Outland (World-Lines Book 1)

by Taylor, Dennis

“I assume you have a solution?”

  “Yes,” Richard answered. “Motor Home. Big honkin’ motor home. Maybe a couple of them. We can park in the parking lot. We’ll be a lot closer to the creek, so we can make multiple trips. Or if there’s a campground with hookups near enough we could just set up there. If we get a mechanical shaker table, we can process a lot more creek bed per hour. I’d bet we could even rig one up. Certainly you could.” He looked at Bill, who responded with an extravagant bow.

  “Actually Kemo Sabe, that’s a pretty good idea,” Bill replied.

  “What the hell does Kemo Sabe mean?” Richard asked.

  “Wrong Brother,” Bill and Monica answered at the same time and laughed together. Richard looked annoyed and glared at Bill for a moment.

  “As to cashing in the gold,” Richard continued.

  Everyone looked to him.

  “I’ve gotten the address of every assay service within a six-hour drive of us. I also got a bunch of addresses near the Black Hills for next time. We’ll divide the gold into six equal parts, and cash in at six different locations.”

  “Why the cloak-and-dagger?” Monica asked.

  “These assay services are used to dealing with either gold buyers, registered prospectors, or tourists. The last two are only going to be dealing with a few thousand dollars’ worth of raw gold at most. If we walk in with a hundred grand worth of raw gold nuggets, someone is going to notice.

  “Also, if one of the services gives us significantly less money for our submission, we’ll know they’re skimming and avoid them in the future,” he continued. “When you go in, you give them a story about your deceased father who’s been doing recreational panning for years and never bothered to cash any of it in. It’s weak, but it’s better than nothing.”

  Monica smiled. “You’re kind of a sneaky bastard, aren’t you?”

  Richard returned the smile and touched her hand. Bill watched this exchange with a frown on his face.

  Someone Noticed

  Lem Carpentier looked at the results of the assay. The hot chick had brought in almost fifteen grand in gold, in the form of raw nuggets. And all nuggets. Gold came in all sizes from chunks to flakes, so someone hadn’t even bothered to collect the small stuff. There hadn’t been a strike like that since the 19th century. That story she’d given about her father stunk like old fish, but what other possibility was there?

  Meh. It was probably nothing. But Lem made a note of the girl’s details anyway. If this turned out to be something else, there was a good chance that Andy would pay him well for the tip.

  In The News

  Yellowstone continues to show unusual levels of activity. The USGS reports that Yellowstone Lake has overflowed its banks on the Southeast Arm due to extensive ground lift in the area of the caldera. Lava has begun oozing from several locations in what the USGS describes as “weak basaltic flows”.

  There have been reports of hoarding and runs on supermarkets in nearby cities. The Governor of Wyoming urges calm. “Yellowstone has done this or similar things many times. It always rumbles for a while then calms down.” Governors of neighboring states have similarly urged the public to remain calm while assuring us that they are taking steps to mitigate any possible events.

  Monsters From The Deep

  Bill looked around the theatre, then pointed to some seats dead center and a few rows back. He and Monica hustled to get there before someone else claimed them. Juggling the popcorn and drinks, they settled in.

  Monica settled the popcorn bucket on her lap. “I can’t believe I didn’t know about this place. I plead brain-damage.”

  “Well, it’s not like they advertise. Not much, anyway. Mostly they show foreign and artsy films and such, but every Saturday afternoon, they have Monstar Matinee—” They both completed the sentence together, “—With an ‘A’!” Bill grabbed a handful of popcorn, despite Monica’s attempt to keep the bucket out of reach.

  He continued around a mouthful of popcorn. “All the old black and whites, some of the best of the worst. They’ve even had Outer Limits marathons.”

  “Well, you can count me in. I used to love watching this schlock on TV. I had nightmares for weeks after watching Day of the Triffids. My mom told me I couldn’t watch those movies any more. So of course my brothers made a point of sneaking me downstairs to watch them.”

