2021 (16 page)

‘No, you’re right, Joan’ puzzled Stuart
now looking rather serious. ‘How can there be so many animals, but also such a weird mixture of wild, farm
and
even domestic ones all gathered there together?’

As Jack manned the controls again, he pointed up ahead.

‘HEY! THAT’S NOTHING TO WHAT’S UP AHEAD!’ he sh
outed excitedly as Stuart, Joan and Jenny all ran to stare in the direction he was pointing.

‘I’LL DIP THE NOSE CONE DOWN TO GIVE YOU A BETTER LOOK!’ Jack shouted.

As he did so they could hardly believe their eyes, as what looked like millions more animals were all heading their way.

‘Dad, t
his is just
amazing
!’ enthused Jenny excitedly.

Her father though,
just looked more worried instead.

‘What’s up?’ whispered Joan
as she idled over next to him.

‘This isn’t natural, Joan, it worries me what’s made them all migrate this way together’ he whispered back
to her.

They simp
ly couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing now as so many animals of all descriptions were all slowly heading it seemed, towards Eugene itself. There were large herd animals like deer, mixed in with cattle and horses, along with even domestic cats and dogs.

‘LOOK, DAD! THERE’S
A
RHINO!’
Jenny shouted excitedly.

‘AND THERE ARE
SOME ELEPHANTS OVER THERE, JENNY, LOOK THEY’RE EATING LEAVES FROM A TREE!’ shouted Jack.

‘Are my eyes
deceiving me or are there also lions and tigers down there too?’ puzzled Joan.

‘HEY
, STUART, WE MADE A MISTAKE WITH CHOOSING THIS AIRSHIP, WE NEEDED AN ARK INSTEAD!’ chuckled Jack.

‘I can’t believe all we’re
witnessing’ marvelled Stuart as he just leaned over the side as he stared down at the amazing scene passing right beneath them.

‘They say animals can sometimes detect a storm or
other danger coming can’t they? Do you think there’s a possibility that’s what’s happened here?’ puzzled Joan.

‘JENNY! I JUST THOUGHT,
CAN YOU GET SOME OF THIS ON CAMERA!’ her dad suddenly shouted.

‘WHA
T DO THINK I’VE BEEN DOING?’ Jenny laughed as she shouted back to him from the high camera’s platform.

Jack just set the controls to
automatic as he joined both Joan and Stuart as they all just stared down at the amazing sight below them.

‘LOOK
! LOOK AT THE RATS AND MICE!’ Jack shouted excitedly as he pointed to what looked like literally millions of rats and mice all pouring over the landscape beneath them now.

‘My God,
I’ve never seen anything like it!’ uttered Joan in amazement.

‘They say rats leave a sinking ship
don’t they’ commented Stuart with a sudden frown on his face.

Suddenly, something hit the front window of the airship’s cockpit!

‘DAD,
LOOK AT THE BIRDS!’ suddenly shouted Jenny ‘THERE ARE
MILLIONS
OF THEM AND THEY’RE ALL HEADING STRAIGHT FOR US!’ she now screamed in terror.

‘JACK, TAKE US
UP
!’ shouted Stuart as Jack immediately leapt back up to the control room again.

‘HURRY, JACK! GET US HIGH
ER,
QUICKLY
! THEY’LL TAKE US DOWN IF THEY PUNCTURE THE SIDES!’ screamed Joan as no sooner had she spoken the words did one large gull come crashing through the open cockpit window!

‘
SMASH
!’ went another large bird as it crashed through into their cabin.

One
landed right next to Jenny on the cine camera’s platform and she screamed aloud before her father ran over to grab the large gull and then quickly throw it over the side!

The craf
t was now being hit from all angles.

‘THUD! CRASH! WHACK! BASH!’ went all
the birds as they all thudded into the airship’s front and sides.

‘HURRY UP, JACK! OR THEY’LL PUNCTURE
THE HULL!’ shouted Stuart in panic.

Jack now had the airship in a steep incline and fortunately the power of the e
ngines pushed the birds clear as the airship now quickly accelerated away.

