The Alignment: Ingress

CHAPTER 17

It was raining when Conrad awoke in the middle of the jungle, flat on his back and surrounded by eight metallic pillars. The raindrops on his face felt…cleansing. He sat up and saw Hank on the ground about ten meters away, groaning. His eyes opened and they looked, well, less green.

Conrad put his finger to his mouth and felt a full row of teeth. “How do I look, Hank?”

“Like hell.”

Conrad breathed a sigh of relief. “Did what I think happened actually happen?”

“Yeah,” said Hank, slowly sitting up. “I think we just got teleported a few hundred miles. This portal must be connected to the one under the crater.”

At that moment there were loud voices coming from the jungle. Leaves parted and out came none other than Serena Serghetti and a party of officials from the Sudanese government.

She was looking straight at him, and Conrad suddenly doubted it was for the first time that day. “Are these the men, Garamba?” she asked a tall, slight man.

Garamba pointed at Hank and said, “Hollywood.”

“Hollywood has littered all over your sacred site, Garamba.” She addressed the two of them. “UNESCO received reports of religious, archaeological and environmental desecration taking place here. Now I arrive to see you two looking like a couple of frat boys after a night you can’t remember. All that’s missing are the beer bottles and pizza boxes.”

“Actually,” Conrad began to speak, but she cut him off.

“You’re going to have to clean this all up,” she demanded. “You’re going to make it look like nothing ever happened.”

Conrad was confused, but Hank seemed to get it in a heartbeat.

“Like nothing ever happened. Of course, Sister Serghetti. And my apologies to Mr. Garamba and the people of Sudan for any mess my film crew made here. I will pay you for your troubles. But I would still appreciate an interview with you, sir.”

Garamba looked delighted, then signaled to his countrymen. They turned back into the brush, picking up bits of real trash the crew left behind along the way.

“The French were right,” Garamba was telling his minions, although Conrad heard one of them call him Uncle Emmanuel. “When you want things done, you call the nun.”

Conrad wanted to call out, “But she’s a sister!” But he bit his tongue instead, and thanked God he had teeth to do it.

Serena lingered for a moment. “Looks like they missed some waste,” she told him, but her soft face betrayed some feelings.

Conrad pointed a finger at her. “You kissed me, Serena.”

“I did not!” she said, her cheeks turning red.

Conrad rose to his feet and looked into her warm, brown eyes. “You took advantage of an unconscious man in the middle of nowhere! Just like you did beneath the pyramids of Meroe.”

“In your dreams, you wanker,” she told him, and turned and walked away into the jungle.

Conrad just stood there, staring at nothing now, and heard Hank laughing.

“You heard the woman, Conrad,” Hank said. “It’s all in your head. Nothing happened here.”