Lalaland

Hi,

My name is Gersh & I own TUV Productions and eleven other companies. We would like to make two pictures: one small and one large. A small one with a small or a medium budget and the large one with a large budget with several companies on the project. Thus we seek participation in either both or only one picture. We seek cast, partnership in distribution, sales and financing for this very unusual and unique project consisting of the book, script, screenplay and oil-painted storyboards. Even though, I have received many offers for participation in the project, offers from financing and distribution to production and casting entities, I still keep my eyes and ears opened for the entities who can benefit the project the most with what they specialize in.

For the last 12 years I have been working on the huge project consisting of a screenplay, synopsis and over 2000 oil-painted and sketched storyboards, which will help during the exhibition, advertising and promotion of the product. I pioneered a new style in Science Fiction -- surrealism science fiction.

Vic Armstrong (see the letter of intent attached), who used to work with S.Spielberg and I want to make this picture possible. Vic has participated in and has made possible many famous pictures before and is not only known as the best stunt coordinator in the world, but also as the person who had been instrumental as the second unit director up until lately when he started directing his own pictures and I list them at the bottom of this email. In fact now he is directing the Pirates.

Another gentleman by the name Dan Frisch would like to produce the picture, Dan is well-known for many famous pictures. He is stationed in Europe and worked on the picture called Hostel directed by Eli Roth who has a wonderful story to tell about people who become victims of terror through the travel which takes travelers to the dark world of the death museum where people ask to be killed by the others. Quentin Tarantino is an executive producer on this picture. You can see more on it here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450278/fullcredits . Daniel Frisch knows Vic Armstrong through The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -- a wonderful Sci-fi film that the both worked on making a picture about an alternate Victorian Age world, where a group of famous contemporary fantasy, SF and adventure characters team up on a secret mission and you can read more about here http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0295827/ , and more on Daniel himself here http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0295827/ . Larry Ellis (see the attached documents) is one of several investors who has told me that he can bring USD$ 20000000.00 on the project and Carol Bidault is committed to bring up to USD$ 18000000.00 and is offering foregin and domestic distribution. The rest of the financing is committed by the Evan Tyler, though we do seek more fumding.

The project has not been filmed yet and at this point we seek financing which we can get through the contract on the distribution, sales and guarantees from a guarantor, and as you know financing is always easier to get if there is a distribution and sales contract in place. We have many famous entities including the studios, such as the Buena Vista, Paramount and MGM, who have revealed their interest and/or sent us their letters of intent to participate in this unusual project through their distribution, production or both, but I have not decided yet whether to go indie, or via a studio and keep my eyes and ears opened for good opportunities in distribution, sales, financing and talented producers with bright minds in the heads on their shoulders, unique talents and a shooting crew, even though I wrote this story so that it would not require big talents in it and the story unfolds around an interview. I made it purposely so that we would not have to drain the budget primarily by paying huge sums to the talents, but would rather have plenty of funding for the advertisement as well as production and other important steps in making this picture as unique as no other project has been. The story line is unique, because of the fate of the main character (who is me) about whom the PBS made a short film, which is available for the review. Even though several studios have revealed their interest in the project, I am not very thrilled about the fact that the studio will be chopping on my life's story, because and even though to many people it is simply entertainment, I have lived the darkest part of this story and the story of my life is dear to me as the story of one's life is dear to him or her. I have contacted several entities by now and I have not yet met a person who would say that this story is dull, or who had anything negative to say about anything that they have seen and/or read regarding this story, but it is not for me to sell you the story and/or the storyboards that come with it. They should speak for themselves and if they do not, none of it is worth anything.

Synopsis of the quadrilogy:

Lalaland is a surrealistic science fiction adventure story that takes one on a journey, which evolves around a constant search for the reason behind the Evil on Earth, self-worth and changes in peoples' fates associated with the Universal Wisdom and factors that lay outside of the human fate. Good vs. Evil concept is in the core of this story. Mental Wards with the sadistic tortures and medical experiments conducted on humans, Gulags (Siberian prison camps) with their harsh environment aimed at breaking a human's will vs. freedom and hope for the better future to be found in Space. It is a vivid example of surrealism that unfolds throughout the Morphus' life and his escape from the harsh realism into the often-harsher fantasy. What if Moses was a 22nd Century dissident, and had to lead the remaining inhabitants of Earth into space?

This story begins in the realism of the Evil Empire, the world that has changed, the world that is governed by a dictator, the world where human values are diminished to nothingness, the world full of confusion and the gender line erosion, the world where a cost of a human life is worth a joke, the world where animals understand human speech and humans understand animals, humans and animals intermarry and are used in crimes, the world where the sea-pirates navigate the polluted oceans with microbes and infection populated by beasts -- species never known to the mankind before, the world which takes the characters on an emotional journey and physical challenge, a physical and mental escape from reality into the fantasy, a fascinating story filled with action and exploration of the uninhibited lands in space and one's self, a mental and physical escape from a prison and mental ward into an unknown open space, from the gloom of the Evil Empire into the future to be found among the bright stars situated throughout an unknown space.

The entire story unfolds through the dialog-interview conducted by the news-anchor and host of the Galaxy Show from the Galaxy Union's channel, a spectacle unfolding in front of the eyes of the thousands, who came to settle the new frontier in space takes the audience in the studio on an unprecedented physical and emotional journey through their own history, the journey full of adventure into the new and unknown, the journey which evolves around an unparalleled search for the new frontier. The camera panning from the studio with a huge screen over the heads of the dialog's interviewer and interviewee constantly heads to the actual scenes without the audience noticing the change, and a story told by the main character blends with the actual events that had taken place before the audience became the settlers in a new land situated in space. Where the characters enter one world just to exit via the next one are taken through the time-borders of the journey they are in no position to control, settings change manipulating people as puppets on the stage of the Universal Theatre where the end audience watches themselves perform in real life not being aware of it prior to the show formed and starting, you will feel opiumized as you the observer will become them.

Forget such notions as the people who you grew up with will never be met by you in your life again, they will reappear as new characters and will never actually leave your world. Forget Korea where people eat dogs, in Lalaland dogs eat people and one is never safe, not even in his own place. Can you trace a 'smooth' transition from your foggy reality into the even foggier future? Morphus did it. How would you feel if you suddenly discovered your own father being operated on and conducted medical experiments on in the Mental Ward where the doctors are beasts? Morphus felt it and witnessed it. Have you ever lived in the world with no sidewalks where people walk at the walks situated up high by the windows of the concrete jungle's skyscrapers? Morphus walked them and so did many others who lived in 2200. What would you be willing to pay to get from one block to the next? You would need to live in 2200 to know it just as Morphus did. Have you ever escaped a prison just to become a slave locked up in the bird's cage to the alien beast? Morphus did. Have you ever existed, for that what your life was while not knowing that someone else who looks just like you commits crimes on your behalf and is living your life? Morphus lived that existence. Have you ever thought that those who you would never think of could be related actually are and the dead live in the world with no life in it? Live it through the Lalaland as you watch the story unfold as the book with the script in a form of an ancient puzzle from which a link is missing and you are in charge to find it, or it will link you to the chain of events whirl-pooling you through the lands with no life in them just to marionette you as a puppet to the mean and almighty dictator who signs contracts on your behalf without you even knowing it, but being put into an obligation to fulfill them. Did you live a life of an innocent child to become an innocent adult guilty of the biggest punishable crime of being yourself? Morphus experienced it. Have you ever experienced navigating a huge city-space-ship where you are at the helm with no experience to charter it? This hero did it!

Being born in the society ruled by a dictator thirsty for power, Morphus -- the main character, portrayed as a hero, gets drawn into the deteriorating life around him, persecuted for his beliefs, tortured with medical experiments in the mental wards and prosecuted without a reason and sentenced to prison for life, deemed crazy in one point and becoming a prisoner under the ground in the uranium mines in another, the escapee from a prison hidden deep down under the ground - a place that no one ever escaped from, the main character accidentally finds a spaceship previously fallen at the location of his escape route, Morphus learns how to navigate the ship and leads the survivors on Earth from the devastated world of the aftermath of the World War III and the environmental disaster around them up into space above them.

Without realizing his mission in it, Morphus becomes a Moses of the twenty second century, leading the broken-hearted and despaired from their demise into the rapture in space. In their quest for love, happiness and self-worth, the people, who are led by Morphus, get involved into an all around rescue campaign without realizing that they are making Human history happen. With the main character at the helm of the whole mission to save the Humans affected by the readings of the Horoscope that controls the aliens who secretly signed evil contracts with the Dictator, and in the Humans' attempt to alter the Horoscope's readings, the Humans discover themselves as well. While saving as many lives as they could, the whole crew of the spaceship that takes them on their journey, commits to a mission that makes them feel as one family as they became during their common effort to save those who could be saved and settle in a new place in space, a place situated much further away than the colonies settled by the Space Colonists representing the regime of the Doctator on Earth. A mutiny on the space ship tests the characters and the main character becomes switched with a double designed to match him, but not in his good deeds, rather the evil ones.

