FAREEHA
All she could see was blue. For several minutes she hadn't taken her eyes off the panorama. Flying over the clouds that were rapidly passing beneath her, she let herself float and pictured herself feeling the cold wind on her face. Then the plane dropped in altitude and the sky disappeared under a thick, immaculate layer.
Fareeha felt her body move upwards, restrained by the seat belt around her groin. She was unable to hide a sigh of relief. It had been a long and rather trying flight. Her right-hand passenger, a suit-wearing man, probably exhausted from work or jet lag, had fallen asleep as soon as the plane took off in Toronto. During the five-hour flight, he had shared his snores and groans with all the other passengers on the aircraft. Minutes earlier, the stewardess had just woke him up so he could put on his seat belt for landing. Like the other passengers, Fareeha wished she had done this much sooner.
Through the porthole, she saw the clouds disappear, giving way to large ochre areas scattered with green spots in various places. As the plane began its descent, she was able to discern the structures and the city below. The latter stretched as far as the eye could see until it disappeared on the horizon under an azure sky. This vision was so familiar and yet so far away compared to times spent in Canada.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are starting our descent towards Sphinx International Airport. Do not remove your safety belts and do not get up from your seats before the aircraft comes to a complete stop. Shuttles and taxis are available to take you to Cairo or Giza. For more information, automated advisors are at your disposal at the airport. Thank you for choosing Aeolus Airlines and we hope to see you soon on our flights."
Fareeha glanced through the porthole and was able to see the airport: a wide, levelled expanse that swore amid the dwellings that phagocytised the space around the structure. A long time ago this airport was far from the city but now it was surrounded by buildings and flats. Cairo's urban area knew no boundaries, constantly pressed by an ever-growing population that was pushing the city's borders deep into the desert in the arid areas, far from the Nile. Even as a child, Fareeha realised that the city gradually devoured its surroundings. When she was old enough to understand, she remembered heated debates broadcast on the holonet between Egyptian politicians who announced that soon the pyramids of Giza would be razed to make way for new buildings. In the end, the pyramids had remained intact, as had the Sphinx. The city had assimilated them and had piled up around these thousand-year-old monuments, threatening at any moment to consume them, as soon as its hunger demanded it.
The aircraft slowed down progressively and Fareeha saw the engines of the left wing rotate a notch so that the thrusters could begin to make a gradual descent. This manoeuvre caused the aircraft to bounce a few times, but once the engines of both wings were turned down and the aircraft came to a complete stop, it was able to continue its long fall. Some people, not accustomed to this type of landing, watched the ground slowly approaching, as if the plane was dropping in slow motion. Fareeha didn't worry about it. She was used to flying, both civilian and military. She had experienced much more delicate landings and in much riskier situations where the aircraft was pitching and shaking in bad weather.
A few moments later, they were able to take off their belts and leave their seats. Fareeha got up, readjusted her black leather jacket, retrieved her bag from the luggage compartment and entered the line of passengers heading for the exit. She slipped the bag's strap over her shoulder and wedged it into her back. When she arrived at the door of the plane, she unhooked the sunglasses from her collar and, after a step outside, she smelled the dry and burning Egyptian air filling her lungs. She could feel the sun's rays on her face and a light warm wind blowing over her skin. This sensation brought back so many memories. At that very moment she realised how much she had missed this land.
Canada was a quiet, peaceful, and soothing country, like a flowing river, only troubled by a few drops that altered its flow. However, this always lasted only for a while because it always returned to its quietude. During the last few months, she had become used to life in Canada again and her life seemed like a long, quiet river to her. But if Canada was a serene river, then Egypt was a restless brazier. Her return to this land was warm. The zephyr and the sun had rekindled in her the embers of a sleeping fire. She put on her glasses and looked up to the sky and the sun, letting herself be touched by its rays.
Following the other passengers, she went down the boarding stairs to get to the airport terminal. Some of them could not stand the temperature change so well. Fareeha saw people taking out handkerchiefs to wipe their faces, others used bottles of water to drink or to wet their heads. In front of her, a woman showed a fan from her bag and ventilated herself so hard that Fareeha felt the air go through her hair. She was used to the heavy Egyptian heat and even months after she left the country, this had not changed.
"Lieutenant!"
She turned her attention in the direction that voice came from. About ten metres further on, two silhouettes in the distance were watching the queue of passengers. The smaller of the two was waving at her. On taking a closer look, Fareeha recognised the smaller figure and hurried out of the line to meet them.
"Professor Kiritoru." she said, taking off her sunglasses. "I am glad to see you again."
Arata Kiritoru had remained the same as the image she had kept in her memories. A small, plump man with cheerful features, whose face exuded happiness. His wide smile that always spread from one ear to the other and behind his round glasses, it was possible to discern in his eyes the same mischievousness as before. He wore a white shirt with a bow tie around his neck. She remembered that he liked to wear it no matter what the circumstances. On top of that, he had large brown trousers and wore his jacket on his arm to survive the heat. Years had passed, and the professor's dark hair had lost some colour and his forehead had become bald. His wrinkles, however, had marked his smile and candour deep within his face.
"It's been an exceptionally long time since I've seen you, Lieutenant Amari! You've grown so much since the last time we met." the professor exclaimed with sincerity, shaking her hand.
At that time, Fareeha remembered that he was taller than her, by at least one head. The years had taken their toll on her too. Adolescence had also played a big part.
"Please, Professor, call me Fareeha."
Surprised at first, Professor Kiritoru let out a nervous laugh.
"You are trying to make me nostalgic, Fareeha."
She was reminded of another person by a clears throat. Even the professor seemed to have forgotten that person's existence.
"My apologies!" he hastened to add. "I forgot my manners. Fareeha, I suppose you know Axelle Rosado, General Inspector and head of Helix Security sites."
Obviously Fareeha had recognized her. The two women had spoken many times in holo-conference over the past few weeks. Axelle Rosado had a tanned face and long wavy hair that went down to her shoulders. Her penetrating hazelnut eyes were watching her, and a flattering smile appeared on her fleshy lips, underlined by a mole on the right side of her mouth. Fareeha couldn't give her an age, but she assumed that Mrs. Rosado might be a few years older than her.
"Glad to finally be able to talk to you face to face, Lieutenant Amari." Rosado declared, holding out her hand.
"Likewise."
Fareeha then noticed the airship on the runway far behind them.
"I didn't expect this kind of welcoming committee." she said. "I could very well have made it to the facility by myself."
"That's how we do things at Helix." Axelle Rosado replied. "For his part, Professor Kiritoru was very insistent on accompanying me. I didn't dare refusing him."
"I was very persuasive." the Professor added with a wink.
"Well, if that' s all, I suggest we discuss it further in the shuttle to clear the runway." said Rosado. "I am afraid that if we stay here any longer, the airport security might be seriously disrupted, and I don't want Professor Kiritoru to faint either."
Fareeha realised that the professor's face was red and shiny. On his forehead there were drops of sweat, which he hastily wiped off with a tissue from his pocket.
