Chapter Thirty Six
The next day, it was as if nothing had ever happening to me. The swelling in my brain had completely vanished, and every single bodily function was working normally. In fact, I felt better than I ever had in my entire life. My body felt stronger, my brain felt sharper: I was ready for just about anything that anyone could throw at me.
Except for a speed boat.
After a very short time in the Aqua base medical facility, Doctor Bah gave me the all clear, and I was able to sleep in my own bed that night. The doctor wanted me to sleep in the ward so he could keep an eye on me, but I knew that I was fine. I was eager to find out what had been happening, and how long I had been unconscious for, but Babajide insisted that I rest and relax and wait for the meeting he had called for the next morning.
After a wonderful night’s sleep, I was eager to see everyone again, so I arrived at the conference room fifteen minutes early. The room, which was the same one we had used for our first meeting with the Ventus team, was now decorated and furnished back to how it originally looked. Except this time, it was even blander then before, as the fish tank had been removed.
Five minutes before the start of the meeting, Niyol, Aura and Sefarina entered, and all three of them gave me a hug and told me how happy they were that I was alright. Shortly after that, Gamba, Shasa and Visola arrived. I had seen all three of them the night before, as they had come to check in on me at various intervals throughout the evening, so we didn’t need to be overly affectionate with one another, but they were regardless.
I think they were just happy that I was alive and well.
I took a seat at the end of the long table, with Visola sitting on my right, and Sefarina opposite her. After looking around the room for a few seconds, it made me chuckle to think about how much had changed in such a short amount of time. The seven of us had started out as enemies, and now it looked as though we were becoming good friends.
At ten on the dot, Sigwald and Babajide entered, but neither of them looked happy to see me. They both looked relieved to know I was walking again, but they obviously had something far more pressing on their minds.
“Okay,” Babajide announced powerfully as he took his seat at the head of the table next to Sigwald, “let’s get Madzimoyo up to speed.”
“Well, for starters, you’re dead.” Sigwald’s revelation came as a shock to me and I frowned in confusion.
“Is that really the first thing to say to someone who just came out of a coma?” Babajide was annoyed, but I was even more astounded to know that I had actually been in a worse condition then I originally thought.
“How long…?” I asked.
“It’s only been nine days since the Malabo Massacre,” Sigwald told me, “oh, and by the way, that’s what the press are calling it.”
“Why?” I questioned.
“Because over two hundred people died in the oil rig explosion, and dozens more went down on Mr Price’s shipping container. At first, people speculated as to whether or not Mr Price himself was responsible, but once they recovered his body…”
“Yes,” Babajide interrupted, pre-empting my question, “Price Industries paid to pull the boat out of the harbour, and help with any damage the toxic waste may have caused. At the moment it looks like there have been minimal side effects, but it is hard to tell.”
“Oh,” I replied sombrely.
“But going back to Mr ‘Chewy’ Chuck Price,” Sigwald continued, “once his body had been recovered; it was obvious that he had been murdered. Then when his plans to dump the toxic waste and invest in oil from a rival nation were uncovered, all hell broke loose!”
“Literally?” I asked, stunned.
“No,” Babajide answered, rolling his eyes at Sigwald. “Many countries around the world are struggling with how to respond, and there is a lot of growing tension between them.”
“Oh yes, and the Nations United Against Global Extinction were first on site in Malabo to say how disgusted they were with what Mr Price was doing,” Aura seemed furious, but she held it all together under her calm exterior.
“Was SHE on the news?” I wondered.
Everyone shook their heads at the same time.
“She doesn’t have the guts to be the public face of NU-AGE, not yet,” Niyol informed me.
“But that’s why we’re all dead,” Shasa chipped in, “We all decided, the six of us, that we should pretend that we never escaped the ship. That way the Inimicus will, for the first time ever, be one step behind us.”
“I hope you didn’t mind us making the decision without you,” Sefarina said quietly, her big eyes staring at me tenderly.
