Location: The level 32 parking garage of the Hana Paloi Federal Building.
Ailanian Standard Time: 0700 Hours.
Moke bit his lip as he read the message on his com’s monitor.
You cannot serve two masters!!“…time is running out for you. Someday, someone is going to find out that you are not suitable for this job because you are so morally corrupt. I would love to see the look on your face, when they tell everyone that you are in a position of authority, not because you are a hero of the people, but because someone pulled all the right strings for you. That makes you a PUPPET! Why are you not playing this game by the rules we gave you? Your time is running out! YOU better start making things right with the master who pulls your strings!!
Moke’s mind flooded with the memory of bright lights shining in his face as a maniacal voice shouted at him, “Who is Fats Manawilli!? Who is Fats Manawilli?!”
Moke clenched his teeth. “Damn you!”
He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. Things were out of control. For a few seconds he remembered how Audrey had looked at him the night before. Her eyes looked puffy from either lack of sleep, or from weeping. Moke couldn’t tell which, but he knew she looked distraught and scared.
“Moke,” she had addressed him on the beach when no one was around. “I joined the Ailanian CIA because I wanted to make a difference…and now, I’m not so sure I made the right choice. I don’t really know how to say this…I agreed to help you capture Jacob Colombe, even though doing so went against my better judgment. I agreed to help you in your efforts to undermine Operation Shade…and after those efforts failed…I have been doing everything you have asked me to in order to cover up our mistakes so that the Moralists won’t be able to hang us. And to top it all off, I helped you steal and decode a top secret Military medical file that contains information about Captain Harris…”
Moke bit his lower lip as he thought about Harris and Audrey. He felt his pulse speeding up as he thought about how they looked alike, blonde, blue eyed. He closed his eyes as he thought about how loyal they both were. He took a deep breath as he remembered a certain paragraph he had read in the medical file;
Loyalty: A feeling or attitude of devoted attachment. A trait which has found to be genetic in origin, with some subjects becoming less loyal as they begin to logically question the situation they have been forced to endure as a result of their service. Loyalty cannot be reinstated once it is lost.
His mind returned to the image of her sad face and the sound of her disappointed voice, “Moke…I never once questioned the orders you gave me…but I’ve committed a felony for you, Moke…please tell me why I’m doing this.”
Moke remembered how he gazed at her for a moment, and how she looked like she was about to cry. She looked as if she was locked in a battle with her conscious, which she was beginning to lose. He remembered looking at her and thinking, “but you can’t cry…it’s not something you can do…it’s not who you are.”
He remembered how he had a complete and utter sense of mental torment as she took a shallow breath and said to him, “Captain, I understand your dream to end corruption in the High Senate…and I understand your desire to stop crime on Ailana without help from Earth…but Moke…as I’ve been doing the things you have asked me to do…I just can’t help but think that you have some sort of ulterior motive…”
He suddenly remembered thinking to himself, “I do, Agent Winters…I have a plan which you can’t know about just yet…I’m playing a deadly game which I can’t let you in on…I’m dueling with an opponent who I can’t let you know anything about…and I am so very afraid to let you know the truth about this fight I picked…I don’t want you to know…that I’m losing…”
Moke was interrupted by the beeping of his com. He looked down at it and read the message that flashed across its screen.
IT’S TIME TO GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE.
Moke felt the blood burning underneath his skin. The door of the black hover-limousine slid open with a slight hydraulic hum, almost as if a curtain was being drawn open on a stage.
“Captain Kalapana,” The ominous voice from within called out. “I’ve been expecting you.”
With a cold, angry look on his face, Moke entered the vehicle. The passenger compartment of the hover-limousine was dark. The floor was aglow with a dim, blue light. Moke fidgeted as he sat on the soft leather seat that conformed to every curve of his tightly wound back. A wave of nervousness washed over him, his palms were sweaty, and his nostrils flared as he breathed. Moke stared straight ahead with angry eyes that felt as if they could not blink lest they miss something crucial. The lit end of a cigarette burned brightly in front of him. The space between him and the white-haired man, who was wearing the black business suit, seemed infinite.
“Captain Kalapana,” Van Dien said in a low pitched, almost soft and calm voice, “It has come to my attention that your agents, are no longer allowed to speak with my people. Why?”
“I think you know why,” Moke shot back in a stern voice. “You are full of shit. You’re just playing a mind game with me to keep me off your trail. There is no bomb.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I’m real sure we know who The Evil would want out of the picture,” Moke said in a stern voice. “High Senator Glik was giving a speech at the Kanunai Convention Center…it turned up clean…there was no bomb…my lovely Aunt Ulu was also speaking today in Lulukia…the auditorium turned up clean…no bomb…Rammy Klunka, oh we had a couple of bomb squads assigned to him…there are no bombs any place where he was scheduled to be at…we currently have the entire island continent in the highest state of security you could imagine right now…there is no bomb.”
“So you are thinking that you can just go and pat yourself on the back, eh Captain?” Van Dien sneered. His voice became lower in tone as he said, “but trust me, this is hardly over…because you have already broken the first rule of the art of war.”
“And what is that?”
“Know thy enemy.”
“People like Jacob are not the enemy!” Moke hissed, “The enemy consists of those people who banned
Jacob’s work and censored his ideas so that they could mislead the citizens of this planet with their lies! I am just about able to prove that there is a faction in the Ailanian High Senate, who benefit from our peoples’ poverty. You and I both know that the Economic Revampment Program, which is being offered by the Aurorian government, is designed to make this special, little group in the Ailanian government very rich at the tax payers’ expense…and I will expose them for the crooks they really are!”
“Captain,” Van Dien said calmly, “Have you ever once given any thought to how Wram Karamotzain and his friends might want to expose something about you?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Come on now, Captain…I know all about your past. Tell me…what do you think would happen to your credibility, and your career, if certain High Senators found out about the skeletons in your closet? What would happen if the whole world was informed of a few tragic events that you willingly committed with one Captain Ronald James Harris as your accomplice?”
