Commandos

by Madlen Namro

  A few moments later, Diana walked in, heavy with child. She ought to be thinking of nothing but childbirth, her health and family and of all the changes that new human being would bring into their lives.

  Margaret felt heavy pangs of conscience as she watched her friend. She felt responsible. She should never have agreed to this; she should have tried harder to change Diana’s mind. What Jo did with her life was her business, hers and no one else’s.

  “Please, Mag, let’s do it while everyone’s occupied with David’s mission and the Nobody will walk in on us now.”

  “All right,” Margaret overwhelming fear she was beginning to feel. There had been many stories about the commodore. If he ever found out about this… “Get ready, then. Let’s get it over with.”

  As she began plugging Diana up to the memorial detector, she realised that she was a coward, terrorised by a younger woman, but on the other hand, she’d never really liked Jo. Her perfection was irritating, as was her popularity and everyone’s admiration for her. Before she arrived at the Luna, Margaret used to be the most popular one and she never really got over losing that.

  session of the Council.

  agreed, ignoring the

  * * * *

  “Commodore, my position is 45oN and 100oW. I’ll be waiting on top of a hill.”

  “Understood. We’re dispatching a ship to pick you up.”

  Levi hurried off with David’s coordinates memorised. He needed to find Jo. She would have most likely already checked the ship and would now be preparing for the takeoff in her room. He walked past the gym and was surprised to see it nearly full at this time of day. As he turned back and entered the room, everyone stopped their exercises and grew silent. With intentional harshness, Levi gazed at them and spoke with audible reproach.

  “I’ve waited for three hours for a volunteer. But it seems that you’d much rather feed your own vanity than set out to save a man’s life.”

  Their heads lowered and their eyes avoided direct contact. The commandos stared at the floor – they deserved it, the lot of them.

  “Luckily there’s still one among you with some decency left, but because it’s Jo, I’m asking once more for someone to go with her.”

  Silence again. Cowards. Worried about their own arses and little else. They’d rather languish comfortably on-board their shuttles than take up an actual fight. He looked up again with one last hope of finding a volunteer, but no one would meet his eyes. He scowled and was about to give up when he noticed Alec entering the room.

  “Commodore, I’m ready to fly with Jo,” he said calmly.

  Everyone’s faces turned to him, surprised and curious of his motives. His relationship with Jo had long been over, his conflict with David permanent and well known, not to mention the fact that his wife was supposed to be having their child any day soon.

  “All right,” Levi agreed after a moment’s hesitation. “There’s not a second to lose. Get yourself ready.”

  Alec ran out and Levi continued towards Jo’s quarters. She was preparing for the dozen or so hours of near lightspeed travel before they’d reach Earth. She was wearing a black uniform. She stood in front of her mirror with a pair of scissors in her hand. With one firm move, she cut her hair, forming a fringe above her forehead, then another cut to shorten the rest of her hair to mid-neck length. She gave it no second look, not caring whether it was even. She walked out of her bathroom, buckled her belt and pocketed the disc containing her memories.

  Next, she walked to the safe and took out a weapon, then another and another. After a moment’s hesitation she decided on three types of side-arms, a laser, an atomic and a biological tranquiliser gun.

  At the same time, Alec was getting ready to leave with equal haste. He pulled a rucksack from under the bed, threw in his water bottle, meds, weapons and other random elements of equipment, grabbed it all and rushed out of the room without a single thought of Diana or her whereabouts. Completely absorbed, he didn’t have time to be surprised by the fact that his wife was not at home at this time of day.

  Levi knocked on Jo’s door and was pleased to see she was all set to go. With a smile they saluted each other and she followed him to the hangar where the technicians were almost ready preparing the space plane for its journey. It was one of the three newest constructions of its type, the CosmicFlight100.

  * * * *

  Margaret switched the memorial reader on. Diana was breathing heavily and for a moment it seemed as if her labour pains had started. Meanwhile, the nurse produced the access codes from a special stash. She smiled at the memory of her clever deception. She’d predicted Diana’s whim and had made a duplicate of the original key while conducting Jo’s procedure.

  All she needed to do later was break into Levi’s quarters, find his key and make sure it was identical before she switched them. No one would ever know. Had she been a few years younger, she’d have made an outstanding spy.

  A copy of Jo’s memory disc was already in the drive. Diana was slowly giving in to the anaesthetic and Margaret pressed the enter button. The memorial data transfer began directly into Diana’s brainwaves. Graphic representation of shifting neuron colours displayed on the screen. Diana was breathing calmly, deeply anaesthetised, sleeping through the strain suddenly imposed on her brain. Her mind needed to chew through thousands of images at once but she made a subconscious effort to focus on one of them.

  Jo and Alec sitting on a park bench on Earth, hugging, kissing, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. Gentle rustling of leaves, warm gusts of wind. ‘I’ll always love you.’ Alec’s voice and warm embrace.

  Diana’s expression shifted. She began to moan quietly, her breath shallow. Alarmed, Margaret was not sure whether she should abort the transfer.

