Chapter 1

It was Mike's first night at the cabin, Vince's cabin. He was tired after driving all day, north into the mountains from LA, but he was getting what he wanted, for a few days at least - isolation, and a chance to get the divorce out of his system.

Mike was sleeping when it happened, Benji sensed it right away, and he was awakened by the dog's whimpers and barking. Then he felt it, the movement of the solid ground beneath. It went on for several seconds, seeming to take longer than it really did, while he clung to the bed.

After the shaking stopped, Mike waited, with that sense of disorientation he always felt after a quake. He had thought they were far enough away from any fault lines up in the mountains that they didn't need to worry about quakes, but a quake is possible anywhere in California, really anywhere in the world he guessed. When the tremors stopped, he grabbed the flashlight, shined it around the room, and seeing no problems, went back to sleep - didn't seem like there was anything else he could do.

It was glorious. He was dreaming, and he knew he was dreaming, but the dream, the vision, was so glorious he didn't want to wake.

Mike was on a circular platform, he couldn't tell exactly what was supporting him, but it was what was above him that filled him with wonder. It was the universe, and he knew it was real, not an illusion, not the lights of a planetarium, but the real universe, the galaxies, the stars spangling the dark void of space, with nothing - no glass, no plastic - between him and that glorious sight. He felt he could reach out his hand and grab a star, embrace a galaxy.

Then everything was spinning, the stars leaving fiery trails as he sped through space. The object he was on was turning, and slowly the earth, blue and green, high wispy clouds obscuring the surface from time to time, came into view. But it was a different earth. On this earth, as it turned beneath him Mike saw the Black Sea was a huge lake cut off from the Mediterranean, Sicily was part of southern Italy, Cuba was connected to Florida. And he knew what he was seeing was the earth of the unimaginably distant past, the past when humans first moved out of Africa to conquer the world.

When Mike woke up, it was late morning, bright light streaming through the window. And Benji was back to normal, out from under the bed where he had spent the night, waiting patiently by the cabin door for Mike to open it.

He let Benji out, glanced outside but seeing no obvious effects from the earthquake, lit the stove and got coffee started. It wasn't long before Benji was scratching at the door begging to come in. Mike thought the dog was a little frightened because of the strange surroundings and from the earthquake last night.

Mike turned on the portable radio, and after a little searching found some news of the quake. They reported a level-6 quake in the Tahoe area, with no reported damage. He threw on some clothes (it was still too chilly to bathe), and went outside.

He checked the exterior of the cabin, and didn't find any effects from the earthquake. He walked out of the little clearing to the rough dirt road and looked around. It took Mike a while to spot the fallen trees on the ridge off to the west. "We'll have to check that later, Benji," he said as the dog looked up at the sound of his name.

Mike went inside, fixed toast, and eggs and bacon on the little camp stove, and had an enjoyable breakfast, giving his scraps to Benji. He thought again about bathing, but even though it was summer, the mountain air was still too cold and the water in the tank seemed even colder. He decided to wait until the air, at least, was a little warmer.

The rest of the morning was spent organizing his things in the little one-room cabin. When they arrived yesterday, Mike was too worn out from the long drive to get his things unpacked and put away.

After lunch, he filled a couple of buckets with the still-chilly water from the tank and took a quick sponge bath. Now wearing clean clothes and sturdy shoes, he was ready to make his way to that ridge and see what damage the earthquake had done.

It took more than an hour for Benji and Mike to make their way through the thick forest to the base of the ridge. Looking up, he could see where several pines had fallen from the quake, and looking closer, high up he could see a rift, a crevice, where the earth had split open.

Looking up at that crevice slashing diagonally across the ridge, surrounded by fallen trees, Mike knew he had to climb up there, knew there was something there he needed to find. He started climbing, but it was rough going because of the incline and the boulders and trees and brush that had rolled down from the quake.

At first, Benji was with him all the way, having a good dog time in the woods, usually leading the way. But when they had nearly reached the crevice, Benji stopped and refused to move any further. "Come on, boy, what's the matter?" He called, but Benji wouldn't follow, just looked at him with soft brown eyes and whined softly as Mike moved away.

