All at once, thousands of unseen grandfather clocks chimed throughout the ruined mansion. Megan dropped the device and clapped her hands across her ears. Her parents and brother did the same, though they could not keep the booming tick-tock of time away. The sound was coming from within their heads as well.
"Aghh! Make that damn noise stop!" Alan screamed. As if on cue, he vanished - without fanfare, no telltale poofs, pops, or peal, no flash of light - and left his family far behind him. Or, to be more precise, far ahead of him, as Alan was hurtled back in time, from the twenty-first century to ancient, primeval Earth, when humanity had just recently broken away from their simian cousins. He materialized in the middle of a dense, muggy jungle, towering volcanoes and canyons visible in the distance, between the foliage. Roars and screeches filled the air along with a harsh wind. It was the gale that cued Alan in to his changes, tickling flesh that had previously been covered with jeans and a "1-UP" shirt. He now wore a wooly, brown loin cloth that flew up occasionally to reveal a patch of hair and a slit. A matching top, crudely woven together, bound his impressive bosom, while allowing Alan flexibility in moving his sweaty, muscular body. There was strength, as well as beauty, in this cavewoman form. Alan pushed aside long, black hair and stared at the giant spear he held like a toothpick, amazed at his newfound strength.
Steve disappeared next. He was transported to Ancient Egypt, to a time when the Great Pyramids were only beginning to see fruition. The Nile flowed serenely past civilization defined by mysterious deities, frightening pharaohs, and intense commerce. None of this was visible to Steve, who saw only white pillars, hieroglyphic patterned walls, and a hard, dirt floor. He had been lying on the floor, apparently, his breasts squished beneath hi...breasts? Steve gave a start and sat up, growing aware both of his tan, softer skin, clad only in a bead-decorated top and a flowing, silk skirt, and the pile of similarly dressed women all around him, sleeping on top of each other without a sound. A degree in history - which, of course, had led to insurance - was more than enough for Steve to guess his new fate. He had become a harem girl!
Megan and Janet vanished from the modern day simultaneously, and when they came to they, at least, had remained within the previous thousand years. English farmland, stretching towards a gray-stone castle, greeted Megan, who took one step and heard metal rattle all across her body. She was in full body armor, and a man to boot. A sharp goatee adorned her sterner, scarred face, worn from years of jousting and service to the king. Her arms and legs throbbed with muscles that had been honed through the most rigorous training. A horse neighed to her left - hers, she guessed - and on her hip she found a scabbard with the biggest sword she'd ever seen, and she'd seen quite a few. The previous summer she'd gone with a potential beau to the Renaissance faire (he'd lasted less than a week). Their merchandise had nothing/i} on what she held right then.
Janet was the luckiest of them all. She traveled within their original century, ending up in the sixties as a stringy-haired, bearded hippy. A loose, Tye-dyed shirt with a low collar and tight, faded jeans emphasized her transformation into the opposite gender. The sensation of being thin and young shocked her just as much as the sex swap, although both revelations were drowned out by the suffocating push and stench of a large crowd, all hippies and folk musicians, chanting at a podium where a man in a suit stood, assuring everybody it would all be fine, Vietnam was not an issue worth public disorder, and they should not cause such a ruckus at the Democratic Caucus. Janet, unlike her husband, had not cared much for history, and so was oblivious to the fact she was in Chicago at the site of a massive protest and soon-to-be riot, in 1968.
All four, at the same time, expressed the same sentiment with slightly different wording: "I've traveled back in time!"