The First 24 Hours

Into the Unknown1

September 19th 20072

I keep having trouble with the confabulator! And the cranks and crunks keep malfunctioning! I’m sure that it won’t take much longer; just a few more tweeks and tonks and it will finally be ready. My adventure will soon begin!3

September 29th 2005 4

All right, today is the day. I have my protective-ultraviolet-bodysuit on and my scientific gadgets and gizmos at hand. Into the unknown I go.5

September 29th ~ 4,700,000,000 years ago (The Earth in Space, 1967, page 290)6

The heat is incredible but my bodysuit is prevailing! Unfortunately I have found no sources of life, oxygen, or water. This darkness is hindering my search! It appears that the sun’s feeble light cannot puncture earth’s atmosphere. Luckily I brought along my ultra-light. Additionally, with my gizmos and gadgets, I have evaluated that in the air Carbon Dioxide is mixing with stinky, pungent, Hydrogen Sulfide. This is no doubt the source of this rotten-egg smell! I have also deduced that Co2 dominates the atmosphere. This Co2 has replaced my familiar blue sky with a reddish tinge. (Edge of the Universe, 2005) I will continue to search for signs of life, and maybe some water. I’m just so terribly thirsty from all this walking… 7

September 30th ~ 4,100,000,000 years ago (www.Wikipedia.com)8

Today, after the crust solidified, I came across an ocean. It seems that the Co2 causes the oceans to look green. My gizmos suggest that all this Hydrogen Sulfide escapes from volcanic fissures located below the water. The Hydrogen Sulfide then reacts with the water and coats surfaces with concentrated Sulfuric Acid. Lots of single celled organisms thrive here. Apparently these bacteria derive their energy by converting hydrogen sulfide into sulfuric acid. (Edge of the Universe, 2005) I won’t be drinking this! Perhaps I should go home and fetch a glass of lemonade? 9

October 1st ~ 4,100,000,000 ago10

What do I do, what do I do!? The confabulator has malfunctioned! I have managed to repair it somewhat but I anticipate a breakdown when I reactive the main drive! I have no choice. The ticker must tock.11

October 2nd - 600million years later12

Only one malfunction is apparent; the voyage to my future is taking longer than usual. Not that long of course! To my sheer joy I am witnessing the creation of Earth in fast forward! Millions of years are passing in hours! I am astounded by the assault our little planet is enduring. For 600million years comets and asteroids struck Earth. I will label this age ‘The Great Bombardment.’ (www.Wikipedia.com)Missiles measuring 300 miles across strike the Earth with abandon. Their impact melted the earth’s crust and vaporized the oceans! And just when I thought it was safe along came the deadliest missile – The moon! Its devastating impact surly destroyed any Carbon Molecules! My suit could barely contest with the exponential increases in temperature... let alone this acid rain. Perhaps these comets and asteroids are bringing additional seeds of life to earth? (Edge of the Universe, 2005)13

October 2nd: 800million years later14

According to my Rolex the most violent bombardment lasted for 3 hours (which approximates to 587,499,999 years). When the intensity of the attack lessened I performed further experiments. Until recently I had always believed that life began several hundred million years after this bombardment. It turns out that life actually began during the Great Bombardment! (Edge of the Universe, 2005)15

After analyzing the debris I discovered that Earth was now richer in Carbon molecules and Amino Acids – both building blocks of life. These Amino Acids are Carbon molecules that combine to form the proteins that are vital to all living organisms (Earth in Space, 1967, pg 292). However, I was most surprised by the Comets. These icy dust balls held organic compounds (about 70 varieties of amino acids – 8 of them being building blocks of life) in a quarter of their mass.16

I initially assumed that the molecules, which rode the meteors to Earth, would not survive the impact. I was wrong! Not only did they survive but they transformed into an entirely new tarry-brown compound! Peptides were created! These peptides are an essential ingredient in creating protein! This protein is needed to create life! 17

What is even more shocking is how these molecules began to self-replicate and then evolve into the first living cells. (Edge of the Universe, 2005) Perhaps I will soon discover how self-replication occurred. 18

