Mark joins us.
“Welcome to Peru, everyone. Inside you will find air conditioned quarters for the night and we can dine on the MRE flavor-of-the day. I think it’s fettuccine alfredo with beef. We’ll leave for base camp in the morning at 05:00 hours.”
Mark then approaches me.
“Matt...Ray, you’re both welcome to join me on a tour around the base, if you’d like. I need to get a status on security.”
“Certainly. Ray?” I ask.
“I think I’m up to that.” Ray replies. “Excellent. Let’s stretch our legs, gentlemen.” We wander through the base corner by corner, and Mark speaks to the SSG in charge. Soldiers are quickly setting up barracks here. Further on in the next corner section, it appears they are setting up large warehouse huts.
“We should have these up by morning, Sir,” The SSG tells Mark. Wire fences enclose the entire encampment living and storage areas.
“Sir, the men are extending the fences down the length of the runway, per your orders.” Another SSG reports.
“This is going to be a very secure camp.” Mark tells us. “Tomorrow, we’ll head up to the base camp in Humvees. That’s another 20 miles from here up through that canyon glen over in the northeast direction.” He points out. We then head back to the barracks and turn in for the night. Once more, 05:00 comes quickly. Sgt. Michaels welcomes everyone and covers the day’s schedule. Bagels and the army’s choice of coffee or orange juice are provided.
As dawn arrives, Mount Huascaran and it’s two peaks stand out in the crisp air. No dust clouds.
“Where did that mountain come from?” Peter asks.
A convoy of Humvees with trucks are lined up in a row. We get in and head up the canyon post haste. One can see above the tree line. There is a distinct saddle between the two peaks and near its top sits a glacier. Beautiful. It’s like looking at two Mount Rainiers in one view. Huascaran must have been one volcano with two cones. A realization suddenly hits me on the amount of time we’ll be spending up there. As we enter the canyon, a large river runs adjacent to the road with large rocks.
“Oh, Man.” Dwayne touts. “It’s time for some fishing!”
Not a bad idea, I think.
“This is all park in here.” Mark tells us. “But where we’re going, it’s all considered wilderness.” The canyon becomes long and narrow. The steeper we go, the drive becomes a series of switchbacks. The vegetation is a lush jungle and the trees become thicker with vines.
“Leesa.” I call. I point out a Peruvian bear in the stream fishing.
“Oh, Matt. They’re not going to stop this convoy so I can take pics, now. Are they? I’m so bummed.”
“Interesting bears,” I say. “All this time we’ve spent here in Peru and I’ve never seen bears here.”
“They have big rings around their eyes.” She remarks.
“And to think the United States Army has actually pulled off that we’re carrying out maneuvers up here,” Ray comments. “I am impressed.”
We finally reach base camp, and it is surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire. Remote cameras are posted in strategic spots to help maintain security. The Humvees enter the camp and we exit in front of the barracks and unload our gear.
“Look, broken ceramic pottery all over the ground.” Dwayne notes.
As we walk further, we each note locations in the ground that may once have been part of small ancient structures, such as homes and storage areas.
“Matt, look...this looks like a remnant of a canal.” Peter calls.
“It does at that.” I comment.
“Matt, this must have been a village. Look at the stones laying all around us. They have been cut and chiseled out from a larger base rock. These dwellings may possibly precede the pyramid-building era.” Peter points out.
I’m feeling the pain of crashing a possible dig site, even if it’s suitable for a base site. I think of all the forensic history we have just trampled on and shake my head.
“Sgt., you said that a well-known dig site called Huallin is up here somewhere. I believe we and your soldiers are trampling over the top of it. You may have just destroyed some of the answers here that you have been looking for.”
Sgt. Michaels replies, “Everything looked natural on the map.”
“Sgt. we need to restore what we can from this site. See this pottery and rocky area? They’re ruins. We need to relocate the facilities.”
Mark looks at me. “Matt, where do you think it’s safe to relocate. It will be one tent at a time. But we can do it.”
“Let’s walk around here, and I’ll tell you more.” I state. Ray, Dwayne and I lead the way.
“Over here looks good, Matt.” Dwayne signals. All of this is just flat area. No pottery. It could be a possible future dig site as well.”
“We have a couple of hours to get settled,” Mark tells us. He points to a central tent, “Over there is the main command area. Report over there in about an hour for our briefing.”
Leesa and Julia step outside to look at the twin mountain peaks. Leesa snaps pictures of the view we’re about to climb. “It’s beautiful here. Just look at all of this.” She also snaps pics of the ruins Dwayne pointed out.
“It’s all jungle.” Julia comments. “But it thins out as you look further up the mountain side.”
“Look off in the distance over there, Julia.” Leesa exclaims. “We’re not far from our previous dig site! Just a lower elevation. Approximately 20 kilometers, I think.”
