Part 1 - Part 05

Every part of our brain will be telling us ‘more, more’ but we must disobey those orders or there will be hell to pay later. Also, when we reach our peak of feeling good our true selves will emerge; happiness, sadness, violence, regrets and so on. So, let’s do this again and do it right.”

I filled the glasses a quarter full and gave Vos his. I then showed him how to do the toast. I toasted to his good health, happiness and friendship and he toasted to my successful completion of training on the game. We each had a sip. I was surprised how good the liver tasted washed down with a sip of wine. Vos took bites of the liver with wine and no longer complained about the bad taste. He was always mindful not to burn the big roast.

By the time we had eaten all the liver we had drunk all the wine in our glasses. I was already feeling the buzz when I noticed Vos handing me his empty glass. His eyes were glazed and he was smiling a lot.

“Allow me to cook the testicles first and when they are done we will have more wine,” I said. I didn’t want us getting drunk.

At the sound of the word “testicles” he burst out laughing and said, “A month ago I had never eaten meat and now I am about to eat testicles, what will my friends at the academy say? What will they think of me? I am a real barbarian, aren’t I? Oh, I feel great. More wine!”

“Not until the testicles are cooked!” I said and began to spear them with the rotisserie stick.

Minding the roast and making sure it didn’t burn Vos looked into the distance and began to take deep breaths. He was enjoying every bit of the outdoors, the sun, the breeze, the rustling of leaves, the buzzing of flies, like it was his first time outside. He looked calm. I could see relief in his face from something he had been carrying in his soul for a long time. A man that old must carry many secrets, I thought. Why was he spending his time on silly things like this and with me, a nobody, who was lost in space and showing him things

that his ancestors had abandoned thousands of years ago? Who was this man and why was I so important to him?

“You’re burning the testicles,” I heard a voice say.

“Sorry!” I replied and began to turn them again.

We sat in silence for a while tending the cooking.

Then, in a sober voice, I heard Vos say, “I never married you know. I never married because I can’t have children. I very much wanted to but Mother Nature robbed me of that. I am the first in a very long line of men in my family who could not produce offspring. It was the hardest thing in my life to accept. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, especially a young woman and leave her without children. I just couldn’t do that.”

I didn’t say anything. What was there for me to say? What could I say? I sat there looking glum, feeling sorry for him.

“Are those testicles going to be ready soon? I want more wine!” I heard Vos say in a commanding voice. I saw him wipe his tears.

I turned the rotisserie stick a few more times and decided to test the testicles and see if they were cooked. Clear liquid came out so I set them on the place where the liver had been and removed them from the stick. I then cut them into small pieces. I was surprised at how tender they were. I again filled the glasses a quarter full of wine and handed Vos his.

We again did our ceremonial clinking and Vos said, “To you my young friend.”

“To our friendship.”

Then to my surprise, ignoring my advice, he gulped the entire liquid in one gulp. I looked at his face. He looked like he was hurting deep in his soul. There was nothing I could do.

Before he gave me his glass back I poured him some more. He was surprised. He thought I wasn’t going to give him any more. He began to eat the testicle and was pleased by how good it tasted and that he didn’t need the wine to wash it down. We both ate the testicles without drinking any wine. When we were done we enjoyed sipping the wine all on its own.

“This is good,” he said, “the wine, the food, the atmosphere. Perhaps my culture, in its hurry to dash forward, lost out on things. They forgot how to live. They forgot what’s important in life.”

He paused for a moment and continued, “Before you came here I was all alone. I thought I liked it. I thought I enjoyed my solitude because it kept me away from the silly antics of my society. It kept me away from the unimportant things which people today consider important. Everyone nowadays thinks of ‘here and now’ and has no clue or care of yesterday or tomorrow. They strive to impress each other, to outdo one another with things that are unimportant. We seem to have lost our common sense and the things we need to keep us grounded. Many times I have gone back to the military academy and spoken to the leading authorities about our vulnerability on this planet… but nothing. In front of me they humour me and say things like ‘it’s too expensive and a waste of resources’ and behind me they call me an old fool. But deep in my heart I know I am right. I know the Karons or someone else will strike, it’s a matter of time. It’s like watching a steam tank building up pressure and you know it will eventually explode if that pressure isn’t released. It would only be a matter of time. We can’t forever ignore the Karon problem and expect it to go away without us doing anything.” Vos stopped talking.

