Adam held onto the machine for dear life… even as chased by the T-Rex. A situation he never thought was ever possible. A freakin T-Rex! He felt like he was in a movie but as much as the situation gave him euphoria the situation was also acutely distressful.
He ran… but he never stopped thinking. Thinking was just something that he always did.
His mind confounded by the impossible was reeling with what his eyes and senses were telling him. The young teenager dodged a vine, another huge tree, and another as the terrible predator lunged through the foliage trampling everything in its path. He held onto the slot-machine for dear life.
“Drop it!” Barry screamed to his friend. “You’re running too slow! It’s catching up!”
Barry raced ahead of him, not even sure where to go as the T-rex ran after them. Yet it was clear he was going slower just to stay with his friend. Even in the face of a dinosaur chase…
Adam gritted his teeth. Drop it? This machine was their only possible way back home though! He had to hold onto it. Not just that but the secrets it might contain! This… ‘thing’ was a time-machine! He had to protect it with his life. He had to find out how it works! He could never abandon it…
Though Adam’s choice was made for him as he fell, tripping over a giant mushroom, as the slot machine slipped out of his hands. “No!”
The machine made a weird bell ‘ding’ sound at the impact, as its strange machinery seem to ‘do’ something. An electric field was again generated though distinctly weaker in terms of magnetic force.
Barry stopped. “Just leave it! It’s coming!”
The T-rex burst through the trees. Adam listened to Barry and ran towards him. The huge monster followed him. It gave one more scream as it was caught in the electric field and…
…vanished.
Barry gasped for air as he looked to Adam at the sudden unexpected reprieve of their dire situation. “W-what happened?”
Jeff was equally exhausted, breathing heavily. “Damn it- I thought…” His life had flashed before his eyes. “Are… are you guys, okay?”
“Yeah…” Barry frowned a bit and folded his arms. It looked like Jeff had split away during the run… it was obvious what his game was. The stranger had calculated that the T-rex would go after them rather then himself… probably close to a 50/50 chance of survival there if not more should the T-rex go after two people instead of just one. He gave Jeff a look but didn’t say anything about it... not yet.
For the moment there was calm… and a chance to work out what to do.
Adam looked at the machine as it still gave this weird ‘ticking’ sound before finally stopping. “I’m not where it’s gone. It might have gone to another time… like we just did.”
The implications of that were unsettling. A T-Rex? What if it ended up back in their own time? Well- hopefully modern weapons could handle it but…
Jeff looked at the machine too. “Okay well- we should get back home. Just use it to take us home.” He was nervous. Very scared and just wanted this nightmare to end.
“I guess anywhere is better than here…” Adam tried to pull the handle… but it wasn’t working. It seemed to be broken. It gave few weird dinging sounds like a bell hitting something but besides that nothing happened. “I… dropped it.” Adam felt his eyes wet with tears. It was his fault…
“You dropped it?!” Jeff screamed grabbing Adam. “You Dropped the time machine?!”
“Hey back off!” Barry growled, protecting his friend pushing Jeff aside easily. “You’re the one on your own here. Me and Adam are friends so if you want to join us you play by our rules.” He locked his eyes to Jeff.
Jeff looked at the two incredulously. Two teenagers… dictating… the situation to him? Who did they think they were? He stared at them quietly evaluating the situation. If they were in a barren world with no other people around… a hostile environment… they would have to work together for their best chance to survive. However surly he was the one who should be in charge being the oldest of them. Yet it was true that these two knew each other…
Adam whispered to Barry. “isn’t that a little harsh?”
Barry shook his head. “He tried to use us as bait… the social rules need to be established early… if we’re stuck here…” He had seen enough movies where this sort of thing could happen. Barry understood people pretty well… Jeff would be handy as he was physically fit but he wasn’t exactly ‘strong’… Barry who had been training was going to be stronger then him.
Adam looked down slightly and whispered back. “He was scared… he just ran… I don’t think we can judge someone so quickly like that. I don’t know if I wouldn’t have done the same…”
“I know you wouldn’t.” Barry insisted. “However, this guy is a stranger… we got to establish the rules now.”
Jeff breathed out slowly as he relented to the logic of the situation. “…fine. I’ll do as you say… but I would like to ‘suggest’ we find some shelter. We can fix the machine and get home. Sound good?”
Barry nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking. Adam here is a genius with machines. He can fix it. Right?”
“Uh…” Adam gulped. “Yeah… it’s my first time-machine though… but yeah. I can fix it…”
The three started to walk around and explore. Besides the initial T-rex encounter things seemed quiet now. They were alert… and acutely aware of how dangerous this place was. Nature had many predators and this time… it would be very unkind to humans.
Some large flowers were of interest to Jeff… the security guard still couldn’t believe this was Earth’s deep past. Perhaps if they took something from here it would sell for a lot of money… however… “What if we alter history… if we step on a bug or something…”
“Yeah, The Sound of Thunder,” Adam smiled faintly. “I’m still theorizing this if time travel were possible- as in- if we did travel through time which I am not one hundred percent sure of at this point, events couldn’t be altered…. We’re either outside the normal flow of time or still subject to it. If we have time travelled, it stands to reason we are now outside the normal flow of events. We can’t do anything that hurts our future… because everything we do is predestined- but only if those destinies had been established already. Kinda like a quantum wave-form collapse.”
