Chapter 4.11: Counterintelligence

 <-- Previous Chapter

From Cassy's diary

We were assigned an important school project this week, so both Venus and I are studying even more than usual.


Venus: (amused) You weren't kidding when saying that your hair made your head itchy, you didn't resist even for two days!
Cassy: Well, people could this is a prehistoric sense of fashion, but I prefer this way, it's just so much more comfortable to me... Rather, have you already calculated the propulsion force of the rocket?
Venus: No, I'm still reading about the aerodynamics part.


We are really studying a lot. Propulsion physics, fuels chemistry, stellar coordinate astronomy... You may be wondering what we need all this stuff for, isn't it, my dear diary?

We need it to complete the project assigned to our class, of course!


Venus: The teacher wasn't joking when saying it was a wreck...
Cassy: At work, c'mon!


I, Venus, and our other schoolmates have been working to reassemble this wreck for weeks. If we want to get an A, we must at least be able to take off!


Venus: So cute, it looks so retrò!

Our parents always say that, back in their day, they didn't study these things at school. At most, they were asked to connect two potatoes to a light bulb to turn it on, or to look at sections of plants under a microscope. Here at Nuova Sixam, on the other hand, the school curricula have been completely changed to include the basic technological knowledge of the sixamians inventions.
And to understand the functioning of an old rocket was considered a preliminary exercise to the study of the functioning of spaceships, teleportation and the matter recomposer. Cool, isn't it?

Human schools sound so boring, in a school like this I’d be bored to death.



It is taking a long time to finish assembling all the electronics, fuel tanks and navigators on board, but we are moving forward quickly!


We can't all work together on the rocket, so we often take turns. In my breaks I often play chess with others, although they often complain that it is not so funny for them because I always want to win at all costs.




To be clear, I'm sure I would have won anyway...



Venus and I also play with the school basketball team, so we also need to find some time for training. Our team doesn't win very often, but in the end the whole team plays more for fun than for the cups. Even if winning from time to time wouldn't be bad!




Venus: Wow, good shot!

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From Luke's diary

I'm continuing to organize public readings of my books at the library once a week. The number of participants is always quite limited, but at least it seems to attract some new visitors by time to time.


Luke: Following the establishment of New Sixam, our country has decided to keep its borders open to all the other nations. However, on the other hand, our interlocutors have only shown interest in acquiring and purchasing our technologies, while maintaining the prohibition for us sixamians to ever set foot on their lands. This has led to a gradual cooling of our relations with foreign countries, to the point of reaching the situation of almost complete isolation we nowadays found ourselves in. Paradoxically, we can reach any point in the universe by setting its coordinates in a teleport machine, but we cannot visit a city on our own planet a few hundred kilometres away from us...


Venus: (whispering) How can others not understand he's the one who wrote those books, he's always reading them with such an emphasis!
Misty: (whispering) He prefers to do so, I don't see the point to upset him just for this...


The most problematic part of these public readings is the state of total disorder affecting the library at the end of each event, where did all this dust come from?


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TV: AHHH! He's turning into a ghost!


Venus: As if ghosts really existed, come on!
Misty: Rather, what's wrong with Taz? He has been growling alone for almost ten minutes at this point...


Venus: Ooookay, it's time to go for a walk, right?


Taz: (happy) wof!

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The months are passing, and winter is approaching. For once we got a small taste of the cold season even in here, this morning we saw a few snowflakes falling! That's probably the first time the girls see any snow at all, they were quite excited about it (and then quite disappointed, when they realised it wasn't going to stick to the ground).


Snow might be one of the things I miss the most about Windenburg, the winters were so beautiful up there...



But it was time for a new family party, it was Harvestfest time. This time I tried to prepare the traditional turkey by myself, even if I would not define the result as haute cuisine...

Traditions like this are also the ones that remind me most of my childhood. The turkey at Harvestfest, the exchange of gifts under the tree at Winterfest... In the end, the traditions that we all are fond of are the same as the ones of the surrounding countries. Although by now we call ourselves exclusively sixamians, above all we remain, unequivocally, earthlings in culture.



Lyra: Misty, are you sure you're okay?
Misty: apart from the spots, I'm not feeling that bad, don't worry.
Lyra: It won't be contagious, though?


Luke: We already got it as a child, you don't need to worry about it.
Nick: Rather, what happened to your little dog? I wanted to say hello to him too!
Luke: If I have to guess, he's probably in the garden causing some other trouble.



