Carl had given Sarah the combat survival knife and appointed her point man. He would guide her from the back of the small line as they made their way down the falls side of the steep ravine. Everett felt far easier with his new charges because he knew the terrain was much too steep for the local animals to feel comfortable hunting on. Still, they made slower time as the ash cloud once more arrived with the winds, and this time it was mixed with a harsh blend of sulfur and pumas that was starting to irritate their throats.
Carl had allowed them all to quench their parched throats at the wide river. The newcomers to his world were faring far better. Everett was still having a hard time believing they had come for him.
“Oh, my,” Sarah said as she spied the Roman stockade for the first time as Carl had led them down a trail that was hidden from view, just in case the Russians they had told him about followed them. He knew Jason and Will would have no problem giving them the slip if they hadn’t already.
“Okay, I give up on the whole history thing,” Anya said as she and Virginia saw the old ruins through the falling ash.
“Someone is going to get an earful when I get back,” Virginia said as she stepped toward the long dried-up moat. The trench was over ten feet deep and the opposite side was spiked with old spears that shot off at angles toward the moat. “The whole of history may have to be rewritten.”
Everett chuckled as he realized the others had not figured out the little puzzle. He would let them stew on it awhile.
“You have to slide down on your asses I’m afraid, I didn’t think it would be wise to build a two-lane highway to my only sanctuary.”
Virginia snorted as if his concern for their femininity irritated her to no end. She sat and went sliding down the ash-covered slope of mote. Sarah also shook her head at Carl’s concern and then followed suit. Carl took Anya’s hand, looked down at her, and frowned when he saw her returning his look as if he had kicked her puppy.
“What?”
“I’m still extremely pissed at you for dying on me.”
Everett scratched the itchy beard and looked consternated. “Well, then, I guess I have to make it up to you.”
“Don’t think it will be that easy. I’m a Gypsy, remember?” She smiled and then plopped down unceremoniously and then gently and adeptly slid down the slope.
Everett knew that no matter what happened, he could be happy with Anya anywhere in the world, or at any time.
* * *
The three were shocked at the equipment that had been gathered up by Everett in the six months he had been in Antarctica. Sarah had to stop and examine the Roman shield. The red leather had peeled away exposing the wood beneath. She saw the outline of an emblem or insignia that had long ago left the ghost of a shield.
“Just wait, you’re really going to like this,” Carl said as he pushed aside some giant elephant ear plants and pulled out something they couldn’t see. He had to laugh again when he saw their faces as they turned a shade of red he could clearly see in the mounting dusk and ashfall of the false evening.
“I understand now,” Virginia said just as Sarah and Anya realized the true nature of the strange finds. The Rising Sun battle flag of the Japanese army was unfurled. Even though it was tattered and worn out in many places it was still spry with the colors of red and white. Virginia reached out and raised the old wooden shield that had once been covered in dyed-red leather and adorned with tacks that made the shield enduring in thought and memory. “The legendary Ninth Legion,” she said as she smiled over at Anya and Sarah.
“The Iranian power plant tests. From their test records the timing fits. The year the legion vanished was in the time frame of their sixth test. Tell me, Carl, was there any Chinese battle gear found?” Sarah asked, hoping to lay the theory to rest.
“Not yet, but then again I wasn’t keen on going out and looking for any either.
“They all vanished through a wormhole not intended for them. They were trapped and went through the same rip in time that I did, only many hundreds of years separate,” Carl said almost sadly.
“What happened to them?” Anya asked, very much afraid of the answer if he had one.
Everett looked away momentarily and was about to answer when he heard the movement behind him.
“Yes, I would very much like to know the same thing.”
They all turned as one and Virginia dropped the Roman shield when she saw Doshnikov as he and his four men pushed Ryan and Will out in front of them as they left the first enclosure only yards away.
Everett saw the armed intruders to his inherited domain and then his eyes went to Mendenhall and Ryan. Without any regard to what would happen, the three men stepped forward and shook hands. When that wasn’t enough they hugged and slapped each other on the back. The whole time Sarah, Anya, and Virginia smiled and the Russians didn’t interfere.
