Time travel has captivated the eyes of millions of men around the world ever since H.G. Wells' novel the year prior. It has clawed its way to the mainstream. I myself have garnered interest in such a craft. In my free time, mostly around midnight, I spend time trying to figure out if such absurdity had even the slightest bit of believability in becoming real.
Little did I know that in 5 months time, I would build a machine that would do just that. I used golden metal and several chemicals. I knew that time traveled forwards but if we were to go back in time, we would need to move backwards like a car speeding backwards. But that speed would not be so fast.
I will need to accelerate it and I found a way. I created the fastest machine in the world. First, I had my test subjects. I started on a low scale. First, I used the machine to travel forward by using a piece of steel. I placed on it and the steel rusted. Then I used the machine and turned it backwards, the rust was gone. This was extraordinary. Next, I needed to test it...on live subjects.
I used a white rat with red eyes. Ashamed I am to put a creature through such an experiment but alas, I had to know the truth. I placed the mouse on the machine and I tied a rope around it and held it. I turned the time backwards and after a full minute, I tugged the rope back in and the mouse was fine. Days later, he would still be fine. The next subject was me.
I needed more material and was careful not to arouse suspicion. I knew that there would be noise, for as the first time I used it, small bits of electricity made a ball of light, a hole of sorts for me to fit in. It would need to be larger. I waited for weeks for a night that was filled with heavy rain and thunder to mask the noise. I made sure that no one would be there to disturb me.
I turned the machine on and went out of the room as I feared the noise could potentially rupture my lungs. The noise was ungodly. I felt as if my skeleton was falling apart. 45 seconds later, it stopped. I entered the room and was nearly blinded by the light. Electrical currents were everywhere and all pointed to the center of the room where a portal of 2 meters in height and 3 meters wide appeared. I had no hesitations and went straight in.
I had never cared for accomplishments. I only cared for the truth. I stepped inside, there was nothing but electrical light. However, this light moved backwards. As I got closer, I saw a black hole getting bigger and bigger as I went inside it. One more final dash of light struck my eyes but did not harm me as I was wearing goggles. The electricity moved with an odd pattern, they seemed to form numbers. These numbers from what I could tell were 8,6,3,2,7. Why do they form this pattern is beyond my knowledge. The elecricity was soon engulfed by the darkness.
I stepped on dirt and saw some trees in the distance and a pond. Nothing was out of the ordinary and my first consensus was that I have somehow formed a teleportation device. But then all my previous thoughts were shattered.
In front of me, about 320 meters, I saw what can only be described as...a dinosaur. Large and reptilian. It was nothing as we have depicted them as. This one was bipedal, but it didn't drag its tail. The tail was horizontal, its arms didn't dangle like human arms but went inwards. The teeth weren't visible, it had lips. The color this dinosaur was depicted was gray but in my own eyes, I see it with a white underbelly, black stripes, a red head crest, and silver covered the rest of its body. It was 8 meters in length and 3 meters in height. The way it moved was akin to our birds. It moved quickly and effortlessly, even resting in the shade of the trees. The science of our present was wrong. Dinosaurs were warm-blooded.
The creature sniffed the air, oh no, I thought, he must've sensed me. Surely enough, he got up and went to my direction. I am certain that it was curious, never seeing an organism as strange as me, but at that moment, I thought, I was food. I ran right into the portal. I glanced back to take one look at the living dragon before I went back to my timeline.
The machine had run out of power, the metal was scorching hot, you couldn't get near it anymore than one and a half meters, otherwise, your skin would burn. I had done it, I thought, I had built an invention, the greatest of all; time traveling back in prehistoric time. With this, we can even discover how life began, the first life form, how the earth was formed, all of it. But is it worth it, the consequences?
If our bacteria interacted with that of the past, what consequences would it cause? What if someone misuses it to kill a past figure, will that have an effect on the present? So many possibilities. Knowing human nature, it can't be contained, someone with malicious thoughts will turn this into reality. I must dismantle this machine and destroy any evidence of its existing for the good of not just humanity but the earth and all its creations.
I have traveled into the past. I have seen a dinosaur with my own eyes. Who will believe me? My only proof would be that I have seen it with my own eyes. This extraordinary sight, a god of inventions, and I'll have only myself to discuss it with, quietly within my own skull.
I am writing this to show you proof of what I had seen. You may not believe me and you shouldn't. I will not give out any of the material I have used in making the machine, for I believe, let me rephrase, I pray that it will not be replicated, as the main material I have used is endangered and will be gone in just a few years. I myself am one of the last to hold it in hand.
If you have read this, it means I am dead, as I will keep this piece of writing strictly to myself, and if you have uncovered it, I pray to all of humanity to make inventions to benefit us and the world. And if an invention is too strong, it should not exist, such as the case of the time machine.
If you have somehow invented one in an alternate fashion and you are reading this, my advice is to do what you believe is right. I did what I believed, you do the same. It is the only piece of advice I can give, for I do not understand the world you belong in, as it will far exceed my own.
With regards and hope for a better future without death and hate, yours,
Nikola Tesla.