Once Upon the Congo

by Applewhite, Claire; Harper, Chap

  “Lu and I will go first,” Chris said. “We will only do one dive a day, stay on the bottom ten minutes and then hang at ten feet for fifteen minutes for our safety stop. If we have to be flown somewhere, we can’t go over 1000 feet in altitude. This will be the rules for every diver. You guys got that?”

  Jemi nodded his head in the affirmative.

  “I see why scuba will not be a practical mining alternative,” Jemi said. “Unless we used mixed gases and actually decompressed. Or maybe hardhat diving utilizing the pressurized chamber below us. And I know the first words out of your mouth—we would need a chamber on site.” He turned to Mit with the knowledge that a lecture on decompression diving was on its way.

  “Jemi,” Mit said, “I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, but you need professional hardhat divers for that work. You need expensive heliox and various outgassing mixtures along with suit warmers, since the helium sucks out body heat. A shit load of expensive equipment. Most hardhat divers have an entire frigging surface ship to assist. I’m not even going to talk about surface-supported air supplies, except to say there are dead people in that chamber now who did that for a while. You might be better off with a good submersible with suction capabilities. The other problem is you don’t have unlimited mining surfaces. When you do the sides and bottom—what’s left?” He walked over to help Lu and Chris suit up for their dive.

  “I have a lot of bottom and a lot of sides to do before I worry about that. The blue hole is a hundred feet across. Cleaning all that will take forever, and then it will be time to start all over again,” Jemi said

  Modesto and Mit helped the two mechanics start the dredge. They dropped the metal pickup valve in the water and fed the hose out until it was on the bottom. At the end of the sluice box, where the material is pulled up and run across a series of riffles and carpet, there was a fine nylon capture cloth in case the riffles missed anything. The motor had gone to idle, so only water flowed into the sluice box.

  Chris and Lu floated on the surface. They faced each other and gave a thumbs-up, then let the air out of their BC’s and began the descent. The water was an indescribable deep blue, contrasting with the pale green kimberlite walls. Lu and Chris smiled at each other. They hadn’t been on an adventure since Reid was born. This was something that made them both feel alive again. Chris was glad Lu came to find him. At some point, he hoped she might even forgive him.

  As soon as they reached bottom, they set their bottom timers for ten minutes. Lu started holding the metal intake along the bottom from the edge of one of the rounded sides, and started working a grid. Next to her grid, Chris manually scrapped the bottom with a trowel, and put the material into a fine mesh bag.

  Both timers indicated ten minutes had elapsed—time to surface. As Lu laid down the hose and took Chris’s hand to start her ascent, her regulator started free-flowing air. As they went up, she took the regulator out of her mouth and banged on it—didn’t help. The free flow of air could quickly use up a diver’s tank, a fairly common occurrence with poorly maintained rental equipment. Instinctively, Lu reached over to unhook Chris’s second stage spare regulator, but he was already moving it towards her mouth. She blew in to clear it and then took a breath. Chris stopped her descent, so that she didn’t move up while holding her breath. Once he saw she was okay, they ascended to their fifteen foot safety stop.

  Through the clear water, Mit could see she was sharing air, and jumped in with a fresh tank and regulator. He swam down to her. After he helped exchange the regulator, he hooked the tank on a rope tied to a float on the surface. Lu and Chris probably had enough air to share for fifteen minutes, but Mit was not going to take a chance. His instincts were correct. When they surfaced after fifteen minutes at the safety stop, Chris had only 300 pounds of air.

  “Where did we rent those fucked-up regulators?” Chris demanded.

  “Bruny had someone get them in Kinshasa at a big dive shop,” said one of the mechanics.

  “Piss poor maintenance could get one of us killed!” Chris said.

  “I will test all of them before the next dive. My guess is they didn’t service these at all. Hey, somebody dies—who in the hell do you sue in Africa?” Mit said.

  Modesto suggested a spare tank and regulator be tied at the fifteen foot level at all times. Mit and Angel had no problem during their dive, but when Gretchen decided to dive with Modesto, she had a free flow right after she entered the water. She had to change gear to complete the dive. The divers took two regulators out of service. Everyone hoped there would be no more trouble.

