Chapter 26

The following new characters appear in this chapter:

Major Chan

Intelligence Department, 5’-4’’ tall, 135 pounds, 38 years old, short black hair, brown eyes

Somneuk Phootnuan

Business manager and travel agent, 5’-8’’ tall, 145 pounds, 32 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Misters San, Yan, and Keo

The flight crew, 5’-4’’ to 5’-5’’ tall, 135 to 140 pounds each, 35 to 40 years old each. black hair, brown eyes

Nang of the Nang

The greeter, 8’-0’’ tall in his erect form, some feline features but more blocky and heavier than the Jaguars

Eachna (AK-na)

Parthas Speaker’s granddaughter, the older sister, a bit over 5’-0’’ tall, 15 years old, small breasts, long flaming red hair, more freckles than her sister, cute

Eavan (E-van)

Parthas Speaker’s granddaughter, the younger sister, less than 5’-0’’ tall, 13 years old, small breasts, a sprinkling of freckles on her face, cute

We were up early in the morning with no mention of what had occurred last night, and everyone had PT but in two parts. One part had PT while the other part pulled guard, then we switched. We also sent all of the Eagles out on a reconnaissance flight of the area and to try to locate that seaplane. Samson and Sara flew northwest and discovered a small bay north of the port where not one but three seaplanes were anchored near some docks. This was certainly more than we had expected or had hoped for. On their way back all three Eagles stole fish from some incoming boats, much to the boat crews’ disgust.

Tiger Team with all of our Partners were in the parking lot of the government offices here in Sihanoukville just before 0830 that morning. We also had our interpreter, Saman, with us. Much to our surprise, Major Chan arrived in a new starched and pressed uniform about five minutes after we had parked. We greeted him loudly and with all of our Partners.

“Good morning, Major,” we called loudly, stopping him in his tracks. He seemed to be surprised to see us.

“Ah ... good morning,” he said eyeing our Partners. “Is there something that you need?” he asked somewhat nervously.

“We need to talk to you about seaplanes and their range,” the Colonel told him, which caused him to appear even more ill at ease.

“Seaplanes?” he asked, as if it were a foreign concept.

“Yes, seaplanes. Planes that can land on the ocean. There are currently three of them tied up in a small bay north of the port. Who owns them, and what is their maximum range?” the Colonel demanded in an aggravated voice.

“They are privately owned planes, and I don’t know their range,” he finally admitted. “They work for various firms that do business with those in the island chains. They can fly a long way, but I don’t know how far, or how much they can carry,” he told us. Lucy had been reading him while we talked to him, and she nodded when he had finished indicating that it was the truth.

“Thank you, Major. We will be visiting those planes when we leave here. I expect all three that we saw this morning to still be there when we arrive. WE would be very unhappy if they were gone,” Trish told him in a hard voice with an equally hard look. The Khmer Major swallowed and just nodded his head. We loaded back into our vehicle and departed following that.

It required some time to work our way up to the small bay where the planes were anchored, but we had good pictures of the roads taken from that morning’s flights. All three planes were still there when we arrived. We parked in a lot back from the water and walked down to the piers near where the seaplanes were anchored.

On approaching them, I could see that they resembled the old PBY-5 and 5a from the Second World War on Earth. I’m sure that you are wondering how I knew anything about an airplane from that long ago.

I have mentioned previously that I am a writer. I have authored a number of fiction adventure books. Not all of them have been modern fiction. Some of them have been historical fiction, somewhat like Mark Twain or Howard Pyle writing about King Arthur, except my sources were much more accurate and reliable than theirs had been.

I also have a strong interest in unusual old airplanes. The PBY-5a Catalina happens to be one of them. It was a patrol, search and rescue, and bomber aircraft used during the Second World War. It was literally a flying boat, being compartmented with water tight hatches between them. Originally, they only landed on the water. Later models had retractable landing gear added. They had a large parasol wing mounted on a pylon high above the fuselage providing outstanding visibility all around.

