Copyright (c) 2001, by DiscipleN. All rights reserved. This work may not be used for any commercial purposes without prior, documented consent from the owner.
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Lain Jaylin was hot. Moisture issued from her body like rain clouds crossing their threshold of accumulation. In many situations this would be Lain's preferred state, but over the last week, the sweltering jungle heat and daylong treks into the mountains of Indonesia had left her shapely body in a state near exhaustion. Only the quest remained to push her beyond physical limits, where spiritual necessity overcame fresh obstacles barring her from making the discovery of a lifetime.
Physical pleasure would have to wait until later.
Professor Alan Ratchet studied his hand drawn map. It was collection of lines he had pieced together from ancient carvings placed in primitive burial sites. If his theory was correct, a civilization once arose on the massive island, comparable to the African empires which existed before their exploitation by western cultures. Seeking to answer the questions, where these advanced Indonesians existed and why they vanished without a trace was the Professor's quest. He smiled at Lain, briefly reassuring before blushing uncomfortably.
"It seems I've made another, small miscalculation." He laughed haltingly.
Lain sighed and shook her head. The little man standing before her might be the most brilliant archaeologist of his time, but he couldn't tell the difference between four inches and nine. The privileged, Wisconsonian shrank visibly at her displeasure.
"Are we even on the right mountain?" She asked, knowingly.
"Of course we are, my dear. It seems I was orienting on true north but took my compass readings on magnetic north."
Lain wasn't sure of the details, but the professor's explanation could easily be reduced to, He fucked up. They were probably lost, and no doubt soon razor clawed, jungle denizens would leap out of the trees and devour them. The only bright possibility in her thoughts was the hope that the professor would be ripped up alive and eaten first, allowing her the brief enjoyment of watching it happen.
"Then we'd best find a stream and start following it downhill. Eventually we'll reach a village or town." She replied. The professor was supposed to be the technical expert on this expedition while she rode shotgun. More often, she ended up acting as den mother to the brilliant but nervous and bony man. She wasn't about to let his absent mindedness endanger her life or those of the bearers they had hired. Unfortunately the bearers had been left behind at their base camp since this was suppose to be a simple surveying excursion. Out of habit she examined her ex-soviet, automatic rifle and cleared the chamber as she switched magazines to test the mechanism. Lain re-secured the weapon on her shoulder and took the lead. It was already mid-afternoon, and they did not have much time before darkness would halt their retreat.
"I'm sure we can pick up the correct trail again before tomorrow." The professor called behind her. "Mathematically, we can be no more than five degrees off course." Perhaps we only need to rest. Possibly, we could get to know one another better?
"Professor, you paid me good money to ensure the safety of your expedition. You also promised me a medal from the Royal Geographic Society when we found one of the ancient dwellings. As to your other offers, to which I am quite undisposed, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the bearers are much better lovers than men from modern civilization. Their cocks are rugged from swinging in the open air, natural and uncircumcised. They breathe heat into my ear as they enter my body, and they shout in the language of elemental rapture as they fill me with their organic seed. You and your scientific, chemical enhanced existence could never measure up to Nature's purity."
Lain now guessed that the professor had made no mistake in their position, and that he was simply a grown child trying to become a man. She decided he wasn't even worth her contempt. Although, how he managed to find the energy to become aroused in the first place was a more interesting mystery, one that would have to wait. They needed to move quickly before night locked them in. "Let's go professor. We've no time for your disgusting chit chat. Now, tell me. Which way is base camp?"
"No, I've got to have you!" The older man suddenly shouted and he rushed her like a scrawny berserker.
Lain might have laughed if she hadn't been so tired. Nor did she bother with the gun in her hands. She simply stepped aside and let the fool fling himself at empty air.
"Aiiieee!!" He cried and crashed into the underbrush that had squatted behind her. He vanished into it's thorny depths.
Lain was just beginning to laugh when she realized that the professor's cries had died with an unexpected echo.
"Professor?" She inquired loudly.
The shrubbery remained silent.
"Oh, cripes." Lain muttered. She poked the thick branches with her gun's muzzle.
Nothing.
"All right, Professor. If this is some game you're playing, you'll soon regret it." Lain brushed a swath of branches to one side and peered through.
A black hole in the ground stared back.
Suddenly, Lain felt an incredible surge of coolness wash through her. The sweat on her brow turned clammy and her fingers and toes trembled cold. Her breath shortened. The path down was solid lava rock carved with foot and hand holds.
Lain didn't question it's existence. Her mission became plain. She stood up at once and examined the plants nearby. In only a few minutes she had discovered the thick trees whose bark was rich with flammable sap. She fashioned several torches, which took the greater amount of time, but well before sunset she had completed the task and hurled one of the flaming shafts below. It fell for a ten count before landing as a small spark in the vast depth.
She could only hope that she had not hit the professor, although she guessed it would not be the last time he would hit on her. After tying a collection of torches to her belt, she began her decent.
The journey was tiring only in that she had to feel for each successive step. The carvers had not been too regular in their placement. Once, her hand slipped from the shallow, worn indent in the wall, but her feet sustained her until she could catch hold of the next grip. All in all it was more tedious than dangerous.
The torch lay to her right as she stepped upon a thickly dusted floor. One stretch of earth nearby had been cleared of dust, and she saw smatterings of dark liquid staining it's surface. The professor was not to be seen.