Jack smiled “They maintained more humanity than we I guess. They’ve been trading with Coi’s people for centuries, here. They forgave, but always feared.”
“So they traded by the dark of the moon…and my people didn’t want to know any more than that.” Coi sighed “We chose to remain ignorant and they forgave.”
Jack smiled “And they are perfectly happy with that my love. A system that works for centuries, should stay that way.” he chuckled “Even now that your people watched from the cliffs and now know who the traders are. I’m sure you will set your people straight.” he hugged Coi and smiled at the guys “After all she is the princess.”
Doc leaned forward “And the portal Jack…the portal? Can we get back?”
“They no longer have that technology Doc, but there is still a slight hope.”
Chapter 23.
“Ahh, the portal.” Jack chuckled half-heartedly “There are possibilities there, but let me warn you they are not clear as to what they are. You see I saw something when that communicator burst fed me that information of their past…I didn’t see it as a movie, but more like a teaser or preview, all hacked up. Sometimes there was detail, other times merely a flash or reference to something. These creatures with their huge memory reserves can only absorb so much and it would seem that each time small bits of information are lost as it’s transferred to the next generation.”
Ed nodded “Imagine how much was lost over…how long have they been here?”
“Can’t tell ya Ed, hell, they don’t know themselves. As near as they can figure it would be hundreds of their centuries…but I have no concept of what those might be in our time, but I got the sensation that it’s been around ten thousand years.” Jack sighed “Enough time for them to de-evolve. I could see glimpses of what their world was before being forced to flee it, and what it is they’ve built here now.
The one thing I did see from the past, was once the portal was opened, they pushed a long steel device what I guess was akin to a telescope on a movable dolly. It really looked like an old cannon with lenses on either end. I’m guessing they didn’t want to send anyone through without checking out what they might be getting into, or that there was water.” Jack paused as he tried to put into words what was bothering him.
“Wait…” Paul interrupted “they looked through? This scope didn’t get sucked in like our bathyscaphe?”
“It did…but only once it was released from the rolling platform it was on. I didn’t get the entire incident, but they were trying to reposition it, removed it from the base that was attached to the track…and poof! They did see through it long enough to see a stream and the falls beyond. They saw the sea in the distance and risked sending some of their people through. When they arrived here, lo and behold, on the ground laid the scope. As more came through, they used their sharp weapons to cut trees and make a base and shoved it back through the portal…” Jack chuckled “and it wasn’t sucked back through…and they pushed it through…and that’s what puzzles me.”
Doc muttered softly “Too bad they didn’t know hand signals.”
“They flashing bio-lights Doc, remember? Much faster than we can talk. By looking through the scope and standing close enough, they gave the all clear, verified there was a livable sea and removed the scope. The rest is history.”
Coi nodded “And we thought that we were the first ones that came here. Why didn’t they…oh never mind, they can’t breathe long on land so I guess they can’t portal sit like our races do.”
Jack smiled and hugged his love “You have to remember honey that they knew their reality was doomed, once those that could make it, did so…they went into the sea and never looked back. Those that couldn’t swim to the portal before their seas became polluted with silt, perished.”
“It’s sad.” Coi lamented.
“Until other worlds started dropping in on them.” Ed chuckled “Did they show you how long before they even noticed?”
Jack nodded as he tried to organize what he was shown.
“They could breathe for about a week…I’m guessing our time. Then it was back to the water for at least four times that amount of time before they could come back out. Over the millennia they had created small industrial settlements in coves, beaches, places where the dinosaurs couldn’t get to. Let’s face it, they formed their first metals in lava tubes, black smokers and volcanic fissures, but it’s so much easier to smelt iron, steel, and other metals on land…so they did here in this reality as well. So they knew when the Mayan’s arrived.
At first they tried to be friendly, but differences…well…”
“We killed them…” tears formed in Coi’s eyes “and worse. No wonder why they kept away from us and the others.”
“The portal?” Paul reminded Jack.
“Oh, yeah! I caught a glimpse of them putting that cannon sized scope together. They assembled it on land and took it down to where they were working on the portal.”
“And that helps us how?” Ed asked.
“Don’t you see guys? It wasn’t what the scope was made of, but how.” Jack grinned as his thoughts were finally coming together.
“Look…Paul what happens to your little sub if you split the hull at depths?”
He snorted a weird laugh “We crush like a tin can getting run over by a truck.”
“Of course you do…and no doubt they found that out at some point in their history. This scope was built like an old thick walled cannon. Hell the glass they put in had to have been eight inches thick.”
Paul shrugged “Ok so it wouldn’t implode…that helps us how?”
“As I said, it isn’t what it was made of, but how. Don’t you all see? It was built like a brick shit house! It isn’t material that allowed it to be passed back through the portal, but mass. The portal couldn’t pull the scope and the base along with the heavy steel track… It wasn’t until it was unattached that it came through. Also once here, the heavy wooden and well secured supports is most likely why it didn’t get sucked back through.” Jack looked at Paul “We were wrong assuming that the nuclear sub wouldn’t come through because of the nuclear material, it was because the portal can only handle so much mass.”
