Paradeisia: Origin of Paradise (15 page)

“No,” Doctor Ming-Zhen said.  “I do not.  If I did, I wouldn't be a
scientist
, would I?”

Zhang drew a deep breath, “All right.  Tell me, how is radioisotope dating an art-form?”

Paradeisia

As soon as
Aubrey and the rest of the group had signed wavers and passed a series of yellow warning signs that highlighted “tremendous gravitational forces,” “dynamic atmospheric pressure” and “sulfur hexafluoride,” they boarded a gondola which was different from the others.  A voice warned them to secure their personal belongings in nets in the seat backs in front of them and roller-coaster harnesses had swung down from the ceiling.  Attendants strode through and ensured the harnesses were securely latched.  Jinkins distributed packets of gum to help “with the ear popping.”

The gondola departed the FlyRail Hub and quickly picked up speed, passing through a forest tunnel around a bend.  When it emerged, the track was supported by angular beams bolted into a vertical cliff that formed the edge of a giant crater.  The gondola swung out over the enormous drop.

Ahead wa
s a waterfall which surged off the top of the cliff, the glass of the FlyRail Hub just visible gleaming above in the sunlight.  The thunderous water caused the gondola to shudder as it passed through.  On the other side, the track sloped downwards.

“We'll pick up a few G's on our way down.  Nothing to worry about.”  Jinkins was
still standing at the front, holding bars on either side, smiling back at all of them in amusement.

The gondola accelerated
down towards a mist at the bottom of the crater.  The wind rushing by the glass became louder with the descent and made the cabin vibrate alarmingly.

Henry, grasping the sides of his seat with white knuckles, said, “How long till we reach the shaft?”

“You mean the portal?” Jinkins grinned.  “Any moment, now.”

“And what's down there that could
possibly
be worth this?” Lady Shrewsbury protested, her cheeks jiggling.

At that very moment, the vehicle shot through the mist into
quickening darkness and the vibration stopped, a whooshing sound taking its place.  Tiny lights flicked on in the ceiling.  Lights around the sides of the gondola popped on, reflecting off water far below them.

Everyone in the gondola was startled except for Jinkins.  He stood there, still grinning.  “
No one here has an aversion to speed, I hope,” he said, rubbing his hands together and taking a seat.  He pulled down his harness and latched it securely.

Aubrey heard Lady Shrewsbury cry out “JINKINS YOU FOOL!” as she eyed a drop in the track ahead of them.  As they went down, the gondola took a graduated nosedive, pushing them back in their seats as it accelerated.  Some cries escaped from the passengers as they went over.

Aubrey threw her hands up and let loose a scream, giggling like a little girl.  Henry shot her a look of disgust, his face contorted with anxiety.  She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled, kicking her legs in excitement.

She didn't feel like she was dropping; it was more like being strapped to a
rocket because the extreme speed.  They flew past a rocky outcropping and plunged down beside the gushing waterfall straight towards a watery abyss.  Soon they had splashed into the water and all she could see was bubbles rushing by on all sides.  A muffled, metallic screaming emitted from under their feet and the vibration resumed.

A voice came from the speakers, “Prepare yourselves for a world beyond imagining.”  It was barely audible over the noise, but Aubrey didn't care to listen to it as she was literally locked in her seat.

Then the lights went out.

“Jinkins?” Henry's voice shouted.

“Not to worry!” came the reply, “Almost there!”  A brilliant spot of illumination appeared before them, fast approaching.

Aubrey saw the sparkle of millions of drops of water all around them rushing down the shaft, and before she knew it they had reached the opening.  With a tremendous whoosh the gondola swept through a gush of water and past a pink fog. 

Aubrey's eyes widened with disbelief.  The craft was slowly leveling to float next to a waterfall that fell from the fog where they had emerged, and it seemed that some of the water was dissipating and becoming the fog, or cloud itself.  The rest of the waterfall cascaded thousands of feet down, evaporating into nothing.  And downward beyond that was a landscape of ridged peaks separated by vast valleys full of lush gigantic trees that swayed in visibly misty winds.

Water flowed everywhere, toppling off the ridges and flowing all around to pool in huge churning lakes.  The lakes glowed with a bright turquoise light from within.

Shooting out of the ground in enormous geysers and cascading off some of the ridges were flows of lava that steamed as they collided with the water.  Around the lava, thin whirlwinds frequently developed and disappeared.

The horizon far in the distance was strong white light that was more radiant toward the ground where it took on a pink and yellow hue.  Steam rose from everywhere and settled as clouds in the midst of the air.  The clouds at the ceiling jumped up and down in a myriad of pyramids, like the underside of a churning sea.

The harnesses suddenly made a clunking sound and lifted up.  Jinkins rose and stood before them, adjusting his white-spotted bow tie.  “Welcome to Paradeisia, my friends.  You're not disappointed, I hope.”

He said this, but it was clear from the amusement playing on his face that he knew they were not.  No one answered him at any rate because they were all staring in speechless awe.

Finally, Lady Shrewsbury, her fingers covering her mouth, breathed in wonderment, “Jinkins, you
fool
.”

Jinkins smiled with pleasure at her remark, saying, “I told you the trip would be worth your while.  Paradeisia holds so many wonders, we haven't even begun to explore them all.”

The gondola was free floating.  Now, it turned and began a gradual descent toward the surface.

“Who's driving this thing?” Henry asked.

“It drives itself, following a programmed route,” Jinkins said, “but when needs-be, it can be driven remotely at Central Command, in the FlyRail Hub building.”

“Drives itself?” Lady Shrewsbury exclaimed.  “And just where is it taking us?”