Moke felt his face freeze with anger and fear. “Don’t bother,” he said sternly. “I’ve taken steps to ensure that you can’t go there.”
Van Dien said calmly, “there is really no need for me to…I mean, why dig up the distant past, when I can just comment on what you have done quite recently… such as your habit of freeing Immorals from prison. Why have you been undoing the work of your fellow law enforcement officials by allowing all these Immorals to go free after they go through all the hard work to put them there?”
“I free those people because our jails and prisons…as well as your high tech Penitentiary, are full of people who didn’t do anything wrong and you know it.”
Van Dien was coy as he said, “And by the way Captain, does the rest of your CIA staff know that it was your decision to free Ted Bobson from The Penitentiary, just so that he could proceed to hang out in bars and do drugs?”
“That is none of your damned business.”
“Captain,” he said as he gave Moke an intimidating stare, “People who drink all day…and then proceed to attend protest rallies, just so that they can hurl rocks at police officers, belong in jail. And those who have proven themselves to be repeat offenders, well that is what The Penitentiary is really for…it’s a treatment center full of wonderful technology designed to simply fix what is wrong with their brains so that they may think for themselves and come to the correct conclusion as to how they should behave toward their fellow man.”
Moke clenched his fists and said, “And you are so lucky I’ve decided to concentrate my energy on reforming The High Senate…that should buy you enough time to voluntarily pack your bags and take the business you conduct in The Penitentiary to some other planet.”
Van Dien narrowed his eyes as he said, “How dare you stick your nose into my business and then tell me how to run my planet. And by the way, Captain, it is my business to tell you that you had better straighten up and start flying right…the only thing you have proven to your superiors is that you are still rebelling against your Auntie Ulu’s Moralist ideology. Let’s get real here, Captain, you have been known to go to the Gladson Penal Unit and free Immorals by the thousands.”
Moke gave him a serious look as he said, “Yeah, well our overly harsh laws tend to put high school honor students in prison for a first time drug possession. Sometimes people just make stupid mistakes…I believe in giving second chances…and those drunken protestors, who I’ve freed by the thousands…you might want to take into consideration that we have legions of unhappy citizens on this planet thanks to the way you, and your people, have been running the government and our economy into the ground.”
“Such a brave statement from a man who wished he had such moral high ground to stand upon.”
Moke snarled as he said, “You can’t lock everyone up just because they are unhappy with their government!”
Van Dien said, “Well, that may very well be…but I understand that some of these people, are set free with the condition that they serve out the rest of their sentence, as CIA employees?”
“Make your point already…”
Van Dien’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if I did some research of my own and showed Wram Karamotzain, and his Moralist supporters, that you not only freed Ted Bobson, but also freed Jacob Colombe?”
Moke’s face froze.
Van Dien said calmly, coldly, “Imagine how the public, and your superiors, would react if they found out that you freed a man who later orchestrated a terrorist action on Ailana?”
“Fuck…” Moke’s blood became inflamed as it coursed past terrified nerve impulses. His voice remained stoic as he said, “There is no way you could.”
“Of course I could, Captain, I can make anything happen. And even if I couldn’t convince them that you freed Jacob from The Penitentiary before his treatment was complete…are you positive that you could convince a committee, which investigates humanoid rights abuses…that Ted Bobson died in a normal fashion?”
Moke bit his lower lip and realized that his fists had relaxed and that his hands were shaking.
Van Dien’s eyes narrowed as he said, “Captain, what did I tell you about sending untrained soldiers into battle? I’m sure there are Liberals, and Conservatives alike, who would not approve of what you do to obtain your intelligence…”
“This is getting real old, real quick!” Moke snapped. His mind burned with the desire to place his hands around the white haired man’s throat and squeeze tightly. “Why did you call me down here? You’re wasting my time with your banal comments!”
“You are correct, Captain,” Van Dien said calmly. “There was no bomb…at the KanunaiConvention Center…or any of those places you looked at. Hell, I thought Ulu, being the stingy killjoy that she is, would surely be the target of those who despise Moralism and all its nebulous implications. My people were able to decode this today, Captain…however, it is too bad that my people have been barred from talking to your people…it might have been nice for them to have had this information sooner.”
The monitor rose up a bit and turned toward Moke’s face. Moke felt his heart rate jump as he read the words on the floating monitor’s screen. Something was going to happen today, at seventeen hundred hours.
“Kaiser Field, that’s in the township of Waihenalu,” Moke said with a bit of scared confusion in his voice. “But that makes no sense. My Aunt Ulu is speaking in Uptown Polynea today. Wram Karamotzain is in Nekula campaigning for a recount of the votes between Keiki Karatau and Rammy Klunka’s High Senate race, Klunka is at his country home in Manaluku sulking…who could that possibly that leave as an assassin’s target? As far as I know the only thing that would be happening there would be a sporting event.”
“Or a concert…”
Moke’s face went blank, “Chief Tipsy? Oh my gods! Kara!”
“Oh yes, I understand your sister became one of his followers recently, yes?” Van Dien said with an evil grin. Moke didn’t even look at him as he jumped out of the limo and began running away.
Van Dien lit another cigarette as he closed the limo’s door with the push of a button. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his com.
A few seconds later, a soft voice answered, “Yes? How can we help you?”
“Things are back on schedule…and Kalapana, is back on the right track. I’ll keep you posted, things might seem to be a little out of hand…but lucky for you, I am in complete control of the situation again and everything is going as planned.”
Van Dien hung up his com and smiled as he thought, “and just to ensure that I win this game we are playing…I deceived you, Captain Kalapana…there is actually more than one bomb…I believe that there are more than likely three of them.”
Location: 2000 meters above Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1300 Hours.
Moke didn’t remember the last ten minutes. His brain was a blur. Within seconds of leaving the back of the limo, he had contacted Audrey, Jack, and several other coordinating specialists, who were, by now, used to this sort of thing. Audrey was leading the team who was sent to protect High Senator Ulu Jinkua. Jack was told to cover Karamotzain, while Captain Robert Kalawai was covering Klunka. All of them were now racing to get to the location where the real bomb was now supposed to be located.