  After the first dive, Jemi and Rick came by to sort the material. They cleaned the riffles and the mesh bag in a big tub. The amount of diamonds was immense and even more so for the scraped material that Chris had put in the bags. Roland and Zoe were called to help with clean up. It wasn’t long before Charlie, Peter, Carol and Sony stopped by and were put to work. They sorted by color, size, and clarity into plastic collection bottles.

  Once the diamonds started piling up, everyone wanted to help. They wanted to see them. Devil Man came by, held a large yellow one in his hand, and laughed like a little kid. Diamonds had that kind of effect on everyone.

  Chapter 27

  Skinny Dip

  When the satellite phone buzzed, Barbos was eating a meal at his campsite.

  “Mr. Vieux. This is Charles at the airport in Kisangani. You said you would pay me for information on flights from the expedition.”

  “Yes, Charles, I will. What news do you have?” Barbos anxiously awaited something that might assist in making a plan of attack.

  “Their supply helicopter is here. They are loading lumber and unloading a sick soldier. The pilot told someone here that he would be back almost every day to resupply and bring people in for errands. Just thought you might want to know. You can pay me when you come back to the airport. You remember I work on the refueling truck,” Charles said.

  “Charles, keep your ears to the ground. I will see you soon, and thank you,” Barbos said.

  Barbos Vieux had a huge smile on his face. He felt that the rich girls poking around in that dirty quarry would make any excuse to go into town sometime soon. He put in a call to a friend he met in prison. Barbos’s friend was from a Rebel force that operated out of a strange city in the jungles of the Congo—a place where Mobutu built an airstrip for the Concorde and three huge palaces. The palaces had been looted, but the airstrip was still in place and would easily accommodate a small jet. He alerted his pilots to fire up the aircraft for the return to Kisangani. He would find a nice hotel there and wait for the prey to come to him. Sitting down next to his helicopter pilot, he issued an order. “Find out everything you can about the condition of the airstrip in a town called ‘Gbadolite.’”

  With the day’s diving done and clean-up from the sluice box completed, Angel suggested a party—not just any old party, but, rather, a racier kind of festivity. Years spent as a Jansen swimsuit model left Angel with a fearless disregard for clothing.

  “Let’s have a skinny dip party tonight! We’ll drop a couple of dive lights in the water, and pull all of the stashed booze we can find out of hiding. Who’s game and who’s a chicken?” She laughed and searched the group of young people. Two tried to sneak away from the crowd. The two nerds, Charlie and Peter, soon learned they were doomed.

  “Those who do not show up here tonight will be found in the compound and will be dragged here kicking and screaming—stripped and thrown in the water. Best to comply with the invitation to Angel’s party now, to save further embarrassment,” Lu said lacking any modesty on her part as well. Many times Lu had changed clothes on the deck of Mit’s boat without a second thought. Wetsuits and swimsuits were fair game to strip off on the deck of a boat. The guys felt eyeing a naked girl was a bonus for the danger of diving.

  “Will there be a gun battle?” Gretchen explained how they were attacked by pirates while she was changing out of a wet swimsuit on Mit’s boat. She fought the entire ba
ttle completely naked, and patched everyone up without a stitch of clothes on her body.

  “Ahh, I remember that time fondly,” Chris said. Lu poked him in his ribs.

  That night after dinner, the group began to arrive. Osse and Jean-Jean were assigned snake guard duty, should any snakes try to come at night to spoil the party. Some were concerned they might be watching the party more than seriously patrolling for snakes. Devil Man and Jackie were on wall duty, which was fine, since they both would have been embarrassed to have seen their friends naked. Blown-up surgical gloves and condoms made perfectly good floats to hold the dive lights. Someone had tied up and knotted all the fingers on the gloves except for the middle finger.

