The Problem With Immortality Ch. 05

"Really?" Dalton looked ecstatic.

"No, Robert!" said Gladys.

"Yes!" said Dalton.

"First we must begin with those who wish to start with a single crocodile. Really, it's not so risky at all. Look at me," said Henri. He reached down, put a hand in the water, and then pulled it out. "See?"

Anson risked a look at Jennifer. Her face was blank. Not filled with fear, or excitement. Simply blank.

"I'm not doing this with more than one of those in there," Garrick Sanduval declared.

"Then you shall go first."

"No!" Shelley cried. "Garrick, one crocodile isn't much of a challenge. Please do three! Or at least two!"

They all looked at Sanduval's wife oddly. Why was she trying to make it more dangerous for him?

"No," said Sanduval. "One crocodile is still one too many. I won't do more than that."

"All right, dear," she said. She was aware of all the eyes on her. "I just want you to have a good experience," she added.

"If you're ready, you can swim across the width at any point you like," said Layla.

Sanduval looked at the Lagoon. In some places it was 250 feet across, in others 300 feet or more. The water was murky and it was impossible to see in it. There was a narrow suspension rope bridge which crossed it at the middle.

"You wouldn't want to give me a hint where the crocodile is, would you?" he asked.

"Sorry sir, that would be cheating," said Layla, giving him a smile.

Sanduval studied the water, looking for signs of movement. Then he went to the narrowest point, studied it for a long moment, and then plunged in.

Sanduval started swimming like mad. His arms and legs flailed while the others ran across the rope bridge to cheer him on.

Sanduval swam 50 feet, a 100 feet, 150 feet, 200 feet, and then... and then...

He got to the far side, and pulled himself out as quickly as he could.

"That was easy enough," Henri frowned.

Sanduval was gasping for breath as Shelley covered him with a towel. "How was it, dear?"

"Scary. Exciting! But I never want to do it again!" he said. The others cheered him.

"All right, who is next?" Layla asked.

Two other contestants crossed. There was still no sign of the crocodile. Maybe it really was asleep.

And then Jennifer decided to take her turn. She dropped her towel, immediately feeling rather than seeing Anson's eyes focused between her legs where the tightness of the bathing suit wrapped around her most intimate parts. Why did he have to be here and ruin everything for her?

She went to a narrow section near where Sanduval had entered. Taking a breath, she dived and jumped in.

Jennifer was an excellent swimmer. Her arms and legs worked like machines, carrying her quickly across the lagoon. But at about the halfway mark she heard yells, Anson's above the rest. "Jennifer! Watch out!"

She turned her head, and saw bubbles behind her.

The crocodile.

She started kicking and paddling faster, as fast as she could. Despite being 334 years old, she had the body of a 28 year old, and was in top shape.

"It's catching up to you!" she heard Anson cry.

Jennifer forced herself not to look back. She focused on the shoreline. It was so close now! She paddled and kicked for her life, kick kick kick kick-

and then she was at the far side, and hands were rapidly pulling her out of the water, and she heard a roar behind her, and saw the open mouth of a crocodile. Layla hastily pulled her away from the shore, just as Anson arrived.

"Jennifer! Are you all right?" he demanded to know.

"I'm fine," she said.

"Please Jennifer, don't do that to me again," said Anson desperately.

"I'm not doing anything to you," said Jennifer coldly. She pushed past him. "Out of my way."

Anson was next. He chose a side of the lagoon far from where the crocodile had last been spotted.

"Are you ready?" Jessica asked, once again wearing that stunning pink bathing suit which left nothing to the imagination.

"No," said Anson. He took a deep breath, and plunged into the water.

The water was cold and murky. Anson started hearing screams before he reached the halfway point, and immediately knew he was in trouble. Above them he heard Jennifer's voice. "Anson! ANSON, LOOK OUT!"

Anson saw a diagonal line of bubbles heading his way. At the speed it was going, it was going to reach him long before he got to the far end.

"No!" Jennifer cried out, from the rope bridge, as the two lines, Anson's and the crocodiles, were clearly about to converge. "NO!" she screamed again, at the top of her lungs.

And then, as the crocodile was about to intersect with Anson, he did an unexpected thing. He was swimming right next to a tiny patch of land in the lake, no more than 15 feet in diameter. But instead of swimming by it, he quickly and smoothly climbed out of the water onto it, right in the middle of the lake.

