by Madlen Namro
granted her a space plane, already surrounded by a curious crowd. Then she walked to the hotel suggested by the commander. On her way, she heard sounds of almost non-stop reports in the distance. The hotel was of typical Egyptian culture with only a little modern technology here and there. Like every establishment of this sort, it had water and air filters installed all over. The terrorists would sometimes release toxins directly into the atmosphere. Hotels for the military personnel, such as this one, had computers installed in every room to allow direct contact with the whole world, often also those drifting above it.
As soon as Jo reached her room she dropped to the bed. She was exhausted. She allowed herself a moment of rest before getting up and switching on the computer. She typed her password from the identification card she’d received at the airport. This gave her access to Freestation data bases.
She next entered the search keywords, ‘Magdalena hacker’, the first thing that came to her mind. Not surprisingly, the computer returned an unknown message.
She looked out the window and reached for a banana on the table. Enjoying the delightful taste of the Earth fruit she went out into the dusty road at the back of the hotel.
The road lead into the desert. She took a few moments to admire the horizon and the rusty colour of the Egyptian mountains. It was as beautiful a place as any on the planet. She smiled as she stood there, forgetting for a moment about the difficulties ahead.
* * * *
Levi and David sat and discussed their options late into the night. The commodore informed him of everything that had taken place at the base while he’d been away.
“I went to see the senator,” Levi said, “but we’re not to leave the base for now. Jo’s been suspended from her duties.”
“So what now? We’re not going to just abandon her, are we?”
A strong knock on the door interrupted them. The men looked at each other, frowning. Who could it be at this time of night? Most people in the base were long asleep. However, when the door opened and they saw Alec, the commodore was less surprised than one might have expected.
“I want to help.” He stepped inside without waiting for an invitation. David, whose animosity towards Alec was well established, did not even try to conceal his contempt.
“All right,” Levi agreed, knowing a refusal would be unlikely to stop him.
“Jo may be in the mountains now, if she didn’t get permission to land, or…”
“She was allowed to land. She’s now in Freestation territory,” David interrupted him.
“Yes,” Levi took over, “but, after sunset, she’s bound to either try to cross the mountains or roam illegally around the base, asking around for Magdalena.”
“Well, she’s determined enough.” David sighed into his hands and Alec stared numbly at the floor.
A moment later they looked at each other. Without further words they made a truce for as long as they needed to co-operate, but both knew that once this was over, they wanted nothing to do with each other.
“Okay, I’ve a plan,” the commodore said, his voice lowered as he turned the lock in the door.
* * * *
Jo stretched out on the bed. Only on Earth could she sleep so well. She got up and had breakfast served by an elderly hotel maid. She got dressed and left the room. It was still early, but the sun had already heated the air to twenty degrees Celsius. She hoped to reach the base headquarters before the heat became unbearable. Globally, technology was booming, but in this part of the world not much had changed. Only in the places occupied by the military one could feel it was the year 2143. Everywhere else the same old poverty reigned unchallenged.
At the headquarters, she flashed her identity card and was allowed to see the base commander.
“What brings you to our base, Captain? We have not been informed of your visit.”
“I’m here on private business. I’m looking for a woman named Magdalena.” Jo decided to come clean bluntly and hope for the best. She was not sure whether she risked anything by being so straightforward. Suddenly, she remembered David’s surname, which was likely still the name of his sister.
“Magdalena Scar,” she said.
“I see…” The commander pointed her to a seat and they both sat.
“I’m looking for her because she’s the sister of a friend of mine and I need her help.”
“I understand.” The man took out a cigarette pack and offered her one.
“You haven’t heard of her?” The cigarette smoke flew blissfully down to her lungs. She felt as if she hadn’t smoked for years but it was soothing and relaxing. So, I’m a smoker then, she thought.
“I’m afraid not.”
Jo got up and turned towards the door. Every minute mattered. She needed to find Magdalena before Atlantis sent people after her.
“One more thing…” Jo put out the cigarette in an ashtray where it joined a dozen other butts. Where did he get all that tobacco, she wondered, before saying, “I’d like to borrow a car with military automatics.”
“Of course. That can be arranged. Follow me, please.” He stood up and led her towards the centre of the building. The deeper they got, the more Arab men they passed who all invariably whistled when seeing a woman.
They stopped in front of a strongbox from which the commander fished out a few car-alarm remotes. He chose one and handed it to Jo.
“I’ll need your identity card.”
Jo gave him the document. It was standard procedure to prevent people from disappearing with the vehicle.
“I haven’t been to Earth for some time…” She hesitated.
The man inserted the card into a computer reader and her data popped up on the screen.
“So it seems. You left Earth three years ago.”
He took out the card and placed it in the strongbox. He would return it to her after she returned with the car. With the remote and registration documents in her hand, Jo started towards the parking lot he’d shown her to.
And so she managed to find out one more fact about her past. She’d been on Earth three years before. Pity she hadn’t asked straightforwardly where exactly she had been, but such a question would have likely given her memory blank away. She pondered on that for a moment. Time permitting, she might return to that room one day and use the reader to get more details from her card.
