The island grew dark, and they blissfully rested, and Dexter satisfactorily observed rain pouring down a few meters out from the cave. However, his satisfaction did not last, as cold water came rushing down, over them, and the fire, from somewhere within the dark depths of the cave, which they had not had time to explore.
Chapter 5
The Secret Passage
Once the sun had started lighting the horizon, with its strange illuminations, Dexter began his observations of the stream of water – pouring out of the entrance – going down the beach.
It was not that it had flooded in the middle of the night that annoyed him, it was the fact that he had not thought of a way of preventing it happening again; and it surely would occur again, if they did not solve the problem.
They had to find a way to prevent it happening, or they would have to move away from the cave. The winter months would surely have a lot more rain.
His mind only came up with the same ideas, which were not any good. It seemed a small problem, which he was exaggerating.
He had been sure that the water was pouring through cracks in the rock, but it was apparent that there was a hole, at the bottom of the cave. He searched the ground about it, trying to find out where the hole went, and he discovered that the hole, which he believed was not any bigger than his head, was large, and mostly buried under sand and rocks.
Once he had removed the rocks and sand about it, he was able to fit himself into it; and he saw that it sharply angled upwards, in a tunnel. Burrell followed him in, and then Darwin ran through. The dog stayed just ahead of them, as they marched on and on, ascending to somewhere upwards, through the darkness.
Darwin eventually ran off, leaving them wondering what he would find.
They did not have to wait long. His loud barks soon appeared from somewhere ahead of them.
Yet the bark was a different bark, and he realized that the dog had encountered something. Yet it was strange!
While he rushed forward, carefully listening to his constant barking, the dark gray rock began to illuminate in reddish sunshine.
Then an entrance appeared ahead of him, where the dog’s sounds were coming from.
They proceeded to it, looking exhausted from the climb.
There was a short cavity, going upwards, with a pool of clear blue water at its center. The sides of the cavity went in a circle, going upwards for about three meters, to where the top of the cliff was.
Darwin was barking crazily at the water, at the edge of the pool.
“I don’t get it ...!” Burrell remarked. “Darwin never barked like that before, without there being someone there ...! He virtually has paranormal senses ...!”
Dexter stared into the depths of the pool. He could clearly see through the water, but its visibility disappeared, into blackness, far down.
The dog was barking loudly, as if there was a human in it.
After they had calmed the dog, they climbed up to the surface, where there was a jungle, full of rotting vegetation.
They went to the outer fringes of it, closely checking them.
“This is perfect!” Burrell rationalized. “This will supply us with a proper fire!”
“If we can build some weapons and tools, we will be able to hunt and fix up the cave!”
“What about that stream of water?” Burrell continued, trying to solve the problem.
“There must be a way of stopping it. It’s the safest place for us to stay!”
He pondered over different ways that they could use to try to divert the water, and he removed a long piece of vegetation, with an appearance of a cane. It was thin but hard, and he knew that he could sharpen it into a spear.
“There shouldn’t be that much rain!” he finally spoke, thinking of the tremendous temperatures that they had experienced. “Therefore, we can channel the water away from the rest of the cave, and out through the entrance. Grab some vegetation – for a fire! I am starving ...!”
They instantly began work, grabbing chunks of dried out vegetation, dragging it to the cavity, and dropping it onto the embankment, beside the pool. Once a large pile had gathered in it, he cut a strong rubbery vine plant, and he wrapped it around a boulder, then he fed the other end of it down the cavity, for an easier way to get up and down.
He edged his way down it, making sure that it could sustain more weight. They then, with some difficulty, took some of the vegetation, in bundles, through the dark tunnel.
Once all the vegetation was neatly stacked at the side of the cave, they carried up as many shell creatures as they could collect, in their clothes. Then Dexter dug a hole at the edge of the cave, and he placed stones in a circle about it, and then he made a fire.
Dexter devoured a feast of overcooked sea creatures, next to crackling pieces of vegetation, at the edge of the entrance, while observing the red tints of sunshine glowing from the sea. The food was one of the most welcomed meals he had eaten in a long time – even though the sea creatures could be sickening, especially when eaten in large amounts.
He continued to realize the reality of the situation – they had in fact survived it, against a situation of certain death. What had the odds been of them making it to an island? He vaguely wondered if Selina had actually realized how lucky they had been. They now had a shelter, a pool of fresh water, and some basic food.
He left the end of his stick in the fire, and once he had reasonably burnt it, he took it out; and he removed the ash, making it pointed and a reasonable spear, to accompany their other spears
He searched through the tunnel for other tunnels and holes, to divert the water to, but nothing was there. If he could only produce the right tools, he might be able to chip away the lower rock, at the bottom of the cave, and make a trench. Even though the rock might be difficult to break. It would be a slow and tiresome job. The trench might have to go down as much as a meter.
