ON THE 30th DAY of the Summer Cros, a Day of Worship, Nal rode out into the jungle to meet Faliz Tinna with a weird feeling in his stomach. It was quite possible that this would be the last trip into the jungle. He'd receive all missing parts that day, no reason to come here again. He wouldn't miss that part of his life in Hagesh, but he would miss Faliz, badly.
Nal patiently waited at the meeting coordinates in the smoldering heat watching a big colorful bird watching him from atop a dead, naked tree that still poked its skeleton defiantly towards the sky. The bird eyed him for a while, then turned around and shitted down the tree.
"Likewise, bro," Nal said. Another car approached and with a hoarse croak the bird flew away. Faliz Tinna left his vehicle and approached Nal with a plastic bag in his hand and a broad if sad and wistful smile on his face.
"So good to see you, Nal."
"Same to you, Faliz."
They embraced each other and patted each other's backs for a long time.
"This is it." Faliz released Nal and offered him the plastic bag.
Nal glanced inside. It contained five brown little paper bags, which doubtlessly contained the five missing parts, and an envelope. Nal fished out the envelope.
"Was it hard to get the final parts?"
"No, they were more or less ready it seems. But it was hard to get a replacement for the part that Ennie lost. I got that one only this morning."
"Lucky us."
"Yeah."
Nal looked inside the envelope. It contained an ID card and another two tiny plastic bags.
"ID, colored contact lenses for the retina scan and a finger glove for the finger prints."
"Awesome, great work, Faliz."
"I'm only the messenger, I received that stuff last night with greetings from Kurie. Who'll pose as the OT worker, you or Meilo?"
"The less you know, the better."
"True. This is pretty crazy though, I'm worried."
"Yes, it's desperate, and that's why I want you to leave Hagesh tonight. Your job is done. Go back to Kurie."
"Oh, come on! I can't leave you alone with this."
"You can, you should, and you must. Get out, save yourself. You've done enough. Too many people have died for this already. Get out, Faliz, I mean it."
"What if you need help to get out yourself? I could be there for support, I--"
"No, it's okay. If you really want to help me, then save yourself so I don't have to worry about you. I know your real name. If they catch me alive, they'll get it out of me. Leave, Faliz, for me. Your job is done. You did great work. And hopefully, one day, in the not too far future, we'll be having drinks in a bar in Elongis."
Nal squeezed Faliz's arm. The inconspicuous man, whom nobody ever remembered, stared back at him like a lovesick dog.
"Holy Tral, it seems so weird that this day has finally come," Faliz said. "It's almost done... one way or the other. How many years did we work for this day?"
"I don't want to count. Thank you, for everything. And let's meet again in Kurie."
"Oh shit, man, I..."
Nal embraced him and squeezed him. "Leave tonight, Faliz, do me that favor, leave tonight."
"I will. Good luck, Nal, and thank you, too. It's been an honor working with you. I wish you all the luck in the world."
"Thank you."
They released each other and Faliz's eyes were moist but he managed to keep his composure. He nodded, turned around, and left.
Nal didn't feel like crying. Instead, he was relieved Faliz would be safe. Closure had begun--saying good-bye to Faliz was the first chapter.
Faliz entered his car, waved at Nal, who waved back, and drove off. Nal waited with the plastic bag in his hand for a long while in the relative silence of the jungle--a tight silence with whirring of insects, honking of animals and rustling of leaves. Worry worked on him, since the bag was heavier than he expected.
✜✜✜
Kania enjoyed her two days on the ground away from gossiping Gen personnel and hung out with Rilad and Timon in a game center for the first day, well aware of the fact that Rilad served as their chaperone. She wasn't in the least surprised when she found only Timon at the dinner he invited to on their second day off.
"Where's Rilad?"
"Oh, he couldn't make it, some hacking thing going on, very exciting, demanding his full attention and time and all that."
"I see," was her answer and they proceeded with the dinner without Rilad. She found Timon to be a bad liar, which she interpreted as a good sign.
