PART THREE
The sabertoothed tiger crouched down as it looked at the boys. Three hundred pounds of incredible ferocity with eyes blazing like yellow fire.
Its hateful eyes glaring above its distended jaws, lips curled in a frightful snarl which exposed a whole mouthful of formidable teeth and a yellow pair of foot-long fangs jutting from its upper jaw.
“Back in the pod!” Max yelled, as the boys started running.
“I can’t believe it!” Kyle said as Max slammed the door shut behind them. They settled into the transporter pod. “That thing was huge. I didn’t even know we had those around here!”
“We don’t,” said Max. “I mean, not anymore. They went extinct about 10,000 years ago! We didn’t just transport to another place.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think we’ve transported back in time,” said Max. “That’s why there aren’t any houses or roads around. Nothing has been built yet! That’s also why Floyd Hill looked kind of different. It must be what it looked like before it was scraped down for its gravel.”
“Holy crap,” Kyle said. “So you’re saying—”
“Yeah. Your dad invented a time machine!”
There was a scratching sound from outside the door. Then a loud raging, savage snarl. The sabertoothed tiger hadn’t forgotten about the boys.
“Dude, we need to get back to the present!" Kyle yelled out. "Or the future! I mean our future. From here. Or whatever!”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Try pushing that big green button in the middle,” said Max. “It’s the only one that lights up and seems to look like it's working. Maybe it’s the one that transports us.”
Kyle pushed it. Other lights on the control panel started to blink. After a slight vibration, the lights stopped blinking and everything was quiet again.
“Ok, let’s see if it worked,” Max said as he opened the door.
The grass and killer plants were gone. So was the sabertoothed tiger.
The landscape was black and smooth. The ground under their feet seemed to be made of glass. Yellow lights darted across the sky and blinked liked crazed lighting bugs. The air was filled with the smell of diesel fuel.
“Whoa, where do you think this is?” asked Kyle as looked around. “Smells like a gas station.”
“Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!” said a mechanical voice.
The boys looked in the direction of the voice and were horrified to see a fleet of mechanical men marching toward them. Shoulder-mounted guns shifted their aim to the boys.
“Robots!” shouted Max as he closed the door. “Really mad, really scary robots. I think we went too far. Must be the future or something! Try again! Hurry!”
Kyle pushed the green button again.
After the vibrations and blinking stopped, Max opened the door. He slammed it shut, closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead, he just kept shaking his head.
“Oh crap,” said Kyle. “I don’t even wanna know!” He pushed the button again.
More vibrations. More blinking. Then silence.
Max opened the door and let out a sigh of relief. “Finally! It worked. I bet it’s some sort of pre-set program. You push the button to cycle through, then it resets or something. We’ll have to ask your dad about it.”
“At least we have a good excuse for missing school,” Kyle said as he followed Max out of the pod and into the familiar basement laboratory. “I mean, come on! This has to be the best excuse for missing school ever!”
“Yeah, but I don’t think we can tell anyone. Your dad works on a lot of top-secret stuff. You think he’s home yet? What time is it?”
“Feels like we’ve been gone forever,” Kyle said. He walked over to the computer and checked the date and time. “Oh no. I can’t believe it.”
“What’s wrong?” Max asked. “Are we in the wrong place? Wrong time? Everything looks the same to me.”
“Oh, it’s the same alright,” Kyle answered. “Exactly the same. That’s why I’m so bummed. We came back to the exact time we left. No extra banano mined, and we didn’t even get to miss school. Man, I hate time machines!”
END