The Prince of Whales

by Shmuel Yacobi

 

Chapter one

Joan dear! Coffee ready!

It's four am on the clock in New York. There is no cock to crow her up. Dr. Joan is waiting for the funny alarm to crow. She impatiently got up and looked at her watch. It's still four in her old castle villa in the Bronx. She felt that time is getting old and lazy in New York.

She heard her prompt thinker whispering, nocturnal waiting is a terrible job. She nodded her thinker while he still murmured 'half hour seemed like an indefinite strike of the underwear garment workers union in your stepfather's only manufacturing industry in the Bronx area last year'. She hushed her yawner and clicked her personal history channel.

One full year was gone just like that. She felt that history moved faster than the present in New York. Yes, she began to remember. Last year when the workers union did it, the family went to Hawaii until they called off the strike. They had spent a full day with granny Eliza at her bayside guesthouse.

Her grandmother Eliza stayed in her guesthouse since the sudden demise of her grandfather Boris Jacobson. The guesthouse is set back at a safe distance from the ocean. She left the castle and lived at the bayside guesthouse with limited staff. Eliza is now sixty. She stopped talking to anyone.

She sits in the porch and looks at the ocean. She thinks that Boris is still alive and he would come back any time. Last year's Hawaiian summer trip was quite different from this year's professorial trip.

Last year Joan played in the sand with her cousin Sam like a little girl. Sam tried to take her into the water. But she never liked to go into water. Sam and Joan bought Homer's paintings The Life Line and Gulf Stream for their granny. She saw the spirit of Homer the Painter behind those paintings.

Boris liked Homer's deep-sea classics 'The lookout and Eight Bells' and decorated his room with the paintings of the Poet Laureate of the Ocean. Eliza always told them that Boris loved those paintings, as they are ever young and fresh.

Now Joan is going to Hawaii again but on professional business cum vacation trip. There she is supposed to present a paper on whale behavior and give a demo. She is expected by a group of marine scientists headed by Dr. Chad the fanatic worshipper of Charles Darwin's religion of evolution.

It is really an exciting opportunity for her age to participate in such an international scientist gathering. She is still a 20-year wonder baby for her mother Lillian. She cuddled her waterbed while her thinker rehearsed, you must see your granny after the science session and meet Sam your cousin. She impatiently said, 'I have already decided that'.

In her fishy sleep she saw it again. The same cinematheque appeared before her blue dreamy eyes: the same cockeyed boat driver, pushing grandpa off the boat, the same killerwhale swallowing grandpa while mummy and granny talking and laughing with Rodrigo the castle's limousine driver.

She was yelling at her mummy and granny about grandpa without uttering words. They were still deafening her ventriloquial baby voice. Joan woke up again on her waving waterbed from her terrible dream.

It's still four on the clock. But it's a little different four: a real coffee-smelling four in the morning. She could hear the dangling castle kitchen activity. For the castle keeping personnel it was a special morning. Their little princess is going to Hawaii alone. She must catch the plane in time. She is still a royal doll in their eyes. They are preparing a royal breakfast for her royal taste. The royal castle family had a wonderful history and many historical traditions and tragic accidental deaths. Every thing is still remembered and maintained as usual even though the true royal pomp had faded away.

Dr. Joan from her mother's side and from her father's side belonged to the old royal families that came from Europe to the USA a century ago.

The acting stepfather is a lucky New Mexican guy, a real househusband who is now used to the kingly shoes of the castle.

Soon the royal househusband and the queen of the castle will come down to the early morning coffee porch. The head butler is dying to figure out about where to serve the morning breakfast to Dr. Joan: in the regular dining hall or in the early morning coffee porch along with her stepfather Rodrigo and her mother Lillian. Every little thing matters in this castle.

Dr. Joan dogged her sundress yogic body off the bed. She then really woke up and joined the brief early morning coffee session with her mom and step dad.

Her mother said, 'call dad as soon as you get there. He would be upset if you don't. And don't forget to see granny. Don't call Sam your cousin. My brother, your uncle Shea would be upset if he knows that you are around Sam. Don't even let them know that you are in Hawaii? Don't remind them the past. Your aunt Feggy will be depressed like last time'.

Everything went on mechanically well with lots of dos and don'ts. Dr. Joan said, 'mom! I know every thing. I am not a little girl any more. I will see granny without letting uncle Shea and aunt Feggy know about me'.

The castle limou driver opened the door for her. She settled in the old time limousine and byebyed the old castle with a hitlerian hand as they wave-caught her fly-kisses.

Dr. Joan is a new species in her royal castle. She wants to be simple, modern and independent unlike her mother. She had learned how to breathe freedom in her royal golden cage. She is going to Hawaii by herself thanking off the original plan of ten-keepers accompanying royal trip. She determined to travel alone for the first time in her twenty-year castle life.

She looked at her watch and her thinker reminded her, 'Hawaiian airlines, Hawaiian time'. She moved her cute little butt slightly and reclined back to watch the galloping streetlights through the window. It's only a little after four. Somehow the hours-hand seemed dead slower than the seconds-hand in her old diamond timer.

The castle limou driver Alex had been telling how forest was the Bronx area in his childhood. She could finally visualize and recognize the airport signs and could decipher his ventriloquial words as, 'have a safe trip and take good care my little princess! Enjoy your Hawaii trip and come back safe'.

After the great commission of old Alex, Dr. Joan started her window seat winning processing into the aircraft. It seemed almost like prophet Jonah's whale trip to Nineveh plus the pilot's welcoming announcements, airhostess' safety precautions, flight attendants' services and the in-flight movies.

She likes the action movies. She turned the light on and wondered if there are any movies for rent. She buzzed the flight attendant and asked about Jaws 4 and Indiana Jones 5 series.

The airhostess brought the latest equipment and arranged the screen in front of her seat. Dr. Joan ordered for hot buttered popcorn and coke. Joan started watching Jaws 4.

The flight took her to Sanfrisco first and to Hawaii from there. She met a funny guy from Sanfrisco to Hawaii. His name is Max. He is a private plane pilot going to Hawaii for a vacation. He tried and asked Joan whether she had a boy friend or relatives in Hawaii. He bugged her whenever Joan took off her earphones. Joan finally told him to keep quiet. She said to herself, 'these chatterboxes belong to the asylum'.

He finally understood that she is enjoying the movie. He changed the subject and showed her a song tape. Dr. Joan began snoring. He finally understood that she is tired. He left the seat and left her alone.

Joan's thinker said, 'these extra human clones should be sent to the black hole asylum. They should be given a twenty-four hour job to talk to the female chimpanzees and black widows. They must learn how to treat women as women and not as mere plastic dolls for their tom play'.

Joan sleep-smiled like a little girl and sleep-said, 'they must have hundred sisters and two hundred daughters. They must be appointed as accoucheurs in a pregnant women's ward to permanently work night shifts. They must always clean the afterbirth'.

 

Chapter two

Aloha and aloha!

Oahu the chief of the Hawaiian Islands is waiting for Dr. Joan with a hearty welcoming Aloha. The giant wheels of Hawaiian Airlines flight touched the Honolulu international airport runway. Dr. Joan began to feel welcomed by the passenger claps. She took her carry bag and went down the stairs to receive her heavy scientific equipment baggage. She stood at a corner while the free porter is waiting for her baggage.

While she was waiting and looking for her baggage at the luggage merry-go-round belt, some Singapore passengers rushed and pushed her aside into the mob. They left their carry bag there and took her carry bag with them since both looked alike.

Joan waited there and finally saw her scientific equipment trunks along with other baggage items. She availed the free service porter's assistance and decided to pay him twenty dollars. The old porter brought the baggage cart and they came out into the waiting hall.

The Palace hotel van driver identified her with his signboard. She could feel Hawaiian air right from the waiting hall. The van driver and the porter walked her to the hotel van along with all her baggage. She began to breathe fresh and sunny Hawaiian air. The bayside Palace hotel seemed like a bikinied Polynesian fairyland with all half naked gals walking around and a heavenly suite on earth.

Dr. Chadwin Lu the head oceanologist of the scientist group welcomed her with an owlish aloha, a big penguin hug and a short parrot lecture - we heard great things about you Dr. Joan. We can't wait to see your presentation. I will show your room. Come on. How was the trip? Of course it's the time difference. Is it still three hours? In 1948 it was three when I went to the mainland'.

Dr. Joan got the instructions from him and showed him the way to the door and byebyed him. Dr. Chad had unfinished his parrot lecture in the middle for the time being and went down to the conference hall to see the arrangements.

He made the aquarium, projectors, big screens, PA system and every thing ready for her historic presentation. Meanwhile Dr. Joan took real aquatic bath following the Hawaiian time schedule and dressed up for the occasion.

She went down to the lobby and greeted the other scientists. Dr. Joan was the only lady scientist at the conference. She began to feel as a participant of the miss universe contest.

The scientists walked her into the conference hall. She checked and found every thing ready for the historic presentation and demonstration of her new lingua franca converter device, which can convert the whale sound language into English.

The University department staff brought three baby whales and the mother whale and dropped them in the aquarium. The conference hall was full with the professional scientists, whalers and the fishermen who were enjoying their famous Hawaiian luau.

Dr. Chad began to introduce Dr. Joan to the participants in his owlish style. Dr. Louise the chairman of the commission came to the front and took the microphone from Dr. Chad and relieved him from the burden of translating his thoughts into his Pidgin English language.

There are quite a few zoologists and many amateur naturalists, sailors and fishermen in the group. The chairman of the commission gave a review of the history of the problem in his opening address.

There are eminent scholars and scientists who are waiting to hear the witnesses pro and contra to make a decision concerning the existence of strange animals and birds of the ocean such as giant fur seals, wingless monster auks, underwater white herons, giant jelly fish, the whale-serpents, sea urchins, basilisks, sea-devils, gesner's whales, gila monsters, Pogonophores, giant duck-billed platypus, Lilliputian sea-monks, heloderma, tatzelwurms and the orangutans.

Dr. Joan looked around the conference hall and said, 'hi everybody, ladies, gentlemen and fellow scientists! We all know that life likes to communicate with life. Some people say, 'mute as fish'. But fish are terrible chatterboxes'. The audience applauded.

Dr. Joan continued, 'the fish carry on conversations all through the day and sometimes at night too. We can detect these conversations only through special apparatus but they can hear one another very well. Whales like any other beings do communicate with each other through their sound language. We may hear only the sounds, but for them those are not mere sounds but intelligible messages. I feel proud to continue this acoustic research project that my grandpa Boris and my granny Eliza had started and left 20 years ago. I wish that he might somehow come back to life to see that the work he had started had born rich fruit. My granny is still alive but she is not in a position to understand that this great achievement was actually her idea and not mine. Their great invention would bring riches to the human society in unimaginable ways'.

Dr. Joan gave out her short but sweet introductory speech and started to show how the whales communicate within their family through different symbol sounds. There are about 22 trinomial sounds further divided into hundreds of variants. Dr. Joan had developed a device that can convert those symbol sounds produced by the whales into human language and vice versa.

She demonstrated the operation of the special apparatus that she had developed and everybody could hear the sounds produced by the whales. All they heard was nothing but a babbling, piercing and chilling sound in a concert pitch.

Dr. Joan showed what those sounds could mean in the human language through the converter device. She explained that the signals serve diverse purposes. Some are roll-call signals, others are alarms, and the third type announces a food find and the fourth type are love-calls appealing to the mates.

The converter device had translated those glossolalia sounds into somewhat clear human languages. Everybody could hear and understand the whales in their own languages through the translating earphones. It was like an old Greco-Roman glossolalian expression. The whales had developed and used very limited symbol sound vocabulary and it sounded like an aryanized chantry ceremony. Thoughts are always expressed in and through language. And conversely language is the expression of thought. It is a special signaling system. Life communicates with life.

All languages consist of separate signal-words of conventional sound symbols. The aggregate of those signal-sounds of a language forms its vocabulary. Hens utter several dozen sounds. Among the whales and dolphins there are several hundred sound signals. Theirs is the first signaling system and ours is the second signaling system. Whales reach maturity at the age of two. They can hear high-pitched sounds of up to 125 kilocycles. The brain of a whale is roughly 500 times lighter than its body.

When they are hot they begin rinsing out their mouths and nasal cavities with cold water spurting it out as powerful fountains of heated water. Dr. Joan ended her afternoon session. She is supposed to show how the human beings can communicate with the whales in the night session at 8 pm. The demonstration went on very well. Everybody appreciated her great contribution to the scientific community.

Dr. Chad tried to say some thing to her but Joan went out of reach and out of sight to enjoy the fabulous sight of the night lit Hawaiian ocean from the bayside guesthouse. He ran and shouted, 'but I want to talk to you'. She shouted back, 'seven o'clock in the Famous Thai restaurant'. Dr. Chad tried to write the address on his palm.

She took a taxicab and came to her granny's beach guesthouse. The guesthouse attendants welcomed her and led her to the porch. She greeted her granny. But she does not seem to recognize Dr. Joan.

