Chapter 63

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 3 PM

After two and a half hours of frequent downpours and constant wind, Carla thought the storm was finally coming to an end. The ground felt solid again, the thunderous vibrations had ceased, and the sky through the canopy above them was the brightest since early morning. Carla’s mind returned to the most immediate problem at hand, how to leave their shelter without upsetting the two wild pigs camping out with them. The matter required some delicacy.

And Tajana, she was feeding the beasts. Carla turned her head to her as Tajana tossed the pigs another tidbit, a broken-off hunk from one of the new high-energy food bars. As before, the sow went for it, but this time the boar snatched it first and appeared to swallow it whole. The sow grunted her disapproval and then turned her eyes to Tajana. The gesture was an almost unmistakable request for another piece.

Carla grunted her own opinion of this questionable activity. But as Tajana turned to look at her, the boar suddenly rose and trotted from the alcove, with the sow following a few seconds later. Carla grudgingly gave Tajana a nod and then stood and stretched her legs and arms. After all the time huddled close to the ground, it felt great to stand again. After a moment to orient themselves and put on their packs, the group left their shelter.

The forest! It had such a different feel to it. The world around them seemed more airy, more open. The canopy had been thinned by the storm, no question about that. But where were all the broken trees and branches that should have been lying on the ground? There were many small branches to be sure, but very few large ones, and not a downed tree in sight. And the air, it smelled so clean and fresh, and it was filled with the rich odors of the damp earth.

Sandra took a moment to reach down and scoop up a handful of the loose soil. The new black soil seemed everywhere, very thin in most places, falling down between the blades of the long forest grasses, but there were also thicker piles scattered haphazardly. Sandra pointed one out to Carla, and her eyes went wide with recognition.

“The trees!” she cried as she pointed. “There was a large one there just yesterday, very tall with lots of rot in its upper branches. The tree, it’s gone!” Carla turned to Tom and linked. “Can you believe what I think?!” she thought in a burst of astonishment.

Tom nodded and suggested she verbalize her idea to the group. Carla broke the link and said, “Tom and I think the storm was a well managed version of a forest fire. The storm thinned the forest and took out diseased wood.”

“Selective pruning,” Tom added. “Perhaps this world is more actively managed than my group first thought.” He looked around for a moment and then got down to business. He walked a few meters to a clear opening in the canopy and a moment later fired a flare. A few large birds made excited calls at the disturbance.

Carla was standing by his side surveying the thinned trees. She inspected her pistol for a moment and then commented, “The storm might have made my job a bit easier, but there’s still no reason to get careless.”

Tom nodded. “Besides us, what do the cats like to eat?”

Carla shrugged. “I don’t know, wild pigs I guess. There are also forest deer we’ve caught glimpses of, low to the ground, the size of fat dogs with thin legs. I’m sure the cats would love to chow down on those. Maybe they hunt smaller animals too. We just don’t know.”

Meanwhile the group had organized into their original traveling formation. “Okay, people,” Carla called out. “Stay sharp, no surprises, and we’ll all be at the river in less than an hour.” The group resumed its eastward journey along the gentle downward slope of the forest.

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 4 PM

All five women were outside the boathouse, scanning the riverbank with binoculars for the arrival of Sandra’s group. Jada would occasionally glance at the linear sun and wish she could somehow stop its motion. There was still almost four hours till sunset and they had already moved all six kayaks back into the water. They should still have plenty of time for the four round trips it would take to ferry a dozen people to the island. Mandy, Oona, and Abit would take off as soon as Sandra appeared.

Abit locked with her cousin Oona for a moment and then made a suggestion. “Why don’t we leave now and wait closer offshore?”

Mandy turned her head to Jada and added, “It would save some time. I have no objections.”

Jada nodded. “Yeah, seems like a good idea. Try to stay about a hundred meters offshore though. And remember to watch us if we need to send a return signal.” Soon three women were towing three canoes to the west, preparing to enter the current at an angle before cutting across it. Jada and Madison were the only ones left on the island.

Madison sighed as she watched her friends paddle away. “I take it you’re not worried about sea monsters.”

Jada sighed back as she scanned the shoreline. “We’ve seen no sightings since the storm, and we’ve had no sightings before today. I’m gambling it’s a creature of the deep that only came up during the storm.” She scanned for a moment more and then continued. “And besides, I really don’t think it was a plesiosaur. That’s a creature of the Mesozoic. That wouldn’t fit this time period at all. But Maddy, it was on your side of the room. You’re the one who got the best look at it. What’s your guess for its size?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe about the size of the really large croc, five or six meters, but not a croc. I saw gills on its neck. This was definitely not an air breather.”

Jada nodded. “Well, remember the sounding results. There’s certainly enough room for the critter to hang out below. And with the cold water, I’m betting it doesn’t have to eat very often.” Jada sighed and thought silently to herself, “and the threats from the forest are real. Sometimes you just have to choose.”

Jada was referring to the unknown depth of the Missisquoi in the immediate vicinity of the island. They had been doing soundings of the river since their first day out on the kayaks, and had found a remarkable pattern to the river’s depth. More than thirty meters from shore but not in the central channel, the Missisquoi seemed to have a very uniform depth of six meters, and in the central channel the depth was usually close to thirty-six meters.

But here at the island, Abit and Oona completed a final measurement after the storm. They tied a hammer to some fishing line and lowered the hammer from the edge of the dock. A full hundred meters of line played out before they tied on a second line and continued the descent. At two hundred meters, as Abit was tying on the third and final line that they had brought from the sporting goods store, Madison made a prediction of 216 meters, and Jada had laughed and commented that the guess was almost too obvious.

