Just a little bit of blue R1.7

1.7– Atlas

She should travel around with an army but the need for discretion dictated she would only be accompanied by Mustafah and his wife Fatima, the unseparable pair of old partisans that brought her up after being orphaned. Aliyah hated long travels, as they tended to rapidly shift into obstacle courses whenever the stakes were related to how fast you could travel the road. As if leaving her stronghold in the Béchar caves wasn't enough, this journey would take her through lands controlled by the slave trading nomads known as the Billies.

(Image: Beyond Human, by Michael Parker, in artstation.com)

Travelling by night, to avoid the extreme heat, they would have to go through the Atlas Mountains to pass as far from New Constantinople as it was practical, while going around it to the ancient town of Khouribga to secure the package that the Little Marrakesh cell had waiting there. These were exciting times for her and the Tunisian Jihad, as it was starting to look like their luck had changed and, for once, they were going to have something they could throw at the Technocracy. If she played her cards right, there was the slimmest of chances that she could turn the table and finally get an independent state for her people to live in peace. Independence had a price, though, and it was payed for in blood and tears, and that was the reason she had to do this pick up herself. It was too important to be left to chance. -It's a real shame that the Ionians don't have the vaccine for the sanitizers, Shaikkah.- said Mustafah while changing gear on the old stick shift lorry lent from Abdul, the antiques dealer. She turned the AC off,- a shame, really, but not a disaster. If the story about Corba having it in Coriolis turns out to be true, we may not need to have it ourselves.

Fatima, that was listening to their conversation while counting the bullets left in the revolver she'd brought along for the ride, interrupted them.-Rumours. That's all just space rumours. Just like the time when the the Martian colonists were said to have killed Chanceller Gokaldas, and he was whoring around in a space cruise around the System, waiting to see who would rise to replace him, just to return and clean house.- Her clear knack to find the bad side of every situation was disheartening and, at the same time, the warning bell that made them avoid many fatal mistakes in the past. Aliyah decided to shut up and keep her eyes on the road. They were lucky enough to have found a place in a trade caravan straight to their destination, but still, they were travelling by night and all the attention was needed. They didn't want to have an accident or be caught off their feet by any road rats. The first of three nights on the road was almost over. Aliyah could already see, in the distance, the outline of the Atlas mountains, as the first light of day started to rise behind her.

So far, this journey had seemed like a pleasure trip and she was suspicious of tranquility. It didn't jive with her, and it wasn't what she was expecting. She was on the edge and unable to sleep. Fatima urged her to get some rest because they were going to have to take turns guarding the truck once they stopped in the caravansaray in a couple of hours. She really couldn't, and now, the Sun had started to rise and the light was becoming too strong for sleep. The shaking cabin didn't help, either. The road got rougher as they were further away from the Spaceport and closer to the mountains and it was starting to show that there was no road maintenance here. The caravan slowed down because of the bumps and they started going around the holes like a long snake made of all kinds of different vehicles. As their pit stop grew in sight, she conjured the sight of a glass of water. It was starting to get too hot and she was getting thirsty. She decided to wait for the stop before she had a drink. They all had to preserve the water they had brought, because there would be none that you can drink along the way. She started to sing as she turned the AC back on. They say singing chases away the worries. Ten more minutes or so, and the caravan would be resting in this lost place named the Tinghir Oasis.

• To be continued -

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02.02.25 - @hefestus

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"Just a little bit of blue" is a work of fiction. Every event, character, planet, continent, country, city, street, building, corporation, institution and product mentioned in this work is totally fictitious and has absolutely no relation to reality or real events, persons, planets, continents, countries, cities, streets, buildings, corporations or institutions. Everything is derived from the author's own imagination and no AI products were involved in the planning, writing or revision of this work. Additionally, the story happens in the future, in a time that has not yet come, so, any considerations about the possibility of the occurrence of facts or release of products mentioned herein, in the years to come, are due to mere coincidence and in no way derive from the author's inside or 3rd party knowledge of any country, organization or person's plans to implement actions or release said products into the market.
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