Release Message:  Two men are caught in a landslide... the survivor, Peters, aka "Widgett", says the time machine in the rocks comes from 2035 A.D., invented by a Professor Zimmer.

Description:  (4-part serial) Dec 1962, They try to find how the time machine came to be in the rock slide in the first place. Trace to 450 years ago or so when two men are picking herbs and Indians start the landslide just as one is attacking the other. The survivor, Peters, aka "Widgett", says the time machine comes from 2035 A.D., invented by a Professor Zimmer, and Otto, the dead guy, was the pilot. Peters is a self-professed pirate, the time machine was built to get the valuable medicinal herb. Meanwhile, Zimmer is in 1889, with the medicine man who was last known to have the herb - in Johnstown right before the flood. Meanwhile, with the ESP pills, Tucker befriends a wolf-dog and brings him along in the time machine. Tucker doesn't trust Peters, Kai seems undecided, but Baines and Dion want to go - they mutiny, in effect. They head to 1889. Jan 1963 Peters, Baines, and Dion go to search for the Indian medicine man Red Scar, meanwhile Tucker learns to operate the time machine with Kai. Tucker moves the machine, trying to regain control. He has Wolf, and Kai. Peters injures Red Scar and finds Zimmer tied up. They return with Baines and Dion to find the time machine gone. Stalemate - Tucker can't leave them behind, but he won't tell them where he hid the time machine. Feb 1963 Peters throws Dion and Zimmer out in 1889 Johnstown, with the flood approaching. They go back to 2 years before the landslide (circa 1600 or s), and the Peters takes Baines hostage out of the machine. Tucker and Kai go back 24 hours and befriend the Indians. They go forward 24 hours and rescue Brains, get back in the time machine, head to 1889 Johnstown to rescue Dion, but Brains insists that Wolf is tied up. Then Peters emerges from the supply closet, taking command again. Mar 1963. The flood hits, and Bob, Dion, Kai, and Brains Baines struggle to stay alive. Peters and Zimmer are washed away. There's a note at the end that the book form of this story will be longer. I'm actually a little surprised that there was an origin story of the time machine; from the later stories I read as a kid, I just assumed it always remained a mystery.