Primordia 2: Return to the Lost World

by Greig Beck

  “They’d rule the world,” Andy said, beaming.

  Ben snorted softly. “The ones in the ocean were the same.”

  “What?” Andy grabbed Ben’s arm and stopped them both. “You actually made it to the ocean?” His mouth gaped.

  Ben nodded. “Several weeks’ hike, always moving at night. Spent months there living off the land and sea.”

  “Oh God.” Andy let him go. “I want to see it,” he whispered.

  Ben shook his head and began to walk ahead. “The price is too high.” He stopped and turned. “Things…people, die horribly here.”

  Andy nodded, but kept his head down.

  CHAPTER 38

  They entered the swamp half an hour later, about the same time the weird mist started to settle around them. Ben stopped them to crouch by a particularly viscous-looking pool. He dipped a hand into the soft mud and started to liberally apply it to his shoulders, underarms, face, and neck.

  “Insects?” Drake asked.

  “Keeping insects off is for comfort,” Ben said. “But mainly it’s to mask my body heat and scent. And that’s to survive.” He held out a handful. “I suggest you all do the same. After ten years of not seeing and hearing another human being, I can tell you one thing—you smell.” He half-smiled. “Not in a bad way, it’s just that I can smell you. And if I can, the hunters certainly can.” He finished and stood. “Not to mention the snakes. They’ll see you in the dark.” He looked at Emma. “Remember?”

  She nodded. “They can see our body heat.” She held out her hand. “Pass me the cold cream.”

  Andy and Drake looked at each other, and Ben pointed to the mud. “I’m serious. You don’t need to strip down, but coat your clothing and all exposed skin.” He looked up at the sky for a moment and saw that the moon had vanished. “Em, how much time do we have?”

  Emma checked her watch. “Four hours. It’s three until sunup.” She turned to Drake. “I’m thinking a good hour and a half to the temple.”

  “By then, Ajax, Fergus, Helen, Camilla, and Juan should have all scaled down. Or maybe waiting for us,” Drake said. He crouched, scooped some mud, and lathered it on his neck, cheeks, and up through his short hair.

  “That’s quite a team. But more people, more risk,” Ben said evenly.

  “Yeah, most I hand-picked,” Emma said. “Ass kickers like Drake, but also some scientists. Camilla and Juan are press, and managed to barge in on a, take us or else proposition.”

  “Frankly, I’ll be happy if they’re all gone,” Drake added. “If not, we’ll get an update on why.” He exhaled. “I only hope, if they are there, it’s not because it’s a dead-end…or something worse.”

  Drake, Andy, and Emma were lathering the mud on their faces, ears, and began to cover their clothing. Drake stopped for a moment. “And before you ask, we don’t really have a Plan B.”

  “Yeah, we do.” Emma tilted her head. “The mist made me remember when we scaled up, and I scaled down the last time. We seemed to pass through a distortion layer of air.”

  Ben nodded. “You think maybe that was what separated our two time zones, and our worlds?”

  Emma nodded. “We know the magnetic effects of Primordia are localized. So maybe that was as far as the time distortion effect reached. So our Plan B is if the temple’s chute is deep enough, maybe we can drop below the distortion line. So once Primordia moves on, we can climb back up, and be…back.” She shrugged. “It’s a theory.”

  “I like it.” Ben nodded. “And I never even thought about that.”

  “Or we could climb back up, and still be here,” Andy said, not looking worried by the prospect at all.

  Ben grinned at Emma. “But, I believe in miracles.”

  A wind began to rustle the treetops, and Ben looked up again. “And so it begins.”

  “Or ends,” Emma said softly.

  CHAPTER 39

  12 Hours Past Comet Apparition

  Comet P/2018-YG874, designate name, Primordia, was pulling away from the third planet to the sun to continue on its eternal elliptical voyage around our solar system.

  The magnetic presence that had dragged at the planet’s surface, caused chaotic weather conditions, and created a distortion in time and space, was lessening in intensity by the seconds, and in just a few more hours would vanish completely.

