31 Merve
Back at the office, Lia said, “Pru, I’ve got some returns from the scans we’re running in Turpan.”
“Great! Anything useful?”
“Not too much, I think. We haven’t located any of the hostage’s CIDs, but that may just mean they’re underground.” She anticipated Pru’s next remark with a shrug, “Or, we’re not looking in the right place. We’re revising the scan areas.”
Pru grinned, welcoming the changed relationship. She felt willing cooperation and acceptance from the other woman. “What about Kurshan?” she asked.
“Nothing there either. But, we do have something on this Batuk– the CID you’re talking with.”
“Let me see.”
Lia keyed a file to the screen. They considered the limited information available, including the photo of a 30-something man with distinctive Han features.
“Do you have access to his PID?” Pru asked.
“We’re working on that. We’re still trying to convince the civil authorities that holding 30 hostages is illegal. I should have something soon.”
“Let me know when you do.” Pru pulled on the end of her nose, thinking. “What’s the location of the com that answers Batuk’s CID?”
Lia’s face flushed slightly. “We’re having a little trouble with that. Someone’s spoofing the com’s ID. I’ve got a crew working on it, but right now it’s telling me he’s located in Taipei.”
“Any chance that’s true?”
“None at all. Anyway, Xing’s already checked that location. It’s a noodle shop.” The two women grinned at each other.
Pru said, “We have to get in contact with him again, that’s my next step. Maeve will be working with me; she speaks Turkish.”
“Not Uighur?”
“Actually, she speaks some, but we’re hoping it will work. We’re still playing it by ear. I need to contact whoever this is, and I need to be able to keep him busy long enough for us to get more information.
“What do you have on Baltar?”
Lia called up a CID on Elik Baltar. Surprisingly, there was no image of his face.
“No picture? How come?” Pru asked.
“It sometimes happens out there. Xinjiang is a long way from here and sometimes things slip between the cracks.”
“Can you get me anything about who his parents are?”
“Why is that?” Lia asked.
“I have a hunch. This Batuk looks Han. Whoever I’m talking to has a grudge against Han, says he can tell a Han by looking at him. That’s not rational anymore but even if he’s irrational, why is someone who hates Han using a Han’s CID? Try and find out who Baltar’s parents and grandparents are, would you?”
“Sergeant Major Xing? Would you get someone busy on that?”
“Certainly, Captain.”
Pru changed the subject. “Will we be able to move out to Turpan tonight?”
Lia nodded. “We’ve got that underway. I’ve sent some of the force ahead so that we don’t all arrive at once. I couldn’t find the right kind of light transport, so I sent them in twos and threes on the LD Metro to Kurshan. We’ll move the rest of the troops in after dark in our own lifters. I’ve organized transport for the heavy equipment and support stuff, and we can lift that in tonight and move it to a location outside of town before morning.”
“How are you getting your advance party from Kurshan to Turpan?”
Lia grinned. “Xing signed them up for a sightseeing bus tour of Turpan. They’ll be there a couple of hours ahead of us.”
“Very good, Lia. Thank you.” She hesitated. “Just one thing,” Pru went on. “Turpan is the bellybutton of China…” Lia looked up with a puzzled expression. “I mean, it’s the lowest point – below sea level. And, it’s on the edge of the Takla Makan desert. Are you going to be able to hide anything out there? I’d think you could see a ’mobile 80 klicks away.”
Lia smiled. “You have a point, Pru, but Sergeant Major Xing’s got some tricks up his sleeves. You’ll see.”
.oOo.
In her temporary office, Pru and Maeve sat for a moment discussing tactics.
“My first problem is to get his guy to talk to me,” Pru said. All he does is repeat himself. I’m almost sure there’s something fishy about him, but maybe I’m just making that up. Let me talk with him for a while, see how well you think you can communicate. If you have any ideas, write them down for me. Is that all right with you?”
Maeve nodded. “Sounds good. I really need to keep quiet until I’m sure we’ll be able to communicate. Pity there aren’t more Uighur speakers here at OSG.”
