ULAM. -- The Escaped Version

Elle has been ready her whole life. She denied herself a typical childhood, away from children her own age; play and laughter was not in the daily list of things to do. She spent her days growing up immersed in everything related to Audris, the Goddess of Light. She memorized the entire book of charts and prayers by heart. She knew everything she needed to know about Audris, deity mother who sacrificed her life to save her people. Those who worship her every breath would receive her undying love and protection from evil harm.

Audris' rebirth comes in every 7 years, and as tradition dictates a glorious death awaits her with open arms. The girls born with the birthmark malu were destined to be her vessel; they will receive instant placing on the altar of Demos, and will serve as her high priestesses in the heavens.

Therefore, when Raoul told her about his experience as a little Samoan, watching his own sister sacrificed to release Audris into the heavens in order to shower wealth and prosperity as she ascends to the sky above, Elle was calm and collected about it.

Elle's fate in life is to die. And now Raoul was telling her that she didn’t have to die; Audris could be contained in Elle's heart and still be free to disperse glory to the people around her.

Raoul said that Audris had a sister, a twin to be precise, Stellis, the complete opposite of Light. Stellis is the Goddess of Dark, whose wrath knows no bound, and her powers could be harnessed to advantage. Stellis could turn peaceful neighboring countries against each other and even rain down hails or snow on a tropical island.

Each time Audris is released to the heavens above, Stellis is left behind in the vessel, rotting away inside earth, the only self gratifying thing she could do was prison the earth with hatred and greed. Her story remained buried until now.

So the little Samoans believed they’re releasing Audris. But the Japanese Elite really wished to gain power over Stellis.

They have all the money in the world; what Stellis could offer them is ultimate power worth more than all the nuclear bombs in the world combined. Hers is the highest high, to gain the respect of the world, after their humiliating lost in World War 2. They shall be the rulers of the world with Stellis Goddess of Dark by their side.

“How sure are you that Stellis could be tamed?” said Elle.

“Because of you. You have a Stellis tattoo, Audris. This rarely happens. If ever it happen. We have been monitoring all the vessels of Audris, their development, and you showed the most probability of being a Stellis vessel. Audris vessels tended to be meek and obedient, only following the orders given to them. Not you. You’re a rebel. Even after the initiation ceremony, when they brainwashed you, you sill shows a streak of fire within. You decided to travel the world, instead of staying in one place and offer prayers to Audris, you’d rather go around the world to get things done; the ULAM folder, becoming Zip’s lover yourself when Maria failed to seduce him. You act instead of staying put,” said Raoul.

“But I only wanted to get things done. To prepare for the release of Audris, to gain everything she has to bestow on us. Everlasting love to finally bring peace on Earth.

“That’s where the Little Samoans got it wrong. Releasing Audris into the heavens would only bring momentary bliss, the most is 4 to 7 years. But this way, we could harness both Audris and Stellis’ powers much more longer than that,” said Raoul.

“This way?” asked Elle.

P/s Good luck Flo. Go crazy! I just had to name the goddesses. August Ulam characters maybe? Hehe :P

Let's talk about Samoan's tattoo, or Ta Tau.

While the male tattoo, the pe'a, shows the bravery of Samoan men, the female tattoo, the malu, means to be protected and sheltered. This is very well documented in most of the Samoan culture literatures, unlike Little Samoan cultures.

Not many people know about Little Samoan, a minority group of Samoan who is intentionally marginalized by the rest, because of their strange conception of Samoan cultures, and their weird interpretation about Ta tau.

While Samoan perceive women with malu is protected and sheltered by Samoan spirits, Little Samoan believe that the one who protects their tribe is someone born with malu on her one thigh. Or say it in another way, Little Samoan believe that the spirit which will offer protection and shelter to their tribe is trapped in the body with naturally born malu.

They call the spirit, or the girl with naturally born malu, Goddess of light.

What makes Little Samoan being marginalized by the rest of the Samoan is, they practice Sacrificism. If a girl is born with a malu on her thigh, her destiny is to sacrifice, to release the Goddess of light in her body when time comes.

Every members of Little Samoan bear the tradition by generations, but it is totally unacceptable for the rest of the Samoan. Once a little girl was recognized as the chosen Goddess of light, a mirror image of the naturally born malu will be tattooed on another thigh of the little girl. The pattern of the naturally-born malu changes through time, and when the time has come, a cross-match image of the naturally-born malu and its initial pattern which was tattooed-on will tell the message of Goddess of light....

...... ......

"Hold! Prof.," Zip raised his hand and stopped Prof Z from continuing his story, ".. you said 'when the time has come', what do you mean by that?"

Good question. Sitting beside Zip, KingKong nodded showing he was about to ask the same question too, out of thousands of questions in his mind.

"Well," Prof Z started to behave as if he was conducting a Q&A session in a formal conference, ".. there's a famous quote among Little Samoans which sounds like this: 5 days before full moon high, the time has come and the blue wolves cry.. " Prof Z intentionally made a pause, and looked at his two audiences, "anybody in this room cares to have a guess on it?"

Silence. A light smile on Prof Z, giving hints, "look at the picture, what do you see?"
"A goat, tail-less one.."
"Then tell me what is the similarity between a tail-less goat and '5 days before full moon'?"

Both are incomplete. SO??? Zip and KingKong were definitely wondering the same thing.

Prof Z knew what came into the mind of these two geniuses in front of him. They just need another piece of information to complete the puzzle about the tail-less goat. He took a deep breath, "This picture," paused, to pull Zip and KingKong back from deep thought, "... was taken 3 years ago by a kid of Little Samoan tribe on Samoa Island, when the picture was shown to the tribe elders, they all agreed that, this was the message sent by Goddess of light, telling them that the time has come..."

"... meaning.. any sign showing incompletion indicates the time to sacrifice the little girl?" KingKong needed some time to reformulate this interpretation, it was illogic at all to kill a girl based merely on a picture, maybe the goat just conscious and unconsciously hided its tail.

