Hickory Dickory Dock

HICKORY DICKORY DOCK THE MOUSE RAN UP THE CLOCK. THE CLOCK STRUCK ONE THE MOUSE FELL DOWN HICKORY DICKORY DOCK. "Ladies, gentlemen, and variations thereof, welcome to Laurasia of Earth, year 6.83e We are preparing to land the ship on the designated site. If you haven’t done so, please stow carry-on luggage under your seats or in the overhead bins. Please remain seated with seatbelts on and make sure to have your seat back and trays upright. We advise that you remain within the Time Differential Zone, as to avoid any temporal issues. If you have any deplaning concerns, please notify the nearest attendant. Enjoy your trip to the past." Choices: [[Use the restroom]] [[Remain seated and fasten your seatbelt]]

“Goddammit these flights always do have piss-poor quality service. I should have gone with Jurassic Airlines.” … Ahhh now there’s relief. Been holding this piss in for almost an hour. All these old folks here are old as bones. Takes fucking forever to finish peeing. If anything, I’d rather leave them behind here. They’re old as dirt anyways. I go back to my seat and fasten my seatbelt. [[Next]]

“Excuse me, Miss. How much longer till we land?” I ask the nearest steward. “Sir we are doing everything we can to make the landing as safe as possible. Perhaps you would like some complementary headphones while waiting for the landing?” she says as she gestures the pack of headphones near her. I gesture her to go away, fucking stewards don’t even know how to do a complete service. I’ve spent too damn long in this Chronoplane that it’s taking a toll on my fucking mind. Kid behind me’s been kicking my seat since departure, and now the old lady beside me has been smelling of decay. I shoulda gotten on Jurassic Airlines. Way better service over there. “Excuse me, ladies, gentlemen, and variations thereof, there is a malfunction in the time differential on the Eastern section. Be advised and avoid the area. [[Next2<-Next]]

*THUD* *CLICK* Finally the plane fucking lands. The old lady beside me opens her window (something that the attendants advise on NOT doing). Nothing but bright blue swirling vortex around the Chronoplane. The Time Differential seems to be kicking in. “I always do love seeing the Time Differential Vortex. Did you know that each plane has a different Time Vortex? Normally most time vortices are blue but…” Choices: [[Listen to Lady]] [[Ignore her]]

“...but what?” I ask the lady, pretending to care about what she was saying. “But this seems odd. See over there. The Time Differential over there is glowing purple.” she says, pointing to the Eastern wing of the Chronoplane. I stare at her dead set. This fucking lady is one of those Chronoplane fanatics. “Maybe this is this Chronoline’s specialty. Gradient temporal vortex” I say, though in my mind this was the only special thing about this Chronoline. Service: 0. Chronoplane Stability: 0. Fucking customers: 0. [[Next3<-Next]]

This lady is so annoying. Why should I care about fucking temporal vortex colors. Oh well, you know what they say about fucking useless information. In one ear, out the other. [[Next->Next3]]

“...but what?” I ask the lady, pretending to care about what she was saying. “But this seems odd. See over there. The Time Differential over there is glowing purple.” she says, pointing to the Eastern wing of the Chronoplane. “They did say that the Eastern section of the Time Differential was off a bit. Maybe that’s why it’s purple.” I say “It does seem pretty though, the way the purple blends in.” [[Next3<-Next]]

[[Next5<-Next]]

**I don't know why but I get the feeling I've seen that purple thing before. Deja vu I guess.** “What’s your name, young man?” she asks me. “Nezumi Mausse. Why do you ask?” I ask her in return. “Nezumi. What a nice name.” she says as she looks out the window again. Why is this lady asking me questions? I don’t even know her. One of the flight attendants come to us and speaks directly to the lady. “Excuse me, ma’am. Please close the window binders as the vortex light may be distracting to other passengers.” As the Old Lady proceeds to shut her binders and the attendant walks off, I realize the one fucking job attendants do: boss you around. [[...->FinalePart1]]

After thirty more fucking minutes the Chronoplane finally lands and, as usual, every fucking person is too eager to leave the Chronoplane. I wouldn’t blame them, though. I remain seated, waiting for the traffic jam to clear. As soon as its safe to get up, I stand and grab my backpack in the overhead bin. With my equipment in my hand, I head out. [[Next->Outside]]

I’ve been working under the National Archives as their lead photographer. I basically collect photos of long, dead things. Some of the photos I’ve taken are the stuff of nightmares: [[creatures with three eyes, long snouts, and terrible jaws->Photos]] enough to crush a human in half. With camera in hand, I take snaps of some ferns. “Too bad in about a couple million years, you and you’re kind will be in museums, eh.” I told the plant. “Just be careful Mr. Mausse not to step on any butterflies while you’re here” said in an all too familiar, grisly voice behind me. “Detective Bloggs.” I said as I stop and shake his hand. “I suspect that your agency will not have any more...incidents…” he told me, rather, he commanded me. “Don’t worry, chief. I won’t make the life of a Chrono Marshal any more harder than it has to.” I said. “If you want, there’s this really cool and completely SAFE tourist attraction nearby. I can show you the way, WITH a group of tourists” he says. CHOICES: [[Watch with tourists->Tourist1]] [[Go continue snapping photos->Photos1]]

