Chapter 4

Buck disengaged the parachute quickly, then began running toward where he'd seen Wilma disappear into the forest. It didn't take long for him to find her. He stood underneath the large tree and looked up at the screaming woman stuck in the branches. He fought the urge to laugh, but lost miserably.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked, embarrassed.

"I thought you were an expert at parachuting. They still do that in training, don't they?"

"Yes, we do… but we don't have any trees on Earth to get hung up on!"

"Just release your tether."

"I'm up too high!"

He shrugged. "You're only fifteen feet off the ground. When you land, lean forward and roll."

She took several minutes to finally convince herself to cut the rope. After she stopped rolling, Buck helped her to her feet. She looked indignantly at the parachute still stuck in the tree. Then she turned to Buck and looked at him sternly.

"Nobody finds out about this."
Buck nodded seriously, and pretended to button his lips… then burst out laughing. Wilma rotated her body around looking at her new surroundings. "Any ideas where we are?" she asked.

Buck shrugged once he stopped laughing. "Not a clue. I was just about to ask you the same thing. I thought you said there were no forests left on Earth."

"There aren't. The holocaust burned them all down."

"Then where did these come from?"

She sighed heavily. "I don't know. Is it possible that we're not on Earth any more?"

Again Buck shrugged. "I don't know. I guess anything's possible."

Wilma turned sharply to face Buck. "What about Twiki and Theo? What do you thing happened to them?"

Buck's gaze trailed off into the patch of blue sky clearly visible through the trees. "Probably as gone as the ship is."

"What do you mean?"
Buck paused. "What happened when you threw that switch?"

Wilma closed her eyes. "The cockpit became one big electrical storm."

"And where does electricity go?"

She thought for a moment, then lowered her head. "To metal."

Buck nodded. "That's probably why we're still alive. They soaked up the electrical discharges like a big lightning rod. They probably disintegrated just like the starfighter did… into thin air."

"Oh that's terrible."

"I know. Twiki was the best friend I had…, present company excluded," he quickly added.

"What about Princess Ardala?"

Buck snapped his fingers. "The princess!"

Wilma looked at him with a strange look on her face. "What?"

Buck tapped a button on the side of his watch. Nothing happened. "Huh, that's odd," he mumbled.

"What is?"
"Ardala gave me this watch. She said if I ever needed anything, to hit this button. She said it was a direct line of communication to her personal… well, to her."

"Maybe we're out of range."

He shook his head. "No, it works in subspace. I should be able to reach her from anywhere in the galaxy."

"Well isn't that convenient?" Wilma said sarcastically.

Once more he shook his head. "Not really. It also means she can contact me from anywhere in the galaxy."

Wilma smiled. "Maybe she's busy with… Tiger Man."

Buck and Wilma exchanged brief glances, then both broke into laughter. "Not likely!" Buck commented.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

Buck looked around for a moment. "Well we're not going to find anything here. I say we start moving."

"Okay. Pick a direction."

Buck pointed over Wilma's shoulder. "We were flying East when we left New Chicago. I say we head west and try to head for home."

"How do you know that's west?"

He pointed toward the sun over his shoulder. "Sun rises in the east."

"How do you know it's morning?"
He tapped the pants of her flight suit. "They're wet from the dew on the grass you rolled around in. You're talking to a former Eagle Scout. Any other questions?"
She shook her head, pointed over her shoulder. "We head west."

They walked in relative silence for over forty-five minutes, each one thinking the same thing: where were they and what had happened to Twiki and Theo? Then suddenly a rustling sounded from underneath a bush and Wilma jumped back instinctively. Buck instantly had his gun in hand. A small, brown, furry creature exited the bush and ran across the forest floor in an erratic path. Buck smiled and holstered his gun. He turned to Wilma.

"Relax. It's just a rabbit."

They continued to walk in a westerly direction up and down hills until they came to a small stream running south. Buck looked up in the sky at the sun.

"Looks like it's about noon. Getting tired?"

Wilma nodded.

"We can rest here. Getting hungry?"

"What do you have in mind?"

He stepped upstream a couple yards to some bushes. He picked some of the reddish-black berries visible. After popping a few into his mouth, he handed some to Wilma. She looked at him dubiously.

"Raspberries," Buck said. "Try them. They're good."

"How do you know they're safe?"

"I just ate some."

"I know, but how do I know you won't keel over in a minute?"

Buck grinned and shook his head. He pointed to a couple half berries on the bush. "See them?"

She carefully inspected the half berries. "Uh-huh," she agreed.

"Birds have been picking at them. If these berries were poisonous, they wouldn't be eating them."

Hesitantly she looked at them, then finally put one into her mouth. A surprised look crossed her face. She looked at Buck and smiled. "They are good!"

"I told you. Trust the Eagle Scout."

Just then another rustling sounded followed by another rabbit scurrying through the underbrush. Without a second thought, Buck drew his weapon and fired. The rabbit dropped instantly to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Wilma asked.

Buck simply smiled. He retrieved the rabbit and rested it on a flat rock nearby. He then gathered up some dry sticks and arranged them in a circle. He fired his weapon at the sticks which quickly caught fire. He took another stick and jammed it through the rabbit. Finally he held the animal over the fire, slowly rotating it every so often. Wilma's eyes widened.

"You're not…" she started.

Buck smiled broadly. "Wait til you try this!"

When the rabbit was finished cooking, Buck pealed back the skin and smiled like a Cheshire cat. To Wilma's dismay he placed the piece of meat into his mouth. Buck's eyes closed and an expression crossed his face as if he were actually enjoying the meat. After savoring it for a long moment, Buck swallowed the piece of meat, then looked at Wilma.

"It's better with a little garlic salt, but it's not bad. Here, try a piece."

She waved her hands adamantly. "No, no. I don't think so."

Buck pulled off another piece of meat. "Do they teach your cadets survival skills during training?"

"Of course they do. You know that."

He nodded once. "Then what do you do when you are stranded in an alien environment, you're hungry, and you have no food packs with you?"

"Wait for help to come."

He smirked slightly. "What if you're stuck there for ten days?"

Wilma drooped her head, sighed. "You live off the land."

Buck smiled and handed her a piece of meat. "Here, try this. It's not going to kill you. I would say it tastes like chicken, but you don't know what chicken tastes like. Here. Trust me. Remember, I'm the-"

"Eagle Scout, yes, I remember."

Wilma reluctantly took the meat and slowly raised it toward her face. She closed her eyes, winced, raised the meat just close enough to brush against her lips. The smell of charred flesh, the image of the rabbit running across the grass, and the sound it made when it was killed all ran through her mind. Cautiously she nibbled a tiny piece off and accidentally let it brush against the taste buds of her tongue. Her eyes widened as the soft, juicy animal flesh slid down her throat.

"Not bad, huh?"

She shook her head. "It's disgusting!" she said as she took another small piece into her mouth. "But it is better than I thought it was going to be."

Buck grinned. "With a couple spices and a nice wine, I promise you it would simply melt in your mouth."

He handed her another piece but she shook her head. "No, this is enough."

Buck nodded in understanding, then ate the piece himself. "When we're done with lunch, we'll follow this creek south to wherever it leads."

Wilma glanced up. "I thought you said we were heading west."

"This creek has to end somewhere. People need water to survive. Follow the water, find the people."

"What if there are no people to find?"

Buck shrugged, then grinned mischievously. "Then it falls to us to populate the planet. Are you ready Eve?"

She looked up questioningly. "Eve?"

Buck shook his head, smirked. "Never mind. Long story!"