"Then how the hell all these are related to Elle?" Zip's main concern was still the love of his life, but the moment he finished his words, a chilling feeling smeared all over his body...

Elle.... is the little girl..

"..but how come? It was Elle who asked me to steal the ULAM file!! .. and she even tried to kill me for it!! How can she... argh no I don't get it at all!" Zip was frozen at the moment, but KingKong wasn't. He knew something else than Zip about Elle.

"The problem here is, Elle is ready to sacrifice." Prof Z state the message WORD by WORD.

Now both Zip and KingKong were frozen.

"Elle knows everything about her destiny, and she has been waiting for the moment to come, the brilliant Little Samoan came out with a neat and structured plan to make sure that everything will be ready by the time the sign appeared. They brainwashed Elle, they set their base in Tokyo and attached to an secret elite organization in Tokyo to help them to scout for talents and trained them --- and you, KingKong, you're one of their trainee, you're part of their plan.. -- it's just that I still don't understand why they were trying to kill you...."

Silence. Both Zip and KingKong were still stunned.

".....w---hy..?" somebody voiced this out, but the voice sounded so dry that Prof Z couldn't identify whose voice was it.

"I understand all these stuff are... mess. You're not sure why this little community of Little Samoan doing all this? You're not sure why there was a need to get the Japanese elite organization involved? You're not sure why and how and what they were doing all these things just only for a message from their Goddess of light?.... Look I know you're not sure of so many things, but trust me, my only explanation for it is, 'The message from their Goddess of light' that they are going to retrieve from the cross-match malu," Prof Z stopped and took a deep breath, "..is something very valuable than just a superstitious message about Goddess and myth.."

"which is?" KingKong was gaining his composure.
"I don't know." Prof Z replied firmly.

Sigh. Zip and KingKong finally felt released when they heard Prof Z gave them 'I don't know' as the answer. They didn't think they could bear any shocks and surprises anymore. These whole shits, they thought it started from the ULAM folder, obviously had already started at least 7 years before, and each of them was actually arranged and set-up, everything now seemed to be so not-solid, everything and everyone could be any parts of any plans and any lies of any relationships.

"... wait." out of the chaos Zip realized something, "how do you know all these? why we need to trust you, Prof Z.?"

"I...." Prof Z suddenly breathed deeply, "Elle is my grand daughter..."

Again, Zip and KingKong were lost in translation. What does it mean?

"... so is that make you part of the f*cking Little Samoan tribe who wanted to f*cking kill Elle for the sake of retrieving that f*cking message from that f*cking spirit?!!?" Zip was getting emotional. He stood up angrily and grabbed Prof Z on his lab coat's collar. The atmosphere was tensed up at the moment.

"Elle is a Samoan!" shouted Prof Z back to Zip.
What??!!?!?
"Elle was brainwashed. We Samoan people tried to protect Elle since she was born but Elle was kidnapped and brainwashed...."

Zip pushed Prof Z down. His anger was fumed up by all these things. "Tell us!!!" he shouted at Prof Z, despite of his respect to the wisest old man he'd ever met.

Prof Z sat back to his chair in the lab, sigh sadly, deeply, "Elle still could recognize me as her grandpa, but......"

******************************

It was the dream that Elle described to him that day made Raoul confirmed his wild guess about Elle and the relationship between three of them and the 'higher authority' that gave commands and orders.

The chant that Elle showed to him, he was absolutely familiar with. It was the chant sung during a tattooing ceremony for Samoan, but it was also the chant casted during the sacrifice of a lady of Little Samoan, who was believed to be able to free Goddess of light from her body after her malu was stabbed and a hole was made.

Raoul witnessed the ceremony three times in his life. He ran away from his own tribe after witnessing the 3rd sacrifice ceremony which involved his elder sister. Raoul decided to ran away not only because he did not agree nor accept the ceremony, it was also because he saw something which made him started to question about the existence of his own tribe, Little Samoan.

He was only 10 when he ran away. He never had a chance to get himself tattooed, but something else had tattooed in his heart. From the day on, he swore that he wanted to find out where he really came from.

... because what he saw during the night his sister died, was so unreal, which made him felt that he was just 'TOO REAL' to be one of the Little Samoan tribe.

... and now he needed to prove something from Elle's malu. He had this strong feeling sensing that Elle might have her naturally-born sign-of-Goddess malu on her thigh, but she was real.

Elle was, again, TOO REAL for her to be one of the Little Samoan tribe.

..and as the sketching of Elle's malu was finishing, Raoul became more and more nervous. The cross-match sketch of Elle's left and right thighs' malu was showing something he used to familiar with, he used to had nightmare of, he used to terrified with ---

--- it was a rough sketch of the image of Goddess of light that he saw during the night his sister died. YES, unlike the 2 experiences that ended up nothing was shown after the ladies were sacrificed, he DID see Goddess of light 'flow out' his sister's body after the ceremony, but it did not match any image that had been described or imagined. It was something else, and this time, on the tracing paper, Raoul saw another image of 'Goddess of light', it did not look like the one he saw before, but Raoul just knew, it was Goddess of light, or maybe another Goddess of light.

God damn it I sacrificed my morning bus to stay in UTP and spend almost 12 hours working on this before my 1 week off. See how noble (stupid) i am?

The folder should contain the clue to break the secret of the malu – the tattoo on Elle’s legs. The tattoo will lead them to their most valuable treasure – their freedom.

Elle looked at Raoul. Raoul nodded.

Elle touched the folder with trembling fingers, curious at what secret lays inside it. Slowly she opened it, almost squirming and squinting as if some hideous monsters will jump out from the folder and grab her and Raoul, eat them there and then.

Elle flipped the cover.

‘read from the end, and you’ll shy away from the fiction written on the magazine’

She flipped another page.

