a sound of thunder

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<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; The sign on the wall seems to quaver under a film of sliding warm water. You feel your eyelids blink over your stare, and the sign burned in this momentary darkness:@@ <<next 6s>> @@.center; [[TIME SAFARI|guarantee]], INC. SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST. YOU NAME THE ANIMAL. WE TAKE YOU THERE. YOU SHOOT IT.@@ <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Warm phlegm gathers in the back of your throat; you swallow and push it down. The muscles around your mouth formed a smile as you put your hand slowly out upon the air, and in that hand waves a check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the <<linkreplace "desk." t8n>>desk. "Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?" <</linkreplace>> <<next 12s>> "We guarantee nothing," says the official, <<next 6s>> "except the dinosaurs." @@ <</timed>> <<timed 22s>><<goto "travis_intro">><</timed>>

@@.center; "except the dinosaurs."@@ <<timed 6s>><<goto "travis_intro">><</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "This is Mr. Travis, your Safari Guide in the Past. He'll tell you what and where to shoot. If he says no shooting, no shooting. If you disobey instructions, there's a stiff penalty of another ten thousand dollars, plus possible government action, on your <<linkreplace "return." t8n>>return. You glance across the vast office at a mass and tangle, a snaking and humming of wires and steel boxes, at an aurora that flickered now orange, now silver, now blue. There is a sound like a gigantic bonfire burning all of Time, all the years and all the parchment calendars, all the hours piled high and set aflame. A [[touch of the hand]] and this burning would, on the instant, beautifully reverse itself. You remember the wording in the advertisements to the letter. Out of chars and ashes, out of dust and coals, like golden salamanders, the old years, the green years, might leap; roses sweeten the air, white hair turn Irish-black, wrinkles vanish; all, everything fly back to seed, flee death, rush down to their beginnings, suns rise in western skies and set in glorious easts, moons eat themselves opposite to the custom, all and everything cupping one in another like Chinese boxes, rabbits into hats, all and everything returning to the fresh death, the seed death, the green death, to the time before the beginning. <</linkreplace>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; A touch of a hand might do it, the merest touch of a hand. @@ <</timed>> <<timed 6s>><<goto "unbelievable">><</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; <<linkreplace Unbelievable. t8n>> A real Time Machine. <</linkreplace>> <</timed>> <<timed 7s t8n>> "All you have to worry about now is-" <<next 3s>> "Shooting my dinosaur." <<next 2s>> "A Tyrannosaurus Rex. The Tyrant Lizard, the most incredible monster in history. Sign this release. [[Anything happens to you|scare me]], we're not responsible. Those dinosaurs are hungry." <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "Trying to scare me!" <<next 3s>> "Frankly, yes. We don't want anyone going who'll panic at the first shot. Six Safari leaders were killed last year, and a dozen hunters. We're here to give you the severest thrill a real hunter ever asked for. Traveling you back sixty million years to bag the biggest game in all of Time. Your personal check's still there. Tear it up." <<next 7s>> [[You tear your check and walk out.]] <<next 1s>> [[You nudge the check forward on the desk and begin signing the release form.