SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

THE AIRCRAFT

I jumped off the root and ran after her. The forceful light made the road glare; then, it was easy for me to reach her between so many branches.

"Vanessa!" I exclaimed and took her by the hand. "We're not getting separated again!"

She stopped walking and turned to me.

"We have never been apart."

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't much of an expert at that love stuff. Even so, I tried:

"Uhm...uhm..."

Anyway, right at that moment, the doctor interrupted with the most suitable sentence for the occasion:

"What the hell are you doing standing there for? Get back to the pyramid!"

His voice sounded far. We turned around and tried to spot him. But clarity disappeared all of a sudden and we were in the dark again. Meanwhile, the deafening sound was fading out. The helicopter should be flying away...

The brunette didn't look worried:

"Uncle! We'll help you carry Felix!" she took a few tentative steps aided by the light of her watch. "Let's hurry!"

I walked beside her, straining my eyes, although, nothing could be seen in the middle of that blackness. The doctor and Felix must have been way ahead. Still, you could hear the doctor's voice, who was yelling at the top of his lungs:

"Climb up the pyramid or they will shoot down Croft!" For Christ sake!"

That reminded me of the other helicopter, the one that just had cleaned up the square.

"Go up now!" the doctor yelled again amid the noise. We stopped, vacillating though. "You're jeopardizing the rescue too much!"

Vanessa took a breath and squeezed my hand.

"We'll come back for you!" she yelled.

"We'll come back!" I seconded excitedly.

The thundering noise got back its intensity. The silver glare returned flickering rapidly; our movements froze at an intermittent sequence.

The effect disoriented us.

But that didn't stop us from breaking into a run back to the pyramid tripping over the thickets and reeds. We got onto the rows of roots and started to climb up. My eyes were beginning to get used to the stroboscopic light of the chopper. My ascent became agile, now I could see clearly where I put my hands and feet. I noticed that the ground and the leaves were slightly more humid. I observed thin streams of water running between the stones.

After climbing up frenetically about 30 more feet, I verified that it was drizzling. The vegetation was much sparser. The wind was blowing stronger and the noise of the propeller was intensifying.

We were approaching the chopper.

After a few minutes, we were surpassing the treetops. I allowed myself to look up then. In the middle of the thin curtain of rain, I managed to pick out a small, tottering stepladder that was hanging over a platform just about 15 feet over us.

It was the top. From the light of one of the silver sparkles, now slower, I saw Darwin's figure clamber a wall made of stone that led exactly to the summit.

We were catching up to him.

"Don't stop!" I yelled. "Go up!"

"Doctor?" I heard his voice among the deafening noise. "Gordo? Vanessa?"

"Don't stop!" Vanessa seconded. "Otherwise Croft will leave!"

Darwin did as told; he lifted himself with his arms and went up to the platform. We lost sight of him. We followed his trail, got on some rocks and managed to run toward the craggy wall.

After that, we climbed at full speed.

A powerful gust of wind and rain welcomed us as soon as we reached the peak. We bent down and walked like that. The stepladder was already by the opposite edge. Darwin was starting to climb.

Suddenly, Vanessa pulled my arm and stopped me. I looked at her confused.

"Did you hear that?" she yelled.

She turned around. I turned around. The doctor was resting his arms on the edge that we had just left. We turned halfway round and on the way the wind blew, we rushed to assist him breaking right on the edge. We stretched out our arms to him and he grasped them.

"Thank God!" his niece said.

We pulled. The doctor pushed himself up managing to place his feet on the edge.

"That's not Croft!" he exclaimed agitated. He leaned forward, searching with his head. He pointed out to a corner. "That's Croft!" With no time to react, automatically I looked toward the obscure horizon. "We'll wait for him on the platform below!" the doctor added. One more time, I looked toward him puzzled; now, he was looking around bewildered. "Where's Darwin?"

Darwin! I couldn't do anything but point out the small stepladder on the other end of the platform.

"He's going up already!" Vanessa yelled. "Darwin!"

The doctor raised his eyes.

"Wait on the platform below!" he exclaimed.

He galloped toward the small ladder, walking vigorously against the wind. Vanessa looked at me. I nodded. We hunched and tried to follow him. We took a few steps, but the wind blew harder and we had to stop. I held Vanessa by the arm; she tried to tell me something, but the din wouldn't let me hear her. She pointed upward. I raised my head and looked up. Heavy raindrops hit my face. I half closed my eyes; I saw my buddy, he kept going up.

"He keeps going!" I yelled. "Still—"

I was disconcerted. I realized that the helicopter lacked a propeller. It wasn't a chopper, it was a plane...it looked like a gigantic silver boomerang.