Dystopia-Repost: Episode 3 - The Last Illusions of 1983
The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.
Power is not a means, it is an end. Power is inflicting pain and humiliation.
A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world which will grownot less
but more merciless as it refines itself. If you want a picture of the future,
Imagine a boot stamping on a human face. Forever.
(“1984”, George Orwell)
Episode 3 - The Last Illusions of 1983
One of Tai San’s little crystal bottles in his hands, Lex sinks into a chair. He smells the rich fragrance, vanilla, yasmine. Tai San’s parfums and elixirs, her dried tea leaves and herbs - he already misses her. It’s unfair that she had to go.
He knows it would have been foolish to try and stop her. Another argument, another level of understanding they don’t match on. He feels for Bray and Amber, he really does. They have been his friends for a long time. He even remembers talking to Bray about becoming a dad, what it meant to him. And how it pained him when he lost both Zandra and the baby. If Bray were here now he would of course offer him an open ear, would be understanding towards his pain. But the fact is, he’s not. And leaving his home, his mall, to help someone mourn is just too much.
Tai San of course has to do the right thing, the spiritual-karma-right thing. She probably tells Bray to meditate with her now, cooks him fresh meals and soothing teas. Talks about destiny and live’s mysterious ways.
It’s stupid to be jealous at Bray, for having this, having her. She’s HIS wife, she loves him, right?
Ebony’s words keep re-playing in his head. What, if she’s not going with Bray, but going away from him, Lex? What, if her true motivation is that she doesn’t feel the way for him that he does for her, that she feels trapped in their marriage? She is a free spirit after all, a person who doesn’t believe in the instituation of marriage. Someone who puts their vows aside if she believes she can “safe somebody”.
And then there’s Bray, Bray who always trusted Tai San, more than her own husband. Bray who had more faith in her than anybody, who sacrificed and risked everything for her beliefs ever since the Chosen captured him.
What, if the true reason she shared the antidote formula with him, the true reason she wants to be at Bray’s side instead of Alice’s right now, is that she feels more than friendship towards him?
Nonsense! Lex lifts the scented oil towards his nose, closes his eyes. Tai San loves him! If she wanted anyone else, she would not have married him, Bray was single long enough. Why is he listening to those bitter bitches anyway? Are they happily married to the love of their live? No!
He smiles to himself. They’re just jealous, all of them...
Ellie puts down her book, when Jack enters the room. Awkward and self-conscious in his movements, but the darker, more mature hair and the worried look on his face show how much he has grown up, show of the things he’s seen, the things neither he nor Cloe want to talk about.
“Animal Farm, hm?” He points awkwardly to the book. “Not thinking of skipping out on us, too? Going back home - you know, to the farm?”
“It’s George Orwell, Jack”, Ellie answers, a tone of impatience towards his personality in her voice. Luke would have known this, she thinks and feels guilty for her indifference the same moment. Guilty and sad about Luke leaving her.
“Yes, I can see. Says so on the cover.” He grins.
“It’s about politics”, Ellie explains. “It’s a metopher, to no matter how many times you tear down the oppressing powers and find a new form of self-government, even if it is communist, there will be new tyrants amongst you and they will be the next tyrants in power. A critic on communism, if you like. I’m reading it for this new article I’m planning to write.”
“That actually sound pretty clever”, Jack acknowledges, throwing the book a curious glance. He seems worried. “Don’t think Ebony will like it much, though.”
“She isn’t supposed to”, Ellie replies, a stubborn look on her face. “It’s the first duty of journalism to point out a current government’s mistakes. I can’t side with Bray and Amber, or I’ll be killed in my sleep by a Mosquito swarm - so I’m chosing a more subtle approach.”
Jack picks up Ellie’s notebook, filled with tiny quotes, written in black ink. “And you think Moz won’t get orders to kill you for ‘they had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes’”, he quotes from her notes.
