Having visited Rzhev and the surrounding regions, Stacy felt that she had seen what her Mentor wanted to see. It was indeed very disturbing that the Citadel was spending money to build more war monuments, when people in surrounding areas were so poor. Furthermore, these monuments had been imbued with magical powers for casting Mind spells, and school teachers were casting Mind spells on their students.
As much as Stacy believed learning and remembering history was a good thing, being too fixated on certain skewed interpretations of history did not bode well for the future.
As Naz drove the Rolls Royce back to their airship, the car went through many more kilometers of poorly maintained tracks.
“The roads around here are terrible! All that mud!” Angel groused.
Kazakhs were used to the idea that their country had poor infrastructure. But Kazakhstan is a country that mostly varies from arid to semiarid. When snow melts, water disappears. So Angel was a bit irritated by an entire countryside where every single road was thickly muddy.
“Don’t worry, we’ll all help,” Riley said.
All this was taking place around Stacy. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but it seemed her teammates were offering to assist Naz if the Rolls Royce got stuck in mud?
“Naz, you were confident our Rolls Royce won’t get stuck. Are you concerned…”
“Oh no, Stacy. You’ve misunderstood.”
“Yes, it’s Marilyn and Naz.”
“We’re helping them.”
“She’s right, you know.”
“Uh, what…” Stacy felt somewhat lost.
So Angel explained. This was something that the four had worked out themselves earlier on, since they had spent time on board the airship before rescuing Stacy.
“We always want the cars clean and to track no dirt onboard the airship.”
“That’s really good,” Stacy praised.
“More than that, it’s from Marilyn. She pointed out that we shouldn’t bring on board other biological stuff. Invasive species, and the like. Because we’ll be flying to another location after that, and any biological hitchhikers might turn into an invasive species.”
“Oh, that’s right. Marilyn is a biologist,” Stacy acknowledged.
Riley turned around in her seat with a grin. “And this also has Naz’s strong support. Because Naz has a phobia.”
“It isn’t a phobia! It’s rational thinking!”
“You really don’t want insects on board.”
“Of course I don’t like bringing bugs and other nasty creatures into our workplace and home! Moreover my office is in the garage, so any bugs that get on board will attack my office first!”
Angel nodded at Stacy with a grin, then leaned forward.
“Naz is deathly afraid of spiders,” she whispered to Stacy.
Now that explained it. Naz wanted to wash the mud off, because she didn’t want to bring insect eggs on board by accident.
Regardless of whether the motive was because of arachnophobia or an ecologist’s desire to avoid transporting bugs and non-native wildlife all over the place, Stacy felt she could support this.
Naming of Birrak
A few minutes later, they stopped next to a small river. The cloaked airship was parked above the river, so that its shadow would be over the river and not noticeable to most people.
Using a hover transport, Marilyn had already brought a couple of power washers, two buckets and four sponges down from the MMM.
“Our poor RR is going to have to be washed thoroughly before we can drive it back into the MMM,” Naz moaned.
“Truth be told, I’m very sensitive about the use of the short name RR,” Riley spoke up. “Since I share the same initials.”
“It’s the best car in the world, Riley. No need to feel sensitive.”
“It’s just a subjective reaction,” Riley said. “I prefer not to feel that every mention of the car includes me. Even if it is flattering.”
“Then it’s time to give our car a name. Anyone, any ideas?” Naz called out.
“I propose Birrak,” Stacy said.
“Can do.”
“No reason why not.”
“Birrak sounds unique enough, and there are two Rs just like in a Rolls Royce.”
“The name makes me feel so chirpy,” Marilyn said and gave everyone a huge smile.
And so the Rolls Royce was renamed with no opposition.
Angel and Naz washed the newly named Birrak, while Marilyn and Riley went to work on the Lada. Since she had no assigned task and no tools, Stacy busied herself with the remote controls on the hover transports. They were essential for communicating between ground level and the cloaked airship above, so it was mandatory for Stacy to practice controlling them.
“How about my car?” Marilyn asked as she finished washing the Lada. “It isn’t quite mine, but I keep driving it so I also want a nice name.”
“Speaking of which,” Stacy turned to Marilyn. “Is it all right that you have to make do with a lousy car while the rest of us can enjoy a smooth ride in a top end luxury car? Do you want rotation so you can sometimes take the Rolls – I mean Birrak?”
Marilyn had a sunny look on her face. “I’m happy with the Lada, really.”
