Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
NO TRESPASSING : HAUNTED BY TRANSLATION! (1).
Gilbert and Susan had a bad feeling. The feeling that they might be in real trouble now.
Gilbert and Susan knew each other for almost fifteen years. They had a common passion : traveling, preferably to countries which were reputed as difficult to access. All their holidays and all their money were spent to this hobby.
Gilbert, 37, a somewhat tall and stocky man, was an engineer who had made it to a staff position in a telecom company. Susan, 43, slim, average figure, with blond wavy hair just above her shoulders, was a self-employed human resources consultant.
As it suited to people of the status of Gilbert and Susan, they had a considerable digital social network, wherein their passion for traveling was legendary. Gilbert and Susan were some kind of pioneers. Once they had visited, or ‘tried out’ a country, others from their network soon followed their footsteps.
But this time, things seemed to have gone wrong. Gilbert and Susan were in a military police compound. They were in a large room with only small, barred windows. There was a bench and a desk. In front of the desk sat a chubby sergeant, with a thick black walrus moustache. Gilbert found him resembling Sergeant Garcia from the Zorro series. But this was not California or a Latin American country. This was the other side of the world, this was Transkaukasia, some forgotten former republic of the late Soviet Union. They were alone with the sergeant, who wore a rather sloppy uniform, in a since long demoded 1930’s army style. But nevertheless he wore more clothing than Gilbert and Susan, who stood bare naked next to each other, hands in the neck, their clothes littered on the floor. Above the desk where ‘sergeant Garcia’ was meanwhile inspecting their properties and papers, the stern eyes on the official portrait of Dr. Ali Skrjabin, Founding Father and President for Life and Beyond of the Republic of Transkaukasia, scanned their bodies in a way that Gilbert and Susan felt intimidating.
Just about two hours earlier, Gilbert and Susan had been driving along the coast. They had decided to stop for a pick nick along the road, where they had a beautiful view over the local bay. The road was running along the mountain rim, which sloped down to sea level by a cliff. On the other side of the bay lay a port and a city. Gilbert had taken some pictures of the landscape. It was a tremendous view on the bay. Along the bay lay the capital Skrjabinpolis and the port. On the other side lay a hilly landscape. Behind it rose the magnificent Transkaukasian Mountains, with their snow white peaks, up to almost five kilometers above the sea. The visibility was fairly good that day, so they could see, some thirty kilometers from where they stood, the peaks of the famous twin mountains! Their slopes were badly visible, graying out in the haze, making it look like as if their snow covered tops hovered above the landscape. Nevertheless, they still looked majestic! These twin mountains, Mount Ulyanov and Mount Djugashvili, were the real targets of their voyage. After enjoying this beauty, they returned to their car and drove towards the capital. Suddenly, they heard a strange roar above their head. Confused at first, they discovered that a heavy assault helicopter was hovering over their car. Suddenly, the helicopter, Gilbert identified as an old Soviet model, descended in front of them and landed. Ten heavily armed soldiers jumped out and signed Gilbert to stop. They were forced to leave the car and they were taken to the helicopter, which took off immediately with them.
Once in the helicopter, they were cuffed and blindfolded. It was a short flight, which took only a few minutes, no further than the city, Gilbert and Susan estimated. After the landing, Gilbert and Susan were brought to the building they were in now. They had to face the wall and were searched. Gilbert tried to find out what was going on, but despite the fact that he did not understand the language, it was clear to him that he was ordered to shut his mouth.
Then, ‘Sergeant Garcia’ had entered. He spoke English. It seemed a relief for Gilbert and Susan, as they thought they could now explain that there was a mistake, but they got a “silence” as the only answer. Then the sergeant ordered them to stand apart. His orders were brief and short.
“You two! Strip! Everything! All clothes on the floor!”
It was clear to Gilbert and Susan that they better should obey. They took off their clothes. Once naked, they were ordered to stand with their hands in the neck.
“We wait for your goods to be brought!” And so they waited. And they still were waiting.
It was not the first time Gilbert and Susan were picked by local police forces during a travel in a ‘difficult’ country. In fact, it had happened them in about one in three of their voyages. It was not even the first time they were subjected to a strip search either. They were ‘used to it’, heaving learned that resistance would be futile. When it was all over, these searches had been a source of erotic excitement. They used it afterwards to turn each other on, by fantasizing what (naked) perils could have happened to them in case,..
But this time it seemed more serious. It took quite long. Both feared they had been framed by someone. That without their knowledge, drugs or other forbidden substances had been hidden in their luggage. But the inspection of their luggage did not reveal anything suspect. Now, ‘Sergeant Garcia’ was going through the pictures they had taken with their camera. And all the sudden, he said : “Aha!”
