8 Track To the future

An original Story that follows Augustine fishers, who went to find a record for his parents, and found adventure, Steven Hawking, Time Travel, and a villain from the past and Future.

 

 

8-Track to the Future

By Logan Anderson

 

                        Augustine Fishers looked down at a large lock box, which weighed about fifty pounds. The container itself had a label on it that said, “Please do not try to open this at all. What is contained in this box is something that millions of people would give to have in their possession. I have hidden it in here, and keeping the box closed is a lock that if tampered with anything but the key that is to open it, will result in nothing more than dead weight, as the container will not be able to be opened ever again. I do not know why I never put the lock on and then proceeded to destroy it, but it is here and quite clear, those of you who read this and think it is something funny not to listen to orders should not open it, please. ~ Signed S.H.” What the author proceeded to not mention, because this story needs to feel longer than it actually is, was that Stephen had found the key that he was looking for surprisingly, in a bunch of old records that his father was looking for. The record in question that was to be found was a copy of the album “The Adventures of Panama Red”, which was performed by his father’s favorite band, New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Augustine had checked the old cases and found a bunch of other records. The laundry list of bands was phenomenal: David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane”, The Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family”, Which Augustine proceeded to say, “That one must be Mom’s.” Two copies of Lynard Skynyrd’s “Street Survivors”, one with a dollar price tag on it, the other was almost brand new, with the exception of the slightly bent over edges on all four sides that suffered wear and tear from all the years. A soundtrack of the movie “Alice’s Restaurant”, about four or five different Electric Light Orchestra records, and finally Dad’s Record. Through all the records, E.L.O. had the key inside. Augustine did not think anything of it, but it would be something interesting to show the parents at the dinner table. All this, while Augustine was in the attic. The old key had proceeded to be put into the lock by the mitt that held it. The key turned and unlocked the chest. The lid was heavy; it felt like a large sum of elephants, ton weights, and most of the people that appeared on those old workout tapes with Richard Simmons had been piled up on top of it.

The inside had nothing more than dust bunnies, clods of dirt that covered the inside very well, The Holy Grail, but sadly, no holy hand grenade of Antioch, an ancient document warning people of the feeding of some little creatures that should be fed after midnight, that is, until one realized it said “Not to feed them after midnight”, and an old 8 track player and a few tapes. The player was large and did not have all the great features than a CD player or a cassette player, but for its time, it was the greatest in music technology. Augustine pulled out the player, and though it looked heavy, about three or four pounds was all it really was. A knock at the door was heard.

            “Who is at the door?” The teenager said in a very questioning tone. Augustine set the 8-track player down on the floor, and proceeded to walk to the main door, where the knock was heard. As Augustine was almost down the stairs, he saw the vision of a very interesting man sitting in a mechanical wheelchair. The chair had had the ability to move at high speeds, and except for providing that it had a man at the helm, it was almost utterly useless to have one. This man stared at Augustine with a straight face. His left hand was crossed over his lap to show he had a little typing apparatus next to his right hand, which was holding on to a joystick that controlled where he wanted to go.

“Who are you?”

A robotic voice responded, implying that the voice he was using was not his own. “I am Stephen Hawking. British theoretical physicist and perhaps one of the most intellectual human beings the world has ever known.”

“What do you want at my house? How come you are not in England or something?”

“You found an item than you were never supposed to discover. You should have followed my warning. Now E.P.O.C.H. is going to come and destroy you and me and take that machine and make it their own. Unless you and I get moving with it now.”

            Steven and Augustine prepared to head to the attic. That was until Augustine realized that Stephen could not get up the stairs. Augustine got up the stairs and grabbed a box of 8 track tapes, then ran down the stairs to Stephen. The procedure on how to move through time was simple; Put a tape in and play. All the tapes were labeled with actual singers, but no one would recognize that are actually periods of time. A loud bang at the door signified that someone had forcefully entered the house. The man was none other than the President of E.P.O.C.H., Sage Time. Originally named Parsley Sage Rose Marion Time, but dropped Parsley and Rose Marion as a result that it sounded too silly, and because the author could not afford to get sued by Simon and Garfunkel over the use of song lyrics as a name.

“Quickly, Augustine! Do something!” stressed Stephen’s staccato voice as best as his voice could. Augustine pressed the button and warped them to another time: 1492, the year Christopher Columbus discovered America. Augustine and Stephen stood amongst people in older clothes that looked like they came from a play by William Shakespeare.

“Where are we?” asked Augustine.

“We are in 1492. In this year, Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered America.”

“How does one proceed to ‘accidentally discover America’?”

From out of a building was Mr. Columbus himself, drunk out of his mind, with a bottle of some kind of illegible alcohol in hand. He tried to take a drink, but found it was empty. The next joke the Author proceeded to write was one of poor taste, that is, if the other ones were not of poor taste already.

“Where has all the rum gone!?” shouted the discoverer. A man approached Mr. Columbus, asking him what they were going to do next.

“All right, here is what we will do: We are gonna take three ships, the Doritos, Banditos and Dan Marino, and ride around until we find land of some kind, and no matter what, proceed to call them “Indians” to further condescend their nations in the future. Savvy?”

The man apparently did not want to correct the future discoverer, despite the fact he had gotten the Pinta, Nina and Dan Marino, umm, Santa Maria, actually wrong.