The human encounters with the extraterrestrial and power from the outer space place the characters into the setting for a new horizon just to discover no challenges waiting for them in space. Destined towards them, and taking upon the seats of the flying city spaceship with a mission that takes them on the journey full of action, beasts and challenges, they all anticipate a new life and a new beginning in the new land. A new life that they want to live out in the new settings of the newly discovered lands in the other Galaxies, and the thrill in their quest to leave the gloom behind themselves, the gloom that they had lived in, clouding their sober knowledge or lack of such of what lies ahead of them set tone for their dangerous mission. While discovering new lands and ventures in them, and even more important, new relationships, people bring them and their personal lives full of their personal problems, into a common melting pot of still the same, only to discover a new old world full of new hopes, but also realistic problems that could set them back in their quest.

Having sins of his own and remaining far from being a perfectionist, the main character remains a strong leader even in his dispare and attempts to explore into the meaning behind one's existence. He finds out a common wisdom, that one is solely a single entity, and if a relationship becomes available, it must not be taken for granted, but should be perceived as rather a blessing and a compliment. Thus, it is up to one to make the best out of it, even though nothing lasts forever, or not to use the opportunity.

Affected by the Horoscope, Morphus takes upon the Big Mission to save the world of Humans from the calamities and trouble that they get involved into because of the Horoscope's malfunction and an inner conflict within the Horoscopes' family, the conflict between the Horoscope mother and the Horoscope daughter, the conflict that started in the 18th Century and is still going on in 2200 and beyond.

Taking the humans to the horizons of the Lalaland, where a new beginning and new relationships are waiting for them to be explored, the main character himself remains single and becomes old and mentally settled in his discovery for self-worth. The Savior topples the dictator; the Good prevails over the Evil, but will the main character and the new-comers to the new land in space survive being faced with the new challenges facing them in the new frontier they settled in?

I found several producers, who are willing and able to work with me on the project, but I still keep my eyes and ears opened. Richard Zanuck, Dan frisch and several other producers are looking at the project now and as several studios are waiting for my answer, I might just go ahead and go indie, because I want to preserve my life's story to tell to the world about the value of freedom and democracy that many do not value. Thus Adam Hancock and Jesus Di Sica with the Paramount's acquisitions department, Bonnie Hammer who is the President of the Sci-fi Channel and the USA Network, Alliance Atlantis and many other entities are looking forward to this project. I was offered a distribution deal by the Shoreline Entertainment (the company which is involved with bringing two films based on the comic book character Judge Dredd to the big screen) and by the C/F International, which came in the letter of intent from one of the producers, as well as have several other companies who have sent me deal memos letters of intent to distribute the project worldwide, some of which I am attaching here, but I am not sure if I want to go with these companies with whom I have not signed any deals yet, but could do it at any time.

Vic Armstrong's Filmography:

Pirates - ( Director / / In-Development / )

Pirates - ( / / In-Development / )

Star Trek 11 - ( Stunt Coordinator / / In-Development / Paramount Pictures )

The Holiday - ( Assistant Director((Second Unit-United Kingdom)) / 2006 / Awaiting Release / Sony Pictures Releasing )

Children of Glory - ( Second Unit Director / 2006 / Released / Intercom International Communication Services Ltd. )

Mission: Impossible III - ( Stunt Coordinator / 2006 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Mission: Impossible III - ( Second Unit Director / 2006 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

The Great Raid - ( Assistant Director / 2005 / Released / Miramax Home Entertainment )

The Great Raid - ( Second Unit Director / 2005 / Released / Miramax Home Entertainment )

War of the Worlds - ( Stunt Coordinator / 2005 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Blade: Trinity - ( Second Unit Director / 2004 / Released / Entertainment Film Distributors, Ltd. )

Miracle - ( Second Unit Director / 2004 / Released / Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment )

Die Another Day - ( Stunt Coordinator / 2002 / Released / MGM Distribution Company )

Die Another Day - ( Second Unit Director / 2002 / Released / MGM Distribution Company )

Gangs of New York - ( Second Unit Director((Action Unit)) / 2002 / Released / Miramax Home Entertainment )

The Four Feathers - ( 2nd Assistant Director / 2002 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 2001 / Released / Universal Pictures )

Charlie's Angels - ( Stunt Coordinator (2nd Unit) / 2000 / Released / Kinekor )

Charlie's Angels - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 2000 / Released / Kinekor )

Quills - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 2000 / Released / Fox Searchlight Pictures )

Entrapment - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1999 / Released / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment )

Entrapment - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1999 / Released / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment )

The World Is Not Enough - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1999 / Released / MGM Distribution Company )

Black Dog - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1998 / Released / Universal Pictures )

Black Dog - ( Stunts / 1998 / Released / Universal Pictures )

Black Dog - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1998 / Released / Universal Pictures )

The Avengers - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1998 / Released / Warner Home Video )

Starship Troopers - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1997 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Starship Troopers - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1997 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

The Shadow Conspiracy - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1997 / Released / Hollywood Pictures Home Video )

Tomorrow Never Dies - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1997 / Released / MGM Distribution Company )

Tomorrow Never Dies - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1997 / Released / MGM Distribution Company )

The Phantom - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1996 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Johnny Mnemonic - ( Stunt Coordinator (2nd Unit) / 1995 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Johnny Mnemonic - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1995 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Rob Roy - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1995 / Released / MGM/UA Home Video )

Rob Roy - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1995 / Released / MGM/UA Home Video )

Black Beauty - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1994 / Released / Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group )

Black Beauty - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1994 / Released / Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group )

Radioland Murders - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1994 / Released / Universal Pictures )

Army of One - ( Director / 1993 / Released / LIVE Home Video )

Last Action Hero - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1993 / Released / Sony Pictures Releasing )

Universal Soldier - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1992 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Universal Soldier - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1992 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Cover-Up - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1991 / Released / Guild Films Distribution )

Cover-Up - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1991 / Released / Guild Films Distribution )

Double Impact - ( Stunt Coordinator((USA)) / 1991 / Released / Sony Pictures Releasing )

Double Impact - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1991 / Released / Sony Pictures Releasing )

FX2 - The Deadly Art of Illusion - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1991 / Released / Orion Home Video )

Air America - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1990 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Air America - ( 3rd unit Director / 1990 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Total Recall - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1990 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Total Recall - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1990 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Henry V - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1989 / Released / CBS Video )

Henry V - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1989 / Released / CBS Video )

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1989 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

We're No Angels - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1989 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Frantic - ( Stunt Man / 1988 / Released / Warner Home Video )

Rambo III - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1988 / Released / TriStar Pictures )

Empire of the Sun - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1987 / Released / Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group )

Million Dollar Mystery - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1987 / Released / De Laurentiis Entertainment Group )

The Sicilian - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1987 / Released / Artisan Home Entertainment )

Tai-Pan - ( Drunken Sailor / 1986 / Released / De Laurentiis Entertainment Group )

Tai-Pan - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1986 / Released / De Laurentiis Entertainment Group )

The Mission - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1986 / Released / Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution )

Brazil - ( Stunts / 1985 / Released / Fox-Hachette-Distribution )

Legend - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1985 / Released / 20th Century Fox )

Legend - ( Stunts / 1985 / Released / 20th Century Fox )

Legend - ( Stunt Man / 1985 / Released / 20th Century Fox )

Legend - ( Other / 1985 / Released / 20th Century Fox )

Conan the Destroyer - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1984 / Released / Universal Pictures )

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - ( Stunts / 1984 / Released / United International Pictures )

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - ( Stunts((studio)) / 1984 / Released / United International Pictures )

Slayground - ( Stunts((United Kingdom)) / 1984 / Released / Columbia-EMI-Warner )

Invitation to the Wedding - ( Stunts / 1983 / Released / New Realm Distributors Ltd )

Invitation to the Wedding - ( Stunts / 1983 / Released / New Realm Distributors Ltd )

Krull - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1983 / Released / Columbia-EMI-Warner )

Never Say Never Again - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1983 / Released / Columbia-EMI-Warner )

The Long Good Friday - ( Stunts / 1982 / Released / HandMade Films )

An American Werewolf in London - ( Stunts / 1981 / Released / Universal Pictures Distribution )

Green Ice - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1981 / Released / ITC Entertainment Group DBA Polygram )

Raiders of the Lost Ark - ( Stunts / 1981 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Superman II - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1980 / Released / Warner Home Video )

Watcher in the Woods - ( Stunts / 1980 / Released / Buena Vista Pictures Distribution )

Bear Island - ( Director (2nd Unit) / 1979 / Released / Columbia-EMI-Warner )

Escape to Athena - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1979 / Released / CBS Video )

The Unidentified Flying Oddball - ( Stunts / 1979 / Released / Buena Vista Pictures Distribution )

Superman - ( Stunt Coordinator / 1978 / Released / Warner Home Video )

The 'Copter Kids - ( Nicky Baker / 1976 / Released / Children's Film Foundation )

Expose - ( Big Youth / 1975 / Released / Target Entertainment )

Side By Side - ( Stunts / 1975 / Released / GTO )

As I have mentioned above there are many entities who have sent letters of intent for this project and revealed their interest in this unusual and fascinating story that will keep any viewer on the edge of the seat including some distributors, producers, award winning composers and many other entities. There are also private investors who have revealed their interest in investing 80% into the picture, after the first 20% are found and if you are interested in getting to know who they are, I will introduce you to them.

