by D C Macey
‘Here we are, sir,’ said the older of the two women as she used her pass card to open the door. Stepping aside, she ushered Sam forward. He thanked her then guided Helen in first.
Inside were all the standard features of an en-suite hotel room, but with plenty of space to move around. The maid took Helen’s key card and slotted it into a wall-mounted holder, triggering the air-conditioning unit and making the environment altogether more welcoming. Her companion crossed the room and used a pull string to open the window blind that had been tightly shut.
The scene took Helen’s breath away and instinctively she put an arm round the maid. ‘This is beautiful.’
The maid nodded agreement.
The older maid told them food was available upstairs at any time through the day and the evening meal would be served from seven o’clock onwards. With more smiles the maids left, happy with the money Sam had slipped into their hands.
Sam joined Helen at the window and both stood silently for a little while. Their room was built over the crater wall with nothing to obstruct their view across and around the whole rim. And downwards, there was nothing to break a fall for a thousand feet or more. Flocks of birds circled beneath their room before spiralling out in effortless journeys over the crater, vanishing into the distance as they flew off to check out the miniature dust clouds thrown up by the tiny specks that were safari vehicles working their way across the crater floor.
• • •
Mauwled sat in the shade outside the drivers’ dormitory. He had chanced upon an old acquaintance there who had been glad to see him, if only to break the frustration of a day without work. His vehicle’s engine was shot, and now he could do nothing until parts arrived from Arusha.
‘… and what’s been going on?’ said Mauwled.
‘Same, same. Plenty safari customers, not enough time.’ The guide paused to take a mouthful of hot tea, savoured it. Mauwled mirrored him.
‘I was hearing stories back in Arusha about Smuts. He’s been letting his tour company down again.’
‘You know what he’s like,’ said the guide, glancing about him. He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and offered one to Mauwled; both men lit up and drew in deeply.
‘I heard he’s been taking illegal hunting trips and leaving the safari tours in the lurch. Is that right?’
The guide shrugged. ‘You know nobody talks about Smuts and his business; remember how he beat that man half to death?’
Mauwled nodded. ‘He’s mad.’
‘He’s dangerous.’
The men lapsed into silence for a minute and smoked more.
• • •
Helen only half heard the jet of water kick in as Sam stepped into the shower. She watched with fascination how the scene changed outside her hotel room window as the sun dropped into the west. The crater below smoothly transitioned from bright daylight, through growing shadows, into twilight and, finally, the night. In the little time Sam spent under the water jet, the crater’s beautiful daytime vista vanished into a black void; while, far into the west, way beyond the crater’s rim, she could yet make out a halo from the last vestiges of sunlight that caressed the vast flat savannah of the Serengeti.
As the sound of the shower cut out in the bathroom, she gave an involuntary shiver at the depth of blackness in the crater outside. What had looked a friendly, certainly contained, environment had shifted. She felt the danger it held, the wildlife haven of the day had suddenly become a killers’ trap with no exit route by night. She understood now why Mauwled had explained that safari guests were not allowed in the crater at night. The dirt track out would be too dangerous to drive after dark and to stay in that black void would be unthinkable.
Sam emerged and flicked on the main light. ‘Why are you sitting in the dark?’ he said, moving across the room to pick up his clean clothes.
‘No reason, night just came so quickly in the crater, it took me by surprise. It was fast.’
‘Yes,’ said Sam, as he drew the heavy blind across the window, closing out the darkness. ‘Are you set? I’m hungry.’
‘Me too, let’s go.’
Before they could reach the door, the phone rang. Helen checked the caller. ‘It’s Elaine, I wonder what’s up.’ She answered the phone and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Sam sat beside her, and she swung her hand round to hold the handset between them.
‘Hi Elaine, it’s Helen here. I’ve switched to speaker mode, Sam’s with me.’
‘Hello, to both of you. I hope you’ve recovered from your prison ordeal now, Sam?’
