The Birth of Dystopia

by A. Q. Moser

  “Yes, I did. I thought it was the morning so I cooked enough eggs for everyone.” I felt embarrassed by the oversight.

  “Wow, you’re a special gentleman, dear. It’s rare to find such a kind heart in a man.” Giselle winked at May, signalling me as a good catch.

  May blushed at the suggestion. “What a wonderful gesture to cook for us.”

  “Rather than letting it go to waste, dear, serve it to your special guest downstairs.” Giselle handed me a fork and a plate full of dried up eggs. “By the way, I’m not too happy with what’s going on here but I’ll accept it for now. There I said what I needed to say.” She returned to tiding up the kitchen, content with living in oblivion.

  Trying not to get involved with Giselle, I remained quiet, and instead, headed to the basement pursued by May.

  “Why is Billy so cruel to me?” I asked in privacy.

  “It’s just the way he is, a mean guy. Don’t worry about him,” May rallied for my side, knowing full well of my lower status within the group.

  Going downstairs, I looked over my shoulder at her and she smiled back. “Thanks May for sticking up for me.”

  May patted me on the back. “I got you covered.”

  Liking May’s encouragement and the feel of her hand on my back, I continued descending the stairs into the cold basement. We moved past the wall with the collection of pictures and Thank You cards from grateful teens to the back corner where Tamme lay on a pile of pillows. His Olympic t-shirt was drenched with sweat and the feeble old man had deep bags under his eyes. Out of courtesy for the alcoholic interrogation, an empty plastic bucket rested next to his cut head. He twitched every so often as if suffering from a hung over and in need of a major overhaul. He still had his duct tape shackles, securing him from escaping.

  The toilet flushed and Bruno, still dressed all in black, stepped out of the washroom carrying a comic book. “Hello.”

  “Good evening Bruno,” I replied. “We need to feed Tamme.”

  Yawning for how tired he was, Bruno placed the comic book on the sink in the washroom. He moved over to Tamme and lifted him up onto his knees. The old man coughed in a careless disregard to where he was spreading his germs. Bruno held the old man so he would not topple over.

  I bent down on one knee to see eye to eye with the old man. “Tamme, I have a treat for you. I have a hearty egg dinner for you,” I encouraged, waving the plate of eggs by his nose.

  “Is this how you treat your elders?” Tamme refuted in disgust.

  Attempting to move past what happened last night I rubbed my stomach to show how delicious the eggs were.

  “I’m an old man. I can’t handle a beating, especially a cowardly one. What you did was wrong.” Tamme searched for pity.

  “Please understand, we didn’t intend for this to happen,” May sympathized with a calm tone.

  “Your actions are in direct violation with the protocol of the military. Do you believe that you will get away with this? Beating me and forcing alcohol upon me.” Tamme continued his protest.

  “Are you hungry?” I felt compelled to put down the eggs and leave.

  “Do you understand that you’re messing with the military here? They will not tolerate these actions.” Tamme was upset and uncooperative.

  “Are you thirsty?” I remained focused at the task to serve a guest.

  “Do you understand what I’m saying?” Tamme continued to ignore any questions about his well-being. “You’re going to go to jail for this.” He paused for a split second. “Will you let me go?”

  “We can’t answer any of your questions,” I responded sternly, knowing full well that I was not to divulge any answers. “You’re stuck here and will remain here till it suits us. End of story.”

  “Tamme, please eat something,” May begged.

  Tamme turned towards to Bruno. “I feel so sorry for you Bruno. You’re doing the bidding of another without understanding the consequences of your actions. Life is funny how it repeats itself when we least expect it. They ask for freedom, yet, here you are under their demented supervision.”

  “How many more lies do we have to listen too?” I posed for Tamme, understanding he was trying to twist the situation around and pit Bruno against us.

  “Don’t listen to him Bruno,” May beseeched. “He has done far worse harm than anyone could imagine.”

  “I know that you tried to hurt Billy,” Bruno countered, pointing to Tamme.

