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[The Blue Sphere] IV – Ruckus in Berlin


Merovingian
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead, or living dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
 
Read next part here.

 

Previously on TBS


I - The Notebooks
 
II - Cimarron Vs. Troika
 
III - Cardinal: Finally, the school exams are over, and summer break is on. Four members of the Cimarron clan arrived at Vik’s place: Kilian, Leonie, Nik and Alex (Cardinal). The latter is a new clan’s recruit and is joining the European tour.
At the end of the first week, a German lawyer met with Vik and delivered him a package containing two letters from Kurt, his father. After the encounter, a man attacked Vik, eventually the attempt to steal the package failed thanks to Cardinal’s intervention. 
Back in the house Leonie translated Kurt’s messages which revealed about a hidden Blue Notebook containing the revolutionary plasma technology and its Omega formula. They were about to learn the whereabouts of the notebook.

 

IV – Ruckus in Berlin

 
Brest, France – End of week 1 - July 1999
“What?” asks Vik desperately. “What’s wrong? Tell us, don’t let me sweat longer!” he begs.

Fabelhaft!” Leonie gloats, “Berlin… , the notebook is hidden in Berlin!” she adds joyfully.

“No way!” shouts Kilian shocked. He leans over the girl’s shoulders to check the letter as if he could read and understand German.

“The secret place is located in the library of Humboldt University of Physics of Berlin, to be precise.” she reveals further.

“This makes sense,” Nik says to Vik. “Your father was a physicist and he graduated from this University. He was familiar with the place, and if he was under surveillance, sighting him over there would not be suspicious.” he concludes.

“This is a very good news. Libraries are open to the public, and it’ll be a piece of cake to retrieve your father’s legacy,” announces a self-assured Kilian. “In our touristic visit to Berlin, we will add an educational stop. Teachers always suggest that we should keep our brain busy during summer, well for the first time in ages we can tick that from the to-do list,” he jokes.

Following the revelation each teenager proposes his own plan on the future trip, even thinking about skipping the Paris tour. While their minds are focused on the quest’s next step, they are entirely oblivious to the potential danger associated with their projects. The group carries on discussing and deliberating agitatedly till late in the night to the point that they almost start to fall asleep in the cramped room.

The teenagers wake up when the sun is already set high in the blue sky. After a quick but delicious French breakfast they head to the beach. Even though they decided to stay grouped to face together any potential trouble, they nevertheless find themselves spreading out over the beach. Nik is wandering near the rocky cliff to photograph the local seashore wildlife with the help of Kilian showing him all the best spots. Leonie and Cardinal, resting on the towels in the middle of the beach, are talking together. And Vik, barefoot, is soaking his toes in the cold sea water, introspecting his dark thoughts fixing the empty horizon.

Soon he is joined by Cardinal. “Hey! Are you alright?” she asks softly.

He keeps gazing into the distance. Finally, he looks at her acknowledging her presence and replies in undertone, “I’m fine, … I guess.” He quickly adds with effort, “Thanks for yesterday,… I’m sorry I didn’t do it before.” Finally, he resumes his staring at the sea.

“Don’t mention it. It was izi, he was such a noob,” she blushes, then asks, “Are you thinking about your father?” and quickly adds, “Don’t reply if you don’t want to talk about him…”

“No, it’s ok. I’m glad to be able to discuss it with someone. I feel safe when you are around,” he reassures her. She beams.

“It feels weird. I am glad to learn new facts about him, as Mum never talks about him and I am too shy to ask,” he says with a sad voice, and he shares, “I also feel a deep void inside me, like I’m incomplete, … like I’m missing an important part of me. A part that stayed when I left Russia, and whatever I do, it doesn’t fill up.”

She reaches to him and puts reassuring hands around his shoulders. “I can’t pretend to understand what you feel, but it looks as you are slowing yourself by focusing on the past. Would you, … should you not project yourself in the future instead?” she asks attempting to stir him away from his tormenting thoughts, before firmly advising and gently nudging, “Vik, be strong. Stop being sorry for yourself.”

“Maybe you are right, … maybe I should stop worrying if things were different, … if, …” he does not have the opportunity to finish as she interrupts him by giving a quick kiss on the cheek, then she dashes to the opposite direction and shouts, “The last one to reach the rocks is a mult!”