Moments later he looked at me and said, “Let’s test this thing,” pointing at the roasting pig, “and see if it’s cooked… the wine is making me hungry.”

I gave him my knife and he poked it deeply. Red liquid came out. “It’s only been three hours, give it another hour,” I said. “Why don’t I cook the heart, it should cook in half an hour or so. We can eat it and have some more wine.”

Vos smiled and gave me the thumbs up.

I cut the heart in four, and threaded it on the stick and put it back on the same plate. I then went inside, washed the knife and filled the other empty jelly jar with water and brought it outside. I filled the empty wine glasses full of water and gave Vos his and said, “Drink it so that you don’t dehydrate.” I then stirred the coals and put the heart over the fire.

We both sat there in silence sipping on the water, sniffing the aroma of the burning fat and watching the roast turn red and crisp.

About half an hour later I assumed the heart was cooked. I took it out of the fire and cut it into pieces without testing it. It was a bit challenging, not only because it was tough but also because I was feeling a bit inebriated. Vos gulped down the rest of the water and handed me his glass. I watched him work the roast to see how he was doing with his coordination. He seemed fine so I divided the remaining wine in the jar between us. It was very little.

We chewed and chewed on the heart without any wine. I wasn’t sure if it was naturally tough or perhaps it wasn’t fully cooked. Neither one of us said a word. We gave our jaws a workout. We sipped the wine in silence until it was all drained.

It seemed like hours had passed when Vos said, “It must be cooked by now. My arm is getting sore. Please give me the knife.”

I gave him the knife but he found it hard to penetrate the outside layer of meat. It was hard because it was overcooked. When he did puncture the meat clear liquid came out. I took the two dirty plates that had been sitting on the table, went inside, rinsed them, brought them back and placed them on top of the table. Vos knew what to do and placed the roast on top of the two plates and allowed the meat to cool. I went back inside and filled the jelly jar with wine again. I filled our glasses full this time. We again “clinked” the glasses and began to sip on the wine while waiting for the meat to cool.

“The surface is so hard, I’m afraid we won’t be able to cut it with that small knife,” Vos said.

“Don’t worry we’ll find a way,” I replied. “We’ll break it up with our fingers.”

I took the empty water jar and went inside, washed my hands and filled the jar with water. When I came out I asked Vos to stick out his hands and I poured water on them. He rubbed them together and I rinsed them with more water.

“Let’s dig in!” I said.

He looked at me. He didn’t understand what I meant so I showed him. I grabbed one of the pig’s hind legs and broke it off. After a slight snap it pulled away very easily. Vos did the same. I took a bite. The surface was glazed and crispy. The inside melted in my mouth. Vos did the same. He couldn’t believe how good it tasted. The crunchy part was chewy and delicious and the soft part fell right off the bone. Vos was speechless or perhaps he was enjoying the meat too much to speak.

After taking several bites of the soft meat that melted in my mouth, I took a large gulp of wine. It was delicious. Vos did the same.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the full flavour of the roast and wine and said, “And to think that I was ready to ditch all this just because it smelled bad. I can’t believe the taste and there is no smell at all, not like before... just a delicious aroma.”

I was getting tired of holding the roasted pig leg in my hand and put it on the spare plate. I ran inside and got a plate for Vos and he too put the meat down on the plate. We both continued to sip our wine, smiling away and picking on the meat. Life was good. We both knew we had had the right amount of wine to feel great and drinking any more would have made us drunk but we kept on drinking, we didn’t have the willpower to say no. We both wanted this feeling to last a long time and we were under the impression that we could do it if we continued to drink. Even I, who knew better, couldn’t separate myself from the wine. Vos gave me his empty glass. I turned around to get some more from the jar but it was all gone. I picked up the jar and showed it to him. He made a motion with his

eyes for me go get some more. I tried to get up. My legs refused to hold me. I put the empty jar back on the table a little too fast. There was a bang but the jar didn’t break.

I heard Vos say, “I’m too drunk to get up, this will pass, right?”

I smiled and said, “Time will tell.”

We continued to pick on the meat not because we were hungry but because the rakia (alcohol) in the wine was burning us, making our stomachs feel like we were hungry.

Our voices became sluggish and our words laboured. Vos began to mix the languages, his and mine. Half the time I couldn’t understand what he was saying. We both looked silly and drunk.

