Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
The Crystal Skull « Thread Started on Nov 13, 2005, 8:12pm »
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Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #1 on Nov 14, 2005, 9:18am »
The Crystal Skull
by Caroline, Veronica 77, and Explorer
Snick! The hammer of Finn's Smith & Wesson .38 fell, and she noted with satisfaction that her sight picture didn't waver. She was "dry-firing" at a nail on the wall of the Treehouse, checking her steadiness of aim with the unloaded revolver.
She laid it now on the table where she sat on the veranda, with bottles of nitro powder solvent and gun oil in front of her. Her 6.5mm Mannlicher-Schoenauer and Winchester .44 carbine were already cleaned, resting in the rifle rack in the living room behind her. She had carefully selected these arms from the collection salvaged from the slavers whom the explorers had recently killed, along with guns remaining from other expeditions that had perished on the plateau.
Finn swung the cylinder of her Military and Police Model S&W out to the left, checked that the extractor rod moved smoothly, and ran a final clean flannel patch down the five-inch barrel, to remove any excess oil remaining in the bore.
Noticing motion in the room behind her, she saw her 'big sister" walking toward the kitchen.
"Hey, V.," she called. "Did you finish making that limeade yet?"
Veronica smiled to herself, knowing what Finn's next question would be. "Why?", she asked innocently.
"Will you bring me some?", the younger girl asked.
"Hey, you don't have legs?", Veronica teased. "Do I look like a waitress to you?"
Finn grinned. "Yeah, sort of. I've heard that cocktail waitresses wear outfits like that. I hear they get good tips, too!"
"Just a minute, Smarty Pants. I was going to bring some out, anyway. I want to ask you something, too."
Veronica set a silver tray with a chilled pitcher of fruit juice and two glasses on the table and pulled up a chair. "I'll take some to Challenger in the lab in a few minutes," she offered.
"Don't bother. I'll do it. I'm almost finished here."
"Afraid that I'll make a move on your man?", razzed Veronica.
"No, V. I just feel it's my responsibility to look after George. He may need me in the lab, anyway. Hey! Did you just see something move back in the jungle, on the river path?"
"Get George's big binocular off the bookcase and take a look. I still have powder solvent and oil on my hands. If I get any on those lenses or the solvent damages the leather covering, George will probably paddle my cute little bottom. You know how he likes to take care of his things."
Veronica got the Carl Zeiss 10X50 binocular, adjusted the focus for her eyes and the distance and began scanning the trail. "Were you serious?", she asked. "Would you really let Challenger spank you if he got mad?"
"I was just being facetious," Finn answered. "If he ever did get really mad at me, he'd probably just give me the silent treatment. If I did something truly awful, he might even tell me to move back into my room. But that isn't going to happen. I'd never provoke him that much. I'm not about to risk our relationship. See anything?"
"No. The reason why I asked is that two days ago, I heard a commotion out here and looked to see what was wrong. Challenger had you firmly over his lap, and you were definitely getting spanked. I was trying to decide if I should say anything when you started giggling and said, 'Okay, that's enough! I'll do it!'" Then, you took off the almost nothing that you had on and started ---"
Finn glared furiously at the other woman and demanded, "V, how COULD you? How long did you stand there, staring? Who else have you told? Ned? Marguerite?"
"I swear, Finn, just you," stammered Veronica. "No way would I tell anyone else. I'm so embarrassed. But by the time I was sure that you two were just playing around, you were already doing...that...and I was just sort of transfixed. When I realized what I was doing, I felt like a Peeping Thomasina and went back to bed. But I couldn't sleep, thinking about what I'd seen. Do men really like that?"
"I'd say that 'like' understates their reaction. I've done that with other guys in the past and heard other girls talk about it, and none of us ever got any complaints from it. If you want a man's undivided attention, that's a good way to get it. Some chicks trade that service for gifts or dinner out at a nice restaurant. I'd rather just do it out of love, so that I don't feel like a whore afterwards. If I keep my guy happy, he'll do nice things for me, anyway. And the look on George's face makes it worthwhile. I'm thrilled to know that I can give him that much pleasure. I love him so much...Are you SURE that you didn't tell anyone else, you...VOYEUR!?"
"I swear! But what do you really DO? Do you think Ned might like that? Once he got over the initial shock of what I was doing?"
"I'm sure he'd love it, V. Get a peeled banana later today, and I'll coach you. I know some good tongue tricks. Be sure that you don't break the banana unless it's fully ripe, though, or it means that you're not being gentle enough. Technique is the key, not pressure. You don't always have to go deep, either. Use light, swirling tongue motions, like you've seen me do, eating ice cream, or licking cake icing off of a stick. Are you sure that you don't see anything down there? I know I saw something more than the breeze moving that foliage."
"No. Wait: some Zanga just walked out of the jungle... It's Assai and two warriors. Wow! Get this: Xma'Klee and Sa'eera are with them! It must be something important. Clean off your hands and go get Challenger. If possible, a man should greet Xma'Klee. He's a very important dignitary. And he's brought the chief's favorite wife, too. Something is definitely up."
Finn quickly loaded her .38, holstered it, washed her hands in the kitchen, and started toward the lab.
Veronica noticed that there were only a few bananas left on the counter. She selected two not quite ripe ones and took them to her room, blushing.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #2 on Nov 16, 2005, 5:38am »
The Layton lass put the bananas aside on her dresser and rummaged through the closet. She decided that it would be nice if she wore a dress, and she and the other Treehouse women had been busy making them of late, mainly in a style that Finn said was called a "sundress" in her time. It seemed ideal for tropical evenings, and Veronica wanted to show Assai how one looked. Some were actually called slipdresses, for their resemblance to that inner garment.
She heard Finn running back up the stairs and called out to her , suggesting that they both dress for the Zanga visit. It would be an excuse to spruce up, adding an elegant touch to their usually uneventful social life.
"I'm 'way ahead of you, V.!", answered the other woman, popping her head in to see what "V." was wearing.
She caught Veronica in white string bikini briefs, changing. The elder "sister" held up two dresses, one dark lime green, the true green of a ripe lime, not the yellow-green so often called "lime green". The other was powder blue, slit up the sides at the bottom for three inches in a tapering cut that flared at the hem.
After a quick,-if animated- discussion, Veronica pulled on the blue one, and combed her hair as Finn dashed for her and Challenger's room to freshen up.
When Veronica walked in a few moments later, Finn was stripped to a lacy beige thong, furiously brushing her hair. She had laid out a coral slip dress and tan sandals, wishing that they had a means of crafting high-heeled shoes. For this summer casual occasion, the sandals probably went better with the dress, anyway, and Veronica agreed when queried, although she had never worn high heels, and Finn had had only a few opportunities. Veronica watched as Finn shrugged into the light cotton dress and fastened slim gold loops in her ear lobes. Finn noted that Veronica had chosen white pearl earrings and sandals like her own.
Both girls looked one another over, and passed each other a bottle of Challenger's citrus-based cologne. They agreed that Challenger and the Zanga were in for a visual treat when they saw them and smiled at the idea that Zanga tribesmen would know what was chic for a summer evening in white society. But they did want to see Sa'eera and Assai's reaction...
Challenger burst in as Finn tied her sandals, and was taken aback momentarily to find Veronica in the room. The latter excused herself and went to call up the elevator as Challenger changed into clean khaki trousers that Finn had ironed and a fresh shirt. He ran a comb through his hair and Finn pronounced him fit for appearance in polite jungle company.
He took in Finn's attire, noting that her skirt ended at mid-thigh and joked that he didn't know whether to chide her for wearing what looked to men of his generation like an abbreviated slip, or to praise her for looking like a fantasy houri from a lewd concept of Paradise. "Where is your brassiere, young lady?", he wanted to know, realizing that there was no way she could be wearing one with the spaghetti string straps of this dress.
"Honey," Finn said, hoping that he wasn't going to be a Victorian prig at this point, "this is meant to be worn braless. V. isn't wearing one, either. It wouldn't look right with this style."
"Scandalous," retorted Challenger. "I wonder what has become of my civilized standards when I see women dressed like that and thrill to the occasion instead of telling my mate to go put on some clothes. Are you sure this was proper, at least in your time?"
Finn told him that all was well, and had him fasten her gold chain necklace, and they walked hand-in-hand to the elevator, where they met an impatient Veronica.
On the ground, they shut off electric power to the security fence as the Zanga party arrived, and George hailed Xma'Klee and opened the wooden gate to admit their guests. Veronica and Finn stood demurely behind him, their hands folded in front of them.
The two men exchanged grave greetings and Challenger bade their guests enter the compound. Xma'Klee turned and instructed his warriors to find a suitable place to pitch camp well back from the fence, telling them that he would soon send Assai or Sa'eera with water to fill their drinking skins. The party made its way to the elevator, and the men and Finn went up, leaving Veronica and the two Zanga beauties to hug one another and begin chattering about their respective raiment and the flowers in the visitors' hair.
When the elevator had gone back for the others and all were assembled in the living room, Veronica, as hostess, asked Finn to join her in preparing refreshment. The Zanga girls asked to help, and Challenger led Xma'Klee to the table in the center of the large room. He noticed that Xma'Klee carried a stout leather bag in addition to his bedroll and weapons. When Xma'Klee set his bow, quiver, and other gear on a couch, he retained the heavy bag as he joined Challenger at the table. The men began exchanging formal greetings and courtesy talk as the girls worked in the kitchen.
Finn and Sa'eera soon appeared with fruit juice and bowls of berries and melons, as Veronica and Assai took packages of meat, fruit, and water to the elevator, for delivery to the men who had remained below. Having served, the girls started to withdraw, but Xma'Klee asked Challenger to allow the ladies to join them, if that was permissible under their customs.
"The girls may as well remain with us, George Challenger. It will save us summoning them from the kitchen when we need refills, and it has been a long journey for Sa'eera. She should rest, and they can join us until the others return. Then, they will doubtless join one another and prattle away while we speak of something that I feel sure will draw your interest. In the meantime, please tell your woman that she is lovely, and that I am smitten by her garment. Might she make such dresses for my wives?
Finn blushed, and replied through her man, as was Zanga custom, that she was honored by such praise from the Great Shaman. She poured the juice into gracefully fluted glasses chosen from those that Marguerite had selected, as with all their dishes, with exquisite taste and an unlimited budget. The group made small talk until the other girls returned and the women joined one another near the kitchen.
Xma'Klee said, "Now that we have passed time in polite greeting, may I address the occasion of our visit? But first, where are Lord and Lady Roxton?"
Challenger cleared his throat and delicately explained that although the Roxtons were considered a couple, they had not formally married, inasmuch as a priest of their faith was unavailable on the Plateau. But they were hunting, and were expected back at any time.
