“Sounds like your friend is back looking for another treat.” Spider teased.
“All out...that is other than us. I think that if Rex is coming back, in the morning we should be extra careful...” there was silence for a few seconds, “...don’t suppose we’d be lucky enough for Javier to poison Rex...”
There was a muffled laugh as Spider could be heard sliding back down to a sleeping position.
“Si! It would appear our friend out there is stalking us and came back to make sure we’re still in here. We have to remember it has a very small brain...but very big hunting instincts.”
“Uh-huh.”Jim muttered as he slid back to the dusty floor. He had hopes of getting a few more hours sleep and soon the trying day took both men to a fitful sleep they so desperately required.
Dawn broke and the men slept and continued sleeping until an earth-shaking roar rattled them. Both men sat up to see Rex staring in at them. Lying at the rear of the shallow cave, the two still were barely fifteen feet away from Rex’s stretching head. It knew it couldn’t reach them and turned its head one way then the other as it seemed to be checking if they had fled during the night. Knowing its prey was still there Rex gave the air one more sniff, and quickly vanished.
Spider jumped to his feet and looked at Jim. “Grab your pack and let’s go as soon as it vanishes into the jungle.
Jim grasped his backpack and stopped. In the morning light he could see the cave walls without the shadows of the afternoon before. With the eastern light streaming into the cave, there before the two men, were dozens of cave scratchings. Without thinking Jim pulled his smart phone and began taking pictures of these obviously more primitive paintings than the ones in the temple. These had been scratched into the wall with softer rocks.
Spider sighed, shook his head and grabbed a handful of Jim’s shirt and dragged him toward the entrance. Reminding him about Rex, Jim nodded and reluctantly followed Spider out the entrance and southward along the ledge to where they had climbed up the day before. Spider skidded to a stop.
“Let’s waste a rope and tie it off here to this boulder and climb down. Hell, we can be on the ground and headed northward before Rex can circle back around.”
Jim nodded and pulled his rope out and knowing it was the shortest, he tied it off and let it fall the fifty feet to the ground...it barely made it.
“Looks like about a five foot drop... No problem.” Jim laughed, “I kept cutting pieces off to make different things and...”
Spider grinned, grasped the rope, and slid over the side of the ledge. Jim waited until he was on the ground and followed. As he dropped the last five feet Spider grasped his waist and steadied him.
“Shhh... Listen!” Jim tilted his head to hear what Spider heard. “Hear it Jim? ...Rex is circling around to the south parallel to us.” Spider pointed along the rocky ground toward the north. It was covered in rocky debris that had been crumbling from the cliffs for centuries. However it was open and free from underbrush.
Jim knew what he was thinking and nodded as the cracking and splintering undergrowth could be heard in the distance. The two sprinted as fast as they could along the cliff face and after a half-mile the heat took its toll and the guys had to head into the jungle for cover. They leaned against a tree and caught their breath and then once again they were off running. This time they stayed close to the jungle fringe. Staying within the somewhat safer reaches of the much lower vegetation, on the fringe between jungle and rocky debris slope, they ran as fast and as far as they could. They stopped, rested, and then ran again.
Mile after mile they ran. The guys knew these cliffs curved westward and away from their cave base so they headed east, deeper into the jungle.
About one in the afternoon Spider stopped and leaned against a huge tree. He panted for a minute, and then pointed upward.
“This tree look familiar?”
Jim gasped and looked up. “Is...Is that...Whew!” he gasped for air.
“Yeah, the tree we spent the night before in. We could stop now and...”
Jim took a huge lungful of air and slowly began heading north. Spider grinned, “I agree, keep moving...a few more hours and...”
There was an extremely loud roar in the distance. Rex obviously had returned to check the cave and found his prey had vanished... Jim glanced back to Spider.
“Wow! He sounds really, really, pissed.” Jim panted, “We need to hurry. We can be back to the cave in a few more hours.”
