Ad Martem 12 Read online

  «But what?» Jordan pressed.

  She raised her gaze.

  «Well, haven't you noticed that lately we've had very few chances to see each other, to talk?»

  «Geez, yes! Never had so much to do!» Yan exclaimed throwing his hands in the air.

  «Like if...» Anna paused, shaking her head, deep in thought.

  «Like if they're trying to avoid to let us stay together long enough to...» Jordan continued Anna's reasoning.

  «Long enough to plan something» she completed, finally raising her gaze to look at the two boys in the eyes.

  «Something they want to prevent from happening» Yan added, joining the stream of thoughts.

  Anna nodded.

  «However it's just a hypothesis. Nothing is sure. Maybe it's just an illusion of ours.»

  At those words Jordan glared daggers at her.

  «What I saw is not an illusion! It's a photograph of this damn planet!» the boy raised his voice, enraged.

  He suddenly found a hand pressed against his mouth as Anna almost fell from her chair to shut him up.

  «Sssht! They'll hear you!» she screamed in a whisper.

  «Guys, I don't know about you, but I don't feel good. I'm not good if I think they're hiding something from me. I mean... they've always told us everything! And now what?» Yan admitted.

  «Me too, Nunki» Jordan convened with bitterness.

  «Yeah, same» Anna agreed.

  «We have to do something, but something concrete» Jordan began with a tone of importance, «So, if hypothetically it's all about a second base on Mars, it means that it is monitored by your satellites too, that are linked to your bases computers, right?» he looked at Yan.

  «Right» he confirmed with a nod.

  «Then I believe it necessary to check» Jordan concluded.

  Anna sighed, visibly upset.

  «I've never done anything like that, I've never used those computers, I've never had to...»

  «Listen» Jordan cut her off and she passed a hand through her hair «Now you have to, Anna. It's fundamental that you manage to access them for a moment. One moment is enough to see if there's something wrong» he spoke with caution.

  The clear green eyes of the boy mixed with the blue, serious ones of the girl.

  «It's not against the rules» he added softly and hopefully, after few seconds of silence and their eyes were still glued.

  «Technically not» Yan interjected and Jordan almost winced as he was brought back to reality and looked away «But that would certainly be suspicious, we three should have no real reason to have a look at the computers that are linked to the satellites» he pointed out.

  Jordan rolled his eyes and hid his face in his hands.

  «I was trying to convince her, you dunderhead!» Jordan let out in a frustrated tone.

  «Oh» Yan glanced at Anna «Well, yeah, it's not against the rules.»

  «I'll do it» Anna spoke suddenly and Jordan lowered his hand to look at her, unbelieving.

  She nodded at him and he struggled to keep his enthusiasm down.

  He turned to Yan.

  «I take it you already agree.»

  «'Course I do, commander. I'll act immediately» Yan announced solemnly.

  Jordan huffed and smiled.

  «Don't call me that, don't even joke. I'm not a commander.»

  «Ah, I think you'd cover this role excellently. Look how you give us orders!»

  «But they're not orders!»

  «Am I right, Anna?»

  The girl let out a brief laugh and observed Jordan smiling.

  «Oh, yes. Absolutely right.»

  He smiled at the girl as he felt overwhelmed by a weird sensation of weakness that lately took him often and off guard.

  «Jordan Miles!» a sudden, new voice called.

  They gasped and turned to the door. A six-foot-tall man with large shoulders and eyes as black as pitch had come in. They felt their faces going pale for the same worrying thought that crossed their minds: they could have been heard. He approached the table with a deliberate, imposing pace. Jordan stood up and faced the man. He was Artëm Levitsky, he secretly aspired to command the Krasnij Gorod since when he had arrived, but that role had always laid with Viktor, Anna's father.

  «Idi v Red Ston. Alexander zhdyot tebya. U tebya yest zdaniye[16]» Artëm said with his bone-chilling, deep voice.

