The air was hot and muggy and Tats could already feel his clothes sticking to his body and they weren’t even on their way again yet. Furthermore Shishi had done a messy job readjusting his shoulder joint but he was no medic so there was no one to blame. It was still a lot better than before. Albeit painful he at least could move his arm now and that was of great advantage. If Shishi could get the robot to function again they were good to go. This was one of the rare times when Tats actually considered that taking a medic with him was not a bad idea even if the last time he had done it had been a disaster. The guy had done nothing than ordering everyone to rest all the time and in his opinion nobody was ever healthy enough to fight. But right now he could use the opinion of a medic and not because his shoulder was injured, he had been in greater pain many times before but because he had the feeling that their fight had been too easy to win. They had been surrounded and even if they were better equipped and Jongup was a way better fighter than expected the rouges had been slow and uncoordinated and Tats had the feeling they were highly dehydrated. He had fought one on one with one of them and his face had been pale, his lips and his eyes glassy. He could be wrong a fight like this lasts only minutes and his focus had been somewhere else so if someone could confirm his assumption it would be administrable. Something had been wrong about this mission to begin with and if those people came dehydrated from a place where they were send to find water it was not the way it should be. Governor Hyo had let him go without any argument, she had not even asked whom he was taking with him nor had she given him any specific orders what to do if they found a new water source but had urged him to go. Tats had considered sharing his thoughts with Shishi but decided not to do so simply because he was afraid that Shishi would lose his temper if the government had a hidden agenda. Shishi was no friend of the government and why he was still with the Military was still a mystery to Tats, but he would not risk asking. They had their argument in the past, one that almost let them to disaster so this time he would just stay still and let Shishi do whatever he wanted as long as he kept them save and as long as he fixed that robot of his.

“It’s ready, I think,” he heard Shishi say exited.

“About time,” he told him.

“Why are you in such a hurry anyway?” he asked him while closing some kind of hatch on the robots stomach where a bunch of wires where connected to some kind of computer mainframe.

“I, contrary to you, have a schedule to adhere,” Tats answered.

“And why did the Governor give you such a tight schedule?”

“I don’t know and I didn’t ask,” he replied and turned to Keke already noticed it was time to decamp and was packing his things.

“Keke, make sure that everyone is good to go in ten minutes,” he told him and Keke nodded in approval.

Tats had Joko and the robot going in the front now because he had them working together to find the way. They were already beyond the border of secured territory and he relied on them to find a place where water could be found. Keke was somewhere near them looking out for threats why he was with Shishi and Dada making their way on ground that was inclining steeper. On some parts they had to even use their hands to climb some rocky ascents and Tats could only use one arm properly so he actually had problems not to fall behind. Much to his surprise Shishi always seemed to be walking rather close to him.

“Here,” Shishi said as he held a hand to Tats to help him climb. Tats wanted to ignore it and show Shishi that he could do it on his own but he was a man smart enough to know when to decline help and when to take it so he let Shishi help him up the hill. Tats had always thought that Shishi was someone who only cared for his own and his ideals and goals where the only thing important to him but maybe he had not seen all of Shishi Mato. Maybe there was more to him and he actually was someone whom you could rely on. He was so lost in thoughts about Shishi that he almost missed that Keke had made the sign to stop immediately.

“Squad halt,” he said in case someone else had missed it too and tried to make it up to Keke as fast as possible who was currently perched on top of the hill. As he reached the top he could see a gigantic building in the canyon beyond. The building was secured with a fence and guards were walking around the complex of glass and steal.

“Sir, what is this?” Keke signed.

“I don’t know. But it shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“I can’t believe it,” Joko said out of nowhere.

“Do you know what it is?” Tats asked.

“It is a TS, a transhydro-extraction system. That is something like a gigantic well that is pumping all the ground water from a region of two Kilometers or more. I have only seen plans. I never thought it was actually build,” he explained while the rest of them made their way to them even if Tats had not yet gave them the order to move.  

“If they already found water, why are send and why is none of the water reaching the city?” Keke asked him.

“Why did they want us to come here? They surely did not want us to find it?” Joko asked.

“They wanted us to die on our way,” Shishi answered.

“No, they wanted me to die,” Tats corrected him and felt all eyes on him. Now everything made sense. Governor Hyo urged him on this mission because she wanted him out of her way. It did not matter whom he took with him because for her they were just collateral damage.  He could bet she even felt pleased to hear that of all the soldiers he chose her enemy number one Shishi Mato to come with him. Tats had expected that something was wrong but he had not expected the Governor to go this far. He had been played all the time and it was mere luck that there enemies where to dehydrated to properly fight, if they were their real enemies. It was not what he had expected to find and suddenly he wasn’t so sure what to do anymore. They had to get out of here but they also had to make sure to share the information they had found. If the Government was cruel enough to use the cities resources to build a well for their own purposes he could only guess that this was not the end of things. Maybe Shishi had been right all along, maybe put his trust in the wrong people all along. Maybe he should have listened to him all along.

“So what are we going to do now?” Joko asked.

“We are going to destroy it,” Shishi said and Tats could hear the rage making his voice tremble.

“That is not what we are going to do,” Tats corrected him.

“You don’t just want to leave it like this! They are telling the people to buy water at a price were some are already having problems affording enough and here they build this gigantic machine that could obviously supply everyone just for themselves!” Shishi let out his anger.

“And you want to destroy this machine, that’s really clever,” Tats explained.

“We can’t just do anything! I’m not going to support a government that lies to his citizens like this. Don’t try to stop me Tats!” he said.

“Could you just listen instead of letting out your anger?” Tats asked him and Shishi closed his mouth again.

“They are expecting us to be either dead or they expect us to come here and be killed then, so what we have to do is stay alive and get back to the city,” he explained.

“And what then? You go back to report to your friend the Governor?” Shishi asked him.

“Then we present the citizens of Mato what we found here,” Tats said and looked at Joko.

“You want me to take footages? “ Joko asked him.

“What would it take for you to hack into their system?” Tats asked.

“So that’s why you took me with you?” Joko said grinning.

“You knew!” Shishi screamed furiously.

“Look if I knew we wouldn’t be here right now, let’s just say I’m better at guessing than expected. But you need to calm down. Your rage is not going to get us anywhere. I’m not on the Governors side if it’s true that they are betraying the citizens but I need prove and I need a plan. We are not going to just vent our anger and die here like they want us to,” Tats said hoping it would calm him down.

“I can’t excess the system from outside, I need to get inside the building. It doesn’t have to be the server room but I need a computer somewhere inside the building,” Joko explained.

“Then we have to go inside,” Tats said.                                                                      

“What we are going to do can get us either killed or into prison, so if anyone of you wants to go out then he can do so,” Tats explained but none of them seemed to even consider it. Everybody already knew the Government was playing a foul play it was just that no one could ever prove anything.

Tats explained his plan to them as detailed as he could manage. They were up against hundred and a very good surveillance system and if one would make the tiniest mistake every one of them would feel the consequences.

“We can only do this together, so I want to know if you are in our out,” he said to them.

Keke was the first to salute him and Joko and Dada joint his seconds after. Now it was only Shishi left because the robot would follow his orders no matter what.

“I’m in,” he said and saluted to Tats for the first time ever and Tats knew that he could trust him even if he did not always shared the same opinion they were a team now and they had each other’s back.

“Everyone, follow the plan, because we have only one shot here,” he said and went to his position.

Authors note: justiceforBAP