A Flower for Atonement E-Book

Linda Six

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 684

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The end of an ice age and the world is still cold. Two nations have been in a war over resources for a thousand years. In the technologically superior Nation the large company Shoes and Chemistry breed people to turn them into super soldiers called Elites. Fermin Macasaga is one of them. Under the control of the company he has been forced to do horrible things that has left him tormented by his past. His only ray of hope is his fiancee Lorea, and the two of them plan on running away to escape the company and the neverending war. But one day Lorea is gone. What happened to her, and could Lorea's mysterious new friend have something to do with it? And who is the man watching her friend? A Flower for Atonement is a sci-fi drama set in an alternate world full of intrigue and mystery.

Leseprobe

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”

Henri Bergson

Table of Contents

Three years before going missing

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Ten days before going missing

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Nine days before going missing

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

One day before going missing

Chapter eleven

Chapter twelve

Chapter thirteen

Chapter fourteen

Four days after going missing

Chapter fifteen

Chapter sixteen

Two months after going missing

Chapter seventeen

Chapter eighteen

Chapter nineteen

Chapter twenty

Five months after going missing

Chapter twenty-one

Chapter twenty-two

Chapter twenty-three

Chapter twenty-four

Chapter twenty-five

Chapter twenty-six

Six months after going missing

Chapter twenty-seven

Chapter twenty-eight

Chapter twenty-nine

Chapter thirty

Chapter thirty-one

Chapter thirty-two

Chapter thirty-three

Chapter thirty-four

Chapter thirty-five

Chapter thirty-six

Chapter thirty-seven

Chapter thirty-eight

Chapter thirty-nine

Chapter forty

Chapter forty-one

Chapter forty-two

More than seven months after going missing

Chapter forty-three

Chapter forty-four

Acknowledgements

Three years before going missing.

Chapter one.

THE WAR NEVER reached City. It was kept far away, along the border that split the continent in two. This was the great boreal forest that encompassed the planet, endless, expanding and growing. It was north of the Herrian Mountains, a two-day journey on foot across the border to the enemy nation.

A week’s walk north was the border to New Land, the independent nation founded one hundred years ago, which welcomed settlers from across the continent. As the glacial ice slowly retreated northwards, this land was exposed. With their sledge dogs, yurts and clothes made of fur, nomads occupied it at first. But as the ice retreated further, they followed. Always hunting the northern lights.

Other settlers were now busy building their new nation there. The ice kept retreating north, as it had for thousands of years, as sure as the sun was rising.

But this was not in the minds of the two men running through the woods, panting and drenched in sweat. They were dressed as hikers and moved fast and quietly as if they didn’t want to be seen. The trees parted and gave way to a logging area. They leapt over the fallen logs and debris with a step sure as a deer.

The one taking the lead was a tall, slender man with pale blue eyes and thinning hair so blond it was almost white. His name was Krohme, an Agent for the company Shoes and Chemistry. The name Krohme had been given to him when he was five years old. He remembered his mother had called him something else, but now he was forty-seven, and that name was long forgotten. He could hear his comrade panting loudly behind him. Krohme stretched his neck as he ran, looking for a reasonably safe place where they could rest.

The panting man behind him was Fermin Macasaga. He was an Elite, half Herrian and born in one of the ghettos. Like many Herrian men, he was stocky with broad shoulders. His brown eyes were so dark many mistook them for black. The dark brown hair was usually curly, but now it was cut short in military style.

The name Fermin was given by his mother when he was born, and Macasaga was his stepfather’s name. He was seven years old when they married. She died giving birth to his little sister three years later, and the baby had been buried with her. Peio kept Fermin as his son and never remarried. The identity of Fermin’s biological father was a mystery even to his dead mother, who had come home from City one day in tears. Fermin was born nine months later.

His first service at eighteen lasted five years. Now he was twenty-seven, and this was his first triennial. It was supposed to last only five months. But because of the neverending border conflict, they had kept him for a year. He would’ve been home if he had been a regular front trooper.

He tried to keep up with the older man in front of him. It was exhilarating at first, a challenge. But now he’d almost reached his limits. The implants in his body worked to keep him going, but even they had a limit.

The Agent slowed down, but that didn’t make it any easier. The terrain here was more strenuous than ever. Fermin’s lungs burned, and he feared he would collapse if the man leading him didn’t stop.

Suddenly, the man in front of him made a sharp turn. Fermin almost fell over as he tried to keep up. Tripping over his feet, he followed the man over a small mound of dirt and slid down a slope into a crater full of branches.

He hurt his hands as he crawled down, and when he got to the bottom, the other man held up a finger to keep him quiet. Fermin watched as Krohme took a tracking device from his pocket. After opening the small hatch on the side of the box, he took the flyer out and tossed it into the air, where its wings unfolded. The Agent studied the small screen on the box as the flyer did its round, tracking all human life signs.

”We’re clear. We can rest for a while,” Krohme said as he caught the returning flyer. Fermin dropped onto his backpack, finally being able to relax. He took deep and slow breaths to get his breathing under control.

”Hey!” the Agent said.

”What?”

”You need to drink. We ran a long way.” The Agent blinked once and tilted his head slightly to the left, an unnerving habit he seemed to have. ”You need water and rest,” he said. Fermin sat up and unstrapped his backpack. It was the middle of April, and the sun had been hidden behind clouds for days. The ground was covered with last year’s grass. It looked deceptively dry. Too tired to think, he sat down and quickly regretted it when the cold dampness almost soaked through his trousers. He used his sitting mat and tried again. This time, he stayed dry.

Both men relaxed their strained muscles. Krohme smiled amiably at him as if they were just on a leisurely walk in the woods. Didn’t both of them run all that way? Then why did the old man look so fresh and alert? Fermin felt about as fresh as a hamper full of dirty laundry.

