by Jamie Doyle
Silence engulfed the entire studio. Sally sat as still as a doll in a toy chair. The stage hands all stood motionless and the audience was paralysed. Even the air hung heavy with shock, but then a lone voice shouted out from behind the stage lights.
‘Team Max! Team Max!’
And then another shout followed and quickly the silence was smashed out of the studio by the audience regaining its composure. Max had stunned them for a moment, but now they were back. Sally however, was visibly moved. She gingerly placed her fingers over her mouth and looked about her, startled, like coming out of a deep daydream. A glisten in her eyes even betrayed brimming tears. The queen of daytime television had been brought undone.
Then quickly shuffling in her chair, Sally clenched her hands and wiggled her head to reclaim her self confidence. Looking down at her notes, she cleared her throat and looked back up as the audience again settled down.
‘So, Max,’ she said a little thickly, ‘you mentioned God. Do you follow a faith? Does Maximilian Augustus Dyson believe in The Almighty?’
‘No,’ Max replied simply.
‘No? Not ever?’
‘No, not ever. I’ve never followed a religion and I don’t feel any inkling to begin believing now.’
‘Why is that?’
‘Let’s get one thing straight. I have the utmost respect for anyone’s faith and will never question anyone’s beliefs of any sort. In fact, I admire the religious and theological beliefs that people hold dear and the strength of many people’s beliefs, but it’s just not for me. I don’t even really think about it. What I do believe in is myself and those that I care about. My faith in myself is unshakeable. I have never doubted myself and I’m in no mood to start now. As for the people I love, they’re real. I see them every day and they give me all the support I need and more and for that I will be forever grateful. They believe in me and I believe in them. Let me also say that while I’ll be the one in the arena beating off the bad guys, if I win, these people are just as responsible for saving the world as I am, if not more so. I can fight. You better believe that, but I can’t get this done on my own. This is a team effort and though you may never see everyone I’m talking about, if you do have faith in God, send your prayers to them as well because they’re in this just as deep as I am. You need them to be just as strong if not stronger than me and you know what, they’re proving that to be true. I’m not the hero in this. They’re the heroes. Win or lose.’
Sally nodded slowly and silently. The silence stretched for a few moments more and Max wondered if he had broken the will of this media leviathan, which would only be a good thing as he was starting to get restless. His answers so far had come from the heart and it felt good to get his thoughts and feelings out, but this last question had started to stray a little too far out of his comfort zone . Then she spoke.
‘So, Max,’ she began, leaning forwards to rest her elbows on her knees, her glittering face coming even closer, ‘can you tell us about your childhood? What was your upbringing like and your mother in particular, what was she like because I understand you never knew your father as he left when you were very young?’
Now he was right out of his comfort zone. His childhood was off limits. His mother was off limits and as for his father, well, Sally was right about him not ever being in the picture, but that wasn’t his fault. The man didn’t know he had been used to spawn a human/alien hybrid child then left none the wiser when his mother ran off the next day. That didn’t make him a bad Dad.
‘Max?’ Sally asked, pulling Max out of his thoughts. ‘Your childhood?’
Max tightened his lips and looked down at his hands. How do you refuse Sally Sainsbury an answer on live television and maintain your integrity? Then he was saved.
‘Do you sleep in the nude?’ shouted a female voice from out of the audience?
This reignited the masses. Max turned away from Sally who immediately began trying to waive the crowd back down again. The question was repeated by another random voice from the crowd. Then another. Max smiled. Sally was going into over drive.
Then Max said, ‘Sorry, Sally, but I think the question deserves an answer.’
Sally was aghast. Her eyes flamed as she realised she was having her show hijacked and worse than that, her biggest star guest of all time was heavily compliant in the crime. Max stood up, looked down at Sally and shrugged. Then he turned away and walked off the front of the stage and past the line of cameras and stage hands. The cameras rolled out of the way and spun to keep focus on him.
