The Advancement of Mateo Matic: July 4, 2398

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They’re called megablocks. By nesting courtyards inside of other courtyards, many times over, and building vertically, tens of thousands of people can live on a plot of land not much greater than 60 acres. Most of these do not contain prison cells, though they could be modified, if need be. When the government of Birket built the first one, their idea was to give criminals a place to live, but nothing else. They would have to farm for themselves, and take whatever water rations they were allotted. Over time, other nations, and private organizations, took pity on the residents of the penal colony, and began to send them supplies. Now these gifts are airdropped on a weekly basis. Furniture, entertainment, and of course food is shipped in from all over the work. The leaders of Birket do not try to stop this. Their only concern is keeping the guilty away from the Dead Sea and Jordan River, or transporting them to Egypt when the appropriate asylum paperwork goes through. For the four time travelers in this reality, this paperwork has not yet gone through, and they’re not sure it ever will.

In other penal colonies throughout history, left to their own devices, the people living there usually govern themselves, and this is true of the Birket colony, though to no astounding degree. The internal leadership only worries about whether someone has a place to live, and whether they intend to cause trouble. Don’t cause trouble. It’s the only written rule, and it’s posted all over the place. Stealing, murder, rape; these all fall into this category of crime, along with a lot of other things, and they all come with the same punishment. The original megablock is a prison within the prison, does indeed contain cells that lock from the outside, and is reserved to house all the ne’er do wells that disrupt the unexciting harmony of life in the other megablocks. It’s rundown, dirty, and rationed. There aren’t too many people in there since most of the colony residents are here because they want to be, not because they have behavioral issues.

Leona, Marie, Kivi, and Heath don’t want to be here, but they are trying to make the best of it. They arrived with two phones, which means that Ramses will be able to trace their location. These devices were taken away from them, and communication with the outside world is extremely restricted—which helps to curb the population—but they’re confident that they will be released soon. For now, all they can do is wait in the bare housing unit that was assigned to them. There is hardly anything in here, because they have yet to earn that right, but it shouldn’t matter much. Overall, it’s not a bad place to live, which is why some people try to cross the border intentionally. In some cases, it’s the best path to asylum, even if that ends up being somewhere else. There’s only so much room, though, so they don't encourage it. Newbies just have to sleep on the floor, and pretty much beg for rations, and this is a fact that the rest of the world knows all too well, which is again why not all refugees just flock here.

For the most part, representatives of the Birket government do not step foot in the megablocks. When they do, it’s kind of a big deal. People know that special circumstances have forced this to happen. That apparently isn’t going to be okay in this situation, which is why one of them has had to make contact with the group in secret. “Which one of you is Agent Leona Delaney?” the young boy asks.

“Who is asking?” Leona questions.

“Senator Melville Honeycutt has a mission for you while you’re stuck here. I would do it myself, but—” He presents himself regrettably. “...I don’t fit the prerequisites.”

“You live here permanently?” Marie asks him.

“I have a certain medical condition that stunted my aging,” he explains. “It would have made my life annoying, but I work here, because I can fly under the radar. No one suspects the kid to be the inside man.”

“I assume that Honeycutt wants us to find someone?” Leona asks.

“You make it sound so simple. I don’t think it is. They don’t exactly take census in the colony. If you’re here, people assume you belong, and no one cares who you are, or who you were before your verdict. Yes, he wants you to find someone. But you won’t have much to go on.”

“That’s okay,” Kivi says. “I’m sure we have done a lot more with a lot less.”

The young-looking man takes an envelope out of his breast pocket, and hands it to Leona. “Good luck. He’ll theoretically release all five of you once you find your target.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: July 3, 2398

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In the early 22nd century in the Middle East, what is colloquially known as the Water Wars began. Water from the Jordan River was diverted from the Dead Sea so much that it all but dried up, leading to sinkholes, dying vegetation, and other ecological issues. As the problem escalated, a rebel force arose, intending to protect the lake from any further interference. They repaired and preserved it, eventually winning control of the entire area. Their cause was so successful that it spurred similar disputes around the world. Some were not so successful, and some were more violent, but the conflicts were all ended one way or another, and World War IV went down in history both as the shortest-lived, and the one with the fewest casualties.

