by T. J. Mines
Now it's Abdul's time to sit still and think about what the other said. It takes him far longer to process it. He can think of only one possible reply to what Meryam just said.
"What initial feeling?" he asks.
"That you are the one for me," she says, blushing. She squeezes his hand.
The connection is exhilarating and Abdul has all kinds of feelings all at once. They both felt the spark when they met and both want to see if there is a possibility of more. His heart races. Then she lets go of his hands and sits back in her chair. The distance she created just now feels like a blow to his face. She's made up her mind and his silence made her see that he's not the one for her. Abdul looks down, feeling beaten.
He looks up and sees Meryam smiling at him. She's even more beautiful than normal with that smile. He knew that already but seeing it for real keeps surprising him. She reaches for his hand and brushes past it just as Joe comes back with their food and drinks. Abdul moves his hands from the table to make room. Meryam must've seen Joe coming and reacted to the problem that their hands were blocking the space where the food must go. Joe puts down a large pot of tea, Turkish style, and a big plate with the flatbread and an assortment of dips.
"I thought you'd like to have some more variety in your toppings," Joe says as he moves away from the table, "on the house for the two lovebirds."
Abdul and Meryam laugh.
Abdul just dropped Meryam off at her place. She lives in a nice part of town with only residential buildings. She didn't invite him over. She still lives with her parents, as is the custom in Du Bois. Housing is scarce and you'll only get a place on your own if you're married or have no family living in town.
The date went perfect. The food was great and the conversation even better. They have a lot in common. Their world view differs a bit, but that understandable. In fact, if she would've thought the same of how the world should be as he, he wouldn't have wanted to date her anymore. The indoctrination by Al Bari is so much different than what you learn here. He has always second-guessed what they told him at home and he used logic to clarify the sometimes dubious rules, but still some of the notions sunk in and stayed to shape his mind.
Talking with the people here, Hank, Greta and now Meryam, show him that he can change. The things he's seen here are so much better suited for him. He really wants to learn more. He wants to stay.
On his way to the hostel Abdul thinks about the rest of the evening. It couldn't have gone better for a first date. He did spill food on his shirt, twice, but she wiped it away for him before he even noticed it there. They discussed going to a movie for a short while but decided against. They have to work tomorrow and they both needed to process what happened during the date first.
Abdul is sure he's going to ask her out for tomorrow night too. Maybe a quick bite and then the movies. Or first the movies and some food after. Maybe he can come over after. But her parents would be at home and he thinks that would go too fast for Meryam. And for him too. What if that's what holds her back in staying together for longer than just an evening? He knows he could've spend another few hours with her before he had to sleep. But what can you do in a crowded city if you want to find a quiet spot to talk. And cuddle. He wants to cuddle her so bad. Just wrap his arms around her and protect her. From everything or nothing at all. It doesn't matter.
He walks up to the building the hostel is in. Still thinking about finding a quiet spot to retreat he walks past the reception.
"Hey!" the lady behind the reception says.
"Hi," Abdul responds and keeps on walking.
"Wait," the lady says, "are you Abdul Mikhail?"
Abdul stops in his tracks and turns back to the counter.
"Yes, I am. Is something wrong?"
"Oh no, not at all," she says, "I just have a message for you."
Abdul walks up to the counter.
"From who?" he asks.
"The city of Du Bois," she says and starts looking into a box filled with cards.
"Why would they want to send me a message?"
"I don't know," she says and hands him a card, smiling, "I bet it's in there."
Abdul takes the card and opens it.
To Abdul Mikhail,
Welcome at Du Bois and thank you for signing up for a working permit.
We are pleased that the nature of your profession entitles you to a personal room at the cost of a shared room. Please show this card to the location you are staying at and they will help you. Please note that any further upgrades are without any discounts and at your own cost.
Sincerely,
Du Bois permit office
It is hand signed with "Pieter". He looks the card over. It looks plain and simple. But what's said has so much value. He hands it over to the lady on the other side of the counter.
"This states that I can have a room to myself at the cost of a shared room."
"Oh," the lady takes the card and looks him over, "have you just started working here in town?"
"Yes, I have," he answers.
"Congratulations!" She says clapping her hands, "And thank you for helping us. Are you working as a guard or at the farm?"
"At the farm," he says, "how did you know?"
"You're a farmer!" she looks him over again, "so, any plans for tonight?"
"What? No, yes, I have to work tomorrow."
"Too bad, farmers are so handsome and get so rich here."
"Rich? Handsome?"
"Yes," she explains, "we never have enough people who can farm and food is the one thing we always need. And protection too, but without food who needs protecting. Because of that the City Council has made farmers and guards privileged citizens. I've tried to be a farmer too, but I was really bad at it. Nothing grew. So here I am, running this hostel."
She tries to show off her cleavage as she's explaining. Abdul finds it all strange and a but unbelievable. But this will give him a chance to get a private place for him and Meryam. So he changes his booking. He goes to the dormitory and grabs his stuff. The lady from the reception follows him up. She walks with him to his room 'to see if the room is good enough' or so she says. He thanks her and closes the door shutting her out.
