• “This is it! It’s my time now! I’m next!” I screamed in my thoughts for my mouth was taped shut. Two pairs of strong hands dragged me to the Gateway to the Unknown. I am Experiment No. 212. I live in the legendary Area 51. I was not born but created to be a “lab rat” for an experiment. This experiment uses extra terrestrial equipment that the government takes from U.F.O. crash sites to see what they do. We, the lab rats, are the ones to activate or, in my place, go through, the equipment. The Gateway is a small portal, no larger than an average window, which was found many years ago. It took decades for the scientists here to fix it up to work again. Unfortunately, I was the one who was created to go through the Gateway.
    “Now once you go through this portal,” Dr. Halmer said as he walked over, he was my creator, “You will find yourself 10 years in the future, in the year 2019. You should end up right where you are standing, but just in case, M2.0 will go with you.” M2.0 was a little robot thing that Dr Halmer had made before me. After he handed M2.0 to me there was a loud siren and flashing red lights. This could only mean 2 things. Either there was another U.F.O. crash or something went wrong in the Lab. In the commotion somehow I was pushed into the portal.
    Quick, pulling the tape off my mouth I looked around. This looked nothing like the lab. It was paved and there were cars flying through the air. I stopped a lady and asked what year I was in. She told me that this was the year 3009. I couldn’t believe it! All of a sudden M2.0 started to shake. “Hello? No. 212, Is that you?” Was M2.0 talking to me? “It’s me Dr. Halmer. I’m calling through time. It seems that you have been sent through 1000 years instead of 10.” This was my chance! I could be free in this time! “No. 212 don’t get any ideas! You WILL come back right now! M2.0 has a tracking device built in it. Just push the button on its back and you will be sent back into the past.” I wasn’t like one of the stupid numbers. I wasn’t going to push the button even if it were life or death. Being dead seemed to be a happier way to be than being trapped in that cell being fed alien food like I’m one of the E.T.’s of the galaxy. “I’m not doing it!” I told Dr. Halmer. “You will if you don’t want to face elimination!” Elimination was better than the life back in my time but living here in this time was better than Elimination. So I ran from M2.0. I stopped after about 14 blocks. Panting I turned around to see if it was chasing me.
    If I was going to make a new life in this time I was going to need a name. I didn’t think that Experiment No. 212 would look good on an I.D., if they still had I.D.s. I looked around and found a bench in a local park. I decided to sit there while I thought of a name and what I was going to do now that I was my own person. After what seemed to be a long time, I decided on a name, Mara Lillian Namorah. I also figured out, with some help from a passer-by, that I was about 16. She was very kind and helped me come up with a birthday, too, July 6, 2994. I learned that the her name was Ellia and that she was 16 also. She went to the local high school and was the daughter of the principal. “Well, I can get you enrolled in school and find you a place to sleep, if you want.” She said after I told her that I came from Europe and was looking for a new place to live. I accepted and thanked her.
    “Welcome to Loillanna High.” Ellia said as we walked through the double doors. She led me to the office in which her father worked. He got me enrolled under my new name and handed me a paper with my classes on it. He had given me the same classes as Ellia so she could show me where they were. My first class was history. This will be easy, I thought. Ellia pointed to the seat right next to her indicating that I should sit there. “Looks like we have a new student, Class.” The teacher said after the bell rang. “What is your name, dear?” After I told them my name, the teacher started to talk about the 2000’s. “Who was the president elected in 2009 and why was he so special?” Quickly I raised my hand. “Barack Obama, the first black president to be elected in the US.” The teacher laughed and said that I was smart when it came to the 2000’s. I thought, If only they knew