  Bill chuckled. “Brothers are good for something after all. Although I’m betting they weren’t doing that to be nice.”

  “And you’d win that bet. They were trying to freak me out. Dad drew the line when they tried to get me to watch The Exorcist. But still, I never stopped loving old movies, especially old sci-fi and horror.”

  “Well, prepare for a treat today. We have a double bill: Island of Terror and Fiend Without a Face. Guaranteed to scare the pants off you. Er, wait…” Bill stopped, putting on a show of chagrin.

  Monica went into peals of laughter, loud enough to make other patrons turn, and punched him in the shoulder. “Good one.”

  At that moment, the lights started to dim.

  Okay, Bill. Don’t push it. You know you’re no good at this, so don’t overreach. Bill had decided that Homer Simpson’s advice applied in this case: Trying leads to failure. So never try.

  Bill settled back to watch a bad movie in good company.

  Second Road Trip

  “The effects could be sufficiently severe to threaten the fabric of civilisation”

  — From a 2005 report by the Geological Society of London on a potential Yellowstone super-eruption

  The group used some of the profit from the first trip to rent a couple of large motor homes. They divided the equipment and supplies between the two vehicles, with enough adjustment so that the women could sleep in one and the men in the other.

  The land yachts got terrible gas mileage, but driving them was a dream. The huge captain’s chair and large steering wheel were very comfortable, and the vehicles tracked dead straight on the highway. The cruise control was accurate and didn’t need to be fussed over every time the slope changed.

  Every few hours, they would pull the convoy over to a rest stop, stretch their legs, and switch around occupants and drivers. On this occasion, Bill, Monica, and Richard had ended up in the same vehicle, with Bill driving. The two men were making a concerted—and not completely successful—effort to remain pleasant, or at least polite. Monica seemed oblivious to the undercurrent of tension.

  Richard talked while poking away at his phone. “This time, we’ll be doing a couple of days of prospecting, and we’ll spend some concentrated time at it. I’m laughing at myself for saying this, but a hundred grand a day just doesn’t cut it.”

  “Can’t disagree,” Bill replied. “If you consider expenses, we might as well just get day-jobs.” He gave a tight-lipped smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “This time around, I’d like to come out with at least enough to pay off next year.”

  He looked at Richard. “Hey, boss-man, are we going to have someplace to stay this time? Or are we winging it again? Because that was so much fun last time.”

  Richard gave Bill a look that was just short of a glare. “I phoned around before we left. I found a campground with hookups, and they say they always have available spaces. Yes, even in high season.”

  “And we have plugs for hair dryers,” Monica said, still seemingly oblivious, as Bill and Richard continued their glaring contest.

  ***

  Matt looked in the rear-view mirror. He could see Kevin lying down in the dining area.

  He looked over at Erin, who was sitting in the passenger seat. “Not sure we should have let those three get into the same vehicle. Only two might come out.”

  Erin made a face, pantomiming fear. “Or one, if they make Monica angry.”

  “To be fair,” Matt replied, “Bill and Richard have never been best of buds. On our first meeting, I thought Richard was going to leap across the table and strangle him.”

  Erin laughed, then covered her mouth an
d turned to check on Kevin. She looked back at Matt. “And don’t expect Monica to do anything about it. She loves it when two guys fight over her.”

  Matt sighed. “I hate this crap.”

  Erin gave Matt a look of astonishment. “For someone who fights competitively, you’re not big on conflict.”

  Matt gave her a lopsided smile. “Consistency is overrated.”

  ***

  They arrived a little later than last time. The motor homes were slower in traffic, and having to stay in the right lane at all times had been inconvenient. They drove into the campground, paid for three days, and got a couple of spots near the back of the grounds.

  Richard announced that the first order of business would be a campfire. Things had been so hectic the last several weeks that it was nice to have an evening to relax. Marshmallows were brought out to be duly incinerated.