Soon they all breathed a huge sigh of relief as all became quiet once more.

‘Christ, t
hat was close!’ muttered Jack as he levelled the craft up again.

‘Look, Dad!’ cried Jenny as she
now peered over the side.

‘Oh, wow!’ uttered Joan as they now all gazed down at what resembled a river of birds
, all flying in the same direction, towards Eugene.

‘Just my luck
and I only washed my car at the weekend and I left it out on the driveway’ joked Jack as he joined them to stare down over the side.

‘Where are they all going
though, Dad?’ asked Jenny.

‘I fear, Jenny
, it may be more a case of, what are they all fleeing from?’ puzzled her dad.

‘I’m not much of a religious man myself’ commented Jack ‘but thi
s is almost on a Biblical scale, wouldn’t you agree?’

‘Why
yes, you’re right, Jack, it is’ agreed Joan.

‘Did we suffer any damage?’ asked Stuart looking quite concerned.

Jack
quickly ran to check all his gauges then ran back again.

‘No, the pressure is fine, we built this thing to be exceptionally strong because of where it was going’ he smiled proudly.

Then after a while he asked.

‘Do you want me to take it down lower again, now most the birds have gone?’

‘No!’
uttered Stuart immediately as Jack just stared at him in surprise. ‘No, just in case the engines do cut out, we might not get to this height again’ Stuart suggested thoughtfully.

‘Maybe you’re right’ commented Jack as
he simply levelled it out instead.

Jenny went back to the cine camera, but around twenty minutes later she came back down and joined them all again.

‘Have you got bored?’ smiled Joan.

‘There’s nothing to film now’
Jenny just shrugged.

Stuart was now right at the front leaning on the handrail as he stared downwards.

Joan then went
to join him there.

‘Can you see anything?’ she asked curiously.

‘No nothing’ he responded ‘and that’s just what’s worrying me.’

He then turned to Jack.

‘Just out of curiosity, Jack, h
ave we any weapons on board?’ Stuart asked softly not wishing to alarm Jenny.

‘No’ he whispered ‘I didn’t think we’d need
ed any, why?’ Jack asked curiously.

‘It’s just that I’m getting this strange feeling of foreboding
’ commented Stuart ‘don’t you feel it you too?’

Both Joan and Jack
peered over all the land now and both nodded their heads in agreement.

‘You’re right
’ whispered Joan ‘there’s now not a bird, not an animal, not a single insect even in sight.’

‘You’re right, Stuart, t
here’s something very ‘unnatural’ about this silence isn’t there?’ agreed Jack.

Suddenly the airship’s engines spluttered a little and then cut out completely.

‘HAVE YOUR GAS MASKS TO THE READY! JUST IN CASE!’
immediately shouted Stuart.

‘Do you want me to join Jenny in the engine room?
I cycle every morning, I’m quite fit’ smiled Joan.

Jack smi
led at Stuart as if to say ‘yes she
is
!’

‘I couldn’t put upon you to do that
, Joan’ replied Stuart as he shook his head.

‘Nonsense, Jenny and I will keep each other company’ Joan smiled as she ran back and quickly joined Jenny, who had already ran to the cycles and was busy peddling away to keep the airship steadily moving forwards.

‘Stuart, I’ve someth
ing to show you’ Jack then told him quietly.

‘What’s that, Jack?’ asked Stuart
curiously.

‘Come up
to the control room’ Jack insisted.

So Stuart joined Jack as he
steered the airship using his feet.

‘You steer
the airship using your feet?’ queried Stuart.

‘Yeah
, all airships steer this way, it’s the same as hovercraft’ smiled Jack ‘but that’s not what I wanted to show you.’

‘What then?’ Stuart asked curiously.

‘Look at this
’ insisted Jack as he placed an electric torch in Stuart’s hands ‘try turning it on’ he smiled.

Stuart did as he said
, but nothing happened.

‘I put brand new batteries in that torch before we le
ft and checked that it worked properly’ Jack insisted ‘now try another.’

Stuart tried another torch and then an
other and the result was always the same they simple didn’t work anymore.

