This time he could hear a mumbled answer, then the sound of the door key being turned.

"Good morning, Habib."

"Good morning, Iwan. What are you doing here so early?"

"Sorry, Habib, I know it’s only 6 o’clock now. If you want to go with me to Randara Village, you better be ready by 7.30. The road is further and tougher than the other day to the reservation. You still have one and a half hour to prepare." He smiled.

"You told me yesterday that the village is closed for foreigners. You said they only allowed Indonesians to go inside the village."

"Yes, Habib. But I just had an idea. You can pass as a Javanese. You speak Bahasa very good, so they would think you come from Java. People from Java doesn’t speak local languages."

Ardeth smiled, "Why didn’t you say so yesterday, huh? I better get ready now."

"Oh, Habib…. That’s the good news."

Ardeth sighed and looked at him, "What’s the bad news?"

"You cannot bring your camera, or any of the advanced technologies. These people do not welcome them."

"Then, what’s the point, Iwan. I need to take pictures!!"

"Well, Habib, that’s the best I can do for you. If they find out you are hiding a camera, they will send you out of the village and forever you will not be welcomed there. So, are you coming or not?"

Ardeth gave him a mild slap on his face and smiled "I’m coming. So you wait for me, OK!"

"OK, Habib. See you at 7.30 then." He went away quickly, before Ardeth could say anything else.

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

Danny Soputan was talking to ensign Prim who was sitting behind the wheel of the land cruiser, when he saw Ardeth walked towards him.

"Good Morning, Mr. Bey." He smiled to him.

"Iwan told us about your undercover task." He continued without waiting Ardeth’s reply.

"Selamat Pagi (good morning), Doctor. I think we have to keep speaking Bahasa from now on." Ardeth replied, smiling.

"I guess you have the point, Mr. Bey." He said in Bahasa.

"Then, Doctor, please stop calling me Mr. Bey."

"Oh, right." He laughed. "Ardeth almost sounds like Indonesian name. You can call me Danny."

"Who else is going, Danny?" Ardeth half wished his answer would be Catherine. Yet he realized it wouldn’t be possible.

"Just the four of us. We just wait for Iwan. Ah… there he comes. Let’s get rolling, ensign Prim."

The way to Randara Village was longer and rougher compare to the road to the reservation. They had to go around the way to be able to reach the village.

"It is hard to cross the river at this time of the year. The water is much deeper and the current is too dangerous to be crossed." Iwan explained. "But we don’t have to walk to reach the village. This road reaches the border of the village." He continued.

"That’s good news, Iwan." Dr. Soputan patted his shoulder.

By 11.00 o’clock, Iwan told ensign Prim to stop the car and asked the others to go by foot.

"You said we don’t have to walk……" Dr. Soputan started a protest.

"Doctor, these people do not appreciate new technologies. This is the border of the village. We can’t go in by car. The village is about 100 meter ahead of us. Once we’re there, you let me do the talking, OK?"

"This is your area of expertise, my friend. We’ll be right behind you." Ardeth told him.

They could see the gate of the village. It was unlike any gate they’ve ever seen. It consisted of big tall bamboo trees planted around the village. They would have not seen the entrance if Iwan didn’t lead them. Once they were in front of it, they could see inside the village. There was a man-made track leading them down a small valley. They walked towards the edge of the track and were surprised to see what were in front of them.

There was a stairway down the valley, made from stones. Down the valley they could see rice fields on the left side and wooden houses on the right side. There were only nine houses totally, all in amazingly identical shapes. More amazingly, all main doors of the houses faced the same way. Ardeth looked up to the sun, and calculated. They were facing East. These people whom they called primitive, obviously knew much about planning a town. They saw something like pipelines going to the rice fields and houses. When they were close enough, they could see that they were made of bamboo. Obviously divided the water supply in two. One for irrigation system and another for houses.

Danny, Ardeth and ensign Prim were speechless by the sight in front of them. This village was extraordinarily managed. Ardeth cursed under his breath. He was seeing the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in this country, yet he was unable to take any pictures of it.

"C’mon guys. Don’t just stand there. Let’s go down!" Iwan was halfway down the track.

