“Where exactly arewe? Dr. Ferguson said we are in a pocket dimension,” Jonathan asked. “Whatexactly does that mean?” “Means we are in a closed world,” theleopard Helle explained. “Everything curves back in upon itself.” He pointed apoint at the door that lead outside. “Go out that door and walk in a straightline away from the lodge and eventually you will wind up back at the lodge.” “Confusing,” Jonathan said and laughed. “Not really,” the leopard countered. “Meansit’s hard to get lost.” “Unless you want to be lost,” the leopardessadded. “We had a hunter came six months ago and walked out into the wilderness.Haven’t seen her since.” “She dead?” He asked. “No. We spent two days tracking her downthinking she needed help,” the leopard commented. The leopardess gave a growl of laughter.“She has resigned from civilization and is happy living as a hunter-gatherer inthe ice age.” “Is she still human?” He asked. “Yes,” the leopard responded and paused.“Well. At least physically. I mean you have to wonder about a person whodeliberately abandons everything to literally live in a cave.” “Like a Hermit,” Jonathan added. Jonathan shook his head. “Sounds like apretty hard lifestyle. A short one too. I mean what happens is she gets hurt?She can’t just call 9/11.” “We’ve explained that to her several timesbut she is adamant. She doesn’t want any contact with other people,” the femalefeline responded and shook her head. “Some people just want to be alone.” “I have to ask,” Jonathan started. “Why ananimal? I mean you’re not even humanoid.” The group was silent for a moment. “It’s soexhilarating being this way.” “We’ve been studying animals all our lives,”the lioness explained. “Since high school but only now are we really startingto understand them.” “We’ve learned so much,” “It’s so different!” “It just feels right.” “And we haven’t totally given up,” theleopardess. “Like that hunter. We’re just selective of what we want.” The leopard nodded in agreement. “We arehappy here with our mix of nature and technology.” “And for us it wasn’t that big a change,”the lion explained. “We are biologists and we were already spending eight ornine months a year out in the wilderness. Now we’re better adapted.” Jonathan looked around. “All I see here arepredators. Any prey species?” “We have a few,” the lioness responded. “Wehave some Przewalski’s horses and some reindeer and Giant Elk.” “No one tried out a Mammoth?” Jonathan asked. “Not yet,” came the response. “It’s a bigchange.” “REALLY big change.” “Ah!” The leopard said. “The other side ofthe food chain has arrived!” The horse that clomped into the room wasstocky in build and shorter than horses he had seen before. He was some fivefeet at the shoulders and some 6 feet from nose to tail. His coat was a light,dusty tannish color with a black mane and tail. Jonathan recognized the breedimmediately. This was no domesticated stock of horse but a Przewalski’s Horse.A very endangered breed. “This is Cezary Bielicki from the universityof Bialystok. He works with a herd of real Przewalski’s horses in Poland,” thelion added. “He’s getting to know what it’s like on the other side of workingwith horses.” “Indeed,” the stallion responded in a veryaccented voice. “I have already learned so much.” The stallion bobbed his head.“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Not sure of what the formal greeting waswhen meeting a stallion; he bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” “How do you keep from getting eaten bymistake?” He asked. The stallion turned his head and lightlynibbled his right shoulder. There was a large blue stripe that went up hisshoulder, across and down the left side. “That’s my safety stripe. Means I’moff the menu.” “At least to the intelligent hunters likeus,” the lioness commented. “He’s on his own for the others,” the lionadded. Jonathan nodded his head. “What’s it likebeing at the bottom of the food chain?” “Hard,” the equine responded. “Means neverletting down my guard. But being able to gallop free and wild is amazing! Andonce I go back to Poland I’ll be closer to the herd I cared for there before.I’ll understand them better.” “So all of this was created by one person?”Jonathan wolf asked. “Geimhreadh is his name,” Helle responded.
“What is he? I’ve gotten severalexplanations but to be honest it was all confusing.” “He is a Nature spirit,” the mage explained.“that’s not exactly a complete description but good enough I suppose. Suchcreatures have their powers tied to a specific place or group of plants andanimals. His powers are specifically tied to the Pleistocene era,” the mageexplained. “So he got power from the Ice age?” The wolfreporter asked. “What happened when the ice age ended?” “He went dormant,” the mage explained. “Someof the ice age plants and animals survived but most went extinct. The ones thatsurvived allowed him to survive but not enough to let him wake up.” “So what woke him up? A 10,000-year alarmclock?” The mage laughed. “The people at ABERA didwith their attempts to bring back the Ice age species. With each successfulbirth of an ice age species Geimhreadh gained alittle bit more power.” A blonde-haired gentleman came over tothem. “This is Jean Jacobson, facilities managerhere,” the lion explained. “He runs the joint,” the lioness added.“Without him everything would fall apart.” “Welcome!” Jean said and smiled. “Let’s getyou to your room so you can place your stuff. He led them to a corridor and he stopped atthe second door down. “We’re a bit short on rooms so I hope youall don’t mind sharing,” Jean said as he opened the door. “Bathroom is at theend of the hall.” Their room was fairly decent sized if sparselyfurnished. Bunk beds lined two walls and a small desk sat near the window. “This is pretty nice,” she said. “The floors are wood and not mud and theroof doesn’t leak!” “It HAS a roof!” “And we don’t have to share it with anylivestock.” The man looked at them a moment. “Are youjoking?” Allen shook his head. “No. We’ve been allover the world and stayed in some rough places over the years.” The man laughed and pointed to the window.“Don’t be fooled. Out there it’s the ice age and VERY dangerous.” Jonathan face grew serious. “We understandhow dangerous things can get and came equipped. Arctic clothing and extremecold weather tents and heaters.” “So I see,” Jean commented laconically. The new arrivals had placed all their gearin the middle of the floor and it was filled with an amazing amount of gearincluding tents, sleeping bags, cold weather gear along with the expected cameragear. All specially winterized and waterproofed. “Dinner is at eight tonight,” Jeancommented. “Dinner?” Barbara asked. “You know – food. Eat.” “Is it formal? I forgot my tux,” Jonathancommented. “Casual,” Jean answered deadpan. “But humanshave to wear clothes.”
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