Trekking to Gabon, The Answer, The Gem, and
the End?
Mela rocked
Gabon until.....
continued from page 9 The fire began to give its light just as
the darkness crept upon our makeshift camp,
Angel Kiss has learned to use what is available
and to endure hardships that once would have
left us crying over a broken fingernail. Mela took out the small box from the table
in Brazil and after pouring a handful of
red dirt from the box, tossed it into the
fire. The effect was immediate. I immediatly knew all that Mela, Twisted
and Craftie knew...about the Gem. They also
became fully aware of everyone elses connection
to the Gem. I found out later that this "same
thinking" is known as One-Thought. We
all sat quietly as we absorbed what each
of us knew about our journey and
okayyyyyyyyyyyyy....but
what about the dung?
purpose...under the watchful eye of the
Gem. Mela had been given the Gem by the Guardian
during our Cosmic
String ride into
the year
2012. It is a chemical
mix of the elements
of Alexandrite and
an unknown matter,
In
the center of the
Gem is what is known
as
Dark Space - or some
call it infinity.
The
Dark Space has no
distance, size, time
limits
or any of our understanding
of our Universe.
It is just Dark Space. Mela had gone and seen EM and Queeny for
information on the modern day slave trade
in Africa. She believed that whoever had
the Gem was being held against their will.
EM and Queeny have been and still are active
in ending human trafficking in Africa and
beyond. It was they who steered Mela towards
Sudan. The Gem is known as the Wisdom Jewel or Gem
of the Wise. It was taken by the Priates
during the 2nd Annual Rose Cruise...but they
did not know of its power. But others knew
of the amazing power that the Gem possesed.
The Gem can heal the World...maybe. It was
these "others" who had taken Craftie
and Twisted in Brazil. Although Craftie and
Twisted knew nothing of the Gem, they were
beaten and questioned. After digging out Twisted's RFID Chip, her
abducters kept trying to stick different
types of stones (some semi-precious and some
quite valuable) into the bloody circle left
behind. After after each stone they would
become angrier and poke Twisted with small
sharp sticks while screaming at her in an
unknown language. Craftie endured the same
treatment, but was experimented on with stainless
steel surgical tools connected to air hoses
and awful spinning things with sharp edges. Craftie had indeed seen the Gem in the Elephants
eye and if we had not gone with our pachyderm
The rain had
caused minor flooding on our
way to Gabon
friends we would have walked right into
a trap. My fellow Angel Kiss members freaked
out when they saw what I knew. I knew Wani's wife was in Gabon. I knew that
she was the key to
finding the Gem. I knew
she was a domestic
slave in the compound
of a very powerful
government official in
Gabon. I knew the
size of the Gem (the size
that would fit into
the locket given me by
Patience). I knew
that the "hungry boy"
was not hungry for
food but for wisdom and
peace. A hunger for
all to be complete living
creatures - souls
in harmony in an existence
filled with joy so
thick, it hangs like a
sweet perfume in
the air. I also knew that
is why all four of
us had to come together. All of this was passed to me as I held the
hungry boys hand
in Darfur. After we had absorbed each others thoughts,
it was kinda kewl
just all of us knowing
the same things.
We decided we needed
to
get to Gabon as quickly
as possible but not
so quickly where
we would look suspicious.
Mela stood up and asked us if we wanted to
see something really
kewl She walked over
to a large log while
she explained that
what
we were about to
see had only happened
five
other times. She
crawled up on the
log and
looked up through
the canopy at a sunbeam.
She closed her eyes. The Gem appeared before her eyes slowly spinning
and engulfing Mela
in an orange glow.
Right
as the glow became
so bright that I
had to
squint and shade
my eyes with my hand
a noise
broke the silence
and the Gem vanished.
Mela
stumbled and almost
fainted. We heard
the
noise again.
Mela waiting
for the Gem to appear.
It began with distant tribal drums that faded
slowly as if they
were moving away
from us.