“Sort of tells you something about the isolation of that part of China. It’s been that way for hundreds of years. The Han never wanted anything to do with it until population pressure got intense. Now that population is more stable, they’re putting less pressure on the western borders. There’s not much out there but two of the world’s biggest and nastiest deserts, but of course, the natives love it.”
“So, what’s this guy’s complaint?”
“I think it’s partly ethnic bigotry and partly religious bigotry coming off an economic base. Nasty combination, if you ask me.”
“And, what does he want?”
“I’m going to try and find that out in this session.”
Pru turned to the com, set it to Voice Only and called the Batuk CID.
“What do you want?” responded the familiar voice. “Are you ready to agree to my demands?”
“Good afternoon,” Pru replied. “This is Kanar. What is your name?”
“My name is not important.”
“Well, are you Elik Baltar? Or, are you someone else? The demands you mention are signed with Elik Baltar’s CID, so I need to talk to him. What’s the point of talking with someone who can’t negotiate?”
“There will be no negotiation.”
“All right then, are you authorized to accept our terms or to release the hostages?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I will assume you are Elik Baltar. Since you have stopped saying “we”, I assume you are the only person involved. Elik, have you determined whether your hostages are Han or Muslim?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“But what is the point of holding hostages who are the people you are trying to help?”
The two went around that point for several minutes, with Pru getting nowhere. Periodically, she glanced at Maeve, who nodded and passed notes that she could understand the conversation. Eventually, she changed her approach.
“Elik, are these hostages getting adequate food and drink? Do any of them require medical assistance? We are unable to access their medical implants, so we can’t tell.”
“You will not be able to reach them until you agree to my demands, or until they are dead.”
“Are you feeding them?”
“They are being fed.”
“Do you have adequate supplies for the entire period?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Are there any medical problems?”
“No.”
Pru changed tacks again. “You say you want all Han removed from the Uighur area. What do you mean by the Uighur area? Would you define that, please?”
“The Uighur area is all that area of the traditional nomadic settlements.”
“Please be specific, Elik. Nomads roam over a wide area. You need to give me an area in modern terms, or I can’t even begin to tell you whether we can meet your demands.”
“You will meet my demands, or the hostages will die.”
“Yes, so you say, but I still need to know what you are talking about.”
They talked for some time as Pru attempted to isolate a target area, but with little success. She attempted to determine which towns or cities Baltar considered to be Uighur or Han, and finally made some progress.
“Do you have a map there, Elik?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, draw a line to the west of these towns.” She named the towns that had been identified as Han. “Are all the towns to the east of that line Uighur?” They went over the map again, moving the dividing line slightly as they talked.
After almost two hours of talk and difficult negotiation, Pru was growing tired. On the other hand, Baltar seemed to be no more fatigued than at the outset. Maeve touched Pru’s arm and passed a note: “Time to switch.”
Pru nodded. “Elik, I am going to have to consult with others on what we have discussed. I have another person here who will take up another issue with you. Her name is Merve.”
“Are there no men among you? Must I only speak with women?”
“We are the ones you must deal with if you want to gain your objective, Elik. I am leaving now. You will continue to speak with Merve.” Pru gestured to Maeve to continue.
“Good afternoon, Elik. I am Merve,” she said, moving into Pru’s seat at the desk.”
“You are not Uighur. You speak Uighur, but you are not one of us.”
“That is correct. I am Turkish. But, I had many friends while I was at university who are Uighur. Perhaps you have studied in Istanbul CA; many Uighur have done so.
“But, that is not what I need to talk with you about. You are demanding that all Han be removed from Uighur land. How do you expect us to do that?”
“That is your concern, not mine. They must leave our lands.”
“All right, then. Tell me who is a Han?”
“It is easy to tell. You just have to look at them.”
“But there are many Uighur who look like Han. How do you tell who is who?” Maeve began writing on her note pad and beckoned to Pru, who looked over to see what she had written. “Get me a beer!”
