Return To Primordial Island, Rick Poldark [top non fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

it nearly knocked him off his feet. It depicted his current location and the path to the Temple of the Simian King. The map extended even further. Peter’s mind meandered, exploring, but the mental image was cut short by Ghenga.

‘Now you know how to get there.’

‘Thank you, Ghenga.’

‘Remember, Peter, beware of Nazimaa and what she offers.’

‘I’ll stay away from her.’

Ghenga flared his dewlap. ‘You cannot. She will follow you.’

‘Follow me? Why?’

‘She is entombed within the temple. She was separated from the life and death orbs to prevent her resurrection.’

‘Well, that’s an important detail.’

‘Yes. She will try to manipulate you into freeing her from her prison.’

“Let’s go, doc,” pushed Collins. “We don’t want to get ambushed out here.”

Peter nodded. He released the orb. Ghenga croaked something to Grux, and they both turned and disappeared back into the jungle.

“Let’s go,” said Tracey.

“I’ll take point,” said Collins.

*

Collins and Nielsen took the lead, discussing future plans. Nielsen appeared to dislike having his authority challenged by the security chief. The two hashed out their differences as Peter, Tracey, and Marcy lagged behind.

“I think you’re right,” said Marcy, keeping her voice low.

“About why you’re really here?” asked Tracey.

Marcy nodded. She shot a nervous glance at Peter.

“I won’t bite,” said Peter.

Marcy averted her gaze a moment. “What does it feel like?”

“What?”

“Those orbs…the power.”

Peter shrugged. “It’s all very…alien. They are a part of me, yet they feel different from me.”

“How do you bring people back to life?”

Peter considered this a moment. “It’s like I reach out with my life force or soul, and I can feel the souls or life forces of others. Then, I just focus on them, making them stronger. Kind of like turning a dial to brighten a light.”

“That’s amazing,” said Marcy, gazing at Peter with obvious admiration.

It made Tracey a little uncomfortable. She remembered Petra, their graduate student, and her kiss with Peter. “That must be some burden to carry.”

Peter nodded. “The consequences more so than the powers.”

“I shouldn’t have left you,” said Tracey, her voice thick.

Peter smiled. “You didn’t leave me, Trace. I told you to go.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t have to listen.”

His smile faded. “Have you been beating yourself up about this the whole time?”

Marcy apparently decided to hang back and spectate rather than interject. She fell a couple of steps behind, allowing Peter and Tracey space to talk.

“It’s been eating me up for the last year.”

Peter appeared nonplussed. “Is that all it’s been? A year?”

Tracey nodded. “Yeah. Why? It feels like longer?”

“It feels like it’s been years.” He unconsciously glanced down at his wristwatch, long broken, a force of habit. It didn’t matter anyway. The island had a peculiar effect on time.

“That’s a long time,” said Marcy, chiming in.

Both Peter and Tracey glanced back at her.

“That must’ve been awful,” said Tracey.

“Not all of it,” said Peter. “In that time, we’ve gotten more familiar with the Umazoa.”

Marcy scrunched her nose. “The who?”

“That’s what we call the indigenous tribe. We’ve actually learned some of their language, and they ours.”

“That’s amazing,” said Tracey. “What are they like?”

“They seem like good people. Very family-oriented.” He hesitated. “Then, there are the Zehhaki…”

“The lizard men?” said Tracey.

Peter nodded. “They seem more primitive, animalistic, but not entirely. They make use of orbs to record memories and history, and to communicate with humanoids.”

“What do you make of that intelligent one who spoke to you?” asked Tracey.

“I believe him. I believe that they’d wipe everything out, exhausting their own food supply. Which leads me to something else…something I saw in my mind when he showed me the location of the Temple of the Simian King.”

 “What did you see?” asked Marcy.

Peter paused, gathering his thoughts. “Something has always bugged me about this island. We’ve encountered way more predators than prey. Tracey, you know that in a stable ecosystem there needs to be an optimal ratio between predators and prey.”

Tracey nodded. “That’s right. That bothered me from last time I was here, but I just figured I hadn’t seen enough of the island.”

“Well, I’ve been here a while,” said Peter, “and I still haven’t seen enough prey to sustain the predator population. And you’re right. We haven’t seen enough of the island. In fact, this isn’t even an island.”

Tracey and Marcy both answered in unison, “What?!”

He nodded. “When Ghenga showed me the location of the other temple, I saw the land extend out past what we thought to be the boundaries of the island.”

“Maybe it’s just a bigger island than we thought,” offered Tracey.

“Either that, or it’s a continent with only part of it phasing into our dimension,” said Marcy, “making it appear to be an island to us.”

“You didn’t sense any of that?” asked Tracey of Peter.

He shook his head. “I guess my powers have a range.”

“So, this island may actually be a continent,” said Marcy.

“Which brings us back to the original question,” said Peter. “Why is Poseidon Tech here?”

Marcy now kept pace, re-inserting herself into the conversation. “I’ve overheard conversations about locating some kind of metal ore. For what purpose, I’m not sure. A bit above my paygrade.”

“A kind of metal,” repeated Peter, thinking out loud. “A precious metal, perhaps?”

“I didn’t notice any mining equipment in the expedition,” said Tracey.

“I don’t think we’re here for mining either,” agreed Marcy. “We’ve brought mostly sensory equipment.”

“Something’s been bothering me,” said Tracey. “Why did Nielsen pick that landing site for our base camp?”

“Because it was close to the village and by a river,” said Marcy.

Tracey shook her head. “No boats or rafts. If we were going to use the river, we would’ve brought watercraft. Not only that, why go through all the trouble of clearing