Kania waited and in a way she enjoyed that Timon stewed in his grease. She watched him sweating, squirming, picking at his impeccable RSW uniform, fingering his napkin, gathering courage.
Finally, over dessert, he came to the point. "Kania, I know that not much time has passed since Sirid left, but time is unfortunately not a luxury that we have right now. I... I don't quite know how to tell you this, but..."
He trailed off, his courage leaving him visibly. His cheeks paled and he stroked back his hair several times.
"Tell me what?"
"Uh, I..."
Strange, seeing him squirming like that triggered an incredible calm inside her. She wondered what Dr. Lariv Jinla would make of her sudden fatalism and emotionlessness. Post-traumatic stress disorder perhaps?
"I think I know what this is about, Timon. If I marry you, you'll see to it I get my slot on the Gen. If I refuse to marry you, you'll equally see to it that I don't get a slot on the Gen, right?"
Timon froze all movement and stared at her with wide eyes, baffled, shocked even.
"That's okay," Kania continued. "I probably would do the same if I were in your position and had your connections. It'd be kinda sucky and forever awkward to have me on board if I refused to marry you. It's a small ship after all. We'd run into each other all the time. The slots are being filled now, right? You have to make your move. Are my assumptions correct?"
He took a deep breath and studied his half-eaten ice cream with frozen berries.
"Wow. You're... pragmatic. And yes, your assumptions are correct, all of them."
"I like you, Timon, but I can't say that I love you. Maybe I can learn to love you, I don't know. If you ask me to marry you, yes, I can do that. But if you ask me to love you... I have to be honest, no, I don't love you, at least not yet. Considering the life in the tin can ahead of us, that could turn out to be quite an advantage though."
She fell silent and looked firmly at him. He managed to meet her gaze only briefly. His eyes darted this way and that as he sought for words.
"So, you would marry me?"
"Yes, I would."
"Because of the Gen."
"Yes, I want to be on the Gen, and, I do like you, Timon. I think you're a decent and honorable man and those are hard to come by these days."
Timon nodded. "Well, thanks... I mean, thanks for your honesty. Now I know where I'm at. It's... it's not quite what I expected this would be like, but..."
He shrugged.
"Yes, a bit un-romantic, sorry," Kania said.
"Well, um... I..."
"Sleep over it, Timon. You now know what you'd get. It's up to you to decide whether what you'd get would be enough."
He nodded once more, then finally managed to look her in the eye again. "You're pretty amazing, Kania."
"Thanks." She smiled at him. Yes, she had a feeling this relationship could work.
✜✜✜
Kania still lived in the apartment she shared with Sirid. Bureaucracy was slow--the system hadn't yet processed that she was now living alone in that apartment for couples. With her bag packed for six days on board the Gen, she left her place and entered an e-car commuter shuttle between the apartment complex and the OT.
Would Timon already have come to a decision and ask her to marry him? What would she do if she had rebuffed him too badly the night before and he'd call his uncle and tell him to throw her off the Gen?
She sighed to herself. She couldn't undo last night and she didn't even want to. She'd do a hell of a lot of things to get onto the Gen, but feigning love was the limit. She didn't know how to do a thing like that.
The OT loomed over her bigger and bigger, its top stretching into the sky as if the OT itself aimed at reaching the Sky Wheel. The thought of Sirid wanting to destroy this thing and the ship at its upper end made her grunt in anger. How could anybody be so mad to destroy the greatest achievement of their people?
She arrived at the OT's base, activating the hovercraft function of her bag. A first indicator for Timon's reaction to her honesty would be whether he'd ride up with her. After all, he had seen to it that their schedules were synchronized.
Gen personnel and OT personnel used the back entrance. The entrance for the public and the entrance for the personnel were symmetrical and equally heavily guarded. The only difference was that no souvenir shop waited for the Gen and OT workers. Instead, the cargo area occupied the respective space with a third entrance gate for cargo scanning. Gen personnel went through the main entrance, next to it OT workers and next to them came the cargo entrance. Four people in RSW overalls with hover bags waited ahead of Kania for the security inspection and she lined up patiently. Barely three clims next to her, OT workers lined up for their entrance and their security inspection.
