A year had passed in the late cretaceous. David Sterling, Eddie Murphy, and Salvatore were marooned 67 million years in the past. Life for the humans in the late Cretaceous wasn’t so bad though.

The human’s had long beards, and their clothes were dirty and scraggy.

Arnie had built a compound, with a log cabin at its center with bedrooms and a kitchen with a clay oven and stove. The compound was near a river, and Arnie had constructed an aqueduct system to transport fresh water into the compound for drinking and bathing. Bathing and swimming in the river wasn’t advisable, due to the large crocodiles that lived in it.

There was a landing pad for the Maankaari guard’s barge inside the compound.

Dinosaurs would wander past the compound often to visit the river. The dinosaurs would mostly ignore the compound. Once a smaller Albertosaurus came by and was sniffing the high log walls of the compound - but Arnie scared it off with his sirens.

Arnie would hunt for fish from the river. Giant sturgeon-like fish that would be baked by Salvatore in the clay oven. The humans also ate small feathered dinosaurs that tasted a lot like turkey. There were dates as well, from palms that grew in the valley.

The humans ate their meals on the veranda of the cabin, out of wooden bowls and using wooden utensils that Arnie had carved.

The humans and Arnie would travel often to the coast, on the Western Interior Seaway to catch sea fish. Arnie recommended this so that the humans could consume oiler fish than the river fish they mostly consumed. The humans would collect sea water as well, and place it in polished wooden trays that Arnie hand fashioned to evaporate the water and collect the salt, to season the meat and fish.

Although their diet was balanced, the humans had all lost weight.

David Sterling and Eddie Murphy would fly the Maankaari barge across the forest, and find what small herds of dinosaurs they could and watch them. Edmontosaurus, and triceratops. David and Eddie saw a baby triceratops killed by an adolescent Albertosaurus.

The humans would sit around the firepit inside the compound in the evenings, and watch the stars and talk about their experiences, and their lives, and the aliens.

‘They made me cook them’ - said Salvatore - ‘All of those poor people’

Salvatore sobbed.

‘That fat frog faced mother fucker was gonna eat me’ - said Eddie Murphy

‘They ate Fiona, and Edwin’ - said David, staring into the fire.

‘You were tricked, Mr. Sterling’ - said Arnie

‘But by who?’ - said David, looking at Arnie

Arnie was silent for a moment.

‘I have thought about this for a while, Mr. Sterling. From what I understand, the aliens were preparing to leave this planet. It would appear that something wanted the alien’s to stay on this planet. Whatever that something was, succeeded in introducing you, and Dr. Hall, and Dr. Zoft to the aliens. After that introduction was successful and the discovery by the aliens of the time machine, the plans for the aliens to leave this planet changed, and they instead planned to travel to the time of humans. I would hypothesize, Mr. Sterling, that whatever sent you back here to meet the aliens wanted to prevent the aliens from visiting them in the future’ - said Arnie

There was silence for a while. The humans stared into the fire.

‘Now, If you had told me that I would be a mother fucking time traveller, who put on a personal performance of my stand-up routine for a bunch of aliens, and went fucking dinosaur hunting with a giant king fucking alien, and then was going to be eaten by the fucking king alien who said he loved me, and then flew an alien ship and escaped from the aliens, and now lives in a log cabin in the land that time forgot with an Italian chef, a Scottish inventor, and a fucking robot - I would call you mother fucking crazy’ - said Eddie Murphy

Salvatore and David laughed. Eddie Murphy laughed.

‘You know what I miss - I miss a nice glass of wine’ - said Salvatore - ‘And I miss my wife, and my children’

There was silence for a while.

‘What do we do?’ - said Salvatore - ‘How do we get home?’

‘Yeah, ain't you supposed to be the cleverest man in the world?’ - said Eddie Murphy - ‘You built one time machine, why don’t you build another one and get us the fuck home?’

David thought for a while.

‘I have been thinking about this’ - said David - ‘My father vanished when I was 7’

‘Lotta folks dad’s vanish when they are 7’ - said Eddie Murphy

‘My father was building a motorcycle when he vanished’ - said David.

‘The motorcycle was a time machine’ - said Arnie

‘Yes’ - said David

‘There is a high probability, Mr. Sterling, that your father was also sent on the same mission that you were, to be introduced to the aliens’ - said Arnie

‘Yes’ - said David

‘It is probably, Mr. Sterling, that your father’s mission was unsuccessful’ - said Arnie

‘Yes’ - said David - ‘My father didn’t make contact with the aliens, so I was sent as a second attempt’

‘If your father was sent on the same mission, to the same time and the same coordinates, Mr. Sterling, there is a possibility that your father’s time machine is present in this time’ - said Arnie

‘Another fucking time machine?’ - said Eddie Murphy - ‘What the fuck are we waiting for?’

‘We can go home?’ - said Salvatore

‘Maybe. We have to find it first’ - said David

The humans excitedly discussed the thought of finding the time machine, and leaving the land that time forgot.

Shooting stars streaked across the cretaceous sky, high above the log cabin and the compound. The loud hoots of a lonely tyrannosaur, looking for a mate, echoed from the redwood forest above and filled the valley with sound.