Lia's files 1_Presumed extinct

by Kathrin Kilambya

  To hear all this from Uncle Phil, our trusted and reliable uncle, was far worse than to hear Dad rambling about it. Uncle Phil would never have said a word of what he’d just told us, had he not been absolutely sure about it. He was such a careful man, always checking and rechecking facts before volunteering an opinion. And when he did, he was usually spot-on. So, what he’d just said sounded ten times as scary as Dad, because we now realized that it was all real.

  “And what will you and Aunt Kamene do?” I asked.

  “We are heading for our boat today. We are done preparing everything here and we’ll stay on the shore near the boat, ready to head out to sea as soon as it starts. We are also going to contact Corrie and Nate. I hope that they will make it with the twins down to us, or that we can at least arrange a rendez-vous place to pick them up. My boat is big enough to house 15 people, easily, supplies included. So, I really hope to have not only Corrie, Nate and the twins on board soon, but also Nate’s parents and his brother with wife and family.” He sounded more cheerful now that he was talking about his plans than before.

  “But how will we know that and when it starts? And how will we be able to stay in contact?” Nin wanted to know. “We have a satellite phone in the sub-basement with batteries and everything. But will it work? The connection via satellites I mean? Once this horror starts? What do you think?”

  “As to your first question – I really don’t know for sure how we’ll be able to recognize what’s going on. According to Josh it’s a matter of just days, not weeks or even months, before they’ll act. Ethan thinks that by closely observing the news we will realize when it is happening. He thinks that the first indications will be the closing of international airways, plus maybe reports about major breakouts of flu-like infections. It’s possible, but I am by no means certain about it. I think the best thing will be to look out for unusual occurrences and developments. And to very closely watch what the governments, any government, have to say on it. And promise me, children”, his voice was urgent, almost pleading now, “That you will not wait too long, but go underground at the very first unusual development you hear of! Promise me! If only some grown-up person could be with you!” He exclaimed, “I have a bad feeling about leaving you all alone, but there’s nothing I can do about it. What with Kamene, your mum and Nate, Kamene’s friends and folk and so on.”

  “They will be alright, Phil,” Auntie Kamene’s calm voice came as a relief to us all. “They are old enough and Alice will be a great help to them too, won’t you my dearest?”

  “Yes, Auntie, I already told them not to worry. It’ll be like an adventure, and Lia promised that we’ll be safe,” Alice sounded not at all concerned, she was almost too cheerful. She’d gotten up from the table and was bouncing about the kitchen excitedly. Was she acting? To reassure Uncle Phil and Aunt Kamene?

  “That’s a good girl!” Uncle Phil exclaimed. “You just keep up this spirit and I will be able to sleep tight at night. But listen, Nin, about the satellite phone. It ought to work, I’ve put it to Josh to find out more about it – he’ll let us know, he’ll either contact you directly or I’ll let you know as soon as he contacts me. Children, just prepare now! Everything you can, try to think of everything you might or could possibly need. You’ve gone camping enough times to know how to do this. And then, I sincerely hope that Josh will make it to you as soon as possible. I am giving you his number in Cambridge, just in case. You might want to contact him yourself.” He dictated a telephone number that Nin noted down.

  “Dad already gave me his number – but what if he will not make it?” Nin wanted to know.

  “He will! He must! I can’t contemplate anything else! And he promised! It was his idea in the first place and it’s very important to him to get to you and bring you safely down to Kenya,” Uncle Phil answered.

  His idea in the first place? So, this was no doing of Dad or Uncle Phil??

  But before I could think about the implications of this, Aunt Kamene chipped in.

  “Children, I am sure that you will do just fine, even without Josh. He will get to you, I am also very certain about that. Too much is at stake for him, you know. But until he gets to you, you will do splendidly, I know. You are all clever and smart. And between the four of you, you possess all the skills needed to make it. Nin can fly a plane, you all know how to use firearms, Yuki knows how to shoot with bow and arrow. Children, I am confident, that all will go well and that we’ll see each other sometime in July or August at Blue-Hill-farm. But, of course, I am also counting on Josh to reach you soon and help you with the journey down to Kenya. Just, please, take care of each other! I love you all very much…” Here, her voice broke and we heard her sob.

