The plane was flying upside down.
Next came a business question. A customer requests a deal that will lose you money. If you don’t agree, they will take their custom elsewhere. Do you agree to the deal? My initial instinct was to say no, but I knew there had to be more to the puzzle.
Did the customer bring in a lot of revenue usually? No. Is he a big player in the industry? No. Would losing the customer affect the reputation of the firm? No.
The answer was obvious. Too obvious. Before I could stop him, Robert said he would reject the deal.
“Big mistake,” Len said. Now why wasn’t I surprised? “The customer’s wife is one of your biggest clients and takes her business away from you. Your firm goes bust.”
How were we supposed to work that one out? I was not happy and could not keep my mouth shut.
“That’s unfair. There was no way we could have guessed that.”
The smile did not drop from Len’s face. “You need to think outside the box.” I wanted to hit him. Thankfully I managed to control myself. I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn’t. Len moved straight on.
“At the start of the year, I buy a mouse. Mice have the ability to reproduce every 2 months and each litter contains 30 babies, on average. Assuming that half of the offspring are female and they can reproduce from the age of 2 months, how many mice will I have at the end of the year?”
Finally something I could work with. I asked for pen and paper, which Len happily provided, and I began my calculations. Once I had my answer, I doubled checked it before showing it to Robert. He looked at my workings and nodded his agreement. Finally, we were going to solve a puzzle.
I was about to say the answer when Robert stopped me. “Wait,” he called out. “I’ve just thought of something. Was the mouse female? The first one I mean.”
“It was,” Len said. His smile was no longer amused. He now seemed pleased. I had no idea where Robert was going with this, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Was she pregnant when you purchased her?” Robert continued.
“No, she wasn’t”.
“Then the answer is 1.” I held my breath. Len nodded his head.
“Very good.”
I didn’t understand. “With only 1 mouse, how can it reproduce?” Robert said, somewhat smugly. Now that he said it, it was obvious.
“Great,” I said. “Can we go now?”
“Of course,” Len said pleasantly. “Rob can go any time he wishes, though I would recommend waiting till the morning.”
“Thank you,” Robert and I both said. “We will leave as soon as we have found Kris,” Robert continued.
“Where are you going Rachel?” Len asked as I stood up to go into the house. “I said Rob could leave, not you. You have yet to solve a puzzle.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” I was really beginning to hate this demi-god. “Rob needs to decide if he will leave or wait for you to pass my test.”
“Go,” I told Robert. “We have no idea how long it will take me to solve one of these stupid, idiotic puzzles. You can’t afford the delay.”
“No,” Robert said. “I will not leave without you.”
“Excellent,” Len said, clapping his hands together. “I don’t get visitors very often. I hope you both sleep well. I will see you in the morning.”
“No,” I almost screamed at him. “Now. I will not wait till the morning.”
“I am afraid you have no choice.” Without another word, Pestilence stood up and walked into the house.
I kicked a chair in frustration.
“Is everything alright?” Kris asked as he walked across the deck toward us.
“No, everything is not alright,” I snapped. “That son of a bitch is cheating.” I gestured toward the open door through which Pestilence had entered the house.
“I think you will find he is the son of a god, not a bitch,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to keep a grin from his face. “Unless, of course, you think Persephone is a female dog.”
I hate to admit it, but I didn’t react very well to his attempt at being light hearted. “I hate this place,” I yelled. “I hate everything about it. I hate him. And I hate you.”
“Rachel, calm down. This is not Kris’s fault,” I heard Robert saying, but I was too angry to listen.
“Hell is nothing like I imagined,” I continued. “But I can tell you one thing. After what I have seen so far, I think I would have preferred the fire and brimstone version.”
I stormed into the house, stomped to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me.
I have now calmed down. Writing in my diary has helped. I know I have acted very childishly and I am beginning to understand Robert’s attitude. I feel bad about the way I spoke to Kris. I know this is not his fault. I just hope he forgives me when I apologise in the morning. If he doesn’t, the rest of my time in Hell is going to be unbearable.
Day 9
To say I slept badly is an understatement. I tossed and turned for what felt like hours before dropping off, only to wake up as the first rays of sunlight entered the room.
Feeling grumpy and irritable, I threw the covers off me and got out of bed. Thinking that a swim would help, I searched through the wardrobe for a swimming costume and was not in the least surprised when I found one.
Nobody else was around as I exited the house and I had the pool to myself while I did enough laps to get rid of my bad mood. I didn’t hear anyone approach as I climbed out of the pool, but as I was leaning over a chair to retrieve my towel I felt someone place one around me.
I whirled around in surprise, making Kris step back to avoid my out-flung arm. “Feeling any better?” he asked as he adjusted the towel so it was across my shoulders once more.
“A little,” I replied. “Thanks.” I suddenly felt self-conscious. “Look, about what I said last night.”
