Chapter 41 Berta the fish 

"You said we could use anything. " came from Min.

"John and Bettina had the idea," came from Babsi.

"Is that so?" he looked at John, who smiled and so did Bettina.

"Seven days off Alex," she then said. 

Alex sighed.

"Ei then. " he looked at the women.

"Starting tomorrow. You decide whose turn it is and when."

"We did, Babsi comes first. Because she still has appointments, then comes Min, Gitte, then April, Mei, Liz and finally me," said Jannet. 

"Good, then we'll start tomorrow. John probably has a few things for me. They have to be done before he can have fun with Bettina for a week."

John cleared his throat while Bettina smiled. 

The day passed in a relaxed manner, with Susan, Geni, Miles and Xin returning from the center at noon and settling into the house. Bibi was also given a room. 

Miles looked around the house.

"A.J., why a hut on the beach and not a palace?"

Alex grinned.

"Well, because you always told me to get something I could fix myself. "

Miles looked at him. 

"You have people around you. " 

Alex nodded and looked at his women.

" And they break a lot of things..."

" It's their own fault." 

Sue came in, dropped her bag when she saw Miles and hugged him warmly. 

Miles smiled.

Luke stood somewhat helplessly next to the dropped bag and looked at his mother in confusion. Who was being hugged by Geni and Susan. Sue looked at him.

"Luke come on!" 

He tilted his head.

"Ohh like puppy" came from Susan, she ran to him, picked him up and hugged him. 

" Mom... who are they... babysitting again? can't I just stay with...? " came out painfully.

"No honey, this is your aunt and" she grabbed him and placed him in front of Miles, who looked at Luke.

"This is your great-great-grandfather."

The word seemed to confuse him even more.

Miles laughed.

"I'm your grandfather's grandfather. "

Luke's eyes grew wide. 

"I have a grandfather from my grandfather ... the others in the class won't believe me."

"You're going to school already?" asked Mile, sitting down on the couch. 

Luke looked at the couch, saw the cuddly toys and then nodded.

"How old are you?" 

"Six and I'm in second grade. "

Miles looked at Sue. 

" I could have had him when I was four, but Mom wouldn't let me." 

She squatted down next to Luke and stroked his head.

"If you wanted him to start school at four, is he gifted?" 

Genie came.

"Matter of opinion, according to the doctor yes, according to Mom too, but because he's still so little, she wants to play it safe and if Tess has her way. Well..."

"Who is Tes?" 

"My godmother, she's clever. She always corrects my tests and says that the ones I took at the doctor's are bullshit," Luke grinned and got a pat on the back of the head.

"Behave yourself, Luke!"

Luke rubbed the spot. 

"But Mom, that's what you always say on the phone when you ..." 

She covered his mouth. 

Miles laughed. Looked at Alex.

"Do you know who he reminds me of?" 

"Uh, no." came the reply.

"My big brother Henry, he was just like that. Do you remember him?" 

Alex went pale for a moment, as if he was remembering something bad. 

Luke looked at Miles questioningly.

"That was Alex's godfather, he was a platform diver when he came over from the combat divers. "

"Did he see sharks too?" 

" Sharks?" 

Sue sighed.

"Ever since he saw a giant mutant in an observatory, that's been his favorite." 

"You have an underwater observatory, AJ?" 

Alex was smoking and had settled into armchairs.

"I don't. I'm fine with the normal ones off the coast. Liz, who owns the observatory Luke saw?" 

Liz stopped, holding a box of loot from Vegas.

"Since there are no officials in the mutant-infested waters right now, I'd say Observatory 7 belongs to the group. 2 and 5 are destroyed. 2 because Hirni's experiment there went wrong and 5 was found by adventurers and destroyed themselves. "

"What kind of experiment?" Miles asked. 

"They were experimenting with titan fish. What was the name of that movie Dad has lying around here? ah Deep Blue Lake, something about titan fish. The animals were huge." 

"And that's swimming around in the sea now?" came from Gini.

Liz put the box down, crouched down and rummaged around in it.

"No. The group gave a report after my team got stuck with the big one. They gave a report and Uther came. I think the critter is chilling in an aquarium somewhere."

Alex sighed.

"What, he said the critter's too smart."

"Oh oh then that's Jim!" came from Luke, who had sat down next to Miles.

Liz looked at him and sighed.

"Yeah. Jim... wait, have you seen him?" 

Luke nodded vigorously.

"Aunt Va showed him to me. One eye was as big as mommy! " 

Liz typed hastily on her cell phone and hung her head as a buzzing reply came.

