Author's Note: I am not well-educated on the matters of time travel or time machines. The beginning is simply meant as an explanation as to why Marilla ended up in the past, and is not intended to be historically or scientifically accurate.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
*
It was the year 2010. Marilla Stephens, inventor and head of the recently founded Unofficial National Association of Active History (which consisted of one member, herself), was about to embark on her first journey into the past.
After years of tireless research, effort, and money, Marilla had finally accomplished what had previously been only dreamed about: the construction of a real, working time machine.
Or so she hoped. Marilla had yet to actually
test
the product. Not wanting to use any other human guinea pigs out of fear they would try and hog the credit, she was determined to do all the testing herself. Besides, this way no one would get hurt.
Marilla had always been fascinated by evolution. She especially found human evolution exciting, and she had always wished that she could meet one of her prehistoric ancestors. She had vowed to herself that if she ever constructed a time machine, she would go back to the time when the first
Homo sapiens
emerged and view them firsthand.
Maybe I won't ever let anyone know about the time machine
, she thought to herself as she climbed into the round, single-seat vehicle.
Yeah, it'll be my little secret. I'll explore the vast fields of time, and keep all my great adventures to myself!
She set the date to 130,000 B.C., buckled herself in, and started the engine. Her last thought before she blacked out was,
Even if I do something to negate my own existence, I will have no regrets.