Fed up, thirsty, hungry and reeking of sweat, the sight of the older man with thinning hair smiling at him like he didn’t have a care in the world was enough to make Fermin want to punch him.

But what he really wanted to do was to sleep and go home. Yet, here he was, two days walk behind enemy lines. The forest was littered with enemy patrols, and they’d fallen behind schedule when they had to spend hours avoiding every single one of them. That’s why they had run there. They had to cover some ground to catch up.

They would’ve been caught long ago if it wasn’t for the diffusion scrambler. This implant scrambled Fermin’s signal, and he suspected that Krohme had something similar.

Fermin drank deeply from his bottle. Then he wet a napkin, dried the sweat from his face, and immediately felt better. He scratched his neck and felt the mark on his skin. Every Elite had them, a v-shaped mark on each side of the neck.

The Agent searched his backpack and found a food bar. He met Fermin’s gaze as he unwrapped it.

”You need to eat,” he said. Fermin took his advice and took one from his backpack. It wasn’t good, but he’d eaten worse. Much, much worse. At least it would keep his strength up. The Agent chewed loudly and looked very content. He was sitting on a dead tree, grey and smooth. Its bark had been eaten away by insects and other animals. It had probably been ripped up by its roots in a storm and fallen into the crater.

”You run really good for a man your age,” Fermin told the Agent.

Krohme’s smile widened. ”Very funny. You’re not so bad yourself.” Fermin looked away. He took a sip of water and dried his face with the napkin again.

”But seriously, that was some sprint. How far did we run?” he asked.

”Eighteen point four kilometres.”

”How do you know that? I tried counting my steps to get an estimate but lost track. How did you do it?” Fermin said.

”When did you lose track?” Krohme said.

”I got as far as one hundred and fifty. Then I found myself starting again, so I gave up,” he said. Krohme watched him with interest.

”Most people wouldn’t even try. And we kept a high pace in difficult terrain. I’m impressed.” A fly landed on his hand. It was an old, fat one from last year. It moved sluggishly as if still confused from waking up. The man gently waved it away.

Fermin took another bite of his food. The Agent seemed sincere in his praise, but he was dodging the question. He told him so.

”As you like to point out, I’m older than you. I’ve had more time to practise,” Krohme said with a grin. And that was that. It was the only answer he would ever get, and he knew it was crap. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it could be applied to almost anything, so it meant nothing. He was hiding something. And looking at the Agent, it was obvious that the man was fully aware that Fermin wasn’t fooled. Krohme just didn’t care. Fermin ignored him and rubbed his eyes.

The target was a two-hour walk away, so they rested for a while before heading for the trees to find a safer place. They took turns keeping watch so that both had a few hours of solid sleep before they went to work.

It was just before dawn when they reached their target. The full moon cast a ghostly silver light over the forest as Fermin and Krohme crawled through the trees, careful not to get caught in the light. The antenna towered on the hill ahead of them. It was just as their contact had described it. About fifteen metres high in a fenced, well-lit area twenty metres above the tree line below. To their left, was a watchtower where a soldier monitored the perimeter. Three other men patrolled the fence, yawning and stretching as they walked.

Fermin and Krohme lay flat on the ground out of sight beyond the tree line. Fermin glanced at Krohme, who nodded and charged up the hill in a silent sprint.

Before coming here, they had put on functional but slicklooking black uniforms with a special black dye that seemed to swallow the light. Looking like slobs didn’t fit with their objective, which was twofold. To destroy the antenna and spread ghost stories to damage the enemies’ morale while they were at it.

The enemy was technologically many decades behind City and SaC. Their strength was in their larger population. Their primary tactic was to try to overwhelm SaC with soldiers, but it didn’t work. SaC’s superior technology and tactics always kept them at bay. Since the company Shoes and Chemistry had taken over the warfare from the government in the last war, two large areas within the enemy nation had been annexed and conquered. The enemy had lost a fifth of their country so far.

Fermin carefully scratched his neck. The helmet didn’t fit properly. It was a little too tight and felt itchy at the edges. The material was almost indestructible, so it was great for protection. However, its primary purpose was to scare people. Its smooth and seamless design made the wearer look like a faceless machine. The helmet ended just below his chin, exposing the neck and Elite marks.

The Elite programme started about ninety years ago. Through the years, each generation became more advanced than the other. The newer ones, like Fermin, were more machines than men.

Along with his squad of Elites, he had been sent beyond the border to villages and cities to cause collateral damage many times. To show off their abilities and superiority. Their orders also included sparing civilians and protecting women and children. The objective was to send a message. They couldn’t be defeated. But if you join them, you’ll be protected. It worked. On every mission, they always had hundreds, if not thousands, of refugees coming back with them.

Upon Krohme’s signal, Fermin charged up the hill. He climbed the fence in seconds. Krohme waited at a van parked by a small dirt road leading there. The light reflected in his black, faceless mask as he nodded at the guards sitting by the van. They looked limp as dolls, motionless and drooling slightly. Their eyes were alert and terrified, and they followed Krohme and Fermin with their gaze. On their chests was the reason why they couldn’t move. Round, white discs about five centimetres in diameter that immobilised the victims while leaving them completely conscious.

After two hours, the discs would dissolve, and the guards would return to normal without any residual effects. They would be perfectly fine, although they didn’t know that at the moment.

Fermin ignored the guards, strapped the charges to his back and climbed the antenna like a squirrel. When they needed someone to climb something, they always brought Fermin.

At the top was a small metal box welded to the antenna. It was the data recorder with information about all signals coming and going. Fermin quickly cut it off with a small plasma torch and shoved it in his backpack. Then, he proceeded to climb around the tower to set his charges. In the meantime, Krohme had pulled the guards to a safe distance.