Joan said, 'Granny! It's me Joan. I came to Hawaii to show grandpa's talking machine to the scientists'. Eliza did not seem to hear this conversation at all, but said, 'tell your grandpa to immediately come and take me to the dreamland'. Dr. Joan held her hand and said, 'grandma! We can find it with the help of the whales and we will go to your dreamland'.

The guesthouse attendants tried to prepare dinner but Joan wanted to go to the Thai restaurant with her cousin Sam. She asked Robert the head cook to call her cousin Sam. She did not want Sam to know about her visit. She wanted to surprise him. Besides that she does not want Sam's parents to know about her presence at all.

Robert called Sam and Sam's father Shea answered. Robert told him that Eliza wanted to see Sam immediately. Robert knows how to handle the situation for they all knew about the family strife and the past agonies. They also hopefully knew that Joan and Sam are the only channels for the family reunion.

Lillian's husband Michael died in an accident. Her brother's son Sam lost his speech in the same accident. Joan's grandfather Boris Jacobson died in the ocean. Lillian did not remarry after Michael's death. She moved to New York and is now living with the New Mexican guy Rodrigo the real househusband.

Shea asked Sam, 'go to the guesthouse and see your grandma. Tell me how she is doing'. Sam understood what his daddy was trying to tell him through the sign language. Sam can hear the words through the lip movements but he cannot speak.

He came to the guesthouse. He suddenly saw Joan and immediately asked Robert to tell his daddy that every thing was fine. Robert smiled and waved his hand. Seeing Sam Joan called the Thai restaurant and reserved two seats for them. Sam was over gladdened to see Joan. He tried to express his entire excitement through his body language. Joan understood him right away and hugged him as acknowledgement and said, 'Sam let's go to the Thai restaurant'.

She looked at him and recalled their childhood days. Sam had an accident and lost his speech but he can hear the words okay. That was long time ago. It was her stepfather Rodrigo who made this terrible accident in which Joan's real father Michael died and Sam had lost his speech. He still hears and understands every thing by reading the lips.

Dr. Joan quickly kissed her granny goodbye saying, 'granny I will see you tomorrow'. Sam and Joan walked to the Thai restaurant in the Hawaiian moonlight. They were holding hands and talking through their hands without saying any thing.

They remembered the 20-year history flashback. Sam's father Shea is the elder brother of Joan's mother Lillian. They were the royal kids of Boris and Eliza Jacobsons. Joan's father Michael suddenly died when she was six months old. Boris their grandfather died when she was one year old. Their families fell apart with lot of suspicions and misunderstandings. Shea does not like his sister Lillian to live in New York. Shea thinks that Rodrigo had murdered Lillian's husband Michael through the accident. The two families did not see each other for twenty years. Eliza lives separately at the beach guesthouse. Lillian, Rodrigo and Joan came to see Eliza last year.

All these things appeared before them as flashback. Sam and Joan were friends from their childhood. They do understand the family grudges but that did not affect their friendship at all.

They soon reached the Famous Thai Restaurant. They sat at the usual table and watched the night lit ocean while their hot dinner is still being prepared. They exchanged their thoughts enjoying the evening. They understood each other quite well without saying any words aloud.

It's a beautiful human relationship between two innocent human beings. They seemed like two little children trying to understand the philosophy of human life and still split families. Finally the dinner was served and they started enjoying the 3-star hot hushaby Thai dinner with tears of joy.

Joan was telling that Dr. Chad would soon come and invite her to go on the research vessel and Sam should also come with her on board. Joan knew that Sam was the best swimmer. She would feel safe if he is around. She personally did not like to go into the water at all. She has hydrophobia. Sam agreed and signaled her to tell Robert to call his father and tell him that he wanted to spend a night on the research boat along with other swimmers.

Shea Okayed his wish and asked him to return soon. Sam immediately called his teacher friend Matthew and buzzed him the message by pressing buttons in his special waterproof watch like device saying, 'hi, Matthew! I am going for a swim and please open your computer and keep watching my emergency messages'.

Matthew acknowledged the message right away. Now every thing is set. At seven Dr. Chad would come to the Thai restaurant and invite Joan to go to the ocean. Joan looked at her watch and looked for Dr. Chad.

She is excited to study the whales from the research vessel. She heard many stories about the famous Russian vessel Vityaz. It was a large handsome research vessel of 5600-ton displacement with a powerful engine and first-rate laboratories.

It had many devices for catching marine animals from powerful 22-ton winches, capable of winding 14 kilometer of steel cable, to various plankton nets for catching seaweeds, tiny crustaceans and larvae and huge nets for deep-water fish. There were trawls and dredges for collecting from ocean bed fauna. The trawls net sacks on heavy frame and the dredges also sack with even heavier metal frames equipped with sharp knives, which dig into ocean floor.

Dr. Chad's research vessel is quite small in every respect and it cannot be compared with Vityaz. But for Dr. Joan it is even more than Vityaz because her cousin Sam would be with her.

Dr. Chad's vessel was a gift from the Tokyo Cruise Company. They had sent their new vessel Himeji. This 2000-ton silver metallic waterbus was designed by the popular artists with hopes to appeal to the younger generations. Dr. Joan liked the vessel and the new glass equipment. There are small and huge motor whaleboats on the vessel to be used as lifeboats.

It looked very nice from the out side. But in the users' view it is some thing else. These pseudo-scientists and fishermen wanted to use this gift for their ulterior purposes. Some practical thinkers rightly said that scientists followed no plan. Science developed at random. Its progress depended on fortuitous conditions such as birth of men of genius, the form of their mind and the direction taken by their curiosity. It was not at all actuated by a desire to improve the state of human beings. Men of science did not know where they were heading. They were guided by chance, by subtle reasoning and by a sort of clairvoyance. Each one of them is a world apart, governed by self-laws. Their discoveries were developed without any prevision of their consequences. Material science is a mess.

According to some radical scientists, concepts dealing with things situated out side the experimental field were meaningless. They willingly believed that facts that cannot be explained by their theories do not exist.

In the view of the practical scientists like Dr. Alexis Carrel - if Galileo, Newton or Lavoisier had applied their intellectual powers to the study of body and consciousness our world probably might have been different today.

The sciences of inert matter had made immense progress while those of living beings remained in a rudimentary state. Joan knew all these good, bad and the uglies of the modern material sciences.

She wanted to change the course of sciences towards the life of humans. Joan liked these scientists and the vessel for her own reasons not knowing the real motives of those cruel fishermen. Now she convinced Sam to go with her. They began to talk about marine life and the whales with excitement. They began to laugh like babies. Theirs souls felt that they were somewhere in the Garden of Eden

Sam said, 'I will take you into the ocean'. Joan first said, 'no way' and then said, 'if you take my hand I will go with you anywhere you take. I know that you will never let me drown'.

Sam laughed and said, 'the oceanic piranhas will kill me. They don't kill the girls. Then you will see the big sei whales, mosasaurs and leopard seals and scream. Then the huge 600-kilo leatherback turtle will come. You will sit on the turtle and fight with the earless monitor lizards. They like to kill the girls. Then you have to change sex like the sea bass. The giant mouth brooder will come and put you in its mouth and hatch you. You will come out exactly like Dr. Chad. Then all the nekton will run away from you'.

They both laughed and laughed and finally saw Dr. Chad getting down from the taxicab. He is coming towards the restaurant in a slow motion like Nergal the underworld god of hunger and talking to the waitress like a hill myna. The waitress is pointing her finger towards them.

 

Chapter three

Where the hell is the CD?

The bad guys who took Dr. Joan's carry bag by mistake in Hawaii came to Sanfrisco. They met the mafia leader in Sanfrisco. They gave the CD.

The boss was very upset to find Dr. Joan's CD with all kinds of scientific equations and data. It's a big hall with all kinds of smuggled goods. The bad guys are standing around. They are torturing the three Singapore guys. Those three guys were supposed to bring the special CD from the leader of Hawaiian mafia. That CD was about the clear description of the Goldhill Island.

In stead they brought Dr. Joan's carry bag and her CD with all kinds of scientific data. This was their mistake and they had no idea how and where it happened.

They began to back remember their hypnotic flashback scenes. They recognized a beautiful young girl that is Dr. Joan in the crowd waiting for her baggage at the Hawaii International airport and her carry bag on the floor by her side. The recollected that it was her carry bag they took. They begged the boss and said, 'this bag belongs to that girl. We don't remember why we went that side and got into the mob. We don't remember how we came out of that mob with this carry bag. But now we are sure that this bag belongs to her. We will find her and get the other CD within 24 hours. We know how to find her'.

The boss is finally convinced that they were telling the truth. He coolly patted them in his style for their renewed commitment by signaling his medic to geld them.

However he called his mafia partner in Hawaii and explained the situation and gave all the descriptions of the young girl Dr. Joan. The mafia guys deployed the ninja guys and put them on the job to find the girl and the bag.

The Hawaiian mafia boss made further phone calls and learned about the science conference in the city and the target was identified as Dr. Joan. The mafia gang sent the ninja guys into Dr. Joan's room and they searched for the bag and the CD. They found the bag but no CD therein. They kept every thing as usual.

They patiently waited for Dr. Joan to return for her night session in the Palace Hotel conference hall. They were looking at their watches and still asking the desk about the details of the night session. The bellhop showed them the conference hall.

They sat there and came out and enquired again about Dr. Joan. The desk told them the same old details about the conference and about Dr. Joan again. They are not supposed to tell the outsiders about the personal matters of the hotel customers or their whereabouts.

But Dr. Joan is in the Thai restaurant with her cousin Sam enjoying their evening dinner. Dr. Chad had searched like the nocturnal hunter mink and finally found the Famous Thai restaurant like a bloodhound. He asked the waitress if Dr. Joan was waiting for him. He suddenly saw Dr. Joan with her cousin Sam. He came to Joan and Sam.

They welcomed him with big smile trying to control their laughter. Joan introduced Sam to Dr. Chad. He tried to understand that Sam had an accident and lost his speech. He showed his fore teeth to Sam and smiled like the howler monkey and introduced himself to Sam.

He started talking to Dr. Joan about Captain Roger Felix and his exciting whaling lab vessel. Dr. Joan and Sam were still enjoying her 3-star hot Thai dinner and not paying attention to his speech. They knew that he would eventually ask her to go the ocean.

She is just waiting for him to say that. But Dr. Chad was struggling hard to convince her to go into the ocean with the special research group. He has been explaining to her how modern was the lab inside the big vessel with all scientific equipment to study the whales.

Dr. Joan told him that she has been hydrophobic from her childhood. He rehearsed the whole thing again and told her how sophisticated the boat was with all its modern equipment. He convinced her at last that there was absolutely no need for her to go into the water. She could stay in the boat all the time and make her observations from the see-through glass lab.

She knew in her heart that it was her best opportunity to go with the internationally famous research group. But her abnormal domineering fear of water was dominating her enthusiasm of achieving the academic accreditations and awards.

It seemed to Dr. Chad that he had finally won her confidence. She agreed to go into the ocean with the research group. She said, 'my cousin Sam is coming with me'.

Dr. Chad looked at Sam for a minute like a suspicious monocled crow. And he called Captain Roger Felix and explained about the situation and got his permission to bring Sam along with Dr. Joan to the whaling vessel. Every thing is peacefully set. Dr. Chad paid the restaurant bill and the tip with his normal constipated smile and came out and called the taxicab. He grunted the address to the driver, 'dockyard behind Palace hotel'.

On their way to the dockyard Dr. Chad made some phone calls and cancelled the night session at Palace Hotel. He asked the hotel management to direct the scientists to meet him at the dockyard.

The management took care of that end and delivered the message to all the scientists by intercom. The scientists met Dr. Joan and Dr. Chad at the dockyard where a big seaplane is waiting for them.

The mafia guys are still waiting in the conference hall at Palace hotel for Dr. Joan when the seaplane took off and flew her towards the big vessel in front of their eyes. The bad guys were impatiently waiting and overwatching the whole scene from the conference hall through the glass wall and chatting about the sophisticated mechanism of the seaplanes and the scientific advancement.

The bellhop came to close the doors of the conference hall and told the mafia guys that the night session was cancelled. They rushed to the desk and came to know about the recorded information of the cancellation of the session again. It was the policy of the hotel not to disclose the whereabouts of the inmates under any circumstances.

The management humbly explained their policy to the bad guys again. The mafia guys called their boss. The Hawaiian mafia boss called his partner in Sanfrisco and explained the situation. These regional bosses finally called their Big Boss and explained the whole story. He believed that the CD was still with Dr. Joan. He asked them to find out if Captain Roger Felix was in Hawaii. He suspected that Dr. Joan would involuntarily give the secret CD to Captain Roger Felix. He told the regional bosses to gather the news about the scientific research vessels in Hawaii.

He strictly ordered them to get the girl and the CD from her by all kinds of ninja methods and means. He further made some calls to the concerned government officials of that region.

Everybody seemed to accept his orders. It seemed as if he is running the government within the government. It seemed as if he is the prince of this age. It seemed as if there are two simultaneously run governments in the same area. It is the great individual liberty.

