Duncan adjusted his Ray Ban sunglasses to he could see the woman better through the eyes of the raptors.  He tried to be clinical about it, but the sea and jungle weren’t being kind to the flimsy clothing she wore.  The storm must have hot when she barely had time to throw anything on.  He faded out all but one view. He’d have faded that one as well so as not to be such a voyeur, but the simple truth was that the woman was hard not to stare at.  Redheads were a bit of a weakness.   But he also wanted to make sure she was safe from other predators.  

He also wasn’t born yesterday.  He activated thermal scanning and metal detection as well as sensors to detect explosives.  He did detect a faint signature of diesel fuel.  But he guess that had come from leaking engines of the cruise ship she had been on.  The thermal scanning didn’t help to keep him from staring as it made her flimsy clothing seem near transparent.  He tried not to grin at the thought of how many young boys would kill to get their hands on HIS X ray glasses.  He did his best to force his mind to be clinical.  She could be a spy.

But if she was a spy, he found nothing.  The only thing he noted was that she wasn’t panicking.  Sure she was afraid.  But she was using her head.  She wasn’t screaming frantically.  But she also drew no weapon.  No gun, no knife, not even a nail file.

He sighed.  Well, he couldn’t just let her sit there in a tree forever.  Well, he COULD …  The last thing he needed was some girl, cute or not, poking her nose into his work.  This was the 1920’s so she was probably just some uneducated Daddy’s girl.  That might not be so bad.  She wouldn’t have a clue what she was looking at.  Of course, even his simplest ‘inventions’ would be practically magical.  Even his kitchen was going to have to require an upgrade to her education that he couldn’t explain.

He grabbed his Barrett Light 50, a 50 caliber sniper rifle that would resemble a rifle about the size of a large shotgun, but with enough punch to down an elephant with one shot but have no more kick than a 12 gauge firing a slug.  He also grabbed a To Go bag which had some MRE’s and water bottles and a smart bandage - something he had designed for his adoptive mother.  It was a couple miles of walking - painful walking as his left leg had never healed right.  He managed to keep a good pace to get there in under an hour.  That would be long enough for the girl to get dumb ideas.  So he kept the raptors staring at her hungrily, and jumping to nip at her anytime she let part of her lower to within reach.  It was mean, but effective in keeping from having to chase her all over the island.

When he arrived he made a show of being the Great White Hunter.  He took aim and felled a 6 inch sapling with one shot.  The raptors all snapped their attention in the direction of the shot, then took off running in the opposite direction - just as he ordered them to do.

When he got to the tree he looked up.  “You are trespassing.  They are territorial.  They eat pirates for breakfast.  But you don’t look like a pirate to me.  More like a drowned rat.  My name is Duncan, Duncan Moran.  And you would be?”  He slung the rifle to his back and reached up to help her down.  She looked small enough to catch and hold in one hand.

++++++++  

Duncan seemed almost aloof in his demeanor toward the girl, maybe even irritated.  This was a man who had become unaccustomed to social graces.  But he at least had a few manners.  And he wasn’t the sort to leave a woman as food for dinosaurs.  And he offered her water.  He told her she had better food back at his camp if she could wait.  That explained the strange packages.  

The trip wasn’t really that long as he led her back through the jungle.  He almost ended up having to carry her part of the way.  She really didn’t have the right shoes for a jungle hike.  But instead he just slowed down and took short breaks.  

The trip ended at a cave entrance that was extraordinarily well camouflaged.  Even seeing where it was, Adeline had doubts she could find it again easily.  The cave ended at a strange glass door that might have been something straight out of a book by EE Doc Smith.  (Skylark series published 1915 - 1921.)  But the truly amazing thing was that it opened by itself.  And as they passed through lights turned themselves on.

“Ghosts,” he explained, trying to keep a straight face, but failing miserably.  “The island is haunted?”  He shook his head.  “Not buying it?”  He laughed.  “Welcome to my home.  Do you like sushi?”  He frowned.  “Hmm … you probably never had any.  Raw fish with rice and spice.  Maybe shrimp creole.  That’s cooked.  Manhattan clam chowder?  I finally learned a good recipe.  One good thing about soup, it keeps in a freezer.  I also have boudin for snacks.  I have a crawfish farm.  I am still trying to find a way to tenderize calamari.  Haven’t found one yet.  But I did discover a way to use it to make a protein cracker.  Freeze dry it.  Oh wait, you’ve probably never heard of that.  It’s a process invented about 20 years ago, but its only real use was to preserve a rabies virus to store it long enough to research a cure.  Eventually people will find other uses.”

He had pulled out a plastic container of frozen shrimp creole from the freezer, and a small tub of rice from the refrigerator.  He scooped out some rice into pyrex heating dish and popped it into the microwave and started it heating.

“Uhm … my kitchen.  Don’t use it until I give you a safety lecture.  You have probably never heard of cooking the way I do.  First lesson, never stick metal in the microwave.  It doesn’t cook the way a toaster oven does.  It also cooks a LOT faster.  And it can make a mess by making some foods explode.” He stopped and laughed. “Maybe I SHOULD let you experiment …”  He looked at her.  “Kidding.”

Suddenly he was serious.  “You can’t tell anyone about this stuff.  The world isn’t ready for it.  Look at World War I.  We took every piece of technology we had and turned it to killing one another.  The next War will be a lot worse.”  He stopped and abruptly shifted topics.  “I didn’t see any signs of other survivors, but I am keeping my eyes open.  I tried to warn your Captain.”