He turned to them and said!
“This is a picture of a warship of the Transkaukasian Navy! It is forbidden to take pictures of warships of the Transkaukasian Navy. That is spying!”
There were a few pictures with some warships, apparently frigates, which lay moored in their port in bay. The picture had been taken from the cliff a few hours ago. But it needed a high magnification of the pics to distinguish them.
“I had no idea there were warships there. I took the picture of the bay, and the mountains because it was a beautiful landscape!”
“You have been arrested because you were in a prohibited area. It is forbidden there to get off the way and walk on the cliffs! You did! And you took pictures of our warships.”
“How could we know we were not allowed to walk there?”
“There is a sign: ‘do not leave the main road. Do not photograph!’ Haven’t you seen it?”
Now Susan remembered something. There had been a sign indeed. She had quickly tried to translate it by means of her smartphone, but something had gone wrong, as she had concluded from the translation that (for some reason she did not understand why) it was allowed to leave the road and to take pictures. She figured, it was the local way to draw attention to a beautiful panorama, as it was. Definitely a struggle with the incredibly difficult local language, with its old Cyrillic characters and its sixteen inflexions. She understood now that it was her mistaken translation that had brought them into trouble.
“It is my fault, Sir, I translated the sign wrongly.”
“So, you have noticed it, but neglected it? That aggravates your case!”
“No, Sir! I told you! I…”
“Silence!”
Susan understood she better kept her mouth. ‘Anything you say shall be used against you’ seemed to be the rule here.
An officer walked in. ‘Captain Monasterio is there’, Gilbert thought. But he realized Zorro would never come to their rescue. Both men talked for a while in their native language. Then, ‘Captain Monasterio’, who turned to be a real army captain, spoke to Gilbert and Susan.
“As I hear from Sergeant, you have taken pictures of our warships, from a place it was forbidden to enter. He said you have admitted that you have neglected a sign forbidding the entrance of the area you trespassed, and forbidding to take picture, which you nevertheless did! These are serious offences! Particularly in wartime!”
“Wartime!?” Gilbert and Susan said in simultaneously.
“Yes! Wartime! We have martial law since our independence! Consequently this country is officially at war since 1992! You should know. When you enter a foreign country, you must always inform yourself about its laws and statuses! Ignorance is no excuse! As you came here into a country at war to photograph warships, you are considered as spies!”
“But, spies, for whom?”
“I hope you will voluntarily tell us! If not, we consider you as free-lance spies who sell their information to the highest bidder!”
“But this is ridiculous! We are just travelers!”
“Silence! You will appear in court! If you tell us names of contacts and of those for whom you work, the court could consider mitigating circumstances. Then, you get away with life sentence in a labor camp! If not…!”
“We want to speak to our embassy!” Gilbert said.
“Request denied! This country is at war! In war, martial law prevails over international regulations.”
“But with whom is it at war!? Not without our country!?” Gilbert asked desperately!
“With whom!? It does not matter! There is martial law, so there is war!”
“We want a lawyer!”
“No need for that! Martial law provides its own transparent guarantees for a fair trial! Now we will proceed!”
“Proceed?”
“Silence!” ‘Captain Monasterio’ walked to the door and gave an order in his language. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A soldier came in with papers. Another thick moustache. He stayed in the room, waiting for orders, and meanwhile unashamed scrutinizing Susan’s naked body. Gilbert saw the two stripes on his sleeves. Must be ‘Corporal Reyes’, no doubt!
Then ‘Captain Monasterio’ turned to them both.
“This is your declaration of guilt! Sign it please!”
“But we are not guilty! We do not sign it!”
“Silence! And by the way, never mind! It becomes proof for the accusation, as soon as I have signed it, regardless of what you do with it! That is our transparent way to avoid clumsy judicial procedures! You see! You don’t need a defence attorney!”
“But…!”
“Silence! I sign it. I guess you would not understand anyway what you would subscribe, as you obviously cannot decipher a simple warning sign in our language.”
‘Captain Monasterio’ signed it and read it.
“According to article blahblahblah of the Martial Law declared on September 1st of the year 1992, blahblahblah, we, captain – myself, you know – acting as mandated by the Supreme Command of the Armed forces, blahblahblah, have accused of the crime of spying, on proof of content in the confiscated camera and trespassing into military area, on – date of today – the hereafter mentioned people – I will fill in your names here – who have confessed their crimes – silence please, Sir – in the presence of myself! All right! That’s it for procedural transparency! Bring them to their cells!”