They quickly followed him down the valley.

Some women were working in the field. Iwan regarded them with their tribal language. One of the women ran passed them towards a house without saying anything. Iwan stopped dead on his track. He looked to the house, lifting one of his eyebrows.

"Please wait here. I’ll be right back." He said.

Before anyone could answer he was already running behind the woman. Both of them went inside the house.

Danny and ensign Prim walked around the rice field, while Ardeth sat on a rock observing the awesome sceneries. He saw a red dragonfly on the tip of a padi leaf. He saw a praying mantis being crushed by a kid, obviously preventing it from laying eggs on the padi leaves. Once again he wished he had his camera. He looked around him wondering why he didn’t see any men working. Where were the men of this village? They couldn’t be hunting at this time of a day. They would’ve come back from the forest.

Danny Soputan approached him and sat beside him, "This village is awfully quiet, Ardeth. I don’t like this. All I see around here are women and children, and old people. I have never seen a village this quiet in my life."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Danny. Maybe it’s best if we just keep quiet until Iwan comes back."

A moment later, they saw Iwan half running back to them.

"Let’s get out of here." He said loudly.

"What’s the problem?" Danny asked him.

"They are going to have a ritual ceremony. It’s closed for outsiders like us. C’mon guys."

Danny and Ardeth knew better than to argue with him. They knew something was wrong. Iwan would tell them once they were out of the village.

Iwan sat still all the way back to the compound without saying anything. Danny asked him a couple of times, yet the answers are the same, "It’s their way of life, Doctor. We can’t see the ceremony. We must respect their belief."

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

Ardeth was about to go out of his room to have dinner when he heard a knock on his door. He opened his door hoping it was Cat Hetfield.

"Ah Iwan, what’s up? I was about to…."

"May I come in, Habib? I need to speak with you." He said in a hurry.

"Yeah sure." Ardeth asked him to come in.

"Habib, I know you are hired by the State Department of Forestry and Wildlife. But I know that your assignment is not about taking pictures of orangutans."

Ardeth was about to open his mouth to answer but Iwan kept talking.

"Don’t bother explaining, Habib. I’ve been told about your real assignment here. You are here to take pictures of the damaged ecosystem. I’m the one who’s going to work together with you. My job will be taking samples of soil and plants."

"All right, Iwan. I didn’t know that they had told you about my real work here, but I’ve been told that I should trust you 100%." He walked and sat on his bed.

"Sit down here, Iwan. What are you going to tell me?"

"This afternoon, in the village, I had to lie to you about their having rituals. When I was inside the house with Old Pu’un, that’s the chief’s name, he was so afraid. He didn’t say anything to me, Habib. He only told me to go to the backside of the village."

"What for?" Ardeth inquired.

"I too didn’t understand it at first. But then, I realized that it was an indirect gestures to ask for help, because when I got there, I saw that a part of the bamboo tree gates were chopped down, and I saw many tracks, Habib. Tracks of trucks’ wheels. And not only one, Habib. The tracks were going back and forth."

"Are you suggesting that somebody is coming and going out of the village with trucks?"

"No, Habib. The tracks are not coming in to the village, they are going around it. I’m telling you that they must have transporting something with the help of the villagers." Iwan confirmed.

"I didn’t see any men in the village this afternoon. Did you?"

"No Habib. I think they use Randaran men to cut trees and smuggled out the woods with trucks. I think they forced the villagers to cooperate, maybe even with violence. What do you think, Habib?"

"It’s possible, Iwan. But why use Randaran men to cut trees? They’re not as good workers as people from other more modern villages. And the labor costs are not expensive either. There’s got to be something else, Iwan."

"Habib, if we go to Randara Village through the river, it will be possible to sneak in from the backside of the village. We don’t have to use the land cruiser we can hike. It seemed to me that Old Pu’un showed me the way so that I could come back and investigate, without alarming the smugglers. Maybe we will find out if the damage was caused by nature or by man."

"You’re absolutely right, Iwan. So, what time do you think is best to go?"

"Tomorrow morning, Habib. I will knock on your door at 6 o’clock. You’d better be ready by then. OK?"