"It is well, for a primary reason why I have come is to give Ma-Greet a gift from mighty Jacoba, King of all the Zanga. Jacoba wishes to express his joy and appreciation for Ma-Greet having taught his youngest wife to dance for him in an erotic manner that he has not seen before, but which brings the chief much pleasure." He took an ornate silver box from the heavy leather bag at his feet, and opened it. "You know Ma-Greet well, George Challenger. Behold this item."
He opened the lid of the exquisite antique box. Within, on a bed of gold velvet, reposed an emerald of great beauty, rectangular, beveled slightly at the corners, and cut by a master gem carver. It was mounted in a gold frame with attached thin gold necklace, and was as fine an item as could be obtained in Cartier's or DeBeers' showrooms in Paris, New York, or London. Xma'Klee smiled devilishly and asked, "Do you feel that Jacoba chose something that might possibly please Ma-Greet?" It was well known that Marguerite Krux was enchanted by a lust for jewels, especially emeralds.
"Ah, yes", smiled Challenger. "I think it not unlikely that Marguerite will find this token of Jacoba's appreciation quite pleasing. I think I know now what Marguerite and Finn were doing in that hut when they banned men while they 'discussed womens business' the afternoon that we left your village on the occasion of our last visit. You say that the girls learned a new dance, so impressive as to be worth such a gift? Finn has demonstrated to me her own talents in this area, and if Marguerite has taught Sa'eera to move as well, an emerald is indeed warranted if Jacoba is pleased."
"Ahoy, the Treehouse!" came a soprano voice from below. "Don't shoot! It's us, coming up. We killed a deer, or rather I did. Roxton just lent his strength in lugging it home." Marguerite...as if cued to appear!
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #3 on Nov 16, 2005, 4:41pm »
Quickly taking in the situation, Marguerite rushed Roxton upstairs and the two cleaned up quickly. Marguerite insisted that John wear a tuxedo with white jacket, despite his protest that he would feel like a penguin in it and look absurd to the other men.
"No, you won't, John. You'll have me on your arm. Their only emotion will be raw jealousy. Now, get dressed like a good boy. I'll see you in a few moments. If you insist on wearing a gun, use that Colt .32 automatic. Stick it in your cummerbund under the jacket and no one will see it." And she rushed to her room.
Roxton found her twenty minutes later, her hair up, ruby earrings dangling from her lobes, wearing a deep red dress that he thought was probably dark crimson or some sort of burgundy. He knew better than to ask, lest he get a lecture in the subtle differences in hues of red. The dress was made of a slightly thicker version of the smooth fabric that Challenger had devised to replace silk or satin in the lingerie that the women sewed, and it molded to Marguerite. When she moved, the dress moved, as if it had muscles of its own. At least, the skirt was knee-length, he mused, not halfway up to her rear, like what the blondes were wearing. Not that he really objected to that, but Challenger must be embarrassed.
"Are you going to wear that?" he asked, before catching himself.
"Yes, John, I certainly am. What, pray tell, is wrong with it ? It's all I have ready that will eclipse Finn in her slutty little coral slip dress. That's what I have to beat. Veronica is just about as sweet as she is sexy in that powder blue number, but Finn is competition. Her pal V. is still a little wet behind the ears, socially, and Finn has become quite sophisticated."
"It, ah, sort of moves when you do. All over. The men are going to get eyestrain looking, and the other girls are going to become catty and jealous."
She patted his cheek and kissed him. "Congratuations, Darling; you just managed to back out of the doghouse before you walked all the way in and shut the door. Here, give me that bow tie. We need to get downstairs."
"Do I really have to wear a tie? I always feel that I'm being strangled by the things."
"Yes, this is a special occasion." And Marguerite's nimble fingers soon had it in place.
"Was that the elevator I heard? Malone back yet"? This was Roxton.
"Yes, he brought back some icky butterflies from his little jaunt. Some are really pretty, almost jewel-like. Challenger is showing them to Xma'Klee, who said that they're no good to eat, and why was Malone wasting energy chasing them. I'd love to hear George's explanation to that savage as to why intelligent men chase butterflies. Or, not. Veronica and Finn took Ned in tow. Finn is laying out his tux while Veronica cleans him up. You won't be the only man looking like a penguin tonight. Assai is acting hostess until we get downstairs; she knows where everything is."
"Have you even got anything on under that dress?", Roxton ventured. It crossed his mind that the color that he was fumbling for was probably garnet.
"Yes, John, a matching thong that avoids pantylines. That's why you don't see anything. I'll teach Finn to wear a dress like that without giving me advance warning!" And she took his arm and they went downstairs.
Finn had rejoined the company after a quick conference with Veronica, and she and Sa'eera were talking. She knew now that Marguerite was to to receive an emerald, and the girls laughed about Jacoba's response to Sa'eera and Assai's teasing that he should send Marguerite a gift after seeing Sa'eera's "Dance of the Sand Peoples".
"Husband was amused at our suggestion, and called our bluff," admitted Sa'eera. "Assai helped him to select a stone and setting that Ma-Greet would like. I can't wait to see her face when she gets it. The only other reason we came is that Xma'Klee wants to show George Challenger some old glass head."
Marguerite walked up just in time to overhear the part about the "glass head", and her ears pricked up. She made a note to stay close to Challenger in case it might turn out to be one of the crystal skulls of legend.
Finn took a careful look at the Roxtons, excused herself, and ran back up to their room, where she grabbed George's expensive tweed jacket from the closet. It was the best she could do to salvage the fashion crisis. Damn Marguerite, but Finn had to admit that she was beautiful, and John was positively gorgeous! "Splendidly handsome", she mentally corrected herself, heading back downstairs.
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #4 on Nov 19, 2005, 9:21pm »
"Here ya go, Malone. I've got your tux ready and waiting on your bed," said Finn. She was eying Veronica and Malone together. They looked great together, she knew that. But she couldn't help but wonder if she and George had that, thing. She shook it off before she could think about it longer. She knew she had SOMETHING with George and thats all that matters.
She started walking out the room to leave them alone.
"Thanks, Finn. Oh wait! I need to ask you something," replied Malone.
He walked over to Finn and started whispering. "Do we still have roses in the garden? I wanted to give them to Veronica on our next picnic. I was planning on doing a picnic tomorrow and I just wanted to check."
Finn smiled and chuckled. She couldn't get over the fact that Ned could be so silly sometimes. The two of them had been in the garden yesterday talking about the new rose bushes Finn had planted.
"Yes, silly. Don't you remember the two of us in the garden yesterday? You helped me plant the two new rose bushes."
"Oh, right. Well, anyway, just checking."
He smiled and walked back to Veronica. Finn looked back one more time and smiled. She walked back down the stairs to Challenger and their guests.
"What were you two whispering about? Inquiring minds need to know?" asked Veronica.
"Inquiring minds, huh? Well in that case, tell them that we were talking about how handsome I would look in this tuxedo," laughed Malone.
"V" smiled and hugged the man she knew loved her fiercely. "Promise me, you'll never leave me Ned. I don't ever want to be separated."
"Why do you ask that? Huh?" He lifted her up in his arms and took her chin. "Of course we'll be together. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm not gonna leave you again. Ever!"
Her eyes softened and she smiled, faintly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound silly. I just really missed you a lot. I guess these last couple of days have really gotten to me."
She picked up his tux and gave it to him. She walked toward the door and looked back. "I'll see you downstairs Ned Malone." With that, she walked downstairs to the rest of the household.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #5 on Nov 21, 2005, 10:30am »
Soon, all were assembled in the living room, with dinner heating on the stove.
Sa'eera announced that she would turn 18 on her next birthday, in two months, and invited the explorers to a celebration in the Zanga village. They congratulated her, promising to attend, barring an emergency.
Then, Challenger and Xma'Klee stood at the head of the table and asked for quiet. When all looked expectantly at the guest of honor, he took out the small silver box and motioned for Ma'Greet to come to him. When the surprised woman did so, he opened the box and made a flowery speech about how Jacoba had sent her this small token of his appreciation for teaching Sa'eera the Dance of the Sand Peoples. The men looked blank, until Finn whispered loudly, "Belly dancing. And, is she good at it!"
Marguerite blushed crimson as the others laughed and congratulated her for her talent and for imparting it to the chief's youngest wife.
"Marguerite will always find a way to get jewels," laughed Veronica. "Go on, Marguerite! Let John put it on for you!"
And Roxton fastened the golden chain around his love's neck, to general applause.
She gave a brief speech of gratitude, fingering the emerald. "I really didn't deserve this. Xma'Klee, Assai, please tell the Chief that he does me much honor, and that I am made humble, but am delighted with his kindness."
Soon, dinner was ready, and they served a choice of fish, jungle fowl, or venison, warmed up from the electric refrigerator that Challenger had recently devised. "Someday," he had bragged at the time, "all refrigerators will be electric and there will be no need for ordinary iceboxes. If only I could get home and present my wonderful inventions to the public!"
Yams, spinach, and squash from the garden accompaned the meal, and Roxton opened two bottles of their dwindling stock of fine Bordeaux wine to celebrate the occasion of Marguerite being presented with the emerald and the Chief's good wishes.
Afterward, coffee was served, and Challenger boasted that he and Finn had high hopes for the coffee bushes that they'd planted from the late Prof. Summerlee's stock of botannical samples. "I think the soil and the altitude are right, and we should soon be able to harvest our own coffee beans," he concluded. That announcement brought a round of applause, and the ladies served dishes of fruit: oranges, tangerines, grapes, and pineapple.
After, the girls, save Marguerite, went up to Veronica's room. They had been whispering to one another and giggling, but Roxton had taken no particular notice. Now, when Sa'eera dashed down the stairs and appropriated most of the bananas from the kitchen, he lifted an eyebrow in mild curiosity. He stood with Marguerite, who was pointedly lingering near George and Xma'Klee, waiting for the medicine man to broach the subject of the skull.
Sa'eera went shyly to Marguerite and said, "Ma'am, would you like to join us upstairs? We're going to, ah..." and she colored and motioned Marguerite forward and whispered in her ear.
Marguerite blushed slightly now, too, and said, "Thank you, Darling. It was kind of you to ask, but please tell Finn and Veronica that I think I already know how to manage that quite well. I'll check with Finn later, just to be sure that she hasn't managed to think of anything I haven't. But my place now is with Lord Roxton, and I am curious about something that the Great Shaman has brought."
"Okay, Ma'Greet. They said to ask. Thank you anyway, ma'am." And she turned to leave.
Something tripped in Marguerite's mind and she stopped Sa'eera. "Why did you call me 'ma'am'? I didn't know you knew that English word."
"Did I do wrong, ma'am? Finn said that this was the term of respect for older ladies in your society, and that I should be sure to address you that way."
"Ah, no, Sa'eera. You have the word right.But you and I are friends. You should feel free to call me Marguerite. Maw-gew-reet, not Ma'greet. Try, Darling. I'll help you get it right."
