"What is our present position?", captain Maguire asked lieutenant Anesu", manning the navigation console.
"According to the ship's instruments we in back in the Orion system?", said lieutenant Anesu reported.
"It can't be", exclaimed captain Lucinda.
"Could the ship's instruments have been affected by the force of the blast?", asked captain Maguire.
"Negative captain", reported lieutenant Anesu, "ship's instruments are fully functional.
"Com", perch me through to engineering", captain Maguire ordered lieutenant Tanaka at communications.
"Lieutenant, carry out a full diagnostic of the ship and report", captain Maguire speaking into his hand help communicator ordered lieutenant Simbarashe in Engineeri inng.
"Captain full diagnostic of the ship's systems was carried out after the explosion..."
"And...?", captain Maguire cut impatiently.
"All the ship's systems are fully functional, captain", reported lieutenant lieutenant Simbarashe.
"Captain, ship's instruments are picking up something order. Instead of ten planets in our galaxy, there appear to be nine. Pluto is missing from its orbit.
"Put up a diagram of the star system on screen", captain Maguire ordered.
A diagram of the Orion star system immediately appeared on the screen replacing the view of space.
"Com, open channel to Space command", said captain Maguire ordered lieutenant Tanaka watching the sketch on the screen. "They 'll be interested to see this".
"Captain Space command is said to be out of reach", reported lieutenant Tanaka.
"How can it be out of reach when we are within the Orion star system", exclaimed captain Maguire in frustration. 'What the hell is going on!?"
"Pilot set course for Earth", captain Maguire ordered lieutenant Tashinga at the flight control console.
"Captain are you sure we are in the Orion star system that we know?", quizzed captain Lucinda.
"We 'll soon find out", replied captain Maguire as the starship sped towards Earth.
"Space command will be pleasantly surprised. I mean it will take them quite some time to get through all the information we recovered from the Zwilink connector.
"Assuming we arrive on the same Earth we departed from", remarked captain Maguire.
"You don't think...", began captain Lucinda began.
"Captain we are about to enter Earth's atmosphere and strangely enough we have not been hailed by the Space command", reported lieutenant Tashinga disrupting captain Lucinda in mid statement.
"This is getting stranger", confirmed captain Maguire. We shoudhave at least been challenged by Space command's early warning system".
"Unless it has been taken out", contemplated captain Maguire.
"Or it does not exist", proposed captain Lucinda.
"What are you getting at?", asked captain Maguire
"I have a theory", said captain Lucinda. "You will recall from your astronomical history lessonsl that it wasn't until the twenty first century that Pluto was discovered.
"Are you suggesting that we travelled through time when we went through the Oblivion zone?", questioned captain Maguire.
"Right now I can not sure of anything without further proof", replied captain Lucinda. "I 'm a scientist, I need facts, not theories".
"Alright captain, I 'll give you facts", said captain Maguire as the Sandawana entered the planet's atmosphere.
"Com, scan the surface for life forms, infrastructure, anything that pops up on the ship's instruments", captain Maguire ordered lieutenant Tanaka sitting at the communications console.
"Scanning", reported lieutenant Tanaka, his fingers moving skillfully over the console in front of him.
"Captain, you are not going to believe this", remarked lieutenant Tanaka staring at the monitor on his console disbelief.
"Report", captain Maguire requested.
"According to the scan there are no built up areas, it's all jungle..."
"And I 'm guessing there is only one continent?" captain Lucinda interrupted lieutenant Tanaka.
"Yes", replied lieutenant Tanaka in surprise.
"Ok, then this is worse than I imagined", captain Lucinda added
"I not sure I follow, where are you going with this", asked captain Maguire.
"The theory, is that way before the ice age that wiped dinosaurs, all the continents were part of one enormous land mass".
"You mean we have arrived on Earth, millions of years ago, during the time of the dinosaur?"
"Captain, you won't believe this but dinosaurs are listed as the dominant species of the planet?"
"That confirms my suspection. We are the first humans to be able confirm the one continent theory is more than just that", repliedhu captain Lucinda excitedly.
"Pilot take us down to the planet's surface", captain Maguire ordered lieutenant Tashing at sitted before th flight control console.
"What are you doing?", exclaimed captain Lucinda in surprise.
"We are going to find out for ourselves. Maybe then we may be able to make heads or tails of what is going one", remarked captain Maguire as the Sandawana gently descended out of the planet's night sky, navigation lights flashing. The starships's navigation lights illuminated the forest below in bright light as the Sandawana came in to land.
"Deploy landing gear", captain Maguire ordered, lieutenant Tashinga at the flight control console.
"Touch down in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, touch down", annouced a computer generated voice from the giant computer monitor.
"If we have travelled millions of years into the past should not interfere with the natural flow of time", said captain Lucinda.
"We will not interfere, we just need to get an idea of exactly where we are. Assuming we are lost if we were to be keep going there is a danger that we could have got further off course", said captain Maguire.
"Ok but how does landing on this planet help out cause?", asked captain Lucinda.
"We might get an idea of how to retrace our way back. What have you got against landing on the planet", asked captain Maguire.
"I m not against landing rather it is the possibility of being seen by the prehistoric men and affecting development of their society negatively", replied captain Lucinda.
"How, please explain captain?"
"At that period of time, humanity was still primitive and easily susceptible to superstition. Seeing a starship might likely influence them reinforce superstitious belief. It will surpress confidence in their ability to think creatively and lead to stifling of their society's natural development. The innovativeness that leads to creation of a highly developed society may die a still birth, if they should start believing in gods".