The Central Mountains Republic, part 4 by Joe Rathbone THIS IS IT! A FANTASTIC NEW WORLD AWAITS . . . . . . . . So the next morning, it was off flying once more, this time headed up and over the Atlantic Ocean. Nothing but azure blue below them was a new experience not only for Py Nae Kot's Parents and Sunn, but for Py Nae Kot herself. She had only flown over Puget Sound and approached the Pacific Ocean, but never way out over it. They reached altitude and settled for a relaxing three or so hours to Bermuda. As far north latitude as South Carolina, and swept by Atlantic winds, Bermuda promised not to be so oppresively hot as Florida. All was peace. The skies at their altitude were peaceful although there were some cumulus clouds below them indicating thermals and possible small storms. The droning of the engines lulled her Parents and Sunn to sleep. Being the Pilot, she had to make sure and stay awake. The EX-2000 flew itself, not only routinely in keeping wings level, consistent altitude and heading, but in navigation. It always knew where it was and knew how to get there itself. Py Nae Kot could kick back and read magazines. After a time, Py Nae Kot was nearly nodding to sleep when a change in heading woke her up. The EX-2000's computer suddenly changed heading, banking into a turn, out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean then began to descend. They were at 30,000 feet. Py Nae Kot, before over-riding to manual, checked to see what that electronic brain was up to. She pressed F3 on the key-board for "inquiry". The CRT displayed "ON COURSE FOR BERMUDA GENERAL AIRPORT". The next line read, "Presently descending to 8000 to avoid C.A.T.s, and temporarily adjusting heading to avoid severe turbulent updrafts invisible to the eye." "Huh!" Py Nae Kot muttered, "I don't see a thing! I wonder if that's true or has this thing popped a transistor somewhere?" She decided to go along with it for a while, watching carefully for aberrant behavior. They descended to the much lower altitude of 8000 feet. The ride was bumpier due to being much closer to the cumulus clouds and their thermal disturbance. Py Nae Kot's Parents and Sunn woke up. Then Py Nae Kot REALLY became concerned when their air-speed was cut way down by the computer-"pilot" and even extended full flaps! Py Nae Kot checked the instruments; air-speed 180 miles per hour, altitude 8000 feet... "Chuggin' along with full flaps in the middle of nowhere? "This computer done lost its mind! I'm over-riding to manual!" Py Nae Kot declared as she pressed a large button marked "Computer Over-Ride". The over-ride button had always worked before! But not THIS TIME! Though she pressed and pressed, the EX-2000 kept doing its thing. "What's the matter?" asked Sunn and both Parents almost in unison. "The computer on board this thing has us on some strange heading and is not letting go to manual!" Py Nae Kot's said, her voice tense. Press and press and press that over-ride button though she did, the Computer would not let go of the controls! The computer continued to fly the EX-2000 at as slow as 150 miles per hour with full flaps, and on top of that, it kept steering this way and that, as if looking for something. "Can you get to the computer and unplug it!?" asked Sunn. "I don't know if it's even accessible from the cabin, or what would happen if the whole thing were disconnected and..." Py Nae Kot was interrupted by a strange voice, not her Parents' not Sunn's, but another woman's... The voice was from the computer's digitized sound system. Py Nae Kot has heard it before. Actual human voices, recorded digitally and stored in ROM chips, would say things to Py Nae Kot sometimes, mostly greetings. Usually they were male voices. But this time, the voice was female. Py Nae Kot glanced at the CRT - her eyes opened wide with amazement, "Look at that!" Py Nae Kot exclaimed! There on the CRT screen, was a highly detailed and life-like display of a lovely Native American Woman's face. She seemed to be speaking to them. She said, in a very natural, high fidelity voice, "Please do NOT be frightened of what is happening. We are about to enter a portal to a different time where you, Py Nae Kot, can help rule, once again, as is your place! A dynamic and wonderful land and people await you! Please fasten all seat-belts and harnesses, the passage is very turbulent! Also please do not be frightened of what you may see or even feel. It is typical to experience such sights as we pass through multiple dimensions on the way to the future time. We will be entering the portal in 30 