Jo-Mary Lake 29 July, 1984 1532 Local Time Dr. Carpentier wasn't happy as he took his son's call. It had come to him while he and Michelle were still in the Sea Ray, cruising back to the cabin on Jo-Mary Lake after Alain had changed the boat's water pump at the docks beneath Millinocket. But now that they were back at the cabin, the Doctor began to feel at least a little bit better when he unfolded a map of the White Mountains, and on it discovered the location of Mary's Bend. "Ungh!" "What is it?" Michelle asked as she looked over her man's shoulder at the map. Alain just shook his head. His wife wasn't happy with it. "It looks to me that we could take the boat up to the west shore of Nahmakarita Lake and hike over to Mary's Bend." "We could not make it to Nahmakarita Lake before the sun sets, and so we'd be hiking in the dark through country in which that THING attacked the Gary family. Add to that the fact that it's going to rain, and perhaps heavily, and I'm sure that you can see that hiking is not an option." "Yet we have to go there," Michelle added. "Yes," Alain agreed. "We may have another option if Lecia is flying today." "Flying? But what if she can't come before the rain arrives?" "I have no idea. It's up to her, I'm sure. ...Come on, though. We'll call her from the boat." "All right." Back down in the Sea Ray, Alain made a frequency adjustment on its expanded marine band radio, a good one that could communicate on both high frequency and very high frequency. "Let's hope that she's up. ...Talon, QUESTOR'S RECESS?" he keyed up and called. "QUESTOR'S RECESS, Talon. Go ahead." Both Alain and Michelle smiled in relief. He keyed up and spoke once more to Lecia. "Talon, we need a big favor if you can help us. How busy are you?" "Talon is just south of Reed Mountain with a load for Atlantic Coast on Chesuncook. We are going to need fuel, but may be free for the rest of the day after 1700." FIVE TONIGHT, Alain knew. ABOUT ANOTHER HOUR AND ONE-HALF. "Talon, can you commit to Jo-Mary Lake at that time?" Up in her helicopter, Lecia was wondering what this could all be about. "What do you think?" she asked her co-pilot. "No problem if the Company doesn't re-task us," he replied. "There's that cold front that's coming through tonight, though." "Yeah. ...QUESTOR'S RECESS, Talon needs to verify with Atlantic Coast before we can commit. Will call you at 1630 and advise." "Roger, Talon. QUESTOR'S RECESS clear." "Talon, clear." "You should've warned him about the weather, Lecia," the co-pilot said. "He all ready knows," was her hardned reply. Back at the boat, Alain made a tough decision of his own. "We'll wait. It's only an hour, and I can spend the time reviewing Benton's summary of events and findings." Michelle wanted to protest the delay, but she knew that he was right. "Should we call him first?" "I can try to." Dr. Carpentier then changed frequencies and keyed up again. "Quebec Alpha, QUESTOR'S RECESS." Nothing. "Try the alert function?" Michelle asked. "No, I'm sure that he's trying to wrap up his work in Kokadjo. Let's let him alert us when he's ready. ...Come, though. You need to set up our field packs." "'Field packs?'" Michelle asked as Alain helped her down onto the dock. "Everything that we'll need for three days in the field. Firearms and ammunition, food, water and the kit for reverse osmosis of stream and lake water, the first aid kit, clothes... the works." "THREE days?" "Three days. We'll take every precaution." Michelle nodded, and both then walked back up the steps to the cabin. He went upstairs, and had just found Benton's summary when she called... "Alain?" Dr. Carpentier read his wife's tone and was downstairs right away. "What is it?" "Didn't you say that Benton has just the one anestha rifle?" "That's right. He and I agreed that anything more than that would not be well received in Kokadjo. Why do you ask?" "Old Bess... It's not here." Alain almost laughed about it. But his mind was quick, and he caught on to his wife's drift almost instantly. "Let me go and see," he said. And he went back up into the loft. After several moments, he came back down with a frown on his face. "Yes, it's gone." "Do you suppose that Benton or Rachel had him put the gun in his pack?" "It's possible. I'm sure that Rachel knows all about it if he has it." Michelle was NOT happy. "Alain, if Jordi uses it, it's recoil WILL hurt him." "We should have let Rachel at least show him the stances that it takes to use it." "And the right tensions of his muscles." "Is it THAT powerful?" Dr. Carpentier asked, incredulously. His wife looked at him in chagrin. "You would know if YOU had practiced with it." He laughed in embarassment, and himself smiled in chagrin. "You've caught me at that! ...But let's not worry about those things that are currently out of our control. Benton said that Jordi isn't going to Mary's Bend with him, and so I'm sure that our increasingly impetuous son will turn Old Bess over if Dr. Quest and Rachel aren't already aware that he has it." "You're always so sure of him, Alain." "He knows my mind, my dear, if he doesn't YET know my hand." Michelle finally