Part 109, Chapter 1788
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty-Eight
1st March 1967
Rural Anhalt, near Könnern
The original Walther P38 had reflected the wartime needs of a relatively cheaper and easier to manufacture pistol. That was when compared to the old Luger pistol that it had replaced. That being said, there had been grumblings that the P38 was clunky, over-engineered with too many small parts. The design had been heavily modified in the fifties to address some of those issues, the aesthetics had been improved along with an improved safety. The new version, the P38/56, had been what Kiki had been issued with before she had gone to Korea the first time. It was still the same pistol she was using to shoot at cans to vent her frustrations with Benjamin and how he just wasn’t taking certain things seriously by her estimation.
Ionizing radiation had been something that they had a big row about the last time they spoken. While the ESA had done their level best to minimize the exposure to the crews of the Moon Missions to the charged particles and cosmic rays that surrounded the Earth, eliminating it had been impossible. No one knew what the long-term health effects of that sort of exposure were. It meant that Ben and Sigi both were part of an experiment that would affect them for the rest of their lives in ways that no one yet understood. When Kiki had asked Ben about the matter his nonchalance did not sit well with her, she was frightened, and he had acted like if it was no concern.
Squeezing the trigger, Kiki watched the empty soup can ten meters away spin around. Knowing that it was the last cartridge, Kiki ejected the magazine, before loading a fresh one.
“Do you have that out of your system yet?” Doctor Oskar Baber asked loudly from the seat of the car, where he had been listening to the radio. “Or are you continuing until you draw the attention of the police?”
“Why are boys so stupid?” Kiki demanded as she picked up the spent cases and pulled the plugs out of her ears.
“You sound like my oldest daughter” Oskar said.
That was a reminder that he had a life outside of his profession. Something that seemed remote to Kiki these days as the frustrations of her life had piled up. The sorts of things that led to her shooting cans off a side road in Anhalt.
“Make sure that thing is secure before you get into the car” Oskar said. While he hadn’t objected to Kiki having the pistol as a part of her equipment, he wanted no part in it. Not wanting to treat wounds that he had inflicted, was what he said. A situation that Kiki found herself had in before and she understood that it was a luxury that Oskar enjoyed even if he didn’t realize it. Every bit of training that Kiki had received had left her with the understanding that pacifism wasn’t a virtue for someone like her.
“Benjamin put himself in a precarious position” Kiki said as she put the pistol back in its holster in the locker in the back of the Föhn before slamming the hatch closed.
“So, shooting cans as opposed to shooting him?” Oskar asked.
“I wouldn’t shoot him” Kiki replied as she sat down in the passenger seat. “I certainly wanted to strangle him this morning though.”
“Welcome to being human Kristina” Oskar said, “There have been plenty of times when…”
The radio came to life at that second, alerting to them to a pile up on Autobahn 14 nearby. In seconds, Oskar had the car in gear as Kiki alerted dispatch that they were en route. Kiki could see that the sedan that her two bodyguards used was following close behind as Oskar turned on the Föhn’s siren and flashing lights. The two men assigned to her from the First Foot looked at much of what she did with wry amusement, like if it were a joke that only they got.
“People have no clue about what you really are” One of them had said to her. Kiki had mixed feelings about having earned the respect of people like that.
Reaching the interchange and turning onto the Autobahn, Oskar accelerated, and Kiki watched as the traffic got out of their way. Reaching the scene, they saw that police and fire were already there. As they retrieved their gear from the back of the Föhn, Kiki saw that a car that had caught on fire was covered in retardant foam. The smell of burnt plastic and something disturbingly similar to roasted pork revealed that at least one of occupants was still inside. She pushed that out of her mind, they were here to help those who would still need it.
Walking up to a car that looked completely crushed, Kiki looked through the broken glass and saw a woman still belted into the passenger seat. She was responsive where the driver of the car who had been thrown into steering wheel and windscreen was not. The unnatural angle the man’s head was in told a story that Kiki understood even before Oskar shook his head after being unable to find a pulse. The challenge like always would be getting the woman out of the car without aggravating her injuries further. Kiki could see several likely fractures, so this would be a rough one.
“What’s your name?” Kiki asked, to keep the woman focused on her. “I’m Kristina.”
“Hanna” The woman said plaintively, “What about Gregor?”
“He’s being taken care of” Kiki replied as she reached for the collar that would immobilize Hanna’s neck. People could tell when you were lying to them, but half-truths in situations like this were often necessary.
