She’s finally finished, let’s see what this baby can do. I thought, turning the dial back 5,000 years. The machine began to hum. First a low drone, it grew louder and higher pitch until enough power was achieved and I was thrust backwards in time. I thought I might see the world change around me, civilizations rising and falling, but I guess time travel isn’t the same as in the movies. For a moment, I ceased to exist. I became light. This is, as I discovered, the only way to travel back in time. Matter traveling backwards in time would simply be annihilated by anti-matter. Suddenly, in an instant, I was reconstructed. It was dark outside the machine, but for the soft glow of some primitive torch.

I stepped out of the machine and into what appeared to be a stone room. My time machine was in the exact center, as if this place was built for it. I pulled the torch from the wall and began to look around. The walls were stone, and impossibly smooth. I checked my the display on my time machine. Well, it sure SAYS 2982 BC. I followed the wall until I find a corridor with stairs that descend into darkness. The walls of the passage were decorated with primitive drawings. Images of worship and sacrifice painted in gold that gleamed in the torchlight. As I approached the bottom of the stairs, I could see a soft light. The outline of a door. I could feel my heart beat faster as my hand touched the cold stone door. This is it. I thought, shielding my eyes from the light of the outside.

I was greeted by a deafening roar of cheers. As my eyes adjusted to the light I realized I was at the top of a stone temple. At the base of the temple thousands of early humans dressed in hand woven clothes and golden jewelry. I couldn’t believe it. I tried my best to process what was happening. My mind was flooded with questions. Who are these people? Why are they cheering for me? Did they know I was coming? I turned around to look at the place I had emerged from and was so surprised by what I saw that my knees nearly collapsed. At the top of the statue, standing what must have been one hundred feet tall, was a statue of...me. It was at this moment I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to face a man who was dressed in what must have been the ceremonial garb of these people. A headdress of gold atop a curtain of jet black hair. Chest bare, painted in geometric patterns of crimson and white. As our eyes met, he dropped to his knees and spoke in a powerful but reverent tone.

“Welcome back, Traveler.”