For some reason our requests to go to Vietnam and enter the cave in question kept being rejected, but Paley did not give up. 24 months had gone by since many of us had met at Adelaide and Paley's home to hear about the Son Doong Cave for the first time. In that time Beckett had been to see Agents Vox and Riley to fill them in on the details of what we had spoken about in Helmsley and spent a painstaking number of months working with them to get our access to the cave granted. In that time, we had all also managed to do some of our own research into the tribes and locations Paley had spoken to us about, visiting other parts of the globe.
Of most interest to us all though, was the Son Doong Cave that we were now so eager to visit after such a delay. All itineraries were made, and local contacts had been sourced in Vietnam by Officer Beckett, Agent Riley, Agent Vox, and Kai, who had been informing Immanuel every step of the way.
It was mid-April 1999 when we were finally making the last-minute preparations for the trip. I had travelled down from Newcastle to London by train to Officer Beckett and Jens home. Kai had travelled from Liverpool, Lava and Henry had travelled from Scotland and Adelaide and Paley had travelled from Helmsley to London as well. We all found ourselves heading to Beckett and Jens rather large family home. Despite having a huge home, Beckett and Jen had made a conscious decision to not have children, as had the rest of us it seemed. My assumption was that we had all decided that was the best stance, as we were fully aware that – if we did have children- we would be bringing youngsters into a very dangerous and uncertain time. The majority of the population may have decided to resume their usual way of living after the Anhurians had landed, but those of us who were privy to more details did not.
As I stepped out of the taxi and paid the driver when I had reached Beckett and Jens home, he popped the boot of the car open, so I was able to grab my rucksack.
"Thanks," I shouted as I slung the rucksack over my shoulder.
"Bye," he shouted in return through his wound down windows.
I looked up at Jen and Becketts beautiful home and made my way up the three front steps to the front door, with hanging baskets at either side of me, filled with colourful flowers. It seemed to be a very picturesque home so far.
I rang the bell and heard a rather old fashion ringing inside. Moments later Jen came to the door.
"A.J. so good to see you," Jen said giving me a half a hug as she had a large glass of white wine in the other hand.
"Good to see you," I replied with a smile as we came out of the half embrace.
"A.J. there you are," Kai shouted from down the hallway in the kitchen, with two beers in hand "Come and join us."
"Just put your bag over there for now," Jen said, pointing to the bottom of the rather large staircase.
I pulled my rucksack off my shoulder and propped it against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, so it was out of the way enough for anyone who needed access from the ground floor to the first floor and vice versa. I followed Jen through the hallway and the kitchen area, out of bifold back doors into the garden. The edge of the garden was covered in beautiful flowers and lavender bushes which smelt quite strong in the April sun. Everyone was here, sat on three large outdoor sofas with soft cushions, with two accompanying matching outdoor armchairs. Kai handed Beckett one of the beers in his hand, as they stood over at the large red charcoal BBQ that Beckett had on the go and started talking away, then pointed to me to say I had arrived.
"A.J. glad you made the trip OK," Beckett said, holding the BBQ tongs up as he spoke and giving them a small wave about in the air.
"Thanks Beckett, what have you got on the BBQ?" I replied.
"Plenty of sausages and burgers to go around, and some steaks if you fancy?" Beckett replied.
"We also have vegetarian options and salad and bits in the kitchen," Jen added.
"Sounds great," I replied.
Jen and I went to join the others who were sat enjoying drinks around the outdoor fire pit that current wasn't on.
"Hi A.J.," Lava said I as sat down beside her.
We all then started to say our hellos. Once I had managed to say hi to everyone Agent Riley added, "Well, it is great to have us all back together again in the same place. It feels like it has been a very long time since we managed to get all of us in the same room."
"Yes, it is," Adelaide added, "I am hoping that with all of us together, this trip to Vietnam will be a success."
"We have prepared as much as we can," Agent Vox replied, "And I am sure none of us could be shocked at any of the possible scenarios we could find ourselves in any longer."
"Your right there," Jen said, taking a sip of her wine.
"Has everyone got their passports?" Riley asked.
Everyone gave the right response, answering with a yes. At that point Riley asked us all to put them in her black backpack so we had them all together for the flight she had organised for us, leaving the next morning from Heathrow airport.
We spent the afternoon and evening making general conversation, talking about current affairs and family life before getting on to talk about the schedule for the next morning.
After having teas, coffees, and hot chocolates around the outdoor fire with full stomachs from the BBQ we all made our way inside to take turns to have showers and to prepare for a good night's sleep. I shared a room with Kai, Henry and Lava shared another, with Vox and Riley downstairs on the living room sofas and Paley and Adelaide in another bedroom. And of course, Jen and Beckett were in the master bedroom, their usual sleeping place.