“Uh huh…” Jeff quietly nodded.
“He knows what he’s talking about, that’s all you got to know,” Barry muttered. “We need you to focus on getting us home though Adam.”
Adam nodded as he tried to walk through some particularly wet mud.
Jeff had no idea what the kid was talking about. However if events couldn’t be altered then doing stuff here was safe. They must have stepped on a dozen ants by now and nothing has happened. He looked through the foliage with interest and plucked out a rather interesting flower growing on the side. Strange purple petals and an exotic smell… He smiled faintly knowing such a unique specimen will sell for millions- assuming they go home. Why not make this journey a little worthwhile?
“I have no tools,” Adam realized as he adjusted his glasses. “If we are going to repair it then we need stuff…”
Jeff thought of the problem too. “The machine brought some of the junk. Maybe some tools will be there?”
“Yeah.... Maybe. Should we go back?”
Barry sighed. It would be dangerous. That area was a little open and they would be seen by other predators. However, if they didn’t go now… it might get lost. “Yeah… if we can salvage anything it has to be now… hope I remember where we were. This forest all looks alike to me.”
Jeff wasn’t sure. “There was a T-rex there! Shelter might be a better idea. We got only a few hours until sunset… and if we’re stuck here, then what?”
“Let’s just hope we get the machine fixed.” Barry knew it was a bit of a gamble, but they had little choice. If they didn’t go back now for tools, they may never get another chance. A bit of rain could bury the junk and any useful tool they could get.
The three Time lost humans found the junk pile.. the place that they had arrived. Some of it got stomped on by that T-rex. Something that was made them very nervous, as it reminded them of the beasts that existed here. Their lives could be ended in an instant… carefulness wasn’t good they had to be quick.
Adam got to work looking for anything they could use. They had to be small enough to carry too. “Look for anything magnetic… with wires… circuit boards… and something with an edge that could be used as a screwdriver.”
“How about a screwdriver?” Jeff grinned pointing to something on the ground.
Adam gasped and took hold of it. “Oh Thank God yes!” He held it like it was the greatest prize ever.
“There’s more. We got an actual toolbox here.” He said gesturing to the rusted box. In the past this alone was like finding something greater than gold. There were a few other useful items, pliers, spanners, a saw…
“We need to set up a camp near here… to protect it in case we need to salvage more,” Barry thought. “We got some tools so we have some options- huh?”
There was a roar again. Another… T-Rex?
The three glanced at each other. They couldn’t be that unlucky could they?! Horrified they saw the T-rex appear once more. However…
It was frozen in space… ghostly. There seemed to be an electrical field surrounding it, just like the one the Time-Machine gave off.
Barry stared at it… relaxing as they realized it was frozen. “Adam? Why is the dinosaur now a ghost?”
Adam scratched his head looking at the strange machine then at the dinosaur. “Let me think- okay… so a malfunctioning time machine… it might work by removing something first from the normal flow of time… but if you do that without integrating it into a new timeline it… it would probably end up in some kind of loop. Its some weird ‘paradox’...”
“Oh like a video game glitch?” Jeff asked.
“…yes. Like a glitched video game character.” Adam sighed hating that explanation. “So… it’s probably harmless- no don’t touch it!”
Barry got curious and touched the strange ghostly creature. Maybe partly he felt a bit sorry for it… but he needed to be sure it really wasn’t there.
The T-rex vanished instantly, like a strange ripple of water suddenly bursting. Barry groaned suddenly. “Ah- what’s…”
His body started to grow larger… He stared down as his jeans ripped. They started to become reptilian in nature with his shoes ripping out as well. Three dangerous looking claws coming to the fore on each foot- the foot itself taking on a raised ankle position. The imbalance and confusion of this change made him fall. “Ah- Help!”
Adam and Jeff looked horrified. There was nothing they could do though as the boy continued to change.
Barry’s torso grew larger and his spine seem to push itself out suddenly, destroying any remaining clothes on his jeans. He was essentially naked though covered in scales. He now had this long thick tail that was clearly modelled as a dinosaur. His facial features changed with his mouth elongating into a snout with sharp teeth. His arms seemed to gain in power though perhaps not quite as dramatically as his powerful legs. In his shock he screamed…
But the scream turned into a terrifying roar.
“W-what happened to me!” Barry took a step forward, shaking in his new dinosaur-like body. He almost fell again as he felt his new tail sifting through the plants.
“Barry- are you .. uh... you’re still you?”
“Yes! I’m still me- I mean my body isn’t but I’m still me!” He touched his body… it all felt so strange. He was a hybrid human T-rex dinosaur? The strength of a T-rex with the mind of a human… he felt strong… powerful… it felt quite nice in a way.
Jeff took a few steps away. “Stay the hell away from me!”
Barry gave Jeff a look and just snapped at the air with his sharp teeth.
“Screw this!” Jeff ran away.
“Jeff!” Adam shouted. “Barry just- stay here I got to talk to him.”
Barry found this situation very confusing. He didn’t want Jeff to get hurt of course but why was he acting like he was a monster! Well- technically he was he guessed. “F-Fine. Do what you got to do. I’ll... just guard the junk I guess.”