The road was hardly a pleasant one. The parking lot was located underground and the smell was revolting. The shabby walls were stacked with heaps of discarded garbage. It took a while before she managed to find the car. Luckily the remote opened it. The same button also allowed her to start the engine.
She left the military base following the dark, winding exit of the parking lot. She turned into the dust road behind her hotel and sped down it in a cloud of dust and engine roar, leaving the bemused bystanders far behind.
* * * *
“Your wife will be discharged in a few days.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Alec shook the man’s hand. After the whole night of planning in Levi’s room, he
was completely shattered, but for once, more optimistic about the future. He dreamt of a shower and at least a few hours sleep. On his way to the flat, he noticed Margaret walking in his direction. He waited for her.
“Margaret, I have to ask you a favour,” he started, without unnecessary introductions. “I won’t be able to pick Diana up from the hospital. Think you could do it?”
“I know she can’t count on you to do anything.” She scowled. “If you’re not there, she’s bound to take it as a sign of your indifference. That’s a sure way towards a divorce.”
“Oh, stop it,” Alec cut in on her. He’d had more than enough of the constant nagging and complaints he’d been hearing from the two women. “I said I can’t. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”
He walked off, retreating back to his thoughts of the evening meeting up with Levi and David. The commodore prepared for the meeting with all his meticulousness. He discretely entered the hang
ar where the technologists and automatics technicians were working on the damaged plane they’d flown in only a dozen or so hours ago across the starry skies.
“The engine’s fixed.” One of the technicians approached him. “It was an electronics malfunction, nothing mechanical.”
“I thought as much. Think you can have it ready soon?” “Yes, Commodore. It’s almost done.”
Levi walked closer to the man and whispered in his ear. “This is a top secret mission.”
“Understood, Sir.”
Levi returned to his quarters and quickly packed his
bag.
It was decided. He was about to break an order for the second time in his career and fly to Earth to find one of his commandos. To make it worse, this commando didn’t remember much and was completely unaware of the progress the terrorists had made in the last five years, the cities they’d occupied, the people they’d killed and the defeats the commandos had suffered at their hands.
Unless they found her quickly enough, she was more than likely to perish at the hands of the terrorists, or just as easily be killed by some rogue Egyptian soldiers looking for an adventure.
The conflict had been raging for years. The soldiers stationed at space bases were often reproached for running away from the problem, hiding in the clouds. It was not a healthy situation, which often lead to attempts of sabotage, desertions and even suicides.
“Commodore. Where’s the fire?” A senator’s voice halted him mid-step. The politician was standing in Levi’s door.
“Senator… I’m surprised to see you awake at this hour.” Levi’s hardly witty response was mostly due to the startle the elderly man had given him.
“Old people require little sleep. I often go for walks when everyone is asleep. It’s a good time to think.”
“I see.” Levi continued packing and zipping up the rucksack.
“So… where did you say you were going?”
The commodore looked up quizzically. He had no idea how to answer that.
* * * *
David was already at the hangar, waiting by the plane. He was talking to the technicians and technologists who slowly backed the craft out towards the runway. It was quiet. Most people in the base were already fast asleep. Moments later he was joined by Alec.
“Where’s Levi?”
“Should be here any minute.”
They watched the plane taxi outside, but each of them
pondered on their future once they had left the base without permission, as well as what would happen to Jo if they didn’t. They also realised that the desertion in itself was no guarantee of finding the captain in the first place.
A technologist, dressed in a overcoat with various electronic attached to it, broke the silence.
“I’ve calculated your total body mass and there shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t expect it to influence the planes flight capacity. But I wouldn’t take another person on-board.” He smiled, showing off two silver front teeth. “You know, overload it.”
“Let’s get on.” David glanced at Alec. “There’s not much time.”
They got on-board the plane and started the engines.
“As soon as you see the commodore, open the hatch so he can get right in and we’ll be out of here,” David shouted at Alec. The noise made any communication difficult.
David powered up the navigation computers and entered the destination: ‘Freestation. Old Cairo’.
Meanwhile, the senator would not give up.
“So, what will it be, Commodore?” He’d naturally figured out that Levi was planning to leave the base, but wasn’t sure if he was going alone. “You’re ready to break a direct order and chase after some piece of skirt?” characteristic, black probes and readers
“No, Senator. I’m breaking an order to rescue a soldier, a commando, the captain of my ship, a woman in desperate need.” Levi regained his self-esteem and walked out briskly, heading for the hangar, the senator just a step behind him. Levi could feel him breathing down his neck. He walked faster, but the senator managed to keep up.
“I doubt I’ll be able to convince the Council to authorise this flight. You’re more than likely to be punished on your return. You know as well as I do, Commodore, that tomorrow is zero hour. The Defence Council will gather to inform us of its decisions.”
The commodore did not answer nor did he slow down. Once the decision had been made there was nothing that could stop him in his tracks.
“Commodore, can you please at least tell me where you’re going?”
“Freestation.”
The senator caught his arm so suddenly that he had to stop despite the hurry he was in.
