What's your name, dear?" asked Valerian. "Janae" she whispered. Before Valerian was taken violently by the Sassanids to his execution four days later he had impregnated the young beauty. When she gave birth nine months later, she named the baby Valkenos in honor of Valerian.

1978. Tony Salkind, 15 years of age found himself adrift in the Pacific ocean on a homemade raft with enough food and water to last about two weeks, lay in the broiling sun parched and only drinking his water sparingly. Unknown to his family back on Van Atta, Tony had had enough and had decided to try and get off the island. Unknown to him, a satellite picked up his escape from the island and had relayed the information to the Tadmor Corporation. Already a plane with weapons was rushing to intercept him. But before the plane could find him, an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Oriskany would find Tony adrift because Tony had accidentally set his raft afire and the smoke had caught the attention of a helicopter that had gone out on reconnaissance from the Oriskany. Tony was vague about how he came to be in the ocean except to say he had been swept into the ocean from a yacht and had been on an uncharted island. After making it to civilization he had been enamored of the U.S. Navy and after some tricky paperwork, joined the military. After several years in the U.S. Navy including a stint in Naval Intelligence, Tony would resign and join a defense contractor. Trevor Valkenos and Valerie decided after Tony's entry into the Navy and silence that he was of no danger in revealing anything about Van Atta Island. It was their fear that if the island were found, many things would be revealed about their operations, research and the fact that little known element was believed to be on the island that seemed to affect people, known as Cusslerite. It's use was unlimited. In 1983, Tony Salkind disappeared without a trace. It was believed that he had been kidnapped and mudered. Unknown to those who knew him, Tony Salkind took on a new identity as Anthony Corrado and would drift into a life of crime.

Maggie Manton's choice of Anthony Corrado to oversee the Channel project did not strike her as anything other than hiring a criminal mind that was known to get things done and with beneficial results for all. Having heard about his accomplishments in the news and among certain powerful interests. Maggie was unaware of his early background or his connection to the Van Atta project by the Tadmor Corporation.

3994 AD. Giovanni DeVallartos, the Eleventh Fellow Traveler of the Time Council kept his distance from most of the remaining people on Earth and stayed in the Chronos Geostationary Colony when he was not busy traveling through time on business for the Time Council. Sitting on the couch in his suite on the Chronos Colony, Giovanni was reading some papers he had written up earlier in the day about his recent missions. Giovanni's mind began to wander as his eyes glazed over with tiredness. He laid the papers down beside himself and relaxed. It was back in 2263 when he was appointed the Eleventh Fellow Traveler of the Time Council, succeeding Volta Xanthos in the position. Giovanni was a young man at the time and had been trained by Victor. Standing up and stretching, Giovanni decided he would fix a snack and have a cognac snifter to help him relax, Giovanni padded in his slippers towards the kitchen. Bringing the food and the Cognac into the living room and placed them on the coffee table and turned on the video monitor and decided to listen to a news channel. The usual news reports of the destructive nature of the poweful lords of science, wizardry and magic reigning terror on their enslaved people. The eighth report was news of a regular human who was fighting against the powerful warlords was good news indeed. Giovanni was pleased as well as many people in the space colonies in Earth's orbits, on the Moon and other locations in the Solar System. Giovanni decided to email a friend in the Marten Colony on the moon about the news. Stefan Varak was a good friend of Giovanni's from their time in High School. They still kept in contact and would get together on occasion to kibbitz and play cards or chess.

December 24. 2012. With the continuing success of the Channel Project now in it's fifth year Maggie Manton was comfortable that nothing could ever derail the plan's objective of sending a message into space that will bring a certain extraterrestrial civilization to know of mankind's presence. Sitting in her living room with the newspaper laid out beside her on the couch as she read about the disasters that had occured three days ago in Hawaii, San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York City. A few pages later she spies a small article about how a lost yacht with it's murdered owners were in the same location as a ship named the Noni Darnell had been found on the bottom of the ocean. Maggie Manton continued reading the newspaper blithely unaware of the twin circumstances out on the Pacific Ocean would impact the Channel project. The location of the two findings were thirty fives miles west of Van Atta Island.