I shook my head. “Of course not! I think you’ve made the right choice! It makes logical sense to try to outsmart them.”
“Well, I’m not sure we have,” Visola argued, “because I don’t think that SHE will think that the oil rig fire just went out by itself. And where are the bodies? They recovered Mr Price’s…”
“We’ve already discussed this,” Shasa responded in annoyance, “and we really shouldn’t go over it all again!”
“Fine!” Visola folded her arms across her chest and sat there defensively.
The room went silent, as a tense atmosphere began to envelop us.
“I thought you might like to know,” Sigwald started, “that Captain Harris’ family has been informed of his… of what happened to him.”
“He’s going to receive a medal of honour,” Niyol said proudly, “from the Queen herself.”
I was stunned, but also delighted. I knew how much the Royal family meant to English people, and lots of other people around the world, so to receive a medal from the Queen must have been a very high honour indeed.
“Well good for him,” I congratulated, “he deserves it.”
Babajide cleared his throat indicatively.
“Now that you’re dead, or at least the Inimicus think that you’re dead, we have to move fast. We have been discussing the right thing for us to do, waiting for a response from you.”
“You mean, you were waiting to see if I would live or die?”
Babajide’s gaze moved quickly away from mine.
“We had to make some very difficult decisions,” Shasa consoled me, “and it was very hard for us. All of us.” She looked over at Babajide who, for the first time ever, looked genuinely emotional.
“We thought you were going to die,” he stated clearly, trying to cover over his sentiments.
“I didn’t,” Gamba added proudly.
“Anyway,” Babajide continued, “The two Primus decided that we should leave you behind.”
Although I was hurt, I knew that they had made the most rational decision. It made no sense to wait for me to recover, especially when both of our enemies were out there planning and scheming.
“That’s fine,” I said, trying not to disguise my true feelings, “That was the most logical thing to do, under the circumstances.”
“Yes, but we don’t have to now,” Visola told me, “we’re all together again. We’re a team. You saved my life, Madz, and you saved Shasa’s. I would never have left you behind, so I’m really happy we don’t have to.”
Visola glared towards her sister and then pouted hatefully.
“Stop this!” Shasa sighed loudly, then scowled back at her.
“All I’m saying,” Visola replied, “is that I’m happy that the most intelligent person in the group is finally awake.”
“Let’s not start this again, please,” Sefarina begged.
“We all know how you feel, Vee,” Aura added.
“This isn’t helpful!” Niyol tried to interject, but it was too late. Visola began to point and shout at Shasa, who tried her best not to argue back but was, of course, drawn into the squabble without realising it. Aura and Sefarina tried to calm my sisters down, all the while Gamba, Niyol and our mentors Babajide and Sigwald sat in silence.
I knew my sisters well enough to imagine what the last week
had been like, especially when they were emotionally fraught worrying about me. I jumped up, standing above everyone at the table.
“Wait a second!” I called out over the shouting and shrieking, but nothing happened.
“SHUT UP!” Gamba screamed, silencing everyone in the room. “Madz wants to say something.”
Visola dropped her finger, which was pointed at Shasa, to her side, and then slunk back into her seat. Everyone else glanced towards one another nervously.
“What are you talking about?” I stammered desperately. “You keep saying that we are going somewhere. Where are we going?”
But before anyone even replied, I knew what they were going to say. It all clicked into place. Why we had to pretend to be dead. Why the others were going to leave without me. Why this mission was so important to all of us.
I remembered what SHE had said to us back on the container ship, when we were all tied up.
…once I kill the Terra Twins, Operation ‘Kickstart’ will begin, bringing about a New Age…
We knew where SHE would be and we knew what SHE was going to do. And SHE thought we were dead. We had a huge advantage.
“We’re going to China, aren’t we?” My words felt massive in the fairly small room.
“Yes,” Babajide nodded, “we’re going to go and save the Terra Twins.”
THE END OF PART TWO OF THE ELEMENTAL TETRALOGY
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART THREE OF THE ELEMENTAL TETRALOGY:
TERRA
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