Chapter 5 THE GRAND SCHEME

A long time ago, when the earth side of the universe was a torch stone for sociocultural and political activities, its seven tribes lived side by side around the web-like map with its seven cardinal points occupied by the Aztek, the Suzerians, the Spartans, the Red Indians, the Kloribathans, the Pharaohs and the Zulu warriors, each living in a carved out province in the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, North, South and to the West respectively. Each tribe ruling at a fixed-term period, with Tektona Grandis at the centre of the Earth being Its administrative capital.

At that time, the humane side of the tribes was at its raw best; reflecting in the way they live, love, parent, lead and worship. With a sure justice system where citizens were either rewarded or punished instantly according to the weight of their crimes or achievements, without feet dragging, fear or favour, irrespective of their social placement in the society but the Suzerian tribes became greedy and wanted to keep more of the power to themselves. This changed the lovely rhythm of things to the worse at hypersonic speeds. They began with the upsetting of the Kloribathan tribe whose turn it was to rule, causing serious upheavals in their territory, leading to the dismantling of the goodness in their culture; denuding the dignity of their people which brought two-thirds of their territory under the Suzerians control and the other one third which did not fall for to the Suzerians firepower harbours Mishkagham Vwangshak, who was to take over rulership of Earth, plans to incite other tribes on the Suzerians.

Mishkagham Vwangshak  and said to him, "Kampus, I need a favour from you." Kampus, who thinks Mishkagham shouldn't be asking of favours, asked him, "what favours?" And then laughed out loud. "What favours would a trinket of no value offer to an important figure like you?" Mishkagham Vwangshak replied saying, "I have an important project to bring to life and I sought after someone with the definition of catastrophe donning their body, soul and intellect to work with. I want you to tumble the city inside-out and bring before me the person with such credentials not later than midnight."

"It will be an insult to the tribe to tumble an entire city the size of ours in search of a person with such attributes."

"What do you mean, Kompany?"

"I mean such persons are everywhere. I have one in mind, his name is Ras-Alkamei. He is the Czar of an abominable cult group in this District. This deadly man and I are not in each other's good books; there exists a beef between us that still simmers with no sign of abatement."

"Well," said Mishkagham Vwangshak, "go and settle your differences by whatever means and arraigned him before me by sunset."

By midday, a close associate of the Czar of this cult deadly scheduled a meeting between Kompany and Ras-Alkamei in an abandoned ancient settlement. On sighting Kompany, Ras-Alkamei primed himself for a showdown but Kompany quickly doused the rising tension with assuring words as these: "reign on your temper," he said, "I am here on an errand, and most importantly to extend a hand of friendship to you." Ras-Alkamei withdrew his deadly preparations and sheets his sword and asks his men to do the same.

His bodyguard approached him and said to him, "you cannot talk to my boss with an empty hand; you have to hold something and drop it in his palm before he could entertain you."

"I don't understand," said Kompany. The bodyguard hissed and rephrased his message: "give to Caesar what belongs to him."

"You mean money?" Asked Kompany.

"That's correct," answered the disappointed guard.

"You should have spelt it out to me in human language right from the onset rather than beat around the bush." He said, mockingly, "money isn't one of my problems, take this for a start." Kompany handed him wads of money that startled him. "Ooh!" he coos, "this is more than the Czar asks for; you are too dashing and a complete gentleman to do business with. Access is now granted for you to talk to the boss."

The boss, who wore an asbestos suit, armed with a giant medieval sword asked Kompany what the hell brought him before him.

"Mishkagham Vwangshak, the deposed designate ruler of Earth wants you to appear before him at sundown.

Ras-Alkamei was assembled before Mishkagham as planned. The latter walked up close to him and looked him into his eyes for some seconds and said to him, "brother, join forces with me in handling a difficult task that requires the kind of your expertise and I shall offer you what the cult group you run could not."

"And what exactly is that thing?" Asked Ras-Alkamei curiously.

"A wrinkle-free life," answered Mishkagham Vwangshak. Ras-Alkamei could not substantiate the authenticity of what Vwangshak said, he maintained a deafening silence and a daring eye contact with Mishkagham. "You are going to play an important role in it when the wheels are set in motion," added Vwangshak.

"Mishkagham Vwangshak, son of the legendary Vombut, the reckless and enterprising you has returned. Am getting excited already; please tell me some more about this operation."

"Calm down, Ras-Alkamei, there is no need to rush anything to keep your appointment with destiny. I shall reveal to you gradually, a greater sneak pick of things to unfold as we advance into the next phase because of the sensitive nature of the programme. But for now, I want you to recruit ten thousand skilled and able-bodied men that have a good track record of keeping highly classified information secret that is going to be used in this operation. Tell the potential persons that I have jobs for them, the type that can put a befitting roof over their heads overnight. Do this with immediate alacrity."

"You can be rest assured Mishkagham, that the selection am going to make will destroy that magical veil between you and your fantasy.

