His real job began. The transport helicopters supplied were top of the line and brand new. They held sixteen persons in the hold behind pilot and engineer. He was to clock up six return flights to a freighter off shore at India. His human cargo assimilated into their new nation with passports and housing onshore. Future friends would say to him that they had the best time of their lives in education on the subcontinent. Although they missed home, they had rescinded their rights there. Not much to return to anyway, only a rocky desert with atomic waste storage bunkers taking up space.

 His work went as planned. Though he could not shake a scared queasy feeling brought about by flying. In the air he had no mental security in the form of solid concrete references. He did not like the two thousand clear feet between the floor of the helicopter and the blue sea. By the third flight this fear subsided and he continued to command his refugee relief runs. The instruments became his trusted guides. The appreciation from the people he worked with encouraged him.

 The route changed. The five thousand mile crossings of the Indian Ocean were complete. The pilots now faced a massive six thousand miles return to Athens, Greece. This would call for endurance. As before, refuelling ships stationed at sea along the way. And sixteen persons fit on stretchers into the holds of the big birds. Three people now staffed and manned the choppers.

 The militia were still against them. They took it as a matter of national pride. Resistance came in the forms of theft, interference, blockades and light fire. The pilots faced such an impediment on their way to the helicopters now. To protect them from injury, the foreign operatives wore light armour. Sheaths of stainless steel chain mail fit over sensitive areas on their bodies. A sheath over his wrist protected his watch. The watch was his synchronous digital ignition within the fleet. This time, they must run through the crossfire.

 An unlucky bullet hit his wrist guard and ripped steel. The watch underneath broke glass and circuits became exposed. The damage meant that he would be late in the take-off sequence. A late launch would lead to a later arrival. He was last in the fleet. The instructions given him then were to return it to Somalia in any condition. 

 Johnny prepared the rotor speed. A Somali woman in the second pilots seat, with a young German engineer behind. The engineer sat at the centre beneath the turbine. She also administered first aid to the famine survivors. They flew in a fleet. To cover the distance within schedule they moved at high speed, using a top rate ratio in the engines. They needed to keep their sight and communication together when they were in the air. Like a migration, the fifteen choppers carried the survivors.

 The route took them over Ethiopia, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. His co-pilot talked to him in her language, citing instructions in Arabic. His engineer worked hard for the first half and had a rest after the refuelling. A tanker at mid sea provided. 

 Throughout the day and long into the night the fleet flew north.

 The approach to Athens involved flying over scattered islands and ships at anchor. They layed out in a geographic array. It looked like another part of the same world. Guided by the UN radio contact, he found the lit and painted circular platform. A smooth landing concluded the journey. The refugees cheered and moved to stretch their legs. He and his second pilot assisted them out of their cargo crate seats. Two officials met them in groups and checked their papers. Of those families who merged into Greece, Johnny never met again. The co-pilot was also released, to go on and follow a medical career. His engineer abandoned the mission there and refused to continue. She yelled something about having a German connection as her reason. 

 For the reason of the delay, he could not continue it into Israel according to the strategy. The orders were to enter through the air gates within a two-hour segment of time. He was mobile outside of this time sector. An attempt to negotiate through the gates was unsupportable. Cross fire from Cyprus defence would have brought the air craft down.

 The return flight followed a little used flight path which took him over the great pyramids at Giza. After he cleared the sea the dirty expanse of Alexandria passed beneath him. He saw that he was over the three regular forms of Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu. He veered left and the Nile was in the distance behind. He had spent three days in the seat by the time he landed, and when he did the machine stalled. It had burnt up all its fuel. He put it down hard on its rafts close to the original take off point. It never flew again. The rights organisation installed a copper plaque on the ground where it had landed. Its statement served as a memorial. Within a year the indigenes stripped its parts off it until there was nothing. Johnny's CO's took him out into the desert westward to work with residents further inland.

 There was one disaster area which they could not save. This was the resting place of multitudinous famine victims in a neighbouring nation. An open air mortuary contained deceased in shroud wrapping in the Danakil Desert. The people of Ethiopia had lost one in fifty of their kindred. John saw them from a hill which he climbed. Red cross workers had lined up each body in a grid pattern for as far as the eye could see. At the same time as witnessing the immense yard, he saw and heard the hover and buzz of insects. 

 Clearance came for a way into the interior to rescue an American woman. Four provinces through the interior, away in the south-west Kaffa province. To get there first the platoon visited the nation’s capital city. The ride through Addis Ababa took the driver around a circular avenue bordered by palms. The temperature was mild heat. Features of the road reminded him of home. Then he met his doctor who had treated him well for several years. Greyson had flown from home to the African capital to see him.

 This man had at the age of fifteen in Johnny’s years burst into the family home. His intention was to take John's mother into safety. Greyson had encouraged Johnny to stay in the navy. His experience assisted the kid to decide. 

