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The discovery of the remains created quite a stir back at camp. Floyd decided it was of sufficient importance to delay their journey upriver. Fortunately they had a student paleontologist along to take charge of the excavation and recovery of the bones.
Dave and Al guided Sue Burkholder, the paleontologist, and two others back to the cave. After a preliminary investigation, she carefully packed up the skeleton in a blanket. Under her watchful supervision her two companions carried the prize back to camp on the litter they’d assembled from two oars and some rope. Al and Dave followed at a distance.
“What do you think?” Dave asked quietly. “Is this what made the quarry and road we saw up in the pass?”
Al didn’t answer right away but thrust his hands into his pockets and frowned. “I suppose it could be. I guess I’d assumed the road builders would look more like us. This thing is much more like an ape.”
“Did that floor remind you of anything?” asked Dave.
“What do you mean?” asked Al.
“Did the gravel on the floor remind you of anything?”
“You mean, like the gravel at the mouth of the worm caves?”
“Exactly!”
“But there was no hole, no passage,” said Al.
“True, so maybe I’m wrong, but I’m still going to be glad to get off this island,” said Dave.
Dave and Al spoke privately about their suspicions to Floyd. He didn’t want to worry the others, so the three of them decided to take turns keeping watch.
The following morning all fifteen explorers huddled around the remains. “As far as I can tell,” said Sue Burkholder, “this is a complete skeleton of a hominid that looks very much like Australopithecus afarensis, or ‘Lucy.’ This skeleton is a male, and the bones are not mineralized.”
“So what does this mean? How did it get here?” asked one of the others.
“I’m not sure what it means,” Burkholder said. “In spite of the similarity, I don’t see how it could be Australopithecus afarensis. This skeleton is not old, since there are still bits of clothing about. We’ve seen evidence for a similar evolution here. I suppose it’s possible this species still exists here. Even if this is the case, I wouldn’t think it would pose much of a threat to Halcyon; with a brain of maybe 650 cc, it can’t be that intelligent.” There were chuckles around the circle.
Floyd interrupted, “Nonetheless, this is an extremely important discovery, and we can’t risk losing the bones by taking them upriver. I’m going to call the base on the radio and send you back with the remains. The other four boats will continue upstream.” Burkholder nodded.
“What do you need in order to carry the bones back?” Floyd asked.
“The bones look to be in pretty good shape,” said Burkholder. “I’ll wrap them up in this blanket and get them back to Halcyon as soon as possible. That’s the best we can do.”
“All right, let’s pack up. I’d like to make up the time lost by this delay, so let’s be ready to go in twenty minutes.”
An hour later they watched the Burkholder sailboat head downstream while those left behind put the final touches on their preparations, and then set out.
Dave was in tearing high spirits. In the first part of the continuing journey, the talk in Dave’s boat centered on the discovery of the “Mr. Lucy” skeleton, as Dave had nicknamed it. This alias didn’t sit well with Pam, who seemed to know quite a bit about paleontology and viewed Dave’s offhanded naming convention as paleontological sacrilege.
“Look, Pam,” said Dave, putting on his best professorial air, “isn’t it the prerogative of the discoverer to name the skeleton? Well I’m the discoverer of this one, and I want to name it Mr. Lucy!”
“Dave,” said Pam, turning around from the bow to throw him a glance that could have soured fresh milk. “You’re not really a paleontologist, so you shouldn’t be allowed to name the skeleton in the first place. Besides, ‘Mr. Lucy’ is a stupid name!”
“Stupid name!” mocked Dave in shocked disbelief. “You’re talking to the greatest living paleontologist this world has ever seen—”
“What are you talking about?”
“Who else has made a paleontological discovery like this? Come to think of it, nobody, not even Professor MacMillan, has made any paleontological discovery here—so I’m it, the paleontological ‘Big Cheese,’ so to speak.”
