by Greig Beck
“Okay, everyone, eyes out. We’re going to try and edge past the waterfall. Watch that pond there. Not sure if something lives in there, but I’d prefer we didn’t disturb it, or it, us.”
The rocks were slippery, and small crustaceans leaped from their path into the inky water as the group passed by. In minutes more, they edged out onto a rocky platform that was a series of massive slabs of stone as the water continued to tumble down the slope.
Loche walked to the edge of the slab of stone and placed his hands on his hips as the others joined him.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said softly.
Spread out below them was a deep valley with huge pine-like trees rising hundreds of feet into the air. Curls of primordial-looking mist swirled through the trunks and between the clumps of trees were large swathes of flat green. It was only about a third of a mile wide and traveled for a few miles before bending to the north, so its end was out of sight.
“River valley,” Nina said. “There’ll be food and game.”
Loche turned to Jane. “Is it safe?”
Jane hiked her shoulders. “We never came this way.” She turned to him. “But remember, nowhere is really safe down here.”
Mike slowly ran his eyes along the deep valley. “If there’s water, prey animals will come to drink. And while they’re drinking…”
“The predators come out to play,” Janus finished.
Mike nodded. “We were further north where it was a little flatter. We could go around, but most places will carry the same risk now.”
Loche squinted into the distance. “Where we want to go is at the end of this valley. Looks to me to be the quickest route. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.” He smiled and called one of his team over. “Croft, what do you see?”
“Sir.” Rick Croft pulled his sniper rifle from over his back and lifted it to his shoulder so he could look through the scope. “I’ve got some avian creatures coming in and out of the tree canopies.” Croft panned his rifle around and continued to squint into the scope. “Plenty of vines and creepers so might be tough going down there. Also, some of the trees are moving as if something large is brushing up against them, and… in the open patches, I can see a few grazing animals.” He stopped his movement and adjusted the lens for a moment. “And every good river valley should have a, yep, there it is—looks like there’s a shallow stream down there, two o’clock.”
“Good,” Loche said. “That’s our destination.”
“Along the riverbed? Seriously?” Jane couldn’t believe he’d choose that as his trail.
“Yeah, I know, it will be high risk. But like you said, so is everywhere down here, right? And this should cut our traveling time if we don’t have to cut through raw jungle.”
Loche organized the team, and then took one last look along the length of the valley. He estimated it’d take them a good six hours to get to the bend, and that was only if they didn’t encounter any obstacles along the way. Maybe give it eight hours, he thought.
According to the positional maps Jane and Mike had created, and GPS, the home of the red people was approximately another five miles beyond that. Loche felt a swell of confidence in his chest. If they were there, and able to be communicated with, he might still be mission-complete and on his way back home in under a week.
“Angel, Watts, heavy weapons to the front. Lead us in, gentlemen. And everyone keep their eyes and ears open, and their wits about them.” He waved them on, and they started down.
As they dropped further into the valley, the humidity rose, and by the time they reached the jungle floor, drops of glistening water hung from the end of huge palm fronds and strips of tongue-like ferns.
Loche thought the smells were reminiscent of the deep jungles of the Congo or Amazon basin, and of rich soil, rotting vegetation, sweet-smelling blooms hidden somewhere in among the foliage.
Chris Angel and Chuck Watts moved slowly with their huge guns carried in front. They pushed aside fronds and vines as the group made their way to the stream that was still hidden up ahead. From time to time, they came across stinking, baseball-sized lumps that Jane said were animal droppings. But the shape, number, and the way they were spread in a line were more like those seen left behind on a leaf by a caterpillar rather than the usual animal scat pile in a surface jungle.
Bird-like chirps and trills came from overhead and the canopy shook from time to time as hidden creatures swung through the trees, and scuttling sounds came from the brush as things were fleeing the line of bipedal humans moving through their jungle.
“Was it like this last time?” Janus asked Jane and Mike.
“Yeah, the jungle was.” Mike nodded forward. “So, keep your eyes open, even on the ground. As everything everywhere is looking for its next meal.” He smiled. “Don’t be it.”
“Got it.” Janus chuckled. “But to be honest, I think this is pretty cool, huh?”
Mike stared back for a second or two. “Lawrie Williams probably disagrees. And remember, eyes open.” He powered ahead to catch up with Jane and Matt.
Loche lifted his hand and the group stopped. Up ahead, Angel and Watts went into a crouch with their weapons pointed up into the tree canopy. He immediately noticed the jungle had fallen to silence all around them.
In a few more moments, Jane heard what it was that spooked the men—something was in the trees above them, and in seconds more, whatever it was was right over them. Leaves rained down as things moved like the wind through the upper branches.
“I can’t see anything yet,” Mike said.
Croft had his sniper scope to his eyes. “Got movement. Camouflaged, agile, movin’ real quick.”
“The little green monkeys again?” Jane asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Mike replied.
“Freaking green monkeys?” Janus scoffed. “Awesome.”
“Ain’t no monkey.” Croft moved his rifle and its scope around. “Big, bigger than a man, multiple limbs, fluid movement. Great camouflage, hard to see, several hanging above us now.”
