Chapter Three
The Land of the Troglodytes
Reuben woke up suddenly, it was dawn, and the sun was just touching the distant hills. He struggled to sit up wondering what all the noise was, it was Jasper, he was screaming for help. A small man with large eyes and pale skin was carrying a struggling Jasper, who was slung over the strange man`s shoulder. Reuben`s last sight of him was his friend`s imploring eyes begging for help, for the man sped away, and he really was able to move quickly for a small person carrying a load. Reuben just had time to see them disappear around a bend in the rock, the one beneath which they had been resting, but by the time Reuben had come to his feet the man had gone, and so had Jasper. Reuben immediately grabbed his and Jasper`s spears and gave chase, however when he came around the bend he found that Jasper and the ugly small man had vanished. The man`s footprints stopped at a rocky track, and just before a rock face that went up forever, and Reuben felt it highly unlikely that the strange little man could have scaled it with a struggling Jasper over his shoulder. There was another strange fact, Reuben could still hear Jasper`s cries for help, but they were now sounding a little muffled. Reuben hurried further along the track, and there just feet away was a narrow slit in the rock, but easily wide enough for Reuben to slide through. At the end he came to a large cavern, and leading away from it was a dark tunnel, and it was from the tunnel that Reuben could hear his friend`s cries for help.
To enter the dark tunnel would be foolhardy, he needed light, and he found it laying on the floor near to his feet, it was an old home made torch made of twigs, moss, and a wooden handle, he picked it up and lit it with the pilot`s cigarette lighter. Then he moved forward into the cave and along the tunnel, and into the stygian darkness of the underworld of Calamity, he held his torch in his right hand, and his two spears were in his left hand, their shafts resting against his shoulder. He moved slowly ahead, his torch throwing a cone of light before him, lighting his way. A very real fear began to consume him, would he be in time to save Jasper, or would he get there too late. A week ago, he sat behind a school desk, now he had to be a hero, and one with the job of rescuing his best friend. A thought flashed into his head, even if he found Jasper in time; would he be up to the task of rescuing him? After all, he was only a young boy. He pushed these thoughts away as he hurried along the tunnel; it seemed that it went on forever before him. He was a little worried that he would get himself lost in this labyrinth, but once again, he did not allow the fear of getting lost down here in this realm of eternal night to affect him, for he would never succeed in his mission if he did. In any case, he was following a mostly straight tunnel with a strong breeze blowing down it, one that had been beating cool against his back ever since he entered into this subterranean world. He had come across numerous side tunnels and thought that he had probably missed others, but he had always followed the direction that the breeze was blowing, that and his friend`s muffled cries for help.
Reuben had been in the tunnels for some twenty minutes when he thought he heard hurried footsteps behind him. Reuben quickly extinguished his torch and stepped into one of the side tunnels that luckily had appeared just at the right moment standing there to await his tracker. Twenty seconds later and he heard the heavy footsteps of someone coming along the tunnel. Reuben decided immediately that if it were a Troglodyte tracking him, then he would fight, knock him out maybe, for he couldn`t allow anyone to get in the way of his mission to save Jasper. The main tunnel suddenly became brighter as the Troglodyte warrior approached the side tunnel where Reuben was concealed, and then the warrior stopped immediately in front of Reuben, Reuben could see him clearly in the light of the man`s own torch. The warrior began sniffing the air for the scent that he had been following since he had entered the main tunnel, and Reuben knew that with all of his recent exercise that he probably smelt some. The warrior`s eyes swivelled round in search of Reuben, but Reuben did not wait to give the warrior a fair chance, he brought his torch violently down onto the troglodyte`s head. The torch that the native carried fell from his hands and then the warrior sank to his knees and finally collapsed onto the floor, Reuben`s muscles were made for use upon Earth, not Calamity, and so he was as strong as the Troglodyte, added to that was the heavy wooden handle of the torch. Reuben knew that he could have used the spear, but the thought of killing a stranger was repugnant to him, even one who may be his enemy.
