“Don’t worry, Uncle Phil,” I tried to sound confident and comforting. “We are ready and we’ll make it. We’ll be alright.”
Yuki just looked at me as if I was insane and Nin rolled his eyes.
Alice voiced her fear and sobbed, “I am scared, Uncle Phil, I am so scared. I don’t understand. What will happen to us now?”
“Oh, darling, Alice!” Aunt Kamene’s tried to calm her, her voice shaking with emotions. “I know that this is scaring, not just for you, for all of us! And you, Lia, stop your matter-of-fact act, it’s not helpful! We are all frightened, all of us! Uncle Phil and I just as much as you! This is nothing any of us has ever experienced. But we can’t help it, or stop it. We just have to make the best out of this very bad situation. Do you understand, Alice?”
Her voice, even though it was worried, had a comforting effect. I fiercely wished for her to be here in person – it would be ever so much less scary.
“Alice, my little darling, the only thing we can do now is to be strong, survive and then we’ll meet again. Do you understand? I know that this is by no means easy for you, darling, and that we are asking a lot of you, but you must be brave now, Alice.”
Alice nodded, more obediently than convinced. She looked awful, but she managed to whisper “I will, Aunt Kamene, I will.”
“I love you, Alice, never forget that. We all love you so much,” Aunt Kamene’s voice was choked with feelings.
“And I know that Yuki, Lia and Ninian will take care of you, darling. I am certain that you will be able to get through this unscathed, just keep up your spirits, look after each other and know that we love you all very, very much.”
Aunt Kamene couldn’t suppress a sob herself but Alice looked less scared now. Which was a relief. It had done her good to speak with Aunt Kamene. And I hoped we could do this many more times before the connections would break down for good.
“Yuki,” Uncle Phil wanted to know now. “Did you call your parents, did you talk with them? Do they know what is happening?”
I wondered why he would ask such questions. Hadn’t we agreed not to mention any of this to outsiders, Yuki’s parents included?
“No, I haven’t told them anything yet,” Yuki replied, looking over to Nin, uncertain how to proceed. “We thought it would not bet helpful and, frankly, useless. My father would never believe a word about this. He only would have ordered me to take the next flight to Tokyo, thinking that Nin had had a bad influence on me. And that I didn’t want! Never! My place is here with Nin!”
Her fierce tone and message was clearly directed not only at Uncle Phil but also at Nin, who quickly moved over to her and took her in his arms. This time she let him and kissed him passionately.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Yuki,” Uncle Phil replied. “I just think you should contact your parents now and try to convince them of the urgency of the situation. So that they may try to find a shelter for themselves. Because, “and here he took a deep breath and his voice suddenly sounded shaky, “because I am sure that it’s a matter of just a few days, two maybe three days, before these Nemesis nerds strike. We have only very little time left, children!”
If one thought about it, it made sense, of course it did. The longer these Nemesis-people would wait, the bigger the danger of detection. But still, to hear Uncle Phil say it out loud came as a shock! A terrible shock!
Two maybe three days and then we’d be on ourselves, all alone!
I suddenly felt like running away! It seemed like too much, and I didn’t know how to deal with it, deal with the others. How to comfort Alice!
And there were other things. Things I wanted to ask Uncle Phil without Nin, Yuki, let alone Alice listening in. I needed to tell Phil and Kamene some things, ask their advice, and I needed to do this alone.
I looked at Nin, Yuki and Alice pleadingly and asked, “Aunt Kamene, can I talk with you alone?”
Alice looked like she’d burst out in tears any moment. But Yuki took her by her hand, and nodding at me, “Of course, Lia! Come Alice, say good-bye to Kamene and Phil for tonight. We’ll talk to them again tomorrow.”
They all said their goodbyes; then Nin took Alice’s other hand and they all walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
“What is it, Lia, my dear? What did you want to say?” Aunt Kamene’s soft voice wanted to know.
