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Posted - September 15 2007 : 03:50:34 AM
Although this Fic is not "explicit" by modern literary standards, it is rated Mature, and should be read with that in mind. Those who are still subject to parental supervision or who may live in very restrictive societies should read with caution. The story is meant for an adult audience. READING FURTHER AFFIRMS THAT YOU ARE OF LEGAL AGE (USUALLY 18) TO READ ADULT-THEMED MATERIAL IN YOUR LOCATION, AND THAT YOU WILLINGLY AND KNOWINGLY SOUGHT TO READ SUCH MATERIAL. It is set after the Third Season on TV, without regard for the cancelled Fourth Season. All three of the couples in the Treehouse are engaged: John and Marguerite, George and Finn, and Ned and Veronica.
This is for Jovanna, one of her country's brightest young minds, and a fan of Marguerite Krux!
"On Her Own"
by Explorer
"I bet that George would like this one best," mused Nicole Finnegan as she turned the carved jade statuette of a stylized human figure in her hands.
Her friend Marguerite Krux glanced over at it. They were standing in the Zanga Indian bazaar in a village on a remote plateau in northern Brazil. Nicole, usually known to her friends by her nickname of Finn, was shopping the wares of an old Zanga craftsman whose work had caught the young blonde's eye as they browsed the bazaar with their hostess and close companion, Veronica Layton.
"It isn't without interest," conceded Marguerite. "The workmanship is admittedly exquisite, and I suspect that it has strong Mayan overtones that would interest your beloved 'genius' ". She smiled to take any sting from her words, but both knew that Nicole was being teased for her devotion to her man, Professor George Challenger, leader of their little expedition. Slightly in awe of Challenger, Nicole often called him, "Genius" as a pet name. It has been said that familiarity breeds contempt, but in this case, the opposite was true. At first somewhat of a smart alec and a bit sarcastic toward her friends after she had been rescued from the horror of her own society in 21st Century New Amazonia, Finn had grown more fond of them, and of Challenger in particular. Now more polished and better educated than she had been, Finn had grown to respect and love each of her companions. But in the two years that she had known him, she had come not only to love Challenger; she was a little overwhelmed that he should be so brilliant as she had discovered him to be. And that he should love her left her feeling humble and thankful. There was some truth in the other girls' playful taunt that Finn nearly worshipped the man. Now, she wanted to please him by buying him some item from the bazaar that he would treasure not just because it had come from her, but because it would arouse his scientific curiosity.
"How much do you think I should offer for this?", asked Finn. "It really is well made and I just know that the Genius would like it. Look how the light catches the jade as I turn it. Isn't this, like, awesome?!" She stroked it appreciatively, thoughtfully.
"How much were you thinking of giving?" countered Marguerite. "However much, it's probably excessive. One can't expect a blonde to know the value of things." She smirked, looking out the corner of her eye to be sure that Finn felt gouged by her barb. Sarcasm was characteristic of Marguerite, even when she did it in fun, to prick her companions in jest. Fortunately, she had eased off considerably since her arrival here four years before.
"Cool it, Marguerite," said the third woman of their number. "I get tired of being hassled about being blonde, and I bet that Finn does, too. We aren't as stupid as legend suggests. We've certainly pulled your brunette hide out of the fire on occasion." She smirked a bit, herself, to the entertainment of her longtime Zanga friend, Assai, and the fifth woman in their group, Sa'eera, youngest wife of Zanga king Jacoba. Assai shook her head in amusement. Sa'eera laughed out loud. She was also a blonde, via a hair formula concocted by Challenger to color her naturally brown hair. Sa'eera was half white, fathered by a man who had been an associate of Veronica's dead father. (Her mother was still missing after 15 years, her fate unknown.)
"I don't know what to offer for it, Marguerite. That's why I'm asking your wise counsel," retorted Finn. "You know how to bargain with primitive people in bazaars all over the world. What do I know? I was born here and raised in the ruins of a world gone mad. I'm still getting used to being able to just go to the Zanga mall here and buy things. It beats hell out of not knowing where to find even my next meal, I can tell you."
"Ouch!" winced Veronica. "Touche, Finn. Marguerite, lay off of her. She really wants your help. She trusts you, and she's earned your assistance. You'd probably have died in that cell in Xochilenque if Finn and George hadn't risked their lives to save yours." She arched her eyebrows meaningfully at the dark-haired woman.
"Oh, all right!" snapped Marguerite. "Finnykins, I apologize. I was just having fun with you. Offer this chap some trifle and see if he 'bites'. It's best not to start the bidding too high. He's going to want more than you offer, whatever amount it is. That's how merchants are. Make him take less than he wants, if he wants to sell that grotesque thing. Still, the jade is pretty, and George would like the Maya or Aztec resemblance."
Finn fumbled for a small gold coin in her pouch, worn like a purse on a sling over her shoulder. It held money, a few other trinkets that might have trade value, a comb, lipstick, a mirror, and a box of ammunition for her Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifle. The coin had come from the dreaded Tecamaya city of Xochilenque, from which the adventurers had taken a treasure of enormous value. (See my Fic, "The Crystal Skull" in Fiction at: www.americanbty12.proboards62.com )
"That coin is worth far more than this savage needs," grumped Marguerite. "You are much too generous, Nicole. It's sweet of you, but you'd go broke without me to help you bargain."
"Well, what should I offer then, Marguerite? And cool it about this guy being a savage. Our Zanga pals will hear you, and he's a respected member of their tribe. I bet he's one of their best artists, and that jade statuette took a lot of work to shape and to carve. And it's for George. I'm willing to give the man a good price for it."
Marguerite sighed theatrically, inferring that she was long put upon by inferior beings, but was prepared to suffer graciously for them. "Sweetie, why don't you put the little statue down and you and the other girls drift off and look at something else. I'll do that, too. Then, in a few minutes, I'll wander back over here and see what the man will settle for to let it go. I bet I get you a good price."
Finn, who was considerably brighter than Marguerite pretended that blondes were likely to be, knew this technique. If it pleased her friend to act imposed upon to help her, she knew that Marguerite was not really being condescending. She was playing a role, apparently designed to bolster her own self image and to tease her friends. It pleased Marguerite Krux to feel needed, and she liked to think of herself as worldly, which she in fact was. The needy sophisticate, mused Finn, but said nothing aloud. She also knew how easily wounded her worldly near sister was. For much of her life, she had felt unloved, and had taken refuge in her image. The sarcasm and pretended superiority were her way of dealing with her lack of self esteem.
Finn knew that she shared some of Marguerite's esteem issues, and she was still amazed that she had been able to capture the heart of one of history's greatest scientific minds. Just as Marguerite had only recently accepted the place in her own man's heart that she had won after much self doubt... That Lord John Roxton had come to love her, former jewel thief, onetime slave to an Arab master, and double agent in wartime still thrilled Marguerite. She tried to be more blase than Finn about being in love, but both women actually marvelled that they were loved so openly and genuinely.
