Jesenice

“Does that hurt?” asked Jack.
“Not really but it is annoying. I haven’t bitten my nails since I was a kid,” replied his sister Alice.
“How are you going with my mailout?” was Jack’s next cautious question. 
“I don’t know why I agreed to come over here to help you with all these envelopes. I am almost wishing stamps had never made a comeback. This must be the 400th one I have peeled and stuck,” she complained.  
“At least it is not lick and stick.  We have worked hard to get stamps back so I have to make sure we use them. These letters are acknowledging the formal breakup of the ‘holey league’, the ‘stamp makers & clamp breakers’, the ‘Philatelic Pharaohs of Faith’…”
“I get it, I get it,” Alice broke in.
“Well there were over 1000 active members when the UPU announced that stamps would return. That has now reduced to 425, so you only have a few more letters to go.  Even though I am closing it down I am going to pursue the ‘Lick & Stick’ tradition using a less in your face way,” said Jack.
“Those Universal Postal Union people will be glad to hear that. You didn’t even need to use your new found commando skills, ‘Jack Fry the Stamp Spy’," teased Alice.
“Hey those courses are open to anyone and are a life enhancement goal. Survival in the wild thru shooting, hunting, navigation and shelter,” defended Jack.  
He changed the topic, “Do you want to come with me to see Sir Perfun?  He has asked for a visit and we can post all those along the way,” suggested Jack.

Sir Perfun had laid out quite a spread.   Cakes, scones and sandwiches, the highest of high teas and stamp albums.
“I recently procured three excellent specimens from Buenos Aires. I don’t normally stray outside of England and Empire but these were exquisite and imperforate to boot and I am partial to imperforate, as you know,” extolled Sir Perfun as he gazed across to the very patient Fry siblings. I think I should show you the letter I received shouldn’t I. There was no unlock code on my phone so I used the old fashioned letter opener.“
Jack checked the single page with a bemused look, “It is a blank sheet.”

“Exactly, I knew you would get to the heart of it, replied Sir Perfun with a hint of sarcasm. There are two other points of note. One of my old business cards was also in there and it has this hastily scrawled note on the back of it, ‘35687711NILS’,” he read.
“How old is this business card?” Alice asked Sir Perfun.
“Good question, I would say at least 10 years. I use nanite tech in my business cards these days. Just a few clicks on my phone and a new design transforms.“
“So who would you have met back then and why return the card now?” she stated rather than asked.
“I can do a search on that. I have appointment records going back years in Google, replied Sir Perfun as he typed. Well I’ll be.  It is us, I mean we, the two of us Jack, on our first visit to the UPU, we met with Nils Kluge.”
This was key information but more startling was the word from the UPU. A call was made to Bern asking for Nils Kluge. Sir Perfun was advised to ring a police number, as Nils Kluge had disappeared three years ago leaving behind a damaged UPU laboratory.  Jack tried to make sense of it.

“It seems Nils has sent us a coded message and has taken three years to smuggle it out. Does that sound feasible?”
“No, said Alice, but I don’t have any other ideas either. “
“Perhaps if we look at the numbers again’, suggested Sir Perfun.
“Unlock codes are a ten digit number but he has written eight digits, mused Jack. Let’s try them anyway.”
Sir Perfun placed his phone on the envelope and typed in the code into the app but to no avail as it just waited for the last two digits.
“Add two zeroes to fill those last slots,” said jack.
Sir Perfun raised his eyebrow. 
“Maybe NIL is one zero and NILS is two zeroes,” Jack added unconvincingly.
“I’ll never doubt you again,” exclaimed Sir Perfun.
A nanite pattern of text had formed on the sheet underneath. It read

SI025.93   JESENICE

“Well I guess this is progress but I have no inkling of what that means,” stated Alice. 
“I know what it is, Jack said calmly. It is a WNS code.  I have been dealing with the UPU for years now. That is their World Number System stamp designation.  The designs come in from member countries but after that the production cycle is all under the complete control of the UPU.   For some reason they wanted to run all the printing and distribution. It’s a huge operation.  We can type that into the UPU website and search for the entry, said Jack confident in his knowledge. I don’t know what Jesenice is.”

The screen returned an image of a stamp from Slovenia.

