A Day of Ends and Beginnings, Part 3
Takomaan - 10:00 AM
“Wow!” Alexandra was like a giddy child in a candy store. She swung her flashlight around, its beam sweeping across the floor and walls so fast that the others could barely keep up. “Nobody’s been in here for thousands of years, until us! Isn’t that amazing? We’re the first ones to drop by since the original owners left!”
“One geeky scientist, a soldier who’s watched way too many horror movies, a country boy, and a scimitar-toting teenager with some strange political ideas?”
“Don’t forget that scientist’s equally geeky husband,” Alexandra replied.
Magnus rolled his eyes. “If any of the previous owners are haunting this place, I feel sorry for them.”
“H-Haunting?!” Leyla stammered. She swung her radar sensor around like a sword.
“Why do you still have that?” Samir asked. “We’re not scanning anything anymore.”
“I feel safer holding it!”
“Aren’t you a soldier?”
“Yes, but I never trained inside an abandoned ruin from a forgotten period of human history!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Whenever Alexandra found a new doorway, Gulichi went through first, rifle ready to go.
“Watch out for spikes!” Leyla replied.
“For the last time, there
are no spikes!” Alexandra jotted down the new room in a map she had drawn in her notebook. “Even if there were, they probably wouldn’t work anymore. This place is out of power of all kinds.”
“Can’t we do something about it?” Gulichi asked. “It’s really dark in here.”
Magnus set down a glowstick. He had been leaving one in each room they passed through, pointing them in the direction of the door that would take them back to the entrance. “Unfortunately not. Even if we did have something compatible with their grid—assuming they had an electrical grid—the wiring would have long decayed or fallen apart.”
“So glowsticks are the best we can do?”
“We didn’t have room to take that many lamps with us.”
“AHA!” Alexandra suddenly stopped. “Jackpot!”
Everybody went over to Alexandra’s side. “What is it?” Magnus asked.
They had stopped in front of what seemed to be a vault door, larger and bulkier than the one outside. Alexandra focused her flashlight on a metal plaque bolted next to it. It had rusted and faded over the last few thousand years, and it felt brittle to the touch, but words were still legible, if barely. “Magnus, you got Mom’s notebook?”
Magnus dug around in his backpack and took out a notebook marked witih “Property of Angela Hansen—FOR TRUSTED EYES ONLY.” He then took out another one. “Got it here, as well as Aunt Diana’s book.” He gave them to Alexandra and took the flashlight, holding it up while Alexandra got to work.
“Uh…okay…let’s see…” The pages flew through Alexandra’s hands, her eyes scanning each entry for a possible match. “That over there is probably—pardon my pronunciation—
skewhtis. I think that means ‘caution’ or ‘danger’ in this context.”
“I told you there was something dangerous down here!” Leyla jabbed the scanner at the door. “Gulichi, you wouldn’t want your village to get blown off the face of the map by a nuclear failsafe, would you?”
“Leyla, I doubt any nuke would still be able to go off after that long.” Gulichi kept his gun aimed at the door. “But I’ll shoot anything that’s waiting for us on the other side.”
“Don’t you guys think you’ve taken this too far?” Samir said. “We’re soldiers, damnit. We should act like them, instead of like scared kids.”
“Says the kid,” Magnus said.
“Next one…” Alexandra mimicked running her finger over the text, though she kept herself half an inch away from touching it out of safety concerns. “Uh…a lot of these words aren’t in the notes, but I got one of them.
Slehbetor. Specifically Mom wrote down
slehb- as something that relates to work or labor. Perhaps this is a…”
“Work camp? Prison?” Samir gripped the scimitar. “The ancients had their own Jerusalem?”
“No, no, no,” Alexandra said, “There’s a third word down here that Aunt Diana translated.
Dahebhikos. From these two words, we get enough context. This is a place for work. As in a workplace or workshop.”
“Like a smith…or forge.” Magnus caught on quickly.
“Then why did they put the word for danger?” Leyla said. “Or maybe…”
“Perhaps whatever they were making was dangerous,” Gulichi said.
“Doesn’t have to be weapons,” Magnus said, “It could be like all those warning signs when you enter a construction area or factory. ‘Wear a hardhat’ and all that.”
“That’s true,” Alexandra said, “Anyways, let’s crack this door open! Samir, do the honors!”