Pru left the office and found Sgt Major Xing. “Can you get some beer for Maeve? She’s Irish, and those people can’t talk without a glass of beer in their hand.” Xing chuckled and went off, returning shortly with a bottle of Xing-Tao and a good backup supply. They both slipped into the office quietly, and handed Maeve a glass. She drank thirstily and went on with her fruitless dialog.
“Well, is a person with one Han parent Han or Uighur?”
“Such a person is Han.”
“How can that be? What if the father is Uighur and the child is brought up as Uighur? What if the child cannot speak Mandarin?”
“Everyone speaks Mandarin, except those who live in the Takla Makan.”
“Even some of those. So, how can you tell who is Uighur?”
Pru and Xing slipped out as the endless dialog continued.
“Ms Whiteside,” Xing began.
“Call me Pru, sergeant major”
“Thank you, I wasn’t sure.” He smiled at her. Shorter than Pru by several inches, he was probably ten years older. He radiated the competence he had already demonstrated. He went on in Mandarin. “Pru, this Baltar. It’s his voice. I am not convinced that he is a native Uighur speaker. It is difficult to judge, since I have not heard him speak Mandarin, but there are echoes there that do not sound like a native Uighur.”
“Very interesting, Xing,” Pru replied, calling him by his surname as he had offered nothing else. “When I began talking to him, we spoke Mandarin. Mandarin isn’t my native language, certainly not Uighur. You could listen to the recordings of our first conversation. I’d like to get your opinion. Do you think he’s Han pretending to be something else?”
“I cannot say at this time, Pru. But, I will listen to the record and see if I can tell you anything.” Xing came to attention and walked off down the corridor.
Pru went back into the office.
.oOo.
Captain Jiang, meanwhile, had been organizing the move to Turpan. A major portion of the force was already moving there with instructions to act like tourists.
“I’m not convinced our people can really act the part, Xing,” she told her Sergeant Major.
Xing grinned, “I’ve organized them as a tour group, Captain. As secretary of the Force Benevolent Association, I got a travel company to set up a tour of the area. They’ll be no more noticeable than any other bunch of sightseers.”
Lia chuckled. “Very good, Xing. I can always count on you. How goes it with moving the force supplies?”
“As required Captain. We’ll be on the target by 0100, and under cover by about 0300.”
“When should we move Whiteside and O’Leary?”
“If they don’t break contact beforehand, we can move them as soon as it gets dark. After dark would be best, in any case.”
“Agreed. Get on with it, then.”
Yes, sir.”
.oOo.
Pru and Maeve talked, in turns, with Elik Baltur into the early evening. Finally, Pru decided that enough was enough.
“Elik, if that is who you are, we must leave you now. We will consult with our people here and decide what we can do. We will call you tomorrow at 0800.”
“Very well, but remember there will only be eight days left.”
“We are well aware of that – until tomorrow.” Pru broke the connection and turned to Ma eve.
“Well, what have we got to show for six hours of talk?”
Maeve took a draught from her beer, offered a glass to Pru, who took it gratefully.
“Well, we’ve got his tentative definition of what is a Uighur,” Maeve said, “though I don’t think it would hold water anywhere, and I’ll bet you anything, he’s going to renege on it tomorrow.”
“Well, what is it, anyway?”
“A Uighur is, so far, someone with one Uighur parent, who is a Muslim, and who has been brought up in Uighur ways.”
“That’s so full of holes; we could sell it as cheese.”
“Right. Then, there’s the definition of what is Uighur land. It’s all bullshit, Pru. Tomorrow, he’s going to say it’s all wrong and make us start all over again.”
“I think you’re right. He’s figuring to keep us talking right up to the last minute, with no progress. We’ve got to find him before then.”
Sergeant Major Xing put his head in the door. “I see you’re off line. Would you care for something to eat?”
“Absolutely.” Pru said.
“What’s on offer?” asked Meave, adding, “Just not rat bars, please!”
“How does Vindaloo curry sound?”
Both women howled with laughter. “In Beijing, we get Indian take-away? Outstanding!” said Pru.