  The woman’s cries intensified. She started writhing on the table. Margaret grabbed her hand, feeling the strained pulse of her body.

  Jo slowly walking up the stairs. A woman’s clothing scattered on the corridor floor. A soft, joyful laughter from the bedroom. Jo’s hand pushing the door ajar, the sight of Alec making love to Diana. Shock, running outside. Jo tripping on the stairs and falling.

  Diana’s screams grew louder; she struggled to free herself from the cables. “Stop it! That’s enough!” Suddenly, she broke out of her sleep and cried out in agony. Margaret tried to hold her but her convulsions were too strong. She watched her friend, terrified, completely at a loss.

  * * * *

  Everything was set in the hangar. The plane began to taxi towards the runway, guided by a technician’s signals. Levi calmly observed his commandos. His thoughts drifted from the present, pondering their future. He spotted Jo. She was walking towards him resolutely, holding her head high. He did, however, notice some sort of reflection in her eyes. He couldn’t have known that it was because of Victor, or rather his absence here. She kept looking around, hoping to see him. All she could think of was their unfortunate parting. She felt deep remorse. She would give anything for a chance to explain that she had not slept with him just to get some information. Unfortunately, Victor must have thought that. She was aware of it and it was not a pleasant thought.

  “Jo?” asked Levi as soon as she reached him. “I’m ready, Commodore.”

  He motioned to the aircraft, gently touching her arm. “Good luck, Captain.” He handed her an envelope with

  the encrypted coordinates of David’s location.

  Jo smiled at him and turned to board the plane. She turned around once more to say her goodbyes and saw Alec running towards them.

  “What’s he doing here?” Jo’s apprehension surprised

  Levi.

  “Alec is going with you.” He knew she would not be

  pleased, but he couldn’t let her go on her own.

  “But…”

  “No buts!” Alec interrupted her, slightly short of breath

  after his run. “Please Jo, I just want to help.”

  He passed her ostentatiously without looking in her
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  direction and settled down in the pilot’s seat. Jo was

  furious. There seemed to be no way out of it. She’d have to

  take him along, despite the plans she had for the journey.

  She was about to pull the door closed when she heard a

  man’s voice from afar.

  “Alec! Alec!” The voice was drawing closer. “Get out,

  quick; your wife is having the baby!”

  Alec was thunderstruck. Jo looked at him, amazed by

  his lack of response. The commando must have sensed her

  surprise and it lifted him to his feet. He jumped out of the

  plane and ran to the car. As soon as he was inside, the

  cabriolet screeched around and raced off towards the

  hospital zone.

  Jo quickly locked the aircraft door. All this commotion

  around Alec and his family had turned out to her

  advantage. She didn’t want to push her luck. She started the

  engine and a second later the cockpit was illuminated by

  computer screens coming online. She opened the envelope Levi had given her and punched in the coordinates. As the processors recalculated the data, she looked around and noticed Alec’s bag discarded by the seat. “To hell with it,”

  she murmured under her breath and turned the throttle. In his car and driving away from the runway, Alec

  turned around just in time to see Jo’s plane take off. “What the hell is she doing?”

  It took less than a breath for the ship to lift off and to

  quickly disappear from everyone’s sight. Moments later it

  was already in open space, moving steadily towards Earth.

  Jo reluctantly accepted an uplink from the Luna where Levi

  was equipped to directly monitor her progress. There were

  no terrorist attacks today. The sky was clear and everything

  seemed to favour a quick and uneventful mission. The commodore looked at his console angrily. “Jo, answer me, over.”

  “I hear you loud and clear, Commodore.”

  “You cannot fly alone. Turn back at once. That’s an

  order.”

  Silence. That damn silence pounding in her head again. “Jo, do you hear me?” His captain’s insubordination

  confirmed his worst expectations. This would not be

  pleasant.

  “Commodore, I’ll turn back under one condition.” “What?” he asked, although he had a pretty good idea

  what this would be about. The blank in her memory was

  tormenting her and she was beginning to doubt her own

  identity.

  “I want to know the whereabouts of Magdalena,” she

  said after a moment’s pause.

  That was to be expected. The commodore angrily

  slammed his fist against the console. The memory wipe had

  not served her well. The lack of those years was exhausting

  her mentally and she couldn’t fit back into reality. She felt

  stripped of her feelings, empty inside. Her plan was to find

  the hacker who would basically bring her back to life. Jo knew Levi well enough not to expect him to change

  his mind. He never did. That was why she hadn’t even

  asked him for the codes. She had to find another solution. “How would I know that?” The commodore was

  furious. She could hear it.

  “In that case I’ll see you once I’m back with David.” She floutingly ended the connection. Levi could not

  believe she would disobey a direct order. How dare she

  make conditions and demand the whereabouts of a hacker

  whose location was known only to trackers… and possibly

  not even them?

  * * * *

  “You have a beautiful little boy,” said the nurse, handing the baby to Diana.