Even if Marilyn was always predisposed to look happy, Stacy noted that Marilyn really did seem to be content. But to be content with a Lada? Was Uzbekistan really that poor?
…
“It’s a weird car you know,” Naz said to the others. “All kinds of amazing customizations under a Lada shell.”
“Oh yes, by the way,” Marilyn said in a serious tone. Everyone looked at her. “I was the first one on board, so I saw the Lada first. There was a huge notice placed on the windshield not to mess around with the car until you’ve read the manual.”
Marilyn pointed. “The manual – a fat white folder – was originally placed on the bonnet. But since I keep using the car, I have put the manual on the back seat. Please do not fiddle with the car until you’ve read everything. And I mean everything!”
“Fear me not!” Naz laughed. “I always did my homework. I’ve seen the manual. Just the first few pages were enough to tell me not to touch the car until I really have time to read.”
“I take it you haven’t opened the bonnet yet?” Marilyn asked.
“Didn’t have the time or need,” Naz replied. “But since I handle the cars, I’ll maintain the Lada too. Just let me know when you need work done.”
“Then you’ll see why I’m happy with the Lada,” Marilyn replied. “It might be somewhat similar inside – at least, same manufacturer – as the Birrak.”
“Don’t tell me the Lada has a Rolls Royce engine?” Naz looked about to run to the Lada. This didn’t sound possible, since the Lada was way too small to acommodate such an engine.
“It’s a BMW Z4 2.5l inside,” Marilyn replied. “I understand BMW owns and supplies parts to Rolls Royce too.”
Stacy was astonished at the exchange. But it made sense. A real Lada wouldn’t have the performance and reliability that the Benefactors seemed to appreciate. If the Benefactors paid for top end appliances, surely they should have provided something better than a Lada.
Riley came in with a brutal conclusion. “So this is just a disguised Z4, a lousy Lada shell placed over a much superior engine, and maybe suspension and brakes and whatever?”
“Yep,” Marilyn chirped. “It’s really fun to drive.”
“Ha! Russia always needed Germans inside to function,” Riley mocked.
Stacy ignored the jibe. Everybody in her former profession got used to hearing negative news and comments about Russia.
Marilyn continued talking to Angel at the back.
“It has heated seats, too! And a heated steering wheel!”
Stacy’s voice broke into the little conversation between Marilyn and Angel.
“So how about you come up a name for the car you use all the time?”
“I’ve decided. It would be Arvoh,” Marilyn said. “A cute little boy’s name.”
Stacy noticed a slight reaction from someone, but didn’t say anything. “All right, anyone object to Marilyn renaming the Lada as Arvoh?”
No one objected. So henceforth the Lada was known as Arvoh.
Dear Leader’s Propaganda Transmitter
“Attention, dear fellow subjects of the evil empire!” Riley called out. “I need to talk to everyone!”
“By evil empire, do you mean that infuriating operating system we have called Microsoft Windows?” Angel asked.
“Or do you mean that we are Evil Imperialists?” Naz asked. “Compared to what? The heroic imperialists represented by the Rzhev monuments?”
“Just say what you mean,” Stacy said tranquilly.
“All right. I’m sorry for not doing this earlier. But we have been busy these few days with getting the airship going and settling in,” Riley said. “So I haven’t done my tech introduction of the MMM for everyone.”
“The fact that I reacted to your Evil Empire words by referring to Microsoft Windows should tell you something,” Angel said.
“There’s lots of passwords everywhere. I keep having to enter passwords to do anything,” Marilyn groused. “And if I go away for a moment, the screen saver takes over and I have to reenter passwords again when I come back.”
“Can’t be helped. We’re a workplace,” Riley said.
Riley’s words sobered everyone up. Despite their general sense of comfort with each other, it was still wise that computer systems be able to identify each person properly.
“All right, just tell us what this airship has compared to our favorite point of reference, the k-slum,” Naz said.
“And we should all know that k-slum windows don’t need passwords to open,” Marilyn added perkily.
“Sometimes k-slum windows are built such that you can’t even close them properly,” someone else added.
“Like in k-slums, phone – satellite phone is free to use here,” Riley deadpanned. “High speed satellite internet too. And better than a k-slum, you don’t need to wait years to install them and forever for maintenance. Everything is already ready to go, and the maintenance worker is right here,” Riley patted her small chest.
“And the radio receiver points? The radiotochka? I see none here,” Naz commented for fun.
“Um…” Riley was at a loss. She didn’t have a radio receiver point in a self built rural home far from European Russia.
