by Sy Walker
“No way,” the young man said. “That’s awesome.”
Valerie listened to them, half of the times, as they trudged through the undergrowth in the sparsely lit and cold jungle. The path was relatively wide, an indication that it was travelled on a lot, but at the moment she regretted not wearing better clothes. Mosquitoes, flies and gnats whizzed by her face and ears and occasionally stopped to sip from her. She saw some of the others fanning this way and that too, but she would take this torment over the one that had been served her by her ex-husband. This trip was a way to get away from him, to get away from it all. Her weight hadn’t seemed to matter to him; in fact, he had encouraged her late night eating on occasion. To find out that he had been cheating with a skinnier woman had been like rubbing salt in the wound. But he could have her. She was beautiful enough to get another man on her own; a man that would love her, warts and all.
So distracted was she by her thoughts that she had wandered away from the group without realizing it. She stopped dead in her tracks then and listened, but all she heard were the sounds of the jungle; the gentle flowing of water over rocks; the fluttering of birds as they abandoned their nests overhead; the chirping of crickets and the croaking of frogs. But she hear none else. She stumbled along until she came to a fork in the trail, and after a moment of hesitation, she headed onto the path that led to the right.
It brought her to a dense overgrowth, and she called and looked around for anything or anyone familiar. Her feet were beginning to rub against the hard rubber of her boots, and she decided she would just return to the clearing and wait for the group to return. She had seen enough of the Copa anyway. It was getting darker, and she wasn’t sure how far back the trail went, so it was no surprise her adrenaline started pumping as she imagined she might get lost. She walked as fast as she could, and in her hurry, she didn’t see the slippery incline a few feet away. She stepped hard against the embankment, and before she knew it, she slipped and slid about one hundred feet down, the twigs and leaves slapping against her face as she whistled by.
Her screams went unheard, and when she came to rest again, she stood and looked at the muddy mess against her jeans.
“Oh man,” she sighed as she tried to rub the stain out, which only served to make it worse. Then she looked around and realized she was as far as she could be from the trail. “How do I get out of here?” she asked silently as she tried to climb the incline, using the hanging vines and exposed roots as leverage. They kept slipping from her grasp, so she decided she would walk parallel to the trail on the lower level.
She walked for a few hundred yards, and was surprised to realize she was right back at the spot where she had begun. She had made a complete circle, but what was most discombobulating was that on the second time around, the only thing familiar was the incline.
CHAPTER 2
“What the…?” Valerie said to herself as she turned about a couple of times. “Wasn’t I just here?” She wiped sweat beads from her brow, an unusual act considering she was in the middle of a cold and wet jungle.
She started again, but the path that she walked before seemed to have disappeared, and she stepped into a clearing that led to a stream instead. “Where did this come from?” She was growing worried and concerned that she was indeed lost, and that no one would find her. “Hello!” she started screaming at the top of her lungs. She knew better than to go across, or she would really be lost. The tour didn’t feature a stream, even though there were supposed to be lakes in the Copa. Her idea of a simple getaway had exploded into something far more than she had bargained for.
She turned around and started walking in the direction she had come. Maybe if she went up the incline, she would find the path again before it got too dark. Her heart was thumping and her chest was heaving as she broke into a slight run. She got to the place, and just like before, she started maneuvering her way to the top by clinging to vines and roots. She exerted more effort this time as she kept her attention focused on the sun taking a darker shade and dipping further west.
She kicked and grabbed, dragging her oversized weight to the top of the incline, and when she got there, she flung herself over the embankment and stretched out on her back. Her breathing came short now, and she stared at the ceiling made of green that towered above her for a considerable time while she waited for her body to slow down. When her breathing resumed normalcy, she flipped over and grabbed onto an overhanging branch for support, and scrambled to her feet. She patted her hands against her jeans and started in the original direction. She came to the fork in the road as before, but there was no reason to expect there would be anyone waiting there, and she wasn’t about to wait for them either.
She started running down the path, pushing the oversized leaves from her path, and stopping once to look at what seemed like a giant mosquito fly by her face. Panic surged in her now, and she could hear the blood rushing through her veins as she went as fast as her feet could take her. And then she felt the sting as something wrapped around her feet. She fell to the ground. There was something like a cord wrapped around her feet, and it prevented her from moving.
She quickly worked her fingers over the hard cords, and as soon as she stood and started running again, she heard wails and cries echoing through the trees. Valerie turned around and around, as she tried to discern the source of the cries. Then she started running again, and came to an abrupt halt when she saw the giant animal standing before her. Its head was like a wolf, but it was as big as a bear, and it growled at her as it commanded her to remain. She did not, and instead started moving slowly backwards. Terror seized her, and with the adrenaline still pumping in her veins, she turned around and started running again.
“Stop!” she heard a voice call from behind, but the blood rushing through her propelled her movements, and Valerie felt incapable of stopping.