“Like she’ll even understand what it means.” Ellie rolls her eyes. “Besides, Ebony wouldn’t allow her to make a scene that could make them look guilty. I’m just doing my part. People have right to know.”
"And what about this: ‘No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.’ - Don’t you think they’ll pick up on that?"
“That’s a risk I have to take”, Ellie insists stubbornly. “Do you just wanna lay back and let the city be run by dictatorship? We still have a freedom of press! Plus, if I point out what this is doing to the kids on the street, the fear this kind of treatment of political opponents is inflicting on them, I might even get Moz on my site.”
“I doubt it.” Jack stands up, looking at a sleeping Alice. “Not with the problems we’ll have if she comes here to collect a certain corpse.”
Ellie looks puzzled.
“He’s gone Ellie!” Jack lowers his voice, looking carefully at a sleeping Alice to make sure she doesn’t hear them. “The Guardian’s gone! There’s no body, not even a drop of blood - nothing!”
“What?” It takes a few seconds before Ellie understands. “But this is perfect! They’ll have no proof for Alice doing anything! If this comes out, it will make Ebony look bad and it’ll show that the banishment was totally unjustified! If I put this in an article together with Amber’s miscarriage...”
“You’ll make the city believe we’re hiding evidence! They’re suspicious enough against us, Ellie! They’ll believe Luke freed him, left with him and we put up an inscenation, while the Chosen are getting back together!”
Ellie’s head jerks up. “Luke would never...”
“We don’t have proof for that! Besides, if you put Amber’s story in there, you’ll have Bray on your case! Do you think this will make them happy? Do you think Amber wants the people who threw her out of the city to know about her misery? They have enough to deal with anyway! Leave it, Ellie!”
Ellie bites her lip, feeling pushed back, insulted, and at the same time guilty. “I don’t want to hurt anybody”, she responds quietly. “I just want people to realize what they’ve done to them! They’re my friends, too!”
“People haven’t done anything”, Cloe interrupts her from the doorframe. She steps in, looking at Ellie’s books with mild interest. “The baby was born with the ambilical cord around his neck. Bray and Tai San couldn’t do anything, it would have died here or at the Mall. You can’t blame the city for that!.”
“That’s horrible!” They all jerk around when Alice speaks. Her face is still pale, her red hair messed up from sleeping in the middle of the day (and probably some restless dreams), but her voice clear and loud.
“Alice, you’re up!”, Ellie calls out with false cheerfulness in her voice.
Cloe and Jack look at each other, worried, suspicious. Just because they have known Alice for so long doesn’t mean they don’t feel threatened, insecure by this new, violent side of hers. The turn of events has made Alice a person to look out for. And they can’t shake the thought that if she in fact did kill the Guardian, maybe arresting would have been a wise choice of action.
“Lex send me to look after you guys”, Cloe explains. “He wants us all to meet in the cafe, to tell us his new security rules.” She rolls her eyes at this. More rules!
“Tally and Andy aren’t here”, Ellie informs her. “They went to take photos of the new tribe for the Amulet.”
“They what?” Jack and Cloe exchange a quick look. “Ellie, do you think it’s a good idea to send two little kids to some military tribe with the power to fly an airplane?”
“Yeah, it’s too dangerous!”, Cloe agrees.
“I didn’t send them”, Ellie responds, her arms crossed. “They offered to go and take some photos for first research at the airport, that’s all. I told them to keep a distance. Besides, these people have already moved. All Tally and Andy are doing is photographing an empty airplane, then they’ll be back.”
“Sure they will”, Jack mutters, shaking his head in disapprovement. “The two worst troublemakers since KC will do what you tell them to do!”
It’s the picture that won’t leave Ebony’s mind. The picture she used to keep Amber and Bray apart, to get Amber to leave. The picture Bray ripped into tiny pieces in front of her, breaking her heart. Him, her, and her friend’s baby Anabelle. Now his perfect picture of the world has been torn into metaphorical pieces. Did Amber and Bray have a girl, or a boy?