The planes in front of us were a close copy but not quite the same as form follows function. I could see that the noses of these planes were a couple of feet longer and were more rounded that the nose of the PBYs had been. The two engines were turbojets and not the piston engines of the original. They were mounted higher on the wings than the old radial engines had been because of the jet engines hot exhaust. They had also been moved further out on the wing than the originals, being just above the struts supporting the long wing.

They still had retractable floats at each wing tip. There was also the large blister observation windows on the fuselage aft of the wing which provided excellent visibility to those inside. These planes also had additional regular airplane type of windows in the fuselage. The tails of these planes were also more like those on later experimental models like the PBN-1 Nomad.

We could also see that each plane carried a pair of carbon-fiber boats under its wing. Each boat had a small outboard engine.

We had been standing there looking at the planes for a short time when we were approached by a man who was somewhat tall for a Khmer. He greeted us with what we had come to understand was the normal Thai greeting to strangers. We were somewhat surprised by this.

“Good morning, can I help you,” followed the greeting in good Standard. We were even more surprised.

“Good morning,” the Colonel returned. “We hope that you will be able to assist us. We are interested in going to the southern continent. Can one of these planes fly that far and return?” she added before remembering something.

“I’m Colonel Ferguson, Commander of the First Mobile Headquarters Team. Who might you be?” she asked.

“Good morning, Colonel. I’m Somneuk Phootnuan, and I’m the business manager and travel agent for the owners of these three seaplanes and several others.

“Yes, we have a long range plane that has been to the southern continent several times. I must tell you though that those there do not allow anyone to land. There isn’t even much to see, as the entire coast of the southern continent is covered in an eternal fog. It never decreases or goes away. You also can not see the inland area of the continent as it also appears to be covered by haze all of the time. There is nothing to see or do there. The plane can land, but the boats and the plane are unable to approach the shore or even see it,” Mr. Somneuk informed us and ended with a sigh.

“Still, we are determined to go there. We are strong Magic users and believe that we will be able to make contact with those living there,” the Colonel told him. Somneuk appeared to be startled by the mention of Magic before awareness showed on his face.

“You are the ones who eliminated the terrorists at the airport in Phnom Penh, and in the pass on the way here,” he said with a bright smile.

“Yes, that is correct. It was our people and the Marines who eliminated those causing trouble,” Trish admitted.

“Colonel, we can take you there, but I must tell you that your chance of contacting those living there are almost zero. No one has ever been able to contact them since the first settlers arrived here. They only contacted them once and for a very short time. We have flown wealthy groups of people there a number of times, but none of them have ever made contact or landed on the south continent,” he told us in a very honest voice.

“Still, we must try. It is the only thing remaining on our mission here,” the Colonel told him.

“All right,” he agreed after a short pause. “I see that you are truly committed to doing this. Come into the office. I have a number of things that I need to know before I can give you a cost estimate for the round trip there and back,” he told us and led the way to a small building up away from the piers. The Colonel and I followed him inside while Joel and Lucy watched our Partners outside. The Eagles had flown off to get a snack while we were busy.

Inside, Somneuk had many questions for us, but we had anticipated them, and the Colonel interrupted him soon after he had started.

“We have all of the information that we believe you will want on hand. I will give it to you now in a concise form,”she told him to a nod from him.

“There will be nine Human passengers: four from Tiger Team that weigh a total of 755 pounds (343 kg); four from Jaguar Team that weigh 640 pounds (291 kg), and a radio operator who weighs 150 pounds (68 kg) for a total of 1545 pounds (702 kg).

“There are four large Partners that weigh a total of 1685 pounds (766 kg) and three small Partners that weigh a total of 42 pounds (19 kg) for a total of 3272 pounds or 1487 kg for all of us,” she told him. Somneuk stared at her somewhat in shock.

“By large Partners, do you mean those cats!?” he asked in a disbelieving voice. “You are taking them with you?” followed that.

“Yes, our Partners are going with us,” the Colonel assured him.

“But ... but what if they become upset in the air? As heavy as they are, they could cause the plane to crash,” he objected in a strained voice.

