Each of the captains had an assistant at their side, a guard dressed in black, with yellow and black striped armbands. The assistants wheeled a stainless steel cart with a black, metal box on top that resembled a large toaster. The box had several dials and knobs and a white meter with a needle. Two long red wires protruded from the side of the box leading to finger clamps. On a lower shelf on the cart was a box of books.
The ESP Captains sat down at black, plastic chairs while the assistants assembled the apparatus, then stacked the books on the ground next to them. The preparations were carried out quickly and sharply.
At the same time the three men in dresses were led from the stage down to the auditorium’s exit. The men were forced to their knees and shackled together, facing outward in a triangle.
“This is how you will receive your Elgen rule book,” Hatch said. “Each of you will have the opportunity to take the Elgen oath of loyalty. Should you choose to make this commitment, and I strongly advise that you do so, you will come up to the front and stand in the queue until it is your turn. When you are summoned to the podium, you will have sensors placed on the fingers of your right hand. The administrator will be reading his monitor as you take the oath. If you are lying he will know it.
“You will put your right hand on the Elgen rule book, raise your left arm, and repeat the oath after the administrator.” Hatch lifted a paper from the podium and read, “‘I swear on my life, breath, and fortune to prosper the Elgen cause, to advance its mission until every man and woman on earth have sworn allegiance to the Novus Ordo Glorificus Elgen, our new glorious order. I offer up my life and death to this endeavor and will follow all rules contained in this book and those that will come, with fidelity, honor, and exactness. I swear this oath on my life.’”
He set the paper down and looked over the group. “You will then make the Elgen salute and bow to the administrator and remain bowed until he accepts or rejects your oath. If he accepts your oath he will hand you the contract to sign. You will then be given your rule book and you will go to the adjoining hall to await further instruction and, if you are wise, start memorizing your rule book.”
A guard stepped forward and whispered something to Hatch.
“Of course,” Hatch said. “Let me remind you that as you pass out of this room you may make known your disdain for the three men who have shamed us all with their weakness. Elgen are not weak. When you are through with these pitiful little girls, what is left of them will be fed to the rats.
“Now, back to you. If your administrator rejects your oath, you will be sent to the end of the queue for another opportunity. If you fail your oath the second time, you will be taken to a separate hall. I will not tell you what will happen there. Those of you who merit that placement will learn soon enough.”
He stopped talking, looking out over the silent audience. “I ask those of you who do not wish to take this oath to remove yourselves from our company immediately. If any of you wish to leave, you may raise your hand at this time.”
There was a pause, then one lone hand in the crowd went up. Guards in red immediately surrounded the man and escorted him out of the room, amid the whispers and buzzing of the remaining men.
After he was gone Hatch smiled. “Gentlemen, I think we just found our first meal.”
Nervous laughter skittered through the crowd.
“It is now time for you to make a decision that will affect your life, the lives of billions, and history itself. Time for you to choose your paths. Gentlemen, welcome to the future.”
Our plane landed at night at the Cuzco airport. I had never left the United States before, and standing in a foreign airport where all the signs were in a different language filled me with anxiety. We walked out of the terminal. The air was warm and moist.
“My head is killing me,” Wade said, grimacing.
“I have a headache too,” Taylor said. “It started as soon as we landed.”
“It’s altitude sickness,” Ostin said. “Cuzco’s elevation is eleven thousand feet, more than double Idaho’s.”
“Does it go away?” Taylor asked.
“Not always,” Ostin said. “I read that the best remedy is to drink coca tea. In fact, that’s what that lady is selling over there.”
Everyone glanced over at a brightly dressed native woman who was holding a plastic bag filled with green leaves.
“Now what?” Jack asked.
“Someone’s supposed to meet us,” I said.
“Who?”
“No idea.”
“Anyone speak Spanish?” I asked.
“Yo hablo español,” Ostin said.
“Besides you, Ostin.”
“I know a little,” Abigail said. “My uncle is Mexican. He used to teach me words. But it’s been a few years.”