‘Thanks Elaine. Yes, I’m doing fine. We’re going to eat in a minute.’
‘Oh good. I hope you enjoy it and I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures of Ngorongoro. Grace looked it up on the web, it seems fascinating.’
‘We’ll post some tomorrow. Now, what’s up?’ he said.
‘We’ve had a visit. Well, actually, Scottie Brown had a visit. Then I had one a little while later. An army officer and a member of MI6 have been to see us. Scottie went back into the military sites and his digging into ACE has got some people stirred up.’
‘What happened?’ said Helen.
‘Scottie’s been told he’s breached half a dozen laws and I’m taking the blame for initiating it all. They had him held in their car when they came to see me. I think they were going to take me away too. Then there was a bit of confusion when they realised our connection with you two; it became quite farcical for a little while, they were making phone calls and all the while glaring at me.
‘I caught a name during one of the calls - Brigadier Starling. When he called back it was their turn to feel the heat. Then they brought Scottie in from the car, read us both the riot act and warned us not to divulge anything we knew about ACE to anyone or we’d be in big trouble. Then they were gone. Apparently, they’ll be back tomorrow when I’ve to sign the Official Secrets Act. It seems Scottie had signed it in the past as part of his previous IT job with the police service.’
Sam leant a little closer to the phone. ‘We met Brigadier Starling at a lunch meeting in the Nairobi High Commission. I think he’s a big noise in the secrets department. But at least he seems to be on our side. I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into all this, Elaine. I’ll call our contact, Rupert Peterson, later, make sure they understand you are good guys and ask him to get his people to back off.’
‘Don’t worry, Sam, I think the brigadier did that for you. The security men couldn’t get away quick enough after he’d been on the line. They left Scottie sitting in my kitchen. Whoever this Starling is, he clearly doesn’t want you upset, even from a distance.’
‘Well, I’ll speak to Rupert anyway.’
‘I’m really sorry about all this, Elaine,’ said Helen. ‘How did Grace take it?’
‘She’s fine; she was out at college when they came. In fact, no, she’s raging. Grace wishes she’d been in when the security people called. Apparently, she’s just about sick of men pushing me about. She’s taking the day off college tomorrow to be here when the men come back.’
‘Great, but listen, tell her I don’t want either her or you getting into trouble over this. Just sign the paperwork and let it be, okay?’ said Helen.
‘Helen, you know Grace, she gets a bit protective of her mother. But I’ll tell her what you said.’
‘Okay, you both take care, we’ll be done here in a—’
‘Hold on, don’t you want to know what else Scottie found out?’
Sam instinctively leant closer to the satellite handset. ‘You have more news?’
Sam switched off speaker mode. ‘Hello Elaine, this is a secure handset and line, but I’ve taken you off speaker mode. It’s hard to imagine, but if for any reason, this room is bugged, I can’t let any information about ACE get out, understand?’
Helen gave Sam the slightest of scowls but was resigned to waiting for the news, whatever it was. She watched Sam’s facial expressions change as he listened carefully to what
Elaine said. He asked short questions that were meaningless without the context of Elaine’s information and responses. Finally, he ended his conversation with a warning that Elaine really should keep it quiet. He handed the handset to Helen to say goodbye and they headed out for dinner.
‘I think it would be a nice idea to go for a stroll in the gardens in front of the lodge after we’ve eaten,’ he said.
20.
Tuesday, 29th October - Evening
Outside, the air was much cooler than when they had arrived at midday. Now, without the sun’s rays, it was just pleasantly warm as altitude cooling kicked in. The gardens were discreetly floodlit, little bulbs spread apart and angled down to mark the course of the promenade through the darkened gardens. A little to their right, the course of the approach road was lit too, providing some depth to the scene and a counter to the ominous darkness of the crater that lay immediately behind the lodge.
Helen linked her arm through Sam’s. ‘This is nice,’ she said. ‘Now, come on, spill. What more did Scottie find?’
