She smiled at him and said, “Yes, but that’s because you were interviewing a Unionized Government Librarian, and you asked her, ‘So what exactly does it take to motivate you to get off your fat ass and find an electronic book for somebody?’ That was just mean spirited.”
“Ya gotta be mean in this world, Veronica…or else the other dog is gonna eat ya.” The monitor began to flash and Jalapo became even more irritated. “Ah shit, just a second, Veronica…I got someone on the other line.”
“I’ll see you later, baby,” Veronica said as she walked away.
Jalapo pressed a button on his keyboard and said, “What is it? I’m a highly irritated man and I’m very busy, so make it quick.”
Some words began to scroll themselves across the screen of the monitor, as if someone was typing in an urgent manner.
S.O.S.
We are members of The Evil. We were involved in a revolutionary movement against the Ailanian Government. We wish to turn ourselves in! We are being hunted down and killed by someone! We need your help! We need protection! PLEASE! We’re just some idiots who got sucked into this thing by some guy who gave a real convincing speech at University! We’re just a bunch of stupid kids! We’ll go to jail if need be! We can afford lawyers! But we need police protection right now! Please have us arrested! Please make yourself a hero! Please turn us in!
“Well, what do we have here?” Jalapo smiled as the possibilities flooded his twisted mind.
Location: Hana Paloi Federal Courthouse.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1400 Hours.
Moke tried to keep himself from breathing so hard. He felt as if he were facing a firing squad.
He then noticed how Malia looked a bit flush in the face. He wondered if she missed him. Moke had wanted to ask her out for dinner, but unfortunately, he all-to-quickly realized that he might be walking out of this room in handcuffs in a little while from now.
Moke closed his eyes; they felt as if they were burning.
“All rise,” the bailiff said with a deep voice, “the honorable Judge Kamakala Waimanalu will be presiding.”
The hardwood floors rumbled as people stood up to show their respect.
The judge walked in with his black robes flowing. He sat down as if he was about to eat breakfast. His Bontune eyes were puffy, and his hair was sparse and gray. A few moments later, a group of people entered the room and began to sit down at one of the courtroom’s hardwood tables. There were three human men, four human women, and five Aurorian men, all of these people wore serious clothes and there was not a smile among them. The air in the room was becoming hot and stale.
“Has the committee reached a decision?” Judge Waimanalu asked with a stoic tone.
“We have, your Honor,” One of the Aurorian men said gracefully.
The Judge replied, “Very well, Ambassador Banka… please give us your statement.”
Chezui Banka’s pale, Aurorian skin was flawless. He looked like an angel as he said, “In our review of the data, accusations, defenses, evidence and interpretations of this case, we of this committee, find the Ailanian CIA, and the Ailanian Attorney General’s Office…to be defendants in this case…and we have ruled that…”
Moke gashed his teeth. “Oh gods, here it comes…and I am so completely guilty of all the charges brought against me. This is gonna be the final nail in my crucifixion…I was the one who freed Jacob Colombe from The Penitentiary…but I had no idea what he was truly involved in…I thought the bastard was just a protest organizer being sent up the river for having the belief that he had free speech and a good cause…my plan was to simply beat that white haired fucker at his own game. I know the bastard is up to something…he used Jacob as a means to trap me…Jacob, that fucking computer geek…it he had only trusted me…that white haired bastard would not have been able to get ahold of the digital files that allowed him to find out about Marco and his schemes…because I was late getting to Marco…that goddamned bomb ended up in that stadium…Kara is dead because of that inhuman white haired monster that the Allied Government allows to operate his black ops on my home world with impunity! I tried to save my world from that bastard and now his crooked cronies in the High Senate! Audrey and Jack did the best they could to cover up my mistakes…and I guess now is when I find out how intelligent and loyal my people are…if they didn’t delete all those data files and surveillance tapes…then these bastards in the High Senate will make sure that I am sent to prison…I have failed! Oh gods! I am so fucked!”
The handsome, pale-skinned man remained stoic as he said, “we find the defendants not guilty…of committing of any humanoid rights violations during said investigations, and we cannot find any evidence that they committed any breach of professional protocol as stated by Allied Law Enforcement policies. It is our decision that what they did was completely lawful, and ethical, and they are to be found not guilty of the charges brought against them by the Ailanian High Senate…”
Moke felt his lungs deflating, and he let his shoulders slump, for just a second, and then took a deep breath as he stood up straight and proud.
The handsome, Aurorian ambassador looked up and made eye contact with everyone, who sitting either in the audience or at the prosecution and defense tables. His honest glance was instantaneous, yet meaningful as he said, “While we on this committee…feel that what happened at that stadium was of the utmost tragedy…the law enforcement agencies of Ailana are not to blame…and we must find a way to learn from this tragedy and move on.”
