Lost on Jord Read online

  Lost on Jord

  By Allan Joyal

  Copyright 2015 Allan Joyal

  Chapter 1: Express Elevator to Where?

  I strode down the hotel's hallway, stopping when I reached the small lobby area to wait for the elevators. The area was already filled with the rest of the team and Eddie smirked as I walked up.

  "Good," he said curtly. "The whole team is here now. I want this meeting to be short. I have some calls I want to make before lunch."

  Lydia rolled her eyes and shook her head at this. I could also see Steve lean over and whisper something to Dave. I just kept my mouth shut and tried to avoid speaking my mind. Our boss just turned around to look at the elevators, rocking back and forth on his heels.

  Just then a door opened down the hallway and the shouts of several young and excited girls rang out. Steve just sighed and then leaned towards me. "Leave it to the perv to schedule the company's semi-annual sales meeting at Daytona in the middle of spring break."

  I heard Lydia snort from just in front of us. "At least he only requires us to be here for one day for the formal meeting. I wonder if anyone plans on staying past tonight."

  I sighed. "If it wasn't for his father owning the company, he wouldn't have a job at all." I wondered how far in advance Eddie had set this up, since the company was paying for the hotel rooms. There were no vacancies within twenty miles of the beach, but we were set up just two blocks from where the college kids were throwing their parties.

  We all looked at Eddie, who had turned and was gazing hopefully down the hallway. It was clear he was hoping for some bikini-clad women to be arriving shortly and I could picture him drooling if one should happen to get on the same elevator that he was on. Once again I found myself regretting the familial loyalty that gave him his position as head of the sales department.

  Geoffrey Daniel Hughes had created a thriving company specializing in the national distribution and maintenance of computerized, automatic alcohol storage and service units. The units were extremely popular with restaurants and even with a few wealthy businessmen who wanted to show off the size of their wine cellars in a new way. He was a caring and intelligent businessman and a joy to work for.

  His eldest son was another matter. The general consensus among the employees of Hughes Engineering was that his mother had spoiled him while he was growing up. The boy might now be twenty-seven and legally an adult, but he spent most of his time looking for ways to chase girls and party. In the six years since I had been a member of the sales team at Hughes, the only "work" Eddie performed was leading these semi-annual meetings, which always seemed to occur during some event guaranteed to attract lots of bikini-clad coeds. I had inquired to Geoff about this. The man had listened quietly to my complaint and then stared into the distance with a thoughtful look on his face. When he turned back, he asked me to show patience with his eldest offspring. The company was not quite big enough to park the man in a true figurehead position. Until that happened, Steve, Lydia, Dave and I had to do the real sales work while Eddie sat at his desk doing nothing.

  My thoughts on the situation were interrupted when the elevator arrived with a ping. Once the doors opened, Eddie strutted into the chamber before turning and smiling as the rest of the sales team quickly followed. I settled into the front next to the buttons and was pressing the button for the ground floor when a female voice called out. "Wait for us!"

  Immediately, I hit the button to hold the doors open as Dave smirked. "Trust Ron to be in position to play savior for some young ladies."

  I ignored the comment as four coeds dashed into the elevator. It was clear they were planning on a trip to the beach as each one was wearing a bikini top and shorts. Each was also carrying a towel and a bag. One looked over at me. "Thanks," she said before her eyes widened. "Wait, you aren't here for break!"

  "Sorry," I replied. "I'm just a businessman here for a quick meeting."

  The coed frowned and turned back to her friends. They immediately started a loud conversation about their plans for the day. I kept an eye on Eddie and could see the almost predatory smile when the girls talked about a wet t-shirt contest scheduled for that night at one of the local bars. I had no doubt he was trying to work out a way to convince a girl to attend and perform.

  I watched Eddie as he tried to squeeze out from behind Steve and Dave. My coworkers were standing such that he was trapped in the back corner of the elevator. Neither spoke a word, but I noticed them shifting with each push, making sure that Eddie was kept separated from the coeds.

