Location: Hana Paloi Federal Courthouse.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1100 Hours.
High Senator Wram Karamotzain had spent over an hour hotly explaining his position. Moke remembered how he had clenched his teeth as Wram said, “Your honor, this man, who is supposed to be a servant of the people, has done great harm the government, which protects the people of this planet…from the immoral decisions of others. He falsely claims that the High Senate needs to be investigated because the so called… freedoms…of certain immoral people…have been infringed upon. We pass laws to protect people…he’s assisting those very villains, who claim we are tyrants, with their plan to destroy the very fabric meant to protect this planet and its people!”
Everyone was relieved when the Judge finally called for a recess until after lunch.
The defense had escaped to a secluded room to rest. Malia Egnudt let her hair down and scrunched her face up as she tried to stretch her neck muscles. Moke sat down in a soft leather couch across from her and said, “They think they have me backed into a corner. So, I assume your plan is to stalemate us into some sort of postponement?”
Her eyes became fierce as her words became defensive, “No, I’m going make sure you keep your job.”
Moke suddenly felt another twinge of nervousness within the pit of his stomach. “Malia, please…let’s just get the Judge to postpone this thing for bit more…we don’t have to do anything drastic.”
“Moke,” Malia said with a bit of surprise, “come on now, Wram and his people bring you up on charges… simply because we refuse to do his bidding…and you’re going to run away from that?”
Moke felt the need to speak softly. “Malia, I don’t want this plan of mine, to bring you down with me…it’s me they want…you still have a chance to get out of this free and clear…don’t do anything drastic…not for my sake.”
“Moke, I’m prepared to go all the way now…I think we can beat them.”
“Please,” Moke said with a soft look in his eyes. “Be careful, Malia…don’t get overconfident. You need to think about what this could do to your own chances for political survival.”
Malia stayed quiet for a few moments, her eyes looking at the ground, her facial expression began to look less angry. She wet her lips and said, “Well…I guess, I might not get a chance to slay the dragon after all…if Wram has another outburst, like the one he had right before this recess and pisses off the Judge like he did, this case might just get thrown out altogether.”
“Time is on our side,” Moke chuckled and said, “Please, Malia…don’t throw your trump card yet. Just keep confusing em’ with legal gobble-de-gook and trivial fluff until their heads spin, O.K.? I’d be tickled pink if the committee votes to give us a six month stay so that we can collect more evidence.”
“Whatever it takes, just as long as we get these guys impeached someday,” She said with fire in her eyes. “I refuse to stop fighting just because the rules aren’t fair.”
“I want to make love to you,” Moke thought. “But that might make for a conflict of interests.”
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he said in a soft, comforting voice, “I’ve always loved to watch you work, Malia.”
“And I’ve always loved saving your ass,” Malia said as she wrapped her hair back into place and put her shoes back on. “Let’s go get em’…tiger.”
Location: Studio F11…Mele Entertainment Headquarters.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1130 Hours
The words on the monitor were unapologetic.
“Why do some people get to be so rich? Whose ass did they kiss? Who did they screw over to get all that money? Surely, people with such tremendous wealth, could afford to share it, even if it was just a bit more. Christ, the money they spent on lobbyists alone…ya know, the money they spent so they could legally bribe the High Senate into passing laws that kept em’ from paying all those taxes…shit, the money they spent on lobbyists…holy shit, that alone could have been their damn tax cut! Don’t they realize, or even care, that if each one of them, would simply agree to pay themselves a few billion dollars less each year, then everyone on this planet, that we call our Great Village, would be able to make a few hundred more dollars a month…that’s all we’d need, is just a few hundred more and we’d be making a great living…we’d be making a living wage. There would be more, equality, if the workers got to own the company, and if all the voters had a real say in what our government does. Financial and political freedom…these are very hard things to achieve when those who espouse those values find a way to deny them to the ones whose blood, sweat and tears helped make this planet a place where they could succeed. It is disgusting to see how these so called Capitalists cry for freedom just so they can deny those in the class systems below them the chance to experience the same success and riches they kissed so much ass to get.”
“They kissed so much ass? What does this guy mean by that?” Jalapo smirked and put his feet on his desk while he finished reading the words typed across his monitor, “What the heck does this guy mean anyway? Why don’t we figure out a way to spread the wealth around? What is this guy mean by that? Why does he keep asking questions like, ‘why does the CEO get a Penthouse while I am forced to live in the slums?’ Tell me, Veronica, what does that guy mean by all this? Do you catch my drift? Do you know what I mean?”