Today, the Dead Sea, parts of the Jordan River, and surrounding lands belong to the Sovereign Nation of Birket. Very few people who live there are considered law-abiding citizens. It exports no commodities, and does not participate in the international stage. Its borders are protected by designated military branches from Israel and Jordan, who agreed to certain terms under a treaty signed by all three parties and the Global Council following the outcome of the first battles of WWIV. The majority of the people who live there do so in a penal colony, usually after being found guilty of attempting to adulturize the waters. Prisoners are treated well, but are almost always serving life sentences. The government exercises an excellent parole program, though, which has transformed the colony into less of a prison, and more of an intermediary for asylum seekers.

When Marie and Kivi, and later Leona and Heath, suddenly appeared at the lake’s edge, they were pretty much immediately found guilty of adulterization. It’s up to Mateo, Ramses, and Angela to rescue them. Obviously, this is easier said than done. Getting into Birket isn’t a problem if you plan on going straight to the colony, which some people do as refugees to escape their lives in other regions. Getting out, of course, is much harder. If not done by prison break, it entails a lot of paperwork. It requires a sponsor from a country willing to take that person in, but this sponsor can’t be just some rando who feels empathy for the refugee. It has to be someone important, such as...a U.S. senator?

“I must say, these visits are becoming tiresome for me,” Senator Honeycutt laments. “Your wife wanted us to stay away from you.”

“You can’t break that deal without suffering her wrath,” Mateo begins to explain, “but we can break it anytime we want.”

“I suppose that follows a level of logic I would enjoy in my own pursuits,” the Senator replies. “What are your friends doing in Birket, and why did they believe they wouldn’t get caught?”

“You don’t need to know that,” Ramses says. “You just need to get them out.”

Melville sighs. “It won’t be that easy. I already have two sponsees, which is twice as many as the congressional average. Doing this will raise eyebrows.”

“You don’t have to sponsor them yourself,” Mateo tells him. “You just have to make it happen. Surely there is some other bleeding-heart politician who hasn’t yet sponsored a refugee, who also happens to owe you a favor?”

“What makes you think anyone owes me any favor at all?” Melville questions.

“You run a secret paramilitary operation that illegally crosses borders,” Ramses guesses, based on his experiences with them. He doesn’t actually know that their tactics are illegal, but since his daughter uses a forged identity small business to recruit its members, it doesn’t exactly scream overt. “Your number one currency is favors.”

“I may know someone,” Melville decides after thinking it over. “She was just elected, and while she didn’t run specifically on a platform of Birket refugees, she might be interested in padding her résumé with something like this right away to secure reëlection.”

“Perfect,” Mateo determines. “Call her.”

“No one who owes me a favor right now would be caught dead doing anything like what you’re asking. It’s not their political slant. She is the only choice, but we have not yet crossed paths, so if I do this, she’ll probably treat it as a favor for me, despite the fact that it will ultimately help her. I’ll owe her a favor.”

“So you want some kind of compensation to make it worth your while,” Ramses figures. “That way, we’re all paying for something.”

“The problem is, I don’t know what she’ll ask for, or when. I didn’t follow her campaign, because she was never on our radar, so I don’t know a whole lot about her motives, or secret agenda. When she comes to collect, you may need to be ready to be involved, or be involved in something else, to—as you put it—compensate me for whatever it is I’ll have to pay.”

Mateo places two fists on the Senator’s desk, and leans in. “I have access to the hungerberries, in case you thought that was just something between the two of you, and that Leona’s current predicament prevents her from following through on her threat.”

Melville leans in as well, so that their faces are awkwardly close. “You can only play a card so many times before I start to recognize the wear and tear on the back of it. The favor chain we’re building here is my way of letting you maintain your hold over me and my family without playing the card a second time. I suggest you take it.”

Mateo lets go. “Get them out. Ramses and I will be waiting for them in...where did you say it was?” he asks his friend.

“Egypt,” Ramses reminds him. “Birket usually releases prisoners to Egypt.”

“Right. We’ll be in Egypt. Call us when your colleague gets back to you, and we’ll deliver. Make it happen, whatever it takes.”