"Okay, Marguerite, lets' get some punch over at that refreshment stand and you can come back here and deal with this guy later. But take a good look at this statue. It looks a lot like his others, but I just know that this is the one that George would like best."
"I don't doubt that," quipped her British Treehouse mate. "I sometimes think that you know George better than he does, himself. He's lucky to have you looking after him. All right. I've seen the bloody little troll that you want. Lets' get some limeade or guava juice or whatever it is that the refreshment stand lady is hawking this afternoon. I feel sure they haven't got any tea, like civlized people would."
Finn looked anxiously at her. "Sure that you'll remember the right jade thingee? Okay, okay: don't look at me that way! I believe you. Hey, Marguerite, will you and John teach me how to behave in a London tea shop? I don't want to embarrass George when we finally get to one." Finn knew somehow that she and the others would get off of the Plateau and reach Britain. Her man had said they would, and she believed him. And she wanted to know how to behave when they did.
Marguerite softened, for she loved Finn deeply. They had endured many adventures together, and she knew what it was like to be apprehensive about whether one would be accepted. She took Finn's hand and they strolled over to the refreshment stand together. The other girls followed, chattering away in the Zanga tongue, which Veronica spoke fluently. She should, for she had been born here, and this tribe had raised her for much of her childhood.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
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Posted - November 06 2007 : 01:45:36 AM
She bit at her lip, thinking intensely. "Yes, a year seems good. We can't avoid the matter much longer. I've dreaded becoming a mother, and yet longed for it, if afraid that I wasn't emotionally equipped for it. But the lonliness that I have experienced has made me think how I can be a better mother than what I had. Let me see how I fare in helping Finn, as I'm sure that I will. She'll need assistance with the child, and I will see how I handle that. I think it will either repel me, or make me wish for a child of our own. Does this make sense?"
"A great deal of sense. I will see how I fare as a sort of godfather or whatever, too. I think that we'll make the right decision when the time comes. But I rather hope that we get off the Plateau first. As soon as the young Challenger is able to travel. If possible, I want us back in Britain when you conceive, with nannies to help you."
"All right," she agreed. "In the meantime, I will stay on George's little birth control pills and hope that they work. And we can continue to practice how to conceive. We should have that technique down pretty well by the time that a year has passed. I must say, you are already about all that my heart can stand in that regard."
"I haven't noticed you declining any opportunities to be stimulated," he leered. "Time to put out the light?"
"Yes, do. I'll get a blanket first, in case the night turns cold."
A few minutes later, she tucked herself in next to Roxton and said. "Whatever comes, we have one another now, John. That means the world to me."
"And to me. George and Finn amuse me with that claim that theirs is the love of the ages, the romance of all time. What we have is quite enough for us. I love you, Marguerite, very much indeed."
She leaned over and kissed him. "When I was on my own this week, I wanted more than anything to get back to you and the others. The days when I thought that I'd never have truly loyal friends are gone. And to have what I do with you, John, is the most priceless thing in my life."
He held her tenderly, and they drifted off to sleep, his hand cupping her right breast, her hand atop his. Important decisions lay in their future, but for now, they had all of the answers that they needed about one another. The rest would come. And Marguerite knew that they would reach the right conclusions, about everything. She counted her blessings, and slept.
The End
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 06 2007 : 01:03:13 AM
Three times that night, they coupled, talking between.
Finally, exhausted after trying everything that appealed to either of them, they lay in one anothers' arms, cuddling and telling each other how much fun they had had.
"This is invariably the highlight of my day," mused Roxton. "Having you show me how a REAL woman makes love never ceases to amaze me and delights my senses."
Marguerite razzed, "You have senses? Oh, yes, you were smelling the hearty outdoors earlier tonight. I trust that I made your INDOORS sport fun? Seriously, John, what you do to me awakens and tingles every fiber of my being. Until you, I had sex, usually to achieve a purpose, even if it was just physical release. I was afraid to become more emotionally involved. With you, I have learned to actually make love. For that, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It frightens me a little, thinking of just how much I have come to care for you. Love is wonderful, but it has its price. Now, I have to be terified that this isn't real; that my dream will end when I wake. Or, that something will happen to you. Or, to us."
"Nothing is going to happen to US, as long as you move your body like that! I'd be a fool to hope that any other woman would be half as entertaining. If ever I have been jealous of another man, it is of that damned sultan who enjoyed you so much before I did. But he doubtless had you hone your skills so that I can now enjoy them more fully than might otherwise be the case. And I love your banter, the way that you tease, your droll jokes."
"Well," she replied, "my jokes are basically survival humor, very useful on this bloody Plateau. My humor is so dry that you can rub two of my jokes together and get a fire. Nice work, that, isn't it? I never have to worry about running out of matches." She ran a hand lazily down the length of his body, noting how he reacted.
He muttered, "Quit that, Marguerite. If you linger there, you'll start something that I'm too tired to complete again tonight. That trip and the T-rex episode took a lot out of me today."
She laughed. "Thank goodness for that! I'd hate to have you able to do more to me than you did! I'd have to be a nymphomaniac to cope with you!" That thought appealed to her. "And along those lines, have you ever met a real nympho? Could even you cope with that?"
"Not sure, but I'd have to be more rested than I was tonight, to even try. Look, do you want to shower? There should be some hot water."
"Nope. Too damned dead to stagger downstairs and back up. I'll go down and shower with you before you go fishing in the morning. I want to help the other girls make breakfast for you before you and the other lads go have fun while Finn and I labor at the sewing and Veronica tends the garden. Gad, I hope she doesn't want me to dust again."
"I know, " he laughed, and took her hand. "Heavy, heartless, industrial labor, I believe you called it last time. You always find ways to amuse me, Darling. Look, I am truly glad that you thought to borrow that grenade today. But this place is growing old, even for my adventurous soul. Ladies should borrow a cup of sugar from one another, not hand grenades. Do you think that Challenger will think of a way to get us out of here, or shall we resign ourselves to being stuck? We'll need to think about having children if we do, with the attendant difficulty of raising them in this dismal backwater."
She looked at him with concern, her chin propped up as she rested an elbow on the bed. "John, are you really asking if I want to be the next woman after Finn to get preggers here? Do you want that? If I'm going to reproduce, I do need to think about it soon. I am already 34, no spring chicken. And Veronica is getting past her mid-20's. She and Ned will have to reach a decision on that in the next year or two. If we all start having children, how will that affect our situation with the Zanga? Will they continue to tolerate us? How will we build a new home? This Treehouse was never meant for three couples and their offspring."
