Location: Moke’s House…Mahina Suburbs…Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1800 Hours.
Moke laid back into the pillows on his bed, and watched the monitor. Mele Entertainment had dedicated most of its airtime to political debates and speeches. Moke sighed as he saw High Senator Rammy Klunka, a tired-looking Bontune man with sagging skin and thinning, gray hair. Klunka was driving his point home in front of a large crowd of Conservative Moralist supporters who wore shirts and buttons bearing his name.
Klunka seemed intense and convincing as he loudly said, “We cannot fool ourselves anymore my fellow Ailanians…we NEED new investment in our planet and our government! The only way for us to get prosperity on Ailana again is to say yes to the Economic Revampment Program the Aurorians are proposing! We need unity! We need to be selfless and put our own ambitions aside for the sake of our fellow man!”
Moke changed the channel and saw Klunka’s political rival, Keiki Karatau, a Hokupi businessman with radical new ideas, as he said, “For too long, big government and big business have conspired to keep the Ailanian people underemployed, underpaid, and under the foot of economic tyranny! It is time to allow Ailanians to work for themselves again! It is time to allow the good people of Ailana, to have a government that works for them, instead of having a government that makes its people work for its own interests, and the interests of those offworlders who have more of a voice in what the Ailanian government does, than its own people do!”
Moke changed the channel again, his eyes burned as he saw his Aunt, High Senator Ulu Jinkua addressing a crowd of Moralist women, “Ailanians, like Keiki Karatau, are misguided and do not follow the Moralist principles that make this planet’s government great. We need good moral values to guides us…”
“Ah Christ…” Moke thought as he felt an ache in his temples.
The matriarchal-looking woman raised her fist and said, “We in the Moralist party know the truth, the reason why our society is heading in the wrong direction is because we have allowed immorality to infiltrate it!”
Disgust. “No…it’s because you have been allowed to run it…”
“Many Ailanian people are without jobs because of immoral decisions and without money because of immoral behavior. Just as a fool and his money are soon parted because of the desires for the pleasures of drugs, alcohol or sexual deviancy…a society, and its chances at redemption, could be lost, if we do not take action to eliminate the temptations that make people poor of mind, body and soul! We in the government once gave out loans to Immorals so that they could fund business ventures and buy homes…and what did they do? They squandered such investments by opening liquor stores and tattoo parlors. They opened up bars, strip clubs and other dens of iniquity. They started independent record companies for Scompus Bands and spent money on their dreams and fruitless, selfish ambitions…and when these immoral enterprises did not make any money they defaulted on those loans which caused this current recession that now threatens this planet! We must reign in this immorality!”
Disgust followed by a deep sense of betrayal, “Or we could stop giving tax cuts to the rich and invest in the common men and women of this world, who used to make ammunition so we could win a war…Jacob and his friends were right about you…”
Her voice sounded as if she were belittling unruly students who had not studied for a test, “Our government must enforce the laws that put people on the correct path so that our planet can start heading in the right direction again! Now are we going to allow men such, as Keiki Karatau and Chief Tipsy take over our society, or are we going to let a righteous government directed by morals and values dictate how we live our lives?”
The amount of cheering from the sheer number of supporters she had at the rally was staggering.
“Oh my gods…are you KIDDING ME?” Moke thought as he peered at what seemed to be tens of thousands of people all cheering for his Aunt’s beliefs. Moke felt a knot forming in his stomach as he looked at the clock. It was late, and she would be home. He picked up his com and dialed his sister’s number. He just wanted one more chance to say what was on his mind.
A few tense moments past before a young, female voice charged at him saying, “What do you want, Moke?”
“Kara,” Moke said into his com as he lay in bed, watching the monitor with tired eyes. “As your brother, I can’t condone you associating yourself with that radical activist, Chief Tipsy. Let me warn you, he is not in the highest of standing with the Ailanian government right now.”
“Moke!” His sister screamed at him, “He is doing a good thing! He is bringing together groups of people who used to kill each other in the city streets and on the back roads of the reservations, and he is making them realize that they can become a unified people again! He is teaching peace! He is teaching all of us about our roots, and where we came from! He’s revitalizing an interest in traditional Ailanian culture.”
“He’s causing our citizens to lose faith in the Ailanian economic system…”
“So what if he wants people to grow organic fruits and worms, or do things like make their own brands of clothing to sell at the vacant shopping malls! Who cares? Why do you think it is so necessary to kiss the ass of every Moralist you meet?”
