The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Eight is now posted on ImagineNation.

 

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The fortress was further off than the map indicated, probably because there was no way to properly scale it against anything. Everything was new, unknown, deadly and delicious, crazy insane and gorgeously beautiful. Everything that a dream...or a nightmare could be rolled up into one.

"Are we there yet?" Jimbo asked for the thousandth time in a whiny voice.

Nanny patted his arm. "No, honey, almost thought." For the thousandth time.

Samuel laughed. "You two stop that!"

"Look, shouldn't we be getting some kind of view of it by now. It's almost dark."

Samuel looked up at the bright lands overhead and squinted. "Really?"

"Oh, okay. So it's not. But feels like it." He complained. Finally, he stopped as they approached a bend on the rough hill they were now mounting. When he did, his eyes widened. "Everyone stop!"

Samuel immediately stopped and searched for trouble. He hadn't felt anything nearing. Which troubled him more. That ship last night...

Nanny was the first to get it. "The ground's shaking."

Jimbo grinned at her. "That a girl."

"I'm not a dog!" She countered.

Jimbo started to explain.

"Or a horse!" She finished, making it final.

Jimbo shrugged. "Have it your way then. Sammie?"

Al and Marily were dancing in imaginary rain. Al had an umbrella and Marily wet boots on. He laughed. "Singing in the Rain, right?"

"What?" Jimbo and Nanny both said at the same time.

"Al and Marily are dancing to the show tune, 'Singing in the Rain.' 

"I miss seeing them." Nanny complained.

"I never saw them." Jimbo complained.

Samuel looked at them, then at Al, who shook his head. Samuel said nothing.

Let's see what's on the other side of this spur of land." Samulel said, and exhausted as he was, kept climbing. 

The others crested the rough ground, which was thick with rocks and sharp weeds and froze. Before them was a gigantic waterfall on the other side of a huge chasm. Sparkles of rainbows glittered and glowed throughout the falling water, as it cascaded in a thunderous cacophony from a massive entrance in the chasm facing them.

"Well, look at that." Jimbo said, his voice dripping with awe.

Nanny sat down and kicked off her shoes. "I could use a little of that water about now. My feet are killing me."

"I don't see anywhere to camp." Jimbo pointed out.

Samuel saw Al pointed over the side. Samuel stepped forward and looked down. At the foot of Al was a narrow path that wound down the side of the chasm towards a bridge that crossed the gorge below where water thundered happily along, hammering at wet rocks and mossy walls. "This way, I think." Samuel pointed out.

The others came over. Nanny carried her shoes. "Kind of steep."

"We need to get off the high ground. To easy for those flying ships to see us."

"Speaking of which, Sammie." Jimbo shot back, pointing.

Behind them, still some hundreds of yards back, came a flying ship exactly like the one that had captured them the day before. It was spearing the land about it with lances of light.

"Searching for us?" Nanny asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Samuel answered. "But I think we better get down and out of view as fast as we can."

"Said the spider to the fly." Jimbo muttered.

Nanny whirled on him. "What?"

"In my experience the better path usually ends up being the worse one in the long run."

Nanny looks to Samuel, who shrugs. "Whatever will be."

He started down the narrow path, hugging the chasm wall as he did. It was rough enough to give good purchase to his shoes. Jimbo let Nanny go in the middle and followed last. The three descended as rapidly as they could. As they got about half way down the flying ship came overhead.

A lance of light struck the path above them and froze a moment, then moved on.

"Faster." Samuel urged.

"We go any faster we might take a dunk. A long dunk." Nanny shot back.

"Better a high dive, then getting caught by those murderous bastards." Jimbo shouted.

They almost flew down the last part of the drop, the lance of light shooting down the path after them, each time spearing the path just behind them.

"Why do I..." Jimbo panted. "...Get the feeling we're being corraled like wild horses?" Jimbo gasped as he tried to talk and breathe at the same time.