The age of modernism is quite some thing. It has perfect humanity on one side and certain extra humanity on the other side. It became a burdensome responsibility for the innocent human beings to spot these extra human elements in the society and help them to understand true humanity. This extra humanity has crept into the human society and co-lived since prehistoric times. Now it takes some precious human time to draw the line between the Original humanity and the Clone humanity. But it should be done for the sake of universal peace. The sooner the humans do this research the better for the future human generations to live their peaceful human lives.

 

Chapter four

Here they come!

The seaplane reached the big vessel. The scientists had waved at the vessel personnel. Dr. Joan and the other scientists were received into the motor whaleboat. The seaplane took off like a determined sea gull.

The motor whaleboat rowed them towards the big whaling vessel. It reminded her of the castle villa. Dr. Joan suddenly remembered that she had to call her mother. She told Dr. Chad to arrange the phone call. He told her that she could do that from the vessel. The motor whaleboat brought itself closer to the whaling vessel. The crew lifted the whaleboat along with the scientists to the deck.

Roger Felix the captain of the whaling vessel welcomed all the scientists and gave a big hug and appreciated Dr. Chad for convincing and bringing Dr. Joan as if he had fore-anointed him for that job.

Dr. Joan is excited to see the sophisticated scientific equipment in the vessel and all the other systematic arrangements. She forgot to call her mother. She forgot her hydrophobia. She was ready to even go into the ocean in the detachable water capsule along with Sam. The expedition began. The vessel moved towards the famous deep whale cave. Sam was even more excited to be with Joan in the ocean. In the past he had tried several times to take Joan for a swim into the ocean. But Joan never listened to his suggestions or trusted his swimming talent because of her hydrophobia.

Sam is the best swimmer and got several medals in the swimming contests. Joan knew that Sam should be with her in this trip. Dr. Joan's stepfather Rodrigo was really upset as if he had lost his soul mission.

He started a tiger walk in the dressing room. Lillian was worried more about his feelings than her daughter's safety. Rodrigo finally broke his silence and verbalized the soliloquy, 'she doesn't take the mobile phone with her. She doesn't remember to call us. She doesn't understand how important it is for us. She acts like a little girl. Now I am worried about her. I called the Palace hotel desk and they couldn't reach her. I think we should call the Hawaiian police and tell them the situation'. He seemed as if he is more worried about Joan.

Lillian hugged him and said, 'O dear! She is not a little girl any more. She is going to be the world famous scientist'. Rodrigo looked at her and managed his feelings. The phone finally rang and Lillian picked up the receiver.

The male voice from the other side said, 'hello! Is this Mrs. Lillian? Dr. Joan is on the line. Please don't hang up'. The whaling vessel radio operator signaled Dr. Joan to pick up the nearby intercom phone receiver.

Dr. Joan lifted the receiver and said, 'Mummy, is that you? I am sorry'. Rodrigo grabbed the receiver from Lillian and said, 'O baby? Where are you? We are worried about you. Are you okay? Where are you? Is every thing okay? Where are you? Please talk to me. Where are you? Just tell me you are okay'.

Dr. Joan laughed and said, 'Uncle Rod! Every thing is fine. Don' worry. I am with Captain Roger Felix in his beautiful whaling lab vessel'. Rodrigo gave the receiver to Lillian. Dr. Joan continued, 'I saw granny. She is okay. I will call you tomorrow. Tell mummy my love. Bye'. Dr. Joan put the receiver on the hook and went to the dinning hall.

Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were munching snacks and seriously discussing their plans for the day. They were hoping that they could communicate with the whales through Dr. Joan's talking machine and find out the way to their dreamland.

They both believed that there is a goldhill in the ocean and the whales could some how lead them to the hill. Dr. Joan joined their conversation. Captain Roger Felix has explained Dr. Joan that they needed to communicate with the whales and see if they knew any thing about a particular hilly place in the ocean. Dr. Joan showed him the sound language dictionary of the whales that her grandfather Boris had developed. There are few symbol sounds. They could not understand a single thing in the dictionary. She then explained to them that each whale community has different sound symbols just like the different humans have different linguistic communities.

The sound symbols of one whale community may or may not resemble the sound symbols of other whale communities of other regions. But above all the existing inconveniences the whales can learn their sound languages faster than the humans learn their languages.

Dr. Joan's explanation renewed their hopes and they looked at each other as winners. The goldhill in the ocean had been their research target even though it was a different story for the outsiders.

Dr. Joan further added, 'after all it is possible to teach new sound symbols to the whales. But those sound symbols must be the sound symbols of the whales of different whale community and not just any sounds. Whales are good learners among themselves'.

The whaling lab vessel reached the deep whale cave area. The crew started to prepare the see-through lab. Dr. Joan made her equipment ready for the divers.

Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix and other two scientists from the whale-shaped see-through submarine led the divers into the cave area. Every thing seemed normal.

Dr. Joan is continuously watching every thing on the big screen monitor and giving them directions from the vessel. Sam is operating the keyboard and sending her directions to the divers. Sam and Joan could see the baby whales on the screen. The vessel moved closer towards the cave and the roaring noise of the engine stopped. Every thing became ghostly calm. Dr. Joan started her talking machine. Her words were converted into sound symbols and the whales started coming out from the cave to greet the new comer. Dr. Chad started typing certain words relating to the goldhill address with different descriptions. Dr. Joan verbalized those words with her voice.

The whales did respond positively. Captain Roger Felix was trying to figure out the location, distance and the route to the goldhill through the whale language. They were asking Dr. Joan and she was giving the exact meanings of the sounds by referring to her dictionary. Every thing was excitingly cool.

Suddenly the whales started returning to the cave. Dr. Joan asked the whales, 'what is happening?' and the whales replied, 'some thing is coming towards them in the sky'. Sam heard the sound of a seaplane and watched it on the monitor screen. He tried to communicate with the seaplane crewmembers. He suddenly realized that it is the pirate plane.

 

Chapter five

Get the girl!

The Big Boss told the regional bosses all information about the girl and asked them to get the girl. The action started. The Hawaiian mafia team is waiting at the dock for the seaplane. As soon as it arrived, they asked the pilot to take them to the new vessel. The pilot said, 'my duty is over and I am not taking you any where'. The bad guys threw him in the water and took control of the seaplane. They flew towards the vessel.

They radioed to the their boss when they saw the vessel. They stopped the seaplane near the vessel and threw the ropes to the deck. The bad guys in the ninja costumes glided up to the deck. They pushed Sam to the deck and asked him about the girl. The vessel crew came to the deck with their weapons and provoked the ninja guys by shooting at them. Soon the ninja guys used their ninja tricks and went down the lab and came up with Dr. Joan. They roped and glided her down towards the seaplane. Joan looked down and screamed for help waving her hand towards Sam.

She doesn't like even to touch the water at all. All the bad guys jumped into the water and went into the seaplane and dropped other another rope for Joan and the ninja guy who was holding her.

The ninja guy jumped into the water along with Dr. Joan and caught the rope and tied it around him and her. Then he signaled the seaplane pilot to take them up.

Sam got up and roared at them and quickly jumped from the deck into the water to stop them. He swam towards the seaplane and grabbed the rope. The seaplane dragged the ninja guy, Joan and Sam on the water runway and was about to take off. Sam cried aloud like a little boy. Joan was calling Sam all the time. The seaplane took off. The ninja guy, Joan and Sam were hanging in the air. The ninja guy tied Dr. Joan and tried to cut the rope so that Sam would fall down.

Suddenly like a lightning, a huge blue whale torpedoed and swallowed Sam, ninja guy and Joan and took the seaplane down. The big whale dragged the seaplane for a while until it was flipped and torn apart.

The ninja guys were holding on to the divided seaplane parts, looking around and trying to understand the cause for such a sudden disaster. They had disenchanted their ninja costumes and cried out for help.

Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix and all the divers were terribly shocked and quickly returned to the vessel. The ninja guys were waving at them for help from the ocean. The vessel crewmembers were yelling from the deck and shouting at them not to help those ninja guys. But Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix threw some ropes and brought them to the deck. When they came up to the deck the crewmembers threw the ninja guys into the water again and again.

The vessel crew, Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were still helping the ninja guys to crawl up to the deck. There was a communication gap. The ninja guys suddenly remembered their mission and started fighting and negotiating with the vessel personnel for the special CD.

Then they all rushed to the lab room to search for the CD. They had finally identified and found the described carry bag. When the crewmembers came to know about the value of the CD, they started to fight again. Both the parties were trying hard to secure the carry bag. The fight was so chaotic and they accidentally threw the bag into the ocean. But no one seemed to venture into the ocean this time because they were all shocked to see the lightning attack of the big whale. The ninja guys were helplessly watching the falling bag from the deck.

The ninja guy, Sam and Joan had found plenty of empty space in the whale's stomach. The whale started churning them taking water in and out. There seemed no time for them to figure out what is going on. It looked like a big churning machine.

The ninja guy tried hard to resist the churning effects. They all tried to crawl out from the whale stomach at the same time but the whale had belched them in again throwing only the water. The ninja guy was pushing them down and trying to get out before they do.

The whale has somehow figured out who is who by their screams. The whale is making a self-study of the movements in its stomach and waiting for right time to throw up. Finally the whale figured out and spewed out only the ninja guy. He was spat out like a torpedo. He flew in the air and screamed and could not notice the falling carry bag. The whale then dived into the ocean again. The ninja guys and the vessel crewmembers were yelling at the spewed out ninja guy to secure the bag. He was busy falling down into water and screaming. He could not hear a thing.

The ninja guy thought that he was the only heroic survivor and that the girl and the boy had died in the whale stomach. He was terribly shocked and looking around to quickly escape from the sight of the big whale.

But Sam and Joan were still in the whale stomach. Both cried out, 'we are alive and we have air to breathe. We are in the whale stomach. We are in the in the ocean'. Joan then suddenly realized that Sam was speaking. She noticed the sudden change in Sam and cried, 'O Sam you are speaking again'. Sam also noticed the change in his throat and both were excited. The whales started to swim towards the other islands.

The ninja guy finally heard the other ninja guys and saw the carry bag and got it. The ninja guys threw the ropes for him to glide up with the carry bag. While he was still crawling up like a spider man, the crewmembers were hindering him. The leaders of the two groups finally sat at the negotiating table. The peace talks finally began with heated arguments.

The ninja guy with the bag was hanging in the air and was screaming for help. The negotiations went on peacefully and they all unanimously resolved to pick the ninja guy and the carry bag up to the deck.

They came and looked for the ninja guy. But they saw only the rope and no ninja guy. He had already found the squirrel steps up to the deck and walked with the bag and was unwillingly doing the deep breath exercise. They all came and opened the bag. But there was no CD in it. The Big Boss called the head ninja and told him that they should look for the secret CD not in the carry bag any more but in Dr. Joan's wallet.

The head ninja said, 'ok boss'. He does not want to tell the whole story to the boss yet. He had maintained the blessed hope to find Dr. Joan's wallet somewhere in the vessel.

Not knowing all these historical incidents, the head cook of the vessel made the hot lunch ready and rang the bell for the lunch. They all realized that they were hungry and came to the dining hall. There the head cook handed over the little packet to Dr. Chad and said, 'Dr. Joan gave it for you. She asked me to tell you that you should watch this little CD'. He quickly opened the little package and found the little CD. Then Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix talked with their eyes and slowly got up and ran towards the lab room to watch the secret CD. All the ninja guys also came to the lab room and watched the CD.

It's about the glittering underwater golden hill. The Goldhill is covered underwater like the birthing Island. The whole island is glowing like a golden mound. They watched the whole CD again and again. The Island is like a heaven on earth. The trees are like golden trees. The sand is like gold sand. The whole sea is like a golden sea.

The ninja guys and the crewmembers suddenly started to fight for the ownership of the goldhill. The scientists tried to support both the warring parties according to their promises. Some times they are fighting for the ninjas and other times for the crewmembers. Finally they all involuntarily sat for the peace talks. Finally every one voted for the equal shares, equal rights and equal responsibilities.

 

Chapter six

Sam! I am starving

Dr. Joan and Sam were still in the whale stomach. The whale stopped churning them any more. Sam tried to tell her that they could survive. Joan stopped screaming at last. She studied the whale behavior form its stomach. The big whale was opening its mouth and let them enjoy the sunlight within the stomach. It was a great experience.

Dr. Joan realized and finally acknowledged that they were safe. They felt that the whale is moving like the bullet train and taking them somewhere towards southwest. The whale stomach was like a big swimming pool and a foamy warm water triple mikvah.

Dr. Joan seemed like wheat colored seal freely floating this way and that way within the whale stomach pool. Her hydrophobia was gone. They forgot the difference in their gender. They became true soul mates. Then Joan felt hungry. She said, 'Sam! I am starving'. Sam had no idea how he could answer her. But the whale responded very well by further diving down and swallowing some sea fruits. They never saw such fruits in their entire life.

