“Eorg, come here!”
The fighter broke out from his group at his director’s call, and while he was approaching Vann finally spoke to Julia, still smiling.
“Eorg is the best of his class. He’s coming in this mission with you.”
Julia tightened her lips, and said nothing.
Eyes meet. A pair does not see the Captain but a woman, is not interested in the words or gestures of the Director but in the features of a face, the details of a uniform - the rays connecting the throat collar to the armor neckline, the line of the trousers on the hips.
Pupils dilating at the sudden and long buried memory of another life, of a school mate and a natural and unthinking attraction, effusions in the school restrooms.
Eyes that become a darker gray as the memory fades.
The team had been summoned in the conference clearing in front of the North door, and was now fidgeting nervously, half-blinded by the low and light clouds which were multiplying the natural reflection of the sun.
Unseen, Julia was watching from a pavilion on the side. She was studying the controlled fear of Ary Lee, who anxiously looked at the weapon on her side from time to time, probably trying to get used to it. She took note of the blatant and solid arrogance of Eorg and of the meticulous appearance – and tired faces - of the engineers chosen for this mission by the director of their department.
After a couple of minutes she walked out of the shadow to appear suddenly behind the surprised team, walking up to face them and look at all of them in the eye. She spoke in a low voice, her eyes concentrated, index and middle finger of her left hand pulling at a pellicle of her thumb in a subconscious sign of nervousness.
“Two things.”
Ten anxious pairs of eyes stared at her in a dense silence.
“We are going to be the front line. If anyone wants to pull back, now is the time.”
Worried looks and dragging of boots, but no answer.
“Good. Second point. For your own good, I expect you to do exactly as I tell you.”
Ary Lee nodding in the background, flashes in the eyes of the engineers and Eorg. Julia graced them with a tense smile.
“In the full respect of your specific competence, clearly.”
She flopped down on the floor with her legs crossed, signaling with her hand for the team to follow her example. The new faces were the engineers, two men in their forties that had clearly spent the night studying with the Department the river and its currents in order to provide assistance in building bridges and rafts; and Ary Lee’s backup, who introduced himself as First Analyst Ow.
He was a tall man with a stern gaze, clearly experienced, and Julia welcomed him warmly, sending an encouraging smile to a withdrawn and thoughtful Ary.
Along the fighters chosen by Julia, the imposing figure of soldier ‘Rrla stood out; she was a strong black woman, almost as tall as Eorg and just as muscular, making Captain Mayne appear extremely light and thin in comparison. She wasn’t saying a word, but appeared to avoid looking in Eorg’s direction.
Julia nodded silently, trying to grasp as quickly as possible the first signs of the group’s dynamics. Her group.
She was walking the corridor to her module, with the flowing of time in her ears and the certainty she was being followed at a close distance in the long metal desert. She recognized without turning her head Eorg’s heavy footsteps and slowed down slightly, while the furrow of a frown formed on her forehead.
And then the unexpected and compact mass of 50 kg of muscle throws Eorg against the gray and opaque wall, with one of Captain Mayne’s thighs jammed between his legs to pin him down.
The left hand grabs his hair at the nape of his neck, the other one pulls him by the collar in a deep and fierce kiss that does not give or take, but consumes.
Finally Julia detaches her lips and doubles her grip, pushing elbow and forearm against his chest, nailing her shining eyes on Eorg’s bewildered face.
“Is this what you want?”
She lets go of the grip with a small push after 30, 40 seconds of silence.
She smiles/nods.
“Look somewhere else.”
Captain Mayne watched the Fighter’s retreat for a few seconds, then Eorg became a distant thought dismissed in some dark basement of her mind.
She stared at the videophone for a long time, searching for the right words to explain her imminent departure to Cleo. Finally, she found enough courage to dial the number. Despite the parade of optimism she received, it was the echo of Cleo’s worried voice that filtered in the Captain’s dreams.
VIII
Layers of dust on weapons and equipment told the tale of the time elapsed since the day of their departure. Julia squinted, remembering the effort it had required to remain impassible, despite the fatigue, the nagging aftertaste of the now unusual synthetic food, Nah’s inquisitive eyes and the goose bumps on her arms seeing the imperial flags waving for the occasion.
She mechanically brushed back a strand of hair away from her sweaty forehead. Even the bodice of the armor was opaque with brownish dust, like her entire figure and the team’s tired faces. They were walking in single file, with the Captain in front and Eorg in the rearguard; they had separated from Arl’s contingent to deeply penetrate in enemy territory with the light of the day. Julia had decided to leave behind the electrocarts with the Engineers and ‘Rrla, venturing in to explore on foot with the hope of having a chance to record some sounds in case of an encounter. Her group knew that the main objective of their mission was to gather information for the Department of Knowledge of the Ministry of Counter-Terrorism.
She halted the small line behind her, raising a gloved hand - the tallest treetops were moving, but it was only the wind. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the sounds. The rustle of the leaves. The creaking of branches. The far cry of a distant bird.
