Travis had been looking forward to this trip since he was a teenager. It had taken quite a while to save the money, but in the meantime he had learned all he could about Kenya and its wildlife. He had devoted practically all of his free time and energy to becoming an expert on the subject and now he was here, about to take his first ever hot air balloon trip over the tantalizing landscape. His acute fear of heights were not going to be very helpful, but he steeled himself for the trip and was determined to enjoy the adventure. The pilot, Menzie directed him into the gondola and they were off. It was magnificent. They floated over high rock formations, trees, and grasslands of the savannah. He saw vast herds of wildebeest, antelope, zebra and other exotic animals. His adolescent fantasies had not even come close to the reality of the experience he was having and he felt a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
After they had been up for a few hours Travis heard Menzie swear and mutter something under his breath. Travis turned to center of the basket so see Menzi furiously working the apparatus under the opening to the balloon.
“Everything okay?” he asked
“Oh yes. Just a little trouble with the burner. Nothing to worry about.” came the reply
Travis turned back to the panorama spread out beneath him. After observing some water buffalo below, Travis noticed that the balloon seemed to be descending. Turning, he watched as Menzie worked the apparatus again and again in frustration. As this was happening the balloon’s descent was rapidly increasing in speed.
“What’s happening?” he shouted as the basket began to buck and twist
“Hold on. I can’t get the burner to light. We’re going down!” cried Menzie
Travis glanced over the side and watched as the ground rushed up to meet the gondola.
They hit the ground hard, but the balloon kept moving sideways, caught in the wind, dragging the bouncing gondola behind it. Travis had stooped in a corner of the basket facing the center and watched in horror as Menzie was thrown from the rig. His body landed several yards away on a rock ledge and Travis saw the body land in a broken heap. A few more bounces later and the balloon had stopped and settled to the ground around him. After several minutes Travis caught his breath and started to take stock of his situation. The basket was on its side and Travis was lying with his face to the sky. He was able to move all of his limbs and the only pain was in his back. As he tried to stand he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his back. He tried moving around on his back in different directions and finally figured out that he was skewered onto the gondola. One of the wooden runners that reinforced the weave work had apparently broken and harpooned him in the back, and now he was impaled on it. After figuring out about where the wood penetrated his back, used his hands to hold the basket wall and worked himself off of the wooden dagger. It was an extremely painful operation, causing him to tremble, sweat, scream and finally to collapse in the dirt under the baking sun.
He awoke a short time later and was able to stand. The pain throbbed in his back, but he did not have the sense that he was mortally or even seriously wounded, which was a great relief to him. Now he had to take stock of his situation and plan an escape strategy. After searching the gondola he was able to scavenge the remains of their brunch, about a litre of water, a knife and a small first aid kit. If he stayed at the site, he would have the gondola and the remains of the balloon from which he could fashion a shelter. Staying at the site was his best strategy. When they didn’t return a search would be mounted and Travis was counting on the belief that the balloon tours stuck to pretty much the same routes, making rescue a fairly good bet. His job was to survive until they came. He hiked back to wear Menzie had been thrown and found the body in a pool of blood on a stone escarpment. Menzie had landed hard and his head was bashed in. He was dead. Travis stripped the body of personal effects, hoping to return them to his family and in the process found a pistol. That might come in very handy. He also noticed a funny looking bit of jewelry about Menzie’s neck which turned out to be a flint and steel, which was good luck indeed. There would be fire tonight.
Travis had worked hard, finding some saplings and other materials. He had used these to build a framework over which he draped sections of the balloon that he had cut away, forming a comfortable tent. He had foraged firewood and built a large fire to keep predators away and settled in for his first night on the savannah. Though he was not happy with the circumstances of his situation, he did take an odd delight at camping out this way. It was something he had dreamed about for years and he was fully enjoying it. Until the hyenas showed up.
He heard them before he saw them. Crying and yapping, they moved around his camp sensing that fresh meat might be on the menu. A few times they got close enough that he could see their eyes glinting in the light of the fire. He knew the danger he was in, but wasn’t sure exactly how to deter them. He stoked the fire into a large bonfire and make sure his pistol was loaded. As he heard them move around, back and forth through the night, he lit firebrands and through them out to extend his circle of fire, hoping to deter them. Finally, one of them stalked boldly into his campsite, snarling and crouching, and Travis shot it. The animal yelped and tore off into the night with his companions following. Travis heard nothing more of them.
For the next two days and nights Travis survived at his camp site. It was hotter than he had ever imagined a place on earth could be. The heat of the day sucked all of the energy out of his body and forced him to lie immobile under his tent in order to avoid the sun’s powerful rays. He gathered wood, improved his shelter and foraged as much as possible during the mornings and evenings. On the second morning while gathering firewood he had found a small fresh stream and was relieved to know that he would not die of thirst. He had just finished the remains of the food from the balloon and there was no more so finding food would now be his first priority. He was actually not doing too badly and thought he might just survive until rescue arrived.
The hyenas returned in the night and once again terrorized him from afar. Travis had expected them back and had done some work to prepare for them. He had fashion a few spears from small trees and had fire hardened their points. He wasn’t sure if they would fly well, but he could certainly use them to fend off the predators by hand if it came to it. He had also set multiple fires around his campsite to extend his zone of deterrence and intimidate the creatures. This seemed to work. He saw no glistening eyes that night and none of the hyenas marched into his camp as they had before.