The sea fruit was like a mixture of sweet potato and the pineapple fruit. Sam called it as pintato. Sam tried to taste the fruit but Joan stopped him and said, 'it might be a poisonous fruit'. They hungrily looked at it but scared to taste it.

But the whale sensed the situation and allowed some cute little whales into its stomach to give a demo. The baby whales came in and started peeling and eating the pintatoes. Sam then tried and encouraged Dr. Joan. They both ate and soon fell asleep. The whale contracted its stomach and made it like a waterbed for them. Dr. Joan and Sam both went into sound sleep after eating pintatoes. They did not know how many hours they slept. The whale took them towards Kiritimati Island. And from there the whales moved towards Howland Island. There are some unnamed islands between Kiritimati Island and Howland Island. They seemed like floating islands and nobody ever noticed as they were still under water.

The whales stopped at one unnamed island. The whale swallowed lot of water and gave a wake up call to its inner guests. And Sam woke up and saw the rising sun in the ocean. The seawater was half yellow and reddish. Sam wanted to go out and see the morning sun. He said To Joan, 'let's go out and see if there is any land here'.

Sam signaled the whale that they wished to get out of the belly. The whale torpedoed them on the sand and all the whales greeted them good morning and good luck. Dr. Joan asked them to come back soon. They both waved goodbye to the whales. Sam looked around and walked towards a sandy mound that looked like ancient Masada. And Joan followed him to the top of the mound. The mound was glittering and they both realized that it was the legendary goldhill in the yellow sea.

From the top they could sea the entire east side of the island. It was like a golden haven on earth. They ran, walked and rolled on the glittering sand and found a freshwater lake on the top of the mound. They jumped into the pool and took bath in the lake.

Then they searched for food. They found plenty of bananas, coconuts and other tropical fruits on the other side of the mound. They saw the traveler's trees. The leaves are shaped like cups each leaf holding about one liter fresh water. They drank water until they are full. They saw a series of caves.

Sam brought enough food for both of them into the cave villa. Sam opened the coconuts with a coned gold rock. He is thinking of going to the Westside where there are plenty of trees. He needs ropes, ladders and other tools to go there. They ate and started building a small portico in front of the cave villa.

Sam made wonderful beds for them in side the cave. The serious academic world famous scientist and the Olympic gold medalist swimmer found no more place in them.

They became little children and moved around like Adam and Eve in their colorful leafy costumes. They turned the solitary island into a pure human dwelling place. They felt as if they were the first human family on the earth.

They cried aloud and then whispered, 'is anybody there' and yelled, 'we know you are there'. Then they rhythmically reheard the same as their query and answer had faithfully resounded. After they played with the nature and settled down on their flowerbeds, they began to recall their family history. Their grand parents Boris and Eliza were famous marine scientists.

They made lot of expeditions and saved lot of information in their dairies and minds. Now every thing is past and gone. Boris is no more. Eliza is suffering from amnesia. Both their families were still separated and lot of bitter things happened along the twenty-year trekker history in their families. Their parents waited for the time cure. Nothing happened as hoped. But now both time and tide waited for them.

Adding to their split family history, now they are further separated from their families. They don't know if they can ever get back to their families again. They don't know if they can survive on this golden island and if so for how long. They must literally live for now and for each moment. Once they figure out their course of action, the time and tide will move again. They are stuck in the chronic time.

The sea concert is becoming more and more audible than before. The celestial runner's torch is handed over to the moon and the stars. Sam and Joan slowly went into the dreamy sleep again as the star lit heaven and earth unanimously pronounced them as man and wife under the authority naturally vested by the State of the unnamed goldhill island.

The starlight is quite visible like the daylight. The moon is shining like the night sun on the holy pair. The starry Polynesian nightclub wished them good aloha night and sweet dreams. The sea breeze is singing lullaby with no interruptions.

Then time and tide slowly started ticking again as Sam began to think some human voices. He thought it's a dream. But the voices are coming towards their cave villa. Sam suddenly woke up and quietly withdrew from Joan's cuddlesome body. He went up to the top of the mound and turned towards the west. He could not believe what he saw.

He ran to the cave and grabbed Joan and carried her to the top of the mound and let her down to see what he meant her to see. Sam asked her, 'am I seeing things or what? I sea people walking on the seawater. Tell me you also see them.' She came to her senses and saw people walking on seawater and dreadfully said, 'they were all dead ghosts'.

 

Chapter seven

They are no more!

The Hawaiian naval patrol squad has arrested Dr. Chad and his scientist group, Captain Roger Felix and all the crewmembers along with the ninja guys. They had ceased the research vessel and the warring parties. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix tried to explain that they are the most civilized and decent citizens of the US. But they could not explain any thing about the ninja guys.

The Hawaiian police were interrogating the ninja guy who was in the whale stomach along with Dr. Joan and Sam. He told them the same story again and again and finally said, 'the whale had swallowed three of us. I was very lucky to get out from there. The girl and the boy were dead. I want to tell you why we went there and how the whole thing had happened'.

The interrogating official said, 'so the whale swallowed the boy and the girl. They are dead. And you somehow escaped from the whale. That's all we need to hear from you now'.

He then came out of the statement room and gave his report to the concerned authorities. As per his recommendations, they sent the eyewitness ninja guy to the high security asylum. There no one was allowed to speak to him without the special permission of the top official dealing the boy-girl missing case.

Sam's parents Shea Jacobson and Feggy heard the recorded statements of the eyewitness ninja guy. They also heard the recorded pleas of Dr. Chad and captain Roger Felix. Shea Jacobson had moved the entire government to know what happened to his handicapped son Sam and his niece Joan.

Dr. Joan's mother Lillian and the stepfather Rodrigo flew to Hawaii in a special plane. They met the top police officials. The Honolulu chief of police Mr. Zuloaga walked them to the statement room.

The two families met each other for the first time after twenty years. Lillian cried and hugged her brother Shea and he tried to control her. Nobody knows what happened to Dr. Joan and Sam. Some officials thought they were dead while others thought they must search for them any way. Everybody was trying very hard to find someone to blame. The mafia leaders were working quietly from their underground cells and watching every move from their perspective.

Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were released along with their crewmembers and the scientists on certain conditions. They must take the research vessel and search for Dr. Joan and Sam along with the other investigating police official.

Except the one eyewitness ninja guy all the ninja guys were released on money bail. Their bosses used their influence and got all of them back without any problem. These guys knew all the ins and outs of the government mechanisms. But the ninja guys are dumb creatures. They do what they are told. They take up only one assignment at a time. They brought the CD as commissioned. They did know that Dr. Chad had copied the CD. All the other things, incidents and accidents were erased from their minds. However, their case was handed over to the higher authorities.

Shea Jacobson was not satisfied by the police response in spite of all these arrangements. He had personally employed Detective Bermann a private investigator to look for Sam and Joan.

Rodrigo volunteered himself to go with the search team. Lillian agreed to stay in Hawaii with her mother Eliza in the bayside guesthouse until the search team returns with the final results. The media was strictly warned not to publish news about this case.

The research vessel started its newly appointed mission. For three days they searched for the bodies in the water. After three days Dr. Chad said, 'we will continue the search because we want to show our love for Dr. Joan. But those who officially wanted to go back can do so. And who voluntarily wanted to go with us, we will take them any way'. This offer sounded reasonable to all.

The police personnel officially completed their search to their utmost satisfaction and went back with the sincere results and professional reports according to which Dr. Joan and Sam were officially declared as dead. There is absolutely no possibility for them to survive in the water for almost five days. Shea and Rodrigo appreciated the police authorities for their sincere help.

But Rodrigo wanted to go with the search team as long as it takes. Dr. Chad and Roger Felix appreciated his sincere decision and re-welcomed Rodrigo on board. But Bermann the private investigator wanted to get back to Shea Jacobson. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix said goodbye to him and the other police personnel. Rodrigo called Lillian and explained the situation. She is not paying any attention to all those details. She was addicted to Rodrigo's smell and taste. His presence is more important to her than her missing daughter and nephew. She became a new species. And for her the world means Rodrigo and him alone. She has idolized him and deified him as her Eros. And her family excommunicated her for that reason for so many years. She just said, 'okay darling! Take care and come beck soon'.

Every thing was settled and the vessel started the expedition again but with a different perspective. Others left the vessel and went back to the city with their final reports. The media was then allowed to publish the death news of Dr. Joan and Sam.

The regional mafia leader called his partner and the Big Boss and explained the latest results. The Big Boss coolly said to them, 'we are in control of the vessel and our boys are taking good care of the inside job'. The vessel was equipped with heavy artillery this time. They are capable to handle any type of unforeseen circumstances. They can face the white shark attack more efficiently than last time. They went to the whale cave area again.

And they operated the talking machine that Joan had developed. They sent signals to the whales covering a vast radius circle. They had waited for the response from the whales. But there is no sign of whales.

Captain Roger Felix asked the lab room attendant to arrange the CD player in Dr. Chad's private room. They watched the copied CD and finally figured out the shortcut directions to the underwater goldhill. From Honolulu they straightaway came to the Palmyra Island and refueled the vessel there. They went into the city and bought all the needed provisions. Rodrigo was all the time wondering about the talking machine's vague directions and the vessel's slow course of action. When they were about to leave the Palmyra Island Rodrigo asked Dr. Chad that he wanted to go to the Kiritimati Island to get urgent treatment for his depression and other serious health problems. He explained the situation to all the vessel crewmembers and the scientists. He then called Lillian and told her that he must see her soon.

Dr. Chad accepted the request and assured Rodrigo that they would let him know as soon as they could find the target. Dr. Chad also called his specialist friend in Kiritimati Island and introduced Rodrigo to him. Rodrigo took a private seaplane and went to Kiritimati Island. The vessel left for Howland Island.

The lab room attendants observed encouraging signals on the screen from a huge group of whales. They were excited to notice that there seemed abnormal numbers of whales towards that direction. They deciphered the sound symbols and guessed that there might be at least thirty different whale communities along that direction. After day's journey they stopped the engines and anchored the vessel for a night's rest.

The crewmembers started partying. They all got drunk. The study of the comprehensive human behavior is even more complicated than the study of humans themselves as it was said 'making money is more complicated than minting it'.

They were yelling, screaming and shouting while Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were watching the secret CD equations for further directions to the goldhill.

After the midnight everyone was exhausted and were in dead sleep. The vessel slowly started moving downwards to hit the seabed. There was a big jerk. And soon the vessel tilted towards its right side and slowly fell on the seafloor. Everyone was forced to resurrect from their dead sleep and was dreadfully shocked to see some of them bleeding and injured. Some were hanging in the air upside down. It took sometime for Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix to figure out that they had a night accident of some new kind.

They maintained status quo till they could see the morning sun. They got out of the vessel and saw that the vessel was on the one-foot deep wet seabed. They were moving on the ocean floor as if walking on the seawater.

The water further disappeared and they could see the dry seabed. After everyone got down from the tilted vessel Captain Roger Felix asked his assistant to count the number. There were thirty members all together and nobody was missing. The crewmembers slowly brought the needful items, eatables and the mobile scientific equipment from the vessel. Some of them hoped that the seawater might come back and cover them any time. They figured out that they might need the whaleboats, lifeboats and the buoys for the emergency unforeseen situations whether they stay there or make a move.

Some of them suspiciously looked around and thought of carrying some weapons with them. The scientists also took the needed scientific items. The crewmembers also secured all the needful items for their struggle for survival.

The most sophisticated electronic radio equipment was partly damaged. Captain Roger Felix then asked the decision of each person whether to stay until the seawater would come back or to make a move until they find the seashore.

Most of them had decided to make a move to the nearby coast. Even though some of them were engaged in heated altercations they all finally saw that there was no other alternative than slowly making a move to the coast. The scientists had suggested other scientific island formation theories. According to their island birthing process theory, they are on a birthing island at present and they must wait and find out how big this newborn island would be and how far or close they would be from the newly conforming seashore.

The map was showing them that they should go towards the southwest to reach the Goldhill Island. But since the map is existentially changing nobody knows the right directions anymore. Dr. Chad finally said, 'in a maximum twelve hour period in the daytime, we should reach our destination. So think fast and make up your minds quickly before it is too late'.

They journeyed towards the southwest and after four-hour trek they stopped for a moment's rest. The head cook of the vessel prepared a quick lunch. They all sat down and started eating their lunch. They suddenly heard a thundering noise of the airplane. The crewmembers quickly switched on their radio equipment and started to communicate with the seaplane. But it seemed that the aircrew members were not receiving these signals and their messages may be because of the wave shortage problem.

The seaplane was heading from Kiritimati Island towards Howland Island. Captain Roger Felix then figured out that they were about three days away from the goldhill.

Everyone had relaxed in their souls. The dire facts involved in trekking for further three days with all those heavy baggage items on the seabed were an existential dagger to them.

They have to walk for 2-3 days at the least rate of 25 miles per day to reach the goldhill. They had enough provisions for a whole month with them. But because they have no refrigerators around, they might have to lose some mouthwatering foodstuff. The head cook suggested that they could leave some less important items there. Everyone yelled at him saying, 'what do you mean less important?'