"Marg-ra-reet?" But Sa'eera soon had the name right and pronounced it several times, delightedly, before she excused herself to take the bananas upstairs. Veronica was already at the railing, checking to see what had delayed her. She looked directly at Marguerite and gave a big grin before turning toward her room.
Challenger, Malone, and Roxton were all looking like men trying very hard not to laugh. Xma'Klee just looked puzzled. "All right, boys," said Marguerite, "go ahead and laugh. Just don't take all night." And she explained to Xma'Klee what had just happened.
"How old are Finn and Veronica?", wondered Roxton. "Twenty-three and twenty-six? Sometimes, they act like they were Sa'eera's age. But they are funny, Marguerite. Doubtless, you'll find some way to 'zing' them back. More coffee?" If anything might distract Marguerite from brooding about the other girls' prank, a good cup of prime arabica coffee might do it.
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #6 on Nov 22, 2005, 11:07am »
As much as Marguerite loved her coffee, somehow at this moment, it just didn’t taste the way it usually did. By now her curiosity was getting the better of her, she wanted to see the skull that Xma’Klee had brought with him, to show the explorers. Unable to restrain herself any longer, she stood up from her place, and walked over to the table where Challenger and Xma’Klee were having a conversation.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you fine gentlemen in your conversation, but great Shaman Xma’Klee might I inquire after the skull you mentioned you have brought with you to show us”, Marguerite asked, in the most polite manner she could think of.
Xma’Klee was all too familiar with Marguerite’s interest in jewellery and ancient artifacts. He was actually counting on her expertise, when he had decided to bring the skull to the explorers, he was sure that she could tell him the significance of the skull.
With a smile on his face, Xma’Klee nodded, “Yes I think we have had enough polite conversations for now, and the time has come for me to show you the reason I have come to you this day.”
Xma’Klee got up to get a small bag he had brought with him, and which he had carefully laid down in a corner of the Treehouse. Roxton, Malone, Challenger and Marguerite gathered around their guest, full of suspense to see what the item was he had brought with him.
Out of the bag came an object, wrapped in several leather cloths as protection. Slowly Xma’Klee unwrapped the skull. When he removed the final cloth for a moment no one could speak a word.
“Is that what I think it is?”, Challenger asked, of no one in particular.
“It’s a Crystal Skull: it’s an actual Crystal Skull”, Marguerite said, with her eyes lighting up with excitement.
In the hands of Xma’Klee lay a perfectly shaped skull, about the size of that of a small child. It was made out of clear crystal quartz, and moreover it seemed to be made out of one single piece of quartz. The detailing of the skull was near perfect, as if it was an actual human skull that lay before the explorers.
Marguerite picked up the skull to take a closer look. When she turned the skull slightly a ray of light fell on it, and it seemed to light up as if being on fire. The eye sockets lit up even more, and gave the skull an even more mysterious, almost eerie, look.
“I’ve only ever seen one like it before”, Challenger said, “in the Museum of Man in London.”
“There’s another one in a museum in Paris that I came in rather close contact with”, Marguerite said mysteriously.
“But that’s a story I will tell all of you another time”, she quickly added, after seeing the questioning looks the others gave her.
Breaking the renewed silence, Challenger asked Xma’Klee where he had found this wonderful artifact.
“Some Zanga warriors out hunting came across a cave they had never seen before”, Xma’Klee said.
“They decided to see if any edible mushrooms grew inside this cave, when they found a niche. Inside it, hidden away from plain sight, they found this skull. Because they did not know its significance, but thought it might be important, they brought it to me. Unfortunately, I have never seen anything like this before, so I could not tell them anything, either. Chief Jacoba suggested I bring it to you, together with the gift for Marguerite”, Xma’Klee explained.
“So I now come to you and ask you what this skull means, what could it's purpose be?”, he finished his story.
“She’s quite the expert in ancient artifacts, and she has already said to have been in close contact with one before”, he added, looking at Marguerite.
“Well, Marguerite, can you tell us anything about this skull?”, Roxton asked.
“Alright, hold your horses”, she said, “I will tell you everything I know, and that isn’t much, really”.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you know more than all of us put together,” Malone said, with a big grin on his face.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #7 on Nov 22, 2005, 11:08pm »
"The first that Europeans knew of such items," she began, "was after the Spanish conquered the Aztec civilization in central Mexico. That was from 1519 until about 1522, and was among the most remarkable military achievements of all time."
"The Aztec were obsessed with spilling blood in sacrifice to their many gods, who would otherwise end the world. They sacrificed by cutting out victims' hearts while four priests held the hapless person down over a stone altar atop their ziggurat-style pyramids. They ate some of the dead, and other corpses went to their king, Moctezuma's, zoo, to feed predators there. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who wrote the only original account of the Cortes expedition, told us that their altars were filthy with dried blood, and that flies were everywhere, and that the hideous priests' hair was often matted with blood."
"The Aztec wrote in symbols equivalent to Egyptian heiroglyphics, on paper rolls called codexes, or codices. The Catholic priests set out to destroy the temples of the Sun and the Moon in Tenotchtitlan and other structures throughout the country. These efforts burned most of their codexes, and the remaining ones are priceless artifacts, most on display in European universties and museums."
"I can tell you more, and I know that Lord Roxton can tell you much about the course of the Conquest, which he has studied at Sandhurst and elsewhere. But what you ask about is skulls. Aztecs kept large skull racks on the front of many of their temples, and they were filled with real skulls of their victims. Their priests also had skulls of pure rock crystal, quartz."
"We know little of their function, but they were probably used for meditation and quite likely for display in dark or smoky rooms, where they could be lighted internally and perhaps appear to speak, especially if those viewing had taken hallucinogenic drugs."
"Only a few of these skulls have been found, and they probably were very difficult to make and restricted to use by high priests, maybe to devine the future or in worship ceremonies. Colors vary from pale green to milky to lavendar. We just don't know more, and the Bishop of Yucatan joined his brethern further north in ordering the similar Maya codexes destroyed as implements of the Devil."
"The value of one of these things must be astronomical; in terms of human culture, they are priceless. Perhaps as more excavations of Aztec and Maya ruins take place, we may learn precisely how they were employed. We do know that they reflect light internally, and that some emit energy through some unknown means. Frankly, a museum director with whom I spoke privately told me that he was frightened by the aura the skull his institution has gives off. It changes colors, sometimes for no reason at all. and reflections of items not even in the room appear in its eyes. He said that this is absolutely uncanny. He had no idea how this hard crystal was carved. Knives can't scratch it. No metal tools seem to have been used: the Aztecs didn't even have steel. Look how it's been highly polished, probably by increasingly fine abrasives."
She was interrupted by peals of laughter from Veronica's room on the floor above.
"What ARE those girls doing up there?", Challenger said, irritated.
"You probably don't want to know, "grinned Marguerite. "George, lets' take this skull to the lab. Feel how heavy it is, for the size? Wait. Let me hold it over the candle here on the table. Look! See how light enters from the base and reflects all over the skull? It refracts as if there are internal prisms, although how anyone could carve within it baffles me, and anyone else who has published about these things."
Challenger took the skull and held the foramen magnum, the hole through which the spine would pass on a human, over the candle. He studied carefully the way the light moved as he manipulated the skull. "Look how the zygomatic arches function as light pipes!", he exclaimed.
"The zygo whats?" queried Ned Malone. But Challenger, now deep in thought, ignored him.
"The lab," he muttered, and led the party down a level to his workplace, where he turned on lights and cleared a place on a table. He moved a scale over, set its balance, and placed the skull on it. "Hmmm,", he observed, "This little wonder weighs eleven pounds, eight ounces. Lets' see the measurements."
Moving to a selection of tools to one side, he selected a tape measure and had Roxton hold the skull as he carefully measured it, dictating the figures to Marguerite, who took up a notepad and pen.
"Height, five inches, length seven inches, width, again, five inches. "
"What concerns Jacoba," said Xma'Klee. "is that the shaman whom I replaced last year and who seeks to overthrow Jacoba, is said to have a similar skull and to be telling a nearby branch of our tribe that he has supernatural powers. He even speaks of visits by beings from beyond the stars, whom he says left such skulls as evidence of their prowess and to empower those whom they favored. He has an old codex that speaks of such things, and says that the gods have chosen him as the next Paramount Chief of the Zanga, and that his rule will eventually extend even beyond the Plateau. He is believed to be hiding in or near an ancient city that was founded by refugees from Mexico who fled the Spanish. Most were Aztec, but they had with them some Maya, who were skilled astronomers and who measured time in units they called 'bak'tun'."
"They eventually merged, calling themselves the Tecamaya, and elements of both tribes' gods and concepts were incorporated in their faith. They ruled this Plateau for about two hundred years, when a coalition of other tribes, including those who would become Zanga, overcame them. Some vanished, said to practice their sacrifices and occult acts somewhere in the mountains to the east. Ruins of a city founded by them are known there. It is said to be rich in treasure, and to have scrolls of these codexes that tell what became of them following their flight from Mexico."
Challenger became aware of someone standing beside him, and Finn set down a tray with cups and a pot of tea. Sa'eera was with her.
"George, we noticed that you left your cups upstairs, so we made tea and came to see what's going on. Shall I pour for everyone? Xma'Klee, would you like to try this hot beverage? With sugar, it tastes very good."
Challenger said, a bit irritably, "Weren't you giving some sort of demonstration upstairs that was amusing you girls?" But he gratefully accepted his tea and showed Xma'Klee how to spoon in sugar and stir.
"Yes, " Finn admitted, "but I was basically done, and I missed you. Assai and V. wanted to talk about making some dresses, so Sa'eera and I came looking for you." She reached out and took his hand, leaned over and kissed his cheek.
He was touched, and his countenance softened. He lifted Finn's hand, kissed it, and quickly recounted the gist of what they had learned and gave her the dimensions and weight of the skull. Finn lifted it and rotated it, turnng the base toward the ceiling light. "Whoa!", she exclaimed. "look how light plays around in this thing. Remember when you told me about different binocular prisms? Roof and Porro? The Abbe-Koenig and Pechan roof prisms? I think this thing has internal prisms. I can see the whole spectrum of colors in here. She turned to Sa'eera, who looked and quickly backed away, lifting a hand to her mouth. "Lover, what IS this?!" And she set it quickly down on the table.
"The mandible is separate, hinged with pins to the upper skull," mused Challenger, lifting it again. "The jaw moves. I daresay that a priestly scoundrel could make this thing appear to speak. No telling what it might have ''said'."
Marguerite was staring intently at the skull, and she became aware that goosebumps had appeared on her skin. She folded her arms, suddenly feeling chilled to the marrow within her bones.
Xma'Klee noticed and said," Sorceress, you are troubled. You see things here that we others do not. Speak. Tell us what evil lies within this strange apparition."
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #8 on Nov 23, 2005, 3:33pm »
"Is everybody ready?" asked Finn.
The girls sat in a circle at the foot of Veronica's bed, laughing like little school girls.
