A.N. Revision, so much revision...
Chapter Ten
Flying a jet is one of those things that sounds very interesting and exciting. It's actually very dull. An hour into the flight and Laura had become tired of Athena criticising her flying skills, turned on the autopilot and gone down into the cargo bay where Tom was setting up another board game. Actually board game was a bit of a stretch as no one had used an actual board for decades. Now it was just a hologram projected onto a table. In this case there was a map of a world projected onto an empty crate. Unfortunately, being a military plane there was little in the way of comfort so they were all sitting on boxes, apart from Sophie who had found a battered stool in the corner. It was nicer to sit on but had the habit of swaying alarmingly if the plane rocked in turbulence.
I would explain the rules of the game but they are numerous and complicated. Suffice to say it was a bit like a cross between Sid Meier's civilization and Warhammer. Objectives including taking objectives, gathering resources, building certain units or building certain pieces of infrastructure. Once you completed every objective you won. Unless of course you used the age old method of destroying your opponent entirely which automatically won you the game. Games often lasted several hours, especially with more than two players.
They had entered the fifth hour and Henry and Laura were in control of most of them map. Tom was confined to a single port city, surrounded by Laura, and Sophie was spread across the numerous islands in the oceans on the map. Henry and Laura were squaring up to each other, engaged in an arms race to try and make as many troops as possible before they were forced to engage each other. Tom simply cowered in his city hoping his last battleship would make it back before he was annihilated. Sophie was hoping no one noticed her suspiciously large pile of troop, transport and infrastructure cards.
Soon Laura and Henry were locked into a massive battle. Each of them pounding each other mercilessly an a long battle of attrition. They were both so focused on planning each turn that they didn't notice Sophie building troops as fast as possible. The first notice they got was when she wiped Tom off the map by taking his city and the the surrounding area. Laura was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. She frantically tried to pull her troops back to defend her capital but Sophie was mercilessly carving two paths through her territory. Within two turns Sophie's army was knocking on the city gates. The next turn the army had swarmed into and captured the city through the actions of a dozen spies placed into the city at the start of the game.
As soon as Laura's capital went down she lost control of all territory connected to the capital, that is to say, all of her territory. She was now stranded between a slightly larger force and a massive force far outnumbering her own. Suffice to say she was eliminated within three turns. Sophie then mercilessly pounded Henry into oblivion. It wasn't one of those long and tactical battles that the game allows for, Sophie had three times as many troops and a virtual plague of aircraft.
"How did you get so many cards?" Asked Laura in amazement. "Oh you know," said Sophie airily. "I didn't use any up to that point. Anyway it was Tom's idea to have an unlimited number of cards." Tom opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the aircraft's in-built Athena. "We are now making our final descent into Mexican airspace. Please resume manual control for the duration of the termination of your transit and disembarkation." "I think that means you need to land Laura." Said Tom gesturing towards the ladder up to the cockpit. Laurs rolled her eyes and scrambled up the ladder.
The plane broke through the layer of clouds and the Mexican countryside was laid out before Laura. Lush, dense jungle ran up to the Pacific coast which was broken every few miles by a small town clinging to the coastline. Only one of these was of much significance, the small town of Castillo. It was much the same as any of the other towns except it cowered in the shadow of a massive pyramid that illuminated the whole town and surrounding jungle. The small problem was that there was no visible place to land and getting splattered across a rainforest canopy wasn't high on Laura's to-do list. "Athena?" She asked. "Where am I landing this thing?" "You will be landing at the nearest inconspicuous runway. Deactivating visual cloaking device."
Laura barely had time to say "what?" before a rectangle of forest disappeared to reveal a dusty runway that didn't look much better than the trees. "Can't I land vertically?" asked Laura. "Negative, the surface of the runway is not strong enough to sustain the force of the downwards jets. The surface would be blasted against the hull of the aircraft, significantly reducing this aircraft's structural integrity."
Laura groaned and did up her seatbelt. She bought the plane as close to the trees as she dared and started inching down to the runway. The ground was even bumpier than it looked and as soon as they hit the ground the plane started rattling like a tin can. They ploughed to a halt in a cloud of dust, accompanied by the glorious smell of burning rubber tires. Laura opened the bay doors then slid down the ladder. The others were waiting, looking very disheveled from the landing.
"Did you enjoy your flight?" Asked Laura with an evil grin. "Two stars. Would not fly again" replied Tom. "Landing felt like an earthquake." "You're one to talk" shot back Laura. "You have a habit of landing on anything but the runway." Tom opened his mouth to argue, then decided better of it and closed it again. They hauled the various boxes onto a hover trolley and began down the small track from the runway towards the safehouse.