"A set of good questions," he admitted. "We can wait to see what happens with George and Finn. How we all adapt to her first child. That will provide useful clues to what we'll need in the way of child care. Finn loves George enormously, but she is going to resent not being able to hunt or go have adventures whenever she wants. As feminine as she is, Finn is basically a tomboy, an adventuress, in the best possible sense of the word."
"And I have been an 'adventuress' in the less desirable sense, although the common meaning." Marguerite was uneasy. "Maybe we shouldn't give up hope. But if we don't find a way out of here, via one of George's mad schemes or just through discovering a trail down off the Plateau, do you want to become a father?"
"Yes, I think that I would like to try that, if it's all right with you. Lets wait another year and if we aren't en route back to England by then, discuss this in earnest. I will do whatever you want, but I think that I do want a son to teach the manly arts, including hunting. To know that another generation of Roxtons will carry on my bloodline and hopefully, remain civilized enough that when our decendants are eventually found that they aren't savages or as primitive as the other whites on this Plateau. Will you have my children, Marguerite? Do you want that year to decide?"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 05 2007 : 04:02:22 AM
They sat side-by-side on the bed as he undressed, and she went to hang his clothes as he passed them to her. She removed her blouse and bra, remembering to face him, seeming oblivious to his presence. But when she bent one knee and reached back with both hands to unhook the bra, he knew that she was doing this for his eyes.
She saw the way that he looked at her,and was glad that she had chosen to please him in this intimate little gesture. It made her feel desirable and excited her.
Marguerite walked sensually over to Roxton, making each step that she took one that made his heart race faster. Marguerite knew how to do a slow strut that grabbed a man's attention and revved his circulation as if he had run a mile.
"I believe that I promised you a rather nice time tonight with a former slave girl," she breathed. "Care to collect on my offer?"
"I won't even pretend to think this over, Marguerite," he responded. "A man would be a fool to pass up something like that. Come here; I want to take your knickers. "
He pulled her to him and stripped her of her final garment, noting that they were a lovely color, some sort of pale purple with a lot of blue in it.
"What shade is this, anyway? Not your lavendar ones, to match your blouse. Periwinkle?"
She chuckled. "A good guess, for a man. Yes, that's what Challenger came up with when I asked for dyes to make periwinkle and cornflower lingerie. I made myself three pair,and a couple more for Veronica. Finn wanted a really dark, rich blue, and some true purple ones. Challenger made those colors, too, commenting that purple had been an expensive dye in Roman times. But nothing is too good for Finn. He came up with the shade she wanted. Along with some more black ones, of course. John, stop playing with those. Whatever are you doing?" She looked at him, baffled, yet amused.
"I'm taking a good look at what these look like off of you," he explained. "They look better on you, but you aren't getting these back. I want to put them in my pack and take them out on the trail sometimes, and think of you."
"Why?" she queried. "That sounds a trifle kinky, doesn't it?"
He shrugged. "I never said that I wasn't a ittle perverse when it comes to sex. There are ladies who could tell you things about me that would embarrass me, if I was easily embarrassed. I did have the reputation of being somewhat of a rake, I'm afraid. As you pointed out to me a few times when you thought that I just wanted you as my next conquest..."
"Seriously, I want to keep these. They'll remind me of you, and make me feel as if I have a piece of you with me, whenever we're apart. I can take them out when hunting or scouting and feel that you're with me, even if you're back home in the Treehouse. They will remind me of what I have to come home to. Rather like a medieval lady giving her knight a handkerchief or scarf as a token of her favor." He looked boldly at her and smiled that smile that was so HIM, when he knew that he had her at a disadvantage.
"Well, at least, let me give you a clean pair. Are you sure that you want periwinkle? I have some black ones, or those lavendar ones that you like. Finn and I are sewing tomorrow. I'll make myself a new pair of whichever color that you chose."
He thought. "Give me one each of black and lavendar. I like thinking of you wearing the latter while in that lavendar blouse. You can have these back when I get the others. And I want some that you've worn. Not the new ones." He grinned lasciviously at her, and she melted inside, knowing what would come next as he pulled her to him and tripped her so that she fell onto the bed beside him.
"And now, former slave girl, let us see what you remember of your talents in the harem of that hedonistic sultan." (See, "A Prisoner of the Sultan, Or, How Marguerite Learned to Dance" in Fiction on this board.)
"Yes, Master," she breathed. "I will be the vessel of your pleasure. Command me, that I may delight you in the way that most pleases you. Punish me if I am less than fully satisfactory."
"Oh, your're always fully satisfactory. I didn't ask you to marry me just because you say funny things. And it certainly wasn't because you were an exceptional cook."
She chuckled. "Well, where shall we begin?" She kissed him, and moved to kneel between his legs. "Why don't we start with me using my mouth for something besides talking? Let me know when you want me to move on to something else. If I get you too excited, say so. I'd hate to give you a heart attack."
Roxton looked at her and said, "Marguerite, I have had one long, continuous heart attack since I met you. Being with you is more exciting than getting a new rifle!" He winked, to show her that he was teasing.
"You talk boldly, Lord Roxton. By the time that I am through with you tonight, you will feel like you have had a whole set of rifles delivered fresh from Holland & Holland." She lowered her head and began doing things that made him feel very excited indeed.
And soon, she was the recepient of his own ministrations that left her moaning his name and clutching at his back as if he was a life preserver and she had been drowning at sea. If there was anything that she loved more than diamonds, it was John Roxton, and what he did to her before they merged, and after, made her think that she would - almost- give every gemstone in her possession to have this happen to her several times a week. The best part of it was that it cost her nothing except a look that said that she would be putty in his hands if he cared to have her. She got to keep her jewels and have Roxton, also.
And that, she exulted, was the very essence of having one's cake and eating it, too...
She heard mewing noises, as if a woman was in heat, expressing her passion in a primitive, wanton way, and was shocked to realize that it was her own voice. Roxton would be so smug when they were done, she thought, but being his so completely, having him drive her this wild, was worth it. She swung up her legs and circled his waist with them. I want to hold onto John this way forever, she thought.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 05 2007 : 02:21:04 AM
He took her boots and set them beside the chair where she usually sat to put them on. This left him near the door from their room to the balcony outside. On impulse, he walked over and unlatched it and stood on the balcony, smelling the verdant night, hearing its sounds, trying to identify which animals made which noises.
He felt her beside him, and she reached out to touch his shoulder.
"John? What is it? I was teasing. Did I insult you or something? It wasn't my intention."
"No, I'm fine," he replied, turning to hold her hand, seeing that her skirt was now off. "Sometimes, I like to just stand here, listening, looking. As much as I yearn to return home, there are things about this place that I will miss. This and other wild places where I have been call out to me. They stir my soul, make my existence more vital. It's the elemental world out there, Marguerite. The natural order of things. I like being a part of that, knowing that I can hold my own in savage circumstances. War is different. It was an adventure, but one of which I easily had my fill. This, I want for all of my life. I want us to go to Africa, India, Alaska. Maybe a time or two a year, for perhaps a month or three. It connects me to my primitive side, I suppose."
