Lia's files 2_Heading down south

by Kathrin Kilambya

  I couldn’t quite agree with them yet. My heart was still beating hard and fast in my throat and I had to unclench my fingers from the armrests. It had been too much of a shock and I couldn’t see the fun in it yet, maybe I never would.

  Too much was at stake here! How dare he risk all our lives?

  I glared at Josh, which made him laugh even harder. “Common Lia, don’t be grumpy. Admit that this was an absolutely ingenious gesture!”

  I didn’t trust my voice and simply scowled.

  Alice climbed on my lap now and wound her arms around my neck. “Don’t worry, Lia. Everything went well. Look we are already far away now and nobody is following us. It worked! I like Paul and his funny ideas.”

  Exasperated I looked over to see how Yuki was doing. She, too, looked rattled and pale. But she was smiling and when she saw me looking at her, she gestured that she was okay.

  Winter shot me a glance, too, and smiled reassuringly. “You know, that’s our Paul all over. You had better get used to it. And the most annoying part is that he usually turns out to be right. But better don’t let him see this.”

  “Hey!” Rob exclaimed teasingly. “Don’t badmouth our hero.”

  “You alright now?” Josh whispered into my ear, kissing me lightly.

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” I answered, still a bit grumpy, not quite ready to join into the smiling and laughter.

  Instead I kept glancing outside at the passing scenery below. Soon we’d fly past the Lake of Thun and start crossing the Alps proper. And then we’d turn south.

  It was incredible and I could hardly believe that we’d really made it.

  Paul stuck his head through the cockpit door, beaming, and shouted. “Hey, we’ve made it, folks! And now, Kenya, we’re coming! Let’s get that baby up into the Jetstream and get going.”

  Of course we all burst out laughing at this. It all seemed so easy.

  Chapter 3 – the flight

  20th May 2072

  Twenty minutes into our flight we were already over the Alps; the scenery below absolutely breath taking. The white peaks, still with a lot of last winter’s snow on them and the lush green valleys in between. Clouds billowing up over the mountains, as white as the snow itself. The brilliant sun made everything shine like sparkling diamonds. It was splendid and made my throat feel tight. After all, that was it, wasn’t it? We wouldn’t be likely to ever come back here again. Today was the last time we ever saw these mountains.

  How many times had we gone hiking or skiing here with Mum and Nate, with Dad and even with Uncle Phil? Whenever he’d been in Switzerland, Uncle Phil had organized what he called “a little reconnoitring”, to find fossils or minerals or just to have a look at some geological formation or other. And he would tell us, Nin and me mostly, about how this or that had been formed by time and the movement of tectonic plates, mountain ranges and the like. And for sure, under his clever guidance we’d always found something exciting to illustrate his lectures. Semi-precious stones, minerals, fossils or plants. Uncle Phil had a real talent for explaining things, especially to the non-scientists. He not only loved telling stories but was, naturally, also very good at it. It had always been a real treat to go on these little trips with him. We’d learnt a lot, things that would hopefully come in handy now, in this our new, strange life.

  Funny; that I should think about all this now.

  Maybe a trick of my overanxious mind to distract me? Or was I just trying to fool myself? There were some absolutely horrible hours ahead of us; at least as far as I was concerned. We would be like a sitting duck while flying in this plane. Should the Nemesis suspect who we were and come after us, I mean. This plane could only fly so fast. It didn’t bear thinking what could happen in the next few hours. It just didn’t.

  “Stop rocking backward and forward, Lia.” Josh gently teased. “The plane won’t fly any faster for it, you know.”

  It was only then that I realized what I had been doing. It was utterly embarrassing and I felt myself blush.

  “You’re so cute when you’re self-conscious.” Josh raised my hand, which he had held all along, and kissed my palm.

  Biiih!

  I wasn’t really in the mood for this right now. I was far too anxious for our all safety.

