Fiction Fragment Friday
This is a story that grew from a concept. I came up with the approach and thought about the story over the past week. It is one of those stories that I don’t really know where my inspiration came from. I am however very happy with the results. I do wonder if the ending is too much of an info dump. If I were to edit this one I would probably make it a bit longer and spread the reveals out a bit.
Mission Log Jump 001 day 13:
Initial temporal transition to the year 35,000 BCE occurred without complication. Arrival was within acceptable margins of error and the target arrival site was devoid of geological obstacles.
Within moments of successful arrival however complication did occur. My time sphere arrival startled a grazing herd of woolly rhinoceros causing a stampede. These are very majestic creatures and I’m certain that I would have appreciated my first encounter with an extinct species far more if they hadn’t nearly cost me my life. The external armor prevented the sphere from being destroyed, but there was extensive damage done while rolling around the field. My left arm is to be included in the list of items broken complicating the subsequent repairs.
After thirteen days in the Upper Paleolithic era I now have the computer system back on-line. I am recording this log as my first task after running a complete system diagnostic. I estimate remaining repairs needed to perform the next jump will take at-least another week. Some systems will have to stay off-line for the remainder of the mission, and I no longer have spare parts to work with.
Mission Log Jump 001 day 20:
I have completed all repairs that are possible with the resources at hand. There is a 10% chance the sphere will just blow up when I try to jump, but there is a 100% chance I’m going to lose my mind if I’m stuck here much longer. I’m also running low on supplies, and I don’t feel like eating anything in this era. I’m going to complete my actual mission tonight and then get the hell out of here first thing n the morning.
Mission Log Jump 001 day 21:
Mission parameters called for me using the alpha wave generator to cause the migrant tribe of early humans to fall unconscious. I could then take my time with the gene modification therapy and introduce the first set of needed genes. Of course, that thing got shattered when the sphere went rolling around the field on day one with me screaming bloody murder inside it. So, I have to come up with a plan B.
Mission Log Jump 001 day 24:
For the record Plan B was a horrible idea best not ever spoken of. Let’s just say that Plan D worked pretty well, and I have introduced the needed genes into the local tribe. If a religion forms around me making them think I’m a god who must be obeyed well, I’m sure it will have disbanded in a generation or two. The important thing is that my mission is complete, and I am finally leaving in the morning. Besides if my mission is successful, I will never have to explain why there are cave painting of the tribe praising me through the Chicken Dance.
Mission Log Jump 002 day 1:
What do you know I’m here in 8,000 BCE and nothing went wrong. The sphere didn’t blow up and I didn’t get trampled upon arrival. I’m not quite sure how to react to things going this well. Oh wait I still can’t knock out the local tribe to safely complete my mission and I’m down to two days of food. Now things feel right again.
Mission Log Jump 002 day 2:
It was surprisingly easy to get the DNA sample I needed. I found a hunting party and they left plenty of blood all over the place when they drew the attention of a rather large bear. Testing indicates that the gene therapy I did almost 20,000 years ago are now thoroughly integrated and have mutated as predicted. Very little correction will be needed which is good because it will let me skip the next two proposed jumps. I don’t have the power or food for them anyway and each jump has a little bit higher percentage to break one of my cobbled together repairs.
Mission Log Jump 002 day 5:
Second round of gene therapy successfully applied. This might be the last rabbit I have to pull out of my hat. That should be extra impressive though considering I didn’t even bring a hat back with me. As it turns out the Chicken Dance is still performed by the most respected holy men and my ability to flawlessly pull it off put me in their good graces even though I couldn’t communicate directly with them.
Have I thought about the repercussions these interactions may have being so far into the past of humanity? What the ripples that I might be causing will mean for the world I return to. Of course, I have. You don’t go on a mission like this without knowing that you are probably never coming home. Of course, as far as I know there has never been a mission like this before. If there had been we wouldn’t ever know about now would we?
Mission Log Jump 003 day 1:
Good news the world isn’t drastically different then it should be in 1947. I obviously haven’t studied everything, but I can pick up radio and television signals. After about two hours of monitoring, I haven’t found any red flags. For the first time I am starting to think my mission might just be a success. I’m heading out now to try and get a DNA sample now. More importantly I’m in an era where I can get real food. I just have to figure out some way to pay for it.
Mission Log Jump 003 day 3:
I got my DNA sample. All it took was getting into a bar brawl and making sure that some of the blood on me wasn’t my own. The genes are thoroughly integrated into the population. I can’t be sure how far around the world my tampering has spread, but according to all the models it should be enough. That just leaves me with two problems. The first is that I don’t have the power to generate the pulse needed to activate the genes. The second and even bigger issue is that the system was one of the ones I couldn’t fix. I’m hoping I will have better luck here with technology available. They don’t cell circuit boards though.
Mission Log Jump 003 day 48:
I found a job and have been living a fairly low-key life. I’ve been working on the time sphere and think I finally have the system ready to go. I’ve solved the power issue in the only way I could think of. The sphere is going to generate a feedback loop until it overloads. There is no coming back from this one. I can finish my mission, but the only way I’m leaving 1947 is the old-fashioned way. I’ve encrypted this drive and set it to transmit on the date of my departure if it can connect to the global network. It will be the only surviving piece of technology from my time.
I realize that if I have been successful then time will have changed and anyone receiving this log will not understand the purpose of my mission. In the timeline I come from an extraterrestrial race had invaded Earth because we had no defenses against their mental abilities. With the gene modifications I have completed a large portion of humanity should be immune to these abilities. We believed that this would make Earth a poor target.
I’m starting the overload now. You might think being stuck in 1947 would be the worst part, but really, I think what will haunt me until my last breath is not knowing if I was truly successful or not. Well, that and knowing that I am responsible for the Chicken Dance being the world’s most popular dance.
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