“Our Partners have traveled by space ship, shuttle, and regular air planes many times. They have never become upset while traveling with us. We have all of them under constant mental control also,” the Colonel assured him.

“Really?” he asked in a surprised voice.

“Yes, really. They were even with us on a shuttle that was shot down over the planet Addison. We all survived that quite well,” the Colonel told him.

“All right, the plane will be able to carry that much weight easily. What baggage will you be taking with you?” he asked next.

“There will only be food for the Partners which will amount to 218 pounds (99 kg) with the coolers,” Trish told him.

“Two hundred pounds of food?”

“Yes, each of the large Partners averages 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of meat a day. The Eagles just eat fish,” Trish told him.

“And how will you be paying for this trip?” he asked after digesting what she had said.

“If everything is agreeable, our contracting officer will be here with a contract and a government voucher for payment in advance,” the Colonel told him.

Somneuk spent several more minutes on the computer that he had been using to take down what the Colonel had been telling him before printing out an invoice and handing it to Trish. She looked it over for a time before handing it to me. I perused it for a time also.

“Is all of this fuel that you have listed necessary?” I asked on seeing the large amount of fuel included on the bill.

“It is 1130 miles (1818 km) to the coast of the southern continent. The plane flies at 135 miles an hour (218 kph). It will take roughly eight and a half hours of flying time to reach the southern continent. That presumes that you don’t run into any storms, strong head winds, or other problems It is just as far to fly back here. If necessary, the plane could stop at one of the islands on the return flight to pick up more fuel, but there is a reserve built into the fuel quantity, and it should be sufficient to get you back here unless you run into some really bad weather or head winds,” Somneuk assured us.

“I will have Captain Desjardin go over this, and she will be out here shortly if she approves it. Will you be here later today?” the Colonel asked.

“I will be here all day and will have the plane fueled, loaded, and ready when you are. How long do you expect to remain at the southern continent?” he asked.

“Certainly not more than two days. This presumes that we are able to make contact with those living there,” Trish told him.

“The plane will be ready tomorrow. Is that soon enough?” he asked.

“That will be fine,” Trish assured him.

Outside, we gathered the rest of the Team and our Partners for the trip back to our hotel.

At the hotel, Trish had Della go over the estimate for the flight. Della was a bit skeptical of some of it.

“This is a bit expensive,” was her first comment. It was followed by, “Is all of this fuel necessary?”

“It is if we want to fly all of the way back here. I personally wouldn’t want to have to row that plane a couple of hundred miles to get back here,” Trish told her, but Della didn’t find the comment funny.

“All right, all of you seem so anxious to go there. You can count me out though. I’ve had enough adventure for one mission,” she told us.

She left after drawing up a contract for the flight based on the estimate. She traveled in our Operation vehicle with a five man Marine escort. One of the Marines drove. He had the map that we had used that morning. Della was back in a couple of hours. The mission was approved and scheduled. She had gotten a clause added to the contract about reducing the cost for fuel if more than five percent of the fuel remained unused when the plane returned here. The real fight would come at the operation meeting later that afternoon.

The operation meeting opened with the Colonel announcing our departure.

“Tiger Team and Jaguar Team will be departing early tomorrow morning on a seaplane for the southern continent in hopes of contacting those there. It will include all of our personnel and our Partners plus our radio operator,” the Colonel told those in attendance.

“Again, what about the Marines and your vehicles?” Greg asked.

“The Marines can return to Phnom Penh when you are ready. If they need a day or two of vacation, that’s fine,” Trish told him.

“And your vehicles?” he reminded her.

“We can ward them and leave them here,” she told him.

“How long are you planning to be gone?” he asked.

“Two to two and a half days. It shouldn’t take longer than that,” she answered.

“How about this instead?” Greg proposed. “The Marines will remain here for three days so that we will be here when you return?” Greg asked in an annoyed voice.

“All right, three days isn’t that much and the Marines can use a break,” Trish agreed before turning to Della.

“Make sure that it’s okay with the manager,” she told her.

