The Alien Orb (30 page)

“
Was it you who saved us
...?
”
Basinger grumbled, while he recalled something.

“
What ...?
”
Dexter answered.

“
How could he have saved
you?
”
Selina continued.

“
Well, both us found ourselves
here
–
on
the shore of this island
–”

“
After I hit the
water,
”
Burrell revealed,
“
I am sure I actually drowned
...
”

Selina stared at him, searching for any
signs that he was exaggerating his claims.

“
What did you do once you discovered
you were on this island?
”
Dexter enquired further, thinking of a light
that he had seen on the island, which had guided him to
it.

“
I
’
ll tell you ...!
”
Basinger announced, cleaning his
brow of sweat.
“
We awoke under the cliff over there
–
on the
beach
–
under it
–
where this vegetation stops at the cliff. We believed that
there was not anything on the beach ...
”

“
We have been surviving on sea
creatures,
”
Burrell continued.
“
And we have been thinking of different ways
to hunt animals, to survive here!
”

“
Did anyone else follow you into the
black hole?
”
Selina asked Basinger.

“
There was nobody else in the
laboratory! We entered it to save some equipment, and establish
what had happened. That black hole is unstable, and a menace to
civilization. Its power was incredible!
”

“
Have you any food?
”
Burrell asked, wildly
eyeing up the vegetation about them.

“
Yes!
”
Selina replied.
“
We have found
some
food!
”

“
Do you think that it will be safe to
stay the night here?
”
Dexter announced, thinking of solving future
problems.

“
Did I not tell you that we found a
cave, over at the cliff?
”

“
What will happen if the sea floods
the beach?
”

“
The sea cannot reach it
–
it
’
s
too high up!
”

Selina and Dexter slightly nodded their
heads, and they followed Basinger, leaving towards the cliff.

Basinger was roughly the same, but
Burrell had turned wilder, to survive in the wilderness
–
and he savagely
ate part of some type of creature, as he trailed along behind
them.

Basinger already had a map in his mind of
the jungle about them. They had been exploring it, searching for
food. They clearly had not noticed all the fruit-like vegetation
growing at the beach.

Basinger picked up and played with a simple
animal trap, which he had made out of vegetation. He turned it
around in his hands, studying it, mentally making a vastly better
version.

Basinger took them onto the beach, which
went under the cliff, and they silently strolled along together,
examining the water and rocks, while Darwin ran about in front of
them.

Part of the cliff, in front of them, hid the
area behind it; and Darwin suddenly smelt something and ran around
it.

A high-pitched shriek instantly came from
something! And, at their swift approach to it, Dexter heard the dog
chasing after something.

They then saw Darwin standing steady,
rhythmically barking at a white object, at the cliff.

“
What is it?
”
Selina murmured, approaching
it.

“
It looks familiar!
”
Dexter answered.
“
Could it be a
descendant of a species of seabird?
”

“
It should be
edible!
”
Burrell grunted, almost drooling.

Basinger gripped the ball of white fluff,
while the dog jumped about at his knees, and he carefully wrapped
it in the tattered remains of his jumper. Then he checked that it
could not escape, and it gave out a muffled shriek.

Darwin then splashed through the
water, and pulled out a stone-shaped object; and he dropped it onto
the beach. Dexter immediately saw that it was similar to a
shellfish, and he knelt beside it. He swiftly exposed the inside of
it, revealing a type of oyster. He considered having the dog taste
it before him, but he could tell that Burrell had already eaten
them, so he tried it
–
and vaguely liked its peculiar meaty taste.
They then collected as many of them as they could carry.

Basinger unfolded his jumper, and he showed
them that the furred creature had died.

Basinger took them to part of the cliff,
where the cliff was enormous, and a straight wall of rock. And
Dexter spotted a small cave, forty meters up, with a slope of rocks
under it, which they could climb up.

“
It
’
s a perfect shelter!
”
Dexter told them, as he climbed
up.

“
We could build a fire in
it!
”
Selina
explained, as she followed them.

Once they were in it, he watched the sun
edging towards the horizon.

“
I am sure there are flint stones here
...!
”
Selina told them.

“
But can we find anything that will
burn? Are there any plants about here that are flammable enough to
be ignited by the sparks?
”

“
There is plenty of dry
stuff!
”
Basinger replied.

Basinger chipped different rocks against a
rock, until he found a stone that gave off sparks.

At the side of the cave, he collected all
the dry pieces of plant, and he shredded it into tiny fluffy hairs
with two rocks. Then he placed the ball of fluff on a flat rock,
and he whacked the flint stone against its surface.

The sparks sprayed out, and small wisps of
smoke occasionally came from the ball of fluff, but it did not
ignite.

Burrell finally took a turn, but he soon
stopped.

Dexter tried different techniques of doing
it, and he thrust the flint over a very rough edge of a rock,
creating a large cluster of sparks over the fluff.

He then gently blew the smoldering clump,
until a flame ignited. And he swiftly placed it between some rocks,
and he placed dry pieces of plant on it.

