"Dr. Gregory Steinman. That name probably doesn't mean anything to you, but to us, it does. He was a research scientist that studied the unique radiation emanating from the core of this planet. That was one of the main reasons our people settled here. When our ancestors came to this planet, it was lifeless. We had to terraform it. Do you know what that is?"
"Changing the planet to make it like Earth?" Charlie said.
"That's right. That's why all the vegetation here looks like Earth plant life. Because it is. It took nearly a decade to transform the planet. And after it did, that's when Dr. Steinman began his experiments."
"What kind of experiments?"
"He postulated that he could harness the radiation from the planet and use it. At first, he tried to convert it to energy that could be used for power usage. To power ships or provide electricity for the settlement. But it failed. He couldn't make it work. But ... he did find out that it could do something else."
"What?"
"He built a machine that directed the energy into the space-time continuum. He proposed that he could actually bring things to the planet from other time periods. And it worked. Every day he had brought something new to the planet. An animal, a plant, or even an antique piece of technology. It was amazing. But there were side effects. And he didn't even notice until a year later."
"What happened?"
"Basically, he changed the past. He removed someone from history that was vital to history. And that, in turn, changed everything we knew. Outside of this planet, anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"Apparently, the radiation emanating from this planet protected us from the changes in the timeline. Fortunately, while there was a change, most of the major events in Earth history did still happen, but others either went differently or didn't even happen at all. Anyway, once it was learned what kind of effect Dr. Steinman's research was having, it was all put to a stop. As you can imagine, he wasn't too happy about that. There were rumors that he was still doing his research in secret, but no one ever knew for sure."
"He wasn't arrested or anything?"
"No. He didn't do it on purpose. It was accident. But he was prohibited from doing research again, especially research on the nature of this planet."
"So, how did I get here?" Charlie asked. "Are you saying that his machine brought me here?"
"That would be our guess."
"You don't know?"
"Like I said, he went into hiding. That machine could be anywhere. But I seriously doubt that he's the one using it. Our ancestors came to this planet almost a hundred years ago. He's probably been dead for decades."
"So, who's using the machine?" asked Charlie.
