Chapter 11
September 25, 2004
The Island
Futrell's "cave" turned out to be more than just the hole in the ground that Brandon had feared. The opening was well-disguised behind a banyan tree, but the cave itself turned out to be seven feet high and twelve feet broad, and it vanished straight back into the stone of the island as far as he could see. A small stream trickled down the middle of the cave floor, but it was otherwise reasonably dry and clean.
"Not bad, is it, sir?" Futrell said, grinning.
"I'll be damned," Wendy said, looking up at the ceiling. "It's a lava tube."
Both of the men looked at her curiously. Wendy frowned and said, "Hey, I was a geology major, all right?"
"Um, OK," Brandon said. "So what's a lava tube?"
Wendy grinned. "It forms during a volcanic eruption, when a lava flow develops a hard outer crust but stays liquid on the inside. When the eruption's over, the lava drains out, and you've got a big hollow rock tube. Just like this." She waved her arm towards the depths of the cave. "They can go on for miles sometimes."
"And this one sure does," Futrell added. "I been way back in there. There's a hole in the roof about a mile back where there was a cave-in. Don't know how much further it goes than that. I didn't want to get stuck trying to crawl through them rocks."
"Probably a good idea," Brandon said.
"Got me a place to sleep and store my food about a hundred yards in," Futrell said. "Been here for years, and nobody ever done found me."
"Are you sure there's even anybody left to find you?" Brandon asked.
"Oh, yeah," Futrell drawled. "I seen 'em. They didn't see me, though." He grinned slyly.
Wendy shot Brandon a look, and Brandon asked, "Can you tell me where they are?"
Futrell nodded. "They moved into the old Dharma Initiative barracks after they done kilt everyone else," he said. "They got a fence, but I know how to get under it."
Brandon nodded slowly. "Albert, I think tomorrow you and I need to do some recon. I want to see this place."
"Me too," added Wendy.
"All right, then," Brandon said. "So you've been living on your own here for twelve years?"
"Didn't know it was that long, but yessir. Been sneaking around, keeping an eye on them, and keeping away from the bears. Ain't that hard to do once you get to know 'em."
"What exactly are those bears?" Wendy asked.
"Didn't expect to see polar bears, did you?" Futrell asked with a big grin. "Way it was described to me, they – the Dharma Initiative, I mean – needed some bears for some experiments they was doing." He shrugged. "Musta got free when the Hostiles attacked."
"What kind of experiments?" Wendy prompted.
"Well, what they said was, women on this island can't have no babies. I mean, they can get knocked up, but about six months in, they up and die. This don't happen to any of the animals on the island – I mean, the pigs can breed just fine, and so can the chickens. Dogs, cats, cows, horses, they ain't got no trouble here. But for some reason, the bears got the same problem that the women do. So they was tryin' to figger out why, and how to fix it."
"Right," said Wendy, looking skeptical.
"Leastways, that's what they told us," Futrell added. "Course, they didn't always tell us what they was really up to. I weren't nothin' but a mushroom."
"Well, tomorrow, we'll all go check this out, and see what the real story is," Brandon said. "Right now, let's eat." He grabbed his pillowcase-sack and started pulling out some cans of food.
"Well, I can see you done raided one of the Dharma caches," Futrell said. "Where'd you find it?"
"Observatory up on top of the ridge," Brandon explained. "Hourglass Station, or something like that. Didn't want to stay there too long, though."
Futrell nodded. "Yeah, you was smart to get out of there quick as you could. Them Hostiles still like to check on that place every now and again."
Wendy held up two cans of food that she had pulled from her sack. "Peaches or pork and beans for lunch?" she asked.
Futrell grinned. "I can toss in some peanuts and canned tuna," he offered. "Ain't too bad. Better than what the Army fed me, anyways."
"What the hell do the Hostiles want with that observatory, anyway?" Brandon asked.
"Well, I don't know for sure," Futrell said, scratching his nose. "It ain't just an observatory, you see."
"Really?" Brandon asked. "What is it, then?"
"Now, if I was to tell you I understood what they was really doing there, I'd be lying to you," Futrell said. "Lots of weird stuff they talked about, like cashmere effect and exotic dancers. I don't know what any of it meant."
"You mean Casimir effect?" Wendy asked.
Brandon and Futrell both gave her blank looks. "What's that?" Brandon asked.
"My dad's a physicist," she explained, "and my uncle almost finished his PhD before he dropped out of Cal Tech to become an actor. They used to talk about this kind of stuff." She sighed. "Wish I could remember more of what they said."
"Might be worth going back to check it out," Brandon said.
Futrell looked unhappy. "If them Hostiles find out you been there…"
"We'll have to be careful," Brandon said. "Go in, find out what we can, get out." He picked up a can of beans. "Now let's eat. I've got a can opener in my bag…"
"Lemme go back and get some tuna," Futrell said, vanishing into the blackness of the cave.
When he was out of sight, Wendy stood and walked to the mouth of the cave, looking out into the jungle.
"Hey, something wrong?" Brandon asked.
"Well, I'm pretty pissed off at you, if you want to know," she answered, keeping her back to him. "If I thought it was safe to walk through the jungle alone, I'd have been out of here hours ago."
"What?" Brandon stood and walked over to stand next to her.
"You were being a real jerk all morning," she said quietly. "And Albert creeps me out, even if you do know him. Hell, because you know him – it's too much of a coincidence."
"Yeah, I know it's pretty weird…" Brandon began.
"I'd be running through the jungle as fast as I could to get away from here," Wendy continued, "except that I really don't want to be alone in the middle of all of this weirdness, and even if you are a complete asshole, you're still the nicest guy I've met in a while."
Brandon thought silently for a minute. Then he said, "Hey, I'm sorry if I went all military on you this morning, but it's how I deal with bad situations. I can't stand to just sit and do nothing, and I've been trained to take command."
"Yeah, well, keep Captain America under control if you can, OK?" Wendy asked.
Brandon nodded. "OK. I'll try, anyway. I can't promise I'll always succeed."
"Good enough." Wendy suddenly turned and put her arms around him. "Because I don't want to sleep alone tonight. I just don't feel safe with Albert around."
"What, you want me to protect you from Futrell?" Brandon asked, grinning.
Wendy grinned back. "I promise I'll make it worth the effort."
"Hey, you two," Futrell abruptly announced from farther back in the cave. "I guess I oughta tell you that sound carries pretty darned well in here."
Wendy gave Brandon an embarrassed smile, and Brandon said, "Understood, Private. I'll take it under advisement."