“Over there,” Jinkins pointed to a series of nine twisting coils of stone and vegetation that rose high above the landscape, forming vast, thin arches.

The gondola soared on, passing around some of the giant globes of rainbow luminescence along the way.  As they passed over one of the lakes, Aubrey noticed that the waves undulated slowly, as if she was viewing them through a slow-motion camera.  A myriad of bubbles were rising up to the surface in areas.  And in the water she spotted schools of fish.  Some of them were very large.  And then, to her amazement, she saw something unbelievable.

Jinkins explained, “You would think there wasn't room enough to sustain whales in those lakes, but we believe they are all connected, creating one large sea.”

Henry's face had transformed from awe to consternation.  “What is the size of this place?”

Jinkins shook his head, “We don't know.”

“You don't know?” Henry said skeptically.

“Yes, we don't know.  The gondolas can only go so far on their own power, and we spent most of our time building the portal to get them down here.”

“And how is it that we are floating?”

“Well that's a question for our
engineers, but essentially the same facts of physics that make a hot air balloon float on the surface cause us to float down here.”

“Hmm.  And yet, I don't see any balloon,” Henry said.

Lady Shrewsbury interrupted, “Oh you don't need engineers to explain that for you, Henry...  It's quite simple.”

“Is it?” Henry asked.

Her eyes twinkling with laughter, she replied, “Oh yes.  We have
you
to thank for our buoyancy.”

Henry cleared his throat, “And just how i
s that?”

“Hot air.
”

Henry
was not amused.

Jinkins, looking confused,
suggested, “It's actually helium, I believe.”

As they approached the arches, the gondola lowered and Aubrey realized that the trees were in fact taller even than they had appeared from above.  They were as tall as skyscrapers.  Some of the leaves were the width of cars.  Huge vines grew up around the arches and below them was grass.

The gondola moved down under the first arch and came to land on an area that had a slab of concrete for that purpose.

Jinkins said, “The pressure is going to gradually equalize with the atmosphere.  Don't worry if your ears feel a bit funny, and by funny, I
do mean ticklish.” 

Aubrey's ears did feel funny as a whooshing sound came from the floor.   But she also noticed that the air became warm and she suddenly felt energized and refreshed
, even almost buoyant.  Slowly, the gondola doors opened.  She inhaled the scent of the organic, misty, fresh air.  It was kind of like stepping into one of those rainforest environments at the zoo.

Jinkins led the way out as everyone followed.  All the vegetation that surrounded them was huge.
  Aubrey found that walking was almost effortless.

“So you might be looking at these arches and saying, what magnificent stone formations,” Jinkins said, smiling mysteriously.  “But I invite you to take another look.  There is more
here than meets the eye.”

Aubrey
gazed up at the stone.  What she wanted to know was how did each of these arches not come crashing down?  They were incredibly thin in comparison to their immense breadth and seemed to shoot up out of nowhere from one side of the valley to the other.

Jinkins pointed out away from the arches.  “Look this way.”

There was a trail of huge boulders leading out from the arch, all close together and forming a very long line that curved out.  Lush brush was growing out of cracks in the stones.  At the end, a rock full of cracks and potholes was filled with vegetation.

“This is no stone formation,” Jinkins said, very much delighted
with everyone's consternation.

Everyone stared at him in expectation, but he just peered at them with a childish grin.

“Well for pitty’s sake what is it, Jinkins?” Lady Shrewsbury huffed.

“This
, my dear travelers, is a fossil.  And by fossil, I do mean skeleton.”

Aubrey took another sweeping glance and immediately realized that they had all missed the obvious; the arches were ribs and the stone trail leading away was a spine
; each boulder a vertebra.  At the far end was what must have been a crushed skull.  On the other hand, it was no wonder they'd missed it; the ribcage was the size of a stadium.

“Yes,” Jinkins said, “This was a very large beast, indeed.  And the only way we realized it was a skeleton at all was when one of the scientists hacked off a sample to identify the minerals of the rock.”

“So what kind of beast is it?  And when did it die?” Henry asked, seeming skeptical that it was a skeleton at all.

“We don't know...” Jinkins said, “But we have no doubt it was alive and we suspect it was a marine organism—only a marine animal could be this large.”

Lady Shrewsbury piped up, “Well it didn't die recently, I hope.”  She covered her nose as if to filter a bad smell.

Jinkins chuckled, “Oh no, it's been thou
sands of years at the very l—” he was suddenly interrupted by a horrific sound echoing across the valley.  Everyone froze.  The sound was unmistakable.

A man was screaming.

He burst out of the brush near the edge of the bone formation.  He was totally bare and his gaunt eyes were open wide with terror.  He was stooped over, half lumbering on all fours.  He was so emaciated, his panting breath could be seen in his ribs.  His hair and beard were torn and thin.  Bruises and streaks of blood covered his skin from his thin hands to his feet.  When he reached the group, he fell on his knees before Aubrey.  Slowly, coughing, he raised its face.  His lips looked stretched and were chafed and bleeding; his cheekbones were visible through the taught skin.  His eyes were gaunt as he raised them to Aubrey, who put a hand to her mouth and stepped back with a gasp.

A hoarse voice came from the weak lungs,
“
Save me.
”  Then he collapsed to the ground.

Jinkins stepped to the man and stooped to one knee, placing a hand on his shoulder.  “Andrews?” he said with deep concern.  “Is that you?”

United Nations Security Council

Doctor Martin said, “The ability, or sixth sense, of which I am speaking that we use all the time is very well known and utilized by the security industry.  By it they prevent thefts every day all over the world.