  «No kak? Seychas u menya yest svobodnoe vremya![17]»

  «Nyet voprosov. Idi[18]»

  The boy sighed loudly, annoyed.

  He turned to look at his friends in the eyes. That look was enough to know that they had understood each other. Something was wrong. And that was a new opportunity to separate them.

  «See you later» he muttered to his friends.

  Then he turned and left the room.

  «Hans, this is the greenhouse. Greenhouse, this is Hans» Jordan announced at the entrance of the third dome of the Red Stone.

  The man chuckled.

  «It's a pleasure, really.»

  His father had given him the task to show their greenhouse to the new man. He knew that sooner or later it was going to happen.

  «Follow me, I'll show you our cultivations.»

  The boy started down among the six big shelves that filled the ground floor, followed by Hans, who looked around himself scanning every corner. All the small plants on the shelves were illuminated by an intense red-purplish light that made their leaves appear unexpectedly dark, almost black.

  «Every shelf is dedicated to a species» Jordan began to explain, then he stopped next to one of them and approached it to get a closer look. «These are radishes» he said, then he looked around himself «While over there we have spinach. On that shelf there's chives» Jordan pointed at every shelf one after the other.

  He approached another one to look attentively.

  «These are peas. And then over there we have lettuce and there potatoes. As you can see they're all illuminated by LEDs, because they're cold lights, so they don't damage the plants, they don't risk to burn and they grow peacefully.»

  «You save a lot of energy this way.»

  «Yes, indeed. And then LEDs last a very long time so we won't need to worry to change them for a good while. Shall we go upstairs?» he then asked, waiting for Hans as he finished to observe the shelves.

  «Let's go.»

  Jordan headed to the centre of the dome, where an aluminium ladder stood almost vertically. It was like the one in the Main Base, but this time it led to the first floor through a square gap. The boy climbed up the ladder until he came out on the first floor. He was right away overwhelmed by a familiar smell that brought him back with his memories, to the times when he worked with the famous henhouse. He felt a chill running down his spine, but he tried to focus on what he had to do. As soon as Hans had reached him, Jordan headed to the opposite side of the henhouse, towards other, taller shelves.

  «And here we have asparagus, tomatoes, quinoa and every sort of legume.»

  «Who's taking care of all of this at the moment?» Hans asked, stroking with his fingertips a small tomato that leaned out of a shelf.

  «Frank Larsen» the boy replied «Usually we take turns, we change every month.»

  Jordan proceeded towards a couple of long tables which stood one next to the other and the man reached him right away.

  They were approaching the henhouse.

  «Here we are, let's say, experimenting hydroponic cultivation. As you can see the plants are not in the soil, but in an inert substrate. They are irrigated with a special solution containing all the inorganic compounds that are necessary to provide the plants with a correct mineral nutrition. We have some corn, fennels, cabbage, carrots, basically a bit of everything and for now it seems it's working. Ah, and here we have strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.»

  «Man, if we go on like this I won't make it to dinner» Hans joked.

  «Don't tell me, I'm starving and I hope it'll be ready soon. However
let's move on, there's not much left.»

  Jordan turned reluctantly towards the henhouse. He found some courage and together they approached a rectangular fence that on one side was delimited by a cubic structure that contained some beds of straw. A couple of hens scratched the thin layer of soil that was created specially for them. This time Jordan didn’t say a word, so Hans spoke.

  «I heard you've worked with them for a good while.»

  «Unfortunately you heard well» he stammered.

  «How many are there?»

  «Four. Four nightmares. However there's not much to be explained here. They produce about one egg per sol and who takes care of them has to collect the eggs every sol and bring them to the kitchen and the other bases. And then everything has to be cleaned periodically, their excrements have to be kept to be afterwards recycled into energy and then, well, feed is not a problem, these creatures devour anything.»

  «Why do you talk so badly of them? They look peaceful to me» Hans said, crouching down next to the fence to have a closer look at one hen.