Having had a few drinks and plenty of food, I managed to fall asleep quite quickly, knowing I was surrounded by friends. For some reason I did not feel too apprehensive about our trip. Maybe it was knowing we were all together, or maybe it was due to the fact that I trust Immanuel, I trusted that he would not lead us to a location where we would to be in serious danger. If Anhurians were there I hoped that they would not attack us.
The next morning Kai and I woke to his alarm and got dressed quickly. We made our way downstairs and joined Henry and Lava who were helping themselves to some breakfast. From out of the kitchen window, I could see Jen and Beckett were in the back garden enjoying a cup of tea. Riley and Vox said they had already eaten and were making their way to the front door to stand out on the front to make some calls and to go over last-minute arrangements whilst waiting for the cars to arrive that were taking us to the airport.
Back in the kitchen Henry, Lava, Kai, and I had a pleasant morning chat. "Did you both sleep well?" Dr Derwent asked. We both replied that we did, and Lava said she managed to sleep most of the night but did wake up once or twice. As we chatted Beckett and Jen made their way back into the house and helped us clean up the kitchen.
Once we were all ready and packed everyone piled their bags on the front drive, prepared for everything to go into the vehicles coming to collect us.
The cars arrived on time and Vox and Riley instructed us into the cars once our belongings were in the back.
"It should take us about 30 minutes to get the airport from here," Vox said as we pulled away. I looked out of the back window of the car as we drove away from Jen and Beckett's beautiful home in Wembley. I hoped we would all return to it safely in a few weeks' time with a little more knowledge than we left with.
I had a nice chat with Adelaide and Lava as we made the journey to the airport. Once we were there it was a quick process through airport security guided by Agents Vox and Agent Riley who had organised a private flight for us. Taking a private flight was a great experience and meant we were able to talk openly on the journey about other worldly beings without anyone being alarmed in anyway.
The plane had several seats that were facing each other with tables in the middle. Some had laptop devices on them, which Vox stated were for military use and had access to classified electronic documents. This was helpful on the flight, to refresh our memories on the satellite pictures of areas in Vietnam that we would be visiting and testimonies of locals who had reported strange sightings, even though we had already had years to dismantle and analyse these. We all had an ample amount of time to share our thoughts on the classified materials and to steer each other to documents we were looking at on separate screens, so we were all on the same page quite literally and figuratively.
When it was time to land, we all ensured our seatbelts were firmly secured and we stowed away any belongings that we had had out on the flight either under our seats or in the small stowaway at the back of the plane.
When we landed, I made sure I had a window seat so I could see everything outside. I had never been to Vietnam before, I wanted to see it all.
We were welcomed by airport staff and then we made our way into the airport where our passports were thoroughly checked over and Agent Vox and Agent Riley were liaising with the staff who brought over military personnel to meet us. They explained we should stick closely with them, as there were some in Vietnam who were distrusting of those from the West.
Once we all had our belonging and had been through passport control, we made our way to Phong Nha from Dong Hoi Airport accompanied by the military workers who met us at the airport. I made the most of looking at the sites as we made our way to our destination.
When we arrived at the Phong Nha jungle house accommodation where we were to stay, in the National Park, it was breath taking. There was greenery all around and the buildings looked so amazing with wooden finishes and plants making their way up the walls. We received a warm welcome from the staff and were shown our rooms. Once we had all offloaded our bags, we met in the bar area where Vox, Riley and Paley updated us on the plan for the next day. Including details of when we were to be picked up by our local specialists who were experienced climbers, who would be taking us to Hang Son Doong.
We decided to have a few drinks. The journey seemed to have taken a lot out of all of us, and a few hours after having drinks we all seemed to be taking it in turns to yawn. We all progressively peeled off from the group to make sure our backpacks were packed for the next day before collapsing in bed.
I woke the next morning to the birds chirping outside and made my way to the bathroom to have a shower. I got dressed and afterwards I joined everyone downstairs for breakfast, minus Jen. There was ample fresh fruit and yoghurts available at the breakfast bar, which I took full advantage of, as I was sure I would need the energy.
"Where is Jen?" I asked.
"I think she had one too many mimosas last night," Lava replied.
"I will go and drag her down here," Beckett responded, getting up from the table and making his way back up to the bedrooms of their apartment.
Vox's phone made a pinging sound, and he picked it up from the table to see what the message said. "The guides are on their way; they will be here in 10 minutes," he read out to the group.