A series of expressions flashed across Pam’s face. Finally she turned her back to Dave so swiftly her auburn hair whipped around. Dave could see her body language was the only rebuttal he was going to get.
Feeling smug, Dave looked for a way to keep his splendid debating streak going, and to pass the endless, dreary miles that lay ahead. After a couple of minutes of silence, he continued in a more serious tone.
“Hey, Al, when I took comparative religions with Schweitzer, he pointed out that the Christian claim that God is all powerful is a fallacy.”
“Where did that come from? What do you mean?”
“Well,” continued Dave, “all powerful means there is nothing he can’t do, right?”
“Yeah—I guess so,” said Al, suspicious he was being set up.
“So can God make a rock so heavy he can’t lift it?”
The boat ahead of them had tacked, and they followed it to keep station. When they had settled on the new tack, Al returned to Dave’s question.
“I see what you’re saying, Dave. If God makes this hypothetical rock and then can’t lift it, he’s not all powerful because he can’t lift the rock. On the other hand, if he makes this humongous rock but can lift it, he’s not all powerful because that means he was incapable of making a rock so large that he couldn’t lift it. Have I understood the sense of your question?”
Dave nodded, disappointed. The complete surprise he was hoping for had not materialized.
“I’ve wrestled with this before,” continued Al. “The problem with your question is that you’re automatically converting an infinite property to a finite one by the way you ask your question.” Al was starting to warm to the subject. “Let’s assume that God could make a rock of any size. However, to carry out the test ‘can I lift it?’ he has to make a rock of a particular size, that is to say, a finite size. As soon as he makes a rock, it becomes finite, and now he will be able to lift it.”
“I think you’re trying to confuse me,” said Dave, annoyed.
“Let’s go at it another way then,” said Al, oblivious to Dave’s annoyance. “Human beings do not have many attributes that we could think of as infinite. But one that might do is our ability to think of large numbers. Let me rephrase your question in our context. Can you think of a number so large that you can’t add three to it?”
“That doesn’t seem quite the same,” said Dave.
“Thinking of a large number is equivalent to God making a large rock. There is no limit to the number of zeros you can put after a one, just as there’s no limit to the size of rock God could make. But as soon as you pick a number, you will be able to add three to it. Adding three to the number is equivalent to God lifting the rock.”
Disappointed, Dave said lamely, “I’ll have to think about it.”
Everyone fell silent, keeping a sharp eye on the river. For the rest of the day, the journey upstream remained uneventful. Every once in a while, Floyd stopped the convoy to report to base, or to make an addition to his maps after consulting with some of the others. He seemed determined to make up for lost time, however, and even though they encountered several islands with promising campsites, he passed them by. Finally, as the sun was going down, they came to a relatively large, U-shaped island, whose arms faced downstream. Using the deep bay to get the boats out of the current, they approached land, startling a flock of pheasants feeding in a grassy meadow.
This time Floyd sent two boat crews to search the two arms of the island, while the other two crews set up camp. Floyd’s crew was assigned to exploration. Dave’s crew remained behind on camp duty
After unloading their supplies, the explorers left. Dave and the others searched in the gathering twilight for a sheltered location and firewood. A spot near a rock shelf would offer protection to the fire pit on two sides, and they built a low wall, completing the fire ring. The new matches made at Halcyon worked well, and in a short time fir kindling mixed with dry moss gave them a cheerful blaze that drove away the lengthening shadows. They set up tents and began to make supper. They had an abundance of dried fish and a dried, smoked meat similar to pemmican. Al, Pam, and Dave prepared the best meal they could using their limited provisions.
When the explorers returned without finding anything, everyone settled down to supper. Some made the meal more substantial by eating a portion of their “pemmican” rations along with the soup and biscuits.
Dave ate heartily. Hunger and the exertion of the day made the simple meal much tastier than he had expected. Even the tea was a welcome and fitting end to the meal.
