LOST AND FORGOTTEN: BOOK THREE - ENIGMA

by Maurice Barkley

  “No Ferris wheels anywhere,” M2 said. “This would be a good spot for a giant roller coaster.”

  The drone flew on over the lake and approached the face of the cliff. We had an excellent view of the huge cavern that gobbled up the water from the many falls. The camera elevated to show the distant horizon that revealed a long chain of middle-sized mountains and at the same time zoomed in to draw the scene closer. Nowhere did we see anything more than the streams that fed the lake in the crater. The camera, at its current angle, swung around in a complete circle. We saw only more of the same, but in the distance we could just make out the vague outlines of more surface cities.

  Alice said, “It looks like the crater is the low spot in this whole area. As far as I can tell, the land rises in every direction.”

  Harry had been silently watching. “We ain’t takin’ no boat ride into that cavern. That water goes underground for a lot longer than I can hold my breath.”

  “If the villain Morgan Bruno shows up,” Alice said, “we'll give that job to him.”

  By then Fran’s pilot had turned the drone back toward our target and reduced the altitude to about forty feet above the rim of the crater. As the craft flew past the edge, Fran kept a running commentary. “The camera on the drone will continue to point down and ahead. When the craft reaches the center of the island, the other camera, which will point straight down, will be released. You’ll have a wide-angle view on this other monitor. Meanwhile the drone will fly in a tight circle while it tracks the parachute.”

  It all happened just as she said and we watched breathlessly, our eyes darting from screen to screen. The views were spectacular. At about the halfway point, the descending camera jerked to a stop and skewed to one side, giving us a sideways picture of the crater wall and several cascades. At the same time the drone camera monitor showed us the parachute collapsing and the whole assembly just lay there, suspended in the air. The camera began to move slowly sideways, dragging the parachute behind. It accelerated and moved outward as though sliding on the surface of a giant, invisible bubble. It passed the shoreline of the island and rapidly dove down to splash in the water, well out from the island. Moments later we lost its signal as it sank to oblivion.

  “You owe me one camera,” Fran said.

  “Put it on our tab,” M1 replied. “I think that’s it for the drone for now. We’ll replay what we have to see if we can spot anything. Can we use both of these monitors?”

  “Sure,” she replied, “the pilot has his own.”

  We spent the next half hour replaying both recordings, zooming in on different parts of the island. Just in from the shoreline there was a steep bank that rose up to the next level. It was as though the island’s designers had laid down a series of rough, progressively smaller disks leading up to a fourth, much smaller plateau on the top. The views were interesting and beautiful, but on the whole not very revealing. We saw an intricate network of footpaths covering the whole island, but no roadways.

  “I would very much like to walk those pathways,” Bob said.

  “But it looks too pristine,” Amy said. “I don’t see any rubble. Nothing is out of place. It looks like Disney World just before opening time.”

  Bebe, who had been a silent watcher, spoke up, “There is no life there. It is more like a painting of a place where there are no people.”

  Alice looked up from the monitor. “Amy, do you have a name for this new place or do we go with Golden City?”

  “I need a closer look,” Amy said. “The vertical view doesn’t tell me much.”

  “Well then,” M1 said, “let’s go and have that look see. Fran says she’ll monitor our progress.”

  Colonel Brockway entered just as we stood up. “I have some disturbing news for you folks,” We sat back down. “Save your questions. This is all I know.” he grabbed a coffee and joined us at the table. “Abraham is missing from the city of Duula on Omaha. There are no clues at all and no guesses as to his whereabouts.”

  “So now it’s Nora, Abraham and Carl,” Alice said.

  “Next, you don’t know this, but monitoring devices have been placed on all known portals. They’re not cameras, just counters that indicate the date, time that a portal was used. Unfortunately they don’t indicate whether a portal was used by a single person or a group. Anyway, my men found that the Omaha portal was used yesterday by some unknown person or persons.”