“In forty-eight hours we are launching an attack on Old Cairo. One of the enemy’s main bases has been uncovered in the area.”
The commodore swallowed heavily. He said nothing. Instead he turned around and set off racing towards the hangar. He ran as fast as he could.
How could I have let Jo fly for David? He kept asking himself along the way. I should have trusted my feelings, my vision of Jo’s memory wipe. He could have gone himself, since there been no volunteers, but he’d wanted to prove to her and himself that Jo was tough, that despite everything she could handle it. He was wrong. Jo’s procedure had affected her much more than he’d expected. She was confused, desperate and determined, enough to desert in order to find the hacker. She needed to find out the truth about herself. He should have known she would not give up until she knew everything. Levi stormed into the hangar. Alec and David had already spotted him and the engines were working at full capacity. The commodore jumped inside the craft, closed the hatch and put on his earpiece so that he could communicate with the two commandos.
“Step on it gentlemen. Jo’s in trouble.”
* * * *
Located to the north of the military base, Al Kahira, Cairo, the capital of Egypt and the heart of Islam, invited everyone to dive into its everyday life and as a consequence attracted visitors like a magnet.
Jo was following a dusty road towards the city, driving at hair-raising speed. She’d always enjoyed going fast, especially in cars, as cars hardly compare to flying a shuttle or any other spacecraft for that matter.
Old Cairo – the last Egyptian free city. One of few remaining true tourist havens. Still reliving the days of its greatest prosperity. It was the part of the world known as the ‘Time of God’. Legend has it that the god Osiris used to sit on his throne, uniting the country. The ancient, fabulous prehistory of the Egyptian civilisation was sadly mostly forgotten, leaving only a handful of sketched images in the hands of the few remaining historians.
Jo pulled over at the side of the road. She turned on her computer and typed in ‘Magdalena Scar’ – ‘Unknown’. Next, she tried ‘hacker woman cairo’. The car’s printer spat out just one name and address and neither told her anything.
She read the data carefully, trying to memorise it. She did not notice an approaching group of Arab youths armed with clubs and metal bats, wrapped in chains and with sand guns hanging at their belts.
One of them ran up to the car and smashed his club into the driver’s side window, spraying glass into the air. Jo turned her face away so as not to be cut by the pieces, then calmly grabbed the attackers wrist with a leopard’s speed and heaved strongly, pulling it inside until the attacker’s head appeared at the window. Then she hit him hard with a clenched fist. Knocked out, the man dropped to the ground. Jo opened the door and stepped out of the car, straightening up to exaggerate her height and strength.
“Run for it! She’s a commando!” one of the attackers cried out in Arabic and fled.
The others laughed at him and fixed their eyes on Jo.
She remembered one of the first things they’d taught her at school. The sport was never brutal, but people could be. She moved towards the nearest man, realising that attack was always the best form of defence.
A front kick; the first youth was struck by her foot in the chest, whi
ch kept him at a safe distance. At the same time, she turned in a roundhouse kick striking down another one trying to close on her from the side. She pushed away one after another with several atemis executed here and there. She aimed for the most sensitive and exposed points on their bodies. Saving her strength, she looked for the most efficient pressure points. She realised she was dealing with little more than children. She kicked with her heel, a move that was once banned in kick-boxing, but they’d asked for it, hadn’t they? Another side kick. She remembered to deliver each kick with a combination of arm blows. She stepped aside a little when they came closer, remembering that the absence of the body is much better than the presence of the mind. She was glad to see her enemies weakening after only a few minutes. In a moment of peace she took off her jacket and tossed it to the ground. Using a strong hand technique she designated the worst atemi to the strongest of her assailants. After a spin kick she struck him in the groin. She remembered the famous words of Chuang-Tzu: whatever you do, stay in the centre.
Soon she was distributing strong kicks all around, aiming for the insides of their thighs, putting them off balance. She used their confusion and with the great speed she’d painstakingly trained herself for, she shot out her right leg and smacked her foot into the side of the head of the closest one. He fell to the ground. Two down, two to go.
The ones still upright reached for their weapons, but before they could use them, Jo rapidly thrust out her leg and her boot lodged hard into one of the youth’s stomach. He painfully gasped for air and dropped to the ground. She then positioned herself so that the last one was on her side. She pulled her knee up to her chest and shot it out in one smooth motion, kicking him away by several metres. Before he could gather himself, she was already on him. She felt like finishing with something flashy. She’d always liked showing off. Kata-forms, the last high kick, requiring great skill as well as a lot of acrobatic aptitude, finished the fight beyond any doubt.
As the few assailants still able to walk began to flee, leaving the more seriously hurt writhing in the dirt or unconscious, Jo picked up her jacket, dusted herself off and got back into her car. The automatic cleaning programme was already working to get it back into working order. She critically glanced at the glasswork – Egyptian makeshift – and entered the unknown hacker’s address. A moment later the sat-nav was back online and she could go on her way. As she slowly drove off, a cigarette in her hand, she smiled, glad she was still in shape.