Valerie started screaming now, even as she felt the animal close in on her. She felt another sting, and the next thing she knew she was on the ground. She heard a thump, and when she turned around she saw the strangest looking thing she had ever seen. It towered over her, its long hands reaching out to her. She flinched when it touched her, and scurried back, but he moved too quickly, and was much too strong for her. He pulled her to her feet, and the rest of them circled her.
“What…where am I?” she finally found the nerve to ask.
“I am Malek,” he told her. “You are in Tundra. Where did you come from?”
“I am where?” she asked, even while keeping her eyes trained on the vicious animal that still growled at her.
“Tundra,” he repeated. “One of the many jungles on our planet Xenon.”
“Your what? No, I’m on earth,” Valerie retorted, but even as she did, her mind tried to reconcile what she knew and what she saw before her.
“You are an earthling?” the man asked.
“Yes…yes!” she cried and turned around again, as if to flee. “I am trying to find my way back to the group that I followed into the Copa. I am in Mexico.”
“I thought you said you were on earth,” Malek said, now confused.
“Yes. Mexico is a place on earth. Why am I talking like this is real? Clearly I slipped when I was running and hit my head. This must all be a dream and any second now I’m going to wake up in the back of the bus because someone from the tour found me.”
Valerie started slapping her face, trying to wake up from the dream that seemed too real. Her eyes grew wild, and when she thought she could get away with it, she turned right and started off in a sprint. When she felt them upon her, she grabbed a piece of loose log on the jungle floor. She waved it about, and panted.
“Don’t come any closer,” she heaved. She swung the stick from side to side, warding them off, until she felt something come down hard on her shoulder. She crashed onto the ground, and then everything went black.
CHAPTER 3
There was something tickling her face, and she turned about to get it off, but each side she turned, the
sensation returned. She lifted her hand and slapped at it, and then turned again. This time she felt the sun on her skin, and then a cool breeze blowing against her feet that appeared to be bare. Why were they bare? She had on sneakers just before they had started the tour. That’s right! The tour! She shot upright, and looked around her. There was nothing recognizable in sight besides the spear that was held against her neck. Her eyes followed the stick, and met the man’s on the other end of it.
She looked around and realized she was in something that looked like a hut, made from wood, vines and some sort of canvas acting as walls. It had a thatched roof and a flap down the front that acted as the only entrance or exit; she only saw it as the latter at present. She smiled haphazardly at the man guarding her, and because she had nothing else to do, she began her survey of him. He was tall, like the other one, and a neck so long it seemed to be detached from his body. But not in an awkward way; it gave him an aura of power and knowledge. He wore khaki pantaloons, and he had the same fabric covering his upper body. His arms protruded from the shoulder, and his bronze skin flexed and glistened in the rays that escaped through the spores in the covering of the hut, and polka dotted the space.
His face was serious, and he held her there with his eyes and his weapon. “No move,” he told her.
“Okay,” she told him and held her hands up. “So, what is this place?” she asked. It was obvious she was either no longer in the Mayan ruins of Copa, Mexico, or there were some native people running around in the jungle no one else was aware of.
“Masawa,” he told her, and offered nothing more.
“Masawa?” she asked. The name wasn’t familiar to her at all. She was growing more bewildered by the moment, and just when she decided to risk it all and make a mad dash to the door, she heard what sounded like a commotion outside. The man’s face twitched, but it was obvious he was concerned. She waited, giving him the opportunity to leave, and as soon as he did, she sneaked to the slit in the wall. She pulled it back just wide enough to see two men roughing it out in the center of a small gathering of people. The man who had just left was trying to break it up, but he was struggling against the weight of the other two and had his back to the hut just then.
Valerie thought it a fitting time to try and make her escape. She lay low and pulled the slit further open. She kept her back to the flimsy material flapping in the wind, and with eyes searching for an opening, she slipped to the back. Her heart was racing in her chest, so she stopped for a second to calm herself. She had only just turned to make a run for it when she felt someone grab her from behind. She turned and came face to face with the man she had seen on the animal before.
“You need to come back,” he said.
“Okay, okay,” she said and conceded, for she knew she could neither outrun or fight him. Where would she run to anyway? She was lost in the jungle with a native tribe that thought they were on another planet.
“Do not try to leave again, or I cannot be held responsible for what happens,” he told her.
“Why are you keeping me here?” she asked him, and followed him inside the hut once more.
“You are dangerous,” he told her, and sat on what seemed to be the trunk of a once huge tree.
“I am dangerous?” she asked, and then laughed. “I’ve been called many things, but dangerous has never been one of them.”
“You did pull a weapon on one of my men when we saw you in the Tundra,” he told her.
“Why do you keep calling it that?” she asked. “I was in the Copa, not the Tundra, or whatever you call it. And I would like to go back to the hotel now. They must be out looking for me by now.”
“Maybe, but they aren’t looking here,” he told her.
