Gino and the Time Machine

by Gregg Stephens

  The ground was shaking and Gino knew instantly that was not a good thing! “Quick Paul, hide!” Gino screamed. A giant Tyrannosaurus Rex jumped out from the bushes and made a roar that sent vibrations through our entire bodies. I was shaking with fear when a Parasaurolophus ran across the path of the T-Rex. It was short lived as the T-Rex snatched it up in his razor sharp teeth and ate it like it was a McDino hamburger, minus the pickle!

  The boys were now so afraid to go anywhere they just stayed in place until night fall came. They had hoped to journey back to the Noobis-14 after dark as the T-Rex was not known to have good night vision. Unfortunately there were other creatures during that time that did have good night vision, like the Velociraptors. Not good, not good at all!

  Walking in a rain jungle was not all that easy. Gino had stated that he wasn’t sure if the hunger or the fear was the greater of the two emotions he was experiencing. Paul on the other hand wanted to go home as he missed his little brother, Rico Suali.

  It was a good thing that Gino had studied his dinosaurs at home so he would know which of these dinosaurs were carnivores or herbivorous. One eats only meat, while the other eats vegetation. Usually it was easy to distinguish one from the other even if you didn’t know from books as the vegetarians had eyes on the side of their heads, while the meat eaters had their eyes on the front of their head so they could see in stereovision. Animals with their eyes on the side of their heads were able to see all around their body to watch for predators. “We are lost Paul!” Gino replied. It was almost impossible to find the Noobis-14 in the pitch dark.

  Although it was nightfall, the forest was still alive with animals. We kept feeling small animals running past our legs as we continued walking down the path. “We really need to stop walking the path Paul, this is an animal trail.”

  Gino remembered watching hunting programs back home on how predators would sit along the animal trails and pounce on unsuspecting victims. “We don’t want to be on some dinosaurs menu Paul” Gino whispered back to Paul. “I know it’s faster but it’s not safe.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Their progress was slow due to the vegetation but at least they had a better chance of not being eaten. Gino asked Paul, “Paul, if you were eaten by a dinosaur, which one would you rather it be, a T-rex or a pack of Velociraptors? Paul quickly replied, “None of them Gino! None of them!” Gino laughed as he enjoyed giving Paul digs to make him laugh, but this was serious now as they really could be eaten by either one of those dinosaurs.

  Soon, the boys came to an opening and to their surprise, there was a herd of hadrosaurs, also known as the “good mother” dinosaurs as they were known to take care of their new born rather than abandoning their eggs as soon as they were laid as most dinosaurs did. There were thousands of nests full of eggs with the mothers all lying next to the eggs or close by. Paul was so hungry and all he could think of was how many scrambled eggs he could make. He approached one of the nests and the mother hadrosaurs quickly came running to chase him away from her nest. “Darn, said Paul, I was so close!” “Can you imagine the omelet we could make with these eggs Gino?” “Yuck,” Gino answered back, “I hate eggs.” “But right now, anything sounds good.” Gino thought.

  Nearby, they could hear what appeared to be some kind of animal screaming. “Let’s go check it out Paul,” Gino yelled out. Running as fast as they could through the tall grass, an opening cleared out and there it was, a fully grown Brontosaurus stuck in a tar pit half way up to his shoulders. The poor thing, I thought. I wish I was able to pull him out, when out of nowhere a young adult Tarbosaurus about 40 feet long and about 22 feet high, leaped out of the overgrown trees. These were cousins of the T-Rex and were just as mean and nasty. The Tarbosaurus walked around and around the Brontosaurus looking for some way to eat his dinner but the fear of the tar pits kept him at bay.

  Finally, the Brontosaurus was sucked into the black gooey matter and disappeared from sight. Better him than us, I thought. “We really need to get back to the Noobis-14,” I told Paul. He agreed. The sky was filling

  with plumes of dark black smoke, which now I was able to clearly see that it was bellowing from a volcano. I earlier had thought It was smoke from the British cannons. The volcanos here were very active.