“We are making progress but where to?” asked Alice.
“Well, it’s not Wonderland that’s for sure, replied Jack.  I can see a pattern of contours on the bottom layer and some skis on top.   There is no scale here but the skier and the closeness of the contours would indicate mountainous terrain.”
“Somewhere in Slovenia,” chipped in Alice. “It’s like those lines should flow into the next stamp.”
“Yes the contours will never end. They close back on themselves or follow along to join the next map sheet,” said jack.
“Are there any more stamps in the series?” asked Sir Perfun.

In all, Jack uncovered 30 stamps in a set that depicted the culture of Slovenia.  Each featuring a tool or an item but each also having a background contour map. They spent some time capturing a screen shot of each one and printing it at roughly A4 size.   An area of floor was cleared and after another hour a contiguous map emerged three sheets tall and ten across. The threesome stood back to examine their handiwork.

“I take it something important lies within this map,” declared Sir Perfun.
“At a place called Jesenice,” said Alice.
Both men turned as one.  
“Well it sounds Slovenian to me,“ was her triumphant reply.
Jack typed Jesenice into google and indeed found a valley town in the rugged north of Slovenia. An industrial place among the hills.
“Look at this, it is also the name of a map sheet 1:50000 Jesenice,” said jack.
“How does that help us,” asked Alice.
“There are no co-ordinate references on the stamp version. It shows the shape of a surface but where is it exactly.”  

They paid for and downloaded the map sheet.  Sir Perfun had the best of large format printers.
“Why not just use Google maps to compare with our stamp map,” asked Alice.
“The terrain layer on Google has been sanitised. Detail is removed so it can be more easily displayed. If you are going to walk in the country get a paper map, every rogainer knows that.”

“Yes Mr. Navigator, I guess I should have taken you up on those map and compass jaunts of yours.”
“You can come on this one if you are game,” he said to his sister as he drew a rectangle on the map sheet. I have matched the contour pattern from the stamps to this map sheet. See this ridge line here sweeping around and dropping to a saddle. Below that is a flattish space, this is exactly where Mr. Nils Kluge has pointed us.”
“I didn’t think I would be going to Slovenia this Summer,” mused Alice.  “I am still not convinced we had to keep this from the police.”
“We just haven’t told them yet,” replied Jack.
Alice continued, “Especially when Sir Perfun found out the land in question had been excised from a National Park and is now controlled by the Slovenian Post Office. “
“That is my point exactly. This goes to the top of government.  Google Earth shows us a factory complex is now on that spot.  The people behind this are well placed in authority, can move chunks of land between departments and fund its development.  The UPU is funded by every government on the planet. They are a mini United Nations, so we should not trust anyone just yet,” determined Jack.
They left their hire car at a picnic area carpark and walked 6km on a trail to a campsite. It was a further three kms thru forest to a fenced area.  There is a well used road at one end leading to a gatehouse. 
“Looks like your average factory to me,” observed Alice.
“Except that there are no signs anywhere not even a ‘no trespassers’, replied Jack. Seems a bit odd don’t you think. Wait here I’m going to ask that gatekeeper what he knows.”
Ten minutes later Jack had sauntered up to the gatehouse pleading for directions back to his trail and was in conversation with the gatekeeper.  Alice was getting quite nervous about this whole business.

“That was a profitable exchange, declared Jack.  He doesn’t mind chatting to lost walkers as it happens all the time and helps him pass the day.  All he knows is that this place is part of stamp production and he doesn’t go inside very often.  I think he is more admin than security guard.”

At that moment a low signal was sounded and three individuals came out of the building, proceeded to their cars and left the premises.  This was followed shortly by the gatekeeper who used his keycard on the external doors then took the last car and drove away.

“The evening security here seems lax, maybe just enough to deter vandals and teenagers with spray paint. Two strands of barb at the top here and I only saw one security camera and that was at the approach to the gatehouse, Jack said. I dare say if you broke the windows in the gate house or one of these doors there would be an alarm set off. This fence could easily be cut using garden shears,” he declared as he showed his sister a long handled brush cutter from his backpack.
“Where did you get that?” Alice hissed.
“Back there at the parks hut,” he declared as he calmly sliced open enough fence to get thru.
Alice was hopping now, “You said yourself an alarm will blow if you break in there.”
“That’s why I swiped a keycard when I was in the gatehouse,” was the nonchalant reply.
“OOH My brother the burglar and thief,” she hissed again.
“Give me 30 minutes, if I am not back bring the cavalry.”