Julia stares into the edge of the jungle approximately 100 yards away. Then she remarks, “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Leesa replies.
Julia answers, “There is something big and brown staring at us just under the trees. Over there!”
“Where? I can’t see it.” Leesa replies.
“Over there!” Julia points slightly off to the right.
Leesa looks, “I don’t see anything!”
Julia answers, “There was something big over there; big and brown!”
“Maybe it was a Llama,” Leesa replies.
“It didn’t look like a Llama to me!” answers Julia.
Leesa spoke again, “We’ve never seen bear here until now. So there must be a lot of animals we’ve never seen.”
Julia adds, “It was big and hairy, Leesa. And it walked like a man.” Leesa replies,
“Well, whatever it was, it’s gone now.” Leesa notes, “Beautiful place with strange creatures, I guess. Let’s catch up with the rest.” She gazes down at her watch and calls out, “Everyone, its meeting time!”
Ray and I set up our sleeping quarters and head off to the central tent. Soldiers are breaking one of the tents down in order to relocate it per Dwayne’s recommendations.
We gather into the main tent. It has a very large, centralized conference style table set up and there are laptops all around the table at each seat.
Cliff steps into the room with Sgt. Michaels behind him. Sgt. Michaels sets up his laptop and loads the presentation. He stands in front of a large screen monitor, and a laptop.
Mark opens the meeting. “If you refer to either the screen or your laptop, you’ll see a map of this area we are going to hike through up the mountain. We’re now set up with full GPS support to begin this mission.” All the equipment has an additional label on it stating property of “Sigmas Solutions.” Apparently, Sigmas is the major contracting company for this mission.
Mark points to the map. “Mount Huascaran is a 22,000 foot mountain. The saddle is where we’re going, and fortunately it is only 16,000 feet. Our base camp here is at 7,000 feet. We’re going to rest here today at the base camp, and then tomorrow we’re going to make our first ascent. Tomorrow we begin Phase 1. We will make a first exploratory trip up to the saddle where the crash is. Matt’s team and my people will make a reconnaissance of the area and assess what’s up there. If all works according to plan, V-22’s will start dropping off SOAR personnel and temporary barracks for assembly at the sa
ddle. We need to explore the trails up there and do a reconnaissance as well. If the V22’s can’t land, they’ll drop us some gear so we can make it through the night.
“The first portion of the ascent will be a very steep hike up very old switchbacks of about 4,000 feet. The trail header isn’t far from where we’re based right now. The vegetation on the low-eastern side of the mountain is jungle-like and very thick. So we’ll have to do some cutting. Our SOAR team will accompany us in front and back. They will be blazing a trail ahead of us through this dense vegetation. They’ll also serve as our protection. They’re Special Ops and they’re well trained.”
“8,000 feet will put us above the tree line. At 10,000 feet we’ll have to traverse the glacier fields. We could go around most of it. But I’m thinking there might be debris on or in that glacier field. I want us to comb over it. Pack your snowshoes everyone.”
“Satellite has picked up the apparatus, but it’s difficult to view the ship’s core because its outer shield is highly reflective. We know it’s there because it shows up on cloud-covered days. There is also a cave about forty feet away from the wreckage. So we will also check that out. Once the location is determined to be stable, we will move into Phase II of the dig and recovery process.”
“Matt’s team has previously used the GPS mapping system to identify positions of dig sites. We’re going to utilize that system because it works well. Leesa will head up the photography of items as they are found. Two members of Matt’s crew specialize in surveying and will be assisting with articles identified on the GPS map.”
“Our team will be supporting Matt’s team in any way we can. Once you have recovered an article or debris, you will apply a label to it, and identify where it was located on the GPS map.”
“Cliff will now cover the rest of Phase II.” Cliff stands up at the screen and covers the agenda.
“We have four objectives on this excavation. They are to mark all items we come in contact with:
Locate all alien articles, corpses, etc. - we want to find everything.
Identify every article and label it.
Prioritize the article for recovery and packaging. Each item will then be removed to a secure location. As an example: Instrumentation and technical equipment will have top priority.”
“There is a large enough, fairly level site where we can set up temporary barracks, lab, and a shop.”
“One item to note: Since we are looking for debris, and that is why we will not fly in. We will hike up the mountain as far as possible, up the drainage path to the glacier.”
“It is hoped that we might find more interesting artifacts. So no, we will not be flown in. As easy as that would be, the drainage area needs to be searched also. After we go up, other teams will continue to scour that area for other findings. That is, we do not want to leave anything on this mountain that may be of interest to other foreign governments.”
“Does anyone have any questions?” Mark asks. “Peter?”
Peter asked, “Are there any pumas or bears up on that mountain?
“Not only are there pumas and bears up that mountain, Peter, there are Condors up that mountain.”
