Ed and Doc were still puzzled at the how the dinosaurs existed up here.
The rex had eaten the raptors, so no studying them. The allosaurus fell over the edge and so it would have to wait until they made their decent. The thing that puzzled Ed, was the fact that he actually dreaded finding another live dinosaur; the decades of fascination had gone. He now found himself trembling at the thought of stepping out into the morning mists.
The plateau was eerily quiet as they carefully proceeded. An occasional bird screeching in the distance made the small party jump each time one would call out its frustration of not being able to fly from this lofty perch. The cloudy mists swirled about and Jack was thankful for the moist vegetation which kept their sounds down as he reassured them the clouds would burn off or move on shortly. It was what he didn’t say, that everyone felt deep inside, the mist hid the dinosaurs as well as themselves. Edward looked at his trembling hands and wondered how he would react should they run into some ferocious meat eating predator; stumbling around in the mist gave him the willies.
As they proceeded they found themselves in sort of a large, waist high, grassy field, eleven hundred feet in the air, low clouds swirling about them and barely a sound could be heard. Every man was on edge.
“Well this is good,” Jack tried to reassure the rest as quietly as he could “we’re hidden from tall creatures like the rex and can hear anything coming in our direction.”
“What if there is another rex and it’s standing still?” Larry whispered just loud enough so that the rest could hear.
“We should hear it breathing.” Ed quietly replied “We think they may have exhaled large quantities of air, even while at rest. You see they would have to have large lung capabilities as they usually chased prey smaller and sometimes faster. Some think that as large as many of the carnivores were, they may have had surprising stamina. That would mean being able to inhale and exhale massive volumes of air.”
Jack stopped and looked at the expedition leader “If so Ed, wouldn’t that mean cleanly exhale? Probably no snoring, or if it was just standing still could we actually hear one far enough away to make a difference?”
Ed looked at the rest and frowned, his comments had pointed out the fact that even with all his knowledge, Jack’s idea to move in the mist, still provided them with the best chance of surviving the day…and nodded as he agreed.
“Well, we do have the mists to cover our movements…well done Jack.”
Jack gave them a slight grin and a shrug “It also means that we might not be able to see danger. I agree with Ed here.” he took the lead as they fell in double file behind him.
“Remember guys…”
Doc fell and vanished in the mists as Ed grasped for him…and then shouted loudly as Sam and Pete grasped at Ed. Pete put his hand over Ed’s mouth and with his free hand, put his finger to his lips and whispered “Low…remember?”
Ed nodded as Doc popped up right next to them and they all took a startled look at the good doctor.
“Sorry guys I tripped and…” he held up a large fossilized bone “discovered this.”
Ed’s eyes became the size of saucers “My God! This is the vertebrae of a large carnosaur I believe, why…”
There was a hushed and muffled sound as Pete moved slightly away from the group.
“Pete!” Jack whispered as loudly as he dared. What he got was a round of frightened looks from the others as they once again slowly unshouldered their weapons.
“Keep each other in sight.” he reminded his men.
“Hank?” shouted Larry as he spun and moved quickly back toward the party. They could only see Larry’s mist shrouded figure “Hank’s gone!” he turned to go back the way he had just appeared…and then Larry vanished.
Sam reached toward where Larry was to grasp him, and he too was gone.
Hank shouted “No I’m right here guys…what’s the problem?” his shape reappeared in the distance.
“Good Lord!” Doc exclaimed not caring who, or what heard him. He moved toward the spot but Jack pulled him back by his shirt collar, but warnings were too late as Ed pushed passed the two of them and seemed to vanish in mid-air.
“Freeze!” Jack commanded and they did.
“Ok…Hank, slowly one step at a time work your way to your left and back to the trail we’re on. Doc and I will slowly back up to the trail, now move.”
It took Hank another minute, but he finally picked his way next to the remaining men.
“What’s happening boss?” Hank asked frightened, but alert as he scanned the surrounding area.
“Think there’s a deep crevasse out there somewhere,” Jack replied as he grasped his rope and tied it around his waist.
