Authors: Alejandro Volnié
The discussion they were holding on the details of the mission had marched without incidents, though it had taken longer than expected.
The group inside the office had assembled since seven in the morning. They were trying to establish the entry and escape routes, and the most appropriate transport methods to achieve such a purpose.
Guide intended to make the
most of the journey through hostile territory on horseback, arguing that live animals were easily mistaken for the native fauna of the forests they would cross. This would make them lose a couple of days compared to traveling by some mechanized transport, but the safety of the trip would loosely pay the cost of their delay. Electronic surveillance of this territory was a common and continuous practice, although relatively inaccurate because it was made from satellites, which made it difficult to tell a wild animal of great size from a horse and its rider.
The
main argument that Control had against this method was the limited experience that Mole seemed to have horse-riding, even though in his defense he had claimed to have practiced recreational rides in his early years as a hiker.
They finally decided to apply
him a practical test to determine whether such an election would not put at risk the results. As the time of his next appointment at the cafeteria was close, the riding session was scheduled for eleven o'clock this morning; by then Mole should have fulfilled his prior commitment.
Inside the cafeteria his dreaded antagonist awaited. He did not know what to expect from him this morning, though he knew that, in any case, he was at his mercy.
He walked steadily to
him, greeted with a nod and took the tray already in the cook’s hands. The gross character was just looking at him, fixedly and expressionless, firmly holding the edge of the tray so that he would be forced to release it with a yank. The inertia of this movement caused part of the food to spill. He felt that he was about to lose his poise, but making an effort he recomposed his posture and so he walked to a remote table to comply with the mandatory meal.
He
could not understand the aversion that the peculiar character felt towards him, but certainly he had managed to spread it back, so that the feeling had become mutual. The two times per day that he was meant to show alone in the premises were becoming a source of anxiety. Only at lunchtime, when the cafeteria was full, he felt protected. His annoyance had reached such a point that, without being aware of it, he had begun to plot revenge.
L
ost in thought he ended with this morning’s serving and went to the door, where Guide was already waiting behind the wheel of an off-road car; beside him was Control. He did not need to be invited. As he noticed their presence he jumped to the backseat. They immediately set off.
The ten minute
ride turned out to be enlightening. They went through the training camp to the opposite end, giving him an opportunity to see the facilities intended for the practice and refinement of the various disciplines that regular recruits had to learn. When he got to see the large number of cadets undergoing the tortures of training, all of them looking exhausted and covered in mud, he felt fortunate to have been admitted as a special recruit. He would be in the field of action in just a few days, while those would still continue suffering the afflictions of military training for a long time.
The vehicle stopped
by the stables. There they set foot to the ground. They walked a few yards to where the stable boy was holding a small height horse by the reins. This sorrel only lost its color in the white that painted its front legs above the hooves, and was behaving peaceful while fanning the tail to keep away the flies hovering over its hindquarters.
Behind
the horse stretched the ring where he would make his test as a rider. Guide invited him to begin:
“
The beast is all yours. Show us what you got.”
Not saying a word
he took over the reins that the boy had been holding. He passed them over the head of the horse. He stood on the left side of his ride and lifted his foot to reach the stirrup. With a single drive he went up the horse to end sitting on the light saddle, then he gently stung in the flanks of the animal, which did not hesitate to get going. He led him into the riding ring and gave a full turn slowly. As he passed again by the gate he stung with his heels, changing the pace into a smooth trot. One more turn and the horse changed to canter, and it kept like this for several minutes, until finally stopping at the starting point.
“
Well?” he asked smiling. Have I passed the test?”
“
It’s a good start,” Control replied. “We will schedule two hours of riding every morning to get you fit and feeling confident. We will start right now. The coming days Guide will bring you here as soon as it has dawned. Set aside bathing for your return, we do not want horse smell among us.”
Then
she went to Guide:
“To
ride! I’ll be back for you in two hours.”
As she
drove away, the stable boy brought one more horse, of a similar height but with its hair rather brown. This time he gave the reins to the agent that was still on his feet.
“
Get acquainted with your partner,” he said to Mole, “it will be taking you into and back from our mission. You may have noticed the small height of these animals. I have chosen them because their size is closer to that of the deer that roam the forest and this makes our chances of passing unnoticed better.”
