Time Warp (3 page)

“It’s Friday,
We close early”, replied Steve, who worked as a lab technician, and had stayed behind just to finish off some paper work, before he knocked off for the weekend. Carl held out his hand, Steve grasped it with a good steady handshake, took the sample container, and placed it onto the reception desk. Steve did the usual thing and began filling in ex amounts of forms, asking Carl where and when the samples had been taken, before they could be brought towards the lab for analyses. Carl began fidgeting, hoping all of this would not take too long, he couldn’t wait to get back  to his apartment, and shower, maybe even get an hours or so sleep before his big game that evening.....

” just sign h
ere”, said Steve.

Carl scribbled his name
across the bottom part of the page, slapped Steve on the back, pulled his sunglasses back down, and said,” see you at the game tonight.”

Stev
e, being one of the land miners laughs and shouted back to Carl just as he ran down the hall way,” bring you lucky mascot your goanna need it!”  

Carl laughs back,
and pushed open the glass door, The beading sun had taken its toll on his pick-up truck, the heat inside escaping as soon as he drove off, to his 2-bedroom apartment on the other side of town. Carl slumped down on the sofa, throwing his bag to the floor. He still had a few hours left before the game started, and Carl stretched out on the sofa trying to get comfortable. He could hear the clock, which was across the hallway slowly ticking away, the second’s, hand circling around its dial as if it were racing, trying to catch up with time itself however, impossible that may seem?

CHAPTER THREE

the game

J
an had just flown in from Brussels; her flight had been delayed since during the summer months, air traffic was somewhat hectic. However, this was understandable due to the increasing tourist that frequented this part of the Mediterranean during the peak season, to enjoy the tranquil life style and archaeological features, which Greece had to offer. She had tried to phone Carl several times, although for some reason he was not answering.

Carl was in the showers with the rest of the boys, cheering and chanting to one another when Jan arrived. She could hear the noise coming from the men’s changing room and figured they must have won the match.

She walked over towards the locker room door and calmly walked in hoping to get a glimpse of Carl, who had most probably forgotten all about her?

Jan paced up and down between the rows of steel lockers, and could hear the boys mo
uthing off who got the best shot, when out of nowhere Carl appeared on the scene, rubbing a towel over his head drying his dark, curly hair. He did not notice Jan until she spoke, “Hi stranger, what have you been up to? “ She said, leaning against one of the steel lockers. Carl looked up surprised and quickly covered his private parts, not that she had ever seen him naked before; it was just a reflex action.

“Jan
! This is the men’s changing room what are you doing here? “

“ I am waiting for you! “ replied Jan, who was now walking towards him, Her hips and hair swayed with the movement of her curvy body; her skirt and blouse reminded Carl of their school days
. Jan continued walking towards Carl, and put her arms around his neck; he grabbed her from around her waist- line, dropping his towel in the process.

Nick had just finished showering, and walks around the corner stopping in his tracks, when he saw Carl naked, kissing Jan near the lockers
. Nike waved Jason and the others over, they all stood there cheering them on when Carl realized he was standing there with nothing on, and blushed with embarrassment. Jan chuckled and gave Carl a kiss on his nose, and whispered into his ear, “I think something has just come up, I will wait for you in the parking lot. “

Carl looked down to see that his penis was partly
erected; he quickly swooped down to pick up his towel, and wrapped it around himself. Jan waved to the guys as she walked out of the dressing room, feeling rather embarrass herself, since god knows what Carl’s mate’s must be thinking after her small ordeal in the men’s locker room?

Carl’s, pickup truck was parked just outside the gym, where Jan was sa
t comfortable on the front seat going over her finger nails with a small nail file, she saw Carl running towards her, wearing a smart pair of jeans and shirt to match. He instantly opened the door, slung his sports bag onto the back seat, and started the engine up. “Where are we going?” she asked. “We’re all meeting at Kim’s“.

Kim was a short,
blonde-haired plumpish looking girl, who owned a bar down town, it was nothing special however, the drinks were cheap, and the music and atmosphere were great.

It was quite inside Kim’s lounge bar, Carl an
d Jan being the first to arrive sat over in the corner sipping on a cocktail, hoping to get a bit of privacy. Carl rubbed his hand up and down Jan’s partly exposed leg, the lights were dim, and the soft music made it a pleasant romantic place, until the rest of the gang showed up. Jason stood at the front of the line, and shouted over to Kim who was behind the bar, “its party time!” All the people cheered and lined up near the bar, while Kim flipped the CD, turned the volume up before she began to lay down a line of shooters to get the guys started. There were quite a few of them, since both teams had turned up to enjoy the evening, some even brought their girl friends along, adding more glamour to the evening.

The drinks splashed on the bar, as Kim tried desperately to keep up with the demand.

