Escaping

by Sebastien Acacia

  The fear

  After a trip of almost one hour, Helena stormed in their modest house shaped as a half circle, raised three feet over the land by metallic stilts to avoid being flooded during the extended raining periods. Matilda who kept silent until then, closed the door and let her emotions speaking for her.

  “It’s still time to say we find this thing! We can tell we found it while getting rid of the bloody water from the rice field. If they discover anything, we will rot in hell! It’s not that difficult to understand this? Is it?”

  “Ah! If hell could exist,” Helena grumbled in a low voice.

  “I’m tired of your usual blasphemies and of your disregard for what I believe in!” Matilda answered her.

  Helena wasn’t really paying attention to her daughter’s complain. Instead, she was going to a small outbuilding to get a spade.

  “Prepare your belongings! We’re leaving soon!”

  Alerted by the quarrel, Tao got out barking. Despite all his effort, the small animal couldn’t cover the interjections Matilda was yelling to her mother.

  “What?! I hope you’re kidding! It’s the only solution you’ve found to solve this problem? I will tell you what! I’m wondering why I’ve covered up for you during all these years! Your absences from church, all your blasphemous remarks... And what is that Esclarmonde? I didn’t dream? This man called you Esclarmonde, right?”

  Helena caught Tao then dropped him in the arm of his master. Finally, she opened the door and went to the magnificent mangrove tree where, in the shade, so many birthdays had been celebrated and so many happy meals had been shared with the family and beloved. Matilda was stuck. Her mother wasn’t caring at all about her. No answer. Not even an initial explanation.

  “OK!” She yelled from the door step. “You don’t leave me any choice mum. I’m going to see Father Matthew to tell him everything! I won’t risk anything... Not even for a second...”

  “The less you know, the safer you will be!” Her mother interjected. “All you need to know is that they will be back. It’s just a matter of time. This evening, tomorrow? I don’t know yet, but when they will discover who I’m , we should better not be around any more.”

  Matilda was tightly hugging Tao against her chest. A way to relate to something cute and gentle to better withstand what she just heard. Helena started digging at the foot of the hundred-year-old tree. What was happening? What did she mean “when they will discover who I’m ”? What was hiding under the mangrove tree where its shade had often provided her shelter to study the sacred text of the Bible. Matilda timidly moved toward her mother who was full of energy and who was digging again and again... Without a word, she watched her mother removing an old metallic cookie box.

  “Mum, what is this? Please, speak to me!”

  She wasn’t trying to confront her any more, but the young woman was trying a more conciliatory approach instead. Her mother opened the casket lid which contained a mysterious device displaying the letter N.A.S.A. Helena took it out, laid it on the floor and activated it.

  “I hope the pile is still working,” she mumbled.

  A small led screen lighted up and a few technical terms, which Matilda didn’t know the meaning, appeared. The atomic pile level was still indicating more than a quarter of century provision. After an encryption sequence, the word connexion established blinked on the screen.

  “Very well. Let’s hope they will arrive on time,” Helena softly whispered.

  “Who? Let’s hope who will arrive?”

  “Prepare your damn suitcase! We’re leaving!” Her mother told her angrily.

  Tao was barking as strong as he could, but this was still not very impressive. Matilda took a step back. She had never seen her mother like this. Scared! She could see fear on her face. Not a small fear due to a random plague or a bad harvest. No! A big fear, the real one. An intrinsic deep and urgent fear. A fear that only the promise of imminent death could cause.

  “I’m not going anywhere!” She answered her mother who just passed by her again.

  Helena turned back, still holding her strange device. She stared at her silently during a few minutes that only Tao’s barking were disturbing.

  “Do you really want to know what your great and wonderful Inosanto is capable of? Do you really want to know what this queasy Church is hiding? Your Terra Fecundis! Then, stay! Nevertheless, if you care about your life, and you just care a little about me, then prepare your belongings and pray your damn God they will arrive before the Legatee.”

  Helena rushed again toward the house door. Matilda couldn't undertake the weight of her own inexperience. The will to go find Father Matthew and confess everything to him still urged her. Was it the indescribable heart and family liking which was holding her? Little by little, she started understanding something huge was at stake. She joined her mother inside, making sure nobody in the neighbourhood had witnessed their altercation out of curiosity. It was not the first time they were arguing. Nevertheless, it had never been that aggressive, in the tone and in the speech.

  “Who? Who must come to get us?” Matilda asked her conciliatory. “And what is this device?”

  “Prepare your belongings and I promise you, we’ll speak about this after,” said Helena trying to calm her.

  “What about Paul?”

  “What Paul?”

  “What do you mean What Paul? Did you forget he was supposed to come tonight? What will I tell him?”

  “You decide. If you trust him enough, ask him to leave everything for you. You know exactly what I’m thinking about this.”

  “Too devout for you, too devout to change.”

  “Too coward, keeping his tail between his leg, like most of the followers. So don’t expect too much from him, and don’t expect he will follow us.”

