- Agha, you got a friend of the imams in London?
The Black-skinned man spoke in Amharic, but Nigel understood. For the first time he did not take his tablet, nor he picked up his mobile phone. He felt as idiotic as when he was left by Sarah. He was betrayed. He had put toil in the name of great goals and now he realized he was pouring water into an empty barrel, like a fool. He could not feel how much time passed in silence. After about an hour they were approached by swarthy men who “fingered” them with a scanning device. Mr. Eisenstein’s wallet beeped. Inside there was a platinum credit card and a few plain, about three hundred pounds and his ID card. Hyulal Saadi took only the identity document, he threw the rest under the bench. The former camp supplier for the "Anthill" in Bolivia, checked his keys, by taking them out of his pocket. He was indifferent to everything. The men disappeared and they both left the park towards the center. Further, everything was taken care by Hyulal Saadi, the handsome black, a former participant in the grand project under the direction of "The Iron one".
Chapter 19
It was urgent, they had to go, so Fritz invented the lies about the attack of the monkeys and things. The Iron one has probably dozed lately, because contrary to his expectations, the lie was taken as true and he believed.
They gave instructions to Mark Credo, Christian Mutwa and Frederick Thabo to conduct the game "Crocodiles" as programmed, while they were away.
- We have provided a helicopter to transport you to the area, it will make several trips to provide you with everything you need, you've experienced rangers, and you will act according to the circumstances.
- Mr. Mueller, who will lead? - Asked Christian.
- You will be responsible, Mutwa. And Thabo will handle the camcorders. Are there any other questions?
- Yes, - said Mark distinctly Credo. – The mobiles can be used only within limited range, they are rather radios. It would be better to get our mobile devices. Moreover, you leave the continent, as far as I understand.
- It cannot be done. Rules must be respected. The pilot of the helicopter will return to bring protective gear after two hours and you bring you home after six hours, which you will survive as primitive people, isn’t it the aim of the game?
- Two hours is a long time among crocodiles and hippos. Hippos are currently caring for their young and are very dangerous for inexperienced people. And the crocodiles are faster than everyone and can climb easily trees and steep terrain - Marcus Credo continued to insist, but Fritz Müller and Hans Tsyoler paid no more attention.
Mutwa and Thabo silent.
When the helicopter arrived and landed on the meadow, the three curators loaded the cameras, checked the equipment of the participants and they all went in. Mark soon began to explain about the today's game, although he was violating the rules. This should be done immediately before the start and after reading the agenda. Christian looked at him but did not stop him.
- Today, the task seems easy, but it is very dangerous. We will prepare an inflatable boat with oars. Each participant will have to go a short distance by boat along the river. We are traveling to such a pitch at the moment.
- Is the boat wide? – The big black eyes of Hyulaya had become now enormous. - I'm small and weak and it would be most difficult for me.
- I have not finished yet, know the rules, I take away twenty points from Hyulaya for asking a question - all felt Mark’s nervousness. - I told you the easy part. The dangerous part is important. You have to walk past the floating crocodiles and hippos herd. The problem will be not to clap with the oars to tease them.
- Can we be in pairs, one man and one woman? For women it will be difficult to master the oars? - Asked Vaykua.
- You can’t.
- Objection, you took away points from me and you didn’t do that with Vaykua. He also asked directly the question! - Pouted the fluffy Hyulaya.
- Enough! - Screamed Christian, because of the noise of the propellers they could not be heard from the place where he was sitting. - More explanation will be given on the terrain. Everybody shut up!
There came some tension, as if the last mission was covered with something fatal. Laura and Hyulaya tried to whisper, but it did not work; they were ordered to not move much because there was danger of falling through the open doors. There were no parachutes. They were flying over some woodland. They suffered and got tired from the long journey, but when they landed a stone platform in the midst of a broad, almost dry river, they felt desperate. In fact, the riverbed was surrounded by the two sides by three-four meters high rock walls, which suggested that at high water it became very deep and broad. Now it had spilled in some places and only in the middle – it was deep. There were higher parts of its current bank, they saw strips of sand, like beaches, and very gravelly and stony clusters. Here and there one could notice trees and shrubs.
The men took immediately to inflate the boat and check the equipment and gear.
Anna walked behind a pile of boulders. Wearing a camouflage shirt and trousers and sports shoes, she looked like a man. This time, at Credo’s insistence, they gave them shoes. The river looked muddy and one could not gauge the depth. She had just bent over the water when he heard someone running toward her. She turned. It was Mark.
- Anna, stop! - He was angry. – It is teeming with crocodiles inside. They haven’t come out yet, because it is not warm enough for them in the morning. At Lunch they will all start going out, to sunbathe. Put your hat, now. The sun will burn your white skin!
- Mark, I saw a crocodile in the water.
- They are very fast if they decide to attack. They can climb faster than a person. So at the moment they are still sluggish. Come on.
They surrounded the pile of stones. She had put her hat with a brim of cheesecloth. The group had already inflated the boat and was about to place it on the water.
