The group crouched down amongst the ferns on the floor of the forest. Arnie moved ahead, moving with slow precision towards the time machine.

‘You know David, for the world’s cleverest man you really are a fucking idiot’ - said Zoft

‘What is happening, what does Arnie mean - humanoids?’ - said Fiona

‘I don’t know what is happening’ - said David

‘Are there other people here?’ - said Fiona

‘I don’t know’ - said David

‘Are these people with a time machine?’ - said Fiona

‘I don’t know’ - hissed David

‘This is really bad’ - said Zoft - ‘This is going to be really bad’

‘Will Arnie be okay?’ - said Fiona - ‘I am really scared’

Arnie crept towards the time machine. He was 50 meters from clearing. Arnie could clearly see two humanoid figures standing near the time machine. One of them was kicking the machine. Arnie could see a red box floating above the clearing.

This would be difficult. Arnie programming prevented him from causing any harm or damage to the humanoids as he didn’t have enough available data to determine that they were not human. If Mr. Sterling, Dr. Hall, and Dr. Zoft were not present on earth 67 million years ago before the first recorded history of homosapiens, then the determination that the humanoids were not homosapiens would be 100%. But the presence of the humans behind him in the forest changed that possibility. They could be other homosapiens, they could have used a time machine as Mr. Sterling, Dr. Hall, and Dr. Zoft had. His current calculation was that there was a 90% probability that the humanoids were not homosapiens. The probability needed to be 100% before Arnie could take direct action.

Arnie crept closer.

Arnie was 10 meters from the clearing. Arnie scanned the humanoids. They were both 2.5 meters tall. There are only 7 humans in human history recorded to be taller than 2.49 meters. The probability that there were two humans taller than 2.49 meters in the same location, and 67 million years before humans evolved changed the probability. Arnie was now 99.99% sure that the humanoids were not homosapiens, but still not 100% sure.

Arnie crouched just outside the clearing.

The humanoids were dressed in a shiny metallic suit that covered their entire body and head. They were walking around the time machine. One of them kicked it again.

‘AKRAA SKAA DUNSAAG?’ - said one of the humanoids

Arnie analysed the sound. It was not produced from the range the human vocal cords could produce. Arnie was 100% certain that the humanoids were not homosapiens.

Arnie couldn’t use the rockets or the grenades. Their blast radius would damage the time machine. Arnie looked up at the red box hovering above the clearing.

Arnie would open fire with the pulse cannon with precision shots at the two humanoids, to either disable or kill them. Immediately after engaging the humanoids Arnie would fire three rockets at the red box, destroying it.

From the crouching position, Arnie leveled his right arm towards the two humanoids and then fired.

A rapid burst of blue energy pulses came from the forest. Arnie landed 100% of the shots. The first burst ripped into the first humanoid, blowing a huge hole in its torso. Arnie changed fire to the second humanoid, blasting it apart. Arnie had dropped the two humanoids in under 2 seconds.

Arnie raised his other arm and a mini-rocket was chambered. As Arnie was raising his arm, a white light shot from the red box hovering above the clearing and it encapsulated Arnie. The white light wrapped itself around Arnie as he leveled his arm to the firing position. The white light expanded to form a sphere around Arnie, and then a cube. Arnie disappeared into the white cube, and then the white cube shrank in an instant. Where Arnie had been standing, a small white cube sat on the ground with smoke rising around it.

‘Shhh - the pulse cannon’ - said Zoft

The three of them sat in silence, waiting to hear something more.

‘What should we do?’ - said David

‘Oh my fucking god. I am so fucking scared. I just want to go home David. Please, I just want to go home’ - said Fiona

‘Shhhhhh’ - said Zoft

They crouched in silence. Fiona was crying.

In the clearing the two dead humanoids lay next to the time machine. Green blood and gore coming from inside their shiny metallic suits.

Three more humanoids appeared in the clearing, dropping from the red box above. They had guns.

‘Asshra! Coola besta asshraa’ - said the front one

One of the other humanoids stepped over to the two dead humanoids and checked them.

‘Makkra’ - said the kneeling humanoid.

‘Betoolat. Meeka stalla bedoowa. Yassa begood asshara’ - said the first humanoid.

The three humanoids walked to the edge of the clearing. The first humanoid picked up the white cube and placed it in a pouch that was tied around its waist.

The humanoids spread out and went into the forest. As they stepped into the forest, their shiny metallic suits changed to a forest patterned camouflage.

‘What the fuck should we do?’ - said David

‘Wait’ - said Zoft - ‘We wait for Arnie!’

‘Where the fucking is Arnie?’ - said David

‘Guys, let’s just go. Please. Let’s just go to the time machine and go home. Please. I am scared. I just want to go home’ - said Fiona, still crying.

‘We wait for Arnie’ - said Zoft

‘Shhhh’ - said David - ‘I heard something’

They crouched in silence, and waited.

