   {You'll have to excuse the abbreviation, and lack of some
punctuation.  The narrator had limited writing supplies, and
progressively leaves out unecisary things to save space, and 
pencil.  At some point, she fits more on the page by writing 
smaller, and closer together.

   ASSTR automatically formats text, indents paragraphs with 
three spaces, and a carriage return between them.  The fictional 
original is scrawled in cursive, only a break in the line to dot 
the Ts, and cross the Is ( .)(. ), and a horizontal line to 
separate paragraphs.  [Represents the start of the page, and 
there's another on the end.]  Oh, yeah.  TR stands for 
Tentacle Rape} 
_________________________________________________________________

Joan {FM NS}

   "Yeah Phil?" I turn to the dock, or Doc, I guess, just nice to
come on this trip.

   "Take the filter, and see if any of the cisterns have water."

   "Okay!" I hop out, it's not heavy, or bulky, or anything, so I
take my sample kit just in case I see anything interesting.

   Let's see, cisterns, something to hold water, like this big jug
thing buried just up the slope.  "Hmn," I think that's some, 
under all the leaves, "There's a little in here!" it's green.

   "Hh," he runs up, "We need enough to drink it for the
excavation," he patted my shoulder, "Whoah," held me back, "Try 
not to fall in, eh?"

   "Ihin!" let my hat down to shade my face, it's the dry season,
which means hot.  "Why'd we come in the dry season again?"

   "Hh," he turns to look back up, "The wildlife is less Intense."
he turns back, "You be careful, now."

   "It's okay," I took a survival class, okay it was in the rockys
but I stayed two weeks out there by myself, I think I can find 
some water.  I mean, there's the river, but he says the current 
"Complicates" filtering water from it.  

   "Oh," there's another one!  There all over the place, higher 
would be better so we don't have to carry it all the way up, but 
that's why there's three of us.  Guess who gets to carry it all 
up?

   "Hh," lower, but still above the water, this one's got more 
trees around it, to shade it so it doesn't evaporate.  Kshshshsh! 
only about, 20 feet above the water?  I didn't bring a hose, but 
it's too dark to see down there. Maybe if I come around here, 
there's more light on this side, no, that just makes it darker.  
Maybe to the darker side.

   KSHSHSHSH!  Oh yeah, I lean up, and reach for my vest.  Now 
which one, oh yeah, right chest pocket, the strap shifts on my 
shoulder.  "Whoa," the kit, sliding back from my side, 
"WHOAIE,"kshSHGRHLBDPT!

   Phil {MF NS}

   "Hey, dear?" I look down.

   "Yes sweety?" she stands up, takes off her hat, and wipes her
forehead.

   "Why don't cha see what's keeping Joan?"

   "Hh," she drops the pitchfork, and I watch her climb down. 
Pretty even with her hair stuck to her face, it's hard work, but 
she can do it, never even complains, says she loves it.  I glance 
down, shift the ring back to the tan line, and turn back to work.

   Another lithoglyph, pictographic, it looks like some south
American tribe, but not Azteq, Inca, Tolteq, or any other set I
have seen before. CHNG! the fronds fall, letting a little more 
light shine on it.  Much like the lower ones, a man, tribal 
features, but instead of passing a gourd, he has two, carrying 
them on either side.

   Rub away some of the clinging growth, where's that Botany 
Student? Lichen?  I see, lines, carved out in twists, like rope, 
or vine, a harness to carry twice as much water, up.  The second 
level, I guess, these switchbacks are for carrying water, up, got 
that.  Another cistern, empty, another turn, another ramp to 
clear.  "Hh," I pick up the machete', and set to work.

   I guess that was the fun part, a bit anticlimactic after 
spending the rest of the morning hacking up to it.  I don't know, 
if they passed gourds up to here for carriers to continue on, 
suggesting a hierarchy, or if it depicts their advancement as a 
culture?  No difference in dress, a loincloth of folded material, 
fabric, or these big fucking saw edged leaves, the tough fibers 
in them.

   Not much detail to them, more to the gourds, always held up,
presented, visible, central in the overall image.  Simple 
clothes, barely lined in, vague features, less important than the 
water being carried, or even the gourd full of it.  Slave labor?  
Possibly.

   "No sign of her," she called up from the lithoglyph, marking
another dry cistern.  Snaps A picture, and checks her watch.

