LOST AND FORGOTTEN: BOOK THREE - ENIGMA

by Maurice Barkley

  “Is there any way we can help her?” Bob asked.

  “Ideas anyone?” Alice asked next.

  M1 clicked on his hand radio. “Fran, are you there? Can you see us?”

  “Yes,” she said, “I have a good view of you and that creature on the other side of the barrier.”

  “Could you strap a universal translator and a radio on to one of your drones and drop it near her? Also can you rig the drone to act as a relay for the signal?”

  “Give me five minutes to launch,” she said. “I can deliver in less than ten minutes.”

  “That’s great. Thanks a lot,” M1 said. “Make sure the radio is on and set to receive and transmit.”

  “You know,” Harry said, “I wonder if some sort of construction crane could be brought in from Nexus or Shenandoah? It would have to have quite a reach.”

  “Say,” M2 said, “how about the Red Ball Lieutenant who was bringing in supplies for IHOO? If he’s still here, he might know what’s available or at least find out about it.”

  Fran interrupted. “I’m working on your drone, but I’m still listening to you. I can see the guy you’re looking for. He and his crew are having lunch at IHOO. I just sent one of my guys to fetch him and here he comes on the run. I’ll let him use my radio.”

  We heard Fran give him some instructions and after some fumbling noises the man spoke. “Lieutenant Kelsey here, how can I help you?”

  M1 carried the conversation. “Look Lieutenant, we need a crane or something to hoist someone up and over an approximately four to five hundred foot wall. The thing is it’s invisible, but probably not very thick.”

  “Hang on a sec,” Fran said. “I’m showing the Lieutenant my video.”

  “We heard Fran’s voice as she talked him through what she was showing him.”

  The lieutenant had a surprise for us. “Yesterday we brought in a small observation helicopter. My guys just finished the assembly. I need thirty minutes to fuel and run some engine tests, then I can pick up and deliver if the creature cooperates.”

  “Great, Lieutenant,” M1 said, “Go to it. Call us when you’re on the way.”

  “Roger that,” the lieutenant said.

  Fran got back on the radio. “Do you still want the drone?

  “Absolutely,” M1 replied. “If we can talk to her she might not run away when the helicopter appears.”

  “I’ll be launching in a few seconds. When you hear me overhead, give me instructions.”

  It was an anxious four minutes before we heard the buzz of Fran’s craft.

  “Is the payload on a parachute?” M1 asked.

  “Yes,” she said, “I took one from a flare.”

  “That’s good. Drop the load as close to her as possible.”

  The drone passed over the barrier. “I’ll loop around and approach parallel to the barrier. The craft has to be on auto pilot because it has its own radar and targeting program.”

  We watched as her craft made a graceful circle and approached from the left. The package was released and fell about half way until the chute deployed. It drifted slowly down and landed about ten feet from its target. Its target watched in fascination and fear, her back pressed to the barrier. In that position I noticed her hair was almost a mane. It continued along her spine about half way down her back. When the parachute simply lay there quietly she gradually relaxed and turned to look at us.

  Alice got busy with hand signals. She pointed at the little woman and then pointed to the package on the ground. Alice made picking up motions as she waved her toward the small bundle. Without hesitation, she walked over, picked it up and returned to the barrier. Fortunately there was no package to open because Fran had strapped things together with rubber bands. Alice took off her universal translator while pointing at the one in the woman’s hands. When it was free of the package, Alice made motions for her to put it around her neck, which she did.

  So far things were working. Alice picked up her own radio and began to speak. “Hello there stranger. How you doin’?”

  The small woman was so startled by the voice coming from the radio that she almost dropped it. She turned, wide eyed, toward Alice who made exaggerated baa-baa sounds. It only took seconds for her to realize what was happening and it was the first time we had seen her smile. She had normal looking teeth. Alice pointed at her mouth then at the woman’s mouth. At first she didn’t get it, but after a few repetitions she got the message and rewarded us with a volley of unintelligible words. Fortunately she kept talking and very soon we were hearing her in English.

