Both Alice and I had both started using the money that we had gotten respectively to invest in companies that we knew were going to make it from our knowledge of the future. Begrudgingly we both invested a large amount of our money into weapons ammunition companies that had government contracts. We knew the Iraq war was coming in a few months and we knew we couldn't stop it. The only thing we could do is what every opportunist does. Profit of the war. Our bank accounts were growing at such a rate that Matthew offered to fast track our education as we were doing well in the stock market. To avoid suspicion from the preservationists, we declined.

Now though, 6 months later with just under $500,000 combined in our finances, it was time to start making a difference. That is why we were standing atop a mountain range in the Brindabella National Park in New South Wales, Australia. It was a hot and windy day with temperatures reaching 40° degrees Celsius (104°F). Storm clouds rolled closer from the distant mountain ranges and into the hills and valleys below us. The dense bracken and rocky bushland made it a hard task to get to where we were standing, but now we were here, we could finally make a positive change in this world. All starting from right here on the top of this mountain.

Alice dropped the satellite phone kit on the ground by the edge of the cliff as she walked over, sat down and dangled her legs off the side.

"Come and join me," she said in a playful tone.

"I think I'm going to pa.s.s on that one," I said, "I don't want any lightning strikes scaring me off the edge."

"Sounds to me like you're scared of heights," she taunted.

"Sounds to me like you just dropped a $3000 Satellite phone onto the rocks," I said, "Those things are so expensive!"

"Relax, we've got loads more money!" she said, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of the cliff, carefree.

We weren't out here alone. Her parents were staying at a lodge a few hours walk down from the hill. It was easy to convince them to come. We told them that we wanted to thank them for all the support they've given us in our efforts to invest and earn money. Especially for letting me live with them under their roof.

"Yure velenis?" Alice asked.

She was speaking in the language that we had created together. Over the past 6 months, we had been creating and perfecting the language that only we could speak in. Originally, I designed it to be a written language, however now that there were two of us working together, it made sense for it to be a verbal language first, written language second. By now we were both fluent in the language, adding words whenever the situation arises that we would need them. Her words translate directly to, "Your feelings?" but can be interpreted as 'How are you,' or, 'What do you think?" depending on how it's said.

"I'm hopeful," I said, "This was the date it is supposed to happen and given it's a natural event and not an artificial one, whatever work the preservationists or any of the other factions have done, shouldn't affect what happens today."

"Yeah, but we will," she said, "We are about to make our first really big mark on the past. We are going to save some lives."

CRACK!

A bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and smashed down into the valley below with a low roll of thunder behind it before another strike impacted the same spot. The purple voltage beam crashed down into the earth sending sparks of electricity flying through the air.

"It's started!" I exclaimed.

"Get the satellite phone ready Sean," Alice said with excitement, "I'll monitor the strike location!"

I inched towards the edge of the cliff and snapped the satellite phone, setting it up and entering the number for the local fire brigade. I reached into my backpack and grabbed a map out before pus.h.i.+ng my way back over to the side of the cliff, not getting too close.

"How is it looking?" I asked.

"First Strike!" she said, "We have a small fire, can you triangulate it from here?" she asked.

I looked over to where Alice was pointing and saw a small plume of smoke rising from the air.

"Give me a minute," I said, "I just need to guess some distances here!"

I spotted out a few landmarks and then matched them to the topography of the map. Then I started getting the compa.s.s bearings for all of the locations and matched them against our location. I looked back out over to the small plume of smoke that was slowly rising.

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"That's 1, maybe 1.2 Kilometres northeast from here," I said, "If this map is right then judging from the opposing ridgeline, and the entrance of the valley, it should be right here," I said pointing to the map, "Just 100 meters south of this waterway."

Alice looked back over at the map and watched my figuring out all of the maths. She laughed and then raised her binoculars to look out across the valley.

"That's only one of many fires that are going to start here," she said, "It's a good thing you did navigation lessons when you were younger."

"My father was the military type," I said, "Always wanting to teach me how to survive in the wild. I can tell you where the nearest coffee shop is by looking at the stars," I joked.

Alice laughed and then continued to speak, "Do you have the GCS location?"

"Yep!" I said excitedly. If I wasn't already a kid, I would look like one right now with the big smile on my face with excitement, "I'm calling it in now."

I grabbed back hold of the satellite phone and pressed enter on the keypad. The phone rang for a few rings. Three exactly, before someone on the other side picked up.

"Brindabella Fire Volunteers, this is Hayley, how can I help you?" she asked.

"Hi Hayley," I said, "I'm camping out with my parents in the Brindabella National Park, I'm just on a bit of a hike now but I've just witnessed a lightning strike set fire to a tree."

"Okay, what's your name?" she asked.

"My name is Tim," I lied.

"Okay Tim, now are you able to tell me where about in the Brindabella national park this fire is?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's at -35.247003, 148.815713. I'll say that again, the fire is at -35.247003, 148.815713," I said.

"Wow Tim, those are some impressive numbers. I'm just looking at the map now and they do seem to be for the Brindabella National Park. We're going to send out a helicopter right away. Are you safe right now Tim?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm safe but I've got to get moving sorry," I lied again, "My parents are waiting for me."

I hung up the phone and then began dialing again. This time for the other fire stations in the area.

CRACK!

Another bolt of lightning crashed into the ground, this time a lot closer. Maybe 500 meters away.

"Did you get that one?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Alice replied, "I've got eyes on it!"

BANG!

"What about that one!?" I asked.

"I didn't see anything Sean!" she said.

BANG!

"And that one?" I asked again.