The door clicked open with the keycard.  He entered a large open plan area with three offices down one side and what looked like a Chemistry laboratory on the other.  The main floor seemed to be an automated production zone with much humming technology.  There were signs here and he headed for the ‘Nannite Sample Lab’.   This room was jammed with gear but it also had a descending stairwell.  All doors were opening to him except to the rooms on this basement level.  One had a glass panel which showed another lab and the others were plain doors which he could not open.  He gave one a rap with his brush cutter.   This did have an effect at one of the other doors where an urgent racket started up.

“Nils is that you,” yelled Jack.
“Yes I am here thank you thank you,” came the reply.
Jack landed the keypad a crushing blow with a huge arcing swing of the brush cutter.  Inside was an apartment style room well decked out with everything you may want, except windows.  
“I got your message Nils’” said Jack.
“I remember you, replied Nils. You were a pain in the arse for many people at the UPU Jack. But then you gave them a chance to experiment, a way to get my latest nanites out to the masses.  I found out the real aim and they locked me up. Made me continue the work.  I had no outside access. I haven’t seen the Sun in years.”
“Well let’s do that now I don’t think it has set yet.”
“No you don’t understand we must destroy this place. We must stop nannite production. The nannites are being transferred to humans via the new stamps when they are peeled from the backing, it triggers a response to surge onto the fingers and find their way under the nails.”  
“You are saying itty bitty mites are parked underneath our finger nails.”
“Yes, for everyone who has used a stamp since they were reintroduced 4 years ago.”
“But what is their purpose?”
“I don’t know,” replied Nils.
“We haven’t thought that far yet, was another answer from the corridor. As yet the nannites have no payload. We are simply proving to interested parties that we can attach them to humans,” stated the voice.
A gun made its way into the room in the hand of a rather diminutive fellow.
“This is my minder and fellow physicist, said Nils, who has never visited me at night”.
“Yes it was a rush. When Jack’s face showed on our security monitors at the front gate I dropped everything to get here …”

A sudden squeal killed the dialogue. It was all Jack needed as the trusty brush cutter again did its work on the distracted gunman.  The gun went flying and with a broken wrist the would be gaoler was reduced to a whimper on the floor. 

“He is a desk jockey like me, shouted Nils above the din. You could say boo and he would fall over.”
 They got him out of the building and out through the front gate where Alice was waiting.
“I saw him arrive after you. When he drew out a gun that was It, I went around the front and put a large rock through the window,” exclaimed Alice still breathless.
“It worked out well,” smiled Jack.
They sat back waiting for the fire brigade, as Nils was true to his word. He had opened up numerous gas jets and set it all to burn.  

“I don’t know who in the hierarchy is behind it, said Nils. I have only dealt with my boss.”
“Your message worked well,” said Alice.
“I was always being watched. I worked on those stamps even before they built this place. I had access to all the plans and the stamp printing works. It was only a month ago that I was moved here. Something spooked them at the old place and they took me here.  I simply left my letter behind hoping someone else would post it for me.”
“Very clever, Nils,” said Alice.  “Now how do we rid ourselves of the nannites?” was her pointed question.
”You are chewing your nails, observed Nils. We have only detected two side effects so far in people who have had a lot of contact thru mailing.  Some drum their fingers subconsciously and others chew.  The brain has detected something not right with the fingertips.”
“You are starting to get me angry and what are you smiling at? It was your stamps that got me chewing again, said Alice as she glared at her brother. How many of those things have I caught anyway?”
“There are about 15,000 nanites per stamp.” 
Her face was turning red.
Nils pressed on hastily, “It is easy. I have a safe guard, you simply wash with a splash of tea tree oil.  It promotes a reaction, the nanites stream lemming like towards the scent and simply fall away, washed into the sewer. “
“Now all we have do is get everyone in the world to wash their hands in a more hygienic fashion.” said Jack.