  «Once, one of the first times that I worked here, while I was replacing the straw inside their shelter, one of the hens ran away from the fence» Jordan began to tell, «You have no idea of what chasing a hen and trying to catch it means. Please don't make me remember, don't ask me any more.»

  Instead of laughing or smiling, as Jordan expected, the man continued to observe the hens and a spark of hidden nostalgia seemed to shine in his eyes. The boy got curious and he furrowed his eyebrows.

  «Did I say something wrong?»

  The man seemed to return to reality all of a sudden

  «Oh, no no. It's just... They remind me of Earth» he shook his head slightly and a small smile appeared on his lips, «You know, when I was a child I loved going to the countryside, to my grandmother's. She always had some hens and I had fun like crazy chasing them. Well, of course when it was them who chased me, it was another story. But I have some beautiful memories.»

  Jordan was hesitant, he narrowed his eyes while studying the terrestrial in front of him.

  «Countryside, you said? What is it?»

  Jordan could say that for a moment Hans studied him with his same curious spark in his eyes.

  «Countryside is... well, uhm, it's an open-air place, far from cities, where... there are immense meadows and houses are simple, people are simple. There's clean air, there's peace...»

  While Hans was speaking, Jordan tried to imagine everything, even though it turned out most complicated. The man noticed his lost look and seemed to suddenly remember something.

  «Wait! I have a picture» he tucked a hand into his right pocket and took out a small piece of paper folded in a half. «I always take it with me, wherever I go.»

  He unfolded it and handed it to the boy. It showed a small wooden house, clung to the side of a green hill. As green as the leaves of the lettuce he had had for lunch that sol. Behind it, several trees stood tall and in the background, some mountains covered in woods spread to the horizon. The sky was blue, so intense that it seemed almost unreal, occasionally interrupted by some swabs of white cloud.

  «This is my grandmother's countryside house, in Germany.»

  «It's beautiful» Jordan whispered, his eyes lost in the depths of that image.

  «I happen to see such pictures very rarely» he admitted, handing the paper back to the man «Thank you.»

  He smiled, folded the picture again and put it back in his pocket.

  «Hans» Jordan called after a moment of silence.

  «Yes?»

  «Do you think I'll be able to see the countryside with my own eyes... one day?»

  Hans suddenly raised his gaze on the boy. His eyes were as blue as that far sky. He seemed hesitant.

  «I don't know this, Jordan» he said, almost to himself «I really don't know.»

  In that moment the dinner bell rang, interrupting Jordan's thoughts.

  «Oh, finally!» Hans exclaimed, «Is there anything else or can we go?»

  «This is it, we can go» Jordan replied, turning and heading back to the ladder. «The tour is over.»

  Jordan was really exhausted and he desired nothing but going to his room, into his bed, to sleep and recover energy. But in spite of all of this, as soon as he finished eating, he got up from the table and turned to leave in the opposite direction to that which led to his room.

  «Hey, Jordan. Where are you going?» Alexander asked right away, noticing his intention. «You look tired, don't you think it’s best if you go to rest?»

  The majority of those present had turned to look at him, he stood still. He swallowed and tried to quickly make up an excuse in order to move in that direction.

  «I need the bathroom» he said, «And I'll take something for the headache.»

  «You feel bad? You want me to come with you?»

  «Oh, no no, thanks, really. I don't think that's necessary, thank you» he hurried to say, backing off, before turning and leaving definitely.

  Once he was sure that the cylindrical structure and the kitchen inside the Main Base hid him from the eyes of his father and the other members, he turned sharply to his left, taking the corridor which led to the Krasnij Gorod. He didn't meet anyone, fortunately, thus he could reach Anna's room without being noticed. He wasn't surprised to find the girl laying on her bed with a book in her hands.

  As soon as Anna saw Jordan, she whirled to sit and put the book down

  «Jordan! What are you doing here?» she scolded in a whisper, standing up «Come in!»

  She rushed to close the door, after pulling her friend inside.

  «What's wrong? Why are you acting like that?»