(to be continued)
Gilbert and Susan had a bad feeling. The feeling that they might be in real trouble now.
Gilbert and Susan knew each other for almost fifteen years. They had a common passion : traveling, preferably to countries which were reputed as difficult to access. All their holidays and all their money were spent to this hobby.
Gilbert, 37, a somewhat tall and stocky man, was an engineer who had made it to a staff position in a telecom company. Susan, 43, slim, average figure, with blond wavy hair just above her shoulders, was a self-employed human resources consultant.
As it suited to people of the status of Gilbert and Susan, they had a considerable digital social network, wherein their passion for traveling was legendary. Gilbert and Susan were some kind of pioneers. Once they had visited, or ‘tried out’ a country, others from their network soon followed their footsteps.
But this time, things seemed to have gone wrong. Gilbert and Susan were in a military police compound. They were in a large room with only small, barred windows. There was a bench and a desk. In front of the desk sat a chubby sergeant, with a thick black walrus moustache. Gilbert found him resembling Sergeant Garcia from the Zorro series. But this was not California or a Latin American country. This was the other side of the world, this was Transkaukasia, some forgotten former republic of the late Soviet Union. They were alone with the sergeant, who wore a rather sloppy uniform, in a since long demoded 1930’s army style. But nevertheless he wore more clothing than Gilbert and Susan, who stood bare naked next to each other, hands in the neck, their clothes littered on the floor. Above the desk where ‘sergeant Garcia’ was meanwhile inspecting their properties and papers, the stern eyes on the official portrait of Dr. Ali Skrjabin, Founding Father and President for Life and Beyond of the Republic of Transkaukasia, scanned their bodies in a way that Gilbert and Susan felt intimidating.
Just about two hours earlier, Gilbert and Susan had been driving along the coast. They had decided to stop for a pick nick along the road, where they had a beautiful view over the local bay. The road was running along the mountain rim, which sloped down to sea level by a cliff. On the other side of the bay lay a port and a city. Gilbert had taken some pictures of the landscape. It was a tremendous view on the bay. Along the bay lay the capital Skrjabinpolis and the port. On the other side lay a hilly landscape. Behind it rose the magnificent Transkaukasian Mountains, with their snow white peaks, up to almost five kilometers above the sea. The visibility was fairly good that day, so they could see, some thirty kilometers from where they stood, the peaks of the famous twin mountains! Their slopes were badly visible, graying out in the haze, making it look like as if their snow covered tops hovered above the landscape. Nevertheless, they still looked majestic! These twin mountains, Mount Ulyanov and Mount Djugashvili, were the real targets of their voyage. After enjoying this beauty, they returned to their car and drove towards the capital. Suddenly, they heard a strange roar above their head. Confused at first, they discovered that a heavy assault helicopter was hovering over their car. Suddenly, the helicopter, Gilbert identified as an old Soviet model, descended in front of them and landed. Ten heavily armed soldiers jumped out and signed Gilbert to stop. They were forced to leave the car and they were taken to the helicopter, which took off immediately with them.
Once in the helicopter, they were cuffed and blindfolded. It was a short flight, which took only a few minutes, no further than the city, Gilbert and Susan estimated. After the landing, Gilbert and Susan were brought to the building they were in now. They had to face the wall and were searched. Gilbert tried to find out what was going on, but despite the fact that he did not understand the language, it was clear to him that he was ordered to shut his mouth.
Then, ‘Sergeant Garcia’ had entered. He spoke English. It seemed a relief for Gilbert and Susan, as they thought they could now explain that there was a mistake, but they got a “silence” as the only answer. Then the sergeant ordered them to stand apart. His orders were brief and short.
“You two! Strip! Everything! All clothes on the floor!”
It was clear to Gilbert and Susan that they better should obey. They took off their clothes. Once naked, they were ordered to stand with their hands in the neck.
“We wait for your goods to be brought!” And so they waited. And they still were waiting.
It was not the first time Gilbert and Susan were picked by local police forces during a travel in a ‘difficult’ country. In fact, it had happened them in about one in three of their voyages. It was not even the first time they were subjected to a strip search either. They were ‘used to it’, heaving learned that resistance would be futile. When it was all over, these searches had been a source of erotic excitement. They used it afterwards to turn each other on, by fantasizing what (naked) perils could have happened to them in case,..
But this time it seemed more serious. It took quite long. Both feared they had been framed by someone. That without their knowledge, drugs or other forbidden substances had been hidden in their luggage. But the inspection of their luggage did not reveal anything suspect. Now, ‘Sergeant Garcia’ was going through the pictures they had taken with their camera. And all the sudden, he said : “Aha!”
