Border Conspiracies

Eli perched at the edge of an old rusty metal railing, both legs stepping above its lowest beam. Her thick brown curls struggled to break free from the black hair-lace that was knotting them together behind her neck in a ponytail. The railing was the only thing that separated her from the edge of a cliff.

The Muarawetan fishing bay stretched a few meters ahead of her. She picked a viewpoint and grabbed the vintage wooden binocular that had been dangling on her neck. She scanned through it; her new extended view now went past a sea wall that separated the bay into a different area. Her eyes zeroed at a particular point above the waters.

There was a thumping sound, and Eli jerked sideways towards the source. A worn-out duffle bag dropped, followed by a boy who plopped down comfortably beside it. He crossed his legs and laid back at a tree bark behind him.

"This better be worth it. I ditched a three-hour part-time bonus for this."

Hearing that familiar heavy-accented voice, Eli's tensed nerves relaxed. For a second, she thought some Border Police had caught her trespassing. She was so focused on finding the best view to the Muarawetan Bay that she had forgotten she wasn't alone. She had invited Dirga, her most valuable informant. He's not just a regular informant, he's a curant—a native resident of the Curantine Slum.

"Don't worry urchin, this is gonna be worth it," Eli said, giving him a grin.

She navigated back to the frame she was observing earlier, and she could make out sporadic particles of black matter, floating about in the middle of nowhere. Beyond the railing, there were massive thick acres of bushes and trees, stretching between her and the utmost edge on a lower narrow ledge, and this had blocked a certain portion of her view. She carefully stepped above the second beam of the railing and pulled her body up.

The cliff they were in was strategically located between the Border District that separated the Intrecity Walls with the Curantine Slums. It was the only place where they can view the naval borders between the two, which apparently had become the key location to Eli's latest subject of investigation.

"So how much do you know about the explosion incident this morning?" she said, her eyes still focused on the black matter visible from her view.

"Seriously? You won't even let me breathe for a sec?"

Eli averted her eyes from her binocular and gave Dirga a deadly demanding glare.

"Fine," Dirga lift both hands in retreat. "This morning, a local fisherman wife said she heard an explosion somewhere, she was doing her morning prayer. When she got outside, it was dark, so she only saw a blaze of fire in the waters."

"Do you think she was referring to those pieces of burnt metals?" Eli pointed out her fingers to the ocean.

Dirga was too lazy to get up, so he just shrugged. "Maybe."

Eli looked through her binocular again and followed the trails of the objects, the area of it extending wider and wider as she navigated her view to the right. It was leading to something. She would have been able to see where it was going if it weren't for the thick acres of trees and bushes that were blocking her view.

"Do you have any more evidence?" Eli prompted. "Like a close proximity shot or perhaps, a footage?"

"Hm, let's see," Dirga scratched his chin, thinking for a moment.

"You see, it's very classified info. Even if I do, if I give it to an Intrecite, I'd be in so much trouble. So—"

"I'll give you extra 50 bucks," Eli said, followed by a forced grin.

"And free lunch for the week,” Dirga added.

"Deal," Eli said a millisecond later.

"Oh, would you look at that..." Dirga took out his phone from his trouser pocket and skillfully flipped it through his fingers. He smirked. "It's your lucky day. I got a video, fresh from the aftermath."

Eli's mouth stretched to a grin. She was about to snatch the phone out of Dirga's hand when he pulled it back and shoved his other free hand at her. Eli rolled her eyes and handed him 5 dollars. Dirga shoved the banknotes to his trouser pocket and handed Eli the phone. Without wasting any more seconds, she played the footage.

It was pitch black. Eli could hear voices of local curants interlope with the other. She couldn't make out what they were saying, it sounded like one of the many eastern Curantine dialects, but she could feel the tension and panic with the tone of their voices. A few seconds into the video, shades of light came into view, and that was when she realized how shaky the camera work was. The person recording must have been running the entire time, she could even hear his breath, panting. As it sped up, the light took over, and Eli can see the silhouette of other villagers. There was a massive source of light in the distance, and the camera was running closer towards it. It shook more, blurring its focus. It finally stopped, and the camera refocused, gradually capturing the source of light. There was a massive red spark, emerging far in the middle of the waters.

"Interesting," Eli said.

She handed the phone back to Dirga.

"An unnamed cargo exploded outside the Intrecity naval borders, less than a day after GrantEx suffered a malicious attack that spread their secret crime document to the whole world... the government claimed to have investigated the entire building for evidence, but found no trace of drug whatsoever..."

She halted from her pacing and turned at Dirga. "Don't you smell anything fishy here?"

"Nah. Muarawetan's been scarce of fishes for weeks now. I only smell salt and seagull poop."

Eli went through the information she had so far again in her head and tried to thread them together.

Dirga raised his brows at her. "Wait, you saying the explosion's no accident?"

Eli began pacing again. She was now playing around with the pen in her fingers.