- Frederick, Anna saw a crocodile in the water. If it's so close to the shore, they use this ground to sunbathe. Probably others will come after him. We have to carry the boat by hands and walk along the shore. We will put in on water on a steep place, where it is less likely to be full of crocodiles.
- I refuse to participate in today's task - Laura told him firmly.
- In this case, you lose all points you have earned so far - reminded Christian.
- I know Mr. Mutwa, but my mother was alone and I do not want to risk. Money can be won in another way, not only in reality!
- For example, in a beauty contest! - Joked Baz and showed his even white teeth.
-You have to enroll in a beauty contest! - Hyulaya said tartly.
- The beauty contest is just fine for Laura and Baz. We both will refrain, right? - Anna hugged Hyulaya, but she angrily pulled herself away, offended by Anna’s words, in her opinion she was already old.
- Watch out! - Vaykua warned the short girl who slipped on a boulder and there was a danger to splash in the river.
The three black curators together with Dylan went ahead and carried the boat on their shoulders. They got quite tired until they find a suitable place on the coast where, according to Mark and Frederick there was no danger of crocodiles. They let the boat attached the oars and Christian tried it. At this point, they noticed a herd of hippos swimming along the opposite bank. They tied the boat and three rangers walked away to discuss the problem. Anna looked at Baz and he understood. Quite idly she approached the leaders who were talking. Then he ran back and began to whisper something in Anna’s ear. Hippos were watching over their young at the time and were very dangerous. All of the group feared many alligators, and not so much from the large African hippos. Anna gave instructions to Baz not to tell others. When the rangers came, she started talking loudly:
- We all give up the game "Crocodile!" Then everyone will have the same points as before and it will be a fair competition, but we would eliminate the risk of irreparable misfortune of fifty percent.
Dylan Frank, however, did not agree:
- I'm here to make money and I took
all the risks. I will play!
Christian Mutwa shouted:
- I take twenty points from Anna for instigating. We begin, Dylan, you're the first!
After a while the race opened Dylan. He passed away from the hippos with the boat and returned unharmed. The crocodiles were already sticking their ugly heads, but they were still not out of the water. Next was Anna. She made it, too. Laura refused and they left her last if she, somehow decided. Baz was almost irritated a Hippo, decided that he had threatened its baby, but he managed very quickly to escape with the boat and get back safe. Vaykua resorted to a very slow technique of movement and Christian got nervous to monitor the camera, but there was no requirement for time, only for distance. Finally Hyulaya cried because the oars weighed too much, they were awkward for her small arms and she never found the strength to fix the boat in one direction. She kept turning in one place and she had gone quite far into the river. Hippos were away from her, but there were many crocodiles, which began to come to a nearby sandy ground on the opposite bank. They were swimming around the rotating boat and Hyulaya started screaming and crying. Christian gave Frederick the camera and started screaming, not to Hyulaya but to Mark.
- I forbid you to break the rules. They have not yet attacked her to help. When you enter the water you will only cause them to attack!
Indeed, the group of crocodiles passed the boat that had stopped spinning because Hyulaya had dropped the oars and was just weeping.
- Hyulaya, calm down and try to return the boat. We'll give you half the points. Come on.
But the girl just sobbed and sat paralyzed. The boat began threatening to sail away, carried by the river.
- If any of us comes to pull you, you lose all the points - Christian suddenly turned to the group that stood silent on the rocks watching what was goings on. - If any of the the participants came to pull her out, however, he will keep those fifty percent points that I promised Hyulaya for himself.
Baz began to undress, but Anna stopped him.
- Baz, do not, hippos emerged again. You annoy them, maybe they have a dislike for black men, I will go - she laughed, he also understood her joke this time.
She undressed quickly-only in pants and a vest and swam to the boat that was dragged downward by the flow. She passed by a crocodile, but he did not respond. She got into the boat, slowly turned and rowed to the site where the group was. Hyulaya whimpered, curled up at the bottom of the vessel.
They took them a standing ovation. Mark wrapped Anna in a bathrobe. Christian muttering something about him.
- The helicopter was already supposed to be here! - Said Frederick, as if to himself.
- Something may have happened
- Mark, call the pilot, tell him to come!
- The battery of my machine is dead, let Christian ring.
- We do not have coverage, rocks stop the signal! - Shouted shortly Christian.
All froze. Anna said:
- Didn’t you agree with the helicopter pilot to be here in two hours! Anyway, he should come and take us back?
- He is late for more than an hour, it can be assumed that something had happened unexpectedly, but to stay and spend the night here is very dangerous - Christian was no longer crying and was not taking way points.
All felt his fear.
- How’s that so, a misfortune or accident may happen? - Dylan resented with his typical intonation of the teachers' delayed pronouncing.
- Quiet! - Frederick raised his hand to make all silent. - I worked in a large park, before leaving and join the reality game. I've done with crocodiles. There is something very strange in their behavior. We are a very easy prey for them and they stay primarily in the water, which is also unusual for the sunniest part of the day. Soon it will be dark. We have to look for a suitable place for the night.