Sixteen minutes later, they sprinted into the forest. They were about eighty metres away when Fermin flipped the switch. The charges at the base detonated first, causing the antenna to fall. As it fell, the second set obliterated what was left of it. The flames rose high above the pines and obscured the moon. Fermin laughed as the explosions echoed through the wilderness. It was glorious.

The sun was slowly rising above them in the cloudless sky. It was going to be a beautiful day. The rendezvous point was one and a half days away by foot. Krohme took the lead and guided them. Fermin watched his backpack move up and down as they walked, and all he could think about was the tasteless food bars inside it. His stomach growled. This triennial seemed like it would never end, and he was fed up with walking in the woods. Krohme suddenly quickened his pace, and Fermin nearly stumbled over a root when he tried to follow. The other man stopped and glanced at him over his shoulder.

He should have been home with his father by now, with her. They could’ve sent him home instead. Plenty of others were capable of climbing tall things and blowing them up. Sometimes, he had the feeling they would never let him go.

The day passed uneventfully. The sun slowly set over the silent landscape, leaving the forest in seemingly perpetual twilight. They set up camp by a stream which offered them fresh water to drink and where they could wash themselves.

Fermin shivered as he stepped out naked into the stream, yet it felt so good. The cold water cleansed his body and soul, and he quickly felt better.

Krohme thought it safe enough to build a fire. It didn’t warm them up fast enough, so he reached for a small bottle of whisky in his backpack. The forest turned dark as they were exchanging war stories. They could finally relax, satisfied with their successfully completed mission. They smiled and laughed. They also got to blow something up, which was always fun.

”So what do you do when you’re not an Agent?” Fermin asked. The sound of the fire was soothing. A wind blew through the treetops, and they heard the gentle sound of the stream not far from them.

”What do you mean?”

”I take it you’re not always on missions. What do you do in the meantime?” Fermin said.

Krohme turned his gaze towards the flames. ”There are always duties. Teaching is part of it.” The flames cast a strange glow on his face.

”What do you teach?”

”Close combat. Tactics. Interrogation techniques. Things like that,” Krohme shrugged. Somewhere, not far from them, a cuckoo bird called. ”And what do you do?” he said.

”Work. Wherever I find it.”

”Legal work? I didn’t think that was your style,” Krohme said with a small smile.

”Well, maybe. Perhaps. Does it matter?” Fermin said.

”Not in the least.” The Agent blinked in that unnerving way he sometimes did and tilted his head to the left. ”But what about girls? Most guys your age have a woman back home. Or at least one they’re thinking about,” he said. Fermin raised his eyebrows. ”What? I hear it’s a popular subject!” Krohme said with a laugh.

Fermin rolled his eyes. He turned towards the sound of the cuckoo’s call and wondered what to say. He’d had worse companions on missions before, much worse. The question stirred something in him. It made him think of his home and how much he wanted to be there. He didn’t care much about the ghetto, but it was where his tired old father was. Where she was, he wanted to go home so badly it hurt.

”I don’t have one, officially. But there’s one.” He suddenly found it more difficult to say than he thought. He had never talked to anyone about it before. He glanced at Krohme, who no doubt noticed his difficulty. The older man took a dead branch from the pile beside them and put it on the fire. The flames quickly burned brighter.

Fermin cleared his throat. ”She’s five years older than me. The first time I really talked to her was when I was fourteen. The other kids had me cornered behind the spice shop and were throwing rocks at me. One of their favourite games,” he added bitterly. ”Her mother owns the shop, so she works there. Suddenly she stormed out, absolutely furious! I had never seen anyone yell like that! She chased them away, took my hand and led me into the shop where she cleaned my wounds. She was magnificent, so angry. I had never seen anything so beautiful. Still haven’t.”

”That was a long time ago,” Krohme said. Fermin smiled and met his eyes.

”We’ve been friends ever since. I’ll get her one day. It’ll take time. She is kind but stubborn. But even the glacial ice will melt one day, just like she will.”

Chapter two.

FERMIN AND KROHME woke up before dawn. It was so early that not even the cuckoo was awake. The damp cold made them freeze, and it wasn’t the right time to build a fire since they were in a hurry. They jumped up and down, stomped on the ground and did a few push-ups to warm up their bodies. After a food bar and some cold water, they set off.

A thick fog covered the forest, and they couldn’t see more than thirty metres ahead. Beyond that, the trees faded into the white.

It was so damp that droplets formed on their skin and clothes. It was quiet, dead quiet. Like a grave, like a bad omen. They were too pragmatic to believe in such nonsense, but the air was so thick, like a heavy weight pressing down on them, like something was waiting for them. It was so tangible they could almost feel it.

Ninety-seven minutes later they stopped. Ahead of them was a large, empty expanse of milky white, and they could see nothing more than a man’s length. Both of them knew exactly where they were since they’d both seen the map. This was the largest logging area in these parts, and going around it would take days. That wasn’t an option, but they couldn’t risk waiting here until the fog lifted either.

They stared at the expanse in silence. It was like looking into nothingness. Navigating through this would be a problem, and they both knew it. Fermin took out his compass and made a vain attempt to locate the sun. Instead he focused his gaze on the emptiness in front of them. He knew where the border was and could probably get them there using only the compass. They also had a map, but it was useless as long as this fog blinded them.

Fermin looked at the compass again. They would probably miss the rendezvous, which meant a lot more walking. They did have a beacon, and someone would pick them up as long as they activated it on the right side of the border.

He showed the other man the compass and pointed in a direction through the fog, but Krohme shook his head and took out the tracking device to scan the area. The flyers were supposed to be silent, and they usually were. But the silence in this place was so heavy that it sounded like a very loud and small aeroplane. Their faces twisted in pain. The sound was an intrusion, a blasphemy. If anyone were out there, they would surely hear it.