laughed. "You wouldn't!" "Spank him? Yes, I WOULD. He's of an age where he might need it. Also remember that we're going to alert them at around four-thirty, unless they alert us first. If Jordi's taken Old Bess behind our backs, it's going to be HIS behind." Michelle smiled in agreement. "Finish the packs?" she then asked. Alain checked his watch. "I do believe that you'd better. I'll be up in the loft." "All right." Kokadjo 1600 Local Time If Dr. Carpentier had been unhappy, Dr. Quest was outright angry. The reason: his backpack radio was broken. Specifically, its alert function was not working, which was why Alain had not heard from him; Benton had tried to call not ten minutes after the others had shut down the radios in QUESTOR'S RECESS. And if that wasn't bad enough, the state police could not send a car to pick up Jordan that evening. The reason for that, and the last bit of bad news: the weather was most certainly going to be bad, and the state police had to keep all of their cruisers and troopers on the main roads. "Jordi?" "Yes, Dr. Quest?" "Are you aware of the danger that we're going into tonight?" "That we're going to where the monster attacked the Gary family, and that its going to rain? Yes, Dr. Quest." "Well then, try not to smile as though you're looking forward to it." It subdued the boy quite completely. "I'm sorry, Dr. Quest." "Good," Benton replied very seriously. He then softened the blow, brushing the boy's thick locks away from his eyes. "Enthusiast! I know that it's because you're happy to be going with me, Jordi. Just be more aware of what's the appropriate reaction to each moment." "I understand." And to prove it, he hugged the Doctor. Rachel then arrived with Ramona, and both were carrying gear. "Are you all set?" she asked. "Yes. Are both of you?" "You asked for supplies for two days in the back country. We have three, including enough for both of our pilots, and Jordi." "Very good," Benton smiled. He then called the pilots over in order to give everyone an impromtu briefing. The doctor had already met his two flight officers. They were Lieutenant Nicolas Joshua Breland and Sergeant Andrew Xavier Moraz. Both were good men, and no, Drew was not otherwise know as Axe. The doctor spoke. "All right. We need to see the site at Mary's Bend, quickly, and then get out. We're going to do our best to do just that, but the weather's going to turn quite foul within four hours, and so we are making every effort to cover ourselves against every possibile contingency. We have better than adequate provisions, and two effective weapons, not including the state polices' sidearms and shotgun. I will keep the anestha rifle. Rachel, you are going to have to be our heavy hitter. I presume that you've come well prepared?" "Jordi has, dear." Benton smiled the smile of a wolf on the hunt. "I was sure that's how you'd managed it." Jordan was wearing a small pack, like a JansSport pack, that he normally carried school things in. But on this day... well, on this day it held something quite a bit less benign than books and his lunch. The Doctor continued. "Officers, the area in question is somewhat close to eighty yards away from the closest clear landing site. I presume that you've seen it before?" The senior pilot spoke up. "Yes, sir. I've put down in there before in heavy winds. It's a very small clearing next to a fork where one of Wadliegh Mountain's main streams joins the Espy River, and it's a no kidding-around impossible place to fly out of in gusts or direct drafts of over twenty knots. We're sure to see wind like that before 9 p.m., sir." Benton looked up at the sky. It was already becoming heavy with rain clouds. "And the only two sites that are better are over three miles farther away. Let's go, and we'll re-evaluate at the scene. ...Jordi, give your pack to Rachel. And once we're on the ground, I want you and both troopers to stay with the helicopter." "Toujours fidèle, Docteur," the boy very reasuringly replied, being careful not to smile when he said it. "Yes." Benton then hefted the heaviest pack as the junior pilot slid back the side door of his Bell patrol helicopter. The man then jumped in and began to stow things securely. Lastly went the malfunctioning backpack radio. Dr. Quest outright frowned at it. "You can try to call them from in the air," Rachel reminded him. The Doctor grunted in frustration. He could fix the radio fairly quickly if he had the time. He didn't. On top of that, both the backpack and the helicopter radios were VHF capable only, and thus they were limited to line-of-sight operations. Jordan had earlier managed to get through to his father only because of an especially condescending third party pilot who, as luck had it, was flying home to Bangor in a Cessna Skyhawk. But Benton would have to call QUESTOR'S RECESS from in the air, since most of such lighter aircraft had almost all cleared the mountains due to the descending overcast of the evening's storm. "Let's go," he replied. And they were soon on their way as the rain began to fall. Jo-Mary Lake 1630 Local Time "QUESTOR'S RECESS, Talon?" "Go ahead, Talon." HOW ABOUT