«Really. And then?»
«They grounded me at the hall’s table, I had to write down for one hundred times the sentence “I must obey the rules”. It was awful, one of my worst memories.»
«From what I can see the message hasn't gone deep yet» Anna commented with a chuckle.
Jordan passed a hand through his hair.
«Yeah, well... It won't certainly be a sentence repeated one hundred times to make me change» he replied thinking again to the words that Frank had told him “You haven't changed a bit, Jordan”.
Anna began to tell the boy about the strong rigour and discipline that had always been imposed on her in the Krasnij Gorod and how she wasn't allowed to step out of line in the slightest way. She told him of all the time she spent reading, it seemed she had read every single book in the Aresland and the one she had now, she had stolen from Jordan's room.
After a while, as they foresaw, Dounja Douglas passed in front of their position but, seeing them, she simply smiled and continued on her path. They were very lucky, in fact no one else passed for a long time. Few minutes after Dounja's passage, Yan's head had come out from the office to warn his friends that he had succeeded to access the web and he had just begun the transcription of the data. It was going to take thirty-five minutes in total, which meant the process would end exactly five minutes before 5:00 pm.
Jordan was getting more impatient as time passed while Anna who, for her part, always managed to keep calm and concentrated, was trying to reassure her friend.
«What's the time?» Jordan asked for the umpteenth time.
Anna huffed and glanced once again at the watch she had in her hand.
«Four fifty-one.»
«Holy Olympus!» Jordan shrieked jumping on his feet and throwing himself to the door of the office, that opened.
He leaned inside.
«What's your status? George could arrive at any moment now!» he exclaimed.
«Few minutes, Jordan. Few minutes and we have it all.»
«Hurry up!»
«But it's not up to me, I can do nothing to accelerate the process.»
«You hurry up anyway!»
Jordan returned to the girl scratching the back of his neck nervously.
«Anna, if he catches us we're screwed, gone, all of us.»
She opened her mouth to reply, but a deeper voice stopped her.
«Catch you doing what?»
Jordan was petrified. His gaze fixed into Anna's eyes where a worried spark shone briefly, before it was replaced by a warm smile addressed to someone who arrived from the corridor. The boy closed his eyes and swallowed. He felt his hands icing and sweating at the same time. He had no idea of what face he had, but he tried to turn as well, trying to look as natural as possible.
«Zdravstvuy, George» Anna greeted, with her charming attitude.
«Privyet, Anna. Rad vidyet' tebya zdyes[19].»
He smiled sincerely before moving his gaze on Jordan.
«What are you doing?» he asked.
«Not much, chitchatting a little bit» Jordan shrugged.
«And where did you leave Yan?»
«Uhm, he is...»
«He's gone to his room one second, he should be back soon» Anna replied sharply, with a tone that convinced even Jordan.
He found himself staring at her and unable to look elsewhere, wondering how could she be so confident every time.
«And why are you staying up there?» George's voice dragged Jordan out of his trance.
«Well, it's...» he cleared his voice «It's a cool place. There's a good view.»
It was too late when he realized there was no view at all, as they had the wall of the main geodesic dome in front of them. He felt sweat forming on his forehead, that was a terrible excuse.
«Uh-huh, I understand» George briefly glanced around himself. «Well, I'm now going to the bathroom. Then you'll let me pass, right? I got to go to the gym» he smiled.
«Yes, sure. We're about to leave in any case. We change location» he said, trying to mock a chuckle.
George nodded and left. When Jordan heard the bathroom's door closing with a “clack”, he turned to Anna with a worried frown.
«I'm an awful liar» he said.
«Yes, you are!» she confirmed, before they both jumped to their feet and rushed to the office.
«Go, go, go, shut it down! Immediate evacuation!» he ordered to his friend who was sitting in front of a monitor where pages of codes and programming language kept opening and closing.
«One minute, one minute!»
«We don't have a minute, we have a second!»
«One more moment!»
«Do as he says, Yan!» Anna interjected.
In that moment, a small green text saying “Download completed” appeared on the screen.
«I've got it, I just have to cancel the tracks.»
Yan's hands moved quickly and precisely on the computer's keyboard and in thirty seconds, all the windows closed and the computer was switched off.
Without another word, the three flew out of the office and rushed down the ladder, to suddenly find themselves standing in front of George Jenner.
«Are you quite alright, guys?» he asked, «You look like you have just run for miles without stopping.»
«Everything's fine, really, we were just going» Anna said calmly.
Yan hadn't managed to raise his gaze from the floor yet. Jordan looked around himself.
«Good gym» the girl added smiling before resuming to walk, Jordan and Yan trailed behind her.
George didn't say anything else. The mission was completed.
It was 9:00 pm when Jordan and Anna showed up in Yan's room. After leaving the office, that afternoon, they both had their gym session, while Yan had gone to his room to begin the conversion of the downloaded files, in order to make them readable. Jordan had met George again in the gym, but luckily the topic of what happened wasn't brought up.
The two went to sit in front of Yan's laptop, at the boy's side.
«So, are you ready to discover the truth?» he asked, moving the mouse's cursor to the button “Open”.