“Just this way Mr. Mausse. Away from trouble and under my watch.” said the pompous Marshal. He pointed to a group of tourists wandering a nearby Cycad plant, soon to be fossilized. One of the tourists was the Old Lady. Rather than sticking with the stick in the mud Bloggs, I’d rather hang out with the Vortex Lady. “Excuse me. Mind if I scooch in a bit here?” I say to the Old Lady. “Running away from the Chrono Marshal, are we?” she says. Astoundingly, the Old Fart may be more observant than these other old folk. “So what if I am?” I tell her, hoping she wouldn’t notice my fake smile. “Well. I heard there’s this really cool “extinct” palm tree by the groves over there. Mind helping your poor, old Granny a hand?” she said. Getting away from Bloggs while at the same time doing my job: I’d say that is a deal I could not deny. [[Follow the Lady->Follow]]

I show him the kind gesture of my middle finger and proceed to take more photos with my camera. Unfortunately Mr. Bloggs is a thorn in my side that I can’t ever remove and so he stayed by my side. Also unfortunately, he ascribes to the fool-me-twice-shame-on-me type of thinking and so he will never leave me alone. Also, also unfortunately Mr. Bloggs is the type of guy who cannot, for the life of him, shut his fucking, yapping mouth. “So I heard that you lost the Photo of the Year Award. Is that why you’re here Mr. Mausse. Redemption or just vacation?” he says. “See, Mr. Bloggs, a little bit of both. I like to take photos to show how I really feel and how I see the world around me. For example, this photo of a rare but soon-to-be-fossilized piece of shit is what I see you as Mr. Bloggs.” “What a sentimental guy, you are Mr. Mausse. Just be careful now and avoid any unnecessary actions that may or may not cause me to cuff you in chains and send you to temporal prison. No one would want that, eh.” [[Flip the Bird->Gesture]]

[[Back->Outside]]

We stopped by a tall date palm that was jutting out the ground. It was huge, maybe two or three stories tall. The grove itself was pretty. Very serene and lacks any wildlife, just the eternity of the grove. “You know, my kids owned a miniature version of this grove. You know those old “Grove in the Bottles”. The main reason they decided to send me on this Chronoplane specifically was that they knew it’d be stopping at this exact place.” she said. I did not reply and enjoyed the silence with the Old Lady. “Let me just capture this perfect moment. Bet I’ll win that Photo of the Year with this pic.” I say as I snap the perfect [[photo->Grovephoto]]. “You know, that’s not the only thing we can take as a souvenir from this place.” she says as she picks up a date palm fruit that’s fallen to the ground. “I don’t think we’re allowed to get one of those. You know, breaking the time laws and all that.” “It’s just one date palm. What’s the harm?” she says. With logic like that, I really cannot argue. I’ve done my fair share of breaking time rules before, more significant than picking up a date palm fruit. I once told the fucking Mayans about the arrival of Europeans. So now they went up and full-on worshipped them as gods. Got into a lot of trouble for that. I went and picked up the nearest date palm fruit I could find. It was a bit dry and had a purple, wrinkled look to it. I doubt it’d do anything. The fucking fruit was close to death. CHOICES: [[Go Beyond the Grove->GrovePath]] [[Follow the Lady->Follow2]]

As soon as we walked back to the Chronoplane, an unwanted broadcast interrupted our leisure walk back. “Attention dear customers. There has been a breach in our Time Differential Zone on the Western Side. A group of three Velociraptors have been spotted. Please head back to the Chronoplane immediately. This is not a drill. Repeat. This is not a drill.” Oh fucking god. I’ve taken pictures of raptors before, and let me just say that you do not want your fingers to be three feet near the muthafuckin thing. “Old Lady, we better head back. Unless you want razor teeth to be the last thing that you see.” I say. The Old Lady did not seem to bat an eye. The Old Fart seems to be a magnet for trouble. I quickly carry her on my back and run back straight to the Chronoplane. However, as soon as we get there...[[Raptors->RaptorsEnd]].

[[Back->Follow]]

I tried to make a run for it. Goddamit this Old Lady is fucking heaps heavy. The Chronoplane is just a few feet away, but I can see it: the fucking Vortex is getting smaller. “Bullshit! Don’t leave us here!” I yell. The Chronoplane started to hover as the vortex grew shorter and shorter. I manage to push the Old Lady into the now closing doors of the Chronoplane. Dammit. I’m gonna die aren’t I. As the vortex slowly disappears, I can at least try to pin my death on the fucking Chronoliner. I shuffle through my pocket and grabbed the first thing I could find. The fucking date palm fruit. I shoved it up the now closing vortex, hoping that they could at least see the fucking [[purple->Next3]] prune.