‘as the big ape fly, to the end of the beginning... and fallen to the light’

Elle almost whimpered. She took a deep breath, and flipped to the third page.

‘and shall the moon carry the light to convene at the beginning’

Raoul nodded. The words referred to him, and his role.

They already knew about the words on the first three pages. Elle knew it from her sensei. Raoul knew it from his contact. King Kong was the last to know.

***

The four pages after that confused them. They were profiles of four college students, each represented with a picture of goat.

Goats?

The last one looks like a goat, but without tail.

But why are the pages there?

Zip was in a queue to go through the passport control counter at Narita's airport when two men in black suddenly approached him.

His instinct told him to kick both men on the nuts and run away through the south wing. However, the situation did not allow him to do so.

“Puh-reese for-row uh-so,” one of the two men instructed, in thick Japanese accent.

“Huh, you want me to row something?” Zip tried to be sarcastic.

Zip didn’t see it coming. He only felt the sting. The hand of one of the men moved lightning fast towards Zip’s arm, and suddenly a needle pricked his skin.

“Ouww!” Zip cried out, startling everyone in the queue. The two men waved their hands to the onlookers, signaling them to ignore the scene as if nothing was going on.

Zip wanted to protest with a knuckle to the man’s chin, but suddenly he lost control over his own body.

“What the…?” was only echoed in his head, not uttered through his lips. The man who pricked his skin smiled - a wicked smile. Zip was somehow in a trance.

No, not a trance - he was somehow possessed!

The two men turned around and started to walk. Against Zip’s will, his feet followed them.

***

Raoul and Elle were looking at her malu now. There’s a meaning inside the pattern, encrypted inside the riddle.

They flipped another page.

‘Shy as we hold the secret. We are the map when left and right crossed.’

“I’m going to spank the wiseass who wrote this!” Raoul grumbled.

It was so lame. He could figure the meaning right away.

“We have to lay your tattoo on a flat surface,”

“Are you going to skin my leg???” Elle almost shouted. The vision from her dreams – nightmare – flashed in her eyes.

“Trace paper, silly”

The malu was printed on her thighs, and she has every right to worry.

“But why?” Elle asked.

“I’ll tell you why when you tell me what you did to Kong…” Raoul said, almost whispering.

Elle paled. How could he have known?

***

Kong opened his eyes.

“Is this heaven?” he knew he was not in heaven when he could feel the pain. He gripped his head, suddenly remembering the piercing sensation of the bullet through his skull. He should be dead. Is he dead?

“No, you’re not dead; therefore you’re not in heaven either. Neither you’re in hell though you are more than qualified to go there with all the stuff you’ve stolen. You’re under Ukima Park, Kong.”

I’m still in Tokyo? How did he…?

“You’re my experiment, Kong… my precious specimen,”

What…?

“Finally, after all these years… The serum works! Hahaha ”

Who the hell are you?

“Oh, how rude of me. I’m Professor Z…”

"Raoul, I think I need to get some fresh air.It's been a while since I came here.I could really take a walk along Shibuya or Harajuku.."Elle looked at Raoul sheepishly, while deep in her heart all she wanted to do know was to get away from Raoul and get on with her task..the main task she was supposed to do here in Tokyo.

"Can't we go somewhere else more peaceful?What is it with you and crowded places?"Raoul trying to understand the love of his life.

He knew he was at risk when they started their relationship.The call King Kong received, after their success, Raoul had actually been contacted earlier.The job they underwent,stealing those infamous paintings, it was him who had received the information from the his contact. He knew about Marc and the contact earlier than King Kong. That was when he met Elle. And that was when he knew she was everything he had ever lived for. Elle's existence was not coincidental.She was part of the plan.The contact had set the meeting. And from then on, that was when Zip came into the picture.

Zip was not supposed to be with Elle.He was supposed to be with Maria. Elle was just helping out.One thing lead to another.Maria wasn't interested and she was out of the picture. Zip showed his interest in Elle. They went out for dinner but Elle insisted they were only friends. Even Raoul didn't think he should be worrying about it.Then things got more and more complicated. The contact had changed plan. Zip should be with Elle. Elle was going to be Zip's distraction from the initial plan set for Raoul and King Kong.

Then King Kong was contacted.Raoul had to pretend that he had been contacted the same time as King Kong. And as for Elle, she still 'played' her role as Zip's girl and secretly, she was with Raoul. But nobody knew that Raoul was having an affair with Elle. He managed to hide it from King Kong and Zip. It was hard for him to go along with their 'act'.To let Elle be with Zip. But he had to oblige. Between his agreement with his contact and Elle, he needed to sacrifice the love of his life. If it means that later, Elle would be his forever after he is done with the job..he was willing to sacrifice.

"Come on Raoul.It's Tokyo.And you know me..it's not that I get to shop everyday.."Elle giving him the insanely beautiful smile that he can never resist.

Putting his thoughts about Zip and King Kong away, he gave Elle a hug, "Go..shop to death if that's what you want.I'll be here in the room.I need to wait for King Kong's call anyway."

Elle kissed Raoul, took her purse and headed towards the door."I'll be back before you know it."

As soon as Elle walked out the door Raoul took out his handphone and dialed an eight digit number.At the first ring, he heard King Kong's voice on the other line "Hey Raoul, you just arrived?"

Raoul walked towards the ceiling to floor window of his Park Hyatt's suite overlooking Fujiyama or Mount Fuji."I just arrived.Is the contact there?"

"I don't think so.I'm told to wait.But hey, this waiting is making me nervous,"KingKong tried to sound relax but part of him was unable to conceal the mixed feelings he has now.

"I know.Man, at last.7 years of waiting and this is it.Call me when it's done.Where should we meet?At my place or yours?"Raoul tried to calm his friend but he was feeling restless too.