“Never heard any of them make a peep.”
“They’re well trained.” Doc muttered.
Hank shot Doc a grim look “You friend didn’t either and its natural instinct to shout when you fall any distance. Could be a hidden opening to a cavern, or a large sinkhole.”
Jack nodded “He’s right Doc, you tie in between us.” Hank grasped the rope and tied the doctor off, and then quickly measured out about ten feet of rope and tied himself off.
The mists were slowly lifting and the three men could see one another even at the ten foot spacing along the rope. Each had a five to ten foot coil of rope in their hands and slowly walked in the general direction of the hole.
“Jesus, we must have missed the spot.” The frustrated Jack glanced back. In the distance they could see the giant trees that ringed the large field they were on and he took a bearing.
“Stepping over and around these stupid rocks, threw us off course.”
“Wait a minute,” Doc muttered as he stooped slightly “these aren’t rocks…Good Lord, they’re scattered bones.” Doc picked one up and looked at it, dropped and walked over and picked up another.
“My God they’re littered all over this field.” He dropped the lunch box sized bone and walked over and tapped one the size of a shipping crate that was sticking out of the grass. He started walking toward another bone that he had seen.
“And there’s another! It appears that something used this field as…”
Jack and Hank blankly stared at one another as Doc vanished into thin air and the rope that he had connecting him to both men simply dropped to the ground as if someone had sliced it. Doc, his coiled rope, and about a foot of rope on either side of him simply had vanished from the field.
“Uh…boss…” Hank looked from the spot Doc had vanished to his friend and employer “what the hell just happened? Where’s everyone else?”
“Well, obviously ropes aren’t going to help…but keep it tied to you, we may need it.” Jack moved toward the spot where Doc vanished as Hank moved in behind Jack.
Slowly Jack extended his hand as he slid one foot before the other through the waist high grass they had been struggling through all morning.
“WOW!” he pulled his hand back quickly.
“What!” Hank nearly stumbled backward surprised at Jack’s sudden startled jump.
“Jesus, it felt like…uh…” Jack looked at his hand and wiggled his fingers “tingling.” He reached out once again and slowly slid forward a few inches.
“It’s like some kind of static electricity…yeah…it gets stronger this way,” he turned slightly to his right “back toward the path we were on. It’s not all that prickly though.” he moved his hand in an arc slowly.
“Yeah, it’s stronger this way…” he moved to his left “Yeah this looks like the spot where…”
Hank froze as his longtime friend and employer had just vanished before his eyes. A deep breath and a pull of his machete and Hank dashed forward.
“Oh no you’re not!” he shouted “You’re not leaving me here alone, I’m…” the misty cloud finally lifted to reveal an empty field. Once again the lofty plateau was uninhabited by humans.
Chapter 5.
It was as if someone had tossed Jack into a tumbling dryer. He
felt some mild heat, but the rapid rolling and head over heels caused him to wonder if he was going to pass out. All there was around him, was a blackness that seemed to suck the very light out of everything, and that made the sickness he was beginning to feel, even worse.
Then there was an incredible flash of light and his ears popped as he tumbled along the ground. He stretched out his arms to stop his spinning and then realized that it was his head, not his body that seemed to continue to roll.
Flat on his stomach he grasped two handfuls of dirt…sopping wet, sandy dirt.
“Oh man…think I’m gonna puke.” he muttered groggily.
“Might as well, old chap.” Edward chuckled “I think that we all did at some point upon arrival.” he nodded over to a quickly flowing stream “Doc’s over there heaving right now as I speak, poor fellow.”
Sam and Pete helped Jack to his feet as Sam inquired about Hank. That was followed by a slight rush of air and a gentle pop as Hank appeared and flopped on his back. His eyes rolled in their sockets as Jack had no doubts that his had as well. Hank grunted, rolled over on his stomach and gagged.
“Jesus…that was a ride and a half.” his head stopped wobbling as he looked up at the ones that were standing around him “Sure got our money’s worth outta that one didn’t we?”