"Nothing," she said, "Sean I don't think those are lighting strikes. They sound like-."

BANG! BANG! . . . . . . . BANG!

"SEAN!" Alice cried out, "Sean I think those are gunshots!"

I dropped the satellite phone and ran over to the cliff edge, stopping before I barrelled over the edge. I pulled my binoculars off my belt and lay down next to Alice.

BANG! . . . .. Ratatatatatatatatatata. The sound of machine guns started firing throughout the valley. BANG! Then some small explosions.

"I can't find them!" Alice cried.

"Listen, Alice!" I said, "Listen for the crack sound. It will come after the bang. The direction of the crack sound is where the bullets are coming from!"

We scoured the valley with our binoculars looking for the source of the gunshots. There were people down there who were fighting. Was it some sort of army operation? No this was protected land. It had to be two factions from the future.

"THERE!" Alice yelled, "Just south of the fire, they are fighting across two hills!"

I s.h.i.+fted my vision to where Alice had directed me. It took me a moment, but I soon saw someone. It was a man running through the trees on one side of a hill. RATATATATATAT! Dust was flying up from behind him as bullets impacted the ground where he had just been through his running efforts. He dived behind a large rock and adjusted himself to take cover. He was wearing green military camouflage and carried an a.s.sault rifle in his arms. He poked his head out over the rocks and started firing across the hill. RATATATATAT! BANG! A loud shot rang through the valley and the man behind the rock dropped to the ground, sliding a few feet downhill away from the rock, blood dying his clothing red.

"Alice!" I said, "This looks like a warzone. Those people are fighting each other!"

"This is bad Sean," she said, "Really bad. We've just called the fire stations to these exact coordinates!"

"s.h.i.+T!" I said.

I got up and ran over to the satellite phone, that's when over the sounds of the gunshots below, I heard the sound of an engine as well as tires speeding over the uneven ground.

"ALICE!" I yelled, "WE HAVE COMPANY!"

She jumped up and ran over to me. She stopped to listen and heard the same sounds as me.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"Help me pack up all of this stuff," I said, "We have to hide!"

We scrambled to disa.s.semble the satellite phone and put the parts in our bags. The map was shoved in roughly as an afterthought and we both ran to the side, finding a small trench-like valley in the ground just off to the side of where we were set up. Alice grabbed a broken tree branch and dragged it to the small crest and dropped it over the top of us. As soon as she did, the vehicle came into view. It was an older model off-road jeep, and it crunched to a stop right over where we were just standing.

It sat idle for a moment before the engine was turned off and two men stepped out of the Jeep, both carrying a.s.sault rifles. The set up just on the edge of the cliff and looked out at the battle below them.

"How long are you going to be Cameron?" One of the men asked.

The man he was referring to as Cameron started to unzip his military-styled backpack and unpacking a few bags of chemicals and a metal canteen.

"I shouldn't be too long Gil," Cameron said, "This stuff will do the trick. Do you have a line of sight up here?" he asked.

"I can see them," he said, "But they are just under 1 Kilometre away. I can hara.s.s them, but I don't think I can land any shots."

Gil pulled a small briefcase out of his backpack and opened it. He started pulling parts out and quickly a.s.sembling them. It was quickly apparent that he was a.s.sembling a sniper rifle. He flicked forward the bipod and lay flat on the ground, taking aim over the edge of the cliff.

"What is that stuff anyway?" Gil asked as Cameron had begun mixing some of the chemical powders he had removed from this backpack and started placing them in a saucepan.

"This my friend, it a mixture of pota.s.sium nitrate, sugar, and military-grade thermite," Cameron replied, "It's shouldn't take me long to get the pressure cooker ready but when I do, this whole section of the forest is going to become a fireball."

BANG!

This time the gunshot was right next to us as Gil took a shot at something over the edge of the cliff.

"I missed," he said, "This scope must be out."

"I thought you said that you wouldn't hit anything?" Cameron asked.

"It's not that," he said, "I can feel the scopes out."

"What are they doing?" Alice whispered to me.

"It looks like they are trying to make a bomb," I said, "They know that the weather conditions are horrible today and they are probably trying to exacerbate the fire."

"So then they aren't preservationists," she said, "They must be another faction."

We continued whispering, watching the scene unfold before our eyes.

"Preservationists want the future to happen as it already happened," I said, "These guys seem to want to change the future but it doesn't look like it's for the better."'

"Cameron when are you from exactly?" Gil asked as he lined up another shot into the valley. BANG! "d.a.m.nit," he said, "Missed again."

"I'm from 2023," he said, "You're later yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm 2025. Not much happened in 2 years so don't worry," Gil said, "You didn't miss much."

"Sean if these guys make a bomb with that thermite we're screwed," Alice whispered to me.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"They aren't preservationists," she said, "But they also aren't friends. We need to stop them."

Alice slowly moved out of our hiding spot and slinking her way towards the jeep.

"Alice!" I whispered after her to no avail, "s.h.i.+t!"

I started crawling after her, the men only meters away taking no notice of our movement. I got to the jeep just after she did. I saw her going through the inside of the car quietly before returning with something in her hands.

It was a handgun.

"No!" I mouthed to her making no sound with a desperate hope she would listen. She looked at me then looked back down at the gun. She looked back to me as if to say sorry. She stepped out from behind the jeep door and raised the gun to point at Cameron.

"STOP MAKING THAT BOMB RIGHT NOW OR I'LL SHOOT!" She screamed. It was more of a cry. It was a crying scream. There were tears desperately escaping from her eyes as she pointed the gun at the man in front of her.