            Stephen and Augustine pressed a button instead of further destroying time by staying there. Their next destination was: 1412, when Joan of Arc was about to prepare to fight for her homeland, and fight against England.

“What is this place?” Augustine asked.

“Did you not you hear the Author? He said ‘1412 – When Joan of Arc was about to prepare to fight for her homeland.’” Exclaimed the British Theoretical physicist. Joan of Arc looked directly at them and said in a French Accent, “Bonjour, Monsieur Hawking and Monsieur Fishers.” The beautiful woman looked towards them with deep sorrow in her eyes. Her sword that she held close to her body was one of pure bewilderment, as the sword gleamed and showed a beauty all its own, which was clasped into her hand.

Augustine looked at her astonishingly, not only bewildered by her beauty, but also by the fact she knew his name.

“How do you know my name? How do you know our names?” The hero said with vigor in his voice. The Author did soon realize that since religion in school was a sketchy subject, and he had to explain how the voice of a higher power would explain how she knew who they were, he used the only replacement thing he could come up with that would not offend anyone.

“I have been told by [Chuck Norris] that you two would come. He said you two would help prove I am not a heretic, and save my life. You will, right?” She said with emotion. The two heroes recognized they could not do anymore for her; since they were not here to change time, but instead, were here hoping Sage Time would forget about them while they were traveling through time. They changed time again to 1985.

“Where are we now?”

“Jeez, how come you never figure stuff out for yourself? We are in 1985. The only reason we might be here is because Back to the Future came out this year.”

Stephen and Augustine looked forward to see Doc Brown and Marty Mcfly talking, in the middle of a parking lot, loudly and audibly, Doc Brown said, “When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, your gonna see some serious….” The rest remaining illegible. Hawking and Fishers stared with wide eyes at the two, where Hawking proceeded to say, “Augustine, please press another button.”

They finally warped to a future that many would never recognize.

For the first time, Hawking had asked, “Where are we?” Augustine had easily replied, 2095. When he was asked about that, Augustine simply replied, “It says so on that sign over there.” The two searched and found that there was nothing of real interest except that everything was real fancy in the future. Everyone else, however, was afraid to respond or approach the two heroes.

“What is going on?” Augustine asked someone.

“Quiet, if we are not careful, Emperor Sage Time will come back and hurt us.” A lowly human being ran away.

“Sage Time? The one that controls E.P.O.C.H? You mean he is from the future? Stephen, We have to go back and stop him. Otherwise, he will rule the future.” The two went back in time and found there was someone with a gun in hand waiting for them all along, Sage Time, himself.

The villain and the British Theoretical physicist stared at each other with wicked eyes.

“Stephen Hawking.”

“Parsley Sage Rose Marion Time. We meet again.”

“How do you two know each other?” Augustine interjected.

Sage began to explain, “We were rivals for many years. We still have been, but I could not do anything to him unless I had a reason. Having a time machine I want is more than a good one. At last, the time machine that will get me back to a future that will soon be my own. Hand it over.” The man held his hand out while still holding a gun in the other.

“Wait, how come we have not got a last request yet?” Augustine had to say. “After all, in a very short time, you will kill us, which means you would then be able to have all the time in the world to use, especially after we are dead, so therefore, we should be granted our last moment of life, right?” Augustine had tried to sound extremely intelligent to further prove his point that he was trying to set up a small amount of time to save his bacon.

“Why not? You make a good point. What would you like for both of your last wishes?” Sage said, loathing the unofficial rules of hostage holding.

“What does E.P.O.C.H. stand for?” Stephen Hawking asked.

“Eventually our People have the Option to Control the Hours.”

“That is not a very good slogan.” Hawking chuckled.

“Yes it is I came up with it.” Sage argued his genius. What the genius did not expect was that during all of this, Augustine had set the time machine to another period in time that was almost impossible to have seen coming: The Year 0, where everything ceases to exist. The time beam was blasted, and sent the villain to live in nothingness.

The end was drawing near, and Augustine and Hawking recognized that despite possibly destroying time, they could accomplish anything. Upon recognizing this moment, a piece of paper appeared from the future, and on it, is said, “So here is the news, we are all free, and we thank you two for saving our future. You are welcome here anytime you like. Yours Truly, 2095.”

Hawking took the time machine with him and proceeded to leave, but not before saying his goodbyes.

“Bye, Augustine. It was nice meeting you. Hope to see you again… In the sequel!”

As the genius disappeared, the Father of Augustine yelled from a separate room, “Did you find my record yet, Son!?”

Author's Note

A sequel is in the works if whether you want one or not. Please be honest, what can I do to be better? Constructive Criticism, please.

Reviews

[Tina Leach]

So I had to read this simply because it was about an 8-track player.

That being said, I thought it was quite clever, and very pop culture laden. (The two things that I consider crucial to my own writing). It made me laugh. And I loved the fact that they heard the author's narrative. Nice touch.

--Tina

[Bearcub The First]

"What does E.P.O.C.H. stand for?" Stephen Hawking asked.
"Eventually our People have the Option to Control the Hours."
"That is not a very good slogan." Hawking chuckled.
"Yes it is I came up with it." Sage argued his genius.

That is by far the one of the best lines the writing
thank that is awsome