The display was empty. There was nothing there. They stepped out into the fog.

Fermin took the lead, and an hour passed. He kept his eye on the compass, and Krohme watched the fog for movement. If the compass worked properly, they should reach the border in about three more hours. Suddenly, Fermin stopped. Krohme walked up to him to see why. He was about to take another step when Fermin grabbed him by the arm and pointed. At their feet was a clear line. On their side, the ground was firm, covered with dirt and some grass from last year. On the other side, it was covered with soft moss and long, yellow blades of grass sticking out of it. It looked deceptively firm.

”Crap,” Krohme whispered. Fermin took out the map and studied it.

”Got it!” he whispered after a minute. ”This must be Death Mire. The logging area seems to be going around it,” he said, pointing to the map. The mire was huge and stretched across the border. It got its name during the hundred-year war when more than seventy soldiers were lost trying to march across it. Since then, all soldiers have received thorough education and training about mires. The things were death traps. He continued. ”I led us too far south. We should have passed it on the north side. I don’t think we’re that far off, so if we follow it north, we should get back on track.”

It turned out he was right. It took them no more than twentyeight minutes to reach the northern edge. They just had to follow the mire and cross the border. They were careful not to wander too close to the edge of it. The landscape was still a vast emptiness of white fog.

After another hour, they decided to take a short break. They took off their backpacks and sat down. Krohme threw the flyer in the air and observed the display carefully.

”Crap,” he whispered. He wordlessly handed the tracker to Fermin. People were approaching them from the south, at least five of them.

The tracker had little range to start with, and they were extremely limited in these conditions. The dots on the display were no more than thirty metres away, moving fast towards them. Krohme scanned the surroundings, put the tracking device away, and signalled Fermin to follow.

They moved as quickly and quietly as possible, which was very difficult in this terrain. The ground was littered with boulders, branches, dead trees and tree stumps. It was a miracle that none of them stumbled.

Krohme kept his eyes open for a good hiding spot and found one by chance when he almost walked into it. They climbed behind the large fallen log and crouched down. Just as they got behind it, they heard a noise. Fermin moved to see what it was, but the Agent shook his head and peered over the log himself. He immediately ducked down again. Fermin looked at him questioningly, but the Agent put a finger to his lips. They held their breaths as two soldiers passed them. The sound faded, and Fermin let out a sigh.

Suddenly, he heard movement again. A soldier rounded the log with his weapon raised. Krohme threw a cake of dirt in the man’s face, took a white disc from his pocket and rammed it onto the man’s chest. But before he went down, the man managed to fire a shot.

Fermin felt a sharp pain in his right leg, and time slowed down. Krohme leapt through the air with an outstretched hand to grab him, but he looked as if he was frozen in place, moving so slow you could barely see it. His mouth was open as if shouting something, his eyes were two blue marbles, and his fingers claws, reaching, stretching. Somewhere, someone was shooting at them. He could hear gunshots and yelling voices. Fermin looked down. There was a hole in his lower leg. A big hole, about the size of an egg, and blood was pouring out of him like a waterfall.

The implants were kicking in. Fermin could feel it. Not even three seconds since he was hit, and they were already working to repair him. He felt a tingling at the base of his neck.

”No. No, please,” Fermin whispered. Then he vaguely felt two strong arms grabbed him when Krohme threw him over his shoulder. A jolt swept through him, and he slumped like a broken doll and went into shutdown. His eyes, glazed with milky white, stared blankly into the air. Convulsions surged through him like he was having a seizure, foam forming around his mouth like a victim of a long-dead disease. He went still after one last painful spasm, and the glaze disappeared. Only thirty seconds had passed.

”Keep still!” a man’s voice barked. Fermin blinked a few times. The ground was moving beneath him. It took him a moment to realise what was happening. He was hanging like a sack of meat from Krohme’s shoulder. The Agent was running like he’d never run before.

Fermin felt detached from his own body. It was always strange to feel the implants working so hard to repair him. He could feel the signals, like painful tingles, moving around like ants. There was a tingling in the back of his neck again. The wound must be nasty.

”No,” he moaned. Then everything went dark, and he went into shutdown. Somewhere, he felt that Krohme was still running. Then came the pain, blind and maddening. Thirty seconds, that was how long it would last. Fermin started counting in his head, as he was trained to do.

Thirty. Twenty-nine. The seconds stretched out before Fermin into an infinity of searing pain. Twenty-eight. Keep counting, keep time, as you always do. Twenty-seven. Each number brought him closer to the end. Twenty-six. Let your inner clock guide you. It will always guide you right.

When he finally was out of the shutdown, Krohme put him down on the ground. The Agent cursed as he tended to the wound. The blood had stopped flowing. The implants had made sure of that, so now he could see how bad it really was.

He frowned. ”It was an explosive. It took a chunk of your leg.” Fermin swallowed the painkillers and antibiotics Krohme gave him and drank a whole bottle of water in one gulp. He was handing it back to Krohme when his face twisted. His eyes glazed over, he slumped, and the convulsions started again.

When he was out again, he was lying on a gentle slope. For the first time, he could see that they were in a shallow depression. Krohme was dragging branches and debris as quietly as he could. When he saw Fermin, he crouched down beside him.

”I’ll bury us here,” he whispered. He looked down at him, made a disgusted face and wiped Fermin’s mouth with his sleeve. ”You’re covered in foam. Anyway. We’re going to wait them out here.” He took a large branch from a spruce and covered Fermin’s legs. Soon, he was buried and invisible underneath a pile of rubble.