   "Hh," I sank the blade into the nearest trunk strong enough to
hold it, and wound down the new trail.  "Take a turn," she's 
busy looking at it, I take the bottle from her almost limp hand.  
"KHAH!" water, warm, stale, and about as refreshing as it gets. I 
pull out my hanky, and wipe my brow.  "I'll look for her."

   Can't have gone far, I keep an eye out for her on my way down 
the ramp.  Look back, the first petroglyph, is it more weathered, 
or rougher?  What's the flood level here, no, even the features, 
figure, and cloth are less definite, but not the gourd.  Possibly 
even older, down here, as they were building the ramp, and 
cistern system.  All earth, weathered to slopes, held together by 
the encroaching jungle.

   The pyramid up there, so overgrown you can make out the shape,
tall, but truncated.  It could be as simple a message as "It 
takes a lot of water to make such a temple."

   Shake my head, raise my hands to my mouth, "JOAN!"

   Joan {F Solo TR Bond Asph Anal}

   [I found this log-book in the sample kit, it will do for a jou-
rnal.  I wound up in the river.  I'm not sure how long, or how fast 
the water is, so can't really guestimate how far it took me.  Down 
stream, obviously, I guess the first thing is to take stock.
_________________________________________________________________

   The flashlight that I over balanced looking for is ruined, a-
long with the rest of the electronics.  My radio, phone, GPS 
navigator, everything, but I have the water to follow, so I'll 
head upstream.  The kit floated, caught on a branch, and held 
long enough for me to climb to the surface, over the branch, 
which turned out to be an undermined root, and at last on
the bank.]

   [Let's see, test tubes, small microscope, glass slides, zipper
bags, eye-droppers, scissors should be handy, cotton swabs, forc-
eps, gloves, and some documentation, including this notepad.  Nice
plastic, or laminated paper pages, grease pencils for it, and the 
sample bags.  Label stickers too, no telling what'll be useful.
_________________________________________________________________

   Priority is fire, for heat, to dry off, light, and smoke to
potentially attract rescue, my Spanish is pretty rusty.  The 
labels are on waxed paper backing, nice, but no dry timber.]

   [Okay,I found a dead limb hanging off a tree, but here's the
bad news.  I broke my knife trying to split it.  I bounced on it 
till it broke, and it started splitting, so I tried to split it 
some more, and I whacked the back like they showed me in survival 
school, but the little pin broke, and it came right off.
_________________________________________________________________

   I got a fire going, anyway.  My smokes are ruined, but the
lighter dried out and my clothes are starting to.  I hung them up 
so nobody can see me, curled up naked on the side of the river, 
but if they come, I'll probably do jumping jacks to get there 
attention.  I'm not cold, but I'm hungry.]

   [Half drowned, I swallowed a lot of water, but I'm not hurt. 
I hope there's no viruses, bacteria, or parasites in it.  I got a 
lot of shots, but who knows if they got everything?  There's stuf
no white person ever seen out this far.
Gear list:
_________________________________________________________________

   Clothes:  I lost my hat in the water, shirt, tee shirt, bra,
pants zip off into shorts, panties, socks, boots, photojournalist 
vest, and a pancho.  It has a snap out flap for putting over your 
backpack, but I think it's long enough to cover me, laying down.  
No backpack, though.]

   [Tools:  The multi-tool has a knife on it, no serrations, but
I still have the blade from the broken folder.  The multi-tool 
also has pliars, a file/saw blade, ruler, can opener is kind of 
another claw like blade, flat screwdriver I guess I can take 
apart the electronics, see if I can dry the radio out.  Blunt 
tip bandage scissors, 4" (overall) Hemostat forceps, Bic cigar
-ette lighter, Folded 5 gallon water jug, and filter pump, 1' 
of hose.  Don't have to worry about water if I have the stren-
gth to pump it, but 5 gallons is about 8x5, so forty pounds to 
carry, so I guess I won't fill it all the way. No food, I HAVE 
to figure that out quick.  It's getting dark, and I don't have 
much paper, so I guess Ill camp tonite, and head up stream to-
morrow]

   [So, the Pancho worked, and I managed to pump about a gallon
before the filter clogged.  Now I remember why he said you cant
pump from the river, if you put the tube upstream, it overloads 
the filter, and locks it up.  The instructions were ruined, but 
I can take it apart, and dry it out later.
_________________________________________________________________

   I got to tired, and pretty much passed out.  It rained, woke
me up, so I couldn't sleep with it falling on my pancho.  I riged 
it good, though, with a stick between two trees, my shoe laces, 
and the drawstring that come with it, some sticks for stakes.  I 
barely fit under it, but it's warm, and dry, and I got what I 
could in the waterproof kit staked down by the strap.]