“That little Major said we could stay as long as we needed to,” Della reminded her. “But I’ll check,” she added.

That night we were in bed early after checking on everything. Trish was nervous.

“We’re close to achieving something. I can feel it,” she told me before we went to sleep after just a little hugging and kissing.

In the morning, we were up early. Lucy and Kaera canceled all of the wards and spells, as no one would be here to change them or to allow access through them. All of the Partners were fed early and we put extra food for them in our vehicles along with the food that we and they would be taking with us on the plane. We each also had a change of clothes and some toiletries. We were ready to leave by 0615 and would be followed by one of the assault vehicles. Two of the Marines from the assault vehicle would drive our vehicles back to the hotel. Della would lock them up while we were gone. Greg was in charge until we returned.

Arriving at the dock, we were met by Somneuk and several other men. Following the greetings, Somneuk introduced the others.

“This is Mr. San, the pilot. Next is Mr. Yan, the co-pilot, and last is Mr. Keo, the engineer. They are your flight crew,” he informed us. The three men were between 5’-4’’ and 5’-5’’ inches tall. Maybe 135 to 140 pounds each, and they all appeared to be between 35 and 40 years old. We greeted each of them before the Colonel introduced each of us and our Partners. They seemed quite surprised that half of us were females, and were more than a little shocked by our feline Partners. The Eagles were much less of a surprise.

They were also surprised to learn that our leader was a woman. Not only a woman, but a large, strong, good looking woman. At 6’-1’’ tall and 180 pounds, Trish is much larger that those in the air crew who were the normal size of most of the locals.

While they showed Trish the plane and explained things, Sergeant Gonzales and I sent our feline Partners into the woods near the dock to take care of their business, since we would be on the plane for around nine hours. We fed all of the Partners when they returned, so they wouldn’t need to eat on the plane. By the time they were finished, we were ready to load onto the plane.

After saying goodbye to Della and the Marines, they returned to the hotel. Our plane was tied up at the end of the dock and we proceeded to it.

There was a ladder for loading onto the plane through the open port-side blister window. It was fine for people but presented a problem for our feline Partners, especially Bob and Susie because of their size and weight.

“We should load the largest ... Partners first, but how?” Mr. San, the pilot asked. We all looked at Bob and Susie and then at the ladder and the opening in the blister. Lucy was the one who suggested the solution.

“We can just transfer them,” she said to surprised looks from everyone else.

“Cleve, you and the pilot board the plane and decide where you want them, and I’ll transfer them one at a time using you as the destination,” she added before explaining things to Bob and Susie. Mr. San and I boarded the plane, and he led me toward the forward section of the plane. I was pleasantly surprised on boarding to see that it was outfitted very nicely with upholstered benches down both sides of the fuselage. The blister windows gave a great view of the outside and allowed plenty of light in to see the inside of the plane. We went through two compartments with water tight doors to the compartment where he wanted Bob and Susie to stay to help balance the plane.

“Okay,” I sent to Lucy, and a few seconds later Bob appeared in the compartment that we were in. He was followed a few seconds later by Susie. Mr. San was staring at them and me in absolute shock.

The Jaguars were not anxious to be transferred, and Gonzales and Rodrigeus with the help of the air crew had come up with a stout plank, and they loaded them that way through the blister window. The rest of both Teams loaded following that. The Jaguars were placed in the compartment behind the Tigers. Everyone else got a seat on the benches. The crew loaded through a hatch near the front of the plane after the preflight inspection and releasing the docking lines.

The engines soon started and we taxied out of the small bay and into the ocean. The sound of the engines soon increased, and we took off going first west and then south west. The three Eagles had been impressed with the take off and spent several hours looking out the two large blister windows at the sky and the ocean.

“So high, so fast!” Sara sent to Trish at one point. Samson and Chet had also been impressed.

After a couple of hours, the engineer came back to our compartment with cold water, fruit juice, and some cold fruit.