“Beautiful and bilingual,” Zeus said.
“Suck-up,” Jack said under his breath.
“But you can still speak some?” I asked hopefully.
“A little,” Abigail said. “And I can understand a lot of it.”
“So it’s Ostin and Abi,” I said.
Just then a man walked up to me. He was poorly dressed and held out his hand. “Tiene dinero?”
“What did he say?” I asked Ostin.
“He wants money,” Ostin said.
I took a dollar out of my pocket and handed it to him. “I only have American dollars.”
Ostin translated. “Yo tengo sólo dinero americano.”
The man nodded. “Gracias, Señor Michael.”
I looked at him. “Did you say . . . ?”
“Sí,” the man said. “Mr. Michael, the bus is for you and your friends.” He cocked his head toward a medium-size tour bus that was parked next to the curb. The bus had dark tinted windows. When I turned back the man was already walking away.
“Guys,” I said. “Over here.”
We started toward the bus.
“What do you think?” I asked Ian.
“It looks clean,” he said. “The driver has a gun, but nothing you, Taylor, or Zeus couldn’t take out if you had to.”
“I expect him to be armed,” I said. “Where we’re going, he probably needs it.”
The bus shook as its engine started up, and the doors opened as we approached. From the curb I looked inside. The driver was a Peruvian man, stocky, and at least twice my age. He watched us carefully as we climbed aboard, counting or mumbling something as each of us got on. The moment we were all inside, the driver shut the door and pulled away from the curb, clearly in a hurry.
Taylor and I sat together about four rows from the front. Everyone else was behind us.
“He kind of reminds me of my grade school bus driver,” Taylor said. “About as friendly, too.”
“Do you think he speaks English?” I asked.
She shrugged. “No idea.”
I walked up to the front, crouching down in the aisle next to the driver. “Excuse me,” I said. “What’s your name?”
He kept his eyes fixed on the dark road. “It is not important,” he said with a thick accent.
“Where are you taking us?”
“Chaspi,” he said.
“Chaspi?”
“You will see.”
“How far are we from Puerto Maldonado?”
“Far,” he said. “Far.”
I guessed he was being purposely vague, so I went back to my seat.
“What did he say?” Taylor asked.
“As little as he could,” I replied. I looked out the window. We were traveling away from the city lights into dark, forested hills.
“Do we even know where we’re going?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “To the Elgen.”
Elgen. The name filled me with dread. In spite of how hard we had worked to get here, I was still having a difficult time controlling my fear. My tics were going crazy.
When we were in the middle of nowhere, the driver lifted the microphone. “Amigos. We are going off the highway up ahead ont
o a small side road so you can sleep. There are many trees overhead so the helicopters or satellites cannot see us. We cannot take the chance of staying at a hotel. The Elgen are very careful to know who is coming near them. This bus has a bathroom and there is food for you. The seats lean back most of the way, and there is a pillow and blankets above you. I am sorry it is not a real bed, but I know where you are going and it will be the best bed you will have for some time.
“You will start your journey in a few hours. We will hike a small distance to the river, where there is a boat waiting for you.”
Zeus was already asleep, which I was glad about. I didn’t think he’d like the idea of being in a boat.
“Can’t we just take the road?” I asked.
“No. The road is not safe. The Elgen make many roadblocks and checkpoints. You will ride the boat up the Río Madres de Dios, a tributary of the Amazon River, and will be let out in the jungle near the Elgen compound. You will arrive a little before morning. There you will be on your own. So please, get what sleep you can.”
That night I had a nightmare. I dreamed I was being chased through a dark maze by a beast. I never saw it, but I could hear its snarls and growling behind me, always just at my heels. The maze I was running through had hundreds of doors, but every one I tried was locked. I kept hearing my mother shouting out my name, but I couldn’t tell where her voice was coming from. I just kept running. When I was in center of the maze, I heard her voice coming from the very last door. Relieved, I opened it. Dr. Hatch was standing there. He started laughing. When he opened his mouth, his tongue was a snake, and its body curled around me, constricting me. That’s when I woke up.