"You are right, Mrs. Rosado. Sunstroke is never far away for those who neglect the sun's strength. Let's get going, Fareeha, if you don't mind."
"I'm right behind you." she said, putting her sunglasses back on her nose.
When he turned his back to reach the aircraft, Fareeha could see the trail of sweat dripping down the professor's shirt. Kiritoru seemed miles away from his native Japan. As for Rosado, she looked totally at ease in this arid environment. Dressed simply in black shirt and brown trousers, everything suggested that she could stand the warmth as well as she could.
"You've been in a Kolibri 3 before, I presume?" asked Rosado.
"Yes, the Egyptian army has about ten of them, but they are not frequently used. At least on the field."
"They're expensive." Rosado replied. "I understand that the Egyptian military prefers to preserve them."
"And you use it just as a taxi?" Fareeha asked.
The remark made Axelle Rosado smile.
"Otherwise, they gather dust."
The Kolibri 3 chartered by Helix had a black hull and wings, contrary to the light colour of the basic model. On its flanks, the H and the S of the multinational company could be seen in yellow. The aircraft's drop ramp was deployed, revealing the Kolibri's hold ready to take them in. Preceded by the inspector and the professor, Fareeha climbed the ramp with sure steps. The compartment had been emptied to leave only the bare necessities, including the seats with straps placed on either side of the hold's interior.
"Sit yourself down, Professor." Rosado said in an authoritative tone. "I'll get you something to hydrate you."
Professor Kiritoru, who was wiping the sweat from the back of his neck, nodded without a word.
"Take a seat, Lieutenant Amari. We are leaving immediately."
The drop ramp rose rapidly until it closed behind them. Fareeha heard the engines start up and whirr. Without delay, she moved to the seat next to the teacher. She felt the aircraft slowly but surely leave the ground and when she saw Kiritoru fasten the safety straps on his seat, she imitated him. At the same time, Axelle Rosado came out of the cockpit with a military canteen.
"Drink Professor, it will make you feel better."
"Thank you kindly, Madam." the Professor replied, taking a long drink. "What would I do without you?"
"What you are used to do, but far less hydrated."
This made the Professor smile, and he grinned as he closed the gourd's lid while the ship finally lifted off.
"I will never get comfortable with the country's harsh climate."
"You have to be more careful." Rosado said, less conciliatory. "We can't afford that anything happens to you."
"Yes, you're right. I shall be more careful in the future."
Fareeha didn't think she would see this kind of exchange when she got on that aircraft. She looked over her shoulder at a window to see outside. The cityscape flashed before her eyes along with more modest ochre-coloured dwellings, while in the distance she could see buildings with glass walls. The city seemed frozen in time, wedged between the traditional archaic structures of Egyptian architecture and the oversized, modern buildings. Nevertheless, the latter were much rarer in the urban area of Cairo, but Fareeha could discern buildings under construction that were gradually growing among domes and minarets.
Egypt was slowly being transformed, however, to the expense of the poorest. New districts were created: business and tourist districts, but these replaced housing and working-class homes, forcing families to relocate to the city outskirts. This only increased tensions within the city, and the situation worsened year by year. There was so much to do here.
"Thank you for accepting our invitation, Lieutenant Amari." Axelle Rosado resumed. "This is not a very conventional approach, but I really want you to know that we would be very interested in having you with us."
The fact that Fareeha was here proved that Rosado had proved to be persuasive. Their messages and calls in holovideos over the past few months had given Fareeha a better understanding of who she was dealing with. Rosado had the makings of a seasoned, charming and persistent headhunter. She had praised Helix Security International and what they were doing in Egypt: supporting the local authorities to ensure the security of the urban area of Cairo and actively participating in the development of new technologies.
Both hesitant and flattered by her request, Fareeha was nonetheless interested. Rosado had been very insistent to the point of offering to pay her the flight from Canada to Egypt so that she could come and visit the installation before making up her mind.
"I'm curious." she replied evasively, not wanting to commit herself to empty promises.
Fareeha felt the aircraft lose speed. It slowed down gradually, anticipating their descent to the site. She heard the thrusters turning, indicating that the craft was going into hover mode to land. After a few seconds and a jump from the vehicle, the engines shut down and she removed her seat belt. She was expecting the ramp to open, but it remained closed.
"Before I let you enter the site, Lieutenant, I need to clear up a point with you." said Rosado.
"Couldn't this be done before?" Fareeha asked, wondering.
"It's quite precise and delicate. Besides, I needed to talk about it with you, face to face." Rosado replied with a pleasant smile.
Fareeha remained impassive, but Professor Kiritoru's surprised and circumspect face gave her the idea that he didn't know about this latest setback either.
A holographic screen appeared from Axelle Rosado's palm. Several interfaces emerged on the screen, which Helix's agent quickly scanned through with the fingers of her other hand.
"Lieutenant. You've already been to this place while it was still under the supervision of Overwatch, right?"
"Yes, my mother brought me here when I was a child."
She finally figured out what it was all about.
"Do you have any memories of the base?"
She remembered the first time she had held a gun. She remembered the commander's grin, the engineer's hearty laugh, her mother's angry eyes and a young man's charming smile.
"I recall the people more than I can remember the place."
"And what did your mother tell you about this place?"
She had looked up from her tablet to observe Fareeha. Axelle Rosado's tone was sharp, direct and her gaze, inquisitive.
"That it was a military base that had been built during the Omnic Crisis." Fareeha replied.
"Is that all?"
Professor Kiritoru stirred to remove his belt.
"I don't see where you' re going with this." Fareeha remarked.
"I personally doubt it."
Rosado's insistence seemed to bother Professor Kiritoru, who tried to defuse the tension:
"Mrs. Rosado, I don't think all this is necessary."
"On the contrary, Professor, it's essential." Helix's agent replied. "I'm in charge of the security of this facility and I would like Lieutenant Amari to answer my question."
"And what happens if I don't answer?" the woman frown concerned. "Will you take me back to the airport for me to go home?"
"We'd all like to avoid that." Axelle Rosado said with a broad smile on her lips. "In the past, your mother, under the supervision of Overwatch, ran this facility and I wonder if she would have shared any specific knowledge about it with you."
The inspector from Helix pressed on and Fareeha was annoyed by the question-and-answer game. However, she knew that she had to be careful and keep certain reserves. Kiritoru's face betrayed his embarrassment and Fareeha wanted to put an end to this ridiculous questioning.
"My mother and I had a complicated relationship." she said wearily. "But like any relationship between a mother and her daughter, I had conversations with her that never left the private sphere and never will."
Fareeha saw Professor Kiritoru's cheeks turn red but it was not him she had to persuade.
"Is my answer okay with you?" she asked.
"Absolutely." replied Axelle Rosado with a satisfied look. "We are on the same wavelength. But before continuing, one very last thing, Lieutenant."
Its holographic interface revealed a document marked with a circular logo that Fareeha recognised at first glance.
"When Overwatch was managing this base, whether for its agents or certain visitors, a confidentiality agreement had been put in place to prohibit them from divulging confidential information or risk heavy sanctions. Helix Security has maintained this approach in the continuity of Overwatch, and we have also recovered the various contracts established with the former Overwatch agents. Here is yours."
