February 23rd, 1967
A wooden gate would be opened, the sound of it dragging on the dirt soil, as light slowly started to peek through, the yellow sunlight of a Yuktobanian morning, with clouds scattered across the sky. As the light peaked through the opening of the wooden gates, it would reveal the silhouette of a bi-plane with a tailwheel, and a bulky appearance. Then a man walked in, the height of the plane was nearly triple that of the man. He would walk around the plane, checking the wings and fuselage as he slid his hands across it, and checked on the movement of the ailerons and elevators. He had no notepads on him, and knew the position of every hatch on the plane.
After completing the tour across the plane, he walked up to the main hatch, which was located on the tail of the plane, he opened it up and closed it as he stepped in. He walked all the way to the cockpit, with the sight of a field filled with crops through the cockpit. Followed by inserting a key into the plane, then flipping a bunch of switches with cyrillic text under them.
After several switches flipped, the propeller started Spinning, and the engine started roaring. It has a classic prop sound, kind of like a car. The man pushed a slight bit on the throttle, and the aircraft started taxing outwards. After the whole plane left the hangar, it was noticeable that this was an Antonov An-2, it was really tan, and dirty due to the dirt it was taxing on, however, there was a dark red stripe that went from the Engine all the way to the tail.
The Antonov was taxiing on a dirt runway, the soil was dry since it was still summer in the southern hemisphere. The plane drove all the way to the back of the runway and swinged around, and then the engines turned off. The hatch opened and there the man came out, with the light, we could now see he had medium length dark brown hair, that was tied up in a ponytail, and brown eyes, his face looks lightly aged, sometime in his 40s. His posture was tall and firm as he gazed towards a young girl coming over to him, while dragging a water tank, he stepped down to help the girl drag the water tank to the Antonov An-2. As they arrived at the edge of the lower wing, it had a pipe going by it, with lots of sprays aiming backwards attached. The girl swiped her finger through the wing as it picked up a lot of dust.
"Pops, how long has it been since you last cleaned this plane?" The girl asked, looking at him with a concerned face.
"Probably a week, a week and a half" He replied, he didn't look worried, on the other hand, the girl did.
"Dad, I'm gonna be flying this time and neither do I want it to be my last." She responded.
"Aircrafts are known to be fragile, one small speck of dust and the whole thing comes down crashing, at least for more advanced aircraft that require delicate care to operate. However this aircraft, the An-2, can still work with less care, obviously it's still a fragile aircraft but in my 20 years of flying it I've never doubted its ability to take care of me. But remember Erika, you can't trust every aircraft, the An-2 is one of the few exceptions." The man said confidently, his words relieved Erika a bit of her worries.
After the short talk, both climbed into the cabin of the aircraft. Erika sat in the pilot seat, while the father sat in the co-pilot seat. He looked closely at Erika as she flipped the same switches he flipped earlier, making sure she didn't miss anything, as the engine started, Erika looked back at her father for approval, he gave a nod. Then she grabs the throttle handle and slowly pushes it forward, with the other hand holding the yoke. The slow and steady push was so that the plane could stay straight while taking off on the runway. Reaching 50 knots, they could feel the plane starting to lift from the tailwheel. At 70 knots she slightly pulled back on the yoke as the plane pitched up into the air.
The horizon was filled with long shadows from trees produced from the angle sun, and for the light that could hit the ground, we could see crops and grass, houses too. Down south, there were buildings in the distance, about 20 meters tall.
The man looked out into the distance.
"This never gets old"
After gaining a bit of speed, Erika lapped around the runway, there we could see their house. It was wood, with a large backyard, fences put up, and several facilities for farming activities, right beside it was a long field of crops, the aircraft started swooping in. As the man looked at Erika, she had her grip tight on the yoke, and eyes all focused. It's been only a month since he's started crop dusting, this is her 3rd time. She's very reluctant to do extreme activities, it took a while for her father to push her to start doing it. Nevertheless, the aircraft swooped down at a low altitude and she pressed the switch to engage the sprays. She flies quite a bit higher than him, but she is getting lower and more confident with every pass. When they reached the end of the field, she pitched up and turned off the sprays.
"Good job Erika!"
She looked back at her pops and smiled, the man could visibly see the heartbeat slow down as her chest pumped less.
After around 30 minutes of crop dusting their own and neighboring crops. The plane raised to about 1000 meters, and set the heading for the city. This city is called Svetsid and is the capital of the Rovinya state. Once a month, Erika and her father: Luka, went down to the city to get some urban goods for the family, this time Erika was going to meet up with some friends down at the city to hangout, however, this will be a short trip as tonight the family has a monthly inspection from the Yuktobanian police force, to search for any contrabands people might be hiding.