Moke opened his eyes as wide as he could as he allowed his lungs to suck in the precious air he had been too frightened to breathe. His thoughts became ecstatic, “Oh my gods! He believed me! He saw the truth in my lies! He’s on my side! That bastard and his crooked cronies failed to nail me to the wall! My enemy is a white haired man from Earth…my savior is a white haired man from Aurora…the Aurorians are on our side! We might win this secret after all. The end is near, there will no longer be a war going on between these intergalactic spy agencies, which are financed by the corrupt ideology of powerful men, who only excel in backroom dealings…the Earth’s government will be exposed for what it did to our planet…this secret that I have been forced to keep for all these years will finally be revealed to the people of the Primary Worlds….and we Ailanians…might soon be free of the tyranny their governments have infringed upon us…because so many members of The Ailanian Moralist party, are soon gonna be lying in that Penitentiary they built!”
The handsome, Aurorian Ambassador cleared his throat before he continued speaking in a serious tone of voice, “We also unanimously ruled that the evidence, which has been presented to us today, fails to convince us that the recent election, which resulted in High Senator Rammy Klunka to be voted out of office and replaced by Mr. Keiki Karatau, had its outcome due to fraud.”
A large group of people on the far right side of the room began to grumble and gash their teeth in anguish.
“Order in the court!” The knocking of the wooden gavel rang through the entire room. The Judge raised his hand and the lamentations became muffled as he shouted, “Order in the court!”
Moke turned his head to the left and noticed how Malia was beginning to smile. He smiled as he saw how very beautiful she looked in the illuminating glow, which shined from the courtroom’s crystal skylight. Suddenly he found himself stuck in a memory and unable to concentrate on the verdict. He forgot how joyful he felt when Ambassador Banka looked him in the eye, and instead, remembered how she once looked at him and smiled. He remembered how beautiful she looked that a sunny day, when they were both sixteen years old. Moke remembered how hot it was that day. At the time, Moke had figured her to be a sheltered girl, whose Moralist parents would never let her out of their sight.
He remembered how she looked at him and smiled.
Moke then bit his lower lip as he remembered how Ronald Harris had said, “It looked
as if she was thinking to herself, ‘He looks like the sort of guy my mother warned me about.’”
Location: ANACO Fuel and Go Station….Township of Huluki….Ailana.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1430 Hours.
The woman’s restroom was mauve-colored and very clean. Audrey stood over a sink, looking into the mirror and thinking naughty thoughts. “He’s so cute…he hasn’t said anything about his wife…and he is a few light years away from her…
Her forehead wrinkled as she tried to suppress her giggling.
“Oh come on, Audrey…don’t think like that…”
Audrey took her brush out of her purse and watched as her smirk grew into a smile in the mirror, “Maybe I’ll suggest we have dinner in New Hamakua…he seems to be lightening up a bit. I’ll bet he’s just shy…I suppose he wants to be polite and professional, that’s why he’s acting the way he is. Maybe he’ll open up more if I buy him another beer.”
Audrey felt the brush pull out a bit of hair from her bangs. She experimented with pulling her hair back again, and then decided to let it fall about her shoulders. “I’ve been given time off, that is to be spent on the beach with a hunk…I should really take advantage of this opportunity.” Audrey smirked to herself, “oh stop it…I don’t remember the last time I had fantasies like this…but there is just something about this guy…”
Audrey laughed to herself. She turned her head as she fondly remembered how she had seen him smile, for the very time first time, since they had met. She replayed the memory of the little, dank shop that was located deep within one of the ground floors of an Ailanian shopping center. The shop had been located deep inside the belly of one of the original Star Cruisers, which had landed on Ailana nearly one hundred years ago. Unable to the escape the planet’s gravity, these Star Cruisers became Instant City Ships. The largest buildings in Polynea had been built on top of and around these Instant City Ships. Over the years of construction, these buildings developed deep labyrinths of pathways and corridors, in which the businesses and living areas became less trendy, less maintained and cheaper to rent the farther a person made their way into the superstructure.
Audrey swallowed as she remembered how out of place Harris seemed to feel as they perused the shops and stores that were located next to the streets and sidewalks. She inhaled deeply as she recalled how she had been able to notice how his level of comfort seemed to increase the farther they made their way into Instant City Ship’s superstructure. His confidence seemed to increase as they began making their way past the shops and stores where people, who appeared to have money, were holding their noses in the air.
“He felt uneasy around the rich people…he seemed more comfortable…with regular people…he appeared as if he had been looking for something specific…” She ran her fingers through her hair as she remembered how he had smiled when they found the place they had been looking for. The shop had been located deep inside the original Star Cruiser and appeared as if the owner had simply moved the bunks out of one of the original crew rooms and filled the place from wall to wall with humble items that people had simply thrown away.
She remembered the look of relief on Captain Harris’ face as he saw the long, white objects, which had been carefully placed in the corner of the room. They were the shiniest things in the entire shop. She felt her breath stopping as she remembered how the two surf boards were the only items in that shop that had never been used before.
She bit her lower lip, and twisted a lock of hair between her fingers, as she recalled the look on the surprised shop keeper’s wrinkled face as he said, “Ain’t much of a market for these things anymore,” The shop keeper had said in a gruff tone. “Not since the Moralists banned surfing on Ailana ten years ago has anyone bought one of these from me. I made em’ myself. They are original works of art. Ya know how artists, like myself…well, we’ve fallen on hard times, since the economy went in the shitter and all. Things that ain’t practical, just ain’t selling since folks ain’t got the money…nor the freedom…to spend in the ways they want to anymore. A man who owned a surfboard today…and could get away with riding it…could feel a bit of that freedom we lost when the Moralists took over…a man like that, could be free again, if not for just a little while.”
