The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (65 page)

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‘Tell me more about yourself.’
Andrew adjusted himself comfortably on Trevor’s sofa.

‘Gosh,’ René said and blushed. ‘Where should I begin?’

‘Let’s begin with...your name, and what you do,’ Andrew
said and playfully held the television’s remote control to her mouth as if it
were a microphone.

‘Well,’ René said and threw her hair back in a dramatic
fashion. ‘My name is René Martins, and I’m a twenty-four year old Helpdesk
Agent for a 2-bit Internet Service Provider.’

‘And what are your aspirations for your future?’

‘I would like to join one of those
save-the-tree
foundations, and enlist in the battle to save the rainforests from power hungry
tycoons.’ Her voice was less playful now. ‘The hope is to restore mother Earth,
and reacquaint ourselves with Gaia.’

 ‘That’s...deep,’ Andrew said, then his eyes
widened and he shoved the remote under her nose again. ‘Tell us, who is your
prince charming...?’ It was only when he said it that he realized what he had
done. He had completely forgotten that she leaned more towards
princess
charming.

‘
He
is,’ René said and pointed over Andrew’s
shoulder. He turned around and saw a picture of Victor Yoshe on the television
screen. ‘What’s this?’ he asked and turned up the volume.

‘In an effort to finally establish peace between the
Israeli and Arab nations, Secretary General of the European Union, Victor
Yoshe, has called together five hundred of the world’s most powerful and
influential Jews and Muslims. He convinced them to sign a seven-year
trial
pact in which both sides would agree to a ceasefire, and work together to
rebuild a better world. Many other countries have joined in the pact, and they
view this event as the corner stone of world peace.’

‘Wow,’ Andrew said, not taking his eyes from the
television. ‘I am impressed.’ René only sighed as the news broadcast continued
covering events from all around the world: an Earthquake in Los Angeles, two
trains colliding in China, more people killed by the mysterious two men in
Jerusalem, a space station detecting a meteor that might be on a collision
course with Earth, and finally, a heart-warming story of a lioness who adopted
a young stag as one of her own. The news ended, and a commercial was aired. It
was a shampoo commercial, and for the first time on South African television
did a commercial contain full frontal nudity. Neither Andrew nor René were
offended by the advertisement, and René thought that it was good to display the
human body in its natural form. After a few more commercials and announcements,
a GMN presenter announced a special live interview with Victor Yoshe.

‘Now this I
have
to see,’ René said and clapped
her hands together excitedly.

‘You and me both,’ Andrew said as Trevor entered the
room.

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‘Hey bud!’ Andrew greeted the
half-awake, half-asleep figure that entered the living room. Trevor rubbed his
hand through his hair and mumbled something back.

‘What’s the matter?’ René asked. ‘You look like Hell.’

‘Bad dream,’ Trevor said as he fell onto a couch next
to them. He pointed to the television where an interviewer was busy introducing
his guest for the evening. ‘When were you going to call me?’

‘We didn’t want to wake you,’ Andrew said. ‘Besides,
this interview will be repeated quite a few times during the week.’

Trevor nodded weakly. He still wasn’t entirely over the
effects of the nightmare.

‘Join me, Greg Melville, as I interview the man of the
hour, Victor Yoshe.’

The audience cheered and applauded as Victor entered
the room. He stopped and waved at them, smiling broadly and establishing eye
contact with everyone before walking to his seat and sitting down in it. The
cheers finally subsided, but the atmosphere remained vibrant. ‘Thank you for
joining me tonight on
Speak Up
, Mister Yoshe.’

‘Thank you for having me,’ Victor said and smiled at a
camera. All camera angles had been predetermined, and the lighting adjusted
according to Victor’s meticulous instructions. Those were some of his basic
demands in return for agreeing to do the interview.

‘Who you are, and what you have done for the planet
recently needs no coverage here tonight, Mister Yoshe,’ Greg said. ‘But the
question on everyone’s lips is:
how
did you do it?’

‘How did I do it?’

‘Yes. How did you manage to speak to everyone in their
minds, in their own languages, and be on television at the
same
time?’

‘I could tell you,’ Victor said and smiled, ‘but then
I’d have to kill you.’

For a short moment they were both quiet, and then they
both laughed. ‘I’ll just have to take that chance then,’ Greg said and smiled.

‘It’s a gift,’ Victor said and leaned back into his comfortable
chair.

‘A gift?’

Victor nodded. ‘You know how some people can move
objects with their minds? Or even pull large commercial jumbo jets with nothing
but a rope?’

It was Greg’s turn to nod.

‘It basically works on the same premise. Those people
have received a gift, and through diligent practice and patience, they have
mastered that gift. Everyone has some sort of gift, but only about six percent
of all humans tap into that hidden power.’

‘Are you implying that I have a gift like that as
well?’ Greg asked.

‘You do,’ Victor said. ‘You just haven’t developed
yours yet.’

‘And what would I use my gift for?’

‘There are many good things that can spawn from
developing such a gift. A psychic could assist the police with tracking down a
serial killer, without the person having prior knowledge of the perpetrator.
Imagine tracking down lost children. Imagine lifting a truck off a little
school girl with only the power of your mind. I have gifts that, because it had
been well developed, were able to help the people in a time of great need.’

‘Well developed indeed,’ Greg said and smiled. ‘Tell
us, Mister Yoshe, what
other
gifts do you possess?’

Victor laughed. ‘I have a few more,’ he said, ‘but I
would rather have time reveal them than boast about them right now.’