Did they really leave, is it really over? It seems like a lifetime ago that she didn’t care about Bray and the girls he prefered to her. Nice, pacifist little Miss Perfects. Trying to “change the world”. It never really feeled like it was what he actually would have done by himself. So much less than he could have achieved with her by his side. But it’s over now. He’s made his choice and so has she.
“Your security system sucks”, Moz greets her, while walking in, one of her various friends in the same outfit, but with violent pink hair, behind her. She doesn’t knock. Of course not. She’ll need someone alerting her of Moz’s comings and goings, Ebony thinks. A messenger, a warning system. Someone holding her back, showing her her place. “Get this - I walk into the front entrance and there’s this guy who doesn’t even know me, for some reason.” She seems a bit distracted by this for a moment, then continues. “Anyway, he wanted to ask who I am, so I told him - just for kicks, and in a really bad French accent - I’m the stripper for tonight’s party - he just let me in! Can you believe that?”
Her companion snickers silently and puts on a more serious face, when Moz looks at her.
“What, that people take you for a stripper?”, Ebony taunts her, feeling a great, unexplainable satisfaction over this strange piece of news. She’ll have to give the guard in question a raise.
“No, I don’t give a shit. Besides, once they’ve seen your outfit - wait, he has seen you, right? How many people work here?”
“Get to the point!”, Ebony orders in her most authoritive voice. She can feel her pulse rising, can begin to understand why it is that so many people freak out on Moz. Until now it’s just been fun to see the other girl’s temper, her little tantrums and her slightly crazy eyes, but...
“This kid looks exactly like the others”, Moz’s pink-haired friend explains. “Inconspicuous, normal, you know. But for some strange reason you’ve managed to employ the one kid in town who’se not been to the election and never saw any of Moz’s posters. Don’t you think that’s strange?”
“Maybe he just didn’t find them that memorable.” Ebony gives them a triumphing smile. “It was a bit of an unflattering photo of you, if you don’t mind me saying so”, she adresses Moz.
“It’s like he’s not from here”, Pinky stresses her point, since Moz seems to be busy getting into another state. If actual smoke will extract from her nostrils, Ebony will regret taking down the fire extinguishers to improve her interior design.
She just shrugs. “Maybe.”
“We just had an invasion!” Moz’s voice is getting louder with every word. “Don’t you think you should know if one of them is in your own house? What’s wrong with you, is this that “all or nothing” shit again?”
“Oh, just shut up!” Ebony gets up from her chair, making sure Moz can’t see the bag of money under the table. She takes a folder from her cupboard, searching it for the most expensive, official looking stationery she owns. “There was no invasion. Nobody was taken, they didn’t even introduce themselves. We don’t know anything! You’ve gotta learn how to relax and leave the important decisions to me, Moz. And for your information, I know every member of my staff. Satisfied?”
Moz looks at her hands, lets her freakishly long nails wander over the metal of her go-to weapon. “Wrong! We don’t know of someone being taken, that’s all”, Moz insists. “How do you know that was an actual member of your staff? Do you even have the slightest hunch who’s on duty right now?”
“Will you let it go?” Ebony throws a pack of exfoliated envelopes onto the table, notices Moz’s eyes resting on the thick, fancy parchment.
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to write their leader a letter. I’ll send a messenger, with guards, to the stadium. I’ll invite him to my house, have all the tribe leaders present at a pool party and welcome his tribe to my city. He can join the leader’s council, be one of my subordinates. If he wants to overthrow me, he has to win an election, and I’m not planning to hold a new one soon.” She smirks to herself, takes the cap of her pen.
“You’re going to tell him where all the tribe leaders are, in one place”, Moz comprehends very slow, her eyes narrowed, her voice toneless. She exchanges another look with her companion.
“If we present a solid, united front, he has no choice but to accept my proposal.” Ebony starts writing. “It’s simple psychology, Moz. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
“How do you know it’s a guy?”, Moz keeps disturbing her intentions.
