Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy (23 page)

“Smells like fried chicken,” the sergeant says.
“And they taste like fried chicken, but they’re poison,
they killed big Ed,” Hank says.
“Whoa, slowdown, who are they and who’s Big Ed?”
asked the sergeant.
“I don’t who they are, but somehow the envelopes
killed my partner Ed, there must be poison in the
glue,” Hank insists.
“You think there is poison in the glue, right?” asked
the sergeant.
“Yes that’s right,” Hank says.
“Might I ask, maybe you tipped a few?” The sergeant
asked.
“No I don’t drink, I want to talk to a detective,” Hank
proclaims.
“You want to talk to a detective, do you?” asked the
sergeant.
“Yes, that’s right, I know where these envelopes are,
and there is a crazy Russian mob asshole with a fake
moustache that is going to kill all of us with these
poisoned envelopes,” Hank replies.
“Do you know what my job is?” asked the sergeant.
“I just want to talk to somebody,” Hank says.
“My job, you little turd, is to screen out the wheat
from the chaff, and you are the chaff. Now take you
and your imaginary poison envelopes and get out of
here. Do you understand me?” screams the sergeant.
“I do understand you, but I want to talk to someone,
look I know what I’m saying sounds nuts, but it’s
true, please there’s been a murder,” Hank pleads.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” The sergeant
asks holding up three fingers.
“Three, why, are you nuts?” Hank asks.
“Alright, go up to the second floor and ask for
detective Martinez,” The sergeant says.
Hank charges up to the second floor and squeezes
through the maze of desks, chairs and people until he
comes to a desk with a small placard that says Juan
Martinez. Hank stares at the empty seat behind the
desk.
A clerk sees that Hank is just staring at the empty seat
and asks, “Are you looking for Detective Martinez?”
“Yes,” Hank responds
“He’s been out of town, why don’t you leave him
your number and he’ll contact you. He calls in on a
regular basis and we give him his messages,” says the
clerk.
“I need to talk to someone right now, Can I call him?”
Hank exclaims.
“I’m sorry, detective Martinez is out of town,” the
clerk says.
“Then give me a detective who is not out of town,”
Hank screams.
“Calm down or I’ll have to have you removed, do you
understand?” The clerk says.
“I’m really upset right now, Ed’s been murdered and
these envelopes killed him,” Hanks says beginning to
cry.
“Take it easy, here, says the clerk taking the box of
envelopes and setting them in the middle of Juan’s
desk and saying, “Just leave them in the middle of his
desk. Do you have a card or do you need a piece of
paper?”
“Yes”, I have a card Hank fumbled with shaking
hands for a card, finally finds a crumpled one and sets
it on top of the box of envelopes.
“Good, here, take Juan’s card you can call him when
he gets back,” the clerk pats Hank on the back gently.
Hank objects, “You’re just going to leave that
poisoned shit right in middle of his desk like that?
Are you nuts, what if some poor bastard comes and
grabs one of those envelopes and licks it? You got a
magic marker?” Hank notices one in Juan’s pencil
holder. He takes it and then scrawls in large letters
“POISON” and then draws a skull and cross bones.
He then draws it on all sides of the box and adds
“DANGER” to all four sides.
“Are you happy now?” the clerk asks.
“No, I ain’t happy… that damn Russian killed Big
Ed; it's the beginning of an invasion, I’m telling you!
I’m going to get that S O B!” Hank screams.
Hank’s behavior’s starting to be noticed now, and two
officers come to the clerk’s aid.
“He was just leaving,” the clerk says quietly. She
knows that this man is probably delusional and just
wants him to leave quietly. Hank just nods his head,
the clerk pushes one of Juan’s cards into his shirt
pocket. He senses that he is being pushed out of the
precinct and he doesn’t like it. He was never a big fan
of the police, ever since he was a kid growing up in
Astoria, Queens, and as angry as he was, Hank knew
where the envelopes were and he knew the Russian
would be back.
After Hank leaves, the clerk goes over to Juan's desk
see's the envelopes picks up the box and tosses the
box into the waste basket, mumbling, "Whack jobs!
I'm sick of them!"