  “Follow us? Are you kidding? The drones will locate us in no time, wherever we go.”

  “Catch this!”

  Instead of answering, Helena threw her a small backpack made of heavy waterproof canvas that she took from the highest shelf in the living room closet. Matilda wasn’t recognising her good old mother. She knew she didn’t care much about everything related to the Church, she wasn’t much social, but she had never suspected she could be rebellious to such an extent she wanted to run away from the agricultural community and to risk facing the invincible drones and militiamen with supernatural powers. She thought it was just madness. Tao was licking her fingers. Just the day before, she was still dreaming of being pregnant, settling with Paul and training Tao, so he would become a loyal companion in her life. She took a look on the backpack she had not even caught and which was lying on the floor in front of her feet. Staying, or leaving with her mother? This was the huge dilemma she had to solve much faster than she could have imagined it.

  “Matilda are you here?” Paul yelled, knocking on the door.

  Inosanto

  The communication wasn’t really good and the transmission time and reception were sometime having synchronisation issues so the interlocutors couldn’t understand each other properly. The old world telecommunication network hadn’t survived through all the conflicts and revolts which happened during the 20 years following the birth miracle. Many satellites were destroyed and the land networks were almost completely destroyed. In the Northern territories, atomic incident and a few well planned sabotages to blind the enemy had finally devastated the last remaining infrastructure. Since these tragic events, the Church had rethought the whole architecture around a network depending on the drones themselves. Inosanto only had one fear - not repeating the mistakes of the past. To avoid this, the network had to be fully decentralised. Even if the communications between the sacred lands of Africa and South America were still depending on an underwater cable from the previous era which was still intact due to its secondary importance when the wars happened, inland, each drone was acting as a relay antenna and was transmitting the data flow in a 12-mile radius. Depending on their respective position and on their missi
on order forcing them to move, the integrity of the network could be compromised or generate sudden and unpredictable clipping. However, it was virtually impossible for any group of terrorists to bring down the telecommunication system of Inosanto’s empire. If a drone was crashing in a war area, it would self-destruct and another one would take its place to ensure the integrity of the communication network. And drones were plenty. It was the most fabricated land response unit in the world and atomic piles provided them enough energy for a two-year autonomy. Also, several engineers’ community were competing hard to find a viable and readily implantable solution in order to improve the data flow through the big theocracy. The ones who succeeded had significant benefits as the communication ability had become a major issue for the political stability of the theocracy.

  “Here to serve you, Supreme Master!” The Legatee introduced himself through the video call unit of the operation centre in the sacred lands of Africa located in N’Djamena, 120 miles south of Kalia.

  “I hope you’re bringing me some good news!” Inosanto replied intimidating.

  “The target has been eliminated, Master.”

  “Good, very good. If your incompetence hadn’t given him the opportunity to escape, I could almost say you deserve your reputation.”

  “Unfortunately, I can’t hunt down the terrorists and take care of the factory at the same time...”

  “Enough! I don’t care about your apologies. Your task is to ensure the safety of all our installations and also to ensure the public order, otherwise a peaceful future of the Church can’t be considered.”

  “Please forgive me, Master. I already ordered the improvements you’ve requested. Now, you can be sure nobody will be able to escape.”

  “Speaking of this, I’m...”

  Inosanto was caught by such a loose cough, he could barely contain it despite the silk tissue he put in front of his mouth. According to the red shade penetrating instantly the delicate fabric, it was obvious that the mucus Inosanto rejected wasn’t just due to a simple seasonal cold. While he stood back to resume the conversation, the hood hiding his stigmata on the side of his skull slid and covered his shoulders. Seeing this almost rotting skin, the Legatee couldn’t hide an imperceptible smirk of disgust.

  “... I’m surprised this dear Victor has been so far. He could have escaped toward the North. From all the assumption, it would have been the most logical. Where did you find him exactly?”

  “In the small agricultural community of Kalia, East of Lake Chad, Master. I’ve transferred you all the data concerning the execution and the questioning of the witnesses who were there.”

  “Some witnesses? This is very interesting.”

  Inosanto was watching the video recorded by the drones and the identification data appearing in real time on each person at the scene. Next to Helena’s face, a picture of a much younger her and her full name “Helena Sroulevic” appeared. It was the same for Matilda and Angelica with their potential family relationship.

  “I haven’t found anything unusual, Master. These women are simple farm workers who were carrying out productive tasks.”

  “Strange hand sign, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t follow you, Master,” the Legatee humbly answered.

  “Look, go back a little... That’s it! Here. The way she lays these three fingers on her forehead with the palm of her hand facing the face. She is saying something, but impossible to hear what. I’ve already seen that somewhere.”

  “This is the first time I see this.”

  “God gave me eternal life, but being 170 years old, I’m terribly lacking memory. Start a similarity research of her face. My gut is telling me our dear friend Victor hasn’t chosen this small agricultural community randomly.”

  “Right now, Master.”