It took me a moment to remember where I was. I could hear voices—two men speaking in Spanish. I looked out my window. In the moonlight I could see the men standing near the front of the bus. One was our driver, his face illuminated by a cigarette. The other was a man I hadn’t seen before. I glanced over at Taylor. She was still asleep, and I could hear Ostin snoring behind me. I got up and walked to the front of the bus.
The man speaking to our driver looked up at me. He was carrying a machete. “Buenos días, señor,” he said.
“Buenos días,” I repeated, which was pretty much the extent of my Spanish. I stepped outside with the men. “I’m Michael.”
“Yes, Michael. I know you from your picture. I am Jaime. Are your friends ready?”
“They’re still sleeping.”
“You must wake them now. They can sleep on the boat. We must soon go. Timing is everything.”
“Now?”
He nodded.
I climbed back on the bus and woke everyone. It was probably two or three in the morning, so, not surprisingly, no one was happy about the wake-up call.
As I headed back to my seat, the man with the machete walked onto the bus carrying a large sack over his shoulder. “Amigos,” he said. “We are going to hike through the jungle. There is much water. You must put on the galoshes.”
“How much water?” Zeus asked.
“You will not drown,” the man said. “It is just a few inches of water.”
“Drowning isn’t the problem,” Zeus said.
“Oh, yes, you must be Zeus. Forgive me. I have special boots for you.” He brought out a pair of waders that would reach nearly to Zeus’s chest.
Jaime walked down the aisle handing out boots, which we pulled on over our shoes. Then, following the man’s directions, we grabbed our packs and hurried off the bus to the trees on the other side of the road.
Stepping under the cover of the forest canopy, the man pointed his flashlight under his chin, illuminating his face. “I am Jaime, your guide. I will go much of the way with you. As we walk through the jungle, keep your eyes paled for animals.”
“Paled?” Ostin asked, yawning.
“He meant ‘peeled,’” I said. “What kind of animals?”
“The vipers, jaguar, and the anaconda. The big snakes like the water. I am told that some of you are more powerful than these things—I do not doubt it. But your electricity will not save you from a viper strike, so please follow me. I was born in the jungle. I know its ways.”
He pointed the flashlight ahead of us, and we lined up behind him in single file. I brought up the rear with Zeus, who was moving cautiously. Jack and Abigail were in the front, behind Jaime, who had given Jack a machete to help widen the trail. McKenna walked in the middle of the group. She lit up her head to illuminate the path for us but stopped after a few seconds because of the millions of insects attracted to her light.
About five minutes into the hike Taylor asked, “What’s that sound?”
“Crickets?”
“No, it’s a buzzing sound. Like electricity.”
“It’s me,” I said. “I’m like a human bug zapper.”
We were walking under a canopy of leaves so thick that we might as well have been inside a building. Our group made for an interesting sight, our glow lightly illuminating the forest around us.
After twenty minutes or so, Jaime stopped for us to rest. We gathered in a small half circle. As Jaime looked at us he said, “Increíble.”
“What?” I asked.
“You, you . . .” He struggled with the word in English. Finally he said, “Son fosforesentes.”
“You glow,” Ostin said.
“I wish to show you something,” Jaime said. He pointed to a nearby tree with his flashlight. It was maybe twenty feet tall, slender, with narrow leaves.
Wade walked up to it with his hand outstretched. “This one?”
“Don’t touch it!” Jaime said.
Wade stopped.
“It is the tangarana tree. You will notice that there are no trees around it.”
“That’s kind of weird,” Jack said.
“I’ll show you why. Watch.” He tapped his machete against the tree’s trunk. Immediately a swarm of red-and-black ants covered the tree’s limbs. “The tangarana ant,” Jaime said. “They have a friendship.”
“A symbiotic relationship,” Ostin said. “The ant’s a symbiont. Like Dr. Hatch.”