"Yours.This place is beautiful but hey..it's too classic!I need to go somewhere a bit more 'modern' if you get what I mean,"KingKong replied.

Raoul snickered understood precisely what KingKong meant.King Kong was at the Imperial Hotel.The legendary landmark in Tokyo situated near the Imperial Palace itself.It was too classic and historical to suite King Kong's modernized and 'techno' taste.He should be in Akihabara, though Raoul smiling yet again to himself.

They hung up the phone and both waited patiently as they had waited for 7 long years.At last, freedom was in their grasp for the first time..

**********

Zip was still on board the flight to Tokyo.

"Damn, 5 more hours to go.."

********
As soon as Elle stepped out the main entrance of the hotel, she casually climbed into an unmarked car. Two men in the front seat turned to face her and gave a bow as low as their seating position allowed them.

"jikan desu - it's time," Elle spoke to them and without needing anymore instruction, the men understood and drove into the bustling city of Tokyo heading towards the Imperial Palace.

**********

On the 16th floor of the main building- the Imperial Floor as they called it, King Kong lay down on the lavish SleepWork Bed, staring aimlessly at the plush interior of the room. Decorated by the world famed England's Julian Reed, although he had been in the room for the past couple of hour, he was still awed by the explicit details they had put to create such room.

But as minutes passed, his awe slowly diminishes and turning more and more into claustrophobic. "Where the hell is he?" King Kong said silently to himself.

Although he knew that in a few minutes, all the effort he had put for the past 7 years will come to repay him..but nonetheless, he felt restless...uneasy...

Sweeping every negative thoughts in his mind he stood up and head towards the bar at the end of the room and made himself a drink.

"Maybe I'm just too excited," he thought and took a sip from his Bohemian crystal glass.

Then there was a knock on the door..

The contact, he thought and hurriedly walk towards the door.

As soon as he turned the knob, a crash came down on him and he felt as if he just knocked his head on granite.

He was on the floor, his head was throbbing with pain and when he had the chance to open his eyes, to regain his sight, he felt a couple of large hands under his arms, dragging him towards the bed.

"What the..," before he could speak, he felt a blow on his face.

"Shit.." King Kong swore.

"Hi King..I really hope you're enjoying your stay here..," he heard a voice..a female voice..so familiar..

Mustering all the strength that is left in him, he tried to search for the voice ignoring the two huge japanese men who were pinning him on the bed.When he found the source of the voice, his eyes widen, not believing what he was seeing.

"Elle?What?Who?" King Kong was confused.Why was she here.He tried to think...his contact??It can't be..his contact was a he.. not a she.. or is it?

"Why, Kong.You look so confused.Oh, ok..let me just help you a little bit here although I really hate to monologue," Elle gave King Kong a smile..not a sincere one..more of a cynical smile.

Her demeanor changed so much, it took King Kong more than a few seconds to actually believe it was her.It was not the Elle he knew.The person in front of him was the exact opposite. The evil twin.

"So, at least.We meet face to face.Yes, and don't give me that look.I am your contact.Surprised?Well..you know how technology work nowadays," Elle continued while putting her hand into her purse, searching for something and when she found it, held it into her hand and threw it to KingKong.

"A voice changer device.." King Kong stared unbelievingly at the device that fell on his lap. He could now taste blood on his lips as he said these words and felt a rush of warm liquid on the side of his head.Trying to block his pain away, he focused back on Elle."Why?"

"The folder of course," Elle said as she located the folder on the sidetable next to the bed.She walked towards the table and took the folder.

"What's so important about it?And why me?Why Raoul?Zip?"King Kong demanded for an answer.

"It's up to the higher power to answer all your questions.I'm just the contact,"Elle answered leaving the questions hanging.

Then there was the sound of phone ringing and automatically Elle reached for her phone in her pocket and answered ,"Hai sensei. Ano fairu-wa..watashino tede.Hai.Wakarimashita - Yes,master.The file..it's in my hands.Yes.I understand," and as abrupt as the call started, she hung up.

Without hesitating for a moment, Elle looked at the two Japanese men in front of her and gave them a nod. Without any verbal cues needed, the two men nodded back and and one of them took out a .38 calibre pistol from a holster beneath his jacket.A pistol with a perforated cylinder on its barrel that will silence any bullet that goes through it.

KingKong was numbed.He saw every movement of the Japanese man beside him.He was helpless..he could not move.Still pinned down by the other man, for the first time in his life he felt alone."I'm going to die," he thought."And yet, I don't know why.."

The gun pas pointed at King Kong's forehead and the last words before the silent bullet pierced into his skull was "God, Help me."

Although the words were said out silently, those words echoed in Elle's ears as she left the room.She did not stay to witness the atrocious crime. She left before the trigger was pulled. And as she walked away silently, with the folder in her hands, she felt a drop of tear on her cheek....

King Kong wished to stop.

He already made his wealth from stealing. Now he wished he could retire in style amidst tall coconut trees and white sandy beaches of Bali.

He had always liked Bali. The hot sunny weather was the complete opposite of the gloomy fog infested London where he grew up. He lived with a foster family who took interest in his aptitude for technology. They provided him with extra classes and undergraduate tutors. They never complained about him blowing up the basement when his attempt at building a supercomputer met an early demise. They loved him as their own child and he grew up not thinking about his true parents too much. He could hardly recall how they looked like. The one thing he remembered of his mother was her long brown hair and green eyes. His father wore thick black glasses and had grey hair. The last memory he had of them was his parents waving him off. He was in a blue car with a lady in a suit. He remembered crying and the lady comforting him. He was five years old.

Bali brought back good memories of him being young and without care of life’s misfortunes. He was there on a semester break, in his early 20’s with youth oozing out of his tanned skin. He found his call in life when he met Raoul, an art dealer looking for a partner in business.

“What sort of venture are we talking about? I’m not into arts. My vocation is computers. There’s big money in computers. Someday we would all be slaves to computers. Mark my words,” said Kong.