The crocodile paused a moment, and then lunged onto the patch of land. Anson, totally focused, jumped behind the crocodile as it lunged forward, and went down to the ground, wrestling with it. The crocodile screamed with rage as it tried to turn around to bite Anson, but Anson held a steady grip on it. They rolled and rolled on the little island, and then finally they rolled over a rock, and Anson grabbed it, and smacked it into one of the crocodile's eyes. It screamed.

Anson smacked it into the other eye. Blood flowed. It screamed again.

Anson released it. The crocodile, blinded, and in immense pain, slithered around in circles. Anson dived into the water and headed for the far end.

When he got there, he received cheers and tremendous applause.

"How... how did you do that?" Layla asked.

"Anson! Anson!" he heard a cry. Jennifer ran into his arms. It was his finest moment. She hugged him. He could feel her body trembling "I thought I had lost you!" she cried.

"You never lost me," he said.

He saw the look of hurt and wonderment in her eyes, and then something clicked in her brain, and she pushed him away.

"Mr. Ford, that was amazing. How did you do that?" Layla asked again.

"I studied with the monks of Ju Chi," said Anson. "I learned a thing or two about the human body."

"That was brilliant, simply brilliant!" said Robert Dalton, slapping him on the back.

"We'll need a new crocodile, I think," said Henri, looking gloomy.

"Make that five crocodiles," said Robert Dalton.

"Robert, no!" said Gladys.

"Yes," Dalton grinned.

Ten minutes later they watched Dalton swim across the lagoon with five crocodiles swarming around, or six, if you count the one which Anson tangled with. Dalton seemed to lead a charmed life; none of the crocodiles even came close to him. He danced with triumph as he emerged on the other side, and actually dragged Gladys in the bushes to make passionate love to her, while the others pretended not to notice.

********

Jennifer Spaulding cried quietly in her hotel room after dinner. She was all mixed up. One minute she had been convinced that Anson was going to die before her very eyes. The next minute she was hugging him. The minute after that, she was walking away from him.

She had signed up for this experience on the advice of her daughter Judith. Judith had told her that this would be a good shock for her system. It was producing anything but. Oh, she had enjoyed the atmospheric surf boarding, before the accident had happened had happened to that poor girl Kayla. And she enjoyed plunging from the cliffs of Dover. But these were not life changing experiences. These were mere fleeting, experiences of the moment.

Maybe she needed something bigger, with more peril, in order to shock her system. She had one last chance for it.

The death defying trapeze act.

********

There were two set of swings, high up in the air. Henri would be on one of them, and Layla on the other. Each of them would be trained to swing between the two of them. At first they would hold on to Layla, who would use momentum to swing them through the air to Henri, and then Henri would swing them back, where they would have to grab Layla. They would go back and forth a half dozen times. The trick is that each time they flew through the air they would have to rotate their bodies 180 degrees to grab the arms of the next person to catch them.

Each participant spent two days training using nets with full coverage. They each fell into the nets a number of times. This was not the dangerous part.

The dangerous part would be when they finished practicing. When they did it for real, there would be a mixture of nets, and sharp metal spikes, each as wide as a man's hand, and extremely sharp. The percentage of area under the swings with metal spikes could be varied, from as little as 5% to as much as 50%, depending on the taste of the participant.

At this point, Shelley Sanduval signed up for the experience. She signed the necessary releases and said she wanted to be a part of it. But she didn't actually want to swing between Layla and Henri. She wanted to have Garrick swing from her arms, in place of Layla. She explained that she wanted to do this to have a bonding experience with her husband. It was an unusual request, but, after checking with Mr. Klobuchar, he cleared it, and so everyone trained with Layla and Henri, except for Garrick, who trained with Henri and Shelley.

"I tell you, that woman's trying to kill him," Jessica murmured, watching Garrick practice with his wife.

"You think?" Anson said. "If he dies, she inherits everything. Or does she? The money would go to Death Incorporated, I suppose, under that temporary will we all signed. Unless she made some of special arrangement with Mr. Klobuchar...."

"Should we warn him?"

"How?" Anson asked. "Would he even believe us?" He turned to Jessica. "We're not here for this."

"What are we here for?" Jessica asked. "Lately, I've been confused." She gave him a pointed look. Were they here for Odour... or Jennifer?

"After this event, we'll evaluate Death, Incorporated together and decide if it's right for Mr. Odour," said Anson.

