Chapter 1

Jason felt like he was floating in an inky blackness that was almost silky in texture. How long had he been floating? Days? Months? Years? He would have been panicking if he were able to feel emotion in this place. The place had no meaning of time. Spending centuries in this void would seem like a blink of an eye in time. Spending a second here would feel like centuries however. Yes, it confused him as well.

How did I get here? He asked himself in a silent manner. Who am I?

A small spark of light appeared before him and floated there. The light seemed to beg him to touch it. The light was almost tangible as he looked upon it with curiosity. It kept floating slowly towards him and he wanted so bad to touch it. It seemed the more that he wanted it, the closer it came.

Finally, without warning, it touched him.

Jason Kincaid,

If you are able to see this note then you are just about to wake up. I left you this telepathic note to let you know what I have done. You most certainly do not know this, but I am not of your planet. My name is Kreiccll and you probably could not pronounce the name of my race. I am a scientist and I have been studying earth for decades. I have studied you personally for the last six years.

After you died, I guess you could say that I decided to save you. You were in your bed when you died. At the age of fifty-three, you had a massive heart attack in your sleep. No technology on Earth could have saved your life. I took it on myself to save you. However, this is not what you humans call a freebie. To repay me, you will have to help another colleague of mine with an experiment.

All you have to do in this experiment is survive in the wilderness of the Stone Age.

Congratulations, you are now what I call a Kalek—or Time Traveler, in your language. Only you are in a new body. We replaced your body with a body that is aged exactly twenty-two years. It looks exactly as you did at twenty-two years old, save for the fact that you are now in better shape than you were then. You are completely healthy now. You are certainly healthy enough to survive the Paleolithic Era.

Now, let's talk about supplies. I know that you will not remember, but when you were on my ship, you spent three days making a list of the things that you thought that you would need. Since it is illegal to have memories of our ship, we wiped your memories of the ship and the list making. On a side note, I can tell you your memories of the life you lived in your timeline on earth will return quickly after you wake up. It will probably happen in mere minutes but it could also take up to an hour.

The items that you chose are in the cave that we placed you in.

What you needed with dozens of copies of the same pistols and rifles, I'll never know. Let's not mention the five million rounds of ammo that you ordered, ok?

I also took the liberty of modifying the cave you will be in. It has a security field that will allow no people to enter unless you give permission. I believe humans call them "force fields". The lighting in the cave has also been modified. It will be lighted in a very subtle way. It will be enough light that you can see in the dark but can still sleep with it on. The last item is the cave will never drop below sixty-five degrees. However, there is no limit to how hot it can get in the summer.

The following is the list of supplies you ordered so that you do not have to go through them. They are in five different 15X15X8 crates.

My name is Jason, he thought with a bit of wonder. He still did not remember any of his life however. It was more than frustrating in his opinion. He forced himself to look over the list carefully and read it in a very thorough manner.

After he fully finished reading over the supply list, Jason felt himself pulled out of the black inkiness of his unconscious state. It was a slow process. It seemed to move at the speed of tree sap in the winter. However, he scratched and clawed to wake up quickly.

Slowly, his green eyes fluttered open and he found himself looking at a rough stone ceiling. After sitting up and moving around, Jason noticed right away that he was in a large cave. It was so large that it would be possible to fit two football fields in it. The floor was also stone but it was so smooth that he knew that it was not made by nature. Jason was fairly sure that the alien that saved him had modified the cave in some way. It was completely spotless and smooth.

Standing up, Jason looked down at his body. He noticed that he was wearing a pair of worn blue jeans, a sleeveless denim shirt and worn black cowboy boots. Looking around, he also noticed a worn black Stetson cowboy hat on the stone floor of the cave. Jason immediately knew that it had been his for a long time, though he didn't how he knew it. It was merely a feeling and not a memory. The young looking man immediately snatched it off the stone floor and placed it on his head.

The only other things he was wearing were a duel shoulder holsters that had two 9mm Berettas. He figured that the aliens put him down armed in case he ran into trouble.

Looking around again, he noticed off to the left were the five huge crates that held his supplies. Because of his photographic memory, he knew exactly what each crate held. Most of it was in three different categories. The first was Weapons, the second was wood working tools and equipment and the third was food procuring tools—such as fishing, farming and hunting gear. Although, the fifth crate had nothing but canned food and various spices in it, in case times got hard. Jason had read in the mental note that the cans were reusable and could be resealed if he washed them out after using them. There was also about five hundred pounds of salt, pepper and sugar, each.

Walking over to crate three, Jason stood at the end of it. This particular crate was his weapons crate. The crates were walk in crates and had a door with a combination lock on them. The mental note had told him the combination and he easily remembered it. Shrugging, the black haired time traveler quickly dialed the combination and then swung the massive stainless steel door open.

Looking in, Jason noticed that it was arranged just like the mental note had stated.