Chapter 29
The Crystal Cave
Laura climbed out of the pool of water along the cave's floor. She spun faster than the eye could see to dry off her clothing. Gold Wing placed the crystalline stalactites at Tim's feet. "Laurie, are you okay?" He asked worriedly. "Sure. I'm fine, but I don't think that these crystals are made up of diamonds. They seem to be made of an entirely different material, like a cross between glass and steel."
"Let's take them with anyway." Laura urged, gingerly packing them in some spare clothes that they'd brought with them. Across the crystal lined cavern some growling noises were heard. "Laurie, I don't think we're alone anymore." Tim pointed out the obvious.
The artificial light from the phosphorescent algae and the prismatic crystals played against the walls of an inlet leading to the larger antechamber. Two large silhouettes ringed the wall nearest to the pool of spring water. Gold Wing focused her enhanced vision on the area which was far below them, but the stream of water led back into the pool, suggesting that the opposing tunnel was on an incline.
"There are definitely two or more creatures lurking in that tunnel." Laura observed. "They sound agitated, and they sound like dinosaurs." Tim shuddered at the thought of encountering more unexplained prehistoric animals on this alleged vacation trip. "What the hell would dinosaurs be doing way down here?" Tim inquired. "There are no obvious visible food sources, other than us."
"Maybe they fell down here from the surface like we did." Laura guessed. "That could mean that there is another way out of these catacombs." Tim nodded and edged closer to the cavern floor pool. There were still a good number of broken stalactites strewn across the rocky crags that sloped down towards the pool. The mysterious crystals were certainly not rare, but were most likely never before seen by man.
"What are you thinking of trying?" Tim asked hesitantly. "We grab the crystals and chase the dinosaurs back up through the tunnel towards the surface." Laura replied, making a plan in an instant. "What makes you think that the animals could get back up there? Dinosaurs were inherently stupid." Tim stated.
"Did you notice that the water streams down from the incline slowly, which leads me to believe that the tunnel gradually angles towards the surface, not simply drops down here through a hole." She explained. "In theory, the dinosaurs would be more likely to slip and fall down here, and have a hard time scrambling back up, especially if the tunnel base has been worn smooth by the passage of time."
"Very logical, Mrs. Holmes." Tim quipped. "Elementary, my dear Tim." Laura returned the playful gest. "Ready? Grab onto my back and we'll skip down the slope to where the dinosaurs are roaming." Tim picked up the several crystalline stalactite pieces, and stuffed them into his backpack.
Laura took a running leap. Tim clung tightly onto her shoulders, as she landed briefly a good twenty meters ahead of where they were, and then leapt again, swooping downward another thirty meters or so. This last vault placed them square in the dinosaurs' sights. The animals were startled, and quickly backed away a few large paces. Tim gawked at the creatures, trying to determine their species.
The two dinosaurs were about twenty feet long from nose to tip of tail. They walked upright, had elongated snouts, and were completely feathered! "What the hell are they?" Laura exclaimed.
Tim stared for a long period of time at them. One was slightly larger than the other, and his plumage was brightly colored, the shades running from light tan to a slightly darker brown, with reds and yellows scattered sparsely throughout. The second, the female, sported more muted colors, like tan to dull light brown, and appeared to be heavier set, possibly pregnant. He guessed.
"Feathered dinosaurs? Seriously Tim, are we seeing this?" Laura was incredulous. The male had begun to roar and growl, likely a show of force to protect his mate. Gold Wing used her enhanced vision and hearing, and determined that there were no more animals in the vicinity.
"I'm not familiar with this species." Laura admitted. "I believe that they're Chinese dinosaurs called Tyrannus Huali, I remember reading about the discovery of their fossilized remains just before we left on this vacation from hell. Yes, they are related to Tyrannosaurus Rex."
"Yeah, well no one told these guys that they're supposed to be extinct." Laura remarked. "Tim, do you see that the tunnel inclines upward? I guess I was right on the money." The dinosaurs were raising holy hell, growling and hissing and snapping, yet they did not relent. The animals stood their ground.
"Now what?" Tim wondered aloud. "Tim, can you stay here for a bit while I investigate the tunnel, and hopefully draw the dinosaurs back to the surface with me?" Laura was already estimating how far she'd have to leap to pass close to the animals, and distract them from harassing Tim.
