Ad Martem 12

by Giulia Carla Bassani

  «Brilliant» she commented, unbelieving, while Jordan was already typing on the keyboard.

  From: Anna Taykeeva; To: Yan Heng

  Hello, Nunki. I was thinking about how cool your game is. Most of all when you move on the enemy spaceship. I think I saw a refuelling station somewhere here. Ah, be careful, the countdown is over. You know what to do... after all, you developed it! The situation is urgent.

  «Well, we have nothing to do but wait and hope» Jordan said, after pressing the button “send”.

  «You think he'll understand?» Anna asked.

  «I'm sufficiently confident that he will.»

  All of a sudden the message passed from a grey colour to light blue.

  «He has already visualized!» Anna exclaimed, Jordan held onto his chair with his hands and swallowed.

  Seconds passed, feeling infinite, the two guys stared intently at the computer's screen. Then suddenly the reply appeared.

  From: Yan Heng; To: Anna Taykeeva

  No problem, the situation is under control.

  I feel victory is close.

  Jordan and Anna exchanged looks. They reflected intently on those simple words, but in the end everything was clear already.

  «Hope he won't get caught» Jordan said.

  «Let's be ready at the door» she added and the boy nodded.

  They moved to the sides of the entrance that, after various minutes of frustrating wait, opened. Jordan grabbed the boy badly and threw him into the room, while Anna closed the door right away. Yan had ended up with his stomach on the bed. He got up as his friends approached him.

  «So? Did they see you?»

  «Mission completed, I'm still invisible!» the boy exclaimed, fixing his t-shirt. «Guys, that message was the most brilliant finding of the century! At first I thought Anna had gone totally crazy, but then I thought Anna cannot go crazy (I mean, she's too serious to be someone who goes crazy), and so I realized it was an urgent situation and, well, here I am. So, what is it all about?»

  Yan had spoken so quickly that the two guys struggled to follow the whole speech. Jordan leaned absently against the desk in front of the bed and crossed his arms.

  «Nunki, your time has come» he said.

  «Cool. What do I have to do?»

  «You're a hacker, analyst and super computer scientist, right?»

  «And programmer, don't forget that. But yes, however, I'm all of these things. Effectively I've never told anyone, but I could easily access and modify at pleasure the entire computer web of the Aresland» Yan specified, all full of himself and with a big smile on his lips. That suddenly disappeared though, as soon as he realized his friend's intentions. And so he resumed to speak before Jordan could say anything.

  «Hey, pal, wait wait wait! This does not mean that I can actually do it, you got it? I'd end up in a storm of troubles, you understand?»

  «And do you understand the importance of the issue?» Jordan retorted.

  «Yes, but...»

  «Jordan, come on, Nunki is right! Think of what would happen if they found out we've hacked the web to download some secret data!»

  «But I am sure Nunki would be able not to leave signs of the activity online and for what concerns the people, well... We need a plan.»

  «This is madness» Yan commented to himself, «You're right, though. It isn't impossible, but it's extremely risky.»

  «That's exactly why we all have to agree. And if we decide to act, we have to be united, until the end, for better or worse» Jordan declared.

  An inevitable moment of silence followed during which they fell deep in thought, wondering if it was going to be a good or terrible idea. Finally, Yan was the first to raise his gaze on Jordan with a smile of someone who's up to no good.

  «Count me in. I can't leave all the fun to you!» he gave him a wink.

  They both turned to look at Anna, who was staring at the floor. She had always obeyed the rules with discipline and rigour. This was going to make her break a good amount of them. In the end she raised her gaze on her two friends who were waiting for an answer and hid her face in her hands.

  «We'll get ourselves into infinite troubles, won't we?» she asked with a defeated tone.

  «Definitely» Jordan replied crossing his arms.

  «That's right» Yan added.

  The girl lowered her hands and smiled slightly.

  «Fine, I'm with you.»

  «Group hug?» Yan suggested and they laughed all together, finally hugging tightly and exchanging looks that spoke volumes.

