by Steve Simons
Chapter 3 - Where Does That Leave Us
As the cliff rushes rapidly past him, Tom struggles to see anything to grab onto. Suddenly he sees some sort of shrubby tree coming up. He reaches out in the hope that he can grab one of the branches. But he is just too far away from it. Thinking that he can't have much longer before he smacks on the ground, he suddenly comes to an abrupt yet soft stop. He looks around to see what he's landed on, he can see that he's still some considerable way off of the ground. To the left he sees some sort of metallic tube that looks somewhat like the flexible neck on his Dad's desk light at home.
Suddenly, Tom hears a rather echoy voice say, "Still you.... fall will you... save life you... still you."
Tom decides that before his luck runs out, he will heed the advice. Tom feels that he is rising again as if in a lift made of glass. Carefully he glances at the cliff face and his eyes confirm that he is rising back up to where Barry is. He can just make out Barry's terrified face.
As Tom reaches the top of the cliff, the voice can be heard again, "Away you keep....land will we...danger much you... away you keep."
Tom saw Barry nod in acceptance of the commands. Barry makes no attempt to get up,
but watches carefully as Tom and the craft pass him by and land a safe distance from the cliff edge.
Tom tries to stand up, but finds himself invisibly restrained. There is a sound as a door opens in the craft. After a short pause, Barry and Tom see something emerge, it has two arms, two legs and a head. It's carrying some sort of weapon and seems to be wearing some sort of futuristic military uniform, like a star wars trouper, totally matt black and very flexible. Another of these things emerges from the other side of the craft and Tom's not aware of his presence until he hears some scuffing sounds as it moves over the gravel to his right. Tom quickly looks round and sees that the thing is quite close to him. It is also carrying a weapon pointing straight at Tom. It speaks, Throw over the cliff, you why?
Tom totally confused asks, What?
The thing simply repeats the question., Throw over the cliff, you why?
Tom replies, I didn't throw myself, I fell over the cliff, it was dark you see and I didn't know the cliff was there.
The thing then asks, Doing Restricted land , you, what?
Tom wasn't sure if they were some sort of robots or human beings from the future, anyway back to the question, he could see that the thing was getting rather agitated at his silence. Tom replies, Sorry I... we .. didn't realise that this was restricted land
The thing that had been asking the questions, looks at its partner and says, Speak these intruders strangely? Make you out what it say?
The partner shuffles around a bit as if trying to find a comfortable place to stand. Then it replies, Say it think I not know it this restricted land, not notice it signs and beacon how? Not know I ask it.
Tom looks over to Barry and shrugs. Barry not knowing whether it is safe to move or speak, takes a chance that he wont get shot and says, Tom I've got it, they can't understand why you don't speak like them and how we got onto this restricted land, or what we're doing here, tell them that we are travellers and came here by accident. Their way of speaking is to use doing words, followed by labels or peoples names and then some sort of description.
Tom replies, If you understand it so well, you tell them, I'm still confused.
The first thing authoritatively says, Not speak you without question.
Barry confidently replies, Speak me for us. then he pauses to see if he gets any reaction, as he doesn't he decides to go on, Travel us here by mistake. He pauses as he wonders what to say next, he remembers early episodes of Star Trek, Come we in peace, no harm mean we to you.
The thing nearest Barry asks, Know we how, not intruders you?
Tom has a bright idea, Ask them why an intruder would want to throw themselves off of a cliff if they meant these... these things any harm?
Barry says, Throw ourselves off cliff why, if mean to you harm, make this no sense?
Tom can't contain his enthusiasm, Hey you're good at this Barry, I'm impressed.
The thing closest to Tom says, Make you sense with this statement, how get you on this land?
Travel and land here by mistake. replies Barry.
Travel you how, no craft have you? asks the thing nearest Barry.
Barry turns to Tom and asks, How do we answer that one, when even we don't understand it?
Tom replies, We'll just have to tell them the truth that even we don't know how.
Barry replies to the things question with, Not know us travel how we.
The thing nearest Tom says, Take in these, suspect these lie. Then it says to Barry, Take you in for questions, you further. Then Tom feels the end of the weapon touch his head as the thing says, Move you now to the levicraft.
Tom replies, I just want to get home safely, I'm fed up with being taken prisoner, it seems more fun when its a game, but no fun when its for real. Tom obediently stands up and finds that he's no longer restrained, but the end of the weapon is encouraging him to move.
The other thing says to Barry, Move you also, fellow friend now.
They all climb into the levicraft and it takes off. The journey does not take long. The building they end up at is large and laid out in a rather complex way. It looks like a collection of cylinders joined together by smaller cylinders. There appear to be no colours to this building, but maybe this is because it is night time.
The craft landed at a marked area, obviously near an entrance.