“Oh baby…I know what you mean…jealousy breeds hate. Jealousy breeds the destructive desire for altruism and makes the poor want to bring the rich people, who they are jealous of, down to their level. What this guy is advocating…it’s a slippery slope to tread down since altruism is a threat to rich people, who are individuals, with bright ideas and a sense of free markets and free love…or something like that. I didn’t pay attention in Scriptures Class when we started to cover the testaments of the Prophet Ayn…I was more into the cult of Venus.”
Jalapo raised his eyebrows in annoyance. He pressed his lips together as he began watching his desk monitor, with hatred in his eyes, as he said, “I mean…it just blows me away when ya hear of all this talk about how rich people are evil. Rich people allow for new technologies to be developed. Long, long ago…on Earth, they had these things called railroads…it was rich people that built the railroads and prosperity followed because of it. Billions of new dollars were generated and millions upon millions of people had their quality of life improved because of the railroads. It’s the same thing principle here on Ailana, rich people have the resources and ingenuity to bring about the products and corporations which make our lives better. Rich people create jobs and they give to charities…why should we devote any of our airtime defending those who want to simply tear down the rich out of jealousy?”
“Sure, Jalapo, I agree with you…but I believe this guying is trying to simply point out, that in certain cases, rich people make our lives worse. Sometimes, in their selfish quest to make money, they do immoral things out of greed. Throughout history there have been many examples, when rich people made decisions in order to make money, which caused millions upon millions of people to lose their jobs, their businesses, their homes and their life savings. Stock market crashes, investment schemes, pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, investment bubbles that burst…war…imperialism…these are all examples of decisions made by rich people that affected the middle class and poor people in very adverse ways.”
“But, Veronica…rich people work hard…they invest wisely…that’s why they are rich…”
“Poor people work hard as well…and they often stay poor because of social situations created by rich people. Middle class and poor people work hard so they can do things like save up a bunch of money for the purpose of making investments that could improve their lives. They work to save money so they can send their kids to University. It was the decisions of rich people, which caused this recession on Ailana, and made all those middle class and poor people lose their stocks, bonds and life savings. And to make matters worse, the rich get richer because they have political connections which legally allow them to cheat poor people out of wages and benefits. On Ailana, it seems that the rich are getting richer because they have the government to help them out when times get tough…but during a recession…the poor get poorer because the rich claim that they need to cut their hours or lay them off. The poor get even poorer when their Unions get dismantled because the government claims it needs to cut the budget. The poor get even poorer because recessions cause a budget crisis that don’t affect the rich, but greatly affect the poor when the government is forced to choose between bank bailouts and social programs. It seems that social programs designed to help the poor are always receiving cuts while the government always has money to give to rich people in the form of bail outs or investment incentives.”
“But Veronica…isn’t it better if the government just gets out of the way of rich people and allows them to do their business without restrictions and intrusions? And all these poor people, as you call them, are they not in fact leeches who simply wish to feed off the system instead of getting a real job?”
“The statement, which we in the media love to make, about government getting out of the way doesn’t seem to apply on Ailana because our government is at the beck and call of rich people. Our High Senate has passed all kinds of laws and looked the other way so that some very rich people can make money illegally when they don’t pay their fair share in taxes or do immoral things, like overcharge for their services and then don’t even perform those services in a fair and honest manner. Think about it, baby, those railroads might have improved the standard of living for a certain number of people…but many other people were also exploited for their labor as well as injured, maimed and killed while they helped to build them. Not to mention all those poor, helpless indigenous people, who were displaced or even subjected to genocide, all in the name of the progress those rich people desired. And personally, I don’t think that there are enormous groups of people on Ailana who wish to live as leaches and bum a free meal off the social welfare system. We Ailanians love to toss around words like, freedom, austerity, and make comparisons between what we call self-made people versus second hand people, but we don’t do it objectively. We love to call social programs communist and label people on welfare as moochers. We hail rich people as winners who worked hard and got what they deserved because they are intelligent and full of great ideas.”
“It’s called spin, baby!” Jalapo smiled as he pointed his thumbs towards himself.
“And we need to rethink what we are doing in this newsroom because on Ailana, big business is only getting bigger because of government sponsored bank bailouts. Our world is experiencing a tremendous amount of inequality due to the fact that government deficits are getting so huge because we keep giving the rich tax breaks that don’t create jobs. We have to keep using terms like self-made people and second hand people…because if we don’t, all the normal people on Ailana, might get suspicious and start asking questions. We live in an era where government makes partnerships with corporate crooks, and when the planet’s economy goes down the shitter, because of bad decisions made by selfish, greedy people with wealth and political connections, we in the media go and blame it all on welfare mothers and the bad decisions made by Immorals…how long can this rhetoric really last? We’re reaching a point in history where the status quo might be causing us to go over a cliff…is it any wonder that people might start to ask the question, ‘what the fuck is really happening on this planet?’ And that’s what Keiki Karatau wants to point out when he comes on your show tonight.”