“Modern technology,” Stacy came to rescue Riley. “When radio receivers are banned, surely we have wifi?”
“Oh no,” Marilyn broke in. “There are propaganda transmitters. In fact, the source is in your office, dear beloved leader.”
“My office?”
“Tak, there is one in everyone’s office,” Naz explained. “Only the wiring was done earlier, so the office itself was devoid of furniture and equipment. I presume this has now been set up.”
“That’s right. While you were preparing dinner just now, Riley went around plugging in the screen consoles.”
Stacy had not visited her office after returning from Rzhev, so she didn’t know what happened. So she went to her office along with her teammates.
The so-called propaganda transmitters turned out to be touch sensitive, small flat screen computers mounted on walls. They were hooked up to the local area network using extra small LAN cables, and also wired to power sockets.*
“Well, Stalin did want everyone to be able to hear his voice even when radio receivers were banned. So great leader, this is for you to broadcast propaganda…”
Stacy blinked. It was important to show leadership by not being flustered by her teammates’ jokes. She stepped forward and played with the tablet screen.
“Wait a moment, it’s not just me. The system is computer controlled. Looking at these options, I can talk to any room and look at the other person – and any room can talk to any other room or view the other room,” Stacy said after playing with the controls. “There are also options to deny, to turn off the camera, to mute the speaker, to mute the microphone and so on.”
“Oho, so the propaganda part fails big time,” Naz grinned at Marilyn. “A two way street, so not a propaganda device after all.”
“Yes, more like democracy,” Stacy rubbed it in gently. “We all can communicate with each others as equals.”
“Wait, I remember the ship manual…” Marilyn fumbled for a response.
Marilyn stumbled forward, looking around as Stacy and the rest looked on, bemused. Marilyn should be normally easygoing enough to let a bad joke that fell flat remain flat, so why was she acting like this?
On her part, Riley didn’t know what this propaganda transmitter thing was about. For things that were classified under Digital and Electronic, Riley read these manuals or instructions, and acted accordingly. But there were also electronic things classified under Ship Controls or Communications. And these were in the folder marked Pilot, so Riley wouldn’t read these unless the Pilot requested her help.
“Aha!” Marilyn pounced on some equipment at the corner of Stacy’s office.
“These are for controlling AM radio reception and broadcasts and so on. Our ship does have these capabilities. So that if we spot a forest fire, we can spread the info far and wide. Or we can help the local authorities to alert the population with loudspeakers.”
“We’re a stealth ship, and we have loudspeakers?” Angel came forward in surprise.
“Stealth is by choice,” Marilyn replied. “Useful for traveling over paranoid authoritarian states gathering data, without having to go through the hassles of obtaining authorization. Useful for surveillance missions. But this ship was also set up for general, non-stealthy research or rescue expeditions. It can communicate with people below via loudspeaker or radio if needed.”
“Oh, so that’s where the leader’s propaganda broadcast comes in,” Stacy smiled. “Thank you Marilyn, I can certainly air my views of the Man in the Citadel now.”
Then after a pause, Stacy continued, “I can also air my views of that mini-caliph in Grozny who is a crony of the Man in the Citadel.”
“Wow, that will really make him very angry,” Marilyn said with big green eyes. “Could be very amusing to see him rant on Grozny TV.”
“Better not do that,” Naz spoke up. “He might get some local gays and lesbians executed if he can’t get revenge for criticism.”
“You’re right, anything we broadcast has to be very carefully considered,” Stacy addressed Naz. “We all know how many people are violently allergic to the truth.”
To the rest of her team, Stacy said half playfully: “since we have stealth and AM radio, do we want to also double as a pirate radio station traveling all over the ex-USSR, revealing truths that local governments want to keep hidden?”
“Sorry, can’t do that,” Riley said.
But before Riley could explain why, Naz interjected with something she had noticed. Naz did like gadgets and new technology, and she noticed something was missing.
“Despite our seemingly advanced and prototype technology, they don’t seem to have wifi anywhere,” Naz commented.
“I have been wondering. What’s wifi?” Angel asked.
“I haven’t kept up with the times while in school,” Angel added defensively after a second. Borat had made Kazakhs very wary about appearing backwards and ignorant.
“Wireless fidelity. It’s becoming more common now, allows lots of wireless communications at close quarters,” Riley replied. To the rest of ZIL, Riley spoke out. “I do know why because I’m the tech on board. Wifi is banned on the MMM, and radio controlled devices also need prior approval. It’s to avoid causing our airship to be washed in radio waves. We’re doing data collection and remote sensing, thermal imaging, whatever of a lot of things at the same time. I don’t even begin to know a quarter of what’s going on; my job is just to make sure various specialized devices are receiving power, are functioning, capable of uploading data via satellite link, whatever.”