“I don’t know how to go through with this! Auntie Kamene, I don’t know what to do!” I burst out. “You know me. The way I always try to downplay things. I can’t show my feelings the way Yuki and Nin do. But I have to be there for Alice, to be strong for her. And yet I feel so useless and scared myself. I don’t know how to do this. I can deal with the threat from outside, but I am so scared about how to behave toward Alice, and Yuki and Nin. What shall I do?”
I was shaking, trembling all over and my voice was far from steady. Here, I had said it.
“Oh Lia, darling, don’t worry about such things!” Aunt Kamene sounded almost relieved.
“Is this all that is bothering you? Just be you; anything else would be deeply disturbing to Alice, Yuki and Nin, anyway. They, we all know you the way you are. You don’t have to change a thing there. Just be yourself and follow your instincts.”
Aunt Kamene paused before going on. “You know, Lia, you don’t have to be the strong one, just because you are the eldest! Nobody expects this. Yuki and Nin are just as capable of dealing with this situation as you are. And as for Alice, what she needs more than anything now is love, lots of love, plus a feeling of stability, shelter and warmth, human warmth. Just be there for her, the rest will fall into place.”
Aunt Kamene took a deep breath before continuing, her voice now deeply concerned. “And don’t try to imitate your mother, or me. Flattering though it may be to be a role model for you, you have to remain true to yourself, Lia. All of you. Because it will cost us all a lot! None of us will get through this unscathed; we’ll all have to face difficult decisions, loss, hurt, pain! And we’ll only be able to survive this, if we remain who we are, Lia, do you understand?”
Aunt Kamene sounded very severe now, “And remember this, always: you, as well as Yuki and Nin, you are all absolutely able to survive this. You are clever, able, and knowledgeable! And you, Lia, have all the qualities necessary to support Alice. You love her, and this is the key! You’ll be able to find the right things to do or to say, because you love her. And nothing you’ll do or say will be wrong. Just let her see it, your love, let her see it often! Don’t be afraid to show it, never be! Oh, Lia, I wish you were here with us now, I would just hug you very tight, little one, I love you so much!” Aunt Kamene was as overcome with feelings.
“Thank you, Aunt Kamene,” I whispered. “Thank you so much!”
Warmth and love I could give; no problem there; if love was all it took, I would manage.
Of course, this wasn’t everything I wanted to discuss with her and Uncle Phil, but I didn’t know how to proceed. I shouldn’t have worried, she knew me.
“But this isn’t everything that’s bothering you, is it? You always knew how to deal with Alice, didn’t you? Wasn’t this one of the main reasons your mother asked you to babysit her in the first place. You know Alice inside out. So, this isn’t what’s really bothering you, Lia, isn’t it?”
“No, you’re right, it’s not what’s really worrying me.”
I paused to think this through. How was I going to ask her. I didn’t want to sound stupid or like a moping teenager. Straight to the point then, see where that would lead me.
“It’s to do with this Nemesis collective. I tried to talk about it with Nin and Yuki, but they think I am paranoid. But I can’t help it. I wonder whether they are not somehow monitoring us, our course of action. I mean, don’t they know about Uncle Phil, about Dad, Professor Papadopoulos and Josh? Don’t they suspect that we know? And wouldn’t they then keep an eye on you, and, therefore, on us too? Shouldn’t we worry about such things too? Or am I just being paranoid?”
It felt good to finally voice my worries out loud. And I was certain that Uncle Phil would understand me and answer honestly.
I was right, he sounded somehow pleased, concerned but definitely pleased.
“See Kamene, I told you! If anyone will spot the problem, you could count on it to be Lia! I am proud of you, Lia! And it gives me great comfort that you are there with the other three. Because I am as convinced as you that we are being watched. I have expected it and there have been two, three incidents which confirmed my premonitions. We are being watched! Ethan thinks that I am over concerned and won’t listen. But I am certain, that these followers of Nemesis are aware of his actions, our efforts against them. Josh, thankfully, takes this risk very seriously. He’s modest, careful and thorough”, his voice trailed off and I took the opportunity to voice some more of my concerns.