"The fact that the cargo conveniently exploded outside the gates right after the hacking incident, and just before the government's investigation, at an area inaccessible to view from Intrecity, and how there wasn't single evidence found from the said investigation...," Eli listed each event with her fingers. "It doesn't seem like an accident to me. “

"You saying GrantEx destroyed their own cargo?"

Eli nodded. "Possibly. With the government's help."

Dirga chuckled. "Bold of you to come up with all that when your only source is a teenage penniless curant who's clearly capitalizing on his status."

"I didn't just assume," Eli slightly raised her voice. "I heard about the government's investigation report straight from my dad's phone conversation this morning."

Eli's father works in the Ministry of Transparency and Control. He was one of the specialists working on the 'Control' aspects of the ministry, the one that monitors information and ensures the safety of its distribution among the intrecity-dwellers.

"You eavesdrop your dad's call?"

Eli shrugged. "I bugged his room."

Dirga made a face. "Creepy."

"Also, there's a new discussion in Theoricon—"

"Theoricon? That forum for conspiracy enthusiasts?" Dirga said incredulously. He chuckled. "What new facts did you find? Forgotten underworld civilization of Amazon discovered? Proof that Paragov is ruled by aliens from Mars, secretly planning for the invasion of mankind?"

This wasn't the first time someone made fun of her for joining Theoricon. She couldn't blame them.

"Oh, shut up. Amazon was real, okay? The Glacial Flood drowned it, and it's mostly a rainforest, not a civilization. If you dive deep to the Brazillia ocean floor, you'll find—"

"Mermaids and giant sea turtles?"

"—giant trees and giant snakes, yes. Giant snakes were real, they're called Anacondas."

"Sure Eli, sure," Dirga gave her a thoughtful nod. "Giant chickens' also real. They're called Dragons."

Eli narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. She had no time to argue about conspiracy theories.

"Anyway, that could be a huge lead to prove that GrantEx is hiding something," Eli said, pointing at the bay area with floating metal carcass in the distance.

"Yeah. Sure. A glob of disgusting black matter is definitely aftermath of a blown-up mafia delivery express," Dirga said. "Don't need anything else to prove that."

"Not if we find someone, or something coming to pick up the remaining pieces. Which I believe will come soon."

"So uh… we're just gonna sit here and wait?"

"Yep."

"Don't you at least have some snack or something?"

Eli put down her binocular and shot him with narrowed eyes. "You think I invited you up here for a picnic?"

"You could've just said no."

Eli returned to her binocular. "If only we have a clearer view, maybe we can find some clues."

She dared herself to step onto the third beam of the railing and pulled herself up. That was when she saw the tip of a lighthouse buried behind the tall trees that had blocked her view. Her eyes widened in excitement, as she discovered that there's an extension to the cliff edge in front of her.

"That's it!"

Dirga jerked abruptly from his peaceful retreat. He sat up and followed her gaze. The moment he caught the head of the lighthouse, his nerves tensed in horror.

"N—no, no, no, no. Don't do anythin' stu—"

Too late. Eli already made her leap. She jumped from the railing and began sliding down to the surface of the ledge one level below her.

"—pid," Dirga sighed. He scratched his head in frustration. He hates it when she does that.

Seconds later, he followed her, jumping over the railing effortlessly, and slide down towards the lower ledge and into the sea of green below him.

After some effort, Dirga finally freed himself from the maze of jumbled tree branches and reached the porch to the entrance of the lighthouse. He saw a glimpse of Eli's red flannel shirt entering into the opening. He followed closely behind.

"Should've asked for more money. Ya know, considering the risk and all, following around some crazy girl who'll jump off cliffs for a bloody snapshot of some freaking ocean blob."

Dirga brushed away the tree branches sticking to his clothes and hair, and the smear of dirt that covered some parts of his hand. He then examined his new environment. It was a very simple construction of a circular concrete wall, with a metal spiral staircase at the heart of it.

Eli was already halfway up, and Dirga rushed to catch up to her. As he reached the top, he found Muarawetan Bay stretched wide in front of him, with nothing blocking its edge.

Eli couldn't hide her excitement. She skipped to the edge of the railing, ready to take her pictures. She could even see where the waves met the foot of the cliff from up there.

And there it was, the area of black matter. She looked through her binoculars again and that was when she saw a boat drifting closer to another batch of black matter.

She tried to zoom in with the advanced camera feature of her virtunote. The boat appeared to be a regular fisherman boat. There were 3 of them operating simultaneously, fishing the unidentified remnants out of the waters in different areas with their primitive nets. Without wasting more time, she immediately took some shots from that angle. Dirga joined her on her left.

"Do you know any of those boats?" Eli inquired.

"I've seen same type around, I guess."

"You think they might be local fisherman?"

"I don't know Eli."

Eli stopped taking pictures. Dirga could sense the confusion mixed with disappointment in her face upon her new discovery.