As the party got under- way, Jason and nick were downing shooter after shooter swaying, and teasing the other losing team, when they heard the door slam shut behind them it was Jessie, she had decided to join them after all.

Jan asked Carl who she was, “Oh that’s Jessie, and knowing her she will have to make an entrance
“.

And Jessie did, she stood there wearing a tight fitted, three quarter length pair of jeans, that really showed her curves, a skimpy thin strapped top, that reveled more than most women would want to. Jason turned around arms open and yelled, “yahoo you made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world “, replied Jessie snatching Jason’s drink, and downing it in one.

The party was now in full swing, N
ick staggered to the men’s room beryl making it back to the bar, the music was hot, and so were the girls. Jessie did her usual thing and climbed onto the bar dancing her dirty dance for the boys.

“Is she always like this
? “ Asked Jan

“Yep, Jessie makes a point of being the center of attention. “

And she was, all the guys cheered her on although, tonight Jessie had competition as another good looking girl dressed similar to Jessie, also climbed onto the bar. The guys went wild, cheering them on just to see who would dare take their top off first, not that they really had to since the guys were already getting loads of exposure. Jessie winked over to the other girl, who in turn nodded, it was late, and they already had enough for one night.

The following morning Jan wake up feeling relieved that she had managed to get a good a good night’s sleep, after spending, the best part of the week- end traveling, and half of the night at Kim’s. On the other hand, Carl had spent the night with his head stuck down the toilet, then ended up sleeping on the sofa over at Jan’s place, since he was in no condition to walk let alone drive.

Carl was awake, his head throbbing trying to figure out how
he ended up in Jan’s apartment when he saw her walking over towards him, wearing just a long sleeve shirt.

She sat down on his lap, facing forward, her thighs gripping the outside of his
. Jan slowly moved her lips towards Carl’s and quickly pulled back; His breath had the foul smell of stale alcohol. “Hey! What is wrong with you “, asked Carl.

“You
stink of booze! “ She said, as she made her way towards the kitchen. Carl staggered to his feet feeling a bit woozy and headed for the shower hoping to get rid of the foul smell of alcohol, and everything else he threw up last night.

Carl turned the shower off, trying to remember what had happened the previous evening
, He half dried his masculine, body and walked over to the kitchen, with just a towel round his waist. Jan was facing the wall buttering some toast, when Carl approached her from behind.

“What do you want?
“ Said Jan

“I’m hungry!
“ Said Carl, nibbling her shoulder

Jan turned to face him, and put her arms around his neck still holding the buttered knife
. Carl lifted her onto the kitchen cupboard, she wrapped her legs around his waist, their lips s met, while Carl started to undo the buttons on her shirt, “ What are you doing? “ she asked in an innocent voice. “Playing hide and seek”.

“Yea, you’re hiding and am seeking “, said Carl, as He continued to undo her buttons. Their heads rested against each other’s, Carl caressed her body, and began to fondle her well-sized breasts.

Jan brushed back her long, dark hair and kissed Carl on his lips, then unexpectedly, pushes him away, “what’s that for?
“ Jan laughs, “It’s that time off the month! “ She said and jumped down off the cupboard. “Shit! Shit! “Said Carl, pulling out a chair and sat at the table, while  Jan walked over still smiling, and slipped him a piece of buttered toast, “here you go, if you’re still hungry you can eat that! Oh and don’t forget we have stop by your place later on,” said Jan.

“
What the hell for!”

“Hello! So can you can move in?”

Carl scratched his head, having no idea what she was going on about, “when did all this happen?” asked Carl.

“Last night remember! Or have you forgotten already?” Carl pushes the toast to the side, feeling rather pissed off, and ops for the coffee instead.

Jessie had spent the best part of the night at Nicks and Jason’s place, Nick had crashed out on the bar, and Jason was not much better off. Some of the guys from the other team gave a hand, in getting them into their own apartment.

Jessie had just woken up; she had slept in one of the spare beds on her own, while Jason and Nick spent the night in the living room, sharing the huge sofa
. Jessie was half-dressed and nearly ready to leave, when she decided to play a trick on the boys, just to let them know she had spent the night.

She walked into the living room, wearing her skimpy top and just a tiny set of under wear, she pulled the curtains back, allowing the morning sun to shine through, and the bright light woke Jason up first. “Hey! What is going on, “said Jason. “ It’s time to get up boys, “said Jessie, standing there showing all her curves and most of everything else

“That you Jessie, Wow I must be dreaming!” replied Jason

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 guy
s, 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

J
an 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 st
acked 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, Ja
n 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 lig
ht 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.

“Well! I can tell you one thing; it looks a l
ot 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 someo
ne 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 start
ed 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 travele
d 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 t
o 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? “