Oranges
09-01-2006, 12:50 AM
EXPEDITION EVEREST
The Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
Prologue
Serka Zong, 1802
There is a village. This village rests at the foothills of a giant mountain, where snow falls year round, but the temperature is always warm. This old village, called Serka Zong, meaning “Mountain Domain” in the ancient language of Tibet, was rumored to be protected by a monstrous guardian who kept the village in constant balance with nature. Most of the villagers claimed that the Guardian of the Mountain kept them safe from terrible accidents, such as avalanches or giant blizzards.
As time passed, the Serka Zong inhabitants began to wonder what exactly was protecting them. In an attempt to answer their inquiry, they built a railway system that was to go through the mountain. After many years of arduous labor, the train was ready to depart. As the train rolled out of the station and wound through rolling bamboo thickets, it climbed the peak and entered the misty caverns of the mountain. During the first journey, the crew found a huge plantation of tea leaves, which they thought would solve the financial hardships that Serka Zong was facing. Because of their discovery, the Royal Anandapur Tea Company was born. The newly remodeled “tea trains” were no longer used for exploration. They were used to collect any tea that grew in their personal plantation. More time came and went, and Serka Zong became extremely wealthy. Tea leaves were their main export, and it sold for a very high price. Ultimately, the selling of the tea sent Serka Zong’s economy skyrocketing. Despite their stability, the Golden Age of the village was about to come to an abrupt halt.
On December 18th, 1806 disaster struck. On an expedition for another tea harvest, a crew of six members headed up the tracks. Little did they know that this trip would be their last. When the expedition team arrived at the station, they clambered into the tea trains, waving at the cheering crowd who was watching their departure. The first sign that something was wrong was when the trains were operating abnormally. They were traveling down the track at a higher speed than normal, but the crew thought nothing of it. The train came to a stop at the harvesting site and the team began to collect the tea. As they began to crate the leaves, a giant shadow ran across the cave walls. Trembling with fear, the expedition team hurried back into the trains. In hopes to get out as fast as possible, the team took drastic measures. They decided to take the emergency route – a set of twisting track that went through the heart of the mountain. They believed it would get them out faster than returning the normal way. The team did not realize that what scared them out so quickly in the first place was what dwelled within the inner boundaries – exactly where the track cut through. When the train reached the summit, the track was broken into a horrible mess by a vicious unseen creature. With no where to go, it fell backwards into the blackness of the mountain and crashed into the icy stream below.
Ever since the accident, the fear of the mountain among the people increased greatly. Their “protector” turned into their nightmare as the word that deaths occurred in the mountain reached the village below. Search parties traveled into the mountain in hopes of locating surviving team members, but some came back seriously injured. Unfortunately, most did not come back at all. The strange thing was no one who ever saw glimpses of the mountain monster could recall any encounters. Even more strange was that they hardly remembered the expedition at all. All they knew was that no one who was foolish enough to venture in the mountain came back in the state they entered.
PART ONE
National Institute of Archaeological Sciences (NIAS) Corporation
Chapter One
NIAS Laboratory 81
April 2006
Dr. Samuel Denebraux was very interested in artifacts. Anything, from ancient Egyptian sarcophaguses to Native American arrowheads, interested him. He spent a vast majority of his time simply examining any artifact brought to him. Denebraux was especially fond of using carbon dating to find the age of the artifact he was studying. As vice president of the National Institute of Archaeological Science (NIAS) Corporation, any archaeological finds went to his attention. Instead of having others research the piece, he would do it himself.
NIAS was located in bustling Richmond, Virginia. The main building was so large it could be seen from just about anywhere in Richmond. Most researchers who worked in NIAS commuted many miles a day to get to the Institute. The kind of people who were employed here were the kind of people who could easily be consumed by work. If a particularly interesting find was being worked on, it could take the scientists many hours to study the piece.
There were five laboratories in the complex. Each lab was devoted to a certain area of the world’s artifacts – North America and South America (combined in one lab), Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Antarctica was the only area of the world that was left unstudied. The harshness of the area prohibited in-depth research.