“That is where you come in my friend. You look like a man in search of adventure. What I’m offering you is a chance to see the world, meet beautiful women in exotic locales and on the side make an unbelievable amount of money you could do whatever you want to do in life,” said Raoul.

Kong took the job without ever looking back. Folly is the youth who thought money brings about happiness. You cannot buy happiness. Happiness is in the doing. You make yourself happy doing things you love. In Kong’s case he believed he was doing something he loved. Breaking into heavy security systems of top museums seemed fun and challenging in the beginning but as he got older, the technology grew along with him. It stopped becoming a passion when the one thing he used to enjoy doing felt like work.

............................................

Tokyo hid her flaws underneath bright neon lights and the glittering glamour of cosmopolitan living. The criminal underworld bosses took tea in posh six stars hotels. They children were sent to expensive international schools and took foreign languages, groomed into becoming global citizens. Money traveled first class all over the world nowadays. The best method of cleaning dirty money is no longer buying expensive arts and gems. It was in making smart investments and reaping the rewards after 7 long years of waiting.

Everyone was there to witness the occasion. ULAM was returning home to its rightful owners. Everyone paid their dues either in monetary values, blood, sweat or tears. It took them this long to get here but the wait was worth it.

This King Kong, they were told that he was one of the best. They have been watching his development since early childhood. Recognizing his potentials, they placed him under the care of the best minds they could buy with their combined wealth. It was all done in the name of ULAM. And tonight everything would be theirs again.

The vision started to develop into a chaos...... the sound of ladies chanting becoming louder and then overwhelming... it was a heart-tearing noise but it was unavoidable.... the pictures of tattoo flashes swifter and swifter..... the faces of men and women around the ring flashes, none of a face was recognizable ... Elle was brought into the center of the ceremony.... then fire then chanting then tattoo.... the a knife suddenly drawn out swiftly and stab right into the thigh of hers, without any hesitation... then tattoo then chanting then fire... Elle screamed but she couldn't hear anything.. the knife was withdrawn and raised into the middle of the air, then another swift and clean move stabbing down ----

"Leai!!" Elle was shocked and sat up on her seat, puffed heavily, sweating with fear. The continuous grunting sound of the flight engine conquering the silence cabin. The cabin was dark, indicating it was a sleeping time for most of the passengers. A slight shake of the airplane due to current pulled her back to reality. She found her composure.

"Honey?" Raoul was awaken, "the dream again?" he put his hand on Elle's, trying to tell her that whatever it is, I'm here for you.

Elle nodded, and took a deep breath, realizing something out of a sudden, "Honey can I have your pen?" She then took out her little notebook while Raoul passed his pen to her, "... this time is different, they become more vivid...", explained Elle referring to her weird dream that had been haunting her since her childhood, meanwhile she started to write something on her notebook.

Raoul did not quite get Elle, but he couldn't ask for any clarification as Elle put her index finger to her lips and made a 'shhh.. silent please' hand sign to him. Elle tried to recall the chant she heard in the dream. It was in Samoan, she knew only part of the language, but this was the only direct message that she might get from this weird dream.

"Friend, stop your wailing and moaning,
That is not the pain of a sick person.
That is the pain of a novice.
Relax your body like giving up,
Give in, o chief!

Ah, you suffer beneath the blows,
Ah, till you fall asleep,
And you are not tired nor weary of it!"

"No. That doesn't make any sense for me, honey.." Raoul responded to the translation that Elle came out with, "yeah it sounds comprehensive but I don't think it's relevant to anything..." Raoul looked at Elle who sunk into deep thought.

Silence. The grunting sound of engine again conquered the atmosphere in the cabin. Elle took a deep breath, "that supposed to be sung during a tattooing ceremony, not for what happened in my dream...."

********************

Zip knew things could be much more complicated than he thought. He was born with all these kind of thieving intelligence and instincts, but somehow he would rather choose to believe that there's always a invisible helping hand that will pull him and give him a hint that eventually helped him to solve the problem before him.

This time, he believed that this invisible helping hand appeared in the form of his affection for Elle.

He decoded the wicked phrase while thinking of Elle, and he strongly believed that, the "read from the end" ULAM word, was something regarding to of Samoan, although he wasn't that 100% sure that by relating to Samoan will eventually relating to his love, Elle.

What was the "read from the end" ULAM? The answer was too obvious. MALU. Zip knew the answer at the moment he read the phrase, but thing wasn't that certain for him at the moment was, "MALU", appeared in most languages that he knew, and each of them defined different meaning.

'Malu' in Calabrese, means bad; 'Malu' in Denya, means space; in Malay and Indonesian, 'Malu' means embarrassed or shy or bashful, 'Malu' of Sindarin refers to the yellowish brown colour; in Welsh, 'Malu' is a verb, grind; and 'Malu' of Mapudungun, means iguana.

.. and the list goes on, and none of the meanings direct his thought to the case, until Elle came into his mind.

'Malu' in Samoan, is a female tatau. And tatau in Samoan, means tattoo. Zip should have thought of it.

Zip closed his eye. He really wished that the interpretation he made was damn wrong, he really wished that Elle was nothing to do with all these shit, but the more he prayed and asked for hint from his 'invisible helping hand', the stronger he felt that he's losing Elle.

The car stuck in the heavy traffic jam in the city of Lisbon. Zip had nothing to do but just tried to calm his mind and let the taxi driver handle the traffic head-ache. He thought the lame interpretation of 'Elle The Magazine' would show how stupid and how wrong he was in the interpretation, and eventually prove that Elle was nothing at all relevant to Raoul and KingKong, but when Zip just couldn't help but started to revise his Austronesian-rooted languages, which Samoan is part of it, and without any hassle, he found out another clue that to a certain extend it direct to Elle.

