Stuck in the Stone Age

by The Story Pirates

  And as he listened to the growing anger of the crowd outside, he knew his goose was cooked. It was only a matter of time before he’d wind up in jail.

  Dr. Palindrome did not want to go to jail.

  There was only one alternative. He pulled on the long green lever.

  The time machine disappeared.

  WOW! That was some climax!! See Storytelling 101: The Climax!

  A hundred and sixty-seven people gasped in surprise.

  “Oh, for crying out loud!” moaned Dr. Vasquez. “Not again!”

  “Fifty-four more minutes!” yelled Jason the janitor as he tapped his watch. “Then I’m booting you all out so I can clean this place. Just FYI.”

  After Dr. Palindrome disappeared, there was a lot of yelling, mostly from the reporters. When Dr. Vasquez left the room to go call the police and report a missing time machine, the reporters turned their attention to Marisa.

  As she stood on the stage—happy, angry, confused, excited, exhausted, and nervous all at the same time—they yelled question after question at her.

  “What was it like being stuck in 10,000 B.C.?”

  “Um…scary?”

  “Are you going to press charges against Dr. Palindrome?”

  “Uh…probably?”

  “How did you come up with your amazing solar panel invention?”

  “I, um…worked really hard. For a long time.”

  “Will you be starting a revolutionary new solar panel company?”

  “I guess so.”

  “When?”

  “Soon? Maybe?”

  As she struggled to come up with answers to all their questions, two thoughts ran through Marisa’s head.

  The first one was, This is the kind of attention I always dreamed of getting.

  The second one was, I don’t like this very much.

  “How did you and the janitor end up in the time machine?”

  “Excuse me.” Instead of answering, Marisa ran off stage and disappeared out the side door.

  “Hey!”

  “Where’s she going?”

  “She can’t just leave like that! We’re having a press conference!”

  “Let’s go after her!”

  “WAIT!” Tom threw himself between the journalists and the doorway. “I’m sure Dr. Morice will be back really soon! In the meantime, I guess I could take your questions.”

  “I got a question for you!” It was Jason. He loomed over Tom menacingly. “You’re the janitor everybody thought was dead, right?”

  “That’s right!” Tom gave Jason a big smile. In return, Jason gave him an equally big angry glare.

  “You know you can’t have your old job back just ’cause you’re not dead, right? ’Cause that position’s been filled…by THIS GUY.” Jason put up both fists, thumbs sticking out, and pointed at himself. Then he retracted the thumbs, leaving just the fists up as a none-too-subtle warning.

  “That’s great!” Tom grinned from ear to ear. “Congrats on the new job!”

  “Uh…thanks.” As he shook Tom’s outstretched hand, Jason looked confused. He hadn’t expected Tom to be so happy about losing his job.

  “By the way,” Tom said, “there’s a missing part from Dr. Vasquez’s time machine stuck back in 10,000 B.C. It’s leaking deadly radioactive goo, so someone needs to clean it up. Since you’re the new janitor, can you handle that? Thanks!”

  “What? Huh?”

  “Any other questions?” Tom asked the reporters.

  They all started yelling at once.

  “How’d you get stuck in the time machine?”

  “How’d you get back here?”

  “What’s the deal with your eyebrows?”

  Marisa darted into her tiny, windowless lab in the darkest corner of the deepest basement at CEASE. Closing the door behind her, she let out a deep sigh of relief. Having to deal with all those reporters and their questions had felt almost as stressful and exhausting as her battle to the death with a saber-toothed tiger.

  She walked over to the lab table and took a seat in the same chair where she’d spent most of the past ten years.

  Everything was exactly as she’d left it.

  Except that Dr. Palindrome had written his name on all of her papers.

  She’d have to fix that. But it could wait.

  She let out another sigh. Sitting alone in her lab again, after everything she’d been through, was giving her very mixed feelings.

  On the one hand, she’d been terribly lonely during all those years in this tiny, windowless room.

