Chapter 23

Posted: May 09, 2007 - 01:04:05 am?

Peter and Marta stood together naked on the shore of the gorge lake, observing the scene before them. It had been over two months since the battle with the Tiger Battalion. Much had happened since then.

Scattered around the lake's perimeter, dozens of the former members of the Carlos Sanchez Column were busily gathering up mine tailings into buckets, baskets, and burlap sacks. While most of the young men and women, many of whom were also naked, found they only had to wade out to about knee-deep before finding plenty of the platinum-rich rocks, a few of their more adventurous comrades were venturing beneath the surface to collect the ore from deeper locations. A four-wheel ATV stood nearby, its utility cart rapidly filling up with the mine tailings.

When the trailer was full, the driver took it to the edge of the cliff face and dumped the tailings into a basket. The basket was at the end of a cable that snaked up to the rim of the gorge. The cable wrapped through a block and tackle mounted on a tripod. When the basket was loaded, the ATV driver signaled a man at the top of the gorge, who in turn signaled the driver of one of the former Tiger Battalion trucks, which was parked at the end of the dirt road that led to the gorge. The driver engaged the winch mounted on the front of his truck, and slowly pulled the ore out of the gorge. Peter estimated that the cart could hold up to three hundred pounds of ore, and was making a trip to the edge of the cliff every ten minutes. It was only eight in the morning, and Pete's plan was to work until noon or until two trucks were filled, whichever came first. The trucks could each hold about ten trailer loads of ore.

Peter had wasted no time in implementing this moneymaking venture. While Marta had been waiting on the word that she and her fellow FARC rebels had been granted full amnesty by the Colombian government, Peter began the process to obtain mineral rights for the mountain and surrounding area. He knew that as soon as they began refining, word of this valuable treasure trove would spread like wildfire among local mining companies. If "Platina Del Pueblo" (The People's Platinum) Company, registered in the name of Marta Cardenas, hadn't yet filed for the mineral rights, some opportunistic mining firm would have done so.

Colombia's application process for obtaining mineral rights is cumbersome, to say the least. One must apply to two different government bureaucracies: The Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of the Environment. Approval often takes several months, even with the enthusiastic support of the Prado District Government. Technically speaking, Peter knew that Platina Del Pueblo should not have begun recovering the tailings until the mineral rights application had been approved, but being so strapped for cash, he knew they couldn't afford to wait that long. Besides, he reasoned that since they wouldn't actually be doing any mining, but just gathering rocks from the lake, it was unlikely that the bureaucrats would object.

Peter had collected a random sample of one hundred pounds of tailings, which he had delivered to a lab for analysis. The results of the assay had exceeded his wildest expectations. Based upon the assay, the tailings could be expected to produce a minimum of between two to three ounces of PGMs (Platinum Group Metals) per ton of tailings, and the content of the PGMs extracted from the sample consisted of 75% platinum, 15% palladium, and 10% Rhodium. In addition to these precious metals, the tailings also contained measurable amounts of copper, nickel, gold and silver.

When Peter designed the processing plant that Consolidated Minerals and Metals was building down by the airfield, he took into account extracting the other ores along with the platinum. Pete's extraction process was simple, self contained and very environmentally friendly. It began with the collected rocks being dumped into a powerful rock crusher that pulverized the stone to dust. The powdered rocks then moved on a conveyer belt into an enclosed tank of sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid leached the copper out of the powder. The acid was then pumped out of the tank and distilled to remove the copper ore.

The ground up rocks went through successive chemical treatments that removed each of the other metals from it. Since each chemical bath was a sealed and self-contained process, with the chemical being constantly reused, there were no escaping toxic gasses or liquids. At the end of the conveyor belt, the silt was rinsed in recycled water to remove any traces of the chemicals used. The clean and sterilized end product was sold as road base to build and improve roadways around Prado.

As Peter stared at the growing pile of tailings being dumped into the cart, he did some quick calculations on the value of their haul. By the time they stopped today, they would have collected approximately two trucks full, about three tons of tailings. Assuming a conservative ratio of two ounces of PGMs per ton and 75% of it consisting of platinum, they would be getting 1.5 ounces of platinum from each ton. Platinum currently had a market value of about $1,250 per ounce, so an ounce and a half would be worth $1,875. Peter made a low whistle when he multiplied that figure by three. Their first three-ton load would produce $5,625 worth of platinum, and all the other valuable metals would make that figure even greater. Not too shabby for a few hours spent skinny-dipping and rock gathering.

Marta suddenly interrupted Peter's musings.

"Who are you whistling at, mi amor?"

"What? I wasn't whistling at anyone, I was just thinking about these tailings."

"So you were staring and whistling at these rocks? I was sure that you were looking at some of your naked wives over there," Marta gestured toward the water.

