“You think there is poison in the glue, right?” asked the sergeant.
“Yes that’s right,” Hank says.
“Might I ask, maybe you tipped a few?” The sergeant asked.
“No I don’t drink, I want to talk to a detective,” Hank proclaims.
“You want to talk to a detective, do you?” asked the sergeant.
“Yes, that’s right, I know where these envelopes are, and there is a crazy Russian mob asshole with a fake moustache that is going to kill all of us with these poisoned envelopes,” Hank replies.
“Do you know what my job is?” asked the sergeant. “I just want to talk to somebody,” Hank says. “My job, you little turd, is to screen out the wheat from the chaff, and you are the chaff. Now take you and your imaginary poison envelopes and get out of here. Do you understand me?” screams the sergeant. “I do understand you, but I want to talk to someone, look I know what I’m saying sounds nuts, but it’s true, please there’s been a murder,” Hank pleads. “How many fingers am I holding up?” The sergeant asks holding up three fingers.
“Three, why, are you nuts?” Hank asks.
“Alright, go up to the second floor and ask for detective Martinez,” The sergeant says.
Hank charges up to the second floor and squeezes through the maze of desks, chairs and people until he comes to a desk with a small placard that says Juan Martinez. Hank stares at the empty seat behind the desk.
A clerk sees that Hank is just staring at the empty seat and asks, “Are you looking for Detective Martinez?” “Yes,” Hank responds
“He’s been out of town, why don’t you leave him your number and he’ll contact you. He calls in on a regular basis and we give him his messages,” says the clerk.
“I need to talk to someone right now, Can I call him?” Hank exclaims.
“I’m sorry, detective Martinez is out of town,” the clerk says.
“Then give me a detective who is not out of town,” Hank screams.
“Calm down or I’ll have to have you removed, do you understand?” The clerk says.
“I’m really upset right now, Ed’s been murdered and these envelopes killed him,” Hanks says beginning to cry.
“Take it easy, here, says the clerk taking the box of envelopes and setting them in the middle of Juan’s desk and saying, “Just leave them in the middle of his desk. Do you have a card or do you need a piece of paper?”
“Yes”, I have a card Hank fumbled with shaking hands for a card, finally finds a crumpled one and sets it on top of the box of envelopes.
“Good, here, take Juan’s card you can call him when he gets back,” the clerk pats Hank on the back gently. Hank objects, “You’re just going to leave that poisoned shit right in middle of his desk like that? Are you nuts, what if some poor bastard comes and grabs one of those envelopes and licks it? You got a magic marker?” Hank notices one in Juan’s pencil holder. He takes it and then scrawls in large letters “POISON” and then draws a skull and cross bones. He then draws it on all sides of the box and adds “DANGER” to all four sides.
“Are you happy now?” the clerk asks.
“No, I ain’t happy… that damn Russian killed Big Ed; it's the beginning of an invasion, I’m telling you! I’m going to get that S O B!” Hank screams. Hank’s behavior’s starting to be noticed now, and two officers come to the clerk’s aid.
“He was just leaving,” the clerk says quietly. She knows that this man is probably delusional and just wants him to leave quietly. Hank just nods his head, the clerk pushes one of Juan’s cards into his shirt pocket. He senses that he is being pushed out of the precinct and he doesn’t like it. He was never a big fan of the police, ever since he was a kid growing up in Astoria, Queens, and as angry as he was, Hank knew where the envelopes were and he knew the Russian would be back.
After Hank leaves, the clerk goes over to Juan's desk see's the envelopes picks up the box and tosses the box into the waste basket, mumbling, "Whack jobs! I'm sick of them!"
Chapter 55 When Sam comes in with Beneizen Charles is sitting on a gurney and says, "Beneizen, nice to see you, I hope you had a nice vacation and decided to bless us with your presence… How can I trust the two of you not to program me to be an accountant?"