“We have hot food ... one hour,” he told us with a bit of hesitation much to our surprise. It seems that the plane had a small, read that very small, galley area. Lucy and Thyne went forward with him to help prepare the food. Kaera had stayed with the Jaguars to keep them calmed down. Bob and Susie were still asleep. Even the Eagles got some sleep after a time. The rest of us had also dozed. The food, later, was quite good and better than the field rations that we had brought with us would have been.

We had been in the air nearly eight hours when we received an alert from the pilot over the plane’s PA system.

“We are approaching the southern continent. You will be able to see it shortly, or as much of it as can be seen,” he told us. Shortly, we began to circle and soon after that the pilot had another announcement.

“Standby for landing. Everyone buckle up. What about those big cats?” he asked.

I went forward to check on the Jaguars and also Bob and Susie. Kaera had both Jaguars settled down near the benches in their compartment. Bob and Susie were still asleep, but were pressed up against the equipment in the compartment they were in. They would be okay, so I didn’t wake them. Going forward to the next compartment, I spoke to the engineer.

“All of the large Partners are secured,” I told him before returning to my seat and buckling up.

The touchdown was a little bumpy as there was a bit of swell and currents near the north coast of the southern continent. Once down, the pilot taxied closer to the shore or what we could see of the fog. The plane stopped and rocked a bit in the swell after the pilot cut the engines and dropped the anchor. We could see that we were a couple of hundred yards (meters) from the fog ... We had all been looking at it for a short time, but it was Lucy who detected what it was.

“That’s not a ward! It’s only a spell and a fairly strong one, but only a spell,” she assured us but she was still surprised. We took her at her word, as the rest of us weren’t close enough yet to tell.

The pilot came back through the plane a few minutes later to talk to us. The plane was still rocking gently in the swell or chop.

“Will you try to reach the continent today?” he asked. It was just mid-afternoon and not quite 1530 hrs. It didn’t take the Colonel any time to respond.

“Yes, we will try today. There is no reason to wait, as there is still plenty of daylight,” she told him.

“We will lower the boats then. You can board them through the port and starboard blisters,” he told us. This surprised me as the starboard blister appeared to be one piece.

“The starboard blister opens?” I asked.

“Yes, the entire blister swings up and can be locked in place,” he told me.

“How much weight will one of the boats carry,” the Colonel asked.

“Each boat will hold 12 people or 2980 pounds (1354 kg) of cargo. They each have a 40 horsepower outboard motor,” he told us.

Doing some quick calculations, we realized that it would be best for most of Tiger Team to go on one boat, and for Jaguar Team plus Joel and Dohla to go on the second boat. This would also give us two Magic users on the second boat. However, we still had the problem of how to get Bob and Susie onto the boat.

While we were considering that, the crew were lowering the boats from their stored position under wing of the plane. One had been carried on each side of the fuselage. They also set up the outboard motor on each boat and added the fuel tank to each one.

Meanwhile, the pilot had opened the port-side blister. He then unlatched the starboard blister, and I helped him raise it. There was a latch that held it open. This created an opening large enough that Bob and Susie would be able to move through it. The first boat pulled up under the starboard blister opening.

All of the movement and preparations had awakened both groups of Partners. I went forward and got Bob and Susie as the Colonel explained to the pilot how we had planned to unload. While bringing them back to the main compartment, I was explaining to them how they were to get onto the boat.

“Can jump in water,” Bob objected.

“No, this is salt water. You wouldn’t want to swim in it. It would make your fur itch when it dried out,” I explained to them.

On reaching the now open blister window, I could see that the floor of the boat was about three and a half feet (one meter) below the lip of the opening. Susie and especially Bob could easily stretch that far and wouldn’t need to jump into the boat and perhaps upset it or sink it.

“I’ll go first and help Bob and Susie into the boat. Trish, you, Lucy, and Sara follow them when the boat is stable again,” I told them.

“All right, Cleve,” she agreed before turning to Jaguar Team.

“Sergeant Gonzales, you be the first one on your boat and then load your Partners. The rest of the Team plus Luther and Dohla can then follow. Don’t start until Tiger Team is loaded, as we don’t want to rock the plane too much. Both boats will move to the shore together,” she told him.

