Nibiru Returns

by Tod Eten

  On the dot of midnight his secure phone rang and Rafferty immediately answered it.

  ‘Hello!’

  ‘Rafferty old boy good to hear your voice it has been far too long’ Lord Raybourne said sounding every part the jovial Englsih Lord. ‘Tell me have you settled down as yet and found yourself a good woman?’

  ‘Not as yet Sir’ Rafferty answered rather sheepishly.

  ‘My boy I keep telling you, get a good woman. Start a family. You will not look back I promise you’ Lord Raybourne chastised him.

  ‘I will Sir I promise. I guess I enjoy the goods so much that I find it difficult to chose just one!’ Rafferty said trying to make a joke of the subject.

  ‘Yes I can see from my reports that you have been trying most of the goods in London and New York’ Lord Raybourne laughed. ‘But just because you marry does not mean you have to stop trying out the goods my boy! Now I have a certain Niece of mine in mind who will be ideal for you. She is a fine young woman and she will soon inherit all her family estates in UK and France.’

  ‘Well I am flattered of course’ Rafferty stammered wondering if this was the reason for the call.

  ‘Well don’t be old boy, I have been keeping my eye on you don’t you know. I have been impressed with your results Rafferty. You have built up a nice little business empire there! So you marrying my niece will bring you into the fold so to speak and of course that will bring further benefits to you if you get my drift.’

  ‘Yes Sir’ Rafferty said gulping, his instincts telling him that this was some kind of horrible trap. ‘Is that why you called me Sir?’

  ‘My niece! No my boy I just thought that the pair of you would make a good match lots of benefits all round. A win win situation I believe is what the Yanks would call it. No I wanted to talk to you about something far more important. I want to talk to you about War!’

  ‘War!’ Rafferty repeated.

  ‘Yes my boy War! There is a war coming you can smell it in the wind.’ Lord Raybourne exclaimed at the other end of the phone.

  ‘A war where?’ Rafferty said feeling slightly panicked.

  ‘Israel my boy, Israel! The heathens are massing and are preparing to attack our good friends in Jerusalem’ Lord Raybourne said with feigned anger.

  ‘But I have not heard anything about this!’ Rafferty protested.

  ‘That is because it has not happened as yet, but it will it will. You see all those uprising across the Middle East over the past few years have put a lot of right wing extremists in power and you know what all that these new governments have been doing? Stealing as much of their countries wealth for themselves as possible my boy, that is what they have been doing. But already their populations are growing restless as the promises that were made to them keep failing to materialise. So these new governments will soon need to think of a way to keep their people happy and what better way than to blame someone else for their countries problems and who better than the old enemy Israel.’ Lord Raybourne said.

  ‘But Israel is too powerful for them and America and even the UK for that matter would help them. It would be pointless for the Arabs to attack Israel, wouldn’t it?’ Rafferty said scratching his head.

  ‘Well my boy these things aren’t as clear cut as they once were. You see all these new Arab governments have been recognised by the West and even congratulated for bringing Democracy to their respective countries. Especially in America where the word democracy is more or less a religion. So my boy you can see that it might be a little awkward for the American and UK Governments to say they are going to wage war against those countries whom only a short while earlier they were praising. There is also growing anti Israel sentiment about how they are treating the Palestinians. All in all it is highly unlikely that any aid will be openly given. All they will do is simply make a lot of big speeches in the UN asking for peace and so forth.’ Lord Raybourne answered.

  ‘So Israel is on its own! They are big boys I am sure they can handle themselves they have a big enough army and weapons’ Rafferty Shrugged not really seeing where this conversation was going.

  ‘Yes indeed’ Lord Raybourne said ‘that may be the case but humour me a while longer I assure you it will be worth your while. You see although the Americans cannot be seen to openly help Israel that does not mean that they will not help them. You see they will indeed support Israel as will the UK but it will be by secretly sending arms and munitions to them. However there is one big problem, they will won't be able to send any actual troops, which is where we come in.’ Lord Raybourne said.

  ‘We come in how?’ Rafferty asked his interest now aroused.

  ‘The Americans have agreed to allow private enterprise to supply troops to aide Israel my boy, making it a business tender if you will!’

  ‘But why would private enterprise be interested in supporting a war?’ Rafferty asked confused again.

  ‘Because where there is war there is opportunity my boy! Do you know what the biggest problem facing America and Europe is? Its oil my boy, the stuff that keeps the wheels of industry turning and where is the oil? The Middle East of course and control over the Middle East oil fields is the one thing that our governments want more than anything else. So this looming problem with the Arabs and Israel could kill two birds with one stone. First by eliminating the Islamic threat from the region once and for all and second as the Arabs were the aggressors it would be perfectly justifiable to invade the Arab countries themselves in order to bring real democracy for the people.’

  ‘Invade the Arab nations!’ Rafferty said turning the phrase over in his head.

  ‘Exactly my boy, invade those countries and set up proper democratic governments on behalf of their people’ Lord Raybourne chuckled.

  ‘So that would include the Oil fields’ Rafferty said realisation slowly dawning.