Paul shrugged “Yeah, ok…our submersible, T-rexes…but why not the submarine? I can’t wrap my head around that mass is the reason.”
“Agreed,” Jack leaned forward and looked at the small gathering “just from the images I got and the fact that only one thing at a time can come through…the shims couldn’t come through until the scope was removed. I think the portal can only expand so much. Look guys, this is only a guess, but the shims wanted to punch through to a place that would be safe. Instead they punched through at least six realities...sort of an unexpected side effect. I think that objects of great solid mass do not have the frequencies changed, there isn’t enough time passing through the portal.”
Edward nodded in agreement “Makes sense Jack, that’s why the rifles were changed and not the shim telescope, the metal was far too dense.” he looked as if he was doing some figuring in his head “I can see where the various portals could be keeping each other open by creating some sort of force between them…magnetic maybe…maybe some unknown dimensional force. Each portal energized the next…” he chuckled “or itself. Jack could have a point there. As a portal expanded to pull something through it would draw energy from the others, but as they are not too small and the energy expenditures would be enormous…yes…Jack, I agree with you.”
“Well Ed, I sure hope I’m right about the next thing as well.” he sighed and looked a bit too ‘not so optimistic’.
“I think that if we can somehow create enough cables, tackle and blocks to get Paul’s mini-sub back up in the same shelf that the portal is on, we might be able to pass back through the portal.”
Ears perked up throughout the group, but Coi muttered “Oh baby that sounds awful dangerous.”
Jack nodded hesitantly “A bit, but I’m sure we can go through. First
we’d have to block off any way up to that portal area to allow us to work unimpeded. You know, like using rows of spikes like the Mayan’s do on most of their mesa bases. Then from the upper part of the waterfall, we’d have to build some sort of arbor large enough to hold the weight of a perching diver…we can’t be attacked from the air. We then build a large ramp to slide the mini-sub down and into the portal.”
Doc looked stunned “Brilliant! Assuming that you’re right Jack. That mini-sub has to be denser than their scope and we all know it did make it through once.”
“Uhh…” from Jack made everyone stop their chatter and look back at the handsome adventurer.
“Don’t like uhhh…” Coi said with a deadpan face, but the fear in her voice couldn’t be hidden.
“Well,” Jack sighed “there is one catch. If I’m right about mass not being affected, if we launch the mini-sub through the portal…and remember we get one chance at that…I have no idea in which reality it will arrive.”
Doc nodded “A very realistic assumption Jack. However as none of us know a lot about each other’s realities…”
Jack nodded “That’s what I was getting at Doc. Now we’d have to include one of Paul’s people, one of Jan’s, one of ours…” Jack hugged Coi “but none of the Mayans.” Before Coi could interrupt him, Jack added “The Mayan’s wouldn’t have the technology to analyze the portal, nor hope to come up with a solution, nor would the people in Harry’s time.” he snorted a half-laugh “Nor would Grunt’s people. Of course the reality the shims knew is now our world Doc, so they’re out. Paul, will your little sub of yours hold four?”
“Easily, it is a small rescue sub called a DSRV. We usually use two men, but we had four so we could look out every port hole. Usually we are used to find the sunken ship or sub so larger rescue DSRVs can be sent down. We knew the approximate location of the sunken sub. Our job was to find it before the rest of the rescue ships arrived.” he looked frustrated “I took the DSRV around to the deep side of the shelf it was sitting on when there was an underwater quake. My thinking was the sub tried to do an emergency surface after that portal kicked it back out, but it was too badly damaged and sank back down to the ledge.
The damned quake shook it loose and we went with it.
Oh, I managed to get us loose, but we were in bad shape and my crew knew it. The DSRV rolled to port, then nosed down…I blew the ballast tanks…” he snorted a half chuckle “next thing I saw was dry land. We dropped the four feet out of the portal…and then next thing I knew some of Jan’s people were banging on the side with rocks and peering through the portholes…that by the way are six inches thick. The rest is history.”
Ed and Doc looked at each other as Ed slowly looked at Jack with a sadness that didn’t escape Coi. “Ok Jack…tell them the rest.”
Jack knew by their looks that his two friends had figured it out. Jack took a deep breath, clenched his teeth and frowned.
“Well as I see it, because every one of us was more or less adapted to this reality when we passed through the portal, if we do make it back…at best only one of us will remain alive.”
Coi gasped so loud she choked and she nearly crushed Jack’s hand as she grasped it.
“You see my friends, unless we arrive back in Coi’s, Harry’s…or the Cro-Magnon reality, there will be four of us, each with different primary body frequencies…arriving in a world that will only accept one frequency. What I’m trying to say…if we land in one of the realities of the four of us came from, three of us will have foreign frequencies.”
Edward nodded sadly “Frequencies that cannot exist in that reality.”
Paul sighed and nodded “One out of three…not great odds.”
“Actually one out of six Paul.” Ed muttered “Don’t forget that if we land in one of the other three realities that won’t be going with us, no one survives.”