They reached the landing of the bridge, and Samuel dropped back into an alcove, where a beautifully carved door embraced the stone wall. Strange hieroglyphics adorned its edges and the wall about it. Several niches held candles, which were burning.

"Some kind of religious spot?" Nanny considered.

"More like a picnic area, I supsect." Samuel said, pointing to a large hollowed rock, wherein were discarded food substances and containers of some wierd kind of material. Even as they looked the rock made a rumbling sound, and the materials inside it began to swirl, then bubble, then smoke, then vanished.

"Remind me not to poke my foot in there." Jimbo drawled.

"Or your finger, Jimmie." Nanny warned him.

"Nah. More likely his foot. He's used to putting it into familiar places." Samuel teased.

"You mean, like his mouth?" Nanny went on with the tease.

Jimbo threw his backpack down. "Sticks and stones, cousins. I'm beat. Time to eat."

"Sounds like a commercial for a snack food." Nanny said, but didn't complain as she se her own backpack down next to his.

Samuel stayed at the edge of the landing watching the flying ship as it continued to spear the chasm walls randomly with its spear of light. "I don't think they're looking for us."

Jimbo pulled out some more Twinkies. "Maybe they're looking for these. Chow anyone?"

They settled in around him on the rough benches that protruded next to the door, then began eating in earnest. When they had finished the Twinkies, Jimbo pulled out a can of beans for each of them.

Nanny shook her head. "I eat too much of that and I sound like firecrackers going off."

"That's because you're eating store beans." Jimbo drawled. "These are made by my family. Special formula. Guaranteed to be fart free."

"Ooh, gross!" Nanny teased.

Jimbo smiled. "Indeed they are, tinker bell."

Nanny slugged him.

Jimbo backed off, hands before him. "No insult intended."

"No pain intended either, big guy." Nanny smiled back at him baring her teeth.

Samuel smiled, then got to his feet, he examined the door in the rock wall more closely. "I don't get it. Why would they put a door in the wall with no way of opening it"

"Maybe they don't want anyone coming in." Nanny suggested.

"Maybe." Samuel replied.

Al was standing next to him, shaking his head. Samuel looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"It's not a door out or in." Al explained.

"If not out or in, then what is it?" Samuel asked, a bit wary of Al's vagueness.

Al remained silent. Okay, it was test his wits time again. 

Samuel sighed, then reached to put his palm on the door.

Big mistake.

WHAM!

You're reading The Shasta Caper, a work in progress, now read the completed Hammer of the Gods published in a beautiful paperbook edition at Amazon.Com. Buy it now at Amazon.

 

A top secret project in Nevada goes horribly wrong. They've captured something far more powerful than known to man. Something that could take their very souls and crush it. A detective, Samuel Light, and his partner, Jimbo, a rascally Texan are led on a merry chase across Nevada and Arizona to find out what was captured and to right what could turn out to be a terrible mistake for humanity. From past lives of Atlantis to lost lives in the desert, Samuel uses his spiritual powers to battle unknown forces and seek the truth!

Buy it now at Amazon.

Danger Planet, a CGI animated short posted now on ImagineNation

During a routine scan on a distant planet, a young space scout finds romance with a female pilot. But when peril strikes the two star-crossed explorers, he must face what lurks in the darkness of the planet to rescue the girl.

Danger Planet is an animated short created by students at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. This 4 minute student animation was finished primarily in a summer after over a year of preproduction.

Credits
Justin Burks, Danny Cooper, Andrew Lopez, Chris Wombold, Brandon Bailie, Stephanie Miranda, Aaron Adams, Yannick Amegan, Cassidy Stone, Gareath Murray, Christine Turner, Beau Sherman, Matt Kidd

For info contact juburks2000@gmail.com

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Seven is now postedo n ImagineNation.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The next morning. They weren't sure if it was morning or not, because the sky was always bright, lit by an invisible sun that always kept the land the same temperature, night or day. It was a kind of paradise weather wise, even if some of its inhabitants were a bit strange or violent.