The plan was to insert multiple bomb squads into the stadium, while the concert was going on, and hopefully dismantle and neutralize it, before any civilians even knew what was happening. Moke looked at the tactical map on his ReadyFile. Kaiser Field was ten minutes away. Moke had ordered every bomb squad, a special weapons and tactics team, and nearly a dozen different emergency action teams to the site.
“Oh gods!” Moke mentally bit his fingernails since he couldn’t do it through the gloves he was wearing. The aircraft’s pilot was also dressed in a set of dull, black fatigues. Moke didn’t even remember putting his on. He just now realized that he had forgotten his utility belt.
“Goddamn it! Can’t this thing move any faster?!” He screamed.
“Sir! We’re almost in position,” The pilot said.
Moke clicked on his com, “I want three teams at the entrance! NO COPS! Only emergency workers for first aid! No one is to be arrested for anything! I don’t care if you see Immorals selling people kilos of Cutz! NO ARRESTS! This crowd is going to be an angry one! We need to try to keep what we are doing a secret as best we can! Just control the crowds so our bomb squads can do their searches! Hopefully we can find this thing right away and neutralize it before anyone in the crowd even knows what’s happening!”
“Those goddamned punks!” Moke’s brain buzzed as he thought to himself about The Evil. “I sympathized with them when they said that they wanted my Aunt Ulu dead…but this makes no sense! Why would these people want to kill Chief Tipsy?! He’s rock and roll, he’s hip-hop, he’s the spokesman for a disgruntled generation that teeters on the Immoral edge! He wants a free Ailana! He wants people to be able to do what they please! I don’t understand it! “
Moke glanced out his window and spoke into his com, “How many people are in that stadium, Agent Welks?”
“We estimate one hundred thousand, sir,” was the reply.
“Good gods! I hope we have enough medical supplies!” Moke screamed to himself. “This makes no sense! Why Tipsy? Why are they doing this?!”
“Sir! I have a visual of the concert,” Another voice said as it was piped into Moke’s ear via the com in his black helmet. Moke activated the monitor in the control panel and began to observe the ground below. Several hundred yards away from the stadium, he saw nearly two thousand security officers in riot gear. Their clothes were black and baggy their helmets were black and sparkled in the bright sunlight. They had clear shields that could be electrified and a number of stunning weapons on their utility belts. Moke told them to stay as far out of sight until they were needed. Just outside the stadium he saw the hundreds of medical personnel all dressed in orange and white jumpsuits. Large white ambulances hovered around the parking lot in strategic areas.
Moke scanned the inside of the stadium. In front of the large, tapestry covered stage, where Chief Tipsy and his band were playing sensual music, was a sea of people, dancing, singing, and jumping around. Moke felt his chest tighten as he realized that these innocent citizens had simply come here to seek out a kind of freedom, and temporary relief, from their daunting everyday lives. He saw how they wore their hair long and shaggy. They wore brightly colored, baggy clothes and sported tattoos. They raised their hands in the air and chanted.
“Oh my gods…”
Moke saw happiness on every face as the monitor panned over the crowd. He saw people drinking alcohol and smoking Makani and Cutz, which they had snuck into the stadium. Moke swallowed the fear in his throat as he realized how sorry he felt for all of them. He felt his eyes burning with the beginning of tears as he realized that these people were happy and free at this very moment. His mind ached with sadness as he realized how their happiness, could potentially come to a disastrous end.
Moke pulled his com from his jacket and began frantically dialing his sister’s number.
“Come on Kara! Answer! Pick up!” He screamed internally. “I know how angry you must be right now, but this is no time to be giving me the silent treatment!”
Location: Kaiser Field…Township of Waihenalu…Ailana.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1300 Hours.
Kara Kalapana stood in a small production management area behind the stage. Her face was serious as she looked over the legal brief on her ReadyFile. Despite the loud music that filled the air, she heard a familiar voice.
“Excuse me…Miss Kalapana, can I speak with you for a moment?”
Kara turned around and smiled as she saw a young, human male wearing a flannel shirt and a pair of brown jeans. The young man was a light-skinned Native American with long, black hair. The young man was an Earthling, who had been born on Ailana. Kara remembered how his Cherokee parents died when he was in kindergarten, and how local Kupano people had adopted him, claiming that he looked like a son of theirs’ who had died young.
She also recognized him instantly as a local music reporter, whom she had gone to school with several years ago. She seemed pleased as she said, “Wanu Ka’aluu? Wow! It’s been ages! What are you doing backstage?”
The young man said, “I’m here because I’m covering this concert…for an online magazine. We’re looking for opinions about Chief Tipsy and what kind of impact he has made with his activism on Ailana.”
Kara’s smile turned to a sudden frown, as she realized her com was ringing. She took it out of her pants pocket and frowned even more as she realized who it was from.
“Not now Moke…some of us are trying to have a good time here today,” She thought while she turned off the com and stuck it back in her pocket. She then looked at her old classmate and said, “Well, right now Chief Tipsy is doing the greatest service he can do for these concert goers. He’s freed them, even if it just for a moment. For the time being, these people are free from the fact that they now face the worst job market Ailana had ever seen. They are free from the fact that one out of every ten Ailanians commits suicide on a daily basis. They are free from the fact that one out of five Ailanians are arrested and imprisoned for being jobless and in debt. Out there in the crowd, there are young kids who are free from the fact that their parents fight about money, and the fact that their unemployed fathers beat their mothers during drunken rages.”