“I should have known you two hard-asses would have already infiltrated the enemy camp and taken hold of the situation,” Carl said with a broad smile.
“Yeah, we were just getting ready to make our move,” Ryan said as he finally released Everett’s hand. “Besides, I fully expect a royal ass-chewing if we ever get out of this.”
Carl finally turned his attention to the man Sarah had told him about in their trek back to the stockade. The man was looking far worse than his people and that made him smile at the Russian.
“What’s your story?” Everett asked as he made Will and Jason step back.
“I am a man not to be trifled with, as your friends can attest.”
Carl looked from the Russian’s eyes to the old Colt in his hands. Doshnikov saw this and then lowered the weapon and gestured for his men to follow suit.
The Russian turned to face the man that looked like one of the old pictures of his countrymen who lived in the wilds of Siberia, or the mountain men of the American West.
“Yeah, I understand you like to wire explosives up to children.”
“No, not children, small babies and their mothers to be more precise. And being a businessman I am willing to negotiate a deal. I will say this in absolute assurance, I will kill every one of you if you do not do as I say. You will get us to that valley and that new doorway these rather strange people built and you will get us back home. I can start right now with this one,” he said as he once again cocked the .45 and aimed it at Anya.
The silence after the threat was palpable even over the rumbling of the erupting volcanoes. Sarah and the others watched as Carl remained silent as he stared straight ahead. They all became concerned when they saw a smile creep across his face. The Russians even became uneasy at the strangeness of this man’s reactions. Then the world once again froze in time. The ash seemed to fall slower and the earth shaking under their feet slowed as did their own heartbeats when Everett spoke.
“Jack, you have the most outrageous sense for the dramatic. What in the hell took you so long?”
The automatic fire opened up and tracers stitched the ground in front of Doshnikov and his four men. They jumped back as the glowing red tracers arched into the stockade from somewhere the men couldn’t or didn’t have the time to see as they dove for the soft, hot ash. As the bullets continued to fly, they stood and ran for the far wall of the stockade. A few tracers followed them with no malicious intent other than to scare the fools off.
Carl waited as the others willed their shock away. Walking toward them after only a minute the outlines of two men took shape. Everett laughed as did Ryan and Mendenhall when they recognized the large silhouette of Colonel Jack Collins.
“Piss-poor shooting if I may say so,” Carl said as he stepped forward, recognizing Henri Fabrbeaux.
Collins stopped and took in the surprised faces staring at him and the Frenchman.
“I was torn between who to shoot, these people or those Russian assholes.”
Jason, Sarah, Will, Virginia, and Anya looked at one another, not one of them knowing at what point to start the tale of what happened.
“But since we have a time machine to play with, I can shoot them anytime, I guess. Then go back and do it again, again, and again.”
The two men, and even Henri Farbeaux, shook hands while the others took a deep religious breath at their sudden reprieve and deliverance from the Russians.
Now their problems were narrowed down to a few things. Like finding their stolen power coupling and dodging every horror-story creature God could have thought up, until they left here in a reengineered doorway they weren’t quite sure would work.
Yes, Jack Collins had worries other than his anger at all of the new company in this Lion Country Safari family experience.
* * *
An hour later while sitting around a small fire Everett scarfed down some of Jack’s and Henri’s MREs, wishing many times instead that he was eating one of the complex’s masterful corned beef sandwiches from the departmental mess. They had briefed all parties on the predicament they found themselves in. Ryan found it shocking that the colonel didn’t chew his ass off anyway, but only nodded when briefed by Virginia. What that meant, Ryan wasn’t exactly sure.
“I don’t know which is hardest to believe, the fact that we find ourselves in the biggest jam we have ever been in, or the fact that we have prehistoric, out-of-time Velociraptors trying to outthink and outfight us.”
“What can you tell us, Carl?” Jack asked, leaning forward after finishing the first meal he had had since arriving two days before.