October 2nd: About 3,900,000,000 years ago19

The assault is finally over. During the Great Bombardment I watched as the peptides filtered down cracks and hid underground to escape the sun’s radiation. My gadgets have followed these peptides to discover how they survived deep underground. It seems that there is an abundance of methane, ethane and propane. The organisms must have somehow derived their energy from these gasses. (Edge of the Universe, 2005)20

My gizmos have also plunged into the ocean’s depths in hopes of finding something interesting and they did! Microbial life thrived down here too, despite temperatures of 100 degrees! All of the volcanic activity erupted noxious hydrogen and sulfide gasses, which these peptides used as energy. (Creation, 1988, pg 275)
Now that the Great Bombardment is all over the peptides are emerging from their hiding places. Most of the debris in the atmosphere has been swept up. It is truly an amazing sight!! Yes! These organisms have a new source of energy!! Yes! They have the pure and awesome brilliance of the sun! The organisms have evolved to a green pigment and developed ‘chlorophyll.’ This chlorophyll allows them to harness the sun’s energy in a process known as photosynthesis. (Creation, 1988, pg 276)21

October 2nd About 146,874,999 years later (Edge of the Universe, 2005)22

These newly evolved green cells, which I am calling Siana Bacteria, converted carbon dioxide into carbo hydrants (Earth in Space pg 290). I am witnessing the greatest transformation in the history of our planet! Colonies of green slime are quickly inhabiting the oceans.23

October 2nd: 3,000,000,000 years ago24

My gizmos and gadgets have rusted! How will I take accurate measurements now? At least my Time Machine is still operational! To my great dismay the planet has rusted. For the sake of science I dived to the depths of the ocean to witness whatever was occurring. It seems that at first the oceans absorbed all of the oxygen. All this oxygen was rusting the iron that spewed forth from the fissures. It took about 30% of the Earth’s life for all of the iron in the ocean to be spread across the entire planet. (Edge of the Universe, 2005)25

October 2nd: 700million years later26

Over the last 700 million years the microbes have raised the oxygen level from less than 1% to its present level of 21%. With the ocean and iron unable to absorb any more oxygen the atmosphere took the rest. The molecules in the upper atmosphere must have broken apart to create the O-zone (Astronomy: The Evolving Universe pg 186). The atmosphere is now shielding Earth from the deadly ultraviolet radiation! (Creation, 1988, pg 275). Ahh... finally I can take this bodysuit off! And to think that I was starting to get a rash…27

October 2nd 200528

I have finally arrived home! What an adventure! The last 2 – 4 billion years of my adventure was by far the most exciting! (Earth and Space, 1967, pg 289) First came the multi-singular organisms, then the fish, then insects, then reptiles, then dinosaurs! Finally came the prime apes. It was all so exhilarating.
This journal will hopefully be very useful to the scientific world. I only wish my Time Machine had survived the ordeal! The moment I arrived home the confabulator finally broke down. It was probably from all those meteors, or was it the acid rain? Well, my gadgets and gizmos certainly served me well. Without them I would have never been able to analyze any life forms in the first 3 billion years (since they were all tiny microbes!). Because of those tiny microbes the atmosphere was oxygenated in the next 1-2 billion years. To think… without them multi-singular organisms would never have emerged and evolved! (Edge of the Universe, 2005)
Our valiant scientist closed his journal and titled the cover My Last Adventure. With a worn out sigh he rose from his desk and wearily left the room, giving his rusted gadgets and gizmos an admiral, departing smile.29

Sources30

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolution31

Astronomy: The Evolving Universe Third Edition, Michael Zeilik, Harper & Row. Publishers. New York 198232

The Earth in Space by Hugh Odishaw, New York, London 1967, Basic Books, inc. Publishers33

Creation: The Story of the Origin and Evolution of the Universe by Barry Parker. Plenum Press, New York 198834

Edge of the Universe. Geography Channel. Sunday 25th of September 2007