Kara paused and looked out at the sea of faces before her and said, “In the audience there are people, both young and old, who are, for the moment, free from the fact that their friends and family members have been imprisoned for producing illegitimate children. Right now, there are young people, and older people alike, who are momentarily free from the fact that over half the money they make goes to pay for second class housing that they don’t own. They are free from the fact that the recession stole their jobs and businesses. Many are free from the fact that they will never be able to buy their own home because of the soaring inflation and interest rates, which were the result of all the real estate scams that have happened on Ailana since the Moralists took control of the High Senate. Many of these people are free from the fact that they are stuck in dead-end, low-paying, unsatisfying jobs which will never allow them to achieve their dreams of financial freedom. Out there, in that crowd, the slavery of our world has been abolished…even if it is just for the afternoon.”
Wanu said, “Wow…you make our cause sound so…inspiring.”
Kara’s face seemed sad and a bit guilt ridden as she said, “Today, even if it just for a moment, these people are free from the fact that their society is crumbling because of divisive and bigoted politics. What Chief Tipsy has done for them today, is to give them a positive message of hope, and one day of fun. We should all just take a moment to thank him for this one day of rejoicing for the flesh, and a revitalization of the spirit, before we all have to go back to the pain of the daily grind, and the painful realities of living in a world that could be a paradise, if we all just set aside our differences and worked together for once. It’s not enough to simply live…there has to be a reason for living…and I think he’s showing us how possible that is.”
Wanu smiled and said, “I couldn’t agree with you more. But I think that there is hope. I just know…that something big is going to happen on Ailana…real soon.”
The young man’s smile turned a bit sinister as he looked under the stage and focused on a small, blinking red light that was pulsing in the darkness. He then looked at Kara and said, “It’s been real nice seeing you again Kara. I’d better get going, but trust me…this show…will be a blast.”
Location: 200 meters above Kaiser Field.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1310 Hours.
“COME ON KARA! ANSWER YOUR COM!” Moke screamed in fear and frustration as he drove his fist angrily into the arm rest of his chair.
“I don’t understand it! Why a Chief Tipsy concert?” Moke fumbled in his mind as his pilot slowed the aircraft down, and the stadium below began to exponentially increase in size. The stadium looked like a giant, golden cockroach, with its insides hollowed out. It was an open air stadium and the mass of people inside looked like rolling water in a disturbed swimming pool.
Moke could hear the Chief singing in a loud, sweet voice. “One love in which to give up!”
“I don’t understand it!” Moke cried to himself
“One voice in which to rise up!” Tipsy sang out.
“This has to be another hoax! This has to be a hoax!”
“One people! One voice! One paradise!”
Moke heard himself shouting, “Oh please, sweet gods above, let this be a hoax!”
Chief Tipsy’s voice was like that of an angel as he sang, “ho people we need…one love!”
Location: Kaiser Field…Township of Waihenalu…Ailana.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1310 Hours.
Chief Tipsy stood on the stage like a god. His large belly and big Balguran frame made his long, multicolored robe visible to everyone in the stadium whose eyes were transfixed upon him. “Ho people! We need…one love!” He sustained the last note he was singing and raised one plump fist in the air and then used his other fattened hand to hold his microphone out toward the crowd who echoed back to him the words, “ONE LOVE!”
“One heart!”
“ONE HEART!”
“One soul!”
“ONE SOUL!”
“Ho kumi kulu aina ku mau tai!” Tipsy ended the verse with a spine tingling vibrato, and then let his twelve man band play a series of very catchy riffs that sent the crowd into a tizzy of pure hysterical joy.
However, deep in the crowd, one young man in a flannel shirt and a pair of brown jeans was looking very serious as he tried to quickly walk away from the stage through the dense forest of people. The young man had long, black hair. He appeared nervous and was breathing heavily as he thought to himself, “it’s just about time. It’s just about time…our revenge and our victory is about to happen very soon. Jacob my friend, I’m so sorry that you couldn’t be here to see this…”
Wanu Ka’aluu untucked his flannel shirt from his brown jeans. He ran his hands through his black hair and turned around. He walked as fast as he could to large tunnel, at the side of the stadium, where the crowd would walk to a vendor’s area before they exited the stadium. He walked briskly past booths selling T-shirts, music in computerized digital files, as well as food and drinks. He jogged over to a door and opened it with a pass key that had the word STAFF engraved on it in bold letters.
He shut the door quietly and began walking down a tunnel that ran below the stadium’s bleacher system and eventually lead to a maintenance room with its own exit. The light in the tunnel was dim, but continuous. The only footsteps he could hear were his own and he could feel the beating of heart slow down a bit as he realized that he should be able to escape the stadium on time. His co-conspirators would pick him up in the parking lot and they would disappear into Polynea’s massive, underground structures.
His breathing had almost become normal, when he heard something similar to the sounds of swords being removed from scabbards.
“Shit…” Wanu thought as he froze dead in his tracks, “they warned me about this guy…”
He turned around and saw the face of a burned corpse with glowing, red eyes staring at him. The disfigured man wore a black trench coat and tried to hide his scarred face with a broad-brimmed hat. When he saw the long, silver blades sticking out of the man’s hands, Wanu realized what the man in blacks intentions were.
“Well, if it ain’t the boogey man himself,” Wanu said as he felt a surge of adrenaline priming his muscles for the challenge of battle.
The man in black just stood there, his burned face was stoic and machine-like.
Wanu saw there was no fear on his opponent’s burned face. He took a deep breath and said, “I was warned about you…but trust me, sir…I am not afraid. I know why you are here…but first, let me explain a few things…I am very much like you…only, I’m much prettier. I’ve been living among the Ailanian Immorals since I was a child. I found out who I was, just like you did. The men in black came for me when I was a teenager and showed me how much of my skin could get cut with a knife and I wouldn’t bleed to death because of my tissue has an ability to heal faster than a normal human.”
The man in black noticed the scars on the back of the young man’s hands.
“Oh yeah,” Wanu said calmly. “I am just like you…and it’s scary to discover what you truly are.”
The man in black stared back at the young man as if he were neither entertained nor intimidated as the youth continued talking.