She swished her hands, imitating a sword strike.
“I’m pretty sure this scimitar isn’t going to cut it,” Samir said, “We’re not going to get lucky with the lock again either.”
“Then how else are we going to open the door?” Magnus said.
“Step back.” Gulichi pointed his rifle at the doorknob. “I’m pretty sure a bullet will break the lock.”
“More likely to ricochet and kill one of us, at that range,” Leyla said, “Not wise.”
“Good point.”
“Alright, time for me to flex my skills, then!” Magnus approached the door. “Alexandra, the tablet. Leyla, the scanner.”
The two of them handed Magnus their devices. One hand held the tablet while the other waved the radar over the surface of the door. Gradually, a 3D image of the door’s inner workings appeared on the screen.
“Interesting,” he said, “The mechanism is mostly intact. If we can find the key, we could unlock it like any other door.”
“But who knows where the key is after so long?” Alexandra said. “It could be anywhere.”
“Maybe it’s with the village chief?” Leyla suggested.
“Why would he have it?”
“That’s how it works in the movies, right? Ancient knowledge is sealed away in a locked ruin, and the key is kept by some old elder who lives in the area who will only give it out to a worthy hero.”
“She’s got a point,” Magnus said, “It’s more likely to be him than anybody else.”
“Or it could be buried anywhere on the planet…or even off it,” Alexandra said.
Gulichi slung his rifle over his shoulder and began walking back to the entrance. “In any case, I’m going to take a boat back and ask the elder about it. You guys stay put.”
“Sure,” Magnus said, “We’ll be trying out some other solutions in the meantime.”
Baku - 9:00 AM
Refineries 6-9 fell within another twenty minutes. Now the fighting moved inland. The oil refineries and warehouses gave way to the suburbs of Turkan, on the eastern outskirts of Baku. Billy, Ruby, and several others had taken cover in the debris of an abandoned Starmarks coffee shop. But aside from the iconic and bullet-ridden sign that now lay on the roof, nothing else about the cafe was recognizable. The coffee machines had long been taken away by Jerusalem. The tables and chairs had been reduced to splinters that now dug into Ruby’s skin. The windows had been shredded by bullets, which kept zipping past her and tearing the already destroyed furniture even more. After the war, it would probably be entirely demolished. There was no saving it.
The enemy was dug in across the street, in what appeared to be a laundromat. They had a heavy machine gun with them that was currently laying down suppressive fire in her direction. Standing up would only turn her into bloody paste to spread over the destroyed cafe.
“We’re pinned down here!” Ruby radioed. “We need air support on that laundromat, over!”
“Negative,” the officer at base camp replied, “General Remmele’s got them tied up on the western side.”
Ruby disconnected. “Damnit! Why the hell does he keep all of the good stuff to himself?! Does he really want us to do this all by ourselves?”
“Perhaps,” Billy said.
“Should’ve known they’d start treating us like the Persians eventually. We’re not expendable.”
“He has his reasons,” Billy said, “But he could’ve at least spared a couple helicopters. Alright, we’ll improvise as always. Listen up, squad!”
Everybody turned in Billy’s direction. He took out a smoke grenade, then pointed to each fireteam.
“Fireteam Alpha, when I say ‘go’, I want you to lay down as much suppressive fire on the enemy position as you can. Fireteam Beta, you move a block down and set up in that store over there.” He pointed at an abandoned music records store on the opposite side of the street, two stores down from the laundromat. “From there, target the laundromat again. When you’re in place, I will move in with everybody else.
Comprendre?”
“
Verstanden!” “
Compris!”
Billy observed the enemy’s attack patterns for several seconds, identifying a pattern in the rate of fire. When the gunfire stopped as the enemy reloaded, he stood up. “Alpha, go!”
Alpha Team popped up and opened fire with their assault rifles, taking turns reloading to keep the pressure on the Crusaders. One Liberator fired his grenade launcher as fast as he could, almost like a makeshift low-power mortar which pounded away at the sidewalk in front of the laundromat. Billy then tossed the smoke grenade, using the exosuit’s increased power and targeting computer to drop it as close to the laundromat as possible. There was a small bang, and then white smoke spewed out, quickly covering the entire storefront.
“Beta, go!”