  Eddie looked ready to protest, but the elevator reached another floor and the doors opened. Immediately a horde of men and women dressed for the beach flowed into the elevator, pushing on in until there was barely room to breathe. I pulled Lydia so that she could shelter behind me and against the wall. She whimpered slightly before whispering, "Thanks."

  I said nothing, but waited for the horde to settle in before pressing the button for the lobby once more. The elevator was packed with more than twenty people, and I worriedly looked over at the certificate to see the maximum weight the elevator was supposed to hold. Before I could find it, there was a massive jerk and the motion of the car stopped for a moment.

  Most of the college students screamed in terror and started to jump around in the cramped space. I immediately stiffened my arms to shield Lydia and cried out, "Calm down! Panic won't do us any good!"

  My shout was ignored, and the situation got worse when the elevator returned to motion. The problem was that it was clearly rising. I reached for the emergency stop and pulled it, but the car continued to rise at an even faster pace as the coeds screamed in fear. Eddie gave his own bellow of terror as my mental count convinced me that the elevator had risen at least fifty floors in what was only a ten-story building. Desperately I fought from crying out in fear. I was about to lose the fight when the motion finally ended and the doors opened.

  The college students were still screaming, but I pushed them enough to squeeze past and step out of the elevator. As I left the car, I heard Lydia cry out in alarm. "Ron!"

  The instant I was outside I realized that something was very wrong. Instead of standing on some carpet, my shoes were making impressions in grass that would not have looked out of place on a putting green at the Augusta National Golf Club. I glanced upward and was rewarded with a view of a gloomy gray sky filled with clouds.

  I knelt down to take a closer look at the grass. At first I was thinking that this was some kind of hallucination, but some of the college students started tentatively exiting the elevator, and their cries of surprise convinced me that I was not alone in my confusion. My quick check of the grass was not providing me any answers so I decided to look around.

  I felt Lydia come up behind me and put her arms around me as I looked around. The elevator was sitting in a strange circular field of grass. The area was perhaps twenty yards across, and then transitioned almost immediately into dense forest. Dave must have exited because I could hear him sigh. "There is no way this is a natural clearing."

  Several of the college students looked over at him, but I nodded as Lydia continued to clutch my chest. "It definitely doesn't look that way. I haven't seen grass this flat and fine since my last round of golf while trying to sell to Marvin."

  "Where are we?" Steve asked.

  "Who cares! Ron, you are supposed to be some expert on everything, get us home!" Eddie called out. He was standing in the doorway of the elevator and looking around wildly.

  I turned to speak to Eddie. Lydia relaxed her arms while I turned, and then tightened them again as I stopped turning, burying her head against my shoulder. I put my arm around her and looked at the man who had been my boss only moments before. "Eddie, I don't know where we are, or how we got here. And
without knowing that, it's a bit hard to get everyone home."

  "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Dave said mournfully.

  Eddie stormed out of the elevator's doorway to stand in front of me. "Don't give me your lip! I can still have you fired you know!"

  I wanted to glare at Eddie, but a shimmering behind him caught my attention. The now empty elevator seemed to turn into mist and vanish from the clearing. One of the coeds gasped and pointed. Eddie whirled around, and his own scream of frustration rang out a moment later.

  It seemed to be a moment where I should say something, but before I could there was a new shimmering in the clearing. I turned to view it and watched in silence as two more elevators slowly solidified. The other people from my elevator screamed and scrambled backwards several feet.

  Lydia was squeezing my chest in panic as I stood there. I then turned to look at Steve, who was slowly backing up. "Well, it appears we aren't going to be alone here," I quipped.

  Steve just glared. "And where is here?" he growled.

  "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Wasn't that what you just said?" I replied, giving Lydia a squeeze, which caused her to giggle. I let her hold me a moment longer and then spoke again. "Lydia, I might need to be able to move around. Can you let go?"