  The Colonel sat down at our table and turned on his Colonel’s face. “I have a few words for the Dance Band.” Oh, oh, this can’t be good, I thought. I glanced at Alice with eyebrows raised. Somehow she shrugged, using only her face. “I’m sure you all know that, although I am in charge on Enigma, there is a military chain of command. There are a bunch of people with many stars on their collars that I report to and from whom I take orders. Then there is the director and the president.” He paused for a sip of his coffee. “I say this to let you know that I speak for them—okay?” We nodded. “Although your discoveries have been remarkable, your progress on the Nazi problem has been limited. The pressure for results is enormous. There are forces promoting their own approaches. They’re demanding Special Forces be sent here along with other government agencies. If it were not for the German government, they’d be here now—that and the fact that they are suspicious and frankly afraid of you all.” He sat back with both hands on the edge of the table. “Here comes the demand and the threats. The director and the president are against this and have voiced their opposition in the strongest terms, but they stand in the minority. Moses wisely stands aside.

  “So, you have three days, including today, to show significant results or you will be recalled to Earth. The military and the politicians will take over. They say it’s for better or worse, but I know which way it will go if they prevail. Personally, I urge you to intensify your efforts. It’s a huge burden, but I shudder to think what will happen here if you are gone.

  “Now for some unofficial details from my own sources—don’t question, don’t repeat—this is for your ears only. Morgan Bruno has resurfaced as a member of the president’s advisory council.” Alice growled, but said nothing. “He is the one who has been pushing hard for the Band to be replaced by Special Forces. Behind all of this are the survey reports from Paradise. It seems that everywhere they look they find vast quantities of natural resources and they are just beginning to look. Bruno wants to give drilling and mineral rights to certain big companies to exploit these riches. Lobbyists are whispering into our leaders ears. They estimate that that a trillion dollar industry could be established in less than ten years and within twenty, Paradise could boost our entire GDP by nearly fifty percent.” He sat back, folded his arms and said, “I see by your looks that you’d like to strangle someone, but he’s worlds away from here.”

  “Goddammit,” Harry exploded, “those sons of bitches, they...” he sputtered—at a loss for words.”

  “They must not win this one,” Alice said. “If the director is overruled and Moses can’t help, it will be up to us.”

  “Right now,” M1 said, “we are still a force to be reckoned with. We have our three days and we will use them. We can do nothing about Bruno right now, so set that problem aside and concentrate on the here and now.”

  “Right on,” Amy said.

  “What is happening?” Bob asked.

  “Yes,” Shan added, “you are talking about people from Earth doing something to my home—something I might not like.”

  Alice took over and did her best to explain the problem without upsetting them too much, but it didn’t work, especially with Shan. I expected to see steam spouting from her ears. “Now these Earth people are the real buttheads.” This went on for a while, but eventually she calmed down.

  The Colonel stood, gave us a sharp salute and left. We just sat silently for a while. After about two minutes Harry broke the silence. “Bluff, bluster and bullshit. I’m sure the weasels are yapping for a variety of reasons. Mostly they want in on the glory, the m
oney and the power. I think they are scared. I think we should push back hard if they try anything. I also think this is why the director let the Colonel deliver the news. You know, it’s like the order is not direct from him.”

  “Harry, you son of a gun,” Alice said, “I think you nailed it. In fact you spiked it. James, there are things you could do, but I think it best that they don’t know the extent of your new abilities.”

  “How could they,” I said, “when even I don’t know? Joe—anything?”

  “Sorry,” he replied, “personnel matters confuse me.”

  We had no questions and we knew to save the bitching for later. Now was the time to start looking over our shoulders. We were not alone on Enigma.

  “But what does all of this mean?” Shan asked with a tremble in her voice. “Will they break us up? Break up the band? Will they make me leave you all and go back home?”

  As she voiced her last concern, tears welled up and she struggled not to cry.

  “Don’t worry, kiddo,” Harry said, “there is no way in hell anybody’s breaking up the Dance Band.”

  “All we can do now,” M1 said, “is to carry on and keep a sharp watch—a super sharp watch.”