 At the central civic square inside the medina quarter he photographed Johnny by a statue. The bronze Lion of Judah was a religious symbol erected by Haile Selassie. Many people gathered and passed. Men in tunic and sandals and women shrouded in burkah. They whispered when they saw the strangers. Georgia's platoon must move on to find the rain forest two hundred miles away. The assignment required a prison break for the citizen held hostage. 

 They passed through Bonga with little fuss and parked up beyond a coffee plantation. They trekked into the jungle on foot, between trees and vines, to find the hidden area beyond the Omo river. They moved at nightfall and saw the green shining eyes of leopards and the coiled skin of snakes. A wall revealed their intended position. 

 Sides of dried mud and twenty feet high. It was a rounded oval structure with an iron gate at one side. The idea was that nobody could get in and that once in by capture then no one could get out. A caste administrated this. The army staff hid on the side opposite the gate in the jungle. They threw grappling hooks to the top of the wall and climbed in by rope. They clambered over the round top and dropped down into the melee within the walls.

 By night vision goggles and bare eyes, John and his compatriots saw what was happening inside. Inside the walls were fifteen dozen starved people supine on the ground. Men in cloaks woven of hair stood above them, carrying scythes. Flesh cut off the victims’ arms and legs, slice by slice until the blood dried and lockjaw set in. The attesting witness identified the American hostage. Supporting soldiers set plastic explosive in the joints in the wall and lock at the gate. Blowing it open allowed the citizen rescue. She was senseless and destined for a hospital in Boston after transport home. She was to live for another thirteen years in medical care. The platoon returned with her to the airport in the capital.

 After that John did not have the time to stay with his doctor. The Legion whisked him away again. He was to escort and protect a New Zealand television crew southward across the desert. They met at the square where the whispers of witchcraft increased. Their class was not welcome and they must move. 

 The crew wanted to cross from the capital to the southern desert boundaries. It would not be easy and it began with a demand. They departed from a tenancy estate at the square with the statue of the lion. They at first rode in jeeps. When they were out of the city and the petrol in the vehicles had run down to half, they must walk. The well-kept reporters complained about this. The legion told them to put up with it. They hoisted all their equipment onto shoulders and trolleys. This began a slow march across rocks and sand.

 The soldiers let them lift their feet since they were not trained. Walking alongside them, keen eyes trained a guard against approaching vipers. Johnny shot at the lizards whenever they approached the crew. Pace was slacking and time as short. Equipment in their arms felt heavier and their grumbling and whimpering rose. The soldiers began ordering the civilians for their own sakes. After two days the envoy reached an ancient ruin.

 It dated from before the Egyptian dynasties, and they photographed and viewed. The columns were so old and weathered that they crumbled to the touch. Dirt fell to the ground. It was the remains of the Phoenician civilization and the first building ever made.

 The crew had seen what they wanted to and returned with a single guide to Ethiopia. John and the legionnaires travelled further south to find a Hittite relic. There at the south Sudan area, they entered an underground bunker to find two old statues made of basalt. The room was square and birds and reptiles had inhabited it. The statues made of grey rock represented a man and a woman. The eyes of one were emerald and the others years ago prised off and robbed. He photographed in a similar way to what he did in Chile four years previous. Once again the geographic magazine published the pictures three years later.

 Inside the vault he could hear at first the simple noises of nature. But as he stayed and camped with the army he heard other noises. They sounded as though they had originated from out of the distance of ancient time. The sounds echoed ever so slight in the chamber and rose to a crescendo like traffic at rush hour. He could hear the war approach as the soldiers took cover. A fearful feeling overcame them. The fifteen French men decided to remain hiding until time came. At the right instant they were to emerge from the grotto and launch a surprise attack. 

 The battle was over and done in about five minutes. The marauders lay around gibbering and wounded. To his shock and surprise the head of his troop walked about finishing them. He even offed his own allies with rounds into the back of their heads. He said that he could not carry the wounded. With no first aid or hospitals to take them to, mercy was the only thing given left with those options. It suited better than a slow agonizing suffering. Carrion would have devoured their living bodies.

 There were tears and bewilderment among the three survivors. Jacques the arms bearer carried the rifles to the next camp. It lay hidden in spinier grasses two hundred and twenty meters away. They returned to the site of the battle and prayed that the lord may have mercy.

 In previous years, Johnny had met a foreign legionnaire whilst counting bodies on a walk. The foreigner said that he would not trade his life for any other because it had provided him freedom. Johnny asked him for his thoughts on the disgusting deeds that the army did to people. Were they not enough to turn him from his military career and seek a civilian life? The man replied that he did not care about the disgusting sights he saw. This was because they had happened to other people and not him. That he was already in the army and so the kid must learn to do similar. He had earned freedom to roam about the world. He also said that he thought it was great that he could do things like this. That he would never want to be a civilian again.

