Throwback

by Edward J. McFadden III

  “Build platform,” Svet said.

  “Ja.”

  They gathered their things and hiked up the beach, a gentle breeze pushing sand and seaweed along the shore of the shallow sea. The sun was going down when they entered the trees, and got to work building a platform. They were old dogs at the process, and within an hour a six-foot by six-foot platform was ten-feet off the ground in the bows of a tree with thick branches and tiny oval green leaves.

  They found the usual produce and fruit in the jungle, having learned long ago what was good to eat and what wasn’t. The large coconut-like fruit was everywhere, and they still had two bottles of water. They ate jerky and fruit, and by the time the sun was a smudge on the horizon they sat around a fire at the base of their tree.

  “Did I show you what I found on the beach?” Max said.

  “Nyet.”

  “Look.” He unrolled a leaf and within was the rotten skeletal remains of a fish.

  “Dead fish?” Svet said.

  “I think I know what he’s thinking. Fish bones can be used to make hooks,” Hawk said. “I’m wondering about our bigger problem.”

  “That,” Svet said, pointing at the inland sea.

  “I’m thinking we need to build a raft. At least one big enough to carry our supplies and guns,” Hawk said.

  “It’s a long way, and there could be some nasties in there,” Max said.

  The creatures of the sea in the Cretaceous were no less formidable than those that walked on land. Even Hawk knew that. Megalodon and the like. “Max, the big bastards can’t swim in water that shallow, right?”

  “No, but…” Max cut himself off.

  No need to dwell on the possibilities. Hawk and his partners had agreed not to focus on the negatives. By all accounts they all should be dino-chow by now, or burnt to a crisp, or pecked to death by Smaug’s bastard father, or being slowly eaten alive by ants. All these pleasures had left their marks, but they were still here.

  19

  The next morning found the three companions sitting on the rocky beach, the cool inland sea lapping on the shore. Svet had her spacesuit boots off, and she sat with her feet in the weak undertow, her head thrown back, blonde hair flowing behind her. She looked beautiful, and he noticed that Max was also watching the Russian, and when he saw Hawk looking his way, Max diverted his eyes.

  Hawk smiled. Max and Svet had taken a walk along the beach the prior night, which he had warned against citing unknown creepers in the sea, but they didn’t heed his warnings. When they came back smelling of sex he couldn’t help but be amused by their audacity. A myriad of beasts could be living in the sea, and Hawk was wary of sitting on the banks of the shallow ocean, especially in the dark.

  So it was that while Max fished and Svet sat at leisure, he stood guard with one of the Ash 12s, his eyes scanning the crystal-clear sea for lurkers. He saw fish, several of which nudged Max’s bait, but didn’t take it. The scientist had dug for worms, but found none, so instead settled on a beetle, which he skewered on a hook made of fish bone.

  “I think I need better bait.”

  “Da.”

  “Maybe one of those purple caterpillar-like things? Have you seen any?” Max said.

  “Not recently. They hide in the cracks of bark on the conifers, and there are plenty of them around. Let me go look for you,” Hawk said. “Svet, can you keep an eye out while I’m gone? Shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes.”

  Svet smiled and glanced sidelong at Max. Hawk couldn’t help but laugh to himself. “Maybe more like a half-hour,” he said. He handed Svet the Ash 12, and disappeared into the forest. Once within the tree break he paused, hiding behind a tree and observing his companions. They didn’t wait long. Within minutes of Hawk leaving, the two lovers were rolling around on the beach entwined like rope. Hawk faded into the jungle and left them alone.

  Alone in the jungle doubt crept in, the sorrow and worry. He saw Michel’s foggy eyes, and his family sitting around the Christmas tree without him. Flipping through his mental photo album just wasn’t doing the trick. He took the plastic pill holder from his pocket and held it up to the sun. He didn’t know if Max and Svet still had theirs, but he imagined they did. Would they even care if he was gone? Were third wheels ever missed?