“Hun?” he lets out, stormed with confused feelings. “Hey, wait, that’s not fair you had a head start!” he replies vindictively, retaking control of himself.

“Haha, I am a weak girl, remember,” she launches a brazen repartee. “Beside that would be totally fair if you were a gentleman,” she teases him.

He ripostes with a tit for tat cue, “YOU no weak girl. YOU Russian killing cyborg,” and then he races after her accepting the challenge, and gladly leaving behind his stuttering melancholy for the relentless waves to wash away.

The afternoon is well advanced when they start packing for the next vacation destination: Leonie’s house in Berlin. They plan to take the train which is a cheap transportation, but a rather slow one, with a connection in Paris, where they will stop for a day. While others prep on their own, Vik looks under his mattress where his father’s letters are concealed since he went to bed.

“That’s strange,” he notes to himself. “The letters are folded the wrong way. I’m pretty sure I arranged them differently. But nobody was here today, and the house was closed. Maybe mum found them? However, she asked nothing about it,” he ponders further.

“I might be mistaken as I was really weary from yesterday’s events.” He settles with this conclusion and resumes the packing.

“Next on the list, ha yes, my passport. I need my passports.” Vik is now talking to himself out loud carrying on with the inventory list. Once finished, he leaves his room to help the others.

 
 
Berlin, Germany – Week 2
Eventually, they arrive in Berlin. Paris’ tour was long and boring, especially when you are in an exciting quest, eating, sleeping, seating, sightseeing seem a burden loaded with waste of time. Even the height of the Eiffel Tower, the sight of the busy Champs-Elysées or the shopping at “Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche” did not felt as exciting as the time when they organized the trip. The only interesting part of the travel was the encounter with a young Dutch traveller, who was heading to Italy and then Croatia where she would meet with a friend, but even this was just delaying the inevitable.

At Leoni’s place they straight away start to play games together. After dinner, they decide on the final plan for the visit of the German capital. The group will not go directly to the library, instead they will act like normal tourists and wander around the city about the main touristic venues. But they will not be idle; they will attentively check if they are followed before heading for the main target. Leonie suggested that, in case they are followed, they should try to lose the followers in one of the shopping malls. The key part of her master plan is to activate the fire alarm so the five of them can disappear within the crowd during the ensuing chaos. Kilian objects to that “crazy plan of her” and orders her not to try that, or perhaps under a clear and present danger. He has no urge to visit the local police cells’.

The morning of the next day, the group begins the visit with the historical Oberbaum Bridge which is the closest to Leoni’s house. Next, they head to the remains of the Berlin Wall, which fell during 1991 unrest, situated in the Memorial Park. The vestige is about 30 minutes from the library, the real goal of the day. At the following stop, “Checkpoint Charly”, they are convinced that they are not followed, and they feel safe to amble to the library. Once there, they unexpectedly meet a contingent of police officers surrounding the closed building!

Leonie sets off to investigate further and addresses in German, with her largest innocent smile, one of the young policemen on guard. As she lets a loud shocking swear at the officer’s answer, her friends begin to worry. Furthermore, as the conversation lingers, her face appears even more concerned. But finally, against all expectations, her mood changes to a happy tone and they could even witness her ginning. After a last question from the teenager, the policeman indicates a direction with his hand. She thanks him and reunites with the perplexed Cimarron team.

“I have a bad news and a good news. Which one would you hear first?” Leonie asks, playfully smirking.

“The bad one. Always the bad one first,” Kilian suggests at once.

“Ok, bad news it is. The building is closed today due to an ongoing investigation after a break in that occurred last night in the library.”

Vik looks decomposed as he hears the announcement, while Kilian speaks quickly and out of control “Wait what the- Shaft! Someone must have heard about Kurt’s letters! Who and how?”. His monolog lingers, “We are doomed! We are too late, the notebook could have been stolen tonight. I wish I never asked for the bad news first...”

 
“I think it is time for a coup when our supreme leader loses his marbles,” Leonie interrupts him, smirks and then resumes the report.

“The good news is that we are not at the right library.” she exults.

All stare at her in stupor with wide open eyes. “I knew it,” says a barefaced, lying Kilian.

