TITOR

5. The Pre-Historic Ruler

In 3057, DST Office.

"Did you find John?" asked Dwight, exasperated.

Nina shook her head. "The signal's gone. He must not have been in 1975. He can't be contacted, and I haven't been able to trace his whereabouts now—wait ..., Dad! John, I found John!"

Professor Dwight Tipler hurried over and looked at the coordinates Nina had shown him on the giant holographic screen. Dwight was wide-eyed, unable to believe what he saw on the screen.

"There's no way he is in that era ...," Dwight muttered, trembling.

"Dad, what should we do?" asked Nina.

"He should be able to return to our time," Dwight replied.

Nina responded, "What if there was a problem? In fact, our signal was interrupted several times."

Dwight nodded. "This never happened before. I'll find out why later. Right now, the most important thing is to save John. I'll contact the General and ask for help to send his men after John."

"No way, Dad! They won't arrive for five minutes, and we don't know the danger John is in! His life could be in danger at any moment!" Nina panicked.

"But there's no other solution!" snapped a panicked Dwight.

"Me," said Nina, briefly.

Dwight looked at his daughter, did not believe. "What do you mean?"

Nina nodded. "I will go."

Dwight panicked even more. "Don't be stupid, you're not military! Instead of saving John, you'll just get him in trouble!"

"But—"

Dwight interrupted, "Wait, and don't do anything before I give an order! I'm calling the General immediately!"

Dwight rushed to leave Nina. Seeing that her father had left, Nina was stunned in front of the screen. Her feelings were raging. Even though in front of John she looked like she hated him, deep inside, she still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend. John's safety in ancient times made her even more worried. There was only one thing she could do to put her heart at ease a bit: to see John safe with her own eyes.

Nina immediately put on a belt, took the things she needed, pressed the hologram button, then entered the time machine. When the time machine started to activate, Dwight came back to the room.

"Nina, the help is coming soon ...." Dwight paused, his gaze fixed on the time machine. "No ...."

Without thinking, Dwight pressed the button to cancel the time machine. However, it was all too late. The time machine had brought Nina into a time vortex. Dwight felt weak and fell to his knees. He stared at the floor of the room with a bleary gaze.

"Nina," said Dwight, weak.

Meanwhile, in ancient times, John and Xavier froze at the giant lizard before them. The thirteen-foot-tall beast roared loudly. John tried to press the hologram button to take him away from that era. Unfortunately, even though he tried many times, his efforts failed. It was at that moment that the T-rex lunged at John and Xavier with sharp teeth ready to tear them apart. Despite being seriously injured, with all his might, John managed to roll to the side. So did Xavier, who dodged faster.

It was actually easy for Xavier to move to another era since his device was still functioning properly. However, if that was done, it would mean that he had failed to complete his task of thwarting John. It was certain that his decision to stay there, even though he had to face the terrible animal in front of him now.

Xavier fumbled in his pocket. "Damn! I ran out of bombs after using them on the cops earlier!"

In Xavier's mind, there was no other way but to take out his laser gun. He immediately opened fire on the T-rex without stopping. Instead of being injured, the attack only fueled T-rex's anger. The animal lunged at Xavier again. However, once again, Xavier managed to dodge while continuing to fire.

John secretly watched the incident from behind a tree. Xavier and the T-rex's fight was an opportunity he would not waste. With all his might, he got up, then ran through the forest. After running far enough, he stopped and looked around to make sure it was safe. John breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against a tree. He saw the hole in his chest where he had been shot.

"Ancient guns are scary," muttered John.

John looked around, looking for something hard and sharp. Finally, he saw what he was looking for. He picked up a broken piece of wood with a sharp point, then stuck it into the hole in his chest. John stifled a scream while trying to remove the bullet from his chest. After successfully removing the bullet, he tore off his clothes and then bandaged the wound on his chest.

John leaned back and sighed. His mind was not completely at rest. Apart from being stranded in an ancient era full of terrible animals, he was also being hunted by Xavier. However, what worried him the most was that the device that could take him back to the future was now malfunctioning. There was only one way to do it: take Xavier's. John knew it was very difficult to get it from Xavier. However, he was determined, rather than remain in this age and become a meal for the dinosaurs. John got up then walked back to where Xavier and the T-rex were fighting.

Elsewhere, Xavier was still fighting the T-rex. Hundreds of times he shot the laser, but it couldn't hurt the T-rex at all. As a result, the laser energy was running low. If things stayed the same, it was only a matter of time before he was torn apart by that ancient ruler.

Xavier's situation was very worrying. His efforts to avoid the T-rex actually brought him to the edge of a cliff. He had two choices: become a meal for the T-rex or the reptile that ruled the seas. Both options were certainly not the best. Unfortunately, there was no right way that came to mind to get out of that situation. Xavier, who had never believed in miracles, this time really hoped that a miracle would come to save him.

The T-rex roared loudly before swinging its head at Xavier. The beast opened its mouth wide, showing sharp teeth ready to mince Xavier. However, at a critical moment, suddenly there was an explosion. The ground shook hard; some trees fell, others broke; the ground was scattered and mixed with smoke and dust that was flying in the air. It wasn't long before the ancient ruler fell to the ground. Xavier was wide-eyed watching the incident. His chest was rising and falling rapidly. Now he truly believed in a miracle.

"Who?" Xavier muttered, "who helped me?"

The question was not immediately answered until the puff of smoke slowly disappeared. He saw someone's silhouette in the thinning smoke.

Xavier gasped, looking at the person in front of him. "You ...."