  «So, I must run back to the Red Stone now. Tomorrow is sol saturni therefore we'll surely have more free time. We'll plan and act» Jordan said.

  «Ah, yes! Tomorrow no lessons nor work. We could meet after breakfast» Yan proposed.

  «Yeah, try to come to me at about nine, okay?»

  «Okay» Anna agreed and Yan nodded.

  Finally they greeted and wished each other a good night before Jordan and Yan left her room together and took two different corridors.

  FIVE

  ~ 190 sols before ~

  It was almost 7:30 am, Jordan was laying with his stomach on his bed, partially covered by a light sheet, the red blanket was completely pushed and rolled up at the bottom of the bed while a dangling hand grazed the floor. He slept blissful and safe in his messy room. All of his clothes from the previous sol had been gathered on the chair in front of his desk and one of the blue socks had fallen on the ground. There was a book on the table, surrounded by scribbled papers, full of thick writing. It was still opened on page one hundred and ninety-six, “Proteins, enzymes and vitamins”. In a corner of the desk there was a high tower of other volumes, the one on the top was entitled “Physics: relativity and quantums”.

  The peaceful silence was suddenly interrupted by the Aresland's morning bell that resounded in every dome. Jordan turned around in his bed and stretched, before getting up while yawning widely. He loved sol saturni. Of the whole week, it was the sol when he could allow himself to do nothing. Except for the gym, the hour and a half of workout had to be done every single sol. After putting his clothes on and going to the bathroom, he headed to the Main Base, where he found his father, George, Klara and Hans having their breakfast. As soon as the four of them turned to look at the boy, he tried to figure out if they knew anything of how things had actually gone the night before.

  «Good morning» he greeted smiling innocently and taking a seat next to Hans.

  Everyone greeted him back and Jordan felt relieved, it really seemed they had bought it. He helped himself to some pieces of toasted bread and spread some peanut butter on them, then he prepared a bowl of muesli, that was a mixture of cereals and dried fruit, moistened with some fresh water and raspberry juice.

  «You slept well?» Hans asked him with his kind manners.

  «Yes, very well, thanks» the boy replied before biting his toast.

  «Good. Anyway, I was saying» the man turned back to Klara, sitting at his right and Jordan listened «I officially start my work tomorrow. I have to test the little Audax, check the functioning of its solar panels and robotic arms, then I'll drive it remotely, to the South Pole, where it'll collect some ice and then come back.»

  «Gosh, I didn't know we have such a rover. Is it like the good old Curiosity?» Jordan interjected.

  Hans turned again to the boy on his left.

  «Yes, we can say they're cousins.»

  «Or rather, Curiosity is the great-grandpa» Klara added with a giggle.

  «True» Hans agreed cheerfully.

  «But the South Pole is pretty far, what if it breaks or falls down a hill?» Jordan asked.

  «Well, my job is about trying to avoid it. If it breaks on its own, there's not much we can do. We try to find the problem and make sure that it won't happen again during the next mission.»

  «Cool. Good luck.»

  «Thanks, Jordan» he smiled.

  The boy tried to eat as fast as he could because he couldn't wait to meet
Anna and Yan in his room. He filled his mouth with spoonfuls of muesli and, once it was finished, he grabbed the second toast with peanut butter and left the table.

  «Jordan, how many times have I told you not to eat away from the table?» his father ranted .

  Alexander always kept an eye on his son.

  «I'll be careful!» Jordan shouted back from the corridor, with the toast between his teeth.

  Trying not to leave a track of breadcrumbs on his path, he reached his room. He decided he had to do something, like for example, reordering. But this time seriously: Anna and Yan hardly ever came to his room and theirs were always well kept.

  He slipped the last piece of bread into his mouth and then started from the desk, he folded in a half every flying paper and put it into the biochemistry book, that he closed and placed on the top of the pile. He threw away all the papers that he didn't need anymore and finally put all his pens into a pencil case. Then he passed to the bed, he fixed the blankets and made it presentable, placing the pillows and the various plushes one next to the other against the wall. Finally he lifted the bunch of abandoned clothes from the chair using both his arms and, without seeing where he was going, he left the room, heading to the bathroom of the Main Base: he was going to put everything in the laundry.