“Can we do something, as a precaution?” I asked. “I was thinking to setup some kind of double bluff about the sub-basement. You know kind of camouflage its existence. But I am not yet sure how to do it. Or, should we just wait and hope for the best? Honestly, I hate this idea, but I want to prepare for every eventuality.”
“My girl, exactly!” Uncle Phil exclaimed. “See, Kamene, I told you Lia would grasp the full implications, without having to be told or convinced!”
He sounded pleased, but continued in a severe voice. “I don’t know how to advice you, Lia. On one hand it would be good to prepare, but on the other hand any such action might signal to these people that we are aware of their surveillance. I honestly don’t know what advise I should give you, Lia! Sorry as I am, I don’t know. You’ll have to act according to how things evolve. But I trust your instincts. You are clever and suspicious enough and you’ll come up with an appropriate response, should one be needed. Just be prepared to act on your own. You may want to leave Nin and Yuki in the dark about this, though. Maybe it would be better not to tell them anything about our suspicions.”
“I strongly disagree”, Aunt Kamene chipped in, her voice angry.
“You mustn’t do anything without discussing it with Nin and Yuki, Lia. You will not! Promise me this, Lia! You will absolutely not take actions single-handedly! Do you understand?”
The idea that I might do anything without previously consulting with Nin and Yuki clearly upset her very much. But I knew what Uncle Phil meant. He and I knew what might be necessary, and he and I were ready to do whatever it would take to protect our family. And I knew that I would, should it be necessary, act on my own. So, not wanting to lie in her face I answered somewhat evasively. “I promise, Aunt Kamene, that I will bear in mind what you just said, I promise!”
Then another disturbing thought occurred to me. “Uncle Phil, do you think that they can now overhear the telephone conversations we have?”
That would be a dreadful thing, indeed! We’d talked so freely about the sub-basement, our preparations, the technical details Josh and Nin had talked about. It would be a dead give-away should this Nemesis lot have been listened in on our conversations all along.
“Don’t worry about this, Lia. We took precautions against this a long time ago. Ethan and I have always been worried about the possibility of our phones being tapped and installed the proper encoding software on all our phones long time ago. And kept up-dating it according to the latest technological developments. We did this long before this threat by the Nemesis group came up! So don’t worry. Did Ethan never tell you about this? I am sorry. It’s been such a standard procedure with us that he maybe never thought it necessary to mention it. But don’t you worry; we are completely safe on this side. Your satellite phone, too. Some of the instructions Josh gave Nin were about implementing the latest encryption software.”
I was a bit peeved. But, then again, for people as paranoid as my Dad and Uncle Phil to encrypt their communication devices must, indeed, have become second-nature and something that they no longer thought about or talked about very much. And at least we wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.
“Is there something else you wanted to discuss with us, Lia,” Uncle Phil asked, “I don’t want to hurry you, but there is a storm coming up over here which will need my full attention.”
“How far north have you reached already?” I asked. “Are you already anywhere near Vancouver?”
“Yes, another day and a half and we’ll be there. Meeting point with Carrie, Nate, the twins and Nate’s parents is Tuesday evening at the Vancouver harbour.”
I was glad to hear this. So, by Tuesday evening Mum, Nate, Ben and David would safely be with Uncle Phil, very reassuring. I wished, we could be there too. It would be so much easier to face anything with Uncle Phil at our sides.
“Wow, this is really good news. Such a relief to know that Mum, Nate and the twins will soon be with you! And, no, I don’t have anything else to bother you with. We’ll contact you again tomorrow evening. Thank you very much, Uncle Phil and Auntie Kamene, for your help and support! I wouldn’t know what to do without you! Thank you! And I love you very much. Until soon!”
With this I cut the connection, turned the phone off and sat, contemplating what we had just discussed.
How could I find out if and by whom exactly we were being monitored? It was a scary thought.