THAT? Alain smiled. Lecia was right on time, and thus she was as good as her word. Unfortunately, the news that she delivered was not so good. "Talon is delayed until 1830 hours. We can definetly be with you then." Dr. Carpentier and Michelle both frowned at that. But it was the best that they could hope for. He then keyed up and answered. "Roger, Talon. Will see you at Jo-Mary Lake at 1830. QUESTOR'S RECESS, clear." "Talon, clear." "Damn," Alain softly swore. But he had no sooner set his microphone down to do so when the radio returned to life. "QUESTOR'S RECESS, Air One?" "Go, Benton." "Am outbound from Kokadjo to Mary's Bend, Jordi on board." Michelle just collapsed in the Sea Ray's upper lounge area, and Alain almost did so in the driver's seat. "Benton, do you have your wedding present?" "That's affirmative. Madame has it in her hands at this time." That made the Carpentiers feel at least a little bit better. He then called again. "And Benton, did you catch my last with Talon?" "Roger, Alain. You're delayed until 1830." "Make it 1815," someone else cut in. It was Lecia, who having stayed on frequency decided to move both a bit less safely, and a bit more quickly. She could tell that something hot was going on. "We need your help," Benton agreed in reply. Lecia returned it with two quick microphone clicks, and got after finishing what she was currently doing. "Alain, you've reviewed what I left you, right?" "Affirmative. We're coming ready and prepared for bear," Dr. Carpentier replied. "They're certainly in season," Benton replied. GEEZ! Lecia thought to herself, adding power to her helicopter. Alain finished her thoughts out loud. "Air One, good luck." "Roger that. Will leave Jordi with the state police and their bird, with orders to take off before the weather fouls out and grounds them." That caused a pause in Dr. Carpentier's thoughts. "Make sure that you're with them. QUESTOR'S RECESS, clear." "Air One, clear." Alain then set his microphone down and turned off the boat's power, afterwards picking up Benton's summary from the bench seat beside him. He began to scan it one more time... VERTICALLY. "What is it that we're dealing with?" Michelle asked. She knew that Dr. Quest had narrowed the possibilities down to none but one. "The Ursidae family of carnivores, specifically Ursa americanus." "A black bear? But those are primarily vegetarians." "Healthy ones are," her husband replied. "But we are dealing with one that's warped and mad. Add to that the fact that the it is over twice the size that it should be, and also that it's taking in its winter nourishment, and what we have out there is an animal that's devouring everything that it can get, and coming up way short of what it needs. A normal bear takes in a daily total of calories equivilent to if I were to eat ten cheeseburgers loaded down with the works, a couple of buckets of buttered popcorn, two or three ice cream deserts with the works, and wash it all down with soda pop. They are ravenous things. Yet this one... well, it defies description." Michelle sighed. Then: "Should we take a bit of target practice?" "I could use a bit more practice at firing the darts," Alain agreed. "Yes, you may have to shoot from in the air." "Oh, God! I could never practice for THAT!" Dr. Carpentier knew that they were talking about his shooting from the doorway of Lecia's helicopter, under its rotor wash and out through the storm. "Let's practice, though. You can never be too comfortable with a gun." "Too true," Dr. Carpentier knew. Mary's Bend 1942 Local Time The evening's weather had come early, turning Benton's flight to Mary's Bend into a wet, windy, stomach-turning terror of a bumpy ride. It was Jordan who suffered the worst from it, failing to make the ground before losing his lunch into the JanSport pack now that Rachel had Old Bess back in her possetion. Yet the last straw: the helicopter pilots landed safely in the little clearing, quite professionally trapping the entire party on the ground after signing off of the air as they descended below the VHF communications horizon, leaving no one the wiser as to what was happening to them after clearing off of frequency. "Well," Benton deadpanned as the Bell's rotor ran down and stopped spinning. "Here we are." "Safe and sound," Rachel replied very flatly. "With a little work to do, and a lot of time to do it in," the junior pilot agreed. "Should we go ahead and begin?" Ramona asked. "In a minute, please." It was Jordan, still feeling light of head and heavy of stomach. Dr. Quest laid a hand on his little friend's forehead. NO TEMPERATURE, AND NO CHILL. HE'S A BIT GREEN, THOUGH. "You still look shaky." "I still FEEL shaky." "Drivers?" Benton asked his pilots. The senior one answered the inquiry. "We can take care of him, Doc. You three go on ahead." "Jordi?" The boy showed a wan smile, but a quick thumbs up. "Ladies?" Benton then asked. Both were "raring" to get out in the rain and search the site of the Gary tragedy. "Then let's go," the Doctor finally said. "Lecia should arrive overhead fairly quickly, unless she's become any further delayed." "Alrighty," Rachel