Spider caught Jim and took the lead and as he passed he said as loud as he dared, “I wonder just how well these Rex’s can follow a scent from creatures as little as we are?”
“Hell if I know Spider, but that bastard also knows where our cave is at... If he puts two and two together...”
Spider cursed under his breath and picked up the pace. Rex had stayed away from their base, but now they feared their scent would lead him right back. The distant roars from miles behind them spurred them on. Fearing if they tried to take the time to cover their scent, Rex might catch up with them... that would be very bad. That thought spurred them on even faster.
It did take much longer than expected to reach the jungle’s fringe that overlooked the near mile of dirt, sand and rocks between them and the cliff face. Spider listened and then slid to a sitting position against a tree. Both men were panting and Spider nodded for Jim to sit.
“We need to be one hundred percent rested before heading on out there my friend. If we have to run...”
Jim nodded, “We’ve been lucky so far not running into anything else...” he cursed under his breath, “Damn, if the radio’s batteries hadn’t run down...” Jim inhaled, held it, and slowly let it out as Spider did the same.
Spider grinned, “I’m just glad it didn’t break after you dropped it from the tree. See Jim, there is something to be said for mushy jungle floors and thick undergrowth.”
The men got to their feet and stepped out on the fringe. They looked both ways, and then checked again. Jim chuckled, “Damn...I feel like a little kid about to run across a six lane road. It’s scary when you don’t see the traffic to judge speed by...” he checked again nervously, “In this case that’s a good thing that I don’t see the traffic...the traffic is most likely hiding and waiting to eat us.”
Spider took one last deep breath and looked at Jim and grinned.
“Sounds like Rio...” he chuckled, “Let’s hope it stays that way.” And with that he burst into the open area with a quick trot. He could hear Jim running behind him and as Jim caught up to Spider, Spider eased his pace with an outstretched arm...
“Easy my friend, trot, don’t run...we might have to use every ounce of speed we have if something catches us out here in the open.”
Jim nodded and trotted next to Spider letting him set the pace. Before long they could see the large shape of the dozer as the cage began to lower.
Nearing the cliff face they saw Armondo had timed it perfectly, as the cage hit the ground just as the men reached the rocky surface below the cave. Within minutes the cage clicked into the lift’s holding rig Marti had built at the top and the guys stepped out.
Armondo stepped off the dozer and walked over to the duo as they dropped their backpacks.
“Senors, did you get them.”
Spider nodded, “They have been punished.”
Jim nodded and snorted, “Yeah harshly! In the good old ‘law of the jungle’ style. Where’s Marti?” he added as he stepped toward the cave door.
Armondo reached out, grasped Jim’s arm, turned him slowly, and looked sadly into this eyes.
“Senorita Marti is ok, Senor Jim... But Senor Will took his own life last evening just before sundown... Right in front of the Senorita.” Armondo sighed, “She’s taking it ok...I think.”
Sam’s voice could be heard from the door. “Marti’s fine Jim.” He wryly laughed with a sad tone, “She’s more worried about losing you than...”
“JIM!” Marti burst through the cave door and ra
n into Jim’s awaiting arms. She buried her face into this chest and sobbed. Jim stroked her hair and held her close as he just allowed her to weep and get all of what had happened, out of her mind.
Spider grabbed Jim’s backpack and followed the others into the cave. They were alone and Marti’s soft sobs could be heard as she sniffed and muttered quietly.
“I’m getting your shirt all wet.”
Jim chuckled softly, “Honey you couldn’t get it any wetter then it is... Want to talk about it?” he softly asked.
Marti stepped back from her love’s embrace and grasped his hand. Slowly she led him to the large flat boulder that laid off to the west side of the cave and sat. Jim sat as well and put his arm around her shoulder. She laid her head upon Jim’s chest and turned her face upward to see his.
“Will and I were sitting out here just before sunset. He had told us about the bats and Will wanted to make sure we got all of them. He said he was going to wait for dark and see if they attacked as he walked around the ledge.” Marti sighed softly.