On the document, Fareeha recognised her name, first name, place of birth, age and many other private details. The document was more than ten years old and she had no recollection of completing it at all. But the signature on the document seemed strangely familiar to her.
"Your contract is about the final degree of confidentiality of the base." Rosado added. "So as a visitor, you could access all the more remote parts of the infrastructure, but you were bound by secrecy about what you saw or heard."
"Yet I have never seen this document." she replied.
"Indeed, it was your mother who filled it out for you back then."
Rosado drew up a confidentiality agreement that was the same as the previous one. At the top of the document, Fareeha was able to make out a first and last name: Ana Amari.
"Your mother signed your contract with her own signature. This is not surprising from her. She was a high-ranking official in the organisation and you were a child under her responsibility. For her daughter, she fulfilled a simple formality. It' s only right and proper for a mother and it is not prejudicial."
"So why are you showing me this?" Fareeha asked impatiently.
"Simply so that you can finally fill out your confidentiality agreement yourself."
Ana Amari's information and signature evaporated from the contract annotated with Fareeha's name and a holographic pen appeared on the side of the interface. Axelle Rosado gently grabbed it and held it out in her direction. Fareeha picked it up, went through it and completed the contract before she signed it.
"Can we go on now?" she asked.
Kolibri 3's drop ramp opened at the same time as the holographic interface disappeared from Rosado's palm.
"After you, Lieutenant." she announced.
As she descended the ramp, Fareeha realised that the hangar in which the Kolibri had just landed was large, large enough to store five other similar aircrafts. Large bluish neon lights illuminated it giving the place a feeling of coolness, which contrasted with the warm colours she could see through the large opening that allowed the jets to exit the infrastructure. As the air was much cooler than outside, the base was certainly air-conditioned. About ten people were busy with their tasks. Some discreetly observed their arrival.
Fareeha followed Professor Kiritoru and Axelle Rosado through the hangar to a corridor and down to a large hall with lifts.
"Take this, Lieutenant Amari. Otherwise, you risk alerting base security."
Axelle Rosado handed her a badge bearing the word "visitor" in black letters and her name in smaller format. Professor Kiritoru himself had just taken it out of his pocket and attached it to his jacket.
"Of course, there is nothing left to chance." Fareeha replied, hanging it on her belt.
"That' s my job, Lieutenant. We'll go to my office first."
The lift took them to the upper floors of the facility and when the doors opened, old memories came back to Fareeha's mind. Offices lined a long corridor and on the opposite side there was a large bay window overlooking the huge complex.
Fareeha lingered for a few moments to observe what was going on below. Engineers maintained the field vehicles under the watchful eye of the security teams patrolling the complex. A half dismantled Kolibri 3 was strewn over part of the space while an intensive training exercise was taking place nearby. Fareeha could not hear the instructor shouting to his subordinates but she could see his mouth twisting to the rhythm of the exclamations and the orders being given. Looking around her, Fareeha realized how huge the structure was. As a child, she had already noticed that this place was big, but now she realized that she had really underestimated the size of the facility. After all, it was the site of a thousand-year-old ancient vestige.
The Pyramid of Khafre had not survived the Omnium Crisis. In the last years of the conflict, Omnic titans had stormed the area and in order to shoot them down, the army was forced to call in fighter jets who bombed the area. The titans were destroyed but the archaeological site of Giza had been seriously damaged. The Pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx had miraculously survived the attack, but the assault had destroyed the rest of the historic site. Most of the necropolis had disappeared. The Pyramid of Khafre had been torn open and the fall of a titan had caused a side of the building to collapse. At the end of the war, with the support of the United Nations, Overwatch decided to set up a military base on this location, replacing the old pyramid with an infrastructure of the same shape that could house a garrison and military equipment to counter any attack, whether omnic or not. This new modern pyramid was now part of the urban landscape of Giza, like the other monuments, but most of the city's inhabitants were unaware of what was waiting for them in the pyramid's shadow.
"Fareeha? Is everything alright?"
The comment got her out of her thoughts.
"Excuse me, I was elsewhere."
"Do you have some memories of the base after all?" the Professor inquired with curiosity.
"A few snippets... "
Fragments of memories came back to her as sudden flashes, far too fleeting to leave an impression on her mind. Surprisingly, the walls of the corridor reminded her of something, but instead of the black and yellow logo of the Helix Security company, she saw the clean circle of Overwatch.
After passing several rooms dedicated solely to the administration of the base, Axelle Rosado brought them into what seemed to be her office or watchtower. Three of the four walls of the room were large bay windows that looked out over several parts of the complex. In a way, Fareeha assumed that this was a way for her to keep an eye and control on everything that was happening on her base.
Despite this, the place remained sober. A no-frills desk stood at the back of the room next to a holographic control table, while closer to her, a red sofa had been placed between a chest of drawers and a storage cabinet. Helix's inspector pointed to the chairs in front of her desk.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Rosado inquired.
"A green tea for me, please." the Professor announced as he settled down.
"I'll take that too." Fareeha added.
After putting her travel bag on the floor, she sat down on the chair, saw Rosado walk past her to another piece of furniture and noticed an old coffee maker and electric kettle. She would also have liked to stretch out her neck to see what was going on through the bays because from her seat it was impossible for her to do so. Fareeha would have liked to get up and go and have a look, but she would have found it far too intrusive. The room seemed perfectly soundproof as there was no unwanted noise coming from outside.
Fareeha heard the door open in her back and looked over her shoulder to discover that the knob had been pulled by an omnic far too large to get through the office door without bending down.
"What had we said about the 'knock before you enter' rule, Okoro?" Rosado urged.
Okoro, whose face consisted of an emaciated figure with a single red eye socket on a slender body with long limbs, lowered his head to examine the threshold of the door he had just opened.
"Technically, I haven't entered the room yet." he replied from a mechanical tone.
Under everyone's circumspect gaze, Okoro knocked the office door with the back of his fist and entered the room before closing behind him.
"What's going on, Okoro? Is there a problem?" Kiritoru asked, concerned.
"Professor Touati sent me to fetch you for the series of tests for the beginning of the month. We're just waiting for you."
"No! Was that today?" wondered Kiritoru. "It's not Wednesday though."
"Professor Touati brought it forward to today but as she suspected, you didn't read her memo."
"There's no need to be sarcastic." Kiritoru replied, leaping up from his seat. "Ladies, please forgive me but I'm called elsewhere. I shouldn't be long."
"I'll keep your tea warm, replied Rosado."
The professor nodded and left the room, escorted by Okoro who gently closed the office door behind them, leaving Fareeha and Axelle Rosado together. The latter handed Fareeha a hot cup and Fareeha thanked her.
"Did you know the Professor for a long time?" Rosado questioned as she sat down at her desk.
"Since I was a child."
"Do you find that he changed a lot since then?"
"No." Fareeha answered, holding back from giggling. "He's still the same."
