Micaela spent the day watching TV on the couch with Carlos on her lap, watching a video she had brought of Paula dancing, and when she felt like it, she asked Carlos to dance again, to which Carlos agreed with a smile, and in the end, he took her in his arms and hugged her on the couch to give her a kiss….
When we were hungry, we cooked together, when we were sleepy, we slept together, and we were inseparable, wanting to turn one minute into two….
As night fell, Carlos, aware of how little time the girl had away from Salamonsa, decided to send her back.
Micaela was full of reluctance and was willing to go back, but she did not want him to send her.
-Carlos, I’m going back on my own, don’t waste your time with me…”.
Carlos ducked his head and kissed her, blocking what she was about to say, then he couldn’t resist deepening the kiss….
For a long moment, as he released her, the man’s deep eyes filled with love.
-My dear, spending time with you is the most rewarding thing to do, not a waste of time.
Micaela was filled with emotion, but in the end she did not want to part with him and accepted his decision.
After a helicopter ride back to Salamonsa, Micaela finally meets Mike, forgotten by Carlos at home in Ciudad Echave….
Yerma praised Mike for being good and not crying, but as soon as she put him in Micaela’s arms, Mike screamed and it took a while to get him to stop.
Carlos spent the night in Salamonsa and left early the next morning to return to Ode Nation, taking Mike to the helicopter, where he probably knew not to cry this time.
After a few days, Nilson organized the departure of the first group, the ones Carlos had arranged to come for the Salamonsa research study, and they stayed in Salamonsa for two months and fifteen days.
When they arrived at Ode Nation for their transfer, Carlos received them personally and thanked them for their effort and dedication and instructed them to keep a close eye on their health.
Ten days later came the Salamonsa Spring Festival.
On New Year’s Eve, Carlos took Mike by helicopter to Salamonsa for New Year’s Eve, and the family, along with the Nicolas, went to Villa Echave for New Year’s Eve dinner.
It was family of the Anlandana hundreds of years ago, and most of the customs are actually quite similar.
The couple enjoyed their scant time together, and after two days in Salamonsa, Micaela urged him to leave, reluctantly but having to save the remaining 20 days for a time when they would need them more, until the problems in Salamonsa were resolved….
As winter leaves and spring comes and goes, the days slip into a blur of thoughts and busyness, giving way to summer.
Micaela was on the video call, looking at Olivia’s daughter, who was also two months old and extraordinarily cute with big teary eyes, and Alba and Katarina and Bianca were vying to keep the child as daughter-in-law, which Leonardo refused without hesitation!
Mike, Rigoberto and Gustavo, who were born around the same time, are also over eight months old and getting cuter and cuter.
Mike started teething at six months and is now four months old, sitting up, crawling, smiling at Micaela on camera, picking fruit and gnawing on it….
Although Micaela has watched him grow on video every day, she regrets not being able to be by his side and grow with him….
I was busy watching the video Carlos had sent me and watched it a few more times before hanging up the phone and going back to work, when suddenly it rang.
It’s Carlos, and Micaela picks up the phone immediately, and a deep, familiar voice comes to her:
-Girls, get ready for a video conference.
They’ve also had a few video conferences on and off lately, Micaela agreed, asking as she opened the video software on her computer:
-What do you want to say this time?
-Basically we’ve mapped out the ‘poison’ in Salamonsa.
Micaela looks up in surprise, a little excited, then squashes the excitement….
A group video invitation appears on the monitor.
Micaela clicked to accept and Carlos, Dr. Thiago and Javier, from the same conference room as Nation Ode, were the first to appear in the screen box, both greeting Micaela.
Next, Nilson and Nicolas also appeared successively on the screen, both in their respective offices.
Nicolas opened the door first:
-Carlos, is something going to happen?
Carlos nodded and went straight to the subject of the meeting in a serious tone.
-So far I have organized three groups of people to do expeditions and research in Salamonsa, each group staying in Salamonsa for two months plus a fortnight before leaving, and now I have come to solid conclusions to discuss with you.
The hearts of Micaela, Nilson and Nicolas remained suspended in the air while they watched Carlos attentively.
-Those who spent two and a half months in Salamonsa showed no symptoms of discomfort at first when they returned to their respective countries, and some individuals underwent medical examinations upon their return and no physical abnormalities were found.