stood up and stood by, hefting a light pack. And after that, they were on their way. Jo-Mary Lake 1945 Local Time "Stupid rain!" Lecia swore. She was standing on the cabin's dock, hands on hips watching her co-pilot as he worked on their helicopter's right engine. It had cracked a steel fuel return line, sending a fine mist into its nacelle that resulted in a smoking state of overheating, but no fire. The good part was that the line was easily repaired by the Rynglock process, and the pilots were carrying the necessary materials. Still, the problem resulted in "a delay," and that made Talon storm worse than Mother Nature. Her co-pilot was full to overflowing of her fuming. "Calm down, will ya? I'll have it going again in a few minutes." "We're over two hours late!" "Yeah, yeah! Go aboard the boat and try to pull in a weather report or somethin'!" There was no use arguing any further over the breakdown, and so Lecia turned to Alain. "I'm really sorry about this." "For the fifth time," Alain managed to smile. "Yeah." "I checked the weather. It's going to get worse." Lecia actually smiled, casting a glance skyward. "A challenge, eh Lord? ...At least the bird will have full power back, Doc. It broke down in such a way that the fix will be a reliable one." "Yes, the Rynglock repair process is amazing. I've seen it used once while out at sea." "On a seacraft?" Dr. Carpentier grinned and explained. "I was enjoying an exciting afternoon on an associate's speedboat, a fourty footer powered by a pair of gas turbine engines not unlike what you have here." "Wouldn't have been a boat of Dr. Quest's, would it?" "Not that time, no." The copilot came down and spoke to Talon. "Ready to ops check." "Plug into the nacelle service intercom jack, and let me know what you want." "Right. Just make sure that the rotor is disengaged." Ten minutes later, the big Aerospatiale was repaired, verified and signed-off, not to mention running on both engines with its commander's hand resting on the rotor engagement controls as she waited for the Carpentiers to come aboard and get secured. In another minute, Alain put on a headset and said that he and Michelle were ready. "Roger," Lecia replied. "Let me know if and when either of you unstrap. The weather has done nothing but get worse, and it's going to be a bad ride." Oh, boy. If only any of them had any idea that what they were about to get into would be ten times worse than bad. As it would come to pass, none would ever forget it. Mary's Bend 2010 Local Time The site where the Gary family had met their end was worse than Benton had imagined that it would be. The ground and the trees were heavily disturbed and broken, and all around were the tattered remnents of cloth from cothes, sleeping bags, packs— all caught up in shattered bush, and all blowing badly in the increasingly heavy winds. THAT in itself was not bad, since it was blowing the storm through the region more quickly than had been forcasted. The rain had thus tapered off some, though what was still coming down was doing so sideways. Thus the Doctor had to speak up in order to make himself heard by his wife... "The sheriff's men weren't very careful about going over this area!" Rachel laughed in disgust. "You think? Look at all this stuff that they left behind! Absolutely unprofessional! "Let's see what else that they left while it's still light! Watch out, and remain ready with Bess! ...Ramona, help me look!" "Yes, Dr. Quest!" And both began to look around carefully, while Rachel watched the trees as the already dim light began to fade even further. They quickly came upon a tall pine, one with a trunk that was deeply slashed as if by claws. Benton saw something caught within the gouges, and he took up a long stick in order to reach up and remove it from high over his head. In a moment, he had it held in the crook of the stick so that he could examine it. It looked like a piece of body tissue, washed clean of blood, but not of a slight tuft of grizzly black hair! "Ursa americanus! THIS, Ramona, confirms everything!" But she hadn't heard him, turning towards the woods when Rachel gasped as she looked there. "John!" HAWKES! Benton exclaimed to himself. DEAR GOD! Somehow, the Penobscot man had walked or caught a ride in order to come all the way from Kokadjo via land. He looked exhausted, but the light of fire came into his eyes when Dr. Quest showed him what had been found. "Katahdin!" "Apparently all to real!" Benton agreed. Back at the helicopter, Jordan was still feeling queasy. The state police senior pilot noticed and cracked a phial of smelling salts. "Take a whiff of this, Jordi. ...Not to deep, now!" "Whew! Thank-you." "Better, huh?" "Yes, sir. Now if I could just get out and wet the ground some, myself!" "You need to do that, too?" the copilot laughed. "Yes, YES!" "Josh?" the junior man asked his senior. "Go ahead. But take the shotgun, and stay in sight." "Right. ...Let's go, Jordi." A few minutes later, both boy and man were fully relieved and much more comfortable, even though both were now ringing wet. "Never did much like this area of the mountains!" the copilot