But, then again, maybe not. After all, if they needed to monitor persons like us here, then they were vulnerable, not some kind of super-humans. And there must be a way to defeat them.
This idea about a double bluff kept returning. If we really had to hide away in the sub-basement for so long I would feel a lot more comfortable, if anybody coming looking for us would be misled to search elsewhere.
For now I shelved this idea. I would be thinking about it later.
Heaving a sigh, I got up and returned to the others.
They were sitting on the sofa, Alice seated between Yuki and Nin, and they looked up expectantly when I entered the room.
“Everything settled?” Nin asked, his voice somewhat off. “You got your last minute counselling?”
Was he angry at me? Or jealous?
“Yes, but what are you upset about?” I inquired. “Uncle Phil told me that all our phones have been encrypted a long time ago. I was worried that the Nemesis group might have tapped our phones, that’s all.”
“Oh, you were worried about that? I could have told you that myself. What else did you discuss?”
Yuki looked a bit uncomfortable at his aggressive questions.
“I asked for some behavioural advice, if you must know, and Aunt Kamene was very helpful.”
Nin looked somewhat guilty now which I didn’t like either.
“But you know what? It’s occurred to me while talking with Kamene and Phil that we have stored far too little water. We must fill some more jerry cans tomorrow. Imagine what would happen, if the taps broke and we didn’t have enough water! I think we should fill at least another then big jerry cans. Or what do you think?”
“Yeah, the thought has occurred to me too”, Nin answered. “Even though we have this reservoir tank below the sub-basement which, according to Dad, holds some 100’000 litres of water. I checked it yesterday. It’s full, but it won’t hurt to get some more water, the more, the better.”
“Tomorrow then,” I was relieved that he agreed with me so easily.
“What else will we have to do tomorrow?”
“Apart from the water, I think, we ought to get some more pain killers, antibiotic cream and disinfectant. We have some, but I’d feel better, if we could get more. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, we’re done.” Nin stated.
Yuki looked somehow fidgety, so I looked at her inquiringly. She blushed, but shook her head. So I suggested, “I would like to go to town once more tomorrow. There are some books that I ordered and I really would like to go and collect. Yuki and I could go together and pick up the medicals supplies, too. Maybe we’ll also find some unexpected treats for everyone.”
Yuki looked very relieved at this suggestion and readily agreed with
it.
Nin was apparently not very happy to leave her out of his sight, even for a few hours, but he didn’t really object.
I was really curious what Yuki wanted to discuss with me, because it was quite obvious that there was something on her mind which she didn’t want to discuss with Nin present. Well, I would see tomorrow.
And Alice was happy to remain at home with Nin and help him with the water.
She was yawning now and we took this as cue to retire to our respective beds.
Though Alice was dead on her feet, she wanted to hear a bed-time story. Yuki relented and told her some funny story about Piglet and his family that she made up there and then. It was gorgeous. She especially mentioned a so far fictional sister of his, which she portrayed as a very courageous and bold little rabbit-girl.
This gave me an idea: maybe we could try to find this sister of Piglet tomorrow in town; it would be a nice surprise for Alice. According to Yuki, the sister’s name was Malinda – angel in Swahili. We’d definitely try to find this little rabbit girl for Alice, I told myself.
Then I drifted off to sleep, probably the first of us four. I slept very well, no nightmares and nothing.
Chapter 4 – a secret to keep
Monday, 14th March 2072
The next morning, Yuki and I left for town right after breakfast. It was about 10 o’clock when we started walking toward the tramway station. We took the longer route along the side roads, there being too much traffic on the main road. It would take us about twenty minutes to walk to the tramway station and from there another 15 minutes by tramway to the town centre. The sun was shining, in the shade it was still cold, but in the sun one could feel the promise of spring approaching. It actually felt almost too warm for March; we opened our jackets and enjoyed the unexpectedly warm weather.
We walked side by side in silence at first.
“Is there anything you wanted to tell me”, I asked after a few minutes.
Lia's files 1_Presumed extinct Page 9