   [I guess I fell back asleep, because it wasn't raining when I
woke back up.  The fire was washed out, and it was chilly, but to
dark to find more wood, and tinder, so I huddled under the pancho 
until it got light again.  While I was out braking off dead bran-
ches, I got a pretty straight one, and it split when it broke.  
Phil said there was Pumas seen around here this season, but no 
jaguars.  The thing is, they're ambush predators like leopards, 
they're good at not being seen, that's what they do. Anyway, I 
figured out how to clamp the broken blade in the split branch, 
and there's lots of vines around, so now I'm figuring out how 
to lash it tight.  I got all these labels too, to stick it with, 
and if I tye the split vine fibers on tight it should hold.]

   [For one stab anyway, it's not real strong, but better than
nothing.  So, I packed everything up, and hiked up stream as far 
as I can.  Keep the river in site, but it's not always possible 
to stay on the bank all the time, so I really wish I had a 
machete.  I tried the spear but it's too hard to hit with the 
little blade, so I had to stop, and fix it. It's good enough
to push it all out of the way, though.
_________________________________________________________________

   I hiked up some more, and found some fruit I can eat.  I have
to be careful but it looked, and tasted more like Mangos than 
anything I know to be poisonous, and I was so hungry. It gave me 
energy too, so I just kept hiking.]

   Phil  {MF NS}

   It got dark, and started raining, so we didn't even have camp 
set up fully, and had to curl up with all the gear in the one tent
we were able to set up in time.  It was cramped, and uncomfortable
for both of us, so we took turns trying the radio.

   Nothing from her, on all bands, and without the antenna set up,
I couldn't reach any of the other radios in the area.  This isn't 
the modern world, forget phone reception, any given villiage is 
lucky to have power, and most don't use it on a shortwave.

   Beyond the third world, this is still very much the first.  The 
one before we took over, stripped whatever we wanted, and made our 
own.  Not against technology, per se, it's a tool, I just don't 
like to see it used as a weapon against the rest of the world.

   Perhaps it's the location, but my job is to go between these 
two worlds, ambassador for the old one to the new.  Sometimes I 
just wonder if they didn't have it right?  I mean sure, they had 
wars, killed, and mass sacrificed, but all they had  they had was
fire, wood, and stone.

   They built great civilizations, and wiped each other out, but 
that's closer to the natural order.  Species develop, and go 
extinct, force each other out of niches if the habitat doesn't do 
it for them by changing too fast to evolve.  

   I'm all for technology, I just don't know if I can trust man 
with it.  "Honey."

   "Unh?" smile up at her.

   "Your turn," I got up, stretched while she sank effortlessly on
to the one cot we could actually set up.  "nh."

   "Hh," I let my arms fall, and sat down at the radio.  Well with-
in range of several miles, it's difficult to calculate the exact 
radius, on any given vector, it's not going to look anything like 
a circle.

   Just monitoring at this point, I get out a notebook, and write 
whatever I think about.  The Earth dream, watching detached as the 
globe spins, and starts growing greyish spots, like lesions, lines 
growing between them, sucking up the water to blast out noxious 
puffs.

   The green falling away, like mange, flickers of fire, more puffs.
Overtaken by the grey growth, it darkens, shadowed by clouds, hazing 
it's features, pushing back, and corrupting the white ones, covering 
the land until there's nothing but the coastal outlines, continents,
black on blue, fading beneath the grey haze.

   "Hh," I flipped shut the notebook, stretched again.  If she's out 
there, and alive, she's probably asleep, or huddled cold, and wet 
if she couldn't find shelter.  "Fuck this," I flipped back the flap,
and went out.  The rain stopped, or went elsewhere, but it was still 
muddy.

   Assuming she's downstream, and/or across, I grabbed the antenna 
bundle, and headed up.  It's not part of the scientific method, but 
most engineers know that if what you're doing isn't working, try 
something else.  We need a fucking helicopter, closet one I know is 
Quida, 3 days by boat, a fraction of a second at the speed of light.

