Paphos People

AN EXPERIMENT IN TIME

BANG!!! And millions of particles, some huge some infinitesimally small were hurtled forwards at a fantastic rate.

When he got the job at the physics laboratory his parents and family were very impressed and pleased. The job was just what he wanted, a chance to study the principals of the physical properties of sub atomic particles and their behaviour in exceptional circumstances the reason why he had studied for three years at University.
The door in the circular room housing the particle accelerator opened and the operator came in to be greeted by havoc of the first order. The massive circular tube which ran all the way round the wall was filled with debris whirling around at a fantastic speed.
“Oops” he said “I only went for a pee, what shall I do about that lot now?”

Studying the mess he had created he decided to try and develop something out of the mismatch of particles before it all settled down. Selecting one of the glowing embers which had a number of particles encapsulated by it. He picked out the third one in the line zoomed in with the micro-maximiser machine which recorded an image every time the target went past. When you consider that it was passing one hundred times a second a comprehensive history soon built up. He sat down and began to study what was there.
A trace of water, a lot of Nitrogen, some oxygen and some carbon dioxide, it was picking up some heat from the ember it was drawn to, enough to sustain some primitive life forms. So he decided to conduct an experiment and observe the development while the maelstrom result of the particle accelerator would eventually settle in a day or so then he could start clearing up the mess.

Observations of the experiment

When the first vertebrate crawled out of the brackish salty water of the prehistoric oceans it heralded the start of the Dinosaur era which was destined to last for three hundred million earth years. Finally declining after a catastrophic collision with a massive asteroid this had the effect of changing the climate and conditions of the planet. As the foliage food source died off, the dinosaurs tried to diversify into eating each other. This was largely unsuccessful as the food source of the smaller creatures had disappeared this resulted in the disappearance of the massive land based animals. The sea creatures carried on as before but developed at a different rate.
“Interesting” he thought, “the life forms developed but having achieved their highest levels, a natural disaster removed them from the equation.” He scribbled some notes in his book.
Some of the avian species had already developed feathers and were able to generate their own body warmth. Being able to fly gave them the ability to escape capture and allowed them to build nests high above the ground. In this form they alone flourished through into the next era.

He went for a cup of tea.




The beginning of the end

The once noble red deer stumbled along the track, until finally, exhausted it dropped to its knees and gently lowered its head to the ground. It quietly died and fell over. That was the way of things and the scavengers moved in to do their allotted job clearing up the debris.

The family group of humanoids were moving through the woodland, gathering fruit and nuts to eat when they came upon the carcass of the red deer. Inquisitive and approaching very cautiously they surrounded the now rotting corpse. The leader of the group caught hold of the rear leg and pulled. The flesh gave way and he now had the whole leg in his hand. He smelt the raw end and licked at the dark red meat. He grunted in approval and bit into his first taste of protein rich food. The rest of the group set about the dead body, tearing the flesh in great lumps cramming it into their mouths, making satisfied grunting sounds.

When he came back from his cup of tea, he was astounded at the progress humanoids had made. They had first developed weapons to kill other animals for food secondly and more importantly tools to enable them to make articles making their lives easier. Houses were being built and villages and towns were established. Transport was being developed and with it weapons of war!
He was intrigued when warfare broke out and it was survival of the fittest, some of the humanoids took charge of the others creating a hierarchy system. He made some more notes in his book.

The vacuum machine was ready for the next morning. Putting on his coat he went home for his dinner. After that he had an early night preparing himself for the task of cleaning up the mess he had created in the accelerator the previous day!