Chapter 5: The Fortress

Natalie was congratulating herself after the final day of location shooting. Aside from a little bit of altitude sickness, the cast performed superbly. The location scouts had found an ideal spot for her “extra-terrestrial” scenes in the arid and almost uninhabited southeastern region of Oregon.

Steens Mountain [9,738 ft.] from Alvord Desert, Oregon

An enormous rectangular block of the Earth’s crust had tilted up at an angle to form Steens Mountain, rising gradually from west to east over twenty-five miles while rising from 4,000 to almost 10,000 feet above sea level. Then, in only two more horizontal miles, the mountain dropped precipitously, some 5,000 feet, to the Alvord Desert, the dry bed of prehistoric Lake Alvord.

By adjusting the color balances in the photography, the vast expanse of this landscape took on the appearance of an even more hostile alien world. The nearest city to Steens Mountain with an airport was Boise, Idaho, four hours away by road. Students from Boise State University had been willing to work for modest wages as “Imperial Troopers,” chasing the cast across the lakebed.

And this afternoon, Sally, Dan, and Gary carefully dangled over the edge at the summit, showing how far they had supposedly journeyed to reach the high fortress.

At very nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, only 2/3 of the oxygen is available for breathing. While trying to get through his scene, Gary was having fits. Fighting acrophobia (fear of heights) and hypoxemia (low oxygen saturation in his blood), he was just barely getting through his lines.

Finally, Natalie yelled out, “Cut!” Hauled up over the edge of the drop-off, the three actors shrugged off their harnesses and headed for some folding chairs. But Gary didn’t make it. Two wobbly steps, and he was down.

Natalie’s worried eyes were on him, and she shrieked when he dropped. She leapt to his side, begging for help. Two hours from the nearest clinic, the production’s insurer had required an on-set medic. She rushed up to care for him, carrying an oxygen tank and mask.

To Natalie’s immense relief, he was only “out” for a couple of minutes. His pallor was fading; his eyes opened and focused directly on her face.

“You know, Nat, I don’t think I’m cut out for space travel. How about a kiss?”

His lips were still a bit blue, but she didn’t care. When they released each other, Gary had a request.

“Can we get the hell OFF this fucking mountain?”

She put him in an SUV with the medic, who drove him down the slope to Nat’s RV parked at the hotel.

Natalie pulled out all the stops for their final dinner at the Oregon location, thanking the cast and crew for all their hard work. Gary was with them, fully recovered from his ordeal at the summit. With her hand in his crotch, Natalie had promised him a fabulous reward later that evening.

When the RV’s door banged shut behind them, Natalie turned around and flung her arms around Gary’s shoulders.

“Captain, what are your orders?”

“I only have one thing to say. Let’s get naked and have fun.”

“Naked? But the sun just set, Gary. There’s still a lot of light.”

“Exactly, just hold still.”

He reached for the button on her pants as she shuddered and whimpered.

In the hours before dinner after Gary came down off the mountain, he had time to think about his off-camera relationship with his director. Several weeks ago, when he was hired, he had gone to planning meetings with her and even “run lines,” testing some of the dialog.

To say they “hit it off” was an understatement. Gary, a handsome actor, attracted women easily, but he found it difficult to form liaisons with women unless they impressed him with their brains and conversation. As he matured, appearances became less important to him.

The more time he spent in planning meetings with Natalie, the more he liked her.

“You know, Nat, we’ve been talking in your office all afternoon, and it’s been two hours since we mentioned the film. Aren’t you sick of hearing me prattle?”

“Prattle? Oh my God, Gary, you said ‘prattle.’ I warn you, I’m a slut for vocabulary. I get all excited when people use arcane terms.”

“Abstruse? Obscure? Hackneyed? Rarefied? Effulgent?”

Gary was literally leering at her while racking his brain for more words.

“STOP! One more word, and I’m taking you to the floor and raping you!”