The audience was baying like a zoo full of animals at feeding time. Max held up his hands and waved them about. Slowly the noise died down and Max was left standing alone in front of the massive bank of mostly female patrons.
‘Okay,’ he started. ‘Who asked the question?’
A hand tentatively rose at one end of the audience. Max faced the young lady, probably roughly in her mid-twenties and asked, ‘So, you want to know if I sleep in the nude?’
Virtually the entire crowd nodded. Max smiled.
‘No,’ he said. Disappointment rippled through the masses. ‘I wear briefs…and nothing else.’
Instantly the crowd ratcheted up again. Max waved them down and as they were quieting, another question shot out, this time from a forty-something lady, jumping in her seat like a fifteen-something teenager.
‘What’s your star sign?’ she shouted.
‘Ahh, good question. Gemini.’
The forty-something squealed. ‘Same as me!’ and she started shaking the lady sitting next to her.
‘Does that mean you’ve got a twin brother and what’s his phone number?’ shouted another voice from across the crowd.
‘No, sorry. No twin brother,’ Max answered.
‘A cousin?’ came another shout.
Max grinned and shook his head. ‘Uh, uh. No cousin either.’
‘Twin sister?’ called out a voice from the front row. Max looked and found the source to be a tall, leggy blonde who clearly knew her way around a gym. Max’s grin widened and he shook his head again. The lady shrugged.
And now the questions came thick and fast. Max took a couple of steps back and let the crowd connection overwhelm him. Team Max wanted public relations? Well, it couldn’t get any better than this. Holding his arms out wide Max bowed once and everyone got to their feet, jumping and cheering. Then Max bowed again and the chant rose even higher.
‘Team Max! Team Max! Team Max!’
This was so much better than talking about his childhood. Finally turning away from the crowd, Max walked back past the row of cameras and stage hands and back up onto the stage where Sally was still sitting in her chair, the fury now blooming across her whole face, her body as tense as a snake poised to strike. Max knew there was no point in trying to placate her, so he simply grabbed up Sally’s hand and kissed the back of it.
Sally tried to soften her features but failed, lancing Max with her glare. Noticing the downward spiralling influence the situation was having on the show, the studio director rallied the crew to rescue. Suddenly, the Team Max anthem fired up and the crowd immediately took over, clapping and stomping their feet so hard the entire studio shuddered with the rhythm.
Max took the cue and gave Sally one final smile before releasing her hand and turning away. Walking off the stage, he couldn’t help himself as he threw one final bow to the audience who by now were absolutely unrestrained. Smiling like a lottery winner, Max walked towards the studio doors and through them. The Team Max juggernaut was still rolling. Mission accomplished.
7:30am, 12h November (1 month later). Arena Plans
Abdullah and Joe walked into the mansion’s informal dining room and kitchen area to find Max, Elsa, the kids and Kris all together. The rooms were a bustle of activity, just like any family or group of friends getting ready for the day ahead.
Max sat at the table with Millie and Jason, a pile of bacon and eggs on his plate, his second breakfast already half demolished after having
been put through an early morning training session by Kris. In the kitchen Elsa moved from the cupboards to the bench, making the children’s meals, while Kris poured milk into her bowl of muesli.
Joe looked around and found Peter out on the balcony, his phone in hand as he talked to someone. Joe waved him in and Peter wound up his conversation.
‘This looks ominous,’ Elsa said as she moved to the dining table to place plates of buttered toast in front of Millie and Jason.
‘Nice to see you all this morning,’ Joe said carefully, looking around at all the activity, ‘and why exactly is our appearance ominous, Elsa?’
Elsa moved back into the kitchen to put four more slices of bread into the toaster. Kris slipped past her with her muesli, while Max remained hunched over his own plate of food.
‘It means,’ Elsa started, ‘that it’s not often we see either of you this early in the day, so when both of you turn up together, it’s ominous.’
Joe nodded and glanced sideways to watch Peter come in off the balcony through the sliding door.
