The team pulled into Duzduzan around lunchtime, driving over to the side of the road onto the rough dirt area that seemed to be a temporary car park. As they got out, the biting wind made its presence known, the temperature hovering around zero as a strong westerly wind bought down air from the mountains. Looking around carefully to make sure they weren't being observed, Aswon dug a small but deep hole in the dirt, struggling to get through the compacted and icy soil, but eventually getting a good foot down into the ground. Into the hole went the dash cams and ID sticks, then the dirt was rapidly filled in and tamped down – even if they did have homing or locator beacons, they were unlikely to work being buried. He'd copied the footage to their pocket computer, in case that was useful, but they felt that keeping the hardware was too risky at this stage.
A couple of the team drifted across the road towards a vendor, set up in the lee of a garage. As they passed they checked the price of fuel in the garage, realising that they hadn't noted down the previous price. Unsure if it was a good deal or not, they decided to compare against the next stop, to try and gauge the best place to fill up. The vendor greeted them in Farsi, but swapped to broken English when it was clear they didn't understand him, and they indicated that they wanted six of his product – whatever it was. After some back and forth, and gesturing, the seller lifted the lid on his pot and a delicious wash of scented air made the team's stomachs rumble. They returned to the truck with six enormous wraps of goat stew, delicately spiced with something that gave it a superb flavour – and much change. Doing the maths, it seemed like food for six had cost them only about three Nuyen each, which seemed like a bargain. Tadibya picked at her food carefully, tasting each piece separately and then staring into the distance as she chewed thoughtfully. After a few minutes she spoke into the quiet sound of munching and slurping. "Peppers. Some variety of sweet pepper. That's what they've used for the flavouring". After this, she tucked in, like the rest of them, filling up on the tender meat and vegetable broth.
After their hunger was sated, they moved out, heading west and watching with a little concern as storm clouds started to gather on the western horizon, and approached rapidly on the wind. About one and a half kilometres from town, they saw a large cargo truck, pulled over to the side of the road at an acute angle, with a guy struggling with the front wheel. A quick chat and the team pulled over behind him, to see if they could help.
On closer examination, the truck appeared to be from a scrap merchants, with a variety of old truck, tractor and other random vehicle parts in the back, most rusty and worn, some obviously deformed and battered. The truck seemed quite heavily loaded, certainly carrying several tonnes of metal in the cargo bed, maybe more. Once again they were greeted in Farsi by the man and what appeared to be his son, struggling with the large truck wheel with a massive crowbar, trying to lever it back into position. The biting wind made the now sub-zero temperature feel even colder, and leeched away their body heat quickly, making them shiver. Marius moved to assist, and helped to check over the wheel, but as the men gave one last heave, there was a horrible crunch, and the axle sheared off entirely, the wheel falling to the roadside, causing the man great distress. The team tried to talk to him, working through Russian and English, along with some Arabic, before discovering with some surprise that he spoke sort of passable German.
He asked for help – his home was only seven kilometres down the road. He could walk, and get supplies to fix the truck, but his daughter was in the cab and was unwell. A little back and forth with him and it became clear his German was great with regards to vehicles, but no so good with humans, but his daughter was with small parts…. Pregnant? Yes, expecting a delivery.
Exchanging looks, the team decided they couldn't leave him by the roadside, so pulled their truck around to the front, and hooked up – unplugging the winch from the front and moving it to the rear, and blessing rugged Soviet truck building. The truck they were pulling was probably at the limit, maybe over for what would be a reasonable tow, but they were sure their vehicle would handle the strain. The man introduced himself as Eeymal Adin, and then pulled out a portable welder from his load bed and a length of box section, and put in a temporary connection between the back of the team's truck and the front of his, to keep the damaged axle up and off the ground, whilst the tow cable did the pulling. Very carefully, the team pulled out, their engine struggling with the huge load and thin mountain air, and they rumbled down the mercifully straight road at a blistering fifteen kph. After twenty-five minutes, they could see a large compound on the opposite side of the road, and checking behind them they saw the vehicle indicate to the left. Very carefully Marius angled across the quiet road, in a gentle arc to avoid stressing the weld or jolting the vehicles. As they passed through the gates though, the truck they were towing leant on the horn, blasting out a continuous tone. The driver's window wound down and an arm frantically waved forwards, lights flashing to add emphasis. Marius pulled forward as fast as he dare, until the rear truck was level with the house. The driver and his son leapt from the vehicle, before it had stopped rolling, shouting at the house.