seconds." "What th'..." muttered Py Nae Kot. "What in the devil is that thing talking about!?" asked a worried Sunn. "Hey! Look at THAT!" he added exclaiming. The image of the attractive Native American woman had "zoomed out" showing her entire body! And it was a "knock- out"! She appeared tall and regal, athletic and strong although her muscles were not as prominent as those of Py Nae Kot. And she was dressed only in beads around her neck, and waist. Topless, she wore only a glowing-white, lacy thong looking thing. An aura surrounded her. White Dove declared, "That's a GODDESS!" "YES," agreed her Father, "I have heard of this Goddess, the one dressed in scant snow-white and beads." "What are you all talking about?" asked Py Nae Kot. Mother advised, "Maybe you should heed the image, I think we MAY be under some kind of divine guidance!" Py Nae Kot exclaimed, "We haven't a choice BUT to HEED! I can't get this thing off computer control. I have no control over it!... Wait a minute, have I seen her before!? Seems like... Hey, the sky, what's happening?..." The sky suddenly took on a ruddy red hue, accompanied by a sever buffeting of the plane! More severe turbulence and the sky went dark! "I think we just got swallowed!" exclaimed Sunn! The turbulence cause the plane to tumble completely out of control. They had just fastened all the seat belts, and a good thing too, or else they would have been banging and bouncing about like beads in a baby's rattle! "IT'S GONNA RIP US APART!" exclaimed Py Nae Kot of the severe tumbling and somersaulting the plane was going through. Suddenly, silence! They felt like they were falling helplessly into a bottomless pit. A tingling arose on their skin. They all looked at themselves to see a frightening, eerie greenish glow off their skin! Out side too! The only source of intermittent light were flashes of lightning that seem to come from nowhere! They heard ominous chanting that seem to be coming from a thousand voices. Py Nae Kot gasped suddenly as she beheld between her and Sunn, a hideously deformed creature shiny with brown-yellowish slime grinning at her. Strings of cohesive slime hung from it, and between its limbs and body. Translucent it was, it disappeared as quick as it appeared. White Dove advised, "Keep your eyes on the Goddess! On the screen! Just don't look at ANYTHING ELSE!" Sunn heeded, as did Robert Blue Owl. Py Nae Kot herself finally gave up trying to regain control and gazed upon the Goddess also." On the CRT, the Goddess stood there quietly in a regal pose and a comforting expression on her face. She was on one side of the CRT's display. Beside her were various data that Py Nae Kot did not understand completely. It seemed to be counting down various events. "25, 24, 23 etc. seconds to entering third level dimension- set..." "What the hell is that all..." Py Nae Kot was interrupted when suddenly, more severe buffeting hit them hard. Accompanied by loud rushing and rumbling noises, Py Nae Kot and Sunn were worried if the plane was going to rip apart or at least loose its wings. Py Nae Kot's Parents on the other hand, were surprisingly calm. Hanging on tightly, her Parents just stared at the Goddess on the screen! Py Nae Kot commented, "Nice to believe in things like that, isn't it!?" Py Nae Kot was not to sanguine about her Parents trusting a computer's image and audio. But they really thought it was a Goddess! It was something apparently from their childhood, stories they heard from very aged Native Americans who remembered the way it used to be. However, Py Nae Kot herself kept thinking, "I've seen her before, but where!?" Suddenly, as quick as it closed in on them, the turbulence ceased and the skies became bright again! But the plane was tumbling wildly. As far as Py Nae Kot could tell, they were still 8000 feet up. "If I can't stop the tumbling, we'll crash into the Ocean!" But the onboard computer skillfully worked the right controls and revved the engines all at precisely the right time, reacting to every tumble far more quickly than any human pilot could. Quickly, the tumbling was brought under control and the EX-2000 righted itself. As Py Nae Kot and Sunn sat back and breathed sighs of relief, the EX-2000 revved engines hard to quickly increase speed and begin climbing. They were all pushed back into their seats as the turbines roared, climbing and accelerating. And all without any input from Py Nae Kot! The plane seemed to have an intelligence of its own, returning to a heading all on its own and of its choice. The Goddess, or, that is, the computer, through its