He was wearing the same khaki pantaloons like the other guard, but he had on a green and white tunic at the top instead. Not only was he better looking, and seemed more confident, but he had better command of the English Language too. “So, if we aren’t on earth, like you said, how come you know the language, and better than him too,” she said when she noticed the guard returning.
“English is not the language of earth,” he told her. “I just happened to learn it better than most of my people.”
“Your people? So, that means you are the leader?” she asked and the anxiety on her face was evident.
“Yes,” he said and stood then to face the man who had just returned. “Watch her properly this time,” he told him sternly. “Do not leave this spot for any reason,” and with that he turned and left.
Valerie was about to go after him, even after hearing the instructions that were given to the man, but her guard planted himself firmly in her path, filling every possible angle of escape. She backed away and sank into her seat, prepared to sit there until they decided it was fit for her to leave. She had wanted an escape from the drama in her life, back in San Francisco, but she had not signed up for an excursion on another planet. She still thought she must be dreaming, but the glare in the eyes of the man who stood guard over her was making it less of a dream and more of a nightmare.
CHAPTER 4
The only times the slit in the canvas moved was when a woman entered to give Valerie something to eat. Whenever she had to make an excretion, she had a special place in the corner, which was checked regularly. She was feeling hot and dirty, and she was glad when she saw him return.
“Can’t I go outside? It’s been days since I’ve been here,” she said.
“Only one day.” His eyes swept her frame, and then he grunted and went back outside. When he came back in, a woman was with him. “Take her to the river,” he instructed. “Give her a bath.”
The woman nodded and went over to take Valerie’s hand. Valerie shook her off sidestepped her, not sure whether she should be feeling grateful or annoyed. She squinted her eyes when she went out, and she could tell that by the direction of the sun, it was slightly past noon. She looked around the village as she walked, and saw a collection of huts like the one she had just exited. Women and children milled about, and seemed happy and content. She saw a baby playing with one of the giant wolf like animals, and she stopped in her tracks. She was horrified at first that it might harm it, but she witnessed then the gentleness of the beast.
On her path to the river she saw a man and a woman returning; she was pregnant, and he had her in his arms, her weight not seeming to matter to him. He looked at her in an odd way, and his eyes followed her until they passed. There were many more at the river, and the women were seen washing the men, dutifully, but not seeming bothered by it. It was all new to Valerie, though she felt too self-conscious about taking her clothes off. The woman moved robotically, and began stripping Valerie as soon as she stepped into the water. She stood still, and allowed her to work, and while she stood in the river and allowed the cool water to wash over her, she finally opened her mind to the possibility that this world was nothing of Earth.
Back at the hut, she went directly to the man in charge. “Where exactly am I?” she asked him again.
“I told you; The Village Masawa on the Planet Xenon. Come,” he told her and walked off.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she tried to keep up with him and his party. The heavy tunic she wore that practically hugged her ankles obstructed her walking.
“To the place we found you. I want to know how you got here. Maybe there was a vessel we missed,” he said.
“There is no vessel,” she said when she caught up with him. He didn’t seem to hear her, and kept walking. She grabbed his arm then, and he stopped abruptly and turned to her.
“This doesn’t make any sense. If there is no ship, then how did you get here? What were you doing?”
“I was with some people in the jungle in Mexico when I got lost. I tried to find them, slid down a slope and lost track of where I was. That’s when I ran into you.”
He stood there, biting his lips and looking around, and then grabbed her by the arm and led her in another direction. “Maybe Master Shakh will kn
ow.”
“Master who?” she asked.
“Master Shakh. He is our wise one. He will know what happened better than any of us,” he replied and tugged her along.
They got to the dwelling place of their wise one and he left them outside while he went in. After a few moments, he emerged with who she had expected to be an old man, but instead, he seemed as young as the rest of them.
“So this is woman from earth?” he asked, and then beckoned to her. “Come, come,” he told her and waited for her to get to him. Then he placed his arm around her and brought her inside the hut. “I never seen earth woman before. My grandfather told me about one he see, but that was thousands of years ago.” He looked at her, and plucked her skin, and then smiled at Malek. “She is nice one.”
“That’s not why we are here. We need to know how she got here,” Malek told him. “Maybe we can send her back.”
“I’m afraid I can give you idea of how she came, but not sure if I can make a way back,” he said and went over to a table he had filled with candles and herbs.
Malek and Valerie shared surprised looks and then turned to Master Shakh again. “You know how I got here? Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“Not so fast,” he told her. “That may not be such good news.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“History tells of gateway from this world to yours. A time portal. My grandfather privileged to go through two times in his life. I never did, but would love to see other world.”
“A gateway? But that means if we can find the spot, then I can go back through,” she said excitedly.
“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple. Gateway only opens once every generation, and only when sun and moon come together. I can try and tell when something like that will happen again, but I don’t think it will be soon.”