"Because you're not going to be a Guard, you’re going to be what is called a Klacknel. That is very different than an android or a robot Guard. You will have an excellent mind, rudimentary emotions, and the body of a twenty-five year old. But you will appear to be quite human depending on one’s definition of human. We're simply transferring your consciousness. Klacknels in our world are very special organisms "But why are you asking us to do this? I still don't understand your motivation," Beneizen says with some emotion.
"Beneizen, you promise me you won't try and control me and my personality will remain the same?" Charles pleads.
"I promise!" Beneizen responds.
"I trust you," Charles says, "But, if this procedure should in any way go amiss and I should change in any abnormal way Ivan will kill all of you. Ivan will immediately have control of all the Guards."
"Why do you threaten me Charles? You have no real control anyway," Beneizen responds.
"Don’t underestimate me; I'm doing this because I'm dying. I'm constantly in pain, this body has failed me,” Charles complains.
"Just what do you mean by that?" Sam asks.
"Look at me, I'm fat, I have diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, I can't get an erection, I suffer from psoriasis, poor vision, and I know I'm going to die soon and I'm terrified of dying. When I look inside there is only blackness. There, is that enough of a list for you?" whines Charles.
"Charles you could go on a diet," Sam adds politely. "There you go again bringing a negative spin to my opening of my heart to you," Charles complains and continues, "no, I'm tired of it all. I want to eat, drink and screw when I want to. I want to live forever, and I don't want to feel bad about any of it. So let's get on with this."
"So Charles, I want you to know exactly what's going to happen. Your new body is ready and you will be able to view it before the procedure. You'll then be sedated and your consciousness, everything that makes you ‘Charles,’ will then be transferred to the new body unit, everything except your ‘being’ that is" Sam explains.
"Will there be any pain?" Charles asks.
"No," Sam replies.
"Why are you agreeable to doing this for me?" says Charles quietly.
Beneizen answers, "Because I'm hoping if you feel better about yourself and your life you'll begin to respond to your life and everything in it in a more positive way. Charles you're a man of great intellect and power, but you wield the power like a cudgel without conscience or real understanding."
Charles responds very differently to Beneizen than to anyone else. He can sense that Beneizen comes from a very high place. In his heart he knows that Beneizen would never lie to him. In Charles’ world, where no one is trusted and everyone is judged with contempt and negativity, Beneizen’s presence had a remarkable effect, even on such a complicated scoundrel. "Again and for the last time I ask; are you sure you want to do this?" Beneizen asks.
"I'm sure," Charles says with sincerity.
"Then so be it," Beneizen says and disappears from view.
"Where did he go?" Charles asks.
Sam smiles at Charles and asks, "Do you want to see your new body?"
Charles just nods and Sam leads him into an operating suite with two operating tables. Lying on one of them is a perfectly formed younger Charles Dean. "He's too beautiful to be me," sighs Charles. Charles lies on the second operating table looking toward the ceiling. In his mind he sees himself with Doris and Beneizen again walking down the trail from Half Dome. He sees himself, young and athletic his strong handsome body and rugged good looks set him apart and are perfect for a career in politics. Doris walks closely behind him following his every move. Like cats they almost run down the mountain side jumping from rock to rock in an almost perfec
t ballet. Beneizen effortlessly follows close behind. The way they inhabited their bodies was remarkable, there was complete confidence that nothing would happen to them even though one wrong step would be the end of them by falling thousands of feet to their death. Suddenly Charles breaks the momentum and stops and Doris screams, "Why are you stopping, that was incredible?"
"Charles looks out over Yosemite Valley as tears come to his eyes, and says, "That is incredible," as he points to the view below. He sees the vast valley with the waterfalls cascading far down below. "That's what I want to do with my life, to preserve that and to keep us from destroying this beautiful planet of earth." "I want to preserve all the beautiful people." Doris says thoughtfully.
Charles is touched by her passion. He looks into her eyes and says, "I love you Doris Abernathy, "I guess we're a team," and he kisses her as Beneizen looks on from a distance.