‘You think that strange, now look at
this
’ smiled Jack as he reached for a box of matches and then tried unsuccessfully to light one up. Then he reached for his cigarette lighter, still nothing happened.

‘Then we were
right
!’ uttered Stuart ‘nothing burns and nothing electrical works. Why, that’s just amazing! What do you think is the cause, a change in the atmosphere maybe, or a certain gas?’

‘Well
, we’re all still breathing aren’t we?’ smiled Jack.

‘Christ! I’d forgotten
all about the gas masks’ uttered Stuart, now biting his lip.

‘We
simply don’t need any gas masks, Stuart, the air here is as clean as always’ commented Jack.

‘Then what is it? W
hat exactly
is
causing this strange effect?’ Stuart asked as he gazed outside into the distance.

‘I can only think it’s some kind of natural phenomenon we haven’t previously encountered maybe
?’ suggested Jack as he pondered over the mystery.

Stuart suddenly looked slightly alarmed.

‘It’s very important we don’t
go so far into this dead zone, Jack, that we cannot return out of it again still in the daylight. So we need to urgently calculate exactly when we entered it and precisely how many hours, minutes and seconds of daylight we’re liable to have left. It’s very important’ suggested Stuart urgently.

‘Why, I don’t understand?’ puzzled Jack.

‘Don’t you realise, Jack, once it gets dark we
will be flying completely blind. If we find ourselves still in the dead zone at that time with no electric lights or dials to guide us, we could quite easily end up hitting the ground’ he suggested.

‘No, I have meters telling me our altitude’ smiled Jack.

‘And exactly how will you read them
in the dark with no lights working?’ Stuart smiled.

‘
Yes, I get your point, I’ll work that out right now’ nodded Jack as he began working out the point where they would have to turn back.

‘I’ll get Jenny to
run back and help you’ suggested Stuart.

‘There’s no need, I can do it’ nodded Jack ‘it’ll just take me a bit of time
that’s all.’

‘It’ll be quicker with two
and Jenny’s brilliant with calculi’ smiled Stuart ‘I’ll take her place on the cycles and send her up to you.’

With that
, Stuart ran back and asked Jenny to help Jack work out their last return time.

S
o she jumped down off the cycle and ran up to join Jack in the control room instead.

‘Thanks, Jenny’ smiled Jack upon seeing her
‘I could do with a hand working out the time we need to head back again, to avoid ending up being stuck here in the dark’ Jack smiled.

‘No problem’ Jenny
smiled back ‘although, if we’re working it out with my dad only supplying half the usual power on one of the cycles, we’d better add on a lot of extra time’ she chuckled away.

‘Yeah, I think you’re right’ laughed Jack ‘I thought the airship had lost a bit of its speed’ he smiled.

‘It’s keep fit time!’ Stuart smiled at Joan as he joined her supplying their specially designed
‘peddle power’.

‘You decided to give
your daughter a break then?’ Joan asked with a smile.

‘No, we need her brilliant head for figures to work out when we should start heading back
again’ he explained.

‘Then it
’s exactly as we suspected?’ Joan asked.

‘Yes, no electrics
and no flame of any type works either’ he nodded.

‘And I guess we can discount any dangerous gas seeing as none of us are wearing our gas masks?’ smiled Joan.

‘Yes
, so I’m at a loss as to what is even causing all this now’ Stuart confessed.

‘ONE HOUR!’ suddenly shouted Jack.

‘I’M SORRY, JACK?’ queried Stuart.

‘BEING CAUTIOUS, THAT MEANS WITH
YOU
PEDDLING SO SLOWLY, WE’LL HAVE TO TURN BACK AT THE LATEST IN ONE HOUR!’ Jack shouted again.

‘OK
, THANKS!’ Stuart shouted back.

They travelled li
ke this for around another twenty minutes with only the sound of the wind to accompany them as the two professors just kept peddling away next to each other.

‘This silence is quite eerie
now’ commented Joan.

‘I know what you mean, there’s not even a bird noise, insect, anything
in fact’ agreed Stuart as he slowly peddled away.

Suddenly though, Jack shouted out to them.