  On the other hand, it was where she had done the most important work of her life. As hard and frustrating as that work had been, it was also deeply satisfying. She’d created something new. And not just new, but important! Those solar panels were going to improve the lives of millions.

  Being around those groups of people—not just at the press conference, but back with the tribe in the Stone Age—had been hard and frustrating, too.

  But unlike inventing the solar panel, it hadn’t been satisfying at all.

  She just wasn’t cut out for that kind of thing.

  Maybe being alone was better after all?

  No. That wasn’t quite it. She wanted to be around people.

  Just not very many of them. And not for too long at a stretch.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Who is it?”

  Tom poked his head in.

  “Hey! Sorry to bother you! Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I just…needed some alone time.”

  “I’m sorry! I’ll leave.” He started to close the door.

  “No! It’s fine. How was the press conference?”

  “It was great! The police came!”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah! It was really exciting! They’re putting a warrant out for Dr. Palindrome! But they were, like, ‘We can’t travel through time to catch him.’ Because I guess they don’t have the budget for that or something? So Dr. Vasquez is going to build a second time machine, and then SHE’S going to go back and catch him herself. Oh! Also, she wanted me to ask you if you’re available for lunch one of these days. She was going to ask you herself, but you disappeared before she could.”

  Marisa blushed at the offer. “Okay, definitely yes to lunch. But isn’t chasing Dr. Palindrome through time going to be dangerous?”

  “Totally! Right? ‘Desperate men do desperate things.’ That’s what Captain Dirk said on Star Trip once.”

  “And how will she know where to look? I mean, couldn’t he have gone anywhere?”

  “Yeah. But she said the fetcher’s designed to track the machine’s location. So if she goes back to 10,000 B.C. and gets the fetcher, it’ll tell her where Dr. Palindrome is!”

  “Did you tell her it’s leaking deadly radioactive goo? And we’ve got to clean it up right away?”

  “She knows! The new janitor is going to go with her and take care of that. But he says he has to get paid triple overtime to do it.”

  “They hired a new janitor?”

  “Yeah. I guess they fired me because I was dead?”

  Marisa cringed. “Tom, I’m so sorry! I cost you your job!”

  “It’s fine! It’s better this way! You were right—they were kinda just using me. After the press conference, I tried to warn the new guy about that, but he didn’t really want to hear it. He’s got kind of an attitude.”

  “You really don’t mind losing your job?”

  “No! I’m totally cool with it. Hey, are you hungry?”

  Marisa suddenly realized that she hadn’t eaten in ages. (Literally.)

  “Ohmygosh, yes. I’m starving.”

  “Do you want to go grab some lunch in the cafeteria?”

  Marisa smiled at the thought.

  “I would love that.”

  “Oh, wow, this is delicious,” Tom said through a mouthful of sandwich. “The bacon and avocado really take it to the next level.”

  “The sandwiches are the best thing abou
t CEASE,” Marisa replied through her own mouthful. “I’m really going to miss them.”

  “Wait—you’re leaving CEASE, too? Why?”

  “Because I need to start a revolutionary new solar panel company.”

  “Oooooh! Right!”

  “I mean, that’s kind of the obvious next step, isn’t it?”

  “Absolutely!” Tom nodded enthusiastically. “You pretty much have to!” His eyes widened. “Oh, geez! I almost forgot—” He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “I wrote down all the questions the reporters had for you. Plus their email addresses. So you can just write out your answers and send them back. It seemed like talking to them was really stressing you out. So I figured this might be easier for you.”

  “Thank you so much!”

  “It’s my pleasure! I’m really happy for you! This solar panel thing is exciting!”

  Marisa looked down at Tom’s page of questions. It was neatly written, well-organized, and contained less than ten major spelling errors.

  She sat quietly for a moment, thinking to herself.

  “So…you’re unemployed now, right?”

  “Pretty much,” said Tom.

