Morning of the second day brings a wakeup call from the bird life... Hmm… It seems that I’ve unknowingly supplied some food for the insects overnight! I’m doing a bit of scratching of my face and chest. Well, things could have been worse overnight. What if I had a middle of the night wakeup from a bear or some other scary creature!
Sitting up, I’m watching dozens of colorful birds darting back and forth, in and out of the leafy canopy all screeching or singing. Some seem to be at odds with some small mammals with long tails... some kind of monkey. The monkeys have a prominent nose, rather than the usual flattened variety. The monkeys swing and leap from tree to tree, and when they get too close to bird territory the birds pursue them and the monkeys flee like they were on fire. It is really quite comical to watch! Other large birds are hammering away at the trunks of trees with their beaks making lots of racket. Large butterflies and moths can be seen opening and closing their wings, as they rest on the trunks of the trees. I see a number of different varieties... variations in wing shape as well as color schemes. One type looks like it has a pair of eyes on its wings just staring at me! Many types of lizards and other reptiles, small ground and tree mammals are on display also. The scene is truly like a large zoo only better... many more species... and without the bars.
Well, it's about time to get out of this hammock, walk to the forests edge, reclaim my shoes, (that ought to be thoroughly dry by now), and socks. Getting out of my makeshift bed, I again notice how well I can breathe... no coughing or stuffed-up nose. I've never experienced this before... two days in a row! In spite of the poor sleeping accommodations, I really feel refreshed and ready to move on. I think I'll pick a few more of those tasty yellow berries on the way to the other side of the lake. Once on that side of the lake, I'll decide what path to take.
After going through my stretching routine, I proceed toward the shoreline. Along the way, I'm looking down in front of my steps, watching the small creatures that are darting in every direction to avoid me... reptiles, small mammals, insects... you name it! Almost to the forests edge now... the lake will be on the other side of this large bush that I make my way around. Emerging from around the bush... I'm looking ahead instead of downward.
Attempting to direct my eyes toward the lake, I stop dead in my tracks... can't take another step! What in the world! … A sudden rush of adrenaline pounds through me. My body can't decide whether to run, scream, or make any decision at all. I'm looking directly into the faces of four figures directly in front of me! I can feel my blood withdrawing from my limbs. Feeling faint with my legs wobbling, I collapse and fall backward on my butt and instinctively thrust my arms backward to prop myself up. I pull my legs toward me with the soles of my feet still on the ground and in a seated position. My palms are face down on the ground behind me as I gaze at the seemingly menacing figures. In my frightened mind, I picture a scene like this in the movies… and it never ends well!
Oh no… one of the shorter of them emerges from the others, a woman, and walks slowly toward me. She's quite tall, every bit as tall as I am. This woman is wearing some sort of woven skirt that reaches down to mid-thigh. As she gets closer, I notice that she's wearing sandals made of the same material. She's wearing nothing above her waist other than a simple choker type yellow stone necklace worn around the neck... nothing else but dark reddish colored flesh. She slowly approaches and crouches down in front of me, with both her knees on the ground directly in front of my feet. She takes her left hand as she places her palm between her breasts, looks me directly in the eyes and speaks one word... "Maeya"... (sounds like May'-ah... like the month of May). I'm looking into almond shaped eyes resembling an Asian woman... and this is really strange... her eye color is an absolutely stunning bright yellow... as yellow as the shiny stones in her necklace. I can't help but notice that her nose is small compared to a... is this woman... human? Her hair color is a light auburn, with short bangs. The hair on each side of her head is pulled back with something hidden from my present view. The rest of her hair hangs at just above shoulder length. I see a smudge of red coloring applied just past the corner of each eyelid towards the ear. I'm sure this has some sort of significance, but I can't imagine what. She removes her hand from her breast and places it on my chest while staring at me, looking for a response. I'm assuming she's asking my name, so stammering I say Ji ... Jim. She attempts to repeat my name... "zhimm" is how she pronounces it. I notice a very slight expression of a smile on her face as she says it.
Oh great! The three others left behind start talking amongst themselves and proceed to walk towards us. The woman stands up, turns away and slowly takes a position behind the other three. Slowly, I stand to my feet, fully expecting to meet my end. As they approach, I can't help but notice the size of these people. The two women among them are roughly my height. One of the men appears at least 4 inches taller than the women; the other is probably about 10 inches taller… and all muscle!
At least they aren't carrying any weapons that I can see. As they approach, I withdraw and back up slowly... still facing them. I feel the limbs of the bush that my socks are on pressing against me in the back after just a few steps. I’ve run out of space to retreat! I hold up my arm and they halt in their tracks. Feeling behind my back while keeping an eye on them, I grab the socks and slip them on. The shoes are within reach also... I put them on without taking my eyes off the visitors. As I stand up, they come closer until they are within arms reach. They stop and look at me with apparent curiosity. Feeling beads of nervous sweat forming on my forehead, I stand motionless as one of the two men rubs the sleeve of my t-shirt between his fingertips and says something unintelligible to the others. They talk amongst themselves for a brief moment and the tallest one motions with his hand for me to follow them. Turning away from me, they proceed to walk along the shore, and I follow... (again... no point in running and it appears that I have escaped a beating, thank god). The tallest one looks back to see if I’m still following. I stay about three steps behind as we walk along.
