Welcome to the New Age

“Copy that.”

“Is the launch team ready?”

“Affirmative. All systems go.”

“Launching in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five…” 

* * *

Iris Hawthorne gave her friend, Leila Greenrow, a thumbs up. She clicked her helmet on. Iris, along with four other people, were about to travel through time. They had perfected time travel. They had already sent plenty of guinea pigs through—but you can’t tell those how to come back.

“Hawthorne!” Barked Commander Gunner through their intercoms.

“Yes, sir?”

“Pay attention while I’m speaking. As I was saying, once you get there, the time-travel device will be sent in after you. Look around carefully for it after you land. Such a device isn’t easy to replace. We are sending you ahead five hundred years. You will be sent to the same place we are in now, you will only move forwards in time. Do you understand? Are you ready?” The countdown interrupted the commander.

“…five, four, three. Two. One. Launch team, prepare for exiting this time period.”

Iris and her companions, in a tight circle together, gripped the five handles coming off of the time-travel device.

Iris looked around at her companions. This was the first time any human had ever time traveled.

Ben Schmidt, one of the team members, pushed the button on top of the device. Iris closed her eyes tightly. There was an odd sensation as if wind were blowing through her veins.

Slowly Iris cracked one eye open. They were in a dry, desolate desert. Hot wind whistled by, bringing a few stray tumbleweeds along with it. The wind smelled faintly of ash.

The ground was hard and cracked. Around them were odd formations—were those old, broken-down buildings?

A few guinea pigs sat around, looking half-dead. Others were dead.

A faint smell of ash drifted in on the breeze.

There was a faint popping sound, and the time-travel device—T.T.D., for short—appeared in front of them.

“Vhat is this place?” Ben Schmidt asked, turning around in a circle. He was the youngest on the team.

“Did we time travel to some desert, but still ahead in time?” Wondered Leila Greenrow.

“Nein.” Ben Schmidt shook his head. “No, ve are still in the same place ve vere, just five-hundred years ahead in time.”

“Hey y’all,” called Austin Foxtrotter. He was from Texas, and his thick Texan accent proved it. Iris looked towards him, as did the rest of the group. He was kneeling in the dirt, brushing some away.

“What is it?” asked Ben.

“It’s the same symbol on the floor in the teleportation device room,” said Olivia Scandmoor gravely. “We’re in the right place for sure.”

“Now what’ll we do?” asked Leila.

“We should probably head back to headquarters, just so everyone knows we’ve truly mastered time travel,” said Iris. “And so everyone knows that we’re okay.”

“I doubt anyone’s worried ‘bout that, Iris,” laughed Olivia. “They’d be more worried that the portal thingy magiger gets back safely.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” muttered Austin. He rose from the dirt. “I agree with Iris. Let’s head back. Something don’t seem right about this place.”

Leila nodded. She grabbed one of the handles sticking out of the T.T.D., and the others followed suit. Ben hit the button on the top of it, after punching in the date they wanted to go back to, and Iris squeezed her eyes shut again. The feeling of wind through her veins never came. She opened them again. They were still in the same dry, windblown place.

“Why didn’t it work?” Olivia asked in confusion.

“I… don’t know,” Ben replied. He had been one of the members of the team who helped build the device. “Let me try again.”

He punched in the date and hit the button. Nothing happened.

“Maybe zer is some glitch in ze device. Let me restart it.” Ben knelt down in the sand. He flipped open a panel and moved some stuff around. Iris couldn’t see what he was doing. Finally, he stood, brushing off his hands.

“Let’s try again,” he said. Ben hit the button. Nothing happened.

“Did y’all hear that?” Asked Austin suddenly. He had his head tilted to one side, listening intently.

“Hear what?” Olivia queried.

“Sounded like a gunshot.”

Iris’s blood ran cold, and her face paled.

“A gunshot?” Ben’s voice quivered. “How close?”

“It probably ain’t that close at all. Don’t worry ‘bout it. All we need to worry ‘bout now is fixin’ this hunk o’ junk.” Austin scratched his head. Where’d his helmet go? Iris wondered briefly before glimpsing it swinging in the Texan’s hand.

“You have any idea of what might be wrong about it?” Leila questioned him.