..and right there right then inside the taxi, on his way to the airport, the chaos state in Zip's mind was far far worse than the chaos of the Lisbon's traffic. With one phrase flashed in his mind and all the checking and rechecking and double-checking going on ----

"e nii a gam me" -- by belonging to the Goddess of light.

What really broke Zip out in a cold sweat was, the name of Elle, which is Ellie in Greek, means LIGHT.

.. and what really torn Zip's heart apart was, "e nii a gam me", prounouced as eh-ni-yah-gam, exclude the silent 'me' , it made the phrase "e nii a gam", which was very much close to a word that had been 'read from the end', 'shy away the fiction -- Z', ----

---- magazine.

ps.. sayuti, you are a jerk!

“read from the end, and you’ll shy away from the fiction written on the magazine”

Zip remembered the words. His long years of thieveries have build up his photographic memory. Although the glimpse was just for a split second, he managed to record the words inside the folder into his head.

It did not make any sense to him, then. The folder with 'ULAM' written on it, or the message he managed to memorized from the folder.

He was still pissed with Kingkong’s betrayal over that folder. He was even more pissed knowing very well that Raoul was lying to him. But, he played along.

He pretended he believed everything Raoul told him. He believes Raould believed he believed him. He smiled to himself when the thought of lying to the liar came across his mind.

He was alone. Elle was halfway around the world.

He looked at the ring again. Suddenly he felt so empty.

The thought of Elle suddenly overwhelmed him. He recalled every single feature of her face, her hair, her bosom, her thigh…

He remembered the tattoo on her thighs. The tatoo which he believes no one else knew about. Elle always wear long skirts or pants. Even at the beach, she’ll cover her thigh with a towel, taking it off only before she goes into the water.

He was fascinated by the tattoo. It was Samoan. She told him she got it since childhood, but she does not remember who did it to her. She never likes it.

All of a sudden, another thought came accross Zip's mind. He recalled the words from the folder.

“Read from the end...”

“You’ll shy...”

“The magazine…”

“Oh, shit!” he exclaimed as he suddenly figured the meaning behind the words.

He has to get to Tokyo, to Elle, as soon as possible. She might be in danger.

Elle sat on the edge of her seat, looking down at her lap. Raoul has fallen asleep when she woke up.

She rubbed her thigh.

The folder with ‘ULAM’ written on it will reveal the answer, she thought.

She closed her eyes, and fantasized about the ring.

And about Zip.

p/s: Sorry, crappy entry. Mind the grammar and the vocabs and spelling etc2

Kingkong was half way around the world when Raoul went to meet Zip. "So far so good.Everything's worked out as planned," said Kingkong silently to himself. He was on board the first class cabin flight AK293 to Tokyo where he will meet his contact for the first time.On his lap was a bag where he had place the ULAM folder. He did not open it and dare not try to.As instructed, he's required to pass the folder directly to his contact once the plane touches down at Narita Airport.

He closed his eyes briefly trying to suck in the whole event that had happened earlier with Zip.He was not proud, abandoning his partner in crime whom he knew since adolescence.He had no choice.Honour among thieves , an overly used quotation of Zip to him.Kingkong snickered to himself.The irony of it, he thought.Zip was good at what he was doing and only Zip could get what he wanted.He had planned this for a long time.And he was not in this alone.Raoul had been contacted too.Right after their success with the Renoir's and Rembrandt's paintings.Yes, and it had been 7 long years..of waiting..of planning..until they receive their last instruction from their contact.He still wondered why Zip was not being contacted at the first place but the call he received had made it clear for him and Raoul.Their plan was not to be known by Zip.Not even a hint.

His 'history' and about him being from Malaysia and stealing for an oil company was Raoul's idea.They had to create something so ridiculous to believe but at the same time too ridiculous to be ignored.He doubt that Zip was going to believe a word Raoul say but at the same time, they had taken all necessary measures.Raoul had forged all the related documents that will link Kingkong with the so called oil company and they created the clippings on the accident.It will only stall Zip until he finds out the truth.Zip could be childish at times but he was not somebody you can fool with.They knew that and they needed to side track him from their plan.They needed a distraction.

If all follow as planned, they will get their payment.The reason why he took this job was because he will be paid more than triple the amount he used to get.And another reason was that the contact knew something about his past that he himself had not known.Only when the job is done would he able to retain the information.And he wanted to know about it..badly.

Kingkong opened his eyes after a moment and looked at his watch.It is time.He was to call his contact from the plane's phone at exactly 0300.He took the phone at the side of his seat and dialed the numbers which he had them memorized.A few seconds later he heard a ring..

"Yes, you called as instructed.I believe you have the folder," the person on the other line was talking.
"Yes," KingKong replied.
"Good.Once touch down, I want you to exit the airport and there will be a black limousine waiting for you.Get in it and you will get your next instruction,"the contact hung up.


****************************************

In a hotel somewhere in Lisbon, the contact hung up the phone and paused for a moment before dialing another number.

"John, is that you?It's Elle.What happened to you yesterday?I thought we had a date and you were supposed to join me at the stadium."

At the end of the other line, Zip aka John tried his best to compose himself "Gosh, Elle.I know and I'm truly sorry.I was supposed to call you earlier but I had an emergency and well..you know the rest.I had another business to attend to.I'll make up to you..ok..and I mean it."

"Well..ok.Apologies accepted.But hey, something just came up.The company just called in and they've booked me a flight to Tokyo.I have no idea what happened there but they need me.I know this is so last minute but maybe we can meet up when I get back ok.It's going to be a couple of days," Elle sounding as casual as possible and being careful,not hinting anything that could trigger any suspicion in Zip.

"Oh,ok", Zip responded sounding sincerely frustrated."We'll catch up later then.Love you Elle."

"I love you too John," and Elle hung up.Swiftly she turned around, grabbed her small Gucci traveling bag and headed towards the door exiting herself from the room to the hotel lobby.....