Luke: ... We really need to be patient with you, you know?
Taz: Wof?

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Misty, in the meanwhile, has received the order to continue investigating that crashed airplane not far from here. Many irregularities had emerged from the first records collected on that strange girl who was prowling the area, and Misty was assigned the task of further investigating to collect as much evidence as possible. Then, soon after, the rest of her team will break in, take the presents into custody and interrogate them with mind reading.



Misty: Uhm, let's see, the radio signal comes from... below me? Bah, how strange...

Under the airplane she had found an entire hidden bunker, leaving now very little doubt about the location of the foreign spies' hideout.





???: Hey Hello! Here again, I see!
Misty: I was jogging around the neighbourhood, this is a good shortcut, you know?

To be safe, Misty had also placed new microphones on all the fake soldiers she saw passing by. As she usually does, she wanted to do the best job she could.

But working hard is not always enough...


Misty: C'mon, two more recordings and then I can go to sleep!


Misty: So they're from SimCity, I see...


Working hard is important in any profession, but the environment of the army and secret services is particularly strict, they don't admit any mistake. And the phone call she received that evening proved it fully...


Misty: Good evening Captain.... What... Oh...


Luke: hey Misty, what happened?
Misty: (frustrated) those spies hidden under the airplane had placed microphones also on me, and in this way they were able to record what was being said in our headquarters and also pinpoint its position. Because of me, they collected a lot of information that had to be kept secret, and also about the plan we were making to break in and take them into custody. This way, they managed to run away with a lot of intel about us...
Luke: ...
Misty: Let's say my bosses weren't very impressed... As punishment they demoted me, I was reassigned to train the new recruits. What the heck...

There's not much I can say to console her, she feels guilty and humiliated for making a mistake she considers as silly. 


Luke: It could have happened to anyone, I don't think you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. The most important thing is that you didn't get hurt, we were so worried about those assignments...
Misty: ... uhm.

She says she just needs some time to process the bad news, and that training new recruit wasn't such a bad job. However, I still suspect that for a few weeks the mannequin they use down at the training camp for hand-to-hand combat will have the face of one of those two spies hiding under the airplane...

Chapter 4.10: The trace

 <-- Previous Chapter 

From Luke's diary

Today seems to be a quiet day at the Millers' home, even that concentrated of energy called Taz has been sleeping on the sofa for a while now.

However, behind the scenes, Misty and I are preparing a double chocolate cake. It's the twins' birthday and we want to surprise them!



I can't believe they are growing so quickly, yet here is the picture they took today just after finishing eating their cake.

We always noticed many differences between them, but the more the time passes the more evident they are. Actually, since when they were born, most people have argued that they are so different to make it difficult for them to believe they are, in fact, twins. I don't know how many times we have had to explain that not all twins are identical...

Their interests couldn't be more different, yet they are always seen doing everything together. The more time passes, the more they seem united, and both Misty and I can only be happy about this.

Cassy remains the most silent and thoughtful, she has a lot of fun playing chess and spending whole afternoons at the computer playing video games or searching for stuff she doesn't know online.


Venus, on the other hand, is more active and sociable, she likes to go out, see people, run... in short, she never stands still.

Instead, what they really share is their commitment to the school. They have not yet decided whether they will want to enrol at the university and, if so, which major to choose, but they have all the time in the world to find the best path for them.



Venus: Hey dad, are you writing another book?
Luke: Yes, I started it recently.
Venus: What are you writing about this time?
Luke: Of the recent history of the Countries outside New Sixam and the differences in their diplomatic approaches towards us.
Venus: Is it really necessary to write a whole book about this? In the end, no one wants to have anything to do with us, there isn't much to say...
Luke: The main difference lies in the reasons that led them to choose one political line rather than another. Even if you're not completely wrong, in the end they all came to the same conclusions...

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Meanwhile, Misty continues her investigation on behalf of the army's secret services. Jokingly, the girls have told her several times that she doesn't look anything like a secret agent, because she always appears like the same normal person we see every day at home.

This is in fact exactly the tactic of her working group: to investigate in great secrecy by camouflaging themselves among ordinary citizens. And she is great at this.


Misty: (To herself) Why is this stand still operational?


Misty: can I ask you a question?
???: Sure.
Misty: I'm a bit curious about that crashed airplane just behind your stand, you see... Do you know anything about it, by chance?
???: I was just wondering about it too, actually, one morning a few days ago it was just there.
Misty: By chance, did you notice anyone wandering around?
???: Um ... I think I've seen a couple of people from the army a few times, but no one else.