  “… and I am alone. I have run for three days and I don’t know where I am. The slave hunters have been chasing me. I think they are close by. I am very thirsty.”

  When she stopped to catch her breath, Fran broke in to say, “I’m strapping a water bottle to a second drone. I’ll deliver in three minutes.”

  Alice spoke again. “Listen carefully. We will send you water very soon. Also we are sending a much larger machine that flies through the air to bring you to us. Stand where you are when you see the machine. When it touches the ground, run to it and climb inside. There will be a man there to help you. Do you understand?”

  She said yes, with a single bobbing nod.

  I heard Fran’s voice from M1’s radio. “The drone is on the way.”

  “That woman is very fast,” Bob said with admiration in his voice.

  Harry, standing off to one side, said, “We need even faster, kids. Look at the tree line at front right.”

  We all looked where he was pointing and saw two squat, gray, almost naked, males. A ragged loincloth was attached to their belts and each had a wicked looking spear. One was mounted on an animal that vaguely looked like a horse. He had a seashell horn which he blew several times. We couldn’t hear it, but the little woman crouched close to the ground, cowering in fear.

  “Those are like the gray man I saw in Shenandoah,” Shan said excitedly.

  Amy said, “I hope they aren’t, but I wonder if they are the same race as the little girl. I’m thinking of the male morses on Seuss.”

  “I wonder,” M2 said, “if the guy on the horse thing is calling for more troops.”

  As we looked at the two, they in turn were studying us intently. Stranger was once again pressing her back to the barrier. It was another standoff that lasted about two minutes. I just heard the faint buzz of the approaching drone when I saw the gray man on foot start slowly forward.

  “Fran!” M1 shouted into his radio, “we can’t wait for the helicopter. Can you dive on those two savages and scare them off?”

  “I see them,” Fran said. “I’ll use the same approach, but I have to program the auto pilot because I’ll probably lose contact at the low point of the dive. The program is simple. I’ll have it ready by the time I loop around.”

  This helpless watching was frustrating. All we could do was request and observe as the drama unfolded, but Fran did everything just right. The drone appeared in a rapid, and I assume noisy dive, that pulled up less than ten feet from the gray men. Their curiosity forgotten, they scattered into the trees and were seen no more. Fran swung the craft around and dropped the water bottle. It had no parachute, but it plopped down in the previous spot without damage. Alice held up her water bottle, demonstrated proper cap removal and soon stranger quenched her thirst.

  “Helicopter lifting off now,” Fran said. “The lieutenant said he’d do the necessary testing on his way to your location.”

  “Wow!” Amy exclaimed, “Do we have influence, or what?”

  Less than two minutes later the helicopter arrived. Again we just watched as it landed, picked up the woman and delivered her to us. She scrambled away from the noisy blades and approached our group with a tentative smile on her face. We were now five or six feet apart, but no barrier divided us. Bob was the first to move. He stripped off his shirt and offered it to Alice. “Please have her put this on. She’s a beautiful girl, but she doesn’t know about modesty.”

&nb
sp; “You are a gallant lad, Bob,” Alice said, “and I mean that sincerely.”

  She took the shirt and helped the woman put it on and once buttoned, it hid the important parts. She didn’t protest, but she also didn’t understand. M1 thanked the lieutenant while bundling our new friend back onto the little bird.

  “Deliver her to Fran and Camila. Tell them to watch over her until we return. Ask Camila to start a DNA test and check to see if she is patterned for portal travel. Ask them to talk to her and learn what they can.”

  “Curious,” Alice said. “At first her skin looks like someone gave her a light, but irregular coat of lilac tinted, gray spray paint. When I helped her put on Bob’s shirt I had a close look and her skin has a tiny, paisley-like pattern that reminded me of those weird fractal shapes that go on and on forever. One more mystery to add to the many we’re now juggling.”

  “It’s mid-afternoon,” M1 said. “We still have plenty of daylight and we shouldn’t waste it.”

  “But, M1,” Bebe said, “we must have a goal—a plan. When I face a similar dilemma, I usually return to the starting point. In this instance it would be the glen at the Omaha portal.”

