(Author's Note - challenge was to mix romance and disaster, lol, originally written for the Bad Romance contest run by the old Adventure Community (now SecretTreasures )

A Mammoth Adventure

"Welcome to TimeLabs, Mr Shaw, and congratulations! We here at TimeLabs are the premier time travel company and I can assure you our guides are highly trained. Anything you want, anywhere you want to go... The possibilities are very nearly endless..."

Martyn beamed with excitement. Ever since he'd heard about time travel holidays he'd wanted to take one. However, they weren't cheap. Although he'd started a special savings account that very day, he was still a long way from being able to afford one—until he'd won that competition.

"Why I want to travel through time," in twenty-five words or less. He must have written nearly 500 entries, by the time he'd finished.

Nervously, he'd waited for the winning entry to be drawn out of the antique barrel.

"And the winner is..." the beautiful, bio-sculptured young woman with white teeth, paused dramatically, "Martyn Shaw! With his winning entry 'I want to watch my lover's beautiful face when he sees snow and ice, a mammoth, and a sabre-tooth tiger, for the very first time.'" She beamed at the invisible audience. "How sweet is that? Mr Shaw, our sponsors, TimeLabs Inc where adventures last lifetimes, will be in touch with you shortly to arrange the details of your wonderful holiday. Now for..."

And here he was, in the offices of TimeLabs Inc itself, about to choose his very own journey through time. He wished Rory had been able to come with him, but he'd had another commitment.

Martyn turned his attention back to what the salesman was saying. "Your win entitles you to the package of your choice for two, from our Budget range." He waved his hand and a hologram of a Neanderthal family sitting in a cave appeared in the centre of the room.

"The First People—one of our most popular. Or maybe the building of the Great Pyramid?" Another hologram appeared. "We have six exciting tours for you to choose from."

"Um, I was really hoping to go on the Last Ice Age tour, the one with the mammoths and sabre-tooth tigers," interjected Martyn when the salesman paused for breath. "That was the one I wrote the winning entry about." He smiled hopefully at the salesman.

The salesman's face fell. "I'm terribly sorry, but that one is not included in our Budget range. Animals, eh? Perhaps our Colonial Australian tour would suit? It includes a sighting of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger..."

Martyn interrupted, disappointment churning in his stomach. He knew Rory had his heart set on the Ice Age tour. "What about if I paid the difference myself? Would that be possible?"

A few minutes and several hundred credits later, Martyn had signed up for The Last Ice Age Tour, starting the very next week.

"As I said, the package is for two people. Have you got someone special in mind?" asked the salesman chattily.

"Oh yes," said Martyn, happily. "I'm taking my new boyfriend. It will be our first real date together, a romantic getaway."