“Wait a moment - YOU said you saw the guy giving orders.” Ebony stopps writing for a moment, feeling really irritated now.
“I said I saw A guy giving orders”, Moz corrects her. “I didn’t say he was their leader.”
Ebony keeps breathing in order to not lose her temper. In. Out. In. Out. “I was just assuming.”
”You know, sometimes I think you’re just waiting for some powerful idiot with a penis to hand him all you’ve ever worked for on a silver platter.” Moz seems to think out loud. Not that there is ever more in her head than what she vocalizes, it’s what makes her such an easy opponent. “You know, when I told you about our new Aryan soldier in town I was kind of surprised you were still dressed at the end of the sentence.”
“Ouch!”, Pinky comments, but the conversation seems to amuse her at great lengths.
Ebony puts down her pen. “Get! OUT!” She follows Moz’s movements with narrow eyes, as the other girl just shrugs and strolls towards the door, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. “Do you think you’re so much harder to get into bed than me?”, she calls after her. “Don’t pretend like you’re Miss Upstanding Morals, you’d have to never look in a mirror to believe that!”
“No, what I’m saying is, I don’t focus on men like that. C’mon, Dee.” Moz gives her a wink and leaves the room, hip-swinging and not a care in the world. Until the next opportunity for a riot comes up.
Ebony begins writing again, careful to adress the new tribe’s leader in an asexual way. Halfway through the first page she stops, looking back towards the still opened door. She can’t shake off the funny feeling that she missed something.
Alice can hear them talking. She told Ellie she still felt too tired to come to the meeting, but the truth is, she knows they don’t want her there. She’s seen Tally and Andy with their camera, trying to stay far away from her, after they just accepted her as their head of the family member days ago. No more “Will you look after us now, Alice?” She can’t blame them.
She still feels shocked at what she did. Shocked, not sorry, mind you. That creep was a waste of space in their cage! Someone should have done what she intended to do so much sooner!
She looks up, when a silhouette appears in the door, awkward, almost shy. It’s May, holding an apple and a glass of milk. She makes a vague gesture towards the spot on Alices side on the bed covers.
“Can I come in?”
Alice nods, too stunned by this friendly act. She takes the milk, drinks some of it, then notices that May has brought the apple for herself. Somehow this makes her visit even nicer. She’s come to stay for a while, to be with her. Alice can feel her throat swelling up; her eyes are burning. Why is May being so nice to her? “Aren’t you scared of me?”
”No, why?” May starts eating her apple. “I didn’t waste Ned, did I?”
“No.” Alice stares at the milk. White, so white and clean. A clean slate, that’s what she could use right now.
“You know, I don’t think Bray had the right to talk to you like that”, May continues. “You did what you had to do. I’d wanna see him, if that creep killed Amber!”
“Amber, right.” Alice takes another swig of milk, tries to focus, tries to blend out the Guardians loathsome face. “Do you think they’re alright? Did you hear anything?”
“Not since Pride and the others left”, May denies, sadness in her voice.
“I’m sorry”, Alice responds automatically. She remembers May’s shining eyes, when she told her about her and Pride, her happy smile. She’d never seen the other girl so excited before.
“Guess we’re both alone now”, May thinks out loud. “I mean, I know it’s not the same”, she adds quickly. “But it still sucks... I’ll never meet a guy like Pride again!”
“He was nice.” More simple polite phrases. To be honest, Alice didn’t care about Pride very much. He had an attitude towards Ned, even after the victory. He was neither Mall Rat, nor had he the decency to behave as an outsider. “Maybe he’ll come back”, she says, without really meaning it.
“No, he won’t.” May sighs. “He didn’t go on a vacation to the tree huggers, he went home!”
Alice can feel something like a little laugh escaping her throat, listening to the sound she produces in sheer disbelief. Happiness seems just like a memory to her, so does laughter. Something from another life. It’s not like she has a reason to be happy.
