Missions of the Retrieval Team - Land of the Kilts

[davedove]

Scene 2

Media Room, Great Hall of X Marks the Scot

As we landed at Charleston International Airport, Dee was waiting for us with transportation to the Great Hall. We quickly got into the car and he drove us to the mountain.

Once at the Great Hall, Dee directed us to the Media Room for a briefing. Bradley was waiting for us there, along with a few other people.

“Oh good, you’re here,” he said, as we walked into the room. “Please, grab a drink and be seated.”

My associates and I all grabbed a glass of sweet tea from the table and took our seats. When we had all settled, Bradley stood at the front of the room.

“First of all,” he said, “I would like to thank everyone here for coming on such short notice. We were very short-handed and your offer to help is greatly appreciated.”

“Now,” he continued, “our reason for calling you here. Three weeks ago, an expedition was organized here at the Great Hall to explore a section of the Amazon jungle in search of a legend. Todd had been doing some research on the story of the MacGregor Expedition when he uncovered some clues.”

“Excuse me,” someone interrupted. Looking over I saw that it was Clockwork John. “What is the MacGregor Expedition?”

“Of course,” Bradley answered. “I’m sorry John, and the rest of you who weren’t aware of the expedition. In 1832, shortly after the establishment of British Guiana, what is now the country of Guyana; the British Crown ordered an exploration of the colony. They called upon a Colonel James MacGregor, a highly decorated officer of the42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foot. Colonel MacGregor’s mission was to set out from the Capitol of Georgetown and move south, traveling until he reached the waters of the Amazon River. Once he reached the river, he was to explore its banks downstream to the Atlantic Ocean. He and his party were never seen again.”

“And where do Todd and the others come in?” someone else asked, this time Livingston.

“Well Greg,” Bradley addressed him. “For several months, Todd was doing research on the expedition, with the help of Ms. Stork. Between the two of them, they assembled several stories that later explorers had gathered from the natives, stories of a tribe of natives that wore kilt-like clothing. This tribe supposedly lived atop one of the tepuis the region is known for.”

“Uh, tepuis?” Greg asked.

“Yes, a tepui is a table-top mountain, or mesa, found only in the Guyana highlands of South America, primarily in Venezuela, but also in Guyana and Brazil. They are typically composed of sheer blocks of Precambrian sandstone or quartzite rocks rising abruptly from the jungle. Because of their height and the sheer rock walls, the plateaus of the mesas are completely isolated from the ground forest. They are ecological islands, with an ecosystem vastly different from the surrounding jungle. One such tepui, Mount Roraima, inspired the Scottish author, Arthur Conan Doyle, to write his novel The Lost World.”

“So Todd went looking for this mountain?” John asked.

“Yes and Ms. Stork went with him. Two other members went along, Standard as a wilderness expert and Coemgen went, well, he went so he could wear his pith helmet. They picked up Wompet for extra security. Jamie went along as well, probably for the adventure.”

“When did you lose contact with them?” I asked.

“Their last contact was three days ago. They were just entering the highlands.”

“What about their tracking signals?”

“Their signals disappeared yesterday afternoon. So far as we can tell from here, they’ve disappeared from the face of the earth."