the men where exhausted, i had driven them hard across the jungles into uncharted territory, dissent was rising, i could feel it. i consulted with the parrot, 'i guess we should break out some opium and give the men a break.'
'no way captain! that's our stash.'
'yeah but we are out numbered and i need them to carry my equipment.'
'it's a bad fucking move captain.'
'okay well it's my responsibility.'
we reached a clearing, there was a small stream and a few jak fruit trees that made a natural shelter, a good place to rest. i explained to the men we would be stopping here, having a day off and that in the evening i would be allowing them to smoke. the men looked at one another, there was an obvious air of distrust that i needed to alleviate. time for an uplifting speech and some inspiring words of gratitude.
'now i know you have all been pushed to the limit, and i am grateful, without you the mission would not be able to go ahead but we have a very important task ahead of us, one that requires bravery and resilience and everyone plays a part in its success including the humble sherpas. so good men, rest and enjoy the next 24 hours, replenish your strength and indulge your appetites, for tomorrow at dawn we continue.'
there was a rousing cheer, my speech had worked.
'dumb smucks' the parrot said.
'shh, lets go have a swim and a smoke.'
'fuck the swim, you need a bath.'
a mental image of a parrot being roasted passed through my mind but he was probably right, i stripped and put my clothes in a pile and jumped into the stream. the water was cool, refreshing and clear. i scrubbed myself with a soap cake.
the men where making a fire and helping themselves to the supplies, we had an abundance of food and whisky, good whiskey to. i let them drink and eat and sleep. the parrot flew from man to man, stealing the odd sip from their flagons while they rested. he sucked on a cigar and muttered misanthropic words to any one who would listen.
i watched from the stream, waist high in water, almost a river, i pondered if i should follow the stream to the source, that would be a deviation from the map but it seemed logical and in a way intuitive. i'll talk to the parrot about it later.
at dusk we smoked the opium, i lay back and closed my eyes, the men all settled in their delirium, me fading towards my finite peace, a moment of total pain free existence. the bird had eaten a chunk and fallen over onto my sleeping bag, his eye's half closed and his beak drooling, the red feathers standing out against the rest of his black plumage. all was well. i allowed myself to be swallowed by the comfort of darkness and dreams.
in the morning we all had mild headaches, the men looked somewhat sad and melancholy but determined, they were professionals, i watched them clean up our traces, clear away the symbols of our excess and tie down the packs, and trunks.
the parrot was in a foul mood, 'fucking hell, it's far to bright today, it's okay for you, you have sunglasses, i need a pair, i have very sensitive eyes, humans think they are the only creatures who suffer, yet they are the only creatures who inflict suffering,' on and on he raved.
i had made an executive decision to follow the stream, it would eventually become a river and that's possibly where we stood a better chance of finding the mutations.
it had been over a year since the first reports, strange hybrid animals, creatures with distorted dna, i had gathered the reports and using my astrophysicist training had identified the connection with solar flare activity and a massive gamma radiation pulse that had broken through the earths atmosphere. the mutations were probably result of that. some sort of mutation occurred with an accelerated evolutionary leap. i needed hard evidence.
the sightings consisted of a tribe of half ape humans, a massive insect described as 'a stick insect the size of a tree', some weird giant preying mantis, a flying crocodile, and a translucent jellyfish that appeared at night radiating ultra violet waves.
but it was actually the monkeys and apes i was interested in, these may give insight into human evolution. the sightings were not very specific about the area, but they were constant, despite several sources.
after a good four hours along the stream we stopped for a moment, i needed to inspect some prints down by the stream.
that's when i first heard the screams, looking up i could see about twenty massive baboon like creatures, they towered above us and with their long arms and hands grabbed some of the men. they had bulbous noses and looked slightly ridiculous. i grabbed my camera, the parrot was squawking, 'jesus getta load of their noses.'
we watched as the men still slightly doped out stumbled and ran around, one by one the monkey men took them, grabbing them with their big hands. the parrot sat on my shoulder, 'freaking apes, look at those hooters capt. jesus, ever see anything like that?'
i grabbed his beak with my left hand and carried on taking photo's. suddenly one of the apes stood before me, he sniffed the air and leered down at me.
'i said you needed a bath' the parrot said as he flew off.
the monkey picked me up and held me in front of it's eyes. he sniffed again, 'you strange monkey boy smell bad.'
the next thing i knew i was flung aside like a rag doll. i watched them march away into the jungle with their prisoners. only a handful of men were left.
later in the evening we spoke about what had become of the prisnors, why were they taken and us left behind. we spoke about a rescue attempt, we could follow them, tracking them would be easy, they were big and left a noticable trail.
but instead we smoked the opium and fell into our deep peaceful trances.