Peter looked where Marta had indicated, blushing when he saw the bare bottoms of Stephanie, Adriana and Lorena, as they bent over at the lake's shore, while looking back at him with impish grins. His eyes were immediately drawn to the sight of their pink, flowery labia, and he suddenly felt his cock twitch. Returning his eyes back to Marta, he fumbled for a reply.

"Ah... no, I was just figuring out how much money we'll probably make from this first load of tailings. That's what made me whistle."

Marta looked skeptical, especially when she noticed how Peter's penis was quickly growing erect.

"Well... perhaps the head on your shoulders was thinking about rocks, but the head between your legs must be thinking about something else," she giggled.

Peter looked down to see that he was now at full attention, and when he looked back at Marta, she had a gleam in her eye.

"You need to forget about those three for now, mi amor. You have already planted babies in them, and that is not fair to me."

As Marta spoke, she reached down and wrapped her fingers around Peter's turgid shaft.

"I have just entered the most fertile time of my monthly cycle, and I want you to start planting all your seeds in my garden. I do not wish to be your only wife not impregnated," she said with a pout.

Taking a firm hold of his shaft, Marta pulled Peter toward the edge of the nearby jungle, her intentions quite clear. Peter took one final look back over his shoulder at Stephanie, Adriana and Lorena, who giggled and waved at him. Marta led him to a spot beneath the shade of a large tree and lay on her back, her shapely legs spread wide in invitation.

"I want you on top, mi amor, so gravity will help send all your seeds where they need to grow."

Peter dutifully dropped to his knees between Marta's spread thighs, and as he lowered himself over her, she took hold of his shaft, placing the helmet-shaped tip at her portal. As he nudged himself into her opening, Marta wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs, pulling him inside her silky, liquid channel.

"Thrust deeply, my love, and fill me with your seed... I want to have your baby," she breathed into his ear.

Marta's words served to increase Peter's arousal, and he soon felt the familiar tightening in his balls, which signaled his release was rapidly approaching. Peter worked his shaft in short, deep strokes, which kept the tip of his penis pressed against Marta's cervix. With one final push, he unloaded his load of microscopic baby-makers, and the thick liquid surged through the opening in the cervical barrier and into Marta's fertile womb. As the two lovers recovered from their mutual orgasms, one sperm found its way to its target, and a new life began.

Two days after delivering the first three tons of tailings to Consolidated Minerals and Metals, Peter received the first check made out to Platina del Pueblo. Even after Consolidated took their five percent for processing, the check was substantial. He excitedly showed the check to Marta, who let out a rousing squeal when she saw the amount.

"Dios mio (my God), Peter! Nine thousand five hundred and fifty dollars! I can hardly believe so much money for a small pile of rocks!"

"Yes, and the refining process I developed for Consolidated was able to extract 2.8 ounces of PGMs for each ton, which is an extremely high ratio! In addition, the refining is producing more of the other metals than the assay first indicated."

"We will be able to do so many good things with this much money!" Marta exclaimed, as she thought about the health clinic, vocational school, and other projects she had always dreamed of establishing in the region.

"Yes, and this was just the money we made from the first load of ore. We could easily gather four or five three-ton loads each week if we wanted to, and still give everyone plenty of free time for other activities. After snorkeling around the gorge lake to get an idea of just how much ore is there, I believe we could literally spend years recovering tailings, and that doesn't even include the hundreds of tons of tailings which are still in the side tunnels of the mountain. I think we'll have all the money we ever need to improve the lives of your countrymen without having to reopen the mine."

Marta beamed him a happy smile. His mentioning of reopening the mines brought to mind an idea Stephanie gave her.

"Your insatiable little sister Stephina thinks the caverns would be a popular tourist attraction once we moved out of them. She has been researching the mines with the local Muiscas, and knows quite a bit about its history. She says that the Muisca's oral history of the mine goes back over sixty generations or fifteen hundred years. Stephina is convinced that tourists would pay good money for a chance to spend a few nights among so much history and mystery."

Peter agreed that it was an idea worth exploring. It wouldn't be long until the last of them moved out anyway, as they found places to live in town. Pete and his wives were still living in the caverns, as they waited on the house his father was building for them to be completed. The house was being constructed in the meadow where the AUC had established their field camp, and his father's design perfectly fit the location. Marta's parents had insisted on loaning them the money for construction. Pete's dad was actually building two houses in the meadow, one for Pete and his family and one for himself and Selena.

Pete's sister, Darla, and Eduardo Garza, had rented a small apartment near the Prado hospital, where both were working until money became available to open their clinic. Eduardo had formerly asked Pete's father for Darla's hand in marriage a few weeks after all the excitement of the battle had died down. Gabe had been quick to give the union his blessing. Padre Paco agreed to unite the couple in marriage as soon as Eduardo received his license to practice medicine.