After supper, he refilled his cup and moved off to a rock promontory on the northern arm of the island for some peace and quiet. The night was dark, since the moon wouldn’t rise for many hours. The sky tonight was clear and magnificently studded with stars. He heard bullfrogs croaking along the water’s edge and the rustle of a small animal in the woods. He thought about the day and his two companions in the boat.
Al was a strange creature; he seemed a mass of contradictions. On the one hand he was exactly the right sort to have along on a trip like this. He was dependable and knowledgeable and could be relied upon in a tight place. On the other hand, he had this irrational religious streak that colored his every thought. In Dave’s mind, anyone who took religion seriously was a fundamentalist. Dave had always rationalized the zeal and fervor of fundamentalists by convincing himself they were brainwashed and controlled by their leadership. How else could they believe the crazy things they did? But Al didn’t really fit that mold. He seemed intelligent enough. But how could he be so out of step with what everyone else knew to be true? Everyone except Uncle O’Reilly.
His thoughts turned to Pam. She was a good-looking woman. He realized he already liked her and that was why he’d teased her with such relish. But he was smart enough to realize that he probably hadn’t done his cause much good this afternoon.
Dave returned to camp, where the three cleaned up the cooking pots, then prepared to turn in. Halcyon under Blackmore had a strict policy of treating men and women exactly the same, so it was an unspoken expectation that as crew, they would sleep in the same tent. Although special considerations of privacy for women (or men) were frowned upon by Halcyon’s new policy, Al gave Pam a chance to be in the tent alone before he and Dave joined her. Such became the unspoken pattern of behavior for their team.
The next day the southern mountains marched right to the edge of the river, towering impassable cliffs forming the left bank. The party passed into territory—that to their knowledge—had never been seen by previous explorers from Halcyon.
__________
Although the terrain varied, the next two weeks passed in monotonous repetition: long grueling days of sailing and exploration, followed by evenings passed on a convenient island. After days of fine weather the spring rains came, and everyone sat cold, wet, and miserable in their boats. Even though they had ponchos, it was almost impossible to remain dry.
After five days of rain, cloud, and cold weather, the sun reappeared, and everyone brightened. Even Pam seemed to have grown more cheerful, and Dave saw her smiling from time to time.
The river turned south, and for some time now the mountains had effectively blocked their radio communication to Halcyon. At the end of two weeks, they had traveled about 300 miles upstream.
The monotony of the sailing was coming to an end. As they approached a bend in the river, the lead boat began signaling frantically, indicating they had found something of significance. All the boats immediately altered course to see what was causing the commotion. When Dave’s boat approached the others, he saw in the distance along the southern shore a stone jetty. Fastened to the jetty was a sailboat with familiar Halcyon markings. The sailboat was full of water from the recent rain but otherwise was in good condition.
Floyd signaled the boats to gather some 100 yards offshore. They waited to see if anyone appeared or came back to the boat, periodically attempting to hail the shore to bring anyone who might be there, out into the open.
Finally, convinced that no one was going to appear on the jetty, Floyd signaled the gathered boats to draw closer. Glancing frequently back to shore, as if he expected trouble at any moment, Floyd said, “We’ve been out of touch with Halcyon for almost two weeks, since the mountains blocked our signal. The boat on the jetty definitely looks like one of ours. I don’t know how it got here. As far as I know, no one’s been sent this far up the river. The boat looks like it’s been abandoned for some time, and any survivors may be ill or injured, if they’re still around at all. I’m going to go ashore first with Al. The rest of you stay with the boats. Dave, you’re in charge while I’m gone. If there’s any trouble, don’t be a fool and come after us. Get into the open water and reassess the situation. Reporting back is more important than trying to rescue us. We really don’t know what’s going on here, so we’d better assume the worst. That’s an order!”
Dave didn’t answer.
Floyd scowled at Dave. “Dave, I need to know that you’re going to carry out my order. Are you going to do what I ask and get the team home if we get into trouble?”