Joan {F Solo}

   [I stopped to write now because I think I might be there.  I
mean, there is a ramp, like the one we landed on, but on the 
other side of the temple I can kind of make out above.
_________________________________________________________________

   It's real overgrown, though, so if it's the same temple, or
complex, it will take a while to climb up.  I could walk around 
to see if I find the cleared ramp but it's jungle either way.  
Even if it is a different one, climbing up should put me above 
the canopy, where I can get my bearings, and maybe signal for 
rescue.  Right now I'm taking a break to pump more water, it 
dried out itself, or the pressure went down.]

   [Oh yeah, the cistern closest to the river is full too.  Not
to the top, but I can lay down, and the tube is long enough to 
reach.  It's hard though, so I have to take breaks like this.
_________________________________________________________________

   Its a long hard hot climb I have to take another break.  My 
arms are more tired than my legs from lifting stuff and pushing 
it out of the way and its so hot.  I found a compass in the vest, 
it's stuck in the whistle.  I guess I'm on the South East corner, 
the river is below me to the south, and flows past from W to E.  
Remember to conserve paper, use abbr.]

   [This cistern isnt as full I cant reach the water but I got
most of the 5 gallon left.  Its heavy but getting softer and if 
I squeeze the air out it won't slosh when I move.  It's not walk-
ing, I get a few steps in a minute, but like climbing worming my 
way through the plants which rule here by the way. I sawed off 
the spear it's still handy but too long in there.
_________________________________________________________________

   Lots of shade Im not hot sitting here better get back to it. 
Wait a minute the rock Im sitting on is kind of like a alter.  Im 
not into this kind of thing but its kind of what brought me out 
here so I wipe away the brown fungal growth.  A guy, I guess, no 
breasts, holding up a stick.  Wearing some kind of skirt, sandals 
nothing else, long hair.]

   [Real crude, not like sign Peds, or restroom people, but their
cloths look more detailed than them.  And clay jars, hanging from 
the stick apparently, I can tell by the detail, the lip.  The 
other one is sideways, pouring real detailed water off the side 
of the rock.
_________________________________________________________________

   "Hm," I really said it.  The choked ditch turned out to be a
stone worn to a trough running back to another stone.  Close 
fitted with the same half pipe worn in it curves over down into 
the cistern.  "Pour water here."  So I guess it is that kind of 
sign.]

   [Light shining down through the leaves reflecting green from
the water. Theres still clay sticking to the sides fossilized 
straw ends sticking out. Well enough playing Indianna Jane, or 
Lara Croft, I guess it's a pyramid, right?  Put this away for now
and keep climbing.
_________________________________________________________________

   Okay, I made it up the next ramp, to the top of the platau, or
Motte, or whatever.  At the base of the pyramid, it's not like 
the Egyptian ones, but much steeper on the sides, and there's 
another cistern.  Around the other side, the ramps seem to go up 
one side, around the corner, and up another.]

   [So, progress is like a spiral up around the base of the hill,
which is long, and flat on top, like a soccer feild with a low 
wall around it.  The Ancient equivalent of a castle, defensive, 
making a long steep slope for any attacker to climb, through 
sling stones, and arrows, or whatever they used.
_________________________________________________________________

   More stone carvings, almost completely covered in growth, but
I can sit, and clear some while I'm taking notes.  Another cist-
ern, the biggest one yet between the base of the high, steep 
steps which are too overgrown to climb safely.  Really don't need 
even a twisted ancle.  Right now, I'm clearing off the marker 
stone, like the "Pour water here" sign below.]

   [This one is another guy, but dressed more, some kind of top,
hands high, over his headdress, holding a real detailed pot.  
Like a priest, I guess, hes blessing the water, or something.  
I kind of wish I payed more attention to Phil's lectures on Latin 
American cultures, and religions.
_________________________________________________________________

   Just have to find him and his wife what's her name?  Its
shadey up here, and not so hot, with all the trees taking over 
the plaza.  The relentless invaders nature taking her jungle back
Best bet is still to reach the top so clear off these steps and 
keep climbing.]

   [More carvings up the stone stairs.  Just clearing enough for
my feet I had thought they were water worshipers here's the river 
but now this snake thing all over the temple looks like.  It's 
weird cause there's no scales, or anything, just lines, hollowed 
smooth between, no ends, or head, so I'm not sure it's a snake, 
but they have Giant pythons here, like the Anaconda.
_________________________________________________________________

   I don't know these cultures, but think a second.  I think with
their water worship it may be symbolic of the river.  Impossibly 
rising up to wrap around their enemies other Indians with weird 
head dresses look like sideways horns.  Strangling them and 
flowing down their throats weird.  Are those swords and guns?]

