Tarizon: Desert Swarm Page 2
Chapter 2
Love in Death Valley
Dolly answered the door immediately after Jack knocked. She was dressed in light blue shorts and a pink halter top that left little to the imagination. Jack gave her lean body a onceover and then smiled. “You look great!”
“Do, I? I wasn’t sure what to wear.”
Jack looked down at her tan flats. “I’d switch to sneakers. They’ll give you better traction if we do any climbing.”
Dolly nodded. “Okay. I’ll go change them. Come in,” she said, stepping aside to give him room to enter.
“I almost didn’t make it,” Jack confessed in a loud voice so Dolly could hear him in her bedroom.
“Oh, really? What happened?”
“I fell asleep on the way home last night and rolled my truck.”
“Oh, my God!” Dolly exclaimed as she walked back into the living room with a new pair of Converse sneakers on. “I noticed your nose was a little swollen. Are you alright? We can do this another time.”
“No. I’m fine, but I would like to alter our plans a bit, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh. Of course. If you’re not feeling well, we don’t have to go out.”
“No. That’s not it. While I was wandering around in the desert yesterday, I came across some interesting ruins that I’d like to show you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Dolly frowned. “Ruins?”
Jack laughed. “Yes, ruins. But, the area is quite beautiful and we can still have our picnic.”
Dolly shrugged. “Sure. I didn’t know you were into archeology.”
“I’m not usually, but being in the construction business different types of architectural designs and unique building materials interest me.”
“Well, let’s go. You’ve got me curious now.”
“I hope you don’t mind taking a jeep. Our sightseeing will be off-road.”
Dolly swallowed hard. “Oh. Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t have my nails done.”
Jack laughed. “I promise you our next date will be more conventional.”
Dolly smiled tentatively and followed Jack outside where they got into the Jeep and took off back toward Shoshone. When they got to the spot where Jack ran off the road, he told her to hang on as they started down the steep embankment. When they got to the spot where the F150 had rolled to a stop Jack stopped to survey the scene.
“Okay. This is where the truck ended up. I’m going to look around and see if I see my footprints. I have no idea which way I went.”
Dolly nodded and smiled warily as Jack began examining the ground. After a minute he found some tracks and ran back to the Jeep.
“Okay, I think I wandered off in that direction. Let’s drive that way awhile and see what we find.”
After twenty minutes Jack stopped the Jeep and looked around for anything that looked familiar.
“It was dark so everything looks different,” he commented.
“If you suffered a concussion you might be experiencing some memory loss as well. I hope we can find our way back to the road.”
Jack looked over at her. “Oh, I remember now. There was a large boulder I slept under. He looked around and scanned the horizon until his eyes fixed on a rock formation that looked familiar. “There it is, I bet.”
They drove over to it and Jack jumped out to look around. “Ah hah!” he said, pointing to a spot where the grass had been padded down. “That’s where I sat up against the boulder.”
“Weren’t you worried about snakes and scorpions?” Dolly asked.
Jack laughed. “No. I’ve spent a lot of time back packing and found that most animals will leave you alone if you don’t bother them. My main concern was water. I should have never wandered off without any.”
“Well, you didn’t exactly know what you were doing.”
“No. Okay, I went north from here. I had the rising sun to work with so I’m pretty sure if we go north now we’ll run into the ruins.”
“Good. I’m getting hungry. Maybe we can have our picnic there. Is there any shade?”
Jake thought about that a moment.
“I don’t remember any trees but I’m sure the walls of the ruins will provide some shade.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
They traveled another ten minutes before they came to the ridge overlooking the ruins. Jack stopped the Jeep and pointed to the structure in the distance.
“There it is.”
Dolly looked at it with obvious disappointment in her eyes.
Jack laughed. “Okay, I know it doesn’t look like much from a distance, but wait until you see it up close. It’s really quite unique.”
When they finally got to the ruins Jack did a double-take. “It looks different today,” he noted.
“Different? How do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Bigger, I think. The walls are a little higher too. But that can’t be possible.”
“What kind of rock is that?”
“I don’t know. That’s what piqued my interest. It’s solid rock or some kind of crystal. It almost looks like it was poured into a mold.”
Dolly ran her hands over the surface of one of the walls. “It’s very smooth and hard.”
“Yes. That’s one thing I wanted to do, check its strength and brittleness.”
He went back to the jeep and pulled out a tool chest. After setting it down near the wall where Dolly was standing, he pulled out a hammer and chisel. “Let’s see how strong it is,” he said and struck the chisel hard with the hammer. The surface didn’t give. “Wow. Not even a mark.”
“If it’s so strong, why did the building fall down?”
Jack opened his mouth but nothing came out. “You’re right. This isn’t a ruin. There’s no rubble. It looks more like an abandoned construction sight.”
“But why would someone build something so big out here?” Dolly asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe they were going to build a big airplane hangar and were planning to build the runways later.”
“Right, but you said there was no road out to this place.”
“That’s true. At least I didn’t see any evidence of one.”
“Well. I’m going to set up our picnic. I’m famished.”
“Good idea. While you do that I’m going to take some photos and gather a few samples of this material if I can chip any of it off.”
“Sounds good,” Dolly replied and walked back to the Jeep to get the picnic basket.
While she was setting everything out, Jack took dozens of photos from every angle and then set out to chip a piece of the crystal off one of the walls to take home to study under a microscope. It took a while to get his sample. A hammer and a chisel didn’t work so he had to resort to a sledge hammer. Finally, he tucked a six by eight inch piece of the crystal under the seat of the Jeep and walked over to where Dolly had a blanket spread in the shade of the six feet wall.
“So, that’s one tough wall,” Dolly noted as she wiped a bead of sweat off Jack’s face.
He nodded. “You got that right. I wonder what in the hell they were building out here.”
“And who started to build it without men and equipment?”
“Unless they brought them in with helicopters. Maybe this was going to be some kind of government building. A missile silo, perhaps.”
“That could be. They usually build those away from populated areas.”
“I bet that’s it,” Jack said excitedly. “That’s got to be it.”
Thinking they’d solved the mystery they ate heartily, talked, laughed, and finished off a bottle of wine. As the sun began to set and Jack was about to suggest they go home, Dolly took his hand in hers and kissed it.
“You know, I was going to invite you in when we got to my place, but it’s much more romantic out here.”
Jack looked at her longingly and then nodded. “That’s a good point. Perhaps–”
Dolly leaned in and kissed him again, this time on the lips. He closed hi
s eyes enjoying the sweetness of her lips and the pleasant scent of her body. Then he put his hand behind her head and pulled her into him hard. She responded by pushing him down on the blanket and straddling him as she pulled off her halter top. He gasped at the sight of her naked breasts. She took his hands and pulled them up to her and while he caressed them, she began unbuttoning his shirt. When his shirt was clear she came down on him and they kissed hard, their tongues exploring and caressing the interiors of each other’s mouths. Suddenly, Jack rolled Dolly off him and pulled off her shorts with one quick jerk. She wasn’t wearing panties. He took a moment to take in the beauty of her naked body. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Impatient, Dolly sat up and began unbuckling his pants. She wasn’t making much progress, so he rolled on his back, pulled them off and kicked them away. Then he was on her and felt himself slip inside. She moaned in delight as she took him in gratefully and they began making love under the hot desert sun.