@VisualInspiration
The time engineers were puzzled at first, but then, they realized they were in a kind of late 21st century giza. The temples and pyramids looked as weathered as they’d known them from their timeline, but there were far more ancient buildings around them. And modern ones, too, including a strange looking radiation tower. An obelisk displayed a male face with a moustache, engraved into the sandstone.
“Look at this guy. Think I’ve seen him before. But -“
“What do the the runes say?“
“These are hieroglyphs. And they, hm, let me see... There seems to be a Hellenic translation.“
But he ad no time for deciphering the glyphs. Two red-robed guards approached, pointing laser guns at the visitors.
“Strangers!“ one of them said in Old Greek. “You are arrested for chronotronic misbehaviour. Follow us to the machine center or we will have to disintegrate your bioframe.“
“Machine center – that’s interesting. Don’t you have police stations here?“
“Our last Pharao died without a heir,“ the guard explained. “And instead of letting priests choose the next ruler, we use an electronic device for all decisions. For efficiency reasons, the Device took over als executive, legislative and judical responsibility.“
“Including religious matters,“ added the second guard, sounding proud of his advanced society.
Agent Jensen whispered in English, “Died without a heir, that was the plan. But this looks strange.“
“Poisoning the prince and seducing the princess obviously wasn’t enough to make this timeline vanish,“ Tomacek agreed. “Maybe we can complete the mission now.“
“I hope we find our way back to the entry point,“ Jensen replied.
The agents were escorted to the radiation tower and led through a door in the base of the tower.
“Strangers! Kneel down before the Device!“ the guard ordered.
“But no!“ a metallic voice said in fluent English and a retro-futuristic robot entered the room. The front of its head was a copper plate with Nicola Tesla’s face laser-etched on it.
“The moustache,“ Jensen murmured.
“Oh, how happy I am to finally have some decent company,“ the robot said eagerly. “And since I’ve been stuck in this timeline for some thousand years, I bet you brought some sort of time machine. Didn’t you?“
#microfiction
#scifi
#timetravel