He eventually ploughed the blunt end of his spear through the sand and stones, to form a line through the cave, from the hole to the entrance. Yet, it soon became apparent, as he dug down, that he could dig deep into it, to make it into a trench, which could take a large flow of water through the cave.
None of them had any proper clothes, for surviving in the wilderness. If it had been a cold climate, they probably would have frozen to death – the water at the least would have given them hypothermia. He was sure that the island was actually somewhere in the South Pacific. Did the end of black hole drift, or had the continents shifted? In that case, they could be anywhere!
Nothing on the island was normal. Had they genetically adjusted everything? However, why had they changed everything so much? He had not seen any proper fruit or vegetables! Yet could they have made them to produce products – such as rubber – for industry? If so, they might be able to use them, perhaps to make clothing, and footwear.
What would he do if they encountered mankind? Could they adapt to its new ways and civilization? Had they changed like the vegetation? Would they be deadly? Yet why had they not seen any trace of them? Surely, there had to be types of planes and ships. However, it was possible that they were at a barren region of the world.
“We must find more food!” Basinger suddenly remarked, over to Selina. “We cannot survive on these sea creatures!”
“There is plenty of the fruit, over at the jungle! I think we should fix this place up. If we are going stay here, we should live properly! We could put some type of cover over the front, to shelter, at night.”
“Do you think that this place has a cold winter?” Burrell enquired. “I think we will have to find warm things to wear, and to sleep in. This place is strange – I haven’t seen one normal animal, or anything in fact, anywhere!”
“I want to get more wood!” Basinger announced. “There is not enough of it for tonight, and, perhaps, we can use it to seal all of the ways in here! There might be dangerous animals about that can climb into the cave. This place could be dangerous! There are tigers that can climb up trees ...!�
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Once they had brought down all the vegetation needed, Basinger began to look satisfied; and he took long pieces of it, and he used them to seal the entrance.
He secured the vegetation with various things, including fitting rocks against it, and fixing vines around it. He then fitted a large hollow stem above the fire, to release the smoke through it.
It was night again, when they finally finished, and they sealed the way into the tunnel.
The possibility of wild beasts existing there was now a main issue. Darwin definitely seemed to sense the presence of something! Had an animal gone into the tunnel?
As far as he was concerned the spear was a good enough weapon; and they had blocked the hole, with a large chunk of rock, which was heavy enough to prevent animals getting in.
Selina seemed to feel safe with the barricade being there, but she remained alert, at her dog’s vicious barks towards it.
He engaged himself in thinking of ways of getting food, and in thinking of ways of properly securing their hideaway against wild beasts. Winter might some day edge into their lives, and he was determined to survive. Their hunting and survival techniques would have to be greatly improved. They could use bows and arrows, and hunt the furred animals that roamed the jungle. They would greatly cherish their furs, as things to keep them warm.
He gladly viewed the morning sunshine, against the pale red shadows of the above cliff; and he squeezed through the door in the entrance. Burrell threw a large arm full of vegetation onto the smoldering ashes of the fire, and the cave soon lit up from its flames.
They would be exploring the above island, so Dexter practiced using his spear, to get the feel of it, as their survival might depend on it.
Once they had climbed up the tunnel, Darwin opened his jaws, and gave out a short growl, at the pool, and Dexter thought of making a rope ladder to get easy access to the top of the cliff.
At the top, they chose a route, along the cliff, going around the dense undergrowth. And, as they followed it, it soon became clear that it would have taken them hours to make it through it – if they could in fact have hacked their way through it.
They tracked the contours of the coastline, in the opposite direction from where they had been, when they had landed on the island. Selina wished to view the wondrous coastline, and they wished to visit a number of places. Their main intention was to find things for them to use.
A short distance from the cave, at the bottom of a gorge, Basinger discovered bits of coal, scattered about the ground. Then, on the side of a slope, further along, he discovered a coal seam. The coal was valuable, but it was not an immense amount. Yet it proved that it might be common, and that they might find a lot more.
Dexter was not sure if he was wasting his time searching for metals, but they continued to look for it along the bank of a stream, below a slope, which ran along the side of the cliff. However, when they went to cross it, they saw traces of iron ore – and he was sure that he could reduce the ore to iron, by subjecting it to a high temperature, with the coal.
The amount materials that were available vastly increased. At the cliff, he saw an abundance of limestone, at the bottom of the cliff.
They could easily remove it, in chunks, and take it to the cave. Once they had a pile of it, they could heat it on the fire and smash it into cement. They then could mix it with sand and water into mortar.
They could build a wall at the front of the cave, with a door, window, and chimney. They could easily camouflage it, by cementing thin rocks to its outside, to match the cliff.
He could build a stone stove with a chimney, which he had once seen in an old shack. However, if they were going to remain at the cliff, they had better remain hidden. If there were any humans, they might be dangerous. Even though he could not truly imagine what they would actually be like. Had civilization in fact fallen?
He started to realize that they could make some proper tools.
