The ship was anchored and ready with a connection and pathway made to the harbour through the virtual gate. The lesser guards came out of the ship to fill the old war machine with supplies again, and also to fine something for themselves. There was not really anything of interest there, but the guards had been to worse places. They had found meaning right among the corpses of their own people as well as the mutilated bodies of their enemies. It was something with which they were good at.
Noah and Jack climbed abroad while the last guard had gone to buy a smoke. They were not the first illegal immigrants to board the ship, even though they were not illegal, but true citizens of the city. So, the sensors on the ship were not going to detect them as illegals, even though the city would, with their latest databases calling their names as the convicts as they were surely the most wanted ones now.
“So, we might reach the city after all. The sensors didn’t detect us. The ships don’t upload the data from the city. It is a good thing” said Noah.
“Still, it will change the second we go through the security at the city harbour” added Jack.
“It has to be well-planned, or we are going to die” said Noah.
“We are not just going to die; we are going to be brutally murdered” corrected Jack.
“You know how to make things sound worse” said Noah.
“We should choosen to stay inside those baskets. What we are doing is the worst idea ever” said Jack.
“Well, there was that opportunity, and we had to take it”.
“But what if we can’t hide well enough here? If we were hidden inside the baskets, we would stay hidden until we reach there” Jack added his opinion.
“What if one of them opens a basket? There is no guarantee about the transport which goes from here. The guards are also tired and hopeless people. They will surely look to take something from the baskets for themselves. The city is happy to have anything from this part of the world, and so they will not check for everything. They will just see if the goods are inside the packets and that there is no contamination”.
“What if we could have gotten into a basket which is under every other? We could sneak away the second it goes into the system for security checking”.
“I doubt that. Yes, it was the only idea when we couldn’t go through the guards. But we could just get in without trouble. So this is the better idea. We can get a disguise and get out of the ship when the guards set foot there. It is actually a simpler thing. We won’t get locked in the baskets, ship cellars or the security wing if this goes on in the right way”.
“So, there is a right way for this?” asked Jack.
“Yes, I am thinking about it. I hope you do too” said Noah.
“Considering the condition of this ship, I wonder if we need to get down on land at all” murmured Jack.
“Well, it is pretty much terrible. But this has been enough for so long, and I expect it to complete a few more journeys”.
“You are not the expert. Actually, you are not the expert in any of these. Neither was that ghostly thing. What was his name again?” asked Jack.
“It was something with three letters, and all those letters were the same”.
“What is this? You are coming up with a puzzle?” asked Jack.
“No, I just can’t remember. I was always thinking about the next move and I forgot this one” said Noah.
“Yes, it was TTT. I remember it now. He talked about too many things, and now we are here, with lessons learnt from a ghost who doesn’t even expand his initials. What kind of ghost tells people his initials and not the name?” asked Jack.
“Well, I don’t know any other ghosts, and I am not sure if they follow a protocol related to their worldly or spiritual names”.
“Do you know that the chance for our deaths has just increased because we are standing here in the open surrounded by guards and the ghost won’t really mind that?” asked Jack.
“I am fully aware of the situation. But we have to complete what we started” said Noah.
“I agree to it. But I am tired. I have less hope these days. May be we should have waited. There is no revolution in the city as we had hoped. I am not sure about it any more.” said Jack.
“Still, we are not done yet, and neither is the revolution” said an optimistic Noah.
“We will know the truth soon enough, but lets just hope that we will be alive to know that” said Jack.
The ship sounded the horn seven times. It was getting ready to leave. The time given the former soldiers to wander around and collect what was need, was over. There was not much of the time provided, and most of them usually had to hurry. There was chance of a storm and so more time was cut from the schedule. The guards rushed back to the ship with the supplies and the products which needed to be at the city. The big baskets were taken into the ship on trolleys.
The guards assembled at the main deck area and attendance marking was done. The head count was once again correct, and a signal was given to the captain for the ship to start its journey to the city. The ship had its own problems, and it slowly started moving after jerking for a few minutes. It struggled to get the engine back working again, and after fifteen minutes, it manages to be back to being normal again as it moved towards the homeland where it was created. The storm was coming closer from the right side, and the ship was sliding towards the left.
To be continued…
Tennyson
The Divine Epic 