Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan - Year 2

XXX

In the morning, we worked at detailing the map again, I spent my time zooming in, zooming out, zooming in again...

We had to do some computing to find out the maximum steepness of the slopes Erk could climb without his hands.

I had to rewrite the holo-table program. While I was working on the code, I had the thought that maybe I could have been the one hacking the bad guys comms. Then I broke my metaphorical teeth on a piece of code that refused to do what I asked of it. Yeah, better if Domi was the one doing the hacking.

I finally managed to write something not very elegant but that would let us raise the map and make it pivot in all directions, to see below it, from the bottom up, throught it, from the top... I was quite pleased with myself as we could eliminate a lot of places the giant couldn't go, just by turning the map in all directions.

Then I remembered Kaymani center and our preparation on the holo-map. And I got an idea.

I took Erk's avatar, and I tried to give it weight, a kit and backpack... and a Tito. And I broke my teeth again. After almost a day of frustration, I asked Kris if he could ask Domi for help.

- It is possible. But you need to detail all that for me, very, very precisely, then for you to help me translate to Italian. I can do it, but I'll need help when the term is too vague or too technical.

So I sat with paper and pen and put my ideas clearly there. I even wrote the lines of code I had used, drew a rough avatar to show what I wanted, then another one going up a slope to give the famous Domi an idea of what I wanted.

I want to see Kris with my homework, he read it carefully, asked me to clarify on or two things. We then went to the Ops room, got the laptop out and Kris translated my homework that I was reading out loud. Mike, on shift, was giving us looks. Kris took pictures of my doodles, attached all that to the mail and pressed the send button. And I saw the e-mail address.

- What? Calliope... You're sending this to...

- Shut up, Kris said tensely.

- I didn't hear anything, Kris, Mike said with a calm voice.

- Thanks Mike.

Kris grabbed me by the sleeve and pulled me outside. He stopped in the middle of the yard.

- How do you know that name?

- She is... was a legend. I dreamed of being as famous as her when I was a kid. That's why I hacked Balard.

- And all that got you was to be sent in the Sarre to play soldier.

- Well, not everyone can be famous in that field. To think that you know... you know her.

I couldn't believe it. My youth idol... Calliope was famous, amongst the European hackers, for having been behind the fall of some illicit trade – and worse – networks. To have done some apparently innocent pranks, like changing the color of the LEDs that lit up Rome, or transferring criminal money into needy hands. In short, a cyber-Robin Hood.

Until she disappeared after leaving a teaser. And now that I know another part of her history, I understood what the green and white octopuss on a red background meant. And I understood that she wasn't dead, but even happy. Strange destiny for a legendary hacker that had married a Mafia Don for the north of Italy.

Kris, restless, got me out of my thoughts.

- What is it?

- We have to wait, now. And...

- And you don't know what to do, when it's about him. You need to get busy.

- I know that!

I frowned, miffed, and he apologized.