1st March 1967
Rural Anhalt, near Könnern
The original Walther P38 had reflected the wartime needs of a relatively cheaper and easier to manufacture pistol. That was when compared to the old Luger pistol that it had replaced. That being said, there had been grumblings that the P38 was clunky, over-engineered with too many small parts. The design had been heavily modified in the fifties to address some of those issues, the aesthetics had been improved along with an improved safety. The new version, the P38/56, had been what Kiki had been issued with before she had gone to Korea the first time. It was still the same pistol she was using to shoot at cans to vent her frustrations with Benjamin and how he just wasn’t taking certain things seriously by her estimation.
Ionizing radiation had been something that they had a big row about the last time they spoken. While the ESA had done their level best to minimize the exposure to the crews of the Moon Missions to the charged particles and cosmic rays that surrounded the Earth, eliminating it had been impossible. No one knew what the long-term health effects of that sort of exposure were. It meant that Ben and Sigi both were part of an experiment that would affect them for the rest of their lives in ways that no one yet understood. When Kiki had asked Ben about the matter his nonchalance did not sit well with her, she was frightened, and he had acted like if it was no concern.
Squeezing the trigger, Kiki watched the empty soup can ten meters away spin around. Knowing that it was the last cartridge, Kiki ejected the magazine, before loading a fresh one.
“Do you have that out of your system yet?” Doctor Oskar Baber asked loudly from the seat of the car, where he had been listening to the radio. “Or are you continuing until you draw the attention of the police?”
“Why are boys so stupid?” Kiki demanded as she picked up the spent cases and pulled the plugs out of her ears.
“You sound like my oldest daughter” Oskar said.
That was a reminder that he had a life outside of his profession. Something that seemed remote to Kiki these days as the frustrations of her life had piled up. The sorts of things that led to her shooting cans off a side road in Anhalt.
“Make sure that thing is secure before you get into the car” Oskar said. While he hadn’t objected to Kiki having the pistol as a part of her equipment, he wanted no part in it. Not wanting to treat wounds that he had inflicted, was what he said. A situation that Kiki found herself had in before and she understood that it was a luxury that Oskar enjoyed even if he didn’t realize it. Every bit of training that Kiki had received had left her with the understanding that pacifism wasn’t a virtue for someone like her.
“Benjamin put himself in a precarious position” Kiki said as she put the pistol back in its holster in the locker in the back of the Föhn before slamming the hatch closed.
“So, shooting cans as opposed to shooting him?” Oskar asked.
“I wouldn’t shoot him” Kiki replied as she sat down in the passenger seat. “I certainly wanted to strangle him this morning though.”
“Welcome to being human Kristina” Oskar said, “There have been plenty of times when…”
The radio came to life at that second, alerting to them to a pile up on Autobahn 14 nearby. In seconds, Oskar had the car in gear as Kiki alerted dispatch that they were en route. Kiki could see that the sedan that her two bodyguards used was following close behind as Oskar turned on the Föhn’s siren and flashing lights. The two men assigned to her from the First Foot looked at much of what she did with wry amusement, like if it were a joke that only they got.
“People have no clue about what you really are” One of them had said to her. Kiki had mixed feelings about having earned the respect of people like that.
Reaching the interchange and turning onto the Autobahn, Oskar accelerated, and Kiki watched as the traffic got out of their way. Reaching the scene, they saw that police and fire were already there. As they retrieved their gear from the back of the Föhn, Kiki saw that a car that had caught on fire was covered in retardant foam. The smell of burnt plastic and something disturbingly similar to roasted pork revealed that at least one of occupants was still inside. She pushed that out of her mind, they were here to help those who would still need it.
Walking up to a car that looked completely crushed, Kiki looked through the broken glass and saw a woman still belted into the passenger seat. She was responsive where the driver of the car who had been thrown into steering wheel and windscreen was not. The unnatural angle the man’s head was in told a story that Kiki understood even before Oskar shook his head after being unable to find a pulse. The challenge like always would be getting the woman out of the car without aggravating her injuries further. Kiki could see several likely fractures, so this would be a rough one.
“What’s your name?” Kiki asked, to keep the woman focused on her. “I’m Kristina.”
“Hanna” The woman said plaintively, “What about Gregor?”
“He’s being taken care of” Kiki replied as she reached for the collar that would immobilize Hanna’s neck. People could tell when you were lying to them, but half-truths in situations like this were often necessary.