When Sam comes in with Beneizen Charles is sitting
on a gurney and says, "Beneizen, nice to see you, I
hope you had a nice vacation and decided to bless us
with your presence… How can I trust the two of you
not to program me to be an accountant?"
"Because you're not going to be a Guard, you’re
going to be what is called a Klacknel. That is very
different than an android or a robot Guard. You will
have an excellent mind, rudimentary emotions, and
the body of a twenty-five year old. But you will
appear to be quite human depending on one’s
definition of human. We're simply transferring your
consciousness. Klacknels in our world are very
special organisms "But why are you asking us to do
this? I still don't understand your motivation,"
Beneizen says with some emotion.
"Beneizen, you promise me you won't try and control
me and my personality will remain the same?"
Charles pleads.
"I promise!" Beneizen responds.
"I trust you," Charles says, "But, if this procedure
should in any way go amiss and I should change in
any abnormal way Ivan will kill all of you. Ivan will
immediately have control of all the Guards."
"Why do you threaten me Charles? You have no real
control anyway," Beneizen responds.
"Don’t underestimate me; I'm doing this because I'm
dying. I'm constantly in pain, this body has failed
me,” Charles complains.
"Just what do you mean by that?" Sam asks.
"Look at me, I'm fat, I have diabetes, high blood
pressure, asthma, I can't get an erection, I suffer from
psoriasis, poor vision, and I know I'm going to die
soon and I'm terrified of dying. When I look inside
there is only blackness. There, is that enough of a list
for you?" whines Charles.
"Charles you
could
go on a diet," Sam adds politely.
"There you go again bringing a negative spin to my
opening of my heart to you," Charles complains and
continues, "no, I'm tired of it all. I want to eat, drink
and screw when I want to. I want to live forever, and I
don't want to feel bad about any of it. So let's get on
with this."
"So Charles, I want you to know exactly what's going
to happen. Your new body is ready and you will be
able to view it before the procedure. You'll then be
sedated and your consciousness, everything that
makes you ‘Charles,’ will then be transferred to the
new body unit, everything except your ‘being’ that is"
Sam explains.
"Will there be any pain?" Charles asks.
"No," Sam replies.
"Why are you agreeable to doing this for me?" says
Charles quietly.
Beneizen answers, "Because I'm hoping if you feel
better about yourself and your life you'll begin to
respond to your life and everything in it in a more
positive way. Charles you're a man of great intellect
and power, but you wield the power like a cudgel
without conscience or real understanding."
Charles responds very differently to Beneizen than to
anyone else. He can sense that Beneizen comes from
a very high place. In his heart he knows that Beneizen
would never lie to him. In Charles’ world, where no
one is trusted and everyone is judged with contempt
and negativity, Beneizen’s presence had a remarkable
effect, even on such a complicated scoundrel.
"Again and for the last time I ask; are you sure you
want to do this?" Beneizen asks.
"I'm sure," Charles says with sincerity.
"Then so be it," Beneizen says and disappears from
view.
"Where did he go?" Charles asks.
Sam smiles at Charles and asks, "Do you want to see
your new body?"
Charles just nods and Sam leads him into an
operating suite with two operating tables. Lying on
one of them is a perfectly formed younger Charles
Dean. "He's too beautiful to be me," sighs Charles.
Charles lies on the second operating table looking
toward the ceiling. In his mind he sees himself with
Doris and Beneizen again walking down the trail
from Half Dome. He sees himself, young and athletic
his strong handsome body and rugged good looks set
him apart and are perfect for a career in politics.
Doris walks closely behind him following his every
move. Like cats they almost run down the mountain
side jumping from rock to rock in an almost perfect
ballet. Beneizen effortlessly follows close behind.
The way they inhabited their bodies was remarkable,
there was complete confidence that nothing would
happen to them even though one wrong step would be
the end of them by falling thousands of feet to their
death. Suddenly Charles breaks the momentum and
stops and Doris screams, "Why are you stopping, that
was incredible?"
"Charles looks out over Yosemite Valley as tears
come to his eyes, and says, "
That
is incredible," as he
points to the view below. He sees the vast valley with
the waterfalls cascading far down below. "That's what
I want to do with my life, to preserve that and to keep
us from destroying this beautiful planet of earth."
"I want to preserve all the beautiful people." Doris
says thoughtfully.