Let’s move out, Ruby thought. She ran as fast as she could across the street, feeling rubble and debris crunching and shifting under her boots. For a second, she thought she could hear the crinkling leaves and cracking branches of the Ecouves Forest outside Alençon. But there were no roots to trip her, no loose and gently sloping soil to throw off her balance. This was just a street like any other. Much easier than anything Mother Nature could throw at her. All of the tricks she had learned to stay on her feet during Alençon’s ill-fated rebellion now helped her avoid the worst of the debris here, while so many other of her comrades tripped or got their feet stuck.
Before she knew it, she had reached the records store and took cover inside. Once she had calmed herself and memorized her surroundings, she peered down the street at the laundromat. The Crusaders had withdrawn inside to escape the smoke and grenade barrage. The advantage was theirs.
“All teams, charge!” Billy shouted.
Everybody advanced on the laundromat. Their grenades entered the store first—flashbangs, followed by regular explosives. The washers and dryers inside burst into flames and collapsed like dominos, falling on top of screaming Crusaders. As the conflagration spread, the Liberation Legion entered. Ruby and several others took a knee, raised their rifles, and fired. She kept her finger on the trigger until her rifle clicked, having spent all of its ammo. Everybody on her line also ran out. But that was the plan. While they changed their magazines, Billy and the rest of the squad took up positions behind them and fired. The laundromat in front of them erupted in a hailstorm of torn metal, sparks from exposed wiring, and fire. The remaining Crusaders stood no chance. Ruby could only see them writhing in agony and struggling in vain to unpin themselves from the remains of the washers and dryers as fire ate away at their clothes and flesh.
“Cease fire!” Billy said. “Fall back!”
They retreated to a safe distance as the fire spread and consumed the entire store, then started spreading to the neighboring ones.
“
Deu meu,” Ruby said, “Yep, they’re all dead. Good riddance.”
“Hostiles neutralized,” Billy said, “Let’s move on to the next objective.”
---
“Hostiles sighted. Enemy roughly matches the specs of the target armored battalion.”
“Enemy unit confirmed by sight. One battalion of Augustins.”
“
Erhalten. Permission to engage?”
“Granted. Weapons free.”
“Commencing assault. Engaging.”
The attack on Baku was a three-pronged offensive along the major highways leading into the city. While tank divisions also attacked off the road, the exiles’ main firepower was concentrated on those three highways. Sumqayit in the north and Mushvugabad in the center were quickly secured. The former covered the exiles’ northern flank. Mushvugabad put downtown Baku within artillery and airstrike range, tying up reinforcements that would have gone to Sumqayit. But the southern prong, the coastal town of Qaradagh, posed a problem. It was home to many additional oil refineries, giving it a higher value to both sides than Sumqayit and Mushvugabad. The exiles’ advance here was stalled, unable to push as fast as the other two prongs. That left it open to a counterattack and made it a weak point in the entire offensive.
The Crusader counterattack consisted of a full-strength armored battalion of M1s. High Command had given them standby orders until a sufficient gap had opened in between the Musvugabad and Sumqayit lines. After the disaster of April 2, Jerusalem found itself with a dangerous shortage of modern weapons on all fronts, and its military-industrial complex was unable to make up the losses. Turned into a glass house of cards by Theodor’s deregulation and cronyism and hollowed out by Moria’s purges and conscription, it had now collapsed under its own weight. Nothing useful was being produced anymore, if there was anybody to make it. While Elias Anhorn and Theodor Tesla at least tried to keep skilled workers around for their war machine, Moria didn’t care if they knew how to build a tank. His definition of a heretic kept expanding to target more and more people. When nobody was left to work the assembly lines, the supply chain broke down. Crusaders were forced to improvised. Captured military bases were now found full of dismantled vehicles and aircraft, cannibalized for spare parts that couldn’t be manufactured anymore. Many enemy tanks at Sumqayit or Musvugabad were M60 Lorenzes or M48 Hugos from the Cold War, having been hastily pulled out of storage or museums to replace Operation Gaugamela’s losses. The M1s before them were a rare sight, and their crews barely knew how to drive and fire. Jerusalem lost most of its experienced and combat-tested crews in Gaugamela, leaving only new recruits and conscripts for Baku’s defenses.
