The water was very cold. It wasn’t
surprising at all as the lake was located very high into the mountains, far
from any real source of heat. Besides, the area was often covered with a thick
fog that didn’t really let the sunlight pass. The group camped on the edge of
the lake and was careful enough to put everything near them. It wouldn’t be
very nice if an animal decided to steal their food or if they lost things that
were just in front of their noses. They would stay only one night and then
continue their journey.
Their destination was a high plateau, located
on top of a flat mountain. Rumor has it that many species of plants and animals
lived there and that most of them had never being registered by science. The
five people in the group had the mission of arriving to that area, after
climbing completely vertical walls, and do the most thorough job in identifying
new species of animals and plants. They had to bring pictures, drawings and
even samples if possible.
The day they arrived at the lake was only the
fourth day of their journey. They had already crossed through a deep humid
valley where one of them had been bitten by a snake and had to be airlifted out
of there. Where they started the mountain section of their trip, they often had
problems falling to the ground and hurting their hands and knees. It was a very
difficult job, especially for the ones in the group that had never really gone
out in a mission like this.
Two of the camper by the lake, one man and one
woman, were teachers and real professionals in biology. They had already
travelled to every corner of the world, they had categorized many species and
each had discovered quite a few, so they were the visible heads of the
expedition as experience was always most appreciated. The rest were four
students and interns, five originally, that had decided to enter the ballot to
get into the trip.
The two professors interview several people
for the trip. They were essentially looking for people just like them, people
that didn’t mind having no food in a day and knew how to walk in a jungle, a
forest or the mountains. They rejected many almost immediately. Most of them
thought it was going to be a nice little trip with hotels and cars and video
cameras and many other nice things. It wasn’t.
They had only one cellphone that had to be
used only for emergencies. Everyone could bring their laptop but, obviously,
there wasn’t going to be any Wi-Fi or anything like that. The computers were
just for keeping track of their discoveries and have a copy of the pictures
they took every single day. It was a useless brick aside from that. No makeup,
no artificial elements, nothing like that either.
The guy that had been bitten by the snake was
the one the professors had thought was really one of a kind. He was very
brilliant and had actually collaborated with a couple of amazing scientists
from other universities. He was very well versed in every single aspect of a
mission and was looking forward to the one they were interviewing him for. He
was even tested by showing him several pictures of different species and he had
answered everything correctly.
So it was more than a surprise, more like a
disappointment, when he had stupidly left the tent to pee in an area that
hadn’t been checked yet. According to what he said later, it seemed like he had
urinated on the snake and that’s why the animal had reacted so violently,
biting him in one of his thighs. He knew the venom of that particular species
was not one that acted fast but it was venom all the same. The helicopter
arrived soon as they were only a day away from their departure point.
Secretly, the other four students and interns
laughed at what had happened. They hadn’t like him at all when they had met him
some days before the journey started. He seemed pretentious and so full of
himself, telling them every single part of his experience with other
scientists. It got boring very quickly and he probably knew right away that he
was going to be talking only to the professors during the trip. But no one
would never really know that as he had left so early, in such a particular way.
By the lake, they decided to check the water
with a special machine that was equipped with sonar. They wanted to know what
kind of wildlife lived there and if it was possible for them to bathe there.
They already smelled very strongly and they had to, at some time, have a bath
to clean themselves up or else every animal in the jungle would know they were
there.
The sonar didn’t pick up anything big. So the
professors decided to fish for a while, as the four students entered the water
and swam just in front of them. The funny thing was that they couldn’t almost
see each other. It was very difficult to move without hitting a rock or
tripping on some formation no one had seen. In the water it was the same and it
felt dangerous too, so they only were there for five minutes, enough time to
feel refreshed.
When they were done, as they dried their
bodies on the shore, the professors announced they had capture two fish but
none of them was a new species. They were some kind of anchovy related
creature, very small and really smelly. They took pictures and returned the
animals to the water. Sometimes discoveries took their time to happen.
The next day they moved away from the lake in
order to get to the plateau. As they had already lost some time because of the
snake and the lake, they decided to walk two days in a row, without resting or
at least only resting for a few hours. No more camping. They walked for three
straight days. They descended the mountain on the other side and had arrived to
the jungle again, were they discovered a couple of new insects and saw a couple
of snakes that resembled the one that had bitten their partner.
Finally, one afternoon, they arrived to a very
tall wall made of rock and dirt. They tested the surface with their climbing
gear and discovered that area was not well suited to climb to the top. Several
rocks fell once they tried to climb onto the wall. So they had to walk along
the wall until they finally camped to wait for sunlight. First thing the
following morning, the professors found the perfect area to climb. It was going
to be very difficult and they had to get everyone up there so the plan was
complex.
The experienced climbers had to go first. That
meant the two professors and one of the students had to climb almost with no
instruments or equipment, at least to a certain point. Then, they would help
the others with ropes and all the climbing equipment they had carried from
their base camp. None of the leaders were nervous about it. They simply began
climbing. By midday, the three scientists had climbed at least fifty meters,
which was very good. They installed everything there, on a special hard part of
the mountain and kept going as the other three just started.
As expected, nightfall arrived as they were
still working on the mountain. Their fingers were numb and some had awful
bruises that made it difficult for them to climb. The student that had joined
the professors was the first one to arrive and he helped bring his two
companions on top. When they were all there, they helped the remaining three.
Two of them were bleeding a lot when they came up to the top.
They decided to form camp not very far from
the edge. The idea was to rest, cure their wounds and start real work on top of
the plateau. They almost couldn’t sleep as they had arrived to the place they
had wanted to visit for a long time. No other human had ever been there and it
was certain that they were going to encounter very special creatures. They were
about to enter scientific history.
However, the night did not only bring the best
wishes from them. It also brought heavy sleep, provided by a plant they had
ignored, just by their camp. The plant released spores that made people
extremely sleepy, almost putting them in a coma. This was used by a certain kind
of spider, an undiscovered species, to kill all the campers with its powerful
poison.
The bodies wouldn’t take long to decompose.
That’s how powerful the venom was. And all the machines and equipment would be
destroyed by powerful gusts of wind and other animals, completely erasing any
trace the scientists had ever been there.