“
I see. Also those of keeping alive if we fall,” he added laughing.
“Let’s go. These laps you ha
ve just done were nothing at all. We will go up the mountain to see how you behave. Follow me!”
They started with
a calm step, which after a few minutes turned into a canter, and they kept this way until reaching sloping ground. The journey took them just over the two hours scheduled.
When
they finally dismounted Guide still looked fresh, as if he had not made any effort at all, while the untrained rider at his side was sore and tired, holding his belly around his liver while failing to walk upright.
“I’
m afraid you must go to the doctor before proceeding. Truly, you are all out of shape.”
A
growl coming from the back of his throat was his only answer to Guide’s sarcastic comment. Walking hardly, he finally made it to the vehicle where Control awaited already and collapsed on the back seat.
“
How did the ride fit our star?” she asked cheerfully.
“He i
s a regular centaur,” answered Guide in an amused tone. “In a few days I won’t be able to catch on him.”
“
I see. This is good news.”
The sound of the wheels skidding when braking on
the gravel road in front of the clinic’s door brought the trip to an end. The uncomfortable position that he had been forced to keep on the backseat, tilted to one side as he leaned against one of the doors, had added to his discomfort.
When he managed to stand
up he had to shuffle his feet to walk. He painfully went the short stretch to the main entrance of the building and opened the door. After the lonesome desk in the lobby a fleshy woman, middle-aged and unsmiling, was wearing the white uniform characteristic to the field’s personnel. As she felt the one coming in she raised her eyes from the papers on top to look at him.
The
awkward walking of the man coming in let her realize the nature of his malaise, yet she asked:
“
What have you been doing to end up in such a condition?”
“
Horseback riding,” he answered plainly.
“
Go to the first room after the door. I will be with you in a minute,” she said while pointing towards the corridor behind her.
When she met him, he felt the need to explain the nature of the problem:
“I have ridden for more than two hours today, and I am supposed to do the same each of the next few days; however, I am not even able to sit on a chair at the moment, can you do something for me?”
“
Of course. It will be easier than it seems. After one hour you will not remember having felt bad. Uncover you torso, take off your pants and lie on the plate. We will apply some electrodes and you will drink this,” she said as she mixed some liquids in a glass. “It always works.”
“
I hope so, or I will not be able to ride in several days.”
The woman said no more
. She handed him the glass with the mixture. Then she began to stick electrodes all across his battered body.”
As soon as
she had finished placing on him the small bright pieces, she turned to the console beside the hard metal plate where the beat-up rider was lying and turned it on.
The cold
ness of the bed pierced through the thin sheet that served as the only cover to the surface, giving him goose bumps, and the touch of the hard surface was causing him pain, especially in his worn out members.
But r
elief came quickly. Just a few seconds after the equipment had been turned on he started to feel how it was relaxing each of his muscles.
The session
needed not to last more than ten minutes. The woman, who had left the room as soon as the process had begun, came back to disconnect the miraculous equipment. The patient rose from the plate nimbly. Then he stood up effortlessly. Only a slight pain persisted there where his body had repeatedly hit the saddle during the ride. This he let the nurse know, but she merely advised him to use a cushion the next time, until his body had gotten used to the constant pounding on this region of his anatomy that horse-riding involved.
The feeling of well-being that
the treatment had brought him caused the agent to heartily thank the woman, so he went into an intricate speech that for a moment got to seem endless. As an answer she plainly said:
“See you again
tomorrow. I am guessing you will not get used to such an exercise before three or four days.”
As
he was walking towards the exit he was trying to find an explanation for the dry attitude of her benefactor. It seemed that custom had made her become unaware that the relief she provided to her patients was in fact a priceless gift. Instead, it seemed that to her this was just one of many tasks she was used to run every day, without stopping to consider the great value of her work.
The vehicle in which he
had come to the clinic had left once he had stepped off. The building that housed Control’s office was about 600 yards away. As he started to walk the treatment was still having effect, and it went on to the point that he was feeling totally healed when he reached his destination.
Control received
him friendly:
“I see you ha
ve healed quickly.”
“It’
s amazing what they have done with me,” he said as he settled into a chair at the desk.
“Don’t sit. You a
re late for lunch.”