“I was given Military training,” Wanu said confidently. “I’ve never seen combat…but trust me, I am a formidable opponent. And the last time I went to The Hospital, before I decided to run away from my Military masters, the surgeons blessed me with these…”
Wanu raised his impressive fists and flexed his muscular biceps as a pair of long blades emerged from his forearms. The young man smiled and said, “I’ve been living among the Immoral people of this great planet ever since I escaped…and they have been good to me. No one knows that I am a freak…because unlike you, I am still nice to look at. I’ve made friends, they treat me with respect…and I know why you are after them. But trust me…they are good people…they have moles and computer programs which allow them to spy on the Ailanian government…they know what is going on.”
“They do?”
The man in black looked the young man right in the eye as he heard him saying, “My friends understand what the evil people, who you work for, are doing to this planet…and they just want to stop it. They know what is happening in The Penitentiary. They know what the government is doing in order to profit from the peoples’ suffering and they know what is happening behind the closed doors of our High Senators’ chambers. They have every right to oppose what your masters are doing…and I agreed to help them…because they have shown me what evil really is.”
“They showed you what evil really is?” The man in black said in a soft, gruff voice. “Are you aware of what your so called, friends, are about to have you do for them?”
“Yes…the sacrifice of a few…is often needed to save the many.”
“Really?” The man in black chuckled. “Now I’ve heard everything I need to know about your friends…and now I feel so much better about accepting this job…ever since that job I carried out at the apartment across the street from that night club…I’ve lost count as to how many of them I’ve killed or captured at this point.”
Wanu sighed and said, “And I can tell that this contradiction of a life that you lead is wearing you down. Do you believe that every single one of my friends are evil and deserve to die because you masters told you so? Let me ask you? Are you here to stop me because you care so very much about what is about to happen in that stadium above our heads?”
“No,” the man in black said solemnly. “I’m here, because someone paid me to be here.”
“I imagine whoever paid you to be here supports what our government is doing. I can see your dilemma. You have yourself believing that you’re doing this just for the money…but I can tell that there are a few times when you start to wonder if the people you have killed really deserved to die.”
“I don’t do this for the purpose of believing in anything…I do this for money.”
The young man’s face became emotional, “You could still believe in something…don’t you feel that this life is for something else other than making money? Can you imagine that the government, who created us, for the sole purpose of ending life, would have any respect for life at all? I’ve lived as someone’s slave…and I intend to help my Ailanian friends and family stay free. So if you’ve come to stop them…then you are going to have to go through me first…as I see things, you are protecting the wrong agenda my friend and righteousness is on my side.”
“Well,” The man in black said as he tilted his head and popped a couple of stiff vertebrae in his neck, “may the best man-machine win.”
“I’m still seventy five percent human,” The young man said as he readied himself for combat.
“Not for much longer…”
The screams of joy from the crowd above became a crescendo of anticipation as the two cyborgs faced each other and readied themselves for combat.
Location: 200 meters above Kaiser Field.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1312 Hours.
Moke switched the dial on his monitor as the aircraft leveled off and began to circle the stadium.
He changed channels on his com and shouted, “Audrey! Come in Audrey!”
Her voice crackled through the com, “Sir!”
Moke shouted back, “What’s going on?! Have you found a bomb in your sector of the stadium?!”
Audrey said, “Negative sir! The specs The Military gave us say the bomb should contain
Radiocarbide, and so far all the radiocarbide scans we’ve done have been negative.”
Moke shouted, “Then get over to the stage as soon as possible! I need your help! I need you to
find my sister!”
Moke changed to a different channel and screamed, “JACK!”
“Sir!” Jack responded immediately.
Moke shouted, “What have you found in your sector?!”
Jack replied, “We’ve just done our second scan of the area sir! It’s negative! No radiocarbide is
present! Thus we can conclude there is no bomb in this area of the stadium!”
Moke bit his lip for a second, and said, “Jack, abandon that first assignment and go meet Audrey!
Jack said, “But sir, we have another area to cover!”
Moke shouted with a plea filled voice, “Please! I need your help here! My sister is in there!”
“Yes sir.”
Moke pressed a button on the control panel, and took a call from one of his bomb squad technicians. “Kalapana here…what do you mean it’s clear?”
“We’re not finding anything, sir.”
Moke felt a wave of anger wash over him as he yelled at the technician on the ground, “Have you checked quadrant six?
“No.”
There was a buzzing in his ear, and Moke yelled, “NO!? Why the hell not?!”
There was more buzzing as the disgruntled technician spoke. “We can’t…there is too much interference from the P.A. system, and our equipment is not Military grade hardware.”
Moke became very angry. “What do you mean too much interference from the P.A. system?! Override it! Turn it off! What do you mean? Goddamn it!”
Moke made a tight fist and clenched his teeth in extreme anger and frustration. He turned to another channel, and began yelling at another technician. “What the hell is going on down there? Turn off the P.A. and get those people the hell out of there?!…What do you mean?!…Turn it off! We don’t need a permit or warrant! This is an emergency action! Just keep doing your job and I will take care of getting in touch with whoever I need to shut down this damned concert and start evacuating these people!”
“Yes sir!” The technician said.
Moke felt a sudden burst of adrenaline and an urge to strangle all of his technicians on the ground. He changed his channel to include all signals and screamed at as many ears as he could, “get me that next sweep! Scan for 15 vt radiocarbide! We’ll have that P.A. system shut down and these people out of there soon enough!”
“Commencing scan, sir! We are commencing a scan on quadrant six.”
Moke looked out the window and noticed that the crowd seemed to be changing its demeanor. The happy feelings seemed to be fading away, and it appeared that their angst was returning, as more and more people began to see more and more cops.
Moke bit his bottom lip as his heart raced even faster.