  “Forget about him.” I jumped in before Tamme could speak. “He’s trying to trap us. In the military, they practise this sort of hostage logic. We need to do the opposite of what the prisoner wants.”

  “Are you going to eat?” May insisted in a loud voice.

  Bruno raised his hand. “I’ll eat it.”

  “There’s extra cooked eggs upstairs if you want some,” May said.

  “So this food is special for me,” Tamme spoke up. “Drugged food?”

  “It’s free food. Do you want it or not?” May was losing patience with Tamme.

  “Free food is not forced upon someone.” Tamme seemed to be trying to control the conversation by contradicting everything we said.

  “You don’t know what real freedom is,” May expressed, getting involved in the conversation.

  Snickering at the comment, Tamme sat back. He looked down at his bond arms and legs as if sending us a message. Bruno reached over and pressed down the loose ends of the duct tape, securing its hold.

  “Are you free, Mister? What is your last name?” May aimed a personal question at Tamme.

  “For your information, I don’t use my real name anymore just my nickname.” Tamme stared back stern and bitter.

  “Stop playing us for fools.” I jumped on Tamme’s blatant lie.

  “Never underestimate the power of a nickname. Nicknames have more value than you realize. It describes who we are and what we have become. This goes a lot further than any birth name. Ask your special Cadet friend what his real name is.” Trying to cause about mutiny within the group, Tamme changed gears looking for a point of weakness.

  “What’s with all this philosophy? I wanted to offer you a hearty meal not have a debate.” Things were getting out of control.

  “So do you think you are free?” May insisted.

  “No one is ever free,” Tamme acknowledged.

  “We finally get an answer to a question.” May raised her voice in praise. “Do you feel that it is right for one person to control another?”

  “First of all, it wasn’t one person making the decisions. Instead a group of people controlled the matter to which I had no say over what they decided and did.” Tamme drilled in his lack of involvement in the project’s decision process. “Secondly, how do you think that laws are made? It’s a select few people dictating over another with regards to how to conduct our lives.”

  The old man was really irritating me. “Tell me, would I have lived a different life if this project never happened?”

  “Of course, I don’t deny that,” Tamme admitted. “The influences of the project go further than you can imagine. But here you are, doing the same thing to someone who never had any choice in this matter. I didn’t run the experiments on you. Someone else did. And now you choose to experiment on me. Who is the guilty party here?”

  It did not matter what I said, Tamme kept reversing the onus on us as if we had no right to fight back. “Let me I ask you something else? Do we have a right to fight back and make those people suffer for what they did to us?”

  “You have the right to do whatever you want but don’t tell me that you’re better than the project founders. Don’t tell me that you’re free from the boundaries of another. In the end, if you understood what was truly done to you, you would be kissing the feet of these founders.” Tamme looked away as if he said his peace and was done with us.

  This conversation was going nowhere. Tamme chose not to see it any other way than his. This disruptive project affected my parents’ lives too but I highly doubt
ed that this variable was ever considered in the equation of the projects’ scientists. I motioned the plate of eggs towards his head but I had no intention to follow through.

  Bruno clinched my elbow. “Please, no more violence.”

  Holding Bruno with a high regard, I backed away and returned upstairs with the unwanted food.

  Entering the kitchen, Cadet, Billy and Wolfgang convened at the table as if part of an elaborate ceremony for the elite. They positioned themselves with their arms crossed waiting for the right moment to speak. The message was clear they were out to strategize the next move.

  I turned to the three chiefs. “What do I do with this food?”

  “Garbage,” Billy said without any hesitation.

  Not trying to rock boat, I disposed the unwanted eggs in the waste. The breakfast was my effort to redeem my disobedient actions for the night before. I cooked it for everyone, and so far, I was the only one who tasted it.

  50

  Skipping into the kitchen, May portrayed an upbeat presence as if she were queen of the world. “Did you guys realize that what Aerial predicted has come true?” she opened.