  They settled around the fire in collapsible camp chairs. Richard pulled out some telescoping roasting sticks and handed them out.

  “Sure are roughing it,” Monica commented.

  Erin brought out a package of wieners. “The name-brand kind,” she said with a cryptic smile.

  Bill brought out a cooler of beer, and everyone sat back to relax.

  “Oh, yeah,” Bill said, beer in one hand, extended stick in the other. At the other end of the stick, a wiener was being offered up to the fire god.

  “Mm-hmm,” Monica answered, while giving all due attention to achieving the perfect toasted marshmallow. Of course, the failures had to be eaten…

  The fire crackled, sending up occasional small sparks. The smell of burning pine mixed with the aroma of sizzling wieners, a scent that said camping in a way that could not be argued. As the sun set and the air cooled, they hitched their chairs closer to the fire. The only sounds were the rustling of the trees and the occasional pop from the burning logs.

  This state lasted for about fifteen minutes, while the tension drained.

  Finally, Richard lowered his phone and looked at Erin. “Okay, Erin. Inquiring minds want to know. What happened with Yellowstone?”

  Erin looked around the campfire at the others. All eyes were on her. She pulled out her tablet and passed it around with the video queued up for replay.

  “Here’s what I think. I’d love to get my prof involved, but I understand why that can’t happen. We have the following facts: One, there appear to be no humans on Outland. Or at least not in North America—neither Europeans nor Native Americans. Two, around 75,000 years ago on our Earth, Toba blew its stack and almost but not quite obliterated the human race. Three, on Outland, Yellowstone blew up sometime in the last hundred thousand years. I think Yellowstone is the reason there are no people there.”

  “Okay,” Bill said, “but we assumed something did it, so why is Yellowstone in particular bothering you?”

  “I know Kevin said that there’s no reason for the two Earths to operate in lockstep. In fact, this proves that. But still, they’re going to be similar, especially at the large scale. Both sides have gold deposits in the same places.” Erin smiled and pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the motor homes.

  “Both sides apparently took a hit from the Yucatan asteroid, otherwise we’d be looking at raptors instead of smilodons. Both sides have Yellowstone, I’ll bet both sides have Hawaii and Toba. Something on the Outland side tipped the scales to cause Yellowstone to erupt, and that implies that it has the potential on this side.”

  Richard held out his hands in a stop motion. “Whoa, you said before that Yellowstone erupted at least ten thousand years ago on the Outland side. Erin, are we looking at an imminent eruption or not?”

  Erin looked down in silence for a few seconds. “No, not really. I think I’m just having a bit of confirmation bias. This doesn’t really increase the odds of Yellowstone erupting, compared to a week ago. And the news stories are right about the Yellowstone activity here. We’ve seen this before, and nothing happened in the end.”

  She shrugged and smiled at the others. “It’s just that having it in my face like that kind of brings it home. To be honest, I don’t feel quite so much like laughing at Bill’s paranoia right now.”

  Bill grinned in acknowledgment at her. “Maybe we could set aside some money and resources to set something up on the other side at the warehouse, some kind of storage and supplies. We could get one of those big sheds that farmers buy that are supposed to be critter-proof and can be put up by one or two people.”

  Bill pointed to the motor homes. “And remember, once we go public, the gold panning is finished. Everyone else on the planet will have the same idea, and gold prices will tank.”

  He paused to retrieve the wiener from the end of his roasting stick, using a hot-dog bun. He waved his dinner at Erin. “So once we have the money rolling in, let’s stock up a bolt-hole. Maybe we need it, maybe we don’t. Maybe we start a colony, maybe we just have wild parties. But with the amount of money we’ve been talking about getting from our little sideline here, who’s going to say no to a little on-line shopping?” Bill grinned and waved his hot-dog again.

  “He’s got my vote!” Monica said with a laugh, and raised her beer in response.