"He may be absent-minded and sometimes clumsy, but he's a truly brilliant mind." said Rosado with a smile.
"That's why you recruited him."
As Rosado took a sip of coffee, Fareeha noticed that she couldn't take her eyes off her.
"So you already know about this?"
Was she going to keep playing this game for long? She had got tired of it on the shuttle and didn't want to waste any more time with it. Fareeha thought it was time to put an end to this lying poker game.
"Of course, she says in a confident but playful voice. But since this is confidential information, I would not allow myself to discuss it with you, even if you are the manager of this site."
"Well, well," sighed Rosado, who seemed just as annoyed by this deaf exchange. "I think it is useless to keep up this false pretence towards Anubis."
"I completely agree."
"How did you learn this?"
"My mother told me, by making me swear not to tell anyone."
"Was she right to do so? You were just a child." Rosado replied.
An artificial intelligence as powerful as Anubis was not to be taken lightly. Similar artificial intelligences had started the war which had endangered all Mankind. Super-powerful beings with titanic capacities, manufactured and shaped by the most brilliant human minds of the planet, who had to govern huge human infrastructures on a scale never seen before. These IAs were destined to revolutionise the way we all live. They were to administer cities, transport networks, logistics, communication, security. The perspectives were infinite. The scientific community had described them as "god program" AIs, as their sphere of action was boundless.
But the first task they were assigned was to manage the Omnium, the colossal factories that produced omnics without interruption. This was a very costly error. Through the Omnium, those AIs had access to a workforce, a strike force that allowed them to carry out a global uprising of the omnics against human beings. War ensued and the neutralisation of the omniums became the priority of all human armies. When Overwatch arrived in Giza, it had discovered that a god program AI was present there. The organization had taken drastic measures to contain this artificial intelligence. Built by Overwatch, the entire pyramid-shaped structure was used to keep the AI under sleep.
Everything Fareeha knew she got from her mother and she never doubted her. Ana Amari was not a liar and she certainly would not deceive her daughter. Fareeha had kept her promise and despite her mother's disappearance, she was not going to betray her trust.
"I was young, but I kept the secret. My mother made it clear to me that this was not a child's secret but something much more worrying."
"So, you can see how paradoxical it is to run this site." Rosado added. "Officially, we are a military structure aimed at maintaining order and security in the city of Cairo and its surroundings. Formally, we keep this artificial intelligence out of harm's way, while at the same time trying to study it to neutralise it completely. Some members of the base are not even aware of Anubis' presence on-site, so we must reconcile the need for secrecy and trust within the team. It's terribly tricky to handle."
Fareeha wanted to add that it was the same when Overwatch was managing the base, but she felt it was not necessarily a good idea to raise it. She preferred to drink her tea and burned her throat with it.
"The advantage here for me is that you are already aware of the ambivalent state of the site." Rosado resumed. "That makes it easier for me and gets me straight to the point."
"You want to give me a job."
The Helix agent nodded slowly and pushed a button on her control table next to the desk. A holographic panel appeared, separating the two women.
"Before we go into the details again, I would like to ask you a question."
"Please do." Fareeha said, willing to answer.
"How do you see your future right now?"
Fareeha looked down, pensive and concerned about her reply, but Rosado did not let her formulate it:
"Your seven-year contract with the Egyptian army ended three months ago, if I am not mistaken. Yet I believe that the army asked you to renew it and you refused. Why did you decline?"
"I needed to take a break. I enlisted at a fairly young age and I wanted to take some time for myself and my family. Mainly my father."
"In Canada?
"Yes."
"In which region?" Rosado asked.
"British Columbia, above Vancouver."
"An Egyptian mother and a Canadian father. That's unusual."
"It depends on your point of view." Fareeha eluded.
"I didn't mean to be indiscreet, Lieutenant." Rosado reassured. "I know what I'm talking about, my father is Mexican and my mother Canadian."
"From where in Canada?"
"Montreal. Ever been there?"
"A few times, but never enough for me." Fareeha replied. "I know mostly Vancouver and its surroundings. I spent my teenage years there and did some of my schooling there before joining the army."
Rosado picked up a bunch of coffee and typed on her command table.
"I don't know very much about Canada personally." Helix's agent stated. "I lived there long ago, but my parents moved to the United States before the Crises began."
She paused and looked at the holographic panel again. From her position, Fareeha could not see what the officer was consulting.
"Why did you join the Egyptian army?" Rosado inquired, putting his chin on her hands. "The Canadian army didn't suit you? It would have allowed you to be closer to your father."
"Canada is not Egypt. The country's situation is more than uncertain, and it was my intention to serve a country that required assistance."
Was this also what her mother would have wanted? She remembered her parents' arguments. Her mother who desired a brighter future for her country. It was a long time ago. Fareeha was a young girl and all she wanted was to get into Overwatch, to protect those in need.
When she asked her mother to train her in martial arts, she agreed on the condition that her daughter would remember that what she would learn would be used to defend herself and protect others. However, her mother would never have agreed to let her daughter go down the same path and join the army, but this was Fareeha's wish and today she had only one parent to disapprove her choices.
"My mother always told me that the Crisis had done Egypt no good, that it had taken everything from it, and that even Overwatch had not been able to do much to change the situation. I wanted to be part of Overwatch as a child, it was a childhood dream and my desire to serve and protect those in need remains the same. That's the reason why I signed up."
"I had access to your service records." Axelle Rosado added as she finished her cup. "Your superiors are very complimentary: competent, disciplined, rigorous, excellent knowledge of combat tactics and techniques. Your military career seems to be well established."
"Thank you."
"Hence my initial question. What would you wish for your future?"
Fareeha tried to put together the answer she had thought of before, but she preferred to declare from scratch:
"To tell the truth, I wouldn't know how to answer you..."
"The Egyptian army no longer appeals to you?" Rosado asked.
"I've learned a lot in these seven years but ... I don't think it's what I wanted when I joined."
"That is?" Rosado wondered as Fareeha discreetly blew on her tea to cool it down.
"Let's just say that during my years in service, I may have been sent to scouting grounds or risky areas to assess potential threats, but very often it was largely limited to surveillance and border control. With hindsight, we feel that our work is superfluous and that we would be much more useful elsewhere."
Her father could have added an old saying of his ancestors: "Those who let the forest burn are not the worthiest to guard it". What's the point of maintaining the integrity of the borders when the country was fragmenting from within, and risked collapsing on itself at any time?
"I believe I understand what you are saying. Do you have the impression that you are wasting your talents in the Egyptian army?"
Fareeha tried not to choke on her tea sip and coughed. Taken by surprise, she wouldn't have said it like that at the risk of appearing awfully arrogant. But deep down she shares this feeling.
Axelle Rosado handed her a tissue to clean up the spilled tea.
"Listen Lieutenant, there is no denying that you are an outstanding military officer and I think your talents can be put to better use, especially within Helix. That's what I'm offering you, a position in the security section of the base for a five-year term. You would be part of an intervention team with the rank of Lieutenant, subordinate to a Captain. You would intervene inside and outside the facility for various operations ranging from policing to pacification. Cairo is no longer as safe as it used to be, and crime is spreading to all layers of the city. It is our responsibility to protect the population from what is outside the base but also from what is inside."