“Hell, after six months of trying to piece things together, I think I’ve only scratched the surface. I do think with all of us putting our heads together we can at least make some sense of this strange-ass continent.”
Everett waited as Will and Farbeaux returned from a thorough perimeter patrol. Henri unslung his M-4 and sat, shaking his head vigorously at the offered MRE. Instead he started eating a giant berry he had found on the patrol. Jack shook his head.
“We believe now that when the continents separated it took the existing animal life with it. This continent developed totally on its own seven hundred million years ago.” Virginia looked at Sarah and she nodded. “Dinosaurs evolved differently and many more of them may have survived extinction by that separation. Maybe not the larger dinosaurs, but the smaller, avian breeds we have come to know from the movies. Left alone they developed rudimentary tool-making capability. In essence they took up where their larger relatives left off, unabated. I suspect that this is a recent development, maybe a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand years. Eventually those small birdlike raptors will learn to make more sophisticated weapons.”
“I do not know about you, my American friends, but I think the spears alone are pretty damn sophisticated.” Farbeaux tossed the remaining large pit from the fruit away. “And how long did it take humans to think of throwing a rock to defend himself?” Henri said, putting a damper on things as usual. “No, there is more to this than mere evolution.”
“Perhaps so,” Everett said as he looked deeply into the fire. They all could see that the many months of isolation had taken its toll on their friend. “You asked earlier about humanoid life.” Everett ceased staring into the flames, stood, and turned to look up at the falling ash and then toward the red glow of Erebus three hundred miles distant. “I’ve found fields of bones. Early man, Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, even the little species we know as Lucy, at least from what my limited education into those fields can tell me. Thousands upon thousands. Entire species of anything that could threaten those raptors.” He looked at his rescuers. “You also asked about the Romans, the Japanese, and Chinese soldiers. All dead, massacred to the man. Three modern armies, all taken down by those feathery little bastards. They nearly had me more than once until I figured out how to get around them.”
“Do you know anything about the migratory animals?” Anya asked.
“A little from my observations. It may be a yearly trek to get at the richer volcanic grasses near Erebus, I’m not sure. But the animal life that lives around the volcanoes permanently have decided it was time to get out of Dodge. Why one set goes one way, why the other goes a different direction has me stumped. I guess the large herds of mammoths and bison just don’t know anything other than that their migration they have been following for thousands and thousands of years is just too hard a habit to break.”
“That makes sense,” Sarah agreed.
“But one thing I did notice. There are millions upon millions of bones lining that game trail. I believe the raptors actually herd them, or at least take extreme advantage of the migration to kill and eat. There’s no end to the smarts of those ugly little bastards.”
Jack’s radio suddenly sprang to life. The sound, though loud, made Carl feel like he was part of the modern world again. It did no harm to the psyche of the others either.
“Colonel, Jenks here.”
Jack looked at Virginia and saw the relief in her face when she heard the gruff man’s voice.
“Collins,” he said into the radio. He had yet to inform the master chief they had found Everett and the others. Jenks wasn’t even aware that Virginia was there. Jack couldn’t wait to tell him and hear the cursing start to fly.
“Negative on any roost those damn things may have. We searched until we drained the batteries on both drones. We’re recharging now.”
“Good, Master Chief. Is Charlie close by?”
“Yeah, he’s right here.”
“We have Mr. Everett.”
The radio was silent as the others around the fire smiled at what must be happening in the camp.
“And a few others that we found picnicking in the woods. One may wish to say hello to you.”
“Wait, damn it, is Toad all right?” came the hurried voice of the master chief. Sarah got up and joined Jack. All the while Henri watched her as she moved. She saw this and then looked at the Frenchman and her eyes told him that she was appreciative of him, but that was all for the moment. Jack tossed Virginia the radio before she could react.
“Oh, your precious Toad is just fine, he saved all of our asses. Maybe you should worry about me, you gruff bastard!”
