After receiving the women’s report, Enele, Adam, Nazil, Zeel, and a force of six armed men—two of them in Elgen uniform—left the Regulator a little after three in the afternoon. As the isles of Nui were not all connected, they took one of the ship’s tenders and sailed north along the eastern side of the reef until they came to the fourth isle, Piliaieve.
They pulled their boat onto shore and stepped off onto a white sandy beach. There was no one around. While still a way from the island, Enele, using binoculars, had spotted a young boy near the isle’s shoreline, but he had gotten up and run off when he’d spotted their approaching craft.
“Where is everyone?” Adam asked.
Enele looked at him. “Perhaps bringing men dressed as Elgen guards was not such a good idea.”
They made their way off the beach to a line of palm trees and a dirt road.
“The good news,” Adam said, “is that it’s a small island. It won’t take long to search all the houses and find him.”
Enele stood silently with his arms crossed, a cross wind blowing back his hair. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
In the distance an elderly man rode a bicycle toward them. The bicycle’s line was erratic, and several times the men thought the man, who looked too old to be riding a bicycle, might fall over. Enele’s men gathered around him to watch the cyclist.
“Who is that?” asked one.
“I’ll wager two coins that he’ll fall,” said another.
“He won’t fall,” Enele said.
When the old man reached them, he stopped the bicycle and got off. He wiped his brow, smiled at the men with a row of yellowed teeth, and then turned to Enele.
“My dear, dear friend. How you have grown. I am very glad you made it. I have been expecting you.”
17
The Lightning God
Enele dropped to one knee, then Adam and the rest of his men followed. “Elder Malakai,” Enele said. “It is my honor to see you again.”
“Stand. Stand,” the elder said. “It is my great, great joy that you have come. I have prepared a meal for you. Come to my humble home and eat.”
Enele picked up the bicycle and offered it to the elder, but he deferred. “I will walk with you, my friend. I don’t often take my bicycle. I’m too old for it. But I was told you had finally landed, and I didn’t want you to have to wait.”
Enele smiled. “You are very kind.”
“How did you know we would be here?” Adam asked.
The old man looked at him but didn’t answer.
“So the Elgen are all gone,” Enele said.
“For the time being,” Malakai replied. He pointed to a grass hut fifty yards ahead of them. In the yard was a fire burning inside a ring of coral rocks. “That is my humble home.”
Enele grimaced. “You once lived in a magnificent house,” he said. “Not so many years ago.”
“An Elgen officer decided that he wanted it,” Malakai said.
“I am sorry,” Enele replied. “It is an injustice to be corrected.”
Malakai just smiled. “It is only a house, a fleeting thing. I have a roof; it matters little.”
The house was of typical Tuvaluan design—small with woven walls and a thatched roof. The men sat in the yard while a young woman brought out pi (drinking coconuts), lolo (taro leaf in coconut cream), and then fish wrapped in banana leaves.
After they finished eating, they went inside the small house. There was a long mat on the floor made of woven palm leaves.
“We will sit,” Malakai said. He spoke to the young woman. “My dear, bring us kaleve.”
“You are very kind,” Enele said.
“It is still our way to be hospitable when a guest arrives.”
“But you must have prepared for days.”
“I knew you and your men would be hungry when you arrived.”
“Then perhaps you already know why I have come.”
The elder nodded slowly. “I knew before the great flash.”
“The great flash,” Enele repeated.
“Tell me your story,” Malakai said.
Enele wiped his mouth. “We escaped from Hades—I mean Niutao—with fifty of our people, then sailed to Nanumaga. We met little resistance from the Elgen. There we brought on five hundred more and confiscated four large Elgen ships.”
“A wise plan.”
“Thank you. Next we sailed to Vaitupu and again took the island. We have filled our boats with weaponry and are ready to fight. I came to seek your counsel.”
“Time is of the essence,” Zeel suddenly interjected. “It is time we liberated Funafuti. The Elgen are gathering from around the world as we—”
Elder Malakai raised his hand and stopped him. “They have already gathered, my eager friend.”
“The Elgen have been crippled,” Nazil said. “It’s time that we gather and fight.”
The old man looked down for a moment. When he looked up, he said, “Kāfai e t ō te vaiua k ā ' siu t ātou.” He spoke in an ancient dialect unknown to any of the men except Enele.
“What did he say?” Zeel asked.
“He said, ‘When it rains, we shall get wet.’ ”
“What does that mean?” Nazil said rudely. He looked at Malakai. “Elder, this is no time for cowardice. This is the time to fight, while our enemy is weak.”
“Wisdom is not always cowardice. Boldness is not always courage. The evil man is not as weak as you think, my son. If you fight now, you will die, and then the evil man will have the land always. It is patience and wisdom that opens the blossom, not force. The time will come.”
“What time?” Zeel asked.
“There will be a moment of opportunity,” Malakai said. “You will know when it comes. It is when he comes.”
“When who comes?”
“The one the ancients spoke of. Uira te Atua.”
Enele looked at him quizzically. “Uira te Atua?”
“What does that mean?” Adam asked.