The bustle of the last few hours had made him forget the diet to which he was
obliged. He had no hunger at that time, but he had to meet the five foods he had been scheduled per day. At least, this time the cafeteria would be crowded and he would avoid another unpleasant encounter with the cook.
“
We will meet here in 45 minutes,” the woman finished.
He nodded resigned
ly. Then he left the building to carry out his obligation.
Th
is afternoon’s meeting was intended to agree on the details of the trip to the enemy-controlled territory.
The route chosen by
Guide would go along a number of paths parallel to that used by him to escape at first, but a few miles further north. They would go across an uninhabited area, visited only by hunters during the autumn. The odds of meeting someone on the way were almost none. Their goal was to get through that section of forest, more than a hundred miles wide, in just two days. The starting point for their long ride would be precisely the community where the farmer had received him on arrival, which somehow was making him feel calm. For some reason, not obvious to him, he felt an affinity for the place; maybe because it had been there where he first had come to feel free from the emotional burden that his decision to defect had brought on him. Or it could be because the kindness of the family that hosted and protected him had been a new and unexpected experience. The fact was that it had been there where he actually had come to see a part of human behavior that in the place he came from one could not find anymore. Either way, he considered a good omen to start the upcoming adventure from this point.
Once they had reached the mining community where the train
had left him in his escape trip, they should use this same method of transportation to travel to the big city. From that point the real expert would be him instead of Guide because it was him indeed who had lived his entire life in this part of the world and thus he was better acquainted with the environment.
The
rest of the day was spent in choosing each piece of equipment and deciding about each procedure to achieve success in this first stage, looking for the highest degree of certainty for the outcome. Amid the endless discussions that were required to get each consensus they reached the time of calling the day off.
He just had to meet his following stop at the cafeteria to earn the right to go back to his room. Weariness had overcome him unexpectedly. For someone more experienced this would have been one of the expected consequences after the healing session in the clinic a few hours before. He knew he should take advantage of his resting time because next day’s program would call for more of the same.
Guide’
s voice calling him behind the closed door woke him up. The clock was showing 5:15 in the morning and he was still asleep. He had been told that the man would be coming at dawn, for which there was still missing over one hour. As he was delaying to get up, his visitor opened the door and shook him as he said:
“
Come on! Today we will ride for a while in the dark to start getting used to it. I have been meditating on our itinerary and I have come to the conclusion that we should make the road at night, so you better get used to ride the trails in low light.”
The voice that came from his throat sounded far from clear when
he answered:
“You did not warn me you would
be coming this early.”
“Never mind.
Dress up soon, you can clean up when you get back.”
He t
urned the light on and reached for the same uniform he had worn the day before, which still gave off a musky smell. He dressed clumsily and took his pillow from the bed. When Guide noticed this he had to ask:
“
And that pillow?”
“Nurse’s r
ecommendation. She told me to use a cushion to ride and this is the only one available. My muscle pain she has healed alright, but I still have one there where the saddle hits that I have not entirely overcome, so I will take her advice this time.”
Guide could not help but chuckle as he encouraged
him:
“
Come on! It’s getting late and I have something to show yet.”
They
went to the car parked in front of the entrance. On his seat there were some strange devices. Seeing them, curiosity made him ask:
“
What are these things?”
“
It’s exactly what I intend to show you. These are night vision devices.”
“
But it was said that we would not use any device operated by any power source.”
“Indeed, that is what we agreed
. However, these are of a very advanced making. The light amplifier works using body heat, so while they do not get too cold they will work perfectly, and if the night cools, then we will cover our heads to keep warm. Simple as that.”
“
This I need to see.”
“
And you will.”
By
the stables the horses were waiting already. The stable boy was sitting on the fence of the riding ring, covered from the cool of the morning with a thick jacket.
As he saw them
coming he jumped from his seat and approached.
“
Good afternoon,” greeted him Mole, how are our beasts this morning?”
“Ready,” he
answered.
“
What do you call my sorrel? Yesterday you did not tell me,” he said pointing to his horse.
“28,”
replied the boy. So we call it, by its registration number. We don’t grow fond of these animals because they often leave on missions from which we don’t see them back.”
“
And the brown one?”
“16,” he said flatly.
They took the reins and mounted. Guide gave him one of the viewers they intended to try, reminding him to wait until being far from the lights of the barn to activate it.