“Slim, what in the holy Sam hell are you doing out here? I told you to keep your skinny ass out of—”
Virginia turned down the volume on the radio and smiled at the others. “That will keep him occupied for a while.” She tossed back the radio to Jack and he caught it with a grin.
Collins held the radio and then looked at Carl. “You see, everyone missed you so much that I bet you can’t wait to get back and deal with your old buddy on a daily basis.”
“Don’t you dare tell me that,” Carl said as he turned on Collins. “Did everyone lose their damn minds while I was gone?” He paced around the fire. “The director would never allow that man anywhere near his precious collection,” he said in his final defensive denial.
“When you’re discussing and designing ways of going into hell,” he explained, looking around the horrific world, “you sometimes have to deal with the devil, Swabby, you know that. And without Jenks we would never have had the chance.”
“I am going to kick everyone’s asses on this deal, let me tell you.” They caught the final threat of the master chief as Jack turned the volume back up.
“She’s happy to hear your voice, too, Master Chief,” he said with mock seriousness.
“She’s all right? The others?”
They heard the belated concern in Jenks’s voice.
“Everyone’s still breathing.”
“Okay, I’ll deal with her when you people get your asses back here, and that little event better be soon.”
“Why is that?”
“Because those raptor things are increasing their attacks on the animal herds and they are starting to move far faster than we realized.”
Collins lowered the radio in wonderment as to their ability to catch a break.
“We’ll send all nonessential personnel back to you. We have to continue on until we find out what those things do with their spoils of war.”
“Roger. Get them back so I can bounce some ideas off of Slim’s head.”
“Watch out for those Russians, they’re loose out there and they’re scared. They may make a move for the doorway.”
“Let them try it if they want to get their asses sliced in two. The laser system is working just fine. But they or the power won’t hold up to a full-scale onslaught of those rock-and-spear-chuckin’ chicken bastards.”
“Roger, Collins out.”
“Jack, what was it you were saying about a nest, or lair?” Carl asked.
“It may be nothing, but the off chance that the raptors collect things of beauty, shiny objects, just like other birds, we’re hoping, or at least Doc Ellenshaw was hoping, that they took it there, wherever that is.”
They saw Everett thinking. He pursed his lips and that was when he turned to them. “I may know where that lair is.”
Collins stood with the faint hope that Everett may have an answer. Then he felt his heart skip when he saw the look on the admiral’s face.
“It’s close by. About three klicks out. But, Jack, you in particular are not going to like it.”
“What is it?” he asked as the others came near.
“First, I have to feed my chickens, we’re going to need them.”
“Chickens?” Mendenhall asked, not liking the sound of anything that had to do with birds of any kind.
“Yeah, I like the eggs, and they like being fed without hunting for their meals. It’s a mutual thing. They need me and I them.” He saw the strange looks being directed his way as if he had truly lost his mind. “Hey, you guys try living alone out here and not talk to strange birds.”
“I do not like the sound of this at all,” Will said as he and Ryan exchanged looks of dread. They all made their way to feed Admiral Everett’s chickens.
* * *
Charlie watched the small radar screen that controlled the automatic defense system. The miniscule blobs of light would appear and then vanish just as quickly. It was as if the raptors on the camp’s periphery were testing their defenses.
“They’re a little leery after getting their asses kicked the last time. They’re just trying to get us to react,” Jenks said as he looked through the lens of his night-vision scope that zoomed in three hundred times power. He chewed on the dead cigar and hissed under his breath.
“Do you hear yourself?” the crazed white-haired Ellenshaw asked as he kept his eyes on the scope and the surrounding countryside.
“What?” Jenks asked as he lowered the scope.
“My God, we’re actually worried that these abominations are merely trying to get us to react to them. Like they are hoping for a desired plan to take shape.”
The silence coming from the master chief was enough to unnerve Charlie.
“How many can we get with our limited supply of battery power?”
“Enough to probably piss off the remaining three or four thousand of the damn things when we’re all done.” Jenks smiled at Charlie, who had finally turned away from the screen in abject fear.