"Jen better get her skates on and eat quickly," Kai added.
Ten minutes later and we all stood outside as three large Jeeps parked outside the hotel. Jen stood there munching away on a large piece of mango.
Three men made their way from the driving seats of the Jeeps and walked over to our small group. All three men had dark hair and wore light brown walking trousers with multiple pockets, white t-shirts and green jackets, zipped part way up their chests, with a company logo embroidered into the left breast panel of the jacket. All three men also looked to have very sturdy walking boots on, which looked warn but clean.
The tallest of the three men, about 5 foot 10 inches, with short black hair introduced himself first "Hello, welcome to you all. Thank you for choosing us to be your guides for today. I am Lĕ and this is Vű and Tung," Lĕ pointed to the shortest man around 5 foot 6 with hair slightly longer than Lĕ's, Vű had a noticeable scar on his left cheek. Tung looked around 5 foot eight inches with hair tied up in a neat bun, with very large eyebrows and dark brown eyes.
Agents Riley and Vox carried out the introductions to the three men, introducing all of us in turn, before we all clambered into the Jeeps. I joined Beckett, Jen, and Vox in the Jeep with Lĕ. Dr Derwent, Lava, and Riley made their way into the second Jeep in the line of Jeeps with Vű. Finally, Tung was accompanied by Kai, Paley, and Adelaide.
We made the, in parts bumpy, ride close to the Son Doong Cave and Lĕ parked up at the side of a dried dirt track, on the edge of the jungle. We all jumped out and made sure we had all the equipment that was required to make the trip into the cave. Lĕ handed me a safety helmet, a full body harness and a rope, whilst Vű and Tung were doing the same with those who had travelled in their Jeeps.
We left the vehicles and made our way into the humid jungle. The initial part of the walk required us to make our way to a river and then followed the river for about 12 miles. Paley, Dr Derwent, and Adelaide made up the rear of the party with Tung making up the last person in the group, to ensure everyone stuck together.
We waded across a shallow part of the river, with Lĕ guiding us across. Finally, everyone made it to a rock face covered in greenery, with trees all around. We put on our harnesses and helmets, making sure our head torches were attached and working well, before flicking them back off again whilst Vű carried out a small safety talk. He made sure we were all taking the talk seriously and added that we did not want any accidents, or to end up with scars, like he had done himself. He motioned towards his face, and the scar on his left cheek. We all nodded in acknowledgement.
We then entered the mouth of the rock face in front of us, which Tung said was over 500,000 years old. Tung continued to provide us with an insight into the area, "The natural spring that eroded the rock for this to become the cave it is today did so over three million years ago." We continued to walk as Tung, Lĕ' and Vű provided us with fascinating information about the area.
After around an hour of walking, with the natural light that was creeping through cracks in the roof of the cavernous area guiding us, the previously visible cracks had stopped. We all turned on our head torches and proceeded to follow our guides in the now artificially lit part of the cave.
"Shouldn't we have some sort of weapons?" Jen whispered to Beckett as they both walked a pace on two in front of me.
"We have small knives..." Beckett replied, "…in our backpacks, and I have another in my pocket for quick access."
Tung walked past Beckett and so he added, "In case any of our ropes get tangled or anything like that," just in case Tung had overheard what he and Jen were discussing.
"Being in the dark, it reminds me all too much of being inside the alien craft," Jen replied with a slight quiver in her voice.
Becketts head torch looked to the side of him, where Jen was stood, and it was evident he was trying to find her hand. When he did, I could see Jen was holding it tightly before Becketts head torch straightened up again to be facing the path in front of us.
"Okay, there is a little bit of an incline here, up these rocks," Lĕ called back to us from the front. We all made our way slowly up the narrow rocky incline until we reached another level. "Don't be alarmed there is some water we need to walk through here, but it's only shallow, it will only come up to your ankles," Lĕ continued. We all waded through the very cool water. After around twenty minutes we were back into more of an opening and were able to turn the head torches off, much to Jen's delight.
My experience of caves was that nothing grew inside them, and my assumption was that they were simply full of perhaps water, limescale, stalagmites, stalactites, and pillars. This, however, was something else, something magical, the amount of beautiful green vegetation was breath-taking. After half an hour of walking through this hidden mystical jungle which appeared untouched by humans we arrived at a dark gaping hole. It was time to get ready to descend into the main area of the cave.