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You tear up your check, scattering the pieces on the floor. <<next 2s>> "I can't do this," you say firmly. "I'm sorry, but I'm leaving." <<next 2s>> The guide shrugs, obviously accustomed to this sort of thing. "Suit yourself," he says, as you head out the door. <<next 2s>> You leave the building, feeling an odd sense of relief wash over you. As you walk down the street, you can't help but think about the alternate reality you had avoided. <<next 10s>> ENDING 1/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "Good luck," says the man behind the desk. "Mr. Travis, he's all yours." <<next 3s>> You all move silently across the room, taking your guns with you, toward the Machine, toward the silver metal and the roaring light. <<next 5s>> First a day and then a night and then a day and then a night, then it was <<cycle "$answer" autoselect>> <<option "day.">> <<option "night.">> <<option "day.">> <<option "night.">> <<option "a week.">> <<option "a month.">> <<option "a year.">> <<option "a decade!">> <<option "A.D. 2055.">> <<option "A.D. 2019.">> <<option "1999!">> <<option "1957!">> <<option "[[gone.]]">> <</cycle>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You sway on the padded seat, your face pale, your jaw stiff. You feel the trembling in your arms and you look down and find your hands tight on the new rifle. There are four other men in the Machine. <<next 5s>> Travis, the Safari Leader, his assistant, Lesperance, and two other hunters, Billings and Kramer. <<next 3s>> They sit looking at each other, and the years blaze around them. <<next 3s>> <<next 3s>> [[You break the tension.]] <<next 1s>> [[You stay silent.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "Can these guns get a dinosaur cold?" You feel your mouth saying. <<next 3s>> "If you hit them right," said Travis on the helmet radio. <<next 2s>> "Some dinosaurs have two brains, one in the head, another far down the spinal column. We stay away from those. That's stretching luck. Put your first two shots into the eyes, if you can, blind them, and go back into the brain." <<next 7s>> [[The Machine slows.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You find yourself anxiously fiddling with your thumbs, your jaw shifting to nibble at your lower lip. The silence is deafening. <<next 4s>> [[The Machine slows.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; The Machine's scream falls to a murmur, and finally stops. The sun rests still in the sky. <<next 2s>> "Christ isn't born yet," says Travis, "Moses has not gone to the mountains to talk with God. The Pyramids are still in the earth, waiting to be cut out and put up. Remember that. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler- none of them exist." <<next 5s>> "That" - Mr. Travis points <<next 2s>> - "is the jungle of sixty million two thousand and fifty-five years before any of us." <<next 3s>> He indicates a metal path that strikes off into green wilderness, over streaming swamp, among giant ferns and palms. <<next 3s>> "And that," he says, "is [[the Path]], laid by Time Safari for your use. <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "It floats six inches above the earth. Doesn't touch so much as one grass blade, flower, or tree. It's an anti-gravity metal. Its purpose is to keep you from touching this world of the past in any way. Stay on the Path. Don't go off it. I repeat. Don't go off. For any reason! If you fall off, there's a penalty. And don't shoot any animal we don't okay." <<next 8s>> [[Why?]] <<next 1s>> [[Yes sir.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "Why?" you ask. <<next 1s>>"We don't want to change the Future. We don't belong here in the Past. The government doesn't like us here. We have to pay big graft to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, a small bird, a roach, a flower even, thus destroying an important link in a growing species." <<next 8s>> [[That's still not clear.]] <<next 1s>> [[Right.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You're not absolutely sure what he means, but you feel that it's best just to [[shut up and listen]]. <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "That's not clear," you say. <<next 1s>> "All right," Travis continued, "say we accidentally kill one mouse here. That means all the future families of this one particular mouse are destroyed, right?" <<linkreplace "Right." t8n>>"Right." "And all the families of the families of the families of that one mouse! With a stamp of your foot, you annihilate first one, then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a billion possible mice!" [[So what?]] <</linkreplace>> <</timed>>

You're not absolutely sure what he means, but you feel that it's best just to [[shut up and listen]]. At least a bit of your curiosity has been satisfied.