  It must have shown because Josh looked utterly concerned now and fired away several questions all at once. “What’s the matter Lia? Are you not feeling well? Is there something I can do? Do you want something to drink?”

  I felt like a cornered rabbit, a bit at least. No way did I want to hurt Josh’s feelings, but at that very moment, I really couldn’t cope with this emotional closeness and sweet-talking. I wanted to be left alone or get something to do to keep me busy during the next endless hours that lay ahead of us. Talking about my feelings was just not the thing to do. At the same time I felt horribly guilty for harbouring such thoughts. Here I was, just hours after we’d passionately made love and committed ourselves in the deepest possible sense. Instead of being blissfully happy to have Josh here with me, loving me, caring for me so much that a mere hint of me not being okay sent him panicking, and I wanted to be left alone? How could I be that callous and selfish?

  But before I could attempt to explain, I was saved. At least temporarily.

  “Leave her be, Josh.” Winter had come over and was now standing next to us, her hand on Josh’s arm, as if to stop him. “Lia, will you give me a hand. I want to have a closer look at that luggage of the Nemesis. Maybe we will discover something useful. And meanwhile, Josh, you can help Nin and Paul navigate that plane; or something the like.”

  She smiled at me reassuringly and gestured for me to follow her.

  I shot a quick apologetic glance at Josh who looked hurt, gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, climbed out of my seat and followed Winter, Alice in my trail. I would have to explain to Josh, but right now, I was glad to follow Winter. After another hurtful look my direction Josh climbed out of his seat, too, and headed for the cockpit.

  Winter gently nudged me. “Don’t worry, Lia, he’ll be alright. Men can be such sissies when it comes to their loved ones. And they really tend to be absolutely useless, at least as a general rule, in emotional emergencies.”

  I glanced at her to see how she’d meant this. She grinned ironically and poked me in the side.

  “Really, he’ll calm down soon. It just freaked him out to see you so anxious and frightened. And because he didn’t really know what to do, he fired away all those not so helpful questions. That’s Josh all over. But Rob, too, acts like that when he’s concerned about me. Men! As I said.” She snorted.

  Okay?!

  If that was the problem, I would be able to deal with it and explain to Josh that sometimes I just needed some breathing space. I guess, we would have to work out quite some things before we’d be as at ease as a couple as Rob and Winter were. But she was right. Nin also tended to fuss over Yuki, especially now that she was pregnant. We all did a bit, after all. And it pissed her off mightily.

  Oh, okay! Now I understood.

  But, first things first. And right now that meant to have a closer look at the Nemesis things.

  Yuki didn’t want to join us and said that she would try to sleep a bit as she didn’t feel too well. We wrapped her in a soft blanket and brought her a bottle of water. Before settling down to sleep, she, too, shot me an ironic glance, but refrained from commenting anything.

  Good for her.

  I had to get used to this situation of having everyone noticing one’s feelings and commenting on them. We were a small group now and living so very close together, which was quite okay most of the time, but right now I wished for a bit more privacy.

  Ah, well, one way or another we’d find a balance.

  Alice was very eager to see what was in the boxes and crates, but Winter cautioned her. “Wait Alice, we have to be careful. We don’t know what’s in there. Let me have a look first. It’s safer that way.”

  Alice grimaced and reluctantly let her pass to
open the first box. It contained food, nothing out of the ordinary: lots of tinned and ready-made things; plus packages of rice and pasta; and soup. There were eggs, bottles of milk and bread. Not much in the way of meat, but otherwise there was everything one needed to survive. At the bottom of the box, we also found salt, sugar, spices, coffee and tea. Even some pans and a kettle for boiling water! These things would surely come in handy in the next few days.

  The next six boxes also contained assorted food. In the eighth and ninth we found fruit, apples and banana mostly, but also a few baskets of strawberries, which was really amazing. Where the heck had the Nemesis gotten those from? At this time of the year? But wonderful because we had all been longing for some fresh fruit! Especially Yuki would love it. She’d been craving for strawberries for ages.

