‘Well that was fucking intense!’ - said Bartos, lowering his scope from his eye.

The barge with the humans and Arnie had flown over Andros and Bartos who had been watching from a distance - and was now heading over the redwood forest.

‘I am not sure what to say’ - said Andros

‘So is this good, or is this bad?’ - said Bartos

‘I am not sure - but I think it is good’ - said Andros

Andros and Bartos were from the planet Espultana. After the Maankaari had exhausted the supply of dinosaur meat on planet earth, they had left. The Maankaari made the crossing to their next planet and stayed there for many thousands of years until the supply of meat was exhausted. The Maankaari continued this for millions of years, visiting planets and stripping them of meat. And then the Maankaari made the crossing and arrived at Espultana.

The Espultanians were smart, and had developed a highly advanced and peaceful society. The Espultanains lived in harmony with each other, and their planet. The Espultanains had no armies, and fought no wars.

The Espultanians lived in cities, with hundreds of millions of their kind living in communities.

A young astronomer on Espultana excitedly announced that she had discovered an asteroid. The older and wiser astronomers on Espultana investigated the young girl's claims - and agreed. There was an asteroid in deep space that was heading to their planet. The astronomers estimated it would be 30,000 years before the asteroid came near to Espultana, and would likely pass by without incident.

30,000 years passed on Espulanta. The astronomers observed the asteroid. There was much discussion. It was rectangular. It wasn’t an asteroid.

The Espultanains formed committees, and discussed this strange rectangular box. Some argued that they must develop weapons, and plan for the worse. Others argued that if the rectangular box was an alien craft, then the aliens would be intelligent - like the Espultanains. And the aliens would want to communicate and share ideas, and thoughts, and learnings. The Espultanains had nothing to fear from these aliens, if indeed there were aliens. The rectangular box was probably deserted. Whatever was inside it once upon a time would have died in the vastness of space.

‘Why would a group of aliens travel across space and time, to come to Espultana and cause trouble?’ - said one notable Espultanian thinker.

The Espultanians did nothing, and waited.

The rectangular box entered the atmosphere of Espultana. It settled, hovering above the surface of the planet and there it stayed. The rectangular box hovered above Espultana for many years, and nothing happened. At first the Espultanian’s would stare at it, and paint pictures of it, and discuss it. As the years passed, the Espultanians learned to live with the giant rectangular box floating above their planet.

A group of Espultanians were worried though. Mandros Fangdadium and his friend Rartos Arrasstium knew that something was not right, and they made plans.

‘One day, that ship will open and something will come out of it’ - said Mandros - ‘And when it does, life on the planet Espultana will never be the same’

Mandros and Rartos worked long and hard. They built a time machine - the greatest invention ever created. And then Mandros and Rartos began training their sons - Andros and Bartos for a plan to save the planet Espultana.

The plan was simple. Stop the rectangular box from ever coming to Espultana.

‘In this timeline, Andros and Bartos, the future of the Espultanians is sealed. The aliens have visited us, and now we wait for the executioner. Your mission - both of you - is to follow this alien craft back through time, and to find a planet where you can keep them, so that they never leave that planet, and never come to Espultana’ - said Rartos

‘It is vitally important that you conceal yourselves from these aliens, and they never become aware of you or the Espultanians. You must find a planet and keep the aliens there!’ - said Mandros

‘One you have completed this mission, and the aliens do not start their journey towards Espultana, you may travel back through time to here. And you will be in a new timeline, and one in which the aliens have never visited Espultana, and the Espultanians are safe’ - said Rartos

‘None of us will ever know of your heroics, and your mission - and there will be no thanks. But you will be heroes, dear boys!’ - said Mandros

Bartos looked at Andros, and then at his father.

‘Father, is this some kind of prank?’ - said Bartos

Rartos screamed.

‘I told you Mandros, these two are not right for this job!’ - shouted Rartos

‘I think that was a legitimate questions’ - said Bartos, looking at Mandros

Rartos stood and kicked the table.

‘Rartos, I will handle this’ - said Mandros

‘Aliens, time machines, time travel, saving the planet - I mean it sounds like a prank’ - said Bartos

‘I will do it father!’ - said Andros

‘Thank you Andros’ - said Mandros

‘I am sorry, but am I the only one who thinks that this whole thing is a little bit wacky? We are going to travel back in a magical time machine, and chase these aliens back through time, and find a planet that the aliens are on, and then find a way to keep those aliens on that planet so that we can create a new future and save this planet?’ - said Bartos

‘It is not wacky, Bartos’ - said Mandros

‘So I am the only one who thinks that this is crazy?’ - said Bartos

Rartos, Mandros, and Andros stood and stared at Bartos.

‘’So I am the only one, fine!’ - said Bartos

Mandros and Rartos began training Andros and Bartos on the time machine, and how to travel through time and to specific destinations.

Many more years passed, and the rectangular alien ship floated above the planet and did nothing. And then one day a hangar door on the side opened.

