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