They
set off with the usual slow pace that let the horses warm up before greater efforts. As soon as they were a few hundred yards away, Mole, just as Guide, donned the night vision gadget. The apparatuses made contact with their skins and the images displayed on them became clear. This invention actually worked, they delivered a colorful view of the environment which did not differ by much of the view that daylight would have allowed them.
After a few minutes of walking
they led their horses into a light gallop. The almost perfect view that the night vision devices had given them until then, began to become blurry because the units were coming loose from the their faces with each jump, therefore losing power and forcing them to hold them with their right hands to get to see through them.
Sunrise ended the night vision
trial, turning the trial into a simple workout one. At the scheduled time they were back at the stables. This time the damage to the novel rider’s health was less than the day before, however, he knew he had to go back to the healing room to recover from the ride and so he did.
Guide took
the viewers and brought them to the lab to report the trial’s results. Their performance had not been satisfactory. It was necessary to make some adjustments to ensure smooth operation in the likely event that they needed to speed up their horses at some stage of their night journey, when the mission was in progress already.
When
Mole got back to his room, breakfast was awaiting and was cold.
E
ating five times a day was about to become a habit for him and he was hungry, so he emptied the contents of the dishes on the tray even though they were no longer at their best.
When he came
out of the shower and put on a clean uniform he noticed that his diet was paying out. His trousers felt tight and his belly looked swollen, so he stood at the mirror to inspect his face. His cheeks had filled a little more every day and he could pinch the fat under his jaw as it had notoriously engrossed. Having seen his face for a moment, he left the room. He was thinking of going straight to Control’s office.
The
plump looks he just had discovered on himself and the feeling of being trapped inside his clothes were somehow unpleasant; so on the way he decided to stop at Bladek’s office to take a second look at his replica’s pictures. He knocked at the captain’s door and was instructed to go in. Once inside he explained the reason for his visit and requested to see the pictures.
Bladek
agreed with him that the results had begun to show earlier than expected, so he authorized him to suspend the forced diet from the next day. The agent was relieved to know that his unpleasant encounters with the cook would finally come to an end and this had put him in excellent spirits. He would only have to put up with the aggressive behavior of the man in charge of the kitchen two more times, the same that he would have to go alone to the cafeteria this day.
The meeting in Control
’s office, which had been running for most of the day, was proving agile unlike the previous day. The good news about Mole’s increased weight had allowed them to finally set a date for the raid on enemy territory.
They w
ould move forward the original plans so that the arrival of the agent to the corporation building would happen on a Monday. It was more likely that his looks, which might not be identical to those of his replica, went unnoticed after the three day weekend break. After all, there were some factors outside their control, such as skin pigmentation after having been exposed to sunlight or even his mere haircut.
They would set off
the following Friday, which only left them two days to work out the details.
Voice
would be the happiest one when leaving the meeting. His share of the preparations had been scarce until then and this had kept him bored. But now he would be the busiest one in the team, as it was in his hands to coordinate the support personnel within hostile territory.
The time of the last appointment of the agent alone with the cook marked the end of the m
eeting, so he headed cheerful to fulfill the commitment.
He
entered the empty room whistling. The sweaty character was awaiting him with his usual challenging attitude. He stopped before him. The tray with his last obligatory dinner was in the hands of the nasty fellow, who was firmly holding it again. He stared at him, trying to look menacing; then he yanked the tray. The same scene of other days occurred once more. Food jumped from the dishes to end up scattered over the surface, forcing him to eat from there again. However, this time he did not care. He sat down to finish his serving as he always had done; as far from the bar as he could.
When
he was through he turned to the unsympathetic character, whose look had not drifted away from him while eating, and standing up repeated the exaggerated salute that had given him so bad results the first time, but now adding a big smile. The man’s shiny face turned deep red, a sign of anger after such a provocation. He paid no attention to this and simply started walking to the door.
He was just
crossing the threshold when he heard the buzzing of a tomato flying by his head. It passed near his left ear to crash on the pavement after having missed the mark. Mole could not contain his laughter as he turned toward the angry chef waving his hand in farewell.
“
This has just started,” he said to himself in a low voice as he walked away toward his room, ready to take the mandatory break that had to follow his evening meal.