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Friday, February 27, 2015

187

Bjorn was reluctant to leave his PC with Geir. But what could he do? Frank had in a sense taken over control of it, and ordered it used by Geir. Bjorn could not very well take it with him without first talking it over with Frank.

Bjorn left the glass cage feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation. Then, as he spotted Frank up the road where Gus and his men were setting up a larger sign board, he figured he had to tell Frank how Geir had misbehaved, so in stead of heading back into the barracks, Bjorn proceeded up the road in the direction of Neiden.

Snow was melting on both sides of the road, but the tarmac was dry with the exception of the occasional trickle of water from one side of the road to the other. The tepid heat of the sun warmed his back pleasurably, and he felt strangely excited by the fact that he was walking up a stretch of road that he had never walked before.

"It's not a bad life at all, is it?" Bjorn thought to himself as he looked around at the great expanse of snow, poked through by rocks and bare knolls, recently freed from the white blanket of winter.

"Come and have a look at this," Frank said in a loud voice before Bjorn had come close enough to vent his frustration with Geir. "You got to see this! This is great."

Bjorn went up to Frank, turned around, and looked at the sign with its instruction to the drivers entering the colony from Neiden. "Passports required on entering," it read. "24 hour rule applies for tax free quotas purchased in the colony. Minors may only enter together with legal guardian."

"Well... Minors can't drive cars," Bjorn commented, thinking the last sentence a little superfluous.
"Sure, but they can hike, or take the bus," Frank countered. "There have been quite a few cases of kids getting into the colony without their guardians' consent over the last few months."
"Is that so?" Bjorn asked, feigning ignorance.
"Yep. The child protection service even had to close down its orphanage in Kirkenes and move to Alta. And even then, there have been escapes."
"Really?"
"It's a big problem. It's not something the media talks about, of course, but truth is that this colony is starting to be a lot of trouble, and I'm afraid it's our job to contain it and keep things from getting too much out of control."

Bjorn nodded thoughtfully.

"I caught Geir snooping around on my PC," Bjorn said, changing the topic of conversation to his more immediate concern.
"Really?"
"Yeah! And I'm not at all happy with him using it. I wasn't happy to start with, and I'm even less happy with this now."

Frank looked at Bjorn. "So how did you find out about this?" he asked.
"I got a message on my mobile. He was trying to change my profile."
"On your PC?"
"No. On a website where I have an account."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"That's not like him, is it? Why would he do that?"
"I don't know. But he did it, and it is my PC. I just don't want him to use it."
"You want me to talk to Geir?"
"No, no..." Bjorn answered immediately, feeling suddenly uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going. Just the thought of having Geir and Frank discuss Bjorn's profile on the Blacklist was enough to make his cringe. "I just want you to know that I'm not happy with the situation."
"Okay," Frank said, turning his attention back to Gus and his helpers. "That looks absolutely fantastic, guys!" he said with genuine enthusiasm. "Let's set up the other ones too."

Then, as Gus and his men put away their tools in the back of their truck, a car could be seen pulling up to the glass cage, down the road.

"That looks like Igor's car," Frank noted. "Let's go down and see if he brought any post with him. If we're lucky, he might have the scanner. And then your problem will be solved."
"Igor brings the post with him?" Bjorn asked.
"Yeah, once or twice a week," Frank explained.

Frank turned back to Gus and asked him if he was all right with setting up the rest of the signs on his own. Gus responded by reiterating what Frank must have told him earlier, and it was clear that Frank's help was no longer needed.

"Let's see what Igor might have brought with him today," Frank said. Then the two men headed down towards the barracks where Igor had swooped in with his van and started to offload his cargo.

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