The Ancient One, as he flew along, began to hear a loud chorus of wailing and crying in the distance. He again folded back his wings and dove earthward. Below him, a good-sized ship powered by sail, made its way north, its two masts carrying its canvas in a very graceful fashion. The Ancient One loved sailing ships, but what he saw around this one filled him with sorrow. Thousands of Spirits clung to the ship. They seemed to be pulling, pushing, trying to keep it from making way, but their pitiful efforts were to no avail. When they saw The Ancient One, they began to rise up towards him crying, "Come! Come!"
The Ancient One settled down on the deck unbeknownst to any of the crew. His powers told him there were seven on the ship, three men and four women. One of the Spirits, a woman very beautifully dressed, but with sunken eyes and sunken cheeks and withered hands, beckoned him toward the hatch. The Ancient One followed her. In the hold were tanks marked ACETYLENE and OXYGEN, and diving equipment. Obviously the ship was used for some kind of salvage work. The Spirit went over to the rack of tanks, and putting her hands around one of them, she began to twist them again and again around its top. The Ancient One understood her meaning. Seizing the top of the tank he began to twist. It should have been solid but it was not. It slowly unscrewed until the top came away. The Ancient One's suspicions were immediately satisfied. Inside the tank were many packages containing a white powder. Here was untold misery and death! Sitting this package on a shelf, he unscrewed the rest of the tanks. All but three of them held the white powder, the rest held packages of hypodermic needles, thousands of them! The Ancient One opened one of these packages and withdrew seven of the syringes.
"Those who sell death and misery," he said to himself, "deserve only the same in return."
He went to the main cabin. Finding the dining area he acquired a glass, filled it a quarter of the way with white power, then added water. He was stirring it when he heard a noise and slipped back into the shadows. A man came down them from above, and was turning towards the cabins, when he noticed the package and the glass. He walked over, looking at them. "What to hell?" he said.
The man was unaware of The Ancient One coming up behind him, until The Ancient One's hand grabbed the back of his neck, and forced him down to the floor. Struggling, the man tried to gain his feet, but The Ancient One pinned him. With one hand The Ancient One forced the man's mouth open and with the other he poured the liquid from the glass in it. Then, he held the man's nose until he had to swallow the liquid to breathe. The man struggled a few moments more, and then went limp. The Ancient One picked him up and threw him onto one of the couches across from the dining table.The man just giggled softer and softer, as he lay back against the wall.
The Ancient One mixed a fresh batch, took six of the hypodermics, filled them, and put them in his pocket. He had just finished when he heard someone calling, "Hey, Micky, baby, what's taking you so long? Where's that grass? Come on, man! Your old buddy's losing his mellow."
Someone began to descend the steps and again. The Ancient One retreated into the shadows. Taking one of the hypodermics from his pocket, he removed the cover and waited.
"Ah, there you are, Micky, me lad!" the older man said who had descended the ladder. "Hell of a time to take a nap!"
The man wore only shorts and many tattoos covered his body. On one shoulder was a pitchfork surrounded by the words "Born to raise hell." On the other, was one that read "Harley Davidson Forever," The man came over and began to shake his companion. "Hey, what's with you?" he said. The Ancient One stepped from the shadows and drove the needle of the hypodermic into the pitchfork and pushed the plunger. The man did not even seem surprised. He turned slowly and looked at the plunger, still in his arm. "Hey!" he said, "Didn't know you could hit a vein THERE!" as he stared at The Ancient One, a look of surprise came over his face. "Hey!" he said, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The Ancient One pushed him back onto the other side of the couch. When he was sure he wouldn't get up, The Ancient One turned towards the ladderway. How long the woman had been standing there, or, where she had come from, The Ancient One didn't know. She was dressed in a bikini top and a small, skin tight pair of shorts.
"Oh, my God!" the woman said, "Oh, my God!" Her beautiful face twisted in horror. She turned and started to run towards the cabins. The Ancient One followed. The woman rushed in an open door, and hurried to a bunk. She was reaching under the pillow when The Ancient One grabbed her arm, pinned it around behind her, and forced her face down, on the bed. The woman struggled for her life.
"Stop that!" The Ancient One said. "The more you struggle, the more I'll have to hurt you, and that is not my way."
The woman stopped. "Please don't kill me," she said, "please! I'll do anything you ask....anything! Don't kill me!"
The Ancient One already had the hypodermic out and the cover flicked off. The thin shorts were no obstacle to the needle. The woman felt it enter and struggled a little, but The Ancient One had her pinned with his arms and leg. He pushed down the plunger and left it where it was, then got up. The woman reached behind her and pulled out the hypodermic, rolling over. "Why?" she asked, "Why?"
"Ask them," The Ancient One said. "As you near the realm they now exist in, you will be able to communicate with them. Ask them."
Shadows began to take form in the room as many of the Spirits that had been around the ship gathered around the dying woman.
"No!" she said, "No! In the name of God, don't leave me with them!"
"They won't harm you," The Ancient One said, "you have already done that, yourself. And it's a little late to call on God. If you had followed his teachings, you wouldn't be here!"
As The Ancient One left the cabin, he heard a moan from a door as he passed it. Opening the door he found a naked young woman on the bed. Beside the bed was a rubber tube, spoon, candle and empty hypodermic. The Ancient One took one of the hypodermics from his pocket and readied it. The woman never woke as he used it. The Ancient One simply turned and walked from the cabin.
"Four down," he said, "three to go."
