Chapter 3: Another World, Another Species

"Hold it right there Peter, how do you expect us to believe this?" The interviewer cut him.

"I'll just ignore the fact that you just cut me off part way into the story. I'll prove that it's real once I'm actually finished." Peter said in annoyance.

"And besides, don't those ships have those eject sea-"

"Let me continue, please." Peter had enough, and continued.

The first thing Peter saw when he opened his eyes was the dark damp grass. One couldn't believe how much rain could be poured down in seconds, and the best description for it would be a near monsoon. Getting up, he found that they had landed on a slope - a river at the bottom. Suddenly he was lifted up by Alma, much to his surprise. Looking up he could see a storm that looked like nothing he'd seen before. And the mountains, the one he grazed a moment ago, they were also like no other, with three very obvious peaks.

"Alma, what are you-"

"We have to get to the ship as soon as possible, no time for faffing around." Alma quickly said, the tone it used for the voice was of a demanding standard. He knew something was wrong, but what?

Alma re-positioned Peter so that he could see what was behind, and was startled to see large wave rolling at a distance. It was far, but much faster than Alma at top speed. Fortunately for them the ship was not as far as expected, getting inside and locking the door just as the wave hit. A force powerful enough to shift it 6 feet, and enough to have Peter loose balance, though not without the help of Alma he didn't hit the floor. Looking out through the windows, there was nothing but darkness - no sunlight meant that it was impossible to see under the water.

"Anything in the water?" Peter asked out of curiosity, still looking out of the window.

"Nothing within 500 feet apart from trees and rocks. What happened whilst I was powered down Peter?"

"Negative, at least, anything interesting to say the least." Peter responded. The water started to fall, enough for them to get out of the craft. Looking back at the mountains, the storm was starting to fade. But it's shape still looked weird, it wasn't an ordinary lightning storm - and even if it was a super-cell, the eye in the middle was way too small to count as one. It was that it dawned on him: they went through that thing. Surely it wasn't them that created it, right? The storm had died down, leaving behind only wisps - embers of what once was. The now-blue-sky revealed what time of day it was: mid morning. But there were still a few... problems...

"Can you give us any sense of where exactly we are? You have GPS in your system, correct?" Peter asked, knowing that location was key to going back to civilization.

"Of course I have that, what wouldn't I have?"

"A leveled of ego would be a good start" Peter mumbled to himself quietly. "I heard that!" However, he did not take into account the sensitivity of Alma's hearing.

"Bad news Peter. There's no reception... In fact there's no nothing."

"What do you mean by that?" Peter asked worryingly.

"Well, I not only have GPS, but I'm also a part of the global hyper grid - a grid that connect every electronic device to allow nano-meter accuracy of location. However, there's nothing on the entire planet, or anything above. That's impossible though, the only explanation for it would be... there's no civilisation on Earth, no that can't be right, there has to be something near..." From then on Peter ignored anything Alma would say for the next few minutes, as she kept looking for something to come through.

But, never give up they say, people in the past didn't need such technology to find where they were. They used the- "Alma, stop. Lets say for now that there is no one here. We can still find where we are. Tonight all we have to do is look up, the stars can show us the way!"

Alma's only response to this was a generated laugh "You kidding me right? Peter the light pollution is so bad we would have to be in the middle of the ocean to see anything.

10 hours later...

The sun had gone down, but it was not expected to see so many stars, or any at all. Nothing was interfering with the sky, and so it was so natural that the Milky Way could be seen. However, something was off, vastly off. The sky was perfect yet, so imperfect. There was something wrong, but none of the two could put their finger on it. Until Peter figured it out.

"I got it, we're in the southern hemisphere. The constellations, none of the northern ones are here. Alma what do you make of it?" Peter asked, a sense of relief was filling. The southern hemisphere meant that there were few places they could be in.

"Peter, there's a few problems with that. For starters, there are no constellations in the sky that match, both north and south hemispheres. Secondly, look over there" Alma pointed to the mountains, just above was a semi-dim orange star.

"That's Betelgeuse. But on the other side of the sky" Alma then pointed in the opposite direction "There's Rigel. Problem isn't the constellations, they're fine. The problem is that the solar system is in the wrong part of the galaxy, six million years from now it'll be in the right place but it's here." What Alma was trying to say was that the stars wouldn't be any help to find their location. But it was also a clue as to when they were. Peter sighed, they could be anywhere on Earth right now, and with the possibility that no city was near to help them was a major problem.