  A small boom box showed up along with CDs, which leaned a little too heavily towards hip-hop music and rap for some of the group. No one minded when excessive amounts of booze materialized around the blue hole. With the dive lights dancing in the crystal clear water and the old lanterns burning from inside the stone cottage, the setting for a party was magical. Blankets and towels encircled the water, and couples began to undress and dive into the water.

  Sony and Carol were the first. As soon as Carol quit screaming from the cold water, Sony was compelled to tell the story of his mother and the snake. Carol had not read that part of Vikki’s journal entry. She hugged him as he described the giant snake trying to kill his mother. When the rock python attacked his father Zuka shot it in the head. Sony loved the feel of Carol’s warm nude body against his in the water. After a few minutes the temperature felt perfect.

  Angel’s swim suit body was next, with Mit doing a cannon ball right after she got in the water.

  Soon Zoe’s fashion model body was in the air and she hit the water with a yelp from the cold shock. Roland dove in and while in midair, several female admirers adopted full gawking mode. Lu jumped in after Chris and displayed her large breasts that appeared unfazed by motherhood.

  Peter and Charlie showed up—the moment everyone was waiting for. They knew if they didn’t come to the party, they would be kidnapped and tortured, so they stood with towels and blankets wrapped around them. No one could be sure in the dark, but Peter appeared to be wrapped in a towel decorated with a picture of Captain Kirk. Charlie had her floppy hat pulled down tightly and what may have been combat boots loosely placed on her feet. Peter undressed first and uncovered a tall slender body with a large tattoo of Princess Leia on his chest. He was surprisingly well endowed, which caused some of the ladies in the water to smile and whisper.

  For some reason, Charlie came out of the cottage through the door that led to the steps and into the water. Light flooded this area more than any other spot. Two Coleman propane lanterns sat at the top of the steps and one on the roof of the cottage, not at all a place for a shy nerdy girl to take off her clothes to go skinny-dipping. Charlie took off the floppy hat, stepped out of the combat shoes, and unwrapped her “save the whales” blanket. Only the towels remained. She edged closer to the water and down the steps. Meanwhile, the boom box blasted an obscure but appropriate song by Yelawolf called, “Looking for Alien Love.”

  Charlie dropped the towels, and smiled as though she had fooled everyone. Under the baggy clothes she had worn and the camo this and that’s, was an incredible woman displaying a body no girl there could match even after a good day at the gym. Her soft round shoulders set off the most beautiful breasts that had a perfect upturn capped with erect nipples. Her stomach was flat with a concave long run of cleavage around her navel. Her pubic hair was groomed into a small heart-shaped area above her hidden vagina. Her legs were long, smooth, toned perfectly, and tanned leading down to small sexy ankles. She turned and exposed buttocks that stuck out from her body and couldn’t have been any more shapely. Had there been a gaping mouth contest, Peter would have done well. He also had an erection and no one blamed him.

  Charlie stepped into the water slowly, as a princess might proceed into a crowd of her subjects. After somewhat ignoring her for the last couple of days, all the women moved in to talk to her. They also blocked the men from getting close to her. The party lasted until the excessive booze no longer warmed them and a chill set in. Peter was happy to walk Charlie back to their tent. She knew he was a friend when no one else cared to be. In the tent, she went over to his cot and took care of his erection by climbing on him. She clawed at the Princess Leia picture on his chest until he came. Later, she told Carol that he was enormous.

  The buzz around camp the next day was mainly about Charlie’s body, but beyond that was the meeting with the natives at noon. Carol, Charlie and Rishi compared notes and prepared gifts for the natives. No one was sure that the natives would be there, yet there was reported activity of natives near the meeting place from the soldiers on the cliff. Both chiefs would receive a solar panel with a light attached for their huts. Also canned meat and a sack of potatoes would be provided. Isaac had agreed to go in place of one of the guards, but they decided Isaac would be more useful leading and supervising the twenty soldiers he led through the jungle. Devil Man and Jackie would be imposing giants for the pygmies and the Lese to respect, if not downright fear.

  At the agreed time, the small group lowered themselves over the cliff assisted by two guards. They loaded the inflatable rafts and the two guards paddled swiftly downstream and across the river. Two natives came out of the forest, grabbed the raft and helped pull it ashore. Rishi and his group would need to walk the raft upstream when they left to hit the opposite shore at the same spot where they began.