The man glanced at him, then continued. “The ants protect the tree and the tree gives them shelter. The ants will attack animals who come too close. They will even kill any plant that tries to grow near it. The natives used to tie their enemies to the tree. The ants would eat them alive.”
“That’s horrible,” Abigail said.
Jaime shrugged. “War is horrible.”
He turned and we started walking again. A few minutes later there was a loud screech, which echoed around us.
“What the heck was that?” Ostin said, his eyes wide with panic. “It sounded like a pterodactyl.”
Jaime smiled. “That is the mono aullador—the howler monkey. It is loud, yes?”
Suddenly something swung from the darkness toward us. A bolt of lightning flashed across our heads, and the animal dropped to the ground.
“You electrocuted a monkey,” Ian said.
“I didn’t know what it was,” Zeus said. “It attacked us. It had it coming.”
“You shocked a cute, furry little monkey,” Abigail said.
“He’s not little,” Zeus said.
Jack laughed, and Zeus looked at him. “You going to give me grief too?”
Jack shook his head. “No, dude. I would have roundhouse kicked it back into the tree. You just got to it faster.”
The jungle was alive with noise, and the sound of rushing water became more pronounced the closer we got to the river. The trail started to decline, and once we reached the riverbank, the trail dropped steeply to a dark, slow-moving river. The river bubbled at its crests, illuminated by a half-moon’s glow.
Below us was a riverboat with a striped canvas top, the sides covered in plastic. A Peruvian man was sitting at the back of the boat, manning the engine.
“This boat is what the gold miners use,” Jaime said. “It will not cause suspicion in the night. But you must all stay quiet. We do not know who w
e will encounter on the river.”
“Do the Elgen patrol the river?” I asked.
“Not yet,” he said.
One by one we boarded the boat. Jack and Jaime helped everyone on, except Zeus, who stood alone on the top of the embankment looking down at the boat. “Really, man. I don’t do boats.”
“Quit being such a prima donna and get on the boat,” Jack said.
Jaime hiked back up to see what was keeping Zeus.
“I don’t do boats,” he said to Jaime. “I’ll take my chances on the road.”
“You have no chance on the road,” Jaime said.
“You don’t understand. If I fall in the water, it will electrocute me.” Zeus looked into Jaime’s eyes to make sure he understood the seriousness of his circumstance. “My electricity will kill me.”
Suddenly Jaime started laughing, softly at first, then louder, growing into a great, echoing chuckle.
Zeus’s eyes flashed with anger. “Shut up! Why are you laughing?”
“Amigo,” Jaime said, “I do not mean to disrespect, but look.” He held the flashlight out over the water near the bank, revealing several bright orange reflections, slightly oval like cat eyes. “You see, amigo? Many caiman. The river is full of caiman and piranha and anaconda. If you fall in the water you die anyway!”
Zeus looked at him for a moment, then said, “Oh.” He walked down the bank to the boat.
Taylor swallowed. “Caiman, piranhas, and anacondas?”
I just shrugged. “Come on. This is the easy part.”
Zeus carefully climbed over the bow, sitting at the opposite end from Jack and Abigail. I thought we all looked miserable and afraid. I remember once seeing a World War II picture of paratroopers sitting inside the fuselage of a plane waiting to jump, wondering if they would live to see the morning. I guess that’s how we felt.
Jaime unlashed the rope from the tree, then pushed us out from the shore while the other man revved up the outboard engine, pulling us backward into the flow of the river. Taylor laid her head on my shoulder. No one had anything to say.
The journey up the river seemed like a strange dream. It took two men to operate the boat—Jaime, who lay across the bow watching for drifting logs, and Luis, who sat back at the engine, quietly watching over us. Both banks of the river were walls of trees, creating a narrow, overgrown corridor that stretched for hundreds of miles through rain forest until reaching into the heart of the massive Amazon itself. There were occasional breaks in the trees, revealing small clearings for huts or illicit mining camps.
Rise of the Elgen Page 17