Ed grinned “That we did my good man…that we did.” As Hank was helped to his feet and Doc joined them the professor smiled like the cat that ate the canary.
“Look around what do you see?”
Jack and Hank scanned their surroundings “Oh a lot of trees, and brush…”
Hank chuckled “Yeah a lot of brush…heyyyy…what the fuck?” he pointed at a tall waterfall.
“Oh and the waterfall?” Jack looked up “A high waterfall, and a rapidly moving stream that winds around over to…oh is that another waterfall at the cliff?” Jack was having trouble collecting his thoughts “There was no waterfall, we would have heard it.”
Ed nodded as Jack still seemed puzzled by Ed’s obvious glee.
“Ok professor, so we fell through the plateau and…”
Ed grasped Jack’s arm and gently pulled him through the moderately fast, but shallow waters of the stream to the side edge of the vast ledge like shelf they were on. Jack looked down to see the waters falling about fifty feet into another, larger stream.
The professor chuckled and gently took his hands to move Jack’s head up and to his right…his jaw dropped as Ed chuckled like a lad at Christmas.
“No, no, my good man. We didn’t fall through the plateau, we fell through time…”
Jack looked out along the incredible vista before him. Darting in and around the huge scattered clumps of trees and brush were small dinosaurs of varying species. Huge lumbering beasts with long necks strolled the waters of a lake that the stream emptied into and beyond that, appeared to be a sea. Large herds of prehistoric animals wandered vast plains in the distance and strange winged flying reptiles soared high in the late afternoon skies.
“Whoa…wait a sec…the sun is half way to the western horizon,” he looked at his wrist “my watch says it’s nearly nine in the morning.”
Doc walked up to join them and chuckled “It appears that we’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.”
Hank wandered along the moderately wide stream muttering “No shit, Doc.”
Larry shrugged “Soooo…just where the hell are we professor?”
“I have no idea Larry. At first I’d thought the Jurassic period, but I seem to see several varieties of dinosaur that shouldn’t exist in that age.” he pointed toward the waters of the large lake and the stream that led from it.
“See those dimetrodons? Permian Epoch, long before the first ‘real’ land dinosaurs roamed the Earth…they lived in swamps and were thought to be amphibious. Over there…those sauropods, they spanned several ages as they evolved, but here I see them existing in the same time.” he turned and looked at the party as he grinned “It’s…it’s, wonderful!”
“Wonderful?” Jack sputtered “Professor…Ed, this isn’t exactly what we signed up for…you know being sent back to the Jurassic age?”
“Oh forgive me, yes, yes…you’re completely correct Jack. Let us get back to the portal, we know where it is on the plateau and we can return with more and better equipment.” He led them back to the spot near the stream. The spot where their tumbled marks were still visible in the sandy soil from their rather abrupt entrance into this world.
The professor pointed to a point about four feet above the bank.
“I noticed this after I stopped gagging. I was about to touch it when I saw the rest of your men…and then was nearly knocked down by Doc.”
“But it was a good five minutes before Doc fell in after you did.” Jack added.
“It’s sort of a wormhole gentlemen, a tear in space and time if you will. Within it time shouldn’t exist, other than what it is with in it,” he chuckled softly “organized chaos I would guess.” he reached out to a spot that seemed to hang in space. They could see through it, but it looked as if it were made of a wavering mirage about four feet high and three feet wide.
“It seemed to be smaller than when I came through…strange.”
“Hey boss?” Pete walked around the wavering wormhole I can see you guys right through it, but you’re distorted.
“Of course,” Ed replied “in space the wormhole would actually be round; like a ball. Here on Earth, it appears as a mostly flat anomaly, I’d guess that it would be because of the fact that it has two forces pressing it flat.”
Hank looked over at Ed “Huh?”
“Our world Hank, and this world.” he grinned “You see this shouldn’t exist here in nature, not here, there just aren’t the proper forces at work to make this happen.”
Pete walked completely around the anomaly “Yeah, well professor, someone forgot to tell this thing about that.”