"There's a certain primal rush of adrenaline when I stand before a bull elephant that has been destroying native crops and killing people and I know that in a moment, the elephant will die, or I will. I like the surge that comes when I have to follow a Cape buffalo that has escaped wounded into the long grass, and I have to go in after it because some fool muffed his shot at it."
"I don't want to do that too often, and I am not suicidal enough to face lions on foot frequently. There are too many headstones in Nairobi cemetary reading, 'Killed By a Lion". I don't want to find my way to a messy death like that. But sometimes, I'll risk it. It gives life meaning and purpose and satisfaction."
"So, you feel a connection to the wilder side of things by standing out here and drinking in the smells and sounds and sights of this place?" she wanted to know.
He nodded. "Yes, Marguerite. It's what I am. Me, the jaguar, the raptor, all brothers to some degree. I like thinking of the hunt, and of the hunted, and of that huge, full moon up there tonight and the world that it illuminates. Can you understand any of this? Is the concept too alien?"
"Oh, sure, " she said. "Man, the hunter. Man, the survivor and coper, the master of nature, of all that he beholds. I sense that in you. It scares me, and it thrills me, too. I want to belong to a man like that, one who will face an angry lion if he sees a need, and who thrills to it. Maybe I'm a litle wild, myself. Yes, I'll go to Africa and those other places with you. But, John, you have set limits for me, which I will respect and obey. I am your woman now, and I will not try to tame you. I wouldn't want you tamed. You wouldn't be yourself."
"But Darling John, you have an obligation to me now, too. Will you try to have relatively safe adventures, and not expose yourself recklessly to danger? I dread to think of anything happening to you, now that I have fallen for you. I want to know that you don't hate yourself for your brother's killing. Will that lead you to take chances like I've read that you have? Like you did in the war? I'm proud of your Victoria Cross, but I read the citation for it. You could have been killed! Nearly were. Were you trying to somehow atone for William's death by getting yourself killed? I don't want to have fallen in love with a man who hates his past so much that he won't try to live, for us." She held him by the waist, looking intensely into his eyes.
Roxton leaned down and kissed her. "Marguerite, there was a time when I did hate myself. Felt enormous guilt. I have gotten over that. You have helped, as has Challenger, with whom I have spoken privately about the matter. I listened to him, and he made sense. He told me that I have no right to risk myself to made amends for what was an accident in the first place. That I owe him and the rest of you a duty to stay alive and to help others to. Finn told me the same. They're right. I woke up one day and told myself that I needed to leave the past in the past, to let old agonies be bygones.
Loving you has made that easier. I have more to live for. And if we have children, I cannot deny them a father because I wanted to take too many foolish chances with wild animals."
"Rest assured, I want some adventure. It will always be a part of me. But I will be more prudent than I was at times. What I sense here, being part of the night, doesn't mean that I want to be reckless. Just that I want to commune with Nature. Look: the Moon is so beautiful. It reminds me of you."
"What!," she exclaimed. "You're saying that I have a Moon face?" But she smiled, and he knew that she had understood, and could now joke with him.
He nuzzled her nose. "Marguerite Krux, I love you and I want you, and I will protect you from the demons of the Plateau and of the press when we arrive home. I can barely wait to have a vicar proclaim us man and wife, and shout to the world that you are mine and that I am proud of it!" He played with her hair, toying with her ears, and she felt weak in the knees. Little crackles of electricity tingled all over her body. He felt her tremble in his grasp, and he led her back into the room, and latched the door.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 04 2007 : 02:25:14 AM
John Roxton and Marguerite Krux entered their room, and Roxton tossed his hat onto a side table and took off his gunbelt, sighing with weariness.
"This has been quite a day," he commented.
"Well, we survived it," she noted. "Could have been worse. I've actually HAD worse days. And we were together. With you beside me, I feel that we can overcome any danger, meet any challenge. Of course, I was already doing that before I met you." She stuck out her tongue playfully at him.
"I can't imagine how, not even being able to read a compass properly, being able to use it with a map to find your way. I'd say that you're better off with me than without, Marguerite." He smirked.
"Right you are, Roxton. Come over here and pull off my boots. Demonstrate your usefulness. You're always trying to undress me, anyway." She sat on the bed and extended her legs for him to take her footwear. Her eyes twinkled as he approached.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 04 2007 : 01:41:28 AM
George Challenger and Nicole Finnegan were tired, but content as they undressed and put away their clothes and equipment.
"Marguerite said that she really likes the new Smith & Wesson like mine, but with the shorter barrel," commented Finn. She took Challenger's trousers from his hand and hung them on a hanger, smoothing them before she put them on the rack in the closet.
"Good," replied her man. "I daresay that she will someday be glad of its added power. I hate to think of you ladies having to use revolvers except in sport, but reality here is that you both will probably have to shoot occasional snakes or even men before we reach civilization. I half wish that Ned had not brought up going to London tonight. It made me homesick," he admitted wistfully.
"Isn't home wherever we are?" asked Finn, hoping to cheer him.
He brightened. "Yes, Darling, but as Ned said, there is so much that he and I will love showing to you and to Veronica. And our real home will be the one that we will buy in Kent, where we shall raise that child that you are carrying, and maybe a brother or sister for him. It will be the first time that you will be able to call someplace home and know that it is indeed just that. I have never really been at home before, wherever I have lived. There are so many things that I want to have in that home, that we may fully enjoy it. But the first item that makes anywhere my home is you."
"Will I pass okay as English?," she asked, a little concerned. "I know that I don't look or sound Brazilian. Ned says that I can pass for American. Is that good? I don't want to embarrass you."
Challenger chuckled. "Just don't shoot anyone unless it is truly necessary," he joked. "The British don't understand honor killings as they do here. Fortunately, the chances of having to shoot someone are remote, at least in the areas that we will frequent, and where we will live. Nor will you have to worry about dinosaurs and big cats trying to eat you. The Inland Revenue are another matter. They will gobble up as much of our treasure in taxes as they can, and I will have to hire a sharp barrister to keep their hands off as much as possible. But we shall certainly be rich. Even more so after I sell a few inventions. As Mrs. George Challenger, wife of a distinguished scientist, you will not only be accepted, you will be deferred to by merchants and most others whom you will meet. And your American accent will be accepted. America gave us a needed hand in the Great War. Most Britons will be tolerant of you, even like you, as they get to know you."
"Cool," she conceded. She ran her fingers around the waistband of her black, lace-trimmed panties. "Are we going to fool around tonight? I'm pretty tired. Can we just cuddle? I'm going to leave these on if it's okay with you."
"By all means, do, Finn. I, too, am tired, and I love to feel your pretty bum through that smooth material. It is surely one of the purest delights than a man can know in this life."