Climbing the ladder, he came out on deck. A big, heavy-set man tended the wheel. On deck a short ways from him, a very beautiful dark haired woman lay on a blanket wearing nothing but a very skimpy bikini bottom. The Ancient One for the moment, ignored her and headed for the man at the wheel.
"Wow!" the man said, "this has got to be the best grass I've ever had," as he took another puff of his smoke, "or, I'm using a return ticket! I ain't never seen anything like YOU before!"
The Ancient One smiled. Behind his back he removed the cover from the hypodermic and in a lightning flash brought it up into the man's jugular vein and squeezed the plunger. A look of surprise came over the man's face, but the drug reached his brain so fast, he hardly had time to reach up for the hypodermic before he collapsed to the deck. The Ancient One took out another hypodermic and turned towards the woman on the blanket, but she was gone. He hurried back to the ladder and descended. The woman from the blanket and another much younger one dressed in very thin baby doll pajamas were coming out of the hall and reached the bottom. The older woman let go of the younger one's hand and pushed her back. "Run, Maria!" she said, "Hide!"
"Ann, you can't hide from him!"
"Run!" the woman said again, pushing the girl, and the young one turned and hurried down the hall, ducking in one of the doors. The older woman's right hand came up, holding a very large revolver.
"You stay away from her!" she said, "You leave her alone. She's just a baby!"
"That won't help you," The Ancient one said. "Put it down. Drop it to the floor."
The woman tried to hold the gun but slowly her hand went down and it fell to the floor. She was still looking at it when The Ancient One thrust the needle of the hypodermic into her and pushed the plunger. The woman backed up against the wall, pulling out the hypodermic and throwing it away.
"You bastard!" she said, "You stinking bastard!"
The Ancient One walked by her towards the open cabin door. The woman's hand came up.
"Please," she said, "Don't hurt her. He paid her parents fifty dollars for her. She's only a baby. He likes hurting her. When he's done with her, he'd have killed her, or sold her to somebody else. She didn't even know what we're doing."
The Ancient One pushed by. "Please," the woman said, "I have nothing to give but myself, but I'll give you that...ALL of myself, forever. Just let her go!"
The Ancient One stopped. Here was love, great love, not the desire for sex, but true love; not passion, but the willingness to sacrifice. The willingness to give all of one's self for someone else, and he was surprised, he was VERY surprised. The woman fought for consciousness as she sank down the wall. "Please!" she said, "I'm not much, I know, but let her go!"
"Not forever," The Ancient One said, "but for eighty two years." The woman looked at him, bewildered and The Ancient One went back and put his hand on her forehead.
"You must serve me," he continued, "for eighty-two years. In that time, you must always do good, always walk in the sun and never again venture into the darkness. If you will do this, I will spare her, and, too, grant you your greatest wish; that which you have always desired."
The woman looked at him, puzzled. "I don't care about myself," she said, "just don't hurt Maria."
"That," said The Ancient One, "is the only reason I do this. Speak to her. Tell her I'm going to touch her, but I'm not going to hurt her. Tell her to do whatever I ask her to do, and I will not harm her."
"Maria!" the woman cried, "He's going to touch you, but he's not going to hurt you. Do whatever he asks. Obey him, sweetheart. Don't be afraid."
"Don't you be afraid either," said The Ancient One. "You will not know death."
He pulled his hand away from the woman's forehead and she slumped over. Then, he went into the cabin where the girl had run. She was kneeling by the bed with a rosary, praying.
"Stand up, Maria," The Ancient One said, "turn around!"
The girl did so. The Ancient One reached under her pajamas and put his hand on her bare belly.
"Oooooooooh!" the girl cried, and backed away a step. "What did you do?" she asked.
"Come with me," ordered The Ancient One.
"Anna said to obey you, El Diablo. She said you will not hurt me. I am afraid, but I will do as you ask.
The Ancient One laughed. "I am not El Diablo," he said, "but come, we must hurry!"
As they passed through the hall, the girl closed her eyes and felt her way along so she would not have to see her friend, but opened them as soon as they left the hall and obediantly climbed the ladder when The Ancient One told her.
The Ancient One gathered up three blankets, several tins of food, and four bottles of wine. He brought these up on deck. Dropping away the ship's life raft he threw it in the water, then helped Maria into it, handing her down the things he had brought her.
"You're going to have to be alone for three days," he said, "but don't be afraid. You have plenty of food, plenty to drink. At the end of this time you'll be picked up by a fishing boat. Its captain will be an older, shy man. You are to tell him everything that has happened here, but no one else. You will tell him 'I am the answer to your prayers.' He will understand. He will ask you to marry him. Accept, do you understand?"
"Yes, El Diablo," she agreed. "I understand. But tell me, you told Anna that she would have her fondest wish if she obeyed you for eighty-two years....what did you mean?"
"Think, Maria," said The Ancient One, "she told you. Remember her dream?"
"Yes," Maria answered, "to have a mother that truly loved her, that will hold her and comfort her and not just use her to get the things that SHE wanted.
The young woman suddenly put her hand on her belly and looked at The Ancient One. "Oh, yes!" she said, "Yes! I understand! You are not evil. I will never say again you are evil, you are harsh and just, but not evil. You said that she would not know death, now I understand. She will have the best mother that she can."
The Ancient One nodded. He jumped over the side of the ship and three times drove his fist through the hull. Then, spreading his wings he soared skyward, heading towards home, with Maria waving. It had been a good night's flight, but it was not yet over.