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G.B. Stern
„To
learn more about the Gemini Foundation, I decided to visit one of
their offices“, Mr Tunaik said. „They have them all over the
world. I narrowed my choice down to two places: their main
headquarters in New York and their office in Edinburgh.“
„What's
special about the office in Edinburgh?“, I asked.
„That's
where they originated from“, Mr Tuniak replied. „It is in the
building their founder lived in and...“ He looked at me and smiled.
„I can see in your face that you would like to visit it.“
We travelled to Scotland. The house I had wanted to see was situated
outside the city of Edinburgh. It was an old manor, which had
originally been surrounded by fields, owned by the landlord. The
fields had been neglected and nowadays a forest replaced them. In
front of the manor was a parking space with a fountain. Several cars
parked there. Mr Tuniak „parked“ the time machine in one of the
free spaces. As I saw him doing this, I realised that the people in
the building must know that he was a time traveller. Otherwise he
would have never let the time machine appear right in front of so
many windows.
Above
the door of the main entrance there was a round shield with the
symbol of the Gemini Foundation painted on it: a modified
Yin-Yang-symbol, which featured the faces of a woman and a man, one
dark, the other light.
The
door was not locked. „Everyone is welcome here“, Mr Tuniak said
laughingly, as I asked him about that. „And those few who are not,
they won't get over the fence anyway.“
Inside
the manor chaos seemed to reign. People were running up and down.
Some of them greeted Mr Tuniak in passing, others were so lost in
their thoughts or their work, that they completely ignored everything
around them. There were similarities to the goings on in Lagua's
Dwelling, but the city of scientist would appear more quiet and
ordered compared to this manor.
We
found a room that was not occupied at the moment. „The Room of
Masks“, Mr Tuniak said as we entered. „Until a few years ago,
this was the room were all the visitors were greeted. Now, they are
led into the library.“
I
didn't have to ask, why this place was called the Room of Masks. On
every available surface a mask was hanging. They appeared to have
come from all over the world and from every culture. It was
impossible to be in this room and not have the feeling of being
watched and I have to admit that it was not an agreeable feeling.
There were a few masks which obviously been fashioned for warriors
and I only reluctantly turned my back to them.
„They
don't want their visitors to feel at ease, do they?“, I asked.
„No,
they just want everyone to know that Gemini has been everywhere“,
Mr Tuniak said. „But I know what you mean.“
We
sat down on the sofas in front of the window.
„I
know that you are not a member of Gemini“, I said. „But they
still allow you to enter and use their rooms?“
„I
knew the founder, so I have got some leeway here“, Mr Tuniak said.
„But I will tell you about her another time. When I first came
here, in the 1990ies, there were two desks in this room, one there
and the other over there...“
Alexander
entered the Room of Masks, accompanied by Sean Patrick, who had
greeted him at the entrance and led him here. A woman, whom Sean
introduced as his wife and Gemini partner Dilara, was sitting at one
of the desks greeted him. Several books were lying in front of her
and she was comparing the information offered in each of them.
Sean
and Alexander sat down at the other desk.
„Am
I right in saying that Raben Consulting has sent you to... assess our
work?“, Sean asked.
„More
or less“, Alexander answered. „I'm not officially working for
Raben Consulting, but I know its founder and he is an old friend of
mine. He wanted to know more about your foundation before he agreed
to... well, to join forces on some projects.“
„I
completely understand that“, Sean said. „So, what do you want to
know about Gemini?“
„Everything“,
Alexander said. „But let's start with your... principles.“
„Well,
Gemini wants to collect the whole of human knowledge, no matter where
or when it originated“, Sean said. „We want to make sure that
something like the Dark Ages – a time, when most of the knowledge
of the Ancient World was lost – can not happen again.“
„The
Dark Ages happened mainly in Europe“, Alexander interjected.
Sean's
eyes seemed to be glow. „Good“, he said appreciatively. „You
are of course right. And the fact that you immediately and without
hesitation corrected me brings us to one of the principles of Gemini:
We are always sending teams of two. Two people. It doesn't matter if
these two have never seen each other before or, as is the case with
my wife and me, they are married. The only condition is that they
must be willing to contradict each other. And they have to.“
„I
don't understand...“
„I
will give you an example: Take a look at the mask on the left side of
the window, the third one from the bottom.“
„The
one that's baring its teeth?“
„Precisely“,
Sean said. „My wife and I found it. When I saw it for the first
time I immediately thought that it must have been fashioned for a
warrior to intimidate his enemies.“
„Because
of the teeth?“
„Because
of the teeth. But because I said that it was the mask of a warrior,
Dilara had to disagree with me. She tried to find other possible uses
for such a mask. She claimed that the mask was used by shamans to
scare away ghosts and demons during their rituals.“
„Who
was right?“
„In
that case, I was. It was the mask of a warrior, we found proof for
that later“, Sean said. „But that's beside the point. The point
is that we here at Gemini are not allowed to take things at face
value. First impressions can often be wrong. That's why it is so
important that the partners are able to disagree with each other. Am
I not right, honey?“
„No,
you are not“, Dilara answered automatically, without even looking
up from her books.