The Captain let her arm fall down, turning back. She found the wary and quizzical eyes of the group staring at her. The shoulders of the fighters were tense, the posture rigid, faces sweaty but pale: the Forest and the heat were taking their toll.
And yet, the Captain herself appeared to be gaining energy day by day. In less than a week Julia had already regained color, muscle and tone. When her head started to spin, she didn’t show it.
She looked back once at the thick vegetation.
“We’re heading back.”
Julia and Arl were sitting on camp chairs placed around a small and wobbly table, straining to keep them straight on the harsh terrain. Around them the team was preparing the camp for the night.
The Captain was shaking her head, her short but thick black hair waving around.
“There’s no point in going during the day. The Terrorists have spotted us and are already on guard. I will have to go scouting during the night. Tomorrow.”
The Sub-Commander tightened his lips, worried.
“We want them to move out. If they do so without a direct contact the better.”
Julia nodded.
“You are correct. But I have different orders. I will go with my team.”
Arl hesitated for a moment, undecided, then appeared reassured by her smile.
“Don’t worry, I won’t need back up.”
The Captain elegantly rose from her chair, walking towards the electrocart guarded by Ary Lee. The girl’s blonde pigtails were a slightly droopy and tangled, her eyes staring at nothing, or perhaps following the distant bickering between ‘Rrla and Eorg.
Julia sat by her side.
“Are you ok?”
Ary Lee jumped up, startled. She opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, then closed it shut, even though her damp eyes spoke for her. A new note appeared in Julia’s voice, the note of someone asking a question that demands an answer.
“Ary Lee, what is going on? Consider this conversation informal for now.”
The blonde wiped her tears, hiding her eyes in the palms
of her hands for a moment. She spoke in a controlled voice.
“I feel terribly inadequate. And I am scared.”
Julia stared at her for a few seconds, with no expression whatsoever. Then she sighed and shook her head – and while Ary Lee was by now expecting a harsh rebuke, Captain Mayne sent her a crooked smile.
“You are appropriate for the task because I chose you, and you accepted. And it is healthy to feel fear.”
Julia rose, observing the orange ball of the sun setting through the branches of the Forest. She tapped on Ary’s shoulder.
“Be prepared, tomorrow night we’ll go scouting and I want you to come with me.”
“I know all of you are going to be there to protect me.”
Julia’s smile broadened.
“Good.”
Ary Lee was looking at her with an unexpressed question in her eyes. She finally found the heart to pose it, lowering her eyes.
“Captain? We are all scared. More or less, in a more blatant or hidden manner. Except for you.”
Julia tensed, struck by a deep malaise, slapped in the face by the evidence of the fact that what she feared the most was the violence of the Empire, rather than the natural fierceness of an enemy defending its territory. It dawned on her that she breathed more freely in the midst of the dangers of the wild Forest than in the familiar and crushing structure of society.
She just allowed herself a couple of seconds before answering. She deleted the first answer that had come to her mind.
“This is my problem.”
The second answer, far from being trivial, concealed a deeper truth.
“I have been trained to not feel it.”
The Captain had insisted on having Ary Lee at her side during the first night recon, for reasons which went far beyond simple psychological considerations. Some areas that had once been mined were easy to recognize – depressions in the ground characterized by younger trees – but other spots were more treacherous.
Ary Lee knew how to estimate the distance between trees and determine whether an unusual open space was too big due to the metal ions of a mine tampering with the growth of a seed. The girl calculated with concentration and with a precision that was constantly backed up by First Analyst Ow; focus on the job kept her fear at bay.
Hours had passed since their departure at sunset and the moonlight was starting to filter through the treetops, when Julia suddenly turned around to stare in the darkness to her left. The leaves of branch were slightly vibrating.
“Turn all the lights on! Fan them out!”
The second the lights turned on, the silence was broken by cries and repetitive thuds against the tree trunks. A small vibration confirmed the recording device Julia was carrying attached to her belt had activated itself.
The girl turned around immediately, whispering quickly.
“Stay here. Eorg, ‘Rrla, cover me.”
She sprinted in the woods following the sounds, checking the treetops and darting around the trunks, the Forest incredibly still in the powerful light of the beacons. 2, 3, 5, 10 seconds of silence, then a new rhythm answering the first call.
A muscle on Eorg’s biceps twitched as he strengthened his grip on the gun; ‘Rrla’s dark eyes nervously darted from left to right. Julia froze, listening to the beat of her heart more than she was actually paying attention to the Terrorist’s message – half a minute at the most, before a renewed and spectral silence.
The recorder stopped its vibration, and the Captain started breathing again.
“Go, go, go!”
“How did you know we had been spotted?”
Eorg’s voice resonated in Arl’s camp, friendly but high and curious. The fighter immediately won himself reproachful looks and an aura of silence surrounded him after this clear violation of protocol. Julia decided to ignore this since he was insisting, clearly interested.
“Really, there was nothing there when you turned to look.”