Daylight soon came to light, the mountains were blocking the direct sun though, making it slightly difficult to see. Peter and Alma got out of the craft again to do...

"So this spacecraft needs to be fixed. Fixing the smaller engines will be easy, but the fusion engines are gonna have to wait a while. Alma where are you going?" Peter asked, noticing that it was moving toward the mountains. Upon the question Alma stopped before turning.

"Peter, the mountains are high enough to get the best view, from there we can find a starting point on our location."

"I had a different option in mind, the stars have changed yes, but the geology of the Earth has barely moved 200km. Once we get this craft to fly we can scan the local area and match it is best to the present say geological map." Peter replied, before adding "You can do your option now if you'd like, it's gonna take a while to get this thing working. Besides, it's time you get to enjoy the scenery, whatever it looks like."

And with that, Alma went off to the mounta-

"So far nothing about dinosaurs or anything that described earlier." The interviewer cut off again.

"Will you be QUIET! If you had waited just a bit longer you might've been intrigued. Now stop doing that!" Peter expelled angrily, slightly getting off of his seat, before sitting back down calmly with a very calm expression.

Alma was strolling to the mountains, and they were indeed peculiar. This mini mountain rage comprised of three main peeks, all of them having snow about two thirds up. Two of the peeks were physically connected, and the third was separated by a long V-shaped valley. Up until now Alma was walking alongside the river, which was flowing to where Peter was. Out of nowhere a sound in front echoed, but it wasn't any sound the wind or birds or mountain could make. No, this sound stood out from the others - it was a much more organic sounding sound. However after a few seconds it stopped suddenly, whatever it was. Alma was now at a midpoint, go up the mountain or continue up the river?

It couldn't choose in enough time, so something had to choose for it. And for Alma the choice stopped when she could make out something floating on the river. As it got closer, Alma could make more details. It started out as an anomaly on the river surface, but then it was a green... something... with a head, a body, legs, neck. However, it looked odd even when up close, that is until it got real close - as in basically next to Alma. It was...

Immediately Alma thought of a way to stop this from going too far, it was unconscious for all Alma could tell. For now all Alma could do was hope that something could make it get to within reaching distance. It was then that a few rocks in the middle of the river changed the current slightly, allowing an opportunity to slow, and hopefully stop this thing. Grabbing it by the tail, Alma did it's best to divert the thing up to the edge, where the bank would actually stop it. Fortunately there was a shallow side of the river that allowed the water to move slower, and ultimately allow Alma to get it out of the water.

Getting back to the spacecraft was no easy task, whatever it was, it weighed at least 10 tonnes - the maximum work load that Alma could lift and carry without needing assistance. A journey that took 5 minutes alone had now taken 20, just to reach Peter. And by the time Alma got there Peter was already done with the engines.

"So Alma how was the mountain view? Was it- Holy sh-"

"Not now Peter, just found it floating on the river, whatever it is." Alma said, gently lowering it to the ground. It was only then both Alma and Peter could see what it actually was.

"Alma... this is a... a... I can't believe it's a dinosaur, sauropod group, looks to be in the Apatosaurus type, but it looks pretty different from what we imagined it to look like, it so... bright! I guess we can't be perfect at predicting the looks of something that's been dead for millions of years." Peter said to himself, though not quietly this time. Alma had a look at one of the legs, but it only revealed something else: A human, a child.

"But that's impossible, how can humans and dinosaurs be in the same place and time?" Peter asked.

"You tell me, apparently nothing happened while I was out so, what happened?" Alma said, a more stern voice this time.

"Fine, we went through, found an asteroid heading toward Earth, moved it out of the way before it hit, and went through another tunnel. Then you came back. What?" Peter asked at the last moment.

Alma looked worried for a moment, but then generated a furious look at Peter "You blind Peter, you re-directed the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs!? Are you out of your mind!"

"Look, first off I had no idea we went back 65 million years that time, secondly you weren't there to help me, so I had no other choice." Peter exclaimed. Alma was about to reply but, before she could the apatosaur in between them stirred slightly.

Peter sighed, "I've got the spacecraft to work, we can bring the two with us and bring them back once we've searched the area. Deal?"

"Ugh, fine. Deal" Alma said, before they both shook hands.

A/N: Not much to say for the making of this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter - and more importantly the story so far, there's much more to come. Let me know what you think so far, and as always... see you, in the next chapter. Bye for now!

Next Chapter: Communication Error