  I remembered that the Philippine islands were all volcanic islands as were the Hawaiian Islands as well. The Earth was very active with volcanos, mud pits, tar pits and all kinds of hot springs. For some odd reason, the Earth’s upper crust was thinner or the core was hotter with so much pressure.

  “Hey said Paul,” I have to go to the bathroom. “Did you bring any toilet paper Gino?” “Nope,” Gino replied, “I didn’t think we were going to be here that long.” “Just use some banana leaves like they do in the Philippines Paul,” laughed Gino. “Not funny Gino!” yelled Paul.

  At that moment, Gino swatted a huge mosquito. It was larger than anything he had seen back home. “Holy Mackerel,” Gino remarked, “These mosquitos are as big as birds. I bet they could suck a pint of blood out of us Paul!” The mosquito bite swelled up and itched like 10 bites with a bump the size of an egg. Gino remembered his Mama taught him about some plants that were natural mosquito repellants. There was Citronella, and other plants from the Mint family which were all over the place. We rubbed wild mint all over our arms and faces to repel these monster mosquitos.

  We walked another mile or so and we came across a large female Triceratops that had been mauled by some predator dinosaur. We could see the large bit marks from its killer and we were only glad we weren’t around at the time. We went up closer to get a better look at this animal as it’s not every day that you get to look at a real life Triceratops. In the nearby bushes we heard a sound that seemed like a grunting pig. We slowly walked over to the grass, and in the midst was a very young baby Triceratops. It was so cute with his little nubs for horns and his big blue eyes. I picked him up and he was no larger than a big house cat. You could tell he was afraid after watching its mother being devoured by some T-Rex type of creature. “Let’s keep him Paul,” I said. “He is so cute. Let’s take him home with us.” Paul quickly replied, “Do you think it’s safe to bring him home Gino? Remember the Golden Rule of time travel?” “Your right” said Gino, “He has to stay here, but we can keep him as long as we are here right?” “Right” stated Paul. “What do you think we should name him?”

  “Hmmm, let’s call him Pork Chop! He is so cute and fat like a little piggy,” said Gino. The boys laughed and agreed that their new little Triceratops friend would be named Pork Chop.

  They still had not come across the Noobis-14 and the boys were starting to become very concerned that something had happened to their return craft. Gino spoke out loud, “Paul, I think we are walking in circles. We should have already arrived at our base camp.”

  CHAPTER 5

  “It’s starting to get late Paul, and the sun is setting. We are going to need to make a place to sleep and get going in the morning, Our mothers are probably scared to death by now. We are going to be in so much trouble Paul.” stated Gino. “And I am also very hungry.”

  Unexpectedly, Paul grabbed his bag and pulled out two very large dinosaur eggs. “Where did you ever get those Paul?” Gino asked. “From the hadrosaurs farm way back there from this morning. When you weren’t looking, I grabbed a couple before the mother could see me.” Paul quirked. Eating raw eggs wasn’t my idea of a nutritious dinner, but right now it sounded pretty good. Slimy yet filling!

  I looked at Pork Chop and for a moment, all I was able to imagine was him cooking on an open fire with BBQ sauce all over him. Naaah, just kidding. We could never eat Pork Chop. I think the heat was getting to us by this time. The sun was setting and it was cooling down a bit.

  The night was long and seemed like an eternity before the sun came up. We quickly drank some creek water and began our journey looking for the Noobis-14. As we walked around the side of the hill, there she was. Noobis-14 was still in the same plac
e where we left it. But something was different. Someone or something had smashed our battery which we needed to get home. “Great, Just Great!” I yelled. “How are we getting home without our battery?

  Just then a pack of flying Pteranodons flew overhead. These things were huge with more than a 23 feet wingspan. Although they had no teeth like the Pterodactyl, they were still very formidable animals and

  we didn’t have a clue about their behavior towards us.

  All we know from our natural history books is they are fish eaters and or scavengers. We watched them as they flew off and landed on the top of some nearby cliffs. We could see they had large nests built from piles of sticks. Little heads with large beaks were popping up towards the mother Pteranodon as she was feeding them with fish from her mouth.

  “Ok Paul,” stated Gino, “We have to get some materials to see if we can build a new battery for Noobis-14 and get home as quickly as possible.” “Paul, we are going to need a whole bunch of coconut shells and then cut them in half ok?”