Jimbo was relieving himself, when he exclaimed loudly, causing everyone to come running. He hurriedly zipped up, then pointed to a scroll behind a rock nearby. 

Samuel whipped it up and Nanny almost collided with him, trying to read it over his shoulders. 

"What's it say?"

"I don't know." Samuel said, as he unwrapped the scroll. It looked quite old. It had been carefully wrapped in an airtight, oiled leather container, which had lettering of its own on it. It was about ten inches long and six thick.

"Let me." Nanny said, taking the script. "It's French."

"Verne." Jimbo said, coming over to look for himself.

"Yes. It says so here." Nanny said, pointing to a scroll at the beginning of it. "I've seen his handwriting before. It's definitely his."

"What's it say? Jimbo asked.

Samuel stepped back to let the two of them hover over it, while he searched the gigantic trees for any signs of flying ships or hidden visitors. He had this strange feeling they were being watched again. 

"To all my friends of the above world, welcome to Atlantia, a name I have chosen to describe this paradise."

"Atlantia?" Jimbo asked.

"Atlantis." Nanny explained.

"Wasn't that a continent?"

"Yeah. But I'm sure this is just a euphemism." She explained.

"A what?"

"A  nice way of saying the place is a lost land."

"Okay. I get that."

He looked over at Samuel to see if he was watching, then noticed his attention on the trees to their left. He looked that way, but said nothing as Nanny read on.

"This is our second month in this world beneath the world. Little did I know when I was doing my research for my latest novel, that I would actually stumble onto an entrance to that very same place. "

"Interesting." She said, quickly reading ahead. "We started off on the Parisian Flower, a small merchant ship from Vesailles. Then sailed to the land beyond the Americas. A strange and bitterly cold place. We lost half our crew there to the cold and the beasts that wandered its barren wastes."

"The Antartic." Nanny explained.

"I never knew he was an explorer." Jimbo commented. "He never seemed of that type of fellow. Great imagination though. I used to read the Classic Comic Books that graphically told his stories."

"Really?"

He gave her the evil eye. "What you think I can't read?"

"No, silly. I just didn't think you liked comic books!"

"I don't like comic books, I read the classics."

"Which were comic books."

"I give up." He said and wandered over to Samuel. "That chick really crawls up and down my spine sometimes."

"Yeah. And a few other places as well I bet."

Jimbo gave him a blank stare a moment, then grinned. "That obvious, hey?"

"Yep."

Samuel shoved his mop of hair back from his forehead and peered upwards. "No sign of that ship that flew past last night."

"Woke you up too?"

"Damn right it did!"

"So we're not out of the frying pan yet, are we?"

"No, we're not." Nanny answered instead, as she joined them. She showed them a map at the base of the document. "This is where we need to go next."

"How auspicous of him." Jimbo said, his voice dripping thick sarcasm.

"What's got your undies in a dive?" Nanny asked.

"Nothing. Forget it. Okay, so we go there. But where is there?"

Samuel's eyes wandered to where Al was pointing. 

"I think that direction, towards the mountains we saw."

Jimbo groaned. "Not more mountains."

"Look at the bright side of it, sweetie." Nanny teased. "You'll never have to worry about getting fat."

"Yeah. That's a winner." Jimbo drawled, then went back to their camp and began taking down the tent and folding its pieces to put into his back pack.

"What's eating him?" Nanny asked.

Samuel shrugged. "I think  he misses his family."

"Why?"

Samuel looked at her. "Don't you ever miss yours?"

"I don't have one. Remember? Missing Mom and all that stuff."

"I don't believe you." Samuel said sharply. "You're holding back on something."

Nanny gave him a nasty look. "Not nice to pry into a girl's lovelife."

"Too much information." Samuel said and joined Jimbo.

They finished the packing, then with Nanny leading the way, they began hiking further North. As they did the trees began to thin somewhat and they crossed numerous streams of rushing water, complete with a strange breed of fish, that resembled gigantic goldfish. The fish had no fear of the strangers and when they stooped to refill canteens, wash their faces and drink, the fishes would come to the surface, bob their heads out and watch them like little puppies eager to play.

