The Battle for Europe: The Repulse Chronicles, Book Three by Chris James

Author:Chris James [James, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-17T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

11.56 Tuesday 13 June 2062

ENGLISH PRIME MINISTER Dahra Napier stared agape at the screen on the wall in her office in Ten Downing Street. “My God, this is staggering,” she breathed. The memorandum she read summarised in brittle, simple sentences, the initial results revealed by the Institut Neuropsi from the brain scan of the Caliphate warrior captured on 2 June.

“Ugly brute, isn’t he?” Defence Secretary Liam Burton said, nodding at the man’s picture before taking a gulp of coffee.

The Head of MI5, David Perkins, said: “Clearly his destiny was as cannon fodder. It’s surprising how much trouble poor facial symmetry can cause for some people.” He accepted a porcelain cup and saucer from Monica the aide with a sniff and no thanks.

Dahra noted this and said: “This could be extremely important now our most useful contact in Beijing has been lost.”

Perkins replied with indifference: “I don’t think ‘lost’ is the correct word. During the last contact, they gave a coded notification that their cover had been compromised and any intel they provided could not be regarded as reliable. But, as of today, they are not ‘lost’.”

From behind her, Dahra heard a scoff escape from Crispin. She glanced back at the screen and continued to read about the young man called Farhad Oveisi, twenty-four years old, sold into the military by his parents at age ten. When the scan was performed, he had an IQ of 68.278. She read in silence until she reached the end.

“Very tantalising,” Burton said.

“All personnel with sufficient security access have been notified of this memo,” Crispin added.

“Squonk,” Burton said, “where and what is Tazirbu?”

The Ministry of Defence’s super AI replied: “Tazirbu is an oasis town in the Sahara Desert with a population of about five thousand.”

“But according to elements of this man’s memory, it’s one of three main centres of enemy ACA production. His recollections imply a thriving armaments production centre,” Burton said.

“Current data on Tazirbu is twenty-seven years old,” Squonk replied.

“My God,” Dahra breathed. “But how? They were supposed to be backward, medieval, with constant internal wars, uprisings and coups. It was supposed to be a sealed dictatorship that cut itself off so no one outside could see how bad things were on the inside. Look at this, look at what they’ve taken out of this man’s head. Surely the only question is how it’s taken this long for the Third Caliph to attack…” Dahra’s voice trailed off in shock.

“According to this memo,” Liam said, waving his one empty hand at the screen, “this individual was ‘given’ into the Third Caliph’s ‘care’ because his district benefited from numerous social improvement projects. Consider his recollection of that network of water replicators, sufficient to ensure enough water for sanitation and farming in his village indefinitely. And that memory is fourteen years old. That’s hardly what we’d expect to see in a malfunctioning society.”

Dahra smothered her shock and gathered herself. She would not allow herself to be perceived as weak in front of the male colleagues in her cabinet.

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