After a few minutes of trudging they rounded a corner to see a house built in to the hillside. It looked to be a normal holiday bungalow. It sat hunched on the hillside, overlooking the town and bay below. Nobody would've thought it was anything special unless they happened to come across the satellite mast disguised as a tree in the backyard. It wasn't like in the films where there is an ultra secret room full of computers and whatnot. There was no underground garage, just an ancient Jeep parked in lean-to next to the house. To all intents and purposes it was a normal bungalow, with a very fast WiFi connection and some unconventional anti-intrusion measures.
They dumped their stuff in the hallway of the house and then reconvened in the kitchen. "So" said Henry. "What are we here to do?" "Quoting his gorillaness, we are here to find the Sombra Collective and gain intelligence in relation to their ambitions." Replied Tom with the minutest of eye rolls. Henry seemed to be morphing into a miniature army sergeant. "That's very open-ended if you ask me. We don't even know if they're actually here. They could be a troll group in Siberia." Said Laura, fiddling with a strand of her hair. "Troll groups in Siberia rarely break through one of the most secure encryptions in Europe," replied Henry drily. "Anyway if we don't find anything within 3 weeks we're under orders to fly back to Gibraltar." They continued debating for a few minutes before starting to unpack the small piles cases in the hallway.
Laura was halfway through unpacking her case when Sophie stuck her head round the door. "Henry suggested we have a look around the town. Are you coming?" She asked. "Yeah," replied Laura "just give me a few minutes." She emerged a few moments later to find Sophie waiting in the corridor. Sophie was running her hands uncertainly over her clothes. Laura laughed, "you had the sane expression on when you first put the uniform on." "It feels stranger now than then." She replied As they were walking past the lounge they saw Tom poking around behind the TV. "What are you doing?" Asked Laura. "Getting the Nintendo to work." Came the muffled reply. Sophie and Laura walked his unpacked case languishing in the corridor and out into the front garden.
After walking through the forest they came to the first houses on the outskirts of the town. Most of them were bungalows, set back from the road and surrounded by yards. It was hot, but not unbearably so. After a few minutes they came to a small plaza at the edge of the cliffs. There was a low wall along the cliff top and the square was lined with small shops and a couple of restaurants. All but one of them shut.
"Where is everyone?" Asked Laura quietly, afraid to break the dead silence. "Are they on siesta? Is that a thing in Mexico or is it just Spain that does that?" Sophie shrugged, she was more concerned about getting a drink. The sun was getting hotter by the minute. They went into the only open shop, to find it completely unattended. There was a small bell on the counter, with a notice written in Spanish lying beside it. "What does it say?" asked Laura, nudging Sophie. "Ring for service, I think. Maybe the owner is out and forgot to lock up?" "Maybe," replied Laura, "but I'm thirsty."
She tapped the bell. From above there came a thump and the sound of a door opening. A man appeared from the back of the shop, rubbing his eyes and muttering something under his breath. As Sophie addressed him in Spanish he looked a bit happier. He got to Cokes out of the chiller cabinet behind him and slid them across the counter. She pulled some money but the man shook his head and said one last thing in Spanish before trudging back towards the back of the shop.
"Why didn't he want paying?" Asked Laura as they walked out into the sunshine. Sophie laughed "Oh, he said that because I made the effort to speak Spanish and it was our first time he'd give the drinks for free. He also said if we broke his siesta again he'd charge us extra." "Don't people usually try to speak Spanish?" asked Laura, "at least bring a dictionary?" "Apparently not," replied Sophie, "he said we were better than the Americans he sometimes gets. They often just shout louder when he doesn't speak English." They both dissolved into laughter until their mirth was interrupted by a buzzing from Laura's wrist.
"It's Commander Henry" said Laura, as she tapped the accept button on her watch. "Hello General, how can us lowlife corporals be of service today?" "Very funny," Henry's voice came twanging through the tiny speaker. how quickly can you get back up here? We need to discuss a rota for night duty." "Night duty?" asked both the girls. "Of course," replied Henry. "I do hope you weren't thinking we were going to be working a 9 to 5 shift with a lunch break." And with that, he hung up. "Five quid says he has a grin that looks like a cat that's learnt how to use a tin opener." "I'm not taking that bet." Replied Sophie as they began the steep climb back to the house.
A.N. Sorry about the delay. Exams are taking over my life at the moment.