And back again
I was in a small Kazakhstan village, where the Russian capsule had landed. It had damaged several houses as it missed it's target and hit a village instead. I was there as part of an unofficial team, the official Russian team was already in place and dealing with the villagers and the capsule. I recognised the head of the team, I'd seen him before and he had always had a brown leather suitcase with him, but this time he didn't, and I wondered why. We came to a small house which had been completely ruined. Survivors had been found. An elderly man and woman were pulled from the wreckage of their home, miraculously unhurt. The official team talked to the man, so I talked to the woman and we walked a bit. She mentioned that the Russians had promised to replace their home and I suggested that she be sure to get a properly warm one, as I doubt that the Russian builders knew how cold it got here in Winter. We walked to where we could see the capsule. I was in a big thick warm fluffy jacket, the woman was in thin clothing and was cold, so I unzipped my jacket and gave it to her. She was grateful of this, and I didn't mind the cold. The capsule was the size and shape of a greenhouse, but a dull grey in colour. The official team was lined up against it for a photo shoot, and again the head of the team was without his suitcase, I wondered why.
I was in a strange stone building, with a very high ceiling. Below me I could hear chanting and a rabble making noise. There was a wide ledge set into the wall of the building so people could walk, and it ended in a wooden platform, which was on an axle so it could tilt. The platform was covered in metal, manacles designed to tie people down and more. A skinny man was bodily dragged onto the platform, terrror in his eyes, he was desperately fighting to avoid this but he couldn't overpower the people. He was laid down on the platform on his back, and his hands and feet were locked into the manacles. There were several more manacles, and I wondered what creature had originally been placed there, something with many more limbs by the looks of it. The people who'd put the man on the platform got off the platform, and their leader pulled a lever. Large arms on the platform swung to a new position, and the captive was suspended upside down above the platform, though his arms weren't held tight. At least 4 more chains with manacles hung near where his arms were. I could see now that the platform had a trap door in the middle, so that the captive could be lowered through it. I didn't know what was down there. A fight seemed to break out amongst the people who'd tied the captive up, and a giant of a man strode through them, knocking them about. He told them off for their actions, and pointed to a red leather suitcase up against one wall, by the far edge of the platform. It was the Russian's team's head's suitcase, what was it doing here? The giant said that the case was full of money and people had been traitors, and if they were fighting to get it then they were traitors too, and would meet the same fate as the captive. The giant opened a small cupboard on the wall in the middle of the platform to reveal a Greek style bronze helmet, with a Roman style broom top. This quietened the crowd down. I wondered about the man, he had had large chunks of his pectoral muscles dug out previously, I wondered what had done that to him.
I was in a strange stone building, with a very high ceiling. Below me I could hear chanting and a rabble making noise. There was a wide ledge set into the wall of the building so people could walk, and it ended in a wooden platform, which was on an axle so it could tilt. The platform was covered in metal, manacles designed to tie people down and more. A skinny man was bodily dragged onto the platform, terrror in his eyes, he was desperately fighting to avoid this but he couldn't overpower the people. He was laid down on the platform on his back, and his hands and feet were locked into the manacles. There were several more manacles, and I wondered what creature had originally been placed there, something with many more limbs by the looks of it. The people who'd put the man on the platform got off the platform, and their leader pulled a lever. Large arms on the platform swung to a new position, and the captive was suspended upside down above the platform, though his arms weren't held tight. At least 4 more chains with manacles hung near where his arms were. I could see now that the platform had a trap door in the middle, so that the captive could be lowered through it. I didn't know what was down there. A fight seemed to break out amongst the people who'd tied the captive up, and a giant of a man strode through them, knocking them about. He told them off for their actions, and pointed to a red leather suitcase up against one wall, by the far edge of the platform. It was the Russian's team's head's suitcase, what was it doing here? The giant said that the case was full of money and people had been traitors, and if they were fighting to get it then they were traitors too, and would meet the same fate as the captive. The giant opened a small cupboard on the wall in the middle of the platform to reveal a Greek style bronze helmet, with a Roman style broom top. This quietened the crowd down. I wondered about the man, he had had large chunks of his pectoral muscles dug out previously, I wondered what had done that to him.