  The clock was ticking down, and soon there would be another 10 years of calm over the mountaintops of the Venezuelan Amazon jungle.

  CHAPTER 40

  “So, what’s the first thing you’re gonna do when you get home, big guy?” Drake walked at Ben’s shoulder.

  Ben turned to smile at Emma, who nodded in return.

  “Yeah, after that,” Drake said, chuckling.

  Ben had lived it in his mind too many times. He grinned in the darkness. “Ribs.”

  “Huh?” Drake tilted his head.

  “Ricky’s ribs,” Emma said. “Double plate, special barbecue sauce. Jug of cold beer.” She threw an arm around Ben’s waist. “My treat.”

  He hugged her in close and looked to Drake. “Play your cards right, you might just get an invite.” His face became serious, as someone else came to his mind. “Cynthia, Mom, is she still…?”

  Emma nodded. “Yeah, still there, still hopeful. Took every ounce of my strength and persuasion skills I had to keep her from coming along.”

  Ben laughed. “Yep, that’d be Mom.”

  They walked on in silence for another few minutes before Ben noticed that the swamp was drying and the ground was becoming harder beneath their feet. “This the right way?”

  “I should be asking you, Tarzan. This has been your home for the last ten years,” Drake said.

  Ben stopped. “No, it hasn’t. I stayed well away from here. For good reason.”

  “The snakes, huh?” Drake asked. “Yeah, pretty badass. We saw one in the temple.”

  “No, we saw a juvenile,” Emma said. “The adults are three times as large.”

  “O-oookay.” Drake’s jaw clenched for a moment. “Nothing Ajax and Fergus can’t handle.”

  Ben grunted. “I’m glad Fergus is there. Ajax is a little…impulsive.”

  “He can be. But he’s matured…a little.” Drake didn’t sound all that convincing.

  “Hope so; he was a damn hothead. Up here, that won’t just get him killed, but everyone killed, and eaten alive.” Ben sighed. “This is no Garden of Eden.” Ben gave his friend a half-smile. “Thank you for coming. But you’re insane for doing it.”

  Drake winked. “Gotta tell you, buddy. We came for the money. I thought you were just a pile of bones somewhere in the Amazon Jungle.” He looked around. “Never expected to find you, and sure as hell never really thought all this was going to be real.”

  “You and me both.” Ben nodded sagely and walked on for a few minutes. He half-turned. “You’re still invited for the ribs.”

  They continued to push through heavy fronds dripping with moisture, trying to move fast but in silence. After another moment, Ben thought he heard and felt something. He held up his hand.

  “Quiet.”

  He turned back the way they’d come, staring into the darkness. He tilted his head, straining to listen, and then crouched to place a hand flat against the ground. This time, he closed his eyes, concentrating.

  After a few minutes, he opened his eyes. “Goddammit.” He stood. “That big bastard is following us.”

  “The Giganotosaurus again?” Andy asked. “Shit.”

  “Good and bad news,” Ben said. “The good news is that the smaller hunters will head for the hills with a big theropod in the vicinity. The bad news is, there’s a big theropod in the vicinity. This is usually the time I run and hide—into a cave, or to a treetop.”

  “How far back is it, you think?” Drake asked.

  “Half a mile, less,” Ben said and shrugged.

  “We can make it. I’m sure the temple is less than that. If there’s no smaller carnivores, then we can double-time it,” Drake replied
.

  Ben grabbed Emma’s hand. “Good idea.”

  Drake pulled his longest blade and turned to the wall of green. “Let’s push it.” He hacked at a vine and then began to jog, thrashing away in front of him. Ben and Emma followed, with Andy lagging a little behind.

  *****

  The four of them crouched just behind the last line of hanging vines. Before them was the temple, still imposing and draped in shadows within shadows. At the eastern horizon, a tiny blush of red indicated that sunup wasn’t far off.

  Ben snorted softly. “Just like on the jungle floor all those years ago. Even the gargoyles out front; the monster snake in battle with the beast.”

  “Same culture,” Emma said.