Location: Mele Entertainment Corporate Headquarters.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1320 Hours.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into…this seemed to be such a worthwhile endeavor at the time…”
Grant tried to keep his face as stoic as he possibly could as he sat at his desk and watched a recording on his monitor. Loko Kalaheva’s face looked worn and tired as he said, “The goal of the Conservative Moralists, who make up the majority of our government, is to regulate people…not corporations. The goal is to protect corporate profits at the expense of our citizens’ rights and liberties. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to do this…I allowed myself to be used…I was told to create an image…I was told to create a lie. I was told to convince the people of this planet that Capitalism was superior to any other economic alternative. I was told to create an Ailanian culture, where people believed that government regulation was bad because government taxes and regulations strangle the freedom that the common man needs to live a life of austerity and self-fulfillment…all the while, those who I was creating this smokescreen for used it as an opportunity to create a culture where the government helped the rich at the expense of the poor…I’ve created something terrible…”
Off camera, another voice said in a sinister tone, “Sure you did.”
Grant involuntarily swallowed his fear as he listed to Loko saying, “Yes, it is true…I am a second hand person…I sold my soul in order to achieve wealth, power, prestige, fame…and fortune. But I lost control of the monster I created. When the Ailanian government created laws meant to ensure business deregulation…I accepted millions of dollars in ‘advertising’ that should have been seen as bribery…and I started lying for them. I saturated our airwaves with the messages and advertisements of huge corporations that essentially destroyed thousands of small Ailanian businesses…hey, why eat traditional Ailanian produce when Zoppy’s chili is so much better for you…and a small portion of the profits go to charity?”
Grant blinked as he felt himself becoming sick to his stomach again. He cringed as Loko’s voice said, “When the Ailanian housing market crashed…because a lack of government regulations allowed banks to buy and sell toxic assets and basically do whatever they pleased with the Ailanian peoples’ hard earned money, I was the one who convinced the public it was the Immorals who were at fault. It makes it more personal when you realize it was your neighbor’s poor choices caused the recession instead of how your High Senator voted. I provided the politicians and corporate executives with the perfect smokescreen from which they could steal from the Ailanian people. The idea was to keep the average Ailanian from obtaining credit to start a business so that they are forced to work for the pseudo-capitalists just so that the big business interests don’t have any competitors. The idea was to stop innovation because the Ailanian government has developed a tremendous welfare system to keep its people dependent upon them. The idea…was to bring about the end of the world…and I helped them deliver the sheep to the slaughter. Zoppy’s chili was a great idea for charity…but do you know where the money is actually going? It’s going to HIM! It’s going to help him destroy the world! That’s why I did what I did! That’s why I sought out Marco! It’s the reason why I made the deals I made behind his back…I was only trying to help free myself!”
Grant closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as he turned his monitor off.
“The man was weak,” he heard a deep voice speaking in a heartless tone. “But I have a tremendous amount of faith in your ability to succeed where he failed. I believe in you, Grant.”
“Oh my gods…what have I done? How did he manage to get one step ahead of me?”
“This is the way it has to be,” Van Dien said as he exhaled smoke. The luxury office had an air purifier and the noxious cloud was quickly sucked away as he said, “This is the agreement that was made. You got your fame and fortune…and now it is time for what I want from our bargain.”
Grant simply sat there, looking stubborn, and aloof.
Van Dien inhaled again, the end of his cigarette burned brightly.
Grant pressed his fingers together and folded his hands. He tried to make himself forget about his own ulterior motives and tried to concentrate on playing a convincing role as he said, “We simply provided the venue…we can’t be held responsible for the security…his people were supposed to take care of it…that was part of the deal we made.”
“You won’t be blamed,” Van Dien said in a reassuring voice.
Grant tried to wear the face of a loyal corporate partner as he said, “That’s not what I’m worried about.”
Van Dien smiled and said, “Betrayal is a natural thing, he was warned about the possible hostilities he could face…this has to be done…this plan, has to be able to change…in order to adjust for certain unforeseen, variables.”
“And Kalapana…has he yet caught onto these, variables that you speak of?”
Van Dien exhaled another cloud of smoke and said, “We’ll find out soon enough.”
“I feel as if I have a lot of blood on my hands here,” Grant said defiantly.
Van Dien adjusted his coat and tie as he got up to leave. “Get used to that feeling, Grant…there is going to be a lot more.”
Location: Kaiser Field
Ailanian Standard Time: 1330 Hours.
The band was now wailing away in a frenzy of notes, chords and drumbeats that seemed to pound themselves straight into all the people in the stadium. Chief Tipsy was now dancing up a storm as he twirled, shook his hips, and stomped his feet. His long, braided hair flopped around while the colorful feathers, which were stuck in his braids, floated up and down as he moved. His big belly jiggled as he danced.
He raised his microphone up to his lips and began saying, “Ho people!”
The crowd cheered wildly.
Tipsy stopped dancing and walked to the front of the stage to greet his ecstatic followers, sweat dripped off his large, brown Balguran face as he said, “My good people of Ailana!”
The crowd cheered wildly as their larger than life hero stopped to catch his breath.
He said in a cheery and boisterous voice. “We must remember to love one another! Respect one another! And we gotta remember one more thing ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of Ailana! No matter if you are Ailanian or Human…remember this one thing my people! This beautiful planet we call Ailana… IS YOUR HOME! This is your home! Respect it! Love it! And don’t let anyone take it away from you! We got leaders on this planet who think that we need the planets Earth and Aurora to help us out of this mess! The truth is people! We just need each other, and the respect and love we got for one another! So let’s say it out loud peoples! We gotta be FREE! WE GOTTA BE FREE!!”
The band struck up a monstrous melody and the crowd cheered ecstatically. Chief Tipsy was about to bring the song up to a crescendo and a grand finale. He raised his fat arm up as high as it would go, and leaned slightly back as he bellowed in a melodic voice, “WE GOTTA BE…”
Suddenly, and without warning, Chief Tipsy and his band could not be heard. The crowd instantly noticed, and became hushed for about half a second. When the crowd noise returned, it was angry.
A man in a blue jumper suit ran up to Chief Tipsy and began speaking into his ear. With a look of disbelief on his face, the fat Ailanian man walked to the back of the stage.