“We’ll have to wait it out,” I said. “Have some more meat and take deep breaths.”

Hours later I found myself slumped over the table. Vos was lying on the ground. The sun was about to set. I looked on top of the table and the half eaten pig carcass was still there. Sep wasn’t there. Thank God Sep hadn’t taken it, I thought. I noticed the bones we threw on the ground were gone. I stood up and felt a strong headache coming on. I went over to where Vos was lying and tugged on his arm. He moaned and looked up.

“I was feeling so great, what happened?” he asked and grabbed my hand.

I pulled him up. “We need to drink water, a lot of water to wash the rakia out of us,” I said and took the jars inside, washed them, filled them with water and brought them back. “Here,” I said, “drink it”.

At first he refused but decided to follow my advice. Moments later he said the world was spinning around and he needed to lie down. I took him inside and helped him to his bed. Before I left he said he had something to show me, something very important. You can show me tomorrow I said and went outside. The cooked meat was still there. I didn’t know what to do with it. We had no refrigerator

to put it in. I washed one of the buckets I had outside and put it inside. I took the bucket inside the big room and placed the cutting board on top of it. I then placed the bucket on top of the bench.

I went outside and got the other bucket, the four plates, two glasses and two jelly jars. I washed them and left them on the bench inside the big room. I then filled the bucket half full of water under the shower, unplugged the water fountain, drank some water and took the bucket outside. I dumped it on the fire and put it out. I took the rotisserie sticks inside and left them on the bench unwashed. By then I was exhausted and went to bed.

The next morning I got out of bed much later than usual. Vos was already up and preparing tea.

He looked at me and said, “You look like hell.”

“It’s from dehydration,” I replied. “We sat in the sun for too long and we didn’t drink enough water.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t from the wine?” he asked.

“That contributed to it too,” I replied.

“Well, despite my dizziness and nausea I enjoyed our time very much yesterday. It was one of the best times in my life,” Vos said.

I gave him the thumbs up.

While having our morning tea I reminded Vos of what he had said to me the night before, that he had something important to show me.

“That can wait, I’ll do that another time,” he said and asked me what I wanted to do today.

“We should eat the rest of the meat before it spoils. We should do that as soon as possible.”

He shook his head in agreement and said, “How about we start at lunch and eat until it’s all gone. And… we should have some wine with it as well. How does that sound?”

I had to remind him that the meat wasn’t going to taste as good as it had yesterday and that, unless heated, would be loaded with solidified pig fat. But I don’t think he understood me, at least not everything I told him, so I said, “We’ll make another fire, a small one, to warm up the meat.”

He thought for a moment and said okay and offered to help.

We decided not to eat breakfast; we were still feeling the effects of overindulging the night before. As soon as we finished our tea we went outside and began to prepare the firepit. We pushed the ashes and coals to one side and began to separate the coals from the ashes. We were going to ignite the unburned coals and use them to heat the meat.

After we were done with the pit we went to the bucket in the corner and did the same. We picked out as many coals as we could unearth and put them in the smaller bucket. When we were done we dumped the coals on the side of the firepit, placed the ashes with our hands in the smaller bucket and dumped them into the big bucket in the corner. It was almost full. We then gathered some dry grass and small sticks, placed them in the centre of the pit and lit them. We added some dry wood from the woodpile and when it started burning we began to add coals on top of it. I showed Vos how to blow on the coals with the metal pipe to start them burning. While Vos was doing that I went inside, washed my hands, brought the plates and wine glasses outside and placed them on the table. I then went in, washed the rotisserie stick under the water fountain and stuck the meat on it. I took it outside and rested it on two plates. I went back in and washed the bucket and filled it half full of water. I also washed both jelly jars and filled them with wine. I took them and the bucket outside and set them on the table.

“The coals are almost lit, what do you want me to do next?” Vos asked.

“We just have to wait for the flames to die out and we’ll warm the meat. In the meantime I’ll pour you some water so that you can wash your hands.”

I dipped my glass into the bucket and poured the water on his hands. After that we each had a drink of water in hopes of avoiding what had happened to us the day before.

Vos looked at me, smiled and said, “How about we have some wine while we wait for the meat to warm? Can we do that?”

“Why not?” I replied. I then looked at him and said, “How about you pour us the wine while I hold the meat over the fire?”

Vos gave me two thumbs up, grabbed the jar, flipped it open and filled our glasses half full. He then handed me my glass and said, “To our health.”

