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Exposition
Time Safari, Inc. provides safaris to any year in the past in which people can choose an animal to shoot for a price of $10,000. -
Eckels discusses the trip with an official.
Eckels wonders if there's a guarantee that he'll return, but is told by the official that the dinosaurs are the only guarantee. He then introduces Eckels to his safari guide, Travis, and informs him that Travis will tell him when and what to shoot. Eckels is also told that if he disobeys their instructions he will be forced to pay a $10,000 fine and may even face government action -
Eckels and the official discuss the present
Eckels is fascinated by the time machine and is glad that he's there to admire it rather than running away if Deutscher had won the election instead of Keith. The official mentions that if Deutscher had won they would have the worst kind of dictatorship and some people would want to use their services to go live in 1492. -
Eckels and the other men get ready
After the official attempts to scare Eckels off because several guides and hunters were killed the previous year due to hunters that panicked at the first shot. Eckels, determined to shoot his dinosaur, isn't frightened away by the official's statement and begins carrying the guns to the time machine with the other men. -
The trip back in time
The time machine takes the men back a day, a night, day-night, a week, a month, a year, a decade, until they reached the appropriate time period; 60,002,055 years in the past. It is a time in which, Travis states, Christ hasn't been born, Moses has not spoken to God, the pyramids have not been built, and Hitler has not come to existence. Because the men don't belong in that time period, they are told by Travis that they must remain in the metal path that was created by Time Safari. -
Men discuss the past, present, and future
Because people do not yet know what kind of effect their presence has on the past, the men are meant to remain on the path at all times, no exceptions. Travis informs Eckels that the death of the smallest animal, such as a mouse, could have an enormous effect on the rest of the world because the food chain is an ongoing chain which can be altered by the smallest change. Because of this fact, the men's gear, including the time machine and their own bodies, are sterilized. -
Men hear the sound of thunder
After leaving the time machine, the four men set off to search for Eckels' t-rex. Once Eckels sees the t-rex with his own eyes, he realizes that the creature is far too important and magnificent to kill. Upon the fuss created by Eckels' decision not to kill the animal, the t-rex hears them and lunges towards them, leaving them no choice but to shoot the beast. Terrified, Eckels had ran off the path which they were supposed to remain on at all times. -
Men clean up their mess
Before heading home, Travis yells at Eckels for having gone off the path and possibly altering the future, and makes him gather the bullets from inside the t-rex so that they leave no trace. Once they arrive to their current time period, Travis threatens to kill Eckels if there is trouble because he didn't follow directions. -
The sound of thunder
Upon their return, Travis and Eckels sense that everything is and isn't just as they had left it. Once Eckels realizes that the words on the sign don't match the ones he had see just hours before, he discovers a dead butterfly on the bottom of his boots, and finds out that Deutscher won the election instead of Keith. Then, although it isn't explained in depth, Travis raises his weapon and the sound of thunder is heard.
