Of all the freight to be hauling the “Perla Oceana” was carrying a load of frog legs for a New Orleans wholesaler. But who cared, the Captain asked no questions and arranged two rather comfortable cabins for them. One had two pair of bunk beds and the other a single. Tinker took the single and the guys got the bunk beds.
Once they were settled in they all met in Tinker’s cabin – it must have been an officer’s quarters – it had a table, a single bed and a lavatory. The guys had to make do with the ‘head’ (Navy lingo for bathroom) down the passageway.
They all huddled around the table and intently studied a map the captain had provided. Based upon where they started (Indonesia) and were they were destined (New Orleans) the sea passage was roughly 10,500 miles. At a speed of 24 knots (28 mph) the trip was going to take nearly two weeks! Now they could really begin deciphering the alien documents – Sarge had said earlier, “We’ve got a long time before we reach New Orleans.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
NEW ORLEANS, LA
The hours turned into days and the days into a week. Everyday was the same – sweltering hot and ungodly miserable; you see there was one slight shortcoming the Kim brothers forgot to mention - the “Perla Oceana” was not air-conditioned.
Ever sail the tropics in a tramp steamer with no air-conditioning? Right, the fun part stopped the first day they tried scampering across the scorching hot metal decking plates.
Remember, as a kid walking barefoot from your motel room across the blistering hot sand to the cool refreshing ocean water? That ocean side white sand was a few hundred degrees cooler that the grey metal of the "Perla Oceana's" promenade deck. The metal was so hot it burned right through to the soles of their feet when they ventured out onto it.
What about the nights when the outside temperature nearly equaled what it had been earlier in the day and the air inside those cabins must have been close to 110 degrees.
Remember the “Ocean Pearl” was carrying a shipload of frog legs. Did someone forget to tell them they stink? No - stink is not the right choice of word. It is being too kind. After the first 100-degree day their nostrils olfactory receptors almost stopped functioning, at least they wished they had. The stench was almost unbearable.
But as dedicated troopers they kept right on working. Everyday they labored over the documents, the manuscripts, the graphs and the blueprint type drawings. They converted symbols to words, symbols to letters and symbols to numbers. They were almost to the point where they could ‘read’ some of the datum that the aliens had produced.
Sarge had brought a number of the aliens ‘CDs’ with him in the ruck’ but they would have to wait until they could build another CD player to discover what they contained. For the present they could do nothing with them. But they sure were pretty!
As they worked they would query each other on their theory as to why the ‘les hommes en argent’ had been processing the Earth’s photos through the ‘Edisons’ to create CDs. Then why transmit them to the star Betelgeuse in the Constellation of Orion. They each came up with different theories but in the end they really did not have a reasonable explanation. They questioned where ‘the silver men’ had gone after killing all their captives – excluding Tinker of course. Where are they now? Could the four of them still be in danger?
“Little ‘S’ was the next to speak – “Guys you know my field of study is not Astronomy. But this I know – Betelgeuse is a super red giant star that is roughly 430 light years from earth. I don’t know in miles but it is the distance that light can travel in a year x 430. Light moves at 186,272 miles every second. How many seconds in 430 years? It is as hot as heck and cannot support life. Why those grey morons would be sending data in its direction is as much a mystery to me as you. One possible explanation is Betelgeuse could possibly support a planetary system – this is pure conjecture ever scientists in the field would deny such as occurrence but those turkeys have not witnessed what we have seen. Right now I would believe our moon is made of green cheese. What we have on this table, if known to the scientific community, would rewrite the textbooks gentlemen! Countries would go to war for its knowledge.
The four of us must make, like we did as children, a blood pact (where each person pricks their finger and joins it to another’s finger – blood brothers for life) not literally but symbolically. This information we possess MUST remain only with us and Kim and Su Lei. Around the table each in order said, “So Be It”. The compact was established and sealed.
Sarge spoke up, “When we get established the first thing we will do is re-build Pac Toul’s laboratory. And once completed we will find out who murdered our President John F. Kennedy, after that who knows, the world is wide open to us.
* * * * *
Since leaving Indonesia, moving into the Indian Ocean, around the tip of Africa, into the South Atlantic and finally home to the United States through the Gulf of Mexico Big 'S', Little 'S', Tinker and Spook had gotten accustomed to sleeping in beds and not on the ground. They were not constantly looking over their shoulder for the blue beret either. In less than two weeks ‘Perla Oceana’ arrived at its destination - New Orleans. Prior to docking a small boat was provided and the captain supplied them with two M-16s, two .45 cal handguns and a sealed brown envelope. Wished them ‘velocita di dio’ (God Speed in Italian) the four bid the Ocean Pearl a fond adieu and shoved off to The Crescent City.
Having disembarked from the ship and resting upon the solid ground of New Orleans, LA they opened the envelope. It was from the Kim brothers instructing them to find the motel ‘Boudreaux’. A small map was enclosed. Arrangements had already been made. All expenses were to be taken care of by the ‘Company’.
