*Sullivan*
*Recently, I've encountered many contradictions while traveling here and there. I've faced both the best and the worst in people, and I can't explain it.*
"Do you enjoy your time in our hotel, madam?"
"Yes, don't mind me."
*I admit that this week had really depressed me, but it's somewhat my fault. I remember during the briefing when we were still assigning roles.*
"Gael, you stay here; you've already implanted your cell."
"I'll still have to move around here and there."
"Guarneer, you'll go to America for a complete analysis of their arsenal."
"Finally, the job I asked for."
"Nikto, I've sent you your instructions; you know what to do."
*She nodded, and the other team members stared at her. Evidently, there were secrets in the air. Only the map, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa remained.*
"Well, there are only these three left. Who will..."
"I'll take Europe," *I announced.*
"Well, what enthusiasm," *the Major said, crossing his arms.* "Why is that?"
"It's an important cultural point; the Amadorians call it the old continent for its rich history and its place in the world. I could easily integrate as a student given my age and physique. Besides, I'm the one who looks least like a 'Soldier' in the group."
*My argument held, and the Major seemed to understand.*
"I see, indeed interesting."
*The Major smiled and checked the box.*
"Who am I to stop you?"
*Africa, the Amadorians call it the cradle of humanity. It alone represents 80% of the world's problems. Civil war, epidemics, famine, corruption, poverty—nothing is right on this continent. Technologically, it's hit or miss; most countries are centrist, preferring to concentrate major discoveries in the capital. Medically, it's scary because not everyone has access to the same level of care. While on Firiyaze, there are certain types of care that only the elite enjoy, the average citizen still has a chance to receive proper treatment by going to a hospital. And if I find myself here, it's because Major Gaines is a tyrant who doesn't respect Firiyaze's democratic values.*
"Wait until we get back; I'll tell my mother, you... ah, he annoys me."
*Apart from the fact that I didn't want to be here, there was charm on this continent. Unfortunately, if this part of the world is in such a state, it's partly because of others who overexploit and take advantage of their underdevelopment to plunder its resources.*
"This is where coltan is extracted."
"What?"
*My cover was simple and effective; I was a young journalism student from Uk. My job was to develop a study project for my end-of-year thesis. Here, I was in the Congo, which is said to have one of the richest soils on the planet and probably the most plundered.*
"Coltan, it's a rare and precious metal."
"Like Iridium?"
"What?"
"We find it in meteorites. It's used for..."
*I could see that I had lost him from the first lines, so I stopped.*
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Okay... I see I'm dealing with a cultured woman. Coltan is the basis for many electronic devices, especially smartphones," *he said, showing his own.*
*The man giving me the guided tour was named Roger Gnezou. Dressed in a custom suit, he was from indigenous origin, but working for a foreign company that extracted the metal. From what I could see while searching the so-called richest soil, they hadn't discovered Opal yet.*
"How come they don't have Opal?" *Adjudant Monfera asked.* "Are you sure? The sensors are going crazy in Africa, though."
"There's nothing in the Congo, sir."
"Are you sure you're doing your job right, kid?" *he asked, annoyed.*
"I'm not on vacation. And it's not you who mosquitoes harass every night."
"Are you immune to malaria, so stop complaining. Well... *he sighed heavily.* We'll erase Congo from the map."
"What? But I haven't..."
"I'll send you your new destination."
*He cut the transmission. The bastard, he had no consideration for me or my well-being. I let myself collapse to the ground from exhaustion.*
"It's because he has a grudge against officers or what? Or is it because I look like a teenager."
*It's normal; I'm only 23. It's barely been 3 years since I've been in service. Physically, I take after my mother, a young blonde who barely reaches 5'7", who had to work like crazy to pass the physical exercises at the military academy. After that, I'm a Fobbit; I didn't join the army to fight. I've never been in a conflict zone. Yet, when I got hold of this top-secret FOS file, I couldn't help but want to get involved. By the way, arriving here, I received a nanite injection into my blood to increase my physical resistance. It's the kind of injection that members of the expeditionary corps receive when they go on a mission. Lying on my bed, I was staring at my hand, imagining thousands of tiny metal beings coursing through my body.*
"Ah, damn, I need to take a shower."