Kania looked around for Timon and couldn't find him. Her spirits sank. She had been too honest. He was too disappointed. He wouldn't propose, instead he'd exclude her from the Gen. A life on the ground? Holy Tral, she couldn't imagine such a life. Being like them? She looked at the OT workers in line next to her. A plumb, elderly man in front, a middle-aged woman behind him, a young woman, Kania's age or even younger came next. What would it be like to live like her? No chance to get onto the Gen, left behind on the ground. What a horrible thought, but it was too late now, she couldn't unsay her words. A shudder went through her body and fatalism seemed to rob the world around her of its color.
She studied the young OT worker. The woman was very attractive, dark brown hair bound in a ponytail, a cap on her head. Odd. She looked familiar somehow.
She seemed to feel Kania's eyes on her, turned her head and smiled at Kania. Kania smiled back automatically. The girl looked excited. Maybe she had just gotten a job at the OT. Her line moved forward and she turned away from Kania. Kania stared at her ponytail. Strange that she looked so familiar. Well, probably Kania had seen her here before. Kania's line moved as well and she stood next to the young woman again.
"Excuse me. Sorry. May I? That's my girlfriend up there, sorry," a familiar voice said behind Kania and she turned around. Timon jumped the queue to where she waited, then stood next to her, broadly grinning. What had he said? Girlfriend? The world filled with color again and the gloom lifted like fog in the sun.
"Morning," he said, excitement sparkling in his eyes.
"Good morning."
He dared it and squeezed a kiss onto her cheek. So, the Gen it was--Kania broke into a smile and felt like she had to reward him. She kissed his lips briefly. Too briefly for him to answer the kiss but he smiled so fatly at her afterwards that she had to chuckle.
"You look cute when you grin like that," she said.
"Do I? Good."
✜✜✜
Taila felt horrible. Any security guard had to notice from a mile away that she was up to something. She suddenly understood what Gus and Ennie must have gone through. Taila felt like she had written "FTS mole" onto her cap. Holy Tral, she had to calm down. And the parts, what about the fucking parts? What if they were discovered in that suitcase that was processed a few clims away from her at the cargo entrance? What if she got inside but not the suitcase? Then this whole show was in vain.
"You know, have you heard anything from Ennie Darias recently?" the young man who had pushed his way through to his girlfriend asked. Taila thought her heart would stop.
"No, I've never been very close to her. Sirid knew her a bit but he wasn't very close to her either as far as I know," the woman answered. Holy crap, Sirid... Taila knew that name as well. She glanced at the woman stealthily. Had this been Sirid's girlfriend? Hell, she was quick when she had a new boyfriend already, Sirid was gone just a couple of weeks. What was worse was that Taila had this odd and very uncomfortable feeling that she had seen the woman somewhere before.
The security guy checked the middle-aged woman in front of Taila. It would be her turn next. Oh God, she felt like she might shit her pants.
Holy fuck! The café! The woman must have been a guest in her café. Crap! She had run into all sorts of RSW people in that café. After all, the café had been on RSW complex ground. Shit. Maybe it would've been better had her mother done this job. No RSW personnel ever showed up in the recycling facility that she worked at. But too late, now here she was with Sirid's ex standing next to her who on top of that talked about Ennie Darias. Fuck.
"I haven't seen her in a while, was wondering where she is," the man said. "For that matter, I haven't seen Laris around recently either."
"Let me ask the doctor in case I see her again," the woman said.
"Which doctor?"
"Lariv Jinla. I had dinner with her last week."
"Seriously?"
"Yes, she invited herself to my table. She's actually quite nice. She knows your uncle, by the way," the woman said and winked at the man who squirmed.
"Does she?"
"Yup."
"Good for her."
The woman chuckled. Taila was more than grateful for the appearance of the woman's boyfriend, that way at least her attention was on him instead of Taila.