As these inexperienced crews awaited the order to attack, Börte gave them no time to wait. A sudden clang rang out as an artillery shell tore through the engine of one of the Augustins and then detonated its fuel tanks, incinerating the hunk of metal and its half-awake crew inside. The nearby crews shot awake. Spotters connected their computers to nearby Kathartes drones, directing them to find the direction the shell had come from. As they did, one drone’s signal cut out. It was initially written off as a connection error. But when the second drone disappeared, and the third, and then the entire cluster, the spotters realized what was happening. By then, the Roman M1s were already half a mile away and closing. Half of the crews started their engines, while the other half refused to do anything due to not receiving any orders yet. It made no difference. They were both equally helpless against the subsequent cannon volley, which obliterated all of the Jerusalemite M1s.
“Suppression of targets complete.”
“
Erhalten. A job well done, all of you.” Börte leaned back in her chair. Just two months ago, she had hated it when Mozaffar forced her into commanding tank assaults. She was trained to command infantry and cavalry. Tanks weren’t her specialty. But now she had no choice but to learn. And learn she did. “Your next objective is to reinforce the Qaradagh front. Enemy composition estimated to be mainly M48s and infantry.”
“Hugos?” The commander on the other end laughed. “We can take those.”
“I’m sure you can.”
As Börte listened to the commander relaying his orders to the rest of the crews, Gebhard walked in with two cups of coffee. “Hey, would you like some coffee?”
“Sure?” Börte took one of them and drank. The hot and bittersweet taste of coffee warmed her core. “Ahhhh, that hit the spot. Really needed that.”
“Me too.” Gebhard sipped from his cup.
“One question, though. Weren’t you drinking coffee earlier? So why’d you get two more cups? I thought we were rationing the beans.”
“I thought you needed it,” Gebhard said, “And I thought it would be my way of apologizing. For what happened earlier.”
“Don’t worry about it, Gebhard,” Börte said, “This morning’s been really stressful so far. We both have strong convictions, so it was inevitable we’d butt heads at some point. It’s not something I want to dwell on. Our job is to save twenty thousand civilians, no matter our personal disagreements.”
“So…I’ll take that as an apology accepted?”
Börte took another sip. “You can take it that way.”
Ulm - 7:00 AM
With the facility secured and the enemy’s reinforcements still not showing up, a quiet ambience fell over the situation room. The computers tracked the progress of the upload and rollout of Heinrich’s configuration to the entire Panopticon network. Other officers continued monitoring the area around the facility, staying on the lookout for those reinforcements.
Heinrich, Frederica, and Sigmund decided to take a break and get food from the nearby cafeteria. They didn’t serve much. All of the good restaurants had either been shut down or had their cooks executed or conscripted. So they had to settle for military rations from Heinrich’s faction. Sigmund complained about how tasteless they were, and so did Heinrich, but for Frederica, it was the best meal she had in years. Sigmund could only stare as she wolfed down the rations. Heinrich ate slowly and with deliberation, trying to put on an air of refinement for his soldiers.
“So,” Sigmund said, “The end’s in sight. Once the network’s in our hands, Moria’s done for.”
“Don’t be so sure of it,” Heinrich said, “It’s 400 miles between here and Berlin, and there’d be plenty of troops without P’s. It’ll be a long slog even with the network on our side.”
“Even with it on our side…” Frederica said. “Hmmm…”
“Got an idea, dear?” Sigmund asked.
“I was thinking…what if we used it for a little bit before then?”
Heinrich and Sigmund stared at her. “What.”
“No, no, I’m not going to keep it!” Frederica said. “It’ll be just as we agreed. The network will still go down. But perhaps we could use it for a few hours before we pull the plug—”
“Absolutely not.” Heinrich shot it down immediately. “I will not use a weapon that takes away autonomy and free will.”
“But we could—”
“Make those 400 miles more convenient? At the cost of enslaving thousands of Crusaders? No. That’s unacceptable.”
“But—”
“That’s my final answer. End of story.”
“Frederica…” Sigmund put his hand over hers. “We shouldn’t give in to the temptation.”
“You’re right,” Frederica said, “Sorry. It’s just that after being powerless for so long…I wanted some power of my own. They stuffed me in a house, buried my achievements, took away my job, and stole everything from me. Part of me wants to return the favor.”
“I can’t say we don’t deserve it,” Heinrich said, “But leave the Panopticons out of it. Using them only leads to more pain. You can get your revenge another way.”