After their successful lunch, they began their 3-day trek towards goldhill with a blessed hope again. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix mainly headed them. Within these two catholically explicit groups there are mini-groups based on other things such as friendliness, talent, profession, experience, region, education, talent, interest, addiction and of course the super ductile and malleable gold worship.

Everyone was binocularly dreaming about gold and planning their monocled family future. What else the members of such private unions can imagine? They were literally living by faith in gold. They already forgot the promised search of girl and the boy.

They had auto-bio-rationally concluded that they were dead. If they die they become martyrs of the cause to be conferred a postmortem sainthood in their own religious world. If they were lucky they would see the goldhill within their lifetime.

That was their newly mushroomed religion and their newly evolved island faith. They are forced to go on with their survival fitness and not to be afraid of extinction it seems.

Even though there are no wild creatures around, they were carrying weapons to use the 'just in case' expression. Moreover everyone must intellectually suspect the other. They must constantly have their smartest second thoughts and must seek and find their individual plans. They enjoyed the fish-sleep. Thereby they had already practiced walk-sleep. They were academically well educated and equipped but existentially hardly ever literate. They have strength to consume but not to use as they wish. They are fully experiencing 'Freewill Yes but Freedom No' situation. They are struggling very heard to learn and realize that it was an all-human problem and not just an individual problem of certain sections of the human society.

They suddenly heard another seaplane heading towards the Kiritimati Island. The aircrew started to establish communications. But the crewmembers did not bother to communicate with the aircrew.

The seaplane proceeded towards its destination. Dr. Chad suddenly came to the senses and yelled at the crewmembers to operate the radio systems. But it was too late. The seaplane was soon out of radio-reach and out of binocular-sight.

Dr. Chad growlingly grunted aloud cursing every crewmember in his mother mandarin tongue. The crewmembers positioned themselves for mortal combat with the scientists if needed. Captain Roger Felix came into the scene and quieted them all with his rifler machine gun. The ninja leader guy in mufti coolly said, 'don't think we are for peace either'.

Everyone sheathed their pistols like winners. Dr. Chad winked at his personal guards not to use the chemical weapons. They are becoming a new species with all their individual secrets and suspicions.

They are together under one umbrella just for the goldhill revelation. They cannot leave anyone alone. They are stuck with each other. Everyone is secretly hoping and privately dreaming to become a zillionaire.

They were self-anointed pioneers and founding fathers of the goldhill religion. Once they spot the goldhill they will have their mafia priests and customer devotees from all around the world to save humanity from gold poverty. Their Big Boss will manifest his little divine Avatar to the god-famishing world and bless the believers with gold gifts.

He will create jobs and provide employment to the unemployed ninja guys. He will become the god of this world for now. Finally he will manifest his real underworld Ibtos boss someday. The police world is patiently waiting for that occasion.

 

Chapter eight

They are alive!

Shea Jacobson never wholeheartedly accepted the official dictum that his son Sam and his niece Joan died. He challenged himself that they are alive. He suddenly remembered Sam's special waterproof watch. Whenever Sam went for a swim with that special waterproof watch, Shea used to buzz the same and Sam could easily feel it in his body and return him the message. Shea could see the message on the screen and also know the exact place where it is coming from. Sam had developed this special devise.

Shea remembered this special devise and rushed to his bookroom. He quickly opened the drawer and found the devise that can buzz Sam's watch. He took it out and hooked it to the regular computer monitor and operated the devise and waited for Sam's response. He clicked it thrice. But there is no response. Feggy came to the bookroom and saw what Shea was trying to do.

They both cried for their only son. Shea had burst into tears and said, 'they killed our son'. Feggy also cried aloud but they controlled themselves. They both remembered how Sam had made that devise when they were constantly worried about his whereabouts. Shea tried it again. Suddenly they both saw a blinking on the screen and were greatly encouraged to see the message. There was no message. That means Sam has switched on his watch but he is not wearing it on his wrist. Shea tried to buzz it again and again.

The same blinking appeared on the screen but there was no message. Shea's body began to shiver. Feggy held him tight and tried to console him. She thought that Shea is over reacting. She thought that Shea must call their family doctor.

Sometimes even the freewill becomes the victim of the communication gap. On the other side of the matter both Sam and Joan were busily making heavy ropes with the jute prepared from the coconut branches.

They made a heavy rope ladder long enough to take them down to the Westside ground level from the mound. Sam explained his plan to Joan. Sam took freshwater in the coconut flask that he had made for the occasion. He already made the needed equipment with the bamboos. Joan dressed him up with the bamboo armour, shield, helmet, bow and arrows. Sam kissed her and went to the heavy rope ladder.

Joan ran and climbed up the nearby tree and sat there to constantly watch both Sam and the ghostly community members who were living and walking on the water. Sam got on the heavy rope ladder and began to climb down step by step.

It was a long way and took him ten minutes to reach the bottom of the valley. Sam is now on the seafloor on the Westside and literally walking on the one-foot-deep seawater.

He seemed like a bamboo humanoid walking on the seawater. Joan was watching him without blinking. He quietly glided from one tree to another like ramapithecine Tarzan.

At last he settled on the last tree and watched the scene. There are about thirty old men at work. There is a big thatched house and about thirty small huts around. These old Thalmulic folks are making ropes from the jute of the branches of various trees. They started taking some logs and ropes into the valley.

Sam came down and followed them into the valley. There he saw a big lake and a boat under construction. The men were trying to make a way for the boat to the nearby lake.

Sam was wonder stricken to see how these old men were able to make such a boat with no proper instruments at all. He listened to their conversations and came to know that they were speaking a different language.

They are using rock tools, rock saws and rock knives and cutting the wood to sizes. They stopped the work and came back to their huts. They gathered under the trees and started to enjoy their luncheon. They had every thing under the sky in their luncheon to enjoy: different fish, coconut dishes, all sorts of vegetables, fruits of all kinds, drinks made from different fruit juices and other delicacies. They are not savage people but are modern.

Sam was tempted to go and eat with them. He found the back door and went into the big thatched house and looked around in the kitchen and grabbed some fish, vegetables and juice and quickly came out using the back door. He heard a clear voice in English behind him saying, 'guru! Get me some more fish and mango juice'. The old cook brought the fish and the juice.

Sam was tempted to see that English-speaking guy but heard some one coming into the kitchen and immediately dropped that idea. He quickly ran and climbed up the tree and glided back to the rope ladder. He packed the hot lunch in a big banana leaf and tied all the items to his waist. He then climbed up to his mound and surprised Joan. They both enjoyed the hot kosher fish and vegetable lunch along with the fruits and juices. He told the whole story to Joan and encouraged her to go down to meet the English-speaking old man.

They finished the lunch. Sam suddenly saw his waterproof watch lying on the rock table. Joan left it there after playing with it for a while. Sam grabbed it and put it on his wrist.

They started making plans to meet these old folks. They meticulously discussed about every minute detail and decided to meet those folks. Sam looked at his watch. It's Sunday 3 pm. They walked along the bay wondering if they could see the whales. But there is no sign of the whales. Sam said, 'I wonder how those old folks were managing without lights'. They went up to the mound again and for their amazement they saw the torches in the huts reflecting in the water. It reminded them the descriptions of the blazing underworld lake of dark fire. The old folks were singing oriental type songs. Sam and Joan finally decided to meet the old folks next day and returned to their dark cave villa.

The night was very bright to see every thing around. Sam arranged the flowerbed out side the cave villa. They both lay down on the bed and started watching the starry sky. They were glad and encouraged to find the human community there in the middle of nowhere. They felt comfortable and slept very well.

The morning sun and the sea gulls woke them up. Sam smelt the seawater and opened his eyes and looked around. He was shocked to see water all around. It seemed as if they are sleeping on the seawater.

He stepped into the one-foot deep water and carried Joan into their cave villa. Joan thought it rained on the island last night without making them wet. But she realized that the seawater is all around and they both rushed to the top of the mound. They looked down from the mound and saw the huts floating in the seawater like little boats there.

Sam climbed another tall tree and saw the old folks making the boat ready to go into the lake. Sam and Joan slowly climbed down the heavy rope ladder and ran towards the lake. The old folks carried their stuff into the boat and pushed the boat into the lake.

Sam shouted hard enough and the old folks heard him okay. They wondered to see the strangers running towards the boat. Sam and Joan reached the boat and they received them as if they expected them. They dropped the rope ladder. Sam and Joan quickly climbed into the boat. The boat was floating in the lake water but going nowhere. Then the old folks took them to the lower deck and introduced them to the English speaking old man. Sam and Joan could not find words when they saw the English-speaking old man. It was Boris Jacobson their grandfather. Boris looked at them and began to see his son Shea and daughter Lillian in their faces.

For twenty years the world believed that he was dead. But now he is alive. The old folks were looking at them and wondering about the astonishing silence before they burst into tears to know about each other.

Boris finally said, 'these are my grand children'. Sam and Joan became like little children and ran to give him a big hug. They cried with tears of joy. They asked him thousand questions and Boris was trying to remember every thing. He tried to remember the name of the luxury boat driver who pushed him into ocean. Boris told them that it would take an hour for the seawater to disappear again. That means after an hour they can go back and fix their huts again. Sam and Joan could not wait for an hour to see the seawater disappear. When every thing became normal, they came back to the living area. Then Sam and Joan helped the old folks to fix their houses. They did not want to go back to their cave villa until they shared every thing with their grandfather.

They told the old folks that the mound on the eastside is much safer. Next day when the water disappeared Sam and Joan invited all the old folks to their cave villa.

It took some time for the old folks to climb up the rope ladder. There are many caves for all of them to stay in safety near the mound. They all decided to move to the eastside area to be able to see the whales when they return.

Boris told that the whales brought him to that island after Rodrigo pushed him in the Hawaiian ocean. Sam and Joan told Boris the same story. The old folks told then in their language that they were all fishermen missing from the New Fijian Islands. Sam translated their story to Boris and Joan. These fishermen called themselves the Thalmulic people and speak an ancient language called Thalmulic.

Sam showed his waterproof watch like device and explained to Boris how it works. Because of the wave shortage problem it could not work. While Sam was explaining about its work, he suddenly saw that his father Shea was giving signal. Sam showed the process and gave his watch to Boris and asked him to send a message to his father Shea.

Boris pressed the buttons and typed the message saying, 'we are alive - we are safe - Father Boris, son Sam and niece Joan – from some unknown island. Shea got the message and shouted, 'they are alive. My dad, our son and our niece all are alive and safe. Honey they are alive'. He was running like a crazy man to share this news to Feggy and all. Feggy thought that Shea really became crazy and called Lillian immediately. She told her to call Rodrigo and tell him to come and handle the situation. Lillian immediately called Rodrigo and explained to him that her brother Shea became crazy and that he is running around telling everyone that Sam is alive.

She insisted Rodrigo to be there to tackle the problems. Rodrigo got the message and booked a private plane. He was worried about Shea. He thought in his mind, 'who is going to take care of all the estate business if Shea goes to the mental asylum? Who will manage all these companies, factories and businesses?

He consulted the lawyers right away and asked them to make him the uncrowned monarchial in charge of Jacobsons Foundation. The lawyers called a suitable judge for this purpose. He agreed to handle this business in favor of Rodrigo.

 

Chapter nine

There it is!

Dr. Chad, the scientist group and Captain Roger Felix and his crewmembers are anxiously waiting for the next seaplane to communicate. They fixed their radio equipment and kept on calling for help.

They had walked for two days. They seemed very confident of Dr. Chad's third day theory. He emphasized his theory again and said, 'something is going to happen on the third day that is today. Keep the radio equipment open twenty-four hours. We must be able to communicate with the next seaplane'. They stopped at the right spot under the air corridor.

The crewmembers obeyed his instructions and switched on their radio equipment. The head cook prepared the lunch. While they were eating they heard the air scooting noise of the small aircraft. It is flying down towards them. The crewmembers radioed the message to the aircrew. Surprisingly they heard Rodrigo's sweet voice. The aircraft safely landed and Rodrigo came out and waved his hand.

Dr. Chad and Captain roger Felix stopped eating their lunch and received Rodrigo with a warm welcome. He explained them the situation and told them, 'I am worried about my wife's brother. I must be there to help him out. They need me to take care of his estate business. He seems very depressed for the loss of his son. He thinks his son is still alive. In that case you must help us to find him'.

Everyone thought that Shea is crazy to believe that Sam is alive. Rodrigo told them about Sam and his waterproof watch and said, 'he cannot talk but you will know his whereabouts by communicating with his wonder watch'. The crewmembers then tried to spot Sam with their transmitters.

But they received no response. Rodrigo made some phone calls. He then promised them six vehicles; food supplies and other needed equipment to carry on this mission. He asked Dr. Chad and Captain roger Felix to wait for the aircraft carrier within next six hours.

They thanked him for the arrangements. They promised him that they would carry on the mission until they could find Sam and Joan. Rodrigo waved his hand and byebyed them from the aircraft window.

