Time Warp

by Steven Brockwell

  Nick heard the two of them, and woke up rubbing his eyes, “What’s she doing here? “

  “Don’t you remember, we spent the night together? “ Said Jessie

  “We did! Wow I must have missed it, “replied Jason.

  “No you didn’t miss it, you were here alright“. Nick and Jason stared at each other in surprise, not believing their luck, “Well did we, you know? “ Asked nick

  Jessie smiled, she knew there was no way they could remember anything and Replied, “Well guys, if you don’t tell nor will I “, she said as she slipped on her jeans and blew them a kiss, leaving them to try to figure it out for them- selves

  “Hell shit, the one chance we get, and we missed the whole dam thing “, said Jason

  “We did not miss it you dumb fuck! We just can’t remember it! “Answered Nick

  CHAPTER FOUR

  the discovery

  Jan was busy over in Carl’s apartment that morning packing, sorting out the endless amount of rubbish that he had managed to collect over the years. While Carl did all the heavy work still not having the faintest idea when or why, he had agreed to move in the first place. He came across several artifacts he had found while diving, although none of them really held any significant value. However, Carl’s biggest find was with his Uncle Jack, who lived on one of the nearby islands, Carl had accidentally discovered a concealed under water cave whilst on holiday during his teens. It was considered to be quite a remarkable find, Some of the artifacts had been stored there for hundreds of years when part of the cliff had collapsed, blocking the entrance, keeping the valuables safe from treasure hunters that would have sold most of it on the black market. Carl’s uncle was more content in making a name for himself, and most of his treasures went to the society of archeology, which were placed inside a museum on the main land. Although Jack, Carl’s uncle, still made a bundle from the amount of gold he had found, and contributed part of his money to finance Carl’s education, which luckily for him, he had graduated with merits in marine biology.

  Jan continued packing Carl’s clothes, while Carl stacked his Cd's and tapes that contained his old favorites into a cardboard box. He came across his mobile phone which was still on charge, May be that is why Jan had trouble getting hold of him last night.

  Carl decided to leave his phone on charge, thinking it would most probably get lost amongst the endless boxes of rubbish, that Jan had almost sorted out, and had stacked the remainder in the hallway waiting to be loading into the back of their cars. Although, after last night’s party, he was not really feeling up to lugging boxes and bags around all day, however, it pleased Jan and at the moment that is all he could really think of.

  Carl crashed out on the sofa over in Jan’s apartment, after conveying boxes and bags around for most of the day, and lay in front of the TV.

  However, Jan was thrilled that Carl had finally moved in with her, even if it meant that she had taken advantage of the situation the previous evening. Most of Carl’s clothes were placed into large, plastic bags being only fit for the launderettes; the remainder of boxes held most of his personal stuff, old photos, frames, and even news- paper clippings. Jan thought that there was no way she was going to keep all of this rubbish in her well styled apartment, with parquet floors and occasionally tossed the odd item into an empty box, ready to be put into a waste disposal unit outside.

  As the night grew nearer, Jan had nearly finished unpacking when she accidentally came across a peculiar looking round, pendent that was the size of a paperweight in the bottom of Carl’s suitcase. Jan put the round object on her desk; and could not wait to examine the strange looking thing hoping it might be worth something. Only after an hour or so, trying to figure out what it was, or what the small logo design inscribed on the top of the peculiar, looking object could mean, she decided to call it day.

  Carl was still fast asleep on the sofa; the Television blurring away when Jan thought now would be a good time to have a cigarette, hoping Carl would not notice she still smoked the odd one here and there. However, Jan could not help thinking about the round object on her desk, could it be possible that is all it was just a plain shinny paperweight.

  Jan stumped her cigarette out and walked over to her desk, she picked up the strange looking paperweight when she suddenly felt a sharp jabbing pain, and dropped it onto the floor.

  Carl woke up immediately “, what’s the matter? “

  ” It’s that dam thing of yours, it just bit me!” said Jan.

  “Don’t be silly! “ Replied Carl

  “I’m not being silly Look! “

  Jan showed Carl her hand, a small amount of blood trickled down her palm.

  Carl stood up to look for the round object that had rolled under the table when the television lost reception, Carl looked over towards Jan’s computer, the screen had also gone hay –wire. ” What’s going on? “

  “I don’t know? It looks like there is a strong transmission coming from some –where. “

  Jan knew that this was impossible; since this was the first time, anything like this had ever happened. Carl bent down under the table, picked up the round object, and examined its smooth surface, “Are you sure you cut yourself on this?”

  “I did not cut myself, that thing stabbed me! “ Replied Jan

  Carl looked at her hand; it seemed like a needle had punctured her skin just deep enough to draw blood. Carl had his doubts, whether Jan really cut herself on the round object, and decided to try it out for himself.

  “What the hell are you doing? “ It was too late; Carl gently lifted the round object, and turned it upside down. They both stared not believing what they were seeing, a small prong had ejected from within the objects surface, Carl’s blood was slowly being absorbed into a tiny opening, just as a vampire would lap up its victim’s blood. The small prong withdrew back into its casing. “What the hell is this thing? “ Asked Jan

  “I haven’t a clue! But if I knew any better, this thing has just taken a sample of my blood.”