A soldier ran up to them and saluted. “General Dandolo, sir!”
“At ease. What is it?”
“We’re picking up some irregularities with the upload. A few data packets got corrupted.”
“But we expected some data loss.” From the computers in Ulm, they would download the data for the takeover command to Ludolf’s Panopticon. It would then upload the transmission to the Frankfurt servers. As a result, some data corruption was bound to happen, but they had anticipated that and sent backups as well. “It shouldn’t be too much.”
“It might take some time to upload the backups. We’re estimating another half hour delay.”
“That’s fine. We have time.”
“Also, Moria’s started moving against us.”
“How many?”
“Uh…” The soldier’s hesitation told it all.
Heinrich quickly finished what was left of his rations, as did Sigmund. Frederica was already done.
“Break’s over,” Heinrich said, “Let’s get back to work.”
Frankfurt
While the rest of the Crusaders and rebels had went back to the surface to prepare for Moria’s inevitable counterattack, Binar and Ludolf stayed down in the server room. Ludolf had to remain near the server to maintain a good connection, while Binar had orders to keep an eye on him. Officially, she was supposed to shoot him if it appeared Heinrich was uploading something suspicious to the servers, but nothing was showing up on her tablet.
“So.” Ludolf didn’t seem to be expecting her to say anything. He cracked an eye open and sat up to face her. “I guess it still uploads even if you’re asleep?”
“I think so,” Ludolf said, “They used to download updates and patches all the time in my sleep.”
“Damn, and my computer always pauses everything when I put it to sleep,” Binar said, “Not that I have it anymore.”
“What happened to it?”
Binar sighed. “You guys took it from me, along with everything I had. Though I wouldn’t expect a rank-and-file German like you to know. That’s how we got into this mess.”
“I…you’re right. I didn’t know.”
“None of you knew what was going on with the rest of us. None of you
cared about what was happening to the country until it directly affected you. By then it was too late.”
“I thought I was helping save the country and myself at the same time.”
“Save the country?” Binar laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” She swaved at the servers and at their guns. “Look at us! This is what you’ve done! Some saving this is.”
“Not like I knew any better,” Ludolf said.
Knew any better? Was there more to this man than just another Crusader? “Who were you? Before, I mean.”
Ludolf didn’t want to meet Binar’s eyes. He looked at the floor in shame. “Nobody special. Just a run of the mill guy stuck in a dead-end factory job in some random town you never heard of. Factory went poof because the owners decided it was cheaper to outsource to North Eimerica. Shepherds’ Brotherhood found me on the street. Told me the problem was with the career politicians and their donors in Berlin, and they had a solution that would get me and others like me a job. I had nothing to lose, so I took it.”
“You may not have had anything to lose, but many of us did,” Binar said.
“How about you? Who were you before?”
Binar borrowed a few of Ludolf’s words. “Nobody special. My dad was a doctor. Mom helped out at the mosque. Studied hard to get into college and pay for my little brother’s medical expenses. Four months after starting freshman year, the Reichstag gets shot up. The universities were shut down not long afterward. Then they took away my bank account and credit card. Before long, my family and I were being shipped off to a camp. I got out. But not them.”
“I…” Ludolf couldn’t say anything.
“What are you going to say? I’m sorry? That’s terrible? No, you wouldn’t have known. My mom was worked to death doing hard labor she never did in her life. My dad tried to treat another inmate’s broken leg and was shot by Home Guardians. I watched my brother slowly die painfully after they took his medicine away. His body spasmed uncontrollably. He kept vomiting foam. His blood-red eyes rolled up into his head. By the end, all he could do was twitch and scream. ‘It hurts, it hurts!’ he kept saying. But the only thing the Home Guardians did was watch and laugh. Some of them even took smoke breaks, using him as an ashtray. Others took bets on how long he would last. It took eight days, by the way. I remember the moment the light left his eyes and I heard him take his last breath. But the thing I remember most is the cheers from the Home Guardians as they paid out the winner. The stack of thalers they gave him was nothing like I’d ever seen before. That was my brother’s life, reduced to a wad of cash. I don’t know how I got out of the camp and met up with my rebel cell. Did it matter in the end? They all died too. Because of your people, I lost everybody in my life twice over.”