Miranda {Yeah, she does have a name!}

   I took the boat right after breakfast, cold, and quick, and a 
cup of coffee.  I insisted on some survival training, same school 
I took, but the quick course.  Still, she knows to stay in sight 
of the river.

   If she went inland, she's probably already dead.  There's flowers 
out here that can kill you.  She's a botanist, I'm not worried about 
that, and she did the Continental divide, but I can't stress this 
enough.  Harlem is a safer place, there the predators, pimps, drug 
dealers, and gangsters look like them.

   Here, everything is beautifull, and can kill you.  If the heat, and 
humidity don't, you will sweat, releasing phermones to attract some
thing to come, sting you, and give you the virus that will kill you 
after several days of mindless agony.

   We have jaguar, puma, and wildcats, who won't kill you, but open a 
wound to get infected, and force you to amputate a leg, or die, and 
she won't see them.  She could die from not having a spare pair of 
socks, water running down a trunk, and dripping in her mouth, or eye.

   Anacondas are slow, and graceless out of water, but that's one of 
teens of species capable of encompassing her ribcage.  They can't eat 
her, but that won't stop them from slowly crushing the life out of her 
for walking under a too low branch, and spooking it.  

   There's probably one at least one capable of just strangling her, 
within 25' of her, right now.  Far enough downstream, I pulled cross 
current, and swung the bow around before restarting the motor.  
Traveling up-stream, I moved up it slower, against current.

   Can't get as close, because although slower, the water can change 
direction faster, force me aground, and probably toppel it this high 
in the water.  Nothing but me, and the main medical pack, I'd find 
her, or her body today.

   Okay, I also have my bush knife, and a single action .44 special I 
can bury in the bank, come back, and shake the mud out of it in a few 
months, then get it firing again.  This particular frame tumbled down 
about 75' of rocky slope, needed a new barrel, pin, and lost the 
cylinder, loosened the trigger a little bit.

   I worry, but nothing happens I can't handle.

Joan {F solo NS}

   [I got distracted by the carvings and clearing steps but I
found a strange plant.  At least I think it's a plant but its 
weird unlike anything Ive seen, or read about.  Okay try to be at 
least somewhat scientific about this.  If it truly is a new specie 
it needs to be documented properly.
_________________________________________________________________

   First seen growing out of a lower cistern.  The one on the 
plaza I mistook it for some sort of vine, climbing out of the low 
brackish green water and up the trunks of nearby trees.  And the 
temple I made it far up the steps before I had to cut one away.]

   [I guess I got a little hot, and distracted.  I thought arch-
eology was boring but actually being here and uncovering signs of 
an ancient culture possibly one unknown to modern society.  I'm a 
botanist, and I almost missed an unheard of kind of plant!
_________________________________________________________________

   I think.  Kind of rubbery and translucent green I picked it up
on the head of my spear and sawed through it with the serrations. 
It kind of snapped wetly and water came out.  What caught my att-
ention was the water up here with all the cultural references.  
Water worship in the middle of the jungle, I thought that was a 
desert thing?  I never heard about it before.]

   [Okay when I get out of here I can switch majors but for now
I'm a botanist.  Snip off a sample with the handy scissors but 
its tough and I have to work the jaws.  Clamped in a slide set 
I slip it in the end of the field scope.  I have to hold it up to 
the light cause this one doesnt have a stand much less a mirror.
_________________________________________________________________

   No not a plant.  The large flat cells more like green algae in
a colony, like Kelp and other seaweed.  Are there other kinds on 
land?  Not my phylum, but they talked about it somewhat right?
_________________________________________________________________

   Right, 'Proto-plants', its thought that early in the migration 
to land aquatic life forms had to go through transition species.]

   [So not new then.  Possibly very old Post-Cambrian but not 
much.  What came after Cambrian?  Evolved since then anyway fresh
water.  The first niche from the sea would come up the brackish 
deltas and eventually inland.  The way the water just squirts out 
when cut this thing probably just doesnt fossilize.

Miranda {F Solo NS}

   More of the same, the outer bank of a switchback, the trees 
come right to the bank's edge.  A lot of roots above the surface,
and dipping down into the peanut butter brown water, no telling 
how bad it is underneath.