"I suppose so. I just hope that they can't swim." Tim responded nervously, as he stepped down off of Laura's back. "If they can, just give me a yell and I'll zip back down. Ready?" Gold Wing crouched low to the ground, and adjusted her angle for the leap. "Okay, go for it, Laurie." Tim swallowed hard.
Laura vaulted low and extended her arms before her, landing a mere two or three meters from the Tyrannus Hualtis. The animals recoiled, growling and snapping at Laura. She somersaulted forward, and jumped to a standing position just beyond the slashing, whip-like tails of the animals.
"C'mon!" Gold Wing yelled and stamped her feet to attract the dinosaurs' attention. She whistled and howled, as the Tyrannus mates spun around and began tracking her. They'd completely forgotten about Tim, instead making an attempt to grab the much closer meal. The aggressive male lowered his head and snapped near Laura's feet. The female moved slower, but mirrored her mates snapping and snarling.
Laura backpedaled up the incline, using the phosphorescent algae as guiding light. She moved quickly backwards, step after step, all the while whooping and hollering at the dinosaurs. Sure enough, soon after, the footing became slimy and slick. There was no way that the clumsy Tyrannus couple could climb back up out of the tunnel. "Time for plan B." Laura muttered as the animals slipped and fell against the wall.
Gold Wing glanced upward, and could see some light showing through the top of the angled shaft. It was quite the way up, and it would take a leap that she'd never been able to do before to get them out of this mess. "Talk about a leap of faith." She grumbled. If she slipped and fell, Laura would land right in the laps of the hungry, snarling dinosaurs.
It was unlikely that even the animals' razor sharp teeth could penetrate Laura's dense, Loracite enhanced hide, and the dinosaurs would probably break their teeth, but that didn't help Tim at all. "I'd better try this on my own, first." She mumbled.
Laura slid back down to the area of the shaft nearest the Tyrannus pair, and before the animals could take note, she ran up the craggy side of the tunnel wall, which happened to be less slimy than the floor. With a huge effort, Gold Wing braced her knees against the wall and vaulted straight up, cutting the huge distance in half between the crystal cave and the lighted shaft entrance high above.
Still, she hadn't made it all the way towards the top. Laura hung angrily from the side of the tunnel wall. Her first attempt had been a failure. I'll have to crawl the rest of the way, she considered. With a hard slice from her hand, Laura had cut a foothold in the rocky tunnel wall, and then another one, and so it went for an agonizing few minutes, as she crawled up the wall like some type of insect.
Far below, Tim was waiting impatiently near the pool in the crystal cave. He examined the structure, and determined that parts of it were manmade. There were sharp cuts in pieces of the cavern wall that appeared to be carved with some kind of a tool. They hadn't been the first ones to visit the subterranean spring that ran beneath this island and throughout the catacomb tunnel system after all.
Someone had been mining the crystal stalactites for some as yet unknown purpose, he mused. The animals began howling again, and Tim shuddered despite the warm, humid, feel of the mysterious cavern. Laura had been gone for quite a few minutes, he noted worriedly. The Tyrannus Huatis hadn't shown their slick snouts back in the crystal cavern yet. Tim shifted uneasily as he picked up a crystal piece.
Back in the angled tunnel, Laura was finally nearing the aperture atop the shaft, and the intense sunlight nearly blinded her. She placed one cautious hand along the rim of the breach, and then the other. She popped her head out of the fissure and into the warm, humid, air of the island.
Cautiously, Gold Wing hoisted herself out of the hole and glanced around. She was centered in a paradise of sorts, with colorful tropical foliage stretching as far as the eye could see. There were no other visible animals nearby, and the Garden of Eden like valley was reasonably quiet and surrounded by volcanic like mountains, some if which occasionally spewed steam, presumably from underground springs.
In short, it was beautiful. Laura observed. She finished climbing out of the shaft, and set about completing a new plan. The first obstacle was the Tyrannus Hualtis, because they stood in between Tim and the surface. The second was how to return through the angled tunnel, and rescue the dinosaurs. Laura had already cut a number of handholds and footholds into the rocks, so she could move more efficiently.
I suppose I could just haul the dinosaurs back up here first, she rationalized, preferably without injuring them. This would take extreme speed and accuracy, she considered. Laura sighed and readied her return to the crystal cave, by climbing in and back down to the halfway point, and cutting more footholds in the wall. I could just relocate the Tyrannus mates at a different point in the crystal cave, she reasoned.