shouted over the wind. "It gets spooky as heck when it rains and gets dark!" "I noticed!" Jordan replied. Just then, a big gust of wind blew his hat off of his head and into the forest. "Go after it! I'll be right behind you!" "Okay!" And the boy began to give chace. Stupid hat! You would think that it would catch on something. There it went again! Sailing off of one snag and hooking on another fifty feet later. Soon, the boy and his escort had gone almost one hundred yards into the forest, and still the flying headgear eluded them. The co-pilot was now using his walkie-talkie in order to calm his pilot down, the senior man obviously having seen his partner take off after their little friend. "We almost have it, Josh! We'll be on our way ba—" Just then, a scream cut through the darkened woods. The pilot back in his helicopter heard it over his partner's radio, and Dr. Quest heard it in the clear since it had come close to his location. "That was Jordi!" Rachel exclaimed. "Go!" Benton shouted in reply. And everyone headed in the direction of the sound. They quickly found the distressed young man... and the now distressed state trooper on his knees beside him! Both were retching, though the man managed to point in the direction of an odd net that could be seen just over the root of a huge tree as Ramona tended to him, and Rachel took care of the boy. Lieutenant Breland almost as quickly arrived, and with Benton and John crossed the root and looked in the net. "God in heaven!" "...Help us!" John finished the trooper's statement. Benton just stared into the net in mute rage. Below, beside a soaked yet forgotten hat, lay two infant creatures, one dead, the other alive and crying in animal pain. Both were terrible to behold. They were hairless, their exposed flesh looking like boiled wax that had been poured over their bodies and allowed to melt into ears, eyes... everything! The dead one seemed to have nothing but skin covering nearly half of its brain. You could actually see the outlines of it! And as Gordon Eisily had so eloquently put it, each had the eyes of a cat. Their webbed hands had the most freightening looking needle claws immaginable. The little beasts looked like they could cut four inches deep into a man with no more than a soft sweep of their arms. Yet Dr. Quest knew that it was the result of mutation. Here, lying in a fish poacher's net in the dark beneath the rain, was hard evidence of the results of Atlantic Coast's POLICIES... if they dared to take it. "NO!" Ramona arrived and exclaimed, seeing that Benton had removed his coat in order to wrap up the living creature. "Dr. Quest, leave it to die!" "We have to try to save it! This is what we need to bring the guilty parties to justice!" "Its mother will track it, AND us!" "Not if Lecia gets here fir—" The Doctor was cut off by gunfire, and a frightened and breathless Jordan appeared and took up the Doctor's anestha gun and reloads as Rachel and the copilot came behind him, covering everyone with their weapons. "Run!" both shouted, their eyes full of fear. In a split second, the others saw why. Not one, not two... not even three. Not less than five adult monsters appeared from out of nowhere. All were over ten feet tall, and all were even more hideous looking than their two cubs. All were coming on their hind legs. They were hungry and enraged, and above all they were fast, causing their human prey to fly from them in wide open fear. Lieutenant Breland slipped and fell, and paid for it immediately as Rachel loaded and fired at the face of the creature that ripped him apart by both feet. She in turn reloaded on the run, looking up again just in time to see the thing she had wounded fling half her pilot at her, the remains striking her and knocking her down as three of the other creatures came at her. She almost as instantly felt strong hands grab her and pull her out from under the gore. It was John, and beside him Benton took a shot with the anestha rifle. The copilot used his automatic Remington shotgun. The leading creature then went down under the combined effects of anestha and wounds, and a second one was stopped where the infant creatures still lay in the poacher's net. Three beasts remained to persue the humans, chasing them far, far into the forest, and in an unfavorable direction in which there was known to be very little help. And behind, powered up and full of provisions, sat the solitary and unoccupied Bell police helicopter, its radio coming to life as the wind-driven and seemingly eternal rain continued to come down... "Quebec Alpha, Talon? ...Quebec Alpha, come in?" Talon Flight Inbound to Mary's Bend, Twenty Miles Out "No contact, Doc!" Lecia's co-pilot told Alain over their helicopter's internal communications system. The man's name was Jaret Lawlor, and he was as cool as his pilot was firey. He was also close to shouting in spite of the fact that he was wearing a headset, a very fine David Clark aviator's model that incredibly wasn't blocking out enough of the noise. The furor of the storm, in combination with the auditory aftermath of the Aerospatial's heavily loaded rotor and two