Jimbo took out a small nerf ball he kept as a good luck charm and tossed it. The fish didn't scatter away from it, but shot after it. They began nosing the ball, shoving it one way, then the other like small kindergardners playing in a school yard.

One of the fish shot back and flipped its tail eagerly, watching Jimbo's face.

"I think it wants to play." Samuel said a smile lighting his face.

"Intelligent fish." Jimbo drawled. "Guess I won't eat this one."

The tiny fish made a frightened sound, like a tiny girl screaming, then shot off. The others followed it away, leaving the nerf ball bobbing next to the shore. Jimbo retrieved it, squeezed it dry, then shoved it back into his pocket. "Guess they don't like being the subject of dinner."

"Would you?" Nanny asked, a smirk on her face.

He shook his head, not at her answer, but at the way she had said it. She was definitely beginning to get on his nerves. Any romantic aspirations he had felt earlier were melting like snow in the morning sun. 

"So now what?" He asked.

"We keep walking." Nanny said, pointing to the North. "That way."

They continued, with the forests continuing to thin and more meadow land appearing, complete with patches of blooming flowers, none of them common to the upper earth, but all beautiful and unique. Some were shaped like bows with tiny tongues of scarlett that emitted musical notes when touched.

"That's beautiful." Nanny cried out as he started to pick one.

Samuel stopped her. "I wouldn't touch it."

She gave him a glare, then jumped back when an insect lighted on the bow and the flower suddenly slammed shut on it.

"Oh." She said.

It took the enthusiasm out of her flower picking, but not her enjoyment of the beautiful view they shared as they continued to hike along paths made by unknown creatures and fallen leaves, most of which were large enough to build a house with.

"What a strange land." She sighed.

Jimbo nodded. "Part of it wants to kill you."

"Part wants to eat you." Samuel added.

"And God only knows what the rest really wants to do." Nanny added, pondering the map in her hand again. She stabbed a pinkie into a spot. "It looks like some kind of fortress or something."

"Fortress? Down here?" Jimbo asked.

She glared at him. "Do I look like a mind reader to you, big guy? And even if I was, I can't read a dead man's mind!" She said with finality. Then looked over at Samuel.

"Well, you might be able to."

Samuel looked over at her and smiled, but made no comment. Al was speaking to him.

"It's not a fortress, Sam."

"Then what is it?" Samuel asked.

"A retreat."

"Retreat from what?"

Al didn't answer. Marilyn appeared and glided over. She blew a kiss to Samuel. He smiled at her. 

"Good afternoon, Sunshine." He greeted.

"You too, tall, not so dark and handsome." She replied with deep, breathy tones.

"I don't suppose you can tell me what kind of retreat it is?"

Marilyn burst into laughter and popped out of view.

Al spread his arms wide, then vanished as well.

Jimbo noticed the expression on Samuel's face. "Not good?"

"I always hate it when they tell me something, but hold back something else."

"Not good then, huh?"

Samuel didn't answer.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death movie posted on ImagineNation.

Basil Rathbone was a consummate actor and his portrayal of Holmes remains a defining one, even with the advent of some other fine actors since.

Nigel Bruce,it goes without saying, was the perfect foil for the brilliant acting of Mister Rathbone.

My own take on the heroes of detective literature is somewhat different, in that the two of them are part of a larger circle of friends called The Baker Street Adventurers, and I introduce a lot of fantasy and sometimes sci-fi elements into the stories and novels.

Irregardless of your tastes, the main core of this team is their friendship and honor, as well as their stubborn disregards of what is obvious to find that which is not.

Enjoy!

--John--

The Shasta Caper, Chapter Thirty-Six is now posted on ImagineNation.

Chapter Thirty-Six

And he wasn't...Santa Claus. He was something far beyond a children's fairy tale.