The next morning he decided to try to hunt something. He walked out to the grassland and was soon looking down on a plain filled with various animals. He thought that there must be a way for him to take some small beast out of the herd. The question was, how? As he walked down to the plain he noticed that he was at the bottom of a clump of rocky hills, surrounded by brush at the base. There was one place in particular that looked interesting. The rocks jutted out in two places about six feet apart, like twelve foot high toes. There was a sandy space between them that ran back to the base of rock, about twenty feet. Like a small box canyon. Travis moved into that space and toward the back. He took three of his spears and buried them at an angle with about three feet of the pointed ends extended up at an angle. He surround these with brush so that they couldn’t be seen easily. He then strolled out to the plain and watched the animals until he found what he was looking for. About twenty yards away there was an adolescent wildebeest limping badly. None of the other animals would come near him and Travis knew that this was his prey. He circled the animal and came up behind it, running and yelling with his spears in his hand. The frightened animal took off running as fast as it could, which was not very fast given it’s bad limp. Travis was right on its tail, driving the animal with sounds and jabs from his spear. He herded the animal into the opening and drove it on to the awaiting spears and then dispatch it with his knife. Even an adolescent wildebeest is a big animal. Travis needed to take his meat and get away quickly before the lions and hyenas showed up for lunch. He quickly opened the animal up and took the heart and liver, then cut off one front haunch. It was all he would carry in the piece of balloon fabric he’d brought for a sling.
He returned to camp set a large hunk of liver out to cook. He put the rest of the liver and heart into the cooler from the balloon and began to skin the haunch. After skinning the haunch he cut the meat into thin strips and hung them on small branches around the fire to dry.
After the fifth day, Travis decided that rescue was not coming and that if he wanted to live he would have to walk out of the wilderness on his own. He began to gather what he would need and to formulate a plan. He was pretty sure that the balloon trip had been generally in a southwest direction since leaving Nairobi. He guessed that they had travelled between one hundred fifty and two hundred miles. He thought his best bet was to travel back to the northeast for several miles, then turn north. He thought that this should take him toward an area that was populated by the Masai who would help him. He packed up his gear and his jerky and tucked in for a good night’s rest before setting out the next day.
He had been up with the sun and started his trek out of the bush. Things had gone well so far, but he had been at it for several hours now and the heat was becoming unbearable. He looked for some kind of shade or shelter where he could stop and rest. As he was circumventing a small rocky ledge he lost his footing and tumbled down the short hillside, landing on his face in a rock strewn gully below. After pulling himself together, he rose to a sharp pain in his ankle. Sprained. Normally not that big a deal, but walking across the African bush this could be a serious problem. He made himself a walking stick and continued to trudge to the northeast. By late afternoon he was exhausted and in a great deal of pain from his ankle. He made a small camp and found wood for a fire. He would need to find water the next day, but for now he drank from his canteen and enjoyed a meal of jerky before falling asleep under the stars.
Something woke him in the night. There were animals walking around near him in the dark. Suddenly he heard a sound that sent chills down his spine. A lion’s roar! There was a moon and he could see for several yards around him. Looking to his left, sitting about fifteen feet away was a lion. A big lion. As he watched, several more came sauntering into view and he fought to keep himself from panicking. He thought that they must see him, but he wasn’t sure. Suddenly, the lead lion crouched and looked at him intently and he knew. He was being hunted. He sprung up the best he could and ran around the rock formation he had been leaning against, putting it between him and the lion. He ran up and across the rocky hill he was on hoping to escape a bloody fate. His ankle hurt but he could hear the big cats coming behind him so he ran as fast as he could. The last thing he remembered was running right off of high cliff and falling into the African night.
He awoke suddenly and gasped for air. He was frantic trying to figure out where he was, what was happening.
“You’re fine Travis! Calm down. Breathe. Breathe.” came a voice
He forced himself to stop struggling, the hands he felt on his arms and legs loosening their grip slightly.
“Calm down now. You’re not hurt, everything’s fine!” said the same voice
He focused his vision on his surroundings. A small darkened room with minimal lighting. There were several people around him, possessors of the gripping hands. He was on a flexform couch surrounded by several small machines with lights and graphs on their displays.
“Do you remember who you are?” asked the voice
“Yes, I’m Travis Harker.” he replied
‘That’s right. Do you know where you are?”
He had to think a minute.
“Yes. This is Virtual Adventures.”
“Exactly. You’ve just returned from your African survival safari. Did you enjoy it?” asked the voice
It all came back to him then. This had been his vacation. A virtual vacation. None of the wildlife in his experience existed anymore and those Serengeti plains were now huge commercial farms owned and run by the agricorps.
“It was so lifelike! I could swear I’ve been sweating and eating jerky for the past six days!” he said
“Actually, you have been under for about fourteen hours. You did quite well with the scenario. We’ve recorded a third person view that you can take with you to relive your adventure. Any questions?” he asked
“This may be silly but my ankle is not really hurt, right?”
“Well, it’s not damaged from the scenario, no, However, you are still paralyzed from your accident. We can’t really fix that.” he said
“No. Of course not. I’m just a little confused.” he said
“Right. Well that will wear off over the next few minutes. Meanwhile, your nurse is here for you. Good luck.”
With that a middle aged woman and two young men dressed in white entered the room pushing a gurney.
“Hello Mr. Harker! Have we had fun? Let’s get you home now.” she said positioning the gurney beside the couch he was on.
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