“Just think Little Big Horn, if that’s easier for you to grasp, Nerdly.”
* * *
The seven novice adventurers were stunned at the makeshift pen Everett had set up toward the rear of the stockade where the Romans had stored other animal life in their short tenure as rulers of this horrid land. What was inside the pen was far more shocking to them. Pecking the ground and scratching at its ash-covered surface were about fifteen of the giant rocs. The huge ostrich bodies were well over ten feet, far taller than a horse. The heads were large and the beaks terrifying in hooked deadliness. These rocs looked different to Ryan and Mendenhall. The killers they and the Russians had run into were multicolored with red and gold and black feathers, where these fifteen were white with red highlights. Their small, stubby wings flapped every once in a while when their beaks came into contact with some crawling thing making its way through the accumulated ash. They were calmly scratching for food as the humans watched them.
Carl went over to a large barrel that looked as if it were a thousand years old. He lifted out a large wooden bowl full of what looked like grain. He walked quickly over to the fence and then he opened the small gate and reattached a rope made of vine twistings. He approached the first roc as the others held their breath.
“You are one crazy son of a bitch, Skipper,” Ryan said as his blood froze when the roc looked up at Everett’s approach. “Will and I saw one of those tear a man’s head off not five hours ago.”
Carl turned and smiled. “Yeah, I’ve run across those guys too, they’re not friendly at all. These here? I think they may have been on their way to being domesticated by the Romans, Japanese, and Chinese soldiers before they were wiped out.” He turned and put his hand out to the roc. They were shocked when the giant bird nuzzled at Everett’s hand. The three long gouges in its beak told the newcomers this particular roc had seen trouble and survived. The head of the rooster was colored in bright red feathers that ended in a curlicue at its top. They could also see the obvious affection Carl had for the large, frightening animal.
“This one is my friend, we each saved the other’s life. His name is Foghorn.”
“Just when you thought this day could not get any stranger,” Henri said as he leaned on the rickety fence that wouldn’t have kept in a small bunny, much less the five-hundred-pound monstrosities moving toward their handler.
Everett turned and looked at Henri and his smile widened. With the beard it made the brevet admiral look quite insane, especially in the torchlight.
“You haven’t seen strange yet. You still have to saddle your transportation.”
“Transportation?” Jack asked, looking at Sarah, who also had no clue as to what Everett was talking about.
Everett took the grain and tossed it wide in an arc and the giant chickenlike rocs went wild as they started to feed on the sweet grain.
“Yeah, I just fed ’em, but you have to saddle ’em yourselves.”
* * *
The old saddles were not saddles at all. In the real sense it was a strap of leather that was butt wide with bridles and harnesses. There were no stirrups to speak of.
“I can only assume they’re Roman. God knows they’re hard to ride on, but it beats the alternative of having those course feathers poking you in your ass.” Everett laughed when he saw his friends’ faces. Farbeaux was in particular despair. “When you get on, be sure to put your feet and legs under its wings. It helps to hang on. Their gait and angle of run can be a little disconcerting from time to time.”
They had watched on in complete and abject horror when Carl placed his hands near each of the roc’s mouths as they pecked at the grain thrown to the ground. Everett easily placed a bridle on each, securing the beak with a leather strap that looked as if it couldn’t control a small donkey, much less a Rodan-sized creature. Each of the eight rocs Carl selected as being the most docile of the group were bridled, saddled, and anxiously awaiting their riders. The yellow eyes flicked back and forth and made them all nervous with the eight sets of predator eyes watching them.
“Okay, you two have your orders. You take one of the M-4s,” Jack said as he unslung his own weapon and handed it to Will Mendenhall, “and one of the Glocks. We’ll take one M-4 and we have Carl’s Glock and extra ammo.” He smiled and looked at an anxious Carl as he looked into Anya’s scared eyes for the briefest of moments. “And of course we have Robin of Locksley’s bow and arrows.”
Carl looked at Jack with raised brows. “I was hoping my archery days were behind me.”
