No Place Like Home

Day 193

It is hot in this new country. We made port yesterday after our ship was blown far off course in a terrible, terrible storm. We do not know where we are, only that it does not exist on the maps of man. Our water supplies are frightfully low, and our ship is badly damaged.

Our “harbor" is as a long, sandy strip that turned into grasslands with rolling hills. In the distance, we could see a forest. Now, looking for trees to fell for ship repairs, we approached the forest. Upon closer inspection, we realized that it was not a forest such as we have in our homeland, but it is a jungle.

Right now we are taking a break in the shade of the jungle. All morning we—half of our crew—have been trekking through the jungle, searching for suitable trees from which we will repair our ship to sail home. For now, however, I must close as we are about to continue our search.

—Jeremiah Aldworth

Day 195

No suitable trees. It rained all day yesterday and all day this morning as well. To add to everything, we are hopelessly lost in this miserable place. Thankfully, we have supplies to last us a while and plenty of fresh water in the jungle, but that does not bring us back to our ship.

We have decided to try and make this adventure worthwhile, and now we are calling ourselves the “Lost Explorers”. Pretty terrible, isn't it?

Day 198

I fear we will die in this wretched place. Our food supplies are running low, and now Eadburgh has taken ill. Oh, I wish to be at home! We all do.

This jungle is a mess of insects that are all trying to eat you. Not to mention the snakes—huge things that shouldn't exist in this world! Strange animals, too. We can almost always hear strange screaming noises and once we saw the source of the terrible racket: monkeys! And big, spotted cats, too! Not all the animals are so unfriendly, though. There was a herd, once, of huge, huge gray animals with long noses and big flapping ears. They lumbered along the path in front of us as if we weren't even there! We have spied odd birds as well—one that was black with a yellow chest and a ridiculously oversized colorful beak.

And there is more. We have begun to fear that someone—yes, someone, not something—is hunting us. Ah, perhaps it is only our over-worked imaginations.

—Jeremiah Aldworth

Day 199

Sorrow has gripped us all in its cold, icy hands. Eadburgh succumbed to his fever this morning. We are not well. Our food supplies are gone, though there seem to be many new fruits here. Unfortunately, we do not know how many of those are edible. Most of us are suffering stinging rashes from some sort of plant we must have touched. Worst of all, Thatcher has touched a vibrant blue and orange frog, and now his left hand and arm are swelling and he won't stop retching.

Day 200

We are now certain somebody is following us. We have found footprints, and Steward swears he saw a human face, painted green, staring out at us through a thick bush. We found no trace of our mysterious follower, however.

How I miss home!

Day 213

Jared is missing. We do not know where he is. One morning we woke up and he was gone. That has scared us even more.

Thatcher is better now, but his left hand and arm are hard to move and he is absolutely terrified of any frog or toad we see. I don't blame him in the least.

We have discovered a strange type of food, a crescent-shaped yellow thing. It is mushy and pale yellow-white on the inside and it is good to eat. We have found mangoes, too.

There is evidence that we came across today that humans live here, too. We came across some tall, stone, pyramid-shaped structures, although they are old, crumbling, and covered in moss and vines. We considered staying there for a while but decided against it when we realized that a large colony of huge red ants had already claimed it as their own home.

Day 221

We made contact with the locals! We were sitting around a fire this morning, watching Edwin attempting to make tea, when three tall people emerged from the jungle. They were dressed in green-dyed animal skins and carried tall, heavy-looking spears. The one in the middle stepped forward and said something in a strange language. When he realized we didn't understand, he pointed to himself and said, 'Macha.' Then he pointed to the native to his left and said, 'Alcha.' The man to his right was Tonich.

I stepped forward and said, pointing to myself, “Jeremiah.” Macha frowned and echoed, 'Jer… my.' I nodded encouragingly. Each of my companions introduced themselves, and we invited the three locals to sit with us at our fire.

Macha gestured at the jungle around us and said, 'Yucha'alpa.'

'This place,' I said, enunciating carefully as if it would help the natives understand, 'is Yucha'alpa?'

The native looked at me with a puzzled look. I shrugged. Then Macha pointed to his chest, then at the jungle. He pointed at himself again, this time gesturing to his companions as well, then at the jungle. He gestured at us, then, and pointed to the ground.

'I think he wants us to stay,' Steward said. 'They will leave, I think, and perhaps come back later?'

Macha said something in his strange language. We shook our heads. Macha shook his head, too, in frustration. He talked rapidly with his companions for a second and then looked over at us. Macha gestured to us and made a follow-me motion with his hand. We conferred quickly and decided to go with the natives. We shall see whether they are hostile or friendly soon enough, I think.

Day 222

We camped last night in the jungle, and the natives cooked fruits and other plants and made a delicious meal. It was refreshing and restored our spirits. With enough of their fodder, I think we'll be all right in no time.

The natives stayed with us that night. We went onward the next morning. The natives astound me. They can walk so quietly, and they seem like they know each and every leaf in the jungle.

We reached their village around midday. It was spread over a large, cleared area, their homes and buildings made of animal skins stretched over wood frames in the shape of a yurt. Children laughed and played; others did work. The women were weaving baskets, making clay jars, cooking, or other things that I did not know. The few men we saw were either eating or asleep by the fire. A small band of men came in from the jungle with fresh meat and I realized that there were so few men because only a few remained in the village.

Macha and his companions took us to his yurt. There, his wife, Aotka, gave us food and drink. We rested for the remainder of the day inMacha's yurt and we tried to communicate.

Steward, the most adept of us with foreign languages, figured out most of Macha's words. We learned that it is hunting season, and most of the men are hunting, including their chief, Uchta. Tonight Uchta will return and Macha will introduce us.

Now, the sun has set and we are sitting around one of the natives' large bonfires. They dance and sing in their foreign tongue. It is beautiful music.

Uchta and his hunters have not yet returned, but from what Steward believes Macha has said, he will soon be here.

I think he is here now. I must put away my writing to greet him and find out whether he is well-disposed towards us or not.

Day 273

We have spent many good, enjoyable weeks with the natives. They have become good friends, and now we are both able to speak some of each other's languages.

But now, however, we have all recovered to our normal selves—if not healthier than before—and now Uchta, Macha, and many of the tribe have shown us the way back to the shore, and from there, our ship. We have brought back many good provisions for the journey home, and the wind is now in our favor. Our companions we left at the ship are relieved to see us—after we convinced them we weren't ghosts! We set sail early this morning and now the land has disappeared from sight.

Ah, though I will miss our friends, it is good to be back at sea! And it will be even better to return home.

After all, there is no place like home.

—Jeremiah Aldworth