One hour passed. Fermin drifted in and out of sleep, unaware of what was happening around him. A woman was lying beside him, her black hair loose and spread like silk on the ground. Lorea with the amber eyes. Eyes that could be colder than the winds from the north. She smiled at him, and her eyes turned to warm honey. A sensation of happiness settled within him. When she was around, he always felt happy and content. Then her smile faded, and he felt like he was floating down a river, taking him to a place where he would vanish into darkness and never resurface.

”Wake up!” a man hissed, pulling him back to reality. Fermin felt a sharp, burning pain in his leg, and the whole pile above them started to move as he squirmed. A hand grabbed his wrist and squeezed. ”Stop it! You have to be still. I know it hurts, but if they find us, we’ll die. Breathe.”

More time passed. How long was impossible to tell. It stretched out before Fermin like a neverending emptiness, taunting him with all the things he would miss if he were to die here, the happiness he longed for, the closeness he ached for, and everything he wanted to see and do.

Fermin felt how Krohme threw him over the shoulder again. The colours of the ground were so complex. He’d never noticed before that there were so many shades of yellow and brown. The light reflected in the slick wetness of the mud, the faint yellow grass from last year trampled where Krohme had just stepped. It was soothing, like the tea she used to make him with chamomile and honey. That there would still be beauty in this world after he was gone.

It was afternoon when Krohme finally put him down for a rest, gave him water and examined his leg.

”That’s bad,” Fermin said when he saw the gaping hole.

”Yeah. I’m sorry,” Krohme said and gave him a food bar. Fermin snatched it from his hand and devoured it in seconds. Krohme gave him another. Then another, and another. Fermin was ravenous. The implants were forcing his body into overdrive so it could heal, and this process needed a lot of energy. When he had eaten two days’ worth of food bars, Krohme stopped him. They needed to save it for the way home.

Then Fermin’s eyes glazed over, and he went into shutdown again. He burst into tears thirty seconds later, clinging to Krohme’s uniform, hyperventilating and sobbing so loudly he almost screamed. Krohme put a hand over his mouth, pinched his arm and locked eyes.

”Be quiet!” he hissed. ”Focus on my eyes. Good, now let’s take a deep breath together. Remember your training.” They breathed in and out slowly three times, and Fermin calmed down.

They ditched everything except one of the backpacks, which they stuffed with the remaining first aid kits and whatever food they had left. Krohme strapped the backpack onto Fermin, picked him up to carry him on his back, and set off.

About two hours later, Krohme stopped again. The Agent tried to set Fermin down gently, but he hit the ground with a grunt and collapsed in a heap. Krohme rummaged through the backpack, found a painkiller and made him swallow it.

”How are you doing?” he asked.

Fermin moaned. ”What do you think, moron?” Krohme left him alone and focused on the map instead.

Fermin leaned back. He could hear the wind in the trees, gentle and soothing. They were higher up on a hill. The ground was drier here. Great pines towered majestically, stretched towards the sky with crowns of needles and bark like dark, blood-stained copper in the sun. There was peace here with the blue sky and the smell of the forest. He didn’t want to go, but there were worse places to die.

”I’ve made a miscalculation,” Krohme suddenly said.

Fermin sighed. ”What?”

”I’ve made a miscalculation!” Krohme said again and sat down next to him. ”I thought we were there,” he said, pointing to the map. ”I don’t know how this happened. The fog must’ve messed up my bearings more than I thought. But we’re actually here. This means that we’ve crossed the border. It’s at least...” He paused, and his mouth moved as he was counting. ”Three kilometres behind us.” Krohme grabbed the backpack and took out the beacon.

”That means I can turn this on. Now we’ll just have to wait.”

The afternoon passed, and the sun was warm. But Fermin still shivered. The shutdowns had come more and more frequently, and he felt as if he was stuck in an endless, painful loop.

”Krohme?” His voice was thin and dry as he spoke.

”Yes?”

”I might not survive this. It could be a long time before they get here, and let’s face it, I’m not a priority. They might not rush either.”

”Maybe. But I am a priority. I represent a much bigger investment than you. And you are also very expensive. You’re an Elite, remember?” Krohme said.

Fermin continued. ”But if I don’t make it, I want you to tell my father. I want you to go there in person and tell him. Peio Macasaga, the ghetto Happiness, and her, the woman I told you about. Lorea Olano, the spice shop. Tell her everything I said. Tell her I love her. I assume your robot brain has it intact word for word. Do you understand?”

”Of course I’ll do it,” Krohme said. Fermin’s face relaxed. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

The rescue arrived in time, and Fermin did not die. Krohme visited him in the hospital two weeks later. Fermin was sitting in the empty lounge by the window, wearing green pyjamas and a yellow hospital gown. The right leg on his pyjamas was folded just below the knee, where his leg ended in a stump. Next to the red chair was a small side table with a tray. On it was a half-eaten sandwich, a spoon that was licked clean and an empty plate with traces of custard, cream and crumbs. The coffee in the cup was cold, and two crutches were on the floor beside him.

Krohme sat down, and Fermin acknowledged him with a nod. They sat in silence for a while, looking through the window. It was raining. This was five hours south by car from where they were rescued, so it was full spring here. The trees were turning green, and wood anemones were blooming everywhere, covering the ground with white stars.

Fermin cleared his throat. ”Listen, I want to thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t be alive.”

”We’re not monsters. You would’ve done the same. Have you tried a prosthesis yet?”

”Yes. Unless I’m on active duty or eligible for special rewards, they’ll only give me a standard issue. I know, they’re horrible,” Fermin added when Krohme frowned.

”Is it really that bad?” the Agent asked.

”It’s a peg leg! I never asked for this. It was bad enough to be a front trooper. Then they swoop me up, cut me to pieces and turn me into a machine, and then they can’t even give me a decent leg! It’s like putting bicycle wheels on a battle tank!”