‘That’s an interesting assumption,’ Joe replied. ‘Perhaps we need to make a concerted effort to come and share breakfast with you more often?’
‘That’d be nice, but we know you’re busy men,’ Elsa said, just as the toaster popped up the four slices. ‘Toast?’
‘No thank you. We both had our breakfast earlier while watching Kris put Max through his paces this morning. Breakfast and a show, so to speak.’
‘Yeah, I saw you blokes up there, sipping your lattes while I broke a sweat,’ Max said as he swallowed his last fried egg and stood up to take his plate back to the kitchen. ‘Kris even made me do some extra plyometrics for entertainment value. You two blokes owe me.’
‘Don’t worry about him,’ Kris chimed in as she paused in between mouthfuls. ‘He’s all talk. He’s just miffed about me nailing him with the baseball pitching machine.’
‘My back’s all purple polka dots right now,’ Max replied as he grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl. ‘In some countries you’d go to jail for what you did to me this morning. Assault and battery comes to mind.’
‘Aww, see, kiddies, what Kris puts your daddy through,’ Elsa said to Millie and Jason as she came to sit at the table with them to eat her toast. ‘She can be so mean sometimes.’
‘Wait till I get that baseball pitcher upgraded to a medicine ball cannon,’ Kris said, a grin in place.
‘A what?’ Max shot back.
Kris continued. ‘A medicine ball cannon. Abdullah promised me he’d get his engineers to whip one up for us.’
‘Not for us,’ Max said. ‘For you.’
Kris shrugged and got back to her muesli.
‘You were saying, Joe?’ Elsa said, returning the focus to Prime Minister Tollsen.
‘Thank you, Elsa, and I must say it always make me feel at home seeing you all together and enjoying each other’s company,’ Joe said, casting a quick glance to Abdullah who shot one back with a slight nod. ‘However, your suspicions, Elsa have proven correct, we do have an ulterior reason for calling on you all this morning and before I go on, sorry for the late notice, but we are going to disrupt your plans for today.’
‘Sounds fine to me,’ Max said, tossing his apple core in the bin and grabbing a second one. ‘Anything to get Kris away from cannons that shoot big heavy things at me.’
‘What’s on your mind?’ Elsa asked as she pushed Jason’s plate back in front of him to better catch at least some of the crumbs tumbling from his mouth.
‘We are going to take a small excursion to see the progress of the arena construction,’ Joe said.
Max slid a gaze back to Prime Minister Tollsen, but held his tongue. Peter also flicked a quick glance to Joe before returning to subconsciously scanning the windows.
‘I will now pass over to Abdullah to explain the operation,’ Joe continued, ‘and why it has taken so long for us to divulge anything regarding the arena project.’
All eyes turned to the Sheikh.
‘As salam alaykum,’ Abdullah greeted. ‘Good morning, everyone and may I also express how comforting it is to see you all together.’
‘To be fair, Your Highness,’ Elsa said, ‘we’re actually not all together unless Joe and yourself are with us too. We’re not Team Max without either of you.’
Abdullah smiled and bowed. Joe let his lips curl slightly and nodded, not to Elsa, but more to himself as a gush of warmth spread through his chest.
‘Thank you, Elsa,’ Abdullah replied. ‘Your words are very kind and so now, as Joseph said, I will outline to you where we are going and how.’ Everyone held quiet, either continuing to eat or pausing their meal to stop and listen. ‘Deliberately, we have not discussed the venue for the arena duels up until now. The reason for that is simple. Security. There are still several factions and organisations in the world that provide very real and credible threats to our safety. They still distrust us and would prefer to disrupt our preparations for New Year’s Eve and even kill us for their own reasons. Some are political. Others are religious and some are totally unexplainable. Regardless of the motives, the dangers of revealing the arena location too soon were too great, but now as New Year’s Eve approaches and the stadium construction matures, it is time for you all to witness the site ahead of any other delegations.’