  He cracked open the container and spilled the small white pill into his hand. Death within twenty seconds. Hawk didn’t remember what was in it.

  A dinosaur roared, and he put the pill away. There may come a time when he couldn’t carry on, keep the sorrow and loss at bay, but that day wasn’t today.

  He took his time, walking slow, scanning the trees for game and bait. He found several of the purple slugs pilled together beneath a large section of bark, and he peeled them off and rolled them into a leaf. He’d only been gone ten minutes, so he sat with his back to a tree, resting, and giving his friends privacy.

  Svet and Max were married, but given their situation, were they doing wrong? Were they betraying people who hadn’t even been born yet? Hawk was willing to give them a pass. Despite the fact that the spacefarers had done an admirable job surviving in this harsh environment, if Svet and Max found comfort in each other, so be it. He wouldn’t stand in the way. In fact, when he got back to the shore he’d inform his friends he was aware of their relationship, and once acknowledged there’d be no need to hide any longer. If by some amazing chance of fate they found themselves back in their time, they’d deal with it.

  Hawk yawned. He hadn’t slept that well, and his eyelids drooped. He yawned again as a gentle breeze pushed through the trees. Insects sang, lizards bleated, and in the distance a great animal roared its dissatisfaction at something. When they’d first arrived the sounds of the giant beasts had sent a shiver through him, but now they were no more than background noise. He closed his eyes, and promptly dozed off.

  Andrea rolled over, her long brown silky hair falling over Hawk’s face as he lay next to her in bed. He inhaled, sucking in her intoxicating scent and the smell of her flowery shampoo. Sun shone through the bedroom window, and the sound of children’s laughter carried on the breeze. He brushed the hair from his face and stared at his wife. She breathed gently, her chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm.

  Hawk felt the urge to wake her, to tell her how much he missed her, how much he loved her, how he would do anything to be with her again, but as he reached out to touch her she slid away from him, falling away into the sheets and disappearing into the bed.

  “No!” he yelled, but she was gone and Hawk lay alone, staring at the ceiling, his chest heaving, tears leaking from his eyes.

  Then she was there again, as if brought by his grief.

  “Do not despair, my love,” she said. She smiled, and looked so peaceful Hawk stopped weeping and threw his arms around her, pulling her close. But there was nothing there, and he fell forward into blackness, screaming and grasping for his wife as she receded into the distance.

  “Fear not. You are free. Don’t mourn for me, my love. Live, and perhaps we’ll meet again.”

  Hawk woke with a start, his face hot from a stray sunbeam that cut through the tree canopy and landed on his face. Sweat rolled down his back, and he rubbed his eyes. The leaf containing the bait had fallen from his hand, and the purple caterpillar-things were inching away in every direction. Hawk scooped them up, and wrapped them in the leaf once more.

  He got up and stretched, then made his way back to his friends. Svet was asleep on the beach, the Ash 12 laying across her chest. Max stood knee deep in the sea, his line cast out into the depths.

  “Ah, you’re back,” Max said.

  “I wanted to give you guys some alone time.”

  Max jerked back as if struck.

  “Look, I know about you guys. It’s fine, you don’t have to hide.”

  “We thought we were being so careful.”

  “Lovers always do.”

  “How do you feel about it?”

  “I don’t.”

  “What about th
e adultery?”

  “I think our situation requires an extreme exception to most rules. I know you love your wife, shit, I just…”

  “Just what?”

  “Never mind. Let’s get this new bait on your line.”

  Max jerked his line free and Hawk went about the task of pulling off the beetle and hooking a purple caterpillar.

  “Hope this works better,” Max said. He drew back the pole and cast his line out into the clear water. He’d tied a pebble to the end of the line to act as a weight, and the bait sank to the bottom as soon as it struck the surface.

  Hawk took the gun from Svet, who still napped peacefully.

  “Jaaaaaaaaa,” Max screamed. “Look at that big one.”