The Captain smiled.
“Exactly, there was no wind either. But the leaves were rustling.”
“Oh.”
Eorg appeared satisfied with the answer and nodded. Julia quickly checked the electrocart that was being loaded with the material they would need for their daylight scouting, and gestured for her team to gather. She sat on the floor, followed by the rest of the team.
“Two things.”
While speaking, she made sure her eyes embraced the entire semicircle that had formed around her.
“Good job tonight, everyone. Our timing was perfect.”
A pause, the time needed to take in the smiles of the group.
“Now, the guidelines for tomorrow. Our mission is to gather information, I don’t want to fight if not to defend ourselves. We are exploring, not going to battle.”
The team nodded, and almost as if all of them had exhaled the tension and the stress of an unusual situation, Captain Mayne suddenly noticed the stale scent of sweat and fear.
She stood up, thus closing the brief meeting.
“One last thing. Tomorrow before we leave I want all of you to go through the disinfection procedure. I don’t want our smell giving us away.”
The place was the same, but Ary’s cartography was needed to confirm it. The compact light of the day, the bright colors and the constant chattering of birds made it completely unrecognizable since their encounter with the Terrorist sentinel.
“It is highly likely there is a Terrorist encampment nearby. I want to find it.”
Impassable faces, eyes full of concern. Captain Mayne ignored them to stare once again through the leaves.
“Follow me, and keep silent – Ary Lee, right behind me. I need to know if the way is safe.”
They found the Terrorist camp not far away, taking a turn towards the river. They cautiously peered in a small clearing which according to Ary’s calculations had probably formed after the detonation of ancient landmines - some of the branches of the tallest trees, twisted or cut, formed rough huts.
The village looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry, but Julia, perfectly still in her armor, observed the borders of the clearing. She kept her team waiting, barely mouthing her instructions.
“Don’t move. Look for signs of a trap or an ambush.”
Ary Lee and her colleague Ow immediately entered a state of relaxed concentration, their minds trained to grasp all environmental detail – only the fighters showed the anxiety this forced pause caused them, and even the usually impassible ‘Rrla kept combing her hands through her long, wavy hair, or wiping her forehead with her sleeve.
Finally the Captain’s voice broke the silence.
“Ow, report in.”
“Seven intact huts. Traces of at least two that have been dismantled or destroyed. Their structural appearance suggests they are layered with leather in the inside and leaves on the outside, with some walls directly connected to the tree trunks. There is a circle of stones in the middle, probably for campfires.”
Ow raised his eyes to the trees before continuing.
“There are no indicators of hidden presence or traps in the vegetation. The shadows we see on the ground are consistent with what we see at first sight.”
Julia nodded.
“Very well. We’re going in. I don’t want anyone to fire if not for immediate defense.”
She searched for ‘Rrla’s eyes.
“Stay here with Ow and Ary. The rest with me.”
Boot prints in the red earth of the clearing. Julia moves sideways, in silence, clockwise.
A shuffling rustle from a tent – the violent flare of a gun, the genuine scream of a woman.
“NO!”
Julia pushes away Eorg’s weapon, deviating and stopping the trajectory, runs towards the lacerated hut, the external leaves now lying on the floor, the internal leathers shattered and torn.
Captain Mayne yanks at an extremity with anger, exposes the figure of one of the Terrorist
women, sprawled backwards and bleeding, eyes closed in her beautiful and apparently completely human face.
“They must have left her behind because she was sick. Look at how swollen her belly is.”
Julia is now bent over the woman, placing two delicate fingers on her throat. No pulse. She imposes silence with a sign of her hands, speaks without even looking at Eorg in the face.
“She was pregnant.”
White in the face, Julia closes her eyes, swallows saliva and tears. Opens and closes her fists before turning around to look at the soldier – sweat beading on his forehead. Words that are little more than a hiss.
“You have no idea of what you have just done.”
Captain Mayne breathes out, lets the tent fall back.
“We’re going back.”
Quick paces up to the edge of the clearing.
The Captain had shut herself in one of the tents of Arl’s camp, in utter silence. The sun was starting to set in the green horizon of the Forest when Ary Lee finally reached the accommodation, shuffling her feet in embarrassment.
“Captain Mayne?”
“Come in, Ary Lee.”
Julia’s voice had lost the steely note of her rage and sounded simply tired, even through the muffling effect of the tent.
The Advanced Corps Captain was sitting on a chair and staring into the void, her legs crossed, silently waiting for the intruder to explain her presence. She hadn’t even taken off her armor.
The blonde of the Mines Department stared at the ground.
“Are you going to court martial Eorg?”
Julia allowed the girl to hear her sigh.
“Why, is he plotting his escape?”
Ary Lee looked up, suddenly terrified.
“No, absolutely not! I didn’t mean…”
“That was ironic. I don’t see many places where he could be running, anyway.”
She softened her tone, seeing the appalled expression on the white and tired face of the girl.
Julia Dream Page 10