Reuben was about to leave when he noticed the warrior`s bow, and a quiver of arrows, both still slung about the troglodyte`s shoulders, and so he appropriated them for his own use. Just as he was about to leave Reuben`s eyes lit on the small man`s cloak, Reuben thought that it could come in useful later on, to use as a disguise, and so he quickly removed it from the seemingly unconscious body. The cloak felt greasy and smelt even worse than he probably did, but if he held his breath for the next hour, it would be ok. Reuben then walked back into the main tunnel and picked up the Troglodytes torch, for it was better than his own. Now he was finally ready, so he moved off along the long dimly lit tunnel in continuance of his quest. He did not hear the ping, or see one of the Troglodyte`s eyes spring up and wobble on the end of a spring. He didn`t even see the small aerial poke up through the creatures hairline and send out a message of distress.
Up ahead Reuben finally saw the blackness becoming lighter, and then he heard alien voices coming from ahead of him, so Reuben extinguished his torch and crept forward, keeping the torch for use later on. Light danced on the walls before him, and he soon saw that the tunnel turned sharply to the right, and finally the pathway went down to the floor of a large cavernous chamber. In the middle of the chamber, thirty Troglodytes danced about a large fire, looking like witches from a medieval scene. Smoke from the fire drifted up and up and coated the roof of the chamber with a thick layer of soot.
As Jasper finally started to regain consciousness, having fainted from fear, he found that he couldn`t move his arms so he now opened his eyes. He found himself in a large dimly lit cavern, his hands and feet bound, and he was tied to a large rock. He struggled with his bonds, but they had been tied too tightly for him to be able to free himself. Then he saw the vile creatures dancing about their large fire, screams and shrieks coming from their filthy mouths as they worked themselves into a frenzied state. They were preparing themselves for their disgusting feast and he, Jasper realised, was to be the main course. He started his struggles with his bindings again, but only got torn skin for his pains. Jasper strained his eyes as he searched the cavern for any sign of help, maybe Reuben would find him, or maybe find help.
Reuben could hardly restrain himself when he saw that Jasper was still alive. How to release him though when between them were thirty bloodthirsty Troglodytes who would kill him as well, if they caught him. All he had was his bow and his two spears, and as he knew of no trickery to scare them away, he assumed that he might have to wage war upon them. First though, he would try a more silent approach, for that he had to cover fifty feet to reach Jasper, and without being seen, but the cloak he had taken from the Troglodyte might help him there. Reuben put the disgusting piece of clothing over his head and pulled it down over his own clothing. Now is as good a time as any other Reuben thought, and making his move he slipped down the ramp that led from the tunnel to the cavern`s floor. Once there he began to sidle around the wall, keeping to the shadows when he could, brazening it out when he couldn`t. He was now only ten feet from Jasper, who had seen him and thrown him a smile. Reuben quickly covered the last few feet and cut Jasper`s bonds with the blade of the spear. The blood in Jasper`s veins began to flow normally as pins and needles affected his arms and feet, so Reuben had to almost carry him towards another tunnel on the far side of the large cavern, and through which the breeze continued on its way. Somewhere ahead of them there had to be an exit that would allow the breeze to escape from the labyrinth, and to allow them to escape with it.
They had almost made it when a loud cry went up from behind them. A Troglodyte was pointing at
them, and screaming out something in his guttural tongue that sounded angry, probably because he was seeing his prisoner escaping, Reuben thought. The mad dancing bunch of warriors turned en-masse and hurried after them, calling out to them all the time, but by then Reuben and Jasper had reached the tunnel at the far end of the cavern. Taking out an arrow, he put it against the bowstring, aimed at the nearest Troglodyte, and let fly the arrow. It whistled through the air to bury itself into the chest of the warrior. The warrior stopped and just stood there, small sparks coming from where the arrow entered the warrior`s body, but the two boys did not notice them, they only had eyes for the other Troglodytes, who were getting nearer all the time, Reuben fired another arrow followed by another, but both of them missed. Jasper had taken his own spear and thrown it, all his anger and fear of these creatures adding to his natural strength, but it whizzed over the top of the warriors to fall harmlessly on the floor behind them, as did Reuben`s spear. The warriors were almost upon them when Reuben turned to Jasper and said one word, “Run!” and they rushed into the tunnel where Reuben stopped to take a moment to light his torch which would light their way through the dark tunnels before them.