Until now, Fareeha has been travelling on familiar ground. Her exchanges with Rosado over the past few months had given her a clear picture of the position she was being offered, but she feared that she would find herself in a position of luxurious security guard.
"I have some concerns, though." Fareeha objected. "I don't want to be confined to just monitoring. I want to go out into the field as soon as the circumstances require. You told me that the command chain of your security forces is more flexible. I hope this is the case. Moreover, I'm afraid that I don't fully belong here. From what I have seen, you have a large scientific staff working on several military and technological innovations, not counting the teams that are dealing with Anubis. I'm a fighter and my talents are limited to this field...
Rosado raised one of his fingers to interrupt her.
"I hear your concerns." she explained. "The activity isn't lacking, Lieutenant, I assure you. The captains of the intervention teams have plenty of room for manoeuvre. They are professional soldiers like you, and we rely on their experience. Seeing your skills, I can assure you that the rank of captain is within your reach. I reaffirm that you were made to work with us. I have also read that during your last year of service, you actively took part in a combat exoskeleton project for the Egyptian army."
Fareeha hid her surprise. Rosado should not have had access to such information. Everything surrounding this project was classified as secret, and her army superiors had clearly insisted on it.
"That's right." Fareeha replied soberly.
"But I understand that the project ended abruptly. Do you know why?"
The army had invoked its lack of means to carry out the rest of the project. Nevertheless, she had enjoyed working on this program, even if it had only lasted a few months, she had invested herself fully into the project. The prototype combat armour that had been presented to her flew, protected its wearer from bullets and shocks, and had an armament that could neutralise motorised vehicles. As soon as she put it on and flew away with it, Fareeha had envisioned so many possibilities and more. With these exoskeletons and their arsenal, each soldier could stand up to an entire troop. This could change the way of operating in hostile terrain and gave significant advantages to its users. A true technological marvel.
But the project had come to an end and Fareeha felt totally helpless, and then she gradually forgot about it. Perhaps she had taken this whole project to heart too much? Perhaps it was the disappointment of not having carried it through? Or was it the feeling that she would never be able to fly so freely again? She had been thinking about it for a long time since she left the army and it weighed heavily on her decision to return within the Egyptian forces. She had come to express doubts about the real reasons for the abandonment of the project.
"No, I don't know." said Fareeha, who found it hard to hide her dismay.
She finished her tea while Rosado got up to meet her in front of her office. Rosado retrieved the empty cup and went to put it in a corner of the room, passing along the glass window, until she stopped to look through it.
"You should come and see, Lieutenant."
Fareeha joined Helix's agent and inspected the shed below. Her eyes soon fixed on a part of the complex, away from the rest of the activities, where about twenty people were gathered around what seemed like machines and control consoles. In the middle of all this, a steel plate was attracting all the attention. Above the platform, a silhouette was floating, stabilised in flight by the thrusters of a darkly shaded armour.
She had trouble believing what she was seeing. It awakened in her an interest that she thought was long gone. Fareeha remained fascinated, almost frozen in front of the window, watching the armour levitate.
"Is that what I think?
"Yes, that's exactly what you think." Rosado hastened to reply. "Perhaps you'd prefer if we looked at it more closely?"
Fareeha didn't even hear herself answer 'yes'.
A few minutes later, the two women crossed the shed to reach the platform, which Fareeha never took her eyes off. The closer she got, the more she was able to distinguish the armour. It was indeed the same exoskeleton prototype she had tested before, but this new model seemed much more advanced than the previous ones. The wings and engines attached to her back had been streamlined and lightened, probably for the sake of weight and stabilisation. This had been the main flaw in the prototypes she had tested so far.
The exoskeleton had almost nothing to do with what she knew. Where harnesses and straps once held the various pieces of equipment together, Fareeha realised that the pilot had real armour, covered with a plastron and protective plates all over his body. She had seen holo-simulations of the entire armour but never such a complete version. In fact, she would never have hoped to see it one day.
"The Egyptian army didn't have the resources to continue the project, so we offered to buy it back from them to complete it." Rosado explained. "Of course, the Egyptian military staff only accepted under the condition that they were granted a temporary exclusivity for the acquisition of this armour. That's fair enough, and we intend to provide them with the best model there is."
Fareeha had a lot of questions for her, but that could wait. The prototype, as she had imagined it, curved slightly to the right before the pilot restabilised it to get back to a stable posture. They finally came within range of the platform and Fareeha could finally hear the thrusters roar with power. From below, with her broad wings in her back and dark metal armour, it looked like a bird of prey ready to strike its quarry.
"Mrs Rosado, I didn't know you were there."
Before a control table, a massive silhouette had turned towards the two women. The technicians and the engineers around noticed their presence. Fareeha looked away from the prototype when this thunderous and roaring voice called out to them.
"Pretend I'm not here, Hamed." Rosado replied, amused as she joined him, closely followed by Fareeha.
"You are always asking me the impossible." Hamed said with a broad smile.
Strong and imposingly built, the man must have been in his fifties or sixties. Wrinkles had marked his face and his tanned skin contrasted with his sparse hair and the thick white beard that framed a dazzling nose and deep grey eyes that suddenly noticed Fareeha's presence.
"Are you here to show the prototype to your guest?" he asked.
Fareeha felt Rosado's hand on her shoulder:
"Hamed, this is Lieutenant Fareeha Amari."
When he heard her name, she noticed surprise in Hamed's grey eyes and then her lips curved into a new smile that revealed two widely spaced incisors.
"She's a distinguished guest on top of that." Hamed replied. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Hamed Boutros, I'm in charge of the base's operations."
"Nice to meet you." Fareeha answered, shaking the large hand that was extended to her.
Hamed Boutros turned to his console and pressed one button.
"We'll take a thirty-minute break, and we'll resume the tests right afterwards. Khalil go back down and you'd better come and see."
Engineers and technicians busied themselves around them as the prototype armour slowly began its descent, punctuated by the small jolts and humming of the thrusters. With a metallic noise, the armour's boots hit the ground and technicians came to the pilot's side to remove the measuring devices and part of the armour. Fareeha finally got a glimpse of the pilot who was flying the prototype. He walked out of the technicians' mass with a heavy step. His helmet, his shoulder pads and the chest protector had been removed.
Fareeha was astonished to see someone so old at the controls of the prototype: the man was not in his fifties, but he seemed to be close to it. This was what the grey temples of his brown hair and some wrinkles on his face seemed to indicate. Nevertheless, his age did not seem to weigh on his fine features and athletic body, which was essential for piloting the exoskeleton.
The latter went down the stairs leading to the take-off platform, paying attention to the wide wings on his back, and joined Fareeha and the others.
"Mrs. Rosado, to what do we owe this particular visit?" he asked.
"I'm just passing through." the Helix agent replied. "I came simply to show the exoskeleton to Lieutenant Amari."