Many individuals have also sent me their letters asking me to let them participate in the picture as talents, but the casting will be finalized after securing of funding.

The story is as strong or even stronger than anything that has ever been created by such writers as Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne especially since the last spy-scandal involving Putin, which is on the tips of the tongues of many people including your countrymen where the incident took place.

The oil-painted storyboards are in the Gallery online and could be viewed here: http://www.tuvproductions.com/gallery8thpage.htm

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You can advance through the Gallery's chambers by clicking on the doors in each chamber and enlarge individual images by clicking on them. The second chamber also hosts the rooms with black and white sketches, which could be accessed from this link http://www.tuvproductions.com/chambertwobwsketchesroomone.htm or by clicking on the door to your right, which is located in the second chamber. You can advance through the rooms with black and white sketches by clicking on the armchair on the right at the bottom of each room with black and white sketches.

Here is the link to the script http://www.tuvproductions.com/lalaland.htm and here is the link to the screenplay http://www.tuvproductions.com/lalalandscreenplay/lalaland.htm .The first 3 chapters are written in realism and the science fiction aspect of the story does not pick up until later on in the chapters to follow. When you come to the end of the third chapter, you will be prompted to pay USD$10.00 to read the rest of the text. If you are still interested in reading the rest of the script or the screenplay and are interested in the project here is my ID (cinemaparadiso@netzero.net) and you can email me asking me for my password so you could finish reading the script or the screenplay without paying for it.

You can advance through the pages of the script and/or screenplay by clicking on the arrow on top of the text or by clicking on the button at the bottom of each page. There are some storyboards around the text as well constituting a frame around the text.

Here are some text samples for you:

" On August 18th of the same year, my mom's birthday, I took the high-walks to get to a local bakery to pick up a cake for her that had been ordered earlier. On my way back to my air-vehicle I was trying to wrap the cake up better, when I heard the sound of another air-car's reversed throttle behind me. Trying to turn around, I was grabbed, blindfolded, stuck a choker into my mouth, and handcuffed while being pushed down inside the vehicle. All of my attempts to free myself up turned into a fiasco. Several times I was punched into my stomach and I heard a man saying: " He's all tired, put him to sleep."
When the next morning I woke up because of the sharp pain on the top of my head, I found myself in a ten by fifteen cell. I noticed that my whole body was shivering and my wrists were cut, my ribs hurt, and my head was shaking. I turned around to grab a blanket, but there was none. Nothing was around me, but the toilet-bucket down on the floor covered with filthy cold-water with human waste in it which was reaching up to my cuffed ankles. The walls made out of cement were all dark and damp because of the condensation caused by a constant presence of water in the cell, and large sleazy bugs were fighting each other for the room in the cracks of the wet wall. The dim light coming out of the hole up high in the northern wall, was the only light source, and even that small opening of freedom was banned by the heavy thick bars from a freedom-thirsty eye of a prisoner. The whole place was bleak and smelled like a mixture of vomit, human feces and urine, and the longer I inhaled and looked around myself, the more I felt noxious, and eventually stagnant water and air with a smell of death in it made me puke. First, despair took over me, sending its army of suicidal thoughts after my mind.
Where was I? Was I going to see the daylight and freedom ever again? What was going to happen to me, and whether anyone knew anything about my fate - it all was one huge migraine pounding hard in my temples and echoing at the top of my head, where the large bleeding bump was. I bet my mother wondered what happened to me, but has probably never found it out, for where was she supposed to ask? I was sitting there, trying to grasp any oxygen in the air around me. It was limited for the cell was too small.
The door of the cell suddenly opened with an awful sound, and for a moment a strong ray of bright light blinded me. When I opened my eyes again, a silhouette in a shape of a guard in the uniform appeared in front of me. " Up! He yelled. As soon as I jumped down into the filth of the bloody-cold water covering the floor, two guards in the heavy water-proof boots stepped into the cell and twisted my arms behind my back, hand-cuffing my wrists. I was put a plastic sack over my head and dragged through the long corridor along the cells to each side of it to be interrogated in another chamber. Thrown down in a chair, the sack was taken off my head. There, at the opposite side of the table, was a man dressed in a black uniform. He was sitting further away from the table being lit from behind, so I could not see his face. The halo around the top of his hairline was shaping his scull, and I could swear that I have never seen an uglier shaped head in my entire life. He stuck his hand in a pocket and pulled a pipe out of it. Then the man reached out for a bag with tobacco, slowly stuffed it in, lit up the pipe, inhaled, exhaled the smoke, and coughed. Another minute or so passed in a total silence, and I saw saliva running down the pipe, and dripping down on the floor, echoing in the silent chamber with four men in it.

He inhaled the smoke out of the pipe again, got up, stuck his hand into a chest-level pocket of his uniform, pulled out a cigarette case made out of metal, and exerted: " Would you care for the smokes, Mr.Za?" " My name is Mr. Dermaster, or better known as the local God, and I am a warden here. Forsteiss? The warden asked. The man in front of me inhaled the smoke and added: I rule this fucking place. It's as simple as the fact that you are here now. Now and forever. " He added. " I opened my mouth and was about to ask what was I they're for, but he sharply interrupted me, and yelled: " I ask the questions here, Mr. Deathrow ". He inserted a cigarette case back into the pocket, and stepped towards me whispering: " By the way, that was a rule number one, but that's O.K., you live, you learn, if you do, heehee " he added. " People do not come here for doing nothing, Mr. Za, and this is the rule number two. There are ten main rules-commandments in here, and many more things that one must not do, Mr. Desparatetoaskquestions. There are very few things that one may do though… and you will learn those as well, if you'll make it up to that time. It all basically works like this: you do what you are told, or you are dead, and that's all there is to it. Now, whom did you plot it with? Answer to me! I did nothing as far as I remembered, and thus, had nothing to say, other than I did not do anything. He winked to a guard standing behind me, and the latter electrically shocked me with a button from behind my back where he was standing. For a moment I felt as though my whole body got filled with small electrons and needles, and sudden sharp pain took me into convulsion. The guard repeated this procedure on me several times until I felt down on the floor. All shaking and with my heart being about to jump out of my chest, I regained consciousness and attempted to pull my body up towards the chair in front of me. Stumping hard on the floor, the man in black came up to my face with his heavy leather high boots. For a second he paused on a spot, and said: " See, my job is not to kill you. You will die here regardless anything, but my mission in this facility is to make your life hell, so every day, minute and a second of it is felt by you to be as miserable as it can be before you die. Now, we have all the means to achieve this goal as well. You name it, we've got it, Mr. Za. We have a torture chamber; we have a mental ward, the uranium-rat-mines, as well as we possess your minds, not only lives. We have it all. Want to know about the life in here? There is none. You sub-exist. You work, you eat, you don't, and you are eaten. That's all. Oh yeh, almost forgot! There is no escape from this place, for my subjects see no daylight, and thus, no one can see them. We are under the ground, Mr. Many, many feet under it. The ground is nothing more than an island lost among the huge body of water full of hungry sharks. No way in, no way out, all electronically wired, sealed and sanctuaried as a remote asylum, we tend to stay self-sufficient too, so there are no visitors to the island. You get in, you struggle to survive, and you die. "

After an hour of the interrogation and a scene that I was made to watch, where the man pulled on his own gelatin, I was dragged back to the cell, and thrown down onto the floor. My whole body was aching and itching, reminding me about the recent events and of the conditions around me. I climbed up the bed that was suspended from the wall on two chains, when I started thinking about the resemblance in the guards' faces and faces of some of those whom I hated in school while growing up.