The aircraft proceeded towards Hawaii. Dr. Chad and Captain Felix shook hands for this new assignment in addition to their goldhill mission and said, 'we play Paul and Shea will play Peter and let Rodrigo rob him and pay us for our mission as God be with us'.

They finished their lunch and waited for the aircraft carrier. Meanwhile they tried to spot Sam again through their transmitters. Rodrigo called the mental hospital authorities and requested them to take Shea in. Shea was chained to the stretcher. Lillian and Feggy followed the ambulance in their limousine. Shea was shifted to a super special room with special doctors and special attendants.

Rodrigo reached Hawaii and rushed to the hospital. Feggy appreciated Rodrigo's timely help. She asked him to take care of the estate business while they are in the hospital.

Rodrigo and Lillian assured Feggy that they would take care of every thing until Shea becomes normal again. Rodrigo spoke with the hospital chief and requested him to take care of Shea and said in tears, 'he lost his father twenty years ago and now his only son'.

The hospital chief assured him of the best treatment and early recovery and said, 'its only a temporary emotional depression. There is nothing serious to worry about. We have twenty-four hour supervision'. Shea was already anesthetized. The specialists are taking care of him with full care and attention. Feggy and Lillian are waiting for him in the main hall. Rodrigo came to them and said, 'they are taking car of him real well. There is nothing to worry. The doc said it's only a temporary emotional depression. Lillian will go to her mother and I will stay here for a while. You can go home now'.

Feggy appreciated him again. Lillian and Feggy left the hospital. Rodrigo called Dr. Chad and told him that Shea was in the hospital and he would be well very soon'.

Dr. Chad told Rodrigo, 'the carrier came and we have received every thing as promised. We will continue to communicate with Sam if he still alive'. The vehicles proceeded towards the unnamed island along with the additional rig workers both men and women.

Suddenly the radio operator took off his binoculars and shouted, 'there it is'. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix adjusted their binoculars and looked at the boat in the lake.

They rushed to the spot. They found nobody in the boat. They stopped there and searched all the huts and the big thatched house. The old folks already left their huts. They took every thing with them. They are already on the eastside of the island and taking rest in their new cave houses.

Dr. Chad and Captain roger Felix gave signals to the crewmembers to spread around and see if there is anyone living in the huts. They searched every thing and concluded that there is nobody there. Then they settled their things in the huts and took bath in the lake and washed their clothes and began to relax in a barbarous manner.

They were yelling screaming and enjoying the cold beer. Sam heard the noise and went up to the mound and saw all the vehicles, rigging machines and armed men and women. He ran to Boris and Joan and told them, 'we have company'. It is too far for them to notice the eastside activities.

Dr. Chad's company is on the Westside and there is absolutely no way for them to come to the eastside except by the rope ladder. Sam said, 'I will go down and see what they are up to'. Joan followed him to the top of the mound and dressed him with the bamboo costume.

Sam went down and reached the huts. He dressed himself like a bamboo bush and quietly came to the thatched house from behind. He listened to the conversations of Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix. He recognized them and understood that they were looking for the goldhill.

Suddenly a crewmember came in and gave the cordless telephone to Dr. Chad. The Big Boss is on the line and he wanted to tell some thing to Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix.

Dr. Chad carefully listened to the new instructions from the Big Boss. He then repeated and said, 'yes, I clearly understood what you have just told me. We will find the handicapped boy and finish him if he is still alive. We will conduct the geological survey here and see how close we are to the Goldhill Island. We have every thing until next fortnight. We will send you the results right away whenever it is'.

Then the Big Boss gave some personal instructions to Dr. Chad about Captain Roger Felix and his crewmembers. He then told Captain Roger Felix to be careful with the scientists. The Big Boss knows how to play with their minds. They know how to play with each other. They both wondered how the Big Boss came to know about all these things with every minor detail. They came out from the big thatched house and gave instructions to the rig workers to start their work. The geological survey workers moved their heavy machinery and started digging the holes in the seabed to check if they were on the Goldhill Island.

Sam heard every thing and proceeded back to the rope ladder. Suddenly he remembered some thing and went back. Joan was watching him from the mound and trying to signal him to return quickly. But he was not paying attention to Joan's silent signals.

Sam took a set of binoculars and proceeded towards the rope ladder. He recollected some thing else and went back to search for some wireless apparatus.

He grabbed the additional radio equipment, small but powerful dynamos and cordless phones from a vehicle and returned to the rope ladder. He recollected the last thing and went back and took some special grenades. The rig workers saw the moving bamboo bush here and there but they did not notice Sam at all.

He finally came to the rope ladder and reached the mound with all those items. Joan helped him to carry those things to Boris. Sam gathered all the old folks and explained them about what Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were up to.

Joan told every thing that she knew about Dr. Chad and the other scientists. Boris Jacobson remembered Captain Fredrick Felix Senior the father of Captain Roger Felix Junior.

The old folks clearly understood that these guys are bad news. They can either hide from these bad guys for a while or they can go down and take all their vehicles and escape from the island. They can kill them one by one or blast them all at once. They have several options. The ball is in the old folk's court now. Few old men plus Sam and Joan against some forty-armed men and women is a hard choice to decide. There is way from eastside to go down to the Westside but absolutely not other way around. The eastside area is a mound and the Westside area is in the valley. Boris had enough plan to handle the situation.

According to his diplomatic and prophetic theory those armed men and women will soon start fighting among themselves and eventually shoot each other. Therefore they must wait and see.

Sam started to put the things together and operated the radio equipment. He could hear whenever those guys radioed to others. He could also hear when others were sending messages. He could interrupt their messages by sending false messages to them mimicking different voices and to confuse them. They watched their activities through binoculars.

Boris analyzed the whole situation and came up with his plan two. According to his latest analysis, the bad guys would eventually come to know about the eastside activity. They would find some helicopter means and would fly around the eastside area. Therefore before it happens they must get ready to face it.

But how they could possibly avoid it even before it does happen? For now they must develop at least two observation points one in the north side and one in the south side with better communications. They must cover the caves with trees. They must stop cooking with firewood to avoid smoke.

They must minimize their open-air activities. They must construct a boat and wait until the seawater flows up to the mound level again. This seemed like a long time process and there is no surety that the seawater ever comes up to the mound level again. Constructing the boat also takes time.

According to Joan's plan they must find a way to send a message to Shea without being noticed by the bad guys. But this could also be a very risky job. They all decided to do the first things first.

They started covering the caves with tree branches. Sam luckily stopped the radio apparatus when the bad guys were talking about the unexpected signals from the eastside.

One of them was trying to focus his binoculars towards the eastside slope and telling the other guy some thing like, 'we must go there by a helicopter round the hill'.

And the other guy went to Captain Roger Felix and told him that they need to fly around the hill to see the eastside area also. Captain Roger Felix contacted Rodrigo and told him, 'we need a helicopter to go around the hill to see if there is any sign of your step nephew on the eastside'. Rodrigo said that he would take care of that immediately and send the helicopter.

 

Chapter ten

You are an angel Rodrigo!

Feggy was in the bathtub in her castle bathroom. She was thinking about Sam and Shea all the time and trying to console herself. The maid knocked the bathroom door but Feggy said, 'don't disturb me damn you'. The maid went away. Feggy thought of calling Lillian to see how she is doing.

She took the receiver and dialed to the guesthouse. Lillian and Rodrigo were making wild love. For them nothing really mattered. The telephone was making terrible noise. It did not bother them as it bothered the attendants. They did not dare to come into the room. Then Eliza walked in and took the receiver from the hook and put it on the table and went back to the porch. Rodrigo coolly took the receiver and said hello. Feggy was about to hang up. He loudly said hello. Feggy heard Rodrigo's voice and asked him about Lillian.

He said, 'every thing is okay. Lillian is fine. She say hello. How are you? I am going to the hospital to see Shea now. I can see you there'. Feggy thanked him and came to the dressing room. She dressed up quickly and told the limou driver Jenson to get ready to take her to the hospital to see Shea.

The old driver reminded her that she should take rest as doctors told her. She thought for a moment and said to the old man, 'no. I must see Shea now'. Jenson brought her to the general family medical hospital. Rodrigo asked the chief whether he could talk with Shea. The doctor checked Shea's condition and permitted Rodrigo into the special room. Shea was chained to the bed and he was talking to the nursing sister Cathy. He told her, 'Cathy! You are like a daughter to me. You and Sam both grew up together. I am not asking you to untie me. But just go to my bookroom. Start the Internet and go to Sam's watch files and communicate with him. If I am wrong then tell me I am crazy'.

She listened to him and understood every thing he said and promised him, 'yes uncle Shea! I believe you. I will go to your bookroom and start the computer and I will do exactly as you told me and communicate with Sam and wait for the message. If he responds I will ask him his whereabouts and let you know tomorrow'. Shea thanked her again.

As she is about to leave the room Shea told her again, 'Cathy! Do not tell this to anyone. They think I am crazy. You do this for me and if I am wrong then you can also think I am crazy'. She closed her eyes and nodded to his challenge and left the room. Shea felt relaxed.

Rodrigo knocked the door and came into the room and said, 'how are you feeling Shea? Cathy told me that you need rest. I don't want to disturb you. I came to tell you about the power of attorney that Feggy had suggested. I promise you that I will take care of the entire estate businesses according to the power of attorney until you come home'.

Shea said, 'thank you Rodrigo. Now you know that I am not crazy'. Shea said, 'but you need rest. Cathy and I will go to your bookroom and see your computer and check the whereabouts of Sam as you asked Cathy. Tomorrow we will let you know if Sam sends any message. If he is still alive, we will go and find him and bring him. You don't worry'.

Shea said in tears, 'you are an angel Rodrigo! God bless you, as you are the only person to understand me that I am not crazy. I will reward you for every thing when I come home. Tell Feggy that I am not crazy at all. I only need some rest. I want to talk to Feggy how to give you the power of attorney. Please let her know'. Rodrigo said, ' I will call her right away. You take rest'.

Rodrigo left the room and met the chief doctor and thanked him for his wonderful treatment. He came to the main hall and there he saw Feggy waiting for him. He told Feggy that Shea wanted to see her immediately. They both came to the elevator and waited.

In the mean time the chief went to Shea's room along with medicos and was explaining the case to the young trainees. Shea shouted at the chief and the duty nurse gave him the prescribed injection. By the time Feggy and Rodrigo came to the room Shea was in deep sleep again. Feggy was disappointed that she could not talk with Shea.

Rodrigo said, 'let him take rest. We will see him tomorrow. He asked me to take care of some thing in his bookroom with his computer. He gave me all the instructions how to operate the system and communicate with Sam in case he is still alive as Shea believes'.

They both came back to the castle. Feggy showed him the bookroom. The nursing sister Cathy is already operating the computer. Feggy introduced her to Rodrigo and went to the dressing room. The servant brought coffee to Rodrigo.

Cathy clicked the buttons and they saw the blinking on the screen. They both stooped down and anxiously waited for the message. They were shocked to see the message on the screen. It said, 'dad! This is Sam, Joan and grandpa. Come with a naval rescue aircraft to Captain Roger Felix. Repeat contact Captain roger Felix. Repeat Contact Captain Roger Felix. Contact Captain Roger Felix'.

The message is moving on the screen again and again. Rodrigo asked Cathy to type, 'are you with Captain Roger Felix? Give us some evidence that you are really Sam'.

The message said, 'if you are not my dad, you are in danger. Please go to the police immediately'. Rodrigo asked Cathy to type, 'danger from who? The message said, 'this is from Captain Roger Felix. Who is this? What danger? We need a helicopter to go to the eastside. This is for Captain Roger Felix'.

Rodrigo and the nursing sister were confused and typed, 'hello Captain! This is from Shea Jacobson. Did you find Sam? Captain said, 'not yet. But we need a helicopter'. Rodrigo typed, 'okay. We will send you the helicopter immediately'. Captain said, 'thanks and bye'.

But the message continued on the screen, 'dad! This is Sam, Joan and grandpa. Please send us the naval rescue aircrafts to this place. We are very close to Captain Roger Felix'. Feggy came in her nightdress and said, 'is it working? How is it going? Is every thing okay? You both must have dinner with me tonight. I insist'.

The nursing sister Cathy said, 'its confusing. We have some old messages coming along with the new ones. You must see these messages'. Feggy sat on the chair and saw the messages. Then Cathy typed, 'this is Feggy. Sam! Is that you?

The message said, 'this is from Captain Roger Felix. No news from Sam. We are waiting for the helicopter. Repeat send the helicopter soon, bye'. Rodrigo said, 'there is no way for Sam to be with Captain Roger Felix. Someone is playing games with these messages. I must report this matter to the police immediately'. Feggy told the nursing sister to stop the computer and come for dinner. Rodrigo and Feggy proceeded towards the dining hall. Cathy is about to shut down the computer. She saw the message, 'mom! This is Sam, Joan and grandpa. Send the naval rescue aircrafts to this place. We will meet you there'.