Dave looked Floyd square in the face.
“Well?” said Floyd, staring right back.
“I’ll do what you ask, Floyd. At the first sign of serious trouble you’re on your own and I’ll take them back downriver.”
Floyd looked relieved and signaled for the two boats to put in at the jetty.
Floyd and Al left their boats at the jetty, ready to cast off at the first sign of trouble. While Floyd and Al’s boat stayed moored to the jetty, the other two boats pulled offshore. Experienced now, Pam was well able to handle the jib and the mainsail if necessary. Dave sat in the stern, keeping a sharp eye out for danger.
But he was disappointed. Why didn’t Floyd take me? Doesn’t he trust me?
As soon as the thought formed, he felt ashamed of his jealousy and resolved to do the best he could looking after the expedition. If something happened to Floyd and Al, he was the only other one with much experience in the backwoods of this place, and they’d need him to get out.
But nothing happened to Al and Floyd; they returned after an hour. Floyd signaled the rest of the boats to tie up at the jetty then brought everyone up to date. “Al and I traveled a well made stone road back to some stone buildings in the trees. We found the remains of a camp. The camp hadn’t been ransacked, but it appeared to have been deserted several weeks ago. We looked through the things at the camp, but we couldn’t find any personal effects to give us a clue about what had happened or who’d made the camp.
“Here comes the kicker. The road doesn’t end, but heads towards the mountains that you can see in the distance. We traveled up the road about half a mile to a rise on top of a rocky ridge. From there, we saw a walled city nestled up against the mountains.”
There was a collective intake of breath as everyone began thinking about the implications of their findings.
“Is it inhabited?” asked Dave.
“We don’t know,” said Floyd. “We looked at it through our binoculars. The road leading up to the gate was deserted and there was no one on the walls. The main gate was a rubble heap. It certainly looked deserted, but that doesn’t prove anything.”
“What do we do now?” one of the others asked.
Floyd glanced toward the mountains then turned and pointed to an island. “Even though things look to be peaceful, I want to err on the side of safety. I suggest we head to that island in mid-channel and hide our boats on the far side. We’ll take this abandoned sailboat along, even though that may leave a calling card that we were here. If there are enemies about, I don’t want to leave them any obvious means of ambushing us in our sleep. I suppose we could send someone downriver, back to the place where the radio last worked, and hope we can contact Halcyon, but I don’t want to take that chance right now. I think we’ll do some exploring and then make a decision about reporting back.”
Later that night, Floyd pulled Al and Dave aside from the rest of the group. “What do you guys think about all of this?” he whispered.
__________
“Floyd, I don’t know what to make of it,” Al admitted. “The jetty was built by someone who knows stonework. It looks like the handiwork of the same people who built the quarry road. And remember the stone sluice at New Jerusalem? Maybe these things were all built by the same people. There’s a road heading off to who knows where. If there’s a civilization about, why has it taken us a year to discover it, or at least make contact with it? What really bothers me though is that campsite. You didn’t tell the others, but that campsite didn’t look to me to be the work of someone on an ordinary camping trip. From the sheds they’d built, I’d say they planned to stay awhile. I can’t help thinking that Halcyon or someone at Halcyon tried to send an expedition up here before and they didn’t come back. If this is official, why weren’t we told? If it’s not official, why would someone go to all that trouble? Then there’s that silent city we saw up on the mountainside.”
Floyd cursed softly. “Why couldn’t they tell us? Why send us out under a pretense?”
“The fact that whoever built the camp has disappeared can’t be good,” added Dave.
They walked together in silence for a long time. Floyd sighed. “Our suspicion that the higher-ups at Halcyon have been less than candid with us is one of the reasons I’m not rushing to report back. This is an incredibly important discovery. I should be delighted to have a chance to conduct this kind of an exploration. Nevertheless, I have a very bad feeling about it. I don’t like our situation one bit, and I don’t like it that we weren’t told everything.”