Joko wished they would just say silent so that he could finish programming and go home earlier this time. He had collected enough overtime hours already. The room that was normally only filed with the sound of clicking keyboards was now mixed with the sound of people talking quietly. He saw no chance that he could concentrate like that. The whispers wouldn’t stop so looked up and turned to see who the one that made everybody talk. Joko noticed that Commander Tats Mato had entered the room. Everybody in the city knew who Commander Tats was and there were lots of people who had high hopes in him. Joko knew that was not because he did a good job as a military personnel but because he was someone how dared to disagree to the Governor. Contrary to the Governor Tats was a more charismatic person who could be seen walking down the streets smiling and playing with children and many hoped he could be the one who dared to stand for election against Hyo Mato. Joko had never heard that he had any intention to do so and he wasn’t even sure if the Commander knew how popular he was especially in the under- and middle class but as the Commander came into Joko’s direction he got a feeling why so many people liked him. There was something about the way he held himself that gave of strength without appealing arrogant.

“Joko Mato?” Commander Tats asked him as he stopped right in front of him.

“Yes,” he answered wondering why he would want to speak to an analyst and programmer like him.

“I need you on a mission,” he said straight to the point. Joko had not expected to hear that neither did the rest of the room and he noticed that no one was tying anymore and all eyes were on him. Joko was speechless for a second. He had not expected to hear that and it was the last thing Joko wanted to do.

“Sir, you do know that I’m not a soldier,” he said to him.

“Yes, I’m aware,” Tats answered smiling. It seemed he had expected him to react this way.

“And I have work to do here,” Joko said hoping he would take someone else instead.

“I already talked with your superior and he said he could spare you,” Tats told him.

Joko found it really good to know that someone who worked overtime for days could be that easily spared. Joko tried to think of anything that would give him a reason not to go onto this mission but the panic made his normally organized and elaborated self into a mess of thoughts. He had no idea how to object the commander if his boss had already agreed. The only way out seemed to ask Commander Tats directly.

“Is there any way to reject this offer, sir?” Joko tried to ask politely.

“I’m afraid no,” Tats answered him.

“And what would it be that you need me to do?” Joko asked hoping that he could somehow stay in the city and do it with a minimal amount of contact to the commander.

“I would like to discuss this in private. I have sent you a message with my contacts. As your work is finished for the day go there and we can discuss any further questions you have,” he told him and walked away as suddenly as he had appeared. He noticed that a tension in the room dissolved and everyone started working again. Joko could bet that some of them wanted nothing more than to ask him why Tats had chosen him but he tried to look at his computer screen rather focused and hoped no one would dare to interrupt him, not that he knew the answer to it. He tried to work really slowly so that he could delays the meeting so that he could find some excuses to present the commander but he had been almost ready with his work even before Tats had interrupted him so there was not much to do and he was finished quicker than he liked to. The one time he actually wanted to make overtime hours he could not do it.  It was not that he was afraid to leave this city, upon other circumstances he would have been glad to get away from those monitors he starred at all day long but he knew that Commander Tats always traveled in company with Keke Mato and it was him he wanted to avoid at all costs. He left work and made his way to the address Tats had given him. He wanted to think of excuses but all he could think of was the day he had seen Keke for the last time. He remembered it clearly as if it had been just days ago. They had been playing outside of the city even if their parents had strictly prohibited it but nothing had been more exiting as playing in the sand and climbing onto the rocks watching the landscape. Keke had always told him that he wanted to be a scout and so they had played that Keke had observed the landscape while Joko had let their imaginary troops until one day as they had played for hours and hours not noticing how far they had went away from the city gates the wind had grown stronger and stronger until dust and sand had filled the air making it hard to breath and they had lost their orientation completely. Joko still had nightmares of seeing nothing but orange sand not knowing which direction to go. Keke had not lost his orientation completely and he had taken Joko’s hand and let him to a tiny cave between some rocks. He still could not remember completely how he got inside but he remembered the darkness and the sounds of the howling wind until he had lost consciousness. He found out later as he had woken up in his bed that Keke had saved him, sitting in front of the entrance to the cave so that no dust and sand could enter. Keke’s lungs had been severely damaged by all the dust he had breathed  and Joko had known that Keke’s childhood dream had been crushed so he had decided that he could no longer be his friend because nothing could ever make up for what he had done. How he had ended up as a scout for Commander Tats Joko had no idea but he had felt relieved to hear he had somehow managed to make it. The thought crossed his mind that maybe Tats knew about his connection to Keke and had asked him to come because of that but he somehow doubted that the commander would care for matters that trivial.

He had expected the commander to live near the city center where all the affluent people lived but instead found himself in a settlement near the walls. A bunch of old looking tiny houses were build convoluted one next to another leaving the roads small and curvy. He had never been in this part of the city and he wondered why a high-ranking military personnel would live here. He stopped at the given address which belonged to a house colored in a strange mixture of a tone somewhere between brown and pale pink and could be one of the ugliest houses Joko had ever encountered in the city. Tats opened the door even before he could ring the doorbell.

“Come on in,” he said. As Joko entered the house the first thing he noticed was that the interior of the house was completely different. The furniture was stylish arrangement of grey colors and dark wood which was emphasized with indirect lightning and the newest electronic devises Joko always dreamed of being able to afford.

“Sit down please,” Tats told him and pointed towards the couch in the living room. He was wearing comfortable closing instead of a uniform and the whole meeting was way more casual that Joko had expected it to be.

“I believe you want to know why it’s you that I want to join the mission, am I right?” he asked.

“Among other things,” Joko answered.

“A few years ago you wrote a program to find water resources solely based on the parameters of the layers of the ground,” Tats explained.

“But it didn’t work,” Joko told him being relieved that at least Tats hadn’t recruited him because of his connection to Keke when he all of a sudden noticed that he had never told anyone about the program he had invented in his free time.

“How do you know my program?” Joko asked him.

“Let’s say I was looking for such a program and found hints of your work,” Tats told him and it was clear to Joko that he would not tell him any details.

“I told you already that it doesn’t work,” Joko said again. If Tats only wanted him because of his program maybe he was off the hook if he could convince him that it didn’t work.

“Just because you haven’t found any water resources it doesn’t mean that the program is wrong. Maybe it’s just the data you used that isn’t correct,” Tats went on explaining.

“I used the data I found on the net. Why should it be wrong?” Joko asked him. Tats stayed silent as if he wanted Joko to find out this answer for himself.

“I want you to take the program with you on a portable devise and feed it with the data my scout Keke gives you and we will see if it works or if it doesn’t,” Tats said. Instead of avoiding Keke he should now work together with him.

“I can give you the program,” Joko said hoping that there still was a way to stay.

“No, you’re coming with us,” the commander said with firm voice as if he had noticed that Joko did not want to be part of this mission at all.

It seemed Commander Tats had no mercy with him and he could do nothing else than obey and join this mission. A big part hoped Keke would not recognize him but there was a tiny part that hoped he would still remember and that he would be forgiven.