Chapter 7

It was after 11 AM on the next day, local time. Mark and Kara had left Mayoni sitting on a rock to wait for them by the base of the mountain. Mayoni assured them she was quite safe, that her own tribe would never venture so close to the Blue Spirit, and thus the other tribe hunting the Hopewell wouldn't either. Mark looked around at the scenery as they were about 50 feet from the summit. The dry and sunny day provided a good view of the immediate area. "Wow, look at this place!" Mark said. "It looks nothing like the box canyon in West Virginia. It's too bad the blizzard prevented us from seeing how different everything is."

"Not too bad for Mayoni."

"No, I suppose not. Those bastards would have sliced her apart." Mark and Kara climbed the last few feet and stepped over the bluestone wall and onto the top of Blue Spirit. "Shit."

"Yeah. Let's dig a bit, but I'm not very hopeful."

Kara and Mark dug into the gravel for over half an hour, but there was no sign of the exit from the spiral tunnel. They dug the gravel until they hit solid granite. On the way down they searched for a duplicate of the side entrance tunnel from their own world, but could find nothing. Then they climbed down in silence for a long while.

"I feel like a punctured balloon Mark."

"Me too."

"How could the tunnel just disappear?"

"How could it be there in the first place? I don't know. It seems to be a trap door, only allowing a one-way journey. Maybe if we were on the top and someone else was coming through, we'd have a chance. But no one else knows about the cave. My poor parents are probably worried sick. I think we might be really screwed. I'm so sorry Kara, that I got you into this."

"Don't apologize Mark. None of this is your fault. Really. And we shouldn't stay depressed. Life may be unfair, but life is also what you make of it. Our lives can still be full of joys and sorrows, just not the ones we were expecting. And it will be nice to have Mayoni's company again."

"It will indeed..."

Mayoni was still sitting patiently on the rock when they returned. After a brief discussion, they set off with Mayoni leading them to her tribe. She told them they would probably make it by sundown, and she was right. They hiked throughout the day, and by late afternoon came over a rise with a stunning vista before them.

"How beautiful Mark! I've never seen a lake so deep blue! How big do you think it is?"

"Nearly two miles in diameter I think. It's quite of view of it from up here... Wow! Notice how the whole lake is a super perfect circle, surrounded by massive rim walls? This is a classic pattern for a crater lake. This must have been formed by a tremendous meteor strike. This type of lake is quite rare on Earth. I wonder if they're more common here. And look, near the rim wall to the left. There's the village Mayoni was telling me about."

They continued their hike towards the village and were down in a small gorge when Mayoni suddenly halted. On both sides of them large groups of people appeared.

Mark saw Mayoni's smile quickly disappear into a worried frown. The groups were large, armed with long knives and farming tools, and looked angry. Kara was somewhat encouraged that there were at least as many women as men in the crowd, and that they all wore woven clothing. But the hostility was too obvious to ignore.

"If they rush us from both sides, we're goners," whispered Mark. "Only fire as an absolute last resort. We need these people as much as they need us."

Mayoni turned and wrapped an arm around both of them and began to sing rapidly. Mark could hear the worry in her voice, but her song seemed to help. A number of the people began to look more confused than angry. A richly adorned old man with an escort of advisors and bodyguards began to approach, and the crowd parted to let them through. Mark assumed it was the leader of the tribe, and a quick nod from Mayoni confirmed it. Mark began to sing the greeting he had been rehearsing in his mind.

The crowd became silent as Mark sang, allowing him to speak. There were a few quick laughs that Mark thought were comments about how badly he was botching the language. But he thought he got his main message across, that he and Kara were mated and wanted friendship with their tribe, and cooperation if possible. Mark was a bit dismayed by the scornful looks from their leader and council. But then Mayoni turned and the leader got a good look at the large reindeer on her sweater. His eyes widened in surprise, and after a brief discussion with his council, he gestured for Mark and Kara to follow him.