He turned to them and said!
“This is a picture of a warship of the Transkaukasian Navy! It is forbidden to take pictures of warships of the Transkaukasian Navy. That is spying!”
There were a few pictures with some warships, apparently frigates, which lay moored in their port in bay. The picture had been taken from the cliff a few hours ago. But it needed a high magnification of the pics to distinguish them.
“I had no idea there were warships there. I took the picture of the bay, and the mountains because it was a beautiful landscape!”
“You have been arrested because you were in a prohibited area. It is forbidden there to get off the way and walk on the cliffs! You did! And you took pictures of our warships.”
“How could we know we were not allowed to walk there?”
“There is a sign: ‘do not leave the main road. Do not photograph!’ Haven’t you seen it?”
Now Susan remembered something. There had been a sign indeed. She had quickly tried to translate it by means of her smartphone, but something had gone wrong, as she had concluded from the translation that (for some reason she did not understand why) it was allowed to leave the road and to take pictures. She figured, it was the local way to draw attention to a beautiful panorama, as it was. Definitely a struggle with the incredibly difficult local language, with its old Cyrillic characters and its sixteen inflexions. She understood now that it was her mistaken translation that had brought them into trouble.
“It is my fault, Sir, I translated the sign wrongly.”
“So, you have noticed it, but neglected it? That aggravates your case!”
“No, Sir! I told you! I…”
“Silence!”
Susan understood she better kept her mouth. ‘Anything you say shall be used against you’ seemed to be the rule here.
An officer walked in. ‘Captain Monasterio is there’, Gilbert thought. But he realized Zorro would never come to their rescue. Both men talked for a while in their native language. Then, ‘Captain Monasterio’, who turned to be a real army captain, spoke to Gilbert and Susan.
“As I hear from Sergeant, you have taken pictures of our warships, from a place it was forbidden to enter. He said you have admitted that you have neglected a sign forbidding the entrance of the area you trespassed, and forbidding to take picture, which you nevertheless did! These are serious offences! Particularly in wartime!”
“Wartime!?” Gilbert and Susan said in simultaneously.
“Yes! Wartime! We have martial law since our independence! Consequently this country is officially at war since 1992! You should know. When you enter a foreign country, you must always inform yourself about its laws and statuses! Ignorance is no excuse! As you came here into a country at war to photograph warships, you are considered as spies!”
“But, spies, for whom?”
“I hope you will voluntarily tell us! If not, we consider you as free-lance spies who sell their information to the highest bidder!”
“But this is ridiculous! We are just travelers!”
“Silence! You will appear in court! If you tell us names of contacts and of those for whom you work, the court could consider mitigating circumstances. Then, you get away with life sentence in a labor camp! If not…!”
“We want to speak to our embassy!” Gilbert said.
“Request denied! This country is at war! In war, martial law prevails over international regulations.”
“But with whom is it at war!? Not without our country!?” Gilbert asked desperately!
“With whom!? It does not matter! There is martial law, so there is war!”
“We want a lawyer!”
“No need for that! Martial law provides its own transparent guarantees for a fair trial! Now we will proceed!”
“Proceed?”
“Silence!” ‘Captain Monasterio’ walked to the door and gave an order in his language. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A soldier came in with papers. Another thick moustache. He stayed in the room, waiting for orders, and meanwhile unashamed scrutinizing Susan’s naked body. Gilbert saw the two stripes on his sleeves. Must be ‘Corporal Reyes’, no doubt!
Then ‘Captain Monasterio’ turned to them both.
“This is your declaration of guilt! Sign it please!”
“But we are not guilty! We do not sign it!”
“Silence! And by the way, never mind! It becomes proof for the accusation, as soon as I have signed it, regardless of what you do with it! That is our transparent way to avoid clumsy judicial procedures! You see! You don’t need a defence attorney!”
“But…!”
“Silence! I sign it. I guess you would not understand anyway what you would subscribe, as you obviously cannot decipher a simple warning sign in our language.”
‘Captain Monasterio’ signed it and read it.
“According to article blahblahblah of the Martial Law declared on September 1st of the year 1992, blahblahblah, we, captain – myself, you know – acting as mandated by the Supreme Command of the Armed forces, blahblahblah, have accused of the crime of spying, on proof of content in the confiscated camera and trespassing into military area, on – date of today – the hereafter mentioned people – I will fill in your names here – who have confessed their crimes – silence please, Sir – in the presence of myself! All right! That’s it for procedural transparency! Bring them to their cells!”
(to be continued)
