Tense Moment

A MOTE Prompt Response

I gazed around at the shivering crowd. We were all bunched up against the barriers, held there by the militia. It was cold and getting colder as the day waned.

“This is bullshit,” I muttered to Kariana. She stood, arms folded, staring at the dark blue vans marked with the Confed’s blue and white eagle.

“Can you get your datapalm out and recording without anyone seeing you?” she murmured through unmoving lips. Her eyes never left the vans and the group of officers gathered around them.

“Yes.” I slipped my hand into my coat pocked and eased it back out, the datapalm concealed in my hand. I reached up to scratch my shoulder and let the datapalm slide into the small, decorative pocket on the chest of my coat. The back of the datapalm was black and from a distance, was indistinguishable from my jacket. A small red light on the side facing the jacket was the only indication the datapalm was recording. I tapped Kariana’s arm with my fingers to indicate I’d done as she asked.

“Good.” Once again, Kariana’s lips never moved. I’d have to get her to teach me that trick. It was quite useful when there were cameras everywhere, recording every move and every conversation.

The electric tension in the air was terrible. We were all waiting for something, anything, to happen. This was a breaking point. If the militia started firing… This time they and the Confed bureaucrats would find out that people were going to fight back and were willing to die for their freedoms. This was the moment.

A child in the crowd started loudly crying and I heard the frantic voice of the mother as she tried to calm him or her down. The soldiers facing us tensed and one even started to raise his weapon.

“Are they really going to open fire over a child?” I muttered, not caring if the cameras picked up my comment. Kariana didn’t move and didn’t stop watching the officers gathered around the vans. I could see some concerned looks being exchanged in that group and that made me more curious.

“What the hell is going on?” I scratched my nose to hide my mouth. I really needed to learn Karian’s trick of talking without moving my mouth.

“They’re waiting for someone to give them the go-ahead. Whoever that is, is late in the response. These guys don’t know what to do and they don’t want to do anything that they might get blamed for.” Once again, Kariana managed to say all that without moving her lips.

Movement over on the far side of the crowd drew my attention. I could see a wave coming through the crowd, like the bow wave of a ship, toward us. I glanced down at Kariana and saw a small smile tug at her lips.

“Took you long enough, Georg,” she murmured.

The wave of movement reached us and a tall man wearing an expensive-looking dark wool overcoat shouldered his way to Kariana’s side. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Hey, sis. I got your message. What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Hopefully, nothing. They shoved us all over here, set up barricades shouting about unlawful protests, and now they’re just milling about waiting for something. The soldiers are tense and the crowd is tenser. This is going to blow up soon and it won’t be good for anybody. Oh, and Sören here was recording everything.” Kariana made a barely noticeable gesture toward me.

Georg turned and nodded. “Excellent. Keep recording.” He patted Kariana’s hand and waded through the crowd toward the barrier, shoving it out of the way. Before the startled soldier could react, Georg was striding toward the group of officers. One of them with lots of stripes on his arm, noticed Georg and waved off the soldier who was now frantically waving at the officers. I was happy to note that the soldier’s first response was not to shoot Georg.

“That overcoat is kevfiber. It can withstand just about anything,” Kariana murmured. “I always wanted one like that, but Papa said I wouldn’t ever be in a situation where I needed one and he couldn’t justify the cost.”

“We really need to talk about your family,” I muttered.

“Perhaps. But not right now.” Kariana turned and looked at me with a small smile. “I promise I will tell you everything.”

By now, Georg had reached the group of officers and was shaking hands with everyone. One of the NCOs who’d been hanging around the edges stalked down to the soldiers facing the crowd and made a curt gesture. After a moment of puzzled looks and shrugs, the soldiers lowered their weapons and pulled aside the barricades. The sergeant gave the crowd a cursory glance.

“I suggest you all go home now.” His parade-ground voice echoed off the buildings behind us. He turned and marched back to the group huddled by the dark blue vans.

I glanced down at Kariana. “Does that include us as well?”

She gave a short nod. “Let’s go over to that coffee place you like on the next block. Georg will meet us there.”

“Okay.” I held out my arm and she tucked her hand in. We strolled off through the diminishing crowd.

******

My prompt challenge this week came from Leigh Kimmel: The terrible electric tension in the air as we all waited… As always, if you need a short escape from reality, find your way over to More Odds Than Ends and see what the others have come up with. Go on! You know you want to!

*Image made with ChatGPT by me.