Nav

The bunker’s gates echoed throughout the loading space as they shut close. Ramman and Mo were finally back home after a month-long farming expedition. They were inspected by sanitary personnel as they ran quick checks before finally joining the rest of the crew who were greeted by the people of Clandestonia.

The two partners made their way through the crowd avoiding the loud chatter and took a rail cart to their living quarters.

The cart made its way through the underground city and Mo couldn’t help but sit in awe each time he looked at the rows of living shacks, markets, gardens, and government rooms. Compared to the violent tunnels and land above, Clandestonia was a much more peaceful place to be. As he closed his eyes to try to relax a little, the cart rolled to a rough stop.

“What the hell happened?” groaned Ramman as he got up from his nap.

“Sorry, Fellas. Special order came in, you two are to report back to HQ.” said the guard at the checkpoint area.

“I have a letter of dismissal upon arrival, that was approved by captain Jav himself” Mo handed them a document from the bag he was carrying and tried to add an amiable comment to hopefully get this over with.

“This expedition took a toll on us, and we barely have energy to celebrate our return, let alone brief Captain on the mission.”

“Believe me, sir, if it was up to me. You boys would be back home with no interruption whatsoever. But this order came directly from President Nav.” He handed Mo’s document back, alongside another piece of paper where he could see that this officer wasn’t kidding.

Ramman peaked in and they both shared a look of confusion. What the hell could this be? Mo thanked the officer and the two got on the police’s own tracks to make their way straight to HQ. The two of them stayed quiet and Ramman even went back to sleep, after all the trip was going to take at least an hour.

Mo couldn’t bring himself to relax. Special calls like these usually mean that something urgent needed to be attended too. Probably a favor that the two of them will have to take. Something they had to do for president Nav, which if it was the case, then there would be no complaints whatsoever.

Mo’s mind shifted back to his childhood and his time training with the then General Nav. He reminisced on their practice runs in camp under vigorous weather to simulate conditions above ground. Mo and Ramman didn’t know their parents, so Nav was the closest thing they had to a father figure. Nav wasn’t known for being the friendly type but for some reason with the two of them, he always showed a soft part of him that no one besides a select few got to see.

His thoughts were interrupted again by a sudden stop but this time it was because they arrived at the station. Ramman tried to better his disheveled state but could only accomplish so much given how they were practically rushed here. His curly hair surprisingly looked neat, the only problem was that it was a little overgrown, but with a few strokes it was somewhat presentable.

As for Mo his above average height made it almost impossible for anyone to notice the dirt on his face so the two were pretty much similar in their looks-state.

They were escorted by an officer who waited for them to get ready and the three made their way through the man made dug-in-tunnel towards the building. HQ was the only building in all Clandestonia that was fully a building. Thanks to its location - an open natural cave – HQ was given the respect of being fully constructed to fit the defense force’s needs.

****

The two waited outside Nav’s office and were given permission to enter a few seconds later. The bald man got up from his chair with the brightest of smiles and embraced the men, this expedition took way longer than first calculated, so despite themselves, Mo gave in to hug.

“You two look like absolute shit,” Joked the old man, “so forgive me for calling you all of a sudden.”

“Not at all,” replied Ramman “I am guessing this is urgent, lest you would have let us wait a day or two relax.”

“Indeed, take a seat,” he gestured for them to sit before moving to his own desk. He sat and took a deep breath before finally removing his glasses and leaned back.

“Beth is ill,” he let the comment hang in the air

“This isn’t your regular Flu, no. She’s got cancer.”

Mo’s heart sank and all their memories together with Aunt Beth flashed. He closed his eyes, tried to get a grip on himself and let out a deep breath.

“What kind?” Ramman asked, his head hanging in his hands as he tried to calm himself down.

“Stage 4 and the doctors said she doesn’t have much left. Maybe a month or two, three at best.”

“So, what are we doing here? You should have let us head home and see her, are you fucking serious? We don’t have much time together and you summoned us at your place?”

“Calm down,” said Nav in a low tone. Mo realized he got up from his chair and sat back and released another deep breath.

“How can I say this?” Nav was almost talking to himself, “She’s gone senile. Ever since you two left her symptoms showed up out of nowhere and then she started rambling about her hometown. How she has something she needs to take care of before she dies.”

“Her hometown?” asked Ramman, “but isn’t that in Metrova?”

“Yeah, that’s the problem.” Nav just stared at the two.

“So, what’s the problem? Do you know what’s this thing she needed to take care of?”

He opened a drawer on his desk and handed them an envelope.

“She said to only give this to a woman named Auny. It’s not to be opened by anyone but her. Naturally I opened it to see if this was a result of her going crazy and all I saw was a bunch of a foreign symbols that I couldn’t make sense of.”

“So now what? You want us to go to Metrova? Because if that’s the case, then it’s not a problem. We’ll head out right now.” Mo got up and was about to make his way to the door.

“Before you make your decision,” called Nav, “I want you to two to think about it. We don’t know whether she’s making this up or not, but even if she wasn’t. You two wouldn’t even be able to go there right now if you wanted to. The bunker gate is scheduled to only open once every 24 hours, so I want both of you to think about this on the way back home and make your decision tomorrow. Plus, don’t you want to see her first? You know, to understand why I have my doubts in the first place.”

Mo thoughtfully nodded and the two left the room with no further words.