Day 9
Warner had never been to the archives before. He simply hadn't had a reason to before. If he wanted any specific information someone else retrieved it for him.
Going there was sort of a new experience. It was mostly was he had expected it to be. A long room filled with cabinets, which contained files and documents on the people in sector 45. All sorted by the citizen number instead of the last names. Everyone registered within the Reestablishment were accessible from here. The civilians, the soldiers, deceased and alive. If he wanted to find his own he'd just go to the first cabinet in the row furthest to the left.
But having just an archive of their single sector would be a waste of potential. The larger archive was digital and easily accessed via one of the computers at the back.
Well, easily accessible if you knew how to use them.
Warner did not.
He cleared his throat into the room.
You could hear the movement of an office chair further back.
"Yes?", a slow voice called out.
"O'lander, is that how to greet you commander?", Warner asked.
There was a sudden scramble at the back of the room. A head appeared by the side of the cabinet by the third row. A pair of brown eyes widening a fraction too much to have been entertained by the surprise.
The soldier went rigid and saluted.
"Forgive me, sir!"
"I'm here to make a search", Warner announced and walked past the soldier, heading towards the computer.
"Yes, sir", the soldier said.
Warner sat down in the chair O'lander had sat in and looked at the computer.
"I need you to assist me, since I have no knowledge of how this works." He said. Then looked to the soldier.
"I need to research a citizen. Minor female, specific age unknown. Start with our sector and we'll work from there ", Warner instructed.
"Any name, sir?" The soldier asked as he seated himself in the other chair. He was already typing in some commandos.
"...Alice", Warner responded after some thought.
There was a pause.
"Any last name, sir?", the soldier asked in confusion.
"No."
Sector 45 had four different Alice:s, though none of them had the same picture as her. Sector 43, 44 and 46 had combined ten other females named the same, but none of the same age or description. Sectors 41, 42, 47, 48 had even less combined and none of them matched their Alice. Warner dismissed the soldier and after being instructed on how to use the computer started working on his own.
He broadened the search.
Five more sectors, ten more. Twenty. Thirty. As the numbers grew and he had to go through more and more pictures and data and information his patience started thinning. Before he had realized it he had managed to broad the search for half of the sectors on the continent.
Seeing the numbers getting ridiculously big he moistened his lips.
"I don't have time for this", he muttered under his breath as he stood up. The soldier followed suit on the other side of the room and saluted.
"Did you find what you were looking for, sir?", the soldier asked.
Out of politeness, or because he was curious? Warner didn't care.
"No."
And then he was out the door.
Day 10
"I'm going to ensure that what the compound group said is true; that the girl isn't recognized in the compounds. I don't know how long it will take", Warner announced during the breakfast.
"Do you mean Alice, sir?"
"Yes, her", Warner waved off.
"I still don't understand how she got into my locked office, and it bothers me that she's still here in my sector as an unidentified intruder. If we want to know what sector she came from, we need her last name, because Janice isn't specific enough."
"Alice", Delalieu flicked in.
"What?"
"...her name is Alice, sir", the older said, rather reluctant. Then shrank at the look Warner gave him.
On his visits to the compounds, Warner asked every citizen he meet about if they had seen a girl with blonde hair and oddly tan skin for the season.
No one had.
"The soldiers have already asked me."
"Who? Oh, the little older one who plays with the kids? No, I don't recognize her."
"Blonde? Is she lost? No? Then why are you wondering? … No I haven't seen her before about.. two weeks back."
"Who?"
The teachers didn't know anything either.
But what really annoyed him was that not even he recognized her. Because he knew the compounds. This shouldn't have happened.
At the end of the day when he was walking back to his tank he saw her playing with some other children. Dressed in one of the worn jackets of some other child, he guessed. Her cheeks were rosy and the cold air made puffs of air leave her mouth.
They were playing tag, it looked like.
He stopped in his tracks and watched her some more. But as he noticed she was the only one of the children absent of a citizen card, swinging back and forth around their necks, he continued with brisk steps to his awaiting tank.
It seemed like he wanted to crush the snow under his feet.