The next day, Ras-Alkamei mobilized a notorious community of rogues, numbering ten thousand, comprising of the Red Indians, the Pharaohs and the Zulu and Aztek warriors. Others were the Mohicans, the Australian aboriginals and the Vikings, all of whom were heathens and has an inspiring commitment to mayhem, we're assembled in a dispersed settlement called West of Mines. In his address to the recruited, Ras-Alkamei assured them of money not being a problem. To match his words with action, he dolled out a thirty per cent down payment of their wages. "I will arrange a meeting for you with the supper boss soonest," he said, " before that, be forewarned that the boss is larger than life: "I am a perfectionist, I want everything done according  to specification." This is what you will always hear from him. This comrade is garishly raw, it's either his way or the deep blue sea. And if you are not playing along, consider yourself a stand-in.

"Lastly, because of the covert nature of the job, you will require to take an oath before a special court. Thereafter, the riot act shall be read out to you in the language you understand better. From there, you will be transported to a facility where you will be grilled in weapon handling."

In the course of the meeting, a harder, whose house was unfortunately located near the venue could not pay attention to what he was doing because of their activities, picked his double-barrel gun and tell his wife, "I will be right back; I have some killings to do."  His wife who was terrified by his action, screamed at the top of her voice saying: "have your mind left you, Ringo? Don't do any unorthodox thing that could stir up the hornet's nest; these men sit on the shoulders of giants and have sunk mighty ships with their bare hands. You better stay out of their way or they crush you to death. The only way to insulate yourself from their noises is to picture yourself putting them in a box and shipping them to Wuhan where they could be wiped out by the deadly coronavirus disease."  

Later in the day, Ras-Alkamei delivered the recruits to Mishkagham. Vwangshak thanked him and said to the volunteers, "dear friends and fellow compatriots. I want you to feel free and talk to me on a human level as if we were equals. I am sure we are all victims in one way or the other in the current wind of injustices being meted on us by the Suzerians. As aggrieved citizens, how do you think we should respond to their barbaric acts?"

"Our thoughts are as good as yours, Mishkagham Vwangshak." Said one of the crew members. "we shall settle this without fists to drive home our grievances. Let's unite and take the fight to  them before they eclipse us out of the scheme of things in the land of our birth."

"Weldon, Cecil, you have spoken more like an army chief than a mere peasant; you did not coat your harsh acerbic words with sugar to your listening audience. Thank you for having the courage to say it as it is. Gentlemen and ladies, now that we have unanimously agreed that the enemy that has been thin on our flesh is occupying Tektona Grandis illegally, here are the strategies that we shall use to make that place too hot for them to live in: you will be split into battalions and be scattered into the strongholds of the Suzerians equipped with modern communication gadgets with a mission to rustle hoards of the Suzerian technocrats high on the food chain and their royals who laid down patriotism and picks up arms and maimed us out of our mandate. We shall convert their province and Tektona Grandis, the administrative capital of Earth into a hub for strife, social unrest, insurrection, constant shelling and a clarion agitation by the cessationists, turning the planet into a theatre of war, and in extension, difficult to govern for the Suzerians. It is then our killer squad will move in and capsize their government."

"You will put on expensive garments and travel in exotic cars because you will be interacting in some of our society's high brow personalities. Do not insult anyone at the point of duty, in other words, leave your lowly ways at home and act like men of substance for once and the graceful reception they will accord you will be the magic that will pave way for their doom."

"Gentlemen and ladies, there won't be anything like margin for errors; we shall adopt the modus operandi of the lactating mother hawk on this operation: she sights her target from her position in the firmament and then swoops down on it with a seething rage, snaps it off in a fate-like perfection and then off she goes with her prize unscathed, leaving no traces. And when that happens, you will be in the news for the bad reasons: voices of terror and fear of separation will toll louder and louder across the Earth but do not budge a bit, for you will become overnight celebrities with fabulous perks." There was a loud chant of appreciation.

"Bid adieu to the Suzerians in advance, compatriots as we are about to call checkmate on them and they have no idea of what is coming."

"Shipment of the operational utensils to be used are somewhere on the high sea due for the ports in the coming days. Some of my loyalists are manning important positions in the customs, we shall have no difficulties possessing them. They shall be paid in kind or in cash or whichever mode of payment they want for speedy clearance of our consignment. However, care must be exercised not to attract the God's eye view of the state's hungry whistleblowers."

"To transport them across the country, we shall use some of the cream de la creams of the society, like the armed forces top brass', celebrities and even faith leaders to ferry our wares. They are special people who carry immunities against standing orders. In other words, the laws of the land bend for them to do whatever they want to do. For our part, we shall collect these devices and dump them in surprisingly public places that are least expected by the public to harbour such metals of highly destructive tendencies like the granaries, aqueduct, cesspools and the aviaries. Alright people, are we ready for the biggest face-off of the millennium?"

" We were already read, Mishkagham Vwangshak."

"Okay boys, let's go out there and put a real dent on our hit list. But before we go, let's scout around to make sure no one has been eavesdropping on our yak."

"I don't think there is anyone out here with us. The only thing close enough to the hearing range is a bat hanging upside down on a slender branch of a cedar tree."

"That's it," cried Mishkagham Vwangshak, "what I heard is coming into play. Gentlemen, we all remember what happened to Vungu during the autumn of the previous year; it is still fresh in our minds, isn't it? Fungi thought he had had a top-secret nailed to the coffin only to find out it has gone viral the next day, spreading into towns and villages like wildfires, all thanks to the relics of a building belonging to a voodoo priest. We must not allow such a high profile error to rob us of our prize. Let's go after the bat and take it out before it's too late.