Doc leaned in and looked at it “I’d say manmade…wouldn’t you Edward?”
“Oh obviously my friend…yes, unquestionably manmade.”
Jack tapped Ed on the shoulder “Whoa professor, I’m no friggin’ genius, but wouldn’t that take a vast amount of power? What’s keeping it open?”
Doc chuckled “My good man, I’m no physicist, but I’d guess…guess, mind you, that the hole once formed could conceivably remain open for a while. It could be it was just formed where ever it was formed, and we…” he frowned “I’m fresh out of ideas, I’m sorry.”
“THEN PERHAPS I CAN HELP!” came a shout from the far side of the stream.
The men jumped and turned to see a comely woman standing upon the distant bank of the stream. She had gray hair pulled back in a ponytail and pushed the long bangs from her eyes. Slowly she waded out into the shallow but quick moving waters. As she waded across she smiled and waved.
“HI, I’M JANET WAITE…” she stepped out of the water and shook off her leather clad feet adorned with some sort of shiny leather and beaded sandals.
“Perhaps I can explain a bit more than you seem to have figured out.” she extended her hand and introduced herself to each man one by one as she smiled and looked them over. Finally she stopped at Ed and gave him a warmer smile and gently shook his hand perhaps a bit longer than the rest. After the introductions, she nodded toward the portal and Hank trying to stick his hand through, and failing.
“You can try but it’s useless. You see, this wormhole or portal as we refer to it, appears to be a one way door. We all came through it, but cannot return the same way.” she sighed softly as it was obvious that Doc and Ed were both smitten by her…and eyeing her shapely braless form under her sweat soaked, tattered blouse.
“Now and then one of those creatures down there will find its way up on this rather large tor. You see, it’s not really part of the mountain above us, but a large outcropping that over the eons has formed this crescent shaped area. You see the waterfall, and cliffs behind you, all part of this tor. To the direct south we have the waterfall an
d sheer cliff to the valley and lands below. The jungle to your west goes on for but a few hundred yards and then steeply drops down to the plains below creating a wide slope. Occasionally one of the dinosaurs picks its way up here and stumbles into the portal.” She smiled sheepishly “You’d think being a physicist that I’d have some idea as to where they go, but I can only guess…randomly dropping into an alternate world.”
Sam chuckled “Think we can help ya with that answer Janet.”
“Jan…please, gentlemen, I prefer Jan. As to the answer, I’d guess your world this time.”
Doc gave her a strange look “Your world? You mean ‘our world’ don’t you?”
She smiled warmly “Judging from your dress and weapons, I’d say something close, but not quite.” she softly laughed.
“Wait a minute, Jan…you said we and implied that…”
“Oh, I am sorry, I am not alone. Actually there are many of us, and I will explain once I get you all back to our temporary shelter just beyond the trees. You see we take turns watching the portal for newcomers and if needed lure any stray dinosaurs into the portal to get them out of the area so a new arrival will not be eaten.” she looked sadly at the men “I do hope that where ever they appear at, they have not caused damage or death.”
Jack started to reprimand their actions, but quickly realized they were protecting others in their view, but what others? He felt compelled to tell her.
“Some died, but it leads out to the top of a plateau deep in the Amazon jungle.”
“Amazon? You mean Amaxion jungle?” she smiled “I’m sorry, I keep forgetting the differences in our worlds.” She gleefully giggled as she took Ed by the hand and led him toward the stream.
“We really need to get to the cave so I can send someone back out here to watch…” she looked back at the rest “we watch day and night.” she chuckled “and when you’ve had some dinner, I’ll try to explain the differences between our worlds…but I have to warn you, I won’t swear to any of it, I could be a mile off base.” She turned and led Ed through the waters as the rest followed.
“Oh and by the way gentlemen, please excuse my tatters. You see we take turns watching this portal on a monthly basis and only have what we bring until we are relieved…” she motioned along her body and the tattered blouse and shorts “it has been a long and arduous month.”
Jurassic Portal Page 3