   Flowing faster on this side, it causes such turns when the 
rolling megaturf levels off, there's no way to land, so I turn 
back to the slower central water, and motor up the straight 
away.

   Here, the left shore is somewhat safer, no beachings, but 
places where the bank might be low, and sloped enough to 
climb up, and wonders!  A tree, not small, but dwarfed by the 
immense microhabitats growing overhead.

   The problem is how would she have crossed?  Even apparently 
skyscraper height, looking up, the trees aren't capable of 
falling halfway across, and the slow steady momentum of the 
water would quickly carry it down stream.

   So continue on, and, wait.  A good landing, but it triggered 
my Pattern Recognition.  At customs, we always have the same 
conversation, and it always goes somewhat like this.  They ask me 
what I do, and I say that I work in Retail.

   Then the haggling, they work me down to sales, in a shop, 
"Mostly antiques, and some art."  

   "Artifacts?" No.  I own the shop in question, and the art is 
mine, or reproductions.  I've sold a framed rubbing, in Color
for tens of $thousands, the lithoglyphs I've seen so far could 
be cast in place with a boatload of plaster, and the rest of 
the world is down stream.

   What twigged the PR was a landing.  Not the one I just left, 
but definitely the same design.  CSH, "Hey honey?" motor up to 
it.  Look up, even through the overgrowth, I could make out 
the slope.

   CSH, "Find her?" Uhuh!

   I mean, CSH, "No, but I think I found another temple!"  How 
did I miss it before?  Not right across the water, we went right 
past it in every trip.  I remembered seeing it, the moment of 
shade passing into it's shadow on the way up yesterday.

No pyramid, just the trapezoidal hill, blended over with growth, 
a manmade, or at least shaped hill.  "Let's find Joan first, but 
note it's position." CSHK! Don't worry, I won't forget.

Joan {F TR}

   I think I fell asleep because I woke up in the dark.  It was
raining again I thought this was the dry season?  " that's odd, I 
ment to say "weird" but I didn't make a sound.  I must have caught 
something my throat hurts and seems swollen but I can breathe.  I 
just cant make a sound with my throat to talk.]

   [No real medical supplies, I'm not a doctor but Botany starts 
with Bio.  Theres no needle for a blood sample it's a risk but I 
cut my left thumb and squeezed some blood out to clamp in a slide
_________________________________________________________________

   A waste and possible contagion vector it looks like blood.  Not
a lot of magnification 25x I can't see the little red blood cells 
except as spots wiggling with Brownian motion.  Still blood hot 
even at night I just got the pancho over me and I better conserve 
fuel in my lighter.]

   [I had this weird dream.  I cut one of the algae vines and it
flattened from the water falling out but it detached from the tree
and fell on me.  I guess I was scared because it turned into a 
nitemare tightened like a python and crushed the breath out of me.
_________________________________________________________________

   Okay, I played with myself last night.  It was so hard to fall
back asleep and I was thinking about Phil but hes married.  Im no 
virgin but the only boyfriend I ever had was another nerd.  Young
and inexperienced we kind of studied Bio together.  Phils grownup 
though and a Archaologist.]

   [Not like Indiana Jones at all any more than his wife is like
Lara Croft, hes nerdy but in good shape from hiking out to the 
ends of the Earth and hacking temples out of the jungle I guess.
_________________________________________________________________

   Anyway the nightmare turned, sexual.  Its gross but I guess
tells you something about my state of mind.  I guess it rains 
at night in the dry season but every night.  The air cools so it 
condenses and precipitates.
_________________________________________________________________

   Oh yeah the nitemare.  It constricted me and squeezed out my
breath but I guess fripping off made me dream of its ends slipp-
ing into my clothes like my hands last night.  It was tight on my 
chest outside and in my tee shirt.]

   [It seemed so real.  My throat is still tight and I cant swal-
low.  It does not hurt but feels like trying to push something 
down into my chest from my throat.  The chrychoid divit is bulged 
out between the processes of my clavicles.
_________________________________________________________________

   Maybe thats why I imagined.  Okay back up it didnt worm in
down my throat but the end down my pants squirmed between my legs 
and I couldnt reach to stop it or my knives to cut it.  Probably 
would have killed myself with the spear and the little blade in 
the multitool takes both hands and a long time to get out.]