  M1 called up the trolley for a trip to the Area of Entertainment and Adventure. He had Shan read the podium writing to see if it mentioned the Golden City, but it didn’t.

  “What is the meaning of the Area of Entertainment and Adventure?” Shan asked.

  “Hopefully,” Bebe said, “it is a place where one can have a good time.”

  This time the silver bullet arrived from its mysterious parking place in less than three minutes. It took us another three to load our expanded luggage and settle in for the ride.

  M1 manipulated the trolley console and our vehicle moved off smoothly. He had the trolley stop at the portal to Omaha to let Bebe look at the magic glen that had so enchanted us when we first arrived on Enigma. We looked, but couldn’t find the monitoring device. Then we were on our way to a place none of us had seen. At first the jungle was much the same as that which we saw on our first journey to the Old City that was now named, Manheim. It wasn’t long before we reached and ran along the banks of a large, slow-moving river. Gradually the land became more rugged and soon sheer cliffs rose up on either side. We rode on through the flat bottom of a wide canyon. The cliffs rose higher, but the jungle did not relent. Bebe was up front with the rest of the girls, but the interior acoustics were such that we could all hear each other without raising our voices. We didn’t need our ear radios.

  “I want to say something,” Bebe said, “but I am afraid my vocabulary might not be up to the task. Here I sit, a member of the Dance Band, riding in an amazing machine through this alien wonderland—and everything is so normal. This is like taking a scenic tour of the Upper Amazon. I have passed through many portals and have traveled hundreds of light-years. Where are we? Do any of you know?”

  “I hope,” Harry said, “they hurry up with their analysis of the star charts. We have masses of readings for them now, especially from Paradise.

  “Oh that reminds me,” Alice said, “I got news. It’s top secret so far, but during our last talk the director told me the eggheads back home have been crunching the numbers based on the star charts we made on Paradise, they said it was probably somewhere in what from Earth is the Hercules constellation, about three hundred and fifty light-years from home. Astronomically speaking that’s not too far. We haven’t got any information on Enigma’s location yet.”

  Bebe kept talking, “Did you ever speculate on the possibility that, like a transporter, a trip through a portal might result in one’s annihilation as one entered. Then the being that arrived at the other end is an exact copy of the original with memories intact? Did you? I might have died many times since leaving Earth and this person speaking to you is just a duplicate of the original. I hope you have a good answer for me because these thoughts are making me nervous.”

  “Relax, Bebe,” M1 said, “a portal is nothing like a Star Trek transporter that has to dissolve you into atoms at one end and reassemble them at the other. Each portal has only one twin and they each share a single surface. You could stop halfway through a portal and stand there for as long as you like. Though half of your body is light-years away, you are still one piece.”

  “Thank you, Don,” Bebe said, “and now I think I will be quiet and enjoy this wonderful trip.”

  Amy gave her a puzzled look. I didn’t try to speculate.

  We were rounding a bend in the river as Bebe finished talking. This gave us an unobstructed view of the blue rail for five or six hundred yards before it followed another bend and disappeared. As soon as we acquired that view, the word wonderful dissolved. In the distance, standing astride the blue rail, was a woolly mammoth-sized nightmare of a monster. If a Morse was Jekyll, this was Hyde. My first thought was dinosaur, but I felt certain nothing that evolved on Earth was ever that ugly or brutish.

  “Boys, get out your shotguns and stop our bus,” Alice yelled. “Better yet, put it in reverse.”

  Both guns were already out, but M1 made no move toward the console. “There’s no stop button or reverse switch—it’s all automatic. I can’t even roll down a window to get a shot.”

  By that time the beast was less than three hundred yards away. All eyes were on the monster, but the crew remained quiet. Later, I complemented them on their behavior under stress, but Shan just said she couldn’t scream because she was busy crapping her pants.

  “No big plans, gang,” M1 said. “All we can do is wait to see what it will do.”