"I want each of you to take a banana and hold it in your hands. Sa'eera, don't hold it so tightly, it looks like a death grip."
Laughing again, Finn showed her how to hold it without a hard grip.
"When you do this with your man, BE CAREFUL. They are very sensitive, so be careful with what you do to them. You CAN'T bite down, and you CAN'T do the same exact thing over and over. Variety is nice, spice things up. It doesn't hurt."
Finn showed them several techniques to use, and then told them to show her. She got up and started walking around the circle, congratulating each on their good work. She had to show Sa'eera what to do, for she was having a little trouble learning how to do it.
When she walked past Veronica, she saw she was having a little more trouble than before. V. called Finn over to show her how to do it again.
"Finn, I can't do it. I'm not very good. You've seen me," said the reluctant blond.
"You were doing great! You're one of the better ones," replied Finn. "Listen, if you want, I can show you in private if you'd like. Maybe your just feeling embarrassed with the other girls around."
"No. Maybe I'm just not cut out to do this type of thing. I mean, Ned and I, you know, just started, and I don't think it would be right. Maybe later. But this would just be moving way too fast I think."
Finn laughed and said that was fine. She wasn't about to force her to do something she wasn't ready to do. Veronica agreed, relieved that she wasn't forced to do something she wasn't ready to do. "Thanks, that'd be great, Finn."
"Finn, I think I got it," replied Assai, one of the other girls.
"Ok, show me," said the beaming Finn.
The girl showed her all the moves she was taught with great excellence. Everyone started laughing, falling over each other with silliness. They couldn't believe that someone could learn so fast in only a few minutes.
"What? I didn't do it right, did I? I'll do it again then."
She started to do it again, before Finn stopped her. The girl was doing it so enthusiastically, that the banana had come open at the bottom.
"No! No! Please stop, Assai," laughed Finn. "Please. You did great. But look at what you did to the banana. Didn't you notice it, when you were still goin' at it?"
Assai looked at the banana and beamed. She placed it on the floor, embarrassed. "Perhaps we should do something else."
"Ok. What?" asked Sa'eera.
"Oh I don't know," said Finn, taking her time. "I cleaned my gun today, before you guys came."
"Yep, I was there," replied Veronica.
"Good," stated Assai.
The girls looked at one another, a bit uncomfortable. Each wanting to go further with their lesson, but not wanting to say anything.
"So, this is a bit uncomfortable, huh?" asked Finn.
"Yeah, I'd say so," replied the chief's daughter, Assai.
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #9 on Nov 24, 2005, 9:35pm »
"Let's go downstairs to the kitchen. I'm sure the others are having more fun than we are," said the all too eager Veronica.
The rest of the girls agreed. Each picked up their respective bananas and threw them away into the trashcan beside Veronica's door.
- - - - - - - - - -
Marguerite stood there with a blank look on her face. She stood there pondering what she should tell them. She couldn't really tell them what she was thinking. For what she thought couldn't be true. She had a flashback to when she was a child. When she was walking the streets one night, she could have sworn she saw something similar in a man's arms, covered in a blanket. But part of it had slipped off before the man realized it. And what she saw, she didn't like.
"Oh! Excuse me. I wasn't paying attention," said the brunette. "I'm so sorry. It was nothing. I am just a little chilled that's all. Perhaps I should go to my room and retire early. Have a good evening."
She went out of the room, giving it a weird glance. She shook her head, not wanting to believe it. As she went up to her room, she started talking to herself.
"No. It couldn't be. I must have been imagining things in there. I never saw anything like that. Ever. Now John'll think I'm crazy and come up and see me. What to do? What to do?"
She paced her room, back and forth, back and forth, wondering how long it would take John, or anybody else for that matter, to come up and get her.
"John will be worried. I wonder what he is thinking right now. Does he think I'm being weird right now? No. Never. He wouldn't think that. He loves me to much to actually say that to me. Oh what am I doing? Here I am walking in my room, talking to myself, when I could have a perfectly good evening with the others."
"That stupid skull had to go and light up like that. I didn't want to see what it had in there. It was messing with my head. That's all it was doing. I couldn't ev-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, she had hit her shin on her bed. She toppled over onto her bed, holding her leg.
"Ouch! God! I am losing my mind. Lord Roxton will definitely be up here now. He probably heard me. God, I was so loud. Uhhhhh."
She looked at her leg and saw a bruise starting to form.
"Oh great. Now I'll probably need a doctor or something. Challenger'll probably put some new medicine on my leg to make it heal faster. Urrggghhhh!!"
She lay ed down on her bed, her arms up by her head. She closed her eyes and started thinking about what she "thought" she saw as a child.
"It couldn't even have happened. I doubt I even saw anything. My mind is playing tricks on me again. After what's happened these past couple of weeks, I'm in for a break. Maybe John will go to the beach with me again."
- - - - - - -
"Well that was odd!" replied the eager scientist. "Do you think she saw anything?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," said Roxton. He started to go after her, but was stopped by Challenger.
"Let her go. I don't think she wants company right now. She looks a little shaken up, if I do say so myself."
Wearily, Roxton stepped down. He looked back in Marguerites direction before he backed up a few paces. "Agreed."
"Why don't we go out to the dining area again. I hear the other girls in there," said Challenger.
All agreed and moved into the dining room. The skull was wrapped up again, in it's respective cloth. It was put into a bag so as not to get lost when leaving the tree house.
"I see you girls have come back. What did you do?" smiled Challenger.
"Do you really want to know, George?" asked Finn, smiling broadly.
"On second thought, no. Perhaps I've had too much fun for one night. Here, sit down."
He pulled a chair out for Finn, ready for her to sit down. "Thank you, George. But before I do, would anybody like some coffee? Perhaps something to snack on? We've got plenty, promise."
Several agreed to have some coffee, others declined. Finn came out with a beautiful silver tray. Their visitors loved it, wanting to touch and look at it.
Challenger stopped them, saying he had just polished it and would hate to see it tarnished. He was proud of this, even if it was a bit silly to the others.
"I hate to cut this wonderful visit short, but I must go upstairs. I hate to leave Marguerite all alone," said the worried Lord John Roxton.
With that, he went upstairs to Marguerite. About a yard or two from her door, he heard her yowl with pain and then start talking to herself. He stood outside her door listening to her.
"Ouch! God! I am losing my mind. Lord Roxton will definitely be up here now. He probably heard me. God, I was so loud. Uhhhhh. Oh great. Now I'll probably need a doctor or something. Challenger'll probably put some new medicine on my leg to make it heal faster. Urrggghhhh!!"
"It couldn't even have happened. I doubt I even saw anything. My mind is playing ticks on me again. After what's happened these past couple of weeks, I'm in for a break. Maybe John will go to the beach with me again."
He walked in smiling at her. "I would love to go to the beach with you."
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #10 on Nov 24, 2005, 10:42pm »
After another hour, the group in the living room broke up for the night, Xma'Klee going down to camp beside his warriors, the two royal Zanga girls staying together in a guest room down the hall from Veronica's suite.
Finn made sure that the electric fence was "on" before she and George went up to their room, and all retired for the night.
In bed, George felt Finn, sleeping as usual in just panties, cuddle against him and pulled her closer for a kiss.
"Now, Darling", he teased, "what on Earth had you girls in stitches earlier? What were you teaching them that was so funny? I was afraid to ask in public, knowing you and Veronica as I do."
Finn, glad that the shadows hid her blushing, told him, and George was intrigued.
"So, poor Malone has never had oral sex from his beloved jungle princess? I'd have thought that Veronica would be more earthy, having been raised where she was. Those Zanga girls are raised to please men, and even the Amazons might be expected to know most things, although their desire to control males probably limits their interest in satisfying a mate. By the way, Nicole (he used her real name mainly in tender moments or at times of danger), I must say that you are eminently qualified to instruct in such matters. You are the finest lover that I have had or hope to have. I mean physically. But you also mean so very much to me, otherwise. I love you, Sweetheart, with all my soul. I'm sorry if I seemed impatient when you came into the lab after all the laughing upstairs. We were just trying to concentrate on that damned skull, and I had hoped to have you with me. In the morning, we will see it again, and I think we will accept Xma'Klee's request to join him in seeking the source of it. Marguerite was certainly chilled by something, but if she sees a chance for riches in that ruined Tecamaya city, I think she, too, will join us. You'll go, I hope?"
"Sure, Genius. I've told you before when it was an issue: 'Whither thou goest, there will I go, also'. I hope that's an exact quote. But Ruth had nothing on me, Honey. I belong with my man. Look what happened the last time you tried to have adventures without me."
Challenger grimaced. Her words stung. It was true that Finn and Marguerite would never have been kidnapped by Burton's slavers had he not insisted on leaving them behind for what he thought was their own safety. (See, "Spirit Jaguar".)
"Very well then, 'Ruth', we're in this together. It saves me worrying what's happening to you, and I want you at my side. You shoot as well as Roxton, and I value your opinions more than you may know. Not to mention, I've gotten to where I feel deprived if you aren't in my bed at night, warming my body and my soul, making me laugh when I most need it. Darling, you are surely that woman whose 'price is above rubies', if you insist on quoting the Bible tonight!" He chuckled.
Finn, thrilled by this, entwined herself between his legs, pressing along his body, kissing passionately, then tenderly. And so, they drifted gradually off to sleep, caressing one another, talking until exhaustion claimed all conciousness.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #11 on Nov 25, 2005, 9:43am »
Marguerite let John examine her leg, dressing a deep scratch that was the only damage, apart from a forming bruise. The shin was an easily damaged area...
She refused to say more, telling him that she wanted to order her thoughts and would tell him and the others what was troubling her, in the morning. "I know things, but can't quite vocalize them yet," she explained. "Some images are still forming. But that blasted Skull is evil incarnate. I sense it. Please, John. Stay with me tonight. Damn appearances; everyone knows we're together, anyway. We may as well be honest about it. George and Nicole are certainly forthright."
So it was that the Roxtons shared her room, and he massaged her to the point that she found sleep. At one point, he woke to find her mumbling, her words too soft to distinguish. He felt her forehead, but it was normal temperature, and after he held her for awhile, she slept peacefully.
Marguerite stirred again about three AM, a kaleidoscope of scenes in vivid color tumbling across her mind. They settled into a mental movie, and she visualized a group of armored horsemen forming on a plain, huge mastiffs, war dogs, behind them, with lines of infantry backing their "horse". Their breastplates and crested helmets gleamed in the sun. Several men to one side lit the fuses to their arquebuses, ready to set the heavy muskets on forked rests and fire on command.
A tall man with a dark beard trotted his horse out in front, drew his sword, and turned to his cavalry. "Caballeros, we fight for the glory of God, with these savages' gold as our reward. We have no option, save victory. Defeat will see us sacrificed on these heathens' unholy altars. For our brothers, for King Charles, and for St. James, charge!" And he whirled his mount and went at a gallop toward the enemy.
