by Gary Barnes
The unusual-looking scuba planes seemed very out of place to Welton. What are these things doing out here in the middle of the Ozarks, he wondered. The Search and Rescue Team Captain noticed the quizzical expression on Welton’s face and volunteered, “We use them all the time for deep water rescue operations in the big lakes.”
Welton still looked a little perplexed so the Team Captain reached into the cab of his pickup and pulled out a Missouri State map. He unfolded it and placed it on the hood of his vehicle while motioning for Welton to join him. Then he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pen.
As Welton drew close the Team Captain drew a rather crude circle on the map with Eminence at the center. “We’re sitting here in Eminence like the hub of a giant wheel,” the Team Captain explained. “Scattered around the edges of its spokes are several massive lakes - well, technically they’re actually reservoirs, not lakes. We’ve got Table Rock over here, then Bull Shoals, Wappapello, Clear Water, Lake of the Ozarks, Stockton, and a bunch of others. Some of these lakes are over 200 feet deep, up to five miles wide, and have hundreds of miles of shore line as the dammed-up rivers back up into the mountain valleys. All this deep water makes scuba a very popular sport among Ozark tourists. That requires us in Search and Rescue to be equipped, trained and prepared for underwater rescues.”
Suddenly it all made sense to Welton.
Tina had already donned her wet-suit and was standing knee deep in the spring. She felt saddened and a little guilty about the damage they were about to cause to the delicate foliage that grew in the shallow water along the edges of the spring. But saving Ellie Jo’s life, and possibly others as well, was more important at the moment. Larry entered the spring and stood beside her, ready to receive a quick lesson in scuba diving.
“There really isn’t much to it, especially since we’re not going very far and we’re not going very deep. Just put this into your mouth and breathe through it normally,” she said as she picked up Larry’s mouthpiece and shook it for emphasis. “The only rule you need to keep in mind is that this mouthpiece can handle anything. If you cough, sneeze, or even throw up, just do it into the mouthpiece. It’s designed to handle all that, and more. If for any reason something really serious should happen, just remember that we’re only twenty feet from the surface and you can easily swim that far without breathing. Any questions?”
“No. You make it sound really simple. I thought there was a lot more to diving.”
“There is . . . so, like they say on T.V., don’t try this at home. But for what we’re doing here that’s all you need to know for now. Besides . . . , didn’t I tell you that I’d get you diving before the end of the summer?” she teased.
“Yeah, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Larry responded quite seriously.
“I know, me either . . . let’s go rescue some people.”
The Search and Rescue teams were securing extra scuba tanks and stretchers onto the scuba planes, as well as stowing other equipment and medical supplies into water tight bags. Suited up, four members of Search and Rescue, along with Clayton, Tina, and Larry, entered the spring. They submerged the scuba planes and headed toward the bluff wall on the far side of the spring’s four-hundred-foot-deep lagoon.
*
Arriving at the bluff they began searching for the cave opening. Finding it, they turned on their underwater lights and entered. The scuba planes passed through the forty-foot long tunnel in single file, entered the subterranean lagoon and then gradually surfaced inside the cavern.
While the others began climbing onto the dry embankment two of the Search and Rescue team members secured the scuba planes to boulders at the water’s edge. They then climbed out of the water onto the embankment to join the rest of the group.
As soon as Larry removed his mouthpiece and swim mask he took a deep breath of cave air and immediately let out a little cough. “Oh man, what’s that awful smell!”
“Probably a dead animal of some kind,” replied Clayton, who was standing next to him.
The rescuers began removing their diving equipment. When this task was completed the Team Captain addressed them. Pointing to Clayton, Larry, and Tina he gave them their instructions. “You three fan out and search along the riverbank in that direction,” he said as he pointed to the left, downstream. “If you find anything, holler.”
He turned next to two of his men. “You two spread out and go through the center of the room.” Then, pointing to the last man, he said, “You and I will follow the river in this direction,” motioning in the other direction.
The three groups fanned out in their designated areas and began their search. Clayton and his group began by searching along the shoreline. Within forty feet they discovered a large pile of dead fish that was about fifteen feet across. The fish pile floated in the water and was anchored to the shore by a mucusy film that encased the entire bundle.
“Well, now we know why the fishing has been so bad,” remarked Clayton.
Larry wrinkled his nose at the smell and turned his head away from the pile of fish. “That odor’s enough to gag a maggot.”
“But what would cause these fish to be piled up like this?” inquired Tina.
A faint splashing sound came from the base of the fish pile. Clayton lowered the beam of his flashlight to shine upon the water. To his surprise the water was teaming with hundreds of alien hatchlings that were feeding on the fish.
“I believe that the answer to that question is now self-evident,” remarked Clayton.
“What ARE those things?” Tina sneered.
Clayton squatted down with one knee on the ground for a closer inspection. “Very interesting. They appear to be some type of amphibian.” He reached into the water and scooped up a small creature no more than a couple of inches in length. Shining his flashlight directly onto it he stood up with the small amphibian in the palm of his hand. “Would you just look at that? This is incredible. A brand-new species that . . .”