“Ok Jasper we will have to risk the dangers in front and hot foot it out of here, but be of good cheer for we will soon be away from these monsters.”
They both bolted away from the cavern`s entrance, but from behind them they could hear the Troglodytes` feet as they pursued them, luckily for Reuben and Jasper the Troglodytes were merely walking briskly, not being in a hurry to catch up with them. Fortunately the walls were quite smooth in this part of the labyrinth of tunnels, and with the light of the torch to light their way they didn`t hurt themselves against the hard rocks of the tunnel walls. The tunnel seemed to go on for miles, but at least the sounds of their pursuers had now faded away into the distance. The tunnel now began to narrow until they had to run Indian style, with Reuben following Jasper. Here the breeze strengthened into a wind, blowing them along, when all of a sudden the tunnel seemed to end at a solid wall of rock.
“I don`t understand it.” Reuben said. “We have been following the direction that the breeze has been blowing all the time; there must be a way out?”
“There is Reuben, look above you, it`s a chimney, and there is the sky.” Jasper cried in joy.
Reuben thrust his burning torch up into the small opening above their heads and the strengthened breeze took the flames up into the chimney, the flames roaring now as the breeze fed them even more oxygen.
“Come on Jasper let`s climb out of here.” Reuben yelled jubilantly.
The sound of their pursuers had grown while they had stood their looking for a way out, and Reuben hoped they could climb high enough to get away from them in time. Reuben threw the burning torch to the floor and then slipped his bow over his shoulder, he didn`t need to urge Jasper to go first for he was already climbing up into the narrow shaft above Reuben`s head. At first, the going was comparatively easy, although Reuben and Jasper had to depend on what their fingers told them, until their eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light inside of the chimney. They had both covered another ten feet before their pursuers finally arrived at the bottom of the chimney, their torches throwing a flickering light up the narrow chimney. The Troglodytes called up to them in their alien language, they were in fact urging the two boys to come down and play with them, but Reuben and Jasper could not understand them. They only had to climb another ten feet to escape the Troglodytes, and once up at the top Jasper turned round and called down to the Troglodytes.
“The next time we see you had better run back to your filthy camp and hide.” Then the two boys fled before anymore of the Troglodytes appeared. One hour later they found a solitary tree and climbed up it`s trunk to rest and sleep, they were hungry again, thirsty, and exhausted, and they both went to sleep immediately.
The next morning they continued their search for a town, they were walking along a rough track through a range of hills that were covered in vegetation when they heard a voice calling to them. Reuben and Jasper spun around, but what they saw made them back away.
A dozen men, almost naked except for a loin cloth, stood there holding spears and shields. They had bones through their noses; a fantastic headdresses that appeared to be made from the feathers of large colourful birds, the feathers were in fact synthetic, made in a factory in the industrial town of Navaho.
“You two look rather tired, join us please, we were just about to have our dinner, and you two look so very tasty, I am sure that we would enjoy you.” Pancho, the man in the middle of the group said and then smiled.
Pancho looked rather scary, for he had a scar running one side of his face, he had cut it the day before and it was due to be fixed tomorrow, but today he looked scary. There was also the problem that Calamity was having with its troublesome and rather ornery computer. The part of the computer that held the EnglishCalamity dictionary had developed a fault, but it felt too embarrassed to admit it, so some of what was translated was wrong.