We clinked our glasses and I also said, “To our health.”

I had a sip, put my glass down and lowered the meat over the burning coals. I realized that we had started drinking before noon which is a no-no in Canada but okay in Macedonia. My father had told me that my grandfather drank a shot of rakia first thing in the morning for breakfast. I also heard people that say alcohol damages your liver. Ah, who cares, I thought.

Fat started dripping from the meat but didn’t have the same aroma as the day before. The wine didn’t go down as easily as the day before either. It seemed forced... There was no breeze in the air and the sun was stifling hot. I noticed Sep too was not his usual self even though his stomach had gone down.

I looked at Vos and he looked at me and said, “Put the meat on the plate and let’s go inside, it’s not a nice day to be out.”

I agreed, took the meat out of the fire and put it on top of the two plates and said, “It’s too much meat. Why don’t we take what we want and give the rest to Sep?” Vos agreed.

The meat was still hot as we picked at it until we filled our plates. Vos seemed to prefer the crispy part on the outside. I took a bite from the soft part. It tasted fine but not as good as the day before.

Vos tossed the rest of the meat in Sep’s direction. Sep suddenly jumped and ran but slowly came back. He sniffed the meat and took a small bite. He looked away as if he didn’t want it. Then he changed his mind and grabbed the whole thing. He slowly carried it inside. We both watched him struggle. The carcass was bigger than him. I heard Vos say “Sep will be chewing on that for days.”

Vos took our plates inside and came back for the wine and glasses. I put out the fire and cleaned everything. When I joined Vos I found him nibbling on the meat and taking small sips of his wine.

“It’s much better inside,” he said.

The big secret

I sat in the usual place, had a bite of meat and a sip of wine. Vos looked at me and said, “Everything has its time, just be thankful for the good time we had yesterday. There will be more good times in the future, I’m sure.” He smiled and said, “Now is a good time to tell you my secret.”

Hearing Vos say that made me go through a swing of thoughts and emotions from suspicion to mistrust to fear to abandonment and eventually curiosity. I heard myself say, “You have a secret?”

I don’t know why I said that but Vos laughed out loud and said, “I am trying to be serious here, everyone has secrets, this is important.”

Feeling sheepish for making light of something that Vos felt was important, I decided to apologize. Vos accepted my apology and said that we were friends and there was no need for an apology.

“When we finish lunch I want to show you something.”

I ate the food faster than usual and gulped down the rest of the wine which by now was working on me and giving me a kind of forced buzz. Vos too picked up the pace eating and we were done in no time.

He led the way towards the game room. I figured he wanted to show me some fancy move to do with the game, something he hadn’t taught me yet. But instead of going to the game room, Vos continued walking down the hallway, turned right and stopped in front of a large door. The door had a shield engraved on it and on the shield was writing. Vos didn’t say what the writing was and I didn’t ask. In the centre of the shield was an engraving of a hand which I interpreted to mean stop. I tried to anticipate what he was going to show me but I drew a blank.

Vos slipped his badge into a slot on the door. The writing on the shield began to glow. Vos touched a sequence of letters. I recognized the sequence. It was the password he used in the game. He then placed his hand over the handprint and the handprint began

to glow red. The light was so strong I could see his finger bones. A second later all the lights on the door went off and the door clicked open. Vos pushed it in. The door was very thick. Vos said it was blast proof. It was dark inside as we walked in. Vos turned a switch and a bunch of lights came on.

“Oh, not another game?” I heard myself say.

Vos walked over to the ship, which was an exact copy of the ship in the game, slapped it with his hand and said, “See, it’s not a game, it’s real.”

I didn’t know what to say. Was this a prank? Was the ship real or not? And if it was, why was it a secret and hidden down here? I didn’t say anything but Vos knew exactly what I was thinking.

He looked at me and said, “It’s not only real but it also works. And as to why I kept it a secret, not just from you but from everyone on this planet, it’s because I don’t want to lose it. If people knew about it, especially the authorities, it would have been decommissioned and taken apart a long time ago. This ship is my inheritance and I am its keeper. It’s over one thousand of your earth years old. It was built after the great wars when people still believed that more wars would be coming. It is far superior to anything built before or after it. I can say with certainty that it is not only one of a kind but also the most powerful war machine known to this world. And no one must know about it. Come, I will give you a tour inside.”

