Prometheus and Bob
I walked into my room, from the lab's hallways. It was so tiring, the day I had gone through. For the last three months, I have been training with the time travel scientists. The scientists had been putting me through test after test. They have trained me everyday, since we began. This month they have been giving me the protocols, on what to do while traveling in the past. Honestly how hard can it be for a teenager to go back in time. I wouldn't completely break the space time continueum. They have trained me for three months, anyway. I was going to spend exactly one month in the past. The training was awful. Tredmills testing my running for hours on end. Making me swim lap after lap. Standing for long periods of time without sitting down. I don't exactly know what that one was about, but it wasn't any more enjoyable. They were testing every part of my body with rigourous excercise. Unfortunately I have gained no muscle mass. I was still a scrawny weakling, only now a bit skinnier than before. Also there was, teaching me the butterfly effect. They said everthing I would do would have an effect on the future. Well, if that were so wouldn't the world already be changed by what I had done those nine hundred thousand years ago? I technically have already done what I was about to do nine hundred thousand years ago anyway. To put it in plainly I have already changed things. My personal favorite was the test runs, and simulations. They were the easiest to go through. I was put into an environment, as they observed how I would cope with the primitive world. By my standards I have done a pretty fair job as the time travel scientists put it. At least I wouldn't be killing myself.
Wanting to forget, I had tried to clear my head of all the stress that I had to go through in the past three months. Tomorrow morning was the big day. The day to go back in time. I had tried to get the scientists to let me go to a nice place like the 1800's, but they warned me that there were too many people there, and that they would get a bit suspicious. I was not allowed to reveal myself to any intelligent life. They had said that the only place I could go to was the earliest moment, to when Neanderthals were around. The Neanderthals brain was so basic, and unanalitical that it wouldn't even consider the possibitliy of time travel. They had decided to to send me to the time and place where the top secret tapes were recorded by the alien that they called Prometheus, and the caveman they called Bob. I have personally been granted permission to view their tapes, and study them. As much studying as the secret government has been doing, themselves, they have decided that it would seem best to get even more footage of the two. The secret government wanted me to get some up close footage, as to get as much information as I could. I don't exactly know why, but if they wanted more footage of an alien and caveman, than I would gladly go back in time, and get some footage of them. After all, nobody has ever travelled in time. They have experimented with test dummies, and so far things have been great for the dummies. Not much could happen to me.
The two were so fascinating to the scientists, that they were afraid they would try to interact with them, out of excitement, so that's why they decided to send one of their children. Apparently I was a good choice, survival wise. I reached under my bed, and pulled out a picture of the two that I would be studying. Not by any circumstancs was I allowed to interact with them, or even let them know I was there. The scientists said that such inconvieniences, would cause confusion amung the ecosystem, and amung the Neanderthals possible widespread panic. Still what trouble could meeting them produce? Prometheus would probably not be so surprised by time travel, and Bob, from what I saw on the tapes would probably forget all about me by the end of the time travel month. I smiled at the picture. I would get to meet such beings in person. The scientsts said that I should sleep early so I dosed off.
That morning everybody was getting ready for my journey. I had packed all the things that I was allowed to take. A knife, a spyglass, a pen, a notebook, a change of clothes, a videocamera, some vegetarian foods, a Promethean translator, and a bunch of luck. They strapped the goggles onto my head, and put me in my clothes for the journey. I knew that I wasn't allowed much, just a few things. If the two ancient men were to have my stuff things would fall apart. Finally I was ready. They positioned me right at the vortex. There was a running ramp that I was to run up, and jump into. I was to dive in, with my arms outstretched in case I was going head first into anything like a tree. I pulled my goggles over my eyes, and got ready. As I was getting ready to go in, the chief of scientists stopped me. "Wait! Antevorte. Before you go, take this, or you will never be able to get back." He handed me a box, inside was a remote control. "This is the transfer cancelation device. If you are in trouble, then punch in this code. It will send you right back here at this moment." He gave me the code of symbols. I tucked the box and code page into my gear, and strapped it all on my back. "Now don't forget to close your eyes. The portal of the fifth dimension might overwhelm you."
I smiled to him, and nodded. I gave him a close hug. "Thanks dad." He smiled, and got off the ramp. I nodded to the scientists that were up on a rail looking down on us all. When I nodded, they thumbed up me. I saw them start pressing buttons, and running from one side to the other. In a quick flash I saw the time machine start up. It was quite pretty. It looked like silver water, but rippled, like someone had disturbed it. I took a deep breath, and got ready. I was speeding up the higher I got. The sight of the time machine getting closer, made my heart race. I was aware that my father told me to close my eyes, but the excitement overwhelmed me. I was not going to close my eyes through the most epic moment of my life. I got close to the edge, and dug my feet into the edge, and thrusted off of it, holding my arms out infornt of me. I didn't want to, but my eyes shut on impulse. I was expecting a long tunnel, but it wasn't.