  “Great idea, Bebe,” M1 said. “We should retrace our steps. Maybe we missed something.

  “I am still fascinated,” Bob said, “by that place. I would love to climb those moss-covered terraces to discover what we may find at the top.”

  That got a unanimous vote, so that’s what we did.

  CHAPTER 26

  My goodness,” Bebe exclaimed as the trolley arrived at the Omaha Portal and the door lifted to usher in the music and the much stronger scent of flowers.

  “Clickers out everyone,” M1 said. “There are no pink saucers in sight and I’d like to keep it that way. Now, let’s see what we may have overlooked. Bob, where’s that easy route to the top?”

  “Just to our right,” he said, “there is an overgrown ledge that follows the water’s edge over to the waterfall.”

  “I think,” M1 continued, “you are the one to take the lead for now.”

  Bob did not reply, but just started walking. We followed him in no particular order as he stepped onto the ledge and worked his way around to the waterfall. Without hesitation he began the climb.

  “Hold on, Bob,” M1 called out. “Before we begin, Amy needs to name this place.”

  “That’s right,” Alice said. “How about it, kiddo?”

  Amy hopped up to stand next to Bob, while facing the heights we were about to climb. She raised both arms and called out, “Forevermore this place of wonder shall bear the name, Eden.” She dropped her arms and turned to face us. “This was easy. It can only be named, Eden. It’s a beautiful place and even has a serpent, that yellow ribbon.”

  “Uncanny, Alice said, “another perfect match.”

  Bob proved adept at finding the least awkward route and we made good progress. The angle of ascent was uniform and did not taper near the top. Part way up I looked back down and was again reminded of rice paddies, but I also saw a yellow ribbon wiggling its way up the slope in our direction. “Heads up, guys,” I called out. “The yellow ribbon is on a collision course with us.”

  Instantly I heard several clickers hard at work, but the sound made no difference to the undulating wiggler. Our group parted as it drew near and we watched it pass by and continue on to a point about ten yards above where we were standing. There it stopped and hung almost motionless.

  “I think it’s waiting for us,” Amy said, “I didn’t see any eyes or any head at all when it went past us. I wonder if it’s the same one we saw when we first arrived here.”

  “Could be,” Alice said. “Maybe it’s one-of-a-kind like Blue or YDRII.”

  “It does look quite innocent,” Bebe said. “Perhaps we could follow it with due caution.”

  As a test, M1 and M2 began to climb and the ribbon did the same—maintaining its preferred distance. M1 gave us a wave and we all resumed our ascent. M2 carried a sensitive altimeter and just after he announced we had climbed two hundred feet, we arrived at the top.

  “Oh, my,” Miss Dance exclaimed, “I am Alice and I am in wonderland.”

  The gently rolling landscape, covered completely by the moss, looked almost too perfect.

  “If this is a golf course,” M2 said, “the whole thing is a putting green.”

  No one else had a comment as we took in the beautiful scene. Ahead, tall willow-like trees grew thick, shutting out most of the sky, their branches, bunched together, poured down, looking like upside down poplar trees. Although there was no perceptible breeze, there was a constant slow movement in those huge clusters, reminiscent of the tree canopy at Sequoia Provence. A uniform mist engulfed the entire area except for foggy streamers dramatically twisting and curling close to the ground. Our ribbon guide made figure eights and circles as if waiting for us to move.

  “That reminds me,” Amy said, “of those dancers who have long streamers at the end of a stick. I guess this mist is the reason Fran couldn’t get a good picture of this area. Come to think of it, this would make a good hideout.”

  “Did she tell you how big it is?” Bebe asked.

  “About the same as the top of Pinocchio.”

  “That might mean,” M2 said, “there will be a structure about one hundred yards to our front. Right now I can’t see more than thirty.”

  “The ribbon seems to be heading that way,” M1 said. “We’ll go slow and keep the old eyeballs working.”

  The ribbon stopped its ballet performance, resumed its undulating and moved at our pace through another magical scene.

