Chapter 51 Chapter 51: Rope Chair for Escape

Richard became agitated.For more than an hour, he and Nicole stood on the walls of "New York", searching the sky for traces of helicopters. "Where did these guys go?" he grumbled. "It only takes 15 minutes to drive the rover from under the Alpha steps to Camp Beta." "Perhaps they looked elsewhere," said Nicole confidently. "That's ridiculous," Richard said. "They must be going to Camp Beta first. Even if they're not going to fix the comm relay, at least they'll find the note I left. New York City is coming." "They probably knew there was no place in the city to park the helicopter, so they came by boat."

"Then why don't they use a helicopter to see if we're there first? That's impossible." Richard swept his eyes to the sea, searching for the shadow of the boat, "A boat, a boat. Boy, come on, my boat .” Nicole laughed, and Richard managed to force an ugly smile. He said anxiously: "At Camp Beta, two people can load a boat in less than half an hour. What the hell are they doing? " Frustrated, he turned on the radio and shouted angrily, "Listen, you guys, if you're anywhere near the Sea of ​​Columns, please identify yourself and come here quickly. We're standing Waiting on the wall."

No one answered.Nicole sat down on the city wall.Richard asked, "What's wrong with you?" "I think it's okay if we have you in a hurry." She replied, "I'm tired of waving my hands standing on this wall." Looking at the distance of the Sea of ​​Columns, she whispered, "If we can fly over by ourselves , things are much simpler.” Richard stood aside, watching her with his chin up, and after a while, said, "That's a brilliant idea. Why didn't we think of it before?" He immediately sat down and started working on his computer, mouthing Ri murmured, "A coward dies many times before he dies, but a brave dies only once."

His fingers were tapping away on the keyboard, and Nicole glanced over his shoulder at the screen and asked, "Honey, what are you doing?" "Three!" he cried, "three is enough." Richard looked at Nicole, who was bewildered, "would you like to hear about the most amazing plan ever?" he asked Nicole . "Why not?" she said with a disbelieving smile. "We're going to weave rope chairs out of big mesh ropes, and let the big birds fly us across the Sea of ​​Columns." Nicole stared at Richard for a few seconds and said doubtfully, "Even if we can weave a rope chair, how are you going to convince the big birds to get involved?"

"We've got to convince them that it's in their own interest," Richard replied, "or threaten them in some way... I don't know; you can figure it out, too." Nicole doubted it would work.Richard took her hand, walked down the city wall, and continued, "No matter what, it's better than staying here and waiting for the helicopters and ships that don't show up." Five hours later, the rescuers were still missing.They have already woven rope chairs.Richard let Nicole stay on the city wall, went back to the "white room" by himself, and checked the sensors again.He came back and said that while the men were still near Camp Beta, the images were blurry.

They had agreed that Nicole would radio every half hour.But until now, there is still silence in the earphones, without any echo. Nicole looked at the graphics drawn by Richard on the computer, and she asked, "Why do you think rescuers use steps to get down?" "Who knows?" he replied, "Maybe the chair lift broke and no technicians fixed it." "I think that's odd," she thought. "It does disturb me a little, but I'd better not tell Richard until I can find out. He doesn't trust instincts." Nicole looked He looked at his watch, "Fortunately, I've been implementing food rationing to save money. If the rescuers don't show up and his crazy plan fails, we'll have to wait until tomorrow daytime to swim across."

"The preliminary design has been completed." Richard waved his hand and let Nicole pass by, pointing to the screen and said, "If you think there is nothing wrong with this draft, I will draw the detailed drawing." In the picture, three ropes bind the bodies of three big birds, and a rope chair hangs under the ropes. A person is sitting in the rope chair, being hoisted by the big birds, and flying across the sea of ​​columns. "It looks all right to me," said Nicole.But she didn't feel that this would really happen later. "I can't believe what we're doing," remarked Nicole.She flipped the switch that opened the cave a second time.

For the first time, their call was met with cold reception.This time it was Richard who yelled into the big birds' dens; "Listen to me, big birds," he called in a growling voice, "I want to talk to you, right now, quick Come up." The way he did it made Nicole laugh. Richard started throwing the black stuff down the well. "Look," he said, laughing, "I knew these things would work." At last they heard voices in the horizontal passage at the bottom of the shaft.The pair of big birds they had seen so many times came up and squeaked something to Nicole and Richard.Richard asked them to look at the computer screen held up in their hands, but they didn't look at it.After they finished speaking, they immediately flew down the well and disappeared under the "tank whistle".The manhole cover is closed.

"It's no use," she said when Richard asked Nicole to open the manhole a third time. "Even our friends are against us." After a pause, she added, "What if they attack us?" manage?" "No." Richard asked Nicole to open the lid. "If they really do this, you stay aside and don't come over. I will deal with your feathered friends." The lid was opened for the third time, and the chirping of great birds came from below. Richard immediately yelled loudly and threw things down the passage below.Something hit the "tank whistle", and there was a "bang" explosion, as loud as a gunshot.

The two big birds came up again and yelled loudly at Richard.Three or four other large birds followed closely behind them.The cries of the big birds rang together, which was shocking. Richard didn't flinch, he pointed at the computer screen and yelled loudly.Finally, they finally caught their attention. The big birds began to watch the picture on the screen flying over the Sea of ​​Columns.Richard held the rope chair in his left hand and gestured to the screen.The big birds discussed.But in the end, Richard sensed that he hadn't succeeded.A pair of big birds flew down and passed the "tank whistle".Richard jumped into the cave and onto the first level platform.

"Don't go!" he yelled loudly. The mate of the large black bird flew towards him screaming, its sharp beak less than a meter from Richard's face.The screams rang out, deafening.But Richard was not intimidated, he jumped down again and reached the second platform.Now, if the lid is on, he has no way out. He raised the rope chair and computer again, pointing and gesticulating.The big birds answered in unison, apparently saying "no."But beyond these roars, he heard a different sound, like a siren.All the big birds immediately quieted down, and they stood silently on the platform, watching the "tank whistle". It was eerily quiet in the cave.After a while, Richard heard the sound of flapping wings, and a large bird slowly rose up, came to the same height as Richard, and circled opposite him.Its body is gray, with a pair of silver-gray, piercing bright eyes, and two cherry-colored red rings around its neck. The big bird stood majestically on the platform opposite the shaft, looking at Richard.It spoke, softly and clearly.After hearing what it said, the big black bird quickly flew to its side and explained what happened just now.Several times, the two big birds looked at Richard in unison.Finally, when Richard saw them nodding, he thought the opportunity had come, so he demonstrated the picture on the screen again and raised the rope chair in his hand.A large bird with a red ring around its neck flew beside him so that he could get a closer look. The sudden movement of the big bird startled Richard so much that he almost fell off the platform.The big birds seemed to laugh.The big gray bird said a few words, and the other big birds immediately fell silent.Gray Bird stood still, as if thinking.Finally, it gestured to Richard with its paws, spread its wings, and flew out of the cave. For a while, Richard stood in a daze.The big bird flapped its wings and flew high into the sky.Nicodon's two big bird friends also went with it. Nicole asked from the mouth of the well, "Are you still coming up? I don't know how you persuaded them, but it looks like our friends are ready."