Future Squirrels

I wrote this as part of another Writing Prompt found on Reddit. The prompt was titled: 2,000,000 A.D., humanity is long gone, a new species is just becoming intelligent enough to form a civilisation. An individual discovers a lost human artefact in the desert and argues to his superiors it isn't natural

The following is my submission:

Weelo stuffed his cheeks full of acorns. He didn’t know they used to be called acorns, of course, for that word had disappeared from this world eons ago. In his language, they were simply called by the word they used for fruit: something that grew on trees that you could eat. Nine! He could carry nine at a time! This was a new record for him. He needed to show Reeesh! He hopped down from the lower branches of the acorn tree, landing on all fours. His bushy tail twitched a few times as he sniffed the air. Giant squirrels don’t navigate by sight or even memory, like most animals. They relied on the smell of their destination, and followed the intensity. As it grew stronger, you were closer. Weelo spun in jerky, squirrel motions facing this direction and that until he determined the direction of his village. Then he hopped up onto his rear legs and ran towards home. He was so excited about his new personal best that he couldn’t contain himself.

“Reeesh, look!” he shouted, but because he had four acorns packed into each cheek and one in the center on his tongue, it sounded like “Reepsshglaack!” and he slobbered and nearly choked on the ninth acorn. He dropped to all fours again, and coughed and gagged. He involuntarily spat out four acorns, gasped, choked again, and spit out a fifth. Two of them rolled down the incline to his right, and he quickly stuffed the three remaining acorns back into his mouth and scurried after the renegades.

Down the embankment he went on all fours, slobber on his furry little chin, but a look of determination and concentration on his gray and white face. The acorns bounded down faster and faster, and getting farther away from one another. Weelo may have been prone to excitement, but he was not prone to panic. He picked up his pace and was able to snatch one out of mid-air. He grinned inwardly, for fear that if he let a smile cross his lips, he’d lose another acorn or two. With the first renegade acorn now firmly in his grip, he veered off after the second, but by this time, it had gotten very far away. He picked up his pace and closed the distance. The acorn bounded crazily from rock to rock as the incline grew ever so slightly steeper. Finally, as Weelo reached it, the incline gave way to a cliff. He skidded to a stop at the last second and his paw shot out. He grazed the acorn as it plummeted over the edge, just out of reach, and he watched helplessly as it disappeared far below.

He sighed (slobber, slobber), and looked around, sniffing the air. Where am I? He thought. A new smell entered his twitching nose. It was new to him. Completely unlike anything he’d ever smelled. It was just off to the side a bit. He looked around and saw a square rock, about as big a himself, with strange markings on it. It was covered in dirt and dead leaves, but since it was so strange looking and had a weird smell, he decided to have a closer look. He brushed away the grime and found a small indentation. When he touched it, it clicked and opened up. It was a box! But not like the woven grass boxes his peers made. No, this was a new kind of box. Inside this box was a… thing. A branch, maybe? Another rock? It was smooth and about as big as his leg. It was clean, too; protected from the elements by the box.  Someone placed this here. But who? He took it out and noticed similar markings on the side. They looked like this: RONCO’S PERSONAL TIME PORTAL – WHEN WILL YOU GO TO, TODAY? But to him it was just meaningless scratches.

“Reeesh! I need to show Reeesh!” Weelo shouted, but it was mostly slobber and another acorn fell out of his mouth. He sniffed the air for his village, and once he determined its direction, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him with the thing held tightly to his chest.

 * * *

“Weelo, where have you been?” Reeesh, the village elder stood on his hind legs with his paws on his hips.

“You have to see this!” Weelo shrieked, proffering his thing.

“It’s a rock. So what? Have you brought back fruit?”

Weelo got excited. “Nine! I fit nine in my mouth!” But then he realized that he had lost two and couldn’t prove his claim. He hadn’t even bothered to pick up the last one he dropped when he found this thing. *This* *thing!* He remembered. “Reeesh, look! This is more important than fruit.” He proffered the thing to Reeesh again.

Reeesh sighed and took it from him. He turned it over and over, uninterested, unimpressed. “Fine. What is it?”

“I… I don’t know. But it’s not a rock. Look. It’s got some strange scratches on it.” He pointed to the scratches: RONCO’S PERSONAL TIME PORTAL – WHEN WILL YOU GO TO, TODAY?

Reeeshe scoffed and his whickers twitched irritably. “It’s scratched. Stuff gets scratched. That happens.” He tossed the thing onto the ground at Weelo’s feet. Weelo made a move to catch it but was too slow. As the thing hit the ground, it clicked and hummed. The ancient fusion power source still had life. The thing glowed for a moment and a beam of light emanated from one end. A very short distance away, the air rippled like a pond when you drop a fruit into it.

The squirrels looked on in amazement as the ripples subsided and were replaced by what they could only describe as a hole in the air. On the other side of the hole were some very strange creatures. They were looking back at the squirrels excitedly. One of them moved very close to it, making the squirrels take a step back. The creature bared its fangs and made a noise.

“It works! The time portal works!!” the noise sounded like, but to the squirrels, it was meaningless growls. On the chest of this creature, Weelo saw similar scratches to the ones on the thing. They looked like this: RONCO CHRONOLOGY LABS – DR. R. JAMESON

The creature leaned forward making eye contact with Weelo. “Those are some big squirrels!” The creature growled again, unintelligibly.