Finn walked over and and reached up to kiss his lips. "Genius, you say the sweetest things," she smiled. "I still can't believe that I'm standing next to one of the greatest scientists of all time, and what he finds to talk about is feeling my behind."
"Well, it is an exceptional behind," he noted. "And even brilliant men such as I am cannot fail to be impressed with it. Come to bed. There are other things that we need to discuss, then I want to sleep before I go fishing with the other lads tomorrow."
They set their revolvers by their sides of the bed, with candles and matches nearby, in case of nocturnal emergency. Then, they put out the light and lay next to one another, talking of the impending baby and how to raise it in the jungle.
They cuddled, sometimes rubbing noses as they whispered their love and their hope for a bright future. Finn lay next to Challenger, listening with rapt attention to what he said. Her heart filled with joy as he told her how much she meant to him, and what their life would be like off of the Plateau.
As the Moon crept its silent way across the sky, they slept, snuggled tightly together. Just before slumber claimed her, Finn thought, Mrs. George Challenger. What I aspire to be and will be. And I will be the best wife that this great man could hope to have! I'd better get to sleep. I want to get up in time to get him and Johnny and Ned fed before they leave on that fishing trip. Next time, just George and I or maybe another couple can come. I want to catch one of those payara fish.
She found Challenger's hand and put it on her womb. He stirred briefly and she moved her hips back against his manhood. Then, holding the hand to her, she slept the sleep of the tired and of the joyful.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 04 2007 : 12:43:32 AM
In their room, Veronica and Ned talked intensely about leaving the Plateau, how long they might stay away, and when to have their first child.Finally, Ned went to the bathroom down the hall.
When he returned, Veronica was swaying her hips languidly, her back to him. When she turned, she unfastened the knot holding her sarong and laid it aside. Still moving gracefully, she reached back with both hands to release the bra top in the way that Finn had shown her, which was likely to thrill a man watching. Now topless, she swayed her hips and arms to imaginary music, remembered from the phonograph that afternoon, when she had danced her penance for the performance in the Zanga village.
Ned stood enthralled. Finally, he walked over to her and took her in his arms and led her to bed. Her loincloth soon went the way of the sarong and the bra top, and from this point, we will draw the curtain on the Malones for the night. Suffice to say, they were quite tired when they finally lay close to one another, holding hands as Ned told Veronica again how wonderful she was, and how lucky he was to have her as his woman. Later, Veronica smiled broadly as she drifted off to sleep, snuggled next to her American reporter. I hope that Ned doesn't write about what we do together, she thought. I bet that stories like that would be illegal. She laughed to herself, squeezed Ned's hand and slept.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 04 2007 : 12:25:59 AM
Ned protested that he should be allowed to leave, but that he was willing to return with her. "I'm not breaking up with you, Baby, even if it means living here. But we need more supplies, and I want to buy you some fashionable clothes and impress every man who sees you on my arm. And you won't believe what all I can show you in New York and London before we come back home." He thought with a shock that here had indeed become home.
"Other women won't make fun of me?" she asked anxiously.
"Marguerite may, but she does that here," Ned replied, winking at their brunette lady. "Seriously, Veronica, you'll impress even the women. Be prepared for some jealousy, though. Some of them will wish they looked like you do. Other than that, I'll guide you, and Finn or Marguerite will be there a lot of the time, to help you get accustomed to shopping in stores, ordering in restaurants, and that sort of thing. Girls? Will we be seeing you a lot in London, anyway?"
Finn said that she was sure that Challenger would be happy to let her accompany Marguerite and Veronica as Marguerite showed the Brazilian girls the joys and cautions of a major city.
Veronica, now reassured that Ned was committed to her, relaxed and asked many questions about what she would see and what manners she would need to remember in civilization. Ned held her hand and his eyes shone as he told her all that he wanted to show her. Veronica realized that he loved her with all his heart and she leaned over and kissed him.
Finally, the couples cleaned up and drifted off to bed.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 04 2007 : 12:08:40 AM
All agreed that the Roxtons had been fortunate to escape the teeth of the hungry Tyrannosaur. Finn even jokingly told Marguerite that she would forgive her the blonde joke she'd made in asking for the grenade. Veronica had to hear about this, and smiled, shaking her head at the running string of blonde jokes that Marguerite contrived to tease the other two girls.
Challenger commented on the excellent venison, from a brocket deer that Roxton had shot two days before. All agreed that the meat from this prime animal was good, and they were pleased with their vegetable garden. Blackberries made a fine dessert, with coffee for all but Veronica, who drank it only occsionally.
They talked awhile, and Marguerite studied Finn's and Veronica's knives with Roxton, deciding on the exact style that she wanted. He sketched it as they talked, and promised to make it in a week or so. Until it was ready, Marguerite could carry an American Marble's brand knife called the Ideal model. It would enable her to build an emergency shelter if needed, cut vines, and get some sticks for kindling, should she need to build a campfire.
"Good for dressing out and skinning fish and game, too," commented Roxton. "Or, in dire extreme, if you have an empty gun or need to kill silently, it will do what needs doing to a human enemy or a hungry puma. A big jaguar might be pushing matters, unless you stabbed him in the neck at once. A bite or two from one of those, and you'll likely have a broken shoulder or arm, and be helpless."
"Thanks so much for telling me." Marguerite shuddered. She took their cups to the kitchen for more coffee.
Finn joined her there. "Will you let me help you sew tomorrow, Marguerite? I want to make George a shirt. Vee wove the cloth, but I need help cutting out the pattern and sewing it."
They agreed to do that, and Finn and Marguerite alike felt wanted and loved, something that they prized. Until each had come to belong to this group, such feelings were foreign to them.
The men decided to fish, perhaps shooting another deer if they chanced across one. Roxton and Challenger told Ned Malone about a place on the nearby river where the peacock "bass" struck savagely and fought hard. They were good to eat, too.
"I need to write about this fish and that weird thing called a payara, with the teeth in the lower jaw that come out of its nostrils. If I ever get home, 'Sports Afield' or, 'Field & Stream' should buy the story."
Veronica looked uneasy and asked Ned if he still meant to leave the Plateau. "I accepted this ring from you with the understanding that we would live here," she noted.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 03 2007 : 6:38:23 PM
After coffee, they cleaned up, and Roxton and Finn began cooking dinner. Challenger excused himself to check on an experiment in the lab, and Marguerite took a shower. She sang in the shower, to the others' amusement as they passed by.
"I just wish that she would find another song than that ditty about a bloody bird in a gilded cage," grumbled Roxton good naturedly.
"At least, the cage is gilded," observed Finn. "The damned bird has some glamour and luxury in its life. Is that song supposed to mean, like, some chick is a 'kept' woman, and feels a prisoner in her relationship, even if she has a lot of luxury?"