At that moment I had a million questions running through my mind but I couldn’t even articulate one. Deep inside me I still believed there was a hidden joke somewhere in there and I was waiting for the punch line. But there was no joke and no punch line. I ran my hand over its surface and it was solid.

“I know you have many questions but first let us go inside,” said Vos, as he turned towards me and added. “No one outside of me can get into this ship or operate it, not without my code (pass code) and handprint. And because it was designed to outlast its captains there is a second code and a number of rigorous procedures to go through to change from one captain to the next. By that I mean the existing

captain must voluntarily abdicate in order for the ship to accept the next captain. Should the existing captain die before his or her time the new captain must also pass a number of tests then enter ten other symbols in the right sequence before the ship can accept him or her.

I have written the sequence of symbols on the back of the name tag on my uniform. To an ordinary person they are a bunch of random meaningless numbers. But used correctly they can activate the ship and allow the next captain to take control. The numbers point to the symbols on the ship’s panel which I am about to show you. They each point to the symbol counting from the right and their order starts from the left most number.

This was done so that no unauthorized person can steal, fly or operate the ship. You can imagine how dangerous this ship could be in the wrong hands. Unfortunately to this day no one except for me can access it or knows how to operate it...”

When he was done talking Vos placed his badge in a slot on the side of the ship which opened a panel. In it was a plate, a keypad, with the same ten symbols as the door and a similar hand shaped pad to place a hand on. After he entered his pass code, Vos placed his right hand over the handprint and a red light scanned it from bottom to top. A loud click followed and a door behind the ship began to open. Vos looked at me and said, “The ship knows me from my handprint and code.”

I looked at his hand and said, “Did the light hurt your hand? I could see your bones as it was scanning it.”

He smiled and said, “No it didn’t hurt.”

I felt silly for asking.

Vos pulled out his badge and the panel door closed. We then walked to the back of the ship and went inside through the back door. Vos pushed a green button on the side of the short hallway which was glowing red while the door was opening. The moment Vos pressed the green button it immediately turned red and the door started closing. When the door was fully closed the lights inside went dim

and the ship’s interior looked exactly like the one in the game. Vos took the captains chair and I sat on his left. He flipped the lever under his chair and the ship’s engines began to power up. The panels also powered up. Everything was exactly as it was in the game, even the robots, except they looked more realistic. The two women, his guards, who stood right beside us, looked cold and lifeless.

“I take it these two follow you around wherever you go when you are outside the ship?” I asked and pointed to the robot beside me that looked like a woman.

“Indeed they do,” Vos replied.

“Why young females?” I asked.

Less conspicuous. They were meant to look like companions accompanying a young gentleman but now I would look ridiculous with them at my side. I just hope I never have to go outside in public with them.”

Vos paused for a moment to give me a chance to ask questions. But I was silent still trying to process what was happening. He broke the silence and said, “Ordinarily a captain remains active for about a generation before a new captain is trained, usually a son or a daughter. But in my case I have been active for most of my life because I have no heir to replace me.”

I looked at him, he looked sad. I didn’t say anything.

Vos went on to say that the operation of this ship was identical to the game, the propulsion, weapons, navigation, tracking, communications, climate control, and so on but none of it could be used inside the hangar. The only things that could be used after the roof opens were the impulse controls. The robot in the front is responsible for taking the ship in and out of the hangar.

Vos also showed me how to operate the large panels above the hangar to open the roof from inside the ship so that the ship could be raised out. He said the panels above the hangar had to be checked regularly and lubricated so they wouldn’t seize up. If they don’t

open the ship can’t fly out. The hanger itself was blast proof. It was made from the same material as the outer surface of the ship.

Finally he showed me where the spare fuel cells were stored inside the ship and how to install them. After that we went towards the back of the ship and Vos showed me the storage cabinets, beds and washrooms. The storage cabinets were filled with food, clothing, shoes and other supplies neatly packed. Everything was made of unbreakable material.

“No glass material is allowed on the ship,” he said.

He must have read my mind because I was wondering if I could bring the wine jars and glasses here.

There were three beds, one on the right and two on the left. The bed on the right was for the captain. The washrooms were tiny, very similar to those in modern airplanes on earth. The one on the right was exclusively for the captain.

“So, this is your big secret?” I asked.