Before I could continue, Kris held up his hand. “It’s alright. I understand why you were angry and that your anger was not really directed at me. Rob told me what Len said. He’s changing the rules. I have tried speaking to him, but he is insisting that you must solve a puzzle if you wish to continue. He has relented somewhat though. Rob will be allowed to assist you. I will not.”
“Thank you,” I said. “For understanding, as well as for trying to help.”
By the time I was dried and dressed, Kris, Robert and Pestilence were seated by the pool waiting for me.
“Rob has requested that we start the puzzles before breakfast and I have reluctantly agreed.” Puzzles? Why the plural? What makes him so sure I won’t be able to answer the first one? Oh yeah – my failures last night.
“Hit me,” I said. I was confident and ready to give it a go. Not.
“A farmer has to cross a river with−” Len started to say, but Robert interrupted before he could finish.
“I know. A fox, a chicken and some corn. This one is easy,” he said, then whispered the answer in my ear. This time, however, I didn’t need his help. I had heard this puzzle and already knew the solution.
“Is he always like this?” Len asked Kris, who nodded his head.
“Rash, arrogant, full of himself? From what I have seen, yes.”
“I understand why you have hated your journey so far,” Len said. Then he winked at me before saying, “And why you have enjoyed it so much.” What was that supposed to mean? Before I had chance to ask, Len turned his attention to me once more and continued with the puzzle.
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, a farmer has to cross a river with 3 foxes and 3 chickens. The boat can only hold two animals and there must always be one in the boat, until all have crossed. At no point can there be more foxes than chickens on either side of the river.”
Great. This one was a lot harder. Had Len always intended to pose this puzzle or had he meant to do the easier one before Robert interrupted him?
“OK, we can work this out,” Robert said with enthusiasm. We were provided with pen and
paper once more and began our deliberations. Robert started by taking two foxes across, but I immediately pointed out that there would be more foxes than chickens on the other side so that could not be how to start it. “Well take 2 chickens then,” he said.
I then had to point out that that would leave more foxes than chickens on the original side of the river. Conclusion – the first trip across had to be one fox and one chicken.
The farmer had to go back with an animal and if he left the fox there would be more foxes than chickens on the far side, therefore he had to leave the chicken. Next trip, he couldn’t take a chicken, so therefore he would have to take a fox, leaving 2 chickens and one fox on one side, one chicken on the other and two foxes in the boat. So far, so good.
Leave one of the foxes. Everything still works. Collect a chicken. This would leave one chicken and one fox on each side of the river and one of each in the boat. Still good. The farmer cannot leave the fox, so he has to leave the chicken and return with the fox. This makes two chickens and a fox one side, one chicken and one fox the other, with the last fox still in the boat.
“Do we then take the chicken or the fox?” Robert asked.
“It has to be the fox,” I said. “If not, there will be more foxes than chickens on the first side of the river.”
I wrote down ‘take the fox and leave it, returning with the last fox still in the boat. Pick up the chicken and you are all across’ then I double checked my scenario before passing it to Robert. He confirmed that it would work and handed it to Len.
I held my breath. Len read it through, twice. “That will work,” he finally said. “You may leave.”
Yes. I felt like punching the air. I stood up and was about to go to my room to retrieve my things when a thought occurred to me. “That wouldn’t really work you know.”
“Why not?” Len asked. He obviously didn’t like me questioning his puzzles.
“The foxes would be left alone with the chickens and would eat them.”
“No they wouldn’t,” he said. “The farmer told them not to.”
I really didn’t like this guy. He had an answer for everything, even if it didn’t make any sense.
“You are staying for breakfast, aren’t you?” It sounded more like a demand than a question.
“No, we are not,” I said and walked away.
By the time Robert and I had retrieved our bags, Len and Kris had disappeared. We were debating what to do when we heard raised voices and a door slamming. Kris appeared further down the corridor and called to us. “Let’s go.”
“What was that about?” I asked when we caught up with him.
“Nothing important,” he said.
We walked out of the house and were almost out of earshot when we heard Len calling after us.
“You should listen to me Kris. I have been around a lot longer than you have. If you don’t change your mind, you will regret it.”
Kris ignored him and stomped off with me and Robert following closely on his heels.
“Where to next?” I asked when I could take the silence no longer.
“Famine,” Kris replied, but with no enthusiasm.
“Any idea what challenge he will set?” I continued. “Robert has already had his bravery and intelligence tested, so what’s next?”
Kris stopped and looked at me. His smile was back. I was beginning to really like his smile. “I have no idea. But I do know one thing; you are in for a huge surprise.”
Normally that phrase would have intrigued me, but given where we were, any sort of surprise sounded like something to be worried about.
We continued on in silence for a while, putting as much distance between us and Len as we could before stopping for breakfast. Kris seemed as anxious to get away from him as I was. I couldn’t help wondering what Len had said to upset him so much. I asked Kris about it as we ate, but he kept changing the subject. In the end I gave up.