They sure looked very familiar to me, and old memories flashbacked in

my head, recalling the troublesome days of the school and problems brought onto my head by those who hated me back in those days. I did not even notice when I went to sleep. " Morphus said.

2

I woke up because it felt as though someone was poking me in the eye with a stick. When I opened my eyes I saw several guards in the cell. I was stuck a needle into my eye so fast that I could not even give it a second thought, and lost the sight in front of me in a fraction of a second.

The guards have probably left right after that, but I could not see, being unconscious for a while, neither could I remember things well at that moment. Only much later, it all flashed back in my head, and when it happened, it was so realistic in its nature that I felt as though, I was experiencing the real thing once again, and it scared the fuck out of me, just as the time before, when I woke up in the cell being needle-poked.
When I woke up once again, I heard the cell lock's opening sound. I could not see anything, for my sight has left me. A guard yelled: " Up! ", and I attempted to get up, but fell down into the water on the floor, landing with my face down. I remember being dragged somewhere, and thrown into the chair. Another interrogation followed up shortly after, the only difference in between the first one and this one was that this time, I got beaten on the head instead of getting shocked electrically. Once again, I had nothing to add to my not knowing anything, and just as during the last time, my interrogator did not like my answers again saying that I had no alibi.
I spent over a week being blind and interrogated over and over again, when one morning the door was opened, and a guard told me that tomorrow I would be taken to work. I could not understand how I was supposed to work being blind, but he shut the door behind himself faster than I could ask him. Next morning, when I woke up, the same guard that poked me with a needle, reached out towards me with his hand, and I felt a jelly feeling like pill was getting shoved into my throat. He said: " Take it ", and stuck a pill into my mouth, adding: "This will make you see again. Maybe not as good as you used to see, but enough to work."
It took another half-hour before I started seeing things again, but I could tell right away that he was right when he said that I would not see things and look at them the same way I used to.
We toiled hard. Thousands of us were in the uranium mines, like rats digging holes under the ground. We sought uranium. Our lungs were as black as the holes that we worked in, and a light source was a rear guest in our lives, welcomed as a precious gift of God bestowed upon his children wrongfully accused of the crimes that they have never done, and the sins that they have never committed. I saw the rest of the inmates only at work, and very briefly, for each of us had to dig his own hole being separated from the rest.
Even though, high technology and progress took over in the free world, here in mines, methods of mining and things related to it remained as underdeveloped as they were during the earlier ages of our civilization. The tools that we worked with were back warded and ancient as the mines themselves, and the excess to the discoveries of the world out there was purposely limited to the mines that looked like the famous mines of Falun and Persberg in Sweden. The uranium strata, the apparatus for blasting, boring apparatus, the shafts themselves, modes of ascent and descent in mines, the sections themselves, the tools and the breathing tubes, Davy's and Dumesnil's safety lamps, Anemometer, means of transport of uranium and the hydraulic ram - everything was ancient.
We took shower once a month with the water that others had used, and it was cold too. The soap was made out of the homeless dogs, and we had to share a bar among many of us. We had lice, and scabies, and ate once a day, things you would never want to eat.
Taking a cold shower, woke me up, and suddenly flash-backed my last dream in my head. Weird dream, I thought to myself, while I was looking at one of the very few bubbles of soap on my arm. What was it all about?

3

In prison the Fire-guards Unit took care of him. The whole Unit consisted of the demonic creatures. These Guards were appointed by the Municipal Commission, which was put in charge of the prison by the Big Boss himself, and thus, they did their best in serving the Evil that governed the weak ones' compliance with his decision. The authorities sought to solve the problem by washing their hands off in blood by recalling the executioners that had lost their jobs. So the guards strove for excellence in what their job was, hoping to get noticed by the warden, which often was their explanation behind the motive for sadism that they exerted upon the prisoners, practicing it daily. They were said to even have their own favorite torture methods, and the cruelty was not something for them to lack as far as I was told and had seen. They executed and tortured knowing that no punishment for their crimes would ever come after them, and thus, were profound in their evil ways too.
They looked like the Grinder that they used, and their merciless faces dictated the life and order of the day spent under the ground. Especially they enjoyed what they called a hey-sack-game. A cruel and sadistic way to kill, that's all that was.
Once being already imprisoned, and during the check up, a prisoner sneaked a note into my toilet-bucket, that we all had to hold in our hands during the morning check-up ceremony. The note indicated that many inmates became victims of the guards' favorite torture, and were choked to death by the lack of air inside the huge plastic bags that they were put into. The walls of the plastic sacks were heated up by the hot air coming out of the steam machines located in the workshop area of the camp, and was not under the ground level, but up on top, where the life was. Thus, the death machine became an object of my attention as the means to life. When at the other time I was told by the same inmates, that no one ever escaped the Island, and that warden was right when he said that to me during my incubation period, my reaction was different, for deep inside of me, I prayed to be allowed to be up there. I wanted to be there where the Death-machine was. Trying to escape Death. I know it sounds weird, but this is what it was. From that time and on, all my thoughts were about the workshop facility. I dreamt of being allowed to work there even for a few minutes every day, if more was too much to ask for. I worked hard, and always complied with what I was expected of, thus, becoming a role-model prisoner, gaining trust and respect of the authorities,

and after many years of toil and despair spent under the ground, I was eventually allowed to see the daylight once again.
I never had any relationships with any of the prisoners and was always scared to have any since never knew who the people around me were. Narks, decoys and other characters could have been implanted into my prison's existence to extract any information used by the authorities from me. Elements from the bottom of the society, they flooded the prison like rats. They used any means in their disposal trying to make their prison-life not as harsh as it was and majority of them would sell their mothers for a glance of a blue sky without bars in its foreground. Often when I looked at their blood-thirsty faces, it seemed to me that some looked familiar to me, but I could never recall if and when I could had ever seen them prior to me ending up in prison. There was this one who often looked to me just like myself. He was weird and unfriendly and each time I would pass by him, he turned his face away from me. There were thousands of criminals around me and new ones were coming in daily. I never tried to keep track of them for they changed so often that it would prove useless. From this entire bunch only a few became chosen form some privileged prison's positions, and I was one of them.
Two other prisoners were also allowed up there into the workshop as well, and three of us met daily. Jacques and Yariv have spent many years under the ground too, but never knew why they got there in the first place, just as I did not know why. During a two-hour work-day in the shop we had to take care of the dead bodies, that the Guards left after their games, and after having disposed of the bodies, had to clean out the vomit left by the deceased on the walls of the sacks. We cleaned and waxed the floors, as well as worked on the lathes, making electronic hand and leg-cuffs. Another benefit of working up there was the fact that our hand-cuffs got removed too, and even a few hours without them on felt as partial freedom to us. Three times a week three of us met there. No guards, no other prisoners were allowed in. Nobody, but us, being watched by an electronic eye installed up high over us in the ceiling of the room. Time passed by, and we have found a way to trick the device too. There was one spot that the camera could not capture, for it was behind the largest lathe in the shop, and when one would get behind the machine to clean it out of dust, which usually took 30 minutes, one was not seen by the device in the ceiling. We started digging under, and a bit to the side. A year have passed by fast as we were digging under the lathe daily, and I was ready and looking forward and towards the escape, when once during the digging, the walls caved in. We barely saved our lives pulling each other out of the tunnel that we were making, while the third one of us acted as though we were up there by the machine. The irony was, though, that he had to laugh and joke while we were crying underneath the ground, and hardly had any air left to breathe with, but what could he do? He could not even reach out to us, or help us in any other way, for had to pretend that we all were up there, making sounds for three of us. During the time spent together, we shared our experiences; we even had our own language created by us to communicate with each other while in the shop. By making certain noises and sounds with the objects which surrounded three of us, we did not only trick the guards, so they could not understand what we spoke about, but we also accomplished something that was much more important to us back then. Being under the conditions that we were under, a freedom of communication was crucial to us, while being able to understand each other's intentions at a certain moment in time.