The ‘Boudreaux’ wasn’t the Marriott but it was only a couple blocks from the docks and easy for them to get to without attracting attention. The management was on the payroll of the ‘Agency’ no questions would be asked. They were once again provided with two adjoining rooms – except these two had an interior door connecting the two rooms that made for a more convenience traverse between rooms. Otherwise they would have to step outside and walk down the balcony in plain view of prying eyes. The brown envelope instructions contained cash, passports and information instructing them to stay at the ‘Boudreaux’ until contacted by Bud or Lou.
The table in the guy’s room was used as the worktable at this location. They were staying on the second floor and thought the documents on the table would be safer being guarded by the three gents than by Tinker.
Sleep in this part of New Orleans was difficult owing to the fact the ‘Boudreaux’ was located in, what could be called, the seedy part of town. Their night’s sleep was constantly interrupted by screams, gunfire and the sound of police or ambulance sirens. The motel desk clerk provided their food so they never had to stick their heads outside their rooms.
Each day they followed the same routine as on the ‘tramp steamer’ – breakfast; work on the documents; lunch (or dinner as Little ‘S’ insisted it be called); more work on the alien material; dinner (again supper to Little ‘S’) a couple hours of relaxation watching the television or reading the newspapers. The motel management left a daily paper at their door each morning so they could keep up with current events. Most local news in New Orleans centered on someone who had been shot, someone getting shot, or the police chasing the person or persons that did the shooting. With this type of local news the four of them did not want to venture outside their rooms!
One night as they all sat around the table working on the alien documents Sarge got up and walked across the room to pour himself another cup of coffee - suddenly the glass in the front window shattered with a crashing noise, the curtain fell out as if blown by the wind and Sarge yelled, “Gunshot!” and fell prostrate on the floor.
The others following Sarge’s lead leaped from the table and joined him on the rug. “Someone just took a shot at me from the street below!”
Without hesitation Sarge grabbed one of the .45 caliber pistols a
nd bolted out the front door. Little ‘S’ followed close behind with one of the M-16s. Sarge hollered as he left the room, “Stay here with the other M-16 Spook and guard Tinker and the documents!”
Running out onto the balcony they could faintly see in the distance three men dressed in black running down the deserted street, Sarge fired three quick shots in their direction. The three figures, giving no indication of being hit, turned and ran quickly into an alleyway.
Sarge and Little ‘S’, taking two and three steps at a time were down the stairs in a flash in hot pursuit. The sounds of their running feet striking the asphalt was all that could be heard except a crashing noise in the alley ahead as trash cans were being overturned. Sarge and Little ‘S’ approached the alley with caution not knowing who or what to expect. Slowly investigating around the corner they saw nothing out of the ordinary except the strewn trash all over the place. That was definitely ordinary. No one was visible and a 6’ chain-link fence blocked the rear of the alley.
Sarge excitedly said, “Good, now we’ve got'em trapped.” They ventured further into the alley but still no one was present. Approached the fence they saw a hole had been cut and the shooters had used it to make their escape.
Cussing Sarge said, “I thought we had them… wait what is that at the top of the cut hole?”
As he reached to retrieve the cloth item snared in a link of the fence a dark image suddenly appeared from behind the cover of a huge dumpster on the other side of the fence… Sarge jerked backwards fully knowing he had let his guard down. No sooner than Sarge recognized the darken form as a man Sarge raised his pistol to shoot… the hidden assailant was faster… he fired… almost simultaneously Little ‘S’ fired his M-16 from over Sarge’s shoulder. The explosion of the rifle erupted inches next to Sarge’s ear. The gunman’s shot went wide of his aim, Little ‘S’ was dead on. The assailant had been hit.
A blood-curdling scream alerted the two military men that speed was not as important as accuracy. Both men slipped through the hole and cautiously made their way to the dumpster… the corner of the rusty metal trash container and a large part of the ground in the immediate vicinity was blood spattered… but there was no body - the other two must have helped him escape… Little ‘S’ grinned, “I got him…damn right you s.o.b.… Teach you to mess with a Scarburg.”
“What...? What was that you said?” Sarge said slapping his head and ear with his hand trying to get his hearing to return.
Little ‘S’ walked back to the fence leaned down and retrieved an object caught in the wire, turned and handed it to Sarge without speaking a word….
It... it... was a blue beret…
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE ‘MYSTERY’ SOLVED
The next morning Sarge was determined to find his nemesis Colonel Nikita Ergorov. He knew in his ‘gut’ that blue beret belonged to ‘Thumper’ and by damn he was tired of running.
A showdown was needed.
Big ‘S’ was up early, finished his dressing with one of the Army .45 caliber automatic pistols poked into his pants, hidden by his shirt. Little ‘S’ and Spook did their best to talk him out of this fruitless undertaking but Sarge would have none of it – his mind was made up.