Charles eyes open wide as he lay on the gurney, but then he closes them and sighs as he slowly drifts off into a deep sleep. He feels his consciousness being sucked into a machine. He sees his life unreel before him and bits of his personality broken down into code and organized by type and years of service. He could almost see the fact that the personality has no master. It is by its very nature chaotic.
But each human being has their own ‘ordered chaos,’ based on their own particular education and background from which they were imprinted by life with a false set of values. But each part of the personality thinks it is "I" and master. This is a very interesting problem for a machine. How do you transfer ones personality through a machine so that when the person awakens they have a sense of themselves? Therein lies the problem; the personality has no sense of self, that sense of self was left back in Charles enormous carcass.
A few hours later Charles woke up in his new body. He immediately felt a sense of well-being that he hadn’t felt for decades; he felt calm, peaceful and almost relaxed. The first thing he saw was Sam sitting next to his bed reading.
"I feel like myself, just a lot better," Charles says wonderingly.
"I'm glad to hear that," Sam replied.
Charles sits up on the side of the bed and starts moving various parts of his body and asks, "Do I eat food, or do I plug myself into the wall socket?" "Both if you like," Sam explains.
Over the next few weeks Charles was happy. He told his friends that he had been given a special procedure, a miracle really. He was as sharp as ever in the House of Representatives. He played sports with an ease and success he had never known. His golf game went from the 120's to the 80's. He was more efficient than he had ever been. He was charming, kind and considerate. Even at EOJ he was more understanding and compassionate. Charles was in all ways a new man. He ate what he wanted. He returned to being a true politician... He slept with his aides, double crossed other congressional members and took bribes from the lobbyists thus gaining the respect of his fellow legislators.
But when he went home at night and was alone he slowly began to become aware that something was missing. He had no sense of self or being or ‘soul.’ He began to experience himself as a machine. He began to think, "What have I done? This must be what happened to Faust and how he felt. Have I sold my soul to the devil? Now I think I know why Doris allowed herself to die.”
Chapter 56 Beneizen stood at the end of a long pier looking out over the azure waters of the large lagoon in the Banda Sea. Palm trees wave gently over the long beach’s edge. A few billowing white clouds hang on the horizon like a fringe for the deep blue morning sky. Far in the distance Beneizen could see the supply ship from Ambon appear. From the shore over thirty long canoes headed out, each cutting a small, deep wake in the glistening, almost still water. All of the men and a few of the women came out in long boats to greet any visitors. They were fully dressed with gigantic headdresses made of feathers from the Bird of Paradise. There were bones through many of the men’s noses and the women were bare-chested with flowers in their hair. At the prow of each long boat was a warrior holding a long spear in one hand and a war club in the other. He stood in perfect balance on a platform maybe six inches” square. Their dark skins glistened in the morning sun. As he watched the canoes increased speed in their race toward the supply boat. The speed of these boats was amazing, the rowers pulling in perfect harmony.
To this day inhabitants of the Tanimbar Islands are fierce warriors. They killed the early Christian missionaries, the early Muslim invaders, and almost anyone who was unfortunate enough to land on their islands. Even modern technology had left these Islands alone. The impenetrable jungle and lack of any valuable natural resources left the Indonesian government with a hands-off attitude as not being worth the effort. The government had finally made a treaty with the Tanimbar people. The agreement was simple; they would stop eating people and shrinking their heads and agree to be part of Indonesia with no other strings attached. They agreed and thus they are still to this day unknown, very mysterious, and very exotic. Their islands have some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world. Beneizen had made friends with the islanders and was allowed to stay on the island because he healed their sick and loved them for being exactly what they were, independent in a world ruled by dependence.