Garrett PT-6 turboshaft engines running at full power, was that deafening. Dr. Carpentier was more than a little concerned about the lack of a reply from Benton. "Something's wrong! Even if they were all away from the police helo, which we were told that they wouldn't be, they have at least one walkie-talkie, and we're easily in clear VHF communications range!" "Damn!" Lecia swore. "We can't get there any faster! We're descending now, and the drafts in this valley are murder!" "How much longer?" "Ten minutes!" There was no use asking for more speed. The ride was already bad due to the weather and the terrain's effect on its winds, and Alain could see that Lecia was doing her best at dealing with it all. "I'm unstrapping!" "Do NOT open the door!" Talon replied. "Not yet, no!" The doctor then got up and did two things: he put on a harness with which he could be secured to the helicopter or lowered with its winch, and afterwards he checked out his anestha gun, making sure that it was loaded with a green dart, the ones that were filled with the strongest anestha that Dr. Quest had brought with him into the White Mountains. Behind her husband, Michelle made sure that the safties were still on on all four of the shotguns that she and Alain had brought from the cabin. As an afterthought, she took up the Browning Hunting Citori, the most powerful gun that they had. Dr. Carpentier saw her and nodded in approval. "Five minutes!" Lecia called. And because it had become almost full dark, she turned on her helicopter's nose mounted spotlight. This was an excellent system that was slaved to a small track ball on the top of the flight crews' cyclic control sticks, and Talon began to use it in order to scan the now totally dark area of Mary's Bend. "Watch your side, Jaret!" "I've got the river!" "Rog! ...There's the state police helo!" "How does it look?" Alain asked from behind the pilots. "Intact from here!" Lecia replied. "Wait one! I'm gonna turn us, but I'll keep the light on it so that you can see it from the door! ...UNGH! Friggin' storm!" "That's too much collective!" Jeret responded to her control inputs. "The hell it is! Less than that, and we'd be down CFIT! ...I'm gonna hover over the Espy, nose into the wind! That should smooth things out some!" "You're right! It should!" "Wiseguy! ...Take control of the light!" Lecia added. "I don't want to lock up my scan, and try to hold position in this mess as well!" Jaret took hold of his cyclic control in order to use its trackball to control the helicopter's spotlight. "Keep your grip loose!" Talon exclaimed. He was subconciously canceling out her own control inputs. "Sorry, Boss! ...Doc, do you see the police helo?" "Yes! ...You're right, Lecia! It appears to be undamaged!" SO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? Talon silently wondered. Just then, she saw an odd anomoly of movement in the river below and ahead of her. "Gimme control of the light for a minute!" she ordered her co-pilot. "You've got it!" The pilot then turned her powerful spotlight to where she had seen the movement. "Sweet Jesus!" "What IS that thing!" her co-pilot exclaimed in reply. "What's going on?" Alain wondered. But Talon was already turning the helicopter so that he could see. She was also increasing collective, and at the same time moving farther away from the thing that she, and now Dr. Carpentier, saw. The Doctor took in a sharp breath. KATAHDIN! he silently exclaimed. MY GOD! "Look! ...On the riverbank to its left!" Jaret cried. "Is that a dead one?" Lecia asked. WHAT?! Alain wondered. TWO such animals? "Lecia, I need to shoot at the live one!" "Strap in tight, Doc! ...Michelle, are you secured?" "I am, but I have no idea what's going on!" "That makes two of us! ...Hold on, okay?" Lecia said. "Yes!" Michelle replied. "Doc, the wind is on our nose! Open the door when you're ready!" "Coming open now, Lecia!" "How's the rain?" "Not too bad with the wind on the nose!" Dr. Carpentier replied. It was actually dry, though the wind continued to buffet the heavy helicopter in spite of its current orientation. "Jaret, take the light! Take your cues from the Doc!" "I've got it!" "Watch your grip on the stick!" Talon added. "Right! ...Doc, let me know where to move the light!" "Can you spread the beam some?" Alain asked as he lay on the helicopter's floor, his harness rope cinched up to its shortest possible length, the barrel of his anestha rifle held before him, but just inside the open sliding door. "How's that?" Jaret asked. He was on the far side of the helicopter, and he could not quite see the creature. "Better! ...Both of you, hold what you've got! ...Steady, Lecia!" OH, BROTHER! Talon thought. Holding her craft steady in this wind was most relative to a ping pong ball caught in a high speed clothes washer! Behind her, Dr. Carpentier looked out at a scene that was both terrifying and impossible. Yet it seemed to him that the wind was tapering off at least a little, or that it already had. His target was agreeably facing him, immoble and screaming in anger at him as it stood transfixed in the brilliance of the spotlight that Jaret