  Devil Man and Jackie brought four folding chairs for the girls and the chiefs. Rishi and the two guards would stand. The two chiefs emerged from the jungle with the same two natives who had helped with the raft. They were dressed in furs made from monkey skins and headdresses made from feathers and crocodile skin. Bok Ande stood in front of Carol and Charlie, and he offered his right hand upward to them. He was about four foot five inches and looked like a child, except for his wrinkled face. The Lese chief, Kombutu, stood at about five foot six inches and was almost eye to eye with Carol and Charlie. Carol was tall at five eight and Charlie was only slightly shorter at five seven. Their book ends were Devil Man at six-seven and Jackie was six-two. The two guards for the natives looked as though they had just been birthed by two huge men who were opposite them. The native guards could hardly wipe the terror from their faces—especially the pigmy across from Devil Man. Carol and Charlie worked hard to keep from laughing.

  The chiefs were surprisingly friendly and names were exchanged with much hand shaking. Their guards offered several huge river fish, which Devil Man and Jackie carried to the raft. The two ladies thanked them profusely and offered their gifts. The solar panels puzzled them, but one of their guards explained how they functioned. Solar lights and panels were actually quite common in Africa, since kerosene was expensive and many had gone to cheaper renewable sources of energy. River settlements had seen very few forms of new technology. The canned meat and sacks of potatoes lit up their faces a great deal. With those pleasantries completed, each took a seat. Rishi stood behind the ladies and a native stood behind the chiefs. A large mahogany tree provided shade for the group and a cool breeze blew in from the river. The Aruwimi produced low gurgling sounds, serving as soothing background music. It was a beautiful place for the crucial assembly.

  “Chief Bok Ande and Chief Kombutu, we wish to thank you for meeting with us today,” Carol said. She waited for Rishi to translate. Their native standing behind them chipped in with some additional translations. Rishi and the two women hoped at least a few words found their mark.

  “We do not wish to make war with your people as we both would lose lives,” Charlie said.

  Again the exchange of strange dialects and some clicking sounds. The chiefs said nothing and waited for more from the ladies.

  “Why do you shoot arrows at us in the quarry? Is it a sacred place? We need the minerals to sell for food needed by our country. They had a great earthquake which took down their h
ouses and their work places,” said Carol and then she realized she had said more than probably could be translated.

  Rishi asked Carol to repeat her words to him. There was much back and forth talking and quizzical expressions on both chiefs. Rishi repeated everything as best he could, which started a clicking frenzy among the natives. The pygmies likely had a different click from the Lese, but finally they settled down. Kombutu spoke first, not a surprise to Carol and Charlie. They had heard the Lese considered the pygmies to be more savage and less intelligent.

  “The blue water place has been sacred from the beginning of time. Many diggers have come in the past. We have killed them or sent them away many times,” Kombutu said, with a swift translation by Rishi. Bok Ande looked up at Devil Man and appeared to shudder. The natives may have feared a race of giants had taken up residence in the quarry, an assumption that could have affected their decisions.

  “We have small weapons compared to you. We have more men but like you we do not wish to trade lives. We will allow you to dig but we ask for food for our people. We cannot work in the blue water place since it is sacred ground,” Kombutu said and the translation war began in earnest, with Rishi clicking as well.

  “We ask to come and visit you there and wish for you to come to our villages to visit. We want peace,” Kombutu said. He stood up along with Bok Ande, bowed and shook hands with the ladies.

  Kombutu and Bok Ande agreed to meet on the island that same day to visit their sacred place and have dinner with the diggers. Charlie believed they wanted to see if more men like Devil Man were in the enclosure. Not one native could look in his face. If he walked close to them they bowed and froze. Devil Man just wanted to be friendly but they did not reciprocate in kind. Carol and Charlie would visit the native villages the next day. The men hoped the girls would restrain from skinny-dipping in front of their new friends. The natives would never let them return if they did.