  Drake rested on his haunches and had his binoculars up to his eyes. “All calm and quiet.” He handed them to Ben.

  Ben scanned the entrance. “I’d be happier if there was someone waiting for us.”

  “Think positive,” Emma said. “They’ve already made it to the base of the plateau and are waiting for us down there.”

  Ben turned and grinned. “Yeah, I like it; that’s what happened.”

  Behind them, Andy had his night vision goggles over his eyes, but was furiously scribbling something on a piece of notepaper with a pencil.

  “See anything?” Ben asked him.

  “Huh?” Andy looked up. “Oh.” He turned to the temple and stared for a few seconds, his mouth slightly open. He slowly shook his head. “Nope, no one and nothing.”

  Ben looked up at the sky between the branches and saw something familiar that filled him with dread—the clouds were low and ominous, beginning to rotate like they were in the eye of a cyclone, even though the wind was still gentle. For now.

  “Let’s get this over with.” Ben turned to the trio, and thought he saw Andy pull his hand back as if he had been about to touch Emma’s leg. Weird kid. Smart, but weird, he thought.

  “Ready?” he asked Emma first.

  She nodded. “When you are.”

  Ben half-turned. “Guys?”

  “Yo.” Drake’s eyes were gun barrels on the temple, and Andy nodded but still looked distracted.

  Ben turned back. “Count of 3, 2, 1…go.” He led them out of the cover of the jungle and across the clearing. He ran hard, but not fast enough as to leave Emma behind. He needn’t have worried, as she kept pace with him easily and was probably fitter than he was now.

  In another minute, he bounded up the huge stone steps and stopped just inside the heavy carved doorframe. Emma came in and flattened herself against the wall next to him. Drake came in on the other side.

  Ben was breathing hard, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Drake and Emma flicked on flashlights.

  “Where’s the kid?” Ben noticed Andy hadn’t arrived.

  “What?” Emma immediately looked back out across the clearing to where they had come out of the jungle.

  Ben followed her eyes. “Were there hunters there?” His stomach suddenly felt leaden.

  There was no one and nothing in the clearing, and no man or beast still in the jungle they could see.

  “Unlikely,” Drake said.

  “What the hell happened to him?” Emma asked. “I don’t… I don’t even remember him running with us.”

  “We go back,” Drake said. He moved to the entrance and looked out over the clearing.

  “Wait.”

  Ben had a mad thought. Impossible, but…

  “Emma, check your pockets,” he said softly.

  She frowned and reached a hand into one, then the other. From her right pocket, she drew forth a folded piece of paper. She looked down at it as if it was the strangest thing she’d ever seen. She held it out and lifted her querying gaze to Ben.

  “What does it say? Read it.”

  She quickly unfolded it, and Drake held his light over her shoulder. She began:

  “Emma, Drake, and Ben, thank you. Thank you for bringing me here. My life’s love has been to immerse myself in the distant past. I used to just use my imagination to reconstruct the wonders of that time. But you have managed to take me there, for real.

  But there’s still so much I want to see—must see.

  I want to see a sunrise over a prehistoric ocean. I want to see the colors, the habits, and the behaviors of creatures long gone. I want to see the creatures that never even made it into our fossil record.

  I’m sorry. Please tell Helen I love her and will miss her.

  But don’t try and look for me. This is my decision. And I’m already gone.

  Yours truly, Andrew Francis Martin.”

  “That goddamn idiot,” Drake said. He bared his teeth and leaned around the doorframe again. “He can’t be that far ahead of us.”

  “No,” Emma said with heavy resignation in her voice. “Let him go.”

  “No one on my watch gets left behind,” Drake insisted.

  “Drake, he’s not being left behind. He’s made a decision to stay; respect it,” Ben said. He pointed up at the sky. “See that?”

  Drake turned to where Ben indicated.

  “That spinning cloud is just the start. Soon, the wind will rise, the cloud will drop, and then all hell breaks loose as this place goes back to where it belongs.” Ben looked at his friend. “We need to be long gone by then.”