“Denebraux! I need those blueprints in my office by one! Glover won’t wait another second! Impatient man, he is.” fellow technician Adam Skive anxiously exclaimed as he entered Laboratory 81. The blueprints he was referring to were a set of diagrams drawn to show the dimensions of a dig soon taking place in South America. Every site’s dimensions had to be passed by Denebraux and had to await his approval. “Ok, Adam. They’re on the shelf.” Samuel Denebraux said as he gazed into a microscope. Skive ran over to a curio cabinet and pulled out a pile of complex-looking manuals and blueprints and then left in a hurry. Laxos Glover, President of NIAS Corp was the ideal boss for an employee to completely despise. He was impatient, uptight, strict, and demeaning. Denebraux fortunately did not have to deal with him that often. His responsibility to Glover was solely to plot maps and charts for future archaeological dig sites overseas.
The day is April 23, 2006 at NIAS Labs. The Asia Department, led by Denebraux himself, was presenting a request to organize a dig in Nepal to the Board of Directors. If all went well, they expected to be over in Asia by the middle of May. The hard part would be convincing Laxos Glover to approve the expedition; rarely did he allow his vice presidents to take on such exotic journeys. The fear of Denebraux taking his job further discouraged him from approving the trip.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I am Dr. Samuel Denebraux, head of the Asia Department here at NIAS Corp. Thank you for coming today. We’ve called you here because my team and I would like you to fund an archaeological expedition to Nepal this May.” Denebraux coolly said, feeling confident in his presentation.
“A dig site in Nepal? Absolutely not. Do you know how much that will cost us?” Glover immediately blurted.
“Yes, sir. I understand it will cost a lot of money to fund, but I’m sure it will be worth every penny. You see, a village in Nepal, Serka Zong, is slowly beginning to repopulate itself. It’s surprising, because the incident that happened so long ago would surely keep the village a ghost town, if you ask me.” Denebraux replied.
Thomas Hill of the Board of Directors looked puzzled. “And what incident was that?”
“Well, according to our studies, the Himalayas were a great source of tea leaves back then. Apparently the village people discovered the leaves. Taking without replacing, the village prospered, but it wasn’t for long. On one expedition, an expedition team was involved in a serious accident. The excursion train crashed off the mountain, killing over half the team and leaving the rest seriously injured.” Denebraux said.
Glover was not pleased. “And you want to go back to the place where this all happened? Nothing will be left! I’m sure the village people high-tailed it out of there and took everything with them. It’s rubbish. Meeting dismissed.”
“Relax Mr. Glover. Please allow Dr. Denebraux to finish.” Hill commanded.
“Thank you sir. Mr. Glover, the people left for the time being, yes, but they left their articles behind. My theory is that over years and years of being frozen in the ground, I believe the artifacts are still intact. We can open up brand new doors into discovering Nepal. We can find out whether or not the accident was fact or myth. So many discoveries can be made if you fund our trip. We can actually find out the Yeti exists! Hundreds of questions can be answered; we just have to be there to ask them. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Thank you, Dr. Denebraux. The Board will now discuss your request and we will come up with a consensus momentarily if you’d kindly step outside. Thank you.” Hill asked politely.
Glover was negative about the situation. He tried to find everything negative about the trip and tried to press his views into the perspectives of the other Board Members as intensely as he could muster. After anxiously awaiting the Board’s decision for twenty minutes, Denebraux was called back into the office and was presented with exciting news.
A woman sitting on the right hand side of the sleek black table was the one to deliver the exciting information. “Thank you for your time Dr. Denebraux. We will fund your expedition.”
Chapter Two
1160 Whilymer Drive, Grande Richmond Apartments
April 2006
Having never been so jubilant in his life, Samuel Denebraux left the Lab and headed home. Singing happily along with the radio, Denebraux thought to himself how many discoveries would be made on the newly approved expedition to Nepal. There were so many things to do if they wanted to get the trip underway by May. Fiddling through papers and researching Serka Zong itself, Denebraux filled out his notepad with dozens of notes and important pieces of information. Working until 12:30am, he finally put down his pen and went to bed. He found it hard to sleep knowing an exciting adventure was only a matter of weeks away. Wishing that a new day had come, he glanced at his bedside electronic clock and sighed when he saw that it read 1:17am. Thinking about the imminent excursion, Denebraux drifted off to sleep.