”You could just take the one I ordered for you,” Krohme said. ”I thought they would give you a crappy model, so I took the liberty and ordered a robotic one. They’ll have to fuse it to your leg, so you’ll have to undergo surgery again. They say that once you’re used to it, you can do everything you could before. You’ll be climbing again in no time.”

”I don’t know what to say,” Fermin said.

Krohme shrugged. ”That’s alright. Moving on to another topic, I heard some special operations people were here. A bird whispered in my ear that they thought my report indicated that you would qualify as a covert operative.” Fermin shifted in his chair. He didn’t like this. He looked out the window again as if the wet glass might offer a solution. Somewhere down the corridor, a man was weeping.

He shook his head. ”No, absolutely not, I want to go home.”

”You know better than most that Shoes and Chemistry don’t ask for volunteers. They pick them.”

”I’m a cripple! I don’t understand why they made me into an Elite in the first place, no one in my family is one, and I suck at it! What did you write in your report to make them think I’m covert material?”

”You’re a good Elite, and I think you would make a remarkable—”

”I want to go home, and you know why,” Fermin said.

Krohme sighed. ”I know. That’s why I’m here, to help you. They’ll come for you this afternoon for more tests, but that’s more or less a formality. They’ve already made their decision.”

”What can I do then?”

”Botch the test,” Krohme said.

”That won’t work. They’ll know I’m doing it on purpose.”

”True, but there’s a way. You’ll have to be subtle about it. But if you do it right, you’ll fail, and they will send you home. Now, I need you to memorise what I have to say. I assume that’s not a problem?” Krohme asked.

”No.”

Chapter three.

IT WAS MID-MAY. A man was running through the woods not far from Glinder Peak, the southernmost peak of the Herrian Mountains. They were the ancestral home of the Herrian people but were now inhabitable, bombed into oblivion. A storm had passed through here last winter, and the forest around him was littered with fallen trees. To his right was a steep slope. If he climbed it, he would eventually reach the top of the mountain.

He wore an enemy soldier’s uniform. A gas mask covered his face, and the dark glasses hid his jade-green eyes. His reddishbrown hair lay slick against his scalp underneath the helmet. There was a layer of sweat on the man’s usually pale skin, which was now tanned from being outside for days. He was forty years old. His name was Cali.

This was not the name his mother had given him. It had been given to him when he was five years old. He dreamed of her sometimes. He could never really remember what had happened in his dreams, but he always woke up with a sense of loss. This feeling could linger for days.

He jumped over a few logs that blocked his way, stretched out his long legs, and landed on the other side without losing speed. His slender and wiry frame leaned forward as he ran. The terrain was harsh, and he jumped over logs and moss-covered rocks as he ran.

Cali was built for speed. Maybe that was why he loved it so much, and the rough terrain made it even more fun. He loved it even more when he was running for his life.

There was a sound behind him, but he did not turn his head to look. It would only slow him down, and he might trip and fall. No, he needed to focus. The fools behind him used motorcycles to follow him. They didn’t have much success in this terrain. Cali jumped. Then he jumped again. The motorcycles behind him didn’t get anywhere.

Before going on this mission, he had planned an escape route. He’d chosen this route since everyone but he would have problems in this terrain. This wasn’t even the fastest he could go. He had much more to give before he’d reached his limit. The reason he didn’t give his all was that he had been discovered. The news of his little adventure would reach his handlers, and if they described the saboteur as impossibly fast, it wouldn’t take long before he was caught. It was adamant that his identity remained a secret.

Quickly, he threw himself under a large log as he heard the unmistakable sound of a battle drone. Gunshots hailed around him a fraction of a second later. A bullet found its way under the log and hit his arm. Cali cursed. He examined the wound. It was superficial, so he disregarded it. It would turn blue and be fully repaired within a minute.

The battle drone hovered above the log, firing at it with everything it had. Splinters and bark rained down, and Cali was thankful for the mask protecting his eyes. He reached for the gun from his backpack and pushed a button at the recharge chamber. It started to glow and emitted a high-pitched sound. During the five seconds it took to charge, he tilted his head slightly to the left to turn on Other Vision. He could now see the electricity and magnetic currents of the drone through the log, so he knew exactly where it was. The glow on the recharge chamber faded, and Cali thrust out his arm and fired. As the explosive hit, the drone went out in flames.

Cali pushed the button, and the chamber started glowing again. Five seconds. He crawled out from under the log. Empty bullet casings from the drone littered the ground, and the log was full of holes. He carefully glanced over the dead tree with Other Vision still turned on. Five men were hiding about forty metres away. They had caught up with him when the drone had him pinned down.

Cali was an Agent for Shoes and Chemistry, and he had just destroyed all the equipment and gear at one of their military camps. That was why people were chasing him. Food, combat gear, clothing and most of the weaponry were gone. He had spared only medical equipment.

The night before, he’d placed firebombs at carefully calculated places around the camp. He had made them himself and had designed them to look worse than they were. The flame had burned bright and fast, but it wasn’t very hot. When it detonated, the fire alarm had gone off, and all personnel had gathered at the centre square. Then he’d detonated a series of secondary charges, which made the fire spread in such a way that it herded people out of the camp.

Then, he detonated a third set of charges, the really hot ones that consumed everything like paper. Lastly, he’d detonated the EMP mine. Few knew how to build them since they were prohibited. Cali had several in a box in his secret storage. He’d placed the mine in the weaponry, which short-circuited every electronic in there, rendering everything but simple ballistic ammunition useless. His mine had melted from corrosive liquid and chemicals when it was done since Cali didn’t want anyone to trace it back to him. That would make things too complicated.

He had watched the camp from afar through Other Vision when the charges went off. He was just about to run away when a drone spotted him. They had chased him for nearly one hour.