  “Wow, where do you think they got these from?” Winter marvelled, holding up a basket of the strawberries and taking an appreciative sniff.

  “May I take an apple?” Alice asked.

  “Of course, tiger; go ahead. And why don’t you go and ask everyone whether they’d like some, too. Or something to drink? And bring Yuki some strawberries; if she’s not already fallen asleep, that is.” I suggested.

  She picked an apple, took a bite, pocketed some others and lifted a basket of strawberries out of its box before heading toward Yuki and the cockpit, carefully balancing her charge. Soon she was back reporting that everyone had taken some fruit, except Yuki, because she now was asleep. And that Josh had taken the strawberries in Yuki’s stead and thanked us very much for them.

  I was happy that Yuki had managed to fall asleep. It would do her good; the events of the last twenty-four hours must have been a real exertion on her. After all, so much had happened; it was really quite incredible and rather surreal.

  Meanwhile, Alice informed Winter that the men would like something to drink and that she would be glad to carry it to them. Winter gave her two bottles of water and Alice disappeared but quickly came back, eager to continue checking the boxes.

  “Which box do we open now?” She asked a bit impatiently.

  “Let’s first sort the food boxes and crates from the rest. That way we’ll find the things we’ll need easily and won’t confuse boxes with food with those containing non-food. Plus, we will be able to quickly pack the stuff in the cars once we’ve landed. Where ever that will be.” Winter answered while pushing the food boxes all into one corner.

  When we were done five minutes later, we had ten boxes with food, three of which contained fresh fruit and vegetables. Not a lot, but enough to keep us going for some time.

  Next, we moved the crates with bottles. There was lots and lots of water, some soft drinks, and then lots of beer and liquor, next to the boxes with food.

  “At least they loaded a lot of water.” Winter said. “Actually, it’s quite strange that they would pack that much water, don’t you think? As if they were going somewhere where they didn’t expect to find enough of it. Strange!”

  “Maybe they were just cautious. After all, water is really the most important thing to have with you, isn’t it?” I wasn’t overly concerned with the many bottles of water we’d found and stacked in that corner. It wasn’t that much water after all, I thought. Something between 80 to 100 litres. And, we didn’t know how many people should have been on that plane in the first place. It would last us a bit over a week to finish it off. Alice found all this shifting and moving of food boxes, crates and water bottles utterly boring and wanted to proceed to the more interesting things now.

  There were another eleven boxes remaining, seven of which, as we soon discovered, contained ammunition, guns and even some grenades. We pushed those seven boxes to the very back of the space where luggage could be stored.

  The last four boxes would probably be the real surprise.

  Winter opened the first one. It contained lots of little brown glass bottles. Like for medicine. With tight plastic caps. She took one out, read its label and almost dropped it. “It’s the Pathogen!” She gasped. “Look! The label reads Nemesis 6!”

  Alice wanted to touch the bottles but Winter and I both instantly stopped her. No way was she going to touch these vile things. Carefully I took one bottle out myself and scrutinized it. But apart from its label reading Nemesis 6 there were no indications as to the contents of the bottle. Could it really be the Pathogen? – It must. What else would they name Nemesis 6?

  Carefully I put the bottle back into the box.

  “Did the box have any special mark or sign?” I asked Winter. We both carefully examined the outside of the box. But there was nothing special. Except, maybe, there was a small red circle in one corner of the box. Could it be that this sign indicated the dangerous contents of the box? It seemed unlikely. Why would they choose such an unobtrusive sign for something so dangerous? Why wouldn’t they just write Nemesis 6 on it? If this indeed was the pathogen? Still, the other boxes didn’t have that red circle. It didn’t make sense.

  “How many bottles are there? Let’s count them.” Winter reopened the box and we carefully lifted some of the bottles out to see how many layers there were in the box. There were three. And every layer contained 77 bottles. So, there were 231 bottles in total.

