The Breach (Part 4)

Once again Matt felt the anger subside within him. He sat down next to the old man.

'So, have it your way, when you're ready eh?, is that the game?. Fine, you just take your own sweet time.' Matt spluttered. He meant it to come out full blown sarcastic but the whole situation was beginning to get the better of his usually firm self control. The words sounded almost petulant, childishly fearful.

'Get some firewood.' The old man waved a stick-like arm back in the direction they had travelled.

'What………!' Matt Started, anger instantly returning at the flippant command. He caught himself quickly and sighed, a frustrated sigh. Shrugging resignedly, he got to his feet.

'When I return, we'll talk.' He promised the old man. He meant it this time.

Leaving the old man at the face of the cliff, Matt headed back to where he remembered seeing a gully with a small patch of greenery along the bottom. That was about half an hour back down the trail. At the time he left the old man, Matt had every intention of gathering firewood and returning, to hear what the old man had to say. As he opened the distance between them he began to feel the absurdity of the situation he had somehow allowed himself to become involved in. What was he doing pandering to the crazy whims of a demented old man out here in the wilderness?. Had he gone temporarily insane too?. Hell! The old man probably lived out here………you hear of them all the time……… Crazy old fools roaming about the desert. Vets., unable to face the real world after that crazy Asian war. 'Christ, he must have been close to retirement when he got back.' He shook his head, a glimmer of relief creeping into his mind, he broke into an easy jog along the trail. He would get back to the jeep and forget that this ever happened.  He would say nothing to anyone about the way that he had been fooled by the old man. He smiled to himself as the faint glow of the dawn began to spread along the eastern ridges off to his right.

'Good!, I'll find the jeep, and be home by lunch time' He laughed out loud at the old man's gullibility and shook his head again at the absurdity of it all.

The day grew steadily brighter.

The Sun finally poked its head above a ridge far to the east.

Matt thought he recognised the tops of the thicket which he and the old man had pushed their way through earlier, just a line of greenery showing over the next rise.

Matt ran, grinning with heartfelt relief, covering the last few metres to the top of the rise with renewed energy.

The Sun broke free of the clinging ridge-line.

Matt gratefully reached the top of the rise.

He looked out over the line of greenery just below him, sure that he would see the jeep, parked up just where they had left it the night before.

For a second, he stood there, at the top of the rise, staring out in disbelief. Slack jawed, he turned, his body describing a circle as he inspected his surroundings in the bright morning sunlight.

To the North West, where Las Vegas should have lain, out of sight across the desert, there stood, not more than a couple of miles away, a huge structure made of what appeared to be, from this distance, incredibly beautiful intricately intertwined crystals. He shielded his eyes against the light reflected off the building and looked slit eyed at the improbable vision sitting before him. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Huge cylindrical towers reached majestically to the sky, interconnected by barely visible bridges of glass. Around the base there lay a ramp of green. From where he stood Matt thought it to be a ring of trees. Surrounding the trees where what could only have been houses. They were small and round, like the ones in the history books which showed medieval dwellings over in Europe. There seemed to be a lot of people moving about among the houses. As soon as he could, he tore his gaze away from the magical city displayed before him and took a few moments to inspect the rest of his surroundings.

To the South, at a distance of about three miles, the gentle waves of a unending green sea lapped against a smooth sandy shore. The unmistakable smell of the ocean invaded his nostrils, bringing with it fleeting memories of old vacations.

Matt Wildcloud's legs finally gave out. He sat down heavily, raising a small cloud of glistening dust in the process. He picked up a handful of the dust and let it fall through his fingers. The light breeze coming from the direction of the sea blew the dust away from his hand as it fell. He watched as tiny sparkling diamonds reflected the sunlight in the falling dust.

 'Oh……Oh.'

This is not Kansas,. He actually thought of clicking his heels together three times, just for a split second, Why not?. The ridiculous thought almost transformed the shocked expression on his face into a fleeting feral grin, almost. Then he remembered the pack of Lucky Strike in the breast pocket of his denim shirt. He fished about in the opposite breast pocket for the green disposable lighter and lit up a cigarette. It helped, barely.

Matt Wildcloud sat at the top of the knoll until the sun was high in the sky. He smoked five out of the remaining twelve cigarettes in the packet from his shirt pocket before he reluctantly decided that his best option, the only option he had left in fact, was to go back and find the old man. The old man was the connection, he reasoned. The old man had been in both worlds. He had first seen the old man on the road through the desert. If he was to get back to the jeep, then he had to find the old man. He got up and started out back down the trail which had led him from the camp to the knoll on which the sun had risen and turned his world inside out. The knoll which had revealed the strange city to his earthly eyes, and that impossible sea, way over there in the distance.

 Matt remembered to collect on a few dried out sticks for firewood on the way back to the camp. As he approached the spot where he had left the old man he saw him immediately , lying where he had left him, propped up on one elbow as if Matt had never left. The wracking cough emanating from the old mans lungs welcomed Matt back like a singular breath of familiarity.

'Such a paltry load.' The old man glanced contemptuously at the meagre stack of wood cradled in Matt's arms.

'We may stay warm for an hour, maybe longer,' The old man taunted him cruelly. 'What then?, what will we do when it runs out?'

'It will do.' Matt  retaliated sharply. 'One hour will be more than long enough for you to tell me what's going on here.'

The old man laughed, a mocking, derisive laugh. Matt struggled within himself to keep from striking out at the pathetic geriatric lying before him.

'Where am I?, what is this place, and what has happened here?' He was in no mood for any more of the games which he had already unwittingly let himself become embroiled in.

The old man laughed throatily and gestured for Matt to sit beside him.

'Light the fire, and listen carefully,' your life may well depend on what I have to say.'

Matt selected a few pieces of tinder and stacked them up in a hastily burrowed bowl in the sand. He placed a few of the thicker pieces of dry wood over them and struck the green plastic lighter beneath. Within a few seconds the tinder had caught and they sat amid the dancing shadows of the camp fire. Matt waited patiently while the old man warmed himself before the fire, deliberately, it seemed, ignoring Matt's obvious agitation as he shifted, cursed and muttered about the state of the ground he had chosen to rest upon. Eventually, he stopped fidgeting and steadfastly matched Matt's angry glare for a few seconds before beginning his tale.

'I grow old and weary of my responsibilities.' He began. 'I have held this post for many long years, and now yearn for release.'

The sun rose over the covering ridge-line of the cliff above and dispelled the early dawn shadows of the low fire. Matt interrupted the old mans tale.

'What has this to do with me?, What makes you think I care about all of this?.' Matt shrugged his shoulders, more in frustration than puzzlement.

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To Be Continued