The alarm went off. Punching the “Snooze” button on the clock, Denebraux hugged his pillow and wiped some drool off his cheek. Yawning and shuffling, he went down the metallic spiral staircase into his gorgeous kitchen. The shiny countertops glistened in the morning sun. His lazy dog, Proton, was on his back with his right hind leg kicking in a rather comedic manner. Denebraux walked over to the coffee pot on this counter next to the enormous refrigerator and filled a glass mug fill. Sipping on his drink, he walked over to the front door and picked up the Saturday morning paper. His eyes glanced over the headline “Richmond Bank Robbed – Thousands of dollars stolen” and chuckled to himself. “So much for uptight security.” he thought. Taking the paper over to a comfortable-looking easy chair, Denebraux collapsed into the chair and turned over to the comics – which were not funny – and then headed over to the sports section. As he opened the section, a crumpled looking ad fell out of the stack and onto the floor. Curiously looking at the notice, he read:
Yeti Is Real!
Some things in nature are not meant to be disturbed.
Mountain Domain is in no need of help.
Be forewarned that those attempting to reach the summits
of the Himalayas risk the wrath of the Yeti.
- Sherpa Zhou-Xiang
As intelligent as Dr. Denebraux was, he disbelievingly balled up the warning and disposed of it. Just as mysteriously as the notice had arrived, the sloppy paper ball bounced off the wall and rolled onto the floor in front of Denebraux. He rolled his eyes and walked it over to the trash can, placed it in the bottom of the bin and closed the lid. He then went back to the coffee pot and poured himself another mug. While taking a sip, he looked out the window and almost as if someone had glued it there, the same notice he threw away was there, like it was plastered to the glass. Denebraux opened the window and retrieved the notice. Infuriated and a little fearful at the time, he threw the paper down the garbage disposal and shredded it up. Shaking his head and rubbing his face with his hands, he went upstairs and took a shower. When he reached for a towel, something caught his eye. Floating in the toilet yet again was the notice, only the shredded pieces were floating together like a completed puzzle. This time Denebraux was beginning to fear this measly slip of paper. After getting dressed, he took the paper outside and put in his barbeque grill. Covering it with lighter fluid, he lit a match and ignited the fluid. Watching the paper burn, he put out the fire and headed back to the lab. After battling the busy freeways of Richmond, Denebraux headed into the NIAS Parking Garage. He approached the Garage elevator to take him to the bottom level. When the doors opened, there in the back wall of the elevator was the notice, in perfect condition, burn-free, shred-free, and wrinkle-free.
Chapter Three of Part One Coming Soon
The Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
Prologue
Serka Zong, 1802
There is a village. This village rests at the foothills of a giant mountain, where snow falls year round, but the temperature is always warm. This old village, called Serka Zong, meaning “Mountain Domain” in the ancient language of Tibet, was rumored to be protected by a monstrous guardian who kept the village in constant balance with nature. Most of the villagers claimed that the Guardian of the Mountain kept them safe from terrible accidents, such as avalanches or giant blizzards.
As time passed, the Serka Zong inhabitants began to wonder what exactly was protecting them. In an attempt to answer their inquiry, they built a railway system that was to go through the mountain. After many years of arduous labor, the train was ready to depart. As the train rolled out of the station and wound through rolling bamboo thickets, it climbed the peak and entered the misty caverns of the mountain. During the first journey, the crew found a huge plantation of tea leaves, which they thought would solve the financial hardships that Serka Zong was facing. Because of their discovery, the Royal Anandapur Tea Company was born. The newly remodeled “tea trains” were no longer used for exploration. They were used to collect any tea that grew in their personal plantation. More time came and went, and Serka Zong became extremely wealthy. Tea leaves were their main export, and it sold for a very high price. Ultimately, the selling of the tea sent Serka Zong’s economy skyrocketing. Despite their stability, the Golden Age of the village was about to come to an abrupt halt.
On December 18th, 1806 disaster struck. On an expedition for another tea harvest, a crew of six members headed up the tracks. Little did they know that this trip would be their last. When the expedition team arrived at the station, they clambered into the tea trains, waving at the cheering crowd who was watching their departure. The first sign that something was wrong was when the trains were operating abnormally. They were traveling down the track at a higher speed than normal, but the crew thought nothing of it. The train came to a stop at the harvesting site and the team began to collect the tea. As they began to crate the leaves, a giant shadow ran across the cave walls. Trembling with fear, the expedition team hurried back into the trains. In hopes to get out as fast as possible, the team took drastic measures. They decided to take the emergency route – a set of twisting track that went through the heart of the mountain. They believed it would get them out faster than returning the normal way. The team did not realize that what scared them out so quickly in the first place was what dwelled within the inner boundaries – exactly where the track cut through. When the train reached the summit, the track was broken into a horrible mess by a vicious unseen creature. With no where to go, it fell backwards into the blackness of the mountain and crashed into the icy stream below.