“We can only hope. Okay, let’s get a move on before the sun comes up and the saber-toothed lions, tigers, and cave bears start to awaken.”
“Don’t forget the wooly mammoths and the giant bison,” Virginia joked as if to rid herself of the fear of the great roc she was currently sitting upon with shaking hands holding the leather reins.
Sarah leaned into Collins but Jack refrained from hugging her. Instead Jack just winked. She was relieved that his attitude about their sudden arrival had softened to that of Mount Erebus.
“You kids get straight home, don’t stop for Cokes and a burger anywhere,” Carl said as he assisted Anya up onto her feathered mount. He turned serious as Will and Ryan both fought to climb onto their skittish birds who each turned in a wide circle making the men run alongside until they had enough leverage to jump up and onto their frightened animals. Will went over on his stomach and was bounced roughly until he righted himself. His eyes were wide as he looked at the others like he had meant to do that.
“Find that coupling,” Sarah said to Jack as he climbed onto his own roc while having the same difficulty as Ryan and Mendenhall only with a more dignified ending. Once aboard Jack had to laugh at the Frenchman as he sat astride his roc with his elbows sticking straight out to his sides as he held the reins like a poorly trained cavalryman.
“Stick to the game trail, the rocs will let you know in advance if anything is stalking you. Their sense of smell is like that of a great white shark,” Carl said as he leaned over and kissed Anya. “See ya, Gypsy girl.”
She smiled, even though she really didn’t care for the great white reference, and then she lightly kicked her giant roc into motion. She almost fell off backward as the long-legged animal started to trot toward the far gate of the stockade. Jason, Sarah, Will, and Virginia hurried to follow using their rocs like out-of-control and headless chickens. Will’s mount went in circles before hitting the open gate and then almost threw him from the makeshift saddle until he finally gained control and went after the rest of his team.
Collins turned to a white-faced Henri, who waited patiently and acted as if he rode rocs all the time back in France, even though his stiff frame and wide eyes betrayed the fact of the matter quite differently.
“Ready, Colonel?”
There was silence as Henri found he didn’t want to make any noise and frighten the very large and carnivorous bird he found himself sitting upon.
“Shall we go and try to retrieve the master chief’s little toy?”
“By all means,” Everett said as he kicked his own roc, Foghorn Leghorn, not too gently, making the enormous and already skittish bird elicit a wild, cawing scream as it broke at full speed for the gate. Jack’s roc followed and then Farbeaux’s as he tried desperately to stay in the old saddle of Roman design.
Everett’s exhilarating scream of “Hi-ho Silver” reverberated even over the rumblings of Erebus.
* * *
At sunup the first probing attacks began in earnest. An exhausted Charlie Ellenshaw almost didn’t react to the warning tone sounded by the small radar system installed in each of the sixteen lasers pods. Each revolution of the small self-enclosed dish told Ellenshaw that what he was seeing was real. The defensive system went into action without having being told to do so.
The first sizzle and pop of the eastern-most laser pod startled a slumbering Jenks to full wakefulness. He never hesitated in sending up one of the recharged drones to get a bird’s-eye view of what was taking place along the tree line.
Ellenshaw watched as the faster-than-light laser burst into the far-off trees. He didn’t know if the accurate system hit anything other than wood. Then before he could contemplate more, a second and third shot sounded and the bluish-green bolts of laser light shot out, reaching for the unseen raptors as they tested the range of the defensive measures they employed. The thought of how smart these animals were made Jenks’s head hurt.
All sixteen of the lasers went off simultaneously as the raptors made a bold move and actually broke the cover of the trees to expose themselves. They flapped their flightless wings and screamed into the air and then ran back into the cover of the trees.
Jenks got the number one drone remote to the desired altitude and his blood froze as he saw the bison and mammoth herds moving much faster than before. When he examined the edges of the enormous migratory herd he saw the reasons why—a hundred raptors charged and then retreated, making the animals start to flee in panic.
“Crap, it looks like those bastards are making their move.” Jenks reached for the radio.