As the team got out of their vehicle, wrapped up as best they could in their clothes (especially Kai and Hunter), they became aware of both father and son moving frantically, trying to get a very pregnant daughter down from the cab – and realised that she was sweating profusely, even in the bitter cold, and crying with pain. Hunter moved to the cab, gently shoved the panicking men out of the way and used his height and strength to carefully lift the woman down, ignoring the scowling man behind her, and then turned to carry her into the house.
Inside a woman was rapidly clearing the large wooden table in the farmhouse-style kitchen, motioning for them to place the daughter there, and then moving to get some water on the boil on the large open fire. The daughter was in great distress, and Kai and Shimazu moved to examine her, pulling out medical supplies. Marius and Hunter explained as best as they could that they were doctors, and would help. The scowling man started to shout and wave angrily at them, with the father trying to explain as best he could. It appeared that because they were male, they must not see his wife unclothed, it was inappropriate and would cause them shame. Back the conversation went, as the two continued their examination despite his protests – she was sick, they were doctors, she *must* get help or she would get worse.
Kai looked up suddenly and announced that not only was she very pregnant, and apparently going into labour early, but also that the baby was in trouble – it had only partially turned and was in distress. They had to do something, and do it now. The father and mother exchanged looks and nodded, clearly overriding the husband's view, causing him to become even angrier. The wife pulled out a table cloth and they held it over the woman at chest height, leaving Kai and Shimazu on one side, and everyone else to the other. This seemed to calm him somewhat, and the team went to work, calling for more supplies and tools.
A tense twenty minutes later and the emergency c-section was done, the baby untangled from the umbilical cord that had been tangled around the neck forming a noose, with no apparent damage. The mother had been stitched up, given enough antibiotics to clean a plague pit and enough pain killers to make her float, and then had been presented with her baby, causing many tears. Her husband had crouched down by them and was completely entranced. The team and the mother, father and son moved away, giving them some time and space. After the frantic efforts and drama, they stood around somewhat uncomfortably, with Marius and the father trying to break the ice.
Eeymal Adin introduced his son Ullah, his wife Famah, waved to his daughter still on the kitchen table and her husband – Lorun and Gern, and made them welcome in his home. Hunter had sloped out by this point, and Eeymal insisted he come back in. The team tried to explain that they didn't want to bring shame on his house, but he insisted. When Hunter returned – reluctantly – and took off his head covering, revealing that he was a meta, the conversation paused again. Then Famah reached over, took Tadibya by the hand and pulled her to the kitchen sink, announcing that it was time for food. Aswon drifted over as well, but Famah seemed to take this in her stride, and was soon working with both of them on preparing a lavish meal. Realising they had no language in common, they were soon engaged in primary school level point and show naming of items… knife, water, bowl, carrot…
The rest stood around and talked, slowly, having to translate through German to hold their stilted conversation. At one point Eeymal went off to fetch a stack of magazines and books, and it became apparent where he had learnt his second language – spare parts catalogues and copies of Mercedes-Benz and other heavy equipment manufacturers' promotional material. They guy seemed to know his stuff, and was obviously good with repairs and such like – other than to his own vehicle.
After what they felt was a reasonable amount of social time, the team tried to make their excuses and leave, but Eeymal appeared very anxious that they not go – apparently there was a big storm coming. Deciding to take heed of his local knowledge, they agreed to stay the night. Ullah seemed fascinated with Hunter, asking him about his tusks, his physique – he was obviously the first meta he had encountered, but rather than being close-minded or judgemental, appeared to be just incredibly curious. After a hearty meal, and a few hours of conversation they were bedded down in the front parlour in a variety of spare sheets and bedding, most of it a little musty-smelling. Hunter stayed up most of the night on watch, just in case, and kept the fire going. During a quiet moment Shimazu spoke to the team and warned them – he thought the family was using up a lot of their stock of food, and after quietly checking their pantry and cupboards it appeared that they were quite hard up.
In the morning the team discovered that a good six inches of snow had fallen overnight during the storm, but it had cleared and now the sky was clear as far as the eye could see – a brilliant blue, with the air crisp and clean, though it remained bitterly cold. After a simple breakfast, Eeymal took them on a tour of his scrapyard, showing them the five large barns holding a treasure trove of spare parts and vehicle spares – and he indicated to them that he felt he owed them for his daughter's and grandchild's life – so they could have whatever they wanted. Scouting around, Marius discovered an old fire truck that had some salvageable sensors and high intensity flood lights that would be useful, and a TV truck that had a small generator and signal amplifier that might be able to work.
After checking on Lorun and the baby again, the team raided their supplies, insisting that Eeymal and Famah took some of their fresh vegetables and fruit, along with a large supply of the dried oats. Eeymal insisted on thanking them all again, and exchanged his details with Kai, promising them hospitality if they ever came back this way.