  Offended by the conversation piece, Billy kept his arms crossed. Wolfgang rubbed his clean-shaven face as if trying to analyze the variance behind the question. Cadet cringed his forehead, unsure what May was referring too as he never seen any such list.

  “Aerial used the word prison for point number seven. The same word on the list is used for all of us. We’re all hiding here and with a prisoner downstairs. It’s a secret message in her list.” Excited, May made looping motions with her hands indicating all of us.

  “What a load of horse crap!” Billy denied. “We’re not technically hidink out. We’re free to go as we please. If you want to leave, go ahead. I don’t care.”

  “Aerial knew the future. You know it,” May insisted.

  “Whatever,” Billy retorted.

  “Let me switch topics here. I think our most important priority is to get May’s article out on the Web,” Wolfgang expected.

  “Yes, definitely,” Cadet agreed.

  “We need to find an Internet café so we can post the article anonymously,” Wolfgang described a covert operation.

  “At the same time, we should go over and revisit Aerial.” May spoke as if addressing a large crowd.

  “What!” Billy spit out. “I’m not goink back to her. She’s a rat. We saw her at the enemy’s base.”

  “Joel, what do you think?” May looked over my way, as if expecting me to support her cause.

  Could there be any more pressure put on me? I had to decide on which side of the fence I was. May had her scheme and the rest of the group saw it differently. Even if I sided with May, the numbers were against such a visit—majority ruled. “I believe Aerial can predict the future.”

  “I don’t care what Joel says. Forget it. This is out of the question,” Billy reiterated, infuriated by the very suggestion.

  “I would like to add my say here. I don’t know what exactly this Aerial told you but if she can predict the future, then she could be very valuable to us. Maybe we should reconsider,” Cadet suggested as if he was seeking approval.

  Viewing Cadet’s openness to her plan, May reacted by hopping up and down as if it were a done deal.

  “No way! She’s trouble for us. She’ll probably give us away.” Billy could not believe what he was hearing. “You can’t trust people like her.”

  “I think May, you misunderstood what Aerial said. Society makes us all prisoners. Our homes can be seen as a prison,” Wolfgang re-interpreted what Aerial listed.

  “Here’s an idea, if she knows the future, then why doesn’t she tell the military where we are?” Billy ascribed the soothsaying business as a hoax.

  “Exactly.” May bubbled up. “She hasn’t told the military anything because she’s on our side.”

  Expecting a different reaction, Billy looked stumped as if he had inserted his foot in his mouth.

  “She was experimented on too,” I explained, seizing the opportunity to add a comment.

  “There three against two.” May had a look of satisfaction. “And to cement the deal, why would Aerial help us to locate Cadet rather than try to mess us up?”

  Frustrated by the progress, Billy slammed a hand on the kitchen table. “As far as I’m concerned, Aerial is a phoney who manipulated May into revealink her dreams. Today, we saw her at the base and that means she’s workink for the military. What more needs to be said other than this conversation is simply foolish.”

  “I know I was there.” Cadet nodded as if Billy forgot. “But why was Aerial there? She may know more about the project than Tamme or me.”

  “She could betray us and then what?” Wolfgang countered.

  “The point is she hasn’t betrayed because she won’t.” May glanced over at Cadet, setting her next scheme in motion. “How about we check up on her by sending someone she doesn’t recognize?”

  “What happens if she expects this?” Billy argued against.

  “Ah, so you do believe she can foresee the future.” May smirked, clapping her hands together like a circus seal.

  “Whatever,” Billy dismissed, wishing he had not asked the question.

  “The more we know the better off we are.” May peered at each one of us to see if anyone would dare refute her remark. “Since majority rules in this group, we send Cadet to talk to her.”

  “No way,” Billy said in disagreement. Protesting, he pushed off the kitchen table to lean back in his chair. “The only thing she knows is what May’s been tellink her all this time.”

  “I didn’t tell her everything,” May defended, resentful for the statement.

  “Order, please.” Judge Cadet resorted to calming the debate down. “Aerial knows something we may not know. It could be our security blanket. It’s a dangerous job, but we should all agree to it.”

