Tales of Time and Travel (LGBT)

TimeLabs - Day One

Grotte du Lazaret, France, 170,000 BC

The time machine came to rest about a kilometre away from the cave, in a hollow. "Once you put on the light-bending suits, you become invisible," explained Marcella. "But the time machine is not. The placement of all TimeLab visits has been very carefully worked out to cause minimal disruption to the environment, and the inhabitants. Remember, you may observe as much as you want to, but under no circumstances can you interfere with what you see before you."

Marcella spent a few minutes scanning their surroundings before she said it was safe to leave the time machine.

"Suits comfortable?" she asked, adjusting a taser rifle over her shoulder. "This is for emergencies only. It will stun anything smaller than a mammoth, giving us time to make our escape."

"Here are your goggles," she passed over two sets of narrow eyeshields. "These are so we can see each other despite the suits. They will also record what you see, so that you'll have a record of your trip when you get home."

Sam and Zak nodded and put them on. Instantly they could see a silvery outline where the other was standing. Marcella handed them each a slim utility belt. "Emergency rations are in the blue pocket and water is in the red. We'll only be gone a couple of hours this time, so that should keep you going until we return here for lunch."

She smiled. "Are you ready gentlemen? Follow me."

Marcella opened the door of the time machine. Almost quivering with excitement, Sam stepped out into a new world. 170,000 years in the past. The smells were the first thing he noticed. The salty scent of the sea, the pungent aroma of soil and growing plants. No fumes. No chemicals. They were surrounded by forest but he was a little disappointed to find the trees didn't look much different from those in the present. Taller perhaps ... and certainly more prolific.

Marcella set off along a narrow track, looking back once over her shoulder to check that the couple were following. "Remember, we are visitors here. We can't take anything except images, or leave anything behind - except footprints."

Eventually they arrived at an Observation Post. The hide was several metres above them, covered in light-bending material. Marcella led the way up a narrow ladder and gestured the two men to the front of the hide. "You should have a good view from here."

Sam looked eagerly around. He had been quite disappointed when he had been told they couldn't wander around at will, but he realised now that would have been far too dangerous. He spotted the cave almost immediately; there was a fire glowing just inside. He could see people clothed in animal skins, moving around in front of the cave mouth. Some were carrying what looked and smelt like armfuls of seaweed - bedding perhaps? Others were scraping the skin off a dead animal. He could hear the buzzing of flies from here. All the people had long shaggy hair and the only way he could tell male from female, from this distance, was by the bushy beards some of them wore. He activated the vision lens on his eyeshield and brought up a closer image. The man he was looking at had heavier brows and a broader nose than most modern people but he thought they were human, not Neanderthal.

Sam pinched himself, just to check that this was real and not a dream.

They stayed another hour, just watching the tribe go about their tasks, before Marcella led them back to the Time Machine and a delicious lunch.

"So, this afternoon, you have a choice of returning to the Lazaret hide, or we can go for a walk in the other direction. We have a second hide there at the edge of the forest, overlooking a wide plain. If we're lucky, we might spot a bear or even a mammoth, although I can't guarantee it."

Sam turned to Zak, his eyes blazing with excitement. "A mammoth! Let's give it a try. What do you think?"

"All right - but don't get your hopes up!" Zak warned.

Although they didn't see any mammoths, they did see a herd of very odd looking horses, and a pair of huge birds with a wingspan more than three metres, riding the thermals above them.

Tired but happy, they cuddled up to each other later that night, safely back in their room in the time machine. "Olympia tomorrow! This is going to be the best honeymoon ever," whispered Sam.