Mike wondered if there might be some danger Benji could sense - a bear, a cougar, snakes. But he couldn't stop, he was a little afraid of what he might find, but knew he couldn't stop. Once he reached the crevice, there wasn't much to see - just a jagged hole in the ground running diagonally up the side of the ridge. He followed it up, walking along the edge, noting how it seemed to get deeper as he climbed higher. Then, nearly at the top of the ridge, it ended in a wider, and much deeper hole.

Carefully, he approached the edge. Staring into the depths, he thought he saw something. Yes, there it was, something shining, some sort of light, bright blue-green, and seeming to get brighter as he stared at it. Mike couldn't understand what it could be. For a second, he wondered if it could be sunlight reflecting off something down there. Then he realized that was impossible, the sun was on the other side of the ridge.

Mike knew he had to get down there, into that crevice and find out what was making that light. Holding onto a long root projecting from the side of the crevice, he slowly lowered himself into that chasm. He went down as far as he could on the root, then looked for more hand and foot holds, but there was no way he could get down that way. Looking down again, he could spot that blue-green glow, seeming even brighter now, and he realized how much farther he had to go. Guess I have to get a rope, he thought.

Then for a second, he feared he wouldn't be able to climb out. With a lot of effort, he climbed up the root, thanking whatever power was in charge it didn't break, then managed to scramble out of the crevice, skinning his elbows and chest. He looked around and realized it was getting late and that it would make more sense to try the descent again before noon, when the morning sun would provide more light on this side of the ridge.

He started down the ridge, seeing Benji waiting patiently for him, then happy as he approached. "You big coward," he said, patting Benji's head. A few years ago, when they first rescued him as a puppy from the pound, maybe he did look like the real Benji, the movie Benji, so that's what Kay, Mike's wife, his ex-wife now, wanted to name him, and of course, Mike had to go along with that. Today, Benji was about twice the size of the movie Benji, but he was Mike's dog, and he was one thing Mike wouldn't let her have.

The climb down the ridge, and then the trek through the forest took nearly as long as the trip up. Mike stopped at his pickup and took out the rope he kept in it. In the cabin, he checked the rope and tried to figure out how tomorrow he would get down the crevice, and more importantly, get up.

He washed up (the water was warmer now), had dinner, fed Benji, read and listened to the radio for a while. Shortly after sunset, Mike went to bed, tired and with aching muscles. Lying there, in the dark, he wondered about this compulsion he had to discover the source of that strange light. That kind of behavior wasn't characteristic of him. Here he was, forty-one years old, trying to climb down a hole in the ground like a crazy teen-ager. Well, if it keeps me from thinking about the divorce, I guess it's okay, as long as I don't break my neck, he decided.

That night he had another strange dream. He was standing in a great room, luxurious, with richly covered furnishings, the walls covered in intricate tapestries. He could see through the open windows a city of white buildings spread out below the hill where the palace (for that is what this room was part of) was located. The city was on the shore of a sea, or a great lake, with white-sailed boats and multi-oared galleys moving across the surface.

Kneeling before him, as he stood in that palatial room, were many beautiful young women, of all types, most with their bosoms bared, looking up expectantly at him, some with begging eyes, some with lust in their eyes, some smiling, some looking down shyly as he glanced their way.

His gaze focused on a beautiful young girl with long, wavy hair and big, brown eyes. He understood she was new to his harem, a virgin. He gestured, and she crawled to him, he gestured again and she stood, letting her skirt fall, baring her pubis. He reached out to caress, squeeze her firm young breasts, then to finger her vagina, already moist with arousal. She moaned, cried as he caressed her, but there was no sound - this was a silent dream.

He opened the kilt-like garment he was wearing around his waist, and the beautiful young girl fell to her knees before him, taking his hardening cock (seemingly larger than normal) into her soft hands, her head moving down so she could lick, suck. His hands were on her head, touching her hair, pulling her head down, forcing more of himself into her...

And then he was awake with a hard-on and wondering where that strange dream had come from. He knew he was horny, but that dream - an ancient palace, a harem - that was totally outside the realm of his experience.