It was Taila's turn. The moment of truth had come.
"Good morning," the security guy said.
"Good morning." Taila held out her ID card.
The guy scanned it. Taila held her breath. No alarm went off--first hurdle passed. Next up was the retina scan. She had never worn contact lenses in her life and it felt like she had giant blocks of wood in her eyes. She looked into a scanner that the guard held towards her and something beeped. Breathe normally, she told herself. Just breathe. Again, no alarm went off--hurdle number two passed. Finally, the guard held a box out for her. She put her left index finger inside, touching the surface of the box, her sense of touch numbed by the fingerprint glove. Another beep sounded and no alarm.
"Thank you," the guard said and nodded towards the full body scanner that would scan her for weapons, metal and other substances of RSW concern.
"Have a good day," she said to the guard, too cheerfully, much too cheerfully. Keep your mouth shut! She thought.
"Thanks, you too," the guard said, but she didn't look at him anymore.
She stepped into the scanner, which was open towards the outside, but had a glass door to the inside of the OT's base. It beeped once, twice, three times, then a longer beep and the door in front of her opened.
With a deep breath, she stepped into the OT's base the same moment the Gen personnel woman in the RSW jumpsuit stepped out of her scanner too. The woman looked at Taila once more, Taila smiled, then walked purposefully towards the cargo scanner to pick up her suitcase with tools and parts for the device. She glanced around the hall. A hip-high rail separated the Gen workers from the OT personnel for four clims, then the rail turned into a wall, which separated the two areas for good. On the Gen personnel's side a ramp led down deeper into the OT's base and towards the waiting platform for boarding the cabin.
Her father showed her blueprints of the OT's base. The OT worker's section was much wider and a steeper ramp led down to the cargo cabin of the OT, which hung below the passenger cabin.
She stepped up to the transport band that held cargo items and spotted her suitcase. It stood among other items waiting to be picked up. Apparently, it survived the scan. Her father explained to her that the OT's cargo scanner wasn't very sensitive, since after all it had to let through metal tools, parts, and so forth. The cargo scanner basically scanned for chemicals and any chemicals that needed to be brought on board the Gen had to be marked and declared in advance. Therefore, the FTS decided to make only a trigger instead of a bomb, which would have to be inserted into the plasma tank. The trigger required circuits though and those were being scanned for at the second scanner, which stood right in front of the OT's cargo cabin. That one Gus or Sirid had incapacitated for a couple of seconds with a scrambler to smuggle the parts on board.
Follow instructions now, just follow instructions, she thought and walked towards her suitcase. Pick up the suitcase, take out the scrambler, go to the base, survive the cargo master, activate the scrambler, load the suitcase, leave again. Easy enough, wasn't it--except for taking the scrambler out of the suitcase and having to talk to the cargo master. But she wouldn't think about that now, she wouldn't.
She identified the suitcase as hers with a tag sticking to it and a matching number card that a guard checked. He nodded at her and allowed her to take her suitcase. She activated its hover function and steered it towards the ramp to the cargo cabin. The elderly woman went into the control room. Taila had no idea where the plumb elderly man was. She turned towards the ramp that led down into the dark belly of the earth. Ten steps down the ramp was a blind spot for the security cameras, but people would get suspicious if she stayed out of camera range for too long.
With her heart pounding so loudly that she thought the security cameras would hear it, she put down the suitcase, tore it open, unbuttoned the straps that held some sheets of metal in place, let the sheets fall towards her, and took out the scrambler from behind them. It was a flat device that looked like a cutter and in fact was a cutter, but it had a button on it for activating the scrambler circuit hidden in the handle. She put the cutter into her pocket, lifted the sheets of metal, fastened them, closed the suitcase, and walked on. Her father forced her to practice with a similar suitcase the entire previous day. She was glad she had, since it worked perfectly and took her under a minute. Steps approached and she quickly hurried on.
✜✜✜
Kania and Timon walked down the ramp towards the OT's cabin.