Anson watched Jennifer practie. She got the hang of the trapeze quickly enough, and fell only once. She was a natural born athlete, in addition to her other wonderful qualities. Anson also only fell once himself. Only a few of the other participants required the full two days of training before Layla and Henri deemed them ready.

On the actual day of the event, they assembled in the circus tent. Suddenly there was a flicker and a holographic crowd appeared in the stands around them. It seems they were to have an audience.

"Who will be first?" Henri asked.

"I will," said Jennifer, eager to get out of there. To get away from Anson.

Anson had approached her earlier that morning. "Jennifer, you don't have to prove anything. Set the spikes to 5%. That will be deadly enough."

"You don't give me orders anymore, husband," she said. "Or should I say, ex-husband?"

And now Henri turned to her and asked, "What level of danger does the Madame request?"

"The full amount. 50% spikes," said Jennifer, looking straight at Anson.

"Jennifer, no!" Anson cried. Jessica had to hold him back.

Henri gave a genuine smile. "50% it will be."

Layla approached Jennifer. "Jennifer, I've been watching you practice. You're much more skilled than the others. But 50%? There's no need for you to do this."

Jennifer looked at Anson. "Yes, there is."

The nets retracted and a wide middle area was now filled with sharp spikes of steel. If Jennifer fell on them, she would be killed instantly.

Jennifer climbed up to the first swing. She was wearing that gorgeous form fitting red, white and blue bathing suit she had been wearing on the cliffs of Dover. It hugged her C cup breasts tightly, showing every curve.

Layla got into position, and started swinging back and forth, slowly. Jennifer waited for the right moment, and then grabbed her arms.

They swung back experimentally, once, twice, both times over the sharp spikes of steel. And then Layla flung Jennifer out, and her body twisted in midair, and she grabbed Henri's hands.

Henri swung her once, and then twice, and then shot her out again, back to Layla, spinning over the tall spikes.

Anson's heart hammered away as he watched his beloved Jennifer fly over those deadly spikes. He felt like this was the ultimate punishment for having left her. As Jennifer probably intended.

Jennifer flew back and forth, seemingly effortlessly, once, twice, three times, four times, five times, and then... on the last return trip, back to Layla, her right hand slipped. But Layla grabbed her tighter with her left hand, holding on until Jennifer could regain her grip with her right. Then she deposited Jennifer back on the platform.

Jennifer got a stirring round of applause from the crowd. She took one bow, and then another.

Then she climbed down, and without a single glance, left the circus tent.

"She didn't even stay to watch you go," said Jessica.

Anson said nothing.

Robert Dalton was next. He also wanted the maximum number of spikes. He flew back and forth between the spikes, laughing like a madman and smiling as if he hadn't a care in the world.

And then it was over almost before it began, and he bowed repeatedly while the holographic crowd clapped loudly with genuinely programmed enthusiasm.

He hurriedly climbed down from the platform, took his wife by the hand, and rushed back to their hotel room to have some really wild sex.

Anson decided to go next. "What will it be?" Layla asked.

"10%," Anson decided. He could have chosen five percent, the minimum, but decided for this to be a proper test, that he had to take more risk.

Within moments Anson was sailing between Layla and Henri. He was very aware of the sharp spikes below him each time he sailed by them. He felt fear grip his chest as he saw the spikes. If he should drop into them, he would feel the most painful of deaths.

Anson went back. And forth. And back. And forth. And back. And forth. And then he was done, safely returned to the platform.

The crowd cheered.

A discrete head, poking into the circus tent from the very edge, withdrew itself, disappearing entirely.

"So how was it?" Jessica asked, hugging Anson as he returned.

"Dangerous. Exciting."

"We have a winner, then?" Jessica asked.

"We'll talk about it," said Anson.

Garrick Sanduval was next. His wife Shelley took Layla's place on the first swing.

"Oh oh, it's time for Garrick to get murdered by his wife," said Jessica.

"We don't know that for sure," said Anson.

He looked up at the platform. Shelley, Garrick, and Layla seemed to be arguing about something. They were pointing down at the spikes. Anson could guess what they were arguing about. Finally, they seemed to agree and said something to Layla, who pressed a button on her datapad. The nets and spikes rearranged themselves so that the spikes were now 25% of the landing area--not as dangerous as what Jennifer or Robert Dalton selected, but much more dangerous than the standard five or ten percent.