At that moment the tiny amphibian opened its oversized mouth revealing two rows of razor sharp teeth on each jaw. Before Clayton could react it lunged for his finger and bit, drawing a pinprick of blood. Then the tiny hatchling released its grip, sprang from Clayton’s hand and flipped back into the water.
“Ouch,” Clayton exclaimed.
“Hey, that’s the same kind of salamander Johnny caught at Rymer’s Ranch,” noted Larry.
“You mean you weren’t joking about that salamander with teeth?” asked Clayton incredulously.
Larry pointed to the numerous hatchlings feeding upon the fish ball and to Clayton’s bleeding finger, “I rest my case.”
“What can I say? Salamanders aren’t supposed to have teeth, at least not ones from this planet. I apologize for doubting you,” Clayton conceded.
“Here, let me see that,” said Tina as she reached for Clayton’s hand.
“I’ll be okay, its only a scratch,” protested Clayton as he reached into his pocket, extracted a handkerchief, and wound it around his injury. “We’d better keep looking for Ellie Jo before we end up like that pile of fish.”
They left the shoreline and headed toward the interior of the cave.
“Being a student there are a lot of things I don’t know about zoology, but you said that salamanders from this planet don’t have teeth,” commented Larry.
“They don’t!” Clayton responded.
“Just curious . . . do you think these things might be what survived the alien crash?”
“Perhaps. Life is an enigma. It exists to challenge its adaptability. Therefore I believe that . . .” but before Clayton could finish, Tina who was about fifteen feet ahead of them, called out:
“I think I’ve got someone.”
The beam of Tina’s flashlight highlighted a foot protruding from behind a stalagmite. The three rushed forward to give assistance. Rounding the stalagmite they found what appeared to be a lifeless body lying face down on the ground. They turned it over and to their horror d
iscovered that it was Ellie Jo. Her eyes were wide open in a glassy stare, though a tear trickled from the corner of one eye. She was comatose with a lifeless expression on her face. Her body was covered in thick mucus, and most of her exposed skin had gelatinous amphibian eggs adhering to it with squirming tadpoles wiggling inside.
“Oh, my Gosh! This is worse than I imagined,” gasped Tina as she began to gently shake Ellie Jo and called out her name. “Ellie Jo, can you hear me? Ellie Jo! It’s me, Tina Chitwood.”
As Larry assisted Tina in tending to Ellie Jo, Clayton slowly swung the beam of his flashlight in a wide arch. He spotted the now burned-out Coleman lantern which Johnny had left behind. He continued sweeping the area with his flashlight, illuminating the numerous horses, cows, and dogs that littered the cave floor.
“Well, I think we’ve also solved the Sheriff’s rustling problem as well,” remarked Clayton. Then, about thirty feet away he noticed something. “There! I think there’s another one.” He rushed over to another body and found Honace Webber.
Larry propped Ellie Jo into a sitting position with her back leaning against the stalagmite. Tina placed her two middle fingers upon the inside of Ellie Jo’s wrist. She counted the pulses while watching the sweep second hand on her wrist watch. Frantically Tina yelled across the cavernous room to Search and Rescue, “I’ve got a pulse over here, but it’s very weak. Her heart rate is only twenty-seven and her breathing is very shallow.”
From the other end of the room, about sixty feet beyond Clayton, the Search and Rescue Captain yelled back “We’ve got two more over here. Try to revive them if you can.”
Larry opened the first aid kit he had stowed in his waterproof fanny pack and took out a vial of smelling salts. He crushed the ampule and wafted it under Ellie Jo’s nose. But she did not respond. “It’s no use,” he yelled to the Search and Rescue Captain. “Nothing works.”
From across the cavernous room the Captain’s voice pierced the darkness, “Get them over to the lagoon and we’ll prepare them for the swim out.”
Clayton picked up Honace and hoisted him over his shoulder, fireman-carry style, and began carrying him to the river.
Tina and Larry pulled Ellie Jo to a standing position; then Larry placed his right arm under her shoulders and his left arm under her thighs. Cradling her thus, he picked her up and started carrying her toward the river, too.
Arriving at the designated point, they carefully placed the four limp bodies on the ground. Immediately, two of the search and rescue team members retrieved the stretchers from the scuba planes and gently lifted the victims onto them, securely strapping the victims into place. The stretchers had been outfitted with scuba tanks strapped to their sides. The third team member began taking the victim’s temperatures with an ear thermometer. He recorded this along with their blood pressure readings and pulse rate.
Observing the egg sacks on Ellie Jo’s face, Clayton gave instructions to Tina and Larry. “Take your pocket knives and lance the eggs. We’ve got to destroy these things before they do any more harm to her. I’m going to try to scrape a few of the eggs off, keeping them intact so that I can examine them back at the lab.”
Clayton took out his pocket knife and began to lance an egg on the face of Honace Webber. However, just as the point of the knife pricked the egg, the egg ruptured and a wiggling, two-inch hatchling popped out and landed on the floor of the cave. It paused there momentarily as if assessing its situation, then scurried into the water and swam away. Simultaneously, several of the other eggs ruptured, spilling their hatchlings onto the cave floor. Immediately they either raced for the water or scurried off into the darkness of the cave.
