Chapter 56

The next day.

Time: Saturday, March 2, 2019 10:40 AM

Old Earth Time: Saturday, February 16, 2019 9:49 AM EST

They were approaching the river at an angle, heading directly along the short direction of the sky. Carla gave a small shrug as she expertly scanned the trees ahead against possible ambush. Then she turned and got brief nods from Oona and Abit, two native Abenaki Native American women who along with Carla were in their senior year at the University. Their nods signaled their concurrence that the immediate path ahead was safe, and they moved silently as they rotated with Carla to take the point position. Carla fell back and guarded the rear with her eyes, quick flashes to the trees and brush. This was dangerous territory. They were getting close to the river, the prime hunting area for the cats. To let down their guard here would be unthinkable.

It wouldn’t be long now, one kilometer maybe to the shoreline, maybe a bit more to get to the shore point closest to the island. They had made excellent time in the hills, breakneck time in fact, especially considering the fact that many of their shoes were falling apart. They had all come to this strange world dressed for a party, not for a two-month wilderness expedition. The long-term issues of clothing and especially footwear were critical concerns. A wounded foot could be lethal if it became infected.

Carla had pushed her team as fast as it could go, and they had started their journey as much before sunrise as they dared. But the flares last night had inspired an eagerness Carla hadn’t seen in two months. No one was complaining.

And Carla had to grin at her current role. She was the only Caucasian in her group. Besides the two Abenaki, she had also taken all four of their group’s Hindu women, Parni, Sachi, Suvarna, and Tajana. Over the last two months, these four women had practiced relentlessly to become the group’s primary response team against an attack by the cats. To have all four of them on this mission was a choice beyond obvious.

The Abenaki were the group’s two best trackers and observers. Carla perhaps had the best military survival training, but she also had enormous respect for the two women’s abilities to read and understand the wild terrain. Oona and Abit were first cousins, born in the same month and year and almost on the same day. Their parents had named them as a pair after an ancient tribal legend. The two were unabashedly proud of both their local tribal ancestry and their great Algonquian heritage, and they had learned their native traditions and skills extremely well. Very early this morning when discussing which woman to take, Sandra in a gesture of support for Carla offered that she take both.

That left only four people back at home, Sandra, Thara, Amy, and Margaret. It was a minimal force to leave behind, but Carla agreed with Sandra that it would be adequate. The only entrance into their primary cave was a short twisting hole that a full-grown cat would have trouble passing even when undisturbed, let alone with four spears waiting for it on the other side. There was ample food stored in the cave, an internal trickle of water, and regardless the cats were opportunistic assassins. Oona and Abit were as convinced as Carla that staging a siege just wasn’t in the big cats’ playbook.

At twenty-five years of age, Carla was older by three years than anyone else in the group. She was a senior at the University majoring in criminal justice. Carla was also a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. She had won her double chevrons after two year-long tours of duty overseas, and it was with a great deal of pride that she expecting to complete her four-year active-duty enlistment in the spring. Her hope had been to apply to the Vermont State Police Academy after getting her bachelors.

Was that dream still alive? The unexpected question made Carla pause as she scanned a side cluster of trees. In her heart, the answer was no. Her memories of her family, her career, the causes of all her comrades in arms, of everything in her former life, in her heart she knew she would never see them again. The reality of the new world around her was simply too extremely different for it to ever connect back to her old life. Carla had no hope of returning. Her only desire was to one day perhaps learn how the realities of the two worlds had touched even once, the day she accepted such an innocent looking invitation to come to a party.

Oona and Abit were walking slightly ahead of the rest of the group. Oona raised her left arm and clenched her fist. The whole team immediately froze. Carla silently slow-walked to Oona’s and Abit’s position. Oona pointed to some trees and then to nearby leaves showing the direction of the wind.

Carla nodded her understanding and approval. With their defensive abilities, Oona’s desire for a detour was probably unnecessary, but it would keep them downwind of a prime ambush site on their left. This last kilometer would be slow going, but within the thick forest, reckless speed could be lethal. Carla made two additional hand signals, one for gratitude and then another for permission for Oona to alter course. The team continued their journey.