Chase and Ally had flown from LA to Singapore, Singapore to Manado on the island of Sulawesi and then on to Ambon, then hitched a ride from there on a supply boat and now stood at the bow as it slowly approached the lagoon. The smell of cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon lightly perfumed the air. The smell of the sea mixed with the fragrance of spice and flowers was intoxicating. They could hear the drums of the women in the back of the long boats. At the stern of each long boat was a horn almost 10 feet long very similar to horns used in Tibet. The long boats slowly approached the larger ship. The deep sound of their horns filled the lagoon and with the sound of the drums brought one back to a sense of being connecting to the earth. There were three drums; one very large almost 2 feet in diameter, a middle sized drum and a small, higher pitched drum. Up until 1950 the island’s inhabitants would have terrified any small ships coming near the islands. The large supply ship sounded its fog horn in response. The native boats stopped almost on a dime. All the men dropped their oars and picked up great spears and at the signal of the warrior at the head of each boat they hurled the spears against the steel hull of the ship.
Ally turned to the captain, asking, “Why are they throwing their spears against the hull of the ship?” The captain was a tall blond Dutchman with a skin like leather, and he replied, saying, “They believe that by throwing their spears they are driving away the evil spirits that we bring. They believe we are sick people and that we pollute their environment with our negativity, technology, and bad attitudes. After their treaty with the Indonesian government they agreed not to kill anybody, but they were allowed to throw their spears against the ship hulls. They are an undefeated people. Decades ago, the Indonesians sent army after army to subdue them but each time they were slaughtered to the last man, eaten and their heads shrunk and hung on poles on the beach. They only made peace because the Indonesian artillery was killing the trees, and they believe the trees are their grandparents. Anthropologists have been trying to study them for years, but Beneizen is the only outsider who has ever been allowed to live among them.”
“Why is that,” Chase asked?
“I’m not sure but he brings them something they need, with no other motive and they seem to sense that,” the captain says, and adds, “Be careful, they may eat you as well.”
“Beneizen is our father,” Ally says.
“He is? I didn’t know he had any children,” the captain says.
“We have never met him,” Ally continues.
“Oh, then that makes two of us,” replies the captain. The supply boat lets its great anchor down in a sandy section of the lagoon. The Captain says, “You must jump into the water and allow the local people to rescue you, or you won’t be allowed to stay on the island. I will have your belongings sent ashore in the tenders. Go - jump!�
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Ally and Chase jump fifty feet into the water below. The leading long boat quickly picks them up and they are immediately made to lay flat and are balanced on the heads of the rowers. The drummers begin a new rhythm, almost a rock and roll beat. It’s very intoxicating. Ally and Chase lay flat knowing instinctively not to move. Chase looks up at the blue sky and feels the motion of the boat and the rock steady arms of the rowers. He tries to turn his head and look at the small pier coming slowly towards them. The rowers begin to chant and a lone flute player begins to accompany the drums. Chase sees Beneizen appear before him as he and Ally are passed up to natives standing on the wooden pier. The music continues and the men begin to dance and chant. They move in unison around the couple taking very small rhythmical steps. The chief warrior enters the circle; he is taller than the rest of the inhabitants. He takes a large knife from his sheath, goes up to Ally and cuts her blouse from her body. He strips her of all clothes and does the same thing to Chase. Chase tenses, ready to react against the warrior but stops as he hears in his head, “Don’t son.”
Their clothes are gathered into a pile and thrown into a fire on the beach. The natives continue dancing and four women come into the circle and wash and anoint Chase and Ally with perfumed oils. After this has been accomplished they are given sarongs, Chase is given a crown of flowers and Ally is presented with a lei. The women leave and the chief approaches Ally and Chase again. Chase looks up into his eyes and the chief smiles. He then moves to Ally, he smells her neck and hair, goes down on one knee and smells her pubic hair. He again stands and looks into her eyes and smiles. Ally smiles back guardedly. The circle moves back and Beneizen walks forward and stands before Chase and Ally.
“Welcome to paradise, my children,” he says smiling. “Thank you father,” they both say in unison.
Chapter 57 Beneizen, Chase and Ally walk back down the pier as Beneizen says, “The natives are going to let you to stay with me, something they almost never allow.” “Why?” asks Ally.
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