“Then I think we can come to an agreement, right Mr. Mausse.” he says. I hated his smug face. “Sure. Let me just capture this moment. Your ugly face would do well to make me win that Photo of the Year. Rare Sonuvabitch ruins the day again.” I tell him. Mr. Bloggs and I know each other well enough that this language was commonplace. I hate to admit it, but he is a part of my job so much as I am to him. I did take a picture of the sonuvabitch and his fancy purple cap that he likes so much. A gift from his wife apparently, as a sort of good luck charm. I was about to hand it to him when the Chronoplane Announcement broadcast an emergency message: “Attention dear customers. We would like to advise you that picking fruits, keeping local wildlife, or disturbing the environment is against the Temporal Laws. Please do not destroy or keep or talk to any of the inhabitants of this timeline. Thank you.” I look to Mr. Bloggs who then looks back at me. “It looks like I’m not the only sonuvabitch who’s been breaking the rules. Gotta keep your eye open Mr. Bloggs” I say with a smile. With that, the Chrono Marshal left me to make his rounds among the different passengers. Finally some peace and quiet as I continue to snap some more photos. [[Snap!->AlarmFinale]]

Suddenly, the vortex started flashing. The last time that happened was when I accidentally talked to the Mayans about the arrival of the Europeans. Goddamit someone broke the Temporal Laws. Which idiot did that?! Protocols state that we have a minute or so before everyone within the Time Differential Zone turns to goop whenever Temporal Laws are broken. 45 seconds remaining. I see Mr. Bloggs carrying a kid into the Chronoplane.I push him and the kid in there but the Vortex is closing in fast and the door to the Chronoplane was sealed shut. I tried to bang on the door but they won’t budge. The fuckers are going to let me die! 12 seconds remaining. “Bullshit! Don’t leave me here!” I yell. I ain’t about to be left here in Jurassic World with no one to blame. As the vortex slowly disappears, I can at least try to pin my death on the fucking Chronoliner. I shuffle through my pocket and grabbed the first thing I could find. The fucking photo of Bloggs with his purple cap. I shoved it up the now closing vortex, hoping that they could at least see the fucking [[purple->Next3]] cap.

"Hey old lady. Did you see that!" I say as I point to the other end of the groves. "Why, isn't that charming. It's one of those early mammals. The ancestors of...well...us." she says. The scurrying creature seems to be gnawing on the barks of the nearby cycad trees, I tried to snap a photo but the little rat ran off behind the bushes. The Ur Ancestor of all mammals in the present day, the infamous [[Adelobasileus->PhotoMammal]]: a rare chance for a photo was gone. "Come now. Don't try to scare the poor thing. Let's follow it and see where it goes." she said. We both trekked through tall vegetation amidst the fucking heaps humid weather. Something so small yet so significant to our evolution. We passed through more trees until we found our spot: a nest full of Adelobasileus. I did my photo op with the rodents. The old lady gave me her purple scarf as a sort of camera filter. It was silky and transparent enough so that I can apply a purple-ish shade to the pictures. As I took some more photos, the old lady decided it would be a nice idea to take a break. I could tell the humidity was getting to her, so we decided to take a break. [[Take a Break->PoisonEnd]]

After what seemed like forever, I slowly came to my senses and woke from my nap. The old lady said she'd gone back to the Chronoplane as it was getting rather humid. True, I noticed that I ws sweating a lot already. As I lift myself up, I noticed that I have bitemarks on my body, both from insects and small rodent-size bitemarks. I was starting to get a little worried because the bites were fucking red and it had boils all over. Is this fucking RABIES! I started my walk back to the Chronoplane. My body was sore and I could not even see much because the light was too bright. Hypersensitivity. Goddamit. I reach inside my pocket and find that the plum I've picked up have been eaten by the small rodents. I tried to find something to cover up my wounds. Luckily, the old lady did lend me her purple scarf so I tied that around my leg as I staggered my way towards the ship. "GODDAMIT. HELP ME!" I yelled at the attendants. I don't know if they heard me or not, but they all started running back to the ship. "HEY! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! BULLSHIT!" The Chronoplane started to rise up and the Time Vortex was closing in. The fuckers are gonna let me die here. No, they DID see me. I'm sure of it.The Chronoplane started to hover as the vortex grew shorter and shorter. Dammit. I’m gonna die aren’t I. As the vortex slowly disappears, I can at least try to pin my death on the fucking Chronoliner. I threw the old lady's scard unto the closing vortex, hoping that they could at least see the fucking [[purple->Next3]] scarf.

[[Back->GrovePath]]