“So all communications on board have to be wired?” Naz asked. “I don’t mind that, but just asking.”
“To avoid interference with operations, yes,” Riley returned. “But we can definitely bring devices on board as long as we only use them when on ground.”
“Works fine with me,” Naz said. “But I’m wondering about the drones. We haven’t touched them since our first mission in Rublevka. Really want to play with these.”
“If part of legitimate operations and have to be operated from on board, it’s allowed,” Riley said. “As stressed, the purpose is merely to reduce the presence of potentially disruptive radio waves in general. We’re not a radio telescope for astronomical observations.”
To Stacy, Riley explained, “so we will definitely be strongly discouraged against operating this ship as some kind of pirate radio station on a regular basis.
However, if exigencies happen, there is no hard and fast rule against using our broadcasting capabilities.
I imagine we would be very helpful in a natural disaster.”
“Or maybe even interfering in local hate speech, if there is ethnic conflict,” Marilyn mused.
“I can guess why you said that,” Angel said. “And fully agree.”
“No need to, we’re all affected,” Naz took up the topic. Naz knew this quite well, because the Kavkaz area was very linguistically and ethnically diverse, and small local ethnic conflicts erupted on a regular basis. “I don’t think we will have many such opportunities, and I’m not looking forward to these either. But we should not hesitate to broadcast calming messages if there are ethnic tensions.”
Stacy had a dark look in her eyes. “Or to interfere with local programming, if someone is broadcasting inflammatory messages during a time of tension.”
XXX
After that, it was Naz’s turn to prepare supper.
This leads to ZIL Food 003f Naz and Khinkali. If you would like to read that, please click here. If not, just read on.
[Once again, ZIL Food episodes are fun for foodies and also general humor. Definitely click on the link if you’re the type who watch Korean eating shows, aspire to Food Tourism in other countries, look at foods and recipes, enjoy food related pranks and jokes and so on. There is no paywall. For short excerpts like these, I also post on youtube as text. The goal being to link to other youtube videos that show the foods.]
…
Night.
Stacy was sitting in her office after a pleasant supper.
She could not help but wonder about her Benefactors.
Stacy had not been a highly regarded journalist for nothing. She noticed things.
The preparations for Birrak had been made earlier. Most people wouldn’t make such preparations. Even though Russia was very cold, the vast majority of Russians did not live in such an extreme climate.
If the Benefactors really had intended to evacuate Stacy from these parts, there would have been no need to equip Birrak with a flamethrower to unthaw car parts. Not unless the Benefactors were planning to evacuate Stacy to Greenland, Mongolia or Nunavut.
Stacy had the feeling that the Benefactors were really expecting Stacy to stay in her home region of Northern Eurasia.
But why did they demand that Stacy justify herself then?
Or was it really a test?
Stacy remembered her Chinese classes. There were historical figures in China who gained leadership by expressing reluctance to lead.
Maybe the Benefactors were hoping that Stacy would stay in Northern Eurasia. But they wanted to make sure that her reasons were sound.
Some people might misuse the valuable equipment they were given. To further selfish ends.
Stacy wanted to stay because she wanted to pursue stories and find truths.
Maybe that was what made the difference for the Benefactors.
Leadership should be something thrust upon a person by circumstances, opportunity and need. Leadership shouldn’t be something obtained by ambition and desire and grasping.
One who obtained leadership by ambition and desire and grasping, would be unwilling to relinquish leadership when the time came and her ideas were no longer relevant.
Stacy understood. Leadership was a responsibility that was thrust upon Stacy because of her resistance to mind spells. She should never assume it was her birthright.
“Ah.”
Stacy leaned back in her chair. This was a really good chair. The Benefactors spared no expense to give their proteges the best office equipment. Stacy had to make sure her team delivered results that justified the investment made in them.
But no matter how comfortable it was to sit in her chair, she must never get too comfortable in the leader’s seat. Stacy reflected soberly that she had a long way to go.
This leads to a Side Story: ZIL Side Story 003 Mila. If you’d like to read more, click here. If not, ZIL Missions will resume next week!
[Side Stories are further explorations of other characters and their adventures and experiences. If they are crucial to the ZIL main plot, they will not be paywalled.
The link will become active after mid-2023.]