Charles is touched by her passion. He looks into her
eyes and says, "I love you Doris Abernathy, "I guess
we're a team," and he kisses her as Beneizen looks on
from a distance.
Charles eyes open wide as he lay on the gurney, but
then he closes them and sighs as he slowly drifts off
into a deep sleep. He feels his consciousness being
sucked into a machine. He sees his life unreel before
him and bits of his personality broken down into code
and organized by type and years of service. He could
almost see the fact that the personality has no master.
It is by its very nature chaotic.
But each human being has their own ‘ordered chaos,’
based on their own particular education and
background from which they were imprinted by life
with a false set of values. But each part of the
personality thinks it is "I" and master. This is a very
interesting problem for a machine. How do you
transfer ones personality through a machine so that
when the person awakens they have a sense of
themselves? Therein lies the problem; the personality
has no sense of self, that sense of self was left back in
Charles enormous carcass.
A few hours later Charles woke up in his new body.
He immediately felt a sense of well-being that he
hadn’t felt for decades; he felt calm, peaceful and
almost relaxed. The first thing he saw was Sam sitting
next to his bed reading.
"I feel like myself, just a lot better," Charles says
wonderingly.
"I'm glad to hear that," Sam replied.
Charles sits up on the side of the bed and starts
moving various parts of his body and asks, "Do I eat
food, or do I plug myself into the wall socket?"
"Both if you like," Sam explains.
Over the next few weeks Charles was happy. He told
his friends that he had been given a special procedure,
a miracle really. He was as sharp as ever in the House
of Representatives. He played sports with an ease and
success he had never known. His golf game went
from the 120's to the 80's. He was more efficient than
he had ever been. He was charming, kind and
considerate. Even at EOJ he was more understanding
and compassionate. Charles was in all ways a new
man. He ate what he wanted. He returned to being a
true politician... He slept with his aides, double
crossed other congressional members and took bribes
from the lobbyists thus gaining the respect of his
fellow legislators.
But when he went home at night and was alone he
slowly began to become aware that something was
missing. He had no sense of self or being or ‘soul.’
He began to experience himself as a machine. He
began to think, "What have I done? This must be
what happened to Faust and how he felt. Have I sold
my soul to the devil? Now I think I know why Doris
allowed herself to die.”

Beneizen stood at the end of a long pier looking out
over the azure waters of the large lagoon in the Banda
Sea. Palm trees wave gently over the long beach’s
edge. A few billowing white clouds hang on the
horizon like a fringe for the deep blue morning sky.
Far in the distance Beneizen could see the supply ship
from Ambon appear. From the shore over thirty long
canoes headed out, each cutting a small, deep wake in
the glistening, almost still water. All of the men and a
few of the women came out in long boats to greet any
visitors. They were fully dressed with gigantic
headdresses made of feathers from the Bird of
Paradise. There were bones through many of the
men’s noses and the women were bare-chested with
flowers in their hair. At the prow of each long boat
was a warrior holding a long spear in one hand and a
war club in the other. He stood in perfect balance on a
platform maybe six inches” square. Their dark skins
glistened in the morning sun. As he watched the
canoes increased speed in their race toward the supply
boat. The speed of these boats was amazing, the
rowers pulling in perfect harmony.
To this day inhabitants of the Tanimbar Islands are
fierce warriors. They killed the early Christian
missionaries, the early Muslim invaders, and almost
anyone who was unfortunate enough to land on their
islands. Even modern technology had left these
Islands alone. The impenetrable jungle and lack of
any valuable natural resources left the Indonesian
government with a hands-off attitude as not being
worth the effort. The government had finally made a
treaty with the Tanimbar people. The agreement was
simple; they would stop eating people and shrinking
their heads and agree to be part of Indonesia with no
other strings attached. They agreed and thus they are
still to this day unknown, very mysterious, and very
exotic. Their islands have some of the most beautiful
coral reefs in the world. Beneizen had made friends
with the islanders and was allowed to stay on the
island because he healed their sick and loved them for
being exactly what they were, independent in a world
ruled by dependence.