   [I crawled in me bulging and pushing it down to roll more of
its lenth in. Disgusting I screamed out what little breath I had 
left but it squeezed even tighter so I couldn't even gasp.  The 
other end slipped down behind me and in between my glutei.  It 
pried them open and crawled disgustingly inside me.  It had to be 
tens of feet long but soft and flexible like an earthworm but W/
out the segmented body.  More and more of it squirmed in and I
felt it crawling up my colon.  Up and around my viscera I felt 
every inch of my intestines and it must have taken forever.  It 
seemed to swim through my stomach and up my esophagus to my thro-
at.  I choked and it relaxed enough to gasp because there wasnt 
enough outside to constrict my chest and hold my limbs.]

   [I gagged and screamed but it turned down.  Forcing my open
epiglottis back my scream was choked off to a gurgle.  Almost 
free now but paralyzed by terror and pain I couldnt breathe again 
but now it was from blockage of my wind pipe.  Instead of crushing
outside it bulged and squirmed inside and through me.  I felt it 
crawl down my brachial tubicles and the last of the other end slip 
out of my vagina.
_________________________________________________________________

   Thats all I remember but then I woke up and its light and dry
so I wrote it down quick before I forget.  Still a little chilly 
I shiver and rub my legs before I get up and pull my pants on.]

   [I checked no sign of what happened in the nitemare so I guess
thats what it was.  I see the tree where the parasite was suposed 
to be but even the cut end is gone and theres no sign of attachm-
ent to the host plant's trunk.  A parasite vine has to tap into 
the host or its just a climber but theres no known parasite which 
uses both floral and faunal hosts.
_________________________________________________________________

   I'm just lost.  Sleep food and social interaction deprived it
must be just messing with my head.  Just my dreams so far but Id 
better get rescued quick before I descend into delerium.]

Miranda {F solo NS}

I searched everywhere, not a trace of her.  I shook my head, and
blinked away the image of an anaconda, sunning it'self, bulged, 
and sated. 

Finally, we decided to scrap the excavation, but Phillip climbed 
to the top to set up the antenna.  Not flat as expected, the 
platau of the atificial Mesa is hollow, dug out into a bowl, but
there was room on one of the corners.

He was still rigging it as a tripod when I started down, loaded 
the boat, and started back for help.  I stuck to the center of 
the river, until it met the other from the opposite side of the 
complex, passed the hill of the other temple, and another.

Pattern recognition set, there are hills all around, covered by
the rainforrest, but the common features shOwed through.  The 
rectangular base, E-W, temple pyramid on the latter end, so the 
sun sets behind it.

Even with the interruption, and distraction, he was able to see 
some of the culture in the carvings.  The plaza appears to be a 
trade place, Bazaar, but with water instead of Gold.  Shunned by 
the tribe, it's seen as a cursed metal, indeed the spanish wiped 
out the evidently related Azteq for it.

The gourd is the Peso, and the temple a sort of ancient bank.  To 
store the water, which is plentiful here, the rivers are even 
carved, but it has to be carried up hill.  No pack animals are 
depicted, but the poor could fill a gourd, or two, carry it up, 
and possibly feed a family with multiple trips.

No evidence of what all that water was for.  The upper bowl was to 
be sure, the greatest Cistern, but cracked, drained, and filled with
clinging lichen.  Spirals wound up the walls, counter-clockwize, but
too narrow to use as steps, or ramps, we had to cut it short to look
for Joan.

I scan around, but days of this have yeilded nothing.  "Strange," a 
peice of trash, nothing up stream, no civilization until the Ande's
in Paraqai.  I release the throttle, slow to water speed as I catch 
up to it, and handle the rudder.

Floating like a Portugesse Man o' War, but clear, it lapped on eddys,
and rolled on the water, something flopping inside.  I grabbed the 
hook, peirced the plastic side, and pulled it onboard.  A book, or 
more like a stack of index cards, laminated, and bound in a spiral 
of wire.  In a Ziplock, with a Sample label printed on the side, it
was unmarked when I found it.

Definitely her handwriting, I read enough to find that she fell in 
the water, started the motor, and turned around.

