Babelthaup, Palau Islands
It was a rough trip back over the twelve miles of rain-soaked road between the nominal capital of the Palau Islands at Ngerulmud and the Koror harbor slip where their vessel was being refueled and resupplied. Despite Sayed Abdullah’s best efforts the little rump-sprung Peugeot they’d rented for the trip to the government center seemed to find every pothole and the wipers wanted to quit if their speed fell anything under full bore through the driving storm. It was an ugly day on Babelthaup, but neither Abdullah nor Dr. Susilo Nasuton, who sat next to him wiping away at the condensation on the inside of the windscreen, was bothered by it.
The scheduled appointment with the man in the capital who bore the impressive title Minister of Cultural, Agricultural and Scie