“Do you think they’ll throw me out?”, she asks, her throat going dry mid-sentence. It’s a thought that scares her - going back to the empty, trashed farm that she spent time with Ned at. Alone, alone with her memories.
“No, of course not!” May shakes her head. “They won’t do that, Ellie won’t let them. And I’m on your side, too. Not sure how much that counts, though”, she ends her thought.
“It counts to me”, Alice assures her and they share a weak, sad smile. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me! I don’t know how I got to this dark place, you know. To think that I almost killed someone...” She sinks back into a world of memories and nightmares, a world she spent the last few days in. It takes some time until she notices that May has uttered some kind of response.
“Almost?”, May repeats. “You... you mean you didn’t kill him?”
“No”, Alice replies, almost in a trance. It hurts, it’s all over her, it’s so strange and yet... “Luke stopped me. The Guardian left with him.” It’s painful to say it out loud. The creep got away. If he was here, right here, right now, she’d do it all again. Hurt him to silence her own pain, to take revenge.
“But that’s great news!” May jumps up. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I...” Alice searches for an answer, but all she can feel is deep shame, shame and pain. “I guess I wanted it to be true.”
May hurries towards the door. “I’ll tell the others!”, she yells over her shoulder.
“But we don’t wanna clean!”, Andy complains.
“Nobody does. But someone has to, and Jack, KC and I are busy updating security around here”, Lex ignores his objection. Who’s this brat anyway? He should be thankful they let him and his sister stay around here! “The important decision is now, do we tell Ebony we buried the body or do we tell her it’s gone?”
“What will she do to us?”, Cloe asks, sounding more stubborn than scared. “We didn’t tell the whole city he was dead, that was her!”
“How is that the point?”, Ellie rounds on her. “We’ve gotta protect Alice! Who knows what they will decide next? Ebony has no conscience or any human empathy and she made sure this city remains lawless by keeping Bray from working until she could banish him. We really could do with Danni’s Bill of Laws right now!”
“That would mean, Alice would get banished!”, Cloe points out.
“Right, and we don’t want that”, Lex nods at Cloe. “So we gotta keep quiet about the Guardian and see what we can find out about this new tribe first.”
“Andy and I took photos”, Tally lifts a camera and smiles expectantly at everyone. “See? We’re helping Ellie with the newspaper. We’re doing our part!”
“Great news, everyone!” May storms into the cafeteria. “Alice didn’t kill the Guardian! She says he left with Luke, after he convinced her not to hurt him.”
“Who, the Guardian?” KC looks quizzical.
“No, Luke!”
“Of course!”, Jack murmurs, rolling his eyes.
“But why would he do that? Why would he leave with...” Ellie seems more upset about the matter at hand.
“Well, he was planning to leave anyway”, Jack points out the irony. “So why not take his boss with him?”
Ellie wants to protest, wants to yell at all of them, that they don’t know Luke like she does, that he’d never do anything like that, but she can see it in their faces: They wouldn’t believe a word of it. Shocked, she sinks back in her chair, letting her face rest in her hands. This can’t be true, it’s a nightmare...
Tally tips on her arm, holding out a bag. “Andy and I have the photos. Do you wanna put them on your computer now?”
The soldier stays in straight, correct pose, while his general inspects the closed envelope from all sides. He puts up his chin a nudge higher, makes sure his spine is absolutely straight and his feet are parallel, straight and point to zero degrees in different directions.
Jay holds up the envelope. “Who gave you this?”
“A messenger, General. He had guards with him and waited outside the front gates. I was on duty, so I took the letter. He said it was from the city leader.”
“They have a city leader?”, Ved mocks the guard at Jay’s side, snickering to himself. “What, did he beat the others in their annual street fights? Did he draw the long match?”
“I’ve brought into my knowledge that their leader is female”, Jay informs his brother, looking closer at the writing on the envelope. For the attention of the leader of our newest tribe in town. Dark blue ink. He has to smile at that. A hand written letter. Are they serious?