“Really? That’s a relief. Vik there is still hope,” Cardinal reacts and smiles at Vik, and then asks Leonie “Where is the right library then?”

Leonie continues to share what she learnt, “The policeman told me that part of the University library has moved here inside this new building just a couple of years ago. The bulk of it is still sited at the university, a few blocks away from here,” she points to the direction behind them. “Unfortunately, it is under refurbishment and not accessible to the public.”

“You noob, that’s not a good news and a bad news, but two bad news indeed!” Kilian lets out.

“Yo! You mult leader, wanna 1v1?!” she defies him.

“I will win ezZzZzZ, kiddo.” He snaps back.

 
“Try me! I’ll rekt you, fake leader but real hairy teen monkey!”

“Stop you guys, it is not the time for this,” requests Nik stepping between them.

A voice from behind suggests, “Not necessary a bad news.” It is Cardinal. “If it is closed, then it’ll be easier for us to search the place without being disturbed. We only need to find a way to sneak in, and it should be easy with a team like us. Strategy is what we are good at. Innit?” she explains convincingly.

“Of course, a big diversion nearby the entrance would allow a small group to sneak in the base, snitch the flag and quickly escape, that’s all we need to do,” Vik confirms.

They finally depart to the main library while preparing the action plan and assigning the roles between them: the team creating the diversion and the team getting inside unseen. After a few minutes walking Kilian whispers to the group: “Hu-ho, I spy with my little eye something, the name of which begins with ‘M’.”

“A macaron? I love macaron! And it is nearly lunch time,” Leonie says, holding her stomach and looking around in the hope of finding an open bakery. “Verdammt! It is not Paris here, I’d settle for a Berliner Pfannkuchen, equally delicious.”

“Cold,” Kilian answers.

“A Merchant?”, “Cold!”, “Motorbike?”, “Mega cold?”, “a Man?”, “Warm!”, Leonie and Kilian jousting to and fro.

“Someone following us?” Vik asks suddenly, all his senses in alert realising what his friend meant with this game.

“Warmer – you all are bad at this game.” He states, explaining more: “The right word is Mult. Observe the dude with the black hooded jumper and the black baseball cap leaning by the lamppost behind us. He has been following us since we left the library.”

“It’s not a man, but a woman,” Leonie corrects him, and she elaborates further, “Because she wears pretty girly trainers and sexy skinny jeans. You should go shopping with me, so I can teach you girl’s good-looking basic outfit.”

“Ewww! Thank you, but no thank you. I got better things to do with my life,” he replies with a “talk to the hand” stance.

Unexpectedly, Cardinal sprints in direction of the follower, who jolts at this sudden move, but the spy reacts quickly and flees in the opposite way. Nobody else from the group can respond to this sudden action and they are still arguing on what to do when she comes back after a minute or so.

блин!
I lost her, … a girl definitely, smart and dam fast. She got scared and ran miles away, so we won’t see her soon,” she relates while taking her breath back.
 
“True, let’s take this opportunity to get quickly to the library and execute the plan while we lose a tail.” Vik advises before Kilian can suggest something. The rest of the team agrees. Their plan is bold but effective if executed seamlessly.

Leonie strolls by the guarded entrance of the University where a man, in his alcove, is checking the identity of entering students. Rapidly, a young man, with fair hair and stylish outfit, runs at her and tries to steal her bag. She fights back and calls piercingly for help and swearing at the same time, “
Verpiss dich noob!”. The ruckus attracts the guard attention, who first was hesitating to intervene. But as the thief manages to snatch the bag, he steps out and reaches to the victim who is taking refuge in his arms and imploring him to do something about her lost possession. Meanwhile three teenagers clandestinely sneak behind him and enter the building heading for the library rooms.

Inside the empty library they follow cautiously the instruction translated by Leonie. First, they locate the right room and then the bust sculpture of the university founder Wilhelm von Humboldt. Once they find it, the written instruction states “…behind the bookshelf from where Von Humboldt reflects about the world.” Vik and Kilian search the bookshelf facing the sculpture but find nothing. They extend the searching area to the nearby bookshelf. Still nothing to be found.

“Damn, why!? Let’s read the instruction again. We must have missed something,” whispers Kilian, very close to a panic state.