- How’s that - spending the night, can’t you see that the river is teeming with beasts? - Hyulaya was crying and screaming at the same time
- The problem is that I haven’t seen this pilot before, maybe they have hired him soon, I guess he was confused and cannot find us. Mr. Mueller and Mr. Tsyoler departed and the supporting staff remaining in the camp is not allowed to communicate with others. As far I could understand, the operators went to Niamey with the other helicopter. - Frederick explained and everyone felt his anxiety. - If you do not panic, we might survive.
- I suggest we go to the shelter under the rock, try to relax a little and then we will decide how to act! - Mark sounded calm and filled with courage the people of the group.
However, Baz and Vaykua had to help Laura and Hyulaya, to climb the round, large stones in which they should go to the shelter. The boat was left on the sandy ground near the shore. They also took the luggage.
The shadow of the hewn from the water ten meter high rock wall proved to be suitable However, the flat strip beneath it was narrower than a meter and not longer than two. There was no other way but to squat next to each other.
Somehow intuitively all understood that they have to stop talking. Even Hyulaya stopped crying. Anna dozed off.
Chapter 20
BlackX18 and WhiteX18 stood in front of his superior archangel SixWingsXX and tried to look indifferent.
- Why don’t you ask me first, but you are troubling the Superior principal Light XXX? I already have angels who have lost their sensors, they came to me and found a new deputy. What is so special about sensor 18, that you are so insistent!
- It is the benchmark of the project, it is more than clear that it special - said the black angel.
- I have offered the principality Light XXX to change the standard. Most successful sensors are almost completing their philosophical thesis. And yours has not started yet! What model can it be!
- You do not help us, Sixi. Since the beginning of the project, you have been ignoring the sensors of small countries - White Angel was trying to be polite.
- It cannot be expected that a small country may create a new philosophy of the world as a whole. I recommend you not to get too emotional, to abide the rules and not to trouble in any occasion Light XXX.
- We cannot look for Sudar ourselves, you know it. You help and mediate between him and us, or he calls us.
- Do not try to find excuses Blackie, excuses are for men. We are in a different dimension. Now say what the matter is, that you so urgently requested a meeting with me!
- Our sensor 18 is in danger. Together with seven other people – they have been left by one of the tributaries of the Nile River and the dam, built in the neighboring state will be released and would flood every time the gorge of the river, where it is full of crocodiles and hippos. We want you to provoke a storm by the largest dam on earth, but very powerful storm - wind, rain and thunder. This will delay the formal release of the locks. In such an event, there will be great men, it will be broadcast by global news agencies.
- Well, now is the rainy season, it will not be uncommon. Anything else you want?
- Yes, to destroy one hundred and sixty crocodiles in the area.
- And all this because of just one unpredictable person, such as your sensor 18?
- Yes, these crocodiles will perish anyway after the release of the dam.
- I’ll explore the region ...
White and Black angels simultaneously began to express their gratitude to Six Wings XXX. "Thanksgiving is a vaccine and antibiotic and antidote" - said the archangel. Angels knew that when you give thanks for what you have received, you continue to get. And after he helps, they did not mind his moral admonitions.
***
- Anna, the crocodiles are not dangerous. But by morning you must escape from here. - BlackX18 was clearly visible as a whole figure in a black cloak with a hood.
Anna realized that she was sleeping, that her angels were with her and they wanted to help.
- You see that there is no coverage, and we cannot call for help. How can we get out? The Helicopter that was supposed to take us, may have crashed into a tall tree, but it m
ay also come at any moment.
- The pilot was ordered to go back to the base. You were left here on purpose. They know that today they had to let go one of the largest dams in the world. It is close and everything will be swept by the water – it was BellX18 who was speaking.
- But this means that they want to kill us, together with the Rangers. Why should they?
- Trust us and focus on the task to climb the wall, somehow. There will be a storm near the dam, but the delay is one day only. Maybe you should get out alone, then send help for the others.
Anna was startled. He realized that she was squatting in the shade of the river wall to the others from the group. Marcus Credo was standing in the sun on a pile of boulders and watched the riverbed with binoculars. She jumped on a rock and began to climb to the ranger.
- Mark, I will try to go up at the tall tree in the distance and get beyond the river wall. I need to call help for you, or we're all doomed.
He turned and looked in the direction she was pointing.
- The tree you are talking about at least five hundred meters away and it has very thin upper branches. The probability not to withstand is fifty-fifty. And you must pass through the herds of crocodiles, basking in the sun. This already means certain death.
- Crocodiles are sick and you have already noticed that, so they are not up to eating salty human flesh. And the tree will withstand my weight me, I'm not heavy.
- Let’s suppose so, we are two hours by helicopter from the camp. That means four hundred kilometers by air. And through the jungle - many days in walking. Without food and water, lack of experience and knowledge of the region, few people survive. Even in a group. Our helicopter will come any time if it got damaged, they will send another. The production company is serious, no need for self-initiatives.
Christian, who had approached them, said:
- That's right, we have to show patience and not to move, to keep the group compact and not to risk more.
Vaykua has also jumped on the rocks.
- I also want to perform the job and earn my points of this mission.
Humility Page 16