Enele turned to them. “The elder speaks of the lightning god.”
Zeel looked angry. “This is no time for silly tradition.” He raised his fist. “It’s time for revolution!”
“Yes. It is,” the old man said calmly. Then he was quiet for a very long time. “But not in the foolish manner you have planned.”
“Foolish!” Zeel shouted. “This is ridiculous. We’re wasting valuable time. We need to go to war! Now!”
“So eager to die, are you?” The old man looked at him with dark, steady eyes. “You want war? Fear not, you will have your fill of it. But don’t worry. You need not rush to it. It will come to you. All you can decide is where you shall meet it. But I warn you. If you meet it in the open sea, the water shall be your grave.” He looked at the other men. “Did I not warn the people that the Elgen would come?”
“Yes, Elder,” Enele answered. “You did.”
“Did I not warn the people to not take the gift of electricity?”
“Yes, Elder.”
“So now I tell you that someone will come to liberate us. Will you not believe me?”
“Forgive our lack of faith, Elder,” Enele said.
“If you truly wish to be liberated in a means other than death, listen to me. The Elgen have already built their army from without. They have brought in soldiers from other nations to fight their war with us. They have brought in navy ships and cannons. If you meet them on the sea, then your demise is assured.” He turned to Zeel. “Funafuti is not as weak as you believe. If you go to Funafuti, you will all die. Then who will liberate our home?”
“Where shall we go?” Enele asked. “Shall we wait here?”
“No. Nui cannot be defended. You will go to Nukufetau, the island the evil ones call Plutus. There you will find a fortress that will, for a time, stand against the Elgen host.”
“The great vault they are building,” Enele said. “For just a time?”
“Yes. It will fall. All fortresses fall in time. But there will be
enough time for Uira te Atua. He will come. He will deliver you. Then you will know that it is time to expel the evil one and liberate Funafuti.”
“The lightning god,” Enele said again. “Are you sure?”
“Most assuredly,” Malakai said. “I have seen him. I have spoken to him. When he is ready, he will come.”
18
The Drone
“We need to leave immediately,” Enele said. “We need to reach Nukufetau before the Elgen find us.”
The old man stood. He suddenly looked more stooped, as if sharing the prophecy had stolen energy from him. “Have faith. He will come. Uira te Atua will come.”
“Be safe,” Enele said.
The old man said, “Safety is but an illusion. You will not see me again in this world. Now go with God.”
Enele looked at the elder sadly. “Then this is good-bye.”
The old man nodded. “Until we meet again in better realms.”
Enele again dropped to one knee, but the elder just said, “Rise and sail,” then embraced Enele.
Enele and his men got back into their tender and sailed quickly back to the Regulator. Enele radioed Noa and told him to contact the other ships and instruct them to leave immediately for Nukufetau. “Tell them I will explain when I return,” he said.
“Roger that,” Noa said.
* * *
Several hours after they had departed, Enele went out onto the deck. He was tired and anxious and wanted to feel the cool air on his face. A little more than a half hour later Zeel walked out to join him.
“I’m sorry to bother you. Do you wish to be alone?”
“No,” Enele said. “We can talk.”
Zeel put his arms over the rail next to Enele. After a moment he said, “I wish to apologize for my behavior of the last day. I have been . . . difficult.”
“I would expect that of a warrior,” Enele said. “You are following your heart.” He looked over at Zeel. “Why the change of heart?”
“Adam told me about the prophecy. I can understand now why you have put so much trust in this man.” He rubbed his chin. “What do you think of this lightning god the elder speaks of?”
Enele shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Does he speak metaphorically?”
“I don’t think so.”
“The lightning god was the Greek god Zeus,” Zeel said.
“And Thor, in Norse mythology. Nearly every ancient culture prophesied of a lightning god.”
“There was a boy with us in Hades named Zeus. Could it be him?”
“I don’t think so,” Enele said.
After a moment Zeel said, “This will be something to see.”
They both fell silent. The boat’s hull crashed against the sea in a steady rhythm. Not far from them a school of porpoise chased along with the ship. Zeel took in a deep breath, then said, “If the elder is right and the Elgen have already rebuilt, do you think we will survive their assault?”
“All things are possible with God.”
“And if there is no God?”
Enele turned back. “Then we’re just dust and beasts, and what does it matter?”
They were both silent again. Suddenly Zeel pointed to something in the sky. “What is that?”
They both strained their eyes toward the rapidly dimming horizon. There was a white, airplane-like craft with a V-shaped tail and wings longer than its body. It soared about a thousand feet above them.
“I’ve seen one of those before,” Enele said. “It’s a long-range observation drone.” He turned pale. “They’ve seen our boats. They know where we are. This is not good. I must go.” Enele hurried back up to the bridge, followed closely by Zeel. Captain Noa looked back at them as they entered.
“Did you see the drone?” Adam asked.
“Yes. How much farther to Nukufetau?” Enele asked the captain.
“We have about two more hours.”
“The Elgen could be there in an hour,” Enele said. “How much faster can we go?”
“Maybe six knots,” the captain replied.