A great roar rose from his troops as they spurred their horses. "Santiago!" The war cry screamed from a hundred throats, the long lances came down to the horizontal, and they followed their leader into battle, the screeling of native flutes and the incessant booming of drums making Spanish hearts pound. Behind them came the awful mastiffs.
Facing them were hordes of howling Indians, clad in quilted cotton armor, their shields up, swinging long sword clubs studded with obsidian blades, able to virtually decapitate a horse with one blow. Darts from their spear throwers leapt into the air, and the skins of jaguars and plumes of eagles danced and bobbed as they came on.
The cavalry were in among them now, and the din of combat was furious. One huge dog leapt at a warrior as he attempted to throw a spear, severing his arm at the elbow in one horrible bite. BLAM! A volley from the arquebusiers rolled across the ranks, and a dozen Aztecs fell.
Clouds swirled, and Marguerite lost the vision. Mists veiled her senses, then she beheld another scene, of a huge pyramid, a procession going up its steps, a vast assemblage of people below. She knew somehow that this vision was far more ancient than that which she had just witnessed.
Four priests, hair matted with human blood, seized the first of a line of prisoners and stretched him over a stone altar. Other priests and chieftains chanted an ominous dirge, and the head priest lifted a wooden-handled knife, its six-inch blade of volcanic glass, sharper than honed steel. The priest thrust his dagger into the chest of the sacrificial victim, slashed sideways, and reached into the living body of the unfortunate man, tearing his beating heart loose, and brandishing it aloft, showing it to the dignitaries behind him and to the masses below. He turned several times, ensuring that all saw his prize, then set the heart onto a fire burning in a stone receptacle at the head of the stained altar. In the background, on a pedestal topped with colorful flowers, rested a crystal skull, its eye sockets glowing as they beheld the sacrifice.
A shiver wracked Marguerite, and she sat bolt upright, her teeth chattering, her lungs heaving. She shrilled a cry of torment, and Roxton instantly woke, pulling her to his chest, holding her as sobs shook her body.
In a few moments, she calmed, and told him what she had dreamed.
"It was just a nightmare, Marguerite. You're quite safe. I'm here. Nothing will harm you, ever, as long as I breathe." He reached to the nightstand, and lifted a .455 revolver. "See?", he joked. "My legal representatives are here, Mssrs. Webley & Scott. They'll look after us."
In spite of herself, she managed a laugh, and clung to him. In time, they slept again, this time with no horrors to rouse them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sun was just well above the horizon when Finn nibbled at Challenger's ear. "Hey, Genius. I feel you stirring. Want to see what I was doing with those bananas yesterday? I bet I can make you wake up the rest of the way."
"I daresay that you can. I know your talents in that realm. You may as well take off your knickers. If you start that, one thing is going to lead to another. If you're half as good as you claim, that is." He chuckled.
"Lover, I can make a banana sit up and beg for my attention. What chance have you, a mere man?" She giggled, and slipped off her beige thong, dropping it on the nightstand. "How strong is your heart, George? Want to experience my best effort?"
Forty minutes later, spent, they perspired in each others arms, gasping for breath, whispering endearments.
Someone rapped knuckles on the door of their room. "Hallo, George?", came a female voice. "Pull out and send Nicole to the kitchen. If she doesn't help, I'll make everyone's breakfast and you'll have to eat the result. I want to have breakfast and take another look at that ...thing...that Xma'Klee brought." and Marguerite hurried downstairs, her heels clicking on the wooden steps.
"What the devil is that about, at this hour?" exclaimed Challenger. "You'd better clean up and get down there, Darling. She probably meant every word, terrifying as that would be."
Finn gave a throaty laugh and kissed his mouth. "Don't worry, Lover. If she carbonizes the eggs, I'll clean out the skillet and make your breakfast, myself. But I'll go help her. She must be really eager, to be up at this hour." She slid out of bed, stumbling to a washbasin by the window.
"George? You know why she burns things? You should have never told her that her cooking 'carbonized' food. She thinks now that if she buries the remains, it'll eventually turn to diamonds. Carbon. See?" And Finn laughed at her own joke.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #12 on Nov 25, 2005, 10:23pm »
Three hundred meters from the Treehouse, Xma'Klee had sat up, just as Marguerite had done, at that precise moment, a few hours ago. He had looked directly at her room, knowing what she had just seen. He noticed that Aldebaran, the Devil Star, was high in the sky.
Now, he sat with his men, eating crocodile eggs and gnawing on the remains of an iguana that one of them had killed the day before, en route to the Treehouse. One was frying tortillas, flat cornmeal cakes, on a rock set atop glowing coals.
He heard the rattling growl of a jaguar in the jungle beyond, and looked to be sure that the warriors had their spears at hand. Their thorn fence would be too flimsy if a big predator came after them with determination.
Xma'Klee reflected, gazing at the Treehouse, from which a plume of smoke now rose from the kitchen. He sensed that soon, the explorers would come to him to see the skull again, and that he would have allies in seeking its source. He needed Ma'Greet. Her man Roxton was useful backup, and George Challenger was a powerful medicine man. His knowledge would be useful, too. And he wanted Challenger to bring his female, Woman Who Kills. She was pleasant to gaze upon, and he had seen the results of her Winchester in battle. So lovely, he mused, yet so dangerous. George Challenger was fortunate to own the heart of such a one...
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #13 on Nov 25, 2005, 10:47pm »
The explorers sat wth Xma'Klee in the lab, drinking tea, as Challenger and Finn tested the skull for hardness and tried to determine how it had been shaped, especially to having the light paths and prisms built into the interior. They used magnifying glasses, and tilted it every way, shining a flashlight into the foramen magnum. George even had Finn hold it over a Bunsen burner, stepping back and studying the reflections of the flame burning wildly within. He felt a cold sensation in his middle, however hard he tried to dismiss it as ludicrous superstition.
In the end, all agreed to help Xma'Klee find the ancient city and determine what else might lie there, and to learn what they could of the evil deposed shaman.
Sa'eera was intrigued, and begged Assai to plead with her mother, the Great Wife, to persuade Jacoba to let her go with the others. "Husband will hear the entreaties of his senior wife and favorite daughter," she explained. "Finn and Veronica can attend me in any female needs, and all of these people are honorable friends. They have powerful weapons. We would be safe."
Assai hugged her, and assented.
They were packed now, the Skull safely put away. But Marguerite knew where Xma'Klee kept it, and stared at the leather bag with unease.
They went down in the elevator, secured the fence, and turned on the power by remote control, protecting the property in their absence.
Roxton and Challenger took the lead, Malone in the rear, the women and the Zanga in the middle, under the cover of Marguerite's and Finn's rifles. They set out for the village, Veronica promising Sa'eera that she also would ask Jacoba for permission for his blonde wife to accompany them. As a member of the royal house, her presence might even prove useful in dealing with other Zanga villages.
And so, they set off into the jungle, launching canoes at the river landing. Had they known what was to come, they might have been less eager to face the unknown...
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #14 on Nov 25, 2005, 10:59pm »
Malone and Veronica stirred when they heard Marguerite's wake-up call. What she was doing up this early, both wanted to know. Each wanted to sleep in, but realized that it must be important if, of all people, Marguerite was up at such an hour.
"Off with her head," muttered Malone.
"What?" groaned Veronica.
"Hmmmm. Did you say something?"
"Nothing, never mind. You must have been dreaming still."
"Oh."
Veronica got out of the bed the two of them shared, and dressed into an extra pair of "jungle" wear. She started to put her boots on, but stopped mid-way on her right foot, when she decided to try and go back to sleep.
Malone made her get back up, because of the fact that she landed more on Malone than her actual pillow.
"Get off me, please," asked Ned Malone. "I want my head."
"Oh, sorry. Just a little sleepier than usual. I guess last night really wore me out."
She sat back up and finished putting her shoes back on. She sat there on the bed, waiting for Malone to get up and get dressed.
He finally got up and strutted to the little closet that stored his cloths. He slowly put them on, one by one. He yawned every few seconds, wishing he was back in bed.
"So what did you girls do last night? It seemed you had a blast, no?" asked Malone.
"Eh, it wasn't much. It was girl stuff. You wouldn't understand," blushed the ever embarrassed "V."
"It seemed you had fun, that's all."
He walked over to Veronica and sat beside her. He put his head on her shoulder, waiting to go back to sleep. "I want to go back to sleep. I need it."
"Your tellen' me, bucko. Come on, though. Maybe we can get a nap later on today."
"That sounds nice. We need that."
"Uh-huh."
They got up and started walking to the door. Both bumped into each other when trying to enter the doorway at the same time.
"Oh, sorry," both said at the same time.
Ned took Veronica by the shoulders and guided her through the door first. He followed suit, both with their eyes closed.
"Ladies first," said Malone.
Both got downstairs first, waiting on the others.
"Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in. You two must have had a late night," said Roxton. He always liked to make fun of them, even when it wasn't audible. He was drying a dish that he had washed moments before.
"Ha, ha. Very funny," replied Malone. "We're just tired, that's all. Both of us had a busy day yesterday. That's all."
"Uh-huh," agreed Veronica.
"Oh, I see. I certainly see. Well, you two better wake up. Marguerite has something important to say. I don't think she'd want you two to miss it."
He walked out of the room, still drying the plate.
Finn and Challenger came down stairs. Challenger went into his lab, telling Finn he just wanted to check on something, quickly.
Veronica raised her hand. "We know, Finn. We both look tired. We get it," she mumbled.
"Oh, I wasn't gonna say anything. I'm a little tired myself," Finn smiled. "Very tired indeed."
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #15 on Nov 26, 2005, 5:01pm »
Marguerite walked in and saw Veronica and Malone sitting at the table. Finn was there as well, sitting next to Challenger's chair.
"What are they doing in here?" asked the heiress.
"Hmmm? Oh, I thought you got them," said the blonde bomb shell Finn.
"Well, yes, technically I did, I suppose. But not until later. Think of it as a little wake up call. I didn't want them down until later. Just wanted to get an early start, thats all. I needed some help with fixing the breakfast, so I had you come down. I wanted to talk "
Ned and Veronica groaned, not wanting to get back up. "Marguerite, this can't be happening," said Malone.
"What? I merely woke you up, you didn't have to get up NOW," retorted Marguerite.
"Come on Ned. Maybe we can get a few extra minutes before we have to leave," said Veronica. "I was dreaming and I don't want to lose it."
They both got up and slowly to the wooden staircase they climbed. Marguerite looked after them, eager for them to leave, but also wanting them to stay. Though the eagerness of them leaving overpowered the urge of Marguerite calling them back.
"Finn, would you mind getting some of the pans out?" asked Marguerite. "I already have the fire going and some of the food is out, ready to be cut."
"Ok. That's fine," replied Finn. "What are you making by the way?"