The soldiers were still hiding. He could see them clearly, but they didn’t know that. He could quickly fire a few shots and miss them on purpose since he didn’t want to hurt them unnecessarily. Maybe it could scare them away?

Cali fired a shot further up the slope where two men were hiding. They might get a few burns, but nothing too serious. Then he threw himself flat to the ground as the remaining three men started to shoot at him.

Cali cursed as he pushed the button on the charger. Why did he think that would work? He wasn’t a stupid twenty-year-old anymore. Or thirty, for that matter. He let out a sigh. The air inside the mask tasted used and dry. It felt as if he’d spent his entire life like this, dodging bullets or blowing things up. Just wreaking general havoc. As the bullets flew over his head, he suddenly felt very, very old.

Five days ago, he’d stopped in a small town and stayed at a hotel. There was a bar where he’d spent some of the evening. It had been mostly empty. There was only him and a group of people a few tables over. They seemed to have fun, talking and laughing.

Cali had watched them, and a woman noticed him. She looked to be a little younger than him and was very pretty. Her smile was beautiful, and she nodded at him to come over to their table. The rest of the group turned their heads to see who she was smiling at. After she’d said something, a man called out to Cali that he shouldn’t sit there all alone. Cali had glanced at the woman again, nodded politely, and quickly left.

The bullets were still flying, and Cali visualised the terrain up ahead. There was a suitable tree on the slope where he’d just fired. He shifted focus to the other side of the three-dimensional image in his mind. After a bit of looking, he found another suitable tree. He pushed the button two times, and the highpitched sound dropped one note. The gun vibrated slightly in his hands. It stopped after five seconds, and Cali quickly got to his knees. He fired one shot to the right and aimed at the base of the tree. This explosion was much larger, and the flames nearly covered the entire tree. The mighty pine fell, burning like a torch.

Someone started firing at him. As he hit the ground, he pushed the button two times. He sighed. This was getting tedious. The gun finished loading, and he felt a bullet go through his shoulder as he got up on his knees. He aimed at the other tree. This one was further away, and the men wouldn’t get hurt. It was only meant as a distraction so they would stop shooting at him.

Cali got up and ran for it. No one was firing at him, so the distraction must’ve worked. His shoulder hurt, but he didn’t care. He would be repaired soon. Then he sped up, and the forest became blurry around him. A wide grin spread across his face underneath the mask.

Twenty minutes later, he stopped by a lake. It was fifty kilometres from the camp, isolated, and no roads lead there. The lake was pristine, and the water lay still as a mirror in the mid-morning. A few birds were singing in the trees, and he could see two swans swimming in the lake.

Cali dropped his backpack, removed his clothes and walked naked into the cold water. He washed himself thoroughly. The water felt cleansing, like a ritual to soothe his soul. The swans watched him while keeping their distance. A beaver came swimming. This surprised him. He’d seen swimming beavers before, but not this close. Certainly not when he was bathing in the same waters.

Eventually, hunger drove him back to the shore. Not bothered to get dressed, he took four bags of food from the backpack. It was full of them, apart from a lightweight sleeping bag and a mat. Then he pulled at the cords on the bottom of the metallic bags, and they heated up. After one minute, the food was done. Cali devoured all of them since he needed the energy for the long run ahead.

A sound made him turn. A few ducks had just landed on the lake. The swans gracefully moved further away. Cali wished he could stay here all day, but they were still looking for him. It was time to move. He threw the enemy uniform into the lake after tying it around a large rock. He didn’t need it anymore. The ducks quacked disapprovingly. The swans were too far away and didn’t seem to care.

He had made a habit of stealing enemy uniforms when on missions on the other side of the border, and now he had a whole box of them hidden away. He put on ordinary worker’s trousers, and after carefully tying his boots, he pulled a tank top over his head.

The plan was to run south through the forest for a few hours. There was a settlement there where he could get transport. If not, he would keep running until he found SaC personnel.

He was going home to the great Shoes and Chemistry compound outside City. It didn’t matter what he did or what damage he had done to them. He always went home. He couldn’t leave. It was as simple as that. But something was changing. It was small, like a seed that had only begun to sprout, silently growing within him.

He put on the backpack and secured the straps so he wouldn’t lose it. There was no need for a map. He’d carefully studied it earlier and knew where to go. The sun gave direction, and at night, he would use the stars. After one last look at the lake, he turned south and started to jog. The sunlight hit his eyes at a curious angle, and there were two dots inside his pupils. They were no larger than a needle’s head, shining faintly in blue, like two tiny torches in the dark. He turned his head, and they were gone.

The jog turned into a run. Cali sped up, and the world was blurry around him. But he didn’t smile this time, even if he was doing what he loved. His emotions were in turmoil. It was like he was being dragged back to the company by an invisible force. As if someone was moving his legs for him. There was only one thought in his head, a thought that had only recently surfaced. It was the seed sprouting. He didn’t want to go home.

Ten days before going missing.

Chapter four.

IT WAS EARLY morning in late October. The spice shop in Happiness wasn’t usually open at this time of day, but the owner’s daughter had to get something before she left for the train station. Lorea didn’t bother to turn on the lights even though it was still dark outside. Her mother always made sure there was a torch hanging next to the door to the backroom in case the power went out. The light fell on jar after jar, bottle after bottle, all with handwritten labels with curly writing and decorative flower stamps.

She found the right bottle. It was a tincture for coughs, very effective and very popular. Almost every week, she brought orders from the shop to the pub’s customers where she worked. She had a shelf there with a few ointments and teas, and if someone wanted something else, she brought it from the shop. Naturally, she sold it for a higher price than here in the ghetto, but that wasn’t something people needed to know.