“Run, Jasper.” Reuben cried out in fear.
They fled along the rough track, going deeper and deeper into the hills until they came to a cliff face, thirty feet below them was a fast flowing river, behind them was a tired group of men who belonged to the history club of Calamity, they were dressed as natives of this region of Calamity, circa five thousand years prior to the present time. The twelve men were almost exhausted, not being very fit in the first place, and running after the two boys had just about finished them off.
“We only want you for dinner.” The scar faced man pleaded.
“Jump, Jasper.” Reuben cried in fear.
The two boys both jumped, a moment later the history club watched as the two boys hit the swiftly flowing river and were carried away downstream.
The scar faced man now realised that there might be a fault in the EnglishCalamity dictionary, and called the computer department to advise them.
As for Reuben and Jasper, the river carried them down to the Pink Lagoon, so called because of the colour of the sand; the lagoon was a large pool of water created by the river centuries ago, and out of bounds to all the citizens of Calamity. As the river carried on its way the two boys trod water in the still lagoon looking for a way out of it, for steep cliffs surrounded most of the lagoon.
Just then Reuben felt something tugging at his legs; he looked down just as a large Calamity freshwater octopus pulled him under. Jasper watched in alarm as he saw his friend suddenly disappear beneath the surface of the water. Realising that something must be wrong; he dove beneath the surface to see his friend Reuben, looking up at him, his eyes screaming for help, for the eight arms of a very large octopus were wrapped around his legs and body.
Jasper did not have a weapon on him, but he saw that Reuben still had a couple of arrows left in his quiver. Swimming down he looked the octopus in his malignant eyes, and then he pulled out two arrows from the now empty quiver. Then Jasper, with an arrow in each hand dug the arrows into the eyes of the monster octopus. If it could scream, then it probably did, it did squirt out all of its defensive ink at its attacker, and letting go of Reuben dashed off across the lagoon, ink following in its trail.
Reuben and Jasper just as quickly swam to the surface and took a lungful of air and then exited the pool. They hastily climbed out of the hollow that housed the Pink Lagoon, thankful to have escaped with their lives. It was almost mid-day now, and the sun was shining down upon them, its heat warming them after their swim, and also drying their clothes. Feeling rather down they continued their search for a town, along a dusty track and up a rather steep hill.
“Thank you Jasper, my arms were held by the octopus`s ones, I would surely have died if you had not put my safety before your own.” Reuben said and hugged his best friend.
“Think nothing of it, I still owe you one act of bravery, but I hope that I am not called on to repay it.” Jasper said, blushing.
As they reached the top of the hill, puffing an
d panting after all of their exertions, they saw a town in the far distant, and feeling better, they began their walk towards it, smiles upon both of their faces, for soon they would be safe, they hoped. However, no sooner were the two boys feeling more confident about their future, than something happened to scare the living daylights out of them. From behind them they heard the sound of heavy footsteps, and turning around in trepidation they saw a giant smiling down upon them, he was at least thirty feet high with large muscles and no hair.
“Hello boys.” The giant said to them in broken English. “Are you my breakfast?”
The two boys screamed and fled from the giant, who had they turned to watch merely laughed. The boys were so scared that they did not even wonder why the giant had spoken to them in English.
They soon got to a high security fence and decided to hurry along it in search of a gate, they came to one not far away, and standing at the gate was a police officer.
“You two boys are under arrest for trespassing and malicious damage, come with me.” Sergeant Malice ordered in broken English.
“Trespass, malicious damage, we haven`t done either of those things Sir, that must be someone else, we just want to return to our homes.” Reuben wailed fearfully.
“Oh it was you two all right, first you killed a Magi bird, they are protected by law you know. Then you damaged two of the Troglodyte robots in the Wild Reserve. Do you deny that? If that was not enough you then entered the pink lagoon and attacked a sacred oktapodi.” Sergeant Malice asked angrily.