“Yes! It feels good to tell someone at last. Tomorrow we will go up on the rafters, lubricate the gears and open the roof. And maybe, someday soon I will take us out for a spin. Unfortunately it will have to be a short spin and in the night, we can’t afford to be discovered,” he replied.

Vos shut down the engines and closed all the doors as we returned to the room where we had left our food. We both looked at the jelly jar full of wine and had the same idea.

“This is a cause for celebration,” I said.

“But we have no more meat.”

“For an occasion like this we don’t need any meat. I’ll go and get us another jelly jar, a full one this time.”

When I came back Vos had a couple of small plates and a couple of triangular spoons ready for us to eat the jelly. I flipped the lid open and Vos scooped us some jelly. I filled our glasses half full of wine and we toasted to the ship and may she keep our two worlds safe.

When we finished the wine in the jar I went and filled the jar again. This time we drank a large glass of water with each half glass of wine. And with each fill of wine we had another serving of jelly until it was all gone. The burning sugar forced us to drink water regularly, and even though we drank more wine than the day before we didn’t get drunk or sick with a headache.

The next day we went up on the metal rafters and poured lubricant on the gears that opened the roof. Vos showed me the generator that powered the facilities. It had run continuously for years. It was powered by a fuel unfamiliar to me that was designed to last many years. It wasn’t the same kind of fuel that powered the ship’s engines and weapons. There were no moving parts in the generator. Vos said one day he would explain to me how it worked. We went back down to the ship and activated the motors that opened the roof. We watched the huge plates of metal parting and then the sun shining in. The ship’s surface looked dark green in full sunlight. Vos then pushed the shut off button and the hangar and ship began to turn dark as the roof closed.

“It worked like a charm,” declared Vos.

After that we went back to the front part of the facilities and had our tea. While drinking Vos mentioned that we had one more task to do in the ship. When we were finished drinking tea we went back and Vos showed me how to run full diagnostic tests on every piece of equipment in the ship. When the tests were done Vos showed me on the panel that everything was operational. If something wasn’t working he’d have to activate the maintenance robots and they would take care of the problem. The ship was designed to require very little maintenance.

By the time we were done it was already evening and we ate supper. Vos said the next day he was going to the city to meet with some people and bring back supplies. He asked me if I needed anything

and I said no. He said he would be gone for a day and would be back the day after in the morning. When I got up the next day I found food on the table for four meals for me and Sep. Vos wasn’t there. I assumed he’d left for the city very early in the morning.

I found the day very boring without Vos. Sep was no fun either, not like the old days. I spent the entire day up on the hill thinking about all the things that had transpired in the last few days and wondered where all this was going. Was I going to become Vos’s heir? That had crossed my mind many times but every time I thought about it I came to the same conclusion; “ridiculous”.

While Sep lay there snoozing I spent the evening hours looking at the sky wondering what was to become of me.

Tragedy strikes

There was a big bang which made me jump to my feet. I didn’t know where I was. I saw Sep bolt and run down the hill. It was early in the morning. I realized I was asleep and had never left the hill last night. There was a lot of smoke coming from the direction of the facilities. A little ship hovered over the yard. I ran as fast as I could. There was a hole burned in the metal fence. The large front gate was gone. Fire was burning all over the yard. There was no smoke coming out of the facilities. I ran to the front of the yard and saw the little ship. It had landed in the yard. Three men came out and ran towards the facility doors. I saw Vos lying on the ground. He was motionless. We all ran towards him. Two of the men grabbed me by my arms. I started screaming and yelling profanities at them. Vos moved slightly and said something. The two men let me go. I ran to Vos and stared at him. It was horrible. The bottom half of his body was completely burned. I began to yell at the men and cursed them for what they had done.

In a faint voice Vos said, “It wasn’t them, they are my men, I believe it was the Karons who attacked me. Listen to me very carefully, here is my badge, activate the ship. They will help you, you’re the only one who can operate it. Protect my people and yours.”

I was in shock, my best friend was badly wounded, I wanted to do something to help him, but what? Vos waved to the third man and said something. Vos passed out. The man tried to revive him. Vos came to and said something more while pointing at me. I was in tears. I tried to run to Vos but the other two men grabbed me and dragged me toward the inside of the facilities. The third man took something from the little ship, put out the fires and went back to Vos.