"You know, it's weird, that young OT worker woman next to me, she looked so familiar, did you see her?" Kania asked Timon.
"No, didn't notice her. Why shouldn't she look familiar? There are many OT workers, but a limited number after all and maybe you ran into her before."
"Yes, probably, it's just that she looked familiar from somewhere else."
"We're all pretty paranoid these days and having dinner with that psycho doctor might add to that too."
"Why don't you like Dr. Jinla?"
"Dunno. She gave me the creeps. I did that tour for her and everything was okay, but then she did this horrible interview and was someone else entirely. Shrinks are all freaks in my opinion."
"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but Dr. Jinla revealed to me that we'll have ten psychologists on board."
"Ten? Holy shit."
"Exactly."
They arrived at the OT's waiting platform, which was lit brightly, if artificially. Most importantly it was air-conditioned--a glass cube underground with twenty seats lined up in five rows. Kania and Timon sat down in the second row and waited for their ride.
He held her hand.
"What do we want with ten shrinks? That's one shrink per hundred people."
"They're supposed to monitor the impact of living in a tin can on us," Kania said.
"Which means they'll be watching us, analyzing us, sending news home about us as long as they can."
"Yep."
Timon made a sound of disgust. "I was kinda hoping to get away from it all, but..."
"Yeah, same for me. Looks like Aran will stay to haunt us."
He nodded and looked at her hand in his.
✜✜✜
Taila walked down the ramp with her suitcase. An OT worker passed her, studied her, nodded at her, she nodded back with a smile. The ramp spiraled down and the cargo master came into view. It was the plump elderly man who had stood in line before her. The guy was busy setting up his work place, taking a lunch box and a thermo bottle out of his bag.
Don't think, just act, Taila told herself and tried to suppress the trembling of her hands and knees.
"Good morning."
The man looked up at her. "Morning. New here?"
"Yes, replacement for Gus Terney."
"He's already got a replacement."
"Yes, Nilad Mleck, but she's sick today, I'm the replacement for the replacement."
"Oh," the man looked at a computer screen. "Indeed. What's your name?"
For a panicky moment Taila thought she wouldn't remember her fake name but then it came out firmer than she had expected. "Lina Slennes, nice to meet you."
The man nodded satisfied. "Likewise, Lina, I'm Torred Fiens."
So far, her alibi was intact. Who the hell manipulated the computer system? Her father wasn't capable of such things. There had to be another member of his cell, one whom he never mentioned, which was probably good. Concentrate, Taila, concentrate.
"Where've you been before, Lina?"
"Intern at the tourist shop. I had never thought I'd have to sell Gen models after graduating from mechanical engineering to get a job at the OT."
Torred chuckled. "Yeah, the RSW has weird ways of testing character sometimes. Be patient. If you're good and don't make trouble at the store, they'll let you work here full time eventually."
"Thank you, Headman Fiens."
"Oh, call me Torred."
"Thanks a lot, Torred."
"Well then, put your suitcase here." He pointed at the conveyor belt that led through a scanner behind him.
Taila nodded, smiled at Torred, and maneuvered her suitcase onto the conveyor belt. Torred looked at his screens, then activated the belt. Taila let her hand slip into her pocket and pushed the button for the scrambler.
"How did you manage to persuade Chief Gensy to allow you to fill in for Nilad?"
Shit, she had no idea who Chief Gensy was. Her father hadn't trained her for such a question. Cold panic rose in her guts.
✜✜✜
Nal went to the office in the morning but took a pill and vomited his guts out half an hour into office duty and his boss sent him home, seeing how sick he was. Meilo did the same and they reunited at their apartment at about the same time Taila was supposed to arrive at the OT.
Nal didn't have to play sick, he was sick. His hands were ice cold despite the heat. Sweat stood on his brows and he constantly wiped at it with a towel. His guts rumbled painfully. His baby, he had sent his baby to the OT. He couldn't believe he had done that. He should be at the OT right now, not his nineteen-year-old, precious, one and only daughter.