Time: Saturday, March 2, 2019 11:27 AM

Old Earth Time: Saturday, February 16, 2019 10:36 AM EST

Jada was walking alone, orbiting the 600-meter perimeter of their small island and making frequent scans of the opposite shorelines with her binoculars. The linear sun had been up for more than six hours now. Midway between two of the island’s six vertices, Jada scanned for a moment and then moved on in a clockwise direction. The next face of the hexagon would contain the boathouse.

She paused for a moment to admire the island. What a paradise! This place was as nice as a home complex, even nicer in some ways. The mini-mall was so close! Everything they needed was here, except in the one critical area of communications. That was so strange. They had worked for hours yesterday at the library console trying to unlock their Leophone. If only Lynn or Akiko were here, perhaps they would have succeeded, but who could have foreseen this kind of problem?

Jada grinned at the budding romance between Tom and Madison. They had stayed up late last night with the Leophone and deserved to rest, but instead of napping now, after breakfast they had locked eyes in the great building’s lounge area and had stayed that way ever since. If they were still locked, it would now be over an hour.

Jada sighed and remembered the first time when her link with Emily became open-ended, when their trust for each other was so complete that there was no limit, no hiccups no matter how long they shared their thoughts. And during a group conference call a few days ago, Brandi and Charles had announced they could maintain an open-ended link. An excellent benchmark, Jada thought, for couples to achieve before publicly declaring commitment.

Jada stretched and looked up at the sky as she turned the northwest vertex. Just about one hour before local solar noon she thought. That was when the linear sun would be directly overhead. Such a strange world. There were so many issues that her team needed to be addressing, but Jada had no intention of disturbing the two young lovers under her command, at least not until lunchtime.

A flicker of motion caught Jada’s eyes a few seconds after she rounded the vertex. With the side wall of the large boathouse a mere thirty meters in front of her, she turned to the river and raised her binoculars. A few seconds later she gasped.

People! Lots of people! Six, no, seven! Several were jumping up and down and trying to attract her attention. Jada waved frantically and then ran to the boathouse. In less than a minute, she was back out and on the left dock, planting the large flare rifle and jerking down hard on the barrel. A bright diamond of light appeared in the cloudless sky a moment later. After a final wave, Jada ran back through the boathouse and towards the central building to gather her team.

Less than ten minutes later, Carla’s team saw four kayaks leave the docks. Oona and Parni, the two women with the sharpest eyesight, were sharing the binoculars and reporting what they were seeing.

“Four people are coming here,” announced Parni, “three women and one man. The boathouse looks deserted.”

“Maybe these four are all that’s there,” suggested Sachi. “Did you see how excited that first woman got when she saw us? How they all were?”

“Almost as excited as we were,” replied Carla dryly.

“My point, Carla, is that if there were more people on that island, I think they would have come out to see us. I’m guessing the island is uninhabited now except for these four.”

The shore team watched in silence as the four kayaks moved across the water. Somewhat of a surprise to Carla, the boats did not come straight at them. First they headed downstream over two hundred meters. The boats were soon about a kilometer away, so far that Carla thought they might not be coming to their position. But before she could explore that horrible thought further, all four boats made sharp turns to port and then headed directly for them.

When they were two hundred meters away, Oona handed the binoculars to Sachi and said with a frown, “They paddle this river extremely well, as if they owned it, the man and one of the women in particular.”

“If they are the owners of this world,” replied Abit darkly, “they have a lot to answer for. Seven people have been killed!”

Carla eyed her two companions askance. “Will you two knock it off?! We can’t afford to blow this meeting, especially over a misunderstanding!”

“Carla’s right,” added Sachi as she looked through the binoculars. “You know what they say about making first impressions ... Hey, wait a minute! The man paddling the kayak, I recognize him! He was one of those awful frat boys from the tunnel!”

“What?! Here, let me see,” said Parni as she grabbed the binoculars and took a long look. “My gosh, Carla; she’s right! This guy is a dead ringer for one of the guys in the tunnel!”

“Do you think he belongs to Kappa Alpha?” asked Suvarna. “I think they mentioned some other fraternity in the tunnel, but maybe it was all a ruse!”

