DIZZY
"What are you waiting for?" I called, one foot poised to drop over the edge. "Hurry up!"
"I can't," he replied.
"You can't," I repeated. "What do you MEAN 'you can't'?!"
"My lizard lines are empty," he replied, gesturing at the machine he held in his hand. Every time he pressed down on the release it just wurred ineffectively.
I groaned, "Why am I not surprised?" Sabotage crossed my mind, but they were just lizard lines. "So what do we do now LT?"
"I'll take yours and you can stand guard up here," he replied.
"Guard? Oh no, I don't think so! How about I keep my lizard lines and YOU can stand guard up here?" I demanded. I am constantly forgetting that anything Rico says CAN be considered a direct order. Oh well, my bad.
"We'll switch after 10 minutes," he decided firmly.
"You're the LT," I replied with a slight shrug. Using my foot that was still on sturdy ground I pushed off and leapt over the edge before he could voice any other protests.
RICO:
A cold chill rippled across my spine as she jumped, an image slamming into me like a body tackle with enough force to propel me backwards. For a few brief seconds that felt like millions of years all I could see was Dizzy as she toppled backwards off that bug mound in Buenos Aires. Before I could even think to remember the present I was rushing toward the edge of the cliff peering around desperately for any sight of any part of Dizzy that could mean she was still alive.
Suddenly I caught site of her, in the present, heading slowly and gracefully down the face of the cliff. She was fine.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I sat back.
'What the hell was that?' I wondered. Remembering is one thing, but that. . . that was like a flashback, and it had hit me on it's own. 'Maybe they have a brain bug on this island,' my mind suggested, but there had never been any reports of brains doing anything like that. 'There have never been any reports of scanners filled with bugs that we can't see and that continue to ignore us, either,' I reminded myself.
DIZZY:
I had to be careful to watch out for icy patches, especially when I was getting past the smaller bits of protruding shrubbery or easing my way around the larger bits. So far, though, that was all I had to focus on. I hadn't found one cave or any evidence of one anywhere.
"Your ten minutes are almost up Flores, find anything yet?" Rico asked me over our com. link as he pocked his head over the cliff. "I'm working on it!" I replied.
I figured my best bet was to aim for any bits of bushes or trees that stuck out of the cliff, barren as they may have been, some bigger one MIGHT just be the marker for a very small cave. Sure the odds were against me but -
I jumped, "What was that?"
Rico appeared above me once more, a much more serious look on his face this time. "What was what?"
"It sounded just like. . . but it couldn't be!" I trailed off.
"Couldn't be what?" Rico persisted.
I shook my head, "You're gonna think I'm crazy but - "
"Too late," Rico interjected.
I scowled up at him, though not particularly angry. "Fine! I was probably just imagining it anyway."
"Are you sure?" he asked, sounding serious once more.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I mean, I'm not sure why I would imagine THAT, but it couldn't possibly have been real so what does it matter."
All the same I altered my course so I could check it out. It sounded like it had come from the slight extension of rock just below me, but all I could see on it were some leafless bushes and one tiny evergreen.
As I approached I could see plainly that there was no cave in behind, only a smallish dip in the wall. It did, however, appeared that someone had lost a scarf over the edge of the cliff and it had gotten caught up in one of the little bushes here, (I could see a corner of it sticking out into the open). 'Well at least it's a sign of some sort of life,' I thought.
Stopping my descent so that I was level with the bushes I reached out to grab it. Abruptly the bush began to shudder beneath my fingers. I withdrew it so quickly you might have thought a rabid bug was leaping at me instead of a breeze rustling between the snow-covered branches. Even so as I reached out a second time I was careful to peal back the bushes before tugging on the end of the scarf.
Suddenly the noise came again, much closer and definitely not from my imagination. With shaking hands I gingerly pulled the branches away, hoping that somehow I had been wrong, that someway the noise had come from something else. . .ANYTHING else!
All of a sudden -
"Oh my God!" I gasped. "RICO!"
"What are you waiting for?" I called, one foot poised to drop over the edge. "Hurry up!"
"I can't," he replied.
"You can't," I repeated. "What do you MEAN 'you can't'?!"
"My lizard lines are empty," he replied, gesturing at the machine he held in his hand. Every time he pressed down on the release it just wurred ineffectively.
I groaned, "Why am I not surprised?" Sabotage crossed my mind, but they were just lizard lines. "So what do we do now LT?"
"I'll take yours and you can stand guard up here," he replied.
"Guard? Oh no, I don't think so! How about I keep my lizard lines and YOU can stand guard up here?" I demanded. I am constantly forgetting that anything Rico says CAN be considered a direct order. Oh well, my bad.
"We'll switch after 10 minutes," he decided firmly.
"You're the LT," I replied with a slight shrug. Using my foot that was still on sturdy ground I pushed off and leapt over the edge before he could voice any other protests.
RICO:
A cold chill rippled across my spine as she jumped, an image slamming into me like a body tackle with enough force to propel me backwards. For a few brief seconds that felt like millions of years all I could see was Dizzy as she toppled backwards off that bug mound in Buenos Aires. Before I could even think to remember the present I was rushing toward the edge of the cliff peering around desperately for any sight of any part of Dizzy that could mean she was still alive.
Suddenly I caught site of her, in the present, heading slowly and gracefully down the face of the cliff. She was fine.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I sat back.
'What the hell was that?' I wondered. Remembering is one thing, but that. . . that was like a flashback, and it had hit me on it's own. 'Maybe they have a brain bug on this island,' my mind suggested, but there had never been any reports of brains doing anything like that. 'There have never been any reports of scanners filled with bugs that we can't see and that continue to ignore us, either,' I reminded myself.
DIZZY:
I had to be careful to watch out for icy patches, especially when I was getting past the smaller bits of protruding shrubbery or easing my way around the larger bits. So far, though, that was all I had to focus on. I hadn't found one cave or any evidence of one anywhere.
"Your ten minutes are almost up Flores, find anything yet?" Rico asked me over our com. link as he pocked his head over the cliff. "I'm working on it!" I replied.
I figured my best bet was to aim for any bits of bushes or trees that stuck out of the cliff, barren as they may have been, some bigger one MIGHT just be the marker for a very small cave. Sure the odds were against me but -
I jumped, "What was that?"
Rico appeared above me once more, a much more serious look on his face this time. "What was what?"
"It sounded just like. . . but it couldn't be!" I trailed off.
"Couldn't be what?" Rico persisted.
I shook my head, "You're gonna think I'm crazy but - "
"Too late," Rico interjected.
I scowled up at him, though not particularly angry. "Fine! I was probably just imagining it anyway."
"Are you sure?" he asked, sounding serious once more.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I mean, I'm not sure why I would imagine THAT, but it couldn't possibly have been real so what does it matter."
All the same I altered my course so I could check it out. It sounded like it had come from the slight extension of rock just below me, but all I could see on it were some leafless bushes and one tiny evergreen.
As I approached I could see plainly that there was no cave in behind, only a smallish dip in the wall. It did, however, appeared that someone had lost a scarf over the edge of the cliff and it had gotten caught up in one of the little bushes here, (I could see a corner of it sticking out into the open). 'Well at least it's a sign of some sort of life,' I thought.
Stopping my descent so that I was level with the bushes I reached out to grab it. Abruptly the bush began to shudder beneath my fingers. I withdrew it so quickly you might have thought a rabid bug was leaping at me instead of a breeze rustling between the snow-covered branches. Even so as I reached out a second time I was careful to peal back the bushes before tugging on the end of the scarf.
Suddenly the noise came again, much closer and definitely not from my imagination. With shaking hands I gingerly pulled the branches away, hoping that somehow I had been wrong, that someway the noise had come from something else. . .ANYTHING else!
All of a sudden -
"Oh my God!" I gasped. "RICO!"