  “In.” May giggled. I found it inappropriate considering the circumstances but it did liven up the dismal kitchen mood.

  “I’m in,” I consented.

  Losing the vote two to three, Wolfgang and Billy drew stone faces. They no longer held the reins of power within the group.

  “For the record, I don’t like this one bit.” Billy shared his opinion.

  “What about you Wolfgang, are we going to work together?” Cadet asked.

  “What do you want me to say? I don’t like it either. We should be working on the article first.” Wolfgang frowned.

  “We may not always agree on a decision, but when it comes down to it we should stand together, not divided. I believe we can gather more information and so it’s worth a try. Too much information has never hurt anyone. The plan will be for me to go in alone to visit with Aerial. I want the support of all of you.” Cadet’s military background was becoming evident as he took full charge of the covert mission.

  “Fine,” Wolfgang reluctantly yielded.

  Billy shrugged as if he did not care anymore. “Go ahead.”

  “It’s all agreed then. Do we know where Aerial lives?” Cadet asked.

  “I know where her shop is. It’s that tiny strip mall at Scarlet and Ellinton Street on the way to the junkyard,” May informed.

  “Great. I know where that is. The next step is to maintain contact at all times. No cell phones as these can be easily tracked.” Cadet glanced towards the garage. “Luckily I came prepared. In my duffel bag, I’ve got a state-of-the-art tactical throat microphone designed to transmit a whisper. I’ve also got two portable two-way VHF FM communication radios that are linked to an invisible earpiece I can use. The signal is dependent on proximity rather than linking with satellites like Satcoms; it’s safer for us in case we’re being tracked. From Billy, I need two things: a turtleneck to disguise the microphone and two vehicles for transportation.”

  “Two cars and a turtle neck not a problem.” Billy concurred to all of Cadet’s demands. “How about Bruno goes with you?”

  “No.” Cadet waved off t
he suggestion. “In case anything bad happens and I get caught, I don’t want anyone else involved. Torture is not beneath the military.”

  “Bruno is not a rat, he’s tough,” Billy defended his friend.

  “The military have ways of using people against each other. The risk is too big,” Cadet explained. “I can do this alone. Now, I need to know all the things that Aerial knows about us.”

  “You want us to stalk her?” Billy joked in an attempt to undermine Cadet’s plan.

  “No. I want to know what you guys told Aerial.” Cadet turned to May. “Remember information is the key here.”

  “I didn’t tell her anythink.” Billy was proud for being silent during the séance visit.

  “I didn’t tell her everything.” May knew she was being blamed for her involvement with Aerial. It was a touchy subject for her.

  “I want to be serious here. Just tell me what you’ve told Aerial,” Cadet kindly asked. “Let me write this down.” He patted the kitchen table searching for something to write on. “I need paper to write on,” he ordered without budging from the chair.

  Wanting to be helpful, May rose from her chair. “I think I saw some paper somewhere?” Seeing the items on the fridge, she ripped a sheet of paper from a notepad and pulled off a pen held to the fridge by a magnet. She handed both items to Cadet.

  Billy straightened up in his chair, curious to see where this was going. Wolfgang shifted his chair closer to the table, intrigued by the line of questioning. What exactly has May divulged to the psychic? Not wanting to rock the boat, I reclined at the table and listened.

  “Well, I’ve only been to see her two times.” May held up two fingers for all to count. “The last visit to Aerial was yesterday and these guys were there too. As she does for everyone, Aerial distributed a personal list.” She retrieved her list and placed it on the kitchen table for all to see. “The first visit was seven years ago, I was eighteen years old and a little uncertain of my future career choice. Aerial described her visions about me. She saw how I could excel as a journalist if I applied myself. From there she informed me about a scandalous story brewing on the Senator MacLenden—the one where his devoted maid had obtained an illegal immigration status under mysterious circumstances. And then she gave me my list saying I would be back. She spoke the entire time.”