“That should have been a warning something was wrong... I’ve never saw Will take chances like that.”
Jim nodded “We were pretty sure we got them all because the only traces we ever saw was at night and in the temple.”
Marti weakly smiled, “Maybe so, but it was so unlike Will. All those years working together... all...” she sighed once more and laid her face on her love’s chest and stared out at the ledge.
“He just looked out...there and sighed. I remember him saying it wasn’t fair. “All these years and finally when I find someone I wanted to spend the rest of his life with...” he got up, walked about halfway to the ledge, and waved his hand out in the air. He looked out toward the jungle... “...and now all this... and I don’t know why... Christ why not me instead of her?”
“I know what he meant about finding someone to spend the rest of my life with.” Jim whispered softly.
Marti gave Jim a little squeeze. “As I watched he just walked over to the ledge and looked at me, smiled and simply said, “I guess maybe I miss her too much Marti...maybe it’s just all this... is so over whelming...” he gave me a slight smile. He turned, looked at the jungle, and stepped off the ledge...
Marti burst into tears.
“Oh God Jim, he didn’t make a sound all the way down...I could hear the sickening sound when he hit...” and that was all Marti could say as she spend the next hours wrapped in her love’s arms. Jim was back, and for now there was just them. Though deeply saddened, she sighed with relief... Marti felt safe in her love’s embrace.
Chapter 16.
The sun began to set in the west splashing the sky with brilliant colors of orange, pink, and deep purple. The now much smaller group of survivors sat on the boulders of their cliff face home. Jim and Marti sat arms wrapped around one another as Armondo sat with his legs dangling off the ledge; he turned to look at the others.
“You know Senor... We really need to get out of here...” he knew this was on everyone’s mind.
The now composed Marti stood and slowly began to pace. “Guys, I’ve been thinking.”
Jim chuckled and winked at the other men, “You thinking?” His teasing remark was met by a playful, slightly harder, ‘I’m not kidding’ punch to the arm.
“Seriously guys... Look...we all admit we could probably climb down, but we would either wind up with problems from the thin air...or we would freeze to death before we got over the other, lower mountains. So why don’t we go over those lower mountains?”
Jim scratched his head. “We can’t go over the lower mountains...so let’s go over the lower mountains? You’re not making sense baby.”
Marti turned to face the guys.
“My bad...I know we can’t ‘walk’ over the mountains...but maybe we don’t have to.” Marti looked at the guys and realized by their blank looks, she wasn’t communicating very well and smiled sweetly at them.
“I think we can fly over them.”
That remark had the guys looking at one another. But Jim waved his hands for the murmurs to stop. “Let’s hear her out guys.”
“Thanks baby.” Marti smiled, “Let me start with my idea and I’ll tell you as I figure it out in my head.” She saw the nods and continued.
“Guys...we unloaded tons of crap the first week or so we were here. We have all our mining supplies, all the crap we were going to use to start building the first few buildings. All that and more from the other loads of cargo Jim was supposed to drop off at our destination...” she slowly looked at the guys and they still hadn’t caught up to her.
“I think I can build an aircraft that can hold us all.”
Armondo laughed, “Senorita...that’s going to have to be one big plane to hold me.”
Marti smiled, “It will Armondo. Guys we have twelve parachutes we took from Jim’s plane. We have lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber framing, and carbon fiber rods... I intend to built an oversized glider-like aircraft. We have the chemicals to make a glue-stiffener once we get the parachute nylon stretched over the frame. My real problem is strength for the wings, so I figure on building a bi-plane of sorts, so the lower wing can help support the upper wing and vice versa. Then we can run the steel guide wires and struts to keep the two sets of wings from folding on us.”
Jim smiled at Marti. “And a bi-plane can be flown without having wing flaps for landing, all the steering can be done with the tail rudder and rear stabilizers. That means less controls and less weight in the aircraft....good idea honey.”