Charlie Ellenshaw watched as the raptors were no longer interested in hiding and playing games—they were coming on and they meant business.
Above him the lasers started firing off at intervals that told Ellenshaw and Jenks that they now had precious little time remaining.
The lightning in the morning sky overhead lit up like the old footage of London during the blitz. The lasers would fast drain at this rate and they both knew it.
* * *
The five miles were covered in bone-jarring speed by the three rocs as they ran free for the first time since Everett had corralled them six weeks before. They were free and the large birds sensed it. Their speed and maneuverability over the uneven jungle floor was amazing. They would smell something that might be a danger to them and automatically shift gears and turn in another direction. Then they would eventually reroute to their original course. Enough so that Jack was beginning to suspect that every animal in this crazed land was intelligent enough to instantly adapt to any quickly changing situation. The men were quite scratched up by the time the three rocs finally broke into the open. Everett was the first to rein Foghorn in, and Jack and Henri were grateful when their rides followed suit.
“It’s right over this ridge. Tie up and we’ll walk the rest of the way.”
Jack and Henri did as instructed and then they started off through the thinning brush of the outermost jungle. Carl was kneeling only feet away.
“I thought it was going to take forever to get a favorable wind.”
“Their sense of smell is that good?” Jack asked as he and Henri kneeled next to Carl, who only nodded his head in answer to Jack’s query.
As Everett parted the bushes they spied the small valley below. The first thing they saw made their eyes widen in awe as they thought they’d never see one of the damnable things again.
Inside the small clearing was the downed saucer. It was smashed and ancient. Large sections of its round housing were missing and the upper dome of the saucer was smashed and open to the elements. But it was what was crawling all over the ancient crashed vehicle that held their attention. They were even lying casually in front of it on the ground. Several young raptors were playing with one another until one or the other started snapping. Some of the feathered raptors looked to be larger than the ones they had seen earlier. These meandered in and out of the once powerful ship. Jack despaired and turned away and sat heavily into the tall grass.
“The saucer looks to have been dead for at least a million years. Hell, it may even have been the first one to open up a wormhole over Antarctica. But as you can plainly see, it has new tenants now.”
Collins shook his head. “How are we going to get inside?” he asked.
“We don’t have to—look,” Carl said as Jack and Henri tried to see what it was he was indicating in the far distance. “Near the small river running by the saucers starboard side.” He looked at Henri. “That’s the right side for you landlubbers.”
Henri gave Carl a withering look in return.
Jack realized that the quirky Carl was just having the time of his life knowing full well that no matter what his fate would be, he wouldn’t have to face it alone.
“See it,” Carl said, pointing once more.
Jack removed the cased binoculars from his pack. He adjusted the focus and then scanned the area on the starboard side of the ancient crashed saucer. Then he finally spied what Everett was pointing at. Near the water’s edge was a debris pile that several of the raptors hovered around. One would retrieve something and then another would hiss and then throw a rock to get the first to drop what it was holding. As he adjusted the image and brought the large pile of debris into sharper focus Jack saw that it was a collection of detritus that held one thing in common—they were all shiny or extremely colorful. He saw Roman helmets, banners from the Chinese, and even several shiny sixth-century gladius swords. God help this backward world if the raptors ever started using the weapons they had scavenged.
“If they have it, it’s in that pile.”
Jack lowered the field glasses and then pursed his lips.
“Recommendations?” he asked both men.
“Do we have a choice? How many of those feathered lizards are there?” Farbeaux asked.
“Maybe a hundred.”
It was Jack who faced both men. “Then we have to scare the hell out of them long enough to examine their little collection.”
“And how do we go about accomplishing that?”
Jack smiled, although only briefly. “The old cavalry way. We charge into the camp and run off the tribe. I figure we may frighten them off for the chance at seeing the coupling.”
Carl nodded but Henri did not. “Are you insane?”
“Yeah, I am.”
The Frenchman watched as both Jack and Everett made their way back to their waiting rocs.
“I’m truly starting to hate you two gentlemen.”