  The emotions she felt at that moment were stronger than anything she had ever experienced in her life. The miracle of birth, alongside death, was one of the two greatest mysteries of life, something that invariably made people think of the fleetingness of life.

  Alec was torn by contradictory feelings. On the one hand, he felt genuine joy at seeing his newborn son; on the other hand, he could not help but worry about the uncertainty of his future. Diana would not stop crying. He could see that for some reason she was deeply unsettled. His happiness was weakened by his complete misunderstanding of his wife’s behaviour.

  “I’ll come to collect the baby in a moment.” The nurse quietly left the room. Alec sat at the edge of the bed and curiously looked down at his son, gently touching his tiny fists and stroking his face and small head. Finally he gathered his courage to lift the boy up and took him for their first stroll around the room. Diana was still in tears. “Give him to me,” she whispered through the tears. The man quickly handed her the child, not wanting to

  further distress his wife.

  “And now get out!” She looked at him coldly, leaving

  him utterly bemused.

  His surprise was so overwhelming that he was

  completely lost for words.

  “Get out!” she shouted, “Leave! Now!”

  Slouched, completely mystified by the situation, still

  unable to believe what he’d just heard, he backed out

  towards the door at a calm, resigned pace.

  There was so much confusion in his life, so many

  unresolved matters, questions never to be answered,

  remorse over the mistakes he had made. He felt scolded by

  life, punished for all his wrong choices. In his search for

  retribution he had blamed himself for everything happening

  around him. Long, sleepless nights had fuelled his desire

  for spiritual expiation, to free himself from the past, to reevaluate his life. Even as he stood at the threshold of this

  new chapter marked by the birth of his son, as he held him

  in his hands marvelling at the miracle of new life, he still

  felt the subconscious certainty that he’d bound his life to

  the wrong woman. He decided not to run from

  responsibility, regardless of how tempting that prospect

  might have seemed. But one thing he knew for certain,

  without Jo, his life would be meaningless. It would become

  void, never to be filled again, not even by his son. That

  conviction made him swear an oath to himself that he

  would fight for the woman he loved, fight against all odds

  and anyone foolish enough to stand in his way.

  * * * *

  Levi’s pace quickened as he left his shuttle behind him. Now that Jo had so bluntly disobeyed his order he was no longer convinced she would go to pick up David rather than embark on some private quest to seek out Magdalena. She’d cut off all contact. Therefore, he summoned Leon and ordered him to hurry to the hangar and tell the technicians to prepare another space plane for take off. Moments later they met, out of sight of unneeded witnesses, Levi somewhat anxious.

  “Have you prepared the plane?” Levi asked after making sure no one would hear them.

  “There’s a problem, Commodore. The technicians say that it’s not yet gone through its final check up. They’ve all been working on the plane Jo’s flying.”

  Levi was compelled by a sense of urgency. He’d made too many mistakes recently. He walked up to the chief constructor.

  “Get it ready, right now.” He pointed to the plane. “We’re leaving.”

  “Commodore.”

  “Don’t argue with me. I gave you a direct order.”

  The constructor motioned his technicians to move the plane to the taxi lane.

  “I just want to remind you…” Sweat was beading on the terrified man’s forehead. He swept it with his hand. “The ship can only take three people.” He tried to be firm, but his voice gave away his nervous
ness. “Due to the maximum weight and oxygen supply…”

  “Why did Jo go alone?” Leon asked Levi. For him, as for most other people in the base, most of the night’s events were a mystery.

  “I believe the third person onboard, apart from David, is going to be Magdalena.”

  “That Magdalena?” Leon exclaimed, disbelieving.

  “Yes.”

  They got inside the craft, strapped on their vests and fastened their seat belts. Then they put on their headsets and checked communications with each other and the base. After a short engine warm up, they began to taxi towards the runway.

  “Why would she need a hacker?” The pilot did not try to hide his curiosity.

  “Jo wants Magdalena to break into her memory and upload a disk.” He went silent for a moment, pondering. “Luckily she doesn’t know where to find her.”

  Levi was breathing heavily, his heart pounding. He was uncomfortable. It was the first time in his career he would take off without authorisation.

  From inside the craft the ascent seemed slow, but for everyone watching the spectacular take off of the newest space plane, the machine’s movement looked incredibly swift. The airfield was crowded with onlookers, technicians, constructors,

  cyberneticists and automatics

  assistants, engineers, specialists, as well as commandos and senators with their families.

  They were following Jo, not knowing her exact speed or whether she’d even allow contact once they’d found her. Anxious but seemingly calm on the outside, they set off hoping that their stunt would somehow help David.

  * * * *

  Alec was drowning his worries in a glass of whiskey. He felt dejected and shattered by what had happened. Diana’s reaction had caught him completely off guard. He had no idea what to make of it, even though he’d given it a lot of thought, he would never have imagined having to struggle with his wife’s post-natal depression. He figured that was the cause all of this.

  Regardless of all the technological advances, depression remained the greatest threat faced by mankind in the era when other diseases such as cancer or HIV had long been successfully defeated.