“Kara, I don’t agree with every Moralist sentiment, it’s just that Chief Tipsy has been known to associate himself with some dangerous people,” Moke said. “His music and the politics he conveys might have detrimental effects on unstable people…Ailana has a lot of unstable, angry people right now. And for all we know, Chief Tipsy might be conspiring with the members of The Evil…they are a dangerous group that you don’t want to get tangled up in by accident.”
She refuted him sharply, “Chief Tipsy is just a musician, Moke! He is doing nothing wrong! And everyone knows that The Evil has disbanded themselves after their weirdo leader killed himself. You of all people should know that by now.”
He rebuked her sternly, “Kara, you don’t know if you can trust him.”
Her voice became more defensive. “Chief Tipsy is harmless Moke…the government’s media coverage has just made him look bad! The Moralists are scared of his philosophy. His new way of thinking about Capitalism is making our people believe in themselves! No one wants to settle for the scraps The Alliance wishes to GIVE us. We want to be able to build up our planet again ourselves. We want independence, we want our traditional form of commerce back…we don’t want to be employees in a government run tourist trap! Just like we never wanted to be workers on Hydroplantations or in weapons factories…”
He tried interrupting her, “But Kara…”
She screamed at him, “And don’t start about how my views make me look unpatriotic! The Alliance does not have all the answers! They only want our servitude for their war-mongering and the profits of their rich pseudo-capitalists! The desire to be independent of your government is patriotic!”
Moke wished to yell like a medieval patriarch at his sister, “Goddamn it, Kara! There is nothing wrong with being dependent!” The Ailanian male used to be able to yell as loud as he wished while he disciplined a female relative who was younger than he was, but these were different times. Moke had to suppress his urge to explode at her. Instead, his voice was deep, and sounded sympathetic as he said, “Kara, can’t you do something else for an occupation besides be a trouble maker? Look, I’ll support any decision you make, just stop advising Chief Tipsy.”
“Are you telling me to give up my work?” She said firmly, “My work that I love?”
“Kara, all I’m saying is that you spend all your time working…for such little reward. A smart lawyer like you can do well in government service right now. I can help you get a job that you don’t have to spend so much time at.”
“Put me on comcam, Moke…we are going to have this conversation face to face.”
Moke sighed as he pushed a few buttons on his hand held com. The monitor screen on his bedroom wall flashed for a few moments. A picture of her beautiful Kupano face soon appeared on the screen. She looked like a snarling animal striking back at an attacker as she said, “Screw you big brother! You’re talking about getting me a job? I spent two years of my life collecting data on street gang violence and their social structure for your CIA and what happened to it? It got ignored! It became trivia! Why didn’t you use that data to help these poor kids before they were able to get their hands on those guns and start blowing each other away? Why didn’t you help me do my job when I was doing it?”
“Kara, please…” Moke said as he felt a wave of guilt wash over him.
“No Moke! I am not finished!” Kara yelled even louder, causing Moke to swallow his fear as he saw how emotional she became as she shouted, “You are the head of the goddamned CIA! Why couldn’t you convince the Moralists to help those poor kids Moke?! Why was my information not used to create social change? You’ve spent your whole career making this planet a place where the Moralists can convince the masses that it is O.K. to slave for rich Earthlings, who profit from the war machine of The Alliance, and what did all this war get us Moke? A chance to serve these rich assholes breakfast in bed while we live in the slums our leaders built with our tax money while our young kids deal drugs and kill each other because there is nothing else for them to do?”
“Kara please, I don’t want to argue politics or the past, I just want you to quit that job as Chief Tipsy’s legal advisor and do something else more worthy of your time. Why don’t you just move back home and help mom for a while? You have spent so much time away from her, and she is becoming a burden to me, that I believe you should start sharing…”
“You do not have the right to tell me how to live my life!” Kara cried out, “I love mom and you know that! But I am not going to submit to your archaic and arrogant disillusionment of authority! Dad never believed a woman’s place was in the home! He let mom achieve her dreams of helping others!”
Suddenly, Moke completely lost it as he shouted, “And that is why she went crazy! Those ungrateful people she was trying to help drove her to insanity!”
There was an awkward and very uncomfortable silence on the other end of the com.
“Bullshit!” She cried out, “Mom probably went nuts because deep down she knew that our father died for nothing! That so called…WAR…that he signed up for was a bunch of bullshit…and she went crazy because she knew she was living a patriotic lie! And now you get to continue that lie with your job! Maybe I’d quit mine if I could work for you again and actually change a few things about our existence on this planet! But with the Moralists in charge that won’t happen, and you’re letting them use you just like they used Mom and Dad!”