  Lydia shook her head into my shoulder, but then relaxed her arms and slowly stepped away. "Sorry," she whispered. "I'm a bit scared."

  "I'll tell you a secret," I said as I watched the other two elevators continue to solidify in the clearing. "So am I." It was happening slowly so I took a moment to look over the group who had been riding the elevator in Daytona. There appeared to be about twenty college age men and women, most dressed for the beach, and then my four coworkers.

  I was thinking of speaking to some of the college students when one of the coeds pointed towards an elevator and gave another cry of alarm. I turned to look and found the doors slowly opening.

  Around me, it seemed that all the college students were poised to run. Once the doors were opened completely, the first person to tumble out of the elevator was a woman in her mid-twenties wearing a one-piece swimsuit and a beach cover-up. She stopped in shock. "Harold! Where are we?" she cried with a strong English accent.

  My instincts said to step forward and speak, but before I could move the other elevator's doors opened. A man wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase stepped out. "What the fuck was that?" he called out. "Fucking building maintenance is supposed to prevent things like that. I swear I'm going to sue them once I get to my office... ." His rant stopped as he finally looked around. Silence reigned for a moment and then a wail of despair and confusion came from the elevator he had just stepped from. "Where's the office?"

  It seemed that the passengers in both elevators panicked slightly at this question, and a number of shouts of fear and anger rang out. The group around me stood silently and watched as people began to crowd just outside both cars. I was thinking of stepping forward when something roared off to my left. Everyone whirled to look and watched in silence as a large silhouette rose up in the cloudy sky.

  Lydia gasped next to me as the shadow stopped rising and began moving towards the clearing. I found myself looking at the figure. From the amount of time it took to rise up and the size of the shadow it cast, I figured that it was the size of a small bus. The body had risen up on bat-like wings and had a thin flexible neck ending in a large bulbous head. The roar had been the only sound from it. Once it had finished rising, the wings unfurled into two huge surfaces. The creature glided forward, passing over the clearing without stopping and then, after one more powerful thrust of its wings, vanished above the trees.

  Dave was gasping in shock and fear. "What was that?"

  "Let's see," Steve said. "Large, reptilian, and those wings. I'd say it was a dragon, but those don't exist."

  "Not on Earth," I admitted. "However, I'm increasingly sure that we aren't on Earth anymore."

  The appearance of the dragon, if that was what it really was, had initially caused many of the people to dash for the edges of the clearing. Now they straggled back to the middle and the crowd. As they did, the last of the people who had ridden the same elevator as the woman in the one-piece swimsuit had emerged. Much like the one that I had ridden to this clearing, it vanished the instant the last person exited.

  "Steve," I said. "Somehow I get a feeling that we're going to have to move eventually. What do you think?"

  My coworker looked around. His eyes actually widened as he gazed behind us at the forest. "The clearing seems to be shrinking slowly," he whispered. "Yes, we should move, but where?"

  Lydia had put her arms around me again but, before I could respond, a scream rang out. I looked in the direction of the scream. It had come from just outside the last remaining elevator. A young woman wearing a very professional looking skirt and blouse was pointing through the still opened doors. To my surprise, the walls of the elevator were fading rapidly.

  The woman who had screamed seemed upset by something inside the elevator, but the few people in the area who had a clear view refused to move towards the doorway. Most of the others stood quietly, looking over at the fading elevator. When it finally vanished, it revealed the bloody dismembered torso of a man. Lydia turned away as Eddie bent over to vomit on the grass.

  "He refused to leave the elevator," sobbed the woman who had screamed. "When it started to fade, something ripped him apart."

