Characters

Eckels – traveller

Mr Travis – Safari Guide in the Past (he will tell what and where to shoot)

Other passengers- four men- Travis, leader; Lesperance, his assistant; two other hunters like Eckel,
Billings and Kramer

Company details and Instructions

TIME SAFARI INC- SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST- YOU NAME THE ANIMAL- WE TAKE YOU
THERE- YOU SHOOT IT - Their purpose is to give “the severest thrill a real hunter ever asked for”
travelling back sixty million two thousand and fifty-five years

Time Machine – screaming noise when operated- silver metal, roaring light- oxygen helmet,
intercom, padded seat, blue metal rifle gun, an anti-gravity metal Path that floats six inches above
the earth so as not to touch any grass blade, flower or tree.

The machine, Path, travellers’ cloth and body are all sterilized before the journey. Oxygen helmets
are worn so that their bacteria is not introduced into an ancient atmosphere.

Instructions- Travellers should “Stay on the Path” always, should not go off it under any
circumstances. Shoot only animals that the Safari people “okay” or allow to be shot.

Penalty for disobeying instructions –extra ten thousand dollars and possible government action on
return

Warning to Eckel before embarking on the journey- Six safari leaders and dozen hunters killed
previous year by hungry dinosaurs /ˈdaɪnəsɔː(r)/, Illinois - /ɪləˈnɔɪ/

Reasons for not allowing to shoot random animals

They did not want to change the future

They do not belong in the Past (trespassing the laws of time and nature)

Arranged the safari against the government wishes

They have financial liability and risk in the form of graft (American English- refers to bribe)

Time Machine is a finicky (requires attention to detail) business because if important animals are
killed by mistake, it will destroy “an important link in a growing species”. Eg: if a mouse is killed, not
only its future families will be destroyed (around a billion mice) but also the other species that
depend on mice for food.

10 mice- a fox- ten fox- a lion – all life forms thrown into chaos and destruction- caveman (an entire
future nation) too will starve- his ten sons, their 100 sons- and ultimately a civilisation. Thus a race
and an entire history of life is affected.

Also, if by moving off the Path, they stomp on a mouse apart from killing it, it might also lead to an
earthquake- the whole history will change.

Even touching a plant will result in similar catastrophe- a little error would multiply in sixty million
years. This is all a rough calculation, sometimes might not happen, still they do not want to take any
risk unless they are sure that this will not have serious repercussions.
Indicator to shoot an animal

The ones marked with red paint.

How are they marked with red paint?

Before the journey, Lesperance-the assistant, is sent to that period in the machine to observe entire
existence of animals with regard to their longevity and mating pattern. After noting the exact time of
the death of some short-lived animals, he shoots a paint bomb on them that leaves a red patch on
their side. Their meeting with the particular animal during the travel is corelated in such a way that
they kill only those animals that would have died anyway in another two minutes or so. Thus, they
are very careful

Eckels question regarding Lesperance meeting them on the way back

Q. "But if you come back this morning in Time," said Eckels eagerly, you must've bumped into us,

our Safari! How did it turn out? Was it successful? Did all of us get throughalive

A. "That'd be a paradox," said the latter. "Time doesn't permit that sort of messa man meeting
himself. When such occasions threaten, Time steps aside. Like an airplane hitting an air
pocket. You felt the Machine jump just before we stopped? That was us passing ourselves on
the way back to the Future. We saw nothing. There's no way of telling if this expedition was
a success, if we got our monster, or whether all of us meaning you, Mr. Eckels got out
alive."
A Sound of Thunder
Upon the entry of Tyrannosaurus Rex. “arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like
toys”- “It covered one hundred yards in six seconds”. “Like a stone idol, like a mountain avalanche,
Tyrannosaurus fell”. It was to be killed by the fall of a giant tree originally.
"We can't take a trophy back to the Future. The body has to stay right here where it would have
died originally, so the insects, birds, and bacteria can get at it, as they were intended to.
Everything in balance. The body stays. But we can take a picture of you standing near it."
The climax when Travis shoots Eckel for disturbing the time and future by killing a butterfly.

VOCABULARY

Snort - to force air violently through the nose with a rough harsh sound to express scorn,
anger etc

Pterodactyls /ˌter.əˈdæk.tɪl/– flying reptile, extinct genus of pterosaurs

Flush – become red due to illness or strong emotion

Tyrannosaurus rex, often called T. rex or colloquially T-Rex, a very large bipedal carnivorous dinosaur
of the late Cretaceous period, with powerful jaws and small claw-like front legs.

Avalanche - /ˈævəˌlɑːntʃ/- a mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.