“So you’re telling me Kong is working for an oil company in Malaysia and the folder I helped him steal will help him get promoted?” said Zip, aka John to the love of his life Elle, aka Absolutely-the-World’s-Most-Brilliant-Master-Thief to himself alone in the shower. He even had a song he sang to himself before going to bed in unfamiliar hotel rooms, away from Elle, following the tune of Old McDonald Has a Farm;

“I’m the world best thief of all,
E, I, E, I, Yo.
And all you suckers can’t catch me,
E,I,E,I,Yo.
With a run, run here,
And a jump, jump there,
E,I,E,I,Yo.”

Granted he couldn’t sing to save his behind, his somewhat childish attitude towards life had always been his saving grace. He could get away with murder if he wished to. All he had to do was put on a sweet innocent half of a smile on his face, plead innocence of all charges and voila, he’s off to another lucrative assignment. It helped to have a handsome face (Elle sometimes called him Brad in bed just for kicks) and his 6 feet tall frame (surprising for someone whose job was dangling on a wire atop skyscrapers) made him blend in with the European crowd. Only Raoul and Kong knew where he truly originated from and that was told in confidant after a drunken spree of bar hopping to commemorate their first 50 millions mark 7 years ago.

“I didn’t know what he’s really up to until I came across a clipping on the BBC’s website. The Malaysian oil company is proposing an alternative fuel and they claim it’s 100% environmental friendly because it’s not oil,” added Raoul.

“But how did you connect Kong with that? Oil companies all over the world are coming out with researches on alternative fuel but so far no one is coming out with anything decent. The most they can boast about is hybrid cars, or electric cars, or solar cars,” said Zip.

He was still pissed at Kong for leaving him behind in Mr. Benedict’s room. When in a life threatening situation like that, the smartest things to do is to literally walk out the front door like a free man. He did just that. He smashed the sensor box with a metal chair he found in the room and then casually dumped his black getup over the window. He chose Mr. Benedict’s Armani after much contemplating, because the cut was too modern, not his cup of tea, but that was the only inconspicuous suit available.

After a quick shave and prayer, he walked out the door and sauntered up to the elevator. The door opened up, revealing a middle aged man in a straw hat. Zip put on his charming semi smile and said good evening to Mr. Benedict and took the elevator down to the lobby.

And now he found himself discussing oil with his partner in crime in a café downtown. He was still reeling from the rush of meeting the owner of his stolen suit when Raoul called him on his cell, promising explanation on Kong’s action.

“What you don’t know about Kong is that he’s born a Malaysian, but bred in different foster homes in Scotland. His mother was Scottish and she took him home when the divorce was finalized. She died in a car accident; Kong was in the backseat, strapped to a baby seat. They couldn’t locate the father so foster care it was. That was how I met him. We were adopted by the same foster family who treated us like dirt, using us for farm labor. When we reached 16 we both ran off to Europe and the rest is history,” added Raoul.

Raoul then said that Mr. Benedict wished to sell his discovery to the highest bidder. That highest bidder was supposed to be the Malaysian oil company until Mr. Benedict decided to back off on the deal and sell the patent to an American oil company instead.

“But where does Kong fits into all this? And enough with the background story Raoul, I only care about the present. Like how my other best friend could leave me to the dogs over a folder with the word ULAM on it. What the hell is ULAM anyway?”

Everybody, well ALMOST everybody in this world was anticipating the day dated 7th July, 2007 or 07.07.07 for various reasons. They said it was a once-in-a-lifetime day and people around the world were planning their own event to celebrate the date, in order to make sure there were marks that left behind on this historical day.

"Marks?" bullshit. Zip grunted. A chilling and unpleasant wind blew on him. He was hanging in the air of 87m above ground level, outside Sheraton Lisbon Hotel, or to be more specific, outside of the window of Mr Benedict's room, waiting for further clarification from KingKong, his partner who was currently on the roof top of the building.

At the northwest direction of Sheraton Lisbon Hotel, the sky above the stadium of Estadio da Luz was ablaze with fireworks. That might be the final firecracker show indicating the end of the 'New 7 Wonders of the World' Official Declaration ceremony. Seeing from far, Zip couldn't help but feeling sad and frustrated.

"I am supposed to be IN the stadium, SHOWERED by the fireworks over head, and CHEERING for the new 7 wonders of the world," Zip spoke slowly and emphasizing every key words in his complaint through his headset... "I am supposed to be HOLDING Elle's hand, and KISSING her under THAT firework, and CELEBRATING our reunion on THAT historical moment..." Zip started to lose his cool, his words started to shiver... "... and I AM SUPPOSED TO PROPOSE HER!!.." Zip moaned angrily, "..and WHAT THE F*CK I AM DOING NOW? HANGING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE F*CKING AIR AND WAITING FOR YOUR F*CKING LOCATION OF THE F*CKING MARKS??!!" Zip shouted out like crazy, and he really looked like a fool when seeing him getting mad and kicking like a child in the middle of the air, hanging by a rope attached to his harness.

"Alright! Alright! Be cool man! Be cool!" KingKong shouted through his headset, "C'mon man, look at u! I thought we are professionals, that ain't pro man! Just gimme a sec and I'll tell you the marks," paused. "Alright listen up partner, you see three green spots on the window? Those spots form a triangle, and the target point is at the center of the triangle, got it?"

Sometimes KingKong just did not know how to handle his partner when he got emotionally out of control. Zip, no doubt, was one of the finest professional thieves, but his reputation in the niche circle was so so terrible just because of his bad temper, and sometimes ---

"Man you owe me one set of XL Double Whoppers from Burger King, PLUS Transformers toys."

---- yeah, sometimes unpredictably childish.

"Aye aye! finish it up quick! I'm feezing up here!" The problem for KingKong was, he needed Zip, at least in this operation.