We then heard voices
and static. In the
still
of the jungle, simple
sounds of the modern
world can really
freak you out. We
got up
and followed the
sound through the
jungle..lit
by my Hand-Fire trick.
The sound became
louder
and I was sure it
was some sort of
broadcast...a
radio signal? We came upon a small camp with a tent big
enough for two. The fire was out but it was
The final journey.
Is this the end of Angel
Kiss?
smoldering with a few glowing hot coals.
The radio sound came from the inside of the
canvas tent. Mela blew my Hand-Fire out and
told us all to "shhhhh". We slowly
crept through the dark to the tent. The static
was louder. We found the front of the tent cut open and
the inside was strewn with clothes, tin cups
and food wrappers. The shortwave radio laid
in a heap by a small wooden desk. It was
still broadcasting. There was blood near
the desk...as if someone had hit another
person on the head with the radio. It was
then it started to storm...a constant rain
that would follow us all the way to Gabon. We all agreed that we should stay in the
tent until morning or until the rain stopped
- whichever came first. Twisted was able
to tune in a public radio station on the
radio and we all laid down to sleep under
the booms of thunder and rain beating on
the canvas shelter. The radio, even though
it would fade in and out, gave us some comfort
through the night. We awoke as dawn was breaking with the rain
still beating down. The camp area had
Craftie just
had to stop and frolick with
every elephant
we ran into
turned into a big mud pit. We wrapped our
guitars in some plastic we had found in the
tent and Twisted decided that we might need
the hand cranked shortwave. Mela left a note
for the owner of the tent letting them know
we borrowed a few items.....if they were
still alive. We began to make our way to Gabon - each
of us pondering all
we knew of the Gem. We
were to arrive in
Gabon and under the watchful
eye of the Government
give a benefit concert
for 120,000 Angel
Kiss fans. The concert
was to be on Pay-Per-View
and the money raised
was to be donated
to African Childrens Choir. In 1978 Human Rights Worker Ray Barnett arrived
in Uganda to research
a book about the
brutal
years of dictatorship
and terror that had
devastated this beautiful
country. What he
found would change
his life. Uganda was a country in ruins. Villages had
been razed to the ground and adults herded
into
Make a joyful
noise - African Childrens Choir
torture chambers or murdered on the spot.
Orphaned children spent their days hunting
for food and water in the bush, or begging
and scavenging for it on the city streets. Ray knew he had to do something to help.
For the next six
years he raised money
and
set up small relief
projects run by local
people. Then in 1984
he heard a BBC news
report that told
of 150,000 children
starving
to death in northern
Uganda. Once again
he
boarded a plane to
see for himself what
was
happening. And so
began the journey
that
would start the formation
of the African
Children’s Choir. "While we were in Uganda we gave a ride
to another town to
a very small boy
and he
sang all the way
in the vehicle",
explains
Ray: When I got back to Canada and people were
not very interested
in Uganda, I remembered
this small boy. I
thought, ’If we could
take
a group of these
beautiful children
to the
West, it would surely
raise money to help
their country” The first African Children’s Choir™ arrived
in Vancouver, BC in the fall of 1984 and
immediately stole the hearts of everyone
they met. The Choir successfully communicated
the desperate situation of the children back
home and by the end of the year, they had
raised enough money to open the
Hope, Love,
Knowledge and Joy
Makerere Children’s Home in Uganda. The
Choir returned home, where the funds raised
from the tour also enabled them to continue
their education and ensured that they were
well cared for.
Ray originally envisioned
the Choir tour
as a one-time endeavor.
But the Choir’s instant
popularity, combined
with the ongoing
needs
of children in Africa,
convinced him to
do
it again. Soon another
30 children were
selected
for a new Choir,
and another year
of traveling
and performances
began. Each year, a new Choir is selected and the
Choir children from
the previous year
return
to their homelands
to attend schools
sponsored
by Music For Life.
While the children
are
on tour, Music for
Life has legal guardianship.
Many former Choir members continue in college
and university programs,
where they train
to become doctors,
engineers or other
professional
leaders in Africa.
Others receive vocational
and technical training,
developing the skills
they need to lead
productive, fulfilling
lives. Many of the
children from the
first
and second Choirs
are now working with
the
African Children’s
Choir and other relief
organizations throughout
Africa reflecting
our full-circle vision.
Hello Mr. Turtle...what
is that? You can
see my.......
We’ve always believed that mountains can
be moved one child
at a time. Children
hold
the key to Africa’s
future. By providing
children at risk
with an education
and hope
today, we can help
advance Africa tomorrow Our trip through the Congo was mostly uneventful
and we saw few people. Most were smart enough
to not go running around the jungle in a
monsoon. Not us. The radio kept us company
through the rain soaked nights. But there was one thing we all noticed. It
was how the wildlife had changed from simply
ignoring us to watching our every movement.
Not in a threatening way, but as if each
creature knew us...knew who we were. There
were even moments that I was sure I could
tell what a gazelle or a lion or even a sea
tutle was thinking. It was extremely wierd. As we got closer to Gabon, Twisted's right
hand began to itch until it was almost unbearable
for her. The injury where the RFID chip had
been was also turning reddish purple. "Do
you think it is infected", I asked Twisted.
"No, it is not infected", Twisted
answered sharply. By the time we reached the outskirts of Lambarene
word had spread that Angel Kiss were on
Angel Kiss
the way. A throng of laughing and shouting
children and A LOT of young men were following
us and just a chattering away. The friendly
and happy mood was suddenly destroyed by
the sounds of helicopters and bull horns
shouting something to the crowd through the
rain and thunder. A large military helicopter descended - its
HUGE blades whoooosing and pushing the rain
into a frenzy around us. The crowd had now
grown and surrounded both us - and the helicopter,
but with a distance of safety from the chopper.
Four military men got out, followed by a
man in a sharp business suit. They walked
directly up to us. "Angel Kish"?
We nodded. "You are to come with us
to Libreville", the man in the suit
barked to us. "We are your friends.
More than these poor people", and the
man waved his hand in contempt at the crowd. Mela explained that we could not ride in
the helicopter (but did not tell him that
the scroll told
A photo shoot
in Gabon
us to only use non-tech travel). This angered
the man in the suit and the four military
men adjusted their rifles just enough to
let us know that we had no choice. The crowd was not happy and chanted something
over and over. As we got into the helicopter
the crowd began to move forward and then
I heard shots. One of the military men was
shooting at the crowd as we left the ground.
The helicopter banked to the right and we
sped off to the capital of Gabon. The men would not speak to us and we were
very worried that we had broken the order
of the scroll - but what could we have done?
What was the punishment? Twisted was now
in extreme pain as her right hand twitched
and the reddish scar turned almost a purplish
orange color. She was also sweating which
is not like my dear sister. We arrived at a sprawling white mansion and
from the air you could see many armed men
patrolling the grounds. We touched down and
were greeted by a man who called himself
the "Crocodile" or "Dile"
for short. He had a wonderful shiny smile
gleaming through his dark rough skin and
he kept shaking our hands and greeting us
in a French and African mixture of words.
I did not trust him and I was kinda mad about
being forced to go somewhere.
He walked us down a long red carpet in front
of even more men all dressed in army clothes,
and a band played a marching tune that was
really not very good. I felt like we were
being put on display, but not in a good way. We entered the white stone mansion and were
greeted by several servants all standing
in a line. A butler, gardener, maid, more
house boys and the chef...OMGAWD. IT WAS
ASHA, Wani's wife. I knew Mela, Twisted and
Craftie also recognized her as we all tensed
up at once. Around her neck was a matching
locket like the one given to me by Patience.