"I promise you, Iwan, I won’t go back to sleep after my Dawn Prayer. May Allah help me stay awake until 6 o’clock." He smiled to Iwan.

Iwan chuckled and shook his head, "Why is it so hard for you foreigners to wake up early, huh? My mother used to wake me up at 4 o’clock, even before the call for the Dawn Prayer. She always said that Allah does not help lazy people."

Ardeth smiled again and patted his shoulder, "Let’s go have dinner, my friend. I’m starving."

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

"What the hell is that thing?" Doctor Richardson said aloud.

Every heads in the lab turned to see him.

"Dr. Malik, come quickly and take a look at this." He continued.

Dr. Malik hurried to his side and peek to the microscope.

"It wasn’t there yesterday, right?" Dr. Malik asked him.

"No. Put it through the monitor so that everybody can see."

Cat and Dr. Emma Corrigan looked at the monitor. Their faces changed to confusion.

"I’ve never seen anything like it before." Said Emma.

"Look at how it moves among the blood cells, Catherine. It’s like part of the cells itself. It doesn’t look like a virus."

"What if it is not? A parasite?" Dr. Malik asked her in return.

"Whose blood is this, Dr. Richardson?" Cat asked.

"Kevin’s. The sample that you took this morning."

"Kevin?" She continued, "I thought you had them both released from quarantine, Doctor."

Dr. Malik turned to her, "No, only Mark Hollis. Kevin was showing the early stages of the symptoms this afternoon."

"Come on everybody. Now that we found it, we need to analyze this quickly."

Dr. Richardson and Dr. Malik started to order them around to work. And soon afterwards, the lab was quiet as everybody was working his or her own part of research.

They walked fast in silence. Sweat was all over their face. Both were carrying a backpack. Iwan led the way, holding a blade to clear their way from sharp branches of trees. His trained eyes made sure that they wouldn’t disturbed any sleeping phytons. Ardeth walked behind him in silence. He saw one big python up on a tree, but Iwan knew better what to do. He made a slight turn and took a way around it. The alternative route to Randara Village was absolutely much faster, yet much more dangerous to travel. Without a well-trained ranger like Iwan, Ardeth was had most probably ended up in one of the phytons’ stomach. Ardeth heard the sound of water. They were close to the river, he thought. Five minutes later they arrived on the riverbank.

"Are you sure we can cross this river with a bamboo raft?" Ardeth asked, seeing that the currents were big.

"No, Habib. We are not going to cross the river now. We will follow the river until we are close enough to the village, than, we will cross. The current will not be this big. After that we continue on foot to the backside of the village."

"You just tell me what to do, my friend. I have never been riding a bamboo raft before."

"If I could only find the raft, Habib. It’s not here, in the usual place." Iwan said, while searching in the bush. "The villagers usually put one or two raft in this place…. Where is it?"

"You’re kidding, right? We don’t walk out here just to….."

"Ah here it is!!" Iwan said aloud.

"That… is not a bamboo raft." Ardeth observed.

"No, Habib. This is even better. This is a small wooden raft enough for 3 people, It’s a lot easier to maneuver."

"Let me help you with that." Ardeth helped him lifted the raft.

Iwan walked down first and held the raft until Ardeth was on it. Then they started to paddle it along the wild river.

"Hard left!" Iwan shouted to Ardeth who sat in front of him.

Ardeth change his paddle from his right side to his left side, paddling hard. He could see a big current in front of him going a little bit steep downward.

"Hard right, Habib!!" Iwan shouted as he paddled on the backside of the raft.

"Whoaaa!!!!" Ardeth shouted. Excited as their raft went downward following the current. He really enjoyed the ride.

"Stop, Habib!! Do not paddle, let the current turn the raft!! Iwan ordered, as he saw a big rock in front of them. He saw that the current led them near it, he shouted, "Now, Habib, back paddle!!! Hard!!!" The raft slipped out beside the rock, safely.

Ardeth turned to see Iwan, and gave him a smile and a thumb up before he continued paddling.