  I need to go inside the time machine to see what parts can be scavenged to make the batteries. I will need to find some copper and zinc he thought. Finding copper was easy because the computers had a lot of wiring inside them. With all the wire rounded up, next we will need to find something acidic. This was going to be a bit trickier since we couldn’t walk into mom’s kitchen and grab some vinegar from the refrigerator.

  “Here is what we are going to do Paul, we are going to get some of those apples off of those trees over there and cut them up and put them in this big jar. We will add some water and honey and in no time we will be able to make homemade vinegar.” Gino and Paul took the vinegar water and placed it in 12 coconut jars and place a wire with a piece of copper on one end and zinc on the other. They then hooked them up in a series and there you have it, a battery strong enough to power up their computer system for the time machine. (image of boys constructing the battery)

  Gino had all the coconut batteries all connected and tried to start up the computer system that initiated the electron flux unit. This was the invention that Gino had created that rearranged the electrons of the time machine. The Noobis-14 and all the occupants needed to spin so fast, that time was able to be altered. The farther back in time you wanted to go, the faster the electrons inside the electron flux unit would have to go.

  Traveling to the future required even more power. “We don’t have enough power Paul to get back to the future. We need more coconuts. Can you go and find at least 6 more, Paul?” blurted Gino. “Ok Gino, I’ll get on it right away,” Said Paul.

  Almost 30 minutes had past and still Paul hadn’t returned yet. “I wonder where in the world Paul is at, thought Gino. I better go look for him.” Gino went over to the place they had found all the coconuts on the ground earlier and there was no trace of Paul anywhere. “Oh no, this is not good,” thought Gino as he searched all around the area. He called out his name and still no answer.

  CHAPTER 6

  Gino had searched for Paul for nearly 3 hours and dusk was upon him now. “I don’t know what I am going to do without Paul”, Gino thought as he looked into his campfire. Had a Velociraptor or a T-Rex gotten ahold of Paul and had him for a mid-day snack? Gino knew he had to get up early and had to use his time better to search for Paul. He couldn’t go back home without him.

  Gino woke up at first light of the morning to the scream of some large dinosaur off in the distance. It sounded like a distress call of some kind, like when it is about to be eaten by a large predator.

  Gino had found some blackberries and some wild strawberries which were enough to get him going for the day. Gino had remembered from a survival book he had read that placing pine boughs on an open fire created a great amount of smoke. This could be very useful for a signal that could help Paul find me if he is still able to walk. Or if he was still alive!

  The two boys had been stuck in the Cretaceous era for about 3 days already. Gino was missing his parents so much and he was also missing his classes at school. “Oh man, moaned Gino, I am going to have so much homework when I get home, if I ever get home”.

  Gino had thrown the pine boughs on the fire and they were making white smoke that was sending a huge plume straight up into the sky since there was hardly any wind today. Climbing the tallest tree he could find, Gino took out his binoculars and scourged the landscape in hopes of finding some trace of Paul. Nothing! He climbed back down the tree and put the fire out and got ready to start searching for Paul. He tied a little piece of twine he found in the Noobis-14 and looped it around Pork Chops neck so he could make sure he didn’t wander off. “Come on Pork Chop, said Gino, we have to get going before it gets too late.” The temperature had started to get really hot and sweat was already dripping off Gino’s forehead.

  Next to Gino’s arm was a large spider web. Bigger than anything he had seen back home in the garden. It was some kind of funnel spider, as he could see the opening of his magnificent nest. It must be huge, Gino thought, as the hole was almost 12 inches in diameter. Gino lightly touched the web and quickly a huge monster spider jumped out of his hole sending Gino backwards and falling to the ground. The huge spider just perched on the edge of his web looking down at Gino as if he was thinking about taking a chance to eat him. “We won't be doing that again,” Gino spoke out loud remembering how large some spiders like the Giant Goliath Bird Eating Spider were. Everything here is bigger, faster and more dangerous he thought to himself.

