Jurassic Portal

by Robert Turnbull Jr.

  In a hushed and near panic gasp, Coi muttered “Tulchulos!” she looked at the men that were staring at her. “Uh…wing…blood wings. They fly at night and hunt by sound and if they catch you they inject a venom that paralyzes you and makes you feel no pain…” the horror in her eyes was evident “they eat you alive while you watch.” The guys could see she was trembling as she continued.

  “My people have hunted them for as long as we have kept records, we find them at day and burn brush with potchu, a red flower that gives off poisonous vapors when burned. During lightning fires our people and the dinosaurs became ill, but in the open it is not fatal, but here in a cave.” She needn’t have said more they both got the idea.

  Jack tried to get Larry out from the rocks he was twisted among and the pain must have been excruciating, but Larry never once screamed out.

  Carefully Coi and Jack got him to a spot where the floor leveled out, but Larry waved them to a spot between several large car sized boulders.

  “No more…no more…” he muttered as they laid him safely between the boulders and on somewhat drier ground.

  “Look guys it’s getting light,” he nodded toward a large split that looked to be a good hundred yards away…or more.

  “Man, you’ll kill me if you try to carry me.”

  Coi laid her hands on Larry and Jack “You stay here with Larry, I’ll go get some of my people.” And before Jack could speak, she vanished into the darkness that led toward the opening that was now getting lighter by the second.

  Jack looked at his friend “She’ll be fine Lar, all we have to do is hold out for a few hours.”

  Larry had been dragging his backpack, flipped open the flap and pulled out two bricks of C-4 explosive and a hand full of small detonators.

  “Brought these along just in case we needed to move a rock or something.” he chuckled softly “Been carrying these damned things since we came through that...” he coughed gently and a small trickle of blood appeared upon his lips.

  “Easy there pal, I’ll place them where you tell me and then you can push the remote when we get out of this place.”

  Larry smiled weakly “Jesus Jack, you never were any good with explosives. These puppies can bring down this whole cavern system just by leaving them right here. Ten pounds of C-4 will set off a concussion wave that will smash them against the ceiling and then bring the entire thing down on them. No sense in risking them hearing you stumbling around out there setting charges.” he winced in pain and grasped Jack’s arm tightly.

  “Old pal…you and I know that I’m not gonna make it if you don’t go and get me something to brace my back and legs. One cough can cut a nerve to my spine and stop my breathing or heart.” he grinned a grimacing grin “Jesus, I’m not sure how much longer I can stay quiet Jack. That running water sure as hell won’t cover my screams if I cut loose.”

  “I’m not leaving you…”

  “Good God, Jack, you’re loyalty is gonna get us both killed…me if I don’t get a splint on my back soon.” again he grimaced in pain.

  “Ok pal, you hang in there. While I’m getting some wood, pull that nylon lacing from your backpack.” Jack patted his friend’s arm “Be right back.”

  Larry chuckled softly “Yeah…don’t think I’m gonna go trottin’ off anytime soon.”

  Jack gave him a slight smile and slid along the rocks to the opening and just as direct sunlight burst into the cavern of the night hunters, Jack burst forth into the sun. All he saw was jungle and part of the debris field from the large part of the mesa that had collapsed decades before, but no usable wood.

  “God damned jungle.” Jack muttered under his breath as he looked to the east. Where he had come out at, was in reality a gap in a thirty foot high cliff up to the debris field and jungle that led to Coi’s mesa nearly two miles away. The cliff flattened out to the east and that’s where Jack headed. After nearly a mile he was able to see over the cliff that had now shrunk to barely four feet high and he climbed up. As he looked toward the mesa he saw the work area that the priests had built that was surrounded by stakes like what he had seen the day they arrived on the other side of the mesa…poles that were straight and strong; strong enough to support Larry.

  There was a crackle of his radio and Larry could be heard.

  “I figure that you have to be at least a mile away by now Jack the way you move in a panic.” he chuckled “You know there is no way on Earth…or where ever this place is…” he coughed and spit “There’s no way a cripple like me would live for long…won’t risk others coming down to get me…”

  “Dammit Lar, don’t you do this!” Jack shouted into his radio.

  “Sorry old pal…but it’s been a blast…” he laughed loudly “or at least will be…tootles.”

  “LARRY!” The ground shook and as Jack looked back toward the area that he had just come from, the rumbling got much louder and the entire debris field and jungle slowly sunk into the earth sending up a huge cloud of dust. Jack sprinted along the rock footing and skidded to a stop at the edge of what now was a huge crater the size of several football fields.

  Larry had been right, the entire ceiling of the vast cavern system had come crashing down like dominos and his friend was now buried under thousands of tons of earth along with the Tulchulos. The explosion had formed a box canyon with walls a hundred feet high and that was after everything had fallen into it, including the old temple and any hope of finding answers from the past.

  As several rocks rumbled down the cliffs into the crater and settled on the bottom, Jack slowly turned and headed back toward the priest’s old abandoned camp.

  “Farewell my friend.”

  Jack had to walk back the way he came due to the steepness of the grade and the tears blurring his vision as he picked his way east. He wiped his eyes and looked up among the vehicle -sized boulders as he began his way up the incline.

