Time And Time Again

Miller shook his head, "No, well not for sure, it … it looked, well like a stick or… a spear."
Jon Stanton nodded his eyes searching the rocks,
"Yeah, a spear or a stick … did you get a look at how he was dressed?"
Wade Miller stared at his friend, disbelief etched across his face then said,
"He looked like he was dressed in skins, animal fur." They searched the outcropping of stone and snow and thick trees
that grew on either side, Stanton said,
"You ever see anyone dressed like that up here before?" Miller sat staring, his head shaking.
Stanton nosed the Huey a little closer when suddenly two figures appeared out of the growth of trees, two figures that looked like they were somehow out of the ancient past. The two men in the helicopter stared in bewilderment and silence. It was Stanton who finally spoke as he looked at the two figures through the binoculars,
"Christ, they look like …like cavemen."
There was a brief moment of silence as the pair watched the strangers, then Miller said,
"Look, spears and …" The two creatures were dressed alike in a variety of animal furs. Thick fur hoods concealed most of their features and they wore heavy fur boots. They stood bent, slightly stooped, and not completely upright and as the rotor blades blew one of the hoods back, Stanton and Miller got a good look at one of the men. Miller whispered,
"Holy God, is he ugly."
The creature had a full dark beard with long stringy hair and the look on his face was neither one of terror or anger, it was quizzical. The men stood close together until finally they both turned and bolted into the thick forest. For some reason, Stanton eased the helicopter back away from the cliff face just as several large rocks came out of the bush. He pulled up quickly and settled back about twenty-five yards from the tree line. He was very curious now and more than a little pissed. Miller blurted,
"They’re trying to hit us with rocks, the stupid bastards." Stanton nodded,
"Yeah, well, we’ll have to report this."
Miller blinked and said in a low voice, his eyes not leaving the spot where the men had been,
"A … what are you going to report … that we saw two guys that look like cavemen and they tried to hit us with spears and rocks," a sarcastic frown crossing his face as he said,
"You sure about that?"
He turned and looked at his friend then said,
"Let’s get the hell out of here we can call this in later."
Stanton nodded and as the helicopter began to move away said,
"OK, you tell me what we saw."
Miller shook his head looking back at the outcropping of granite.
He replied,
"I don’t know, but are you really going to say we saw cavemen?"
Stanton glanced at the formation of rock the said,
"I guess but …" he stopped in mid sentence when he saw five fur-clad men standing there in front of them. This was really weird, maybe one or two guys playing caveman, but five. Miller shook his head as Stanton hovered, the Huey facing the outcropping. He looked at the men and said,
"I don’t like this, something’s not right."
The five men were gesturing at the helicopter with their spears and clubs and the gestures weren’t friendly. Miller agreed,
"I’ll say this is not right, those are five mean-looking bastards."
Stanton was glancing around, looking at the trees and forest,
"Notice anything else?" he waited for Miller to answer then said, "The forest has changed, and it’s not like it was before we flew into that cloud."
He was aware of the change in the vegetation, the trees and the surrounding landscape, it was very different, so much so that he said,
"Something tells me we not in our time."
A huff came from Miller as he turned to look at the pilot his voice raising as he asked,
"What, our time … just what the hell does that mean?" Stanton slipped the Huey off to the right, backing away from the rocks.
"I’m not sure, but something is different, that’s for sure, let’s go home."
The Huey pulled up and headed down the valley toward the way they had flown in, but it had changed, the vegetation wasn’t the same, the trees looked different. There was snow, but there was something else, something different, it wasn’t the same landscape that they had flown over just minutes before plus there was no evidence of the dark cloud; it was gone. Miller was looking out the window, seeing the difference and he was worried, his voice showed it.
"Jon, this doesn’t look right, I don’t remember seeing anything like this coming in, and where is that black cloud we went through?"
Stanton pulled the nose of the helicopter up sharply, settling into a hover.
"This isn’t the same, it’s different, something has happened, and it happened when we flew into that damned cloud." He was looking around, checking the surroundings,
"Did you notice that slab of ice in the canyon back there?" Miller’s shook his head no and Stanton said,
"I could be wrong, but I think it was part of a glacier and there haven’t been any glaciers around here for thousands of years." Wade Miller smiled, then his face paled and the smile disappeared when he saw that Stanton was serious. Below was a clearing surrounded by a thick growth of pygmy conifer trees, trees that Jon Stanton knew hadn’t been around for thousands of years. Miller noticed them also,
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen trees like those." Stanton pointed at the open space and told his friend to look with the binoculars. Miller adjusted the eyepiece then exclaimed excitedly,
"Elk, I see elk, but …" he paused as he adjusted the glasses, "son of a bitch, I’ve never seen elk like those." He paused as he scanned the herd,
"Those are the biggest elk I’ve ever seen, look at the size of those antlers."
Stanton took a pair of glasses and looked into the field.

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