They paddled hard for about twenty minutes when finally the river flowed slower and slower. Rocks and currents were minimum, and the water was deeper. The river was split in two branches. They followed the main river for a while, and Iwan told him to paddle slowly. They steered the raft to the right side of the river, hid the raft and continued their journey on foot for ten more minutes.

"We have to be quiet from now on, Habib. We are close to the backside of the village."

"Give me a minute, Iwan. I get my camera ready."

They sneaked and walked slowly. Listening hard to every sound they could hear. After a moment of walking, they started to see the bamboo trees… the side of the village. They went around it slowly and saw more tracks of truck’s wheels.

"Let’s follow the tracks." Ardeth whispered.

Iwan nodded and they started to walk.

The tracks led them deeper to the forest. Obviously someone had made a clear way into the forest by cutting the trees. Iwan and Ardeth walked beside the tracks but made sure they were walking under the shade of trees. They didn’t want someone noticed their presence too early. After sometime, they started to hear the sound of water. Ardeth turned to Iwan and whispered.

"We are walking along the branch of the main river, Habib. This branch of the river flows all the way to the reservation." Iwan whispered to Ardeth’s ear.

"We are going around then." Ardeth said.

Iwan only nod. "Let’s get moving, Habib."

The longer they followed the tracks, the more Ardeth doubted the motivation of these smugglers. There’s got to be something else, he thought. Suddenly they heard voices. Conversations, in Bahasa. Both of them sneaked quickly under a bush.

"Stop that! You idiot! How many times have I told you not to roll the tank. You pick lift it!!" The voice shouted some more orders.

"Can you see what’s going on, Habib?" Iwan whispered.

"No, I can’t see anything. We have to crawl down there, my friend. Follow me."

They both crawled outside the bushes and squatted behind a big rock until they could see the back of a truck. They were so close now. Some people, obviously Randaran people, were loading tanks and boxes into it. Some men supervised their work and gave them orders how to do the job. They were carrying guns.

Ardeth took his camera and started to take pictures. His camera made clicking noises that caused one of the men who shouted orders turned his head towards the rock.

Both of them quickly withdrawn from there, crawled back under the bush and held their breath. The man checked out around the rock and found no one. He went back to the truck and spoke to his friends. They started to split up to check the surroundings.

"Let’s get out of here, Habib. These people seem dangerous."

They both walked out of the place as quickly and as quietly as possible. They were lucky the men didn’t check out further. Iwan and Ardeth walked back to the raft and took the journey home in silence. Their minds were too preoccupied to make conversations. They arrived back at the compound nearly before dusk, dead tired and hungry.

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

Cat walked to the building A slowly. It’s been five days since she’d seen Ardeth sitting on the bench smoking. She didn’t see him again since then. Sometimes when she could go out of the lab in the afternoon, she looked for him. Yet most of time she was there, he wasn’t. She learned from the navy guards that Iwan and Ardeth were rarely seen in the compound. The last time they saw them was when they left to Pontianak, the city, two days ago. Ever since Dr. Richardson claimed that Mark Hollis was released from the quarantine and that the disease was not airborne, both of them were busy taking trips either to the forest or the city.

She looked up and saw the sky. The stars were so bright tonight, she thought, still walking slowly while looking up at the sky. The only two things that could ease her mind were the sky and Ardeth. Suddenly she bumped her head on somebody’s chest.

"Look out where you walk, Lady." A very familiar voice said.

She looked at a familiar face and smiled, "Danny!"

"I am going back to the lab. Are you coming?" he said.

"What’s up?"

"A new development on Robin." He said. The scientists had named the young orangutan Robin.

"I … I guess I can’t be of any help now, Danny. I’m too exhausted to think or to do anything. I’ve been up for almost 30 hours straight. Dr. Richardson had made me work harder than anyone else."

"All right, then. I will brief you tomorrow. Have a good night sleep, Cat." He smiled at her, then hurried to the lab.

She sighed and continued her slow walk. She looked back up at the sky, stopped walking and sighed.

"You are looking at Constellation Leo."

"Ardeth!!" She half screamed hearing the voice from behind her. She spun herself to face him. He looked at her and then walked by her side.