I moved my Partners out of the plane and into the boat while Trish covered other details with the pilot. Bob went first, as he is the heaviest. He had no trouble stretching to reach the boat, but was unhappy about the way it bobbed around in the water. Susie followed a minute or so later after the mechanic had the boat back in position and stable again. Trish and Lucy had no trouble getting into the boat, and Sara had taken off through the blister window and landed on Trish’s arm when she was settled.

We needed to wait while the Jaguars loaded onto the second boat followed by the rest of our people. When everyone was ready, the co-pilot and the mechanic opened up the outboard motors and we proceeded toward the curtain of fog and the shore beyond it. Loaded the way we were, the 40 hp motor didn’t move us all that fast.

We were about 40 yards (meters) from the fog spell when both members of the plane’s crew began to act strangely. They started muttering and altered course away from the fog.

“We can’t go in there. There are beasts there that will kill us and eat our bodies,” they both began to shout. They had not only turned us away from the fog, but were in the process of turning us back toward the plane and nearly swamped the boats.

Lucy in our boat and Kaera in the other boat cast calming spells on them, and Joel and I took over steering the boats and carefully headed us back toward the fog and the shore.

“What happened to them?” the Colonel asked when we were back under way again.

“I have no idea, but it didn’t affect any of us for some reason,” Lucy told her. She was correct. None of our Team members or our Partners had been affected the way the two Khmer crewmen had been.

On approaching the fog, we slowed a bit, but we could already see that the waves slipped right through the fog with no trouble. Passing through it was like moving past a gauze curtain, as it didn’t appear to be any thicker than a few molecules of air. On the other side, the scene before us was one of rocky beaches with a small bay or inlet off to our left. We headed both boats for the inlet.

The inlet was about 100 yards (meters) wide and maybe 150 yards ( meters) deep. There was a wide sandy beach at the end. Joel and I cut off the motors as we neared the beach, and we drifted onto the beach where the boats grounded. Trish and Lucy were quickly out of the boat to pull it farther up on the beach. Bob and Susie had beat them out of the boat and were on guard a bit further up the beach. Gonzales and Rodrigeus had taken care of the other boat. Denny and Fran were a bit slower than our Partners had been, but they were also on guard a bit further up the beach.

“What do we do with the crewmen?” Trish asked.

“Leave them in the boats. I’ll put both of them to sleep. It won’t be a problem,” Lucy assured us.

All three Eagles had already taken to the air but soon returned to report to their Human Partners. We hadn’t brought their surveillance equipment with us, as we weren’t sure that it would work here.

“Some trees then fields with grass. Fish in water same as other place,” Sara reported to Trish after landing on her outstretched arm.

“Let’s move through the trees. Tiger Team will take the lead and Jaguar Team will guard our rear. Don’t spread out too much in case there is a reception committee with dire intentions,” she told us. We moved out with Bob and Susie in the lead. I was a short distance behind them with Trish behind me with Sara. Lucy followed her, and Joel brought up the rear with Samson.

Jaguar Team was behind us but only a short distance with Denny and Fran leading and with Kaera close behind them. Thyne and Chet were next, and Gonzales and Rodrigues brought up the rear and were checking behind us.

The trees were about 150 feet deep or so (50 meters). There wasn’t much brush or undergrowth between them. They stopped rather abruptly, as if they had been planted like that, and we emerged on the edge of a large field covered with tall grass.

“Remind you of any place?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, the field where the ambushers were waiting on Addison III,” I told her.

On reaching the field, we had spread out with Jaguar Team coming up abreast of of Tiger Team.

“Smell strange animal,” Bob sent to us just before a large creature appeared about 10 feet (3 meters) in front of us. It had some of the features of a feline, but was heavier and blockier than even the Jaguars. It also lacked the grace of other felines like the cheetah, cougars, or even tigers. At first it appeared to be a black color, but it quickly changed to a light shade of gray. It stared at us for a time with great interest and an intelligent look in its eyes.