  Loose shale and other rocks tumbled down with nearly every step until the field finally began to level out. He looked up to see Coi standing next to a van sized boulder. As he changed direction away from the old camp and toward Coi, she must have heard him and spun to motion for him to be quiet and very still.

  His puzzled look was obvious as she slowly moved her hand to point upward…and at a lone raptor standing between two bus sized boulders sniffing the air.

  Jack quickly ducked behind a boulder and crouched as he slowly worked his way to the woman he loved. She hugged him tightly then released him as she whispered.

  “It smelled me, but it seems confused.” She kept watching one side of the boulder as Jack watched the other.

  “I saw it hunting and no others around, so I ducked into this area that I knew existed figuring the big rocks would hide me…but it followed me in. I think it may be sick or it would have scented me a long time ago, probably why it is alone too.”

  “Well we can’t stay here…”

  “Jack?” her face saddened and eyes filled with tears “Where’s Larry? The ground shake?”

  Jack slowly nodded “We had explosives and he made sure those blood wings won’t bother your people or anything else ever again.” as more tears streamed, Jack gently took her hand as he pulled his machete with his other. He pulled her toward a large area of bus sized boulders just below the old camp. “We can’t stay here forever.”

  She nodded and pulled her machete as they crouched low and moved along the boulders.

  “We used to cut these boulders for our temples centuries ago, they will provide cover for us now.” Still keeping low they weaved in and out of the huge boulders until they came to four boulders that looked like they might have been cut for an old temple at one time. Now the bus sized boulders formed a corridor that opened out to a completely cleared area about twenty yards from the wooden spikes and the safety of the old camp.

  They dashed between the boulders…and skidded to a stop as the raptor leapt out from behind the last bus sized boulder. If they tried to go back, it would easily overtake them
, so Jack pushed Coi behind him…which didn’t go over well with Coi. She pushed herself back around to his side.

  “We do this together. Watch out for his talons Jack it can rip through a ribcage with ease and they can jump a good four feet in the air to knock smaller prey down to start the attack.”

  “I’m six-two Coi and that thing isn’t any taller than I am.” Jack muttered as they slowly backed toward the boulder on their left and the small space between that and the one that proceeded it.

  “But it outweighs you my love and kills for a living.” Coi pulled free from his hand and started toward the center of the aisle the boulders formed.

  “What the hell are you…?”

  “You go left, my love and I’ll go right; one of us may get away.”

  Jack stopped and took a step toward his love and was about to object when the raptor took one step in their direction…they froze and looked at the creature.

  There was a blur as something slammed into the raptor from behind and the two spun a complete turn and stopped as the raptor still faced the pair, they heard a loud snap.

  As the two of them stared in horror the raptor slowly fell face forward. Behind it the huge six-six, two hundred and eighty-five pound Sam stood…he had snapped its neck. He looked at the dead raptor and then to the couple.

  “Hate these fuckin’ things…” he slowly looked around “Where’s Larry?”

  It was a long and slow walk back to the ropes as Sam was filled in on what had happened since they had last seen him. Sam in turn explained how they had formed a party to come help open the passage that they had discovered. As they formed atop the mesa, one of Coi’s people had seen her moving along the ridge, and the raptor as it stalked her.

  Sam was about to slide down when off to the west Larry had collapsed the cavern and the tremor and weight of the ceiling collapse caused the ground to raise dust in many places in the debris field, this appeared to confuse the raptor…and probably saved Coi’s life.

  Word was sent to Larry’s companions and a sad memorial was given at the top of the mesa that overlooked the new crater that had now filled partially with water. Afterward Coi stood next to her love with tears in her eyes as she pointed to the beautiful forming lake and as the sun played across the clear waters softly whispered...

  “It is a fitting monument to a brave man.” she laid her head on Jack’s chest and sobbed.

  Chapter 17.

  After losing his longtime friend and business partner, Jack was even more determined to find a way home. After the incident he relentlessly questioned Coi about what she had told them. He looked for every little clue that she might have overlooked, but Coi was thorough in what she had told them.

  “Well, I guess then I have to go to that mesa with the arch, you said you knew where it is.”

  Coi frowned “You mean ‘WE’ go; there is no ‘you going alone’ Jack.”

  He chuckled and gave her hand a little squeeze “Yeah, I kind of thought you’d say that. What say we leave in the morning?”

  Coi smiled as they headed into the long hall where Jack’s quarters were at the far end. It was now completely lined with long ceiling to floor draperies that adorned the walls, and shorter draperies that hung from the ceiling.

  Jack looked strangely at Coi and she shrugged and looked as puzzled as he…until her father walked out of what had become their room.

  Daddy barely acknowledged their presence as he passed and walked down the hall. A few feet past them he stopped and without turning muttered.

  “Now every night when you scream for the gods, I will not hear you…” he began walking again “No father should have to hear his daughter…uh, pray…that loud!” and turned the corner at the end of the hall to the snickering of the two lovers.

  Jack laughed softly “You know he does make a good point though. When we get out in the jungle and one of us decides to get…uh, romantic…” he gently tapped Coi on her cute little nose “one of us will have to be a tad more quiet.” he winked at her teasingly.