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "So they're dead," you say, <<linkreplace "So what?" t8n>>"So what?" "So what?" Travis snorted quietly. "Well, what about the foxes that'll need those mice to survive? For want of ten mice, a fox dies. For want of ten foxes a lion starves. For want of a lion, all manner of insects, vultures, infinite billions of life forms are thrown into chaos and destruction. Eventually it all boils down to this: fifty-nine million years later, a caveman, one of a dozen on the entire world, goes hunting wild boar or saber-toothed tiger for food. But you, friend, have stepped on all the tigers in that region. By stepping on one single mouse. So the caveman starves. And the caveman, please note, is not just any expendable man, no! He is an entire future nation. From his loins would have sprung ten sons. From their loins one hundred sons, and thus onward to a civilization. Destroy this one man, and you destroy a race, a people, an entire history of life. It is comparable to slaying some of Adam's grandchildren. The stomp of your foot, on one mouse, could start an earthquake, the effects of which could shake our earth and destinies down through Time, to their very foundations. With the death of that one caveman, a billion others yet unborn are throttled in the womb. Perhaps Rome never rises on its seven hills. Perhaps Europe is forever a dark forest, and only Asia waxes healthy and teeming. Step on a mouse and you crush the Pyramids. Step on a mouse and you leave your print, like a Grand Canyon, across Eternity. Queen Elizabeth might never be born, Washington might not cross the Delaware, there might never be a United States at all. So be careful. Stay on the Path. [[Never step off]]!" <</linkreplace>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "I see," you say. "Then it wouldn't pay for us even to touch the grass?" <<next 3s>>"Correct. A little error here would multiply in sixty million years, all out of proportion. Of course maybe our theory is wrong. Maybe Time can't be changed by us. Or maybe it can be changed only in little subtle ways. A dead mouse here makes an insect imbalance there, a population disproportion later, a bad harvest further on, a depression, mass starvation, and finally, a change in social temperament in far-flung countries. Something much more subtle, like that. <<next 8s>> "How do we know which animals to shoot?" <<next 2s>> "They're marked with red paint," says Travis. "Today, before our journey, we sent Lesperance here back with the Machine. He came to this particular era and followed certain animals." <<next 4s>> "Studying them?" <<next 2s>> "Right," says Lesperance. "I track them through their entire existence, noting which of them lives longest. Very few. How many times they mate. Not often. Life's short, When I find one that's going to die when a tree falls on him, or one that drowns in a tar pit, I note the exact hour, minute, and second. I shoot a paint bomb. It leaves a red patch on his side. We can't miss it. Then I correlate our arrival in the Past so that we meet the Monster not more than two minutes before he would have died anyway. This way, we kill only animals with no future, that are never going to mate again. You see how careful we are?" <<next 6s>> "Cut that," says Travis sharply. "Everyone on his feet!" <<timed 27s>><<goto "shut up and listen">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; They were ready to leave the Machine. <<next 3s>> The jungle is high and the jungle is broad and the jungle is the entire world forever and forever. Sounds like music and sounds like flying tents fills the sky, and those were pterodactyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of delirium and night fever. <<next 5s>> [[You aim your rifle.]] <<next 1s>> [["Where's our Tyrannosaurus?"]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You, balancing on the narrow Path, aim your rifle playfully. <<next 2s>> "Stop that!" said Travis. "Don't even aim for fun, blast you! If your guns should go off-" <<next 1s>> You flush. [["Where's our Tyrannosaurus?"]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Lesperance checks his wristwatch. "Up ahead, We'll bisect his trail in sixty seconds. Look for the red paint! Don't shoot till we give the word. Stay on the Path. Stay on the Path!" <<next 4s>> "Safety catches off, everyone!" orders Travis. "You, first shot, Eckels. Second, Billings, Third, Kramer." <<next 4s>> "I've hunted tiger, wild boar, buffalo, elephant, but now, this is it," you say. "I'm shaking like a kid." <<timed 8s>><<goto "stop">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Everyone stops. <<timed 5s>><<goto "there_he_is">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>>Travis raises his hand. "Ahead," he whispers. "In the mist. There he is. There's His Royal Majesty now." <<next 5s>> The jungle is wide and full of twitterings, rustlings, murmurs, and sighs. <<next 4s>> Suddenly it all ceases, as if someone has shut a door. <<timed 10s>><<goto "silence">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Silence. <<timed 5s>><<goto "thunder">><</timed>><</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; A sound of thunder. <<timed 5s>><<goto "mist">><</timed>><</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, comes Tyrannosaurus Rex. <<next 5s>> "It," you whisper. "It...... <<next 2s>> "Sh!" <<next 1s>> It towered thirty feet above half of the trees, a great evil god, folding its delicate watchmaker's claws close to its oily reptilian chest. Each leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in a gleam of pebbled skin like the mail of a terrible warrior. And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out front, arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like toys. Its mouth gaped, exposing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, empty of all expression save hunger. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside trees and bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, leaving prints six inches deep wherever it settled its weight. <<next 11s>> "Why, why," your mouth twitches. "It could reach up and grab the moon." <<next 4s>> "Sh!" Travis jerks angrily. "He hasn't seen us yet." <<next 3s>> "It can't be killed," you pronounce this verdict quietly, as if there could be no argument. You had weighed the evidence and this was your considered opinion. The rifle in your hands seemed a cap gun. "We were fools to come. This is impossible." <<next 6s>> "Shut up!" hisses Travis. <<next 2s>> "[[Nightmare.]]" <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> "Turn around," commands Travis. "Walk quietly to the Machine. We'll remit half your fee." <<next 3s>> "I didn't realize it would be this big," you say. "I miscalculated, that's all. And now I want out." <<next 3s>> "It sees us!" <<next 2s>> "Get me out of here," you breathe. "It was never like this before. I was always sure I'd come through alive. I had good guides, good safaris, and safety. This time, I figured wrong. I've met my match and admit it. This is too much for me to get hold of." <<next 5s>> "Don't run!" shouts Lesperance. "You need to take your shot or [[hide in the Machine|encounter]]!" <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; [[You step this way.]] <<next .2s>> [[You step that way.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You take a few steps, blinking, shuffling. <<next 2s>> "Not that way!" <<timed 3s>><<goto "monster">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You take a few steps, blinking, shuffling. <<next 2.5s>> The Monster lunges forward with a terrible scream. It covers one hundred yards in six seconds. The rifles jerk up and blaze fire. The Monster roars, teeth glittering with sun. <<next 3s>> The rifles crack again, their sound is lost in shriek and lizard thunder. The great level of the reptile's tail swings up, lashing sideways. Trees exploded in clouds of leaf and branch. The Monster twitches its jeweler's hands down to fondle at the men, to twist them in half, to crush them like berries, to cram them into its teeth and its screaming throat. <<next 6s>> You hear a terrible noise. One of trees being ripped into clouds of leaves and bark as the lizard crashed down. <<next 3s>> Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus fell. <<next 4s>> You slowly, shakily, bring yourself to raise your head from the hiding spot in The Machine. You watch the victorious hunters, you notibly excluded, take a trophy photo with the creature. <<next 4s>> Travis returns to The Machine with the rest of the men, giving you a [[glare]] that could tear right through your skin, not unlike the teeth of The Monster that lay dead on the jungle floor. <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; The Monster lunges forward with a terrible scream. It covers one hundred yards in six seconds. The rifles jerk up and blaze fire. The Monster roars, teeth glittering with sun. <<next 4s>>The rifles crack again, their sound lost in shriek and lizard thunder. The great level of the reptile's tail swings up, lashing sideways. Trees explode into clouds of leaf and branch. The Monster twitches its jeweler's hands down to fondle at the men, to twist them in half, to crush them like berries, to cram them into its teeth and its screaming throat. Its boulderstone eyes leveled with the men. They saw themselves mirrored. They fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black iris. <<next 15s>> Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus fell. <<next 2s>> Thundering, it clutched trees, pulled them with it. It wrenched and tore the metal Path. The men flung themselves back and away. The body hit, ten tons of cold flesh and stone. <<next 3s>> [[The thunder faded.]] <</timed>>