  “You must have had this for years! So why is this happening now? “Jan asked.

  Carl thought about what Jan had said, he had always kept the object in a box hidden in his closet, “It’s the light”, said Carl.

  “What is that suppose to mean? “

  “It’s the light from your lamp, it must have recharged it shelf? “ Replied Carl

  “You mean this thing is solar powered?”

  Carl was just about to speak when he noticed the top part of the object began to turn, small inscriptions appeared on the outside band, the top started turning around as if it was seeking a combination of some kind. Just as if one would use to open a safe, until finally it stopped.

  Jan held on to Carl’s arm, as they watched the pinhole opening begin to widen. The top half of the object retrieved into the lower half exposing the inside, Carl was fascinated and took a closer look, however, and all he could see was a plain glass dome. Carl tried to look through the glass but could not see through to the other side. Suddenly a light emerged from within the object; Carl was startled and fell back wards, “Holy shit!” he said.

  The light started to encase the object forming a dark; dome shape around itself, the whole thing stood at least two feet tall. They both stood backwards intrigued by the fascinating lights that dazzled the room, when a series of inscriptions, codes appeared around the dome. “This looks like some kind of a projected image, “he whispered.

  “I didn’t think this technology existed “, replied Jan.

  “It doesn’t! “

  “So where here in hell did you find it? “ She asked

  “Under water outside a cave, buried in the sand,” replied Carl.

  The screen turned blank as Carl and Jan gazed into the darkness, a small round dot appeared, slowly it began to enlarge it seemed as if they were getting closer, approaching something in the distance, the image stopped! Carl looked at Jan; they both stared at the round image of a planet seen from the distant stars.
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  “Well! I can tell you one thing; it looks a lot like earth, just one problem “, said Carl.

  “What’s that? “, asked Jan.

  “ The polar caps and sea area’s look different, it’s hard to believe someone would go to all this trouble just to end up with a mistake like that? “ said Carl.

  Jan stared at the image of earth, and realized she had seen pictures similar to the one being projected in front of her, she stuttered, “ Carl I think that is earth, over a million years ago. “ Carl knew Jan had more knowledge in this field then he did, since it was part of her job.

  The image started to move again getting closer until finally they were looking at trees, plants, animals they had never seen before, the images were so refined they looked as if they were almost real. They gazed on as the projection took them through a trip into the past, but was it our past? Alternatively, could this be the work of clever fake artists.

  The projection slowly traveled across a fertile plane, trees and herds of herbivores roamed across the land, until finally it stopped. To their horror, they began to witness the abduction of what looked like their ancestors. Ape like men were being hunted from above, Jan looked on not wanting to believe what see was seeing. Then the most shocking thing of all appeared in front of them, two humanoid beings emerged onto the screen wearing protective clothing. One humanoid held some kind of a weapon in his hand while the other leaned over a sedated ape-like creature, extracting blood samples from its limp body.

  “What on earth are they doing?” Jan asked

  Carl, being a marine biologist knew and had preformed this technique many times over,

  “They’re taking blood and tissues samples to conduct experiments “, answered Carl.

  “What experiments do you mean?”

  “ Scientific one’s, just like we do on other species “, replied Carl.

  The screen went blank again only to reappear, this time a series of rings, circle’s strands off some kind engulfed the screen; they made no sense at all. The colored circles started to divide, affixing themselves in different sequences until finally they joined to create just one sequence, one strand. Then the face of an ape-like creature appeared a primitive humanoid? Its features began changing to what paleontologists have described as primitive man, “What’s happing here? “, asked Jan.

  “I think hundreds, maybe thousands of years of evolution are taking place, keep looking at the facile structures, look Jan look at its eyes!”

  “What about them? “

  “What about them! They are human eyes for god’s sake. “

  The image continued to change until it finally stopped, Jan and Carl stood there in silence they were now looking at the face of a modern man. Carl and Jan had just been through the journey of their lives, witnessing the full evolution of man - kind, how he became what he is today.

  Carl rubbed his eyes not believing what he had just seen, however, the most shocking thing of all was yet to come, the screen split in two, showing modern man and another humanoid, wearing a protective suit just like they had seen before. The humanoid removed his mask, the screen brought their features together, they looked alike, the first clones ever made?

  Jan raised her hands to her face as the being in full dress turned around, it exposed the inscribed band on his suit, it looked the same as the logo inscribed on the locket like object, she found in Carl’s suitcase and there before her stood the answer as to whom the strange object belonged too.

  The images slowly faded away, the round object started to draw its light back inside its small casing, the top emerged and finally it re-sealed itself to protect and store the information that it had held for thousands of years.

  The TV and computer come back on as clear as crystal, with no interference what so ever. Carl began wrapping the bizarre looking object in a kitchen towel.

  “What are you doing? “

  “I am taking this to the lab tomorrow to get it checked out “, said Carl.