sound-circuits and video on the CRT, spoke to them once again. "Welcome to 69 million, 700 thousand years future to the time you just left." The image cleared the data, and zoomed back close onto the Goddess's lovely face! "Please do not attempt disengaging the automatic controls, as you are not familiar with the geography. We are on a heading towards the west-north-west for a city called Central Capital. It is the capital city of a country called the Central Mountains Republic. Please sit back and enjoy the fantastic scenery. All piloting including the landing at Central Capital Airport will be accomplished by automatic systems. You may press F3 at any time to bring up maps of where we are. Use arrow keys to navigate the maps. Use F11 to move in closer to any map for details, or F12 to move out for the big picture. Use the maps to familiarize yourself to the new world you just entered. Use F3 at anytime to bring back my image and any updates that I may have as too our progress. I will cut in if the update is urgent. For now, enjoy your flight! With the time-portal behind us, we should have smooth conditions for the remainder of our flight." With that, the CRT image zoomed out from the Goddess, once again displaying her entire good looking body! Her image was moved to one side and decorative images and fonts appeared saying, "Auto Pilot to CENTRAL CAPITAL please relax." Underneath in small, plain fonts was, "F3 for MAPS". And so they sat, the EX-2000 climbing out to 40,000 feet, flaps withdrawn, and under way on a specific heading all without Py Nae Kot's input. "The controls just will NOT respond! Looks like I TOO am going to be a passenger with the rest of you, for the balance of THIS trip!" concluded Py Nae Kot. "We ARE being guided; we are being brought here for a reason. And you, Daughter Py Nae Kot, are the crux!" declared her Mother. Py Nae Kot stared at the image of the Goddess for a while, standing there like a sentinel, regal in pose on the CRT. "NOW I REMEMBER!!!" Everyone jumped out of their seats when Py Nae Kot shouted so loudly! "Remember WHAT, for heaven's sake!?" exclaimed a startled Mom. "Mom, Dad, you say this Goddess is one you know? You've heard of it... uh, her?" Mom replied, "Our people have known of her since a time of great antiquity. She IS a Goddess who watches over our people." "Well, does she... have you ever heard of her communicating to someone... uh... in their thoughts? Like, sort of directly... into the brain?" Dad answered Py Nae Kot, "Yes indeed! In fact, that is how the Gods or Goddesses communicate. Usually Shamans receive their messages when they put themselves into special trances. A Shaman would go into the wilderness to get away from distractions. After spending a few days meditating, messages from Gods would be imparted to him, direct into his subconscious. Then the Shaman would return, with increased knowledge and understanding so he could provide wise counsel." "Do the Gods ever communicate with ordinary people?... you know, non-Shamans?" "It may have happened... I can't remember clear... so long ago... my Great Grand-Father related an incident... But I'm sure it has happened, rarely. Our ancient ancestors did not keep written records, so any such incident would be buried in heaps of legend." "Well... several months ago, before that guy Andy Black Deer ever gave me this plane, but well after I had been dancing, something weird happened when I was watching TV....." Py Nae Kot told them of what happened that morning after her Mother confronted her about her first performance at the night-club... "Yes, yes!" both Mom and Dad said, almost in unison. "A spirit HAS contacted you, IS guiding you and probably IS WITH US - (GASP!) - SHH!... RIGHT NOW!" Her Parents became very reverent when they concluded some powerful Goddess possessing an immortal life span may right now be with them, un-seen! Py Nae Kot was still not to sure about that Goddess business, but she knew what she experienced several months ago, and that something was going on! Some intelligence was definitely orchestrating events even now unfolding. Py Nae Kot kicked back in her seat and relaxed, staring at the image of what the consensus was, a Goddess..... Way up over an ocean now, far ahead could be seen the peaks of what appeared to be fantastically huge mountains. Yet, the United States East coast has no such mountains at all! Further inland and northward, the east has low, rolling mountains averaging 3800 feet, but NOTHING like those ahead. They assumed the ocean below was the Atlantic, but after what ever it was they