“What is reflecting? Hum, a mirror! Yes, find a mirror!” Vik tips.

“But they are everywhere! It’s no use,” replies a defeated Kilian.

“Here, I can see a mural mappemonde. Ha! There are two Von Humboldt founders, and the other one is Alexander, a geographer. We thought about the wrong one! Search for Alexander’s bust,” suggests Cardinal.

“Over there, look, it faces this bookshelf containing history books,” Cardinal calls.

Facing the furniture, Vik slips his hand under the wooden furniture and reaches right to the back of it while whispering a wish, “It must be there. It has to be there. Please be there.”

 
He twists his wrist and lets his fingers slide along the edge from left to right, through the dust layers and the forgotten spider webs. His hand feels something stuck, an object slightly thick with a rectangle shape. He grabs it and pulls hard, and finally extracts a packet made of a tattered brown paper. He rips off the wrapping and unveils a blue notebook with the world “Tokamak” written on it. They finally manage to recover his father’s life work…
 
The document seems to be in the same state as if it was left here yesterday by Kurt. Vik quickly scans through it and discovers two old photographs, but also notices something rather peculiar: a page is missing!
 
 
Epilogue
The three friends exit the library with Kurt’s Blue Notebook and reunite with Leonie and Nik (the fake thief). Why is a page missing? What was on the page and who ripped it away? Who is the lady tailing the Cimarron team? Was she the one who broke in the wrong library too?
Let’s find out in the next chapter.

 
 

 * * *

 

 

Extra: Confidential Dossier
The Goldilocks principle is the concept of "just the right amount". The name is derived from the children's story "Goldilocks and The Three Bears" in which a little girl named Goldilocks finds a house owned by three bears. In the story, Papa Bear, Momma_Bear and Baby Bear, have their own food, chair and beds preference. The little girl testes all three propositions of each items and choose the one that suits hers best: not the ones that are too extreme but the one that is "just right" for her.
Goldilocks principle states that in a given sample, there may be entities belonging to extremes, but there will always be an entity belonging to the average. When the effects of the principle are observed, it is known as the Goldilocks effect. The Goldilocks conditions are a set of conditions required to get the desired effect. The concept is applied across many disciplines, particularly developmental psychology, biology, economics and engineering. Fort example in astrobiology, the Goldilocks zone refers to the habitable zone around a star, too far it will be deadly frozen, too close it will be scorching hot.

 

Translation of foreign word


German
Berliner Pfannkuchen: German pastry similar to a doughnut with no central hole
Fabelhaft: Fabulous
Verdammt: Damn it
Verpiss dich: Piss off
 
Russian
блин (blin): pancake (equivalent of Darn)

 

 

 

Read Next part The Blue Sphere V - Omega Formula

 

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Edited by Merovingian
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Approved.

 

Edits:

- only minor ones, added just few commas for the pacing.

 

Nice continuation and use of vocabulary here. What I forgot last time to mention is the use of present tense for telling the story.That's quite unique.

I would maybe advise you to also add some spoiler for translations since you use words from different languages, just in case players need them.

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Approved.

 

Edits:

- only minor ones, added just few commas for the pacing.

Nice continuation and use of vocabulary here. What I forgot last time to mention is the use of present tense for telling the story.That's quite unique.

I would maybe advise you to also add some spoiler for translations since you use words from different languages, just in case players need them.

Thanks Almighty Dictabot.

Few edits tanks to the thethiefofvictory who proofread it.

Present narrative is not unique, just underused in books - when you watch a movie it is not spoken in the past.

​A spoiler for the foreign words, I will add, good suggestion.  

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You decide.

I can't contact thethiefofvictory, he went off-grid :(

What do you mean, off-grid? Oh... I was probably just out stealing the blue sphere documents from a top secret library. Long story.

 

Anyways, I'd love to proofread, and good job on the story!

Edited by thethiefofvictory
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What do you mean, off-grid? Oh... I was probably just out stealing the blue sphere documents from a top secret library. Long story.

Anyways, I'd love to proofread, and good job on the story!

Damned, I lost your contact on Discord. - Friend me :)

Thanks, I was inspired for this part and knew what I wanted, the next is trickier.

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