"That sums it up nicely, " Roxton agreed. "Here, put these vegetables on to cook." And he handed her bowls of potatoes and carrots. They already had venison roasting.
In time, the Malones came downstairs, Veronica looking shy and feminine and fulfilled. She was blushing, especially after Finn looked into her face and grinned openly. Ned looked inordinately pleased with himself. The cat who ate the canary look, mused Finn...Veronica was wearing the brief lavendar loincloth and bra top in which she had danced, and looked wonderful. She had a white flower in her hair.
"I can guess what you two have been doing," teased Roxton. "Let Finn and me tell you what we've been up to." And so, Ned and Veronica learned of the narrow escape that their friends had had.
Marguerite soon joined them, and Challenger was called from the lab, Finn going to fetch him when he failed to appear after calling up that he would. She knew how he tended to forget things when he was immersed in an experiment...
When the Challengers returned, Veronica had donned the sarong to her Zanga outfit, at Marguerite's pointed suggestion. The brunette member of the female trio had been slightly miffed that all the men would be looking at their hostess, if she dressed that way at dinner. What she actually said was, "Sweetie, why don't you go put on some clothes? I'd hate for you to get burned, helping in the kitchen."
Veronica looked embarrassed, but amused, and had gone for the sarong, which, goodness knew,was short enough that her legs would still be well displayed. She had come to relish male attention since becoming involved with Ned, more aware of her charms, and proud of them. Overall, she was less vain than either Marguerite or Finn, taking some of her admiring looks in stride, for granted. She had always drawn such looks from men, and had learned to accept that as a matter of course. She remained essentially modest, for a girl with her looks. But she was now more aware of herself as a desirable woman, and understood better the lengths to which other women went to get attention that she had come to accept as her due. Tonight, she was pleased to wear this and bask in male admiration, never mind what the other girls thought. In fact, she was a little pleased to upstage them. She was in that sort of mood after what Ned had told her during their romp upstairs.
The best part was knowing that Ned had really meant the adoring words that he had used. Now, Veronica wanted to see from their faces that the other men also liked looking at her. As her pal Finn might have said, this was such a total kick to a girl's ego...
In truth, Veronica, although hungry, was looking forward to dinner for more than one reason. Apart from being admired, she wanted to hear the others' adventures. And Finn was eager to share them, helped along the way at times by their friends.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - November 03 2007 : 4:08:36 PM
The girls went up first on the elevator, with Challenger and Roxton taking the next trip. As they got off in the Treehouse, Finn said, "I'm going to run up and tell Vee about those T-rexes. That was awesome!"
"Wait!," urged Marguerite. "If their door is closed, Veronica and Ned are probably rather busy with one another. Either she's dancing for him, or they are otherwise intimately occupied. How would YOU like it if SHE knocked on YOUR door while you and George were abed for purposes other than sleep?!"
"Uh, yeah, I forgot," Finn said sheepishly. "Vee might think it was funny later, but if I interrupt them, Ned would be grouchy for days."
"So would most other men! They like to have their fun when their ladies are in the mood...Come with me into the kitchen. We'll make coffee. I want some to settle my nerves after what John and I went through in that cave! And I want to see your knife. Not the little red Swiss pocketknife; the Bowie that John made. I want one similar, but with some changes, I think. Maybe he can engrave the pommel or do some scrollwork on the guard. Something to lend a touch of elegance, if I have to carry around a knife like I was in a cowboys and Indians movie."
"Vee can engrave the nickle silver pommel, or butt cap. Whichever you want to call it. I've seen her engrave other silver things. She's a heck of an artist! She engraved my initials on mine. I'll show you..."
And so, the Malones were left undisturbed for a while, for which Ned was forever thankful. He was indeed passionately involved with Veronica, who was so excited, herself, that she might have taken awhile to forgive Finn if she had come knocking on her door when they arrived home.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 31 2007 : 8:12:19 PM
They had gone fewer than 250 yards when they had to take cover when they heard a second T-rex running toward the cave. The fearsome beast trotted past, having either seen or smelled the first, and the blood.
It paused briefly as it passed the explorers, huddling under whatever brush they could find to conceal them. Then, it strode purposefully toward the cave. If it had scented them, it evidently had other things on its mind.
As soon as they dared, the explorers held a hasty, quiet conference. Roxton then left cover to hide behind a tree and use his binocular to see what was happening. He whispered to the others, and they, too, looked, as soon as they were satisfied that the second dinosaur's attention was focused on the first.
It tore savagely at the still twitching carcass of the headless animal, emitting grunts of satisfaction as it ripped at the flesh of its dead peer.
Everyone shivered and Roxton pulled Marguerite to him protectively and kissed her cheek. Finn saw, and stood next to Challenger, who caressed her shoulder. Then, they crept carefully down a gully, hoping that the huge animal's keen sense of hearing would not detect them.
If it did, it was too involved with its unexpected meal to bother to chase humans on this particular balmy afternoon.
A little over an hour later, they were home.
As they went up in the elevator, Finn said to Marguerite, "You know, I think we made the right decision about not swimming today."
Her brunette friend grinned back, "You think?!"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 30 2007 : 01:20:48 AM
In the cave, the Roxtons heard the noise of the explosion and realized that the grenade must have been in the T-rex's mouth, or the blast would have been louder.
They heard the galloping, dead monster crash off and stumble into the tree and slam into the earth.
After a moment, Roxton, sobered by what they had heard, helped Marguerite to stand. He had not quite reached the raised dais within the cave behind which she had sheltered after he threw out the grenade. The explosion had come before he had gotten to her. Now, he walked the final few feet and offered her his hand.
They ventured out cautiously, noting the bits of bloody flesh that lay in a place or two on the floor of the cave and around the entrance. They stared in silence, then looked at the thrashing body of the tyrannosaur some hundred feet away, and stole quietly past the terrifying sight.
As they resumed their course toward the river, Challenger called out, and the Roxtons looked up and to their right, seeing the other couple coming down the slope to meet them.
"We saw that, Johnny!", called Finn. "Wow! What a show! That was better than home video movies!" She was excited and showed it.
"If this is what you people in the next century watched on those video machines that you explained, I think I can do without them." Marguerite wondered why anyone would watch such a frightening thing. Well, men. They would watch a bullfight, and this was worse. Then she recalled having attended several bullfights herself and being caught up in the roar of the crowd as the matadors skillfully avoided being impaled on the bulls' horns until it came time to use their swords to slay the enraged animals. And other women had been as thrilled as she was, some openly whispering of how much they wanted the bullfighters' attentions, had that been possible. What a species we humans are, she reflected.
The couples excitedly told one another what each had experienced, and the girls decided to skip their swim. Big dinosaurs like this sometimes travelled near one another, and it was best not to tempt fate by lingering here.