Ever since the accident, the fear of the mountain among the people increased greatly. Their “protector” turned into their nightmare as the word that deaths occurred in the mountain reached the village below. Search parties traveled into the mountain in hopes of locating surviving team members, but some came back seriously injured. Unfortunately, most did not come back at all. The strange thing was no one who ever saw glimpses of the mountain monster could recall any encounters. Even more strange was that they hardly remembered the expedition at all. All they knew was that no one who was foolish enough to venture in the mountain came back in the state they entered.
PART ONE
National Institute of Archaeological Sciences (NIAS) Corporation
Chapter One
NIAS Laboratory 81
April 2006
Dr. Samuel Denebraux was very interested in artifacts. Anything, from ancient Egyptian sarcophaguses to Native American arrowheads, interested him. He spent a vast majority of his time simply examining any artifact brought to him. Denebraux was especially fond of using carbon dating to find the age of the artifact he was studying. As vice president of the National Institute of Archaeological Science (NIAS) Corporation, any archaeological finds went to his attention. Instead of having others research the piece, he would do it himself.
NIAS was located in bustling Richmond, Virginia. The main building was so large it could be seen from just about anywhere in Richmond. Most researchers who worked in NIAS commuted many miles a day to get to the Institute. The kind of people who were employed here were the kind of people who could easily be consumed by work. If a particularly interesting find was being worked on, it could take the scientists many hours to study the piece.
There were five laboratories in the complex. Each lab was devoted to a certain area of the world’s artifacts – North America and South America (combined in one lab), Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Antarctica was the only area of the world that was left unstudied. The harshness of the area prohibited in-depth research.
“Denebraux! I need those blueprints in my office by one! Glover won’t wait another second! Impatient man, he is.” fellow technician Adam Skive anxiously exclaimed as he entered Laboratory 81. The blueprints he was referring to were a set of diagrams drawn to show the dimensions of a dig soon taking place in South America. Every site’s dimensions had to be passed by Denebraux and had to await his approval. “Ok, Adam. They’re on the shelf.” Samuel Denebraux said as he gazed into a microscope. Skive ran over to a curio cabinet and pulled out a pile of complex-looking manuals and blueprints and then left in a hurry. Laxos Glover, President of NIAS Corp was the ideal boss for an employee to completely despise. He was impatient, uptight, strict, and demeaning. Denebraux fortunately did not have to deal with him that often. His responsibility to Glover was solely to plot maps and charts for future archaeological dig sites overseas.
The day is April 23, 2006 at NIAS Labs. The Asia Department, led by Denebraux himself, was presenting a request to organize a dig in Nepal to the Board of Directors. If all went well, they expected to be over in Asia by the middle of May. The hard part would be convincing Laxos Glover to approve the expedition; rarely did he allow his vice presidents to take on such exotic journeys. The fear of Denebraux taking his job further discouraged him from approving the trip.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I am Dr. Samuel Denebraux, head of the Asia Department here at NIAS Corp. Thank you for coming today. We’ve called you here because my team and I would like you to fund an archaeological expedition to Nepal this May.” Denebraux coolly said, feeling confident in his presentation.
“A dig site in Nepal? Absolutely not. Do you know how much that will cost us?” Glover immediately blurted.
“Yes, sir. I understand it will cost a lot of money to fund, but I’m sure it will be worth every penny. You see, a village in Nepal, Serka Zong, is slowly beginning to repopulate itself. It’s surprising, because the incident that happened so long ago would surely keep the village a ghost town, if you ask me.” Denebraux replied.
Thomas Hill of the Board of Directors looked puzzled. “And what incident was that?”
“Well, according to our studies, the Himalayas were a great source of tea leaves back then. Apparently the village people discovered the leaves. Taking without replacing, the village prospered, but it wasn’t for long. On one expedition, an expedition team was involved in a serious accident. The excursion train crashed off the mountain, killing over half the team and leaving the rest seriously injured.” Denebraux said.
Glover was not pleased. “And you want to go back to the place where this all happened? Nothing will be left! I’m sure the village people high-tailed it out of there and took everything with them. It’s rubbish. Meeting dismissed.”