  “There my love, calm down”, Uncle Phil soothed her, “they’ll be alright and we’ll see them soon.”

  We looked at each other, everyone trying to gauge the feeling of the others, uncertain what we should say or do.

  “Auntie Kamene, Uncle Phil, don’t worry, we’ll be alright.” I broke the silence, “Just make sure that you’ll get there. And that you get Mum, Nate and the twins to join you soonest, hopefully with Nate’s family too. And otherwise we too are looking forward to meeting you at Blue-Hill-farm soon enough. We love you, too, very much!”

  Nin rolled his eyes at me, clearly thinking that I had overdone it, but Yuki smiled and Alice looked happy, too.

  Uncle Phil got business-like again, “I will contact Josh again, and then Ethan and Corrie, too. But I’ll stay in touch with you. I’ll call you tomorrow evening around 19:00, your time. From now onward, we’ll call every day at this time. Unless anything comes up, either on your side or ours, then we’ll get in contact sooner. Until then, take care and start your preparations immediately, children!”

  “Yes”, answered Nin, “take care, too, and over and out until tomorrow evening then.”

  “Good-bye until tomorrow”, Alice, Yuki and me shouted.

  “Good-bye, children, until tomorrow, take good care of yourself,” Aunt Kamene answered and then the line went dead.

  We all looked at each other, a bit at a loss as to what to do now, and also a bit forlorn.

  At least I felt that way.

  Yes, we were old enough to look after ourselves, but it still felt a bit like we’d just been abandoned. At least Alice didn’t look all too concerned. And she was my main priority now. I wanted her to get through all this, whatever it would turn out to be, whole and safe.

  Nin, Yuki and me could deal with things, but Alice was only nine, how should she understand…

  “Okay, everyone done with breakfast?” I asked looking around at them. “Let’s get started then; Alice and I will clear the table and wash the dishes while you two get up to the attic and started gathering things that we want to take down to the sub-basement. How about that?”

  Everybody agreed and we went about our allotted tasks. Alice and I were quickly done in the kitchen and then went to Alice’s room to pack up her things, Piglet’s bed and clothes, some toys and books. I sorted out Alice’s clothes – lots of warm weather things, but also some sweaters, fleece-pullovers and long warm trousers, who knew how cold it would be in the sub-basement. Alice packed Piglet’s things in his little suitcase and then we brought everything down to the studio.

  I placed her pyjamas on the big bed and she put piglet on the cushion and told him that he’d have to stay there for a while coz we’d go up to the attic and couldn’t carry him with us. She was so cute, I had to give her a squeeze and kiss her. Finally, we went upstairs in search of the others.

  It was now 11 o’clock.

  Nin and Yuki were just getting ready to carry things down. They had made a pile with tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses and other camping gear on one side of the door and another pile with spare mattresses, bed sheets, blankets and pillows on the other side.

  We started with this pile, grabbing as much as we could, Alice took the pillows. We brought the things into the basement, and on to the sub-basement. We
had to walk several times to get everything down.

  This done, we arranged the mattresses on the bedsteads, placed the pillows, bed sheets and blankets on top. When we were done, the room looked very habitable and warm. A good sign, I thought.

  We trooped back up and brought the camping equipment down; these things we stored in a shelf in the fitness room. We would probably need this gear only much later. When we were done with the things from the attic, we went to gather our clothes and books, some games and some of Alice’s toys and brought them to the sub-basement, too.

  It was way past 2 o’clock when we were done with all this.

  We gathered in the kitchen, started making some sandwiches and discussed what to do next. To call Mum and Nate was out, as we didn’t know whether they had arrived or were still travelling. We would try to call Mum in the evening, unless she called us before – which I counted upon.