  “Do you know what you’ll do next?”

  “I dunno. I mean, I LOVE science. But it’s like you said the other day: I’m not really much a scientist.” Tom’s face fell as he said it. Admitting the truth out loud didn’t make it any less painful.

  Marisa winced in sympathy. But then the corners of her mouth turned up in a hopeful smile.

  “What if you helped run a science-based company? Like, what if you were the public face who took care of all the non-science, working-with-other-people stuff for some other scientist? So they could just focus on their inventions?”

  “That would be amazing! But how would I ever get a job like that?”

  “I know a revolutionary new solar panel company that’d love to hire you.”

  Tom leaped up from his seat, grabbing his head with his hands like he was trying to stop the top of his skull from blowing off. “OHMYGOSH, ARE YOU SERIOUS? THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!”

  Marisa stuck out her hand with a grin. “Welcome aboard, Employee Number One.”

  As they shook hands, a voice bellowed from the other end of the room.

  “WRAP IT UP, PEOPLE! CAFETERIA’S CLOSED!”

  Jason pushed the floor buffer toward them with one hand while making a “take a hike” gesture with his other.

  “Make like a tree and leave! Especially you, Mister I-Don’t-Work-Here-Anymore.”

  “He’s my guest,” Marisa informed the janitor. “And the cafeteria’s open for another hour.”

  “Not today,” said Jason. “I gotta finish buffing by four so I can get in the emergency time machine Dr. Vasquez is speed-building in her lab to send us back in time to clean up her radioactive doohickey. Then we gotta find that Palindrome deadbeat and drag him back here to face arrest. And I gotta get it all done by six so I can get outta here in time to watch round one of the Rockball Cup.”

  Marisa’s and Tom’s jaws slowly dropped. What did he say?

  “The what?” asked Tom.

  “Did you say ‘Rockball’?” asked Marisa.

  “‘Course I did! Whaddaya lookin’ at me like that for? Like you never even heard of the Rockball Cup? The world’s biggest sporting event? That mankind’s been playin’ for thousands of years? What are you, stupid?”

  Tom and Marisa looked at each other. “That is super weird,” Tom whispered.

  “It sure is,” agreed Marisa.

  “Should we say anything?”

  “No. Let’s just go start our company. But maybe we can knock off early, eat some nachos, and watch a little Rockball.”

  “Great idea!” As they gathered their sandwich wrappers and started for the door, Tom grinned at Marisa. “I’m really looking forward to this whole starting-a-revolutionary-new-company-to-help-mankind thing.”

  Marisa grinned back at him. “Me, too, partner.”

  With that, they walked out of the cafeteria, ready to change the world together.

  Now, THAT was a satisfying ending! See Storytelling 101: Getting What They Want…In a Surprising Way.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  What’s a Story, Anyway?

  How Does The Story Creation Zone Work?

  THE BEGINNING

  Storytelling 101: What Kind of Story Is This?

  Write Like a Pro: Starting Stories Off with a BANG!

  Storytelling 101: The Main Character

  Science Fiction Zone: Astronauts, Aliens, and So Much More!

  Idea Storm: Main Character

  Write Like a Pro: Show, Don’t Tell

  Storytelling 101: Villains, Shape-shifters, and Minor Characters

  Storytelling 101: ANOTHER Main Character?!

  Storytelling 101: The Setting

  Science Fiction Zone: Sci-Fi Settings

  Idea Storm: Settings

  Storytelling 101: Reversals of Fortune

  Write Like a Pro: Research vs. Making Stuff Up

  Science Fiction Zone: Mostly Made-Up Inventions

  Storytelling 101: We’ve Got a Problem!

  Science Fiction Zone: Sci-Fi Problems

  Idea Storm: The Main Problem

  Storytelling 101: Make Your Problem HUGE

  Idea Storm: Make Your Problem HUGE!