"Oh, I thought some eggs, raptor bacon, fruit. The usual."
"Sounds good."
Finn walked over twirling her hair. She picked several pans to accommodate the food. She placed them on the table for Marguerite to choose from.
"Here ya go."
"Thank you."
Marguerite picked the biggest pan to put the eggs in. She started popping them open, one by one. After she put the eighth egg in, she turned around to look at Finn. She started to look at her like a mother or sister would. Even if Marguerite found her to be annoying at times, her love of Finn never faltered.
"Why are you looking at me like that, "M"? Is somethin' wrong?"
"Oh no. Sorry."
She walked over to Finn and had her sit down next to her. She looked at Finn and then looked away. She looked back at Finn again, and then looked away.
"Ok, you need to stop doing that. Really, whatever it is, you can tell me," said an eager Finn.
"All right. But you have got to promise to NOT tell anyone. Please?" asked Marguerite.
Finn nodded, waiting for Ms. Krux's response to her nod. Marguerite took a big breath, let it go. She looked Finn square in the eye.
"I think one of my buried eggs turned into diamonds."
Finn looked at her in amazement. "What?"
"Yes. When I was out looking for my other gems that I had buried, I found that the eggs I had buried a few weeks ago, turned into diamonds!"
She took them out of her pocket and gave them to her friend. Finn looked at them, and realized they looked awfully familiar. She laughed, not believing it. "Marguerite, do you honestly not remember these things?"
"Take a look at them," furthered Finn. "Take a look at this. See this little dent right here in this big one?"
Marguerite nodded, looking at Finn.
"Of all people, YOU should remember what is yours. Especially with jewels such as these. These diamonds are the same ones that you found when you were out one day looking for some new gems. I helped you bury them, remember?"
"The eggs you buried were located about ten or so feet away from these. I saw you bury the eggs. I had hoped you wouldn't confuse the two. I almost told you to stop, but I didn't. I figured you already knew."
Marguerite looked at them again. Angry that she didn't even know the difference, she stormed off, muttering to herself.
"Are you not going to finish the breakfast?" called Finn.
"Yes!" cried Marguerite.
She came back in several minutes later, with a sour expression. "I don't ever want you to do that again. Do you understand, Finn?"
Finn laughed, agreeing. She knew she had made her "big sis" mad, but she always loved to push her buttons, when she figured something out first.
"Now help me with these eggs before they burn. They are starting to smell like it."
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #16 on Nov 30, 2005, 2:36pm »
A few hours later the whole group entered the Zanga village. Chief Jacoba had been impatiently waiting for their arrival since sunrise, wanting to know everything Xma’Klee had learned about the skull. And also if the explorers had agreed to go on an expedition to seek the Tecamaya city, and the evil Shaman that was said to reside their, a Shaman that perhaps now was searching for his lost Crystal Skull.
Xma’Klee, Roxton, Malone and Challenger were invited back to Chief Jacoba’s hut to talk about the skull. Xma’Klee informed Jacoba of what he had learned about the skull, Challenger filling up some of the holes of his story. Jacoba was happy to learn that all explorers had agreed they should go on an expedition to find out more of the skull’s origin, and to find the lost Tecamaya city.
While the men were discussing the finer details of the upcoming expedition, Assai led the women to her mother, the Great Wife of Chief Jacoba. On their way, Assai had filled Marguerite and Finn in on Sa’eera’s wish to join the expedition.
Finn immediately found it a wonderful idea, she was very fond of Sa’eera. She was like the kid sister Finn never had, and since one could never have enough family around them, she was happy for Sa’eera to tag along. It would also give her the opportunity to teach Sa’eera one or two things as well. Finn liked the idea of being a big sister, instead of being the kid sister herself. So couldn’t help by smile broadly at the idea.
Marguerite on the other hand, as expected, was much more reluctant to let Sa’eera go with them. It was just far to dangerous for a young girl like Sa’eera to go on an expedition like this, especially since she wasn’t trained to use any kind of weapon at all. It would be foolish for her to come along, and besides Chief Jacoba would never let his young wife go with them any way.
But both Assai and Veronica pleaded with Marguerite to change her mind, and Marguerite had to admit that having Sa’eera with them as a representative of the Zanga tribe, in their dealings with other tribes, could prove to be useful. So provided that Assai could convince her mother to talk to her husband about letting Sa’eera come along, and provided Jacoba would actually let his young wife go, Marguerite agreed to let Sa’eera join their expedition.
Assai’s mother was more easily persuaded than any of them had thought. She agreed with the arguments brought by Assai and Veronica, and she added to those arguments that it would be a good experience for Sa’eera to learn more about life outside the Zanga village. Great Wife had observed Sa’eera’s inexperience in life and the things she was supposed to do as one of the Chief’s wives. In her opinion, Sa’eera would benefit from spending some time outside the Zanga tribe, and from learning things from the wise white women standing her before her, just as Assai had.
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #17 on Nov 30, 2005, 2:38pm »
Unfortunately, Chief Jacoba wasn’t as easily convinced by his Great Wife and daughter Assai, as Sa’eera would have hoped. When all were about to have diner together, Assai and her mother went in Jacoba’s hut to plead on Sa’eera’s behalf. Veronica and Finn quickly explained to the men that Sa’eera had expressed the wish to join their expedition, and that Assai and the Great Wife were now asking permission from the Chief on her behalf.
It soon became clear to all who had gathered for diner, the Chief wasn’t about to let his youngest wife go out into the world on a dangerous expedition no less. Every argument given by the two most important women in his life was discarded by Jacoba.
“A woman’s place is in this Village, tending to her husband’s needs and wishes, looking after the children, cooking diner”, Jacoba said angrily. “As my wife, Sa’eera’s place is here, at my side and not out there in the jungle full of dangerous creatures”, he added.
With that said, Jacoba turned around and walked outside, not wanting to hear another word from either woman.
During diner, no one dared to say a word, everyone could see that Chief Jacoba was not pleased with his youngest wife’s desire to join the expedition, and the Great Wife and Assai pleading on her behalf. When Jacoba was in such a mood, they all knew that they had better leave him be for a while.
Bored because of lack of conversation Finn was looking up at the evening sky. It was slowly getting darker and darker, and the first star of the evening, the polar star, appeared as a bright shining light in the sky above. And then it hit her, she knew exactly how Assai could convince her father to let Sa’eera come with them in the morning.
She gave Assai, who was sitting next to her, a firm nudge with her elbow, and with a small gesture with her hand, she asked Assai to follow her behind one of the huts. Quickly she explained to Assai her plan, and when the two women emerged from behind the hut, Assai was smiling broadly.
“What are you two up to”, Challenger asked Finn.
“Well you’ll all just have to wait and see”, Finn said, “but I’m sure you’re going to be proud of me when you do darling”, she added with a smile.
Assai in the mean time, went up to her fathers place at the table, to speak to him one more time about Sa’eera. She knew he wasn’t going to like her bringing up the subject again, but in the presence of so many others, he would not dare to fall out at her as much as he would have otherwise.
“Father”, she started, “I like to ask you one more time to allow Sa’eera to go with the explorers on their expedition”.
“I know you have already said that she’s not allowed, but what if the Gods were to give you a sign, a sign that you should allow Sa’eera to go on this journey”, Assai said.
She knew that, because Gods are very important to the Zanga people, her father could not refuse her proposal in front of them.
“Only if the Gods give me a sign this night, will I let Sa’eera go with the expedition”, Jacoba said.
“Gods giving a sign, how bloody likely is that”, Marguerite said sarcastically.
“You should have a little bit more faith M”, Finn said mysteriously, leaving the others with questioning looks on their faces, while she went over to talk to Assai some more.
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #18 on Nov 30, 2005, 2:38pm »
They didn’t have to wait long for the Godly sign Jacoba had requested, but never in a million years had he thought, he was actually going to get one. One of the Zanga warriors jumped up from his seat at the table, yelling something in Zanga and pointing up at the nightly sky.
“What’s going on there, can you understand what he’s saying Marguerite?”, Roxton said.
“I think he’s saying something about the sky falling down”, Marguerite said.
Everybody followed the man’s pointing finger and looked at the sky. Veronica was the first one to see it.
“It’s a shooting star”, she said.
“I think you’d better look again”, Malone said, “because it’s not one shooting star, it’s a whole bunch of shooting stars”.
“It’s a meteor shower actually”, Challenger said, “the Leonid meteor shower to be more precise”.
“My, my, Nicole, you clever girl, you remembered”, he added with a smile when Finn joined her friends again.
“I thought so”, she replied, “we were supposed to go and watch this back at the Treehouse, but with all this skull business going on, we forgot all about it. But then when I saw that star in the sky, I remembered, and I thought this might be a great signs from the Gods. A sign that even Chief Jacoba can’t ignore”.
“Father”, Assai said, “the Gods have given you a sign, Sa’eera should be allowed to go with Challenger and the others on the expedition”.
And so it was done, Jacoba had no other choice but to let Sa’eera go. The Gods had spoken and even the mightiest of chiefs could not ignore the will of the Gods.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #19 on Dec 1, 2005, 6:27pm »
And, so it was that Sa'eera joined the others as they loaded their gear into canoes and left the Zanga village the next morning.
After some ten miles, they veered to the right, taking a different fork of the river. After lunch, they had to portage the canoes a mile to a new river, flowing east. Pushing and carrying the canoes took the rest of the afternoon, and they camped for the night only just a safe distance from the water. During the night, various animals would drink there, and the area was hazardous..
The talk around their campfires was quiet; people were weary. Sa'eera sat with Finn, George, and Veronica, as Malone wrote in his journal. They lay back and looked at the stars, so many that those living in heavily lighted cities would hardly believe the profusion of lighted points in the heavens seen from a dark place.
This remote region was dark in other ways, too. They heard the roar of a Tyrannosaurus vanquishing its prey, probably a Hadrosaur or similar duck-billed dinosaur. And the men talked with Xma'Klee about the tribe who had built the lost city they sought and of the evil shaman who lusted for power.
By nine AM the following day, they were again in the canoes, heading ever east. By two in the afternoon, they had to leave the river, dragging the canoes ashore and hiding them as best they could. Xma'Klee reluctantly left five warriors to guard them. He hated to lessen their number, but those canoes were vital, and he couldn't leave them unwatched.
The explorers took what supplies they could pack on their backs and drag on improvised travois, and headed into the jungle.
Where they found game trails going in the right direction, they followed them. When not, going was heavy, machetes often having to clear a path through the undergrowth. It was during one of these passages through virgin jungle that they almost lost the Great Shaman.
Xma'Klee was following one of his men, who fell back, tired. Xma'Klee took his place, swinging a Collins machete with a 24-inch blade. It was a gift from the white group, salvaged from another expedition that had succumbed to the Plateau. Forcing his way up a slight slope, Xma'Klee noticed that the foliage was gradually changing as they climbed, and that the heat and humidity was less.