“Sir, we are strangers here, we are sorry, and we never meant to break any laws, but the giant bird and the Troglodytes, they wanted to eat us. And the Octopus attacked us, so we had to defend ourselves didn`t we?” Jasper explained.
“You must know that you are not allowed to enter into the forest domain unless you are part of a tour. Sentry scanners in the Wild Reserve found you, and the Troglodytes intended to collect both of you, and then bring you back, to ensure that you came to no harm. You must have realised that they could never harm you in any way, they are robots, boys, surely your parents must have told you about the Wild Reserve.” Sergeant Malice said, hardly able to hold back his laughter.
“But Sir, we are not from your world, you see Sir, we were sucked through a large mouth that appeared suddenly in a storm, and then we were pulled through space to your planet, and now we`re marooned here, wherever here is.” Reuben declared boldly.
“Sucked through a large mouth you say, in the sky.” Sergeant Malice said, looking thoughtful, it was just as he had expected. “Well maybe you are innocent after all, because from what you say I think that I know what happened to you two boys, and don`t worry we will get you home.” Malice said kindly.
“Sir, what is the Wild Reserve?” Jasper asked shyly.
“It’s our newest theme park; unfortunately you two lads landed in the middle of it, rather than go through the usual entrance and enjoy one of the tours.” Sergeant Malice replied with a kind smile upon his face.
“Sir, how is it that you and the giant both speak English?” Reuben enquired politely.
The giant is another of our robotic life forms, and they can speak any language that is stored in our linguistic database, unfortunately our computer developed a fault and some of what you heard was wrongly translated. As for me well the people of Calamity all have to learn one specialist subject, and when it came to my turn, all the easier things had gone, and all that was left was a language spoken on a far off planet that one of our spacecraft had been researching, and the subject was your language.” Malice replied kindly.
Sergeant Malice took the two boys around to see Professor Grimly, and once there he repeated what the two boys had said.
“I see Sergeant, well I suppose that we should count ourselves lucky that these two young fellows are our only victims, but we can hardly send them back via the wormhole, no, they would most likely end up in the middle of some ocean, or on a mountain top perhaps.” Grimly said, after thinking the matter over. “No there is nothing for it but to take them back the old fashioned way, in a spaceship. I will get on the phone to Kanavaral space port and ask them to arrange it.”
Reuben and Jasper were both very relieved to be going home, and they were also very excited to hear that they would be returning aboard a spacecraft. Then Sergeant Malice added to their excitement by promising to take them both to the Wild Reserve, but on a tour this time.
The next few days flew by, they did indeed get to go to the Wild Reserve, and then finally they were on a spacecraft, and it was soon approaching Earth.
“Right boys, we have located Reuben`s house, and if you have your things together then I will beam you down.” Captain Korken said. Two minutes later the two boys appeared in the front room of Reuben`s house, much to his parents surprise and relief. Jasper`s parents rushed round as soon as they were phoned, then Reuben and Jasper told their story to two pair of shocked parents, and also showed them the presents that the kindly Sergeant Malice had given them, mementoes of the Wild Reserve.
The End
If you enjoyed this story then please leave a positive revue, your support really does make a difference.
About the Author
I was born in London, England. Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, so I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. My wife and I have a son who is now married to a lovely wife and they have five children of their own. Since retiring to the Greek island of Crete, I have finally found the time and the energy to write some full-length Science Fiction stories.
************
Other Books by this Author
Colonies of Earth Series in order
Galaxy Spies
Time Storm
Rebirth
Trial by Ordeal
The Colonies of Earth Collection
Horror Stories
Strange tales; three short mild horror stories
A Rob Hinds Supernatural Story
Kidnapped and Bound for Hell
The Satanists
David Charlton stories, a science fiction series
Rescue Mission to the Stars
The Treasure of Altaraus
Return to Mazere
Other science fiction stories
Quasar
The Venetou
Invasion Earth
Three Journeys of the Scary Kind Page 11