  When he reentered his room, he had ten minutes left before 9:00 am. He sat in front of his computer and switched it on, to check if all the lessons he followed had been registered on his personal profile. Anna and Yan had their own profiles as well. It was all about an online platform on which the three of them could see the progresses they made with their education. It contained all the materials that they studied during the lessons, some tests and a section dedicated to the practical skills. Everything turned out to be fine, so he played a list of his favourite music and waited.

  Few moments later his door slid open and Anna and Yan entered his room.

  «'the hell of music you listen to, pal?» was the first thing that Yan blurted out.

  A cheerful, rhythmic melody resounded in the room, with solos of mandolin and banjo.

  «It's called country, folk, or something like that. You don't like it?» Jordan replied calmly, shrugging and turning to his friends.

  Anna looked around herself as if that was the first time she entered his room.

  «I'll be damned, man, you got to be kidding me! Turn it off!» Yan almost threw himself at Jordan's computer, but he managed to turn it off before the boy could put his hands on it. «Oh, finally. I'll have to teach you some things I guess.»

  «Look, I have no intention to listen to your eardrums-breaking stuff, honestly, that's barely music.»

  «How dare you?»

  «I dare as you appeared in my room to destroy my peaceful moment with my music. I have all rights to dare.»

  «You want me to leave?»

  «Guys, stop now» Anna spoke up, «Let's focus on our goal.»

  «And here comes the eternal serious...» Yan commented in a low voice.

  Jordan let out a giggle.

  «Yan Heng!» the girl ranted, furious.

  «Sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it really, you're right» Yan excused quickly, bringing his hands in front of his face in a defending manner.

  Jordan definitely burst out laughing.

  «What are you laughing at?!» the girl snapped to Jordan «You two would go nowhere if I weren't here to keep your feet on the ground, are you aware of this?»

  «Yeah, come on, you're right. Now let's everyone calm down. Don't worry, Anna. Yan and I were simply joking, we've got more serious stuff to focus on at the moment» he sent a final warning look at Yan, who simply sat on Jordan's bed and sighed.

  Anna took an abandoned chair and sat with the two.

  «So» Yan began, now seriously «I'm about to jeopardise my quiet existence for a just cause. Jordan, you have a computer but it isn't linked to the general web, right?»

  «I think so, I can only send and receive messages, but that's an independent system, is it?»

  «Yes, indeed, I imagined. Well then, I'll need a computer here in the Red Stone or in the Krasnij Gorod.»

  «Nunki, but aren't your computer or handheld linked to the web?» Anna asked.

  «They were. They disconnected me when they realized what I could be capable of, just to be safe. Anyway, accessing the computers in the Hong Se De Du is impossible, as a matter of fact, there are always at least two persons there. So?»

  «The Krasnij Gorod's computers are in the hall, so it's very risky, whoever could pass there for any reason, being the main room» Anna explained.

  «At this point I'd say the least worse situation is the Red Stone» Jordan concluded «Here we have a separate room for that purpose only. The problem is that to go to the gym you have to go through the office. We have to act when there's absolutely no one though. The risk must be reduced to the minimum.»

  «Then we have to check the sol's activities and move when it's free. Do you have the table with all the names, times and sol's tasks?» Yan asked.

  «Yep, I should have it here.»

  Jordan turned back towards his laptop and amongst the various folders he found the file he needed. He clicked on it while his two friends approached him to have a better look. They observed carefully the intersections of columns with times and rows with names.

  «It seems the only certainly free moment is from four fifteen pm to five pm» Yan stated, following a column on the laptop's screen with his index.

  «Do you think forty-five minutes could be enough?» Anna asked.