"I shouldn't have sent her there. It's horribly wrong. She can't stand the pressure, she's too young. Oh Holy Tral, what have I done?"
"Nal, shut up and calm down. She'll be fine."
"I... I have to throw up." He jumped to his feet, ran for the bathroom, and spewed the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Was that the fear or the pill he took? Probably both.
The toilet flushed automatically as he sank onto the floor next to it. He was dizzy and cold. How could he be cold? He hadn't been cold in ages, he lived in tropical jungle. He shivered and watched his hands trembling. Meilo opened the door to the bathroom.
"You okay?"
He shook his head.
"Holy Tral, Nal, pull yourself together."
His mouth tasted of bile. Meilo filled a glass with water from the tab and gave it to him. He nodded thanks at her, rinsed his mouth, then drank the rest of the water.
Meilo took his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"Come, lie down on the sofa for a moment."
He followed her without protest.
"What if they catch her, Meilo?"
"They won't, she'll be fine."
"I won't be able to live with it if they catch her."
"You won't have to. If they catch her, it's our end as well."
She made him sit down onto the sofa and pushed his shoulders to make him lie down. He did and stared up at her. She showed him a pill inside a single blister, then put the pill into the breast pocket of his shirt.
He nodded. The death pill... that was the pill Gus took when Ennie botched it.
"We shouldn't have sent her. She's just nineteen."
"Nal, shut up. She'll be fine."
Moaning, he closed his eyes. What would they do to his baby if things went bad? What?
✜✜✜
Taila shrugged. "I don't know. The Chief interviewed me and seems to have liked my answers," Taila said. Fuck, she didn't even know whether Chief Gensy was a man or a woman.
Torred grinned. "Well, yeah, the way you look."
Ah, so Gensy was presumably a man. Torred turned serious. "Between you and me, be careful with him. He might ask for too many favors, you get my meaning?"
"Wow, ugh... thanks for the warning."
"You're welcome. You look awfully young for having graduated already, how old are you?"
"Twenty-five and take my word for it, I wish I looked more mature. Until a year ago, nobody believed I'm over eighteen and everybody refused to sell me a drink."
Torred laughed at that, then checked his screens again.
"The suitcase is clean, you can load it."
"Thank you, Torred." She smiled nicely at him and picked it up. "See you later."
"See you, Lina."
She walked down the rest of the ramp to the OT's cargo cabin. She had to return the scrambler to the box, since their helper in logistics up on the Gen had to go through the same procedure and needed the scrambler. She entered the cabin and steered towards its far end to store the suitcase out of the way. There was no blind spot in the cargo cabin and she was so awfully aware of the camera in her back. Taila opened the box and choked. She hadn't properly fastened the latch in the lid! Two of the round metal sheets inside the thing tumbled out and landed with loud bangs on the floor of the cargo cabin. Hastily she lunged into her pocket, took out the scrambler, slammed it into its place, then crouched to pick up the metal sheets. Torred peeked into the cabin.
"What are you doing there?"
✜✜✜
Kania and Timon, next to eighteen other men and women in RSW jumpsuits boarded the passenger cabin of the OT. Of course, they sat next to each other and Timon put his arm around her.
"Seriously, what's up with Ennie? I just tried to ping her but there's only her avatar saying she's not available," Timon said.
"Let's try to find out when we're on the ship."
"Okay."
"Why are you so keen on knowing where she is?" Kania asked with a teasing undertone.
"She's my friend, that's all."
"Now I know what the plan is... you're aiming for a harem on board."
Timon looked baffled at her, then laughed out so loud that the other passengers threw glances at them.
"That's a nice idea, actually."
"Dream on. We women, we'll get a harem. To ensure a good genetic mix, we should probably have our two allotted babies from different men."
Timon chuckled and then looked her deep in the eye, stopping laughing altogether. Instead he took her face into his hands and kissed her deeply for the first time. She leaned into him and kissed him back. She found longing in his kiss, greed, but also a bit of victory and delight.