They could make a pair of workable bellows, to raise the temperature of the coal. If he made an adhesive, like from melting an animal carcass, and took thread from the fiber contained in the plants, they could glue and sew a big piece of animal skin into an airtight bag. They would only need to attach two flat sticks and a pipe to it. It would soon reduce the ore to a lump of iron.
They could pour it into simple moulds, made from cement, and he could make blacksmith tools, knives, arrowheads, and axes. They would be invaluable to them. Some day they might be able to build a building.
The height and thickness of the trees about them began to go beyond anything that he had heard of before. They loomed over them like immense columns, and their tops stretched out like clouds. There were many variations of their species, with their colors and shapes varying tremendously.
Darwin stayed ahead of them, smelling the scents of strange plants, eating occasional worm-like insects.
An immense creature, resembling a dinosaur-sized anteater, scuttled clumsily, amidst the shadows of the trees, letting out loud snorts.
Chapter 6
The Island at the End of Time
On the beach, at the jungle, they relaxed in the hot sun, after they had gathered a large supply of the fruit-like food. Even though it was a tropical paradise, similar to a hot Hawaiian shore, they would not stay anywhere near the jungle at night, unless they had to. The monster shrieks that came from its depths made them cringe. Yet the deadly beasts, which they had encountered so far, were slow, and they had been able to avoid them.
There was not anything familiar left. They did not have any idea how far they had traveled through time. How long could the sun and world survive? Dexter had heard scientists estimate how long the sun would last. How could they have been sure though? Had they in fact traveled many billions of years into the future? Could they be on the remains of the United States or Britain?
He constantly observed rocks at different locations, looking for traces of mankind in the layers of stone, as he had once looked for dinosaur fossils. He regularly thought of himself as one of the last men on the world. They had not observed any ships, planes, or remains of mankind anywhere.
Was there actually a winter? The sun seemed to stay in the same place in the sky, with the weather cycles repeating themselves. He constantly thought of different ways to prepare for winter. It was strange, thinking of there not being a winter. It was almost comical – the way the others reacted to there being changing seasons, especially when it began to be cloudy, and then they seemed to return automatically to thinking of it as being a permanent summer.
He had noticed that the moon had disappeared somewhere. They had not seen it over the entire time that they had been on the island. Had a celestial object collided with it, knocking it out of its orbit?
He was sure that if the inhabitants of the old world were all gone, that an ice age might have destroyed them. Could the island still have one of these winters? The moon had moved – could the world have also moved? Why were there not any normal fish, animals, and vegetation? Had an immense ice age destroyed everything out of existence? What was growing on the island could be what grew afterwards?
The world might have spiraled into an outer orbit, and it somehow moved back towards the sun. The island might be an example of the original planet. He had already seen dinosaur-like beasts.
He suddenly noticed that Darwin looking agitated.
He barked loudly, and went backwards and forwards, then stopped, and looked into a bush. Then he barked at something.
The bush shook, and it went still. Dirt sprayed outwards, until a dust cloud hovered over it, and a burrow was visible.
Dexter attempted to view the island differently, searching for information, and he realized that he did not have enough information about it. If it was an island: they still had not checked behind some hills!
The world beyond the island was a place of great mystery to them. It was as though they believed that the descendants of mankind lived there. They would eventually have to check the ot
her side of the island.
Dexter realized that there were no longer any sounds from Burrell. He had gone somewhere inland. He followed his footprints, with his eyes, going along the sand, between some trees and plants, and they disappeared into the dense vegetation, which still eerily shifted, in a way that they were unable to explain.
The immensely colorful landscape surreally illuminated Selina, splashing through waves, skimming over the sand, while she moved out of the water. She finally rested at his side, with water pouring in streams over her tanned skin.
Dexter could not imagine where the island was, but it looked like somewhere near Hawaii now. Were the remains of civilization beneath the sea – out there ...?
“Where is he?” Basinger grumbled.
“Shall we follow him?” Selina asked enthusiastically.
“Okay!” Basinger answered.
Basinger buried the food that they had collected under the sand. Then he handed Dexter his spear.
The beach vanished behind them, but the sounds of rushing waves remained, and they continued to follow Burrell’s footprints. They did not seem to know where he was going. The angles and separations of his prints showed that he had been in a hurry, and that he might have been desperate. Had he seen something on the island – when they had left the cave that morning, up at the cliff – as he had climbed up a tree?
The tropical-type vegetation about them started spreading out. It was a different place from the other part of the jungle.
“What is he up to ...?” Basinger explained loudly, placing his hands on his hips, shaking his head from side to side.
“He’s probably having a little fun, or something ...” Selina replied, smiling.
“So he’s having fun!” Basinger mumbled. “He’s running about mad now! Look! What did I tell you ...!”
His eyes popped out their sockets, gapping at the footprints, which went in wild strides over the ground. Then they went from one side of a stream to the other side, demonstrating that he had done a long jump over it.
The Black Hole Experiments Quadrilogy (2017) Page 19