“I think they’re just checking us out,” Jane said.
“Wait,” Croft announced. “They’re moving off.”
Another shower of leaves and then after another few moments, stillness returned, followed by the normal sounds of the jungle. Loche got to his feet.
“Okay.” He looked up the line. “Let’s go.”
Matt kept looking up into the canopy. “What were they? Anyone actually get a good look?”
Jane shook her head. “Unknown. We encountered several arboreal creatures, some with high intelligence. We had a problem with one species that first stole our equipment as we slept, and then later attacked us.”
“And they were only a couple of feet tall,” Mike added. “Certainly not man-sized.”
“Then a new species.” Janus grinned. “Who gets to name it?”
Matt chuckled. “You didn’t even see it.”
Janus grinned back. “Plenty of time.”
“Let’s go,” Loche ordered.
The group continued for another half hour until they encountered the stream. On both sides, the trees grew up to create a tunnel effect, only occasionally opening enough to allow the red sky to be glimpsed above them.
Loche had Angel and Watts lead them in. The stream was shallow so for the most part they could navigate its pebbly bank or even walk in the shallow water.
Jane looked down into one pool to see things like tadpoles flicking about, but their tails were like tiny, segmented machines. She crouched for a moment and used a stick to prod a few other interesting things she noticed.
Nina joined her. “Anything familiar?” she asked.
“With the surface world, or our previous time?” Jane asked without turning.
Nina crouched. “Either, I guess.”
“Then both.” Jane pointed. “Like tadpoles, but not. And see these…?” She indicated a deeper pool with some disc-shaped creatures swimming about. “They look like normal ter
rapins, those cute little aquarian tortoises from home, but…” She used a small stick to flip one over. Instead of four legs with tiny, webbed feet paddling away, there were eight, and each one had two long claws. And at the front were a couple of long, wicked-looking pincers.
“Yeesh,” Nina scoffed softly. “Everything down here is mimicking life on the surface, just using arthropods as its base material.”
“Yeah, all niches have been filled.” Jane stood. “Wait until you see some of the big guys. Mind blowing.”
“I’m not sure I want to.” Nina also rose. “I want to do our job and get the hell out.”
Jane smiled. “That makes two of us.”
“Three.” Mike joined them. “Come on, we’re moving off.”
The trio caught up and fell into their positions. Nina joined the ranks to talk to one of the heavy weapons guys, and Mike and Jane walked beside Matt.
Matt watched them for a while. “Your report made for sobering reading.”
“It’s a sobering place, Matt,” Mike replied. “Which parts?”
“As you would expect, the section on Alistair, the linguist, and what happened to him.” Matt sighed. “Terrible.”
“They tortured him—the Y’ha-nthlei, the shell people.” Jane turned to him. “Just because he tried to communicate with them.”
Matt nodded and was silent for a moment. “Imagine,” he began. “You have several pens of livestock—horses, pigs, sheep, goats—and all of a sudden, one of the sheep starts speaking to you. Its words didn’t make sense, but it was definitely making some you recognized.” He turned to Mike. “What would you do?”
Mike seemed to think for a while, and his mouth curled up on one side. “Yeah, I see, probably hand it over to the science department.”
“That’s probably what the Y’ha-nthlei did. Except their science department was a lot more primitive,” Matt replied.
“The kid was tortured,” Jane bristled. “Matt, please don’t try and humanize those monsters. They wiped out an entire colony of red people, and I watched as they fed more of them to the monster, Dagon.”
“No, don’t worry, I won’t do that,” Matt replied. “And I have no intention of being the next talking sheep.” He cocked his head. “But, if the opportunity arises, I will try and understand them. It might be good to know what they’re saying. We might need to.”
***
The group finally rounded the bend in the river valley and saw that the valley itself broadened but remained as thickly wooded as before. However, there was one huge difference.
“Shee-it,” Croft breathed out.
“Professor Kearns, your opinion, please.” Loche waited, hands on hips and staring upward.
Matt joined him, and his mouth dropped open. “Hol-leey crap.”
The cliff wall, rising hundreds of feet on either side of them, was carved with the images of statues. The colossal beings looked to be eons old, but their visages still stared out regally over the valley as if they were guardian titans.
“It’s as if they’re keeping watch on everything that passes before them,” Jane said.
The giant figures were human-shaped but were dressed for battle with swords and shields. Their size was beyond anything built on the surface and even massively larger than anything that existed in ancient Egypt. The heads alone were the size of a four-story building.
“Was it for intimidation, commemoration, or power projection?” Matt asked. “There was a conference in 2013 in Guatemala that studied that question. It seemed many ancient rulers wanted to leave an enduring legacy, saying: this is who we are.”
“‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’” Mike whispered.
“Shelley’s Ozymandias.” Matt nodded. “Yes, very appropriate.” The young professor stared for a moment more and rummaged in a small pouch. He drew forth the gold coin with the faces of the kings. “I knew I’d seen that before. Look, the middle figure, the face—it might be the same king.” He held it up.
On the gold coin, the face of the king of the land of the red people had the same striking features as the middle gigantic statue.