Leaving the ‘Boudreaux’ he was not alone – Little ‘S’ was not going to let him confront the Russian Special Forces Blue Beret alone. Both descended the concrete steps of their current ‘home’ and turned up the street towards the main tourist section of New Orleans.
A couple of blocks and they turned onto Bourbon Street. The tourists were already out and beginning to fill the street and shops but nowhere did they get a glimpse of the Colonel.
* * * * *
Approaching a corner on the main drag Sarge noticed a tall thin man, dressed in all black. He was standing on a wooden crate with a Bible in one hand and slamming it with the other one as he preached. No, he was not the Colonel. Not even one of his men. He was just one of a number of itinerant preachers that frequented the various corners yelling to the passing crowd that “The End is Coming”; “Repent”, “Hell is Real” or holding signs which stated, "John 3:16".
This particular preacher caught Sarge’s attention as he and Little ‘S’ walked by. It wasn’t his appearance but what he was saying. Sarge stopped and looked up at the man who continued quoting his Bible verses. The one, which stopped Sarge dead in his tracks, was the mentioning of Ezekiel’s vision of seeing a flying chariot that had wheels within wheels.
“Damn...! Damn...! That’s IT...! That’ IT...! Damn...!” Sarge yelled out loud.
The old preacher hearing Sarge standing right in front of him cussing like a drunken sailor said, “Think of your soul my brethren!! Repent! Repent you heathen! Your headed to HELL!!”
“Hell…? Hell no...! I’m headed back to my motel to get my Bible!” Sarge hollered turning back towards the ‘Boudreaux’.
“Praise the Lord,” the preacher said looking skyward. Not knowing that Sarge was not responding to his spiritual message but to his actual words, “a wheel within a wheel."
Grabbing Sarge’s arm Little ‘S’ asked, “What’s going on Pop? Are we going on after the Colonel or what?”
Sarge responded without stopping. “Remember Tinker describing the ‘flying saucer’ that brought her to Pac Toul? It had “wheels within wheels” and this old fire and brimstone preacher is quoting from Ezekiel.”
“So? Does that mean something?”
“Something... something... Son, it means everything! Follow me, when we get back to the motel I’ll explain!”
Reaching the motel in a matter of minutes Sarge, followed closely by Little ‘S’, burst into the room scaring Tinker and Spook nearly to death. Yelling like a mad man he was hollering, “Get me that blood stained Bible! Where is it? Find it, quick!”
Sarge was tearing the room apart throwing things in every direction. “Its here somewhere…yeah...! yeah...! Here it is!”
“What happened Little ‘S’ did he get hold of some left-handed cigarettes (weed)?”
Little ‘S’ answered. “It was a preacher on the street corner that set him off!”
"A preacher...! What?” Said Spook. "This doesn't make any sense!"
“Let’s just see what he is up to.”
Sarge with Bible in hand turned to his assembled team. “The “Z” in blood on the front,” showing them the cover, “means EZEKIEL!” Opening the Bible’s cover he started counting the books in the 1st Section - the Old Testament. “Yep, Ezekiel is the 26th Book of the Old Testament - the 1st Section of the Bible. The 2nd Section would be the New Testament. Now lets flip over to that Book and turn to Chapter 1 and see what verses 5-26 have to say.”
Turning the pages quickly he found the answer to the ‘mystery’. “Wow...! Listen, listen to this….”
“Wait a minute Pop there’s a Bible in the night stand in the Revised Standard Version… I believe I would understand it better… can I get it?”
“Sure, grab it and hand it to me.” Sarge opened and read:
Ezekiel Chapter 1, Verses 5 - 26
5 From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human,
6 except that each had four faces and four wings.
7 Their legs were straight, and their feet had hooves like those of a calf and shone like burnished bronze.
8 Under each of their four wings I could see human hands. So each of the four beings had four faces and four wings.
9 The wings of each living being touched the wings of the beings beside it. Each one moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
10 Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.
11 Each had two pairs of outstretched wings—one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body.
12 They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they move
d straight forward in any direction without turning around.
13 The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and lightning seemed to flash back and forth among them.
14 And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning.
15 As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels touching the ground beside them, one wheel belonging to each.
16 The wheels sparkled as if made of beryl. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.
17 The beings could move in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved.
18 The rims of the four wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes all around.
19 When the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too.
20 The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went.
21 When the beings moved, the wheels moved. When the beings stopped, the wheels stopped. When the beings flew upward, the wheels rose up, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.
22 Spread out above them was a surface like the sky, glittering like crystal.
23 Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others’ wings, and each had two wings covering its body.
24 As they flew, their wings sounded to me like waves crashing against the shore or like the voice of the Almighty or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings.
25 As they stood with wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them.
26 Above this surface was something that looked like a throne made of blue lapis lazuli. And on this throne high above was a figure whose appearance resembled a man.
“Damn...! Damn...!" Spook was the first to speak. This outburst was enormous since Spook was careful never to use profanity unless overly excited. “That’s Tinkers description of their craft to a tee!”