  At about one hundred yards the thing opened its mouth. It was the size of a cargo ship ramp only with shark teeth. Still straddling the blue rail, it began to move ever faster in our direction. We could hear the stomping of its feet and see the foamy slobber dripping from its jaws in anticipation of its lunch.

  “If I survive this,” Alice shouted, “I’ll never tell anyone to bite me again. I promise.”

  We all cringed down in our seats as the ghastly monster thundered down on us. Just as that phenomenal mouth was about to engulf the entire trolley, the apparition disintegrated into thousands of small, twirling fragments that faded like exhausted fireworks as they spun away.

  Our trolley simply continued down the rail as though nothing at all had happened. We were breathless with relief and looking wide-eyed at each other. I stared at Bebe with raised eyebrows and she flashed me a thumbs up while mouthing an all’s well that ends well.

  “What the Fudgesicle was that all about?” M2 exclaimed.

  “I now know how it feels to freak out, man” Shan said, with a quavering voice.

  “Maybe,” Amy speculated, “it was this planet’s ‘Man behind the Curtain’ telling us to get out of Oz.”

  “Better yet,” Alice chimed in, “it was P. T. Barnum giving the suckers a good scare on their way into the Big Top.”

  “You know,” Harry added, “I bet you just nailed it. What we just saw was part of the entertainment. We best prepare ourselves for more heart stoppers.”

  “Hey! Wait just a freaking minute,” Amy squawked. “James, isn’t Lonesome Joe supposed to come to our defense in situations like this?”

  “That’s right,” I said to her. Then to the second button on my shirt I said aloud, “Hey, Joe. What’s the deal? You didn’t do a thing on our behalf.”

  “I knew it was a harmless illusion,” said the voice behind the button. “You should have known too. Did you not notice both Blue and Jesus ignored the whole event? Now, Jesus, being a cat, ignored it to an even greater extent. Felines are like that. They may have wondered about all the fuss inside this vehicle, but they knew nothing was happening, monster wise.”

  “You could have told us,” Alice growled. “I made the bite me pledge too soon,”

  “I am sure,” he said, “your companions will not protest if you rescind that hasty vow. I remind you, we are going to the Area of Entertainment and Adventure and I am sure thi
s is part of the program. I did not want to be what you call, a spoilsport.”

  Harry speculated that our intelligent computer must have a sense of humor and a devilish streak.

  “I will admit,” Joe said, “your reactions were most interesting and informative. However, if you wish, in the future I will alert you to similar situations.”

  “Please do so,” Alice told him gruffly, “and while you’re at it, tell us if that ocean I see ahead is real and will we follow the blue tube as it dives right in?”

  When Alice asked this last question, all eyes joined hers in looking forward. If what we saw were real we would momentarily plunge into a very large body of water that extended beyond the horizon.

  “I think we are safe,” Lonesome Joe replied, “But the blue rail does trend downward and the illusion matrix is very different and complex.”

  “You’re sure it’s just an elaborate illusion?” Alice asked.

  “I think so,” Joe said, “but the structure is complex and beyond my ability to analyze. I suggest you closely observe the behavior of Jesus as we enter the water, which will happen in two seconds.”

  With no reduction in speed our taxi sped into the surf like a torpedo launched from a PT boat. We heard the rush of water as the rounded nose of our vehicle kicked up a large bow wave. There was some minor lurching as the craft slowed, but the transition from trolley to submarine took just a few seconds. Blue and Jesus ignored everything.

  “Is it real water, Joe?” Shan asked.

  “I am not sure,” he replied.

  “Bite me, Joe,” Alice shot back.

  A microsecond later, Alice squealed and rose out of her seat. “Something just bit me in the ass.”

  “That would be me,” Joe said, from behind my button.

  “Holy cow!” M2 exclaimed. “Joe does have a sense of humor. He has to be a lot more than just a machine. How did you do that, Joe? Do you have telekinetic powers?”

  “No, M2,” I can’t manipulate physical objects and nothing actually bit Alice’s posterior. I used a form of auto-suggestion to trick her into thinking she was bitten. It is a rather crude device—I apologize.”