Date: Last Known 21-6-2098
Dairy entry 001,
Today marks the beginning of an incredible new chapter in my life, one that I never thought would be possible even in my wildest dreams.
As I sit here, looking at the remains of the world I once knew, I can't help but be amazed by how life and time have brought me to this moment of complete absurdity.
It all started on what seemed like an ordinary day. I was busy with my usual tasks, checking the space accelerator. I didn't realize that one event would break the rules of time and space, throwing me into an adventure that defies logic.
My name is Harris, and I'm writing this diary to document the journey ahead. Discovering time travel that has opened up a world of possibilities, and I am committed to exploring it, uncovering its secrets, and maybe even change history for the better.
As I begin this journey, I feel both excited and nervous. I don't know what will happen, and it could be dangerous. But I must find a way to survive these "time slips" and get my small research team back home.
This diary will be a record of my experiences, thoughts, and discoveries. I hope that if I ever get lost or confused, these words will help me remember my purpose and the amazing chance I've been given.
So, here we go—into the unknown, with only our wits and the ticking clock to guide us.
Yours in time,
Harris Blake
Julian stopped after reading the first entry. He did not know what to think. It was already crazy to be on a small, isolated island for a few hours after a plane crash, but to think it was so much more than that...
He recalled the morning's event and how, for a few seconds, he felt strange just before the plane went haywire. Too bad he was too busy thinking about leaving his ex to pay it more attention. But what if that was when they entered the so-called Time Slip?
He delved back into the journal to look for more interesting parts about Harris and his trip to this crazy place.
The next few entries were boring. They only spoke about how he was, like him, stuck on a deserted island with no supplies and a group of twenty-four lab workers and scientists. The importance of finding food was written in bold letters a few times, until he skipped those few pages, especially since they contained lots of drama that occurred with that first group, such as fights and even someone who almost died from poisoning.
After finding edible food and water on the island, they were stuck for days trying to survive. That lasted until a time slip opened a gate and half the group was split.
Harris wrote that his group of eleven was forced to reconquer a new island, this one larger than the previous, filled with many prehistoric beasts. Yet these weren't the dinosaurs like the Deinosuchus he saw this morning. They were wolves, elks, and mammoths—something that stumped Harris as well.
He also came across fruits and vegetables from those early times, each with their own unique taste—the predecessors of the crops he was used to seeing in his own time.
The next section was about building what they called an enclave and finding new people from time to time, as well as slowly improving their technology.
Julian stopped reading and went to the end of the diary to see just how long Harris had been here since the start of his journal entries.
"Year 2126!" Julian rose from shock. He recalled that at the start of the journal, it was the year 2098, meaning that Harris spent twenty-eight years here, and that did not include the time when the journal was published.
He went back to read the page he had stopped on. This part was about finding a woman who was from his own time and had accidentally arrived on a ship. She was carrying various advanced machines that would later help them keep their new enclaves safe.
Together with the scientists, they were able to find ways to harness the time slip gates and get those under control—at least for some time.
"Today, I have lost Elizabeth. She was transported into a Time Slip gate we had created to escape from a Rex. Where she was warped to… I have no idea, but I will find her," said the entry. Julian was hooked on this particular drama, hoping Harris had found his wife, especially when another part mentioned that they had a three-year-old daughter waiting back in their enclave.
Julian skipped through various entries, trying to find a mention of Elizabeth, but failed. Her name was not mentioned again after the initial entry.
"Hope they reunited at least…" Julian mumbled again before going back to check on data about Rex, the name they had given to a particular monster that had adapted to the Time Slips and appeared to like human meat.
Another part of the Time Slips was that they only connected Harris and his team to different islands, each given names based on their climate and average temperature. None were bigger than a few kilometers.
The worst part was that Time Slips could happen at any moment, and gatekeepers needed to have the tools they had created to bring people back after a Time Slip.
Julian stopped his reading to reorganize his thoughts. He noticed that, like him, the others in the group were reading someone else's journal that explained the harsh conditions of the strange place they were in. While Charlie made the most dramatic faces while reading, Michael and Geo did not fall behind in making hard-to-read expressions. The latter even hid a few sniffles, probably getting to a particularly sad scene in someone's life.
Julian sighed while lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling. What would happen to him tomorrow or the day after? He was no longer on the Earth he knew. He recalled that they were in the year 2025, not 2126—the date in the last entry that Harris had written about.