  Jan walked over to her bedroom; not believing what she had just seen, while Carl put the wrapped up object into his jacket pocket, locked the front door and switched off all the lights. He followed Jan into the bedroom puzzled not knowing what to make of it.

  Jan was also curious to find the real meaning to their discovery; they stared at each other waiting to see who would be the first to ask the big question, Jan did, “Well what do you think?”

  “I don’t know, but if it’s real it would answer a lot of questions, “replied Carl.

  “What do you mean?”

  “For years archeologists have been debating where we originated from, some say we branched off from Homo erectus, and then there is Darwin’s theory that says we evolved through apes. However, the missing link has never been found to support his theory, although, what I do not really understand is why an alien species came here thousands of years ago just to develop a new species, “

  “Well it’s lucky they did, or else we wouldn’t be here, “answered Jan, not realizing what she was saying

  “. Then if we did not evolve, who or what would have been the dominant species? “Said Carl

  Jan remained silent.

  Carl scratched his head trying to make sense of everything they had just seen, He knew the whole slide show must have some kind of documentation, recording for future reference; however, who recorded it was another question he could not answer.

  Carl decided to head for the on-suit shower, while Jan lay in bed reading a book, occasionally reflecting on the day’s events. It had been along tiresome day, all Jan really wanted to do was fall asleep. She dimmed the lights just as Carl finished showering when she heard a noise coming from the living room, “Did you hear that? “

  “Sssh “, replied Carl.

  They both heard the sound of a drawer opening, the rustling of papers. Carl looked at Jan, and silently crept towards the bedroom door, only he stumbled over his shoes. The intruder stopped, a lump appeared in Carl’s throat, and Jan pulled the sheets up to her chin afraid of what was going to happen.

  A flash of light shone underneath the bedroom door, Carl ran towards the light, flung the door open only it was gone, he fumbled for the light switch, stared around the room only there was no one there. He turned to the front door it was closed and locked just as he had left it, some papers were scattered on the floor underneath Jan’s desk, the intruder was gone. Jan crept up behind Carl giving him the fright of his life, ‘Is there anyone there? “She asked.

  “No, there is no one. “

  “ What the hell’s going on?“ said Jan, being frighten that someone might have broken into her flat, which seemed almost impossible since she lived on the eighth floor and most of all the front door was still locked?

  Jan walked over towards the kitchen and put the kettle on, while Carl wondered round the apartment seeing if anything was missing, being just as puzzled as Jan was.

  He found his jacket on the floor, which was not where he had left it. Carl picked it up and noticed the wrapped up object was missing from his jacket pocket. Carl called to Jan only see did not answer, “Jan are you there “, Carl called again.

  The room was silent; Carl’s heart began to beat fast, the only room he had not checked out was the kitchen.

  A cold shiver ran down his spine as he headed towards the kitchen door, hoping Jan was just up to one of her usual games, Only he felt something hard hit the back of his head, everything went dark as he fell to the floor unconscious.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  sonard

  Carl woke up with a sore head, just to find himself in some kind of a peculiar looking room. The surrounding walls looked as if they were made of an illuminated plastic; there were no light fixtures or windows. The wall panels looked alike making it hard to distinguish where the door was, since there were no handles.

  Carl layback down on what seemed to be a bed, rubbing the back of his head trying to recall what had happened and where he was. There was a swooshing sound of a door opening, Ca
rl turned around and there stood a huge body of a man wearing a black suit, his shoulders were wider than the doors themselves.

  The man stood there with his arms folded in front of him, it almost reminded Carl of a Mafia movie he had seen; only this was no movie.

  “Would you follow me please sir! “, Said the man standing near the doorway.

  Carl could hardly stand up and struggled to get onto his feet, “where we are going “, he asked. The man did not answer his question, only he instructed Carl to move on.

  They descended along a series of corridors, several people could be seen scurrying around, going about their business. As Carl walked further along he came across what looked like a laboratory, which had large glass windows enabling the people on the outside to see what was going on, just as if the people inside were being monitored. A woman wearing a white overall accidentally bumped into Carl, dropping whatever she was carrying on the floor. Carl stared at the woman for a while, his head still spinning around from the blow he had received last night.

  “It’s all right, you will be ok”, she whispered. Carl looked confused; he still did not know where he was or how he had got here. He lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck trying to ease the pain, and noticed he had a small scab just below his hairline. He figured he must have scratched himself on something when he fell to the floor in Jan’s apartment. Carl continued walking until finally they stopped in front of an open door way. Carl looked inside and there stood Jan; she turned towards Carl and ran towards him being glad to see she was not on her own.

  “Where are we? And what the hell is going on?” asked Jan.

  “I don’t know, just stay calm.”

  “Stay calm! Are you mad! We have just been abducted from our flat and you say be calm!” replied Jan. They were interrupted as the door swooshed open again, and a white haired, smart, elderly Gentleman entered the room, where he sat down at the opposite side of a large table.“ I do apologize for the in-convenience; please take a seat “, he said

  “Inconvenience is not the word, it’s more like kidnapping? “ Replied Jan