Ludolf sat quietly, unable to say anything.
“So I suppose that’s who I was,” Binar said, “Not that it matters. Same with you. Our pasts feel like forever ago and for different people. I barely recognize who I am now compared to nine years ago.”
“Then I suppose we’re the same in that regard.”
“Normally I’d say we’re completely different…but you’re right.” With nothing else to do, Binar casually tapped against the wall. “Our pasts are unrecognizable to us in the present. So why not try to build a future free of that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the war’s going to end soon,” Binar said, “400 miles between here and Berlin. We march in, shoot Moria, and then what?”
“Then I suppose General Dandolo seizes power as the sole Regent.”
Binar doubted that. Surely Frederica would have a contingency in mind to prevent a continuation of Jerusalem under Heinrich. Or someone else would step in. Like what remained of the UN. Perhaps Wilhelmina would return, though she was probably dead like the rest of the Hohenzollerns. Even occupation by a foreign military—most likely Persia’s—was acceptable. Anything was preferable to Jerusalem’s continued existence. “I meant for yourself.”
“Me?” Ludolf thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think I ever thought of that. I’ve been with the Shepherds’ Brotherhood and then the Crusaders for…probably over a decade now. I’ve known no other life.”
“Well, you should start planning. Once the war ends, there will be no need for fighting. No need for Crusaders and rebels.”
“General Dandolo’s new government will need a military.”
“Perhaps,” Binar said, “But let me put it another way. Neither of us is suited for fighting.”
“Come again?”
Binar kept tapping the wall. “You may have a decade of experience, but you’re not made out for war same as I am. We were only forced onto the battlefield because of our circumstances. Once those circumstances disappear, so will our battlefield. So it’s best that you figure out what you want to do with your life after the war.”
“Have you thought about it?” Ludolf asked.
“A little. I’d like to try going back to college and finishing my career.”
“Isn’t college a waste of time?” She wasn’t surprised Ludolf would say that, given his background.
“Depends on what you’re looking to get out of it.”
“I thought you went to college to pay for your brother’s medical expenses. Isn’t he dead?”
“Even so…” Binar kept tapping. “I want to at least finish my degree, in his name. It’s what he would have wanted. You probably wouldn’t understand. Anyways, give your future some thought, would you?”
“I’ll think about it.” Ludolf laid down again. “Not like I have anything better to do.”
At that moment, Binar’s finger hit a hidden button. She heard a click, and a compartment in the wall opened up, startling both of them. Ludolf grabbed his gun and aimed at the compartment. Thinking he was aiming at her, Binar pointed her gun at him. “No sudden moves!”
“I’m not aiming at you!”
Binar looked at the compartment. It was a small storage space at about shoulder level. Inside was a cylindrical device about the size of a large computer, with some ports for cables to plug in. “Huh, this wasn’t on the floor plan.”
“Must be another server,” Ludolf said, “But it’s not plugged in or anything. Probably a backup unit that was never installed. Or maybe it’s a storage device. A data core or something.”
“Looks like no storage device I’ve seen before.”
“Why don’t we take it back to Ulm with us?” Ludolf said. “We can analyze it there.”
“Sure.” Binar picked up the data core and set it down next to her gear. “Once we’re done here, I guess we’ll take a look at whatever’s stored in here.”
Ludolf’s radio crackled. “Commander, we have contact!” It was Moritz.
“What is it?” Ludolf replied.
“We’ve got troops up the main road! About half a mile out!”
“How many?”
“Uh…” Moritz cursed. “Oh, damnit. Worse than I expected.”
“What do you mean?”
“We got one platoon, maybe 50 Kreuzies.”
“That’s not too bad.”
“That’s not all. I’m estimating…150 individuals total?”
“Let me see that.” Binar tapped on her tablet and brought up security camera footage of outside. She gasped when she saw the enemy and its tactics. The fifty attacking Crusaders were arranged in a line around the street leading up to the facility. Civilians—identified by their drab clothes—were forced to walk in front of each Crusader at gunpoint. Each Crusader had at least two civilians to use as human shields.
“How do they expect to take back the data center with only fifty guys and no armor or air support?” Ludolf said.
Binar shrugged. “Lack of information on our own numbers? Still thinking we’re fighting the drones in here? Or maybe they’re just stupid.”