«Do it» Jordan urged.
Yan clicked and a text file opened. A title towered over a list of numbers and words, followed by a thick text.
«Autonomous space base on Mars, Rubentes Terrae» Yan read aloud, «Wow.»
Jordan shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows.
«How nice of them to keep such things hidden from us, really.»
Anna leaned closer to the screen and stroked it with a fingertip.
«But keep reading: built and activated in May 2049 (Sagittarius 239). Location: Huygens Crater, diameter of four hundred and fifty-six kilometres, in the area of Iapygia Quadrangle, bla, bla... Number of hospitable people: six. Future launchpad for... for the Nostoi Mission» the girl paused.
«Launchpad for a mission?» Jordan repeated, unbelieving.
Yan scrolled through the text on the screen.
«These are basically all the technical and practical guidelines of the base, a kind of package insert.»
«A launchpad» Jordan insisted, «Why would they put a launchpad out there and why not to use the usual one, few kilometres from here?»
«Nostoi Mission... Nostoi» Anna thought aloud.
«And what a name! What the heck is this Nostoi supposed to be?» Yan asked.
«I have no clue» Jordan shook his head, staring at the screen.
«I... I think I know» Anna admitted shortly after.
Jordan and Yan swirled their heads towards her.
«Well?» Yan pressed.
«I had read something in a book of History of Earth, time ago. It's about a very ancient language and I believe Nostoi means... return. Because this particular term refers to the return of the Greeks to their homeland after they destroyed a city called Troy and they were seen as heroes for this.»
«Should any of this make sense?» Yan asked, raising an eyebrow.
«It mu
st. The names of the missions are never casual» the girl replied.
«So it is the “Mission of Return” or something like that?» Jordan tried.
The girl nodded, thoughtfully.
«But I don't understand the reason why this mission should be kept in the dark from us three, I mean, we've always known who left and who arrived, we've never done anything bad» Yan frowned.
«It's strange, effectively» Anna commented.
«There isn't even anything about when and how it will start» Yan continued, reading the introduction again.
«Nunki, search for some pictures, maybe at the bottom» Jordan suggested.
Yan obeyed and scrolled the document to the bottom, where he really found some attached images. He clicked on the first one, opening a detailed map of the Huygens Crater that showed the exact location of the Rubentes Terrae with the coordinates. The second attachment showed a 3D computer-made model. The structure was more or less a parallelepiped and, a little further on, the model of a rocket standing vertically could be seen.
«Cool» Yan commented, without emphasis. «Well, the Aresland is way more cool anyway.»
Anna shook her head and rolled her eyes at the boy.
«Well, then. Nunki keep all of this stuff safe» she said, «I must go now, they wait for me early at the Krasnij Gorod.»
«Okay, everything will be kept more secretly than they did.»
«I must go too now» Jordan said «But this isn't over.»
«No» Anna convened «This was the first step only.»
The three greeted each other and then went to bed.
Jordan knew that that evening he had taken a step forward. Yet his ideas were now even more confused than before.
SIX
~ 189 sols before ~
Jordan, Anna and Yan entered the classroom at 8:00 am and took their seats, now with only a paper, a pen and a calculator. The dim sunlight illuminated the beginning of a new week inside the Aresland. Tain Tseng, who lived inside the Hong Se De Du like Yan, entered shortly after and switched on the computer and the multimedia whiteboard. That small man was skinny and scrawny, with short, dark hair and tremendous bangs that covered half of his forehead.
«Zaoshanghao[20]» he greeted quickly.
«Zaoshanghao, Tain» the three answered in unison.
He grabbed the special pen to be used on the whiteboard and turned to look at his listeners.
«So, I'm going to write some limits on the board. Solve them quickly and precisely. Afterwards we'll start the differential calculus» he instructed with a serious tone.
He waited for a sign of consensus, then he quickly turned and began to write on the whiteboard with his bony hand that looked like it could drop the pen at any moment. The three immediately began to write down the texts of the exercises and to solve them. As usual, Yan finished his work much earlier than Jordan and Anna. Maths really was his strong point and often he offered to do his friends' homework while they would write his essays of History of Earth and Survival in exchange.
After about an hour and a half, Tain Tseng had filled the whole whiteboard with calculations and graphs and he had thrown himself into a long explanation, thorough and detailed, with so much passion that he didn't even notice George Jenner appearing at the entrance, followed by Ling Yu, the Hong Se De Du commander. It wasn't difficult to guess that also Viktor Taykeev was standing just outside the door. At the sight of them, Jordan lost a heartbeat and froze on his chair, while a hand closed tightly around his wrist. He turned in a spin, Anna had clung to him involuntarily and, as soon as she noticed, she let him go.
«Tseng» George called, gravely.
The man stopped and turned suddenly, surprised.
«Jenner, good morning» he said, not understanding his presence.
Jordan, Anna and Yan observed the scene, petrified like cement, fearing the worst.
«You'll excuse me for the interruption, but I've got something to say.»
Jordan had never heard George speaking with such an austere tone and he began to feel more and more nervous, his heart pounding.
«Of course, go ahead» Tain replied, moving aside.