Misty was perplexed. She knew for sure that the army was involved in that investigation, that was exactly the reason why she was there, but she also knew that none of her collegues had ever approached the crashed airplane wearing a uniform. Suspicious, very suspicious...

So Misty approached the mysterious airplane, searching any evidence which could help her to spot the culprit. From the colours it looked like a military plane, but from which country? Certainly not from New Sixam, we completely replaced flying aircrafts a long time ago in favour of teleport machines.




? ?: Hey , who are you?


Misty: I live nearby, I was looking around a bit. It doesn't happen every day to see such an airplane!
? ?: We in the army are already investigating, you have nothing to worry about.

The attempt to copy their uniform was obvious, but Misty could spot some wrong details: none of their military groups had been wearing pants of that color for years now. The more time passed, the more Misty was convinced that the girl in front of her was one of the phantom foreign spies she was looking for. She was a hybrid too, which were the only people with some Sixamese blood who were still allowed to live outside of New Sixam. Many countries, like the one we came from, had in fact decided to allow them to stay as they were in practice just like regular humans with a weird skin colour. 

Misty: Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you work. Have a nice day!


? ?: Don't worry, and goodbye to you too!



Misty: And now let's hear what you have to say...


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From Venus' Diary

Cassy and I went to see our uncles today, we hadn't seen them for a long time.

Venus: Who is the best big boy in New Sixam? But it's you, of course!
Cassy: Don't let Taz hear you!
Venus: He's a small dog, though.


Cassy: Aunt Lyra said she wanted to see us because "we're old enough for some fashion tips"... Honestly, I'm a little worried ...
Venus: C'mon, it sounds funny to me instead!


Lyra: Oh, hi girls! You've grown a lot!
Cassy and Venus: Hi, aunt Lyra!
Lyra: So, are you ready for some haristyles and makeup tips?
Cassy: Actually, aunt, I'm not so sure that...
Lyra: Don't worry, I and your mom always had a lot of fun with these stuff when we were at your age! 

Cassy didn't seem convinced at all, to be honest I think she remained just to avoid to offend Aunt Lyra. On the other hand, I admit that I had a lot of fun, also because my aunt knows a lot when it comes to contemporary fashion.


Cassy: Aunt, don't you think you've exaggerated a bit?
Lyra: C'mon, you look great!


Venus: It was funny also for me! Even if, I mean... It could actually be a bit too much, just for going to school and so on...
Lyra: Like this you would absolutely look great at any party, though! Talking about school instead, have you ever thought about joining the cheer leader group? I'm sure you would have a great time with them!
Venus: Actually, we already play on the basketball team, so...
Lyra: Oh, I see...


Venus: I know, I know, dad's gonna be mad...
Cassy: All this stuff has to go before we go home, that's for sure!
Venus: I agree about the makeup, but at least on the hair maybe we can ask mom to help us a bit, right?


The next morning...


Luke: What... You went to Lyra's, isn't it?
Venus: ... actually, yes.


Misty: C'mon, I think it really suits them! And then I started growing hair around the age as well. I had tried already before actually, but growing hair using a partial disguise is more complicated than it seems... They managed it very well, by the way!
Venus: thanks, mom!
Luke: ...


Misty: (laughing) Luke, now try not to call them the new "pretty hair club" as you used to do with us, okay?
Luke: Bah...

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§HermioneSims§ Corner

I have a funny picture to close the chapter with and some comments to add this time. For starter:

Hey, what's the problem with the robot cleaner today? It almost looks like, ehm... overloaded by a large weight.

[Nacho is very offended to be fat-shamed even as a ghost]


Passing to the more serious comments instead, in this part of the story I always feel like Cassy and Venus grew up in no time, but I spent a lot of time levelling them up to complete their aspirations and I thought that showing you how many experiments they did or how many other kids they befriended would have been too boring and repetitive. Anyway, in the missing days here in the chapters, that's what I was doing. 

Now that they are teens instead, I had to take some time to decide whether to make them grow hair or not, and so to decide which kind of style they will show from now on. For Venus I was quite sure since the beginning, but regarding Cassy... You will have to wait for the next chapter to see what I decided to do with her instead :P

I also would like to don't tell you who the next heir will be for a while, so for the moment both Venus and Cassy will share with you their diary entries. It's just to have a bit more of suspense, you know...