With anticipation, I felt the alteration of the machine. It felt like somebody pushing me into a tunnel packed with wet waterbaloons, then pushing me right back out. When I exited the tunnel I felt like I was oozing out. Suddenly I felt nothing underneath me, and fell right onto the ground. I was laying on the ground with my hands infront of me, laying on my stomach. I opened my eyes, and saw the tunnel closing. When it closed all the way, I looked around. It was a large open environment. I saw many rocks, and a few trees. It looked just like it did in the recorded tapes. The sky was clear. Only very few clouds were visible. I was right next to a rock that was only big enough to be a bit taller than me. Perfect for hiding, and studying the boys, though I didn't see them anywhere nearby. I got out my camera. The camera had enough power to last for two months. Twice as much time as I needed. I snapped in the first recording chip. I labeled it in marker as "DAY 1 Coming out of the portal." I turned it on me, and started.
"Day 1. I just got out of the portal, and am now in the past. I haven't got any sight of the boys yet. I will be patrolling the nearby area. The portal is supposed to send me within a mile, of them, so I will search as soon as possible, with the knowledge of them being close by." I secured the videocamera onto my chest. It was not going to be hard to find the boys, I assumed. After all there aren't many places to hide here. Off to the southern area, there were forested areas. I figured I would have better luck in the clearings. I grabbed my spyglass, and tried to see if I could spot anything. It wasn't until a few searches that I spotted the two subjects in the distance.
Bingo!
Quietly I stared at them through the spyglass. I figured I should tell the camera I had sight of them. Unstrapping it from my body, it was positioned, and zoomed to see the two. Laying it on a flat part of the rock, I made sure it had a good picture of the two. "I have caught sight of the test subjects. The alien is recording his education project to the caveman. They seem to be attempting to chisel a primitive writing." I kept staring at them. The alien was very tall in comparison to somebody my hieght. He was very thin. Skinnier than I was I thought. His face seemed to look sunk, like he was sickly, but then again, I guess that was normal for his alien race. His skin was purple, and he had on a suit I had seen many times. It was like staring at a celebrity form afar. Next to him was Bob the caveman. He was holding the carving tools looking at them confusingly. I wasn't surprised. From the tapes I had seen, he has yet to teach Bob anything. I wasn't blaming prometheus though. He tried all the time. I was staring closely. Just then I heard a loud screech from my left. I looked and saw it was that darn monkey that always seemed to follow them. He scared me out of my mind. i batted him away. "Hey what are you doing here? Get out of here!" I grumbled. Returning to the spy glass, he kept watching me curiously. He took my spyglass, and looked through it.
"Urgh! Give me that!" I snatched it away from him, and looked through it. They were still trying to chisel. I decided to focus the camera closer to them. As the camera was recording I was writing notes. If I were to record the on film, then why not add personal written notes of my own. Made more sense that if I were to give this film to the scientists, then I deserved some personal notes myself. A month sounded boring, so notes seemed like a good time passer.
"Prometheus has just started a video recording. The project that Prometheus has prepared Bob for today seems like chiseling into rock. I am recording it on film. Prometheus has just positioned Bob in front of the large stone. Bob does not seem very interested in said project. Prometheus approaches experiment, volunteering to perform task. Bob pays attention, intently. Prometheus chisels strange alien writing. After performing said task, Prometheus places chisel in Bob's hand. Bob looks at it confused, and finally after a while starts to push chisel in stone. Bob has accidentally hit his own thumb with the hammer. He's crying, though it was just a small tap. Prometheus is shaking head, and has turned off camera with remote control."
I was trying not to laugh. Though these were serious tapes, I couldn't help but laugh a bit. Suddenly I felt a swack to the back of my head. This monkey was getting on my nerves. "Get out of here! Sheesh. Don't you have something better to do? Like maybe, EVOLVE!" I returned to observing, and felt the monkey jump on my back. He yanked my hair fiercely. "Aggh!" I slammed my back against the floor, to get him to get off of me. When he let go, I swung at him with my spyglass. He ran off, knowing I meant business. "And don't come back, till I'm done with my research!" I hollared.
Obviously annoyed, I returned to my observations. I don't think I missed much. Well, anything I did miss, I knew would have been recorded by the video camera. As I watched, I noticed Bob was getting very aggrivated, and tossed the hammer and chisel. I was trying to record where the tools were about to land. As I pulled the camera up to follow them, it was then that I noticed they were coming straight at me. With a loud thud, I felt the hammer slam into my head. The pain had my head spinning. My vision was blurring. Panic struck, as my knowledge was betting on them looking for the tool. Slowly I was falling in and out of conciousness. I knew I had to stay up and running, so nothing could drag me off.