Carla gave a loud humph voice. “People, shut this down now! Friendly thoughts only, that’s an order!”

A few moments later the Jada’s team approached the shore. About forty meters out, Jada stopped paddling and looked closely at the people waiting to meet them. She had been expecting joyous shouts and waves, desperate people gleeful over their rescue. Instead she saw a group of seven people watching her group very quietly. The situation made Jada pause. The rest of her teammates also stopped off her bow, Tom to port and Mandy and Madison to starboard. What followed was a long and awkward silence.

Tom finally decided to break the ice. “Ahoy the shore!” he called out.

“Ahoy the boats!” one of the women called back. “My name is Carla. Who are you?”

Jada answered for them all. “My name is Jada. I’m in charge of this team.” She pointed with her arm. “This is Tom, and this is Mandy and Madison. Madison and I are survivors of Party #1. Tom and Mandy are survivors from Party #5. We’re not sure, but we think you’re from Party #2, Great Balls of Fire. Is that correct?”

Several of the women on shore looked visibly shaken by Jada’s response, and Carla replied at once. “Yes, correct! You don’t know how glad we are to see you!” A moment later Jada and her team came ashore.

What followed was a brief and intense discussion, sprinkled with frequent pauses for fierce hugs. Several members of Carla’s team couldn’t stop themselves from laughing at the riches of the central island described by Jada’s group. The rescue team quickly learned of the existence of four additional Party #2 survivors, at the end of the river these people were calling the Missisquoi, an Abenaki word meaning “crooked river.”

Very soon after they landed, Tom and Mandy left and returned to the island, carrying notes on the shoe sizes of all eleven survivors of Party #2. It was one of their most critical needs, and Carla had told them of her commitment to return to her society’s home base tonight and tell Sandra and the others of their rescue. Chatting with Jada and Madison while the others got the supplies, Jada made the offer that Tom should accompany them. Carla had noticed he was armed and accepted immediately. His gun would be an incredibly priceless asset on the return trip.

The people on shore could soon see three kayaks approaching them, Tom and Mandy and a third kayak in tow loaded with supplies. New backpacks and boots and clean and wonderful outdoor clothes, what a luxury! Carla could hardly believe her ears. Were these people really saying there were stores in the basement of that pale yellow building, including an Eastern Mountain Sports?!

In a very short period of time, the gear was unloaded and it was time for Carla’s team to return home. The time was just past local solar noon and Carla was adamant about making it home before sunset. Tom would fill Carla’s group in on many details on the way back. With the five kayaks here, Abit and Oona would return with Jada’s team and head back to the island. There was a final round of goodbye hugs and then it was time to separate.

Jada saw Carla eyeing Madison’s gun wistfully and Jada looked Carla in the eyes requesting a lock, and for an instant one formed. Carla had previously told Jada about being a U.S. Marine, and her desire for a gun was so pure and appropriate that Jada make a snap decision. “Yes, of course you should have it,” Jada thought within the link.

Carla’s head snapped back in a hiccup so large she almost vomited. She stood for a moment gasping for breath and looking very confused. Jada turned to Tom and locked eyes. “My God, Tom! These people don’t know about linking!”

“You sure?”

“Oh, yeah! Observe!” Jada played her recent memory back to Tom.

“Maybe I could tell them on the way back to their camp.”

“You might want to wait until you reach it. The news is going to hit them like...” Jada followed with a pictorial image of a ton of bricks.

Tom thought back the pictorial image of a nod and then politely disconnected from the link.

Jada’s mind returned to normal time. Carla was staring at her and said with hesitation, “I’m sorry, but did you just offer me Madison’s gun?”

Jada nodded. “Maddy, hand it over, the extra clip too.”

Madison complied without hesitation. “There are fifteen rounds in the clip that’s loaded,” she told Carla. “The spare has thirteen rounds.”

Carla took a moment to give the weapon a brief but professional inspection, checking the safety, cleanliness, and the fact that a round was already chambered in the breech. “Oh boy, two pistols. The caliber is a little light to use against the cats, but oh boy, you don’t know how good this feels.” She paused for a moment. “Thank you for the trust. You’ve given our group both your guns.”