Newlyweds Serafin and Lupe Morales lived in a small flat above their "Restaurante Zorra". The family style restaurant was doing very good business, as was the bakery that Selena operated out of part of the kitchen. Lupe was pregnant and very happy about it, which made Serafin even happier than his wife.

Selena and Gabe lived in a small house they had rented that was also near the restaurant. The house seemed even smaller than it actually was, because Bebe and Marisol lived in it with them. How that all came about still had Gabe shaking his head, as he had little say in the matter from the very first. Selena, Bebe and Marisol were three peas in a pod; it was as if they were long lost sisters, suddenly reunited. Gabe wasn't complaining about it though, because he was treated better than a man had any right to expect. The three little women doted on him as if he was the second coming.

There was no sexual component to Gabe's relationship with the other two women, other than lots of kissing and hugs, but they were certainly working their way up to it. Selena was content to let events happen at a pace her husband was comfortable with. She figured that Bebe and Marisol would eventually wear Gabe down, and what she wanted would happen without her interference. After years of being alone and bereft, Selena wanted a home of her own, filled with children, sisters, laughter and happiness. Her wonderful husband was doing everything he could to make that a reality with Marisol, Bebe and the baby she felt growing in her womb.

Marta Cardenas had taken a different route in forming her family. She had pretty much forced the other women on Peter with her baby-making scheme. It was ironic as hell that, as a result, she had four pregnant sister wives, while she had been the last to conceive. In spite of all that, she was happy with the family arrangement. She loved all four of the other women and couldn't imagine life without them in it. The dynamics of the Cardenas-Ballard family was amazing to everyone concerned, because of the way their personalities and abilities complimented each other. Those abilities made the family and their fledgling business work.

Peter was the expert on finding the ores that made up their business. Just from walking the hills, he had found two other sites rich in tailings from abandoned mines. If necessary, he could mechanize the collection of the tailings and make tons of money. He could, but he hadn't yet, because that was not the way Marta wanted things to work. Since Marta was the brain of the outfit, Peter deferred to her judgment.

Marta was the family visionary, she was actually Colombia's visionary, the rest of the country just didn't know it yet. Marta also had the force of personality necessary to accomplish what she set her mind toward. It was obvious to even the casual observer, that Marta Cardenas was destined to greatness, but Marta wasn't seeking fame or fortune, instead, she was looking for justice and equality for the poor and downtrodden. Marta felt that there was a point at which having too much money became counter-productive, because it made people lazy and unconcerned about working to improve their condition. Toward that end, she was starting slowly with the mining endeavor, as she labored to find ways to turn the money into projects that helped the campesinos better their lives for the long term.

Marta was also a genius at bringing out the talent in people and motivating them to help her accomplish her goals. She had forty-five soldiers from her old FARC unit to prove that fact. Forty-five men and women who spent a few half days a week collecting mine tailings, and the rest of the time working in the community on her various projects. Marta paid her people well, but they really earned more than she paid them.

Pilar was the organizer; her attention to detail was a major reason that Platina del Pueblo was up and running so quickly. Pilar was almost back to normal after Nuñez's horrendous attack. The only outward signs of her ordeal were the short hair around her left temple and a slight limp when she was tired. Pilar was the operations manager of the mine, responsible for scheduling the day-to-day activities of Platina del Pueblo.

Lorena and Adriana took care of the companies accounting and finances, a responsibility they both had the training and skill to handle. Adriana handled the overall accounting for the venture, and Lorena was in charge of accounts payable and receivable. Lorena's shoulder was completely healed, and she had a full range of motion with it. As was the practice with everyone, Lorena and Adriana also helped with the harvesting of the mine tailings four or five mornings a week.

Stephanie ran the household and to Pete, her transformation into a take-charge, confident and competent woman, was truly amazing. Once, when Pete commented on how much Stephanie reminded him of his mother as she took charge of the family, Adriana said it was because she was getting the magical Ballard pinga on a regular basis. When Pete looked confused, Adie, the family comedienne, filled him in.

"Oh, sí Papito, we women talk about it all the time. How do you think your padre has tamed those wild little Muiscas that live with him? Only a man with magical pinga could do that; he has passed it down to you, and you will give it to our sons. Soon, jealous mothers and angry fathers will be beating down our door."

Pete had stood there with his mouth open as his wives were cackling like hyenas. Even Stephanie, who was just starting to understand Spanish, was laughing. Pete had shrugged and pulled a cold Club Colombia cerveza (beer) out of the small refrigerator. Whatever the reason Stephanie had changed, it was a good thing. What Pilar was for the mining venture, Stephanie was for the family. She kept everyone and everything organized and headed in the right direction.

As Pete sat and drank his beer, he reflected on something that Adriana had said. No it wasn't the magic pinga thing, but it did concern his Dad and the three women who shared his apartment. Peter had learned much about the Muisca people from Marta and Stephanie. Stephanie was fascinated by the history of the mines in which they had been held captive. In researching that history, she also learned about the Muiscas, who were the original miners.