  ‘Top marks, see I knew that you were made of the right stuff! The oil fields are the prize of course! The plan is to get friendly governments installed with western companies controlling the oil fields’ Lord Charles explained.

  ‘So you are saying that the rewards for private enterprise are control over the oil fields?’ Rafferty said his eyes now wide open.

  ‘Yes my boy all those who help our friends in Israel can, after defeating the Arabs, continue on and bring real democracy to their countries and of course as payment for our considerable efforts we will get a share of the oil wealth that still remains in the region.’ Lord Raybourne said with a smile.

  ‘You are serious about this?’ Rafferty gasped realising the implications.

  ‘As the day is long my boy, as the day is long’ Lord Raybourne answered.

  ‘What would the actual reward be, I mean who will get what?’ Rafferty said making up his mind there and then that this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

  ‘Well my boy your reward will be in line with your endeavour as it is with all things in life’ Lord Raybourne said with a chuckle.

  ‘Will I be able to pick the oil regions myself?’ Rafferty said eagerly.

  ‘If you are willing to make a significant contribution then I see no reason why not!’ Lard Charles chuckled.

  ‘But what guarantees are there for all of this?’ Rafferty asked.

  ‘You will get fully authorised guarantees from both UK and USA government’s old boy. So what do you say are you in?’ Lord Raybourne asked.

  ‘Yes all in!’ Rafferty answered without hesitation.

  ‘Good boy I knew I could rely on you. I will get the tedious paper work sorted out with you over the next few weeks. Now don’t forget about my Niece I will get my wife to send you an invitation to dinner and you can see what you think of the young filly for yourself, how does that sound?’ Lord Rayboure asked.

  ‘Yes fine’ Rafferty said his mind still on the Middle Eastern oil fields.

  ‘Very good, very good I will talk to you again shortly no doubt. Goodbye Rafferty’ Lord Raybourne said.

  ‘Goodbye Sir’ Rafferty replied as the phone
went dead.

  The oil fields of the Middle East Rafferty slapped his hand down on his desk. He could have a slice of the oil fields of the Middle East he thought again. This was it the break he had been waiting for. This definitely called for a party. He would get Trixey and some of the other girls over for the night to celebrate. But first he had better get some wheels in motion. Rafferty picked up the phone and quickly dialled a number.

  ‘Jock something has just come up, we need to create an army!’ Rafferty said quickly.

  Chapter 11 - The Pricolici

  The following morning greeted the travellers with the usual clear blue skies together with a gentle warm breeze. By the light of the new day they could now clearly see what a beautiful spot it was that they had been camping in, even Faith had stopped moaning and looked almost happy. The forest was a vibrant green and full of bird song and the meadow was carpeted in a myriad of colourful wildflowers each competing for the attention of the bees and insects. The children laughed and played near the edge of the forest with Elden watching over them while the others helped prepare breakfast. It seemed that Demitri was a professional when it came to camping. He had brought along a number of cooking stoves together with various pots and pans which he had set up on the grass. He first put a kettle of water on the stove for that all important first cup of coffee or tea of the day. Then he started cooking sausage, bacon and eggs for breakfast the smell making everyone hungry. Aaron had spread a large map of Europe on the grass which Aiden, Seth, and Aya were gathered around.

  ‘OK’ Aaron said we are here, he pointed at the map ‘and we have got to get here’ he pointed again.

  ‘Yes’ Seth confirmed.

  ‘Well then we got to go through Austria then we can go here through Slovenia, Croatia, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia then Bulgaria. Or’ now Aaron traced another path ‘We can go to the North through Hungary, Romania and then Bulgaria’.

  ‘My friends, in Romania they will steal the tyres off your car when you leave it over night, but in Sarajevo they will steal your tires while you are still in the car’ Demitri called over as he cooked breakfast.

  ‘So you mean we should go through Romania’ Seth called back to him.

  ‘It may be OK to go south my friends, but there have been very bad times in Sarajevo and Croatia not so long ago! Maybe the times they are better now but the people there they have a problem forgetting no. Some men when they play with toys that go boom boom always want to keep playing with those toys yes! Much safer I think if we go the other way.’ Demitri said.

  ‘The journey that way looks shorter as well‘ Aya said in agreement.

  ‘Well looks like we are going through Hungary and Bulgaria then!’ Seth said and everyone nodded.

  After the breakfast and with some considerable encouragement from Aya, for everyone seemed reluctant to leave the beautiful forest. They finally boarded the minibus and set off once more heading out of Germany and up into the mountains of Austria. As they climbed higher into the mountains the forest fell away behind them soon disappearing completely replaced by a series of valleys. Each valley had its own river that snaked along its course with small towns and villages sitting beside it. The road they drove on crisscrossed the valleys via great bridges and cut through the mountains through long tunnels. The road climbed higher all the time until they could see the snow covered mountain tops glistening in the sun above them. Conversation was muted with most of the group just looking at the breath taking views of the mountains above and the valleys below.