went through, it could be ANY ocean! It SEEMED correct... after all, they WERE headed East, to Bermuda, and now, their WESTWARD heading would take them back to the main-land. They were little more than an hour out, so if they turned around to head back, AND IF United States South East coast had really big mountains, like the Rockies, or the Himalayas, they COULD just be seen, like the ones they were observing now. But they all knew that the East Coast does not have mountains of that scale. Certainly not the SOUTHEAST. Yet, there they were. Mixed among the clouds, unmistakably conical, characteristically mountainous looking... SNOW CAPPED PEAKS! At where Py Nae Kot estimated to be about GEORGIA! The only way to know for sure would be to wait and see what they were when they drew closer. As they flew, soon they could see the shore-line 40,000 feet below them. It did NOT look at ALL like the U.S. South-East coast. First of all, there was no sign of human habitation. No evidence of any towns, roads or farms. The air was clear enough to see this. Although details of the ground are not readily discernible from 40,000 feet, it IS possible to see traces indicating roads, grayish, angular areas indicating cities, and checker-board patterns of different bluish and bluish-green hues indicating farm-land. Ahead, those mountains now glared down at their pert little air- craft as if daring them "just try and fly over us"! They were bigger than they thought! As they drew closer and closer, their plane cruising at 40,000 feet remember, many of the peaks soared way OVER them! Mountains over 40,000 feet high! "Look at the height of those peaks! They're OVER us! That's impossible! Where in heavens are we!?" Py Nae Kot exclaimed as she observed the mountains. Her Mother, not that familiar with World Geography and not quite sure what upset Py Nae Kot so, asked, "Why do you find the HEIGHT of these mountains so distressing?" Py Nae Kot replied, "The very most highest mountain in the entire world is Everest, at about 25,000 feet! But look at those! We are cruising at 40,000 feet, and those mudders are STILL over us! These things would make Everest and the rest of the Himalayas look like FOOT-HILLS in comparison!" The really super big peaks were still ahead. Below them, they were already over "record" high mountains. The peaks of them seemed to be reaching up towards their air-craft. Py Nae Kot estimated their heights to be 20,000 to 30,000 feet. As the EX-2000 cruised ahead, the computer began to bank the plane into a turn. They were headed straight toward a humongous monster mountain whose peaks seemed to look down at them with a defiant gaze. There was no flying OVER that behemoth. Py Nae Kot estimated its peak to be about 60,000 feet, or well into the stratosphere! The plane could only fly AROUND it! The computer seemed to know what to do with out ANY input from Py Nae Kot. In the midst of them now, ahead, behind, to the left and to the right, lofty peaks of 45,000 to 55,000 or more feet were all around! Below, the valleys were completely shrouded by cloud cover, keeping secret the characters of the valleys. The EX-2000, under control of its computer, was dodging, this way and that, avoiding mountains, way up here at 40,000 feet! There was never any danger actually, as the super high peaks, although all around, were not that close together. Between the super high peaks were many mountains below them they were flying over. The plane had plenty of time to leisurely bank into a turn to avoid a mountain, then bank into another turn to return to course. "But these mega-mountains are NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! What is going on!?" Py Nae Kot asked, desperate for an explanation. Her Mom assured, "The Goddess is bringing us here. She is guiding the plane. Don't worry. Relax and enjoy the scenery. I think the views are absolutely breath-taking!" Py Nae Kot wished she had as much faith in that Goddess or what ever as her parents did. Thought this worried her, her Parents were completely calm and even seemed to be enjoying it! But what ever the attitude, it was clearly evident that the geography was all wrong! This definitely was NOT Georgia, and NOT the United States. In fact, it was not even the EARTH, as they knew it!! After a time they passed the region of super-high peaks. The peaks were getting lower and lower. Later still, the peaks and ridges were not getting any lower, remaining at a fairly constant average. But still, it was a most impressive range of mountains. The peaks averaged 35,000 feet while the ridges