"You know much about stars?" She asked. Her face looked tired, but she still looked beautiful, Ardeth thought.

"No, not really. In fact that’s the only constellation I know." He smiled.

They walked slowly to the building, chatting. Ardeth followed her up the stairs.

"Where are you going, Ardeth? I thought your room is on the ground floor." Cat asked curiously.

"I’m going to the roof. There’s a flat place up there. It’s the best place to look at the stars. Are you coming?"

"Maybe. I need to refresh myself first. I haven’t taken a bath since 30 hours ago." Cat explained.

"I’ll be waiting for you up there, then." Ardeth said. He took her hand and kissed it lightly, "See you up there." He walked up without waiting for her reply.

OOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOO

He was lying on his back, eyes closed. She walked silently towards him and sat next to him. He opened his eyes, and smiled.

"Hello, Princess." He said, and reached out to touch her face.

Her skin was icy cold and he saw tears in her eyes. Suddenly she started to fade. He called out her name, but she disappeared into thin air.

Ardeth opened his eyes and sat. He was alone. Cat was obviously still taking her bath. He sighed heavily and shook his head. He liked being with Cat. He was attracted to her. He couldn’t keep away from her, no matter how hard he tried to ignore her. He wanted her.

"Please let me go, Princess. It’s time for me to move on." He spoke softly to himself.

"I have to go on without you…… Please forgive me." He choked at the last words.

His tears were about to fall when suddenly he heard footsteps coming from below. A moment later he saw Catherine’s figure walked towards him. Her hair was still damp from the shower. He could smell the sweet scent of her shower gel. She was wearing a thin white blouse and a short.

"Sorry, I made you wait too long." Cat sat beside him.

She waited, but Ardeth didn’t reply, he seemed to be preoccupied with something.

"Hello! Is anyone home?" Cat teased him.

"Uh. I’m sorry. I guess I fell asleep for a moment there." He smiled. He looked at the sky and pointed, "That is Constellation Leo, but I guess somebody has already told you about it." He smiled.

Cat laughed softly and started to spread a blanket.

"Wow, you’ve come prepared for star observation." Ardeth helped her with the blanket.

"I’ve just taken a bath, so I don’t want to get dirty before I go to sleep."

She lied down and stared at the stars. "They are beautiful aren’t they?" She said.

Ardeth lied beside her with his elbow supporting his head. He was looking at her, not at the sky. Princess’ face flashed in his mind. He ignored it and buried it deeper in the back of his mind.

"I see a much more beautiful star, down here." He said.

Cat looked at him, "Oh, don’t start. I’ve heard that bullshit before." She laughed.

"No, I mean it, Cat. You are beautiful." He said softly, his hand touching her cheek like he did before.

Cat was about to protest she opened her mouth to speak when Ardeth’s finger suddenly touched her lips. And moved on to touch her hair. He drew himself closer to her and cupped her face with his right hand. He moved even closer to her and put his cheek against hers. He inhaled the fragrance of her hair and kissed her ear lightly.

He could feel her body tensed and heard her sigh. He let go of her and looked at her in the eyes. She was smiling to him, but there was fire in her eyes. He knew she wanted him too. He touched her lips once more. This time Cat closed her eyes. He took her lips into his, kissing her. Fire burned their bodies when their tongues met. They kissed passionately while their hands exploring each other’s body. One thing led to another so fast that they hardly realize that clouds covered the moon and the rain began to fall.

Half of the buttons of her blouse were opened and his hand caressed her breast. She kissed him more passionately. It was that moment when she realized that the rain had fallen. She drew herself away from Ardeth. They both laughed, and ran holding hands. Ardeth covered their heads with the blankets and they both hurriedly went down the stairs.

They stopped in front of the door to Cat’s room, still laughing and holding hands. Cat opened the door with one hand while the other was still holding Ardeth’s. They both entered the room. Ardeth closed the door with his back while pulling Cat towards him. He held her in his arms and kissed her more passionately. Cat moaned as his hands once again started to explore her body. Suddenly he lifted her up and carried her to the bed. A moment later the room was filled with the sound of heavy breathing moans and whispers, which ended up in screams of ecstasy.