They collected a large pile of many
different types of vegetation.

The stems of many plants, which they found
below the cave, were dense, like the wood of bushes, and they burnt
for a reasonable amount of time, allowing them to cook their food
properly.

The island grew dark, and they blissfully
rested, and Dexter satisfactorily observed rain pouring down a few
meters out from the cave. However, his satisfaction did not last,
as cold water came rushing down, over them, and the fire, from
somewhere within the dark depths of the cave, which they had not
had time to explore.

Chapter 5

The Secret
Passage

Once the sun had started lighting the
horizon, with its strange illuminations, Dexter began his
observations of the stream of water
–
pouring out of the entrance
–
going down the
beach.

It was not that it had flooded in the middle
of the night that annoyed him, it was the fact that he had not
thought of a way of preventing it happening again; and it surely
would occur again, if they did not solve the problem.

They had to find a way to prevent it
happening, or they would have to move away from the cave. The
winter months would surely have a lot more rain.

His mind only came up with the same ideas,
which were not any good. It seemed a small problem, which he was
exaggerating.

He had been sure that the water was pouring
through cracks in the rock, but it was apparent that there was a
hole, at the bottom of the cave. He searched the ground about it,
trying to find out where the hole went, and he discovered that the
hole, which he believed was not any bigger than his head, was
large, and mostly buried under sand and rocks.

Once he had removed the rocks and sand about
it, he was able to fit himself into it; and he saw that it sharply
angled upwards, in a tunnel. Burrell followed him in, and then
Darwin ran through. The dog stayed just ahead of them, as they
marched on and on, ascending to somewhere upwards, through the
darkness.

Darwin eventually ran off, leaving them
wondering what he would find.

They did not have to wait long. His loud
barks soon appeared from somewhere ahead of them.

Yet the bark was a different bark, and he
realized that the dog had encountered something. Yet it was
strange!

While he rushed forward, carefully listening
to his constant barking, the dark gray rock began to illuminate in
reddish sunshine.

Then an entrance appeared ahead of
him, where the dog
’
s sounds were coming from.

They proceeded to it, looking exhausted from
the climb.

There was a short cavity, going upwards,
with a pool of clear blue water at its center. The sides of the
cavity went in a circle, going upwards for about three meters, to
where the top of the cliff was.

Darwin was barking crazily at the water, at
the edge of the pool.

“
I don
’
t get it ...!
”
Burrell remarked.
“
Darwin never
barked like that before, without there being someone there ...! He
virtually has paranormal senses ...!
”

Dexter stared into the depths of the pool.
He could clearly see through the water, but its visibility
disappeared, into blackness, far down.

The dog was barking loudly, as if there was
a human in it.

After they had calmed the dog, they climbed
up to the surface, where there was a jungle, full of rotting
vegetation.

They went to the outer fringes of it,
closely checking them.

“
This is perfect!
”
Burrell
rationalized.
“
This will supply us with a proper
fire!
”

“
If we can build some weapons and
tools, we will be able to hunt and fix up the
cave!
”

“
What about that stream of
water?
”
Burrell continued, trying to solve the problem.

“
There must be a way of stopping it.
It
’
s the
safest place for us to stay!
”

He pondered over different ways that they
could use to try to divert the water, and he removed a long piece
of vegetation, with an appearance of a cane. It was thin but hard,
and he knew that he could sharpen it into a spear.

“
There shouldn
’
t be that much
rain!
”
he
finally spoke, thinking of the tremendous temperatures that they
had experienced.
“
Therefore, we can channel the water away from
the rest of the cave, and out through the entrance. Grab some
vegetation
–
for a fire! I am starving ...!
”

They instantly began work, grabbing chunks
of dried out vegetation, dragging it to the cavity, and dropping it
onto the embankment, beside the pool. Once a large pile had
gathered in it, he cut a strong rubbery vine plant, and he wrapped
it around a boulder, then he fed the other end of it down the
cavity, for an easier way to get up and down.

He edged his way down it, making sure that
it could sustain more weight. They then, with some difficulty, took
some of the vegetation, in bundles, through the dark tunnel.

Once all the vegetation was neatly stacked
at the side of the cave, they carried up as many shell creatures as
they could collect, in their clothes. Then Dexter dug a hole at the
edge of the cave, and he placed stones in a circle about it, and
then he made a fire.

Dexter devoured a feast of overcooked
sea creatures, next to crackling pieces of vegetation, at the edge
of the entrance, while observing the red tints of sunshine glowing
from the sea. The food was one of the most welcomed meals he had
eaten in a long time
–
even though the sea creatures could be
sickening, especially when eaten in large amounts.

He continued to realize the reality of
the situation
–
they had in fact survived it, against a situation of certain
death. What had the odds been of them making it to an island? He
vaguely wondered if Selina had actually realized how lucky they had
been. They now had a shelter, a pool of fresh water, and some basic
food.