It took me some time to understand where I was. There were signs, sure, but I wasn't exactly in the same era I had left. Or the same epoch. If that is the right use of the name.

I was in the Upper Paleolithic, also known as the Late Stone Age. Thank you Encyclopedia! I had landed somewhere in Africa, though I didn't know the location. Not that it would matter.

For all it mattered, I could have been in Alaska. The rain was always falling, though I didn't seem to be touched by it. The land was covered in rivers and swamp lands. I had landed in the Mousterian Pluvial. Which was by far the worst sort of weather I could ever want. I almost missed the hot weather of 2045.

It took me three years to discover exactly where I was. It was stupid really. I knew there was a trick to this, because despite walking for hours I never seemed to grow tired. I was losing weight, streamlining down, but I was never tired. Despite drinking and eating, there was no real change in how I felt. The food was good, the air was pure, but I was wrong and so was the land I was in.

Different. It was different.

I didn't know the names of the animals that surrounded me, but I did know what I was looking for. Humans. Any kind. Really.

I found artifacts, strange bone jewelry and bowls. There were engraving tools abandoned in some grass, knives, signs of diversity. This meant I was farther along in history than I thought. It also meant that soon I would need to find someone and figure out how to get to Europe, so I could find the person who did this to me. Even North America might be of use.

Not that I wanted to run into any Aztecs.

TBC