Involuntarily, Sam glanced over his shoulder and gave a little laugh at Helen’s sideways glance towards him. ‘Yes, I’m being paranoid, and I think probably with good reason.’
‘Come on Sam, what did Elaine tell you?’
‘First, I can understand why the military and security services didn’t like it when they spotted Scottie’s searching, and why they went to visit him and Elaine. It’s very sensitive.’
‘So, what’s the big deal with this ACE?’
‘Well, for a start it’s not static and the word combat tells us something. I think it’s an attack weapon.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t know but she said they work together in packs.’
‘Wolf packs?’
Sam shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I do know there was work being done on this years back, even before I got out. For Britain, and most of the other western countries too, the really big problem is manpower. Given so many life options today, fewer and fewer are joining the forces, and the army in particular is significantly undermanned.’
‘So, it is robot soldiers then.’
‘All Elaine could say was they, whatever they are, worked as part of a pack and hunted the enemy. It sounds like a form of force multiplier. For an army without enough soldiers that would be a godsend. And in the hands of some dictatorships that already have large armies, it could give them an almost incalculable advantage. In fact, there are applications at flashpoints all over. At the Line of Control between India and Pakistan, India and China, Vietnam and China, China and Russia, Russia and Iran, hell, Iran and half the world.’
‘You haven’t even mentioned North Korea yet!’ said Helen.
‘Oh, don’t go there.’
‘It really sounds like a game changer.’
‘If it actually works, maybe. Scottie said it’s a small-scale combat system, designed for tactical advantage, not strategic.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Win all your tactical clashes and you eventually win the war, bit by bit. The best strategy in the world is meaningless if you can’t win the individual firefights - eventually you’ll lose.
‘I’m thinking that since everyone is so worked up, they must have finally got a working prototype. Let’s get back inside; I think we need to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day with our guide Smuts.’
The little pools of light marking the path ahead of them began to describe an arc as the path looped round and back towards the reception.
21.
Wednesday, 30th October - AM
It was very early when they finally encountered Henk Smuts. A tall man with a face leathered and lined through years under the African sun. Broad shouldered, his brown hair now prominently streaked with grey; his clothing was reminiscent of combat fatigues, slightly threadbare and faded through many washes. He shook Sam’s hand, and then Helen’s as he greeted them in a thick guttural South African accent.
Smuts was expecting his passenger to be a high-flyer wanting a whistle-stop safari. Sam met his expectations. His customer’s companion, an unmarried young woman fitted too. He’d seen it plenty of times before - rich man, pretty assistant. ‘A business trip’. Yes, the girl fitted Smuts’ expectations too. With an only half-concealed smirk, he pointed towards his vehicle.
The safari truck was parked outside the lodge in the shade of the building. The sun was just up, and the air was still cool. Helen pulled open a rear door and held it open for Sam and he slipped in with just a nod of acknowledgement. Helen then closed the door and went around to open the door on the other side. She hoisted a rucksack in and then got in too.
They both watched the big man walk around the truck for a final inspection. He kicked a tyre, probably for effect, then got into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine. A blast of cold air swept through the rear and Helen shivered, pulling her light jacket round her.
Smuts turned in his seat and smiled. His yellowed teeth, tobacco stained and in want of a thorough overhaul, showed dully beneath a thick moustache that looked sandy coloured but might equally have just been grubby.
‘Well people, welcome to Ngorongoro. I’m going to leave the lid on for now,’ he leant into the rear and rapped his hand on the fibreglass roofing. ‘Once we are down in the crater I’ll raise it up and you can have an open view of everything.’
Smuts ran through a short safety briefing and checked that they had collected water and packed lunches from the lodge. Helen patted her hand on the rucksack and turned her head to beam a devoted smile to her boss.
‘Right, we should get going. I like to get ahead of the crowd, be first down. Otherwise you end up in a queue and waste half the morning.’