  Aaron was driving as usual and Seth getting bored decided to turn on the minibus radio to try and find a station himself. After playing with the tuner for a while he managed to get BBC World Radio on Long Wave. They all listened with increasing shock to the station whose main topic was the world recession and unemployment which the reporter said was rising at its fastest rate since records began. This was the same with business closures and personal bankruptcies which were both at all time highs. The reporter then went on to say that house prices had now fallen by over 40% since the beginning of the year and all these factors had led to many people being made homeless and sleeping rough on the streets as well as a considerable rise in the crime rate.

  The reporter now talked about the demonstrations and riots that were taking place in most Western and Middle Eastern countries and said that tensions were once again growing in the Middle East between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Egypt’s newly elected right wing government was the leading vocalists against the Jewish State and its treatment of the Palestinian people. This in turn had led to increasing tensions between the Muslim world and the West whom many Muslims considered as being the backers of Israel and having an anti Muslim agenda. The amount of racial and religiously motivated attacks mainly against Muslims were also on the rise across Europe and America with the number of victims being hurt and even killed at an all time high.

  The station now turned its attention to the recent assassination attempt on the Prime Minister naming the gunman as Gordon McCallum an unemployed former Hospital Manager whose wife had been recently killed at one of the recent demonstrations London. A number of politicians and senior establishment figures had reported receiving death threats since the assassination attempt on the Prime Minister and a vote was due in Parliament on Friday on whether or not to give all MP’s round the clock police protection. Some Local Authorities had already assigned armed police officers to guard council leaders 24 hours a day. The new protection measures were criticised by many as being excessive and costing the tax payer far too much money, money which could be better spent elsewhere. There was also to be a vote in the commons later that day for even tougher anti terrorist laws to crack down on what the government claimed were a few anti establishment anarchists that were using the current troubles to further their cause with even speculation of a night time curfew being enforced across the whole of Britan.

  Turning his attention to transport the reporter told them that all planes were still grounded even though tests seemed to show that aircraft only seemed to suffer catastrophic failure when they went above 15,000 feet. But the authorities were still unable to work out what was causing this so all flights remained grounded until further notice. Reports on the newly discovered comet entering the solar system also dominated the news with commentators saying that it would pose no danger to the Earth but many religious groups had taken the comet as a sign for the end of the world. The appearance of the strange comet was also being blamed for the extraordinary increase in the number of sightings of aliens and mythical creatures around the world. People had been flocking to Loch Ness in Scotland where a tourist claimed he had filmed the Loch Ness Monster.

  As the report continued outlining other unusual sightings around the world the interference on the radio began getting worse again until the station was lost altogether and try as he could Seth could not find the station again only getting static and interference. With a sigh he turned off the radio.

  ‘Sounds like the whole dam world is falling to pieces’ Seth exclaimed.

  ‘The Loch Ness Monster I always wanted to see that’ Aaron said as he drove the minibus along the surprisingly empty highway.

  ‘You don’t believe in that do you Aaron?’ Gagan asked in surprise.

  ‘Well why not’ Aaron laughed ‘where my mother grew up there was a large lake in which a great monster lived, my mother even told me that she actually saw the monster when she was a child. So if there is a monster there why not in Loch Ness!’

  ‘What did it look like?’ Bridget asked.

  ‘My mother's monster! Well she never really saw more than a bit of it, but she said it was really large’ Aaron paused thinking. ‘The legend says that the monster was once a very bad man who would catch and eat the children of the villages. So the people in desperation asked a great wizard for help. The Wizard said he would only help them if the villagers built him a fortress first. So they built this great stone fortress and when the wizard was satisfied he went off in search
of this man and on finding him he turned him into a hideous monster that he banished to the lake where it had to remain for all time feeding on the dead things that floated to the bottom. But if any child were to go down to the lake at night the monster could catch and eat them whole’

  ‘How nice!’ Seth said with a grimace.

  By now they were driving down out of the mountains of Austria and nearing the border with Hungary which was in the middle of a dark forest that stretched as far as the eye could. As they drew near the forest the mood aboard the minibus grew tense for some inexplicable reason. Faith once more started to air her doubts about what they were doing saying that they should be back home with their family and friends not traipsing around strange and possibly dangerous lands. The others tried to calm her but there was no denying that there was now a certain apprehension in the air. The light mood of the mountains and the Black Forest long gone. They finally crossed the border into Hungary and followed the highway as it cut through the ever denser forest which slowly drew closer about both sides of the road they travelled like the jaws of some vast monster. The feeling of apprehension was made worse by the fact that the highway seemed completely deserted except for them.

  They had been driving through the dark forest for about thirty minutes when Aya sat bolt upright staring out of the window of the minibus into the depths of the trees beyond. ‘No it’s too soon’ she said quietly to herself.

  ‘What is it?’ Aiden asked and saw the worried look on Aya’s face.

  ‘We may be in trouble’ Aya answered quietly, ‘this is a very bad place, there are some dangerous things out there, very dangerous things!’ Aya shivered.

  ‘What?’ Aiden said keeping his voice low looking at the forest outside, ‘What things?’

  ‘I don’t know exactly’ Aya closed her eyes ‘there is a place not far from here, we must get there before the sun sets’

  ‘Place.....Before the sun sets!’ Aiden said looking back and forth between Aya and the forest.