averaged 19,000 to 20,000 feet. The EX-2000, having passed that mine-field of peaks, now flew level and straight, still cruising at 40,000 feet and maintaining 465 miles per hour. They had now been flying for three and a half hours since turning around back there over the Ocean. The data on the screen, next to that beautiful Goddess, said "Arrival to Central Capital Airport in two hours, 10 minutes". Py Nae Kot was just another passenger, looking anxiously out the window trying to glean any clue as to where they were. "Two hours... in two hours, we will get some answers!" remarked Py Nae Kot, as she read the data on the screen. The anticipation and anxiety of the approaching landing began to grow. Perhaps thoughts of being greeted by little green men or something resembling UFO aliens with their big, slanted eyes danced around in their heads. Sunn broke the silence, saying, "Didn't that thing say something about 69 million years in the future? If this, that we are seeing, IS a future Earth, an Earth of 69 million years in the future, it could be those mountains are the result of a new mountain-building era, just like times past that we studied about in school." White Dove said, "The Goddess welcomed us to '69 million, 700 thousand years future to the time we just left' to be exact." Py Nae Kot said, "If this is Earth, 69 million years in the future, then yes, that would be sufficient time for new mountains to be built up. However, since mountain building is a violent process, we can assume that what ever civilization was here must have been annihilated. The original civilization, presumably the one we knew, is gone! No telling who or what it is here now!" Sunn added, "69 million years... 69 million years past... that is from OUR FORMER time, would take us back to the dinosaurs, and when mammals were small and unimportant. I sure hope that whoever is bringing us here is at least human!" Py Nae Kot thought a minute, staring at the image of the Goddess... "I think... I think whoever is bringing us here will be human all right, but I think they might be big... VERY big! Like... seven- foot giants!" "How do you know?" asked Mom. "I don't KNOW, but, considering some of those individuals I encountered, Mr. Hingust... the Sales Man..." Py Nae Kot went on to remind her Parents and Sunn of how huge Mr. Hingust was and of that gigantic Sales Manager at Piper. She also related, for the first time, how through spying she found out that Mr. Hingust was really a woman, an over seven-foot-tall, muscular, perhaps over 300 pound woman... "Py Nae Kot! Shame on you for spying in somebody's window like that! However, this IS MOST interesting!" Mom commented. Py Nae Kot stood her ground, "Of course I spied! With all the weird things going on, I was determined to find some answers!" The data on the screen continued to count down their arrival time. One hour, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 5 minutes, down to LESS than an hour, 55 minutes! More time passed. Then they observed, below them, high jagged mountains of perhaps 38,000 feet passed under. The peaks were VERY close to their altitude, almost like they were tickling the underside of the aircraft! Off to the left could be seen a peak that was just slightly ABOVE them. They were passing over a wall of such mountains, beyond which stretched relatively low and rolling land, a rolling prairie of sorts. As soon as the plane passed over the last of the peaks and ridges, they heard the engines rev down and the plane nose down just a bit. The spoilers on the wings opened a little creating a rumbling sound. "It's slowing us down, or at least, keeping our speed constant as we now begin to descend. Looks like this is it!" declared Py Nae Kot. The data on the screen said 38 minutes. Py Nae Kot estimated the rolling ground to be at about 10,000 to 15,000 feet. They could see areas of heavy forestation sprinkled with, at last, a sign of civilization, tell-tale checker-board patterns indicating farm-land! In and out of clouds, their view of the ground was interrupted many times. But barely discernible traces could be seen indicating roads. As they progressed, the areas of farmland increased. Up ahead could be seen, at last, what appeared to be a major city! Partially shrouded by clouds, it was there, a real city, the first they saw since entering this... this world! Things were beginning to speed up now, as they always do as one approaches an airport. Closer to the ground now, they could see great forests interspersed with fields of crops. An occasional small road would pass under them.