4

Here, under the ground, we saw no light; the whole life in here was one dark night. Thus, we craved light, and eventually and after many years of hard work the day when we could see it continuously came again, and we did not hesitate when it came too, even though, it started bright, but than, it turned into a night. The Sun was setting low at the horizon, turning the whole sky purple, and the brisk of crisp ocean air mixed up with a fresh breeze optimized the inmates' heads. They looked at each other without exchanging any words, and aimed towards the workshop facility, docking down low, hiding from the Guards' ever watchful eyes, not to be stopped for any reason. The door was opened as they have expected it to be, and the inmates ran into the back room. Morphus sneaked under the machinery's belly, removed the old mat and reached down for the lid with which the hole was covered. He inserted his head into it and pulled himself in. Yariv and Jacques followed. The hole was so narrow that the inmates had to follow each other crawling only a few feet apart after one other. Morphus led followed by Jacques and Yariv. Silently and in their hearts, they all prayed for their lives, hoping that the ground wouldn't cave in. Breathing hard, Morphus whispered: " We are almost there, another twenty or thirty feet ". The tunnel was so narrow that three inmates could not turn around in it, even if they would want to. As rats in a hole, the inmates were slowly moving towards the tunnel's end. Then suddenly Morphus exclaimed "Now!" All three men inhaled full lungs of the scarce remnants of air, and shut their eyes tight. Resting on his tummy, Morphus pushed the tightly sealed lid in front of him trying to exhale the air at the same time, but the lid set sealed in the ground holding it. He pushed again and nothing happened this time as well. He tried to remain calm, when he felt a hard push from behind. With his bear feet he suddenly felt his friend's head. Having his feet at the walls of the tunnel, Jacques was pushing him up towards the lid. After they have tried it several times, the lid suddenly moved and a fresh stream of cold air from outside swept the prisoners. Morphus fell first with his head down towards the bottom, his friends followed. Somewhere in the mid-air and almost half way towards the water Morphus got turned around and broke the water beneath him with his feet first. Jacques and Yariv were less successful. The fortune left them when the wind suddenly changed making the other two inmates stiff in the position of their free-fall. Jacques did not make it all the way down to the water, he felt into the rocks beneath, and thus, was killed instantly. Breaking the water with a side of his head, Yariv hit the boulder in it and lost conciseness. The stormy waters were merciless to the escapees, and huge black waves made it impossible for Morphus to see his fellow inside the water a hundred feet behind of him.
He shouted: "Jacques, Yariv!" but the noise of the waves slamming upon each other, and the harsh wind whistling through his ears, made his call a whisper in the cold darkness of the night that seemed to be covered with the black blanket of the misshapen clouds, that appeared separated by the lightening and thunder echoing it somewhere far in a distance.
Submerging under the ice-cold water Morphus' hand suddenly gripped an old log. Holding on to it, and after a few hours spent in the freezing stormy black water and diving into the darkness of the cold water while hiding from the projector's light, eventually and after being in the water for several hours, Morphus was thrown ashore by the tide. When he awoke from the shock of experience and regained his consciousness, blinded by the sun in the zenith, he found himself alone on the shore with the right side of his face being stuck in the sand. First he could not understand where he was, but then suddenly the thought of him being spotted by the guards chasing him put him back in the right state of mind instantly sobering him up. The seaweed and the brined salt crusted on the side of his face and its bronze color reflected the rising sun behind.
After they broke out of the facility, and hit the water, both survived inmates found themselves being separated from each other by the storm. Having no contact with one another for over an hour, they were thrown ashore separately from each other by the massive waves of the merciless ocean under the dark blue sky over them. Two men found themselves being far away from each other and in an open dark space surrounding them. The only light of life that they saw was seen far away along the horizon line. Searching the shoreline, Morphus spotted his friend lying on the ground. His friend was moaning, and this moaning indicated to Morphus that his friend cannot get up, for is severely wounded. While dragging Yariv to a spot in between the boulders that created a shoe of a mountain situated near by, Morphus noticed heavy wounds on his friend's face and throughout his body. The sun was rising when he eventually found a spot to lodge in. Yariv looked at his friend and said: " I saw him hitting the mountain on his fall down, there is no need to search for him, he's gone…" he said in a hush, almost whispering the last few words slowly as though was all scared. Each of them separately gone silent and they both did not notice when they went to sleep.
The light on the horizon broke their silence and a short nap, and both men were looking at the light without saying a word to each other.

Morphus pointed towards it with his thumb in a gesture that the hitch-hikers use to stop a running vehicle, and exclaimed: "Hey, look out there, it is not that far anymore " he said pulling Yariv's wounded body forward. While trying to get his friend moving towards the dim-lit object on the horizon, he noticed that Yariv was running a fever. Yariv moaned and whispered: " I can't, leave me here, and go, I won't make it anyway ".

" Nah, we've made it up to here, and I am not gonna give up on this now. We will be all right, you are strong, and can make it. We will relax here for a few minutes, and then we'll go; you'll see we'll make it ", the man said. " No, we cannot remain here for much longer, the pigs will catch up with us soon, and their bloodthirsty jackals will eat both of us alive. Leave me here to die, and just go, you can make it to out there on your own, and if I am lucky enough and not dead yet by the time you have found some help, maybe you can come back for me later, and get me. Go! ". Morphus was hesitant to leave his partner to rot and die in the open space knowing that sooner or later the guards that were sent after them would catch up with his fellow.
They spoke occasionally anymore, for Yariv had hard time talking. Morphus told him to save his strengths by avoiding talking, nevertheless and during several brief conversations that they had, they started referring to their surroundings by names that they gave to the places around them. The Laguna near them and the mountains on the small bare islands of scarce land around them became points of their attention and the subject of their conversation on almost daily basis. The Scary Mountain and its Laguna, as they now were calling it, captivated their tired imaginations by being the objects of their presence and immediate touch with surrounding their survival and the place were they were now.
After a few days of hesitation by Morphus to abandon his inmate friend, Yariv's wounds worsened, and his entire condition was manifesting the deterioration that his organism has been going through. Even though, his partner stopped bleeding, it was evident that gangrene was taking upon his lower extremities. They have not had anything in their mouths for several days, other than dew that Morphus found on the plants situated nearby, and a raw seagull that he killed with a rock. It has been five days since their escape and their empty stomachs made sounds that echoed the two man's conversation about their fate.
In the daytime Morphus was in the hiding with his friend trying to maintain Yariv's life condition. With the twilight coming in he would leave Yariv for hours searching for food along the shore line, and swimming back and forth to the small islands nearby, where wild birds' eggs and crawl-fish found their sanctuary. Their live food items were hiding from anything that could eat them, just as two escapees were hiding from the always-watchful eye of the guards hungry to catch them. The latter, by that time, had gotten organized into groups of search, and were occasionally heard at the sea in their speed boats, as well as seen along the shore-line further away to the west from where they were.
Once, during his swim back from the Scary Mountain Island, as he started calling it, and while in the water, Morphus' thoughts got him away from the water with sharks that he was in. A vision of two of his friends flying up high in the sky over him, as though they were two birds gliding up high in the air, occupied his mind, and kept it away from the cold reality of the dangerous waters that he was in.
Another day went by fast, and the sun was setting down casting soft shadows off men's silhouettes. There was nothing to say anymore, it all was relevant to their silence. Looking down at his partner, Morphus noticed the stench of the decaying flash on the wounded parts of the dying friend's body. Morphus was delusional and delirious at this point the closer the smell of death came reaching his brain, the more he wanted to vomit, but the sense of friendship, brotherhood and closeness kept him focused.

Yariv's loud voice, moaning of him dying of infection, and the raging fevers -- all made him scream out involuntarily. His friend looked insane. "What's the point, just finish me off, and be gone!" -- Yariv screamed at Morphus. "I beg you..." he moaned hopelessly as though adding to his disappointment not finding a feedback to his pray, looking all crazy in his eye.
Suddenly, Morphus picked up the rock lying behind his friend's elbow, lifted it up and hurled the stone at his friend. He made sure that his friend was dead and buried under the coral stones and shells before he started running towards the light-source that he has seen so many times by now.

5

Morphus ran towards the structures at the other side of the island. He fell down on the ground when the projector's light beam was getting closer to him. Aimed at the area and panning through it, the light beamed from the lighthouse that was remade into an observation tower for the guards to oversee the life on a near by islands. Ducking, crawling and sneaking behind the rocks and sand dunes made Morphus's run unpleasant, but the worst was still yet to come, when sudden rain and a sea-storm approached. It poured suddenly and very hard, as much as one in his situation would never wish for, and whatever was left of his clothes got soaked in a minute, sticking to his body, all sweaty and damped by the rain. When he reached the first structure that he has seen on the horizon line before, he hid for a few seconds behind the bush by the corner of the long ramp that was diagonally attached to the tall building behind his back. Then he got up, turned around and looked up at the building in front of him. It was a tall gray structure with small windows along its sides. His attention was captivated by the fact the there were a very few windows for such a large building, and those that were there were rather up high at the upper levels, and not down below. The only large window that was there, was the only window down there too, close to where he was, and even this window was on a higher level than the ground that he was on. It was hard to say exactly how high up above the ground it was, but the level on which it was, would be equal to the standard second story of a standard size home.
Morphus jumped up and gripped over the banister of the ramp, pulling himself up the structure. Trying to hide from the projector's beam, he almost lost it twice, but eventually and being persistent paid off and he was able to get up and by the bars over the foggy window lit with the

