An Accidental Alliance by Jonathan Edward Feinstein

to the eastern edge of the river and managed to get past without incident. From then on the crystal clear waters were replaced by ones that were deeply tinted by brown silt. It was only a few days later that Park realized they had crossed the equator.
          They continued on in that manner for the next month on a more or less southeasterly course. It had been an idyllic time for the two explorers. The wide river became even wider, growing to over two miles across as they continued. Park believed it was navigable to many ocean-worthy ships of the twenty-first century and there was still no end in sight.
          On their exploration days they would hunt for fresh food, relying on experience and their testing kits. Anything they did not like the taste of, they avoided and so far that had seemed to serve them well. Some days they would spend time swimming in the river or just idly watching the clouds go by, when there were clouds. As often as not the sky was cloudless and Park began to wonder how far off the rainy season was. They had been awake for months and so far there had been no rain. Surely there would be a monsoon or other form of storm soon.
          They were a day beyond the second major tributary and now headed east southeast, when they heard a scream from just around a wide bend in the river.
     
     

    Two
         
         
          “That sounds like a woman,” Park opined, quickly grabbing on to something. He knew what Iris would do next. There were several strange zapping sounds and an animalistic roar in response.
          “It did to me too,” Iris agreed. “Are there people here after all?” She opened the throttle and let their carefully hoarded fuel rush to give the motor an extra boost.
          “It’s not impossible,” Park told her over the sudden roar of the engine. “Not very likely, but certainly within the realm of possibility.”
          The boat picked up more than enough speed to have supported a pair of water skiers as it zipped around the bend, giving Park and Iris their first view of who had been screaming. In the water ahead of them was a young woman, maybe sixteen years of age. They could only see her from her shoulders up, but she had long, dark brown hair and well-tanned skin and appeared to be wearing a tight, hot pink sleeveless garment, which Park though might just be a form of swimsuit. She was holding what obviously had to be a weapon and there were two things that looked like eight-foot long crocodiles near her. One was obviously dead or maybe just stunned and the other was thrashing around in pain. Had those been the only aquatic menaces nearby, she would have been perfectly safe, but Park could see several others approaching from every direction.
           The teen aimed her weapon at the next nearest neo-croc, as Park thought of them, but when it fired, instead of the loud zapping sound, it only emitted a faint pop and a small stream of vapor. Terror filled her face as she turned to see what was making the strange sound. Seeing the boat she slipped the weapon into a sheath on her back and started swimming toward it.
          There was another neo-croc on a collision course with her, so Park lifted his rifle and took aim. After their previous weapons proved inadequate, Arn had issued the best assault weapons he could find to all the scouts. Park fired off a burst and his target began spewing blood. The other neo-crocs suddenly turned on that one and began to eat.
          “Coh!” the young woman shouted at Park and Iris as the engine grew quiet and the boat began to slow down. “Miganz tana keepa!”
          “What?” Park asked automatically. Then he silently cursed himself. There was no way either of them was likely to know each other’s language.
          But she made the same mistake and sounding like every tourist in history who thought that by merely speaking slowly, clearly and loudly they could make