“Surely they were trained with better tactics.”
“Maybe they weren’t trained,” Binar said, “Or they didn’t have time. Gaugamela took out too many of their veteran soldiers. The new troops they conscripted probably haven’t seen real combat.”
“Which is why they’re relying on their human shields to take some of our shots.”
“What the hell is wrong with these people?”
Ludolf addressed Moritz again. “Moritz, fire off a warning shot. We might be able to scare them away and buy ourselves more time.”
“Yes, sir.”
Binar continued watching the security camera footage. One of the allied Crusaders, from his position on the roof, fired a shot at the enemy formation. The “warning shot,” though, went straight through the forehead of one of the civilians. The others’ faces immediately filled with panic. Some turned around and began pleading with the Crusaders. Others refused to keep walking. A few even grabbed their captors’ guns. Soon the enemy formation had descended into chaos.
Just when Binar was about to rationalize the warning shot as a mistake, Ludolf gave the order. “Leave no survivors, Crusader or otherwise. Hellhounds, move to intercept.”
As the Crusaders opened fire on the civilians, so did Ludolf’s men on both the enemy Crusaders and their hostages. Finally, the allied Hellhounds descended upon them and got to work. Binar stopped hearing any gunshots, only the screams of the dying as they were brutally hacked apart. She stepped away from the computer and leaned against one of the servers, collecting her thoughts. For all of Ludolf’s words, Binar found it hard to sympathize with him.
For a brief moment, she thought she could hear her brother screaming out for his medicine.
Isfahan - 10:00 AM
The cell remained quiet. Alex leaned against the wall, conserving his energy. The worst thing about being stuck here was not that he was going to be executed soon, but that he was completely bored. He cracked open one of his eyes. Angelica was also leaning against the wall, eyes closed. Probably felt just as bored.
He decided to make some small talk. “Hey, so…wonder what’s going on outside.”
Angelica looked at the door. “It’s awfully quiet outside.”
“No, I meant
outside. Like what’s happening everywhere else.”
A shrug from the older woman.
Though she’s only a few years older than me. “Hell if I know.”
“You could still watch the news, right?”
“Most of the channels and papers are starting to sound like the ones back home. You know, when Jerusalem took them over.”
“And those that don’t?”
“Given less information and coverage. So they’re as in the dark as we are.”
Alex sighed. “You know, Persia sounds more and more authoritarian every time I ask.”
“It’s not only because of the propaganda,” Angelica said, “Satellites are down, many countries have been fully destroyed, and China and Jerusalem have sealed themselves off. From a global communications standpoint, that is. It’s hard to get world news these days.”
“Like the days before the Internet, I guess.” Alex had only known the world after the Internet, but his parents had shared stories of what it was like before everybody was online. It sounded like a completely different world. Payphones? Pagers? Dial-up? Paper encyclopedias? Many of those things were foreign to him. “Used to be I could chat with someone on the other side of the world in real time. Get to know what things are like in Penglai and Mali and Turkestan. All that information was there at the touch of a button. Now it’s gone. I’m left in the dark again.”
“After decades of growing smaller, the world’s getting bigger again,” Angelica said.
“It wouldn’t be so maddening if I at least knew how Thea was doing,” Alex said, “Is her condition getting better? What about the others? Did they find somewhere to stay? Have they even decided on a destination? Is Persia still going after them? They must be going through hell.”
“You ask me, they’re the lucky ones.”
“Lucky?” Alex said. “They’re wandering the wilderness like the Jews after the Exodus. Thea still can’t walk, but she’s forced to wander like the rest of them, far from any hospitals.”
“Would you rather she get treated like a pig in human form here? As they called us earlier.” Angelica pointed outside. “I’m sure Thea will figure something out. Julian, on the other hand…”
“Still bitter?”
“More like I still don’t know why he did this. Let me get captured.”
“I don’t know either,” Alex said, “And at this point, it’s useless to figure it out. What we should focus on is either accepting our coming deaths…or getting out.”
“We can’t get out,” Angelica said, “It’s only the two of us in a heavily guarded prison.”
“Exactly.”
“Unless Julian sends someone to rescue us.”
“He probably has someone on the way,” Alex said, “If so, we should save our energy. No use wasting it on failed escape attempts.”
Angelica sighed. “I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d die like this.”