  A large fish with yellow and blue scales glided past the hook, then turned in a wide arc as it picked up speed. As it passed the bait again it pecked at the bug, but didn’t take the bait. The fish had teeth because a red and black goo seeped from the slug, its insides clouding the water. When the fish got no resistance, it turned again and this time chomped on the bait.

  Max heaved the pole, and the fish jerked and spasmed as he hauled it to the surface. Silver gills sparkled in the sunlight as the fishing pole bent and the line tightened and stretched.

  “Get it on land before the line breaks.” Hawk knew a little about fishing, but not enough to be giving advice. But he was hungry.

  Max braced himself, then threw himself backward, yanking the pole as he fell. The fish flew from the water and Hawk saw the flash of white teeth as the beast flew past, then snapped at the end of the line and landed on the beach. It flopped around, trying to get back to the sea, but Hawk stepped forward and smacked it on the head with a rock, and it fell still.

  The commotion had woken Svet, and she said, “Do you know how to clean?”

  “A little. You?” Max said.

  “Da.” Svet came forward and freed the dead fish from the hook and pulled her knife. “Go get some dry wood, da? I clean?”

  “OK,” Max said. He walked into the jungle.

  “Dig hole?”

  “Sure.” Hawk knelt and dug with his hands, pulling sand between his legs the way he did when he built sandcastles with the kids. His stomach went to ice. Who would teach his son how to be a man? What it means to have responsibility? The thought made him feel like dying.

  Svet used the knife to remove the fish’s scales, then she gutted the animal, cutting it up into two nice fillets. Max returned with wood, and before long the fish was roasting over an open fire, and the companions drank water, watching the sea.

  “So, he knows,” Max said to Svet.

  Hawk had never seen Svet embarrassed, and in many ways he knew her better than he did his wife. You get to know people when you’re locked together in a tin can two hundred miles above Earth. But there’s a first time for everything, as Svet’s face turned red as a cherry.

  Hawk let her off the hook. “No worries. It’s cool. Better that I know so I can give you some space.”

  “Nyet. We all together,” Svet said.

  “Yes, but I really am OK with you guys having a relationship. No need to worry about me.”

  As the two astronauts and one cosmonaut experienced their first awkward silence, the sea breeze gusted, bringing the scent of rotting fish and fire. A light ash fell like snow, covering everything in a gray blanket. Hawk held out his hand, the ash covering his palm. The wind gusted hard off the sea and the ash was gone as fast as it appeared, and palm fronds rattled and clicked.

  “That last eruption must have been a big one,” Hawk said.

  “Ja. I was worried.”

  “What you mean?” Svet said.

  Max rubbed his face.

  “Tell me, da?”

  “That volcano was busting apart. We may have gotten very lucky. I think the slope we climbed is under lava right now.”

  No one spoke, and the snap and rumble of the tiny waves soothed Hawk’s mind. It reminded him of Andrea’s relaxation CD, the way…

  “Hawk, it is long way across sea,” Svet said.

  Hawk breathed deep, wishing he had just one mouthful of whiskey. “Can you play us something to take our minds off that?”

  “Da.” Svet went to fetch her ukulele.

  “You’re sure you’re OK with this? Me and Svet I mean?” Max asked.

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  “I think tomorrow I’m going to build us our own platform. That OK?”

  “A O.”

  Again, they had nothing else to say. A wall was already between them, a separation that Hawk would never be able to bring together. Suddenly the idea that he’d always be alone washed waves of sadness over him, his thoughts his worst enemy.

  Out on the inland sea a surge of white water broke the surface about a hundred yards out. Small white rapids appeared from nowhere, as if a school of lazy fish had suddenly been disturbed.

  The roar of a giant snapped Hawk’s head around, and he searched the jungle. He rolled onto his belly, staring into the trees, waiting for a snout with a gaping maw of teeth to press through the vegetation.

  Instead, Svet stepped from the trees with her instrument and she paused when Hawk and Max stared at her. “What is it?”

  “Just missed you,” Max said.