 His head of the troop named Lance asked whether he wanted to follow him and Jacques. The two were to head south through the Serengeti. Seeing the damages that he had done already and the chaos he had been in to the north, he agreed. They walked with rifles in hands. 

 Advice to take no notice of a herd of elephants as you walk past them is wise to take. They tip-toed together as the three expeditioners sallied cross. Jackal berry trees and whistling thorn stood low above the Bermuda grasses.

 They took the night around a small fire. A fry up of snake and black billy tea was their supper. A loyal rhino trampled the campfire to dull ashes after they told their stories. 

 Three French foreigners entered Tanzania and travelled into the port of Dar Es Salaam. A friend of Jacques was to catch the ferry to Zanzibar. Jacques was to stay in the port with his work while Lance disbanded the party. Johnny boarded.

 In the histories of revolution, Zanzibar's Marxist government kept everything communist. You were either a comrade or have your privilege disallowed. The rock outcrop of island jutted up from the sea like an old man's tooth. The houses built strong of the same rock. The man returned home to his loving wife and Johnny reconsidered his options.

 Johnny assessed the chart of seagoing vessels. A launch was due to sail north. He regretted it, but he would survive by following his only contacts. If the Americans were still stationed there, then he may return home sometime. 

 At the end of the occupation the army camp was in disarray and impoverished. It was, for all but a small number of departing few, abandoned. Tent flies flapped in the wind and water cans lay on their sides with holes in them. Blood stained green fabric. A rusted windmill squeaked and failed to turn. The barber who had given John the haircut upon his arrival sat alone in a fabric chair. From the beginning of the operation until the end there was a saddening amount of lost dignity.

 “Let’s all leave, will we?” the barber whispered.

 With Georgia Johnny drove a jeep far distance. The jeep had three wheels from out of four. It had reversed onto a landmine and the left rear wheel had damages. John stabilized the body of the vehicle with a sand bag on the right front part of the bonnet. This worked alright and the jeep managed to drive far distance. Through Ethiopia and into Chad where there was a last refugee camp to deal with. 

 The refugee camp existed isolated on a flat pan of desert stones. Its shape being the same standard type built of wire fences inside frames. The wire was diagonal square netting and the fence poles were medium grade steel. Inside were a group of hopeful and poor dressed men and women. Georgia entered the perimeter. Other staff were already present, waiting out the occupation. John received an order told to leave the area and return to the jeep, which had parked two kilometres away. It was illegal to enter the wire cordon with his rifle, and insensible to stand with it in front of the other staff. He turned and ran the last remaining two kilometres to return to the disabled vehicle.

 He entered a low wide valley made of white rock. When he heard the noise of hooves approaching from behind him, he did not know how much danger was imminent. The rifle had slowed him down with its weight, and his green uniform was a dead giveaway.   

 Rounding on him from the rear right came three Janjaweed riders. Their faces obscured behind turbans and they flourished their skills. With a Browning .22 they shot him in the right upper hip and he fell. He lost consciousness and the riders milled around him.

 An out of body experience is one of the most spiritual thing a man can hope for after he gets felled. His spirit walked up a sand dune. He did not know for how long he had departed. The physical world was unnecessary and so was time. He was without a body.

 In the time that he had been dead, he had seen a Christ-like figure. A man stood watching, a tall and mighty man at the limit of the dune at the horizon. An ash cloth robe hung from his shoulders to his feet. He had spread his arms wide and his hands were facing the sky. He had a full beard and his skin tanned bronze. He looked both angry and kind and powerful. He said a few simple words to Johnny. “All the children must come to me. I have forgiven you all for the harvest that I have reaped.” Then the physical world intervened.

 There was a moment on the border of Tanzania, at an artillery blockade by a stalker platoon of guards. After the violence, Johnny had come to a small house in the wilderness. A bearded man came to the door and raised his hand to the sky and told him that the war had finished. He had laughed and said, "You've done it, you are now a Jew. Count yourself lucky, I haven't seen Him yet." Then the vision ended.

 A medical relief staff approach a tree which had a dead man’s body hanging from its one branch. A wire tied around the victim's wrists. Tar covered the body in a black oily substance. A knife had slit his trachea at the front of the throat. The doctor began cutting the suspending wire. 

 The sound of a man’s voice reached Johnny's disembodied mind. He first heard it from outside his body. A progression of proximity occurred. While the medic lowered him off the tree, he re-entered his body. Sensations of pain reminded him that his life revisited the scene. His leg, neck, heart and wrists all ached. The words of the doctor's complaints and calls for help confused his hearing. Johnny fell asleep as water flowed over his lips.

 He came around under medical care in a hospital corridor. He lay in his uniform on a blanket on the floor. The doctor who leaned over him looked familiar. They had met three years previous when John was a student in Canterbury. The doctor explained that he had reset his hip joint so that he would be able to walk again. He told him that he would be free to get up and walk away once he had come back to his full senses. The doctor had other patients to treat. John asked where he was. Tel Aviv.