“How did you think you’d die?”
“Of old age, after passing on my recipes of Alençon pastries to my apprentices. You?”
“Surrounded by my family after making lots of money selling commercialized fusion reactors and starting another Industrial Revolution.” Alex drew some stares from Angelica. He shrugged. “I know we said we were working on this for altruistic reasons, but some cash would be nice.”
“You’d probably still need to use dinars,” Angelica said. “You know how much a burger costs in thalers? 2300. Rupees? 3000. Hryvnia? Nobody accepts that anymore.”
“The world’s going to look very different once the dust settles,” Alex said, “Sad we’re not going to see it.”
“Thanks a lot, Mozaffar. I’d like to punch him in the face for that.”
“I’m sure Julian is ready to do that himself,” Alex said.
“You really think he can still pull it off?” Angelica asked. “Even after I failed?”
“Contingencies upon contingencies, remember?” Alex said. “He’ll pull through in the end. That’s the only thing that matters once it’s over.”
“Even if we don’t see it?”
“Yes.”
Angelica closed her eyes again. “As long as we still win in the end, then I’ll hold on to a little hope.”
---
“Hand me the scalpel.”
“Here.”
“Get ready to stem more bleeding. I’m going to start cutting deeper.”
It had been about two hours since they started the surgery. Josh was still conscious, but he had been fitted with a ventilator that prevented him from saying anything other than grunts. He had stopped struggling against the restraints a while ago, but Mozaffar could still feel the murderous intent radiating from him.
“I’m surprised it’s going well,” he said.
“That’s thanks to our new friend here!” Parviz patted Theodor’s shoulder. “It might take a while, but we’ll get that implant out.”
“Then we can move on to the fun part,” Theodor said, “Extracting the data.”
Mozaffar didn’t want to look at his former enemy. No matter what Parviz said, he could only see Theodor Tesla as the enemy he was on April 2. He didn’t even want to acknowledge his presence next to him right now. Why was Persia treating him as an ally and hero after what he did? Why was Parviz laughing and patting him on the back like they were old friends?
It sickens me. How low can we stoop?
“Who cares about this monster?” Mozaffar put as much venom into his words as he could. “Pathetic scum like him is below me. We should leave it to the docs. My gala awaits me.”
“You’re welcome to step out if you want,” Parviz said, “But we’ve got nothing else scheduled until after lunch.”
“That’s fine. I’ll take anything over this boredom.”
“What, you’re scared of blood?” Theodor imitated a chicken flapping its wings and clucking. “You’re scared of watching the worst man in the world get what he deserves?”
“I spent the last two hours watching him get what he deserves, and frankly he should get more,” Mozaffar said, “But it’s gotten boring. You want to watch, be my guest. I need to get some coffee.”
Before they could respond, Mozaffar left the observation room.
Nah, I don’t feel like drinking coffee.
Exiting into the lobby, his bodyguards met him at the door. “Sir, is there a problem?”
“No, not at all,” Mozaffar said, “I’m going to take a walk around the block.”
“Let us escort you.”
“No, no, you need to keep the Vice Chancellor and his guest safe. I’m not going far anyways.”
“Uh…I don’t think that’s safe, sir.”
“Well, it’s an order, and you will obey!” Mozaffar raised his voice and spoke sternly, like Abbas used to do when he needed to get a point across.
“Y-Yes sir!” The bodyguards saluted and stepped aside, letting him leave the hospital. As soon as he stepped outside, Mozaffar stretched out his arms and took in the morning sun and the crisp cold air. The sky was clear, but the blue was slightly tainted with brown and gray—fallout from the recent nuclear attacks Jerusalem had committed against itself. Weather forecasters predicted it wouldn’t be as bad as last November’s worldwide nuclear attacks, but it wouldn’t go unnoticed. The last month didn’t feel like the beginning of summer. He had to wear a coat every day. Farmers in agricultural regions were complaining the conditions still weren’t ideal for planting crops. Mozaffar feared the current food stockpiles wouldn’t be enough. Not that he could do much about it, with Parviz’s nationalism taking over the administration’s platform. The most he could do was take a walk and hope for something to happen before it was too late.
Otherwise, we’re going to have a reckoning of our own.
---
Yeah, I decided to switch over the Reich’s currency from mark to thaler moving forward.