“Damn it, that’s enough about Mom and Dad!” Moke caught his breath and said, “Kara, my job is not as rewarding as you think, and I know it’s what our family is supposed to do because of our heritage. You are a great court appointed defense lawyer, but you are just not cut out for a CIA job. Believe me, you have no idea how our government really works. You have no idea! Believe me; you do not want to experience how it swallows up those who think they can save the world! That report you gave Malia, it would have caused you to have nothing but stress…it could have ruined your life in ways that you could never imagine. Believe me, Kara! I did you a favor by deleting your data!”
Moke felt his mind freeze as he realized that he had just crossed a line with his sister.
“You bastard! Don’t you ever tell me what to do with my life!”
“I was only trying to protect you!”
“Fuck you! Oh and by the way Moke, since you have failed to make a difference with your line of work, don’t try to stop me from helping those people on Ailana who are actually trying to make a difference. There are good people on Ailana who want to change things, Moke! And I am going to do everything in my power to help them do just that! Your ability to charm people with your good looks is only gonna get you so far in this life, Moke! Remember that! I am done listening to your sweet talking, Moke! You’re nothing but a manipulator and a puppet for The Moralists…and you know it!”
The monitor clicked of and the screen went black. The room became silent.
Moke stared off into space. “Oh well,” he thought in a sarcastic tone of voice as he tried to cover up his feelings of guilt. “She’ll get over it…I hope.”
Moke pressed a few buttons on his com, which allowed him to change the channels. He felt himself drifting in and out of consciousness as he watched the monitor.
“And look at these idiots!” The obnoxious voice bellowing from the monitor belonged to Jalapo, Ailana’s ugliest and most popular talk show host. “This is a picture of what Ailanians used to look like when we were in touch with our ROOTS! Look at these idiots! These traditional Ailanian people are wearing necklaces made up of the hair from their ancestors! Why in the hell would you want to wear that?! And that thing hanging from the hair is a piece of an ancestor’s jawbone! What the hell is this all about? All I can say is thank the gods that we made contact with Earth! Or else we’d still be wearing accessories made from dead people! And speaking of dead people…”
As Moke closed his eyes and nodded off, he could hear a piercing voice from the back of his mind saying, “And speaking of dead people! You can bet your sweet ass that Captain Ronald James Harris is probably thinking of the best way to kill that back stabbing asshole that used to be his best friend! Ya hear that, Moke! Someone might be wearing your hair and jawbone to a party real soon!”
In the dream, Moke remembered how he sat in the sand crying when he was a little boy. The beach was white, and the sky was a beautiful light blue. But yet he felt sad, until he heard another boy’s voice saying softly, “Don’t cry Moke…I’ll be your friend.”
Moke found himself slipping to darkness. Familiar faces soon emerged from the darkness. He found himself on a dark city street with four dangerous-looking young men staring at him. One sounded angry as he said, “How dare you show your Royal face around here…we’re gonna mess that pretty face up for all that bullshit you’ve talking about us!”
From behind him, the voice of another angry teenager shouted, “Hey, punks! If you mess with my friend, you mess with me!”
The darkness returned and he heard his Aunt Ulu’s voice, “Your actions have become very inappropriate young man…and these actions of yours, and the poor choices that you have made, could be a tremendous problem for me. How would it look if one of Highest Judges on this world had a boy in her care, who became an Immoral? Such shame could ruin my future chances of becoming a High Senator! You will not bring shame to our good family name, Moke Kalapana, I shall send you someplace where you will learn how to act like the Royalty you are. You are going to a place where you will learn the discipline necessary, to fulfill your duty to your planet and your people.”
He suddenly heard another, terrible voice coming from the darkness, “Stop sniveling, boy. Your father is dead and you must be brave.”
Another voice from the darkness then began to sound reassuring, “Boys…if you do exactly as I say…you will be treated with respect, honor and you will become someone of great privilege. I love and respect you like sons…welcome to the good life. Welcome to my family.”
Then from a terrible darkness, the young boy’s voice said confidently, “Don’t worry, Moke…I’ve got your back.”
Moke felt his stomach dropping as if he were on a roller coaster ride. He felt as if he were flying through the air. In the dream, he was sitting behind the wheel of a large, fancy hovercar, flying as fast as he could down a laser highway. The red beam went on into the darkness, high above the Ailanian plains, for what seemed to be an eternity.
In the dream, Moke was driving a hovercar as fast as it could go. As he felt the pure adrenaline charged joy of acceleration, Moke looked to his right, and he saw Ronald James Harris as a young man with long, blonde hair. Harris was wearing a black leather jacket, and looking like he was having the time of his life.