‘Is it far,’ Elsa asked, ‘and is it safe to take the kids?’
‘It is not far and yes, it is safe to take Millie and Jason. Your protection is assured.’
‘How far is not far?’ Kris asked. ‘Somewhere on the east coast? Brisbane? Sydney? Melbourne?’
‘It is on the east coast of Australia, yes, but it is not in any of the capital cities,’ Abdullah replied.
‘If it’s not in a city, then I can’t think of any stadium big enough,’ Kris added. ‘I assume you’re inviting a crowd?’
Peter watched the interplay between Abdullah and Kris, his own mind asking exactly the same questions, but his voice remaining silent.
‘We are not utilising an existing stadium,’ Abdullah replied. ‘Rather we are constructing a new, fit for purpose stadium that will, yes, be able to hold a crowd. Not too large, but large enough for a representative audience to witness the event first hand.’
‘So where is it?’Max asked.
Abdullah turned to Max and said, ‘Saint Augustine Island.’
Max, Elsa and Kris all looked searchingly at each other, shoulders shrugging.
‘It’s next door,’ sounded Peter’s voice. All eyes turned towards Team Max’s head of security. ‘It’s just over that way about fifty kilometres,’ Peter added, jerking a thumb behind him.
‘You’re building a secret stadium right next door to us,’ Kris asked slowly, ‘knowing the whole world has their eyes on this island right here?’
‘We are,’ Abdullah answered, ‘and you have Joseph to thank for the brilliance in the simplicity. While the world is focused on our little island here, we have distracted them from the stadium island, which is so close, but so deeply in our shadow that no one would notice it.’
‘How much have you built so far?’ Kris asked.
‘We have been under construction for almost a month and are nearing completion of the main frame. We now would like you all to visit and especially Max and Kris to outline any preferred arena details you would like integrated such as weapons ports, shape of the arena space and the type of duelling surface. It is time to start designing and building these elements in.’
‘You mean you want to know,’ Kris began, ‘what we need to gain ourselves an advantage?’
‘Yes. You need to identify what elements will suit your strategy and skills, so we can make sure these elements are meticulously integrated. This may, unfortunately, require you to think somewhat like an engineer, but I assure you, my men are the most capable available to assist us.’
‘How is it you can manage to get a construction project like this going right now, all things considered?’ Elsa asked, getting u
p from the table and gathering her plate along with Millie and Jason’s plates. ‘I mean, sure we’ve managed to bring the world back from the brink to an extent and everyone’s a bit happier, but we’re all still perched on a knife edge and here you are, building a new stadium. The money I imagine is not an issue, but the logistics and in particular, the people. To build a stadium right now and in a matter of months compared to the usual, I don’t know two or three years it would normally take, where are you getting the people? You’d need thousands of workers and I can’t imagine there are thousands of willing workers just floating around right now?’
‘Your observation is astute,’ Abdullah said. ‘So, we had to adapt and the first criteria for the new stadium was the size. Saint Augustine Island is not overly large. Also, we do not plan on an overly large audience. We are designing it to accommodate approximately twenty thousand people, which by today’s standards is small, but given the stadium’s remote location, the fact it will be televised globally and our need to maintain security right up until the event commences, an overly large audience does not suit our planning.’
‘Okay,’ Elsa said slowly, ‘and the workers?’
‘Yes, the workers,’ Abdullah continued. ‘Given the relatively small size of the stadium and the fact it is a once-off event and so will not require durable construction, we realised we could build using a temporary design with temporary materials. Therefore, the key was not heavy machinery and cutting-edge construction technology, but rather simple materials and people power, hence why your question, Elsa is so important. We needed construction workers. Thousands of them and not necessarily skilled in any way. Worker bees if you will and only a handful of skilled supervisors to ensure progress and integrity of the work. Fortunately, only minimal technology and advanced engineering are needed for this approach, so the project is actually quite simple to execute.’