By now Coi was in tears, she knew Jack had promised to get his people home and he would be the one taking the trip. It was his idea, his plan, and his duty…the duty of the man she loved, the duty of a man that would be her king…the man that had a one in six chance of living. Coi loved Jack with all her heart, and now she hated him for what he was about to do.
Chapter 24.
Jack had to rest for nearly another week before attempting to leave on the demanding journey back to Coi’s mesa and Coi made sure that they enjoyed every moment of their being together as everyone else headed back to their respective settlements to prepare.
Over the decades, Paul’s people had cleaned, scraped, and taken every precaution to maintain it, at least up the best using what this world has to offer.
There was no more power, nor did anything work other than the ballast tanks manual blow that Paul had used to force out the water before entering the portal. Without power to run the pumps to fill the air tanks with pressurized air, they couldn’t allow the tanks to fill with water. Paul said they were working on that.
“You see if we land in my world, we have to quickly flood the ballast tanks with water and pressurize the inside to keep from being crushed…all this has to be done as soon as we see water out the portholes. Then we have to use the pressurized air to slowly push out the water so we can slowly surface and balance out the pressure inside, it is all a very critical part of getting to the surface intact and healthy.”
Jack just hoped that they didn’t wind up in Paul’s reality, their mini-sub came through as it dropped beyond crush depth and without power, that’s where they’d wind up.
But Jack had to see Paul’s sub, something in him was drawn to it.
The complete details had been sent by heliograph to all mesas involved and the best from those other mesas and settlements came to assist. Jack had to leave the messaging to the Mayans as earlier peoples from Jan’s world had taught them their version of Marse code. It varied from the Morse code that Jack knew and had little time to learn a new code, he just wrote everything down as it was translated.
Now packed and rested, and the fog had finally cleared completely from Jack’s head, they were lowered to the beach below where Harry and a few of his men awaited.
“G’mornin’ lass, lad. Just talked to one of the shims and they’ll be a watchin’ over us lad. You see, even though most of the beasties stay away from this side of the lake, there be still a few that might be a wandering close. Those thumper shims and some of his lads will be keepin’ those that come too close away. We won’t be a seein’ ‘em, but they’ll be just off shore.” He chuckled as he stroked his long red beard “Me, and mine will be keepin’ ya safe on the land.”
Harry stopped and looked at Coi and Jack. “Say lad, what did ya be sayin’ to the hairy cave men? Usually we have to keep near the shore or wade in the water so those spear chuckers won’t be throwin’ at us. It’s like they kept an eye on us, but damned if they didn’t leave us to pass.”
Coi chuckled in her musical tone “Harry that is a long story.”
“Well lass, we do have a long ride.” Harry grinned and the tales began…
Harry had brought a couple of the rare horses and a well-made cart that rode surprisingly well as their pirate escort walked alongside. They stayed overnight at the pirate’s cove and were greeted by a group of Coi’s people to escort them back the rest of the way. Paul said his farewells and told him they’d meet him at the area where their DSRV was stashed in the small river cove of high rocks. His people had kept it cleaned and rust free, but rarely went as the trip was risky. Now he knew his group was preparing and he had to join them as Harry’s men headed back to their home. Paul waved farewell to Harry and turned to Jack.
“When you all send for me and my guys, we’ll come when you’re ready to pull the sub back upstream. I know there will be some heavy work that has to be finished before we get started, but Coi’s people can do amazing things in short periods of time.”
Jack was amazed at how fast the news had traveled by the time they got back to Coi’s mesa. She ran into her father’s arms
and then Quta came over and greeted Jack.
“It is good to see you Jack.” Quta grasped his forearm and smiled “I see you’ve taken good care of my little girl…and from what the reports say, have had quite an adventure.”
“That we have sir.” And with that Coi slid her arm around Jack’s waist and the other around her father’s arm and they headed to a large shaded portico for beverages made from the mustlee plant. At first the tart, mildly alcoholic beverage, made Jack look like he had just sucked on a lemon, but soon he was enjoying it a bit too much in the sweltering afternoon.
“My people have already begun to make plans to go to the river.” Quta said, carefully pointing out just how dangerous the plan was to move the sub.
“Others have moved to the plateau where the waterfall is. The way up has eight foot, sharpened stakes buried in the ground. Even those beasts that your Edward calls spinosaurus should wander by and step on one or more, it will do damage and should drive them away.”
From behind them a voice added “Those spikes are made from trees three feet in diameter, spaced five feet apart four rows of them offset three feet apart and cross the entire slope up to the waterfall’s plateau.” Coi and Jack spun to see Doc standing there. After a warm greeting Doc continued…
“I have to give it to Quta’s people Jack, as soon as your plan hit the mesas, they contacted us and asked how they could help. Three days ago they had a thousand people cutting and sharpening trees, while others dug holes and buried them. In the ground they stand eight to ten feet pointing straight up to keep the big ones away. The first few rows of trees have sharpened spikes pointing outward to keep the mid-sized ones out, mingled among those spikes were a lot more of the smaller spikes; just in case they got by the first line of defenses.
Up on the waterfall level we’re building a large cage like you mentioned in the code. When completed the entire waterfall area will have a giant cage over it.”
Jurassic Portal Page 16