And it was too obvious. The third line played out completely without finding bottom. Abit stared at Jada in amazement and asked if they should get more line and continue the sounding. Jada decided against it for the moment, and the two cousins labored to retrieve the hammer from 300 meters below. The head was ice cold when it finally broke the surface, though Madison reminded them the deep water temperature was still unknown.

Jada’s mind returned to the memory as she watched Mandy and the two Abenaki park their kayaks in a holding position about ninety meters offshore. Mandy turned and waved at Jada, and Jada waved back. But the true nature of their island refused to leave her mind. Without the water around them, Jada suspected the island would be a flat plateau with sheer cliffs on all six sides, plunging 300 meters or more. Jada had seen the water miraculously rise. Could it also miraculously fall? If so, the island could rapidly turn into a very formidable prison. As she stared across the picture-postcard scene, Jada felt certain the idyllic forest and river still hid a great many secrets.

Success! What a relief! Tom and a large party of women appeared in a small clearing by the shore. Madison led out a whoop of joy and Mandy and the two Native Americans began paddling towards shore.

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 5 PM

Emily’s team popped up into an oval dome above the second-floor maze the group was exploring. Emily had to smile at the setup. The dome was one of the many dead-ends they had found in The Wilderness. This particular one seemed to be a combination rest-stop / amateur observatory. The dome was invisible, and at the southern foci of the oval there was an impressive reflecting telescope. The console adjacent to it was filled with advanced automatic controls, but from the look of things one could also use manual positioning for just horsing around with the sky. Emily took a moment to give Mark a call and report the find.

“It’s so strange, Mark. I think the telescope is at the exact southern focus of the oval, and the top of the spiral stairwell at the northern focus. Around the perimeter are some beds and chairs, and a toilet, sink, and bath area! It’s all right out in the open near the clear wall. It’s convenient, and we’re all taking advantage of it, but there’s no chance for modesty at all, inside or out. Two months of living here, and I still can’t get over the lack of privacy in the toileting areas.”

Mark chuckled with his memory of Hannah from earlier in the day. “Yeah, I know.” He gazed out a nearby window. “Beautiful evening out.”

“Yes it is. Still a bit of twilight left. Yes, it’s very pretty.”

“Say, Emily?”

“Yeah?”

“How long would it take you to retrace your way to the Waterhole?”

Emily sighed. “Close to an hour I guess. If we were in a hurry, we could try to do it faster, but I want to be meticulous in the trace-back. This last half hour seemed more like The Labyrinth than The Wilderness. Without our notes we’d be in serious trouble. There are frequent rest stops that are very pleasant, unusual but pleasant. But none of them so far has had any food. I’m very happy we’re carrying full packs of rations.”

Mark sighed back. “The lost members of Party #1 wouldn’t have been carrying rations.”

“Yeah, I know. My group has been talking about that for the last hour. It’s been fifty-eight days since the Christmas party. It’s the right time scale for people to be dying from starvation. But why would they be checking out in pairs? Suicide pacts?”

Mark gave a low grumble. “Somehow that doesn’t sound quite right. Maybe for one pair, but for so many? I think there’s something about this we’re still not getting.”

“I agree.” After a moment Emily signed off and her team returned to the lower levels of the Wilderness.

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 6 PM

Jada returned to the docks from the central complex, smiling at how well the day was ending. Madison had finally convinced Sandra to let the autodoc inspect her injured foot. It still seemed a little scary to trust a machine to decide on the care and treatment of a human body, but one couldn’t argue with the results. Jada had left Sandra with Madison and several other women, walking to the docks where Parni and Sachi were observing the last pickup run of the day.

“How’s it going?” Jada called out as she stepped on the dock.

Parni lowered her binoculars and offered them to Jada. “They’re just landed two minutes ago. Want to see?”

Jada took a look. Tom, Carla and Thara were the last three to be picked up, two pistols and rocks and all three were also armed with spears. Tom of course would not need to be towed back. Jada thought this last run would be the easiest run of the lot.

“So, did Sandra opt for the autodoc?” asked Parni.

Jada nodded. “She finally did. It’s a good thing too. From what little I understand of its diagnostics, the unit wasn’t too happy with her foot. It might be spending some time with her.”

Parni nodded. “I was suspicious about that too. It was one nasty wound, and Sandra drove herself very hard today.”

Jada nodded again as she watched the away team. Tom and Carla had chosen to be the last to leave. Carla paddled about ten meters off shore and then covered the landing site with her pistol while Tom departed. Then he turned about a dozen meters offshore and covered Carla’s retreat to thirty meters offshore. It was their last hold point. With Carla covering at thirty meters, Tom came to her and then she turned and they both paddled side-by-side from the riverbank.

Jada nodded with approval. “Very smooth, as if they rehearsed it. Carla seems to be a good kayaker.”

Sachi nodded. “Jada?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re rescued. This is great, but what happens next?”

“A couple of things. Do you remember the large console in the library here?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“It seems identical to the ones on the surface, but for some reason there’s no connection to something we call the interface, a sort of master program that is running this world, here and on the surface too. Madison is suspicious our satellite phone somehow got electronically entangled with the console, and now neither is working.”

“Oh. Did you consider destroying the phone to unlock the console?”

“Yeah, we did. I would hate doing that, but maybe as a last resort, it’s something we’ll try. Our problem is the phone and the console still don’t work even when Mandy took the phone to the riverbank today. Smashing the Leophone might not help, and I’d hate to lose it.”

Jada watched for a moment as the away team paddled upstream before turning into the current for their final run home. “And I’m also very anxious to set someone back to the entrance rooms and leave word in the elevator about what has happened.”