Marti’s face changed and everyone caught it. Jim walked over to her and led her back to their boulder seat as the three others gathered around.
“Look guys, here’s the dangerous part and Jim can verify this much... We have no way to take off.”
Jim nodded in agreement. “She’s right again guys. There’s just rocks and boulders below from here to the edge of the valley... and the area on the jungle fringe is angled. I seriously doubt if we could clear a runway.” Jim frowned, “Hell, even if we could we’d still have to taxi all the way to the valley’s edge to catch enough wind to give us lift...and that’s a thousand foot drop at least.”
Marti looked at Jim with a sheepish smile.
“Ahh... baby, that’s exactly what I had in mind.”
“The cliff at the edge of the valley?” Sam asked as if he didn’t want to hear her response.
“Yep! That’s the only way my plane will work. We’ll have to assemble it here in the cave; it’s sure big enough in here and everything we need is here. We build the fuselage and the tail controls, the very large top wing and the two smaller bottom wings. Armondo can lower the body and the four of us should be able to lay it on the big bulldozer and take it to where the creek goes over the valley’s edge. Using the hand mining tools we can get down to that small ledge that Jim was on when Rex came along that first time. Spider and the rest can set our steel lags into the cliff face and wire the body to the mountain so it won’t blow away.”
Spider nodded and then asked. “What it Rex comes along and destroys the plane before we can put it together?”
Marti patted Spider on his shoulder. “That’s why the lags and wire. While we’re doing that, Sam and Jim can go get the two smaller wings. I’ll design them so we can snap them into place and lock them in with a bolt or two. If Rex or anything else comes, we can just slide the plane off the cliff and it will dangle from the wires.
If nothing comes our way, then when the guys get back with the wings, we can install them, bolt them in place and lower the whole assembly over the cliff and wire it in place so the updrafts don’t destroy it.”
Jim nodded, “Yeah, I’d guess even with snapping together, that much will take us the better part of a day.”
Marti nodded, “Then the next morning, we can lower the top wing and transport it to the cliff. I’ll make it so we can lower it with one end going over first. I’m thinking some sort of fixture so I can drop the wing on it and then pivot t
he wing around to the other side fixture, snap that into place, and lock them with bolts. From there we can attach the struts and wire with more bolts and eyelets that we can have already prefabricated and dry fitted while we’re in here.”
Sam nodded, “Sounds like a plan Marti, but can we glide all the way to the jungle? Even if we get there, where will we be? I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but if we just make it to the Amazon jungle, we could still be a thousand miles from the closest civilization.”
Marti sat back next to Jim and frowned... Then suddenly she beamed, smiling widely she pointed to their generator. “Guys, the smallest generator has a small two cylinder motor to run it, and if we remove the generator, the motor could provide enough power to fly the glider...and its light! Hmmm... Now all I have to do is fashion some sort of a propeller.”
Sam grinned, “Hell Marti, that’s no big problem. I can bend and weld some of that heavy flat aluminum sheeting. That’s some thick stock. I can weld two pieces together, cut them to your dimensions, and if you can give me the proper angles, I’ll bend it to your specs!”
Marti grinned, “I’m sure you can Sam, but the big problem is balancing the propeller. As much as an ounce off and we could shake apart in mid air.”
Sam though for a minute, then, “Look we use the big generator mostly, I can pull the small one apart, mount the engine on the back to the small dozer up here so the end hangs over the rear of the dozer. Whatever I come up with, we can test for vibration right up here, before we have to install it on the plane. Once I get the prop balanced, we can take it and install it on the engine when we take the main body to the cliff. It’ll be a two bladed prop, so once the body is ready I can install it horizontally so it won’t hit the cliff as we slide the body over...”
Jim grinned, “Sure, then the fuselage, the engine and the prop can be lowered and tied down for the night...great idea you two...” he paused, frowned, and looked at Marti.
Valley of Lost Time. Page 15