florescent light. He could tell that the temperature inside was much higher than outside where he was while trying to clear himself a spot in the window.
What he saw next got imprinted into his mind forever. This site always came back to him as a nightmare later on, haunting him in his sleep, even when he was all free and far away, happy and in his new home. Much later, and in the far away land, that first was an unknown island of freedom to those that sought it, and left the Earthly troubles behind themselves in order to settle in the place where the love and happiness prospered, Morphus saw this picture over and over again. It came to him in occasional nightmares, reminding him of his past. The place that he will be in will be a flourishing Love Garden Of Eden, and a new home for those, who came there with him, and was the Land with the big "L" to the people that settled in it after many months of search for it. The whole journey that was still lying ahead of all of them was just about to begin. And for one simple human reason, and with only one intention and mission for all -- to be human in their feelings once again, sharing them with the loved ones committed to them. Morphus shut his eyes for a moment, and opened them up once again just to take another look at the scene in front of him, that was so different in its reality. If he only knew that his future was going to be so different and opposite in the mood that it will bring, opposite of what he was looking at now. There was a huge surgery table with a person on it. He was operated on, and his scull was widely opened. Attempting to see more and hear anything that could be coming out of the surgery room's vent-hole, Morphus almost slipped once again, when his foot did not find a crack in the wall that was hoped to be found by him, but was not there, betraying his hopes. Trying to remain calm, he quickly bounced his act, and once again, and to his own surprise, found himself having a strong grip over the situation, that he was in. He leaned over the small flat spot in the window area that was supposed to be the ledge to which the heavy metal bars were attached. Morphus peeked inside once again. Hoping not to get caught or fall down and be captured by the creatures in white capes, he noticed their huge size right away. He saw them around the operating room's table, passing each other scary-looking metallic devices, and huge old rusted utensils and tools aged in their messy cutting and beaten on routine. He stared at the scene in front of him without being able to move, feeling frozen for a few seconds at a time. He could not see their faces, for the latter were hidden and under the capes, but he could see that their facial features were prolonged, and not of a human origin. His brief visual analyses got confirmed once again when he looked down at their hands.
" So what did their hands look like? " the news-anchor-host asked the man in front of him. Morphus looked at his hands. They were full of big ugly blue veins, sticking out and reflecting his former journeys with the work that needed to be done with those hands, and suddenly got quite for a few seconds.
" I said hands, for they looked as the hands of us, humans do, on the one hand, and as the lizard-looking-like webs on the other. Looked scary and unseen, weird looking, if you know what I mean. I also noticed the creatures' size. It was enormous, and the long capes that covered them instantly created an atmosphere of pity for my soul, and the research polygon for their minds and busy hands in my body. It was a lonely cold night after the first heavy October rains that have passed by, which were merciless in this side of the world.

I was all alone, cold and scared under the bright stars that shone somewhere far away up in the cobalt-blue sky over my head, and I felt like a little bird that was hanging outside the cage that it could be forced into at any time at all. I heard the sawing sound, and the hammering of the hammer, and it beating on the human bones. I heard the drill, and the dull hatchets' blades going deep into the flash and bones, I heard it all." said the man in the armchair, and sipped on water that he pored from the oriental pitcher. " You should have seen the tails too, those were humangous. " Morphus added.
Then he continued: " I could not stand still hanging up there anymore, and moved up the ramp towards the small windows at the upper levels. I pulled up and looked inside. I saw many humans, and I understood that they were prisoners, as guinea-pigs tortured and held their for the inhuman experiences of pain and humiliation, that each and everyone of many that I saw, had to go through. A room by room that I looked at was filled with prisoners, or whatever was left of them. They all were hung in ungodly and inhumane positions as meat in the butchers' shops refrigerators. They were connected to the shelves that they were on by the chains connected to their wrists and ankles in those cases where there were any, and simply to their necks or bodies, when there were none. Their faces reflected the conditions that they were in. No one talked, no sound was coming out of the rooms, other than a constant moan of the hundreds and thousands of people. I figured out really fast, that it was a mental ward too, when I saw the expressions in the eyes of those who were in front of me. Then, I saw as new victims were brought in. They were in one single group, chained to each other and to those that they brought with them dragging their bodies on the floor that now were lying behind them. They all looked crazy in their eyes, and even though, all looked different from one another, all had something in common in the way they looked as well. Then I heard the whip, and saw it looped around an inmate's head, snapping it off of his shoulders, so it flew to an opposite side of the room. Suddenly and when I was looking at it with its tongue still moving in a mouth still hanging widely-opened, my eyes froze motionless. I stared at a face that I could never forget. And just as his face could not get mistaken for anyone else's, I could not describe the situation around me at that time properly. One had to be there, to see what I have seen, in order to relive it. It was my father. Despair took over me, and the blood hit my temples sending the rush to my sizzling-hot-head, and weakening me in my knees. Only for a second, I lost control over myself, but then once again I regained my grip over the situation, and was on my way down the ramp, swallowing my own tears mixed up and diluted by the rain drops that by that time have become much more persistent. I crawled on my gut around the whole building, and continued to the next one attached to the other side of it. Once again, a very tall, old building frightened me by being the last structure to as far as my eye could see looking far at a distance ahead of me." Morphus said, making himself more comfortable in the armchair while readjusting a position of his legs. " I am tired now. Why don't you continue for a bit as you have promised to me earlier?" he said looking at me. " Nah, you do for now, I will later, for after all, it's your story. " the host said.
" I found myself standing at the bottom of a narrow staircase leading upstairs through a narrow corridor, up high many levels ahead, to where the distant darkness only knew how many more levels there still were. "
The man in the arm-chair stretched out his leg that was falling to sleep once again, and after saying, " Ok, I'll continue now " continued his story.

6

" I could not see well due to almost total darkness surrounding me in the hallway. The only light source there was, was a brief panning of the projector light coming through the small windows of the eastern wall that was situated opposite of the doors of the whole dwelling. I immediately felt a change in temperature. It was much warmer and humid inside of the corridor, and for a change felt a bit better to be able to warm up my frozen bones. The rain and the cold wind outside made me shiver, and the warmth of that hallway started getting all over my back when I stepped up the stairs, and took another look at the things around me.
The whole corridor was divided into two identical parts. It was so narrow, and its structure going up was so bare on inside, that there was no place where one could hide. It look as though in case the main door would had gotten opened, a walking in person could see many lower levels, or what was there, if any, but could not see what was going on up on the higher upper levels. To see what was there one had to go up the stairs. I was climbing up the stairs, higher and higher, covered by the darkness of the place. Each outlet consisted of an open space on each level, or a story, if you will, that had two doors opposite to each other. Despite of all my attempts to see any details about the dwellers behind those doors, the fate had a different plan for me. It kept my curiosity winded, until I figured that the only dwellers there are, are the people that live on this island. Since I have not seen anyone anywhere, other than the creatures in white, and their guinea pigs, I realized that the former lived here, and latter existed where I saw them. The whole realization and thought of my poor situation made me shiver even worse, but my choices were limited to a few. I could attempt to swim back to the Island Of The Sinful, and get eaten by hungry sharks, tortured or killed back in prison, end up on one of the floors of the Mental Ward behind me, on the surgery table, or...here. Who lived behind these doors? What kind of creatures, what was their sex and gender orientation, race, and other characteristics. They sure did not look human to me when I was looking at them for a brief moment while outside and climbing the wall of the Mental Ward's facility that they worked in. I could see the doors to both sides. They were old, and their paint layer looked as though it was almost gone, hardly covering the steel, that the doors were made of. Looking at them, I was trying to find any clue to those, who lived behind them. I felt like shit, and my head was pounding hard, echoing up in the temples. The whole corridor smelted mildewed. I looked at both doors trying to compare them to each other, but could not, since the projector's light beam did not stay long enough on them for me to remember any details. I looked for the keyhole, but found none; instead there was a slot for a personal homeowner's card. I had no card to slide through. I looked around me, seeking anything that could be used to open the door with, but found nothing. Time was playing a deadly risky game against me, the longer I stood there, the more chances there were of anybody walking into the corridor, and finding me there. Suddenly, I remembered that all of us, the inmates, had a plastic tag with a personal number on it. The tag was inside of a clear plastic pocket, and attached to the prisoner's uniform at the left-hand side portion of one's chest. I hardly had any close left on me, but whatever was left had the part with the number. I reached to it, ripping it off in a snap, and slit the card with my numbers on it through the slot in the lock. After repeating this procedure a few times, I pushed the door opened. When I got in, I immediately felt the difference between this place and anything out there and from what I have ever seen.