  «Sssht, lower your voice! They mustn't know that you're here.»

  Jordan furrowed his eyebrows.

  «Is it against the rules?» he whispered.

  «I... don't know? In any case, it's crystal clear that they're doing everything in their power to keep us busy enough not to meet! Or something like that. I guess they wouldn't be pleased to know you're here – unless you already told someone?»

  He shook his head.

  «Those of the Red Stone don't know I'm here, I told them I needed the bathroom. I reckon I don't have much time.»

  «Holy Olympus, you even lied!» Anna passed a hand through her hair, as she always did when she was nervous «If they catch you...»

  «What could they ever do?» Jordan cut her off.

  «I don't know, enclosing you in your room for the rest of your life?»

  «That's rubbish. We're not kids anymore, how could they punish us? We're living in an air bubble, if you haven't noticed!» Jordan let out all at once, surprising even himself for his words.

  Anna slightly widened her eyes, observing her friend warily.

  «That doesn't mean we can break rules at our pleasure» she began with caution, trying to bring Jordan back to his senses. «It takes a moment to blow up an air bubble.»

  Jordan knew she was right. He had no idea where those words he blurted out really came from. As he locked his eyes with hers, blue mixing with green, his agitation faded away and he found a renowned sense of peace. He sighed and reluctantly looked away, sitting on a chair.

  «Listen, let's not waste time. Did you and Yan check the computers?»

  «I did, but they nearly caught me. Whereas the computers in the Hong Se De Du have been patrolled for the entire sol and Yan couldn't even approach.»

  «And so? Did you find anything?»

  The girl slightly tilted her head on a side, lowering her gaze.

  «There are some secret files that I can't open, they request codes of every kind.»

  Jordan sighed, frustrated.

  «Obviously.»

  «I have a bad feeling. Or rather than a bad feeling, it's a certainty. Those files have been blocked recently, Jordan. The block they entered is very recent, there wasn't anything like that before. You know what that means?»

  «It means they know we know. Or at least, they t
hink so.»

  «Exactly. And now they're controlling us.»

  «But what could it ever be...» Jordan whispered bringing his hands to his face.

  He thought deeply for few moments, then he lowered his hands and stood up.

  «I got to talk to Yan.»

  He headed to the door but he was suddenly stopped by a hand that closed around his arm and yanked him backwards.

  «Forget about it!»

  Jordan turned and found himself sinking in the abyss of two concerned, celestial eyes in front of him.

  «It's important, Anna. We can't wait any longer.»

  He lowered his gaze and sighed, noticing she wouldn't let him go.

  «Listen» he continued, «I know it's dangerous and they can't know we're here. But if I can't go to Yan, let's make Yan come here.»

  The girl moved her gaze to the laptop laying on her desk.

  «If you're thinking of sending him a message, I don't think that would be a good idea. They could intercept it, or rather, they surely will.»

  The boy stepped towards the laptop and switched it on, sitting at the desk.

  «Of course they will. But we'll send something that only Yan could understand, something that could sound like a joke to the others and so they wouldn't suspect anything.»

  «It's stupid» Anna pointed out.

  «We're kids, we do stupid things.»

  «Didn't you claim quite proudly that we're not kids anymore like two minutes ago?»

  Jordan shrugged.

  «Well, it did fit my speech pretty amazingly indeed.»

  Anna rolled her eyes. She approached the boy to look at the screen as he opened a chat-room with Yan's personal computer.

  «Come on, help me think» Jordan hid his face in his hands, thoughtfully.

  «Mmm, it has to be something that makes him come here, but without being seen, that's very important.»

  Few moments of silence passed, when suddenly Jordan almost jumped on his chair, thunderstruck.

  «Of course! Of course!» he exclaimed aloud.

  «Sssht!» Anna warned him and he lowered his tone again.

  «His videogame, Anna! In the enemy mother spaceship you have to reach the refuelling station without being seen!»

  The girl widened her eyes.