A red box scouting craft flew out of the giant alien ship. A group of Espultanians had gathered on a hill, and were watching the giant alien ship, and the red box flying over the landscape.

‘It is so graceful’ - said one of the Espultanians, watching the red box flying.

The red box scouting craft banked, and flew over to where the Espultanians were gathered, and hovered above them.

Two scouts in their shiny metallic suits dropped to the ground - towering above the tiny Espultanians.

‘Andoo samoot ashaar kelloot!’ - said one of the scouts.

The other scout leveled his box gun and fired it at the group of Espultanians. They were captured in a white cube. The scout picked it up, and they both leapt back into the scouting craft.

The Espultanians were horrified. Why had these giant aliens come and kidnapped their people?

The group of Espultanians were not kidnapped. They had been harvested.

The group of Espultanians were taken back to the giant alien ship.

‘They are very small, but we can work with this’ - said the head of nourishment on the killing floor inside the Maankaari ship - ‘Whilst they are small, there are many of these animals’

The Espultanians were slaughtered, and then ground-up whole. The ground Espultanian meat was then processed to form a type of mechanically processed meatloaf.

The head of nourishment waited outside the king’s chamber, holding a tray with the Espultanian meatloaf. The walls of the chamber were covered with the aging heads of tyrannosaurs, and a number of other heads of beast from new planets the Maankaari had visited after leaving earth.

‘His grace’s head of nourishment’ - said the vice-chamberlain, presenting the head of nourishment.

The head of nourishment bowed.

‘Your grace, the head of nourishment’ - said the lord-chamberlain

‘Get a table’ - said the king.

The lord-chamberlain banged the floor with his staff, and two guards moved a table in front of the king.

‘Bring the tray’ - said the lord-chamberlain

The head of nourishment kept its head lowered, and placed the tray on the table in front of the king - and then stepped back.

The king picked up the Espultanian meatloaf and sniffed it, and then placed the meatloaf in its giant mouth and chewed.

The king burped.

‘Bland’ - said the king

‘His grace requires the meat to have more seasoning’ - said the lord-chamberlain to the head of nourishment.

‘Yes your grace’ - said the head of nourishment.

The Espultanian meatloaf recipe was perfected, and then the harvesting began.

The Maankaari’s visit to Espultana was never going to be a long visit. Espultana was a waypoint for restocking. The plan was to visit Espultana and rapidly harvest the meat, and then move on to a longerterm base.

Reports were circulating. The aliens were not benevolent, or benign. They were not on Espultana to share ideas or thoughts. Thousands of Espultanians were being captured and taken to the giant alien craft. The next day, thousands more had been taken - and then tens of thousands, and then more and more.

New equipment was built on the Maankaari ship to speed up the production of the meatloaf. The Espultanians were harvested and then brought back to the Maankaari ship where they were dumped, alive, into a giant meat grinder. The Espultanians howled in terror as they were dropped into the meat grinders, and screamed in agony as they were sucked into the blades and turned into paste. The giant Maankari meat grinders worked day and night.

‘It is time to go!’ - said Mandros

In the sky above, red scouting craft were flying in all directions. Giant harvesters hovered above the Espultanian’s cities, receiving the harvested Espultanians before transporting them to the Maankaari ship and the meat grinders.

Mandros, Rartos, Andros, and Bartos traveled from the city to the place where the time machine was hidden.

The time machine was a silvery ball that glistened and became translucent.

‘Now go, and create a new future for our people and our planet!’ - said Rartos

‘Now, I am just saying’ - said Bartos - ‘If I climb into that thing and then you all start laughing and pointing fingers at me I am not going to be happy. So this better not be a prank!’

IT IS NOT A FUCKING PRANK!’ - screamed Rartos at his son.

‘Fine, but if it is. I am not going to be impressed’ - said Bartos, walking up the steps to the inside of the time machine.

‘Goodbye father!’ - said Andros

‘Goodbye my son’ - said Mandros - ‘When you see me again, I will not know anything about this - of what you are about to do and will have done. But please know, Andros, I am so very proud of you’

Andros walked up the steps and waved at his father and Rartos.

The doors of the time machine closed.

‘So I am guessing you are going to press some buttons, and pretend it is all working. And you will say we have traveled back in time to another planet. And then you will open the door, your dad and my dad will be standing there laughing at me’ - said Bartos

Andros pressed some buttons, and the machine made a low noise and then lurched to the side.

‘We have traveled 500,000 years into the past, Bartos’ - said Andros - ‘We are on the planet Zootandala’

‘Okay, let’s open the door and get this over with’ - said Bartos

The door of the time machine opened.

Gone were the smooth hills and green landscapes of Espultana. The landscape was craggy, and primeval. In the distance, high above the planet’s surface was the giant alien spaceship.

‘Welcome to Zootandala, Bartos!’ - said Andros

Andros and Bartos had continued their tracking of the Maankaari back through space and time. Visiting each planet the Maankari had visited, and looking for a way to keep the Maankari on that planet. In all cases, after the Maankari had completed their harvesting life never recovered of the planets - until Andros and Bartos came to earth.