  Coi grasped Jack by the collar of his shirt and slowly pulled him into the room.

  “Well then my love, what do you say…we go in and pray?” She gave Jack that impish giggle he was so fond of and they vanished into the darkened room.

  ****************************

  It took a week of prepping, but Quta sent word to the oldest tribe that his daughter was going to pay them a state visit and bring her future husband on a sightseeing tour of the tribes. Only Coi and Jack knew the real reason for their visit.

  They would only take what they could carry and they carried large backpacks because the route that Coi chose was one different than the usual trade routes, it was out of the way, but higher and safer.

  They left the area of several close mesas and now were moving along what the Mayan’s called the highlands which were actually a series of small mountains that were covered in jungle. While higher than the rest of the jungles below and mostly safe from the larger beasts that hunted below, there was still the danger of the smaller dinosaurs that might roam these areas. Now and then the jungle would part and below was breathtaking scenes of prehistoric life as it might have been during the Jurassic age. If it were not for the various non-Jurassic creatures.

  Jack’s thoughts were rudely interrupted as Coi jerked his arm and dragged him over to another brushy rise, pulling him through the brush Jack’s jaw dropped as he could see what Coi was trying to show him.

  Below them was a chasm that had to be nearly a half mile wide and the rock strewn jungle nine hundred feet below didn’t look very hospitable. Before he could speak Coi gently turned his head. To his right was a steel cable and a basket; Jack wandered over to it.

  “Ok…this is steel stranded wire.” he looked at his love “You said that your people only created gold, copper, and bronze…occasionally tin.”

  “The English silly.” She chuckled as she uncovered the basket from the vines and growth that had covered most of it.

  “Steel is very rare and hard to make, mining with the creatures attacking the parties is difficult, but some years ago my people mentioned this chasm and Jan’s people made the wire…” she smiled sweetly “and it took them nearly a year to make. Then we brought them here and it took months with their lack of technology to install it.”

  Coi looked sadly at her love and sighed.

  “It’s shorter, but many of my people don’t trust the cable, and they did not like hanging above…” she pointed down “that, it is a long way down. My father is not afraid and when we last made our tour of the mesas, we came this way, but the traders take the long way around to the north. Once we’re in the center of the crossing, and if the sky is clear, you can see the sea to the south…just barely.”

  Jack helped clear the last of the jungle vines off the basket made of woven reeds. They were strong and resistant from rot. Inside the basket was a strange pulley system from which the basket was suspended and to Jack it reminded him of the old rail cars with hand cranks, but this was suspended from the pulleys above where one could stand in the basket and reach up to pump the mechanism to move along the wire.

  “Once we’re in we crank the handles up and down Jack, it will move us along the wire to the other side.” she chuckled “Do it fast though, if a diver sees us.” Coi needn’t say more, Jack got it. She explained that a lever switched which way the cranking would take them and after carefully examining the floor of the basket, she climbed on the old log that was used to get into the basket and untied it from the tree that it abutted against to steady it from the wind during times it was unused.

  Once certain it was safe, Coi motioned Jack to get in and with a brief tutorial on how things worked he took up a position on one side of the handle and Coi the other side with her back to the opposite side of the chasm. There was a long copper bar that looked like an old tire iron wedged between the cable and one of the four grooved wheels that rode on the cable. Once pulled the basket lurched forward slightly.


  “You know baby I’m surprised that this cable has remained taut all this time.” he pumped the handle and the basket began to move out over the deep chasm.

  “One would think this would sag over time.”

  “It does my love,” Coi replied “there are…uh…tensioning rods?” Jack nodded.

  “The people from the closest mesa keep the rods twisted tight because they do not want their chief to work too hard during the crossing. This basket can only carry three people at a time and no one uses it anymore other than daddy and myself when we visit, and of course our escorts. We tell them we are coming using something called a heliograph that the English showed us.” Now almost at the halfway point Coi pointed to the jungle on the other side and to the group of Mayans awaiting their arrival.

  “Daddy insisted that we contact them to inform them of our journey.” she smiled sweetly at Jack “Didn’t want his princess to get eaten.”

  “Will be nice to have some company,” Jack chuckled as he pumped away “especially after seeing those damned raptor tracks scattered here and there.” He was about to wipe the sweat from his brow when the basket jerked and then came to a swinging stop!

  Coi quickly looked up… “Uh-oh!”

  “I do not like the word Uh-oh.” Jack sputtered as he moved next to Coi. Above their heads several feet was the pulley system and both could see several of the stranded wires had broken and entangled the first two wheels of the three wheeled system that rode on the cable.

  Jack jumped up and grasped the cable as he wrapped his legs just above the handles to support his weight.

  “Damn! Several strands are broken and I’ll have to untangle them from the wheels. We should be ok to get across, but wouldn’t recommend that anyone else use this thing until the cables can be repaired or replaced.”

  “I’ll tell daddy when we get home, but it could be years before another cable could be…”

  “Damn!”

  Now it was Coi’s turn “I am really beginning to dislike the word damn, Jack, especially when you use it now.”