“Is there anything we need to know about the terrain we will be traversing before we continue?” Robert asked Kris as we were packing up after our meal. “No forests full of killer trees, no ogres in the mountains or poisonous snakes in the swamps, for example.”
“No,” Kris said. “I promise to keep you informed from now on.”
Robert took the lead, walking through pleasant fields and pastures. Birds called to us as they flew overhead and other wildlife could be seen grazing in the distance. The sun shone and just for a while I forgot that we were in Hell.
We approached a wood and Kris advised that it was safe to go through it, so Robert entered without any hesitation. He was beginning to trust Kris at last.
It was only a small wood and we were out the other side in under an hour. Kris called to Robert to wait a while once we were clear of the trees and he did so without complaining.
“We will shortly reach a stream,” Kris informed us. “We need to wade through it, but don’t worry, it is not very deep. The other side is the beginning of a desert that we will need to cross.”
“Desert?” I asked. “As in a huge area with no water and no life? Don’t they take days to cross and should only be entered at night due to the excessive heat of the sun?”
“Not this one. It will only take a number of hours to cross it and it will not be much hotter than here. It was created by a god, remember. It comes with climate control.”
“Then lead on, o holy guide,” I said, bowing dramatically and pointing forward.
Kris froze. “Why did you say that?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You yourself said we are entering a desert created by a god. It just seemed appropriate.”
Kris visibly relaxed. “Everything here was created by a god,” he pointed out.
“Let’s go,” Robert ordered.
“One thing I should warn you about,” Kris said as we started walking once more. “The desert contains areas of quicksand.”
Robert stopped. “Quicksand? How are we supposed to spot that?”
“Quicksand often occurs near water sources. Not much grows in the desert, so if you see any kind of vegetation, avoid it.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Robert said and resumed walking. We soon arrived at the stream and as Kris had predicted, we managed to wade across it easily. Our shoes and the bottom of our trousers were wet through, but they soon dried in the sun.
The green meadow slowly turned to sand and it was not long before we found ourselves in the desert. There was nothing as far as the eye could see.
“Why did Hades create this?” I asked as I stared into the nothingness.
“He likes to get away from everything occasionally and this is where he comes,” Kris replied.
We continued walking until the sun began to set. Kris pointed out that it would be best to set up camp while we still had light, but Robert insisted on continuing on for a while longer, so continue we did.
It did not take long for darkness to descend and Kris had to call to Robert, who had gotten quite far ahead of us, to advise him that it wasn’t safe to go any further. Robert was calling back his agreement when his words were cut off by him screaming. I started to run toward him, but Kris grabbed me.
“Slowly,” he said. “Rob may have slipped into some quicksand and we don’t want to join him.”
Sure enough, as we got closer we could see Robert was having difficulty moving. “Get me out of here,” he cried out. “It’s dragging me down.”
“Calm down,” I said. “And stop moving.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Robert yelled. He doesn’t swear very often, believe it or not, which indicated how scared he was. “If I stop fighting against it I will be sucked under.”
“No, you won’t,” I said as I knelt down on what I knew was solid ground. “It is your movements which are disturbing the sand below you, making you sink. Stay still and you will float, like you do when you are in water.”
“She’s right you know,” Kris said. “Relax and we will soon have you out of there.”
R
obert didn’t listen to us. He was panicking and flailing his arms about. I could only assume that he was trying to do the same with his legs. I couldn’t see very well in the darkness, but he appeared to be sinking; he was only visible from the waist up.
“Robert, you do as I say this minute,” I yelled in an almost perfect imitation of my mother. It had the desired effect. Robert was so shocked he froze.
“Good,” Kris said. “Now stay still and you will begin to feel yourself floating upward a little.”
“Can you give us some light?” I asked. Rescuing Robert would be much easier if we could see what we were doing.
“Sure,” Kris replied and started rummaging around in his bag. He pulled out a number of flashlights, switched them all on, then buried their handles in the sand at an angle so their beams shone directly on Robert.
“Can you make your way toward me?” I asked, but Robert shook his head.
“I can’t move my legs. They’re trapped.” His voice was edged with panic once more, but at least he remained still.
“They are not trapped,” Kris said. “You are pulling against a vacuum. Keep your movements small and steady and try to keep your legs and arms wide apart.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Robert yelled, but he did as instructed. With tremendous effort he managed to move slightly toward us.
“He’s not going to make it,” I whispered to Kris. “He will be exhausted before he gets near us. Can we help him at all?”
Kris looked in the bag once more and drew out a length of rope. Using our hands to make sure the ground was still solid, we slowly moved forward until we reached the edge of the quicksand. Once there, Kris stood up and threw the rope to Robert.
“Grab hold,” he said. “We won’t be able to pull you free, but we may be able to help a little.”
I have no idea how long it took, but eventually Robert managed to get close enough to grab Kris’s outstretched arm and heave himself free. All three of us collapsed on the ground, breathing hard.
Diary of a journey through Hell Page 9