  With the tip of his fingers, the Legatee selected Helena’s identification picture and dragged it in an analysis window, then he pressed a research command through all the network data. A few seconds were enough to find hundreds of results.

  “Hmm! Interesting,” Inosanto declared. “Look at this my dear Legatee!” He added while clicking on a scientific article published on the 3rd March 2145.

  Sophie Lecuyer, biochemist, geneticist and renown world expert in cellular microbiology is one more time warning the international community about the danger of involving the religion in the world political affairs. Fierce activist for the establishment of a technological government fully dedicated to science in order to ensure the humankind future, she is arguing the famous Godless Decade was just a natural incident and had nothing to do with God.

  “Blablabla …” Inosanto laughed. “Needless to say, that almost five years after the exact day of this article publication, Terra Fecundis was leading the world! Ah, these miscreants!”

  “How Victor could have known she was living in Kalia?”

  “Whatever how he knew it. She escaped the great purge,” Inosanto declared. “And she was probably not the only one.”

  “I will correct this mistake, Master. She will be executed before the end of...”

  “No! I want her alive.”

  “But?”

  “Enough, Legatee! Alive, you hear me, alive! And if you hold on your life, you will bring her to me personally.”

  “At your command, Master. I’m leaving right now.”

  “One last thing.”

  “Yes.”

  “I also want her daughter!”

  “It’s as if it were already done... Master.”

  The communication abruptly stopped. The Legatee called his personal guard, who arrived in a second.

  “Here to serve you, Legatee!”

  “Prepare the MRU, we’re going back to Kalia.”

  Revelations

  Paul knocked again on the door.

  “Matilda, open the door, what’s happening?”

  “What do I do?” Matilda asked in a low voice, shrugging and referring to the door in an accusing way.

  “What is he doing here at this time?” Her mother whispered.

  “He must be aware of something, that’s the only reason I can think about. Hide your device,” she said while looking at her.

  Helena opened the cellar and put the NASA device and the glass container inside while her daughter was restlessly staring at her and giving her the backpack.

  “Here, put it inside too.”

  Helena closed behind, while Matilda was getting near the door.

  Dong dong dong!

  “Matilda, open! What’s happening?”

  The two long-standing accomplices looked at each other one last time, then Matilda opened the door trying her best to conceal her anxiety.

  “You look very nervous, sweetheart. What’s the matter.”

  Paul was a tall and beautiful metis with eyes darks like the Jaboticaba berries. The perfect progenitor. An Adonis in all his glory. The dream for every young woman in the community and even the women in their forties were gladly fantasising about him while looking at him, bare chest, digging the Kang Kong under the beautiful sunshine of the sacred lands of Africa. But, because there is always a but, his only default was he didn’t create the spade, he was just using it as Helena was so often telling.

  “What do you mean, what’s happening? You should tell me, I just met Angelica who has told me about you misadventures in the rice fields,” he worried while getting inside the main room of the house.

  “Ah! This? Just a fugitive who just got what he deserved. Nothing justifying dismantling the door.”

  “Hello Helena! I didn’t see you.”

  “Hello my dear Paul. Don’t worry, the Milicia Christi handled this invader before he could go after us.”

  “Angelica told me she saw him jumping over more than thirty feet, quite impossible for common mortals.”

  “Jumping? An old man jumping around? Uhh?” Matilda said surprised while seeking the help of her mother.

  She directly added.

  “Paul, don’t tell me you beli
eve this nonsense?”

  “Uhh!” He lowed without knowing what to add.

  “But! Pauuuul!” Helena added. “You know Angelica, she has been through so many things during the last recent days and she isn’t completely in full possession of her mind. This was an old and fragile man, and he could barely run. So, jump!”

  “Angelica was so close to Sonia... But she will recover,” Matilda added to nail this discussion.

  “Still, for the Legatee to come in person, he must have been a big catch,” Paul nodded.

  “What do you know about fish?” Helena provoked him.

  “Uhh!”

  “That’s what I was thinking!”

  Mother and daughter looked at each other from the corner of their eyes while faking a few house chores, one folding a tablecloth, the other cleaning the fur Tao left on the couch.

  “I couldn’t imagine he will lose so many hairs, he is so small,” Matilda said.

  “You wanted a dog, now you’ve to take responsibility!” Helena answered, seizing this opportunity to divert the conversation.

  “He is so cute!” She answered while referring to the small animal playing with a plastic bone in the middle of the room.

  “Meanwhile, we’ve some clothes to order, dishes to wash, a cellar to empty, all the linen to hang and much more.”

  Paul, cautiously watching the small household, was feeling a little ridiculous for running in like this.

  “Hmm! I think I will leave you alone,” he surrendered embarrassed.

  “We see each other tonight darling, don’t we?” Matilda was gloating.

  “Yes, of course. Would you like me to bring a bit of Kang Kong from the plantation for dinner?”

  “Such a great idea!” Helena answered from the kitchen with a too heated tone.

  “Good,” he concluded before closing the front door behind him.

  “Mum!” Matilda interrupted her mother in a low voice, a bit angry.