Lost Worlds by Andrew Lane

Author:Andrew Lane [Lane, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781447228035
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

CHAPTER

ten

Tara Flynn was heavily jet-lagged. This was the fourth time zone she had experienced in four days, and her body had given up trying to tell what time it was. Somewhere in her head, a little part of her brain had thrown up its hands and said, ‘You know what? – I can’t do this! Just tell me when time starts behaving itself again!’

It was some hideously early hour of the morning, although as far as her body was concerned it might just as well have been mid-afternoon. Tara glanced around. Gecko was beside her, sleeping like a baby. Natalie was next to Gecko, on the aisle seat. She had earplugs in and a padded blindfold across her eyes, but Tara didn’t think she was sleeping. She kept drumming her fingers and making unhappy shapes with her mouth.

Rhino was across the aisle. He was reading a travel book about Georgia that he had picked up at Heathrow. It was difficult to tell from where Tara was sitting, but she thought he was trying to memorize some phrases in Georgian. Not that standard phrases were going to come in useful. Can you direct me to the British embassy? was all very well, but what was Georgian for Have you seen a thing that’s a cross between a man and an ape anywhere around here?

Rhino seemed to sense her gaze. He glanced up, and smiled at her. Are you OK? he mouthed. She gave him a thumbs up as the plane descended smoothly towards Tbilisi airport.

The aircraft’s tyres hit the runway and it rolled towards the terminal building.

Gazing out of the window, Tara was strangely impressed. She hadn’t quite known what to expect, but she’d had a feeling that any country that had spent so long as part of the monolithic, communist Soviet Union would be dull, drab and grey. That wasn’t the immediate impression she got. The terminal building looked new, and designed to impress. It was also a mass of blazing lights, sending out a welcoming signal to arriving travellers.

Inside the aeroplane, all the lights went on. Natalie pulled off her blindfold and gazed around unhappily. She did not look like she wanted to be there.

Gecko was already texting on his mobile. He glanced at Tara and smiled. ‘Just letting Calum know we have arrived,’ he said.

‘You’ve got a signal already?’

‘Yeah, the phone locked straight on to a local mobile service. This is civilization!’

Across the aisle, Rhino put his book down. ‘Time to disembark,’ he said. ‘Customs and immigration should be a doddle. Just present your passports, smile and don’t cause any trouble. I’d hate to have to bail any of you out of jail this early in the expedition. Then we have to pick up our luggage from the reclaim area. We’ll get a taxi from the airport to the centre of Tbilisi – it’s about a thirty-minute drive. We’re staying in a hotel in the city centre. Given that it’s still stupid o’clock in the morning, I suggest you all get your heads down and get a few hours’ rest.

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