Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #19 October 2015 | Page 27

quickly surmised that they were on the ground; God
knows where in the Samoan jungle. She noted that
poor Jason had crashed through the windshield and
was very dead. Still somewhat in a drunken stupor
from the night before, she managed to splash water
from her Poland Springs bottle into Fred’s face. She
shook his head and screamed. “Fred! Fred!” but he did
not move.

Fred laughed heartily. “Good one, Lizzy. Our
first appointment is at the museum to see the Chief,
right?”
“Yeah. I hope he speaks English.”
#
The Hand of Fate slowly scratched into its
ledger…

It wasn’t until two hours had passed that Fred
managed to respond weakly to Lizzy’s frantic cries.
The Silvers held each other and sobbed softly. They
were both pinned down in the aircraft and, as night
fell, they fell asleep.

Lizzy Silver loved her gold,
But watched her wealth recede.
She’ll get it back
With methods black.

#
With the dawn came excited voices from
outside the plane. Oh, thank God, Lizzy thought. They
saw the plane come down and they’ve come to rescue
us! “Over here!” shouted Lizzy.

#
After arriving at their hotel in Pago Pago, the
Silvers had finished the two champagne bottles they
had stowed in their luggage. The flight from Pago
Pago on American Samoa to Matavai would be quite
short by comparison, so they could just settle in and
enjoy the flight.

She heard the voices repeating “O le ali’i aso!
O le ali’i aso!” Lizzy had no idea what they were saying, but she was so very happy that help had arrived.

Fred and Lizzy had loaded their luggage and
introduced themselves to the Samoan pilot, Jason
Benga. The plane was a four-seater, with the pilot
sitting in the front left seat and the Silvers occupying
the two rear seats.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” said Jason.
“You guys seem tired. Go ahead and sleep, if you
wish. We’ll be flying through some small tropical
storms, and we might hit some turbulence, but don’t
worry, you’re in good hands!” Those words were the
last English words they would ev