He put the vehicle into gear and eased away from the lodge, picking up a little speed as they went. He raised his voice so it carried into the back. ‘The road’s okay here, it soon turns to dirt track though. Mostly it’s safe enough but if you don’t have a head for heights there are a few places going down where you might want to close your eyes.’ He gave a deep belly laugh as he used his mirror to eye the girl in the back seat.
Smuts reckoned she’d crack easily enough. And he knew just where to go close to the edge on the way down - that would take the smile off her face.
Smuts kept up a flow of macho safari chatter on the route down and was slightly irritated to see that Helen was not fazed by his cliff edge driving. Something caught his eye in the rear-view mirror. About a quarter of a mile behind, another safari truck was on the move.
‘We’ve got company. Somebody else wanting to get ahead of the crowd,’ he said. Then gave another confident laugh. ‘Well they’d have to start pretty damned early to beat Smutsie to the bottom. I’ll tell you that for nothing.’
Obligingly, Sam and Helen turned their heads to look for the following vehicle. It was familiar. Helen squeezed Sam’s thigh, he patted her hand in confirmation and the two turned back to the front. It was the 4 x 4 that had travelled behind them from Arusha.
‘They follow me you know. Old Smutsie is the one who delivers the goods; no customer leaves one of my safari drives unsatisfied. The other drivers try to get a tail on me, follow. That way they know they’ll give their customers what they want.’
‘Sounds like you’re the main man around here,’ said Helen.
Smuts laughed again. ‘Main man? You could say that. I know this crater like the back of my hand.’ He paused for a moment; let the pretty girl absorb his importance. ‘Outside the crater too. I’ve been driving this country for twenty-five years and more. Came up after I’d finished in the South African Defence Force. Never looked back.’
‘Wow,’ said Helen enthusiastically.
Smuts broke off to curse a pair of young Maasai warriors who were guiding a small herd of cattle down the track. He revved his engine a little and waved a hand towards the men who sported the distinctive red plaid cloaks. They glared silent defiance back at him and then hurried to dri
ve their cattle against the side of the crater wall. Smuts edged ahead, then when the vehicle was almost past the cattle, he gave the engine a rev, just enough to startle the beasts.
Finally, after almost a half hour of slow, sometimes bumpy descent they were safe at the crater bottom. Smuts activated the rear roof controls and the fibreglass top lifted up on struts, nearly a metre higher than its original position, now acting as a sun shield over Helen and Sam’s heads. ‘You can stand and get a great view, or if you prefer, the side windows will go right down so you can stay seated and just watch the world go by.’
Helen and Sam stood and watched the landscape unfold. There were no formal roads in the crater but years of safari vehicles retracing the same routes had created some well-defined tracks and Smuts steered them along his chosen route.
Not far from the foot of the track into the crater, they passed a properly constructed car park. A stopping area for lunch, according to Smuts, but he never bothered stopping there. To their right was a spread of mature acacia trees, tall with broad canopies that provided shelter from the sun for a gathering of several large male elephants. They stood in close proximity to one another, yet each in his own proud isolation was content to ignore his neighbour.
Smuts drove on, past a small lake and into extensive dried out grasslands. At this point, if it were not for the surrounding volcano walls, they might have easily imagined they were in the open space of the Serengeti.
A herd of zebra paused amidst their modest pickings to watch the vehicle pass then resumed their grazing. Beyond them, a line of wildebeest made their way steadily from one wizened patch to the next in their almost perpetual search for better growth.
A little further on, the grasslands gave out, and for a while, they travelled across what, at this time of year, was a dustbowl peppered with tufts of dry grasses.
Their safari truck came over a low rise and Helen realised they had driven round in a great arc and they were now close to a lakeside far from the exit route. Here the water was dark, almost black but shimmering in the sunlight. What she took to be a rocky outcrop suddenly moved and a great hippo reared its head, its movement was immediately mirrored by others in the group and the surface bulged and rippled under the disturbance. In just a few moments the hippos settled, the water became still and the birds that had previously perched on the hippos’ backs returned to their posts to pick and scratch at their thick grey skin.