  Drake dropped his head for a moment. “Yeah, I get it.” He took one last look out at the clearing. “That’s the plan. So let’s go see if any of our wayward clan is still here, or left us a sign.” He checked his gun and then held his flashlight high, locating the room that held the steps down to the basement. “This way.”

  The trio entered the room, and Ben saw the hole in the floor. He sniffed. “Not good.”

  “Yeah, snakes. Seems there was a nest in the chute,” Emma said.

  “Well, as long as Ajax didn’t bring the entire roof down on his head, I expect to find a lot of snake bodies.”

  “Here’s hoping,” Emma said, uncertainly.

  Drake turned to her. “Don’t worry, he and Fergus know their stuff and had enough firepower to do some serious damage.” He lit a flare and tossed it down into the darkness. The red glow was anything but warm and welcoming as the soldier was first to descend.

  Ben paused for a moment; the smell alone put him on edge. He also noticed that Drake went down the steps like he did—as far up against the wall as he could get. For all his confident words, he noticed the guy was on edge.

  They inched down, toes alighting first, softly, followed by the rest of the foot. Add weight, and then onto the next step, doing the same over again. Just the sound of the flare fizzed below them.

  Ben and Drake came into the room first with Emma at their heels. Ben went to push Emma back, but she swiped his arm away and held her gun in both hands.

  Then he saw it.

  Ben dry-swallowed down some bile. The place looked like an abattoir, and even though the pyrotechnic smell of the flare was strong, they could still detect the overpowering smell of the blood and viscera.

  “What the fuck happened here?” Drake had his gun up. “Is it snake’s blood?” he asked hopefully.

  “No, look, there’s torn cloth, boots, clothing strewn about.” Ben pointed at a shred of camouflage material. “I think one of the guys bought it right there.” He put an arm across his lower face as he saw the glistening thing. “Jesus Christ.”

  Ben stared down at the mess on the ground. It was about 10 feet long and was roughly compressed into a giant, wet-looking cigar shape. But in amongst the red of the meat and speckled fragment of bone, there was a boot on one end.

  “I think that’s Ajax,” Drake said. The tough soldier’s jaws clenched as though he was also fighting to keep down his sick down.

  “Regurgitation,” Emma said softly. “I remember Andy telling me that big snakes do it from time to time. If they’ve had their fill, even after crushing and swallowing something, they might decide to vomit it up and come back to it later.”

  Ben was nauseated but foun
d it hard to drag his eyes away from that crushed boot. He didn’t want to, but his gaze was now drawn to the other end of the thing, where the man’s head should have been. In amongst the mess, he could just make out some hair, an elongated skull, and a single eye floating in the mess. The jaws were still there, but now torn wide in a perpetual scream of agony.

  Now he knew how Drake had identified Ajax—there was a silver tooth floating in the gore. He grimaced. “Poor sap.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Drake spat the words through clenched teeth. “We’ve gotta get out of here. Get off this damn plateau.” He edged up to the portal in the wall and darted his head around the carved stonework, and then pulled it back. When nothing jumped out at him, he looked back in and shone his flashlight deeper into the hole. He looked about to step inside.

  “Don’t!”

  They all spun, three guns pointing to where the voice had come from.

  About five feet up on the wall, there was a crack, no more than a foot high and six feet wide. Probably where some sort of earth movement had caused the heavy stone blocks to settle at an angle.

  A slim hand emerged, followed by a dirt-covered woman—Helen. Drake rushed to her, helping to extract her from where she had wedged herself in tight. He carried her down to the floor of the room, and she clung tight to him.

  “You’re okay now.” Drake tried to calm her, but Helen just shook her head, and wouldn’t let him go. Drake tried again. “Can you tell us what happened?”

  “Out, out,” she hissed.

  “Let’s take her upstairs,” Ben said, keeping his eyes on the hole in the wall.

  Drake looked up and saw where he was looking. “Yeah, good idea.” He helped the woman to her feet, putting an arm around her and literally dragging her up the steps. Emma quickly followed.