  «Well, I don't know exactly. It depends on how many bytes I have to download. However it's already a good time. Let me see...» the boy leaned towards the screen once more to observe more carefully, then he tapped on the screen with his fingertip. «At five pm the only danger is George Jenner's imminent arrival, he will want to go to the gym.»

  «Gosh, just why him...» Jordan commented, rubbing his forehead with a frown.

  «In case we need more time, we'll have to entertain him somehow» Anna sat back on her chair.

  «It's a terrible plan» Jordan muttered to himself.

  «I'll stay in the office messing about with the computers while you two stay outside and stop people from entering.»

  «Yeah» Anna thought aloud «Jordan, you and I could sit at the top of the ladder, in front of the office door and if someone wants to enter, we entertain them.»

  «Of course!» Jordan exclaimed ironically, with his hands behind his head «Like it's perfectly normal that you and I sit on the top of the ladder in front of the Red Stone office!» he shook his head, lowering his hands «Wouldn't it arouse suspects?»

  The girl returned to think deeply and silence reigned for the following minute.

  «According to this table, it seems you'll have to deal with Dounja Douglas who should pass in front of you at four thirty pm... and then with Jenner» Yan said, still observing the screen. «But we also have to count the possibility that anyone could pass there at any moment in order to simply go to the bathroom or the greenhouse, for example.»

  «Come on, Jordan, don't worry. We just have to look natural and go into an interesting conversation in case it turns out necessary» the girl tried.

  «You can always talk about my super interesting videogame, that would surely be entertaining!» Yan suggested.

  At those words Anna let out a frustrated, animal scream. She grabbed the first thing that happened at arm-length (a pillow from Jordan's bed) and began to whack Yan, who couldn't stop laughing, hitting him at the rhythm of her words:

  «When – will you – stop – with that – stupid – game?!»

  The boy seized a star-shaped plush with a hand from behind his back and threw it at the girl to defend himself, but she deviated it with a twist of her arm and it ended up against Jordan's face.

  «Hey!» he exclaimed, readily grasping another big pillow from his bed.

  And that was how all the struggles to make his room presentable became useless. Af
ter twenty minutes, his room was submerged in complete chaos. They stopped suddenly when the door opened and Alexander appeared.

  Yan was standing on Jordan's bed, holding a pillow up in the air. Anna was using a chair as a shield and Jordan had just thrown a plush at Yan, that bounced on his head and fell on the floor. They stood still like in a photograph, staring at Alexander.

  «Hey, dad» Jordan said with a big, guilty smile.

  Alexander narrowed his eyes at the three.

  «I heard noises. What are you doing exactly, may I ask?» he pronounced slowly.

  «We're refurnishing Jordan's room» Yan answered matter-of-factly.

  Alexander raised an eyebrow.

  «In a Martian style» Jordan added.

  His father looked puzzled.

  «What?»

  Jordan shrugged.

  «What?»

  It was 4:15 pm. Jordan, Anna and Yan walked in formation at a deliberate pace through the corridor that linked the Hong Se De Du to the Red Stone. They had passed by Yan's room to take a removable memory support on which they were going to download all the data. And after repeating the whole plan once again, they were ready to act. They climbed up the ladder that brought to the office. No one was around.

  «Go, Nunki. Do your work» Jordan encouraged him, patting him on the shoulder «Anna and I will do the rest.»

  The boy nodded, sighed and slipped into the office. The doors closed right away behind him. Jordan and Anna exchanged looks and went to sit with dangling feet above the ladder. It was quite high up there, three meters from the floor, they were basically sitting on the roof of Klara Nowak's private room.

  «Okay, we've got fifteen minutes to make up something to talk about» Anna declared.

  «Mmm... Let's see, do you remember when I was a child, one of the first times that I exited from the base, I risked to run out of oxygen because I would reenter only if I was to bring inside some sand?»

  «No, really? I don't remember that, maybe I was elsewhere. How could I miss such a scene!»

  «Yeah, it was exhilarating! I was so stubborn that they had to drag me inside and you can imagine the struggle with the old EVA suits!»