  “What on earth do you think they meant to do with all these bottles?” I wondered aloud.

  It was a very frightening thought that they might have been destined to be used somewhere. To kill innocent people.

  “Maybe there are some clues to this in the other boxes.” Winter replied.

  Alice wanted to open the next box, but we wouldn’t let her. She was utterly frustrated and started to whine and complain that she was big enough and wanted to enjoy her share in the fun.

  Before I could intervene, Winter grasped her by her thin shoulders and earnestly looked at her. “Listen Alice, this is no fun here. Those bottles most probably contain a very, very dangerous poison. We don’t know what’s in the other boxes. There may be dangerous things inside and we mustn’t take any unnecessary risks. It is far too dangerous. Understood? And, tough and brave as you certainly are, this is nothing for children. So, it’s certainly not you who opens the remaining three boxes, but either Lia or I, understood?”

  Alice pulled a face, but eventually nodded.

  I proceeded to open the second box. There was a black lacquered box in it with a lock. On the lid of the box a golden circle and underneath it the word Nemesis were engraved. Apart from the lacquered box there were also lots of papers in the box.

  “Really! Rather a ridiculous and pompous setup! Don’t you think so?” Winer said with a sneer.

  “You mean, the regal touch this all has? I totally agree, it’s ludicrous. Just as anything else about them: Their name, their organisation . And now this overblown and staged farce. Couldn’t they just put their papers or orders or whatever those things here are in a simple box or envelope?” I replied.

  She snorted derisively. “It kind of fits the bill, doesn’t it? At least what we have learnt about them so far. They sure seem to have a thing for silly theatrical gestures. Really! How very stupid!”

  “Let’s have a look what’s in the last two boxes, before we sort through these papers, shall we?” I suggested.

  Winter quickly opened the last boxes. They both contained protective suits as well as gas masks. We might have guessed. They were the kind of protective clothing used in bio hazard labs. We closed these boxes and pushed them to where we’d placed the box with the pathogen bottles. Then we went back to have a closer look at the papers in the other box.

  We carried the box to the front of the plane where our seats where so that we might be more comfortable.

  But before I got down to helping Winter sort the papers I headed for the cockpit.

  Paul was in charge of flying the plane and the other three were busy studying a map and discussing navigation. But Josh looked up the minute I appeared in the door. He seemed uncertain what to say but his eyes were asking for relief. It made my heart leap to my th
roat. I loved him so much and to see him in pain, however stupid the reason for it, instantly made me yearn to kiss him and tell him not to worry. I smiled and nodded my head in answer to his silent question. He heaved a sigh and relaxed.

  Rob looked up and asked. “Found anything interesting?

  “Yes and no. Most of the boxes contain food, water and drinks. We have three boxes with fresh fruit which is a real asset. Then there are seven boxes with guns and ammunition. The really strange thing, however, are four boxes. One full of bottles with the Pathogen.”

  “What!” Josh exclaimed. “How do you know?”

  “Because it says Nemesis 6 on every bottle and the box they are in is the only one with a funny mark that also appears on a ridiculously pompous lacquered container in another box and, finally, because another two boxes contain protective suits, gas masks inclusive.”

  “Huh? What are you talking about?” Rob wanted to know.

  “You’ve got to come and see for yourself. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that we found a box with papers. And in it is this funny black lacquered messenger box, you know, like the kind they had for the king’s mail or a head-of-state’s top-secret messages.”

  I could read on their faces that I didn’t make much sense. Rob and Josh got up to come and have a look for themselves.

  Turning around to head back to Winter, I glanced out of the window and gasped. “Wow! Is this the Mediterranean underneath? Have we already come that far?”

  “Yeah, we have just flown out over the Mediterranean. We came all the way down along the Italian coast. Now we are crossing over toward Libya. Another hour or so and we will be over our home continent.” Paul was obviously very pleased.