To Be A King • 3
The Discovery • Part three of a six-part sci-fi fantasy. New chapters every Tuesday.
If you are new to the story, you can begin here:
In the previous part, Cliff and Rattar landed on the planet Thrawan, and Rattar showed Cliff an amazing discovery.
“A portal? To where?” I asked.
“Earth. Stonehenge on Earth. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
“I’m sorry. I am trying to believe you, but I’m having a hard time.”
“I expected as much. No sane person would believe it. Come on.”
He walked toward the stones.
I didn’t move.
“That’s an order, soldier.”
I walked toward the stones. This is madness, I thought.
We both walked into the stone circle, and nothing happened. At least that’s what I thought. We walked out of the other side, and the General kept walking. I followed.
As we walked, the General told me more of the story.
“After I tested the circle myself, I led the men into the circle. It didn’t seem like anything had happened, so we scouted the area. One of the men found a dirt path. We followed it for a while and saw a structure. It was like something out of a history log, built of wood with vegetation for a roof. It was surrounded by fields growing several different kinds of crops.”
“Then we heard a strange rumbling noise, so we took cover in a crop field. The noise got louder, and I realized it was the sound of horses. Then we saw them. Three men riding horseback. Each with a sword strapped to his side and a shield on his back. The shields had emblems on them—some kind of fanciful animal. That’s when I realized we weren’t on Thrawan anymore. We were on Earth.”
“So, you’re saying we are on Earth right now?”
“Yes, we’re on Earth. But not now, Earth in the past.”
“What?” The volume of my voice rose.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I saw it, and you will too.”
Sure enough, a short time later, we came upon the farm the General had described. I couldn’t believe it. A woman came out of the house, took two pieces of wood from a pile, and went back in. She looked human, but her clothing was ancient.
“How do you know this isn’t just some kind of coincidence? Maybe these are natives of Thrawan and just look like humans.”
“I thought about that, but I heard them speak English. I didn’t recognize a few words, but it was English.”
“Maybe they are some kind of secret colonists from Earth,” I added.
“I went through all those scenarios in my head. I decided to go back to the ship. I needed to think. We had been gone for about an hour, and I knew the pilot would be getting worried. I didn’t want him coming to look for us.”
“We walked back through the stones. When we returned to the ship, the pilot said, ‘That was quick. I’ve barely gotten started.’ I thought he was joking. Then I looked at the com display, which showed we had only been gone 10 minutes. It was about a five-minute walk each way to the stones. The hour we spent after walking into the stones didn’t register on Thrawan.”
Rattar’s story was sounding crazier and crazier. But we walked back to the stones and through them again, then back to the ship. I looked at the com, and only ten minutes had passed. I was dumbfounded.
Next part:
Thanks for reading and responding. You make it fun.
Mark
Cool, Mark! I am curious to see where this is going.
I wonder for what purpose the portal was created. Have aliens been traveling to the middle ages to change our history and get some advantage? Was it for vacation travel? You got me thinking, Mark.