The two men first took me to the room where Vos slept. They grabbed his uniform. Then they took me towards the museum but it appeared they didn’t know what to do. I showed them how to get inside the museum. I assumed that’s where they wanted to go but they didn’t. We left the museum and went further down the hall. We stopped behind the big door with the writing and the shield. I stuck

Vos’s badge in the side of the door and placed my hand in the hand pad. The scanner began to operate. The red light felt warm and tingly, then suddenly I received a huge shock that threw me to the ground.

When I stood up the two men looked at me angrily. They pulled me up and gave me Vos’s uniform. I assumed they wanted me to put it on, so I did. I looked ridiculous but they didn’t seem to care. They again pointed to the door. I inserted Vos’s badge in the slot again. Just then I remembered what Vos had said about the numbers written on the back of his name tag and how to engage the symbols.

I ripped off the name tag, found the numbers and pushed the ten symbols in the order according to the numbers. I heard a click and figured I was in. I then placed my hand on the hand pad and again I was shocked. I had done everything right but the door wouldn’t open.

The two men dragged me back to the third man. They said something to him. I assumed they were explainingd what had happened. He said something to them and they took me to their little ship and sat me in the back seat. Before they closed the door the man said a few more things and went back to Vos who was still alive. I wondered when the medical team was going to arrive.

The first trial

We immediately took off and were in the air. We flew for hours before we landed in a field. We came out and walked up a hill. The weather there was a lot cooler. On top of the hill were all sorts of shacks and people walking around everywhere. Some people wore rags and others black robes. There were only a few people dressed in white. I saw people who were missing teeth and had white eyes, probably blinded by something. Almost everyone was selling something. Metal pots, pans, outdoor gas stoves… The kind of things Vos and I could have used. The thought of Vos made me feel sad. I wondered what was going to happen to him and if they would be able to save him. It was terrible what had happened to him. Maybe nothing had happened, maybe this was a bad dream and any second now I was going to wake up.

After walking for about ten minutes through the crowds, we came upon a wooden counter made of rough planks and stopped behind it. A young girl no more than sixteen years old came over and I assume asked what we wanted. She looked Chinese. One of the men spoke to her and said something. She looked away to the opposite corner of the yard at an old man. The old man was tall and thin and had a white beard. He also looked Chinese from the distance. He had white eyes and white hair. I assumed he was blind.

The girl yelled something at him in a different language. He waved the back of his hand upwards a couple of times which I interpreted to mean go away. The girl turned around and said something. The same man who had spoken to her became furious and pointed at my badge on the chain, which I was wearing around my neck, and demanded something from the girl.

She didn’t look worried; she was probably used to being yelled at. She again told the blind old man what we wanted and again the man said something negative, I assume, but this time with his own voice.

The same man then pulled out his badge, which looked different from mine, made a motion with his finger and yelled something. This I interpreted to mean, “I am from the authorities give me what I want or I will burn the place down…”

The girl said something very terse to the thin old man and he disappeared into the back. The girl said something which calmed the situation.

Then, suddenly, the two men let go of my arms. A short old woman with messy reddish hair grabbed my badge and began to pull on it. She looked at me with a hateful look and with clenched teeth said something that seemed to be loaded with poison.

“What’s wrong with you?” I snapped at her in Macedonian.

She looked me in the eyes and in broken Macedonian said, “You bastard, where did you steal this? I know it’s not yours!”

I was so furious I didn’t even realize that she was speaking to me in Macedonian.

“Voskot gave it to me! Who do you think you are?”

She got even angrier and yelled out loud, “YOU LIAR, VOSKOT WOULD NEVER PART WITH HIS BADGE!!”

My anger turned to sadness and I said, “Voskot was badly wounded at the facilities in Apserpon earlier this morning. He said it was a Karon attack.”

Suddenly she let go of the badge. She turned to me and quietly said, “Voskot is my older brother.”

At about the same time the young Chinese girl came back with a four litre glass jar filled with a clear liquid and handed it to the man who had been yelling at her earlier.

I asked the old lady what her name was and she said, “Princess Vieria.” She then grabbed my wrist and said, “Take only four drops of this liquid with a full glass of water and do what these men tell you. You need to go through the initiation process before you can take my brother’s place. Do you hear me? I will find you a proper interpreter who can help you communicate with my people but it

will take some time. But first I need to find my brother and see how he is doing.”

And with those words she began to walk away. “How do I find you?” I yelled.

“I will find you!” she replied.