*My stay in Congo lasted for 6 hours. With White-star above my head, we could easily forge tickets for the airport and get on a new plane the same day. I didn't have a suitcase, just a briefcase containing my basic equipment like ORK detectors or my laptop, giving me access to real-time information. These last few days, I visited almost all the important mining extraction points on the continent. The Adjudant didn't let me breathe once; I went from one point to another, feeling like all those foreign companies that are only there for the resources. Niger, Gabon, Togo, Angola, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Mali—I think I had my fill. I visited all the points highlighted by the satellite in less than two weeks, and I was completely exhausted.*
"Come on, a few more points, and..."
"No," *I said sharply.*
"What do you mean no, the mission..."
"It's easy for you to talk about a mission; you haven't moved from your chair in Hokkaido. I say stop, I'm done, I need a break."
"What... What are you talking about? You're a soldier, follow orders."
"I'm also a delicate young lady. And a human being, but you don't know what that is; you live permanently surrounded by robots."
"What..."
"Ah, and Adjudant, I outrank you, so never give me orders again. Sullivan, over."
*I cut the transmission as well as the contact with the HQ in Hokkaido. I was finally free from this tyrant; at this rate, he would end up killing me from exhaustion. The plane landed in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.*
"Akwaba," *said the woman at the airport entrance.*
*It means welcome in the local language. Once there, the first thing I did was withdraw all the cash from my card before Gael Froze it. Also, I had quite an unexpected encounter at the airport.*
"Gnezou... I mean, Mr. Gnezou," *I said, surprised.*
"You... You're the journalist woman I guided to the mine. The world is small, huh."
"Indeed." *I laughed.* "What are you doing in Ivory Coast?"
"Well, my mother is from Adidjan, and I practically grew up here. Besides, I have dual nationality."
"You're here for work?"
"A bit of both."
*There's no Coltan here, but I suppose they're after the underwater oil pipeline.*
"And you? What are you doing in Baby?" *he asked.*
"Huh, where is that?"
"Baby*... Abidjan, you know."
Ndt: Ivorian like to call their capital "Baby".
"Aaah well..."
"Don't you have your suitcase either?"
*How to explain to him that I didn't need one and that I was happy with traveling every 12 hours.*
"They lost your luggage, right? Airport things," *he said, holding his hips.* "Well, follow me; I'll sort you out."
"Sort me out?"
"Haha, follow me."
*He spoke strangely since we met. Was it the climate, or did he just feel more relaxed? But otherwise, let's talk a bit about Ivory Coast. A preferred tourist destination in West Africa, politically, it's an important pillar in the region. Militarily, not so much, and scientifically, they copy almost everything from their European partner, France. But besides that, there was an aspect of Africa that I didn't know and that wasn't represented enough in Amadorian media.*
"Tonight, we're going to have fun."
*The Africans are big partygoers. I was staying at the Ivoire hotel, and Roger lived nearby. Every evening he came to pick me up, and we toured the bars. I remember that before I came, Agent Damon told me something.*
"Don't forget, Africans loves to party, especially the Ivorians with their strange music."
*Indeed, strange as you can get. It was a mix of noise, sometimes with dialogue that doesn't make sense, but it didn't prevent me from enjoying it. It jumped, drank, and had fun. Roger was called 'the white,' for reasons I didn't understand since I'm clearly the only white here. Also, he seemed popular with all his friends around him.*
"Roger le mechant mechant. You brought a real gal here."
"Leave it to me Choco, you know the deal."
"Validation ?."
"You know the drill man"
*Mechant like, bad or evil? He insults him, I don't understand. The Ivorians all spoke in a dialect among themselves, a mixture of French and another language I didn't know. It was nowhere on the dialect sequencer, so you learn something new every day i guess. That being said, I spent this week having fun without thinking about tomorrow. If my mother saw me, she would have twisted me in half. Growing up in a soldier's family, discipline was essential; I could barely have fun. Fortunately, I went to high school and then to college, where I learned something other than thinking with a rifle. However, a major event in my life led me to make this career choice. And this career choice led me to a nightclub in a world millions of light-years away from home. More ironic, you die. That night I was totally drunk, and Roger helped me get back to the hotel. The dress I was wearing smelled of alcohol and beer, one of the greatest attractions for Ivorians. Once at the door, I straightened up.*
"I'm good; I'll go."