  “Fair enough,” Richard said. “Even when the portal becomes public, it’ll still be nice to have our own vacation spot on the other side, right? Maybe we’ll be able to claim squatter’s rights to our own little acreage. I mean, when the land rush starts, if we’re already there I’m pretty sure we’d be the de facto owners.”

  Bill shrugged and sat back in his chair to enjoy his hot dog. An easy silence descended on the group. People went back to nursing beers and incinerating marshmallows and wieners.

  Prospecting

  Setting up was a breeze this time. The motor homes were on hook-up, so there was no issue with generators or inverters; and they had set up the gate inside, so there was no issue of anyone seeing them in operation. They closed the curtains to prevent snooping.

  Once they were ready to go, Matt held up a canvas bag containing boxes of ammo for the shotguns. “We’re going to have a bit of practice when we go through,” he announced. “You need to at least have a feel for using the guns.”

  With no further discussion they opened the gate and climbed through. As before, the ground on the other side was higher, so there was very little stepping down involved. As soon as they had all stepped through, Bill and Kevin closed the large gate and opened the small one, about eight feet off the ground. The Outland group looked up to see the camera peering at them from a hole in the air. Erin smiled and waved.

  Matt held up the ammo bag. “Okay, let’s do this. First, single shots, just to get used to the kick.”

  Each person took a turn firing their shotgun and pumping another round in. Monica squealed the first time she fired. By the third try however, she was massacring trees with a grin on her face.

  “All right. Everyone make sure you’re reloaded,” Matt said. As they reloaded their weapons, the forest sounds started to return.

  “Now, we’re going to go full Swartzenneger. Pump and fire as fast as you can until you’ve emptied your gun. I will stand guard.”

  Monica fired first, followed within seconds by the rest of the group. The BOOM BOOM BOOM of three pump-action shotguns being repeatedly fired once again shut down the forest cacophony. Lucy tried her best to burrow into the ground.

  The group stopped when they ran out of ammo, and reloaded according to Matt’s instructions, alternating slugs and buckshot. Once they were done, they paused to look around. The area looked like a giant weed-eater had been at work. Underbrush was gone, and several smaller trees had been cut through. The rest looked severely shredded.

  “Think we’ll be able to find the place again?” Richard said with a chuckle.

  “Okay, people, let’s march. Compass says this way. Monica, got the spray paint?”

  Monica held it up in confirmation. Picking up the disassembled pieces of shaker table, they headed toward the creek.

  **
*

  The work went a lot faster this time. It took only a few minutes to assemble the shaker table that Bill had built. A small gas engine provided just enough power for the table mechanism.

  As they had done on the previous expedition, they figured out which areas of the creek had the best pickings, and how deep they could dig before results petered out. The person on shovel duty dug in a methodical line, using the detritus from each trench to fill in the previous one.

  The last expedition had been treated as a sort of proof of concept, and they hadn’t pushed it. This time around, they worked with determination and almost military precision. Someone was always on guard duty, but they alternated every half hour or so, so everyone got a break.

  Lucy was interested in everything, but didn’t give any indication of approaching danger. As Matt commented at one point, given the earlier practice session with the guns, any potential danger was already making a beeline for the horizon.

  ***

  By the time they decided to pack it in for the day, they had amassed several bags, each larger than the one they’d filled the first time.

  “Ugh,” Monica said. “I’m beat.”

  “Yeah, but look at the haul.” Matt pointed to the bags of gold, leaning against the table legs.

  “Shall we leave the table here?” Erin asked.

  “Might as well,” Richard replied. “I doubt it’s interesting to animals. Plus it will smell strange. Worst comes to worst, we still have the manual screens, although I have to say I really like the modern conveniences.”

  They made their way back to the clearing without incident. When they arrived, the hole in the air disappeared and the large gate appeared. The weary group climbed through to civilization.

  ***

  Day two did not start out like day one. On day one, everyone had been bright, fresh, optimistic, and ready to go. On day two, a bunch of academics learned the consequences of a full day of unaccustomed manual labor. There were groans of discomfort when the alarm went off.