After fifteen days, that is, plus two and a half months in Salamonsa, exactly three months later, they all began to react to the heavy metal intoxication, the lighter ones being cured on their own and the heavier ones being hospitalized.
An expression of surprise appeared on the faces of the three people in the video, how could it be…?
Carlos continues:
-These reactions coincide with my suspicions of six months ago.
When I left Salamonsa for the first time, I was examined with all my friends who came to Salamonsa at that time and the examination revealed no abnormalities.
But when I went back for a check-up, exactly three months after I had added up my time at Salamonsa, there was a slight heavy metal intoxication.
With that, he unconsciously looked her way, indicating not to worry, and then continued:
-A month after that, three months after my friends also came to Salamonsa, I tested them again and I detected traces of mild heavy metal poisoning in all of them, in their blood.
Micaela covered her mouth….
She also remembered that Carlos and his friends had been tested when they left Salamonsa, and that Leonardo, who had returned home, had a slight health problem. The problem was found…
Thiago expressed his suspicions:
-Combining a large number of test reports, as well as the statistics of Mr. Nilson and Mr. Carlos, we can conclude that the Salamonsa heavy metal poisoning escapes our knowledge, and its most characteristic feature is that it has an incubation period of three months.
Latent period?
Nilson and Nicolas had a look of astonishment on their faces?
Thiago looked at Nicolas and Nilson.
-They have to be examined after three months. For example, the three groups that were expelled got a scare, but what about those who stay in Salamonsa for more than three months?
Nicolas leaned his elbows on the table, fists on the underside of his nose, squinted his eyes and answered in a heavy voice:
-He will die. The cause of death is unknown and deconstruction will not reveal the cause?
This was the root of Salamonsa’s imprisonment, which at the time caused panic in neighboring countries, but only because the media was not well developed at the time it did not reach everyone….
Thiago nods his head.
-Yes, but the cause could not be traced, it was more than a hundred years ago, when medical equipment, medical achievements were far behind.
In the last few months, we have reviewed all the cases that died three months after arriving at Salamonsa and we have come to the conclusion that.
They died of multiple organ failure, the most serious consequence of heavy metal poisoning, and the process of death was very similar to natural human death and, according to the records, was very easy, without any sign or the slightest pain.
The three people in the video look on in amazement….
Thiago’s expression was very calm, as if he had made a long speech, as if he had said “it’s a beautiful day”, cast his eyes back and continued in that calm tone:
-This group of scientific and technical personnel, who had continued to stay at Salamonsa for the full 90 days before leaving, would have died in the same way as the people who died before them, by not checking for heavy metal poisoning and ending up with multiple organ failure and a strange death.
Salamonsa’s heavy metal poisoning, the hidden nature.
Carlos averted his eyes and concluded with a deep look:
-Salamonsa heavy metal poisoning, latent in the human body for three months before it can be detected, provided you leave within three months, which cannot be completed.
Once you have spent more than three months in Salamonsa before leaving, the toxicity is hidden from your body and you cannot check for any problems, or even die in a strange way without any physical pain.
Micaela had mixed feelings, Carlos could not come to Salamonsa for this reason and there was not much time left?
Both Nilson and Nicolas looked at each other with some different depth, and Micaela was too busy saddening herself to notice, and only came to herself when she heard Nicolas’ question….
-So how did the heavy metal toxins form in their bodies? Is it really from the water, the air, the plants here?
They had discussed it in previous meetings, and Nicolas had not been convinced, as they had also analyzed the water, air quality and a large number of plant studies at Salamonsa and had found no anomalies.
Carlos put down the other stack of reports in his hand and looked at Nicolas.
-Yes. The three complement and influence each other, one cannot be without the other. But why haven’t you figured it out?
Because these things, in certain environments, are not detected at all, as in Salamonsa.
Nilson pursued:
-You can’t find out in Salamonsa, so you’re in another country?
-Well. The things I pulled for testing, they all came back abnormal.
Now, all these patients with severe symptoms of heavy metal poisoning are the ones who tend to prefer tea, which suggests that water with Salamonsa tea may aggravate the poisoning.
Nilson frowned and asked again:
-But with all the years Salamonsians have been drinking the water here, and the tea is even more versatile, why aren’t Salamonsians poisoned with heavy metals? Even if quantity causes quality and allows men to reach toxic amounts around age 45, then why are women fine?
Thiago pushed up his glasses and said in a very calm tone:
-No, actually, the men and women of Salamonsa are poisoned by heavy metals.