She inhaled deeply. The air was filled with the scent of herbs, spices, flowers and bark, a cacophony of smells that always soothed her senses. This was her home, where she’d grown up and learned the craft.

The spice shop was located by the main square, on the ground floor, in a run-down, concrete building. The two floors above it were abandoned long ago. It was right by the square, and you could see the train station from there. The community hall was just behind it, forming a narrow alley between the two buildings, right by the main road leading to the square. The shop was almost as old as the ghetto and deeply rooted in the community.

They came from a long line of spice healers. Lorea was the granddaughter of Apala, who came from the mountains fiftyeight years ago. The child her grandmother carried on her hip was Urkia, Lorea’s mother. Apala had been given a place to live here by the authorities in the ghetto Happiness, where Lorea and her mother still lived.

Lorea was Herrian, like all those who lived in the ghettos. Her eyes were lined with black in the traditional style, and a ribbon with blue and grey wooden beads held her black hair together in a long braid. A hair got tangled in her earring, and she gently pulled it free. Herrian women rarely wore jewellery unless it was a gift. Necklaces and rings they bought for themselves were for special occasions. But if it was a gift from someone special, they never took it off. They carried their jewellery everywhere as a reminder of their loved ones.

Lorea had three such gifts. The first was the silver chain around her neck. It was a gift from her father when she was eleven, just five months before he died by suicide. He took the train out as the expression went, jumping off the platform when a train passed.

The second was a bracelet her mother gave her a month after her father’s death. It was in silver, lined with tourmaline stones in pink, black and blue.

The third gift was a pair of silver sunflower earrings. It was an engagement gift from her fiancé, along with the ring he’d given her that same day.

She put the bottle with the tincture in her handbag. Something was in there, an old, crumpled piece of paper she’d forgotten about. She skimmed through it. It said that SaC was running a blood drive for Herrian women between the ages of twenty-five and forty. That was almost two months ago. The authorities were very interested in the immune system and fertility of Herrians because of their unusual characteristics. Lorea had taken part in the last blood drive, which she got a pretty penny for. A bargain, in her opinion. She threw the note away and went out the back door.

Lorea noticed that a shoelace had come undone and put her foot on the old bench behind the shop to tied it. The bench was ancient and had been repaired countless times.

It was cold, as it always was at this time of day. She pulled her brown hat down over her eyebrows. A strong and sudden wind blew through the alley and almost caught her blue scarf. Lorea stopped, wrapped it tighter around her neck and stuffed the loose ends into her coat. The morning air was relentlessly cold. It was damp and crept through every layer of her clothing. A cold wind blew against her cheek, so she pulled the scarf over her nose. Her fiancé, Fermin, had borrowed it yesterday when he’d forgotten his at home.

She inhaled. It still smelled of him. Was it seven years ago it happened? Yes, it was about seven.

He came here that day looking for her. It was the end of June, and the evening was warm. Fermin had come home the day before from his five-year military service. It was said that he’d spent the day at home with his old father.

During the years of service, soldiers were sent home only once a year, and Fermin was no exception. When he told his father, Peio, that he’d been selected to be a front trooper, pride shone in the old man’s eyes.

Then, just over two years before he came home, Peio received another letter printed on thick, expensive paper with the blue logo of SaC on it. Signed by a famous general, including a long paragraph about honour and duty, it said that Fermin was chosen to transition into an Elite. A large sum of money was also transferred to Peio’s bank account. This time, Peio’s pride was mixed with fear. The transition alone took a year, including training. After that, they kept Fermin for his last year of service. Peio wasn’t really that old, but his poor health made him look older than he was. After that letter, he seemed to age even faster.

Lorea had been sitting on the bench drinking tea when Fermin came around the corner. He was different from the last time she’d seen him almost three years ago. Older, eyes darker, his face had a tense and sombre expression that she didn’t quite recognise. Even his movements were different, more restrained. Lorea wasn’t sure she liked it. This wasn’t the boy, her dear friend she knew so well. He was gone.

Fermin’s face split in a wide smile when he saw her. Calmly, she put down her tea and stood to greet him, but he took her in his arms, lifted her up and laughed.

He put her down. ”It’s you!”

”Amazing, I know!” she said with a faint smile. Fermin’s eyes watered, and he wiped away a tear. Lorea wasn’t too surprised by this since he’d always been emotional. She envied him for being able to show it so openly.

”So you’re an Elite now? It must be strange being around normal people,” she said. Fermin pressed his lips together and looked away.

”Yeah. Sure. Must be strange having a machine man around,” he said.

Lorea pinched the bridge of her nose. ”No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to... It’s just new. That’s all. Does it hurt? All the things they put in you?”

”At first, yes. But now I don’t feel a thing. Some of them are just under the skin. Here, feel,” Fermin said. Lorea felt where he was pointing, on the back of his neck, just below the hairline.

”Do you feel it?” he asked. It was the size of a small pebble.

”What is it?”

”It’s an implant. Not sure what it does,” he said. Lorea nodded.

”I don’t know what to say,” she said after a moment. ”I’m glad you’re home. Was it as bad as they say?” Fermin’s face twisted slightly with tension, and he looked away as if studying the roof of the community centre. Lorea glanced in the same direction, wondering what he was thinking. The roof was made of tiles and overgrown with a thick layer of moss, although she couldn’t see it from where they stood. Her eyes fell on the many swallows’ nests. The air was full of them in spring and early summer, flying around. Singing and mating. She could see a few of them flying in and out of their nests.

Fermin turned back to her. ”Let’s not talk about that. People have been asking me so many questions I don’t even know how to answer. Can we just... I don’t know, not do that?”

”Of course, I understand if you want to be alone too.”

”No, I didn’t mean it that way. Look, I could use some company. Can’t we just sit down? I want to hear about you,” he said.