INTERLUDE

Ignorance is bliss... as long as it 

doesn't cost you your life.

Anonymous

The dot on the screen is a blessing, with the deteriorating systems I feared not finding my target, that would be unforgivable, after sacrificing so much for this round of reconnaissance it would be lethal if we do not carry at least one specimen... My "bird" is of the latest generation: it uses hydrogen and in the air it has rotors that work using the fuel to the maximum, the entire navigation and electrical system is supported by the solar panels of the wings, in short, it looks like something out of a fusion between a video game and a mirror store.

The mission is perhaps the only reason we didn't put a bullet in the new president.

the new president, the previous one turned our country into a brothel. Mexico was so beautiful... first it lost almost all its ecosystems because of the bacteria I don't know what, then the company Madre Natura monopolized the only uncontaminated drink, I still remember their impositions, the few resources we managed to save were consumed voraciously, until they suddenly disappeared... just like that... just like that; one day the automated and armed trucks were traveling on our magnetic rails (the only ones with the necessary priority to spend the energy used in the tracks) and by the end of the week they stopped circulating, when we were sent to investigate we found the site in ruins, nobody answered us at the owner's terminals. It took us two days to be able to enter their offices, I still have nightmares with their automatons shooting at our official vehicles and then at our tanks, in the end we only saw some putrid bodies with the coup de grace, our scientists spent a week trying to understand the process used to avoid the toxin; the reserves (even those of the army) were almost extinct and then they arrived.

We didn't know who they were, they talked to the president, the poor bastard came from a small family, he had no gift of command, he only felt the people's demand for food and water, when they left his office we saw him with an ashen face. On the desk was a single order, we surrendered without a single battle, all for the damn mafia, it is incredible the weight and authority he granted them, they had access to all our data and our weaponry, the unemployed women and men worked at whatever they were offered as long as they could drink their version of water, a little redder and rusty tasting, by the end of the year we went from being a consuming power to depending and begging for the garbage sold to us by gangsters.

In April was our downfall, the military and the civilian organization were not willing to fall, so we took two measures: we replaced the president with one of the most skilled civil planning engineers, the first thing he did was to reorganize our resources and start recycling, the second thing was to look for the first water filters so we could replicate them; that I do in the middle of nowhere, in the past it was a temperate forest mountain range, today it is just a desert panorama, thanks to this I caught the metallic signal of what we call "thermos"... we cannot continue with the mafia versions, forgetting that most of our people are protecting thugs. In analyzing their liquid version we find that it contains small doses of toxin - much less than drinking water in its natural state - but still causes that degeneration of the blood and a slow death, but death nonetheless, plus it contains alkaloids that make people addicted. I have seen many properties and goods sold for one more liter of its vice and survival.

I landed two hours ago, my vehicle is modern but not maneuverable in steep terrain, I already warned the base and I walk to where the signal appeared, the heat is intense, my semi full suit is one of the inventions of the new administration; it recovers the lost water and one can drink it again, I don't mind drinking my sweat, far from it, but the process takes several hours and the suit is hot as hell, without trees or anything the sun is inclement.

I regain consciousness with a breath of evening air; I check my condition: I suffered a sunstroke shock, the good news is that at least I have water, 200 ml processed, warm but it tastes like glory. I'm afraid it's not enough, I can't quench such a severe thirst with so little water, but I'll have to make do, I asked for this mission because otherwise I'd have to be fighting in the streets the poor crazy people who started with cannibalism and vampirism... Hell! What people do. I better walk soon, every minute that passes many people are getting addicted and maybe there is no salvation if I delay. The entrance of the cavern welcomes me with a cool breeze, the interior is illuminated with a tiny green light and in the background, my prize. It is shaped like a cylinder, even its body is contracted; it has a lot of metal inside and outside it, it has no arms and some stupid little hooks move along its structure, making adjustments here and there; when I approach it stops what it is doing and fixes its eyes on me, I have no idea how it traveled hundreds of kilometers from Madre Natura's womb. The state of its machinery is pitiful to say the least, as I get close enough it speaks to me... it was already prepared by our scientists, still a shiver runs through my body, not because of the moans that only come out in two tones, that when prolonged and dead you feel their life almost on a thread, they should be called banshees (a monster that warned with howls when someone would die). I take out my personal computer and start inserting, long sound is 1 and short howl is 0; it's an old language, they explained to me to be strings of 0 and 1 in groups of eight, I don't know how to translate it but my computer does, it's a little slow but it invites me to sit down.

There in front of one of the last scientists who knows what happened: he tells it and everything is being recorded in the machine; I feel thirsty, very thirsty, the night has fallen but I do not notice. I only see several bowls full of water, several sealed barrels and in the background a dripping insists on calling, when I politely ask him to let me stretch my legs I check that it is a water source, my people are late and what is left of their brain wanders about the long term effects of peritoneal fluid consumption, the need for several changes to the original design, I only hear the water... It is such a weird feeling! My suit can't get more sweat out of me; it is true that it is cool inside but I can't live taking humidity out of the air!

I am drinking water, first from the basins and finally from the source. It tastes fresh and spicy, the doctor keeps talking but I don't listen to him anymore, he scares me and the machine already has enough information about his tones and can keep receiving information; I am satisfied and very tired; I feel the weight on my body, I lie down on the floor of the cave which is cool and comfortable; I take out my food ration, as I eat it I accompany it with other drinks of water and I sink into a relaxing sleep.

A small claw wakes me up. The scientist keeps talking and scratching my face, apparently I slept too long because I hear the helicopter coming for him. I try to stand up and feel a stiff sensation, I look down at the computer and read: "Don't drink from there you idiot! It's filtered water from a radioactive reservoir... you already drank it, you're doomed, why don't you read what I'm telling you, we can save humanity but I think seeing your suicidal attitude I don't know if it's worth it". He was right that I am a real idiot and about the value of saving humanity, day by day we eat each other, the mafia has the population in its hand but we were always in the hands of someone, the government, the companies — that have not shown their faces for months and their automatic weapons make it a nuisance to approach —. We got lazy to fight... I will die for my thirst... I hope it is still time for the rest.