  “I think we could call Josh now”, Ninian suggested and Yuki nodded her approval. Alice didn’t venture any suggestion, she seemed happy as long as we were all together. I had noted during the morning that she got anxious as soon as one of us was out of her sight. I hated it, that she’d been scared so much already by all this talk by Dad and Uncle Phil. Should it come to nothing I would have serious issues with them both. It wasn’t okay to frighten a little girl, who couldn’t possibly understand the wider implications of all this, so much.

  For now, though, all I could do was to try to do my utmost to make her be at ease and feel secure, not to give her further reasons to be scared, to be supportive and to be and act as normal as possible.

  To call Josh wasn’t that high on my list of favourite things to do. I would have preferred for us to go walking, to go out, see other people, do something normal. So I suggested, “We could call Josh later in the afternoon, couldn’t we? I mean, it’s such nice weather, why don’t we go out a bit? We could take the car and drive somewhere, walk a bit, go to a restaurant for tea, or something the like. We can call Josh once we’re back. Honestly, I’ve had enough of this entire business for today! I need a break and Alice, too, for that matter!”

  But Nin was having none of it. “I disagree. We have to prepare as much as we can now, we can always relax later. I want to talk with Josh and I am calling him now”. He reached for the phone, dialled the number Uncle Phil had given him. And I waited, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest.

  “Yes, hello, Josh speaking, who’s there?”

  To hear his voice again, after all these months! It was such a relief and made me anxious all the same. He sounded so confident and secure; I wished he could be here with us; not so far away.

  “Hello Josh. This is Ninian, the son of Ethan. Maybe you don’t remember. But Dad gave us your number and Uncle Phil urged us to call you just now, so here we are.” Ninian sounded a bit uncertain of what to say.

  “Oh, what a lovely surprise!” Josh exclaimed. “I was going to call you myself this afternoon. I am glad to hear from you. Are you all okay?” He paused and then continued “Are you all there now? Is Lia there? Can I talk to her?”

  Nin glared at me while handing me the phone. Prefect! I had wanted him to talk with Josh while staying in the background, but I was the only one Josh knew personally.

  I took the phone, “Hello Josh, it’s really good to hear you! We are all here. After talking with Uncle Phil and Aunt Kamene this morning, we started preparing and already got a lot of things done. We are actually kind of done for today and a bit at a loss of what to do now. We are also anxious to hear your opinion on all of this. But first of all: how are you doing?” I knew I was rambling, but while talking to him I suddenly felt calm and reassured; I was certain that he would have answers, answers that I could stomach, not this hare-brained notions of my Dad or the well-meant advice by Uncle Phil.

  “I am fine, so far, thanks, Lia,” Josh answered. “I was a bit anxious about you and the other kids being all by yourselves over there in Switzerland. But Phil called me, too, today and we had a long talk. He convinced me that you are safe and know what to do. So I can stay here, as long as I am still needed here, which is good.”

  ‘You and the other kids’ – that’s how he saw me? A mere kid!

  I was speechless with indignation for a moment and it must have shown, for Yuki chuckled.

  Nin took the opportunity and grabbed the phone back from me.

  “Listen Josh, can you tell us a bit more about all this. Dad just sent us a disturbing and grisly warning about an impending world-wide catastrophe. Uncle Phil basically confirmed it this morning. But he didn’t have much more information himself. They both told us to prepare for several weeks in the bunker and then a journey on our own down to Kenya. All of which just sounds plain crazy. It would be great to get some more information, really.”

  When put like that it sounded even more outrageous than before.

  “We don’t really understand why you are all so certain about this and how we will know that it is really happening. It is just very confusing! And we hope that you can give us some answers.” Nin added.

  We heard some rustling of papers and a chair being moved.

