Nail - 1

 It was a cloudy midnight, even the brightest stars obscured by the city lights dazzling with glory and joy of citizens of Saho, when Technical Staff Han was in sound sleep in her bed, rolled in her blanket that seemed to urgently require any type of washing, temporarily free from the misery her life gave her. Today she heard that the proposal she wrote meticulously, following the long and exhaustive official guideline written by the Army Special Warfare Command six month ago, was finally rejected by the SWC development committee, topped with a few insulting words. It's not that she expected anything else. For the last few months, it became more and more visible that the commander, who was supposed to read and sign her proposal, was not interested in drifting anything under his control away from the current state. Thus, her proposal to relocate underground water pumps as to change in water table made nobody happy. She has long ago accepted that the military doesn't need a single geologist, but only trying to not upset high ranked officers in the department of defense who thought hiring geologists might prevent SWC combat engineers from accidently burying a whole infantry squadron under a kilometer layer of collapsed limestone. Well, at least the commander and the staffs of SWC made it very clear that they would not hesitate from upsetting someone they reluctantly hired as a Technical Staff. She filled out a vacation form to get away from the staffs' wordy advices that nobody should venture anything here. Not that they were happy with that form either, but it was the new year's day, during which even the mightiest staff wants a day off. Perhaps that's why the committee finally managed to deal with Han's proposal which spend a good amount of time in a random cabinet: to shut down the committee and go home.

The firecrackers now shoves scarce light into the window of Han's drought room. The room was only wide enough for her to wander around, mumbling something she read, usually in a novel or a textbook. The floor was usually covered with fine dust since the room was occupied by a living being other than cockroaches and rats very scarcely, but Han just stepped on them (not only dust) mindlessly, often with bare feet. Whatever the unresolved idea in her head was, it left her almost unconscious in other matters. However, the floor was left untouched today, since Han spend the entire day in her bed. She was so ill-motivated that even the simple activity of wandering around her room and contemplating some earthly question was too much for her. The old bed reminded Han of school days, since she walked to her school every morning from this very room, though it was much brighter and livelier than it is right now. Her mom would make her a warm breakfast of which Han forgot the texture long ago, and she would dart to her school with her friends, whose name she barely remembers now. The memories left her lonely and cold. Earlier today she stuck her nose into the dusty old window and glanced at the school. At least the building was still there, at the same place and in same shape, but in Han's insecure eyes the children there seemed as drained and anxious as she was now. It isn't clear whether it is due to her relief that other people were not much lively than she is, or that as she believed human beings express extreme melancholy as falling asleep, but she finally managed to fall into unconsciousness after a few hours of staring at the empty ceiling.

Next to Han's crumbling bed was a small wooden table, also very aged, of which original purpose was to lay a small reading light on it so that mom could read bedtime stories to little Han, but now it was struggling and squeaking under everything that Han considered improper, even by her standards, to just throw on the floor, including her uniform with pockets where her phone and keys were shoved in, and a cap that has somehow maintained its shape despite Han's bad wearing habits. Of course, since Han did not want to hear another grumble from random high ranked officer walking by, she minded her clothes a little bit, especially when she were supposed to participate in a meeting with the commander. The uniform was quite heavy and dull according to Han, but other officers seem to like the authority it provides. The number of colored ribbon bars with arbitrary meanings attached on the uniform was supposed to increase with the wearer's rank. The commander seemed not happy with Han's nearly barren jacket, Han realized by his glancing and frowning during any meeting that she was in. But there was nothing he could do. Han spent barely a year in the military, unlike others with the equivalent rank who now had their kids in college.

Everything started when Han's small antique phone managed to ring a sharp sound that pierced through all that think layers of the uniform and reached Han's ear.