“Could be,” Mike said. “According to the red people’s legend, there were three kings—one took to the sea, one the caves, and the third to the land. Maybe this land.”
“Well, there’s something living in the mouth of the middle statue. I can see them flying in and out.” Croft had the scope to his eye. “Hey, hold the phone.” His brow furrowed. “One of them is coming this way.”
“Take cover,” Loche said.
The group spread to hide behind tree trunks, in among the bracken or just lying flat in the long grasses. Only Loche remained standing, hand on sidearm, with Croft covering him with his sniper rifle.
They watched the tiny dot grow larger as it flew toward them.
“Hold fire.” Loche’s brows came together. “What the…?” He raised a hand.
The figure drifted lower. It was humanoid-shaped with a greenish color and wings spread out behind it that beat furiously but near silently. The face seemed female, and as it neared, they could see the shape of breasts and swollen hips. It, she, wore some sort of tunic and looked anatomically perfect except for the wings and also some sort of extra muscle ribbing at her ribs.
“It’s a person,” Croft said.
“Not just a person.” Watts whistled softly.
It drifted closer and then hovered, its dark eyes fixed on Loche. He half turned. “Kearns, get out here.”
Matt scrambled out to stand beside the captain. His mouth split in a grin and he immediately held up a hand. “Hello,” he said.
The creature remained motionless a few dozen feet above them as its gaze moved slowly over the small clearing, picking out all of the hiding individuals.
“Maybe it sees thermal and can spot us as clearly as if we were standing naked on a roof,” Loche whispered.
Matt stepped forward, both hands up and open. “Hello,” he repeated and waved.
The figure dropped toward him, and they could see that the face was quite beautiful, if not tinged with green. It looked to be a young female, no more than five feet tall, but with a muscular chest and back obviously to support the wing structure.
Its eyes were totally black, and the face remained serene. She raised a hand to mimic Matt.
“Good, good.” Matt reached out a hand, but the green girl backed away. “Okay, that’s cool. Not yet,” Matt said. “I’m in no hurry.”
“Want to bet?” Loche said.
“Take your time, Matt.” Janus had his camera up filming them. “This is awesome. Try and kiss her.” Janus grinned.
“Yeah, right.” Matt turned back to the woman and smiled again. “My name is Matt.” He tapped his chest. “Matt.”
The woman continued to hover, her wings beating so fast they made a soft whining noise. She slowly extended her arm and placed it on his chest. She rubbed it for a second or two and then let it slide up to his face where she felt his features, tugged on his long blond hair a moment, and then even opened his mouth to look inside.
Matt saw her face seemed to have faint lines painted on it. Some sort of decoration, he mused. Looking down, he saw a perfect figure, but a small slash of an old scar above one breast. He reached up to touch her hand. “It’s cold,” he said over his shoulder.
She gripped his hand and began to rise.
“Whoa.” Matt’s arm stretched.
The girl’s wings beat faster, and then he began to lift from the ground.
“No, no, no,” he rushed out. “I can’t fly.”
“Grab him,” Loche said to their communications guy, Joe Edison, who was crouched closest to him.
Edison scurried out and grabbed Matt’s legs but their combined weight was too much and the girl lowered him to the ground.
She let go and Edison trained his weapon on her, but Matt placed a hand on the barrel of his gun, lowering it. “No, it’s okay. She didn’t mean any harm. M
aybe she’s never met, ah, people, who can’t fly.”
Edison’s mouth hung open. “She’s beautiful.”
The green girl stared down at Matt with her large and liquid, dark eyes.
“I think you’ve won a heart, Matt,” Jane said.
Matt grinned and turned to her. “Do you think they’re related to the red people?”
Jane shook her head. “No idea, but unlikely, as they couldn’t fly. And flight isn’t something that was ever in our surface lineage.”
Suddenly, the hovering woman spun in the air, her eyes fixed on the jungle growth. Without another word, she shot into the sky, her wings moving in a blur. And in another second, she was gone.
Matt watched her go. “What the hell just happened?” He turned to their group.
“Armor up,” Loche said swiftly. “Something freaked her out. And if a local gets freaked out, then maybe we should get the hell out of here. Matt, Edison, fall back. Everyone else, let’s move it, now.”
The group fell into their positions again, and Matt joined Jane and Mike.
“I’ve got to tell you, that was pretty cool.” He grinned. “And we established base communication,” he added.
“I’m not sure I saw it that way,” Jane scoffed. “I mean, she tried to lift off with you, sure, but hardly dialogue.”
“She mimicked my greeting. That’s always the standard opening signal that you want to be friends.” He turned to walk backward a few steps as he looked up at the huge figures carved into the cliff wall. “I wonder if they have writing up there. I wonder if it was them that carved these visages or their ancestors.”
“If we can find the red people again, maybe we can ask them,” Mike said.
“Hey, do you think they were the red people, but evolved the jungle camouflage colors?” Matt turned back around. “I need to speak to them again.”
Jane and Mike caught up to Loche as he seemed to be giving more orders to his team who had slowed a little to listen.
Then Mike heard it. Or rather didn’t hear it. “Hey, jungle’s gone quiet.”