She remembered seeing how Harris seemed to perk up when he heard that. She opened her eyes and admired her hair in the mirror as she recalled how the old man seemed to notice Harris. The man seemed to understand what Harris was thinking as he stood there staring at the two surfboards.
“Seeing him, looking at those surfboards, it was like seeing someone being reunited with a long lost friend. It was so…touching…”
She felt a bit of a chill going down her spine as she remembered how Moke had said to her, “Ya wanna know something about Harris? He was a shy kid. He was the only blonde haired, blue eyed kid in school. He got teased relentlessly. He could never get a girlfriend…so what did he do with his time since no one wanted to play with him or be seen at the prom with him? He went surfing. The ocean was his only comfort…to be in the ocean was like being in the arms of his mother.”
Audrey closed her eyes and felt a pain in her stomach as she recalled how sad Moke’s face appeared as he began saying, “His mother, was never present…she was never there for him since she was always doped up on drugs…his father was even worse…the feelings he received from the ocean, were the feelings of acceptance, that he never got from those humans who betrayed him. Be careful with him, Audrey…the man is probably still pretty shy. And shy people tend to remain…unpredictable.”
Meanwhile, as he waited in the hovercar, Harris felt his heart beating faster and faster. Ever since he drank those beers at lunch, his heart beat had increased and his breathing had become shallow. He drummed his fingers on the armrest as he felt himself becoming anxious for reasons he could not explain.
He tapped his fingers harder and swallowed nervously as he thought, “What is she doing in there?”
Harris felt his palms sweating and began wiping them on his pant legs. He stared at his twitching feet as his mind became awash with several memories. The swirling thoughts made his head hurt. The pounding headache soon began to form the kinds of memories which he could not account for. Reality, and what he believed to be fantasy, blurred within his mind as he remembered the voice of a teenage boy, who was bound for trouble.
“Hey, Iki…what do ya think? Ain’t it a bitching hovercar? Someone just happened to leave the keys in the ignition. What do ya think? Should we steal it?”
Harris blinked his eyes rapidly as he remembered how he had replied, “I dunno, man…what if we get caught.”
The first teenager’s voice began to shout with death defying encouragement, “Oh come on, Iki! We can do it! The keys are in the damned ignition! Just like Fats said they would be! Let’s do it, Harris! Let’s do it!”
As the strange memories bombarded him, time seemed to pass slowly. Harris gasped and shook his head as he attempted to make them stop. He was beginning to feel as if he could see the light entering the newly opened closet within his mind and he was beginning to see the first of many skeletons. He looked out the window and tried to fixate on something else other than the strange memories that he could not seem to control. As he gazed out the window, he noticed that they were finally out of Polynea and had set down in a farming district.
The massive agricultural fields, which belonged to The Hydroplantations, looked like enormous expanses of long, brown emptiness. Harris felt his heart sadden as looked out the window and saw the enormous shopping mall across the street. He swallowed a bit of fear as he saw how the electronic billboard, located on the side of the shopping mall, flashed the words;
BroadMart…Now Under Government Control…Liquidation Sale STARTS TODAY!
He noticed how the people, who lived in this small township, walked around in the Fuel Station’s parking lot with their heads down. They seemed
unfriendly, and irritable. Their faces were drawn, and their shoulders were slumped.
“Why are we all so unhappy? Why are we not getting what we want from this life?”
Harris looked away not realizing that it was the lack of medication in his bloodstream, which was causing his memories to become hallucinations.
“Fats?”
The next voice, to come up from the depths of his subconscious, had a cool, coy tone to it. Harris remembered the distinct smell of cigar smoke as he heard a calm voice saying, “And now, my brothers and sisters walk around with slumped shoulders…and do you know why? It’s because they’ve given themselves unto slavery. It all started with the War Machine…the Ailanian people began working for what they believed was a good cause. And when the war ended…they discovered that they needed to keep working because Ailana was now a world that had moved on. The Ailanian way of life had evolved and was changed forever because people had to keep working. They had to keep working because someone told them that they had to have a hovercar, in order to get to work…and for that, they needed to buy fuel. They found out that they had to keep working, because someone told them that they had to have a big house, and a lot of furniture…they were told they needed televisions and computers and cell phone plans…they were told they had to go to work, because they needed to give their money to corporations all because they needed to buy car insurance, home owners’ insurance, life insurance, health insurance…even death insurance. They were told that they had to work so that they could pay taxes on the fuel and food they needed to buy…they were told that they had to pay property taxes, housing taxes and even taxes on the wages they were so desperately trying to save up so they could buy more shit, which they didn’t really need. My brothers and sisters all discovered that they had to work so that they could keep their hovercars and houses up the standards of the law…it got to the point that if corporations weren’t taking our peoples’ money, the government was taking their money…for reasons that they never even bothered to explain…because of the corporations and the government…the people of this world found themselves in debt…”
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