Jimbo sat at a nicely handmade table, hewn from the trees about them, and shaped into something resembling a mushroom, but with six seats about it. He sat next to Mrs. Santa Claus and Samuel and Nanny next to Mister Santa Claus. 

Mrs. Santa Claus had that same ageless beauty that suffused Santa Claus, but with a more down home feeling to it. Her whole presence was tidy, warm and friendly, like a favorite dog or cat, or couch. Something you just knew you'd never feel bad on or around.

The small child they had seen earlier was squeezed  between Jimbo and Santa, as everyone was beginning to think of them, because they had no other way to describe them that didn't include they know what you are thinking. He had all white hair as well and eyes that seemed to be on fire all the time with an enthusiasm that was remarkable for one his age. His fingers were deft and quick, his mind even quicker. He had a tendency to knit his eyebrows together when he concentrated and his lips would pout.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jimmy." Mrs. Santa Claus said to him, jumping up to go through the rounded doorway into her tiny kitchen and come back quickly with a salt shaker. "Your salt."

"But I didn't ask..." He let it go. This had happened continuously for about an hour now. He'd think something..."

"And I know." Mrs. Santa Claus told him with a wink and a twinkle in her eye. 

"Okay." Jimbo finally asked out of exasperation. The idea of someone diving into his mind uninvited was beginning to worry him, if not irritate him.

"You want to know how I do it. Right?" She asked.

Santa smiled at her and she smiled back. "A little birdie told me."

Samuel suddenly realized what the tiny black thing was that was nestled in her snow white hair. He had thought it was some kind of ornament, but when it unruffled its feathers, and cocked a black eye on him, he almost choked on the slice of bread he had been eating.

Nanny pounded his back and he stopped coughing, but instead began laughing over and over. 

Jimbo glared at him. "Uh, this isn't funny."

Samuel wiped at the tears in his eyes. "He's telling the truth, Jimbo. She does have a little bird talking to her. It's right in front of your eyes."

Jimbo looked over at her, but saw nothing. "Oh. Invisible friend, right?"

Samuel stopped laughing. "Sorry, Jimbo, I thought everyone could see it."

Nanny glared at him too. "I can't either, and I usually do."

Mrs. Santa patted her arm. "Deary, you're still a young soul, you can't be expected to see everything...yet."

That got Nanny even more mad. "I resent being talked down to!"

She started to get up.

Both Samuel and Jimbo held her down.

"Okay. I'll stay, but all this spiritual mumbo jumbo is starting to get to me..." She froze at her words. She  swiveled her eyes to look at Jimbo. "I'm starting to be you!"

Jimbo laughed. "Happens to the best of us."

Santa and Mrs. Santa laughed.

The child, a young boy of about the age of ten, set a piece of cloth he had been shaping in his lap next to Nanny. "Like it?"

Nanny forgot her anger when she saw the tiny Christmas tree. "It's beautiful! How'd you do that?"

"With love." The boy answered with a straight face. "Mommy shows me how to do it every day. I've been getting better. Do you like it?"

Nanny looked at him more closely. "You've asked me that two times. Why?"

"Denny is special." Santa told her,  his eyes solemn. "He knows how to shape the future."

"Don't we all?" Nanny laughed, thinking he was being companionable, not serious.

Samuel looked at the tree more closely and he could see Nanny, Jimbo and himself climbing inside of it, following a trail of cavernous tunnels, pursued by something indefinable. He gave Denny a startled look. Denny looked him in the eyes. "You like it?"

"I'm not sure." Samuel answered. "It doesn't look like a future I want to experience."

Mrs. Santa put a hand on his. "Honey, it's not the future that is, but the future that could be."

Santa nodded. "Denny's gift is more of a warning of what the future will become if we misstep or take the wrong direction."

Jimbo set his napkin down. A handmade cotton like material that never lost its crispness, no matter how much he folded it. "Don't you think it's time you told us who you people really are?"

Santa smiled. "Friends."

Mrs. Santa nodded. "Oh so true."