Joan {F Solo}
_________________________________________________________________
   [SoThirstyIDrankTheRestOfThe5galYetStilIFeelSoParched.  MySkin
AndLipsAreSoDryAndCrackedICanStayInTheSunNoLonger.  OnlyTheShadeOf
TheJungleSavesMeFromRoastingAlive.  IDontFeelTheHeatAndHumidity,
JustTheThirstOverwhelming.  AlmostFellInOneOfTheCisternsReaching
ForTheGreenSurface.  ICanNoLongerStandNorWalkSoICrawlThroughThe
RootsAndLeafLitter.  TheRiverSoCloseICanAlmostHearItRushingDownTo
TheAmazonProperAwayFromThisCursedPlace.  IFearTheNitemareIsntA
DreamButAMemory.  IFearStarvationAndDehydrationFinalyTookMeDownTo
Delerium.  IMadeItToTheRiver.  FeelsLikeDaysThoIDontRememberIt
GoingDarkOrRaining.  IHaveAGoalNow,TheRiverWaterItWillLetMeDrink,
ButNotBreathe.  MyChestFillsWithAirIHaventSuffocatedButNothing
ComesOutOfMyMouthOrNose.]

   [IHadThoughThatItBreathedThroughMe.  InhailingThroughMyAnus
AndCarryingTheAirUpTheTensOfFeetOfMyIntestines.  ICheckedNothing
ToBeFeltBackThereOrToSeeInTheReflectionSquattingOverTheWater.  IHeldOntoABranchButItLookedFrighteninglyNormalNothingButTheNite-
mareForMeToSuspect.  SoDeleriumIDisplacedANaturalDiseaseIFelt
BeforeTheNitemareToTheOneUnknown.  TheTreeWeedIStillHaveASample
InTheBotanyKit, AndOfCourseThisJournal.  ICanUseTheLabelToFixIt
HereInTheBackCoverCardAndHaveAZipLockToMakeItFloat.]

   [INowUnderstandIt.  ThroughTheBlurAndHazeOfHungerAndThirstNo
AmountOfWaterWillSatisfy.  IStillDrinkIThinkToFeelSomethingFluid
GoDownMyThroat.  IJustWantToBreatheOneLastBreathThenICanDie.  Its
KillingMeThatMuchIsObvious. DesicatingMyTissuesToReplaceTheWater
ItLostWhenICutItForThisSample.  ForcingMeToTheCisternIAlmostFell
InToPlantItForTheNextGenerationToClimbOutAndWaitForAnotherHost.  NotTheRiverThough.  ToFastForItToRootItCouldCarryMyBodyThousands
OfMilesIntoBrazil.  WhereTheresCitiesPeopleModernSociety. IMustNot
LetThatHapen.FirstIWillSendThisDownstreamSealedToFloatAndBeFoundAs
AWarning.  TilThenIMustUseWhatStrenthIHaveLeftToClimb.  AsHighAnd
FarFromTheWaterAsICanBeforeIDie, TakeThisThingInsideMeBackUpToIts
Temple.]

Phil {M Mono Epil}

We searched for months, never found her body, the sample kit, nor 
any sign save the notebook.  The slide was there, labeled inside 
the back, but empty.  Her fingerprints were still on it's plates, 
but nothing else to be seen in a microscope.  We explored all 
three temples, found more cisterns, no algae vines, or corpses 
burst from a parasite growing out of it.

Unfortunately, without further evidence, this has to be classed 
as a delusion.  A fever dream of a scared young woman, lost in 
the jungle, starved, sleep deprived, and possibly infected, or 
poisoned.  Hallucinating, imagining a horror to explain what she 
felt, thought she saw, and dreamed.  

Inspired by the temple, which one we still can not be sure, and 
obsessed over for days, it is as internally consistant as any 
delusion, but obviously couldn't have happened.  Algae Colonies 
have never been observed in fresh water, so far inland, or to 
parasite plants, much less animals, or moving under it's own 
power.  

Such a creature would have no mechanism to move, or even cons-
trict, not to mention senses to find it's way to an appropriate 
cavity.  The way in which it is described searching, getting lost, 
and correcting for it suggests intelligence, or at least instict, 
which such a creature would be incapable of evolving.

Impossible to a sane rational mind with decades of scientific, 
and sociological experience, it is my professional opinion that 
this is fiction.  Imagined by a protoscientific mind, her 
methodology, and lapses in method allowed jumps of assumption.  

As the madness took her, her fevered mind switched to Occam's 
hammer, the more fantastic, and horrible the explanation, the 
more believable.  The natural human inclination, this is what 
drives mankind to mythology, and religion in the first place.  
Ruled by feeling, the only defense against it is logical 
rational thought.