http://penastory.com/2016/03/02/the-tenere-fall-a-sci-fi/

T.I.M.E. complex, Ténéré, Sahara

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Ejiro stood at his balcony and stretched, he gulped in as much fresh air as he could then exhaled slowly. He loved it here, on his balcony, set above the forest canopy. He loved to come out in the morning to watch the sun as it crept up from behind the huge trees and bathed the forest and his balcony. Looking out at the canopy that stretched out as far as eye could see and listening to the life the forest housed, it was difficult to imagine the barren desert that once was, a century before.
“Ejiro, they must be waiting,” Ejiro turned around to find Sal beside him. Sal was a 3 foot tall android Ejiro had had since he was a child. “Let them wait,” Ejiro said, “they should wait, I want to savour every minute, every second of this day.”

“It is twenty minutes past 8 o’clock”

“You cannot rush history, Sal. No one should attempt rushing history,” Ejiro said finally tearing himself from the balcony and walking into his room. He paused and stared at his room for some moments before he walked across, opened the door and left, Sal followed closely behind. They walked down a brightly lit corridor to an elevator. “The takeoff laboratory,” Ejiro instructed as they entered. The elevator doors closed and it began its ascent. Ejiro looked out through its glass wall into the large atrium. Only one thing occupied the atrium, a giant hologram of a man, standing and smiling. It was Professor Obinna Nwude, the person who first came up with the design, in 2095 with which T.I.M.E was built. The elevator halted at the last floor and then began going across the atrium, over Professor Nwude’s head. It stopped at the other side and the doors opened. Ejiro and Sal walked out, towards the only door around. The door opened immediately and let them in.

“For someone who has dedicated his entire life to time travel research, you sure do know how to show up late,” the voice of the chief engineer, Funke Baruti, echoed across the large hall. She was standing in the midst of several other engineers, scientists and stakeholders who had come from all over Africa and the rest of the world to witness the first manned time travel attempt.

“I am sorry,” Ejiro replied and she nodded. He headed to the changing room with Sal and quickly changed into his titanium layered overall suit and helmet then walked into the tunnel. The tunnel housed T.I.M.E itself. On one side of the tunnel, was a large mechanical catapult with a heavily streamlined vehicle attached to it. Ejiro walked to the vehicle and entered with Sal, they both latched on their set belts. Funke and the others watched from a glass cubicle above the tunnel. The mechanical catapult which was powered by nuclear fusion, roared to life, gathering enough energy to propel the vehicle along the straight line of the tunnel at speed of light. Ejiro swallowed and got ready.

In an explosion of light, the vehicle disappeared, Ejiro shut his eyes as his stomach churned and his head pounded but in a few seconds, everything stopped, the light diminished and Ejiro opened his eyes. The vehicle was floating in nothingness, there was nothing around, only the dim light filled everywhere.

“We are in a time loop,” Sal said calling Ejiro back. Ejiro immediately typed in the date destination on the keys on the dashboard. The vehicle jerked and began falling, Ejiro shut his eyes again, held on to his chair and tried not to scream. They continued falling for a while without making impact. Ejiro gathered courage and opened his eye. He saw the T.I.M.E complex, big and imposing, then it became small and disappeared, replaced by the forest, the trees in the forest began shrinking, till they became shrubs and disappeared, replaced by an extensive irrigation project.

“We are falling through time,” he said, Sal nodded its mechanical head. The irrigation project disappeared and was replaced by a sea of sand, then Ejiro heard a series of explosions and saw a mushroom cloud in the distance. They stopped falling, the vehicle died down. Ejiro opened his door and stepped out into the hot sandy desert. He removed his helmet and the dry wind smacked his face, he smiled to himself as Sal joined him. He gulped in as much air as he could, Ténéré smelt differently in 2011.

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