George's gaze scanned carefully the pale faces of the three guys and finally stopped on a pair of dark eyes.
«Yan, I'll be clear and direct. We need to check all your digital devices» he announced with authority, his tone didn't admit replies.
Jordan was crossed by a chill. He couldn't imagine how his friend was feeling.
«Wh–why?» Yan stammered.
«No questions. Give us the passwords to access your laptop and handheld.»
«What? No! It's a private thing!» the boy complained.
«Not for us, Yan. Come on.»
«And what if I won't tell them?»
«You won't be allowed to keep them anymore.»
Yan swallowed and glanced over to Jordan and Anna to look for some support, but their eyes were iced on George's figure. He sighed.
«Alright» he sighed again, «The laptop's password is mimi renwu[21] twenty-four. While the handheld's one is two, zero, two, two, six.»
«Excellent» George said, then he nodded at Ling, who was standing with an expressionless face and her arms crossed «Let's go.»
They exited and the door closed again. In that moment Jordan and Anna turned to look at Yan, whose miserable gaze was now lost on his paper covered in calculations.
«Very well. So, we were saying...» Tain Tseng turned again to the whiteboard and continued his lesson, like nothing had happened.
But the three weren't following a word of what he was saying anymore.
At 11:00 am Tain Tseng dismissed the three guys. They got up from those chairs with a heavy load on their shoulders and a twisting stomach. They left the room unable to say a word and walked silently until they passed in front of the bathroom, when suddenly Anna whirled to open the door and dragged everyone inside.
They found themselves locked up into the bathroom, in the darkness.
«What are you doing?!» Yan screamed in a whisper.
There was a click and the bathroom's lights were turned on. Anna threw herself at Yan like a tornado.
«WHAT AM I DOING, I?! YOU INSTEAD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YAN?»
Jordan had to seize the girl from behind before she could jump on Yan and turn him into mush.
«Calm down, Anna, chill out» he told her.
She breathed deeply and swallowed. Then she turned slightly to see Jordan out of the corner of her eye. He still kept her tight.
«Jordan, let me go» her gaze was fierce.
«Cool your jets» he repeated once again, before slowly freeing her.
She crossed her arms and glanced at Yan with a feline gaze. The boy was pressed against a shelf, he wore a ridiculously scared face.
«Now, Yan» Jordan began, bringing his hands to his head, «Tell us exactly the percentage of trouble we are in.»
Yan seemed to return to his senses and pulled away from the shelf. He swallowed.
«First of all I would like to make something clear» he began, «Do you really think I would give away my passwords like that if I knew that they could find the data? I would rather give up everything! So, don't worry too much. The data is safe and I'm quite certain they won't find it. The percentage of trouble is twenty percent. Seventeen of which is because the fact that they've decided to check means they highly suspect. The remaining three percent is the probability that they'll find the data.»
Jordan observed Yan carefully, then smiled.
«Ah, I knew it! I always trust you!» he reached out and high-fived with him.
Then he turned to look at the girl. She sighed, slightly embarrassed for her prior reaction and nervously passed a hand through her hair.
«I'm sorry, you know, I feared the worst» she said with a low gaze.
Yan smiled.
«Hey, come here» he told her, opening his arms.
The two hugged. Jordan observed that scene from a corner of the room, whi
le a pain in his stomach returned. But it faded away as soon as the two pulled away.
He just couldn't understand why he felt that way every time he saw Anna and Yan together, every time he saw her smiling to him or every time he knew they had been together without him. Those situations always led him to feel a sort of hate and repulsion towards his friend, something he had never felt before.
«Jordan, are you here?» Yan brought him back to reality,
«Eh? What, why?»
Yan shook his head, laughing.
«I asked if we can go to my room, so we check if everything's alright.»
«Uhm, certainly, let's go.»
As they walked down the corridors, all the people they met gave them strange looks. Some observed them with curiosity, some smiled uncertainly, some wore an indecipherable expression. As they exited the Krasnij Gorod, they walked under Viktor Taykeev's hard gaze who squared them from top down. Jordan could say Anna had inherited that same gaze at some level. The three didn't even dare to raise their head and they quickened their pace towards Yan's room. When they entered, they found everything was in its place. His laptop was off and his handheld laid next to it.
«If they had found something, now we wouldn't be free to wander around like this, don't you think?» Yan speculated, sitting in front of his laptop and turning it on.
«It's a possibility» Jordan replied, «But was it only me, or you too noticed the way everyone looked at us?»
«Sure, that's because we're glorious» Yan explained, mocking a snooty look.
At those words, Anna let herself sit heavily on Yan's bed and held her forehead with her hands, like in the grip of a painful headache.
«Yan, I beg you» Jordan pleaded, «Every time you talk shit, Anna loses a year of life.»
The girl raised her gaze on Jordan as a chuckle escaped her lips.
«HOLY OLYMPUS!» Yan shrieked suddenly.
Jordan whirled his head towards him and swore to himself that he had never seen such terror in his friend's eyes before.
«What's wrong?» he asked right away, approaching him.
The boy seemed unable to speak.
«Holy Olympus Mons» he repeated in a whisper, his hands trembled.
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