“Julia?”
“About 20 minutes ago, I saw something big and brown staring at us from the tree...it was big!”
Cliff replies, “Can you describe it?”
Julia replies, “It was mostly covered by foliage. But it appeared to be a very hairy-like creature on two feet.”
Cliff replies, “Thanks for your observation. It’s probably just a Llama at this elevation. But we’ll check it out.”
Mark wraps up the briefing, “Okay everyone, we leave first thing in the morning after sun up. Get everything you need together. We will meet here at the command center at 06:00. Dismissed.” Everyone heads out.
Sgt. Michaels approaches Cliff. “Sir, we have an intruder our men caught on the far side of the mountain.”
“So why is he here?” Cliff asks?
“The officer in charge believes he is just a curious native, Sir. No real threat. However...”
“Good, take him down to the base camp and detain him until I tell you to release him. If anyone else gets the message we detain snoops, they will avoid coming here.”
“Sir...” Sgt. Michaels speaks again, “the stranger was very determined to warn us about villagers disappearing off the mountain, lately.” Cliff replies, “Disappearing?”
“He claims people that climbed the mountain have never returned, Sir! He also mentioned a “Guygore” must have gotten them.”
“Guygore? What’s a Guygore?”
“Sir, one of the men who speaks Spanish stated that ‘Guygore’ is the Peruvian name for Yeti.” Cliff contemplates for a moment.
“Sgt. Michaels, get a hold of the patrol up there and have them keep their eyes open just the same.”
“Yes, sir!” SSG Michaels then relays the instructions.
Cliff shakes his head and returns to his work.
Sgt. Michaels approaches Cliff again. “Sir, we have an issue.”
“What’s that,” replies Cliff.
“Two of the SOAR man assigned to keep people off the mountain are missing!”
Cliff faces the Sergeant and replies, “Find them! We need to know what is going on. And get Mark Valentine over here!”
“Yes Sir,” replies Sgt. Michaels as he reaches for his handheld radio and initiates a search protocol to find the missing men.
Cliff speaks again…”Sergeant, give this top priority, we need to know what is happening. I do not want our efforts slowed or endangered. Report back to the command center every 30 minutes with an update!”
“Yes sir,” replies Sgt. Michaels.
Cliff starts to wonder …Mountain lions, big brown things, or Guygores? Or have they been accidentally injured in a fall, or some other accident? Whatever it is, we need to know now and deal with it!
At this point, security patrols operate in teams of four. Radio chatter in the operations center is constant.
Mark Valentine shows up. “What’s going on? I heard two of our security guys are missing.”
Sgt. Michaels answers, “Sir, the two missing guards have been found dead, partially buried and covered with branches and leaves.”
Mark replies, “This is an unexpected development. It sounds like we have company and it sounds planned. We need to hunt the perpetrators down and interrogate them.”
Sgt. Michaels interrupts, “Sir, it’s not a ‘who’ that did this, but a ‘what’ did this. They’ve discovered huge foot prints; kind of like a man’s, but much larger!”
Sgt. Michaels continues. “As our people approached that area something big and brownish-grey took off into the woods. There appeared to be two of them. They were huge! Due to the underbrush, we couldn’t make out exactly what they were. The men say the foot prints are similar to foot prints of a ‘Bigfoot!”
Cliff looks at Mark. “A Bigfoot in South America?”
“Well sir, the foot prints are three to four times the size of a human foot print lengthwise, yet they look almost human…so my guess is…we have a serious problem with a group of big foots!”
“Cliff, we need to meet and discuss this now,” Mark states. “You know as well as I do the stones could produce something like this. That might mean there’s an active stone out there somewhere.”
Cliff then reflects on the observation made by Julia earlier in the day...“Julia commented earlier that something like that had been watching us!”
Mark then turns to Sgt. Michaels. “Assemble a tracking and hunting party and have them report here on the double.”
“Sir, yes Sir!” He replies.
Mark tells Cliff, “We’ll need to delay the trip up the mountain tomorrow until we can guarantee the team’s safety under the current conditions.” A line of men stands before Mark.
“Men, we’re providing you with an Anti-Personnel Protection System, which is a borrowed technology from air traffic control. The equipmen
t is similar to a Doppler radar protection system in the way it performs its job. Each of you are being given an ID Transponder, which identifies you and tracks the assailants. We’ll also send up a silent chopper for reconnaissance. We know these creatures are deadly. We do not know their habits, or anything else about them. The only thing we do know is they quickly and quietly took out two of our best men.”
“Anything caught moving in the Doppler field without a transponder will set off the alarm and be trackable. It is hopeful that this tool will prevent the loss of another man. When the APPS is triggered, a clear eyepiece worn over the right eye should reveal where the intruders are located with respect to your location.”
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