  “Yeah, I can imagine that this came as quite a surprise to you”, Josh said eventually. “Now, where shall I begin? I think, the entire story will have to wait until we meet at your place, but let me tell you this much: Papadopoulos, or actually his brother who is a total computer whizz-kid, happened upon this bunch of knit-wits, then based mostly in Europe, who were discussing weird ideas about restructuring human society and things. Papadopoulos, like your Dad and uncle, has been on the watch for such subversive and dangerous notions for years and years. To happen upon something real, after all this time of vigilance, came as a profound shock to him, belief me. At first, he and his brother couldn’t really believe that they had stumbled upon something serious, but they continued their surveillance and about a year ago hit upon more information and, most importantly, a way to infiltrate the group. Unfortunately it worked for only a short time before they were found out. But it was enough to get access to the group and plant some surveillance devices. I managed to stay in the game a bit longer, but eventually I, too, was kicked out. They are seriously paranoid, these people. They call themselves ‘Nemesis 4.2’, by the ways. What a stupid name! At first it even misled us into not taking them too serious. I mean, how can people dreaming up such stereotype names possibly be taken seriously? After all, the name suggests a silly computer game if anything, doesn’t it? Certainly not a world-wide terrorist network!”

  I didn’t like the tone of Josh’s voice; he sounded so superior, even a bit conceited. Not at all like the nice, normal and understanding person I had met at Auntie Kamene’s place last fall. What was wrong with him?

  “Anyway, to cut a long story short, we managed to hack into some of their files. Some of our tracks they discovered, some we could hide, and we finally found out what they were up to. When your Dad was over here around Christmas, we discussed possible strategies of how to alert the UK government. But they wouldn’t listen! Neither did the Americans or the European Union! It’s incredible, nobody takes us seriously! And meanwhile, these people are going ahead with their plans! Through Papadopoulos’ brother we know that they are planning to launch their global attack soon, within the next two weeks or so, in fact. And, even though we immediately forwarded this information to the British and American intelligence services respectively, they don’t take this serious! It’s unbelievable!”

  Josh was clearly very upset by all this. But still, he sounded nothing like the Josh I had known. His voice was cool, aloof, and distant. The voice of somebody I wouldn’t want to trust our lives with. Not at all.

  “Maybe it’s to do with this silly name!” Yuki chipped in. “I mean, if you call yourselves Nemesis 4.2, which is, I agree, a spectacularly stupid name, who is going to take you seriously, indeed! Then again, this may have been their strategy all along – a kind of double bluff! To be able to proceed without harassment by anyone bec
ause nobody would ever take them seriously anyway…”

  “Not a bad idea”, Nin agreed. “You mean, a bit like the saying that if you want to hide something, you had best do it in the open, for everybody to see, don’t you?”

  Yuki nodded and smiled at me. But I didn’t feel like adding anything to their discussion.

  Josh seemed a bit annoyed by Yuki’s and Nin’s interruption.

  “Anyway, these are dangerous, highly dangerous people. And they plan to release this toxin within the next few weeks. Do you understand? What exactly this toxin is, we could unfortunately never find out. Your Dad and Uncle are convinced that it must be some kind of virus or pathogen. Whatever it is, it seems to be highly contagious and transmissible by air as well as water. How they are planning to release it, we don’t know, but their organisational structure is such that they have cells of 20 to 30 members all over the world, in every major city, on all continents. And we guess that these cells will simultaneously release the toxin upon some kind of signal.”

  Alice whimpered and sought refuge in my arms. All this talking, which she didn’t really understand, clearly upset her very much.

  But we needed this information, so I couldn’t spare her. I held her tight and whispered in her hair “It’s alright, Alice, darling, we’ll be alright. Don’t worry too much. But you know, we have to talk with Josh, we need to know as much as we can. Do you understand?” She nodded but hid her face in my chest. Yuki patted her back and we all continued to listen to what Josh had to say.

  “Papadopoulos’ brother thinks that he found the signal which will trigger the release – a very inconspicuous advert on a social network site.” Josh went on. “He is monitoring it and will notify us immediately once he’ll detect some change there. I hope he is right and doesn’t watch a phantom.”