"I said I could definitely tell you two things," Michaelson spoke again. "One of them was that we are in the past, millions of years in the past." He spoke slowly, his eyes on the busy boats around the ship. "Are you not interested in the second of the two things I said I could tell you?"
"Yes," said Higgins. "What is it?"
The scientist sighed. "It is that we will never be able to return to our own time!"
"What? But—we are planting mines. If the explosion of the Jap bombs sent us through the time fault, maybe a second explosion will send us back through it."
Michaelson shook his head. "I have investigated the mathematics of it," he said. "It is impossible. You might as well call in your boats and save your explosives. The fact is, we are marooned in this time, forever!"
Marooned in time, forever! The words rang like bells of doom. Marooned forever. No chance of escape. No hope for escape.
"Are you sure?" Higgins questioned.
"Positive," the scientist answered.
Craig looked at the sea. He lit a cigarette, noting that it was the last one in the package. He drew the smoke into his lungs, feeling the bite of it.
Marooned in time, forever!