The Gen

Chapter 23

WHEN NAL ARRIVED back at the safe house, Taila and Meilo were of course still awake, waiting for him. Both looked very relieved that he was back.

"So, it wasn't a trap," Taila said.

"As you see, it wasn't."

"Who did you meet?" Meilo asked.

"The less you know, the better. Here's the deal," Nal said while he sat down onto the sofa. "There's someone left on the Gen to assemble the device, but that person has only two more weeks aboard. We have to get the remaining five parts up there before next Itaday somehow, preferably in one go. That's our one and only remaining task."

Meilo shuddered. Taila stared at him with huge eyes.

"How the hell do we do that without Sirid or Gus?" she asked.

"You've nailed the problem. I called Faliz from the car and asked him to get all parts together. He said he needs to pull some strings here and there, but we can have them by next Day of Worship. That gives us two days to get them onto the Gen. The only way I can see is that either Meilo or I pose as an OT worker. I'll ask Kurie for a fake OT worker ID. Just in case. We have until Day of Worship to figure out a plan."

"Holy Tral," Meilo said.

"Yeah, it's desperate now, it's all or nothing. I'm pretty sure that whoever is left on the Gen is taking a much bigger risk than we are. This is it, the endgame, disaster or success. Let's go to bed now, sleep on it, and tomorrow we brainstorm how to do this."

"How can you sleep now?" Taila said.

"Sheer force of will, Taila. Discipline. Rested minds have more ideas than we'd have now. We hardly slept last night because of Ennie. We must rest before we get on with this task."

"By the way, what happened to Ennie?" Meilo asked.

"She's dead, taken out by FTS before she could harm us. That's how desperate the situation is. We're the only chance left. They gave us room to breathe and a tiny bit of time and one last chance to finish this."

"Our own guys took her out?" Taila asked. "So there is more FTS in town?"

"Yes, but they won't and cannot help us with the task to get those parts onto the Gen. They cleared our back, the rest we must do ourselves. And by the way, we must keep up the charade, so we all go to school and work tomorrow," Nal said.

"Dad, you cannot be serious."

"I'm very serious. To keep the routine is the most important thing now. And then we strike."

Meilo stood up and headed for the bedroom. "Night, night."

Nal smiled at her and nodded. Taila stared at her parents in amazement. Nal got up too, passed his daughter and kissed her cheek. "Good night, honey."

"Night, Dad," she said, meekly and in awe.

✜✜✜

Dalek let the e-car drive him back to town taking a few detours and while having the honor to talk to the Angel.

"What's your personal impression of Nal?" Lariv asked.

"Nice guy, devoted, determined. But that won't make me feel any better about having killed Ennie."

"You're welcome to blame it all on me, Dalek."

"That only helps to a rather limited degree, Doc."

Dalek had changed hotels and the Angel reassured him that the car's memory of having driven him to the jungle would be erased. The Angel did all those security measures with a routine and certainty that amazed him. How could anybody live like this for fifty years? Never herself, always and forever surrounded by secrets and paranoia, erasing traces, memories and evidence. No wonder that Lariv Jinla was in her own way quite mad.