<<cycle "$answer" autoselect>> <<option "[img[https://the-evil-lair.neocities.org/trex_jumpscare_1.gif]]">> <<option "[[TAKE THE SHOT!]]">> <</cycle>> <<timed 5s>><<goto "Hide in the Machine">><</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You momentarily swallow your fear, adrenaline ripping through your veins as you squeeze the trigger. A sound of thunder. <<next 3s>> Your shot meets its mark. The beast howls. <<next 3s>> The other men then take their shot just as Travis had instructed. Their sound is lost in shriek. The great level of the reptile's tail swings up, lashing sideways. Trees explode into clouds of leaf and branch. <<next 6s>> The Monster twitched its jeweler's hands down to fondle at the men, to twist them in half, to crush them like berries, to cram them into its teeth and its screaming throat. Its boulderstone eyes leveled with the men. They saw themselves mirrored. They fired at the metallic eyelids and the blazing black iris. <<next 7s>> Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche, Tyrannosaurus [[fell]]. <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; The thunder faded. <<next 3s>> The jungle was silent. After the avalanche, a green peace. After the nightmare, morning. <<next 10s>> ENDING 2/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "You are a fool, Eckels," Travis' words are dripping venom. "When we get back to the Safari, we will return half of what you paid. Never come back." <<next 4s>> You swallow hard in your throat, gripping your rifle tightly, before finally nodding in agreement. <<next 10s>> ENDING 3/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Billings and Kramer sit on the pathway and throw up. Travis and Lesperance stand with smoking rifles, cursing steadily. In the Time Machine, on your face, you lay shivering. You had found your way back to the Path, climbed into the Machine. <<next 9s>> Another cracking sound. Overhead, a gigantic tree branch broke from its heavy mooring, fell. It crashed upon the dead beast with finality. <<next 4s>> "There." Lesperance checks his watch. "Right on time. That's the giant tree that was scheduled to fall and kill this animal originally." He glances at the two hunters. "You want the trophy picture?" <<next 4s>> [[What?]] <<next 1s>> [[...]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "What?" <<next 2s>> "We can't take a trophy back to the Future. The body has to stay right here where it would have died originally, so the insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as they were intended to. Everything in balance. The body stays. But we can take a picture of you standing near it." <<next 8s>> No one says anything. The two hunters shake their heads and warily make their way back to The Machine. <<next 4s>> [[You apologize.]] <<next 1s>> [[...]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; "Get up!" cries Travis. <<next 1s>> You scramble to your feet. <<next 2s>> "Go out on that Path alone," says Travis. He has his rifle pointed, "You're not coming back in the Machine. We're leaving you here!" <<next 3s>> Lesperance seizes Travis's arm. "Wait-" <<next 2s>> "Stay out of this!" Travis shakes his hand away. "This fool nearly killed us. But it isn't that so much, no. It's his shoes! Look at them! He ran off the Path. That ruins us! We'll forfeit thousands of dollars of insurance! We guarantee no one leaves the Path. He left it. Oh, the fool! I'll have to report to the government. They might revoke our license to travel. Who knows what he's done to Time, to History!" <<next 4s>> [[You beg for your life.]] <<next 1s>> [[You follow orders.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You lay there shivering. <<next 2s>> "I'm sorry," you say at last. <<timed 5s>><<goto "...">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You drop to your knees, fumbling with Travis' shirt. "I'll pay anything. A hundred thousand dollars!" <<next 5s>> Travis glares at you and spits. "Go out there. The Monster's next to the Path. Stick your arms up to your elbows in his mouth. Then you can come back with us. The bullets can't be left behind. Here's my knife. Dig them out!" <<next 8s>> [[You choose to retrieve the bullets.]] <<next 1s>> [[You refuse.]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> The jungle is alive again, full of the old tremorings and bird cries. After a long time, like a sleepwalker you shuffle out along the Path. <<next 2s>>The Machine begins to shriek, and suddenly you are all alone. You drop to your knees. <<next 2s>> It won't be long now. <<next 7s>> ENDING 4/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> The jungle is alive again, full of the old tremorings and bird cries. You turn slowly to regard the primeval garbage dump, that hill of nightmares and terror. After a long time, like a sleepwalker you shuffle out along the Path. <<next 8s>> You return, shuddering, five minutes later, your arms soaked and red to the elbows. You holds out your hands. Each held a number of steel bullets. Then you fall. You lay where he fall, not moving. <<next 3s>> "You didn't have to make him do that," you hear Lesperance say. <<next 2s>> "Didn't I? It's too early to tell." Travis nudges the still body. "He'll live. Next time he won't go hunting game like this." He jerks his thumb wearily at Lesperance. "Switch on. Let's go home." <<timed 15s>><<goto "pray">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> "That's ridiculous!" you retort. <<next 2s>> "Then turn around." <<next 2s>> "What?" <<next 2s>> "Turn around." <<next 2s>> Finally, you begin to move so slow you wonder if you are at all.. Eyes shut, you