Shelley got into position on the swing and gestured for Garrick to take her hands as she swung back and forth. Garrick, looking very reluctant, reached out and grabbed her hands. They swung together once... twice... and then she swung him to Henri on the other swing. They swung once... twice... and then Henri swung him back. They went back and forth one more time before Shelley made her move.

As Garrick was coming back for the third time, she pulled away her hands just as Garrick was reaching for them in mid air. He managed to catch onto her right hand but grabbed empty space with his left.

Shelley screamed and yelled something. She tried to shake Garrick free but he held an iron grip on her right hand with his left. Shelley started to lose her purchase on the swing, and then she was falling. They both were falling, and at that point Garrick lost his grip. As they pulled apart, their trajectories took them into different directions--Garrick, into one of the waiting nets, and Shelley... into the pit of spikes.

It was so quick she never had a chance to scream. But they saw her bloody body, impaled in the head, neck, body, and legs. She was quite clearly dead.

It took Garrick a moment to get up from the net and realize what had happened. He looked for Shelley upwards, as first, but when he couldn't find her then he looked around. When he finally saw where she was, his face was a mask of surprise and pain.

Everyone screamed. Well, almost everyone. All except Henri, who turned away and chuckled outrageously.

********

Later that night, Garrick heard a buzz at the door to his hotel room.

"Go away!" he said.

The buzz persisted.

"Go away!"

"Mr. Garrick, it's me, Anson Ford. I have to see you."

Garrick paced back and forth furiously. He was nearly out of his mind. He ran to the door and flung it open. "What is it?" he yelled.

Anson and Jessica were there. "I'm so sorry to disturb you at a time like this, but I have something important to tell you."

"My wife is dead, Mr. Ford. DEAD. What could you possibly say to me of any importance?"

"May we come in?"

Garrick nodded, as he walked away from them.

"I have certain friends in the investigatory community, friends who owe me a favor or two. I called in one of them. It only took him a few hours to find out what we were looking for."

"And what were you looking for?"

"Evidence that your wife was trying to kill you."

"Shelley? Trying to kill me? Impossible! What are you saying?"

"She was seeing another man, Mr. Sanduval. Do you know a Emerson Waldo?"

"Emerson Waldo? He's Shelley's yoga instructor."

"Evidently he was teaching her more than just poses," said Anson.

"How can you know that?"

"It's all here," said Anson, handing Garrick a datapad. "Images from the security camera in the hotel they frequently visited, walking arm in arm. Images from the cafe where you can see them kissing and holding hands."

"No...."

"As well as bills for trips together, and other incidentals," said Anson.

Garrick looked at the images. "Why? She was going to inherit when I..."

"When you die. But that's the old way of thinking, Mr. Sanduval. Almost no one dies anymore, unless they want to."

"But... she simply could have divorced me. She could have had half-"

"She wanted it all," said Anson. "She wanted all your money, and she wanted Emerson Waldo."

"She... she said she wanted to travel, go places... could it be that she wanted him because he would do these things and I wouldn't?"

"We'll never know for sure. All we do know is that she tried to kill you."

"But she's dead, and not me," said Garrick.

"Purely by accident," said Anson. "We thoughtfully recorded your entire performance. It's on the datapad. If you look carefully, you can clearly see that she tried to avoid letting you grab her arms. She wanted you to fall. But you were too quick for her. When you still managed to grab one of her arms, she lost balance, and fell as well. In the process of trying to murder you, she ended up murdering herself."

Garrick looked at the slow motion video capture. It seemed clear when it was slowed down.

"What... what should I think?"

"That you shouldn't feel guilty. That you shouldn't feel loss," said Anson.

"But... she was my wife, for over two hundred years. What does that say about our marriage?"

"That I can't speak to," said Anson, heading for the door.

"Mr. Ford!"

"Yes?" said Anson.

"Thank you," said Garrick.

Anson smiled tightly. "You're welcome, Mr. Sanduval."

********

Jennifer realized that it had all been a big mistake. Judy had said that Death, Incorporated could kick her out of her depression. It hadn't worked. The experiences had been exciting, but they had changed nothing. In fact, thinking on it, the one time she had experienced the greatest emotion was not when her own life was in peril, but when Anson's was. When she saw Anson about to be killed by that crocodile, she felt more alive at that moment than in any time since she had arrived at Death, Incorporated.