“Relax Mr. Glover. Please allow Dr. Denebraux to finish.” Hill commanded.
“Thank you sir. Mr. Glover, the people left for the time being, yes, but they left their articles behind. My theory is that over years and years of being frozen in the ground, I believe the artifacts are still intact. We can open up brand new doors into discovering Nepal. We can find out whether or not the accident was fact or myth. So many discoveries can be made if you fund our trip. We can actually find out the Yeti exists! Hundreds of questions can be answered; we just have to be there to ask them. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.”
“Thank you, Dr. Denebraux. The Board will now discuss your request and we will come up with a consensus momentarily if you’d kindly step outside. Thank you.” Hill asked politely.
Glover was negative about the situation. He tried to find everything negative about the trip and tried to press his views into the perspectives of the other Board Members as intensely as he could muster. After anxiously awaiting the Board’s decision for twenty minutes, Denebraux was called back into the office and was presented with exciting news.
A woman sitting on the right hand side of the sleek black table was the one to deliver the exciting information. “Thank you for your time Dr. Denebraux. We will fund your expedition.”
Chapter Two
1160 Whilymer Drive, Grande Richmond Apartments
April 2006
Having never been so jubilant in his life, Samuel Denebraux left the Lab and headed home. Singing happily along with the radio, Denebraux thought to himself how many discoveries would be made on the newly approved expedition to Nepal. There were so many things to do if they wanted to get the trip underway by May. Fiddling through papers and researching Serka Zong itself, Denebraux filled out his notepad with dozens of notes and important pieces of information. Working until 12:30am, he finally put down his pen and went to bed. He found it hard to sleep knowing an exciting adventure was only a matter of weeks away. Wishing that a new day had come, he glanced at his bedside electronic clock and sighed when he saw that it read 1:17am. Thinking about the imminent excursion, Denebraux drifted off to sleep.
The alarm went off. Punching the “Snooze” button on the clock, Denebraux hugged his pillow and wiped some drool off his cheek. Yawning and shuffling, he went down the metallic spiral staircase into his gorgeous kitchen. The shiny countertops glistened in the morning sun. His lazy dog, Proton, was on his back with his right hind leg kicking in a rather comedic manner. Denebraux walked over to the coffee pot on this counter next to the enormous refrigerator and filled a glass mug fill. Sipping on his drink, he walked over to the front door and picked up the Saturday morning paper. His eyes glanced over the headline “Richmond Bank Robbed – Thousands of dollars stolen” and chuckled to himself. “So much for uptight security.” he thought. Taking the paper over to a comfortable-looking easy chair, Denebraux collapsed into the chair and turned over to the comics – which were not funny – and then headed over to the sports section. As he opened the section, a crumpled looking ad fell out of the stack and onto the floor. Curiously looking at the notice, he read:
Yeti Is Real!
Some things in nature are not meant to be disturbed.
Mountain Domain is in no need of help.
Be forewarned that those attempting to reach the summits
of the Himalayas risk the wrath of the Yeti.
- Sherpa Zhou-Xiang
As intelligent as Dr. Denebraux was, he disbelievingly balled up the warning and disposed of it. Just as mysteriously as the notice had arrived, the sloppy paper ball bounced off the wall and rolled onto the floor in front of Denebraux. He rolled his eyes and walked it over to the trash can, placed it in the bottom of the bin and closed the lid. He then went back to the coffee pot and poured himself another mug. While taking a sip, he looked out the window and almost as if someone had glued it there, the same notice he threw away was there, like it was plastered to the glass. Denebraux opened the window and retrieved the notice. Infuriated and a little fearful at the time, he threw the paper down the garbage disposal and shredded it up. Shaking his head and rubbing his face with his hands, he went upstairs and took a shower. When he reached for a towel, something caught his eye. Floating in the toilet yet again was the notice, only the shredded pieces were floating together like a completed puzzle. This time Denebraux was beginning to fear this measly slip of paper. After getting dressed, he took the paper outside and put in his barbeque grill. Covering it with lighter fluid, he lit a match and ignited the fluid. Watching the paper burn, he put out the fire and headed back to the lab. After battling the busy freeways of Richmond, Denebraux headed into the NIAS Parking Garage. He approached the Garage elevator to take him to the bottom level. When the doors opened, there in the back wall of the elevator was the notice, in perfect condition, burn-free, shred-free, and wrinkle-free.
Chapter Three of Part One Coming Soon