7

Things around me were much larger than we usually have in our homes, and their nature was not the same, it was all strange looking to me, exotic, but scary-looking. Huge plants with large luscious leaves, and the twisted roots at the bottom were hanging off the ceiling. Strewn all about, large vines hanging down low to the floor level were laying down low at the bottom. There were many large rocks covered with moss and water running over them from the top of the walls, just as some strange-appearing waterfalls flowing and coming together down and all the way around the room, being drained into a small drainage-hole situated in the middle of the room. The whole place consisted of one large room and a smaller one next to the door. I immediately felt a tremendous change in temperature, which got even warmer now. Especially so, since I got in from the cold weather outside the building. It felt humid, as though I was in the tropics. I noticed huge rocks and luscious exotic green plants around the whole place, and was about to depart for a small room, when my attention was interrupted by the sound I heard on a distance. I was turning around looking at the dimmed glass thick windows of the place, when I heard the main hallway door getting slammed by someone who got in. I grabbed a long tool that looked like a knife, and entered the small room by the door. This room had much smaller parameters, and the things that were there were as strange as those that I have seen in the other one. Waterfalls of a human size made up most of the other room too. I heard someone stumping the steps very hard, hissing, and a dragging sound following each set of steps. As the heavy object was getting up the staircase, I stepped up a pile of metallic dust piled up in the corner by the door into this room. Having the tool in my right hand, I raised up my arm waiting for the owner of the place to get in, so I could strike him from behind, being hidden and ambushing him in the darkness of the surrounding. When I heard the door opening, I started feeling as though my heart was about to pop my chest opened, and I felt as blood was running up to my head. I noticed sweat building up on my forehead, when I heard a sound that I could not compare to anything I have ever heard before. It was a mixture of hissing, breathing and hacking. It was a sound that I would not even attempt to improvise. Suddenly, for a second I did not hear anything other than hmm, but then I sensed and heard it coming my way. When I heard someone entering the room, I became disparate to see the object standing with its side towards me. The bad thing was that I could not distinguish any shapes in the total darkness of the room where the dim lights were even more darkened because of the shadows cast by the leaves. I had no other choice than to stab the object with the sharp tool in my hand. I heard weird sound, scary and unearthly. As I have found out much later, I was sensed by the creature's tongue with the sensors naturally built into it. The object was coming out of being stabbed, but then it suddenly stopped, and the next moment I was hit hard, and was knocked out.

8

"Captain Za, this is in emergency, please immediately contact the Central Control Dispatch!" the loudspeaker announced. "See, I already have to go. I bet they have already found something out there." I said. I got up and left shortly after. When I got back to the Central Control Dispatch, three staff members were already impatiently waiting for me there. Amotz, Gedalia and Alfaromeo looked all worried on their faces and even from far distance it was evident to me that something very serious affected their calmness.
"We just received a report from the Missionary Unit sent out onto the location. We have fatalities. Six out of eleven people we sent out are dead in a clash with huge elephant-like animals and inside the cave nearby. The creatures stumped and rammed the people with their tusks to the side of the mountain, as one would stick pins to the wooden board. It happened in the North Eastern region of the island that Magy Johanson and Johan Rastmunsen reported shortly after you left for the coffee-room. There is also a weirdly-looking human spotted here and the rest of the surviving members of the Unit took him hostage and are moving back towards the ship as they reported." "I want Magy and Johan remain there until my further instructions." I interrupted the report and said while looking at the holograms sent to me by them. I noticed rainbow-like portions of icy-water around the shoreline that appeared on the holographic images in front of me and while listening to the audio report from the location.

"Magy, can you read me? Over. Magy, can you read me, over?" I called her via our communication-unit, but no answer followed. I tried to get her on line several times before I quit realizing that she and Johan are in danger. I connected with the rest of the Unit and asked them whether they knew where both of their superior officers were. Ace responded by telling me that the last time they saw them both headed northwards towards the spill. He told me that they saw massive oil spill along the shoreline, right after the incident with mammoths that rammed the rest of the Unit. I had hard time putting together all the little pieces of information that I had gathered by that time, for the connection with Ace was suddenly terminated too. Then I heard his voice once again and someone yelling in the background at the other end of the line: "Kill him! Kill him!" I tried to ask him what was going on out there when the connection got terminated again.
In less than thirty minutes the remaining members of the Unit, but Magy and Johan got back on board of the ship and I heard someone yelling again: "You mother fucker stay here, or I'll throw you to the fucking creatures that you ate, so they could chew on you!" I aimed towards the yelling member of the Unit and saw a human-like creature, which I would never forget. It was a strange-looking mixture of a human with something else. It was hard to say what else was mixed with him. He looked, as though his muscles were not covered with skin and when he breathed he was sticking his tongue out which was full of black hair. He looked scary reminding me one of the images in the books on biology or some science fiction story, rather than a human. He was all glowing and it was hard to see him when he moved and stood in front of the light-colored background behind him. Only standing against the very dark background he appeared in full contrast. His glowing was even more evident when I came closer to him. Rivera, one of the Unit's members was standing right next to him and the glow coming out of the weirdly-looking-man was reflecting at the officer. His uniform and face looked as though he was standing by the giant reflector, which was bouncing all colors of rainbow at him. I turned towards Amotz and ordered to be called to the communicational device as soon as the connection with Magy and Johan is established. I also told him that, if we won't hear from them in forty-five minutes, we are going after the two. Then I turned back towards the officer standing right next to the man and said: "What's up here?" "Rivera, what happened? Who is this man?" I asked the officer. The heavy inhuman-like breathing of the man standing by him was cutting the silence. Many crew members stood around us making up a complete circle behind our backs. Three of us were standing in the middle of it. Rivera's eyes reflected horror of the recently happened events and his sad voice slowly and quietly started revealing the story step by step. The man was nervous and depressed. "When eleven of us left the ship we aimed towards the mountains. Slowly one by one looking at backs of each other's heads, we progressed towards the bare-looking terrain, infiltrating the island. We advanced slowly due to the weather's condition. I was leading the Unit because Magy and Johan left us and aimed towards the other side of the mountain in front of us. We continued towards the leeward-side when suddenly I heard horrifying sound of their legs. It was more of a stomping sound, heavy, loud and horrifying as I have said. It all happened so quickly that none of us could shoot, react or even run for our lives, even if we wanted to, and you know me, I am no sissy. Huge mammoth-looking-like creatures started ramming and stumping the people with their tusks and legs.
The trumpet-like sound which the creatures made and that of the braking human bones in the bodies of people who were crushed into the side of the mountain brought fear and chill into the eyes of those who were stunned and still alive. There were at least a dozen creatures of the enormous size throwing and ramming the unit-members all over the site. I opened fire and the rest of the Unit followed up with it. We had to use heavy machine-guns to shoot the creatures with, but even then we did not kill any only slightly wounding them. Then I turn to the fire-gun and had to flame them down. That scared them and some of them caught on fire due to the long black fur on their bodies. I saw them turning backwards and retreating towards the valley where Magy and Johan were. At that moment four other soldiers entered the cave situated nearby. It was a huge cave, dark and damp inside. I ordered the men to head towards four different directions inside the cave, but keep on using the walkie-talkie to communicate and keep in touch with one another. We burnt the torches along the way to see where we were going. Echo inside the cave brought sounds of the dripping water coming down the melting stalagmites and stalactites, and silence around us seemed deadly. Then suddenly the sounds of the dripping water stopped and I turned the walkie-talkie on. "Can you hear me, over?" I said referring to the rest of my Unit. Revera continued his story, and I noticed how the weirdly looking creature standing right next to him took a long and heavy breath inhaling lungs full of air and continuing breathing like an animal. "A minute or two passed by without any sound and I started worrying about the people. Then I heard one of them screaming: "Help! Help me!" I ran back and towards the path one of the Unit's members went. I had to run through the cold water, which covered the floor of the cave, and my footsteps echoed throughout the natural tunnel that I was in. I was running fast breathing hard when I reached him. He was lying down in the ice-cold water, all covered with blood and died on me before I could ask him anything. The blood was covering his throat and chest area and his eyes cried horror. It looked as though something or someone suddenly struck him. His face was cut everywhere with some sharp object or nails, it was hard to say what happened, since at that time my torch went off, I started fearing for my life as well. I attempted to establish another contact with the rest of the Unit and got Rubin on line.
"Rubin, this is Rivera. What's going on?" I asked him. "You tell me, but this fucking place is cursed and I want out of here now. Do you hear me, now!" he yelled. I heard him cussing out and then his voice disappeared as well. I started blind walking towards the beginning of this tunnel-like path, touching the walls not to trip and fall down into the ice-cold water at the bottom while dragging my fellow's corpse behind me. I tried to establish another connection with Rubin, but was unsuccessful again in my attempt to get communication reestablished.
I attempted to establish connection with another member of the Unit when I heard some far-echoing beating sound and screaming of an inhuman nature. The beating and screaming continued all the way till eventually I was able to get back to the point in the tunnel from which four of us departed in the very beginning. I left the corpse there. I did not know what to do and whether I was supposed to go after Rubin or through another path from which the screaming was coming out of. Eventually I decided to move towards the echoing sounds and horrifying screams coming out of the path on the left from me. I attempted to light the torch once again and this time was successful.