✜✜✜
Nal lay on his sofa, miserable, sick, and horribly exhausted. Not my baby, he prayed, though he didn't know to whom since he wasn't a religious man. Anything, but not my baby. Please let my baby be safe. Please.
He moaned, wiped his damp face, then let his hand slither down his shirt to his breast pocket. He fingered at the pill through the fabric. So small and yet so lethal, it would kill him in an instant. Peace, no more fear, anguish, and suffering--a very sudden closure. He sat up. Taila would be at the OT's base now, right now, and in these very moments their fates were decided.
He took a deep breath, then got up, and walked into the kitchen. Meilo, sitting at the kitchen table, played around with an orange.
"I'll go to the jungle now."
"Yes, honey, bring our baby back home," Meilo said and smiled wistfully at him.
✜✜✜
"I don't know what happened, very sorry, I must not have closed the lid properly. Gosh, this is so embarrassing," Taila said and looked panicky at Torred.
Torred broke into a smile. "I won't tell Gensy, don't worry."
"Thank you, Torred, thanks a lot." Taila forced herself to smile broadly at Torred. She picked up the two metal sheets, put them into their place inside the suitcase, and closed the latch they spilled out of.
"You better get out of there, cabin is about to leave," Torred said and stood invitingly in the open door to the cabin.
"Oh, yes, of course. Oh man, I hoped my first day would go smoother."
"It will from now on, don't worry about it."
She passed Torred and looked up at his rough but friendly face. He was a few years older than her father and far less attractive. Nevertheless, Taila put on her best smile for him.
"You're very kind, Torred, thank you."
"You're welcome."
She slipped out of the cabin and he closed the door.
"See you later, Torred."
"Sure, good luck, Lina."
"Thank you."
Taila walked up the ramp towards the exit, daylight, freedom, safety.
Not yet, don't get lightheaded. She warned herself.
She reached the entrance area. More OT workers with more suitcases lined up at the scanning machine to retrieve their cargo. Taila had no idea what that business with the suitcases was about, where they came from, or who prepared them, and didn't want to know either. She was curious, yes, but she began to see the benefit of not knowing details.
Taila slipped by the waiting OT workers and fished out her ID card. She hoped that the FTS was as good as her father claimed. Within the past minutes, new marching orders had hopefully popped up in her ID card. She went straight to the exit and addressed the guard.
"Good morning, I've got new orders to pick up a delivery from the Hagesh three plant," she said, handing him her card. That was a parts manufacturing plant. Well, probably yet another mole sat in that plant and assembled the suitcases. What a weird chain of command. This Faliz guy organized the parts, gave them to Nal, who gave them to Sirid or Gus, then those gave the parts to yet another courier, probably, who gave them to the mole in the plant who prepared the suitcases? Why? Why didn't Faliz give the parts to the mole in the plant directly? Good that she didn't know, so she couldn't tell the Aran police in case they caught her.
The guard scanned her ID, checked his screen, then waved her through. She stepped into the scanning box, duly waited until it beeped and opened its glass door. The heat, the outside, freedom, waited for her beyond that door.
It opened and Taila hurried away on foot, then, out of sight from the personnel entrance, she took the next best e-taxi and ordered it to drive into the jungle. The vehicle started moving, she turned around, looked at the OT and just in time: The cabin left and shot up the tower.
"Yes," she whispered, "Yes!" She allowed herself a moment of weakness and uttered a single sob, followed by heaving breaths of relief. The rush of adrenalin ebbed away. She sank onto the soft seating of the taxi, drinking in the smell of plastic and rubber. She sprawled all over the seat, allowing herself to relax. Gosh, this felt like after sex and it felt fucking good.
She pinged her father with the one and only FTS code he taught her.
"Taila?" he asked, so anxiously, so afraid, so full of guilt and fear.
"Yes, Dad, I'm on my way. All went well."
"Oh baby, thank you, thank you, see you soon." His voice had never sounded more relieved. She hated it when he called her "baby", but today she would forgive him. She remained lying on the backseats of the taxi and closed her eyes.