The city had a small runway where they could land the An-2. Erika came in on a perfect approach to the runway, Luka looked at her with pride as the An-2 smoothly skimmed on the pavement and then came to a stop. The aircraft taxied all the way to a parking space, there were about 7 other aircraft on the tarmac, all single seaters except for one two seater. It was a small airfield, made for private aircraft.
As the engine turned off, they both walked towards the exit hatch, Luka picked up a bag and then left the aircraft, closing and locking the hatch, he then looked at Erika.
"So, you know the rules. Don't get lost, don't spend every dime, get back here on time, and have fun."
"I got you pops, as always I won't miss"
"Good, considering we have the inspection at 3 in the afternoon, we'll stay here until 1:30, that gives you 3 hours to have your fun. We need to get back home, clean the house and have lunch before they arrive."
"I understand, I won't fail you"
"Great, now go have some fun"
Both parted ways, Luka walked down the road towards the shopping district. It was filled with dirty roads with trash littered all over the place, Yuktobanian propaganda posters publishing their motto "Together as Yuktobania", the propaganda posters were changed every few months, with some new face or character in the foreground. The citizens were all wearing similar clothes, with the same apathetic or depressed mood on their faces, during summer everyone is usually outside walking around and hanging out with people, the clothes that they can buy aren't warm enough to be comfortable in the winter.
Luka went to buy food, groceries, snacks, some clothes that they needed and tools for their farm. They were all from the same brand, no competition. It was this model that works mildly well and that's it. After finishing most of the main stuff, he's been buying stuff for the last few hours, he still had one more place to go.
Yuktobania is trying to remove Rovinian culture from us, banning dances, music, languages, clothes and all that other stuff, however Luka's father lived when Rovinya was its own country where it's culture could thrive, and educated Luka well on the subject, Luka decides to pass it onto his children, Erika is unphased but the younger sister: Marina loves it, she practices the Gorkavka dance style in private, and wishes to do it in public one day, however Luka is still cautious and teaches her to only do it at home, thankfully she complies well with the rule. But due to all this censorship, it's hard to find items of their dying culture, but Luka knows an illegal place underground that sells small ornaments. Walking first into what seems like a regular jewelry shop, he walked to the cashier and told him.
"I'm looking for something emerald like the bright green grass of our land"
The cashier nodded, and told him:
"Right over here Sir, my friend Mikhail will guide you"
Beside the cashier was another man, the man had a long beard. He motioned him to follow him, Lukas complied as they went to the storage room, where the man moved several boxes to get to a panel on the wall, then removing the panel it revealed another box. The man took the box out and opened it.
"Here you go Sir, search through it yourself and i'll tell you the price of what you want to buy"
Luka looked in the box and picked up various objects with extreme care to not break them. Luka knew about half of these objects, but then he thought that half of these objects were gonna be worthy, they are a sort of jewelry to wear, it isn't gonna be useful.
"Do you have music sheets for Grinkovka dances?"
Luka knew how to play the accordion which is an instrument often used in Grinkovka dances. The man nodded and picked up a box full of folded up paper sheets, he took out the Grinkovka ones and laid them out in front of him, one was called "Night of the glowing stars", he knows this one but it is pretty slow music, not for Marina's taste. But the next one named "Come home, Rosmipian Knights" is a classic. It's a story about the myth of the Rosmipian Knights, who are a group of selfless and brave men who left their families and homes to fight off a beastly dragon from a hellish world from the skies, coming to destroy the land. These men went to kill it far away from Rovinya. It is rumored that they all perished defeating the dragon on the Rosmipian mountains, because it has a massive crater in the middle. Obviously the story isn't true, and the massive crater was a meteor that hit the earth, and the people thought it was some mythical being that came.
The song however is a beautiful song, emotional, energetic and has a beautiful dance choreography that is specific to this song, Luka remembers practicing the dance of it with his father about the same age as Marina.
"I'll buy this one"
"30 Bubles"
Luka checked the cash he had stored, just enough to buy it. "Deal." Luka answered.
After storing the music sheet and the boxes, both walked out of the room, Luka gave his farewell to the shop owners and thanked them. He exited the shop and started walking back towards the airfield.
On his way, he looks at the time and realizes he's a bit late. There is a shortcut to get there faster, but it goes down a dark alley. He always thinks he's gonna get mugged there, but he has to hurry if he wants to make sure he won't get arrested for having some Rovinian item that's lying there, so he takes the risk.