Clayton was surprised, but his face was filled with wonderment, not fear. “My, my . . . I’ve read that some types of Amazon frog eggs will rupture like that when threatened by predators, but I’ve never actually seen it happen before. It’s really quite an ingenious defense mechanism.”
“No! It’s creepy,” interjected Larry.
“Well, now that we know what to expect,” Clayton continued with his instructions, “don’t just lance the eggs, be sure to stick your knife blade directly into the developing tadpole.”
Having a minor in zoology, Tina was not the least bit squeamish about such things and immediately joined Clayton and Larry in lancing the eggs.
Meanwhile, the Search and Rescue personnel began fitting the comatose victims with swim masks. Mouthpieces were also placed into the victim’s mouths and taped into place with duct tape securing their lips to the breathing apparatus.
“Be sure to get a tight seal with that tape. We don’t want anyone drowning before we get to the ambulances,” barked the Search and Rescue Captain.
While working to lance the eggs on Ellie Jo’s face, Tina noticed a sticky substance in her hair and on her forehead that was quite different from the mucus that covered much of the bodies of all the victims. “Dr. Clayton, do you know what this sticky stuff is?” she inquired.
“It looks similar to a substance I found at Honace’s hunting site,” replied Clayton. He reached into his pocket and took out a sample vial. “This time I came prepared. Scrape it off and put it in here. We’ll take it back to the lab for a closer look.”
As they continued to work, the Search and Rescue Team Captain picked up his radio and called the ambulance that was waiting at the edge of the spring. “We’ve got four victims; all have weak vital signs, low body temperatures, are experiencing severe shock and are extremely dehydrated. Prepare IVs of normal saline and get lots of warmed blankets. Stand by with 1cc of atropine in case their heart rates have not normalized by the time we get them to you.”
Over the radio the ambulance team responded, “10-4. We’ll be ready for you.”
Then turning to his team members who were working on the victims, the Captain continued his instructions. “That water is going to chill them severely. With their already lowered body temperatures I’m afraid that hypothermia could become a real possibility. Administer 1cc of epinephrine to each victim prior to initiating transport. Hopefully that will stabilize their heart rate and blood pressure and possibly keep them warm enough till we get them to the ambulances.”
One of the team members broke out several EpiPens and administered the epinephrine to each victim.
Tina, who was placing a swim mask on Ellie Jo, spoke to her comfortingly, even though she was quite sure that Ellie Jo could not hear and that she was not even aware of her surroundings. “Don’t worry Ellie Jo. We’re going to get you out of here. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to place a mouthpiece into your mouth and tape it there so that it doesn’t fall out. Then we are going to swim you to safety. Just hang on. It won’t be long now before we have you out of here.”
Once all the preparations were completed the Search and Rescue personnel began lowering the stretchers with the comatose victims onto the scuba planes floating in the water. The stretchers were then secured to the planes and each victim was double checked to insure a water-tight seal around their mouthpieces and face masks.
The Team Captain called the ambulance crew with his handheld radio informing them that the rescuers were on their way out. Then he gave the “OK”signal to his team members. The scuba planes began to submerge, then dove for the exit tunnel.
Tina, Larry and Clayton stayed behind standing on the edge of the lagoon. They watched until the scuba planes descended to the exit tunnel, passed through it and disappeared. Then Clayton pointed upriver, deep into the cave.
“Notice anything unusual about this river, Larry?” asked Clayton.
Larry glanced around, “Uh, no.”
“Well,” said Clayton. “First of all it flows downstream in both directions. The water from the spring’s lagoon flows out of this room in each direction.”
Larry quickly shown his flash light beam onto each of the two river branches that flowed out of the lagoon. “You’re right. I hadn’t noticed that before.”
“The important thing, though, i
s that judging from the proximity and respective locations of the meteorite crash site and Blue Spring, and the direction and flow of this river, I’d lay odds on this tunnel connecting them.” explained Clayton.
“Then these creatures really are . . . ,” Larry began.
“Yes!” Clayton responded. “Empty out your fanny pack. I want to catch some of these hatchlings alive to take back at the lab for examination.”
Tina looked at the men with a quizzical expression. Their conversation hadn’t made much sense to her, but the men did not volunteer any further information, so she did not ask what they were discussing. She assumed that it must have something to do with their summer ecology project.
The trio returned to the pile of dead fish that was floating in the water and collected a half dozen of the new hatchlings. They carefully placed the captives into Larry’s fanny pack, and zipped it shut. That’s when they realized that they had drawn the attention of a large group of somewhat larger and more aggressive creatures that had congregated around them.
“I think we’ve worn out our welcome here. Just walk slowly back to the exit,” Clayton instructed.
They cautiously began making their way back to the exit lagoon, keeping their eyes on the gathering crowd of uneasy creatures.
Arriving at their departure point they were immediately confronted with a creature that was larger than the others. Though it was only the size of a small dog, it nevertheless became very aggressive toward the trio. It suddenly stood up on its hind legs and slowly pressed forward.