„Quod
erat demonstrandum“,
Sean laughed and turned back to Alexander. „You wouldn't believe
how difficult it was to marry her.“
„Because
you couldn't even agree in front of the altar?“, Alexander asked
with a smile. „But if you are always disagreeing then how do you
manage to reach any conclusion? To get anything done?“
„No,
no, the partners are only disagreeing with each other, as long as
that makes sense“, Sean corrected him. „Once we were in... I
think it was in Egypt. We had found an old armoury, thousands of
years old. But still the weapons were in very good condition. On some
of the shields we found the paintings of a cat. I thought that the
soldiers were worshipping a goddess whose symbol was a cat and that
they had blessed their shields with it. It was a sound theory, but
Dilara disagreed of course. A few days later we found a papyrus,
which turned out to be an account of the battle that had been fought
there. It also explained the cat drawings. It wasn't the soldiers who
were worshipping a cat goddess, but their enemies. They, the enemies,
were not allowed to touch anything that looked like a cat.“
„Which
means that during the battles they could not hit at the shields“,
Alexander said.
„Exactly“,
Sean agreed. „It would have been stupid of me to insist on my
theory after that discovery. That's why it is so important that
Gemini partners can have opposing views, without it degenerating into
a petty... quarrel. Sometimes I will be right, sometimes my partner
will be. It's got nothing to do with you personally, it's just a way
to assure that everything we know and collect has been checked and
double-checked and that we didn't rely just on hear-say.“
„I
liked Gemini from the first moment I had been properly introduced to
its ideas and I asked Sean if I could accompany him and his wife on
their next journey“, Mr Tuniak remembered. „He was hesitant at
first, because usually they don't take, as he called it, tourists on
their trips. And their next assignment was to take pictures of the
Nazca lines in Peru.“
„These
are the big drawings in the desert that can only be seen from above,
aren't they?“, I asked.
„No,
you can see them very well if you are standing on one of the nearby
hills“, Mr Tuniak corrected me. „That's how they were be looked
at originally. But we planned to charter a plane and fly over them,
because that way we would get better photos. And when I told Sean
that I had worked as a photographer in my youth, he was willing to
let me come with them.“
„Why
did Gemini want to take pictures of these drawings?“, I asked.
„Because
they are exposed to wind and weather and no one is exactly sure how
long they will still exist“, Mr Tuniak said.
„I
thought they were already several hundred years old?“
„Over
a thousand years, even“, Mr Tuniak said. „And it is very probable
that you will be able to see them for a very long time still. But
it's the job of Gemini to play it safe and not rely on hopes and
wishes.“
„Is
the cat coming with us?“, Alexander asked, after they had climbed
into the little airplane. Dilara, Sean and the pilot, Diego, had
entered before him. He had wanted to close the door behind him, when
the grey feline creature had jumped aboard.
„Chasca?
Si,
yes, she is coming with us“, Diego said, while checking his
instruments. „Haven't you seen her picture on the wings?“
„I
thought she was just the mascot of your company“, Alexander said.
„She
is“, Diego replied. „Everyone in their seat?“
The
propellers started to turn and the air plane began to move. It didn't
take them long to get airborne and after another fifteen minutes they
had reached their destination. To be able to shoot the best possible
pictures, they had agreed before taking off that they would be
allowed to open the side door of the plane. To avoid any unnecessary
risks they also each wore a backpack with a parachute in it. Just in
case.
They
opened the door and started shooting.
They
had finished with the fourth of the big figures in the desert, when
the cat suddenly became curious. She made her way between the legs of
the humans to the door and looked out. Alexander, worried that she
would fall out, managed to get her back to the cockpit.
„She
is probably hoping one of these drawings is a mouse“, Dilara
laughed.
Chasca
was watching Alexander very carefully. When he went back to his
camera and didn't pay her any more attention, she ran straight at the
open door, dodged his hands (he wanted to stop her) and jumped out of
the plane.
„No!“,
Alexander cried and, without thinking, jumped after her.
„You
did what?“, I asked incredulously.
„Something
stupid“, Mr Tuniak admitted. „I saw the cat jumping out of the
plane and without hesitating, I followed her because I wanted to safe
her. Of course, I had never learned how to properly use a parachute.
Once I was outside, I immediately lost sight of the cat.“
„But
you did know how to open your parachute“, I said.
„Yes“,
Mr Tuniak said. „But that didn't change the stupidity of my
actions. We were actually flying a bit too low for a parachute to be
of proper use. I was still falling too fast, when I hit the ground.“
„And
you broke both your legs“, I said, remembering something he had
told me several months ago.
„Yes“,
he said again. „So, in a way, I got lucky. It could have ended much
worse. And while I was lying in the desert, waiting for rescue, I
wasn't alone.“
Alexander
was lying on the hot sand of the desert. He didn't feel any pain at
this moment. He couldn't move his legs and he suspected that both of
them were broken, but for now at least, he didn't feel a thing. Not
far from where he had hit the ground, he could see several big stones
and boulders. Lying on his belly, he slowly robbed towards them and
their shadow, where it would be a little cooler. He cursed himself
silently for his dangerous action. Why did he jump out of the plane?
Just because of the cat?
As
he was thinking about that, he suddenly heard a meow above his head.
Chasca, the cat who had jumped out of the plane, was sitting on a
boulder and looked down on him. She regarded him for a moment, then
jumped down and sat down next to him. He stroked her fur and she
began to purr.
Alexander
could not explain how the animal had survived its jump. Only later
would he be told by Diego that cats were basically their own
parachute. If they fell down from a sufficient hight, their bodies
offered so much resistance to the air that they never reached a
dangerous velocity. Chasca, Diego would continue, seemed to actually
love the feeling of falling and had done the jump out of the air
plane for several times already.
But
all of this, Alexander didn't know at the moment. For now, he was
just happy, that he wouldn't have to wait alone.
NEXT
WEEK
L'ennui
est la grande maladie de la vie.
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