Time Travel-Part 3

“No. Wait. Father! Father!” Annie’s crying started again. But this time, Tom didn't try to comfort Annie. He couldn't believe what he just heard. How could it be possible that his father was actually from 1776? Tom felt like crying himself, and just as he noticed that Annie was crying also, something crashed down from the ceiling and trapped Annie and Tom inside. Annie’s crying abruptly stopped. Two men approached Annie and Tom, one with a gun, the other with handcuffs.

“I told you they would come out when we closed a door.” The first man said. The second man just shrugged his shoulders. They handcuffed Tom and Annie, and forced them outside of the house, where a car was waiting. Once Tom saw the car, he immediately felt another pang of familiarity. It was just a plain white van, but Tom swore he saw it before. He shook of the feeling, thinking that it was just a coincidence. Tom and Annie were shoved into the car roughly, with the first man pointing a gun at them the whole time.

“You guys better not try anything funny, or you’ll be dead before you know it,” the first man said. Tom and Annie both nodded, and sat still for the whole journey. During the car ride, Tom kept on thinking back to Annie’s dad's last words. Could it have just been a slip of a tongue? He thought. The fact that Annie’s dad was his real dad made things much more complicated. How could it be possible that someone from the 18th century is his father? Then again, how did he get to the 18th century? The ride was over before he knew it, and he was shoved out of the car, and toward a small log building. The building was fenced in with electrical barbed wire, and the second man punched in a code to the keypad. When they crossed from into the fenced in area, the whole scenery around them changed. The lush green forest turned into a dirty, deforested pasture. A huge building loomed over them, covered in smoke and ash.

“Welcome to Future Tech Industries!” The first man said with a mischievous smile. His words made everything seem worse. Annie and Tom looked around in horror at their new surroundings, but they were quickly shoved into one of the many towers dotting the area. The inside of the building was polished and clean, unlike the dirty outside.

“Tell Boss that were here with the children,” the first man said to a lady that greeted them. The lady nodded, and typed something into a small keypad that she had with her. She led them down many hallways and into a huge room with couches and glass windows that covered the walls.

“Welcome!” a booming voice said.

“Hello sir. We brought the children,” the first man said. Then he and the second man left the room, leaving Tom and Annie by themselves in the huge room. Tom looked around in confusion. The man that said welcome was no where to be seen.

“Children. Don’t worry, you will be safe here,” the mysterious voice said in a soothing tone. Tom looked at Annie to see what her reaction was, and surprisingly, she looked very angry.

“First, you kill my father. Then you send me to this place. And now you don’t even show yourself and tell us we are safe!” Annie yelled. He voice filled the room and echoed. The room was silent for a long time before the mysterious man found a reply.

“Please let me explain myself. I didn't show myself because I don’t think Tom is ready to know who I really am. And your father probably isn't dead.” the voice said. “In fact I’ll be quite surprised if he is,” the voice chuckled. Then the voice’s tone went back to a serious one. “But now, since you seem to eager to know, I will show myself.” A door appeared on one of the walls. The door slowly opened, and Tom’s eyes widened with it. Out from the doors came a man Tom had seen almost every day of his life. Out from the door came his father from the 21st century. Tom didn't know how to react. He felt anger and happiness from seeing his ‘father’. His ‘father’ was the one that sent him back here, but why? Annie looked at Tom in confusion. Tom saw the confusion and explained to Annie that the man was his father from the future. Tom’s dad continued to talk.

“Tom and Annie, you probably don’t really like what I have done so far, and that is reasonable. But please let me explain why I started Future Tech Industries” Tom’s dad said. Tom and Annie both nodded, though Annie’s nod was more like a half nod. “If you fast forward to 2100, the world is a mess. There are no more resources. Half the world is starving. People are killing each other just for food or any other needs. Annie’s father made a time machine with the help of me and my son, not directly for the purpose of getting resources from the past, but to teach the people of the past what would happen in the future. Of course, it didn't work. People still continued their regular everyday lives without even thinking twice about the consequences. Meanwhile, things are getting worse and worse in 2100. All government is abolished. There is no more order. And even though me and Frank, Annie’s dad, were partners in making the time machine, I couldn't bear watching my family starve. So I took a sneak back to the past and made a small pasture and made some food. When Frank found out, he was furious,”

Annie interrupted. “Why was my dad furious? I have lived with him for most of my life. He never got mad.” The fury was still in her voice.

“Well, this was a different case,” Tom’s dad said. “The past is very closely interlinked with the future. Any difference that is made in the past directly affects the future. That’s why he thought that I was only making things worse by using the time machine the way I did. So he locked the time machine away. Naturally, we were both really angry at each other. Then, my real son died. I was heartbroken, but around the same time my son died, you were born. I kidnapped you from Frank, and I told him I would only give you back he gave me the time machine. But I had already spent some time with you, and I couldn't bear to lose another ‘son’. So I broke the deal and took the machine and you. Then, I starting making frequent trips back and forth from the 18th century to the 22nd century. Things were starting to get better in our times. The global population rose from 100,000 to 300,000 and my company starting getting bigger. Things were looking good for us. Then Frank found us in the 18th century. I was forced to put my company in hiding, and we weren't as successful as before. People starting to go hungry again. The only way to regain my success was to make Frank back down. So I tried multiple times to take Annie.”

Annie interrupted again. “So that's why my Dad always got really mad when I let people onto our log cabin, or when I wandered far from our house.”

“Yes, that is probably the reason. Anyways, this is all why you guys are here today,” Tom’s dad said.

“So my Dad was the bad player in this. I refuse to believe it,” Annie said angrily. She stormed off, about to exit the room.

“Annie, wait!” Tom said. He walked over to Annie and whispered in her ear. “I don’t believe him either, but we have to pretend to be on his side or else we will never escape this place,” Annie looked like she understood, and they both walked back toward Tom’s dad.

“Do you guys now understand the importance of Future Tech Industries?” Tom’s dad asked. Tom and Annie both nodded, and Tom’s dad continued to talk. “You both will be sent to rooms where you will stay in, until I can get Tom back into his regular time period, and Annie to find another family. See you soon,” Tom’s dad typed something into his keypad, and the woman that greeted them came into the room and took them out.