It finally dawns on me... there are no kidnappers; no one accosted me in the lab. I'm here, (wherever here is) as a result of the experiment I was running in the lab. I remember that sphere... it had to be a time/space warp... a "wormhole" that my experiment opened up. I must have been pulled into it. I'm finding it difficult to remember exactly what happened, my memory of the event is still hazy. Well... I'll contemplate the rest later.
Walking just a few steps behind this group, I pick up some details about them that I hadn't noticed before, (mostly from being too afraid to notice). They have the same skin color, dark red. They all have small noses like the first woman. The men are very muscular with little body fat, practically no body or facial hair, and are wearing loincloths. The men wear their hair just at shoulder length, but it is pulled back and tied. The woman that first approached me... (her name is Maeya I guess), is somewhat more slender than the other woman. That other woman is not fat by any means, in fact she has the build of a fitness enthusiast, and is dressed like Maeya, but without the necklace. Her hair is straight, pulled back and tied, and halfway to her waist. All have hair color either very dark brown or black, again except for Maeya. All wear clothing and sandals made of the same material. I notice they also have items around their waist, with two of them having flat pouches on a belt. I also see being worn, a cloth shaped into something resembling an elongated light bulb. Most likely it's a water pouch.
As we're walking along the shoreline, the multitudes of birds and other creatures enjoying the lakefront are flying or swimming away from us. The birds take off, then circle and land about a hundred feet or so behind us as we walk. Finally, we reach the other side of the lake... the group hesitates and turns toward me. One of the men reaches into a pouch and pulls out a flattened square of something and hands it to me. The other man removes the rounded pouch from his waist and hands that to me. I smile to say thanks... and notice something I missed before... all have dark colored eyes except Maeya... strange! Walking on, we turn towards the forest again where I notice that there is an area where there isn’t much brush or as dense with foliage. I wouldn't have seen this from the other side of the lake without binoculars. Following them, I examine, then tear pieces from the square they handed me... it’s food! It's some sort of dried fish and it sure tastes good! The rounded pouch holds water, and I take a couple good gulps after eating the fish. Threading the pouch onto my belt, I proceed along with the group.
We enter the forest again, but it is not as dense as usual in this area. Walking through the forest... I again note all the variety of life around me. The woman, Maeya, has been very observant of everything taking place around her on our walk, more so than the others. There's a cool breeze moving through here, I can hear creaking from the tree canopy as it gently sways and patches of direct sunlight quickly move about on the floor of the forest. We cross a few more streams along the way, none of them too large that we can't simply jump over. Looking downward, as I hop over the stream, are small fish in schools, lazily swimming downstream. After another mile or so, we encounter another creek. The group stops and takes their water pouches from their waists and fills them. They turn towards me and motion that I do the same. Traveling on, for what seems to be another couple of miles, I notice the forest thinning and the light level increasing.
Stepping out of the forest, before us seems to be a meadow... I'm not really sure. We proceed along a path, (the first one I've seen), that meanders through this area. I hesitate for a brief moment at the scene before me and ... oh my god... this really is such a beautiful place! The variety of floral life is astounding. My senses are overcome with the scent of flowers. I see so many different insect species around me taking advantage of the flowering. Bees, butterflies, moths and hummingbirds... all are darting about everywhere... vivid patterns of colors... so many varieties of species of life everywhere. I've never seen what is taking place before me anywhere on Earth! What an incredible and beautiful sight… the movement and activity of life with so many scents, colors, shapes, and sounds. It’s really overwhelming to the senses!
We’re moving along… not too far away, off to our left, are what appear to be moose grazing. They lift their heads briefly as we pass nearby, and lower them again to continue feeding. Up ahead, numerous water holes can be seen on both sides of the path where ducks and other fowl are gathering… activity and motion everywhere. I glance upward, and I'm thinking that the sun has been really bright today with only a few billowing clouds on the horizon. It seems really strange to only have fluffy clouds in a very blue sky instead of all those ugly streaks of trails that the jets leave behind, and white out what otherwise would be a really blue sky. I have a gut feeling I won't be seeing any jets or any type plane again. As Dorothy said, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!" In the distance can be seen the forest line wrapping most of the way around this meadow. The path appears to be taking us to a break in the tree line in the distance. I'm starting to show a bit of fatigue as we have been walking for a while now. The sun is quite warm, and I'm not wearing a hat. The sun doesn't seem to bother the rest of the group though. I’d really like to just take a seat off of this path… rest and enjoy the beauty of what is taking place around me. I just still can’t believe a place like this exists! Well, got to keep moving, I guess. We’re coming up to the clearing in the trees... just another 100 yards or so.