"What did Teresa say, Liz?" asked Alex.

"That it's Observatory 1, the group's main underwater research facility, and that the shark in my cell phone photo is called Berta." 

"Berta..." repeated Luke. Sue looked at Liz.

"Why do you give it that name?" 

Liz smiled and took out a packet, which she handed to Sue. She looked at Liz skeptically.

" This is for you, we bought it for you in Las Vegas. "

"I see." Sue took the bundle and looked at it. 

Luke rummaged in his backpack and pulled out a digital camera wrapped in a rubber case.

"Grandpa, do you want to see Berta?" He clicked through the menu and stared at the mini display.

"A.J. can we see the pictures on your TV?" 

"Yes. Why?" 

"My eyes aren't what they were when I was twenty, it's a wonder the kid can see anything at all. "

Alex sighed. Mei walked past.

"I got this," she held out her hand to Luke. He looked at her, then clutched his camera protectively. 

"I just want to hook it up to the TV, Grandpa Miles doesn't see so well. "

Very hesitantly, he gave her the camera, went to the TV, looked at the camera. Looked at Luke.

"That's not the old Luke. "

" Aunt Tes gave it to me, said it's from the camp and it can take a beating."

" I see. And did she say what she has to endure?" 

Luke wanted to say something, but didn't dare. 

"Come on, say something." 

"She said she can even withstand the rough hands of the red-haired ogre. Even if I don't know who that is ..." 

Alex looked at Jannet, who was staring at Luke.

"I know who she means," he said.

Meis connected the camera, the menu panel opened and Galerie appeared. Mei called up the first image, which showed a warehouse with endless rows of shelves full of equipment. 

Then a picture of Luke sitting in front of a pile of books.

"Where is that? And what are you doing there?" asked Sue.

"That's Aunt Tes's place on the main campus and I'm studying with Tes. "

Mei clicked on a picture of snow-white corridors with scattered potted plants, then on a picture of the airfield. 

"Oha, a video..." 

Mei clicked on it. 

It showed a transit corridor, employees walking past. They came to an underground station where cargo was being loaded. Omega soldiers stood at the entrances. 

"Mei, stop the car," came from Liz, who rushed to the TV. 

Mei did. 

"Where's the group's central hub?" she pointed to crates. 

"There are weapons in there, there are drugs in there, there are clothes in there." 

Mei rolled her eyes and let the video continue, cargo robots that looked more like spiders were dragging the crates. 

"Bah, I totally forgot they used to exist. " came from Alex. 

Miles looked at him.

"We have robots?" 

" More like tin dolls, Area 51 is supposed to have had some and when they showed them to me. Well, the human ones, the power lasts for a few hours, then they have to be recharged. They have simple tasks. It was very much scaled down to drones and what the troops have. .." 

Min came in chattering, watching the TV. 

 "I didn't know there were pictures of the Hub."

Mei pointed at Luke. 

" Those are of him, Dad was just making fun of the robots. " 

Min looked at Alex.

"What, three quarters of the population said no after the Iran Liberation malfunction thing. "

Min smiled and sat down with him.

" True, but you forget Uther told us to watch the refrigeration back then, which we didn't do. " 

"Cooling..." he mumbled to himself. 

Va stepped out of a train, she looked huge, the mask was now a helmet which looked even more intimidating, the overral was bloody and her combat gloves were bloody, she held a heavy sledge hammer in her hand. 

Mei stopped the recording. 

She tapped against Va.

"There, that's the one John doesn't like any more than Uther does. "

Liz nodded. Mei pressed play again. There was no sound, Va seemed to be summoned, her faceless helmet turned to the camera and she came closer.

"Oh, oh, this is Va, grandfather of grandfather, she said, she was in South America on the long pig. " 

Mile looked at Alex worriedly. 

"Uther sent her there to find wire-pullers. " he replied.

Va crouched down and took off her helmet, revealing the face Liz, Mei and Alex already knew underneath. Mile stared at the face, mesmerized. 

Luke looked at him. 

"What's going on? " 

"Nothing, just memories from childhood. "

The video ended, images of a train faded in, then the entrance hall of the underwater station. Security guards at the entrances.

" There were security guards everywhere, afraid to check Aunt Va. " 

Images of fish tanks with all kinds of fish appeared, then a photo of a giant squid eye.

"That must be Jim. "

Luke nodded vigorously.

"He was banging on the glass, but calmed down when Dad looked him in the eye and said he was being fed. "