Fact behind the Fiction - Book 3

The 'Adventures of Eric and Ursula' are a series of fiction books but it is important to me to try and build as much fact as possible into the stories.  Here is an A to Z of the fact behind the fiction for Book 3 – Fallback.

Benarraba, Serannia de Ronda

Boat – Velacruz to Cádiz
The voyage from Veracruz, Mexico, to Cadiz, Spain, covers a distance of about 5,254 miles, or 8,455 kilometers, or 4,565 nautical miles. If you travel at about 24 knots nonstop, the trip would take about 190 hours, or about eight days.

Bone Marrow
Bone Marrow is found inside your bones.

Blood storage
Blood is normally stored between 2 to 6 celcius and a shelf-life of 28 to 42 days.

Brest, Belarus
Brest is a city near the border with Poland.

Bridge of the Americas
The Bridge of the Americas is a road bridge that links USA to Mexico.

Bus – Prague to Paris
There is a regular coach service between Prague and Paris.  It takes approximately 14 hours.

Cabal Clone Factory
I created the idea of the Identical Hybrid Beings without any research but in writing parts of Fallback I had a search on the internet for interesting articles.  I have created a link to one below, I will leave you to make your own judgments about it.

Cádiz
Cádiz is a city in south-west Spain.  It stands on peninsula that sweeps into the bay.

Cádiz Main Station
The main railway station in Cádiz.

Cerebrospinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid circulates between the brain and the spinal cord.  It is extracted by needle and I have been told it is very unpleasant!

Ciudad Juarez
Ciudad Juarez is a Mexican city near the border with USA.  It used to be known as the most violent city in the world.

Central Cam (Bus Station in Ciudad Juarez)
The main bus station in Ciudad Juaraz

Computers Reading Minds
My first degree was in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence many, many years ago.  Since then I have kept a small interest in the field and this is why I use it in my books.  Computers reading minds is not so far-fetched as it seems

Cork Trees
Cork Trees can be found around Morocco and in the region around Temara.

Correction Colony for Foreign Citizens
A prison for foreigners (from far abroad) in the old Soviet Union.

Fes Al-Bali
Fes Al-Bali is a city in Morocco that is the largest populated area in the world without cars.

Florenc Bus Station
The main bus station in Prague for international coach journeys.

Hacking an Iphone
Apparently hacking an iPhone does take about two minutes.  I could include a link to the site I used to find this out, but I would not like to promote potentially illegal behavior!
 
Human Brain
The human brain is an incredibly complex organ which we take for granted.

IK-5
IK5 is a penal colony in Mordovia, Russia.

Homeless in Paris
According to INSEE there are approximately 12,000 people living homeless in Paris.

La Petite Ceinture
La Petite Ceinture is an abandoned train line that runs through Paris and has been ‘reclaimed’ by the residents.

Lepley
Lepley is a village in the Republic of Mordovia in Russia.  It is the home of Colony-5, which is a prison.

KGB
The KGB was an intelligence unit in the Soviet Union.

KGB Documents
Alexander tries to hunt for details about his sister by visiting old KGB files.  Some are available but most are not.

KGB Museum
The KGB museum is located in Moscow but is only open by appointment and at certain times.

Medina at Fes-al-Bali
This is the part of Fes which is car-free.  See Fes-al-Bali.

Mordovia Penal Colonies
See Correction Colony for Foreign Citizens

Moroccan Breakfast
If you wish to make your own Moroccan breakfast, use the link below.

Morse Code
Morse Code is a series of short and long sounds that can be used to send messages.

Mirtrokhin Archive
Major Vasili Mirtokhin, a KGB archivist who had defected to the United Kingdom

Moscow Domodedovo Airport
An international airport forty-two kilometres from the centre of Moscow.

Museum of Federative Security Service of the Russian Federation
See Museum of KGB

ONCF
The main train railway company in Morocco.
Read more http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ONCF_E_1400_Sidi_Mbarek_Du_R'Dom_-_Ain_El_Kaerma.jpg

Paris Metro
The Paris metro has 303 stations included Les Halles and Gallieni

Plaza de Mina, Cádiz
A square in the old town of Cádiz and almost 200 years old.

Russian Names
Vladimir Nikolayovich Bulgakov is not real person but in researching Russian names I found that the middle name, in this case Nikolayovich means son (–ovich)of Nikolay.

Paris to Cádiz
You cannot take a direct train.  You must change twice to reach the destination.

Picking Locks
 Apparently it is not that difficult to pick a car lock and hot wire it.  However, I am not passing on the link for this illegal activity in case I get in trouble!

Population of USSR (1991)
In July 1991 it was 293 million.

Proxy server
A computer system that acts as a go-between your computer and another one.

Rabat
Rabat is the political and administrative capital of Morocco.

Remote Viewing
Remote viewing is trying to picture a location or something or someone in your mind.  However, your other senses are unaware of where.

Right part of the brain for imagination
It used to be thought that the right side of the brain can use used for creativity, imagination and, therefore, lying but thinking has changed on this.

Spain to Morocco
Most people travel to Morocco from Spain via ferries.  This is not the case in Fallback but in the first draft the main characters did take a ferry.

Stem Cells
Stem cells are the bodies tool box and used when you are fighting disease or an injury.

Strange Bases
I wanted to use bases that would be more interesting than a normal military base.  I used the website below to help me with this.

Tangier
A city in Northern Morocco on the Mediterranean.

Temara
 A Moroccan city on the Atlantic Ocean.

Temara Detention Facility, Temara and Ain Aouda in Morocco
Two detention and military facilities in Morocco that are allegedly part of the US black site network.

Test Tube Baby
I did some research into how Ingrid could create test tube babies and how the OSS may do the same.

VOIP
Voice over Internet Protocol.  This is when you use your computer as a phone or video phone.  The most common programme to do this is Skype

Volga Gaz 22
A Russian built car from 1962, nicknamed the shed

VPN
A virtual private network - it masks your computer's IP address and hides where in the world you are accessing the internet from by using a proxy server.

Wild Russian Boar
Wild boar can be dangerous but most of the sites on the internet about them are linked to hunting them