In the dream Moke could hear his own ecstatic voice saying, “This is the way life should be…living it on your own terms! Just doing whatever you want and getting away with it…I’m telling you, Iki…I ain’t gonna let the cops, my Aunt Ulu, or anyone in the corrupt government of this planet tell me what to do ever again! I wanna tell this whole world to kiss my ass! I wanna see it burn someday, Iki! I wanna see everything those Moralist assholes built on Ailana burn to ashes!”
In the dream, Moke remembered Harris saying, “And I’m gonna help you burn it, my friend…”
Suddenly, he could hear a piercing voice from the back of his mind saying, “And speaking of dead people! You can bet your sweet ass that Captain Ronald James Harris is probably thinking of the best way to kill that back stabbing asshole, who used to be his best friend! Ya hear that, Moke! Someone might be wearing your hair and jawbone to a party real soon!”
Then, without warning, Moke saw the darkness part itself to reveal a memory of Ronald James Harris, with an evil smile on his face, as his hands were dripping blood.
“Come on, Moke don’t feel so bad…this is what you wanted isn’t it? Remember, freedom isn’t free…and sometimes, the tree of liberty has to be refreshed with the blood of our enemies…”
While he slept, Moke felt his brain going numb from a stressful memory. He held his breath and felt his heart starting to beat faster and faster as a voice from his past shouted, “Who is Fats Manawilli!? Who is Fats Manawilli?!”
In the dream, he remembered the bright light being shined in his face as the coarse voice shouted, “Tell me, boy! Who is Fats Manawilli? Who is Fats Manawilli?!”
In the dream, he remembered how the back of someone’s large hand, smacked him across his face.
“Huh!” Moke was startled awake by the nightmare. He sat up in bed and looked at his chrono. He had fallen asleep for fifteen minutes. Jalapo was now extolling the virtues of Zoppy’s chili, and bitching about the weather. Moke felt his head ringing with stressful thoughts, “There are many people on Ailana, who are unhappy with the status quo… very few people know what is really happening on Ailana…and even fewer people realize that there is talk of revolution going on…and what did you do to stop it Moke Kalapana? What did you do to make a difference? Pray your gods are merciful to you, Moke Kalapana…because someday real soon…you’re going to have a whole lot of blood on your hands because of all the choices you made…”
Location: Audrey’s Town House… Kana’Uvalu District…Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1900 Hours.
For the briefest of moments, Jack lost his sense of civic duty, and his perception of what he knew to be right and wrong as Audrey embraced him and locked her lips with his.
While they kissed, Audrey felt a sensation of freedom and pleasure that she had never felt before, she felt waves of emotion running through her entire body that she could not identify but did not want to stop.
Jack opened his eyes and noticed how the light above her kitchen sink was on. “Ah shit…” He said softly as he removed his lips from her face and took a deep breath, realizing that another emotion had just snuck its way into the logical part of his mind. “Audrey…we can’t do this.”
For a few confusing moments, Audrey wanted to protest, but she caught herself just in time as she said, “Please, Jack…I’m so sorry…I really want to…but I know…”
“Don’t apologize…” Jack said softly as he looked away, “It’s just a lot of things…”
Audrey bit her lower lip as she realized just how handsome and attractive he looked right now.
Jack was about to say something virtuous about how their Moralist parents would have disapproved of what they had considered doing, when suddenly, his com rang. He looked at her with soft, sympathetic eyes and then answered it, “Bauman here.”
Audrey sighed with discontent at first, but became worried as she saw how Jack’s eyes became wide with fright.
“What?” Jack said as realized how she was looking at him. He quickly changed his demeanor so that he looked at Audrey with a serious, professional gaze as he said, “Agent Kuhio…what do you mean they just disappeared? How can an entire group of Makula Pilikoa’s men just disappear?”
Audrey rolled her eyes, walked over to her couch and sat down. She did her best not to weep as she tried to deal with these feelings of loneliness and personal identity. The fact that she had never been able to keep a boyfriend in her life started to make her heart and mind ache when she heard Jack saying, “Well, they have to come out of the jungle sometime…and they’re not in the villages? Their vehicle is still parked on the road…well, where the hell are they then?”
Audrey’s conflicting feelings were about to make her scream when her com rang. She picked it up off her coffee table and answered it. The voice on the other end did not seem happy to be speaking with her.
She closed her eyes with disappointment as she said, “Another murder? Do we have any witnesses? Did anyone see anything? The security cameras were not operating again…so we have nothing to go on. Get the body to the morgue and we’ll talk about it in the morning.”
Audrey hung up and fell back into her couch mentally and emotionally exhausted.