Chase and Ally had flown from LA to Singapore,
Singapore to Manado on the island of Sulawesi and
then on to Ambon, then hitched a ride from there on a
supply boat and now stood at the bow as it slowly
approached the lagoon. The smell of cloves, nutmeg,
and cinnamon lightly perfumed the air. The smell of
the sea mixed with the fragrance of spice and flowers
was intoxicating. They could hear the drums of the
women in the back of the long boats. At the stern of
each long boat was a horn almost 10 feet long very
similar to horns used in Tibet. The long boats slowly
approached the larger ship. The deep sound of their
horns filled the lagoon and with the sound of the
drums brought one back to a sense of being
connecting to the earth. There were three drums; one
very large almost 2 feet in diameter, a middle sized
drum and a small, higher pitched drum. Up until 1950
the island’s inhabitants would have terrified any small
ships coming near the islands. The large supply ship
sounded its fog horn in response. The native boats
stopped almost on a dime. All the men dropped their
oars and picked up great spears and at the signal of
the warrior at the head of each boat they hurled the
spears against the steel hull of the ship.
Ally turned to the captain, asking, “Why are they
throwing their spears against the hull of the ship?”
The captain was a tall blond Dutchman with a skin
like leather, and he replied, saying, “They believe that
by throwing their spears they are driving away the
evil spirits that we bring. They believe we are sick
people and that we pollute their environment with our
negativity, technology, and bad attitudes. After their
treaty with the Indonesian government they agreed
not to kill anybody, but they were allowed to throw
their spears against the ship hulls. They are an
undefeated people. Decades ago, the Indonesians sent
army after army to subdue them but each time they
were slaughtered to the last man, eaten and their
heads shrunk and hung on poles on the beach. They
only made peace because the Indonesian artillery was
killing the trees, and they believe the trees are their
grandparents. Anthropologists have been trying to
study them for years, but Beneizen is the only
outsider who has ever been allowed to live among
them.”
“Why is that,” Chase asked?
“I’m not sure but he brings them something they
need, with no other motive and they seem to sense
that,” the captain says, and adds, “Be careful, they
may eat you as well.”
“Beneizen is our father,” Ally says.
“He is? I didn’t know he had any children,” the
captain says.
“We have never met him,” Ally continues.
“Oh, then that makes two of us,” replies the captain.
The supply boat lets its great anchor down in a sandy
section of the lagoon. The Captain says, “You must
jump into the water and allow the local people to
rescue you, or you won’t be allowed to stay on the
island. I will have your belongings sent ashore in the
tenders. Go - jump!”
Ally and Chase jump fifty feet into the water below.
The leading long boat quickly picks them up and they
are immediately made to lay flat and are balanced on
the heads of the rowers. The drummers begin a new
rhythm, almost a rock and roll beat. It’s very
intoxicating. Ally and Chase lay flat knowing
instinctively not to move. Chase looks up at the blue
sky and feels the motion of the boat and the rock
steady arms of the rowers. He tries to turn his head
and look at the small pier coming slowly towards
them. The rowers begin to chant and a lone flute
player begins to accompany the drums. Chase sees
Beneizen appear before him as he and Ally are passed
up to natives standing on the wooden pier. The music
continues and the men begin to dance and chant. They
move in unison around the couple taking very small
rhythmical steps. The chief warrior enters the circle;
he is taller than the rest of the inhabitants. He takes a
large knife from his sheath, goes up to Ally and cuts
her blouse from her body. He strips her of all clothes
and does the same thing to Chase. Chase tenses, ready
to react against the warrior but stops as he hears in his
head, “Don’t son.”
Their clothes are gathered into a pile and thrown into
a fire on the beach. The natives continue dancing and
four women come into the circle and wash and anoint
Chase and Ally with perfumed oils. After this has
been accomplished they are given sarongs, Chase is
given a crown of flowers and Ally is presented with a
lei. The women leave and the chief approaches Ally
and Chase again. Chase looks up into his eyes and the
chief smiles. He then moves to Ally, he smells her
neck and hair, goes down on one knee and smells her
pubic hair. He again stands and looks into her eyes
and smiles. Ally smiles back guardedly. The circle
moves back and Beneizen walks forward and stands
before Chase and Ally.
“Welcome to paradise, my children,” he says smiling.
“Thank you father,” they both say in unison.