He pushed aside a branch and was about to step forward when he heard a nasty, telltale buzzing. Rattlesnake! his mind screamed. The tropical rattler, Crotalus durissus terrificus in Brazil, was a nightmare. If it struck, the venom deposit was usually large, primarily neurotoxic, and exremely potent. A man untreated by antivenin would probably die if he got a full bite, and the venom didn't form antibodies well in horse serum, making large quantities of the antidote necessary to remedy a bad bite. And they had no antivenin! The snake was coiled at eye level, on a ledge about two feet in front of him, to the right. He froze, hoping desperately that those behind had heard the warning rattle and could help. He watched the devil's forked tongue flicker in and out. To Challenger, it meant that the snake was "smell-tasting" the air, feeding information to its reptilian brain via Jacobson's Organ. To Xma'Klee, the sight was fiendish.
Finn was 25 feet back when she heard the noise and knew it for what it was. She froze, looking around intensely, holding her left hand back to signal the others to stop. Her right hand drew the Smith & Wesson from its black, flapped holster.
"Hold still, Great Shaman," Finn breathed. She quickly brought up the .38, cocking the hammer for a more accurate shot as she raised the gun. When the foresight was steady on the snakes' head, in line with the coiled mass, she fired. The bullet blew the snake off the ledge, and Xma'Klee instantly was on it, swinging his blade to decapitate it.
When his breathing had calmed and everyone had been told what had happened, Xma'Klee looked at Finn and said, "Woman Who Kills, you have my thanks. I marvel at your coolness and your ability to slay at a distance. You stand high in my esteem, and it is no small matter to earn the favor of the Paramount Shaman of the Zanga. In time, I will send George Challenger a gift, thanking him for your aid." As Challenger's woman, Finn would naturally receive any reward through her man, who would pass the gift to her if he thought her worthy of it. It was unseemly for a man to give anything of value directly to a female already belonging to another man. Finn knew that the Zanga medicine man considered her to be Challenger's property, not an independent woman, and took no personal offense, although what she thought of the practice was another matter. But she had grown up in a different world, and here was ...here. And she had read the true gratitude in his eyes, the unspoken message that Xma'Klee also remembered that this was not the first time that she had saved him. This would weigh heavily on his male pride, she knew.
They cast the dead serpent well off the new path and went on until they reached more open country where the going was easier, and a cool breeze blew. The vegetation was now more ferns and taller trees, with less dense bush, sagebrush, and heavy jungle.
When they found a cool stream some three feet wide, Roxton called a halt and they rested and made tea.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #20 on Dec 3, 2005, 12:12pm »
They were filling their canteens from a large kettle in which they had boiled water from the stream when Challenger realized that there was a tall, flat surfaced rock some 200 feet up the slope. He told Roxton that he would go up, mount the rock, and have a look around with his binocular. Finn and Sa'eera also decided to come.
From the rock, Challenger had a panoramic view for a great distance. He saw at once that the lake they had sought, known to be near the ruins of the ancient Tecamaya city, was in sight from this height. He was using his "out and about" binocular, an 8X30 Zeiss, more convenient to carry than his 10X50, and wished for the larger glass now as he studied something moving on the water. He could see several brachiosaurs feeding in the shallows, and what were probably a pair of Diplodocus browsing along the shore. But further out, smaller objects moved in tandem, four of them, and he suspected that these were canoes, large ones.
He knew that Sa'eera had a hobby of trying to imitate the sounds of jungle animals and was teaching this to Finn. He asked the girls if one would squeal like an angry agouti. When Sa'eera did, Roxton glanced up and Challenger motioned for him to come up and to bring Xma'Klee.
When they arrived, he dismounted the rock and had Roxton get up and train his own binocular , an American Bausch & Lomb 7X35, on the lake.
Roxton agreed that there were canoes, and he showed Xma'Klee how to adjust the glass for his eyes and how to look through it and hold it steady, bracing forefingers against his head. Xma'Klee was unsteady and somewhat frightened by the magnification of what he saw and soon handed the binocular back. But he had seen what Challenger meant.
"Those are canoes, George Challenger," he confirmed. "Xingu canoes! Headhunters from the other side of the great lake. I know the shape and the way they move on the water. We must avoid them. I will tell the men to be careful and very alert from now on. If they land near here to hunt, we must learn of them before they learn of us. They and the Zanga are old enemies." And he went back down the slope quickly, a worried look on his face.
"What do you think, George?", asked Roxton. "Can we curve aound to the right and follow the lake, paralleling it from above? It seems to have a big inlet in that direction. That coincides with the old Layton map and the legends of the Zanga. The ruins should be well above that lake, about two thirds of the way down to the right from where we are."
Challenger checked the map and nodded.
As they started to leave, he called to John and the two girls to pause. " I forgot something important," he explained. Finn, come here."
Finn stepped over and looked curiously at him. "What's up, George?"
"You are, my dear," he grinned, and picking her up, he set her atop the tall, flat rock. "There. Your improvised pedestal. I'm setting you on one for the cleverness you showed in outfoxing old Jacoba about Sa'eera coming along. That was really quite clever of you. Anyway, you belong up there for putting up with this journey and for managing to look so happy and so beautiful in spite of what I know must be a hard trip for a woman. And I love you, so you must be a female deserving of being set on a pedestal and admired by all, anyway. Certainly, you are always on a pedestal in my heart." He smiled at his own wit and in amusement at Finn's embarrassment.
"I don't deserve anything special, Genius, " she protested. "I'm just doing what you ought to expect of me as your assistant and as your main squeeze. And I'm having a blast doing it, too!" She had to explain "blast", it not being a word used in that context in the English language of 1922.
Roxton was amused, if a little sympathetic, for poor Finn in her embarrassment. "You've done splendidly, Nicole," he said. Try not to look so self concious. George means well. He's just bungling matters because he's in love, and a man in love does strange things."
At this, Finn turned scarlet, but she was obviously childlishly pleased. She turned to Challenger, embraced him and told him how sweet he was, even if he was being ridiculous. "Now, get me down off this rock before those Xingu jerks see us!", she pleaded.
Sa'eera had followed this with at first bafflement, then when she saw what the gesture meant, she came forward and hugged both Challenger and his mate. "You were so romantic, George Challenger, and Finn, I also think you are very pretty and very smart. Husband is probably still grumbling at how you outfoxed him. But he, too, will admire you and respect your knowledge of the supernatural and of the sky when he calms."
"It didn't hurt that George left his next youngest wife that big bottle of hair dye, either," teased Roxton. Veronica and Sa'eera had shown this girl, two years older than Sa'eera, how to apply the bleaching agent, and even Jacoba had been so impressed that his complaining had succumbed to a mild resentment by the time they left. His fondness for blonde women was well known, and now he would have one, even with the other away.
Challenger took Finn's hand and the four walked back down the slope and told everyone else what they had seen. Roxton waited for Marguerite to ask if this day could get any better after she heard about the headhunters, but she had evidently decided that asking that so often when displeased now constituted a cliche, an uttering so frequently used that the others sometimes taunted her about it. Or, perhaps she was just too worried to complain. Roxton saw from her expression that she was deep in thought and genuinely concerned about the news. He took the chicken sandwich she handed him and sat next to her and poured a second cup of tea.
"How far now to the ruins, Great Shaman?," asked Ned Malone. He looked worn, in spite of the rest, for the trip uphill had been hard going.
"I think maybe a day more, " answered Xma'Klee, "and we must now be very wary, for there are Xingu as well as whoever may live in or by that wicked city. Tonight, we must camp without fires. We have dried meat and fruit, so we will eat without fire. But we must sleep where no prowling animals would likely encounter us. And when we kill game, my hunters will use the blowgun or arrows. The thunder of your weapons would announce us to anyone with ears, from far away."
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #21 on Dec 29, 2005, 5:00am »
When darkness fell, they were camped by a small stream running down a limestone hill with enough cover to hide them if any Xingu war parties came near.
Marguerite grumbled and carped about the "no fires" rule precluding hot tea, which she said was an injustice against the British soul. Everyone knew that she was being sarcastic to bolster her spirits and to rail at Fate for inflicting this indignity on her after a hard trek that she hadn't relished in the first place. But she had admitted to a fervent desire to get to the bottom of the Skull mystery, and had had to face the fact that this goal required sacrifice of her. Roxton smiled at her litany of complaints about the weather, the insects, the humidity, and of course, the appalling lack of tea and the comfort it afforded in times of adversity.
Finn listened at first with resentment, for Marguerite had endured no more than the rest of them, then she realized that she was smiling at the other woman's bitching. It was an expression of what they all felt and it was ...so Marguerite. Knowing that she knew Marguerite so well that she could predict when she would gripe, and often, almost silently mouth the words as they came, warmed her heart. It was good to be with friends whom she knew that intimately, and to feel a part of their group.
She told this to Challenger when he asked why she had suddenly gone from a sullen expression to smiling, and he laughed at her explanation and hugged her. Sa'eera also smiled, and passed them a bunch of grapes that they had brought from the Treehouse. Oranges, lemons, and limes made the rounds as desert to the meal of biltong and carrots.
Malone sucked at a lemon and told the story of how Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson had sucked on one all through a Civil War battle, the single piece of fruit being the only one he could get due to the Yankee blockade. "So," he said, "you see, we're lucky. We can get lemons here when we want them. Things aren't as bad as they seem right now."
Marguerite heard him with increasing incredulity. She knew that he meant well, but Ned Malone had a way of making a point in a fashion that left others wondering why he bothered. Veronica patted his shoulder and told him that she felt better already, having heard this uplifting news. Roxton turned away so that Malone wouldn't see him about to laugh. He had seen the expression on V.'s face even as she offered Ned her thanks. She, too, had been torn by the quandary of whether to laugh or groan.
At last, all settled in for the night, George and Finn sharing a blanket behind a boulder that afforded some privacy.
Some time after midnight, Veronica woke on hearing a slithering noise among the leaves. She saw a coral snake sliding over Ned's right boot and was glad that he'd slept with his boots on and that the reptile had short fangs that probably couldn't pierce the tough leather. But for Fate, that snake might have charted a course across her own or Sa'eera's bare legs. She whispered a brief prayer of thanks for deliverance, and resolved to use her hammock the next night. She'd decide later whether to tell Ned about his close call, and hoped that the snake wouldn't return along this path soon.
Down by the lake, she heard a furious splashing and the roar of a big carnosaur attacking some hapless item of prey. The others stirred, then went back to sleep. In cities, people probably ignored police sirens in the night. Here, the sounds were different, but if one wasn't the one affected by the siren or the roar, ignoring it was probably the best way to deal with the issue. But she hoped that they would soon be safe back in the Treehouse.