"Me first," Paley announced seeming rather excited about being lowered into this abyss. Perhaps it was the thought of being with Anhurs kind that fuelled his enthusiasm. Adelaide made sure she followed on from Paley, guided by Lĕ. We were nearly all down successfully when Lava lost her footing on one of her last steps and thankfully Lĕ caught Lava and she grabbed his jacket tightly in a panic, revealing part of his lower back for a few seconds. I could see in my torch light a scar across his back, a scar that was long. I thought to myself that he must have had a climbing accident, like Vű, something that came with the job after years of experience.
"Are you OK?" Tung asked Lava and Lĕ.
"Yes, sorry I am fine," Lava replied and then looked to Lĕ to thank him.
Lĕ nodded at Tung in response.
"Let's keep moving, follow me," Vű added after a few minutes of making sure we had all our equipment with us still.
We walked in the dark with our head torches continuing to illuminate the path in front of us for some time, over and through large boulders. Then we met another incline, this time we had to scramble up with our hands rather than any harnesses. Vű stood at the top of the level of the cave we were to continue walking along and offered each of us his hand to pull us up.
We continued along the large dark tunnel like part of the cave until we came across a bulky opening with a slight incline that led to moss covered rocks creating a plush green path. The sun beams streaming down through breaks in the cloud created a mesmerising scene. We made our way up and were able to turn our head torches off halfway up the incline, guided by the daylight for the second half of the steep hilly mouth up and out. After which all our gang made their way across a beautiful large green open space, with the sky visible through the large opening at the top of the rocks around us. After walking for a few moments, we noticed that there, in front of us, on a circular flat piece of rock face stood an Anhurian, surrounded by the greenery.
Paley let out an excited gasp. Jen moved closer to Beckett. Kai and I stood next to each other in amazement and did not move. Lĕ did not seem alarmed but moved towards the Anhurian who stood proud and tall, looking right at us.
"Lĕ where are you going? Be careful, the Anhurian's do not understand our language," Dr Derwent spoke calmly but firmly to Lĕ as he walked away from all of us. Dr Derwent, like many of us, was standing still, stunned.
Paley edged after Lĕ, following his lead.
"Paley, get back here," Adelaide whispered after him in disapproval.
Tung turned to the rest of us and spoke, "Do not be alarmed. This is Chien Binh."
"You knew the Anhurian's were here?" Kai asked in disbelief.
"Yes, we come down here often, but we rarely bring tourists," Tung continued.
"And when we do bring people, we warn Chien Binh to hide his people," Vű added.
Jen's mouth gaped opened in disbelief. For once, she had no words.
Paley made his was to Chien Binh with Lĕ and they exchanged words then Chien Binh held up one of his arms towards Paley and Paley touched it.
Adelaide made a few steps forward as this happened, but then she stopped. She looked lost in her own thoughts when she halted. I thought to myself, she may have been transported back to the 1962 in that moment, when Paley had touched a barely conscious Anhur, to help him, which was the moment Adelaide said she had lost her Paley.
Paley and Lĕ turned to us and ushered the party over to them in a confident manner. Acknowledging Lĕ's gestures, Vű led the way and we all slowly followed.
Paley gave us all a beaming smile. He was simply radiating happiness. "This is Chien Binh. I have told him about Anhur. He understands we are here to help, and he wants to help us too," Paley admitted.
"Do you feel okay Paley dear?" Adelaide asked, evidentially worried that his mind may be scrambled once again.
Lĕ answered for Paley, "Chien Binh has mastered the connection with humans over the last seven years. To make the information exchange with humans more palatable for our minds. He was aware you were coming, as I had informed him."
Lĕ turned to Paley, "News of your contact with one of his kind reached Chien Binh several months ago. He has been eager to meet with you."
"How did you find out?" Paley asked Chien Binh.
Chien Binh touched Paley's left side including his arm and Paley relayed the information, "Ah, you were made aware through the grape vine from Agents Vox and Riley contacting your government here."
Tung nodded, "Yes, we have some connections, but we try to keep off the radar as much as possible and make sure we are vetting who is entering the cave."
"You mean us no harm?" Kai asked.
Chien Binh ushered Kai to move forward with a motion of two of his four arms and Kai followed his instruction.
Kai stood in front of the Anhurian and looked small in comparison, dwarfed by his great frame and broad shoulders with his spikes on his back facing downwards, lowered to the ground. Chien Binh placed a hand on Kai's shoulder, with part of his paw curling around Kai's arm as his hand was too big to simply sit on Kai's shoulder alone. Kai smiled; it seemed that Chien Binh was showing him something so he could understand.
Kai, Tung, Paley, Lĕ and Vű encouraged us all to touch Chien Binh's arms so we could all understand.