‘Is it Arnie?’ - whispered Fiona

‘Shhh’ - said Zoft

They waited.

‘Assa kahh’ - said a voice amongst the ferns.

‘What was that?’ - said David

‘Be fucking quiet’ - hissed Zoft

‘Asska’ - said another voice

They crouched in silence.

‘Assa kahh. Assa walla kree’ - said a third voice

They were surrounded.

‘What is that?’ - whispered David

Feet stepped closer, and a gun pointed into the ferns where they were hiding.

‘Toopla. Ekram toopla. Assa ree assta’ - said a voice

‘Oh my god. Oh my god. I just want to go home’ - Fiona was crying, and hysterical

‘What the fuck do we do?’ - said Zoft, his eyes panicked.

An arm reached in and grabbed David Sterling by the hair, and pulled him out of the ferns. Another gun pointed in and then an arm, grabbing Dr. Fiona Hall and pulling her out. Dr. Edwin Zoft was grabbed.

Fiona screamed. Zoft screamed. David screamed.

‘Hassa kallak estood?’ - said the humanoid holding David by the hair

The humanoid holding Fiona held her by the throat. It turned her head side to side.

‘Ashrakka estood?’ - it said.

‘Hallasta. Elloot arama betilla’ - said the humanoid holding David

All three of the humanoids dropped the humans, and pulled something from the pouches tied around their waists.

‘Oh my god. David. Do something!’ - screamed Fiona

Before any of the humans could do anything the humanoids fired a device at the humans and a purple light shot at them. The purple light wrapped around the human’s throats and they were restrained.

‘Akka spoot makra espeela’ - said the humanoid who had been holding David.

The humanoids picked up a human each, and walked back to the clearing.

Dr. Hall, Dr. Zoft, and David Sterling were incapacitated. The purple light around their throats silenced them and left them unable to move. They were aware of what was happening, but unable to move or speak.

The humanoids returned to the clearing. The humans could see the time machine and the two dead humanoids laying beside it.

The two dead humanoids shot up to the red box hovering above the clearing, and then the three humanoids and the three humans flew up.

The inside of the red box was sparse. There was a row of seating on either side, and a large cargo storage space at the rear.

The three humans were dropped in the cargo storage area. The corpses of the two dead humanoids were laying on the floor between the two rows of seats. Two of the humanoids who had captured the humans sat on the seats opposite each other, they were talking.

The third humanoid was talking to the pilot of the red box.

‘Regga ambal spoot makra espeela’ - the humanoid said to the pilot.

The red box zoomed ahead, over the forest and banking to the left.

The third humanoid joined the two other humanoids in the seating area.

As the humanoid sat, the forest camouflaged suit dissolved. The two other humanoid’s suits dissolved as well. Under the suits the humanoids were green, with amphibian-like skin. The humanoids had large, frog-like eyes, no noses, and a wide mouth filled with small sharp teeth. Their hands had long, thin fingers and small claws. They were aliens.

‘Haggar emp lassta inguloo!’ - shouted one of the aliens, kicking the dead body of one of the aliens on the floor of the red box.

‘Kraggar. Intu se bragga lassta inguloo’ - said one of the others, and all three of them appeared to laugh.

Fiona, Zoft, and David lay paralysed.

‘Krampar buntoni. Koo-koo umpagga selvani!’ - said one of the aliens, and the three of them looked at the humans in the cargo hold and laughed again.

The alien that had picked up the cube that contained Arnie pulled the cube out of its pouch and held it in its hand.

‘Shalsko untu baggar ust untoni’ - it said

The alien placed the cube back in the pouch and then lent back and closed its eyes and appeared to fall asleep.

The other two did the same.

The red box flew low over the cretaceous landscape of giant redwood trees.

The red box cleared a hill, and on the otherside was a giant ship floating in the air. The ship was rectangular and must have been 10 km long. Hundreds of smaller ships were flying into and out of the huge hangers that were open on the side of it.

The red box the humans were in flew towards the giant ship, and approached a hanger. The red box flew into the giant hanger and landed next to dozens of other red box aircraft. Once the red box had landed, the sleeping aliens opened their eyes and stretched. The rear of the red box started lowering and the aliens climbed over the paralysed humans and stepped into the hanger.

An alien wearing a bright red uniform was marching up to the aircraft followed by a smaller alien in the same uniform.

‘Look out, here comes trouble’ - said one of the aliens.

‘Captain Shan’ - said the alien marching up to them

‘Colonel’ - said Captain Shan, saluting

‘Captain Shan, did I hear your pilot’s report you have two dead scouts?’ - said the colonel

‘Yes sir colonel. That is correct’ - said the captain

The other two aliens were standing to attention behind the captain.

‘And do you want to explain to me why you have two dead scouts, Captain Shan?’ - said the colonel

‘Sir, they were shot’ - said the captain

‘Shot!’ - said the colonel - ‘Shot by who?’