An announcer came on over the P.A. and said. “Uh…sorry folks, but we have to cancel the show because of…uh…power problems…everyone please leave the stadium in an orderly fashion.”
Someone screamed, “They’re shutting us down! It’s a government plot to shut us down!”
The man who had just walked onto the stage raised his hand in the air as people began to shout in anger.
The crowd began chanting in unison, “HELL NO! WE WON’T GO! HELL NO! WE WON’T GO! NO DEAL! DON’T STEAL USAURORA! NO DEAL! DON’T STEAL USAURORA!”
Location: A maintenance corridor inside Kaiser Field
Ailanian Standard Time: 1332 Hours
“HELL NO! WE WON’T GO! HELL NO! WE WON’T GO! NO DEAL! DON’T STEAL USAURORA! NO DEAL! DON’T STEAL USAURORA!”
The sound of angry Ailanian and human people in the stands above them drowned out the sounds of clashing blades as the two cyborgs twirled around and lunged at each other in a deadly dance of hand to hand combat.
Wanu blocked the man in black’s attack as he shouted, “you are just like them! It’s all about the money! You don’t care about what you do to get it!”
Wanu kicked the man in black in the chest and sent him flying across the concrete floor on his back. Then, with his black mane flowing behind him, the young man took to the air. Wanu’s arms were spread like eagle’s wings as his fist blades shimmered. He landed on the man in black and buried his blades into his opponent’s chest.
The man in black shook his head back and forth violently, as if he had felt genuine pain. The young man shouted, “We have a better plan for our home world! But first we need to get rid of those people who hold your leash! We’re not doing this to simply act like terrorists! We need to do this in order to wake the Prisoners of Paradise!”
The young man drew his blades out of his fallen opponent’s chest. He stood up tall and proud as he said, “and once the Prisoners of Paradise have awakened…there will be no turning back the tide that will wash this planet clean of the evil corporations and politicians who have infested it for so long!”
The man in black twitched and shook on the floor to the young man’s delight. However, inside the fallen cyborg’s head, computerized words were flashing across the monitors on the inside of his eyeballs.
Electronics rerouting…system damage minimal…
He stared at the young man, who appeared to be drawing back his bladed fist for one final slashing strike. The man in black saw the young man’s fist coming at him and reacted by raising his arms and crossing his blades. He caught the young man’s forearm between his blades and sliced off the incoming fist before his opponent’s weapon could reach his face.
The young man stood up and screamed in pain as blood flew through the air.
The man in black jumped to his feet and drew both his pistols.
“Fuck you!” The young man screamed as he charged with his other blade.
Two laser bolts flew from the barrels. One blast exploded the young man’s chest as the other separated his legs from his torso.
Blood was everywhere as the man in black walked over to the young man’s battered torso. He pulled off one of his black gloves so that he could retrieve a wire and a tiny telecommunications port from his finger tip. The man in black inserted the port, from his fingertip, into the base of the young man’s metallic spine.
Moments later, he was downloading all sorts of information from the young man’s cranial computer. The moments of peace soon passed as the man in black realized that his own cranial com was ringing. The computer in his own brain activated the com so that he was forced to answer it.
The voice on the other end of the com said, “Now we’re finally getting the data we need to track down and find those other members of The Evil, who provided this young man with the equipment to do his mission…this will soon be like shooting fish in a barrel for you. However, we need to know where they are keeping the merchandise, which they stole from Marco.”
The man in black felt his breathing increasing as he remembered how the white haired man had said to him, “You are a part of this plan now…you will get me what I want out of those warehouses…you will bring me what I asked you for…”
The man in black tried not to listen as the voice from the com continued, “We noticed that you allowed the kid to stab you so that you could feign an injury…and now your automatic healing circuits might have been able to bypass the sensors he uses to keep track of you. We know all about how you wish to go rouge again, and we really don’t blame you…that white haired man in the black suit, who’s been telling you what to do, all these years is a complete asshole…and we understand why you don’t want to work with him, we sure as hell don’t either.”
The man in black felt his eyes narrowing as he contemplated what was just said to him.
The voice said, “We didn’t make a deal with your boss…it was the bald guy, who you killed at the spaceport, that got himself caught and made a deal with your boss…and to be honest, it’s a deal that we have no intention of honoring.”
The man in black sighed as he said, “I guess I don’t blame you…selfishness is a virtue after all…but do me a favor and get to the point.”
“We also understand that you don’t mind doing these dirty deeds as long as you get paid enough for it. Consider this…we’ll give you another million if you simply look in that young chap’s pockets for a small arming device to a bomb that might have, accidentally, ended up on Ailana.”
The man in black instinctively reached into the young man’s pants pocket and took out a small, metallic device with a small monitor screen on it. He held it up to his left eye, so that those who had just made contact with him - via satellite - would be able to see what he was looking at as well.
The voice in his head said, “I suppose you are asking yourself what the hell is going on right now? Well, we really don’t know either. Apparently, this group, known as The Evil, is a bit more complicated than we first realized. They had a plan that they were going to carry out today, and apparently, there were some interpersonal dynamics within the group, which could have caused this plan to fail. I guess some members of the group wanted the plan to succeed, while some other members decided the plan was too evil and tried to stop it. Ya know how hard it is to satisfy everyone in a group and get them to move in one direction, don’t ya?”
The man in black blinked rapidly to clear his vision as the voice from the com said, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter to us who wanted what to happen, we just need to make sure the crucial event, that was supposed to happen here today, happens real soon. Do you see how the timer currently reads thirty minutes, we’ll pay you another million dollars if you simply push that red button there, until that timer reads five minutes…that way the chances of those cops finding the bomb, which these assholes planted in the stadium, are greatly diminished. After that, we suggest you run as fast as you can in order to get the hell out of there so that you’ll actually be alive to collect your paycheck!”
