Final Project

Shambhavi K.

Legislator:  J.E. "Buster" Brown, Senator

MY TERRIBLE HORRIBLE REALLY BAD TIME TRAVELLING MISTAKE

It was one of the fundamental “do not’s” in my house. Do not leave the lights on. Do not make a mess. Do not mess with time travel. Hey, what can I say…I was never good at follow the rules. And when NASA approached me about my time machine, how could I say no?

And that, my friends, is why I’m standing here today. Or more correctly, why I’m standing on Mars…thousands and thousands of years ago. Yes, this is my mission. Find out about Mar’s past to make for a better future. But “shhhhhhh” it’s a top-secret mission, so you cannot tell anyone about it.

:::Mission Cont<static> to Tempus 1…can <static> read us T<static> 1?:::

Establishing a comm link across time periods…very impressive, I must say.  “Tempus 1 here. The Eagle had landed!” I’ve always had a flair for the dramatics.

:::Excellent, Commander. Is the craft intact?:::

Thanks, guys…I’m fine too. I survey the big metallic vehicle parked next to me. She is round and has the words “Tempus One” engraved on her side. From the front of her protrudes the laser cannon, another one of my inventions.  Powerful enough to destroys just about anything. NASA only grudgingly let me install it on her. They don’t like weapons very much, but I didn’t want to take any chances. “Not a scratch on her. Everything went smoothly.”

:::Excellent. And the suit?:::

I touch the padding on the suit. They weren’t sure what to expect, so they equipped it with everything. The padding was made to protect against dust storms. It also had a very large oxygen supply—almost 2 days worth. The utility belt was larger to carry all the sample equipment. And most importantly, it was light. Because Mars still has 1/3 the gravity of Earth, they had to make sure thing didn’t weigh too much. It wouldn’t do to have me laboring too hard. “Works like a charm. Tell the boys who designed this that they do good work.”

:::Will do. Now it’s time for you to get on with your assignment. But remember don’t do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that hasn’t been authorized with us until we can determine its effect on the timeline.:::

“Yeah, I gottcha.” I look down, finally allowing myself to look at the planetscape. The soil was the same ruddy color as before…in fact, so was the rest of the land. I walked forward a few more steps, following the upward slope of the land. And still nothing. “Well, boys, I hate to have to tell you this, but this world looks as dead now as it did when I left.” I continued my upward journey. “I don’t see anything. No volcanoes, no plant life and no…” The ground let out into a large precipice. “Oh my god…”

:::Tempus 1, are you there? Can you hear us?:::

Here I stand, over looking a vast and sparkling body of “water!”

~~~

:::Be sure and get all the sample glasses filled…we aren’t going to get this opportunity again.:::

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.” I approach the shoreline with all my NASA paraphernalia—sample jars, pipettes, tongs and the like. It was breath taking. I have seen pictures of the flat northern plains before, and although we knew there were traces of an ocean, the simulated images just didn’t capture its true beauty.

I slowly step into the water, submerging the suit till about my knees. I have to get some of the soil into my containers too. I bend down to begin the collection process when something catches my attention. I reached down and touch the leafy green object with my glove. “It’s a plant!” I exclaim in disbelief.

There is a short murmur over the comm link before :::Collect a sample of that too.::: I do what I am told. But this plant wasn’t to be my only find on Mars. Something brushes by my leg, causing me to jump. “What the h—“ I look down just in time to see a small fish like creature swim by.

Life! Complex life on this planet that we had only known to be barren. “I can’t believe this…this isn’t real,” I whisperinto the comm link. This has to be the single most amazing event in my life. Nothing has touched me as much as this.

~~~

:::Alright Tempus 1, time to pack your bags. Visiting hours are over.:::

I allow myself one last glance at the vista before boarding my spacecraft.  I’ve collected all the materials I’m supposed to. Its time to get back into space and get to the coordinates of the time warp.

~~~

Daydreaming is one of my great flaws. And now that I’m back in the quite of space, it’s all that I seem to be doing. I mind drifts back to that beautiful place that I have just left, so much so that I’m not really paying attention to what’s happening right in front of me—or rather what’s headed right for my ship.

I look up just in time to see the huge chunk of rock dominating my view screen. Not only does it seem to be intent on embedding itself in my hull, but also in blocking my path to the time warp coordinates. Reflexively, I grab the large laser cannon and shoot for the huge rock. It shatters gracefully into small specs of dust. My path clear, I get to the time warp coordinates and prepare to get to my own time.

~~~

“Tempus 1 to mission control…honey I’m home.” I walk into the large room, to some rather irate faces.

“Good, then maybe you can explain what happened to us,” said the flight director through clenched teeth.

“What are you talking about?”

“This.” He presses a button and an image of a bright blue planet appears on the main monitor.

At first glance, I’m inclined to say it is Earth, but soon realize that’s not the case. “What is that?” I ask.

“That,” he points furiously at the screen “is Mars. As it looks today…and apparently as it has always looked. What in heavens name did you do over there?”

“Nothing! Nothing that you didn’t tell me to do!” I search my mind to find out what might have gone wrong. And then I remember. “Oh…there was that asteroid.”

“What asteroid?” he asks, eyebrows raised.

“It just came out of no where…so I…blew it up.”

“You WHAT! Didn’t a tell you to check all your actions with me first?”

“Yes, but there was no time! It was almost on top of me!”

He quickly asks one of the other personal to do a temporal scan. “I’ve got it sir. Object S47…it was on course to hit Mars, the impact would have been rather severe…similar to the dinosaur extinction I would say.”

“Great, just great. You’ve alter history by destroying that piece of rock.”  His face reddens. “What was the first rule of time travel?! Don’t do anything to risky until you are certain it will NOT affect the timeline!”

I let out a small nervous laugh and begin pulling at my colar. As I said…I was never very good at following rules.

THE END.

Sources:

The Whole Mars Catalogue http://www.spaceref.com/mars/facts.html

Space Reference

http://www.spaceref.com/redirect.html?id=0&url=www.sff.net/people/ckanderson/mars.htp

Mars Rocks! http://aerospacescholars.org/scholars/earthmars/unit2/Index.htm

Last Updated: 09/07/01