Incarna

53 - Afghan Companion

Day 12: Australian Afghan Herb Research Centre, Kandahar Province - Afghanistan

The man lay unconscious on the cot in the visitors room of the Bunker. Russ sat beside him checking his pulse and temperature while Sallay stood near the door his head tilted to the right and his lips pursed. Alison came up the corridor and poked her head in, medivac can be here as soon as the storm clears, about two hours they reckon!”

“So who is he?” asked Russ as he wrote down the results on the man’s make shift medical chart. “A driver of a supply truck that was ambushed yesterday. The rest of the column was okay and repelled the attack but this bloke was wounded and captured as the surviving Al Qaeda shit heads ran off!” Allison shrugged as she said this, “they weren’t too forthcoming only to keep everything secret and dont clean anything up. They want to do a complete analysis of every where this Incarna figure was.” Sallay nodded and Russ placed the chart on the small chest of drawers next to the cot.

Russ went through the unconscious figures pockets now he had all the med details down. No wallet but a couple of business cards. Russ checked the chain around his neck. An ID tag appeared like a precious catch from the deepest sea.

Sallay turned to Alli, “did you close all the doors leading to where our man was brought in and she nodded distractedly as she looked down at the unconscious figure and Russ checking the cards and tag. Sallay nodded thoughtfully, “it was not a Djinn!”

Russ and Alli looked up expectantly, they both knew that tone of voice. “I first saw them when I was little, during a visit to an Uncle with my father. The family warned me not to go out alone at night and never respond if I heard my name called or I saw something sparkle at dusk. Of course I ignored everything that had been told to me!”

“Not like you at all eh Sarlie,” said Russ lightening the tone. Sallay smirked, “I thought for years after that the shadows I saw coming out of the rocks and the laughter and voices, was just a child’s imagination until my father told I had always had Djinn as companions as a little child. For some reason they had followed my mother from Herat when she came out to marry him. Her whole family were full of stories of Djinn who lived in the hills above their farm and helped them protect flocks and rescue children and the family left food for them and never complained if tools or other things went missing for awhile. The tools always came back never needing to be sharpened again!”

Sallay stood completely distracted by his memories. “That wasn’t a Djinn or at least nothin’ like anything I’ve ever seen!” He turned and shrugged at Allison then walked off down the corridor to the kithchen were they heard him making coffee. There would be cinnamon and cardamon, and chilli in it, and it would be strong. Sallay was very stressed and always went quiet and made strong coffee when he was thrown intothe deep end of the uncomprehensible.

“Waddya reckon?” asked Russ as he walked up and stood next next to Allison. She shrugged, “they’re nothin’ like the Djinn described in the Koran and Sarlies' description fits more with all the tales and fables I’ve ever heard!”

“I did a search,: Russ began, "and all references to Incarna are still blocked, whereas Djinn comes up as long as it isn’t linked to Incarna!” "Yeah, not sure that’s helpin’ the cause or not,” Alli added. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked irt with a quick swipe of her thumb and handed it to Russ. “Just static?” he half questioned.

“Yep, same with all our CCTV, just nothin’ there. You can kinda make out the details of things closest to the camera but the closer to the Incarna the worse the static!” “That’s some EM field their generating then,” concluded Russ, “I’d hate to be exposed to that level of radiation for any length of time, without some sort of shielding. You’d be real sick, real fast otherwise!”

“Perhaps theres nothin’ alive to get sick!” He frowned at Allison, “meaning?”

“Oh I dunno, you’re the one’s been goin on about Japanese fightin’ robots and stuff!” Russ smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, too many super hero and anime movies!”

"Yeah, well, I suppose all ideas are on the table now. Do you reckon we’re the first to see an Incarna up close like that?” “It’s possible, though there was a lot’ve dust and shit swirlin’around, and it didn’t leave footprints either. Not even a scuff mark.” Russ smirked and shrugged at her frown. “I couldn’t help it, I had ta check!”

They stood at the door wondering. The man stirred on the cot, then fell silent and still once more. Russ handed the man's ID tag to Allison. Leroy Harris, Deepwater Inc, Subcontract Driver, was all the information it gave. Allison looked at the figure then back at the ID tag. Deepwater was all over Afghanistan and Iraq, even after all the US government contract scandals.

"I wonder if the Djinn saved him because of other reasons or just that he was the one that could be saved?" Russ shrugged and they left the room. Allison made to close the door, “best leave it open I'd reckon,” Russ added. She nodded and with a parting glance at the sleeping man they turned and made their way to the kitchen.

Sallay had just poured their coffees and Russ smiled and the aroma, that was a good brew! “He’s still ok” he asked as he handed the cups across. “Yeah and they all sleep for 5-6 hours so he might wake before the medivac gets here.” “I hope not, remember how that first bloke, Owain Davies, went crazy. They had to sedate him.” They all nodded as various memories of the different interventions played with their minds.

“It could be the Japanese ya know,” Allison coughed and spilt some of her coffee as Russ threw in one his famous off hand remarks. “Well, I mean after that Kenji Goto incident the Japanese threatened all kinds of response. Why not some sort of high tech robot soldier? It would explain a lot of how it all occurs!”

Sallay put his cup down with great precision and Russ immediately shut up. “The Djinn are a people of All’ah. They were made out of smokeless fire where as humans were made out of mud. They live in families and clans and like us some are smart, some stupid and some evil. They know good from evil and often befriend a person and become a companion but nothing like those stupid american movies!” Russ and Allison chuckled as they watched Sallay warm to his subject.

"This Incarna we saw was not a Djinn and I cannot make comment about any other beings, angels or devils. I try to be a scientist and then something like this happens and throws me right back to the mythologies of my homeland.” He paused and Russ realised how serious this was for Sallay.

"I don’t want to be called upon by whatever that was, so I think I will use this event, so to speak, to go home." He pushed his cup away from him. "I’ve kept my head down and Al Qaeda have left us alone! In fact, they have given us protection because we are helping the farmers. But, I don’t have something like the Skateistan school to also help the Afghan people with as you two go off and do, so I think I will go home and let the locals take charge here.”

Sallay stood up and pushed his chair as he did. He giave a slight bow of his head and left the kitchen. They heard him make his way to his room and shut the door.

Sallay sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. He rubbed at where the headache was threatening to tear his head off. It eased under his massaging and pressure pointing and then it was gone. He looked up and saw a familiar figure standing at the end of his bed.

“So you have come back, now? After all these years you have come back to me!” The Djinn made no move, only a soft smile creased it’s lips as it nodded to Sallay. The tears tumbled down Sallay’s cheeks as he remembered his youth and the companion he’d always had and then, had one day disappeared. Now his Djinn had returned.

Sallay tried to smile back at his Djinn but his heart was thumping so hard in his chest he wasn't sure he could speak any more.