“Do it,” Enele said.
“And leave the Proton behind?”
“Yes. They can lag behind. If we’re attacked, perhaps they can slip off and escape.”
“What about the other ships?”
“Tell them what we’re doing.”
“I’ll radio them.”
Zeel looked afraid. “What did the elder say about being caught at sea?”
“Don’t remind me,” Enele said. “It wasn’t good.”
19
Abandon Ship
The Proton quickly fell behind as the remaining three ships, the Regulator, the Neutron, and the Pulse, moved ahead at speeds above twenty-three knots. Ninety minutes later, as the sun sank into the sea to the west, the jagged silhouette of the Nukufetau atoll came into view. “There she is,” Enele said. “That’s a beautiful sight.”
“I’m happier at what I’m not seeing,” Adam said. “Elgen boats.”
“Where’s the Elgen compound?” Enele asked Noa.
“Hatch’s Fort Knox is off Motulalo,” Noa said. “It’s the largest islet and the only deepwater port.”
“Where is that?”
“Southeastern tip of the island.”
“Then why are we sailing west?”
“Have you ever sailed to Nukufetau?”
Enele shook his head. “No. I was only there as a kid.”
“She’s a true coral atoll. The island’s pretty much a big rectangular frame filled with water. There’s a deepwater port into the lagoon on the northwest side of the island. If we can enter the lagoon, we can sail south inside the reef and dock closer to the construction and the seawall our people just built. If there are Elgen ships, we’ll be better concealed and better defended. If it’s a big ship, the lagoon is shallow enough that she won’t be able to follow after us.”
“Well done,” Enele said. “How far are we from the entrance?”
“We’re about ten kilometers.”
“Let’s get there fast.”
Just three kilometers from the deepwater opening in the atoll, there was suddenly a distant flash, followed by a loud explosion, echoing like thunder. A shell hit the water two thousand meters from the Regulator, exploding water several hundred yards into the air.
“There they are,” Enele said.
“That missile was fired from a battle cruiser,” Noa said. “It’s the Edison. She’s still intact.”
“How far away is she?”
“She’s covering the entry,” Noa said. “They must have guessed our play. They know if we get in there, they can’t follow.”
“Can we get in there first?”
“No. They’ll reach it before we do.” Noa turned on his radio. There came the clamor from a foreign tongue, followed by English with a heavy Russian accent.
“Rebel ship. This is the ES Edison battle cruiser. Reduce your speed and surrender, or we will sink your ship.”
“What are our options?” Enele asked.
“We can’t outrun her,” Noa said. “Only the Neutron can.”
“We can’t outgun her either,” Adam said.
“It’s like we brought a knife to a gunfight,” Zeel said.
“A butter knife,” Enele said.
“A plastic butter knife,” Zeel added.
“We could try to ram her,” Enele said.
Noa shook his head. “She’d sink us long before we reached her.”
“We need to beach and get everyone off. Could we make it?”
“The reef will rip the bottom out of us,” Noa said. “She’ll definitely sink.”
“At this point that’s a given. We need to get the weapons off the ship. How far up the shore can you get?”
“At twenty-four knots, I think I should be able to get at least a quarter of the boat on land.”
“I’ll take a quarter,” Enele said.
“Our soldiers need to be prepared for impact. It’s like crash
ing a car.”
“I’ll alert them.”
“And they’ll need to abandon the ship fast. The Edison will continue to shell us. Even on land they can blow us up.”
“We’ve still got a better chance of surviving a ground shelling than being sunk at sea. Give me the radio,” Enele said.
Noa handed the mic to Adam, who handed it to Enele.
“Attention, all ships. The Elgen Navy is about to engage our ships. We can’t fight them. We are going to force our boats up the beach. Beach your craft on the nearest shore and abandon ship. I repeat, beach your craft and abandon ship.” He then switched the mic to the ship’s PA system. “Soldiers, this is Enele. We have come under fire from the Elgen battleship. If we stay on the water, they’ll sink us. We are going to beach our ship. Grab your weapons and brace yourselves for frontal impact. As soon as we hit, abandon the ship as quickly as possible. I repeat, brace for frontal impact and abandon the ship as quickly as possible.”
Enele turned back. “Zeel, I want you belowdecks. If I don’t make it, you’re in charge.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Noa, radio the Proton. Tell her to stay away.”
“Yes, sir.”
Suddenly, to the east of them, the Neutron banked hard to the port side, then picked up speed. She was the smallest and fastest of the four ships, capable of sailing upward of forty knots.
“Where’s Pio going?” Enele asked.
“Apparently not with us,” Noa said.
Adam lifted binoculars. “His crew is jumping off the boat.”
“What is he up to?” Enele said.
“He’s smart,” Noa said. “He’s the only one who can outrun them. That’s what he’s doing. By the time they finish with us, he’ll be long gone.”
“Where do you think he’s going?”
“Vaitupu,” Noa said, suddenly swinging the rudder. The entire ship rolled to its side. “Prepare for impact.”
Even in the growing twilight the brilliance of the white sand beach reflected the moon and loomed before them, growing larger with each second.