Denny smiled at them and grinned like the little child he appeared to be. "Friends we  cherish."

One moment the happy family was seated there with them, smiling, then they were gone. The home around them vanished. The furniture was all that was left. It sat beneath a towering tree and a soft mist of rain was drizzling between the leaves and beginning to wet them.

They got up from the mushroom table and it too vanished.

"Well, at least they didn't just dump us on the ground." Jimbo admitted reluctantly.

Nanny shivered.

Next to the huge tree trunk, their back packs lay neatly stacked. A basket of bread and fruit sat next to them, with a note on top. 

Nanny ran over and read the note. "We hope you'll enjoy this little gift from us. And remember choices are never final, there's always another door that can be opened, and we love you from the bottom of our hearts."

She looked up at them. "Signed Mister and Missus Claus."

Jimbo shook his head. "No, I refuse to believe it. Just a legend. A myth."

Samuel looked to his right were Al and Marilyn were dancing a slow waltz. Al looked over and shook his head. "Al doesn't think so."

He looked back at Jimbo. "Neither do I."

Nanny came back. "What now?"

"We rebuild our tent and wait for the morning."

So they pulled out the tent from Jimbo's backpack and slung it together. They were so tired and worn out by the time they finished, they could barely crawl into their sleeping bags.

As they lay there Jimbo said. "Notice the temperature here remains perfect, no matter what the time of day or night? Like it's controlled somehow."

"Noticed." Samuel answered with a yawn. "Did you also notice that the trees talk?"

Jimbo laughed. "Sammie, please no more stupid jokes!"

"I'll second that." Nanny said with a whimper of a yawn. "I just don't understand why I'm so tired all the time down here. I never feel entirely rested, and yet I feel more clear than I've ever been."

"It's the vibration of the place." Samuel explained. "It's very high."

"If it's so absurdly high." Jimbo demanded. "Then why did that  ship blow up? Sounds like some contrast is going on."

"I believe so too, Jimbo, and I think that's what the warning was about. That everything is not what it appears to be."

"Then what is it?" Nanny asked, stiflying another yawn.

"Some kind of test maybe." Samuel commented. 

He propped himself up on an elbow and looked at his friends. "I remember Al telling me once that the people who live down here are of such a high vibration that anything negative around them turns on itself and destroys itself."

"Like that ship?" Nanny asked.

"Yeah. Like that. But then that beggars the question of how the ship could even exist here at all, as they were obviously accustomed to having control of this territory."

Jimbo yawned loudly, then sat up, awake again. "That would mean this so-called hollow earth is more than it seems. Maybe divided up."

"Or shared." Nanny added, getting excited herself.

Samuel nodded. "But the question in my mind is why the more advanced civilization would allow the negative one to exist in its own space."

Samuel was about to say more, when he noticed Al squatted near the door, shaking his head. "It's not about one or the other, Sam, it's about learning."

"Yeah. But what?"

"Who you talking to?" Nanny asked, confused by Samuel's sudden turn in conversation.

"His invisible friend. " Jimbo explained. "Who else?"

Nanny threw herself back down into her sleeping bag and shut her eyes. "You two just blow my mind. I can't keep my head straight around you. Good-night."

Jimbo lay back down too, but he wasn't sleepy anymore, not any more than Samuel, who had stopped talking and lay down as well.

"Sammie."

"Yeah."

"Do you think that ship was Nazi?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Then that would mean that they built an empire down here."

"Sad, but true."

"That would also mean that one day they might emerge again."

"True enough."

"I don't think we can fight something like that."

"Won't have to."

"How you figure that?"

"When have we ever been in any fight where the odds were in our favor?"

Nanny stirred. "Will you two spiritual war heroes shut up, a girl needs her beauty sleep."

Samuel and Jimbo shut their eyes, but neither one of them slept very well that night. Especially after they heard a sound similar to the one made by the earlier flying ship and a great shadow passed by and a spot light speared the ground not even ten yards away.