  I looked over at Steve and then at the borders of the clearing. Once again it seemed that the clearing was a bit smaller. "Well, looking at things, I'm guessing that this clearing won't stay safe for much longer." I scanned the horizon. There were mountains rising above the trees in one direction, and two of the others were where the dragon either appeared or disappeared. Finally I pointed away from the mountains. The dragon had appeared to my left and disappeared to the right, so this was the one direction that appeared safe. "Let's gather at the edge of the clearing in that direction. Talk to a couple others if you can, but don't take too long. We should be going."

  Steve nodded and turned away. Lydia was standing next to me and quickly walked over to the cluster of four coeds who had boarded the elevator on our floor. I could see her waving to them as she approached. Eddie was standing to the side and wiping his mouth with a handkerchief. I was about to find someone to talk to when Dave approached me.

  "I can't," he said.

  "What?" I asked.

  "I can't go. I know that this clearing probably isn't safe, especially after what happened to that man, but I just can't. I'm sorry," he whispered.

  I put my right hand on my coworker's shoulder for a moment. He had pulled out his wallet and removed a picture from it. My own eyes teared up a bit as I saw that he was holding a family portrait. I had met his wife Sandy, and knew of his two young children. His decision to stay was understandable, even if it was most likely going to end in his death.

  I headed towards the point I had suggested the others gather. The fact that I was willing to walk towards the edge of the clearing attracted attention. Several of the other people watched me closely. When I stopped only five feet or so from the edge of the clearing, one of the men wearing a suit wandered over. "What are you doing?"

  "After seeing what happened to that man who refused to leave the elevator, I get a feeling that staying in the clearing is a bad idea. So I'm going to be leaving. Hopefully some people will go with me."

  "That's the wrong direction!" a suit-wearing man shouted scornfully from a cluster of people gathered in the direction where the dragon first appeared. "We have no idea what's in that direction. But we know that that winged monstrosity left the ground for some reason. We should go that way!"

  I just stared at the man for a moment and then turned away. I could see a couple of the women from the other elevators wander over near me. Most looked confused and nervous. I wanted to say something when Lydia came over leading four coeds. The girls were all in bikini tops and shorts. Lydia had a big
smile on her face. "Ron! Look at how much I trust you. I told these women that you could protect them like you protect me."

  I shook my head at that as Steve came over leading two more coeds and one college age man. I could see Eddie trailing behind with a grumpy look on his face.

  "We won't get any more," Steve said. "Some loudmouth in a suit is organizing another group to head towards where the dragon was, and there are a couple women insisting on organizing a group to sit down in protest."

  "Not sure what they are going to protest," I replied. I scanned over the group that had gathered near me. With the inclusion of a woman wearing a professional suit who had wandered nearby and the man who had accosted me and never left, we had about fifteen men and women. Most were looking at me patiently although the one man was scowling slightly.

  "Well, if we won't get more people, we should get started," I said. "I'd love for us to do introductions and all, but we might be better off moving away a bit before the clearing becomes unsafe."

  I turned and walked the final few steps to reach the edge of the clearing. As I passed from the clearing into the trees, I felt the tingle of static flow over my body. Once that stopped, I found myself in what appeared to be a hardwood forest in the middle of fall. A riot of yellow, red, and brown leaves covered the trees.

  "It's fall?" a female voice said from just behind me as I walked about ten yards into the forest. I turned around to see a blond coed huddling in a blue bikini and gazing at the trees.

  "Appears to be," I said. "But I'm no expert on trees." I looked back and could see the rest of my group step through the barrier and enter the forest. Most paused for a brief moment once they had passed through the field at the edge of the clearing, but none turned back and soon we were all gathered in the forest.

  Steve looked around. "You were right," he said to me. "This definitely isn't Kansas. Where are we, and why do the trees look like it's fall?"

  A coed with long brunette hair bent down and picked up one of the leaves. She turned it over in her hands several times. The leaf itself was brown and part of it crumbled as she lifted it for a closer look. "It is fall," she said. "I don't recognize the exact species, but this is an oak leaf. Are we in the Southern Hemisphere?"