Cathy typed, 'Sam! This is Cathy! Where are you? What's going on? Sam typed, 'O! Cathy! We are in danger. Go to my class teacher Matthew. Open my file on his computer. Password Sam123. He knows how to contact me'. Cathy shut the computer down and came to the dinning hall.

Rodrigo and Feggy were talking about those confusing messages. Seeing Cathy Rodrigo asked, 'is every thing okay Cathy? Are you not joining us for dinner? Tell Feggy about the disturbances in the message. I think someone is playing games with the messages'.

Cathy said, 'yes. Yes. I think so. I need to go home. My friend Matthew will be waiting for me. I am supposed to meet him at the restaurant. I must leave now'. Feggy waved her hand and byebyed Cathy as she left the dinning hall and rushed to meet Matthew. Matthew is a wonderful guy and a computer genius. He is Sam's teacher in the dumb and deaf school. But he can talk and hear with no trouble. Cathy likes Matthew.

Cathy went home and took quick shower. She was thinking about Sam's messages. Is Sam really alive? Where is he sending those messages from? Is he really sending such confusing messages like that? Can't he contact his dad by any other means? Cathy parked her car and met Matthew at the Mexican restaurant as scheduled. She told him every thing about Sam and his messages. They ordered for some heavy tacos to take out. They both went to his apartment.

Matthew offered her a drink. He opened Sam's files with Sam's password that Cathy gave him. There is lot of information in Sam's files. If Sam's watch is directly connected to detective Bermann's office computer, his messages will directly go to him in plain text and he can also know Sam's location on his special screen. Matthew knew about this arrangement. Sam and Matthew both developed this program earlier.

Detective Bermann also knew about this program. Luckily he is in his office looking at some urgent files. Matthew hooked Sam's files to Bermann's message board. Bermann was greatly shocked to directly receive the messages from Sam. He quickly marked the location and locked it on his screen.

Matthew and Cathy heard some noise as someone is trying to break into his apartment. Sam looked through the window and saw the ninja guys crawling up towards his apartment like spider men. He quickly unhooked the plug and pulled Cathy out and ran towards the elevator. Matthew said, 'we should meet Detective Bermann. But I don't know how to reach his office'. Cathy said, 'it is next door to the local police station'. Matthew heard the word police station. They quickly came to the elevator and pressed both buttons.

The elevator is not working or it is taking too much time to come to the fifth floor. They both took the steps and came to the fourth floor. From there they walked in a very normal manner. They came down to the ground floor. They walked towards their car and saw some other scar-faced and shaggy strangers waiting for the elevator. Matthew thought they are also ninja guys in mufti. Everybody seemed as suspects.

Matthew quietly started the car. The bad guys were greatly disappointed, as they tried to open the files but did not have any password clue. They took hard disk and rabidly broke the computer with a great ninja rage and threw it down from the fifth floor. It fell down exactly in the garbage truck. Matthew moved the car quietly to the next turn. From there he drove the car almost on the air. Matthew and Cathy rushed towards the local police station to find out Bermann's office.

The highway patrol luckily noticed his speed and followed him. Matthew slowed down the car. The police officer asked him for the license and other credentials. Matthew showed nothing and the police officer asked him and Cathy to come to the police station with him in his van. He brought them to the police station and produced them before the chief.

He left them there and went out to get some coffee as the chief is on the phone. Cathy saw Bermann working in his office through the window and showed him to Matthew.

Bermann is still in his office maximizing Sam's location in the world map on his computer screen. Matthew and Cathy rushed into his office and told him what happened from the beginning. They could not understand how the bad guys got the information so quickly. Bermann appreciated them and said, 'you kids are amazing. You have done a wonderful job. We must immediately report this matter to Shea and Feggy. We must take a naval rescue aircraft to the Polynesian Islands and rescue Sam'.

Then he called 911 and asked the operator to send a police to Matthew's apartment along with the insurance agent and assess the damage. The police did what Bermann told them. Then Bermann called Feggy and told her the good news that Sam, Joan and their grandpa are alive. She could not believe what she was hearing on the phone.

She hugged Rodrigo and gave the receiver to him and ran around the castle and hugged all the servants in her castle and told them that Sam was alive.

Rodrigo asked Bermann to meet at the hospital and personally tell this great news to Shea. But Bermann said, 'Sir! It's not a good idea to tell this overwhelming news to Shea just like that. We must meet the chief and discuss the matter with him first. Let him decide the best for Shea'.

Rodrigo agreed to his suggestion. Feggy asked Rodrigo to go the bayside guesthouse and personally tell the news to Lillian and Eliza. Rodrigo quickly went to the bayside guesthouse to share the news.

The limou driver brought Feggy and the whole castle attendants to the hospital to see Shea. Bermann, Cathy and Matthew came to the hospital. Lillian and Rodrigo joined them at the main hall.

The hospital chief heard the good news. He said, 'let me check and see how he is doing'. Cathy could not wait for his answer. She put on the nursing uniform and pinned her ID card to her gown and ran to the elevator. She came to the room and untied Shea, told him every thing and brought him to the main hall.

Shea handled the situation quite well. He just said to the hospital chief, 'thank you for every thing. I know I am not crazy. But it takes time for you guys to know. I know that. But thanks any way'. They came to the bayside guesthouse and told Eliza about Boris.

She said, 'he is supposed to take me to the goldhill island. I am waiting for him. I am not going anywhere until he comes to pick me up. We both will go to the Goldhill Island first and see if we can buy the island to live there. Then you guys can come there and spend the summer with us. But where is he? Tell him I am still waiting for him'. Shea told her, 'mama! Papa is alive. The kids are with papa. We are going there to bring papa and the kids'. Eliza thought it was Shabbath and said, 'May He make like Ephraim and Manasseh'. She is not able to come into the present. She is still in the past.

Detective Bermann called the Police Chief and asked him about the developments in Matthew's apartment case. He told Bermann that the burglars have nothing to do with Sam's message and they are only thieves trying to steal only the hard disks in the computers. Bermann went to see these burglars. He questioned them and recommended them for a remand. He made the naval rescue aircraft ready to go to the Polynesian Islands.

Rodrigo called Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix and told them the good news and asked them to wait for the naval rescue aircraft. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix wondered to know that Sam was on the eastside of the same Island. They told Rodrigo, 'okay.

We will try to tell them that you are coming when we see them'. Rodrigo volunteered again to go with the rescue team. But Lillian stopped him this time. Detective Bermann took the best-trained police personnel into the team. The naval rescue aircraft and other police helicopters flew towards the Polynesian Islands.

Shea and Matthew accompanied the rescue teams with the special software program so that they can maintain contact with Sam. Matthew is a computer teacher and Sam was his student in the dumb and deaf school.

Matthew can hear and talk. But he learned the sign language and he teach the same in the dumb and deaf school. Both Matthew and Sam are of the same age group. They both became friends and developed a special program in the computer graphics with a code language. Matthew and Sam knew how to use the code language through the Internet.

Matthew did not realize that Sam could speak. They are still using the code language. Matthew converted the coded message into the plain language so that the police might understand. The rescue teams proceeded towards the unnamed Islands from Hawaii. The special police arranged security for Feggy, Lillian, Eliza, Cathy and Rodrigo.

They were moved to a more protected place with all facilities for constant communications from the rescue teams. Sam started the communication by pressing buttons on his watch. Matthew changed it into plain text mode and showed it to the police communication experts.

Hi, Matthew! It's good to chat with you again.

Yes. I am glad too

How long it takes for you to come here?

About one hour

Okay. Is dad coming with you?

Yes.

Grandpa and Joan are saying hello to him.

Okay. But can they use a microphone?

No. It is not safe to speak aloud.

I can convert the typed message into speech

Wonderful. You are really genius

Go on and type some thing

Matthew! I see a helicopter. Is it yours? O no, they are shooting at us. We need to go. Matthew! The bad guys are shooting at us. We must go now.

Suddenly they lost the contacts. There is absolutely no contact from Sam. Matthew converted Sam's message into speech mode and gave the earphones to the police chief.

The chief heard the message in the speech mode and took off the earphones and said, 'we got company. It seems the bad guys are ahead of us. Let's move faster'. They contacted the Dr. Chad and Captain roger Felix and asked them what was going on the Island.

Captain Roger Felix answered and said that there was a helicopter shooting at them. The US naval rescue aircrew approached saw the Island and saw the helicopter and gave warning shots. The helicopter crew answered positively and requested landing permission. The rescue team gave permission and they all landed on the Island. The eastside shootings continued. Nobody knew who was shooting.

The rescue team flew to the eastside and saw heavy artillery. The ninja guys started shooting at the rescue aircraft. The rescue team asked the other police helicopters to get ready for heavy shooting. There was a heavy fire exchange between the bad guys and the rescue team members.

The rescue team finally gave orders to the missileers to launch the missiles. After blasting the mound the ninja guys surrendered. The rescue team alerted the police helicopters and they landed on the mound and arrested the ninja guys on the eastside. They were all brought down to the west side.

The rescue team then started searching for Sam on the eastside. Matthew started Sam's files and open communications with Sam. But there was no response. The rescue team went into all the caves and searched everywhere. But there is no sign of Sam or any one. They saw the rope ladder and checked every inch on both eastside and Westside of the Island.

The ninja guys helped the rescue team by crawling quickly up the rope ladder. They found no one on the Island. The ninja guys re-surrendered after the search was over.

Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix along with all their crewmembers and scientists, the rescue team members, the other police personnel and the ninja guys gathered and began to think about the missing persons.

The head cook prepared lunch for all. They all started eating the hot lunch. Shea asked Matthew to try once again to call Sam. After the lunch is over, Shea asked the rescue team to take some food packets and announce to Sam to come and have lunch with them.

The police helicopter went around the Island and called Sam with the loud speaker. Matthew tied to contact Sam with his computer devise. Matthew suddenly saw the message on his screen. The message said, 'leave the Island immediately. The seawater is going to cover the whole Island. There is no time. Stay on the eastside mound. We will contact you later. Move and act quickly'.

Matthew told Shea about that. Bermann and Shea told everyone to go to the eastside mound again. The ninja guys also sensed that some thing terrible is going to happen soon. They were programmed to sense and handle such situations.

Suddenly big chunks of rocks from the eastside mound and the caves began to collapse and fall down into the valley on the Westside. Everyone ran towards the Lake.

It was like a rain of rocks. Shea and Bermann followed the instructions as exactly delivered by Matthew and evacuated the rescue team members, police personal and the others.

Those who did not believe Matthew's instructions stayed there at the lake. Suddenly the tornadic seawater whirled off every thing and the rescue aircraft landed and safely remained on the top of the mound. The seawater was not so pushy there.

Other helicopters could not fly fast enough to escape the tornadic seawater force. They were hanging on to the helicopter and the seawater propelled them to the top of the mound. The seawater swallowed up all the vehicles, other stationed helicopters and the rescue boats.

Every thing was under seawater within a few minutes. The ninja guys floated on the seawater crying for help. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were holding big uprooted trees and floating with two hundred miles per hour speed this way and that way.

Every thing happened so fast like the legendary Noachian deluge. After half hour the sea became calm. The seawater came to the mound level. The rescue aircraft seemed as it was floating on the water like a seaplane.

Shea, Bermann, Matthew and other rescue team members came out of the aircraft and started walking in half-foot-deep water. The sand went off from the mound. The sandy mound now became the golden mound. The whole Island was glittering like the golden Island. The seawater also became yellow. The aircrew started calling the head quarters asking to send the seaplanes. But there was no radio contact. The rescue aircraft was also swept, drowned and completely destroyed. The news of the deluge reached Hawaii through different satellite source. The only survivors were Bermann, Shea, Matthew and the rescue team members and some police personnel. They were literally standing on the goldhill with no food, no radio and no water.

The survival news did not reach the media at all. The list of the dead was displayed on the big screen. Cathy turned the TV and Feggy had a terrible breakdown. Cathy ran to the bookroom and opened the Internet and contacted Matthew and Sam.

But there was no response from any source. She cried aloud and Feggy became unconscious again. Bermann, Shea, Matthew and other survivors stood on the top of the gold mound as the seawater level raised. There is no way for them to reach anyone, anywhere or anytime. There is no radio apparatus. There are no other survivors. An hour had passed. The seawater level further went down. Now they could see the gold color seabed around. Literally it became the golden Island. There is gold sand all over. The trees on the mound seemed like ailanthic golden trees with golden leaves.

Another hour had passed. The seawater level further went down. Matthew suddenly heard human voices as if coming from the underground. He ran over the golden seafloor jumping and shouting loudly.

The rescue team members thought he became crazy. But the underground voices were loud and clear enough this time that all of them could hear. They looked around and anxiously waited to witness a miracle.

The voices were coming from the new golden valley. They ran and looked down. Sam, Joan, Boris and other old folks were walking up to the gold mound. The new mound seemed like a Chinese man's hat. All the sand, mud and trees were gone. Detective Bermann and Matthew ran down the mound and waved at them. They met together and looked at each other as if there was a resurrection of the dead. Shea hugged Boris and cried like a little kid. Sam and Joan hugged Shea and cried aloud like little children. Matthew was shocked to see Sam speaking to his dad.

