Comics for the Shorter Attention Span
The machine hadn’t slipped forwards to an earlier date like the Professor assumed, but it had in fact jumped backwards, millions of years backwards. He stared for a long second (that could of lasted a hundred thousand years) at the date printed on the time display, the machine approximated the date at being ‘minus 60 million years, on Tuesday the 5th of June’, which gave the Professor a bit of a shock, because he only expected it to travel back a mere hundred thousand years.
The professor sat very quietly looking even more dumbfounded then he had been earlier, as he stared in wonder at the screen as all of the thousands of millions of microscopic, particle pixel cameras focused in on their individual time particles to display a single recognisable image. As the blurry image cleared and focused on its target, the screen divided into two separate pictures, like earlier in the toy markers work room. This wasn’t what the Professor wanted to see and it woke him from his bewildered daze like a hot coffee falling in his lap.
The first image on the screen had finished focusing, although it was hard to tell because it was almost completely dark with dashes and flickers of light dancing across what looked like a frozen waste land of dirt and ice. It was hard to make out any distinct detail in the picture because it was too dark and desolately empty. As the Professor narrow his eyes to see the image more clearly the second image had finally finished adjusting and its appearance was a brightly lit crystal clear picture. It was a sight for sore eyes, especially after the Professor had strained his eyes attempting to see the first image and he couldn’t help rubbing his eyes in disbelief at what he saw on the second display.
A lush forest canopy filled the seconded display and it stretched as far as the eyes could see. The professor thought he saw something moving through the tree tops in the undergrowth, so he jumped out of his seat and shuffled closer to the screen trying to watch the second display more closely. He squinted at a small section of the screen where the greeneries parted slightly. Through the bushes he could just in so make out a long scaly spine twisting back and forth through the leaves, its owner seemed very large and resembled a hidden tiger on the prowl. The Professor almost had his face pressed up against the screen and when he couldn’t get any closer to it. A giant bird like lizard (called a pterosaur) flew in front of the screen bearing its giant razor sharp beak, which made the Professor jump backwards, tripping over his unconscious Assistant’s body and falling down into his seat again.
The Professor said out loud “WOW, it must be the cretaceous-paleogene period when dinosaur walked on and flew over the earth”. The expression on his face changed slowly from ‘smiling wonder’ too ‘a terrible realisation’ as he looked back across the screen, to the first image. The landscape seemed to roll like a giant football, and as it did it caught more light. With the extra light he could just in so make out a jagged edge which was framed by a starry sequinned dotted, black sky.
The professor stuttered in a mumble “could it be…”, ‘cough, cough’, he cleared his throat and repeated it clearer and louder “could it be that this icy wasteland is in fact the deadly meteorite which marked the beginning of the end for all dinosaur kind”.
The professor quickly stopped talking to himself as he