The Muisca culture that still existed was an insular and clannish group, numbering in the range of forty to fifty thousand. They even spoke Chibchan, the native language of their ancestors. For centuries, the Muisca were looked down upon as backwards savages by the Europeanized Colombians.

Selena, Belicia and Marisol were all members of the Hunza tribe. When the Conquistadors arrived in Colombia in 1537, the Hunza tribe was estimated to have had a population of close to a million people. Because they resisted the Conquistadors, the tribe was systematically eradicated, and its language banned into linguistic extinction.

Most of the surviving Hunza escaped to remote areas out of reach of the Conquistadors. One of those remote areas was the Prado Plateau above the turbulent stretch of the Magdalena River. Belicia and Marisol were from this area. Selena grew up in another of those remote areas. Her childhood home was high in the Andes, west south west of Bogotá.

Marta told Pete that it was highly unusual for a Muisca woman to take up with an outsider; for three to do that, as was the case at his father's house, was unprecedented. What wasn't unprecedented was the idea of his father marrying all three of them, because polygamy was an established social norm among the Muiscas. About the weirdest thing about the relationship of his father and the three women was that, despite the vast difference in the cultures they were from and the complete oppositeness of their looks, everyone who ever saw the four, knew instantly that they belonged together.

At the six-month anniversary of the battle on what was now commonly called Montaña de Zorra (Vixen Mountain), Marta threw a party for the town of Prado. The party started on a Saturday morning, and was held in the park that flanked the scenic little town's central piazza. The planning for the party had been going on for a month, with Stephanie coordinating with Padre Paco and the Chief Constable to make the plan a reality. Father Ortega was involved in the planning, because Our Lady of Redemption Church fronted on the park, and was co-hosting the party.

Marta, her family, the former members of her column, and the people of Prado had much to celebrate. The profits from the Platina del Pueblo had finally started having an impact on the town and surrounding area.

The Clínica Médica de Carlos Sanchez (Carlos Sanchez medical clinic) was finally open, now that Eduardo Garza was licensed to practice medicine. Even Don Diego Cardenas's considerable influence within the Uribe administration had been unable to speed up that process. The clinic was temporarily located in a storefront former boutique. Building a bigger clinic and increasing its staff was on Marta's list of priorities.

Another project that had been in operation for a while, was the Juana Jimenez Daycare and Preschool. The daycare and preschool operated out of two rooms provided by Our Lady of Redemption Church. Former members of the column staffed the center. The free daycare and preschool were a big hit with the townspeople, as it allowed more women to seek employment if they wanted. It would soon be necessary to add another room to meet demand. Father Gonzales, the senior pastor of the church, was delighted with the center, as it had been a long-held dream of his that finances had kept from becoming reality.

Marta had found unexpected but powerful allies in the parish priests. Father Gonzales was very progressive for a man of his age, and young Father Ortega was almost as passionate as Marta about improving the lives of the campesinos. Because of this new relationship, Marta was donating money so that the church could open a regular school that would include kindergarten to sixth grade. The school wouldn't be free, but the tuition would be low enough to allow maximum participation. Father Gonzales planned to let the parents of the students work off part of the tuition, and hoped he could get a little help from the wealthy Archdiocese of Ibague.

The former members of the Carlos Sanchez Column all hung together at the party. It was a big joke among them that almost all the women of the column were pregnant. Even Marta was in a family way, and wearing maternity clothes, even though she was barely showing. Marta was the subject of much attention and talk during the party, because she had announced earlier that day that she would stand for election for Mayor of Prado as soon as the current mayor retired next year. Few doubted that she would be elected, given all that she had done and was doing for the area. Since the Mayor of Prado was a part-time position, Marta could continue with her efforts in other areas if she were elected.

Gabe and his family sat at the same table as Pete and his family. Gabe was now married to all three of his Muisca sweeties, the local Muisca Cacique (tribal chief) having done the honors just a few weeks ago. Also sitting at the table were Darla and Eduardo Garza. The Garzas had been married for two months now, but Darla was not one of the pregnant women. She and the good Doctor had decided to wait until they had their clinic moved to its new location before starting a family. The final couple at the long table was Serafin and a hugely pregnant Lupe Morales. Much money was changing hands on who would have their baby first. The odds on favorite was Stephanie Stovall-Ballard.

When everyone was seated, Marta stood up and raised the water bottle she was drinking from.

"A toast my friends," she said loudly.

The tables grew quiet as glasses were raised.

"Here is to us, my friends and to those who died helping us arrive at this point in time. May we be worthy of their sacrifice and may our future be as glorious as our past."
Joe J & Wet Dream-Girl
Chapter 24