Zip pointed the magnetic laser torch to the center of the triangle on the window, switched it on and a laser beam went straight from the torch, through the center point, through the window of the hotel room, through the empty room of Mr Benedict, hitting right on the magnetic box beside the room's door.

The magnetic box was much much smaller than a typical fusebox, and it was actually a switch to the security sensors in Mr Benedict's room. The magnetic laser beam discharged the magnetic field of the switch and in a snap of time the room was brightened up and the TV turned on. It was exactly like the electricity recovered after you inserted the key card into its slot when you entered your hotel room.

"The sensors are off," By using only a 3 inches wire, Zip made a slight twist of his fingers, the window unlocked responsively, "..and I'm in".

KingKong started to rolled up Zip's rope and harness, "alright you see the fridge at your right? the things are inside."

"INSIDE THE FRIDGE? C'mon Kong this whole things are insulting! First you din tell me what is this operation about, then you required me to follow ALL your instruction throughout the opt., and now you tell me the 'thing' we are looking for is INSIDE THE FRIDGE?!?! ..and I even don't know what actually are we looking for.. Man this is not like how we worked before!" Zip burst with all his frustration.

"Zip.. Zip, do this for me, c'mon man, the safety box is inside the fridge and here's the code ---- " Again, and again, KingKong did not confront Zip's complaint.

"2 XL Double Whoppers," Zip walked towards the fridge with a stern look and easily took out a diamond necklace and a folder from the safe box, "Man that's all? A not-so impressive diamond necklace and a folder? With twisted handwriting writing 'ULAM' on it, these are what we look for? And you told me we need TWO person handling this peanut??!!" Zip couldn't believe this at all, well maybe there's something BIG inside the folder, he thought, while opening up the folder.

"Wou wou, stop man!" Zip heard KingKong's voice from his headset, but this time it was way clearer than before -- as if KingKong was talking right behind him -- "Shit!" swiftly Zip turned around, and as what he had sensed, KingKong was standing behind him.

".. I mean, let's check it out when we get back, now let's go, the declaration ceremony is finished, Mr Benedict is on his way back," obviously KingKong was trying to stop Zip from asking any questions.

"You didn't tell me you're coming down," Zip smelled something fishy. His killer instinct was way way under-estimated by his partner.

"Zip we don't have time to discuss this, I promise I'll tell you everything after this," KingKong realized that Zip's anger was unavoidable, but he just had to do this --- "Beep." KingKong pressed a hidden magnetic device and the 'ULAM' folder slipped off from Zip's hand swiftly, and flew towards the hand of KingKong --- everything happened within 1/100 seconds.

"Damn it!" Zip simply couldn't react faster than this unexpected move, but now he knew he had to catch KingKong. KingKong was running full speed ahead towards the opened window, and then hopped --- "KONG!!!" Zip who was running after KingKong had to stop before he fell out of the window, and he was shocked to see KingKong jumped out of it.

From the window, Zip saw KingKong opened up his foldable hang-glider and glided quietly in the chilling air of Lisbon. "I'm sorry Zip," KingKong talked to dazed Zip through headset, "the magnetic response just now recharged the security sensors. Zip, leave the room NOW!" the warning from KingKong faded as the distance between them stretched out of range.

Bart Simpson: It was an obvious failure since u chose to terminate the story just.. *snap* ..like this, y?

Boss Ulam: It's the rule. A month a story. We're sorry for the total failure in ULAM June, and I'll make sure thing will be better in ULAM July.

Bart Simpson: ... sounds you already have a plan to handle it, don't u?

Boss Ulam: Yes and No. The decisive factor would be the panel, the featured bloggers. They are the ones to decide whether an ULAM story is going to be a blast, or blasted.

Bart Simpson: So are u saying there's going to be some changes in ULAM July?

Boss Ulam: Yes. New story, new panel, new look.

Bart Simpson: We are more interested about the new panel you're gonna form. Can you tell us a lil bit bout that?

Boss Ulam: Some old ones will remain, and there will be new bloggers. I've contacted them and I have high expectation to them as most of them are regulars of blog space -- I hope to form an aggressive team who will be passing baton of ULAM in a quick pace.

Bart Simpson: So are you blaming the panel of ULAM June as 'not aggressive' enough?

Boss Ulam: We can't force people to change their attitude, can we? But to be frank we lost our readers everytime the story fell into a hiatus. We are not any popular series like Heroes or Supernatural or Smallville that people would find it worth waiting or keep on anticipating. Anyway ULAM June was just a trial run, we learned from it.

Bart Simpson: Any future plan for ULAM project?

Boss Ulam: (laugh) Haha.. I like the way u see this project.. FUTURE PLAN?!! What u mean "FUTURE" plan? (LOL) Hahaha.. Well, I haven't figured it out, as u know, the project is just for fun, or maybe for catering the self-obsession of bloggers.

Bart Simpson: ..but u do have ..erm..sort of vision for this project, don't u?

Boss Ulam: Hmm.. Well maybe I hope more people know about this concept of blogging, and ULAM will have more readers, and appeal more potential bloggers to participate as featured panel. ..

Bart Simpson: Then I believe u should have a plan for ur vision, don't u?

Boss Ulam: Strategy? Well the panel for second run will consist of bloggers that have their own reputation in their circle, so I hope by having them in our panel this time, we see more new readers dropping by.

Bart Simpson: So u're saying that.. u'll have BIG NAMES in the featured panel of 2nd run?

Boss Ulam: I can't tell as I'm still waiting for the replies, but what captured me are their attitude of blogging, their imagination, rather than their big names. Their reputations are just coincidentally matched my so-called publicity strategy.

Bart Simpson: Well thank you very much for the time. I'll see you in one month time. Good luck to you, sir.

Boss Ulam: Thank you Bart, my best wishing to your family's movie on 27th July. Good luck. Send my regards to Mr and Mrs Simpson.

Bart Simpson: Best wishes lah, not best wishing! Mind ur grammar!