  There on the ground he could see Paul’s footprints. “Great, Gino spoke out loud, now we’re getting somewhere!” But as suddenly as he had spoken, the footprints quickly disappeared into thin air. This means one of two things. Gino quivered thinking about his best friend, either Paul was snatched up in the jaws of a large T-Rex or he was grabbed by a large flying reptile. Since there wasn’t any blood on the ground, Gino had prayed that it was a flying reptile as he might still be alive. Now he at least knew where to look! He knew that there were some Pteranodon nests up on the sharp rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean. They loved to build their nest high so they can take advantage of the winds updraft blowing in from the ocean. It was going to be a 2 hour hike to get to the foot of the cliffs.

  Pork Chop was getting tired as well as thirsty. “Ok, Porky, let’s go get your water over there, I can see a pond down the way.” As the two approached the pond, Gino looked down on the ground and found one of Paul’s shoes. Now he was even more convinced that a Pteranodon snatched up Paul because there were no tracks at all.

  Gino knew he couldn’t drink the pond water without boiling it first as it contained so many different strains of bacteria. He had spent many hours looking at pond water from his Koi pond back home. Many of these bacteria would make him violently ill and possibly even worse. Pork Chop ventured to the edge of the pond for a quick drink, lowering his head to quench his thirst.

  But just as his mouth touch the surface of the water, a huge crocodile lunged out of the pond from under the surface and snapped his humongous jaws at Pork Chop. Gino quickly snapped back on the leash and Pork Chop went flying through the air away from the pond. “Wow Porky, that was really close, we’re going to have to find a better place to get you a drink my little friend.” Gino replied to baby Triceratops.

  CHAPTER 7

  “That was larger than any crocodile I have ever seen Porky, even on Youtube, the largest crocodile I ever saw was captured in the Philippines. It measured 23 feet long and this one was almost double that!” said Gino.

  “Everything here wants to eat you one way or another. I can’t wait to get the heck out of here. I prefer reading about dinosaurs and looking at their pictures. This is way too dangerous for a little boy. I don’t know what I'm going to do with you Pork Chop when I have to leave here because I can't take you with me that’s for sure.”

  Gino and Porky started to continue their hike towards the rocky cliffs dodging every open place that could be a potential ambush from a predator and sta
ying away from open air spaces that could lead to an attack from above.

  Even the plants here were giant-sized. Ferns were almost 6 feet tall and the dragonflies were 8 to 10 inches in wingspan. Gino remembered his mama telling him that when she was a little girl, they used to eat the tender little curled shoots on the fern plants. He grabbed one and put it in his mouth. Chewing slowly to see if it was bitter or not. Gino recalled, if it burns your mouth, spit it out. However, it was pleasantly good tasting. It reminded him of asparagus. Porky was nibbling on them as well as they trekked through the tall ferns.

  It was high noon now, and the sun was brutal. Gino was soaked in sweat. “It must be over 100 degrees.” Gino quipped at Porky. “I wish were could go swimming, but it would be the last time we ever got to go swimming, that’s for sure!” Porky looked up at Gino as if he understood what he was saying.

  Gino grabbed the binoculars and peered through them looking upwards towards the sharp cliffs. Then out of nowhere, he could see Paul sitting all alone in one of the Pteranodon’s nest. There wasn’t any of the flying reptiles around him. This was Gino’s chance to rescue Paul before he was fed to the baby pteranodons.

  It looked like it was maybe a mile or so before they got to the cliffs. As the two approached the end of the forest a large pond with overgrown cattails and other aquatic plants were seemingly choking the pond for sunlight. On the surface of the pond were these huge 6 foot lily pads. They almost covered every single inch of surface space on the pond.

  They had to get over the pond to get to the cliffs. How were they going to get over was the million dollar question. Gino grabbed a piece of log and threw it onto one of the lily pads. It remained floating! “Awesome! Yelled Gino, We might just be able to jump across this pond by staying on top of the lily pads.” Gino grabbed Pork Chop and tossed him onto the closest lily pad. “I hope these lily pads will hold my weight too!” Gino leaped on the nearest pad and it was strong enough to hold him up. The two jumped from one lily pad to the next until they were completely across the pond.