She was very glad when the first rays of the sun began driving shadows from the jungle.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #22 on Dec 29, 2005, 2:18pm »
When everyone was up and about, Roxton conferred with Xma'Klee, and to Marguerite's inexpressible joy, announced that they would build a small fire from a wood that emitted little smoke. Hidden in dense jungle, it couldn't be seen by the Xingu, who probably wouldn't smell it, either. The flames wouldn't show by day.
Restored by tea, she sat, cup in hand, watching Roxron and Challenger slicing pieces of biltong and passing them around with rice, bananas and carrots. She saw Finn and Sa'eera looking at the bananas and at each other, and grinning. Veronica looked to see the source of this and blushed deeply. Clearly, they remembered Finn's tutorial at the Treehouse.
Marguerite discovered that the biltong had been cured so as to leave the center pink and moist enough to chew more easily than if it had been fully dried. Eaten with tea, the cured, spiced meat was actually rather good. She colored slightly as she peeled a banana and felt Finn's eyes on her, determined to show no reaction. She lost, and all the women started snickering.
"What's so funny?" demanded Ned, the only one who hadn't heard the story by now. All broke into full laughter, and Veronica told him that she'd tell him on the trail, in private.
Breakfast finished, they boiled water in a kettle and filled their canteens and the Zanga water skins, and Marguerite asked Challenger for his copy of the Layton map.
"You want that to keep, or just to hold long enough to get excited thinking about Tecamaya gold?" probed Roxton.
"Very funny, John," she retorted. "What I want to do is go sit up the slope with this and my binocular and think by myself. Maybe I can sense how far this charming villa is and just which way. I have no intention of trekking about in this damned jungle for any longer than I have to."
Several of the Zanga, told what she had said, looked at her with alarm and suspicion. They knew that Xma'Klee called her, "Sorcereress", and were leery of her.
While she was gone, the others cleaned up the remains of their meal, which they buried.
Finn sat with Sa'eera and George's Zeiss 8X30 binocular and drew. Challenger came over over and stared at the images she'd penned of Porro and roof prisms. "Did you sketch those from memory?" he wanted to know.
"Sure, George. What did I get wrong?"
"Nothing. That's the point. Nicole, you have an astonishing memory and eye for detail. I think I shall have to find another tall rock today. Pedestal time again." And he chuckled. "Darling, the longer I know you, the more impressed I am. You are truly a remarkable woman."
"Yeah, well, Genius, you're pretty impressive yourself. I don't sleep with you just because of your mighty muscles, although those get me all hot and bothered, too." And it was his turn to look embarrassed, for others had heard, and were openly amused.
A soft crunching of dry leaves announced Marguerite's return. She walked over to Xma'Klee and knelt next to him. "Clever Ocelot, I beg your wise counsel. Please come with me for a moment.." And the two went back up the trail, Xma'Klee eyeing her curiously. Others did, too...
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #23 on Dec 30, 2005, 10:42pm »
Veronica was over by a boulder folding some of Ned's clothes. She was helping him pack his some of his things before they headed back out onto the trail. She was alone, as Ned looked over, so he decided to take advantage of this.
He eyed her, thinking of the laughter of several minutes ago. Veronica knew what he was thinking, and waited for his comment.
"What was the laughter about?" asked Malone, grinning.
"Would you like me to tell you?" retorted the blond beauty.
"Please."
Malone gave another sheepish grin to signal that he was ready to receive the news he wasn't in on.
"Come sit down beside me and I will tell you."
Both sat down on a log that was about a half foot away from the left of the boulder. She finished folding the shirt she had in her hand. She put it gently on the ground beside her, so as not to get any dirt on it.
"The night before we left, the girls and I, except Marguerite, went up to my room with a bowl of bananas."
"Uh-huh. I was curious about that," said Malone.
"Well... Let me whisper the rest to you. Perhaps it will save you some embarrassment if I whisper the rest."
She leaned over to whisper the rest of the story, Malone blushed immensely, got up, and walked away.
"I told you Ned Malone," yelled Veronica, smiling broadly.
"I can't believe that happened," muttered Malone as he walked away.
Roxton looked over at Malone as he was walking away and smiled broadly. He looked over at Veronica and winked. Ned Malones reactions to these type of things always kept his day going.
Roxton decided to walk over and sit next to Veronica. They hadn't talked together privately in a long while.
"Hello there," said Roxton.
"Hello there yourself," replied Veronica.
"I see you told Malone what happened the other night. I see it went over well."
"Oh it went over well all right."
They both laughed and smiled. Both stared out in front of them, both a bit uncomfortable. They watched the hustle and bustle of the campsite as everyone was cleaning up or talking.
Marguerite was off talking to the Shaman about whatever it is she found or suddenly thought about.
Roxton looked back over to Veronica and thought about asking her a question. After all these years living together, they had grown rather close. Especially after Malone had left. She was absolutely devested. She hid it very well, he thought. Too well.
"Veronica, I need to ask you something. Something I feel is important," said Roxton.
"Please, ask," said Veronica.
"Are you glad that Malone is back?"
She sat there, thinking about it. She knew he had noticed the way she felt when Malone wasn't around. He'd been there for her while Malone was out. Always had been.
"Yes. Of course. Why?"
"Just wondering. I just wanted to make sure. When he was gone, you just seemed to have gotten a little down, that's all. I didn't want to see you so unhappy."
"I was, of course. But then I realized that I couldn't let his absence let me down. I knew he would come back. It just took his absence for me to realized that I truly loved him."
"Well good," stated Roxton. "I don't like seeing you hurting and not being able to do anything about it."
Veronica smiled and bumped his shoulder. He always looked out for her that would never fail.
"Thank you, John," said Veronica.
"Yes, well. I better get going. It looks like everyone is about finished."
With that, he got up and walked away.
Veronica finished packing Ned's clothes. Malone came back after seeing Roxton leave, and helped her. Both thanked each other for the help.
Joined: Jul 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,086 Location: SW USA Karma: 18
Re: The Crystal Skull « Reply #24 on Jan 2, 2006, 10:55am »
"Veronica," said Malone. "that was just so gross! Damn it, I'm talking like Finn! Hey, speaking of her, do you know what she and George are doing now, right out in front of anyone who walks past that boulder they camped behind?"
Veronica rolled her eyes, hoping that Ned wouldn't see. Whatever it was that the other couple was doing, it probably wasn't as serious a social gaffe as Ned was making out. "What are they doing, Ned?", she asked, only half interested.
"He's lying on a blanket, and that hussy has draped herself half over him, with her head on his chest, and he's playing with her hair and ears. Once, she moved over and gyrated her pelvis on him, down, uh, well, you know. But the really strange thing is what they're talking about. I was standing in just the right place to hear their words in a sort of sound corridor or whatever Challenger would call it, and they're talking about how much phosphorus to use in the formula for Experiment 73! Are those two weird, or what?!"
Veronica broke up laughing, but when she got that under control, a thought struck her. "Ned...they are dressed, aren't they?" She felt herself beginning to glow bright pink.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, Finn has her boots off, and she keeps moving one foot up and down George's leg. I don't see how he manages to lie there talking about phosphorus."
"You know George: anything for science!" And Veronica started laughing again.
"You think this is funny?", demanded Malone. "Anyone who walks by there can see them carrying on like that. "
"I just hope they didn't see YOU, Ned," Veronica retorted. "I'm already in enough trouble with Finn for how I got involved in that banana- licking project." And she told him about what she had seen the Challengers doing on the veranda after George had spanked Finn. "Ned, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, and it gets back to Nicole, I swear that I will push you off the top balcony as soon as we get back to the Treehouse. Got that? Mum's the word."
"Okay," he mumbled. "Gosh, you think you know someone, and they turn out to be so...licentious...even in public."
"I'm sure they don't think anyone will come up there. No one has, until you flounced off. Ned, relax: they're in love, and this isn't Central Park in New York. It's not like they're about to shock any children or dogs or get cited by a policeman." And she erupted again.
"Maybe it is sort of funny, I guess," Ned admitted. "Would you ever do anything like that?
"Absolutely not. For one thing, I have no idea whatever how much phosphrous their experiment needs. I couldn't begin to discuss that. And George would never ask me to." She started giggling again.
"No, silly. I mean, like with me. If no one was around."
"Well, Ned, you never know. You might have to say 'please' when you ask me. And promise not to talk about lab stuff." She started laughing again, but this time, even the blushing Ned Malone smiled.
Marguerite Krux and Xma'Klee sat on an ancient stone bench, looking at a eight-foot high basalt pillar in the jungle above their camp.
"Great Shaman, can you read the glyphs on this monument?" she asked. "I think I know, but I seek the counsel of one wiser than I am, to be certain."
He looked into her green eyes, studying what he saw there. "Sorceress, you need not seek to flatter me excessively when we are beyond hearing of others. I am vain, but I know when I am with a peer of sorts. You also are not without special talents involving the supernatural. It is said that you read any language. And you ask me this? Is it only to curry favor with me?"
"No, Great Shaman! I mean, Xma'Klee, if I may say your name. I ask only to know more fully what I think I see here. I understand some languages better than others, and words better than glyphs. My question is sincere. And I wish to ask you to meditate with me, looking at this map, and divine where these ruins are."
He thought, then nodded. "When we are alone, Ma'Greet, you may say my name. In public, few do, save the king and my own apprentice. Even the queens do not speak my name before others, for they are, after all, only women. Alone, the Great Wife, who is my cousin, and Sa'eera, whom I love as a daughter, call me by name. I will also allow this of George Challenger and of Finn, Woman Who Kills, to whom I owe my life twice over. But otherwise, decorum is best preserved."
"Now, as to the symbols," he continued, "they mean, as you have no doubt deduced, Priestess, that this is the border of Tecamaya lands. Beyond, no one may pass without the permission of their elders. The glyphs boast of their bloody origins and their journey here, and warn that their gods protect their lands."
She pointed at one glyph. "Is this the symbol for the Aztec deity known as Smoking Mirror?"
He nodded, "Yes: Lord of the Sun and of Darkness, Tezcatlipoca. And this to the left is the Mayan Kul'kul'can, Feathered Serpent. It is the Maya version of the Aztec Quetzelcoatl. These are their supreme gods, to whom they sacrifice, although the latter expressly forbade human sacrifice in their original interpretations of him." He pointed to another figure, amused now. "And this one represents Pedro de Alvarado, who conquered Guatemala. He had reddish-blonde hair and beard, like George Challenger. Perhaps we may use this to our advantage somehow, although I cannot see this at present. Also, that man is shown here as a devil. " He chuckled softly. "Perhaps it is better if Woman Who Kills and her man do not appear to these people if they are still in that city."
They then sat facing each other, both holding the Layton map, and went into almost a trance-like state for several minutes. Then, he turned to her, and touched her shoulder. He had to jostle her slightly to wake her from whatever thing she was seeing, and she was pale and breathing heavily.
"Sorceress! Ma'Greet? What vision have you seen?"
"This is really horrible", she began, and told him what she had beheld.
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