“A girl? Ram’s getting official letters from a girl?” Ved grins at the guard, who has to repress a smile himself.
“And you didn’t invite the messenger in for questioning?”, Jay adresses the the bearer of this strange, handwritten message from another time, another culture than theirs.
“Like I said, he had guards”, the boy responds. “And, err... he didn’t want to.”
”Didn’t want to - what?”
”Come in. Sir.”
“Smart boy”, Ved mutters. “So, are you gonna give it to Ram?”, he asks Jay, looking at the envelope with a newly awakened curiosity.
“I will ask whether he accepts it, yes. Go back to your post!”, he adresses the guard and starts walking to the main media room of the stadium. “We didn’t expect them to be organized”, he says, more to himself than to Ved. He wouldn’t say it out loud, if his brother wasn’t present of course. He’s not a crazy person!
“Will this change our plans?”, Ved asks.
“Not for now. If it comes to it, we’ll just have to improvise a little with our current tactics!” Somehow, this seems to set him in a good mood.
“Yay! Tactics party! Let’s get out the balloons!”, Ved comments sarcastically. What his brother understands to be fun has always been strange to him, to say the least. Born with a stick up his ass and if something doesn’t happen soon, he might die the same way. Especially if he keeps “improvising with tactics”. What’s next, juggling with statistics?
“Don’t mess this up for yourself, David”, Jay reprimands his younger brother by his full name. “You’re the youngest member of our organization to ever be considered for a Commander post. I keep recommending you, and you know Ram favours your talents. You’re just one successful project away from moving up to a higher rank, so don’t lose focus now!” Jay knocks on the door, standing back respectfully. Ved mimics his movement, but adds an eye roll.
A female assistant of lower ranks opens the door and salutes Jay. Ved she barely notices. “General.”
“I’m bringing a message from the city leader, Katy”, Jay informs her.
“What does it say?”, they hear Ram’s voice in the background.
Katy steps aside and closes the door behind Jay and Ved, while casually ignoring Ved staring at her breasts. Little perv! How old is he anyway, twelve?
“I didn’t open it, Sir.” Jay smiles politely.
“Of course you didn’t. Well, do it now!”, he says, slightly impatient, signaling with a hand gesture that he does not wear his black silicon gloves and therefore will not judge germ-infected envelopes from any Locals, not even their leader.
“Yes, Sir.” Jay opens the envelope quickly, lets his eyes skim through the lines. “It’s an invitation to a meeting of their leaders.”
“A welcome party?”, Ram guesses, sharing a smile with Ved.
“No, she’s just welcoming you to her court”, Ved answers sarcastically.
Ram raises his eyebrows. “She?”
“Yes, the name is Ebony”, Jay offers extra information. “And it does sound like she intends to call for a special meeting to welcome you, and ensure her position in the city is noted, most likely. She writes food and beverages are supplied, but tries to make it sound casual, as if that is the norm.”
“She’s trying to impress you, Ram”, Ved comments, leaning in, so he can have a look at the letter, too. “You’re a lucky guy, she sounds hot!”
“How do you take that from a letter?”, Jay asks irritated.
“Her name is Ebony!” Ved shakes his head, as if that is the most obvious sign for general hotness in the world. “That’s a black name. Hot black name, actually!”
“Did she send Ivory to bring the message?”, Ram teases Jay, before he can respond to his brother’s weird, possibly racist remark.
“He didn’t introduce himself, but I assume his name was less colourful”, Jay answers curtly.
Ram smiles to himself, looking at the letter with a newly awakened interest. “Well, send “Ebony” a message of my own. Tell her I will attend her little meeting, if you can observe the place first. Make sure it’s germ-free and has fire exits. Install a few bugs, while you’re there.”
“So you’re going with her agenda”, Ved asks, stunned by this uncharacteristically submissive act.
“That’s what we want her to believe.” Ram smiles, leaning back in his motorized wheelchair. “For now.”