Marguerite, under Roxton's eye, set a compass course for home, and they set off to tell the Malones what they had seen and done this day.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 30 2007 : 12:58:04 AM
The fearsome beast, standing so tall and measuring nearly fifty feet long, stood for a moment. Then it broke into a frantic run, no longer under intelligent control. This was simply muscle reaction, like the proverbial chicken with a wrung neck.
Before it had gone a hundred feet, it crashed into a tree, which broke under the impact of its multiton weight. But the flailing hind legs became entangled in the tree trunk, and the dead dinosaur fell, hitting the ground with a thud that chilled the marrow in the bones of the human watchers.
"Finn, we have just SEEN something!" uttered a subdued Challenger. No human could fail to be impressed with this awesome drama. He hoped that his fiancee would not have nightmares about it. He hoped that HE would not have nightmares about it...
"George, that has to be Johnny and Marguerite. She borrowed a grenade from me after we ate. No one else here probably has hand grenades, and that looked like one and did the work of one."
"Finn, I am apalled that you should have to know first hand what a grenade can do. I would have preferred to have you sheltered from such sights. Do you think the baby will be affected? Can it sense what you experience?"
"I hope not. Otherwise, its heart would be racing after some of the things that we do in bed!" She laughed. "Genius, unlax and smell the roses! I'm pretty tough, and our son will be too. He is, after all, the child of a big, strong guy and a girl who has seen some pretty wicked stuff before I ever came here."
Challenger managed a chuckle. "So, you are still convinced that the child will be a boy?"
"You bet, Lover! I just know it. We'd better get down there and be sure that Johnny and Marguerite are okay. " She put away her binocular and stood, slinging her rifle on her shoulder.
Challenger also rose, and they moved cautiously down the slope. At one point,they had to detour to avoid a rattlesnake that challenged their passage.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 30 2007 : 12:38:32 AM
Finn and Challenger were approaching the cave, having no knowledge that it was there. But they heard the Tyrannosaur "demonstrating", to use the British term then in vogue for seeing an angry tiger expressing its rage.
They were concerned lest this somehow involve their friends, and had a bad feeling about it.
"Still," said Challenger, "if a large carnosaur had gotten our companions, why would it be carrying on that way? It would simply be eating them."
"Gad, Genius! Don't even think like that!" Finn shuddered. She had come to love Marguerite, and Johnny Roxton was like a brother and best-ever male friend. Finn wanted this not to be possible, that they might be taken by a hungry dinosaur. She had been startled to find that Challenger was telling the truth about such things when he had rescued her from New Amazonia, where it had seemed a fantastic tale, told by a madman. But John and Marguerite were from this strange place, too, so she had half believed him. Whole belief had come only after actually seeing these beasts, like something from the nightmare of a drug addict! And now, one of these horrible creatures might be eating two of her best friends!
Challenger saw her face and pulled her to him and kissed her cheek. "Not to worry, Darling. The Roxtons are jolly smart; I doubt if this roaring has anything to do with them. Still, let us go and have a look through binoculars at a safe distance. We will feel better when we know that this has nothing to do with us."
They crept to the crest of a low knoll overlooking the cave and took out their identical Zeiss 8X30 binocuars. It was at once apparent that the dinosaur was strutting back-and-forth beyond the cave, giving vent to its rage.
It was at this moment that they heard John Roxton shouting insults at it. They saw his arm move out of the cave entrance, narrowly avoiding the snap of jaws that greeted his audacity, then something small and dark went rolling along the ground.
The T-rex saw it, and being in pain from the bullet wounds and enraged, thought only of lashing out and biting something. It snapped up the object just as its small brain registered that this had looked more like a rock than it had a rat or other small tidbit. It started to spit out the object, which was so hard that the quick snap that had ingested it broke a tooth.
The animal was about to reject the object and roar its frustration and disappointment when the Challengers heard a pronounced "CRUMP!" as the jaws muffled the explosion of the Mills bomb, as the British officially called a hand grenade.
A second later, the dinosaur's head blew open, chunks of meat and bone being hurled over fifty yards away!
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 27 2007 : 8:05:33 PM
Marguerite looked around inside the cave.
"Look at that flat stone altar or whatever it once was. The place where you spread the blanket before you took me after we got far enough along that I wanted to lie down and feel you in me from on top. That's almost four feet high. And it's long enough to shelter us. Could we duck behind there and avoid most of the fragments?'
He considered. "Probably. The odd bits of steel would still rattle around in here, but if we lie flat, most or all should miss us. If the T-rex didn't kick the grenade back in here, it might do some good. And you're right that they tend to snap up anything running near them. Unless it saw the grenade clearly enough to realize that it might be a rock instead of a rat or something, running past. But why debate this? I say again, we haven't GOT a grenade."
"Yes, we have," she announced triumphantly. "Let me turn around and you dig it out of my pack. It should be on the bottom, on the left side. I bummed one from Finn earlier."
"Really?" Roxton was intrigued. "Why did you do that? How could you have thought that we would need one?"
"Feminine intuition, I guess. Or, maybe I am the reincarnation of Morrighan, the sorceress. I had a nagging feeling that it would be a good idea to get that nasty little bomb, and Finnykins had three. I told her that it was dangerous for a blonde to have that many at once, and she laughed and told me to take one." She smiled at the memory. She missed her friend, and would be glad to see her again, if God in His infinite mercy allowed that.
Roxton was impressed. "Turn around, then, and I'll get it. Then get down behind that stone bench or altar or whatever it is, and I'll yell something to make the dinosaur mad. Then, I'll throw out the grenade and run to get on top of you. Maybe it will work. I'll toss the grenade off to the left, so that the main force of the blast won't come in here."
She snickered. "You're always scheming to find ways to get on top of me, aren't you?," she razzed. "Well, good luck with this. It's certainly all that we have any hope of doing to save ourselves."
He took out the segmented, nasty looking steel hand bomb and moved to the cave entrance.
"Hey, you! You great, filthy, dinosaur! Yes, you, T-rex! You stink! You vote Labour! Your mother works on street corners! Here, come and eat this; you'll get a bang out of it!" And he threw the grenade around hard, off to the left, as the huge beast roared and came stalking back to snap at the sound of his voice, almost as if it had understood his insults.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 27 2007 : 7:29:27 PM
She softened and stood very close to him, their bodies touching as much as possible through their clothing. "John, my whole world turns around you now. However you managed to take my heart, it beats for you now. Whatever happens to us today, I want you to always remember that I love you, very deeply. You have given me hope of a finer future than I ever expected to have." She buried her head against his chest and tried not to cry.
He set aside his rifle and held her. "There, now, Marguerite. We will think of something. Don't I always take excellent care of my things? And are you not the my most priceless possession? "
"I think so," she half whispered. "But you spend more time rubbing oil on your guns than you do in rubbing me." She laughed, to show him that she was teasing.