managed to keep on it in spite of his not being able to see it. In turn, the monster was blinded by the beams which shone in its eyes. It certainly heard the helicopter, and just as certainly it did not see it. It had to have been maddening to the beast to have no idea what the flying, deafening thing was. A TOUGH SHOT, THIS, Alain knew. The spotlight was reflecting crazily off of every blowing bush and tree, a hypnotic effect compounded by the motion of the Aerospatiale. Yet the Doctor lowered his cheek until it met the stock of his weapon, his right eye focused on the target, the rifle's far sight blurred in the center of the ring of its rear site. He saw the degree and direction of the wind, and he corrected his aim by centering his sights nearly two feet to the beast's right. In the end, the Doctor knew, it was pure luck that he hit the monster. Yet fall it did, face down in the river. "Great shot, Doc! That was one in a few BILLION!" "Thanks, Lecia!" "What do you want to do?" "Hold on! ...I want you to align us on an axis that puts the creature we just shot on the far side of the one that's already down! I have an idea that Dr. Quest and the others moved off along that way!" "I understand!" And Lecia carefully moved her craft until it was where Alain wanted it, simultaneously rotating so that he could see. Unfortunately, it put the wind and remaining rain right in his face. "Ungh!" he exclaimed. Yet he accepted a pair of binoculars from Michelle, wiping his eyes so that he could look through them. "Footprints! Footprints on the axis!" "So they DID run away in this direction!" Lecia replied. "Yes! Wait! ...There's something in the river near the far animal!" MY GOD, IS IT? "What do you see?" Talon demanded. "Cubs! ...Baby creatures!" "WHAT?" Dr. Carpentier made a quick decision. "There are two of them! One appears to even be alive!" "Tell me that you DON'T want it!" Lecia replied. "Really!" Jaret and Michelle agreed in unison, even though she had yet to see much of any of the monsters. "We NEED it! The rain has stopped, and the wind has tapered off to a degree! I MUST make the attempt!" WHAT COLLEGE OF COURAGE DID YOU COME FROM? his pilot wondered. Yet she had served in the Army. She thus knew what to do, and she began to tend to it, studying her environment and the possibility of lowering the Doctor with her winch. CHRIST! HE'S GOING TO BLOW ALL OVER EVERYWHERE! "You'll have to get a grip on that poacher's net, Doc, and Michelle will have to be quick about adjusting your line's length! Can you pick the thing up with one arm?" "By the time I'm ready to pick it up, I'll be able to let go of the net!" Jaret turned towards Lecia, silently mouthing the words: HE'S NUTS! Michelle was thinking the same thing. "Alain! Jordi, Benton and Rachel ran away! If there are two of those things down there, then others may still be after them!" "Yes!" Lecia agreed. But Dr. Carpentier was adamant, meeting his wife's eyes in a way that she had never seen before. "I know that they may need help! To obtain that help, we need the hard evidence of the reason why they are in danger! Do you remember the maps of this area?" "What?" Michelle asked. WHAT TACT IS THIS? "The maps! There is a small native settlement about eight miles away in the direction that they are running! We'll get the baby animal, and then we'll fly to that area! I'll then go down on the line there and alert the Indians! YOU three then head for the state police station at Millinocket! When you show them the baby, they'll then take the BEST appropriate action!" "The military, hopefully!" Lecia agreed. "Good!" Alain replied, reaching for the winch controls. Michelle, however, was clearly unhappy. She didn't say anything, since she could not argue with her husband's reasoning. Yet she communicated herself with direct glances and sharp physical actions as she put on a harness of her own in order to tie off and run the winch. Her mind was on her son, and Alain understood it, fully. "Are you ready?" she asked. "Yes!" he replied. "Give me some slack! You need to tie off my feet to the upper attach points on the line!" "You're going down head first?" "There's no other way to do it! Please... Give me slack!" She did so immediately. BEST TO GET THIS OVER WITH SOONER RATHER THAN LATER, Michelle knew. "What's the hold-up back there?" Lecia asked from her pilot's seat. "Almost ready!" Alain replied as he lay on the floor and let his wife tie his feet to the cable. In a few more minutes, he was dangling in the cabin like a sailfish on the end of a gaff. "Ready, Lecia?" "Are you?" "Yes!" the Doctor replied. And with that, Michelle removed his headset and smoothly swung him out through the door. "He's out!" she told Talon. Lecia flew over the poacher's net and hovered as close to the ground as she dared. Jaret focused the spotlight straight down on the ground, using its widest possible beam. "Let him down easy!" the pilot ordered. "He's moving!" Michelle replied. "He's blowing all over everywhere!" "Don't let him down too far! Give him a chance to take hold of the net!" "I see it, Lecia!" "Jaret, keep an eye on that far