The Time Challengers

Outside, the wind began to blow, causing the little plane to bounce and dip.

Robert sat still, it was time to check for a landing and contact the nearest airport tower but his mind was drifting, shut to everything but the memories that he wished to erase. The strains of a sad Country ballad was playing on the radio and the sound pervaded the limited space. A sad smile twisted the man's lips, at least the music suited his mood. He let it fill his heart.

Shifting in his seat, he looked outside. Dark clouds were chasing one an other alternating with expanses of incredibly blue sky. He was dressed in jeans and his comfortable old beige cashmere sweater under his leather jacket. Robert should have been warm but chills ran up and down his spine causing him to shiver intermittently. He wondered if a bout of malaria was coming on to bother him again. With all the quinine and the other medication he was taking he should begin to feel like himself!

Underneath the plane the landscape seemed to match his melancholy mood!

Small rounded domes similar to dunes, smooth and golden, were covered with a dried up turf. It looked like the tawny pelt of a fawn. Occasional clumps of boulders, some low trees, broke the monotony of this desolated landscape. Distractedly he let his eyes brush over the fuel indicator. He swore, not believing his eyes . . . It was reading empty.

An almost automatic reflex made him lift the nose of the little plane. His fingers were clenching the joystick until the nails became white. Too late! The bird began to lurch, brutalized by the wind. The engine coughed while the altimeter indicated a downward course, faster and faster while the wind shrieked in his ears and the film of his life unrolled inside his brain with unbelievable speed.