It took me another ten minutes or so to get close to the place and the closer I was getting the louder the sounds became. Eventually the yelling and screaming became so loud that it was cutting my ears, for the sound was reinforced by the echo bouncing back off the hallow tunnel with the bare cold walls of the cave that it was in. There I stumbled upon Ace wrestling the cave man that was all glowing. Ace was beating on him with his torch and both men were rolling through the cold water while the creature was biting on him. I could not shoot for was afraid to get Ace killed. Then I came up with a plan to stop the ordeal. "Hands up, both of you mother fuckers, or I'll shoot you dead!" I shouted towards them. They continued for another moment, but then suddenly stopped, slowly stood on their knees and raised their hands up. I was shocked by the appearance of the creature standing on his knees in the ice-cold water, and could not say a word for a minute, for my tongue would not move. "Then what happened?" I asked him. "Then we all moved towards the entrance of the cave, both of them in front of me under my gun, and me dragging behind them. When we got to the entrance Rubin was already there, waiting for us. He was sitting by the corpse of the dead fellow lying on the rocks next to him. Then we buried the dead and you know the rest of it." Rivera said.
I turned my head to the sides of the crowd surrounding us and saw Rubin and Ace sitting in the opposite corners of the chamber. They were silent and looking at the creature standing in front of me. Then I turned towards the creature and said: "Who are you?"
The weirdly-looking creature in front of me looked at me from under his forehead and I noticed that his facial expression was full of despise towards the humans. His eyes were very expressive and I could read pain and suffering in them. He remained silent for another long moment and then suddenly said with a very deep and monotonic baritone: "My name is Gilboa." "Gilboa, what's your story? Do you want to share it with us?" "Why should I share anything with you?" "Well, it's kind of like you have no options." I replied in front of everyone there. "You are captured by us, so if you do not want to cooperate, we will do with you what we want, not what you want. Capice?" I said.
"And I would not kill you, Gilboa, as cruel as I am. I would simply let you go back to that cold that you came from. I am pretty sure that would do it to you, even though, it seems that you have been there for a while and probably got used to living there. Still, I doubt that you would want to go back out there and continue living by yourself in that frozen garden of lifeless snow-desert."
Then, I suddenly turned towards Amotz and said: "Amotz, let him go back. Now." "Yes, sir" he replied. At this moment Gilboa said: "Ok. I will tell you my story, but before I do, I would like to have something hot like tea or coffee." I ordered a coffee for him and offered him to sit down. He looked at everyone standing and sitting around him and said: "The last time I saw so many people around me was when I was eighteen. I am almost forty now. I come from a family of seven children and am the oldest. I was born in the Pereneas Mountains in a small place called Andorra. My Mom was a housewife and my Dad worked as a mountaineer-guide. He took tourists to see the mountains while we stayed at home. When I turned fifteen, my father started taking me with him up to the mountains, and I helped him to carry heavy loads for the tourists who hired him for temporary labor. I said temporary, because here I am speaking of seasonal work for hire.

This is when my Dad could make enough money for the whole bunch of us to sustain and hibernate over the winter period." Gilboa spoke with a very strong Spanish accent, but his English was almost fluent. He breathed hard while speaking often sticking his black hairy tongue out, so he could grasp enough air for the whole sentence. I noticed that he tried to make short sentences, so he could replenish lost air. He continued: "One day, local policemen came to our house and took my father away. I never found out why or where to, nor have I ever seen him since. I asked anyone I could in the local precinct, but all I got was the police's answer that the order came from above. I started going back to the mountains hoping to continue making little money and feed my mom, brothers and sisters, when one day I was approached by the Police officer in charge of the precinct. He spoke nervously and briefly, telling me that soon someone by the name Big Boss was coming up into the mountains and was bringing his soldiers with him. He told me that the soldiers were riding huge elephants caring loads of ammunition on their backs and that they were going to Euzkadi to fight some local Basks-guerrillas over some territories in the Spanish region of the EU. He mentioned that they would need a mountaineer to help them out with the passage and other needs, and he thought that someone like me could keep his mouth shut while working for the big cause, as he put it. The thing was that my mom was Jewish and my dad was a Bask, and there was no way I could help anyone to fight my own people. That night when after a long day of labor up in the mountains I got home, I told my mom what the Police-chief told me, and mentioned to her that he was waiting for me to show up in the precinct in the morning of the upcoming Monday. My mom and myself too decided that I would not go and instead we would pack and move out of the area during the upcoming weekend. We packed in hurry and my brothers and sisters were helping to mom and me. We had a donkey, two mules and an old stallion. We packed heavily and left many things behind us for could not carry it all, even though we tried to get with us all we could. My mother had a sister in the Basks' region and this is where we aimed to. When we got closer to the border with the bordering Spain, one of my sisters got sick and ran a fever. My mother and I sold some goods to pay to the local doctor to keep my sister alive, but it seemed that it was His intention not to keep my little sister around for long, and she passed away shortly after we crossed the Andorra's border. She cried so loud that she attracted local border-guards, which wondered about our documents' authenticity. One of them raped my younger sister when found out that we were escapees and threatened to kill the rest of us. My mom had to sleep with him too, so he could let us go. He kept the sister he raped, so she would not shoot her mouth around, and thus, I lost another family member due to the circumstances surrounding us. We crossed the borderline at night hoping to get to Euzkadi shortly after. We moved slowly and the stars led the way. "Hold on a second with your story" I suddenly, said to him. I turned towards Amotz and asked him whether the connection with Magy and Johan has been reestablished yet. He told me that he did not hear from them yet, and at that point I ordered to go after them. Then I turned towards Gilboa and said: "Let me interrupt you for a second. What is this fucking black thing on your tongue? Is it hair?"
"Yes it is" he replied. "I will get to it in a few minutes" he added. "Ok. Why don't you continue with your story?" I said to him.
"By the time my family and I reached Spanish border-guards,
we all were exhausted and hardly had any barter goods left, and the little money we had would not buy us anything anyway, for people wanted favors and services, and not the money which could not buy much to begin with, especially in Spain. During our crossing of the Spanish border one of the guards recognized my family, for he grew up nearby and went to school with my Dad. The man hated my father when they were kids, and it was the lack of luck that at that night he was on duty as a border-guard. He hated Basks and Jews and called my brothers and sisters little animals from Andorra. By now we have experienced all kinds of trouble and when he called the Andorra's main precinct and reported on us, I had no other choice than to come up with some quick plan to help us out of the situation that we were in. I saw a gun laid at the table next to my youngest brother, so I grabbed it, and as soon as the border guard hung up the phone, I shot him and the other two who were in the booth that we were escorted into. My mother was not panicking, neither was she lost in our attempt to escape. She grabbed my sisters and brothers and we got into someone's mini-bus after I threatened to kill the driver, in case he would not leave the vehicle. I drove very fast into the Spanish territory and my mom kept looking behind us to see, if they have already sent a chaise after us. To my surprise, everything was quite for at least half-hour when suddenly she told me that she thinks someone is following us already. I looked in the back-mirror and saw several dark spots following us on a great distance.
I pushed the gas -pedal all the way down to the floor and felt as something was getting to my throat making my breathing hard. Very soon our vehicle started getting overheated and another minute did not pass by yet, as the mini-bus came to the complete halt having steam coming from under the hood and into the salon of the vehicle. I ordered everyone out of the vehicle and we all ran out and into a ditch near the road. We ran as fast as we could, but my little brothers and sisters were keep on tripping and falling down, and each time it happened, my mom and I had to come back and help them out to get back on their little feet. We ran among the high bushes and soon into a cornfield in front of us. Trying to get through it, we all got whipped and stabbed into our faces, cut all over and started bleeding here and there, but were not ready to stop running away. Very soon we started hearing the barking of the dogs behind us and I remember as mom looked at me while running. I caught her glance fool of despair and cry for help in her eyes. My little brothers and sisters were bleeding from being whipped by the corn and their heavy breathing was getting mixed up with their crying. Their little faces were full of dirt that got mixed up with their tears and blood.
We were still running through the field when we sensed smoke. The police set up the whole field on fire to get us out of the