  Write Like a Pro: Pacing For Excitement

  THE MIDDLE

  Storytelling 101: Obstacles

  Idea Storm: Obstacles

  Storytelling 101: Villain Check-In

  Idea Storm: Villains

  Write Like a Pro: The Five SIX! Senses of Setting

  Storytelling 101: A Big Twist!

  Write Like a Pro: Show BEFORE You Tell

  Idea Storm: Twists and Reversals

  Storytelling 101: Trying! Failing. Trying Again!

  Storytelling 101: The Darkest Hour

  Idea Storm: The Darkest Hour

  THE END

  Storytelling 101: The Climax!

  Idea Storm: Plan the Climax

  Storytelling 101: Getting What They Want … In a Surprising Way

  Idea Storm: Did Your Character Change, Grow, or Learn?

  Appendix: Vince’s Original Idea (With Spoilers!)

  What’s a Story, Anyway?

  A story is just a bunch of stuff that happens.

  But if you put that stuff together in the right way, it can make you laugh until your sides hurt, cry a river of tears, or turn red with anger. A story can scare the heck out of you. It can make your heart race with excitement or break with sadness.

  The right story can even change your life.

  Or it can just make you fall asleep, if it’s really boring.

  Knowing how to tell a good (and non-boring!) story is a pretty cool thing. That’s the purpose of the Story Creation Zone: to help you tell good stories of your own.

  There are gazillions of different kinds of stories. They range from a ten-second one you tell your friends about a weird thing that happened on the way to school, to a seven-book series about an epic battle between wizards for the future of the planet.

  There are short stories, long stories, funny stories, sad stories, exciting stories, true stories, totally made-up stories, partly-true-and-partly-made-up-stories…the list is endless.

  But every single story ever told has one thing in common:

  A story is about a character with a problem.

  That’s ALL a story is. The character can be anyone or anything—it doesn’t even have to be a person. It can be an animal, a monster, a tree, a toy that comes to life, or whatever you want. Some stories have dozens, even hundreds of characters, but every story has at least one.

  The problem can also be anything at all. It can be huge and earthshaking, like saving the world from an evil mastermind! Or getting stuck in the Stone Age and having to figure out how to get back to the present day! Or it can be smaller and more personal, like getting in an argument with a friend and trying to fig
ure out how to make peace with them even though you’re still mad.

  A good story has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end.

  In the beginning of the story, we meet the character and find out what the problem is.

  In the middle of the story, the character tries to solve the problem.

  At the end of the story, the character either solves the problem or fails to solve it.

  That’s it! That’s ALL you need. In the pages that follow, we’re going to give you a lot of info about storytelling. If you ever get stuck, flip back to this page and remember the basics: All you need is a character with a problem. Everything else is just details.

  Want to get started writing your own story? Grab a pencil and paper and keep reading!

  How Does the Story Creation Zone Work?

  In the Story Creation Zone, we’ll explain the basics of storytelling and give you tips for making your writing soar. We’ll also suggest some simple activities you can use to create any kind of story, about any character or problem you can imagine, at any length. By the time we’re done, you’ll have an amazing story of your own!

  As you read through, you’ll see four kinds of entries:

  Storytelling 101: These are the essential parts of any story. If you imagine your story as a house, then Storytelling 101 will show you how to lay the foundation, put up the walls, and add a roof. Without these, your house will collapse!

  Write Like a Pro: These are useful tips to make your writing and storytelling more interesting and colorful. If your story is a house, these are the tools for helping you paint, decorate, and furnish it so it looks awesome.

  Science Fiction Zone: Stuck in the Stone Age is a type of story called science fiction, or sci-fi. Sci-fi stories are full of wild and strange ideas, which we’ll talk about in these entries. If sci-fi is the kind of story house you want to build, look here for ideas!

  Idea Storm: Here’s where you build a house of your own! These are simple, fun activities to help you create your own story. If you do them all, you’ll have everything you need for an awesome story.