“Me?” Austin laughed incredulously. “I wrangle cattle—I ain’t know anythin’ ‘bout yer piece o’ technology or whatever it’s called. Thing’s broken, that’s all I can tell ya.”

“Maybe you can only time-travel at certain times, or you have to wait for a certain length of time before you can travel back,” suggested Leila.

“That makes sense,” agreed Olivia. “Maybe.”

“But then… how would we know when to try again?” Iris asked.

“I don’t know,” sighed Leila. “Try calling Headquarters. Maybe that’ll do something.”

“Good idea.” Iris turned on her intercoms. “Headquarters, this is Iris Hawthorne. We are stuck five-hundred years in the future. Over.”

“Any reply?” Olivia asked after a minute of silence.

“No. just static. I’m going to try again.” Iris took a deep breath. “I repeat—this is Iris Hawthorne. I am trapped five-hundred years into the future with four other people. Over.”

Everyone looked at her expectantly. Iris shook her head. “Just more static. I don’t think it’ll work.”

Suddenly they all froze. This time they all heard it. It was clearly a gunshot. More followed in rapid fire. Close. There were shouts, too.

“Ben, is there a way this thing can fold at all?” Olivia said sharply, eyeing the time-travel device.

“Not really. Vhy?”

“Because I can see trouble coming right now and we’d better find. A place to hide—quick!” Olivia gestured to a plume of dust rising from the desert ground, maybe a hundred feet away. Iris could see flashes of silver in it. She squinted.

“Over there!” Olivia yelled. She grabbed the T.T.D., only to stop with an oof. “That thing's heavy!” She exclaimed. Austin picked it up, swung it onto his shoulder, and said, “Lead the way, ma’am.”

Olivia blinked once then pointed to one of the shapes rising up from the scorched ground. “We can hide in there.”

The group hurried off towards it, and Iris glanced once over her shoulder. It looked like there was some sort of orange Jeep rushing towards them in the plume of dust. It was most definitely coming this way.

Iris gulped and turned back, focusing on fleeing.

* * *

Crouched under a ruined desk in the fallen building, Iris gazed around. Why does this place look so familiar? Her heart was pounding so loudly that Iris thought everyone could hear it.

“Guys…” started Ben, his voice barely a whisper, “Call me crazy, but does this place look like the control room back at Headquarters?”

Everyone was silent. Ben was right. This was where Commander Gunner and others were watching the launch team travel five hundred years through time—what seemed like only minutes ago to the five people huddled under a broken desk. 

“Y’all—” Austin said, looking gravely around at them, “whatever happened here, something, in the past five-hundred years, to destroy everything Commander Gunner was working on with time travel.”

Iris froze. “This doesn’t mean… this doesn’t mean that… that… the government shut down the project because… because their test team never returned?”

“That can’t be right,” whispered Leila hoarsely after a minute of stunned silence. “I mean, five hundred years—anything can happen in five hundred years.” She looked around at them. “…right?”

Suddenly, the broken door into the building flew open, crashing onto the ground. Two men entered, each bearing a gun—they looked like AR rifles—with a tan cloth wrapped entirely around their faces. They wore leather gloves, and the only bits of their skin Iris could see were a little around their eyes, the only thing that identified them as humans.

They moved around for a few seconds, kicking some things out of their way, before one gestured towards the desk Iris and her companions were hiding under.

Iris could have sworn her heart stopped.

The other knelt down and pointed his gun at the five people huddled beneath the desk.

“Come out with your hands on your heads,” he growled. Slowly they each emerged. Austin left the T.T.D. hidden. 

“Names,” he demanded.

“My name is Austin Foxtrotter and these are my friends, Ben Schmidt, Olivia Scandmoor, Iris Hawthorne, and Leila Greenrow. Would you please tell us where we are?” Austin glared at the man, who was silent. He suddenly pulled off his mask and said, “My name is Harlem. We’ve been expecting you.”

“…what?” Leila was the first to speak.

“I know who you are. I know who your descendants are,” said Harlem.

“How?” Austin questioned. “And would you mind puttin’ that thing away ‘afore you shoot someone’s eye out?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Harlem lowered his gun after flipping the safety on. “As to how I know who you are… I’ve never met you, but stories have been passed down, about the people who first time traveled. You five. My buddy here, Jonas,” Harlem pointed to the other man, who also took his mask off, “should be…” he looked carefully at each of them, “Olivia’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-oh, I don’t know how many greats, grandson.”