"Well, I love my guns, too, and they take good care of us. But never fear, Marguerite. I will spend half of this night rubbing you, if we can figure a way to get home."
She looked boldly at him, "What if we DON'T get home tonight? You did a good job of handling me a few minutes ago, in here. I pity the women who used to date you. They must have been half wild with desire from the moment they realized what magic you work with your hands!" She stuck out her tongue at him and managed to grin widely. Maybe this banter would take her mind off of the horror that roared and stomped just outside the cave entrance.
"And I don't drive you half wild with desire, too? Am I losing my touch?"
"Oh, no, Darling John. You drive me WHOLLY wild with desire! Why do you think I pulled you in here as soon as I saw this cave? What you did to me just before that wouldn't go away, and I was a totally wanton slut in need of gratification. Which I got. Thank you again. You were wonderful. And the things that you said to me... How I have longed to hear them from just the right man, and know that I could believe them!"
"Oh, I'm sure that I have my faults, "Roxton admitted. "But I am honest, even with women. But with you, superlatives are the right words. You merit them. I suspect that you were a pretty hot number, even before that sultan had you trained to be a love machine." (See, "A Prisoner of the Sultan, Or, How Marguerite Learned to Dance" in Fiction on this board.)
"Thank you, John. As ever, your compliments are music to my ears. But what are we really going to do? We are late now in meeting the Challengers."
"There isn't a lot that we CAN do. If we fire rifles from in here, the noise will make us go deaf. And all we could do is to shoot enough holes in that thing, especially to finish rupturing its windpipe or hit its carotid artery, to let it suffocate or bleed to death. That will take time. Reptiles die hard and slowly. Even if we killed it, it might fall down and block the cave entrance."
"Blow out its windpipe...What about throwing out a grenade and seeing if it would snap it up? If it didn't, would the grenade have enough of a blast that it would kill that thing?"
He shrugged. "An academic question. We haven't GOT a grenade. But if it went off and the T-rex didn't get it in its mouth first, the fragments might come back in here and hit us."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 27 2007 : 7:03:14 PM
In the shelter of the ancient limestone cave, they paused to catch their breath as the enraged beast stalked back and forth outside. It bent and tried to reach in for them, but its attenuated forelegs were not up to that task. Even the longer-limbed Allosaurus would not have been able to reach into this cave too deeply. Roxton commented that it was a good thing that theropods were built as they were.
"If a crocodile or a huge monitor lizard was after us, our collective goose would be well done by now. Not just cooked."
"You think of the most charming things, Darling John. However do you do it, especially at a time like this?!"
He chuckled. "It helps me to appreciate the positive side of the situation, Marguerite." He opened the action of his Rigby rifle and loaded two fresh cartridges into the Magnum Mauser action. Both were "solids", British parlance for full jacketed bullets, designed not to expand, but to penetrate deeply in very large animals.
"What shall we do next?," his woman wondered. "My water bottle is getting low, and we have to meet George and Finn. What if they come looking for us and stumble into this?"
Roxton shook his head sadly. "Let us hope that they do not. Both shoot well, but that thing is about fifty feet long, and they wouldn't have a good chance of nailing it before it got them. If it got either, the other would be devastated, and I wouldn't be far behind. Those are two of the dearest friends that I've ever had. It would be tragic to lose her, but George is our resident scientist. Without him, our chances for survival go downhill sharply, certainly our comfort level, too. Mrs. Challenger's little boy grew up to be quite the prodigy, even among brilliant scientists."
"I know. George tells us that constantly. But he is a little more modest than he used to be, and more caring, by half! Now, his girlfriend tells us how great he is, just in case he forgets to on some particuar afternoon!"
Roxton turned to look at Marguerite. He was amused. "Now, Darling, don't let's be catty. Finn is your friend, too. Remember, you girls are looking forward to a swim together. We'd better think of something, or it will become too dark for that."
"Well, think of something, then, Roxton! I didn't bring you my heart on a silver platter for nothing, did I?"
"As I recall, it came not on a silver platter, but only after much vexing effort on my part to convince you that I should get it at all. But I love you, anyway." He bent and kissed her between the eyes, her hat having fallen off outside.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 24 2007 : 09:04:46 AM
They had gone barely a hundred yards when Marguerite heard something in the bushes to the right. She looked, and started to call Roxton's attention to it. But she saw that he had heard, too. And he had unslung his .416 Rigby and was rolling the safety catch to "Off".
"Hold up, Marguerite," he ordered, "I have a very bad feeling about this. Be ready to run."
He had hardly spoken before the head and shoulders of a Tyrannosaurus rex thrust up above the horizon as the animal climbed up from the slope below.
It saw them at once and uttered a low growl that struck terror into both humans who heard it. Roxton laid his rifle's foresight on a portion of the skull that might allow a brain shot and pulled the trigger.
At the sound of the shot, he saw dust flare and blood spurt from the bullet's strike. But in the millisecond that it took the 400 grain full-jacketed bullet to traverse the distance to the huge dinosaur, it had tilted its head slightly, and the bullet ricocheted off of its skull.
The wounded animal emitted a thunderous roar and charged the two humans. Marguerite fired her .303 at its windpipe and heard the awful smack of the bullet striking home. Roxton feverishly cycled the bolt to feed a new cartridge into the chamber of his .416 and fired a second shot. It hit at the base of the throat, inflicting a hideous wound, but the big carnosaur paused not a whit, It approached the Roxtons with great speed, total fury glaring from its eyes.
"Run, John," Marguerite screamed. "Get back into that cave!"
"I'm going! "You go first! I'll cover you!"
"Cover, Hell! Lets' both run for it! You'll not stop that thing now; get into the damned cave!"
And so they fled back into the shelter that had so recently offered a haven for their romantic tryst.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - October 23 2007 : 8:23:42 PM
Forty minutes later, the couple stood, adjusting their clothing.
"How do I look?, " Marguerite asked. "Do you think the Challengers will know what we were doing? Will we be late for the rendezvous?"
Roxton shook his head. "We still have about 20 minutes. I think we'll make it. And you look fine. Just get out your mirror and refresh your lipstick. I'll slosh some water from my bottle onto my handkerchief, and you can clean off your face a little. You'll be beautiful and serene again." He beamed at her.
She blushed and accepted the wetted handkerchief. A few minutes later, they ventured out, Roxton shrugging on his pack.
Marguerite pulled at his sleeve to stop him as they emerged into the sunlight. "John? Thank you. That was wonderful. I'm glad that we did that."
"Are we still on for more later, at home? You're like eating tea crackers, Marguerite. One taste of you, and I always want more."
"More you shall have, Lord Roxton," she laughed "Come on, we had better hurry, or Finn will look at me and know what we've been doing. I don't want her teasing me, even if she waits until you and George can't hear."
He chuckled, lifted his rifle, and they started out for the river.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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