  “This moss is great to walk on. I wonder where the fog machine is,” Harry mused, as the thick vapor curled and swirled around our ankles. Blue sniffed it once and then ignored it.

  “A very theatrical place,” Alice said. “This is just exquisite and I still smell the flowers and hear the music.”

  “Amy’s comment about serpents and hideouts has made me a little uneasy,” Bebe said. “The yellow ribbon has behaved in a benign manner, but it has yet to earn my trust.”

  I felt a thumb in my back. I knew Harry was behind me and I knew what the thumb meant. It was a little disorienting when we walked under the first great tree. For a giddy moment my spine told me I was walking upside down over the treetops of some far off forest.

  “This makes me feel strange,” Shan said, while holding on to M2’s arm with both hands. “The world is almost upside down. I am reminded of the view of Ket Gai from Paradise.”

  “We all feel the same to one degree or another,” Alice said. “I think, after I’m here for a time, I’ll be reluctant to leave. I’m walking through a fairy tale. It’s beautiful.”

  Well inside the forest, the perfume of flowers followed us. The music became softer and more distant, reminding me of the organ music at the far away Cathedral restaurant on Earth. I had to constantly remind myself to stay alert and not drop onto one of my moods. We became used to the movement overhead and just enjoyed following our ribbon guide.

  The forest became thicker as we approached what should have been the center of this place, but just ahead the trees ended and the light became moderately brighter. We stopped at the edge of a big open space. The mist was thicker here and prevented us from seeing its extent.

  “Look there,” Amy said, while pointing to our front beyond the ribbon. “I can just make out a line of small structures. They could be tiny gazebos.”

  While she was talking, our ribbon guide began to undulate vertically and soon disappeared in the overhead vapor.

  “This must be the place,” M2 said. “Not very exciting.”

  “Blue isn’t making a fuss,” M1 said, “nor is Jesus. I think it’s safe to proceed.”

  “With due caution,” Bebe murmured.

  We stopped after moving about ten yards because the gazebos were much more visible and we all saw something more.

  “That is a person or a statue,” Bebe said, “but I see only one individu
al and I see eight of the little gazebos.”

  “Curious,” Alice said, “eight gazebos over there and eight of us over here. This must mean something, but what? I see someone in a robe, but he or she is just standing there. And FYI, I feel Jesus’s claws digging into my shoulder. Best we be cautious.”

  M1, in the lead had turned around to talk to us and apparently he saw something we did not. “Are each of you looking at the figure in the gazebo?” We nodded yes. “Is it the only one you see?” We nodded yes. “Funny thing folks, you are all looking in different directions.”

  “I see someone in the third gazebo,” Harry said. “Any of you guys see him?”

  We all said no and by the process of elimination we quickly discovered that each of us saw someone in a different structure.

  “Looks like we each have our own place,” Amy said, “but I’m not anxious to go and meet my personal ghost.”

  “I wonder if it’s a projection or a hologram or something,” Harry said.

  I had an idea. “How about I walk back for a bit to see if my guy vanishes?”

  “Go about ten yards,” M1 said. “Don’t get too far from us.”

  I went and at about the five-yard mark everyone called to me that my gazebo had disappeared. I walked back and once again we were up to eight of the tiny structures.

  We stood around for a while. Bob volunteered to approach, but M1 vetoed the idea, so we stood around some more.

  “Okay, here’s the deal,” M1 said. “M2 will tie a rope to my belt and hold it while I approach my gazebo. If something goes awry, you guys can haul me back.”

  There was some argument, especially from Amy, but the boss is the boss and soon he stepped slowly out while we watched closely. We were watching so intently we didn’t notice what was on the trail behind us.

  “STOP! PROCEED NO FURTHER!” a high-pitched feminine voice called out.

  We all, including M1, spun around to see who was doing the shouting and were struck dumb by the vision approaching our group. She was diminutive, utterly gorgeous and sparkling silver—even her shorts and halter. The apparition stopped in the center of our tight group. Harry poked her shoulder with his index finger to make sure she was not part of the gazebo projection. She poked him back with a smile.