Her eyes met
One of the
beautiful beaches
along the Gabon
coast
mine as we walked by and I saw a brief reflection
of myself in her weary eyes. Contact had
been made. We were shown to a very nice sitting room
with four connected bedrooms. Each with huge
four poster beds and mattresses as soft as
a mid-summer cloud. We were sure the suite had been bugged with
listening devices
and hidden cameras so we
did not talk about
Asha. We were still enjoying
our One-Thought so
we were still able to
know what each other
were thinking. Somehow we needed to get to the kitchen and
meet with Asha...but how? It was then that
a maid came in and asked in broken English
if we needed anything. Mela began to explain
that we were of the Avatar Faith and we could
not eat anything that was not prepared in
"chugria". Mela explained to the
maid that it was much like Kosher, but for
Avatars and that it was important to check
the kitchen out for violations of "chugria
law". The maid took us to the kitchen
at the other end of the mansion as we requested. Mela had written a note in Arabic to Asha
and I brought along my locket that Patience
had given me that matched the one around
Asha's neck. Twisted's hand was getting really
gross looking with the purple bubbling up
in blueberry size welts. The kitchen was full of cooks and sous chefs,
all dressed in crisp white uniforms. They
were preparing a feast of some sort. I spied
Asha near the bread oven and Mela and I approached
her while Twisted and
Mela was fabulous...she
is a born rocker.
Craftie pretended to be checking for any
violations of our pretend chugria law. Mela slipped the note into Asha's side pocket
and she looked deep into my eyes. Her pain
and suffering could be seen in her pupils.
I reached into my pocket and then slipped
my locket into her hand. She rubbed it and
without looking at it, knew what it was.
She excused herself to use the restroom and
returned a few minutes later. She slipped
the locket back into my hand and gave a teenie
little nod and a equally small smile. We thanked the maid and Mela asked if she
would tell our host that we would like to
meet with him. We then returned to our suite.
I went to the closet and opened the locket....OMGAWD
- the Gem was carefully placed inside with
a note that just said..."pleze help
me". I left the Gem in my locket and ate the small
note to be safe. Our host then arrived with
the same shiny smile and a translator with
a smile just as big and shiny. Mela explained
that we were very impressed with the knowledge
of chugria law of his chef and would like
to hire her to prepare our back stage food
and tasty treats at the concert. At first
he said no, but when Mela slipped him 5000
CC's, he agreed. After they left, Mela turned to me.."what
a scum", she
whispered. I nodded.
Click the Gem on Twisted's hand to see what
happens
After resting a bit on the major comfy beds,
we were escorted to a long black limo which
was to take us to the concert site - a large
field on the outskirts of the city. Several
servants and Asha were crowded into a bus
with cages on the windows. I saw Asha's face
looking through the dirty window and my heart
wept. Helicopters patrolled overhead. We arrived a few minutes before the show
was to start and peeked out from back stage
to see more than 100,000 Angel Kiss fans
waiting for us. Asha and her staff were behind
back stage in a hug tent with grills and
tables of yummy food. We took the stage to
the roar of the crowd. We started to JAM
and the crowd got louder. We played our usual set with Twisted barely
able to keep the beat on her drums. She looked
very ill and...well...kinda light lavender
in the skin. We took a break to eat some
of Ashas food and rehydrate. Mela grabbed
Ashas hand and we all darted behind the tent
near the jungle. She pointed to Twisted's
right hand and then her locket and then to
me. I took the Gem out of my locket which
freaked out my friends since they had no
idea Asha had given it to me. We all looked
at it for just a moment. It was glorious.
Deep orange with dancing purple eyes in each
reflection. I could have stared at it for
hours. I looked at Twisted's right hand (which was
pretty deformed and grotesque by now) and
then back at Asha. She nodded and reached
for my hand. We all held hands in a circle.
I held Twisted's right hand. I raised it
up and slowly slipped the Gem into her scar.
She screamed the loudest scream I have ever
heard. So loud it actually caused pain. The
World around us exploded in a thunderous
boom...........as did each of us...into a
billion lost pixels....in a billion different
directions...in a billion different times.........Angel
Kiss and Asha were gone..................................... To be Continued............... Click here to turn the page.
To listen to these
fabulous streams (without
the soundeffects),
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