"They don't have to," answered Amanda. "Because they have paid the priests. That way they are not obliged to join the ritual that lasts all day long." Herman only shook his head on hearing that. The ambiance now was like a beach in the summer, and they only waited for the command from the High Priest to spread mats or folding chairs. But, because the air in the morning was still cool, many of the pilgrims still wear mantles and various sorts of sandals. Many others clung to their partners' backs or waists. And no few of them even cuddled each other to keep themselves warm. "So that's their way of pilgrimage!" Herman murmured. "But you like it, right?" Amanda teased. But Herman didn't answer it and only pretended to look somewhere else and rubbed his nose that wasn't itchy. Not only the pilgrims and the tourists crowded this place. The food and drink stalls were open on the outskirts of the square. Aside from selling food and drink, they also provided braiding services, public bath
"Look!" Amanda shouted, tidying up her messy hair blown by the wind. "That's Alaksolan's apartment!" Herman heard Amanda shout. However, he had his attention on another thing. Just then, Herman felt the ground vibrating on his feet. "This is not an earthquake, the earth is vibrating, but why?" he asked. "It became more and more…" He shouted in vain, the howling wind was louder so he couldn't even hear his voice. He then thought it was impossible to stay outdoors because the hurricane could blow them at any time. He must reach a building to come in and take shelter from the violent wind. Crawling, Herman took Amanda to move to the lobby of the nearest building they could reach. Luckily, the extra crawling effort saved them and they reached the building lobby safely and quickly. Just when they were a few steps away from the front door, Herman dared to stand up. And then he helped Amanda to stand up too. "C'mon, let's go inside!" Herman invited. "Isn't this the apartment…" But, befor
"I'm sure this catastrophe doesn't just happen on Earth but also happens on all planets in this solar system," said Herman. "Makes sense," Amanda responded. "Compared with a comet as big as MIRA, our solar system is small. But what's the correlation with it?" "I'm an agnostic," said Herman. "But after this, all happened, you're right. The man the Osirians said as the Boaster is Noah." His voice was trembling. "Why are you so scared?" Amanda asked, surprised by his boyfriend's change of attitude. "Is that because he's a prophet?" "Yes, Manda. We all know the story. Most likely, what Mr. Marwan said about the drowning of the Pangaea happens right here, right now!" Hearing that explanation, Amanda became frightened as well again. Herman looked up to the sky through the holed-up ceiling. "The most cunning trait of the devil was it can make people believe that devils are the red-skinned entities with horned heads and evil grins," he murmured. "While in truth, the devil is the evil in
As the time kept moving forward slowly, Alaksolan tried to talk with Amanda and Herman. However, the couple was more interested to see the time transition they were traveling through. Firstly, they saw the surface of the earth was frozen and entirely covered with thick snow. Extreme climate change has exterminated all life on Earth. Herman Schweinsteiger lived in Hamburg, Germany. So, for him, snow was a part of his life. The average temperature in wintertime there was minus two degrees Celcius, but here he was sure the temperature was beyond that. Although he was accustomed to that kind of snowy weather in winter, every time he went outside he still needed to wear a jacket, a winter cap, gloves, earmuffs, and leather boots. However, this sudden and extreme change of climate didn't give them a chance to anticipate it and they would suffer a sudden death by hypothermia like all Osirians not on board the ark. A horrible view occurred in front of them. Everything was covered with thic
"Well, it will be a waste if we go home now. We can never go back to the future again with this model of time machine if we reset the Tempus Fugit." Amanda nodded, sharing the same regret. "What's happening to Earth in this future? I want to find out the truth, the answer, it tickles my curiosity!" The girl stared at her boyfriend's face, trying to find out what his reaction would be. "I think it won't hurt if we explore this time and place for a little while." Herman was considering his options. "Why not?" said Amanda. " I want to know what we will become in the future. Maybe we're remembered as the legendary couple by our descendants, just like Ben Nassor said. Though she talked coolly, Amanda felt funny imagining herself with children and grandchildren from Herman. "Who's afraid?" Herman accepted his beloved's challenge. "The most important thing is we can prevent humankind from making a mistake that will jeopardize all lives in the future." "All right!" Amanda responded, very
The mortars were launched and dived right on target. The EMP-D mortars hit the walker's head and several EMP blast sounds were heard, severing it. Before long, the walker with a shattered head moved limply and then fell into the water with a loud splash, causing a high wave that spread in all directions. This result didn't make them full of themselves, but they couldn't help smiling because they have destroyed one of the most lethal enemy weapons. However, the victory didn't last long as the ceiling of the room suddenly fell and the debris fell on the guerrillas. "Watch out!" Amanda shouted to warn them, but she was too late! Several people fell injured by the debris. Before their comrades could help them, a walker foot appeared from the cavity in the ceiling and stepped on several people without mercy until they were flattened to death. Amanda planted her face on Herman's chest because she couldn't stand that dismal sight in front of her eyes. Herman himself was almost as frighten
"Big Joe! Whassup, Brah?" Joe Han asked the leader, the black-skinned man who greeted him in front of his group. The leader didn't answer. He only curled a big smile and extended his two muscular hands. With one swoop Joe Han was right into Big Joe's hug. Not only that, Big Joe shook the muscular body smaller than himself until "Little" Joe Han begged for Big Joe to put him down. Finally, Big Joe put his friend back on the ground and invited him to go with them into the woods. Four other people greeted Joe Han warmly too. They started to go through not-so-dense woods. Several minutes passed, and Herman and Amanda saw four carts, and the horses were grazing grass. Wasting no time, they mounted their carts. The cart Herman and Amanda were on was driven by Big Joe himself with Joe Han in the front seat. The four-horse carts group scoured the dirt road that cut through the woods. If someone should be counted, they have been journeying a whole day. Luckily, no one forgot to bring along
As though finding a new clue, I hurriedly opened that "pending" folder and searched for the said e-mail. This e-mail was sent from Heru Sulaksono. He was a member of the BETA-UFO inactive mailing list. After I found it, I opened and re-read the contents. It was a chat archive."Son, did you read 'The Da Vinci Code novel or watch the movie?" And then I read my reply, "I haven't read the novel because as far as I know, it's not in circulation here. But the film did, and I even watched it several times because there were many interesting dialogues and required watching carefully," I replied. And then I asked him back," What's going on?"The next day I received an answer from Heru, "The novel and film are based on a documentary titled 'The Da Vinci Code Documentary'. The documentary film is the result of Dan Brown's research. If you want to know, just click this link." I clicked the link at once to open that video on YouTube.While watching "The Da Vinci Code Documentary" video, I also ac