The man in black paused for a moment. He knew his next decision could have some serious consequences for many innocent people here today. The injury had cut off many of the preprogrammed codes in his computerized brain. Less preprogrammed codes meant that there was a lot less commands which Van Dien could use to interfere with decisions that could now be made by what was left of his human brain.
He shook his head and thought of the real reason he was doing this. For a fleeting moment, he remembered how the young girl’s face had looked so innocent that night he had broken into Dr. DeWolf Miller’s house. For yet another fleeting moment, he thought about what the young man he had just killed has said to him before they started fighting.
“You could still believe in something…”
The man in black blinked his eyes rapidly for a moment as the data he had shared telekinetically with Jhett ran through his computerized brain at warp speed. He remembered all the faces of the young men and women in the apartment, which was across the street from the night club, right before he killed them all. He remembered how many laser bolts he had shot in the apartment that night just before he went to pay Marco the surprise visit that had ultimately led the smuggler to conclude he needed to flee the planet. He remembered what the young people in the apartment had been talking about.
“This is the only way to do it…we have to wake the Prisoners of Paradise if our plan is to succeed.”
“There has got to be another way…our educational campaigns have been so successful…”
“We do not need to resort to violence…”
“We don’t have a choice…some people will die…but think of all of the people we will save…”
“We have to make a stand! WE HAVE TO STAND FOR SOMETHING!”
For yet another fleeting moment, he remembered how scaring Marco had been so effective. He fondly remembered how well the job had been going, until the computer took over his thoughts and actions, forcing him to hunt down and capture Andrea and her friends that night Marco had been shot at.
He remembered what they had been saying before he sprayed them with the anesthetic.
“We have to stop Jacob’s people!”
“They’ve gone mad! Their plan is insanity!”
“Wallace is our only hope now!”
The man in black swallowed a nervous feeling and abruptly forgot about what those young people had been fighting for. Milliseconds later, he found himself concentrating on the last few moments in the life of the young girl, who had been in Dr. DeWolf Miller’s house, on the night he had broken in with the intent of only killing him. For a brief moment, he felt the pain of guilt and regret flowing into his heart. But the image of her face was soon forgotten when he calculated what this new arrangement was doing for his bottom line. “Damn it…the money is just too good to pass up this time.”
Without giving it a second thought, the man in black pressed the red button and walked away as fast as he could with the image of the dollar sign imprinted into his data banks.
Location: Kaiser Field
Ailanian Standard Time: 1332 Hours
“What the hell is going on down there?!” Moke screamed into the microphone boom.
“Sir! They are defying us!” An agent shouted back.
“Tell them this is an emergency!” Moke screamed in frustration.
“SIR!” Another technician’s voice cried out over his com. “Our instrumentation is out!”
“What?!”
The technician seemed to be panicking. “Sir! Our radiocarbide scanner broke! Some people attacked our wire man and broke the scanner!”
“Get another one in there right now!”
“We can’t! We’re cut off! We’re cut off from our route! We’re surrounded by all these pissed off people!”
At that moment, Moke came unglued. “I need all police forces to get inside and start removing these people from the stadium! Evacuate these people from the area! NOW!”
Location: Kaiser Field
Ailanian Standard Time: 1333 Hours
They had entered the front of the stadium and found themselves in the middle of a riot.
“Oh shit!” Audrey screamed as she realized the danger they were in. “JACK!”
He couldn’t hear her, his radio unit had been torn off by an angry Ailanian citizen who had just assaulted him without any real cause. Jack stood next to a railing holding onto his bleeding face, his eyes wide open and his muscles tensed. The people around him were frothing at the mouth and a large Kupano man was running at him with a metal pipe in his hands.
Jack was certain that he was about to get his skull bashed in.
Audrey gritted her teeth and took a deep breath as she unholstered her sidearm, and set it to stun. She took a steady aim, and pulled the trigger. The bright, blue blast, hit the man with the pipe in the chest, and knocked him onto his back.
“HEY COPPER!” A voice from behind her screamed, “That was my boyfriend!”
Audrey turned around and saw the biggest Kupano woman she had ever seen. Audrey gasped as she saw the woman charge at her with massive fists. Audrey stood up straight, and waited for the right moment. Right when the massive female thought she had grabbed the female cop who shot her boyfriend, Audrey counteracted her, and grabbed her torso. Audrey flexed her upper body and used a Judo move to throw the woman, which sent her reeling into a row of garbage cans that were filled with unwanted food items. Audrey watched as the woman regained her senses, and moaned. She wasn’t hurt. But she looked as if she wanted to file a lawsuit sometime soon.
“HEY!” Another rough voice behind her shouted. It belonged to a huge Kupano man with a goatee and a shaved head. “That was my sister!” He charged at her. Audrey realized that the man was much too close. She stood up, and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to his large jaw, and sent him reeling into a concrete wall. She looked over her shoulder and noticed that Jack was about to be attacked by another Kupano man wearing denim and leather.
“Oh my Gods! We’re surrounded by a street gang!” Audrey’s thoughts were terrified as she ran as fast as she could, slid to a stop, and delivered a couple of kidney punches to Jack’s broad shouldered attacker.
The man roared in anger and turned to grab her.
She summoned up all of her kickboxing training and commenced to treat the man’s head as if it were a punching bag. He fell to the concrete floor bleeding.
Audrey grabbed Jack’s hand and pulled on his arm. “Let’s GO!! We have to get out of here!”
Location: 50 meters above Kaiser Field
Ailanian Standard Time: 1336 Hours
The crowd appeared to be rioting as Moke was screaming furiously at his bomb squad technicians, “Listen to me! I said get another scanner on that spot right now!”
“Sir! We’re cut off!”
“I said right now!”
“Sir we’re…OH SHIT!”
Moke clenched his teeth as a buzzing sound filled his com and another technician’s frantic voice cried out, “SIR! I think we have something! Sir! I think we have….”
Time stood still as an orange flash illuminated the hovercar’s windshield.
Moke’s eyes opened into a trance of horror as he saw the stage vanish into an orange cloud of flame.