wait, shivering. You hear Travis shift his rifle, click the safety catch, and raise the weapon. <<next 4s>> There was a sound of thunder. <<next 7s>> ENDING 5/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; They clean their hands and faces. They change their caking shirts and pants. You were now up and around again, not speaking. Travis glares at you for a full ten minutes. <<linkreplace "Don't look at me." t8n>>"Don't look at me," you cry. "I haven't done anything." "Who can tell?" "Just ran off the Path, that's all, a little mud on my shoes- what do you want me to do- get down and pray?" "We might need it. I'm warning you, Eckels, I might kill you yet. I've got my gun ready." "I'm [[innocent]]. I've done nothing!" <</linkreplace>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; <<cycle "$answer" autoselect>> <<option "1999.">> <<option "2000.">> <<option "2055.">> <<option "The Machine stops.">> <<option "[[Get out.]]">> <</cycle>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; The room is there as you all had left it. But not the same as you all had left it. The same man sits behind the same desk. But the same man does not quite sit behind the same desk. Travis looks around swiftly. "Everything okay here?" he snaps. <<next 7s>> "Fine. Welcome home!" <<next 2s>> Travis does not relax. "Okay, Eckels, get out. Don't ever come back." You could not bring yourself to move. <<next 4s>> "You heard me," says Travis. "What're you <<linkreplace "..." t8n>>staring at?" You stand smelling the air, and there is a thing to the air, a chemical taint so subtle, so slight, that only a faint cry of his subliminal senses warned him it was there. The colors, white, grey, blue, orange, in the wall, in the furniture, in the sky beyond the window, are . . . are . . . . And there is a feel. Your hands twitch. Somewhere, someone must have been screaming one of those whistles that only a dog can hear. Your body screams silence in return. Beyond this room, beyond this wall, beyond this man who is not quite the same man seated at this desk that is not quite the same desk . . . lay an entire world of streets and people. What sort of world it is now, there is no telling. You could feel them moving there, beyond the walls, almost, like so many chess pieces blown in a dry wind [[....]] <</linkreplace>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; But the immediate thing is the sign painted on the office wall, the same sign you had read earlier today on first entering. Somehow, the sign has changed:@@ <<next 9s>> @@.center; [[TYME SEFARI]] INC. SEFARIS TU ANY YEER EN THE PAST. YU NAIM THE ANIMALL. WEE TAEK YU THAIR.@@ <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You feel yourself fall into a chair. You [[fumble crazily]] at the thick slime on your boots. <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You hold up a clod of dirt, trembling, "No, it can't be. Not [[a little thing]] like that. No!" <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, is a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead. It falls to the floor. <<next 5s>> <img src="https://the-evil-lair.neocities.org/dead%20butterfly.png" style="width: 100%"> <<next 5s>> An exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then big dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across Time. Your mind whirls. It couldn't change things. Killing one butterfly couldn't be that important! Could it? <<next 7s>> Your face is cold. You drop to your knees, a small noise escaping your throat. You scrabble at the golden butterfly with shaking fingers. "Can't we," you plead to the world, to yourself, to the officials, to the Machine, "can't we take it back, can't we make it alive again? Can't we start over? Can't we-" <<timed 15s>><<goto "final choice">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You cannot hear anything but the pounding of your own heart. <<next 4s>> [[You look down at your rifle, your knuckles turning white as your grip tightens. It's too much.]] <<timed 6s>><<goto "travis_kill">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; There was a sound of thunder. <<next 7s>> ENDING 7/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; In a single, desperate motion, you click the safety catch, and raise the weapon to rest roughly against the roof of your mouth. <<timed 3s>><<goto "suicide">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; There was a sound of thunder. <<next 7s>> ENDING 6/7 <<next 2s>> [[try again?|start]] <<next 3s>> [[credits]] <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; You do not move. Eyes shut, you wait, shivering. You hear Travis breathe loud in the room; you hear Travis shift his rifle, click the safety catch, and raise the weapon. <<timed 5s>><<goto "travis_kill_2">><</timed>> <</timed>>

<<timed .1s t8n>> @@.center; This story includes loud noises, gun violence, and possible suicide. Proceed with caution. [[START|start]] <</timed>>

story credits: A Sound of Thunder written by Ray Bradbury image credits: T-Rex assets from Jurassic Park-The Ride Online Adventure All other assets from Adobe Stock and Shutterstock sound credits: