PRIMORDIUM NULLA RETRORSUM
Chapter 11
AUTHOR: TowandaBR, Thisbee, Lady Cris Krux
Translation, Lady Cris Krux
DISCLAIMER: All of the characters of the series "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World" are property of John Landis, Telescene, Coote/Hayes, DirecTV, New Line Television, Space, Action Adventure Network, Goodman/Rosen Productions, and Richmel Productions.
SPOILERS: After HEART OF THE STORM
To all people who keep TLW alive by any means.
Thank you, for being so kind: Cris, Roxana.
"PRIMORDIUM NULLA RETRORSUM" was originally written in Portuguese and published from Nov, 2004 to June, 2005.
"Veronica, I..." – listening to the elevator's noise, Finn turned, stopping in the middle of the sentence.
"Is that a manner of receiving visitors, young lady?"
"CHALLENGER!"
Screaming and running, the girl of the future reacted euphoric, literally throwing herself to the scientist's neck, who barely had time to hug her back.
"It's very nice to see you too, Finn."
Finally, she released George, just to scream again.
"ROXTON!" - it was the hunter's time to feel her tight hug.
"I've barely arrived and you already want to hang me?" - she not even had time to answer.
"MALONE!" - Despite of having known the journalist for so little time, she was not intimidated in hugging him as strongly as the other ones.
"How are you, Finn?"
"Missing you... All of you."
She released the young man, but she didn't resist and jumped again to Challenger's neck. After some seconds, he moved her away from himself.
"Let me look at you, young lady." - George arched his thick brow – "What are these clothes you are wearing?"
She stood up straight, proud of herself.
"I began my training with the amazons."
"Amazons?"
"They didn't want to accept me, but Veronica interceded."
"And where is she, Finn?" - Malone was afflict.
"She cooked breakfast and left very early."
"When will she be back?"
"I never know. Sometimes she only comes back at nightfall." - the girl made a pause before continuing - "Where are your stuff?"
"We don't have anything."
Finn shrugged the shoulders. After all, to have them all back was more than enough.
"But how rude I am. Come to eat."
She guided them to the table, still prepared for breakfast.
The men were starving and they ate with pleasure.
"What have you been doing?" - the hunter finally asked.
"As I already said, soon I will be an amazon warrior. Actually, not so soon. I like to go there to workout, but I don't like to be far away from here for a long time. Then I think it will take a long time. And I already read very well, Challenger."
"That's excellent, young lady." - George eulogized - "Have you already read all of the books of the library?"
"Not all of them yet. But when I finish them all, I will read again those I liked the most."
"I'm proud of you, Finn." - the scientist smiled sincerely, and the girl responded with a smile from her own.
"And how is Veronica?" - John asked, before Malone did it.
"She's fine... I mean..."
"What?"
The girl sighed.
"I think she pretends to be fine."
"Tell us."
She hesitated for instants.
"Please, don't say anything to her, because actually those are things that I have just been keeping with me... and I am usually wrong."
The men were plainly attentive, and Finn continued.
"You came, and she has a family for three years. Then, I come from the future. Suddenly, she remembers what happened to her father, finds out about Avalon and the protectors, the plateau is almost destroyed, Marguerite dies, you leave... A lot of things happened all at once."
"What about her mother? Any news?"
"Veronica tried and tried to find her mother through the plateau for a long time, but she didn't find any track. The only thing that she has are the dreams, that always tells her that she should wait, and that the day when she will finally meet her mother is getting closer. However, that day seems to never arrive, even after so much time." - Finn made a pause - "Somehow everyone searches for answers, but all the doubts remained with Veronica. Where is her mother and why she cannot find her, if she could have avoided Marguerite's death, and you all leaving." - she stopped for some instants - "On that day, as soon as you jumped in the waterfall, we went down the river and we found most of your things. Weapons, backpacks, supplies. Even Malone's journals."
"My journals?"
"Yes. And they are all in the library. Wrapped in linoleum, exactly as we found them. Veronica never wanted to unwrap them. We never knew if you were alive or dead. We couldn't know."
"Don't you talk?" – It was Roxton time to ask.
"About almost everything, yes, but about how she feels, never. It is difficult for her to need help. Sometimes I tried, but she quickly changed the subject, always. I think Veronica feels very lonely, and I don't know what else I can do to help her."
The three men remained quiet.
"I'll find her." - Ned rose, afflict.
"Try at the lake, Malone. Sometimes she stays reading under the trees."
"Thank you." - the journalist said, already descending through the elevator.
"He didn't even take a gun." – John resigned himself - "I hope that he doesn't find any dinosaur in his way."
Finn served a little more tea to her friends.
"I want to know everything about you, Finn. What have you been doing?"
"Me? Well, as I said, I have been reading a lot. Besides that, the usual. While looking for Avalon, Veronica took me to many places in the plateau. I even think that by now I know more places than you." - she provoked.
"I doubt. How do you fell? I mean... Are you happy?"
"I like this time, I like the treehouse, I like my friends. Sometimes I even like running away from the raptors. Yes, I'm happy. And now I am happier because you came back."
"That's good, Finn."
"You're going to stay, aren't you?"
"If you want us back..."
"If we want? The lab is still in the same place." – Suddenly, the girl got up and ran to the wall, returning soon afterwards - "And this is yours, Roxton."
The hunter smiled when receiving his hat back. He examined it carefully until finally wearing it again.
"How do I look?"
"Perfect, as usual." -George smiled when seeing his friend.
It was such a happy, and at the same time such a curious feeling, to be back to the treehouse.
The three of them kept at the table, chatting, until Roxton get up.
"It's better to look for Malone. I don't think it's a good idea for him to walk unarmed through the plateau."
"I'm going with you."
"Wait for me." - Finn completed - "The weapons are in the same place as usual."
"I'll take them." - John offered.
George listened to the elevator, and already waited for the journalist who had obviously not found...
"Veronica?" - The young woman stopped, looking at the two men without stopping her eyes in none of them. She seemed not to believe in what she was seeing. Challenger approached her.
"Hello, dear. By any chance do you still accept explorers at your treehouse?"
Not controlling herself, she hugged the scientist, who was also touched.
"This is your house, Challenger."
Then she looked at John, and it was his time to hug her warmly.
"I missed you, my friend."
"I missed you too, Roxton."
Finally, the young woman lifted her head, looking around. She obviously looked for something.
"Ned?"
"Malone is very well."
She sighed. Even if Malone had not came back with Challenger and Roxton, knowing he was alive and well brought her a kind of relief she had lost hope of finding one day. After some seconds, she tried to recompose herself.
"Did you eat?"
"We're fine, Veronica." - the hunter smiled - "But there is a journalist who left unarmed to search for you, and it's better that you find him before he gets into trouble."
She took sometime to understand and, without even saying goodbye, quickly entered in the elevator.
Malone closed the gate. When he turned, his heart almost stopped when noticing Veronica leaving the elevator.
He observed the young woman, at the same time that he walked very slowly in her direction. She seemed in trance and she barely breathed.
The man approached. He had never seen such an anguish glance in her face.
Veronica closed her eyes when he caressed her face, but she practically didn't move. She waited for some seconds, until tilting her head to the side, griping the young man's hand slightly with her shoulder. She seemed to fear that nothing of that was real. Finally, she opened her eyes. She put her hand in the journalist's face, feeling the stubs of a very short beard, result of days walking in the jungle.
Ned, who always had been sure that it would be him to seek refuge and encouragement in her strength, was surprised when seeing her so vulnerable.
Warmly, he hugged her, who hugged him back at the same gently crying, snuggled against his chest.
Challenger, Roxton, Malone, Veronica and Finn were dedicated to the reorganization of their small family.
The treehouse needed small repairs, and they needed activities that could be shared among all of them. They began with a collective effort where they repaired the roof, made a careful clean up in all the rooms, giving a special attention to the bedroom that Roxton and Malone shared, and to the laboratory and Challenger's bedroom that for so long were not cleaned so carefully.
Roxton and Veronica left to hunt, and very often Finn joined them. But invariably they transformed the activity into a dispute, and the girl of the future liked to observe them in that curious battle, until they both would make her to join them, and the competition would then involve the three of them.
Challenger and Malone were in charge of in the reform of the windmill, which suffered adaptations to be also ready for grinding the coffee and wheat. And with Finn's progresses in the reading, George was happy in teaching her more about science.
Ned and Veronica spent lots of time with each other. They had many things to talk about. Above all, they wanted, more than ever, to be together. Even knowing that nobody had doubts on the extent their relationship had reached, when in the tree house each one of them would go back to their own rooms. They imagined that their friends, especially Challenger, could feel uncomfortable someway.
"Can I go with you?"
Veronica smiled when seeing Challenger already dressed and ready to leave so early in the morning. She used to walk, to pick some fruits or take care of the flowers in her father's and Marguerite's graves early in the morning, but she rarely had company for doing that.
"Of course. Don't you want to have your breakfast first?"
"No. We can eat later." – the scientist smiled.
While they walk, they enjoyed the delightful company of each other, and they shared some impressions about the plateau, as they always did.
"Don't misunderstand me, Challenger. You know that I love your company, but I think that you came with me for some special reason."
"You know me very well." -Challenger laughed, and they sat down, enjoying the delicious morning gentle wind - "Forgive me to talk about it, but..." - he made a pause and cleared his throat trying to find the right words - "... I know that it is none of my business, not anybody's business, by the way, but we noticed that Malone has been going to your room in the middle of the night."
Veronica blushed.
"Challenger..."
"Please, let me continue. You and Malone are adults and love each other. We are not in London, and you don't need to provide explanations to anybody at all."
"We didn't want to constrain you."
"I'm happy that you worry about us, and I admit that, if it was years ago, certainly we could feel constrained, somehow. And certainly, I would never have the courage to talk to you about it. But not nowadays. If you really want to stay together, then stay together. Believe me when I say that nothing else could make me happier. And I'm sure that all of us think this same way."
The young woman laughed.
"Thank you, Challenger."
The hunter left some days after Veronica had talked to Ned about her conversation with Challenger, and all of them finally had helped the couple settling in a more comfortable way.
Roxton felt it was important to leave the couple alone for some days, and convinced Finn to take Challenger to one of her training trips to the amazons. The most difficult was to convince the scientist to leave his experiences, even for a short period. He still argued that he would be quiet in his laboratory, but John was categorical.
"George, choose. You spend few days with Finn and the amazons, or I drag you with me without any clear destination."
The scientist was fast in his answer.
"Amazons."
John remembered some people that he had found along the years in the plateau, and he decided to see them again.
Among others, he visited the Hagens, now governed by a legitimate and fair leadership, and also Pakim and the children whose houses had already been built in the trees. Both communities had prospered thanks, among other things, to him and his friends' help.
He spent some days with Adama, who continued to live alone. Different from the last time when she received them with a tranquilizing dart, she offered him shelter for some days, and he paid back her with precious help in the daily tasks. Both of them had fun in friendly conversations near the bonfire.
But after bidding her farewell, the hunter meditated. Who would cry for that old lady when she passed away?
Roxton arrived at the next town at the end of the afternoon. He had walked all day, and was tired and starving.
"Hey, hey, hey." - pretending to be afraid, the hunter lifted his arms when the boy approached, pointing a small tree branch to him - "Please, don't hurt me."
"Who are you?" - the boy asked, daring.
"It is difficult to answer while somebody as courageous as you is pointing a weapon to me. What is your name, small warrior?"
The boy puffed up his chest.
"My name is Cassius, after my father."
The hunter lowered himself in front of the boy.
"Cassius? I knew your father, and he was a great warrior, as one day you will be." - the hunter shook Cassius' hand - "My name is John Roxton."
"Lord John Roxton." - he listened. Then he got up, greeting the leader of the Tintas, who approached.
"Just John Roxton. Hello, Tarya."
The young woman looked at the boy.
"It seems that you already met Cassius."
"He's very smart. And looks like his father."
"Thank you. What brings you here?"
"I have been traveling through the plateau visiting old friends."
"Are you just passing by or can we offer you the hospitality of the Tintas? But I should inform you that it is crop season, and we always need extra help. So, you better think well before say yes." - she smiled.
"It will be an honor to help." - he answered.
"As you know, we use to meet together during the meals. You can leave your stuff in the same cottage that you occupied before, and join us."
Taking the child's hand, Tarya conducted the hunter to the village.
"And how are professor Challenger and Veronica?"
Roxton came back to the treehouse almost one month later, where he stayed with his friends explorers for fifteen days more, returning soon afterwards to the Tintas' village. He wanted to learn a little more about fishing. The hunter had great pleasure in the manual labour, and he liked to leave at dawn and return at dusk with the canoe full of fish. The Tintas had defeated the Hikaris once, but, despite of being peaceful, they should be prepared to defend themselves when they needed. Aided by his faithful apprentice, young Cassius, John took for himself the responsibility of teaching everything that he knew to the villagers. The Tintas would remain cordial to their friends, but attentive to their enemies.
As time went by, Roxton left behind the role of an inhabitant of the treehouse, to become a very welcome visitor.
Veronica would be away for some days with the Zangas and she wouldn't meet her friend. Then, comfortably seating in the balcony after dinner, it was Ned's duty to question the hunter.
"Veronica talked to me about something that she would like to discuss with you the next time you came to the treehouse. Considering that she's not here, I will risk receiving an impolite answer."
"Just talk, Malone." – the man was curious, but relaxed.
"You... and... Tarya... I mean." - the journalist hesitated. Roxton looked at him.
"Malone. After all we've lived together, do you still have any doubt that you can ask me anything you want?"
"Did you tell her everything, Roxton?"
"The first thing that me and Tarya did, when noticing that we could become important to each other, was to talk openly." - Roxton thought for some instants - "Tarya knows that I will never love anybody as I love Marguerite, as well as I know that she will never love anybody as she loves Cassius. But they're dead, and none of us can go back to the past. However, we both have a present and we want to have a future."
Malone raised the glass in a toast.
"I wish you to be very happy, my friend."
And in the following day, Roxton went back to the Tintas' village, while the treehouse returned to its routine.
Epilogue
After more than a month far away from the treehouse, Roxton smiled when seeing Veronica walking in the forest some meters ahead. He stopped observing her for some seconds. Years before he had met a strong and lonely girl, that had became a beautiful woman. And now, more than eight month in pregnancy, she seemed more radiant than ever. He ran to her, taking the bag that she carried.
"You know very well that you shouldn't be carrying any weight. It would be good neither for you nor to the baby. Have you ever thought about a raptor appearing from nowhere?" – He reproached, but quickly softened his expression.
"Ned spends his time guarding me to prevent that I go out alone, and when I finally manage to slip away without him noticing, I meet you."
"He's right. I imagine that the journalist is more nervous than ever. How much time left?"
"Two, three weeks at most. I think this was my last escape." - she smiled, sitting down on a fallen trunk. Roxton did the same, already taking an orange in the backpack he carried, cutting it in four pieces and sharing it among them.
"How are Challenger and Finn?"
"They don't stop at home more. Challenger continues to go with Finn to the Amazons, and now he insists that she cannot walk through the jungle without him. They spend days away, but very often Finn comes back alone. She says that Challenger and Selena have had long, reserved and educative conversations, about the science advances..."
Roxton laughed loudly when observing Veronica's wicked smile.
They stayed there for some time, appreciating the beautiful landscape of the spring in the plateau, and feeling the delicious breeze of the afternoon.
"How are you, Roxton?"
"Much better than I deserve."
"And Tarya?"
"She became a good friend and mate. A survivor like all of us." - Veronica held the hand of the thoughtful hunter, who, after a pause, continued - "The rain was heavy on that area and we have been having a lot of work in the village. We are making some repairs. I came back to take some tools, if you can borrow them, of course."
"Since when you need to ask?"
"I know. Just kidding. If there is no problem, I'll spend the night in the treehouse and return to there tomorrow morning."
The young woman barely had time to show her disappointment, before he continued.
"Don't worry. I'll be here when the baby arrives. Can I bring Tarya also? She wants to see you and Challenger again, and to meet Malone and Finn. And you would also have the chance to meet young Cassius."
"I would really appreciate that." - she smiled, when seeing her friend so calm.
"You know that I'm not used to have a sixth sense, but something tells me that maybe you will meet your mother very soon."
"I would love if she could be here when the child born." – she answered, in a mix of sadness and hope.
"Any clue if the baby is a boy or a girl?"
"Challenger prepared one of his formulas and wanted me to drink it. He swore that depending on my reaction he could define the baby's gender, but I preferred not to try." – she laughed.
"Wise decision."
"Ned always calls the baby as 'him ', but the Zanga healer is absolutely sure she is a girl."
"Did you already choose a name?"
"Well, if he is a boy, he will be named after Ned's father."
"And if she is a girl?"
Veronica turned, facing him and glancing tenderly her friend, who immediately understood.
"May I?" - he asked, touched.
The young woman took the hunter's hand, putting it over her swollen belly. Roxton greeted smoothly.
"Hello, little Marguerite..."
THE END
A special thanks to all people who read this fic and were kind enough to take their time to leave reviews or comments.
References: Tribute, Nectar, Amazons, The Guardian, Into The Fire.