Laura decided to drop down the shaft and surprise the animals. "If only Clark and Oliver could see me now." She chuckled. "Gold Wing, dinosaur rescuer." With that, she dove downward and landed next to the shocked male. In seconds, Laura grabbed the dinosaur's snout clamping it shut with one hand, and wrapped her arm around the feathery animal's neck and yanked him off his feet.
The startled female backed away as Laura wrestled the Tyrannus Hualti to the ground. Once she had position over the lengthy animals back, she lifted him up and zipped across the edge of the crystal cave's pool, quickly placing him in another tunnel entranceway, far from Tim.
Tim watched in disbelief as Laura sped past him, carrying the dinosaur that was more than twice her size. "Laura, what the hell are you doing?" He yowled as Laura zipped past to catch the pregnant female. "I'm just doing a little old fashioned dinosaur wrangling, partner." She quipped.
Laura cornered the female and she snarled and lowered her head, baring a full set of razor sharp teeth. "Easy girl," Laura tried unsuccessfully to calm the expectant mother. The female shifted her position, slashing at Gold Wing with her tail. The Tyrannus Huati lunged at Laura's neck, and the superhero turned dinosaur wrestler, sidestepped the angry mother's snapping jaws, grabbing her by the whip-like tail.
Simultaneously, Laura pulled the tail across the dinosaur's back and gripped her snout, closing it shut. Rather than forcing the pregnant female to the ground, she carefully lifted it up and carried her sideways to the tunnel standing her next to her mate. The male snapped at Laura's arm, narrowly missing it. Gold Wing's reactions were far quicker, as she somersaulted backwards across the ridge toward Tim.
"Well, that'll keep them out of the way for a while." Laura announced as she finally vaulted next to Tim. "What was that all about, Laurie?" He asked in frustration. "Oh, it's just your average dinosaur relocation project." Gold Wing joked. "We can get back top side through that angled tunnel, but it won't be easy, and I still want to get the animals out of here as well." Laura explained.
Tim picked up their backpacks and the handful of crystals they'd gathered, and followed Laura over to where the Tyrannus pair had been. "After I get you out of here, I'm coming back down to see where that other tunnel leads, the one where I placed the dinosaurs. It seemed to be a more gradual incline, but there weren't enough phosphorescent algae along the floor and walls to see much of anything."
"This is going to be tricky, and inefficient, but we'll manage." Laura informed him. "What's up there?" Tim asked worriedly. "All I saw were a bunch of colorful plants and other foliage, with no visible animals. It seemed quiet and calm." She replied. "Ready?" Tim nodded. "Hold onto my back again, and don't let go, or I'll have to bring you back to the states in pieces." Gold Wing warned.
Tim gulped as he complied. Laura set herself up at the edge of the pool facing the tunnel incline, and shifted into hyper speed vaulting high into the shaft after a running start. With Tim and their supplies strapped across her back, Gold Wing soared upwards, stretching her hands before her.
This time, Laura made it nearly three quarters of the way up the shaft before she had to grab onto the pre-dug handholds and footholds for a break. Tim was shocked at the sudden stop, nearly losing his grip on Laura's neck. He stabilized quickly, breathing heavily. "Another two or three tries, and I might make it all the way out of the fissure on the first try." She remarked sarcastically.
From here, Gold Wing just crawled up through the hole, Tim in tow, and was once again greeted by warm humid air and dazzling sunlight. She helped him hang from the rim of the aperture, and they both climbed out, resting on a ledge surrounded by sandy soil. "Well, we're out of the belly of this beast." Tim joked. "Now what?" Laura glanced around for a safe place to stow Tim and their gear.
"Let's explore this valley, but I want to grab the dinosaurs before we go any further." Gold Wing instructed. "You can keep out of trouble for a few more minutes, can't you?" Tim shrugged. "With this crazy island, who knows? Maybe we should leave the dinosaurs." Laura shook her head. "No, that's not cool! I'll hurry and get them. You can sit atop that ridge, so you can see any possible threats."
Tim followed her gaze, as Laura pointed to a high point near one of the volcanic steam release areas. They hurried towards it, and settled down for a quick break. The ground beneath them shook with a good amount of force. "Great, are we sitting on an active volcano?" Tim whined. "There isn't supposed to be an active volcano here, Tim." Laura answered as she surveyed the area with her enhanced vision.
"Seriously? Laurie, there's not supposed to be extinct animals propagating in the middle of the Pacific either!" He chastised her. "Point taken." Laura smirked.