"Look, Eli, there's barely any fish around since Lien Tech made that synthetic island across the bay. Fishes been dying on this side of the beach. Can't blame fisherman from doing some random shady gig for gangsters or something."

Eli sighed. "Or executing dirty jobs for the government."

"That's just the way it is, Eli."

Eli turned at him in disbelief. "How can you be so chill about all this?"

"When you grow up in chaos, you get used to them,” Dirga shrugged indifferently.

"So, you just pretend that it's not a problem?"

“What do you expect us to do?” Dirga chuckled. “This whole drug business you’re so desperate to expose, it’s not news for us. Kids younger than me already had a taste of weed. They prefer smoking than playing hide and seek. Violence? Happens every day. Pickpockets? Our next-door neighbors. What do you expect us to do? Stop living?”

Eli went quiet. Deep down she knew all of this was true and the fact that there’s nothing she can do about it frustrates her.

"There's just too much stuff going on Eli,” Dirga said. “I don’t wanna waste my time and energy on stuff I don’t need in my life."

“I just…” Eli said, her voice hanging in the air. Her fingers curled to a fist. “I just wish there’s at least something I can do about it.”

She gripped on tightly to the corroded railings of the lighthouse and looked out to the fishermen hut lining irregularly at the coastline of the bay. She saw a group of curant kids playing around in the sand.

"You’re the one I don’t get, Eli," Dirga chuckled, shaking his head. "I mean, you're born on the right side of the wall, got a loving family and a pretty house at an exclusive neighborhood, your dad is some high-ranking dude in the ministry, but you seem to hate all that. And here you are, obsessed with our problem that's got nothing to do with you."

Eli's brown eyes turned to him. There was a part of her that was ticked, and she could feel the tiny rumble inside of her each time her idealism was being questioned.

"I'm tired of living in lies," she said, sighing hard. “The people in Intrecity, they go on living in luxury without knowing any of this. I just thought maybe things would be different if they knew. Maybe they’d stop being indifferent about the oligopoly that’s ruining so many people’s lives outside the walls. That’s why, what I’m doing right now, it may seem crazy and pointless, but I just want to at least share the truth with what I know and what I have.”

Dirga could see the spark in her brown eyes, a mixture of determination, and preserved anger. The wind was wildly blowing her thick curls as it broke free from its lace and fluttered wildly to her face. She tugged them behind her ears and sighed heavily.

"Especially when my dad is the one lying to the entire country."

There was a prolonged silence. Somehow Dirga felt she wanted to say more, so he waited. But she didn't.

He leaned his body to the railing, crossed both arms on top of it, and looked out to the scarlet shade of the darkening sky. Then he chuckled.

"Well, guess when you don't have problems in life, you start searching for them yourself."

Eli didn't respond. She lifted her virtunote again and began taking more pictures. She brushed away the sudden dilemma inside of her and refocused again on her main purpose. She zoomed into the fisherman's boat and tried to capture every angle and detail as much as she could.

There was a coastal guard in uniform, patrolling just below the cliff. The diagonal distance between him and Eli was only twenty meters. Eli was snapping pictures of the boat rapidly with her virtunote, when that dramatic seconds of her and the guard locking their eyes on each other happened.

"Shit," Eli blurted.

The guard was dumbfounded. His eyes were still zeroed at Eli, when he frantically took out his communicator and began speaking into it.

"Gotta go," Dirga who also saw the guard instinctively pulled her out of view. "Next time, if you're spying on something, don't wear red."

The two of them climbed down the spiral staircase, Dirga let her proceed before him, two staircases at a time. They sprinted and raced towards the edge of the railing they had trespassed and back into the tunnel that had brought them there in the first place. Realizing how dark the tunnel was by that hour, they stopped.

"Think they'll know we went through here?" Dirga asked.

Eli nodded, panting. "There's no other possible way in. Except for the boats."

She didn't care much about trouble, she always breaks the law but with her dad's connection to the ministry, she always finds a way to talk herself out of any situation. But it will be an entirely different case for Dirga. He is a curant, and his single mom can never afford to bail him out. Not to mention how discriminative Border Polices are to them.

"I think he only saw me," Eli quickly said. "You should stay. Maybe they won't catch you."

"And get murdered by some vengeful slave ghost? D'you know how many of my ancestors forced to build this tunnel to death? No thanks. I prefer juvy."

Eli laughed. Suddenly her tensed nerves relaxed a little. At times like this, she's thankful that Dirga is around.

"Look Eli, we got no time for any smart-ass escaping plan right now. Let's just make a run for it."

Eli nodded. "You still remember the tunnel route, right?"

"By rote."

"Good. Run as fast as you can and don't wait for me."

"Wasn't planning to."

Eli shoved him playfully. Without wasting more seconds, the two of them continued running along the damp pathway, deeper and deeper into the depths of the tunnel, until darkness completely took over.