The two men grabbed me by my arms again and took me to an empty shack. There was an open window and people kept looking in as they passed by. In it was a wooden bench substituting for a table. The man holding the jar put it on top of the table and the other man went outside and came back with a glass full of water. The first man unscrewed the lid from the jar. There was a long dropper attached to the inside of the lid that reached to the jar’s bottom. It was full of liquid. The man tilted it and it began to drip slowly back into the jar. The other man brought the glass with the water close and the first man put four drops of the liquid into it. He then put the lid back on the jar. The other man handed me the glass. I took it and drank it. There was no taste to speak of. The two men watched me carefully from some distance like I was going to explode.

Minutes later my body began to burn and I was overwhelmed with a sense of strength. My mind came into sudden sharp focus and I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t do. My fears, anxiety and uncertainty evaporated and I felt I could do anything. I felt great and physically strong. The effects of the liquid lasted about twenty minutes. After that I felt exhausted and lay down for a few hours.

I spent the night alone in what on earth we would call a “flea infested”, dirty motel. The two men came back early the next morning and took me away. I had had nothing to eat.

The second trial

Hours later we landed on top of a hill. It was cold and a large fire was burning on the slope at the edge of the top of the hill. It was a very large fire. I noticed the two men accompanying me, whom I assumed to be my guards, were wearing side arms. One of them was carrying a long, hot gas rifle. We went to the fire and were joined by a number of local men and women. The men were very thin and almost three metres tall. The women were thin but shorter, about my height. They didn’t speak. They wore loin cloths made of skins, moccasins and hats also made of skins. The women were bare breasted. No one spoke a word but they all seemed to know why we were there, except for me, of course.

I felt warm by the fire and began to relax. We seemed to be waiting for something but for what I didn’t know. The locals kept shifting their positions making my two guards nervous. One of the women sat in front of me and began to back into me. A tall young man became upset and reached out to grab me. One of my guards pulled out his side arm and shot him in the arm. He made a loud but strange sound. His arm was burned and he pulled it in and held it tight against his chest. After that the shifting stopped. Moments later, one of the older men made a strange sound and pointed down to a path fenced by bushes where a creature, looking like a small hippopotamus, emerged. The guard handed me the rifle. I didn’t know what to do with it. He pointed at the creature but I was not sure what he wanted me to do. He then angrily grabbed the rifle from my hand, aimed and took a shot at the creature. The creature dropped.

About a dozen of the younger local men ran down. They looked like walking sticks from the distance. They retrieved the creature and carried it back up. The older men took it over, skinned it, cut it into pieces and began to cook it over the fire. About an hour later the meat looked cooked. The oldest looking tall man took a big chunk and pointed it at me. I took it. It was very hot. I looked around and saw almost all of the locals looking at me and salivating. They were all waiting for me to do something. One of my guards looked at me angrily and motioned for me to start eating. I took a bite and shook my head with approval. I heard a loud roar and everyone began to

eat. To my surprise I had never tasted anything so good. The meat was dripping with blood but was so tasty I couldn’t put it down. The locals ate their portions and disappeared. The two guards who had brought me there didn’t eat any, why I don’t know. When I was done eating they escorted me back to the little ship and took me to a chalet in the nearby mountains. It was very cold there. They locked me up in a cold room and left.

I noticed there was a fireplace and firewood but no matches or kindling. But that wasn’t a problem for me. I cut a bunch of splinters off the dry logs and lit them with my lighter. The thick logs were very dry and caught fire quickly. There was no bed to sleep on so I slept on the floor. The two men came back early the next morning and took me away again. They gave me nothing to eat. I think they were surprised to find me alive.

The third trial

After flying for about half an hour we landed in a flat area on top of a short hill that led to a taller hill. From there they escorted me up the hill away from the ship and into a low building. One of the guards pulled out a key and opened the door.

A staircase led us below ground. We entered a very long and narrow room with multiple windows at ground level. The windows had metal bars on the outside and the glass was very dirty. There were no artificial lights inside. The place was lit by sunlight alone. From the distance the room looked like a long lecture hall with chairs lined up in rows and no desks. Most of the chairs were occupied by people wearing uniforms that looked very similar. On closer examination I noticed that the people were all dead.

The people sitting on the chairs were skeletons dressed in uniforms.

Suddenly I felt the door slam. It was shut behind me. I ran back and tried to open it but it was locked. I watched the two men walk back to their ship and take off.