‘The...the thing that shot them is in a box, sir. We captured three...three…’ - said the captain

‘Three what?’ - said the colonel

‘I don’t know what they are sir’ - said the captain

‘Have you had too much gas, captain?’ - said the colonel

‘No sir. They are in the scouting craft sir’ - said the captain

‘What are?’ - said the colonel

‘The things’ - said the captain

‘Well bring them here, let me have a look at them’ - said the colonel

The captain nodded to the two other aliens, and they dragged Fiona, Zoft, and David out of the craft and into the hangar.

The colonel walked around them, and then kicked Zoft.

‘Where did you find these things?’ - said the colonel

‘Out near where the last herd is being harvested sir, in the forest’ - said the captain

The colonel kneeled down and thumbed David’s clothing. The colonel pulled David’s hair and opened his mouth, inspecting his teeth.

‘Get me the zoologist’ - said the colonel to the smaller alien.

‘Yes sir colonel sir’ - said the smaller alien.

The smaller alien unclipped a device from his belt and spoke into it.

‘The zoologist will be along shortly’ - said the smaller alien

‘What do you think they are, sir?’ - said the captain

‘Lift one up and unrestrain it’ - said the colonel

The captain nodded and the two other aliens lifted Fiona to her feet and one of them pressed a button on a device and the purple light unwrapped from around Fiona’s throat and shot back into the alien’s device.

The two aliens held Fiona’s arms.

‘HELP ME! HELP ME! GET ME FUCKING OUT OF HERE! HELP ME!’ - screamed Fiona

The aliens did not understand.

‘It seems agitated’ - said the colonel

Fiona continued to scream.

‘What is that on its back?’ - said the colonel

The captain pulled Fiona’s backpack off of her back, and handed it to the colonel.

The colonel held it at arms length.

‘Maybe we should wait for the zoologist, sir’ - said the captain

‘Open it’ - said the colonel

Fiona continued to scream.

The captain placed the backpack on the ground, and examined it. He found the zipper and pulled it, the captain pulled its head away. The backpack opened. The captain removed a bottle of water, some energy bars, some crackers, a camera, a notepad, a pen, and a small first aid kit.

‘What is all that stuff?’ - said the colonel

The captain opened the water bottle and sniffed it. He picked up the food in their wrappers and sniffed them, and examined the camera. He flicked through the notepad.

‘It could be some form of writing sir. It seems to be intelligent’ - said the captain

‘Let’s not carried away, captain’ - said the colonel

The zoologist arrived.

‘What is the urgency here? I was having my breakfast’ - said the zoologist

‘What is this?’ - said the colonel

‘What is what?’ - said the zoologist

‘This’ - said the colonel, pointing at Fiona

Fiona continued to scream.

‘What the fuck is that?’ - said the zoologist

‘That is what I asked you’ - said the colonel

‘Where did you find this?’ - said the zoologist

‘Scouting party found it. Two scouts were killed by one of them. The killer is in a box’ - said the colonel

‘My goodness’ - said the zoologist

The zoologist gingerly stepped towards Fiona.

‘Does it bite?’ - said the zoologist

‘We don’t know. This is why you are here’ - said the colonel

‘It makes a lot of noise’ - said the zoologist - ‘can we quieten it down?’

The colonel nodded at the captain, and the captain nodded to the other two. Fiona was restrained again with the purple light.

‘That’s better. I couldn’t hear myself think’ - said the zoologist, smiling at the colonel.

The zoologist studied Fiona. Checking her eyes, mouth, ears, hands, and body.

‘Well. What is it?’ - said the colonel

‘I haven’t a clue’ - said the zoologist

‘What do you mean, you haven’t a clue?’ - said the colonel

‘I mean I haven’t a clue’ - said the zoologist

‘I thought you were a zoologist’ - said the colonel

‘I am’ - said the zoologist

‘So, in your zoological experience, what is it?’ - said the colonel

‘I don’t know’ - said the zoologist

‘Not even a guess?’ - said the colonel

‘Nope’ - said the zoologist

‘Nothing?’ - said the colonel

‘Yep’ - said the zoologist

‘Is that “yep” I have something, or “yep” I have nothing?’ - said the colonel

‘Yep, I have nothing’ - said the zoologist

‘Alright, dismissed’ - said the colonel

‘Glad I could be of assistance’ - said the zoologist walking away.

The colonel stood and thought for a moment.

‘Alright, get these three up to future projects and see if they can get a chain on them and find out more’ - said the colonel - ‘Send the one in the box to storage. It can die in there. The two dead scouts send to processing ’

‘Yes sir’ - said the captain

Dr. Hall, Dr. Zoft, and David Sterling were placed on a trolley and wheeled out of the giant hanger.

The cube containing Arnie was thrown in a bin that was marked - “FOR STORAGE”

The two dead scouts were placed on a different trolley and wheeled out of the giant hanger.