The room is furnished with a double bed, a desk and a chair. Off to one side is a doorway into a small shower room. It has a sink and a toilet too. The doorway can be closed with a sliding door. On the other side is a build-in closet. He opens it and puts away his belongings. It even has a small safe. He has nothing of value to store but it feels nice to be able to. He undresses, drops down on the bed and falls asleep.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"Good morning Ismael," the guard manning the front desk greets as Ismael walks in, "how's you leg? Still attached?"
"Hi Paul," Ismael says, "I'm walking, so yes, it's still attached."
In fact, Ismael is limping after the wound he suffered yesterday. His heel hurts like hell and he doesn't want to talk about it. He hasn't slept all night after the incident. The whole operation doesn't add up. Al Bari forces were trying to burrow a way into town without anyone here knowing it. Also, the location of the parking garage hasn't been known to the Du Bois residents until they found it crawling with enemy soldiers. So if they didn't know about it, how could Al Bari? The whole situation is a mess. Maybe there were archives in which the weak spot could be found, but if there were, they were here in town and not anywhere else. Why would it be? Who would've had the thought at the time of turmoil when the wars raged and the ice came to pack up architectural data of a place that would most likely be destroyed? That's just illogical.
He walks over to the stairs down to the basement. Four levels down are the research labs where they put everything they found in the command tent. Walking the steps hurt even more. He holds the rail and takes his time. He feels older than the Captain.
He exits the stairwell and steps into the hallway. There he's stopped by a fellow guard.
"Halt," he says, "only authorized personnel is allowed beyond this poin
t."
"I know," Ismael replies, "I'm the one that told Garreth to close off this part of the building."
"Anyone can say that," the guard says, "prove it."
"Sure, let me thumb open that lock there," Ismael says as he steps forward to the door leading into the research wing.
"No you won't," the guard says and puts his hand against Ismael's chest to stop him moving any further.
"Look," Ismael says, "what's your name?"
"Anton Veclova," he answers.
"Anton," Ismael begins, "I'm guessing you haven't been here for long so I'm going to make this clear and simple for you. I'm Ismael and I've got full jurisdiction to enter this location. The only way you can know that is to let me put my thumb against that lock there. You could ask your superior on your comms if I am who I say I am but he has to come down here to see me and be sure. So that would take time out of his, but more importantly my day in which I could do my work. So, what's it going to be?"
"But you could tamper with the system and get in anyway."
"I could, but you can put my thumb on it yourself if you really want."
"I will," Anton says and grabs Ismael's hand. He pulls Ismael with him to the fingerprint scanner and puts Ismael's thumb on it. The lock clicks and a green light is shown. Anton let's go of Ismael's hand.
"I'm sorry sir," Anton says, "I didn't know."
"It's okay Anton. Be this vigilant on the others who want to come here and it'll be fine. Just make sure you let the Captain enter without any fuss. You know who the Captain is, right?"
"Yes, I know, of course. Who doesn't know the Captain?"
"Good, now, can I enter now?"
"Yes sir, and a good day to you." Anton holds open the door as Ismael steps through. He closes it as soon as Ismael crosses the threshold.
Ismael walks through the central corridor of this wing. Left and right are conference rooms now filled with boxes from the command tent. At the end of the hallway is a laboratory with specialist equipment to test for DNA or traces of chemicals. They won't need that for this research project. The last room on the right is filled with servers and computers. The door is closed but Ismael can hear the humming and feel the heat emanating from the room. He enters the last room on the left. Last night he instructed the men to leave that one free of boxes and place the table with the projector and computer in it. That will be his base of operations for this task.
Down the hallway a door opens and closes. Ismael sticks his head out of the door to look who it is. The Captain is stomping down the corridor looking furious. He sees Ismael and starts yelling.
"Who in all the hells made that, that, that dumb ass stand guard out there?" he starts.
"Not sure, but he's thorough." Ismael puts on a smile to temper the Captain's mood. "What did he do?"
"He asked me who I was, me!"
"So he didn't know you by face."
"No he didn't. Did he tell you he did?"
"Yes, but that's not important anymore. You're in and we can start our tedious task of sorting all this crap."
"Don't change the subject," the Captain says, "how am I to rant on about this moron we accepted as a fellow guard member when you come straight to business?"
"You don't," Ismael says with a bigger smile, "the whole point of us being here is to find out who planned to attack us and how they knew about the garage."
"Yes but…" the Captain starts, "Never mind. How do you plan on tackling this small mountain of paper?"
"I wanted to talk to you about that," Ismael says, "what do you think about sorting it all by subject?"
"What subjects do you have in mind?"
"Technical manuals, strategic documents, memo's, orders. Something like that?" Ismael shrugs.
"That will leave us with a damn large pile of manuals and smaller piles for the rest," the Captain says.
"Fine with me," Ismael says, "Let the techs sort the manuals on device or vehicle. I don't have time for that."