"You don't seem okay; you've drunk more than all of us combined."
*Because I have nanites in my blood that eliminate alcohol faster. I'll be less drunk in two hours.*
"It's okay, I said. I'll survive the night."
"You say that, but you seem like you want to collapse right now."
*Oh, I know that look. I'm not stupid; I've seen the same look dozens of times before. I always managed to dodge them; most of them gave up at the entrance of my room. Others, it was my mom Rover parked at the entrance of the house that discouraged them. But here, it was different. Roger was a good guy, and I liked him.*
"Okay, but you don't do anything weird, okay?"
"Yes, don't worry." *He said with a sly smile.*
*I opened the door of the room, but the moment I crossed the threshold, I came face to face with a familiar face. Sitting in my chair, legs crossed, wearing a T-shirt, a young man about my age.*
"E... El... Douglas... What are you doing here?"
"Who is this?" *Roger asked upon entering.*
*Once he entered, an alarm went off. A series of long, shrill beeps, the kind you hear when you turn on the ORK detector.*
"Oh shit, who turned on this thing?"
*I rushed to my bed and tried to turn off the machine, but with my clouded senses, there was no way it would happen.*
"Um... I'm interrupting, it seems."
"It seems." *Stowe said.*
*The latter got up and walked in his direction; he was slightly shorter than Gnezou but a hundred times more dangerous.*
"Is this your guy?"
"Her big brother. She ran away."
"Oh... Well... I'm a friend."
"Nice to meet you. Friend." *He said, shaking his hand.* "Thanks for taking care of her."
"Okay. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
*Then he left as the detector finally went off. I turned to Stowe, but for some reason, I was ashamed to look him in the face. I felt bad.*
"Can I go... take a shower?"
"You can."
*After a good cold shower, I put on a mini-short and a white T-shirt before finding him in front of the TV watching the news. He didn't say anything; he didn't talk; he remained stoic. No he was just ignoring me.*
"This isn't what... I didn't mean to desert or anything. And Major's orders were that we had one month to integrate into the designated continent. I think I've integrated perfectly so far. It's Adjudant Monfera who wanted me to look for traces of Opal RK. There's none on this damn planet."
"The fact that you're justifying yourself..."
*I sat in a corner of the room, hands on my face.*
"I want it to stop."
*I burst into tears as Stowe stood up and walked towards me.*
"These past weeks have been the worst of my life. I've been through all sorts of places; I've seen all kinds of places, death camps, war-torn houses. I've seen armed militias set villages on fire, and the Adjudant forbade me from intervening every time. I've seen doctors inject viruses into populations they were supposed to come and heal. I know because I intercepted their communication. I've been to about twenty countries in 2 weeks, and I've seen the worst in this world."
*Stowe crouched in front of me and hugged me.*
"You don't have to feel guilty about that." *He reassured me.*
"It's not the horrors happening here that hurt me, but the fact that I'm so close and unable to help. It made me feel powerless. I've been questioning everything—my role, the purpose of this mission, the morality of it all. I never wanted to be part of something that brings suffering to innocent people."
*Stowe kept his embrace, letting me pour out my emotions.*
"You're not alone in this, LT. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations we never expected, dealing with choices that challenge our principles. But you have a choice now. You can decide what path you want to take."
*He pulled back slightly, looking into my eyes.*
"I've seen the darkness of this world too, and I've fought against it. Maybe it's time you choose your fight."
*His words lingered in the room, and for the first time, I felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps, despite the circumstances, there was a way to make a difference.*
"Thank you, Douglas. I mean Eagle. That your real name isn't it.
*Stowe nodded, with a little smile. So he can smile it is good to note.*
"Now, we need to figure out what to do next. You can't stay here, and returning to the Adjudant might not be the best option. We'll find a way out of this mess."
*As we began to discuss our next steps, the weight on my shoulders started to lift. In Stowe, I found an unexpected ally, and together, we would navigate the complex web of this mission.*
*End of the chapter*