  Svet smiled, but looked away as she came forward and sat on the beach between them. She plucked the strings of her ukulele, which she’d completed the prior night by attaching her bamboo neck via a glue she’d made from tree amber heated and recast. She rolled her shoulders and strummed the small guitar, playing a quant Hawaiian melody.

  Hawk’s muscles eased, and he leaned back, soaking in the music and staring up at the fading blue sky.

  Water splashed on the placid sea and a massive knot of water pushed toward the shore, cresting in a wave filled with teeth.

  20

  The giant fist of water surged from the sea, revealing a beast that resembled an alligator. It was fifteen feet long and its tail had a swim fin at its tip. The creature’s black eyes sat above a massive jaw lined with crooked teeth. Hawk tried to get a bead on the thing with the Ash 12 as it burst from the water, shooting like a missile toward Max who stood holding his fishing pole, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.

  Hawk fired, but the beast came on, absorbing the bullets and wriggling across the beach. The beast’s black hide was scarred white in spots, its short legs ending in webbed claws.

  Max screamed and ran, but it was too late. The dino-gator missed the scientist with its first bite, but as it lunged past the physicist, its tail whipped, catching Max on the backs of his legs and cutting him down. He face-planted, his head smacking hard on the rock-strewn beach.

  Hawk fired again, opening up with the machine gun and peppering the beast with bullets. When the gun clicked empty Hawk ran toward the melee, but skidded to a stop when the lizard turned its oblong head in his direction.

  This bought time, and Svet used it to help her man. She threw a baseball sized rock at the beast, and it connected on the animal’s head. The giant gator flipped and spun around, turning its dark eyes on the blonde. She turned and ran hard, heading for the forest.

  Momentarily unsure which castaway to attack, the prehistoric animal paused, and this allowed Max to put some space between himself and the beast. It didn’t help much, however, because the animal was incredibly fast for its size. The creature returned its attention to Max, and zigzagged across the stones after him.

  Svet had reached the trees, and Hawk knew she was most likely heading to camp to get weapons, but would she have enough time? The creature was almost on Max and Hawk yelled, “Watch out!”

  Max dodged left, and the creature barely missed catching him in its snapping jaws. It reacquired its target and shot at Max again, who had no place to hide. The forest was still twenty feet away and there was no way he was going to make it.

  The report of the Viking sent birds spraying from the trees. Svet stood just within the tree break, the pistol held before her, her face twisted in
a hideous grin as she pulled the trigger.

  The two head shots at close range slowed the beast. It stopped, its gaze ranging side to side, blood dripping from its skull. The lizard’s eyes rolled closed, its legs gave out, and the beast collapsed on the beach.

  Max stopped running and watched the animal take its final breath.

  “Don’t get to—”

  Hawk didn’t finish because the prehistoric gator wasn’t dead after all. As Max neared the beast it jerked and heaved itself forward, jaws wide, and it got Max’s leg. He screamed, going to the ground as he clawed at the beast’s jaws clamped on his leg, blood spurting through his fingers.

  Before anyone could react, the beast’s legs gave out again, and its jaws went slack, releasing Max’s leg. The scientist crab walked backward, putting as much space between himself and the animal as he could.

  Svet put a bullet in the gator’s head, and any life the creature still possessed fled from its limp body.

  “Max, you alright?” Hawk said as he ran to his friend’s side. “Oh no,” he said when he saw Max’s leg.

  Max’s jumpsuit was torn and a wide gash and several large puncture wounds marked his lower thigh. Blood leaked from the wound as Max covered it with his hands.

  Svet knelt next to him and kissed his forehead, then examined the wound. “Not that bad. You were lucky.”

  “Yeah, good thing the beast was half dead or your leg would be gone. Svet, get that fire raging and heat some water. We need to staunch that wound, and bandage it up before it gets infected.”

  “Da,” she said. The fire still smoldered and smoked as the fish cooked. She took the food off and threw on more wood, stoking the flames. She placed one of the stainless steel water bottles next to the blaze, and went to Max and gave him some fish. “Eat. Make you feel better.”