‘We wait in anticipation,’ said Greg. ‘But in the
meantime, what are your immediate plans for the future?’

‘The plan right now is to rebuild our beautiful planet.
We are to rise from the ashes of the war against the aliens and join hands as
we re-evaluate ourselves and our morals and standards.’

‘And according to sources, you plan to start rebuilding
Earth by starting with the Jewish temple?’

‘That is correct. The Jews will be allowed to rebuild
their temple over the original site of the Dome of the Rock, and in return, I
will help the Muslims build a super city; one that is way ahead of its time and
that will become a trade and communications hub for the rest of the world.’

‘Still on the alien topic, Mister Yoshe; when they
first struck, you immediately knew that it was aliens. How did you know that?’

‘That is one of my gifts, Greg. I have managed to
intercept their telepathic communication channels, and have learned about their
strategies and even their weaknesses. I was fortunate to be able to assist the
Global Defence Forces in their retaliation.’

‘It was indeed a stroke of luck to have you on our
side, Mister Yoshe.’

‘Or fate, perhaps.’

‘Or fate, yes.’ Greg said and stole a glance at the
teleprompter. ‘Tell us about your past, Mister Yoshe. Little is known about
where you come from, and about your parents.’

‘My mother died at child birth and my father had a
fatal accident when I was young,’ Victor said. He purposefully ignored the
question about where he grew up, and also made sure that Greg wouldn’t mention
it again. All it took was one mental suggestion.

‘I’m sorry to hear about your tragic loss,’ Greg said.

‘It’s okay.’

‘Sources tell us that there is a ten year gap in your
life that no one knows where you were or what you had been doing. Would you
care to comment on it?’

‘Even I don’t know where I was during that time, Greg,’
Victor said. ‘But now that I think about it, it could have been possible that I
was abducted by aliens.’

‘You really think so?’ Greg asked.

Victor nodded.

‘Then it’s only ironic that you were the one to lead us
to victory against these beings.’

Victor laughed. ‘Indeed.’

‘Why did they take the children?’ Greg asked, suddenly
more serious.

‘They wanted to prevent us from rebuilding our kind
with a new generation capable of reclaiming our planet at a later stage. With
that handicap, they would only need to go in and finish the job; eradicating
the current generations.’

‘That’s horrible,’ Greg said with an expression of
sheer terror on his face.

‘I agree.’

Greg flipped through his notes.

‘Mister Yoshe,’ he said. ‘There are people that are
confused about their religions now that the aliens have come into the picture.
What is your take on it?’

‘I suggest that we wait for Arch Bishop Pascale to make
his address to the religious leaders of the world, and see where we go from
there.’

‘And Jesus? Where do you think He was during—?’

Greg stopped speaking with an abrupt
urk
and
held his hand to his throat.

‘You talk too much, Greg,’ Victor said and stood up.
Greg fell forward onto his hands and knees.

Victor just looked at him, his eyes glazed over, his
mouth pulled back into a snarl.

Greg was confused. He looked up at Victor towering over
him. ‘Why...?’

Victor walked over to Greg and kicked him in the ribs

‘You should learn to keep quiet,’ Victor snarled. He
grabbed hold of Greg’s throat and picked him up so that his feet were dangling
above the ground.

‘I told you, Greg,’ Victor said, ‘that I would have to
kill you. Did you think I was lying?’

‘I...I...’

‘You what?’ Victor said, and flung him across the room
as if he were a rag doll.

Greg was struggling to breathe. His face lost its
colour and his lips slowly turned purple. Blood seeped out from his eyes, nose,
mouth and ears, and with one final jerking motion of Victor’s hand, Greg’s neck
snapped. His limp body fell forward, and then everything was quiet.

‘Somebody call an ambulance,’ Victor shouted at the
stunned audience. They had just witnessed the host of
Speak Up
die of an
asthma attack. Nobody saw anything happen or hear anything that Victor did not
want them see to hear.

Victor was escorted off the stage as the lighting
dimmed and the show abruptly cut to commercials.

The three of them just sat there, gawking at the
screen. René was the first to pull herself out of the daze, and when she moved,
both Andrew and Trevor also came to. They looked dreamily at one another, as if
they had just woken from a long sleep.

‘Imagine that,’ Andrew finally said.

‘Yeah,’ René said. ‘An asthma attack on live television
while interviewing someone. That’s just terrible.’

The three of them just sat there, saying nothing. It
took around ten minutes before they felt fully recovered from the daze.

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Jerusalem:
One Week Later

‘This is how it’s going to work,’
Malcolm said as he rolled the blueprints out onto the meeting table. ‘If
everything goes according to plan, we can begin construction within this week
still, and if we work hard, the Third Temple could be rebuilt within eight
months.’

‘Everything is ready and in order,’ Rabbi Morris said
as he stared in disbelief at the blueprints in front of him. He never believed
that it would
ever
be possible to rebuild the Temple; yet, here he was,
touching the actual blueprints.

‘I will let you know when we can begin,’ Malcolm said.
‘We will start building from the cornerstone.’

‘How convenient that the Dome is out of the way,’ Rabbi
Morris said and rubbed his hands together.

‘I thought we had agreed not to talk about that,’
Malcolm said, suddenly very serious.

‘I am sorry, my friend. It is just that we are allowed
to build our Temple on grounds that would never have been thought possible, and
according to prophecy, only Moshiach could accomplish this.’

Malcolm stared at the blueprints, but his eyes weren’t
focussed on the drawings. ‘I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,’ he
said finally. ‘What do you think about—?’