suburbs of Kassala

The sound of heels striking the irregular pavement of the narrow sidewalks in the Tonal District, one of the many shadowy neighborhoods of Kassala, was the only sign of life at that early hour of the morning. The woman had the impression she was being followed, but when she stopped to listen carefully to the sounds around her, she could only hear her own panting breath. Beyond the fear of ordinary thieves, sneaky rapists, and street gangs, Sara Martins feared encountering police forces. The policy against illegal immigrants had always been harsh, but since the beginning of the war and the subsequent rise in tensions on the eastern border, Maagael had proven implacable in the measures imposed on non-naturalized foreigners. Sara had no property for the State to confiscate — her rent was overdue and she planned to slip away from the apartment without giving any explanation to the landlord, the honey-tongued and pot-bellied Hart Nagal, who kept harassing her with indecent proposals — but she was afraid of being deported to her country of origin, a territory devastated by constant bombings and ethnic massacres.

She closed the rusty gate slowly, wanting to avoid the nosy attention of sleepless ears. The tenement consisted of two parallel rows of eleven small houses built without gaps. It was possible to hear conversations and all kinds of noises the neighbors made. Since she lived alone and had no habit of monologuing or gossiping with the other tenants, she soon acquired an aura of mystery that fit both the femme fatale fantasy many men projected onto her and her actual condition as an immigrant.

Sara turned the apartment key in vain. The door was already open. She tried to retreat but was stopped by a shadow that grabbed her from behind, pressing her shoulders. From the half-open door emerged two figures. The stocky one with a bull neck and hairy arms was clearly an agent of the political police, wearing the navy uniform of the New Aeon squadron. As for the other, he might have been a plainclothes cop, and although the young man’s frail build contradicted that assumption, Sara believed she was facing officials ready to issue a deportation order. She was wrong.

“Mrs. Sara Martins? Stay calm, we are not part of the anti-immigrant department. We’ve come to make you a proposal that I presume will be of interest to you. Please, come in, make yourself comfortable. After all, this is your home. Mr. Nagal was very kind and provided us with a copy of the key. I am Donne, from the Ministry of Technology and Innovation of Kassala. My mission is to help people like you, who live on the margins and are not recognized as citizens. I can regularize your situation. No more living in hiding, on the run! I can guarantee you full citizenship, naturalization, in less than a week. All you need to do is collaborate with the experiments our team of scientists has been developing. A groundbreaking technology, a prototype… Of course, you are free to refuse. Just remember that with the anti-immigrant department, there is no room for negotiation.”

Secretary Donne’s maneuver of co-opting volunteers through the threat of deportation had been implemented recently and ensured that the North Dome remained supplied with test subjects. The repercussions of the war had drastically reduced the prison population, and inmates from the concentration camps were being redistributed to war industry sectors. The scientists saw illegal immigrants as a cheap alternative and a genetic goldmine. What a waste it would be to deport them!

Unaware of the intricate conflicts of interest between institutions, Sara did not hesitate. Deportation meant certain misery. Her relatives had fled to the neighboring nation in search of asylum. Her son had gone with them and ended up getting lost during the border crossing. She learned through news sent by family members that most of her friends and acquaintances were dead or missing. There was no sense in returning to her homeland.

On the other hand, reading the clandestine weeklies that Dominique edited had kept Sara informed about the secret experiments the government had been conducting. In the absence of written reports or documentary evidence, there were oral accounts of the distortions produced in the North Dome. She shuddered just remembering the terrifying stories from the rare survivors and witnesses of the experiments. However, if there were survivors to tell the tale, there was a chance of coming out of the nightmare alive.

“I accept,” she heard herself say as if in a dream where clarity is absolute and there is no shadow to shelter in, the hardness of her voice simulating a fearlessness she was far from feeling. “I won’t be a target of anti-immigrant measures anymore, right? You’ll leave me alone after this?”

“A smart decision,” Donne nodded in approval. Even cornered, the woman carried herself with the dignity of someone negotiating on equal terms. Admirable self-control. “Please pack your things… Actually, they’re already packed, aren’t they? Curious. The landlord had told us you were months behind on rent, but when we arrived we found everything ready for departure. Agent Corbin, the suitcase—” he gestured for the short, stocky man to pick up the grayish bag from the bed. “Your cooperation has saved us time, Sara. It almost seems like you were expecting this,” Donne opened his arms and laughed at his own joke. “Thank you, thank you very much.”

Although neither of them had dared to touch a single hair on her head, Sara walked heavily, oppressed as if bound by invisible shackles. She glimpsed in the shadows the silhouette of the third man, the one who had indeed touched her intimidatingly on the shoulders. He was muscular, with an oval face and braids falling over his chest. With his arms crossed and one foot propped against the wall, he watched the scene’s outcome with an enigmatic smile. The ambiguous figure bathed in the half-light made Sara stumble, disturbed.

“Careful there, miss,” came an almost inaudible comment from Agent Corbin, directed more to himself than to his intended recipient.

Sara turned once more and understood what was unsettling her.