The Gen

Chapter 22

NAL GHANIK WAITED with Meilo and Taila in the safe house. They checked the Virtual for information on the incident at the zoo, but it wasn't newsworthy that a potential FTS member had killed himself. Well, the RSW tried to suppress news like that.

He slept very little that night, and the ladies didn't get much sleep either. During the day, they anxiously waited for a message from Ennie, whether she managed to get through to Palgreia and the safe house there or not. If she left Hagesh with the first train in the morning, she should arrive in Palgreia at around noon. Noon came and went with no news.

With every passing moment, Nal's hopes sank. They had caught her. They'd have his name out of her by nightfall at the latest. Meilo had installed a tiny sensor at the door to their home that would tell her if someone opened it during their absence.

"Any break in?" Talia asked every few moments.

"No, honey," Meilo would answer with a painful smile.

"All right, here's what we do. If there's a reaction from the sensor we declare the operation lost and over. We'll leave town and try to get through to Kurie," Nal said.

"Dad, even if Ennie made it to Palgreia, isn't the mission lost anyway? There's no one left to assemble on board the Gen, right?"

"At least nobody that I know of. Maybe there's another operative on board who worked alone or with another team. Maybe there's someone left from Ganes Trufft's team."

Taila looked skeptically at him. Nal also doubted that there was anybody left. Taila was right, the mission had failed.

Nal didn't want to admit defeat. He couldn't take that in yet. It had taken twenty years to get this far. In the past, there had been numerous attempts to sabotage the OT, all without success. There had been early attempts to sabotage the infant Gen, in vain. Then the FTS changed tactics and started with the long process of trying to infiltrate the RSW from within. They had gotten so close... and now this. The outlines of the defeat he felt weren't half as dramatic as he had expected. He thought he would rage and cry, instead he only felt exhaustion, and uncertainty. Was it really over? Would it be over just like this? No dramatic closure? Well, the closure had been dramatic for Gus and Ennie and for Sirid as well, but what about his closure? Just give up, pack bags, and go to Kurie? Drinks with Alek Fons after all, but not drinks of victory, just of getting together after having had to give up?

Nal stared at his wife and daughter. Nal and Meilo called in sick at work, and Taila sent her own sick message to her school. Nal informed Faliz Tinna via encoded Virtual message that things went bad and that he should wait for further instructions, but in the meantime also to organize a replacement for the circuit board that was now in the RSW's hands.

"Can't we play a game or something," Taila asked. "I'm going nuts from hanging around and doing nothing."

"I'm not in the mood for games, Taila," Nal said.

Taila sighed. "I'll watch a comedy show then," she announced and got an absent, Virtual watching look on her face.

Nal stared grimly at the table in front of him.

Deeper gloom spread with every passing moment. The sun was setting and still no news from Ennie, also no alert from the sensor of his apartment's door though.

Suddenly, while they were preparing dinner, someone knocked at Nal's V-door with an FTS code.

"Guys! FTS message," Nal said. Meilo stopped preparing food, Taila snapped out of the Virtual.

Nal answered with his code.

"Ennie?" Nal asked.

"Um, no... Nal, I suppose? Hi, we haven't met yet. Call me J. I have a message for you. Allied navigators going e-biking last Itaday not today or when necessary."