These tiny mouse-like creatures that lived in the shadows for hundreds of millions of years. They hid inside fallen trees, and scampered from hiding place to hiding place. The little mice-like creatures hid from the beasts the Maankari harvested. And then the beasts were gone - hunted to the point of extinction. And then a giant meteorite smashed into this planet. The little mouse-like creatures continued to hide. Nearly everything else was killed by the meteorite - except for the little mice and the insects they ate. With no beasts to hide from, the mice could get bigger. And then they evolved into a type of dog, a vicious type of dog. The dog evolved and climbed trees, like an ape. The ape evolved and came down from the trees. The ape lost its tail, and then started standing taller. The ape ate meat. And then the ape discovered cooking meat, and the nutrients from the cooked meat it ate changed. With the changing nutrients the ape’s brain got bigger. As the apes brain got bigger it started using tools, to kill things and cut meat. And then the ape started moving, and hunting and forming tribes. And then the ape began communicating, and organizing. The apes built settlements, and talked of magical creatures that lived in the sky. The apes traveled further, and built boats. The apes fought battles with other tribes. The apes wrote down their thoughts, and their history. The number of apes grew. The apes built cities, and empires. The apes discovered electricity. The apes build aeroplanes. The apes flew robots to planets to look for signs of life within the universe. There were billions of apes.

Andros and Bartos selected Roger Sterling at random. Their plan was quite simple. Roger Sterling would build a time machine and travel back in time to the end of the Maankaari’s stay on planet earth. Andros and Bartos would send Roger Sterling to coordinates at the very center of a Maankaari harvesting operation, and the Maankaari would discover Roger Sterling. The Maankari would be intrigued by this ape that they discovered, and they would be intrigued by the machine it had with it. The Maankari would force the ape Roger Sterling to tell them what he was, and what the machine was. And then the Maankari would use the machine to travel to the time of the apes, and the Maankari would decide to travel to the ape future, rather than leave the planet - and the future of Espultana and the Espultanians would be secured, and Andros and Bartos would travel back to that future as heroes.

But the plan with Roger Sterling had failed. Roger Sterling had indeed traveled back 67 million years, and landed in the middle of a Maankaari harvesting mission. But Roger Sterling had realized that something was not right, and had evaded the Maankaari. Roger Sterling had scuppered the time machine and then shot himself to prevent the Maankari from discovering him or the time machine.

So Andros and Bartos tried again, with the son of Roger Sterling - David. And their simple plan had worked. David Sterling had been captured by the Maankari, and they had discovered what the time machine was, and how to use it. The Maankari had traveled to the apes future, and decided not to leave the planet, but to instead to time travel to that future. The future of Espultana and the Espultanians would be secured.

But then David Sterling had escaped, and now the Maankaari were shrunk and trapped inside one of their own white cubes.

‘So they cannot leave this planet?’ - said Bartos

Andros thought.

‘It doesn’t look like it’ - said Andros

‘So the mission is completed?’ - said Bartos

‘It looks like it’ - said Andros

‘And we can go back to Espultana? And we will be heroes?’ - said Bartos

‘I guess so’ - said Andros

The two Espultanians sat on the rocks of the edge of the redwood forest.

‘You know, Andros’ - said Bartos

‘What?’ - said Andros

‘I am glad that David Sterling escaped’ - said Bartos

Andros thought for a moment.

‘Yeah, I guess so’ - said Andros

‘I mean, the plan was a success. The aliens cannot leave this planet, so they cannot get to Espultana. And I guess it is a bonus that David Sterling escaped, and the humans of the future are safe’ - said Bartos

Andros thought again.

‘Yes Bartos, you are right. We have saved not only Espultana, but also the humans and countless other planets that these aliens would have visited and harvested. We are heroes!’ - said Andros.

Andros waved his thin fingers above his head. Something was bothering him. Was it a fly, or a bug?

Andros and Bartos sat and stared over the plain to where the giant Maankaari ship had been until moments ago.

‘What is that?’ - said Andros, waving his hand above his head again.

Bartos looked at Andros, and then looked behind him. An adolescent Tyrannosaur had stepped out of the redwood forest and was sniffing Andros’ head.

Bartos looked back across the plain, and gulped.

‘Okay, don’t look now - but there is an animal behind you’ - said Bartos

The adolescent tyrannosaur was about 1.5 meters tall. It’s red mane wasn’t fully developed, and the orange feather crest was shorter.

‘What type of animal?’ - said Andros

‘One of the bitey ones’ - said Bartos

The tyrannosaur licked the top of Andros’ head, and made a low, soft hooting noise.

‘What should we do?’ - sand Andros

The tyrannosaur opened its mouth, and placed Andros’ head inside of its mouth.

‘Oh dear!’ - said Andros

The tyrannosaur bit down, and ate Andros.

‘I do hope this is a fucking prank!’ - said Bartos

The tyrannosaur ate Bartos.

The tyrannosaur picked up the scraps of Bartos and Andros - and then gave an adolescent roar, and wandered back into the redwood forest.