"A lovely idea," smiled the salesman. "He's a lucky man."

~~~

Martyn was running late for his appointment at TimeLabs. Everything had gone wrong that morning. He'd slept through his alarm and then the milk he'd poured on his cereal had turned rather unpleasantly lumpy during the night. Ugh. Not to mention the small fact that Rory had been supposed to be with him, sleeping over so they could go in together.

Martyn had hoped for a romantic evening, a little foretaste of what he hoped the week away would bring, but Rory had rung, full of apologies. His older brother, Ben was in town. Martyn knew Ben disapproved of him, he was always dour and frowning in his presence and he'd told him to his face that he thought Rory was too young for him. As if it was any of his damn business!

Out of breath, Martyn finally arrived at TimeLabs and was ushered down a corridor towards a closed door.

"Your friend is already here," said the salesman. "I'll just introduce you to Marcella, your guide, and she'll take it from there. The package includes transport in one of our deluxe time machines, complete with meals, though beverages are extra, of course, plus the latest in light-bending suits for you to wear when you leave the machine."

The salesman opened the door with a flourish.

Martyn's eyes were drawn immediately to the large blue box in the middle of the floor. A young woman stood next to it. And next to her stood—Ben. What the fuck was he doing here? Where was Rory?

"Ah, here is Marcella with your time machine," burbled the salesman, oblivious to the sudden tension.

"What are you doing here?" interrupted Martyn.

Ben was frowning, as usual, but a flash of startled surprise crossed his face. "Didn't Rory tell you? No, I can see he didn't! Something came up and he sent me in his place."

"He what?" cried Martyn, outraged.

Ben looked incredibly uncomfortable. "He swore to me that he'd tell you himself, so that you had time to let me know if ... this wasn't okay... for me to come instead."

Hurt and furious, Martyn could only glare in silence.

"Er..." The salesman looked from one man to the other. "I don't mean to rush you, but are you going to take the Tour or not?"

"Oh we'll take the Tour," said Martyn, viciously. "After all, I've paid for it."

Marcella ran a nervous hand over her shaved head. "Um, welcome to TimeLabs Guided Tours, gentlemen," she said. "I'll be your guide for the next week. Please call me Marcella." She glanced at the time machine and smiled tentatively. "And by the way, it's bigger on the inside."

"I hope Rory told you I booked a double room," hissed Martyn as Marcella shut the door behind them. The look of dismay on Ben's face almost made up for the debacle.

Ben stood in the doorway to their room, taking in the single large bed covered in soft white furs, a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket to one side. Martyn had evidently planned a romantic holiday, not the adventure tour Rory had described to him. He ground his teeth. He was going to kill Rory when he got home.

"Rory sent me to take his place." A scarlet tide washed up the back of his neck and flooded his cheeks. No wonder Martyn had been outraged.

"I'm sorry, Martyn." He cleared his throat. "I was expecting an adventure tour... not... Rory told me—"

"It's all right," Martyn interrupted gruffly. "I can see you didn't know. It's not your fault. But why didn't he just tell me if he didn't want to come?"

Ben held his gaze bravely, seeing the hurt in Martyn's honest face. "I'm sorry," he said again. "Rory's an idiot!" Now where had that come from?

Why have I never noticed what lovely hazel eyes Ben has? thought Martyn. When he wasn't frowning. Martyn took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "Well, we're here now. Let's open that champagne! And we can put some pillows down the middle of the bed, later."

"First stop, North America. We'll be able to observe a herd of mammoths here," announced Marcella.

The time machine came to rest on the ice. Martyn and Ben peered excitedly through the viewing panel, their personal issues pushed to one side for the moment. Everything in every direction was white. Snow and ice. Martyn could hardly wait to go outside and touch it. He'd never seen snow before in his life.

"Once you put on the light-bending suits, you become invisible," explained Marcella. "I'll camouflage the time machine when we leave. As always, our location has been very carefully worked out to cause minimal disruption to the environment, and the inhabitants. Remember, observe as much as you want to, but under no circumstances can you interfere with what you see before you."

Marcella spent a few minutes scanning their surroundings before she said it was safe to leave the time machine.

"Suits comfortable? Snowboots tight enough?" she asked. She took out a taser rifle from a sealed cabinet. "This is for emergencies only," she said seriously. "If necessary, I can stun anything up to and including a charging mammoth, giving us time to make our escape.

"Here are your goggles," she passed over two sets of narrow eyeshields. "These are so we can see each other. They will also record what happens, so that you'll have a chronicle of your trip when you get home."

Martyn and Ben nodded and put them on. Instantly they could see a silvery outline where the other was standing.

She smiled. "Are you ready gentlemen? Follow me."

They crunched over the snow, Martyn stooping to pick up a handful, surprised that he could feel the cold, right through his glove. The sun shone from a cloudless sky, the air was as crisp as an apple and he started to smile.

This was better than he had imagined.

Marcella led them across to a small hill which they climbed, puffing a bit with the extra effort. "There!" she pointed to where black shapes moved ponderously across the horizon. "They'll turn and head in our direction in a few moments," advised Marcella quietly.

Exactly on schedule, the woolly mammoths turned toward them. Heavens, they were magnificent animals, thought Martyn. Serve Rory right, for missing this.

They got closer and closer, until Martyn began to wonder rather anxiously when they would turn away. He flicked a quick glance at Marcella, only to find a frown gathering between her brows.

"This isn't supposed to happen," she muttered. "The herd is supposed to turn left... Right, guys. Something's gone wrong. Let's head back now."

Slipping and sliding, trying not to panic, the two men followed her down the hill. The mammoths kept coming.

"Stampede! Run!"

Heart pounding in his chest, Martyn heard the snow crunching under heavy feet, smelt the acrid scent of wild animals and the next minute something hit his shoulder and he was rolling over and over in the snow.

"Martyn!"

Marcella spun around and fired her rifle. The nearest mammoth crashed to the ground and she could only hope it had missed him.

She saw Ben dragging something from the snow. Martyn. Good man! She fired again, bringing down another animal, then raced back to help Ben carry Martyn's limp body inside the time machine.

The next second, a herd of angry mammoths—fleeing from invisible assailants—crashed into them, sending the box tumbling, over and over.

Everything went black.

~~~

"Some holiday, huh?" said Martyn, a few hours later. He sat propped up in bed, his arm bandaged. Ben was moving around the room, setting everything to rights. He had a nasty cut on his forehead.

"How's Marcella?"

"Still unconscious. I hope she comes around soon, I have absolutely no idea how to operate this thing or call for help."

"Er... thanks for rescuing me by the way. I know you don't even like me."

Ben looked up. "What makes you say that?"

Martyn pulled a face. "Come off it, you're always frowning at me. And you told me to stay away from Rory."

Unexpectedly, Ben smiled and came nearer. "Well I was right about that, wasn't I? Though probably not for the reason you thought." He sat down on the bed next to Martyn.

Martyn swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"Rory is an immature jerk. It killed me to see you with him."

"Did it?"

"You deserve someone so much better."

"Do I?" said Martyn, sounding like an idiot.

"I wish you'd chosen me instead." Ben held Martyn's gaze, a faint blush staining his cheeks. "So now you know."

Martyn reached for Ben's hand. And smiled. "Well, we seem to be stuck here for a bit. Let's see how it goes, shall we?"