The Captain takes a moment to think it over.
"Sure," he says, "let's do it your way."
"Great, but before we start I wanted to discuss the projector and computer with you too."
"What about it?" the Captain asks.
"We both aren't equipped to look into that thing," Ismael says, "I think we should ask Xabier to research it for us. He knows about computers and how they work. He can look into the data stored in that thing without destroying everything else on it."
"Good thinking," the Captain agrees, "add him to the authorization list."
"Already done," Ismael says, "I just need to notify him of his new task."
The Captain shakes his head and mutters something under his breath.
"What was that?" Ismael asks.
"Nothing," the Captain answers, "just that you young people presume to know everything and arrange for stuff before the older, wiser, people can agree with you."
Ismael laughs. He puts a hand on the Captain's shoulder.
"I'm sorry Captain, I'll ask first and act later the next time."
"No you won't," the Captain says. He snorts a short laugh. "At least your intentions are good."
"What took you so long this morning?"
"I was at the tech yard inspecting the stuff we took from the parking garage. They're cataloging each item before putting it in storage."
"Smart thinking. Was there anything unusual?"
"Apart from the electric sniper gun you found?" the Captain asks.
Ismael nods.
"Nothing much. We did however find a few unopened crates already in storage. Nobody knew what's in them so we peeked inside. Turns out they're full of beetles."
"Beetles? Weird."
"Enough chit chat, let's get to work," the Captain says.
After Ismael send the new orders to Xabier, he and the Captain start clearing a table in one of the rooms to start their sorting. When they're done Xabier walks in.
"Hi guys," he greets, "what do you need me for?"
The Captain looks at Xabier.
"You're quick," the Captain says, "didn't that moron outside keep you from entering?"
"Who? Anton?" Xabier says, "oh no, I've seen Anton around. When I stepped in he tried to key open the door himself."
"What?" the Captain reacts, "who does he think you are? Me?"
Ismael laughs while Xabier looks confused.
"Never mind him," Ismael says to Xabier, "he's just disgruntled Anton didn't recognize him."
"Well, I was at his introduction to the force," Xabier explains, "so he's seen me before."
"Did he get to open the door for you?" Ismael asks.
"No, of course not," Xabier answers, "he was disappointed at that, but could understand the security precautions taken in this case."
"Good," the Captain says under his breath.
"As for what we have for you, Xabier," Ismael starts, "you're going to delve into the computer we found in the camp."
"Cool!" Xabier says, "Um, sorry. Sure, no problem."
"That's okay," the Captain says, "everyone his own. If you're excited about it, all the better."
"Thanks," Xabier says, "where's the computer now?"
"Come with me," Ishmael says and walks out the room, leaving the Captain with the first stack of paper to sort. In the computer room he shows Xabier the setup.
"I need my equipment and get ready," Xabier says, "so I'm not going to start right away."
"Do what you need. Time is important but it's better to be thorough in this case."
"Will do. You know me, mister thoroughness." Xabier looks embarrassed at the name he gave himself. Ismael laughs it away.
"Go do you thing, we'll be in the other room sorting."
It takes a few days of hard labor to sort everything but the Captain and Ismael get it done. The resulting stack of technical documentation is impressive. Ismael has never before seen that much paper. They didn't sort it by device or documentation type, that's for the techs to do. Ismael did see tha
t most of the documentation was about the TBM.
Now they know what's what they start on reading the memo's and strategic documents. That also takes some time and plenty of note taking from the both of them. Meanwhile Xabier dissected the computer and retrieved the information stored within. He has recreated the setup with his own Du Bois hardware to eliminate any interference by the Al Bari hardware.
After a week Xabier walks in on Ismael reading more of the documents.
"Hi Ish," Xabier says, "where's the Captain?"
"He's with the council to report on our progress," Ismael answers.
"Okay, should I wait to show you what I've found then?"
Ismael looks at his stacks of paper and takes a moment to make up his mind.
"Nah, show me," he says, "If it's worth something we can show the Captain later."
Together they walk over to the room now dubbed the 'projector room'. Inside the lights are dimmed and the projector on the ceiling is humming. Cables run from it, along the ceiling, to a computer in the corner. The table's electronics are also connected to the same computer. It looks like a nest of snakes surround the metal box.
"It's hot in here," Ismael remarks.
"I know, it's the electronics," Xabier says as he points out the different components, "they're running at their top capacity and need to be cooled. But I got it to work. Look at this!"
Xabier puts his hand over the table. Around it icons appear. He taps one and the table lights up. It shows Du Bois in virtual 3D as it is now. There is one exception, the extra wings on the farm have been added already, even though they are just starting construction on those.
"This is the data we found in the parking garage," Xabier explains, "it shows the map of Du Bois with all the strategic points for a direct assault."
He walks around the table and makes a motion over it. The map shifts to the north, revealing the garage.
"Here is where you shot the scouts," Xabier points on the map, "and this is the dig site, very close to the outer walls."