“So does that mean ve do make it back to Headquarters?” Ben asked hopefully.

“Ye-es… only, it will take you a week or so. You see, the time-travel portal—the machine you have only allows you to access that portal—only opens once every week. So, because you just used it, now you will have to wait a week before going back. Small price to pay to be able to jump through timelines. And when you do go back, make sure you don’t go back that extra week. Instead of just doing five hundred years ago, say, four-hundred, eleven months, and three weeks ago. Get it?”

Everyone nodded.

“So, if we’re going to be here a little longer, could you tell us what it’s like here? And why Headquarters was destroyed?” Asked Leila.

“I’m not sure you want to know,” said Harlem solemnly.

“Why?” Ben raised an eyebrow.

“Because it is a place filled with war, famine, and misery. Death, hunger, and war.”

“You already said war,” grunted Austin.

“So I did,” Harlem dipped his head in agreement. “Two-hundred years ago, humanity split. Now everyone lives in different tribes, trying to survive off a dying land, killing each other for food and water. No one has felt safe in a long, long time. I’m not sure why humanity split, and the land started dying, but, here we are, fighting for a morsel of bread or a drop of water to wet our parched throats.”

“Poetic,” commented Leila.

“Same thing as to why Headquarters was destroyed—war.” Harlem shook his head.

“That’s… sad,” said Olivia. The sound of a vehicle pulling to a stop outside the building made the group freeze.

“Were you expecting company?” Iris gulped nervously.

“Get down,” hissed Harlem, throwing on his mask. Jonas did the same.

They both held their guns at the ready. The sound of a gunshot made Iris’s heart beat harder. It worsened when, half a second later, Jonas staggered back. He had been hit by the gun’s bullet. A trickle of blood dripped down from his shoulder.

“It didn’t get me bad,” he growled, jumping away.

Austin crept around so he was standing next to the door, out of sight from anyone outside the building.

Four men burst in, each wearing black masks and wielding guns. Austin pounced on the last one and wrestled the gun—a pistol—out of the man’s hands and fired once. The man fell down, dead.

Austin aimed the gun at another man, but he yelled, “Don’t shoot! Or you’ll kill two more.” The man aimed his own gun at Iris.

She held her hands up. Austin lowered his gun.

“That’s better,” growled the man. Iris wasn’t exactly sure what happened next. There were more gunshots, people were running everywhere, she heard Harlem shout, “To the Jeep!” And everyone was outside.

Austin jumped in the Jeep first, shooting wildly with the gun to cover the rest of them. Leila got in next, and Olivia, then Ben. Iris jumped in the back, Harlem leaped into the driver’s seat, and Jonas managed to get in just as the engine roared to life and the Jeep shot off.

Iris looked back. The other three men were jumping into their truck. One of them was aiming his gun toward them, and a burst of pain bloomed in Iris’s hand. She winced and looked down at her hand. There was a good deal of blood already pouring from the wound. She showed Leila. Leila gasped in horror.

“Yeah. I know.” Iris grunted. “It really hurts.”

“Hey, Harlem!” Ben called frantically. “Iris was shot!”

“There are some bandages somewhere back there,” Harlem replied. Iris gritted her teeth against the pain.

Finally Ben held up a box of bandages. There were only a few left. Olivia wrapped Iris’s hand up tightly. It helped a little. At least it wasn’t gushing blood anymore.

This is the real price we have to pay for time traveling, Iris realized. Not because it takes a week to get back—but it ruins the future for us. If we had never time traveled, we would all have good hopes for our future. But instead, because we have time traveled, we know our human civilization will fall apart. I mean, it kind of already is, what with a certain cheating president living in the White House right now. Or, should I say, five-hundred years ago?

“Sooo…” started Harlem hesitantly, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “We left the T.T.D. back there.” He jerked his thumb back where they had just been. “Those men’ll search that place like heck now. I won’t be surprised if they find it.”

“So we’re trapped here?” Leila guessed. Harlem took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Yup,” answered Jonas. “Maybe forever. We can try to get it later if you’d like.”

“Whelps,” said Harlem, nodding his head and drumming his fingers on the Jeep’s steering wheel, “welcome to the new age.”