In reply to Jan Vrabec (msg # 34):

It occurred to Jan quickly that the polluted industrial city of Ostrava wasn't a prime holiday destination, especially when you had places like Karlovy Vary, so it was probably the second or third.

"No, he's recovering at home. Andel's in if you want to get into the archives though," Lenka replied and reached for the telephone. "Do you want me to let him know you're coming?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:16, Wed 27 July 2022.

June 1, 1967, 0914 Central European Time

Hannes found himself in the main hotel for foreigners [OOC: The one Jan just left]; it wasn't like he could check in anywhere he wanted really. They were able to find him a single room with a radio and a bathroom, but there was no television. For that he'd have to go to the lounge.

In any event, it was time to get some more sleep.

OOC - Sorry for the delay, totally missed there were new messages here!



'Yes please...' he thought for a second before adding something, speaking as if to nobody in particular '...wonder what the big wigs will bring to us...'

Before getting into bed, Hannes checked out the radio, turning the dial until he found a spoken word station in Russian, German or Polish.  Whichever it is, he turned the radio down but not off so that he could drift off to sleep while listening to the news.

In reply to Hannes (msg # 38):

With the West German stations jammed, all he was able to get were the East German ones. The Polish station he got was talking about increasing tensions in the Middle East, with Jordan and Egypt signing a defence pact.

In reply to Jan Vrabec (msg # 37):

Lenka made the call.

"He's ready for you to come up now," she said once she had concluded. Now it was a case of going up in the paternoster lift, which was a lift consisting of continuously moving platforms that you stepped on and off. He was used to it, but it was still a slight worry to him in case you mis-timed your step.

OOC: My uni had one of those.

Had to check what it was. These days it would be against every single rule of H&S for lifts or machinery, or office work, or...

Jan sighed. He would have to use the bloody contraption. He figured it was a test for staff. If you could not use the lift, then if you died trying it it was ok, it was a way of weeding out the... arthritic?...

'Thanks... if I survive the lift I will no doubt see you again later.'

Josie held her suitcase in both hands, before dropping it to one hand and reaching out to open the door that led into the hotel.

It was a nice-looking place,to be sure.

Hannes awoke and decided to go for a walk as any Tourist would.  Only after that, would he try to seek an audience with the people who ran the Skoda factory.

In reply to Jan Vrabec (msg # 41):

Jan reached the designated floor without dying. Andel was waiting behind the desk in the archive room, a skinny man with a serious skin complaint made worse by the pollution round here. He was due to take a 'cure' in one of the spa towns (not Karlovy Vary, which was mainly for Westerners) at some point to see if that helped.

"How can I help you?" he asked. Any file request would have to go through him - he wasn't allowed to let employees in just for a rummage.

After the obligatory salutations, Jan goes straight to the point.

'I need any files, say for the last year, concerning surveillance operations to local hotels in connection with foreign visitors. I've been made aware of a connection between male foreign visitors being followed by regular visits of local young ladies. Trying to find any records relating to this.'

In reply to Jan Vrabec (msg # 45):

Andel raised an eyebrow.

"We regularly surveil all the local hotels for foreign visitors. Some of the rooms are bugged for precisely that purpose, with audio and sometimes even for video. Also, you must be aware that the two oldest professions often very much mix. Does Rahab not mean anything to you?"

Some memories of his Sunday school before the war began to come back to him. Wasn't she a prostitute who helped the Israelites scout out Jericho or something?

Jan sighed. Memory not what it used to be.

'Be that as it may, I want to look into coincidences. Does someone always meet with certain people. Are we talking about the same people making regular visits or one off events. I'm trying to exclude coincidence to see if there is anything here. My dear comrade, we cannot just ignore so much private fraternizing between east and west...'

Hannes presented his card at the hotel, the one identifying him as a senior employee of the newly built DAF factory in Born, Limburg, Netherlands and asked for them to arrange a driver who can take him to the Skoda factory.

Josie went up to the receptionist's desk, and asked if she could have a room.

The receptionist, a chirpy woman in her late 20s with dyed blonde hair in a neat bun, advised both Hannes and Josie that rooms were available, asking for them to fill out the registration form and let her look at their passports.

Hannes hands his passport to the receptionist, smiling handsomely as he does so.

In reply to Hannes (msg # 51):

[Language unknown: "Arast n ut redwilkor ave tinrutvenwil, usive Ho tinardany liektr whi elck?"] the receptionist asked. She clearly wanted her night shift to end as her eyes were starting to drop.

Hannes smiles a smile as warm as a 15 tog duvet.

In reply to Control (msg # 50):

Josie proceeded to full out the form, and handed over her passport for checking.

Both of them were checked in and handed the key to their rooms, with a porter asking if they needed any help in carrying their luggage.

In reply to Jan Vrabec (msg # 47):

"Right," Andel said. "I understand what you need. But there are going to be quite a lot of files. Do you want to read them here or take them back to your office?"

Andel found out there were no less than twelve boxes of files, each containing multiple folders.

Hannes handed his luggage to the porter and follows him up.  He will pay anappropriate, or even generous tip.  After all, it's not as though he can change his Korunas back into Deutschemarks on his return to the West.

Before the porter starts carrying his luggage he turns to Josie and smiles saying first in German and then in broken English, "Hello, I'm Johannes Kraal from Eindhoven.  Perhaps we may be able to help one another negotiate the ways of a strange city?  Or perhaps you are an old hand?  I sadly am very much a new hand."

In reply to Hannes (msg # 58):

"I'm new here myself." Josie informed him. "Josie Graceston. From America."