"I suspected that. I figured that tattoo in your eye was not unfamiliar to me." the pilot added. "Your mother had the exact same one."
Fareeha moved her hand to touch her right eye but quickly revised her mind. Her tattoo was rarely brought to her attention. It had been a part of her for so long that it had become almost trivial and very few people related it to her mother.
"She wore it on her left eye." she replied.
She was afraid she had answered dryly, but the pilot smiled and the thin moustache wavy over his lips.
"Yes, yes, that's it. The Udjat, the protecting eye."
"Did you know her?" Fareeha inquired out of curiosity.
"I served in the Egyptian army with her. That goes back to the Omnic Crisis, therefore ages ago. Excuse me, I'm afraid I've forgotten my manners. Captain Khalil Khoury. But you may call me Khalil.
"Lieutenant Fareeha Amari. Pleased to meet you, Captain." Fareeha politely replied, shaking the pilot's gloved hand.
The pilot did not seem offended and seemed rather amused. Although she dug into her memories, her mother had never told her anything about him.
"So, Lieutenant, you've come to see how we were working on the exoskeleton?" Khalil asked.
"Yes. It's impressive how much the model has been improved." she said while examining the wings and pieces of armour of the prototype.
The suit looked as if it had been chiselled onto her pilot's body. The black alloy plates emphasised the athletic build of its pilot. The leggings followed the curves of the wearer from the feet to the top of the thighs, while the gauntlets nevertheless allowed the user to keep all his dexterity. Freed from the shoulder pads, Captain Khalil seemed much more at ease in the movement of his arms.
"You must be more used to flying in it than seeing it fly." Hamed Boutros added.
Obviously, they must also have had access to the flight simulation videos. From the pilot's gait, she had realised that the armour, although strong, was too heavy and in this case, it greatly affected the good flying behaviour. However, Helix's technicians and engineers must have carried out hundreds, thousands of tests before coming up with these results. By the time she was involved in this project with the army, the most optimistic researchers and officials had told her that they were still a long way from achieving these advances.
"We must thank you, Lieutenant. Due to the Egyptian army's work, we were able to quickly calibrate and finalise the model's thrusters, but for the armour, we still have a lot of work to do," Hamed explained. "Professor Fidah is heavily involved in the improvement of the prototypes, but he works slowly and meticulously."
Despite her involvement in the project, she had never had the opportunity to meet Nasir Fidah, the creator and designer behind the armour. It was said that he was a secretive and discreet man, a genius who liked to stay in the shadows.
"Is he around here?" Fareeha asked. "I would love to meet him."
"Unfortunately, he's very rarely on the base." Hamed replied. "He likes to work on his side and he's a very perfectionist man who doesn't leave anything to chance."
"Would you like to take a little ride with the armour, Lieutenant?" Khalil said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "You'd better get ready, it's much heavier than it looks."
Despite the joke, Fareeha was tempted to answer yes. She would have liked to put it on, walk, run with it and above all fly. The weight of the armour was not a concern, but she could feel the glance of Axelle Rosado in her back.
"It's not reasonable but it's not the desire that I miss." she simply replied.
"Ms. Rosado told us that you might be interested in joining the ranks of the base security." Hamed said. "We need new blood. Captain Khalil is no longer incredibly young and your expertise with the prototype would be appreciated, Lieutenant."
The bait was crude but attractive. Fareeha could see that Axelle Rosado had easily led her to where she had desired. To what extent did she want to hire her as part of Helix's workforce? And for what reason? Was it because of her skills, her military experience or just the evocative power of her name?
Her mother's shadow always loomed over her. Watching each of her actions but making no judgment on them. Ana Amari was a renowned heroine in Egypt, and it was difficult to walk in her footsteps and live up to her legend. She felt that she was truly worthy of her mother's legacy, but sometimes she felt that it was weighing on her and that she should have blazed her own path.
"Nothing has been decided yet." Axelle Rosado replied with a wave of her hand.
"I didn't want to influence her." Hamed defended himself. "But it's always interesting to have new people around. I've been working here for years. I started at the bottom of the ladder when Overwatch was still managing the base, so I've seen a lot of people come and go."
Fareeha ignored it, choosing instead to keep examining the combat armour. After pushing a black lock of hair back in front of her face, she slowly brushed her fingers against the model's wings and tried to weigh them down with her palm.
"Do the wings of the prototype still pull backwards as much?" she inquired.
"In the early models they did, but the wings have been modified to be lighter and less of a strain on the pilot's muscles." Hamed explained.
"My lumbar vertebrae never recovered." Khalil joked as he was offered water.
Fareeha nodded without adding anything. The wings of the prototypes she had tested weighed on her shoulders and back and she tried to imagine the weight of the whole thing by adding the armour. However, she noticed something when she touched the engines.
"The wings seem more fragile."
"Unfortunately, this is the case now." Hamed answered. "The armour should be able to hover and fly easily, but that depends on far too many external factors. At the first big gust, the pilot must struggle to maintain his trajectory. There is still a lot of work to be done. And that's without mentioning the armour."
"How strong is your armour? Fareeha asked.
"The emphasis was on shock resistance to ensure the pilot's life." Hamed continued, who seemed to appreciate her questions. The armour must be able to withstand frontal shocks as well as high altitude drops. We would like to avoid that the armour becomes a flying coffin.
"Insha'Allah!" Khalil added.
"Otherwise, the armour can take enough bullets, but I wouldn't immediately try to test its strength against rockets." Hamed said.
"Before the rockets, you already must overcome forced landings." Fareeha smiled ironically. "I speak from experience."
"We've also practiced quite a bit on our side." Captain Khalil replied.
Hamed burst out laughing, soon followed by Khalil under Fareeha's amused look. She could have gone on asking all sorts of questions about the fighting armour and their progress for a long time, but they were interrupted by Professor Kiritoru who had just joined them.
"I went up to your office and I was told that I could find you here." he told Axelle Rosado, who remained in retreat.
"I'm sorry, Professor." the agent apologised. "I am afraid we have spent too much time here. Lieutenant, I think it's time to go back to my office and let the team get back to work."
"You're right. Gentlemen, it was nice to meet you." Fareeha said, reaching out to the two men. "and good luck."
"Likewise, Lieutenant." Hamed replied with a smile.
Captain Khalil preferred to let it slip out:
"Perhaps we'll see you soon on the take-off runway."
Fareeha answered his remark with a courteous smile and then turned away, not without watching one last time as Khalil climbed back onto the take-off platform in the combat armour.
"What did you think of the Raptora project, Fareeha?" the professor asked as they walked through the hangar.
Raptora was an appropriate name for the project. After all, the sky belonged to raptors and no other predators. Helix knew how to label their research programmes.
"Very impressive. The original prototype has been considerably improved."
"I hope you liked it." Rosado said. "We plan to use it in the field as soon as possible."
Fareeha thought back to what she said to herself before upon entering the Helix complex: Nothing is left to chance. She had to admit that Rosado knew how to seduce her visitors.
"Thank you so much for showing me this project." she replied soberly. "I am happy to know that this project of armour is progressing well and in good hands."