Bermann and the police personnel could not believe their survival story. Boris said, ' it is not safe here any more. The seawater will cover the golden Island anytime. Let us go to a safe place. We will show you the place under the water and you won't believe it even after you see it. Come.'

Then they quickly went down towards the golden valley and found the special motor whaleboat floating in the water upside down. They went into the special whaleboat and found plenty of rooms for all of them to move around, plenty of food to eat for another month and even some radio equipment. Once they enter into the boat, no one can see them from out side nor they can see any outsiders.

It will float very slowly until it falls from the valley into the ocean again. It may take hours, days or even months for the boat to move slowly towards the ocean and to turn upside down again as a normal boat.

It temporarily worked like the submerging submarine for them. They searched all the rooms and closets and found the needed things for their survival. They stayed in the boat for a day and night. They could get the news but could not send any messages to the head quarters. The radio equipment is making funny noises.

The government media has finally confirmed the terrible deluge and the inevitable deaths of all the rescue team members and other police personnel. Rodrigo tried to console Feggy, Lillian and Eliza. He constantly contacted the government information center. But according to the latest satellite info no one could survive.

 

The government wanted to send other seaplanes to go there any way and check the Island and see if there are any survivors or not. Rodrigo came with the government media personnel and witnessed the seen.

By that time there was no sign of any Island anywhere in the ocean between Kiritimati Island and Howland Island. The official search work was over.

The government legally convinced Rodrigo, Feggy and Lillian that every thing was over and Shea, Sam, Joan, Bermann and Matthew were no more. They were all officially dead. The mass memorial services were conducted. Rodrigo became the official caretaker of all the estate business as he wished. He developed great plans to become the uncrowned monarch of Jacobsons Foundation. He began to consult all professional lawyers and judges who were experts in such things.

 

Chapter eleven

We have gold for a lifetime plus

The Big Boss Nicholas was greatly disappointed. He was shocked to know all these contretemps. Half of his best men were gone. The Islands disappeared again. But he did not give up his goldhill search.

He gathered others and trained them as ninja guys and taught them the best survival techniques. He finally called Rodrigo and arranged a meeting with him in Kiritimati Island. They both knew each other from the beginning. The Big Boss Nick supplied men whenever Rodrigo needed them for his operations in Hawaii and in New York. Rodrigo told Lillian that he should go out for a week for doctor's check in Kiritimati Island. She wanted to go with him. But he told her he would be back very soon.

The estate business manager Gibson arranged the private plane for Rodrigo. He left for Kiritimati Island. The Big Boss Nick welcomed Rodrigo and showed all his businesses. He has a huge cocaine plant on the Island. He has a big ship construction and small boat manufacturing industry.

He has nightclubs all over the Island. He has sandalwood business. Rodrigo visited all these places and saw the new ninja training school. The Big Boss Nicholas personally showed him all these areas.

They both sat down at the beach resort and discussed the future course of action. Rodrigo became the caretaker of all the businesses of Shea Jacobson in Hawaii. But he is not satisfied. Eliza must become normal again. Until then he cannot know all the other details of the secret assets of Jacobson's family.

There is no way for him to even take his first step to know the information along those lines. Rodrigo already employed a secret charted accountant to go through all the accounts of Boris Jacobson. But he has no about the Swiss Bank accounts of Boris.

Eliza may or may not remember those accounts. Only Boris knows about all the accounts and secret assets. But Rodrigo used Nick to push him into the ocean about twenty years ago. Now he regrets for losing Boris.

He is patiently waiting for Eliza to become normal again so that she can tell him about the other secret assets. He started offering prayers for speedy recovery. What he is taking care of right now is not even two per cent of what Boris Jacobson has. The unending paperwork, passwords, codes, fixed deposits, security bonds, automated renewal arrangements, yearly interests, coconut estates, coconut juice supplying companies, other small businesses, Jacobsons Research Foundation, Board of Trustees and the legal bindings treat Rodrigo only as a caretaker. He cannot buy or sell even a used car on his own without the knowledge of the Board of Trustees.

They know every thing. They know how many cigars he smoke per day, how much Turkish coffee he consumes per day, what kind of shoes he wear, how many pairs he maintains, what are his hobbies, who are his friends, his phone calls, his assignments, his personal hobbies, his dealings with Feggy, his daily activities etc.

It seems that they know his dreams before he sleeps. Rodrigo appreciated Nick for arranging the doctor's check up and enable him to come to the Kiritimati Island. He breathed free air for the first time after accepting the caretaker's job. He did not like the new job at all. He pursued the job because he thought that he would be able to know all the secrets of Jacobsons' riches. Contrarily he entered into a lion's den. Rodrigo is a natural and professed villain. He can lie and deceive even a lie detector very easily.

According to the legal arrangements Rodrigo can spend money for his personal care. He is accountable for all his personal money dealings. He came to Kiritimati Island on a private plane for his private doctor check up. Jacobsons Foundation bears all these expenses. Rodrigo's face turned red while he explained all these nasty backlogging drawbacks to Nick.

Nick listened to every word of Rodrigo and tried to understand the subtleties in his legal boundaries very carefully. He has a distinct legal brain. He gave enough time for his legal brain to plan for a big event this time. According to his plan Rodrigo must get permission from his board of trustees to go with a search team again. The search team would come from Kiritimati Island. It will be much cheaper to hire the search team from Kiritimati Island than from Hawaii. He would go with the search team to personally check every thing.

The new plan sounded very good. But there are some technical questions to answer. The government has officially declared that all the rescue team members were dead. The board of trustees should be convinced that there is still hope for survival. The rescue team may survive in the strange underwater cavities in the Islands. Rodrigo appreciated Nick for this new plan. They both selected the ninja guys to go with them to the Islands. For them the new search is purely for gold. Nick cannot do this project alone. He needs the government approval, legal papers and the right equipment to search for the gold. The local government of Kiritimati Island may suspect to give such permissions to Nick. Therefore he needs Rodrigo. The gold would be split between Rodrigo and Nick as long as they live. The new search team members must be very loyal to both Rodrigo and Nick.

They must guard this golden secret by their lives. The new team should consist of two divers, two operators, two cooks, two gold and diamond specialists, two machinists, two drillers, two security guards, two skiers and ten manual labors.

The seaplane would bring food supplies and four prostitutes every week and would take the extracted gold back to the secret godowns in Kiritimati Island. The gold would be cashed through the regional mafia leaders. Rodrigo would go to Hawaii weekly once to give the weekly reports to the board of trustees.

The plan turned out to be ingeniously wonderful on paper. Now Rodrigo must convince his board of trustees. When both sides agreed every thing, Rodrigo returned to Hawaii with a renewed villainous vigor. Lillian truly believed that the private doctor's special aphrodisiac drug treatment in Kiritimati Island had made Rodrigo strong like a priapic stallion.

She was glad to have him back. Next morning Rodrigo visited Feggy and got her permission to present the new search plan. Feggy was very grateful to Rodrigo for his farsighted loyalty.

Rodrigo gathered all the trustee board members and explained the underwater cavity theory and the new search plan. The members added a few suggestions. For Shea's sake they all agreed to the new search plan. They have granted every thing required and appreciated Rodrigo for his selfless service to Shea.

The chairperson of the board of trustees suggested that a naval officer should accompany the new search team. Rodrigo got every thing to go ahead with his new search plan. The government has granted all the licenses to Rodrigo.

The newly deputed naval officer Willstatter helped Rodrigo in every step. Willy invited Rodrigo and Lillian to his apartment for a kosher lunch and introduced his wife Wilma to them. Rodrigo and Willstatter became more acquainted. Lillian and Wilma also became good friends to the extent to talk about their life partners.

Rodrigo explained how this new search team works. The ladies understood the importance of this search and gladly accepted to sacrifice their partners for a week. They reminded them that they should be back every week with no excuses. Lillian and Wilma drove Rodrigo and Willy to the private airport. Rodrigo and Willy took a private plane and left for Kiritimati Island. Lillian and Wilma came to the bayside guesthouse and spent the whole day talking about Rodrigo and Willy. Lillian told Wilma every little thing about Rodrigo as though she is trying to sell him to her.

Wilma told that her husband Willy is an over strict officer and that's why he did not make much money like his colleagues. Lillian told her that Rodrigo is also not sufficiently paid for his loyal service to Shea's family. Rodrigo was expressing the similar views to Willy on their way to Kiritimati Island. Willy slowly got the point and wished him good luck and encouraged Rodrigo in his new search mission. Willy thought that Rodrigo is a selfless gentleman.

He shared all his naval experiences including the legendary goldhill. He said, 'many pilots videoed the so-called goldhill along these Islands. They suddenly saw such hills here and there. It seemed that there are many such hills. They are visible some times and covered by the seawater most of the times. But interestingly the whales always protect those goldhill for some reason. Many pirates saw the whales literally protecting the goldhill. They would not let the pirates to take the gold as if they know its value. That's very strange. May be they like the gold color. May be they have some unexplained link with gold'.

Rodrigo listened to all these details very carefully. He called Nick and explained the situation. Nick was waiting for Rodrigo with all the crewmembers and the required equipments. He came to the airport and received Rodrigo and Willy. That night they enjoyed the open-air party at Nick's place.

Wilma called Willy and whispered some thing and then said, 'before you come home go and see the special doctor and get that wonderful treatment that Rodrigo got last week. The doc's number is 234-6789. Do not forget'. Willy laughed and then called the number. The doctor said he never gave any herbal treatment to any Rodrigo and he never charged $30,000. Willy did not make it a big deal but noted the point in his diary.

Next morning Willy introduced himself to the regional chief naval patrol officer and showed his papers. He granted permission to use the special sea-rescue jumbo aircraft. Willy took Rodrigo and Nick and flew towards the Goldhill Island.

The new search team crewmembers have already reached the Goldhill Island along with other boats with the right equipment and started their work.

The divers are sending big chunks of gold rocks from below using special baskets attached to rolling belts. The men on the ground level are turning the boiling gold water into gold bricks. They used the latest machinery made enough gold bricks for the first shipment. The rescue aircraft soon landed on the Goldhill Island.

The shape of the Island has completely changed because of the recent natural catastrophe. The Island is very clean and dry. The whole Island is just glittering with pure gold rocks and gold sand.

Nick introduced all his team workers to Rodrigo. He appreciated Nick for his professional workers. The crewmembers showed the dead bodies they found in the underwater cavities.

They also brought the body parts. Some are not recognizable at all. Some are identified by their ID cards. About forty bodies out of sixty dead bodies were identified. Willy took photographs of all the dead bodies. The workers found the personal items of Sam, Shea and Matthew. Rodrigo identified those personal items and confirmed that they belonged to Shea, Sam and Matthew. He could not identify their decomposed bodies.

Willy prepared a detailed report of the bodies and the items found. He got the photographs and also filmed the whole situation. He had special arrangements to transfer the photographs, video film and the reports to his head office right from his jumbo aircraft.

He copied the still camera pictures, videocassette information and got ready to send the entire report to Hawaii. Rodrigo rushed to the computer room and asked Willy to follow him to see the underwater quarry.

Willy saw how the workers were clearing the cavities and extracting gold ore and making little gold bricks. Willy did not ask Rodrigo about the gold bricks. Rodrigo and Willy came to the ground level and Rodrigo explained the matter in a convincing manner. Willy listened to his side of the story and temporarily promised Rodrigo that he would not include this matter in his official report.

In the evening the workers packed the gold bricks in a convenient way to drop the package off from the jumbo aircraft on the Kiritimati shore. Willy kept quiet while the workers hooked the big bundle to his aircraft.

He understood that his life is danger. He asked the pilot to drop the bundle off before they reach the dock. Nick made prior arrangements to receive the dropping bundle. Every thing was set and ready to go.

The pilot started the jumbo aircraft. The aircraft began to take off along with the big bundle. The unexpected terrible thing happened again. The huge whale reached the bundle at a lightning speed and brought the whole aircraft down.

No one was hurt. But the aircraft began to sink along with the gold bundle. The pilot and Willy ejected their seats into the air with automated parachute and slowly came down to the shore.

Rodrigo and Nick jumped from the aircraft and rattled and swam for life with great panic and reached the shore. The whales did not do any damage to the aircraft or the workers boats. The workers dragged Rodrigo and Nick from the waterfront. They spent the whole night talking with a death rattling pitch about the ghost whales.

They finally understood that the whales had sent them the warning saying, 'just don't take the gold'. The whales seemed reasonable and intelligent enough not to hurt the equipment or the workers. Rodrigo said, 'tomorrow we must search and find a Safeway somewhere on the Island and keep all the bricks there. There is no need to hurriedly take the bricks like this'. They quickly agreed to find such a safe place for the bricks on the Island. They were not all thinking about their own safety.

Early in the morning Nick and his assistants took the aircraft and left for Kiritimati Island to bring extra equipment and other food supplies. Rodrigo and Willy gathered all the workers and told them to search for a safe place to keep the bricks. The search began.

  

  

  

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