Walking down the dark alley, he stays attentive of his surroundings, checking every corner. But halfway through, he stumbles up upon a sprayed text on his left that says "Break Free!". It's the first time he sees a text like this in a while, it's hard to put them up without getting spotted, people who are tired of the suppression the Yuke government presses on them.
But suddenly, he hears a voice saying
"You're interested in joining the cause?"
Luka is put in alert mode as he quickly looks around, to see a man behind him, in a black cloak and a flat cap, angled down to hit part of his face. But as soon as he turned around, the man's expression changed to a jaw drop, as he quickly went to tilt the hat upwards, revealing a familiar face.
The face was that of an old friend of Luka, Iosef Mriya. His face was in complete disbelief as he spoke:
"Luka?"
"Io-Iosef? I thought you were dead!"
Both gave a hug, they haven't seen each other in eight years. Eight Years ago in 1959, Iosef just disappeared, his phone line didn't work, his address neither, and no one could find him.
"It's a long story" Iosef replied "But I need to address something important to you"
Luka stepped back, and looked at Iosef in confusion "But-but first, tell me where you've been?"
"Look man, I don't have time. I need to ask you something very important"
Luka thought back a bit, to what Iosef said earlier "Interested in joining the cause?"
"Is it about this cause?" Luka pointed to the text on the wall, Iosef nodded back.
"So wait, you go MIA for 8 years, turn up in this dark alleyway and ask me to join a rebellion?" Luka says quickly
"Yes, I am. Someone with your talent and experience would be very useful"
Luka pauses for a second as he gathers his thoughts, he still couldn't believe how his friend is asking such a big favor
"You in?" Iosef asks
"I'm in complete disbelief at this situation, and you need to explain yourself how you got here. I know you've always been vocal about the government, and if you're asking for a favor this big, I'm gonna need more time."
"As I said Luka, it's a long story, I'm running out of time."
"For what? This discussion?"
"For this discussion and for the opportunity, I need to know now."
Luka couldn't believe it, he has so many questions to ask, he is rapidly gathering all his thoughts to make sense of the situation
"I see, and why should I join?"
"You know why, you've seen the streets? The way they suppress the people? Or how about the censorship of our culture to push the Yuktobanian union nationalist agenda?"
"You have to realize you're asking me a life or death choice I have to make in just a minute?"
"Yes, I am"
"Then what's the plan? How do you plan on fighting the 2nd world power?"
"That's classified, I'm not able to say anything until you devote yourself"
"Aww great, so we don't have plan, just go out in the streets guns blazing hoping mother Osea comes to save us"
Iosef thinks for a second "It's a very risky plan, that's all I can say. But once again, people of your talent will help a lot"
Luka closed in the distance between him and Iosef, trying to intimidate him and to make it clear
"Look, Iosef, you need to understand I'm no longer a soldier now. I'm a father raising two children alone, I'm happy in my corner and I don't want to put them in a bigger risk than they already are sharing the Rovinya culture."
Iosef looked back at Luka, dead in the eye, Luka could notice all the minor scars on his face, and deadness inside him.
"Imagine a world Luka where you don't have to hide them from your love of the Rovinya culture. A world where you can thrive with your freedom of speech, and get rid of all the trash and deprivation from our streets. I know you have people to lose, but I have already lost mine, remember? The Yukes killed them. Two innocent beings as a casualty of war with the blood dripping from their blade. And they didn't forgive, they didn't apologize or admit their mistake and fix it so that no more will happen again, no, they shoved it under the rug, and then me too. I know what it's like to lose your loved ones, and you are gonna lose them sooner or later in this regime due to how apathetic they treat us. I would say it's better to fight and have a chance for you and your loved ones to live in a better place, than rot away in this caged country."
Luka was drawn away by his speech, he thought about it heavily, the words clouded his ability to reply
"I'm asking for a lot here, but just know that I'm asking for the betterment of our people. I will try to be here tomorrow to give you the most time I can give for you to think. Please consider it Luka, we need you"
Iosef backed up and walked away from Luka. He stood there, gathering his thoughts and the words his friend spit out. Luka turned around and kept walking to his destination, Luka tried immediately to focus on the objective to get back for the inspection, but the thought of what just happened still lingers in his mind.
Luka then arrived at the airfield and walked up to his Antonov, opened the hatch and placed his items strapped on the back of the cabin. He then walked back out and checked the time. It was 1:30.
"She should be here by now…"