animal, and the treeline!" "Got it, Boss!" "Michelle?" "He's at the net! He's swinging around it, trying to grab hold! He has it! ...NO! ...His grip on it failed! He needs a bit more line! ...He's got the net! Hold us as steady as you can! He working his way hand over hand towards the baby!" "Let me know the instant that you see anything that might threaten him! I'll pull him out of there with the collective!" "Yes!" WHY DIDN'T WE DISCUSS THAT WITH HIM BEFOREHAND? ...A LITTLE MORE SLACK! MY GOD! "He let go of the net!" "Nuts! Pull him back in! ..UNGH! Damn gusts!" "No! No, he has it again! He's right beside the baby!" Michelle exclaimed. "He's got it! He's loose!" "Bring him in!" Lecia replied. "Coming in! He's waving! He seems to want you to go higher! Go for altitude!" AND THE INDIAN SETTLEMENT, AS WELL. "Let me know when he's aboard and you've closed the door!" "Yes!" In a few more seconds, Alain appeared, giving his wife her first real look at the dreadful results of methyl mercury environmental poisoning. "Oh my God!" It wasn't just the cub. Dr. Carpentier's hands were bleeding profusely, apparently from both the net and the claws of the creature that he held. "Swing me in, dear!" Michelle did so quite expiditiously, just as quickly closing the sliding door and lowering him to the floor, where she handed him her coat so that he could wrap the wild and screaming little animal up so that it was both more warm and more safely handled. She then secured it to the floor, while her husband untied his feet. "Your hands!" "They aren't too bad!" Alain replied as he sat up on the floor. "Put that headset on me, and then we'll tend to them!" "All right!" "Lecia?" the Doctor asked when he was back on com. "You're one gutsy man, Doc!" "Thanks... for all!" "Understood! Jaret is looking out for that settlement that you spoke about!" "Tell him to keep a sharp eye out for it, as well as for gunfire or signals from Dr. Quest and the others on the ground!" "He says he's doing that!" Alain then spoke to his wife as she treated his hands. "Amazing! The weather almost seems to be tranquil now!" "So it seems! It's without a doubt relative! ...You're going to become ill from these wounds!" "I know it! ...We have to stabilize the cub before I leave!" "Stabilize, or tranquilize?" Michelle asked. "Both! ...And prepare a tetanus shot for me!" The Doctor then felt the helicopter slow down and begin to circle around its light that was now focused on a little village that was remarkably like the one that Hector, Ramona's grandfather, had built. This one, however, was slightly larger. "Men on the ground, Doc!" Jaret said. "We see them! We need you to hover for a few minutes while I take care of the cub!" "Lecia says all right! We've got the fuel!" In perhaps ten minutes, the baby animal was quiet, and Dr. Carpentier was once again hooked up to the hoist... this time feet first. Michelle actually managed to take a little relief in that fact. Alain turned to her, his eyes becoming moist. "What is it?" she asked. "I'm sorry that I snapped at you back there at the river!" "We can talk about it later, but in my mind you were right in bringing up the cub! It will make this story much more believable in Millinocket!" "Yes! ...Hand me the dueffel with the weapons!" Dr. Carpentier already had the medical kit. Michelle did that. "I love you!" He hugged her to him, kissing her soundly. "What's going on back there?" Lecia asked over the intercom. Alain smiled, though Michelle did not. "We're opening the door now, Lecia!" "Rog. Be advised I'll hustle right back here after we deliver the cub." "Dr. Quest will likely arrive with casualties!" Dr. Carpentier agreed. "Continue to try to make contact with them as you go and return! They are supposed to have both a walkie talkie AND his backpack radio!" "Right! I'll have to refuel in Millinocket, and then I'll be back! And Jaret will keep trying to raise Dr. Quest!" Alain met his wife's eyes then. "Find them, and come back alive!" Michelle told her man. "Not my time to die!" he smiled and replied. The Doctor then hooked the dueffel up to his line. But before he asked his wife to swing him outside and lower him to the ground, he spoke to her in reassurance. They have to be heading this way! I mean to stand by here, not go in looking for them! That will be the job of the authorities! Get to them as quickly as you can!" "We will, Alain! Now go!" And in another minute, he was gone into the darkness below. Michelle quickly reeled in the winch line once she'd seen the Doctor give her a thumbs-up. She then locked the mechanism in its stowed position before closing the sliding door, securing herself and speaking to Talon. "Alain gave me our release to go, Lecia! The winch is locked, and so is the door!" "Very well! ...Jaret, work those radios! Let's get in and back out most rikky-tik!" "I'm on it!" "Jaret?" Lecia then asked. "Yeah?" "Why are we still shouting?" The copilot realized that his commander was right. The weather had calmed down considerably, and they could now hear one another fairly easily. He then laughed. "I guess that we just got used to it." End Part VI