"If you were to join us, nothing would prevent you from being involved in this project again."
"That's why you showed me the combat armour." Fareeha added. "To influence my decision?"
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to repeat myself, Lieutenant." Axelle Rosado replied. "We want you in our forces and I have revealed all my cards to appeal to you. We feel you have your place here, both on the Raptora project and in the security team. Captain Khalil Khoury himself is leading a security team and is actively working on the project. The two are not incompatible. But it remains your decision and I will respect it. In any case..."
Rosado was interrupted by a call from her holographic bracelet.
"Forgive me, but I have to answer." she said. "Professor, take the Lieutenant to my office. I'll join you once I've finished."
As they headed for the lift, Fareeha seized this interlude to delve into her thoughts. She must really be thinking about the job she was being offered. There was no need for her to give her answer now after all. If Helix was so eager to hire her then surely, they would give her all the latitude she needed to decide. She had entered the base out of curiosity, but since she had seen it again, her mind was set on the prototype combat armour. Hesitation was starting to torment her.
The Egyptian army would be the first to benefit from the armour when it is finalised, but how long will it take? Perhaps in two or three years. No, the deadline would be far too short, at least five years. What was keeping her tied to the Egyptian army? Most of her friends, who had joined the army at the same time, had decided not to reapply, preferring to return to civilian life and turn to the private sector. The lift doors closed behind her and the professor who called out to her:
"Allow me to give my opinion, Fareeha, but I fully agree with Mrs Rosado. You are the right person for the job. No doubt in my mind."
"May I ask you a question, Professor?" she asked.
"Please do so."
"Do you like working here?"
Arata Kiritoru took a piece of tissue out of her jacket pocket and removed his glasses to wipe them gently.
"To answer you, this place reminds me a lot of the years I spent at Overwatch. At that time, I didn't work here, but since I was hired by Helix, I've had the same feeling as when I was stationed in Switzerland and Helsinki. Helix has taken over this base to further Overwatch's work and has brought together many scientists and engineers of all nationalities. It's a tremendously enriching experience for a scientist like me. It emulates reflection and pushes back the frontiers of our own knowledge. I am incredibly happy to work here. Helix gives me access to unlimited resources to pursue my research and I have a great deal of autonomy to conduct them. Above all, our task is difficult and leaves few rooms for mistakes."
The professor's voice grew grave as he finished his sentence. Fareeha had never seen him like this. On his usually jovial features she could read melancholy and tiredness. He put his glasses back on his nose and an honest smile sprang up on his face.
"You know the situation outside these walls, Fareeha." the professor resumed. "Giza and Cairo are plagued by violence, crime, and misery. Therefore, the presence of a company like Helix is necessary. They can guarantee the security of all, far beyond what the local authorities can do."
"If Helix's means are unlimited, why don't they help them?" Fareeha asked.
"That would be counterproductive." Kiritoru replied, shaking his head. "Bureaucrats and officials are bribed. Powerful gang leaders have a hold on the city. Anything that Helix could inject into the institutions would fall immediately into their pockets. Only the company's security officers could be relied on to look after the base and the city. There are so many things to be done and so many perils."
"Of course, because of A..."
"Shhh!"
The professor's warning prompted her to remain silent as the lift doors opened in front of them.
"We'll be more comfortable talking in Mrs Rosado's office." Kiritoru announced as he walked past the Helix employees waiting for the lift.
Fareeha followed Arata Kiritoru, crossing the corridors of the administration offices to reach Axelle Rosado's 'surveillance post'. As she walked through the office door, Fareeha carefully closed it behind her to avoid being overheard by indiscreet ears.
"I'm sorry about earlier." she stated. "I lacked prudence."
"Dr. Liao always said: 'The only acceptable excess is excess prudence'". Kiritoru replied as he retrieved his cold cup of tea, "and when Mina Liao gave you a piece of advice about life, even the most experienced like me would listen. I remember that Professor Motylesçù had adopted this advice as his own. He used to repeat: 'The only acceptable excess is excess alcohol'. This made our Helsinki colleagues laugh a lot, but he never repeated it in front of Mina, he had far too much respect for her.
Fareeha heard Kiritoru's little laughs dying in his throat. The professor looked at the bottom of his cup and drank a long shot of tea. She had heard the name of Professor Motylesçù somewhere before, but she could not ignore the name of Mina Liao. She was an outstanding researcher in artificial intelligence and robotics, known and renowned all over the world for having taken part in the creation of omnics and for being one of the founding members of Overwatch. Above all, she was a brilliant mind behind many advances in science and technology and unfortunately, she lost her life in a bomb attack. Fareeha remembered meeting her a few times when she was a child: the image of a smiling woman in laboratory clothes came to her mind.
"I envy your youth, Fareeha." Kiritoru declared nostalgically as he sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Young people like you are always looking forward to the future, with their heads full of hopes and ambitions. Old men like me look over their shoulders, dwell on their past, seeing ghosts and regrets."
The melancholy in the professor's voice made Fareeha reach out to him. She sat down on the adjacent chair and put her hand on Arata Kiritoru's arm.
"Professor, it is unnecessary to feel this kind of self-pity. You have achieved great things and you will continue to achieve more. Besides, you are not as old as you think you are."
The professor's mouth twisted into an amused grimace and he began to slowly giggle.
"Forgive me, Fareeha. Seeing you again reminds me of old memories and above all some very good days. You look so much like your mother, especially with your eye tattoo. Since when you got it?"
"I got the tattoo shortly after her death." she explained. "It was a way to remember her, to pay tribute to her. The Udjat is a protective symbol. As a teenager, I think it was a way for me to convince myself that even though my mother was no longer there, she still looked after me.
"I am sure she would be very proud of the woman you have become." Kiritoru confessed.
"I am always trying to honour her memory and live up to her achievements." she replied with a smile. My mother hoped I wouldn't follow in her footsteps, but I did just the opposite."
"Ana used to talk a lot about you. I seem to remember that she once told us that she needed to bring you more often to the research laboratories so that you could meet - and these are her words - "men of spirit". Your mother complained that you only had eyes for Lieutenant Reinhardt and Commanders Reyes and Morrison."
"I still have a poster of Reinhardt somewhere at home." Fareeha joked. "I've dreamed of joining Overwatch ever since I was a little girl."
Evoking these names seemed to revive the bitterness of the professor, but he was not the only one to remember this time with kindness. Whether it was Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Jesse, Gabriel or Jack, she had made them her childhood models: tireless and invincible heroes who did not give up in adversity. And at the top of this pantheon of heroes was her mother: the proud and fearsome captain of the Egyptian army who, through her military exploits, had been granted a place in the powerful international force: Overwatch.
It is normal for a child to admire heroes and idolise his parents. But these sweet illusions always ended when they grew up and Fareeha experienced this sadly. One day, on her way home from school, she was told that her mother had disappeared during a mission in Poland and was supposedly dead. She had hoped with all her strength that Overwatch would find her or that she would one day reappear in good health, as if nothing had happened. But none of that had ever happened. An empty coffin had been buried with Ana Amari's name on it and Fareeha said her farewell to her mother and her childhood heroine. Even the heroes were not immortal: Jack and Gabriel perished in the explosion at Overwatch headquarters long after Reinhardt had been forced to leave the organization. Torbjörn and Angela had returned to civilian life while Jesse McCree had vanished into thin air.
His father did what was necessary to try to make her forget Overwatch and to soften his mother's loss, limiting all his contact with former members of the organisation. He kept repeating that she had to move forward, leave the past behind. Yet the past had developed the unfortunate habit of catching up with her.
"Overwatch no longer exists, but the world keeps turning and we have to finish what the organisation started."
At the end of his sentence, professor Kiritoru crossed the room to take his cup back to the piece of furniture where he had found it.
"Do you know what I saw when Helix came to ask me to join their teams?" Kiritoru asked. "An opportunity. When Dr. Liao joined Overwatch, she always said that it was a way for her to repair the mistakes she had made in creating the omnics. Well, Helix offered me an opportunity to right the wrongs I may have indirectly caused. This god A.I. here is a nationwide threat. The most pessimistic are talking about a global threat that could trigger a new omnic crisis. But imagine Fareeha, if we manage to neutralise it completely, or even better, bring it back in our favour. Reprogramming Anubis would allow us to use this artificial intelligence to fulfil its original function: to organise, manage and facilitate the life of the whole mankind. Because of Anubis, no artificial intelligence can coexist for a hundred kilometres around."
"Yet you use omnics on the base." Fareeha objected, thinking back to the unexpected appearance of Okoro earlier.
"I programmed Okoro and the other artificial intelligences myself. They were created to react to any intrusion into their programs. Anubis couldn't use them. I made sure this wouldn't happen. The power of Anubis would allow Egypt to regain new momentum. This artificial intelligence could control irrigation and crop rotation, manage transport and communication infrastructures, and thus allow the return of other AIs that would improve the daily lives of the inhabitants. Cairo could emerge from this dark period in which it found itself stuck and imagine a new and brighter future. This is what I believe in and why I am working hard to achieve it."
"It's still dangerous." Fareeha said.
"Oh yes! Terribly dangerous!" the professor replied. "We are working slowly, very slowly and with extreme caution. If Anubis were to come out of his sleep while we are trying to change his programme, the consequences would be catastrophic. To try to explain the scale of the task is like trying to block the water from a dam through a hole the size of your index finger. You have to carefully remove your finger from the hole, but the slightest movement and you risk letting a flood escape and breaking the dam at the same time."
The comparison seemed to please the professor, but Fareeha saw it as an analogy that only researchers in artificial intelligence could understand.
"Helix is not Overwatch, but their objectives are similar. The world keeps on turning and I am sure that new threats will arise one day or another. Helix tries to prevent those risks to maintain peace and security. Everyone here must do their part and we need people like you."
In the professor's speech, Fareeha believed she recognised the words of Axelle Rosado. The position offered to her was made for her and corresponded perfectly to her training and expectations. Moreover, her doubts had vanished as soon as she saw again the combat exoskeleton of this project that she had taken so much to heart.
Axelle Rosado had made every effort to present this position from the best possible angles and this insistence had nevertheless contributed to cloud her judgement. Fareeha thought about the opportunity she was being offered on a set and thought it might be unwise not to take it.
"Excuse me." Rosado announced as she entered her office. "The call lasted longer than expected."
"Is there bad news on the horizon?" Kiritoru wondered.
"No bad news, only minor complications." she replied, returning to her chair.
Axelle Rosado's hazel eyes fell on Fareeha, taking her out of her thoughts.
"Lieutenant Amari, I'm afraid we'll have to cut our visit short today. I have some unexpected matters to deal with. I hope you will understand."
"I fully understand."
"If you wish, let's resume the tour tomorrow so that you can see the different parts of the complex before your return flight. I will send someone to take you to your quarters and don't worry, we will take care of your food."
"I can take her on a tour of the dormitories and common areas." Kiritoru said. I have a bit more time ahead of me.
"Do, Professor." Rosado finished. "Make yourself comfortable, Lieutenant, and use the evening to think about our proposal. The night brings advice."
"It won't be necessary," Fareeha said immediately. "I accept your offer."
Axelle Rosado seemed to stiffen on her chair at the understanding of her answer and Fareeha thought she could see a broad smile on Professor Kiritoru's face.
"Perfect." Axelle Rosado answered. "I am very happy to hear this!"
"You won't regret it, Fareeha." the professor said, tapping her shoulder.
Fareeha felt lighter now that she had made her decision. Impatience quickly replaced hesitation and she fully considered this new experience with Helix. She found that even Rosado seemed relieved and terribly satisfied with her choice. She saw the Helix inspector take a bottle of champagne out of a drawer.
"I keep this bottle for special occasions, and I think this is one of them." she announced with a big smile.
The inspector took three champagne glasses from a piece of furniture and opened the bottle before serving them its contents.
"I thought you had some unexpected things to take care of." Fareeha pointed out as she retrieved a cup of champagne.
"They can wait." Rosado replied. "Just like the administrative formalities regarding your future contract. We'll have plenty of time to deal with them later. For now, welcome aboard. To our future and long collaboration!"
The three toasted and Fareeha had to concede once again that at Helix nothing was left to chance.
Hello everyone!
Ok. OK. This new chapter clearly comes late compared to the pace of publication of previous chapters. I told you not to get used to it and I repeat it again today. The chapters are coming at their own pace and the person in charge for this long break is none other than me as well as related activities such as World of Warcraft or the lockdown at the end of October related to the COVID-19 epidemic in France which does not put you in the best conditions to write.
In short, after that passage about my life which is not interesting for you, I give you chapter 7 of Overwatch - Crossroads centred on the character of Fareeha Amari. A rather special chapter that begins the arc of "Pharah" and that I wrote while starting another chapter related to a character close to Fareeha. I don't think I need to describe it to you. You know who I am talking about. I don't do this kind of thing as a habit, but I really wanted to treat the two characters a little bit at the same time but with hindsight, I'm very impatient to get to the second character's one but before that I had to go through Fareeha, which I did.
Fareeha's character is rather disconcerting. Apart from the in-game dialogues and the comic devoted to her, truly little is known about her. A little something more in lore would be missing to better understand her and I had to follow my own vision of the character. Although some people say that Pharah has a "Captain America" side to her, I think she has personal aspirations that go far beyond justice, her mother and Overwatch.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. For the next chapter, my heart is balancing between approaching a new character and going back to another already introduced one. The second option seems more likely to me though. I'd rather not say when it will be released, as I haven't started yet.
Thanks to Etsukazu for his proofreading and follow-up of the chapter! For those who follow me, you know that he is an incredibly good friend of mine, who writes a fanfiction on the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire "Game of Thrones" called " A PRINCE OF DRAGONSTONE ", which I invite you heartily to read. I also take this opportunity to thank Sarhtorian for his help with the proofreading as well as those who put kudos on! It's always a pleasure.
See you soon and take care!