“Well, he’d better not use the word, fuck. And can you explain this to me, Veronica? Is it true that this newly elected High Senator, Keiki Karatau, or whatever his name is…did he blatantly asked Wram Karamotzain - to his face mind you - ‘are you just an asshole or what?’”
“Well, people have wondered if Keiki Karatau was even legally elected, but I believe he had the right to say anything he wanted to Wram at that dinner party, but Wram told our reports that Mr. Karatau threatened him with a pastry knife.”
“But wasn’t Karatau serving him a piece of cake at the time?”
“Yeah…chocolate, I think.”
Jalapo chuckled and said, “I admire you, Veronica, as a news producer, ya walk a fine line between Objectivist Moralism, and a corrupt need to spread worthless gossip.”
Jalapo leaned back in his chair and tried to wiggle his toes to get his the circulation in his legs going again. He had to stand almost the entire time during his last show and his feet hurt because of it. “So what do ya think, Veronica, should I ask that guy Kalapana for an interview? Ask him something like, ‘Hey buddy, are you going to assume responsibility for killing all those worms or not? The buck has to stop somewhere!’”
“No, baby, don’t!” Veronica begged, “Grant has put strict limitations about doing stories that involve law enforcement right now.”
“Oh come on! What the hell is that guy’s deal anyway? What is he thinking?” Jalapo whined in a loud, authoritative voice. “Someone has to get to the bottom of all the murder and mayhem and worm death that has been happening around us! Alright, you win…I know that saying anything about how Loko Kalaheva jumped off the roof is off limits. And the bomb attack at the concert…you know I wouldn’t touch that with a ten foot pole. But you and I both know that the government is up to something crooked and I really don’t care what they are trying to cover up…we’re paid to spin the story, not tell it accurately and honestly. But please, Veronica, baby…if I could ask Kalapana about the worm farmers, and if he told me – the air- that they are a bunch of idiots, my ratings would just skyrocket!”
“Oh, Jalapo…that would be just hitting below the belt at that point…”
“Are you kidding me, Veronica? The Hydroplantations owners would love it if we told some ugly truths about how disgusting organic food tastes. I mean, who in the hell really wants to eat worms and organic vegetables that get fertilized with worm shit? This is a great chance to show how much more nutritious and great tasting Zoppy’s chili is! Come on, ya know ya like the idea!”
Veronica looked at her nails and said, “I don’t know what Grant would think. He’s been so unpredictable lately…he fired one of the vice-presidents yesterday because he didn’t like his tie…and he’s demanding that the writers to put the word ass in more of the sitcom scripts.”
“Jesus…I guess having power means getting to do whatever you want without consequences for your actions,” Jalapo scoffed. “And to think, I once got reprimanded for using the word, ass…in one of my interviews.”
She smiled at him and said, “Yes, but that’s because you were interviewing a Unionized Government Librarian, and you asked her, ‘So what exactly does it take to motivate you to get off your fat ass and find an electronic book for somebody?’ That was just mean spirited.”
“Ya gotta be mean in this world, Veronica…or else the other dog is gonna eat ya.” The monitor began to flash and Jalapo became even more irritated. “Ah shit, just a second, Veronica…I got someone on the other line.”
“I’ll see you later, baby,” Veronica said as she walked away.
Jalapo pressed a button on his keyboard and said, “What is it? I’m a highly irritated man and I’m very busy, so make it quick.”
Some words began to scroll themselves across the screen of the monitor, as if someone was typing in an urgent manner.
S.O.S.
We are members of The Evil. We were involved in a revolutionary movement against the Ailanian Government. We wish to turn ourselves in! We are being hunted down and killed by someone! We need your help! We need protection! PLEASE! We’re just some idiots who got sucked into this thing by some guy who gave a real convincing speech at University! We’re just a bunch of stupid kids! We’ll go to jail if need be! We can afford lawyers! But we need police protection right now! Please have us arrested! Please make yourself a hero! Please turn us in!
“Well, what do we have here?” Jalapo smiled as the possibilities flooded his twisted mind.
Location: Hana Paloi Federal Courthouse.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1400 Hours.
Moke tried to keep himself from breathing so hard. He felt as if he were facing a firing squad.
He then noticed how Malia looked a bit flush in the face. He wondered if she missed him. Moke had wanted to ask her out for dinner, but unfortunately, he all-to-quickly realized that he might be walking out of this room in handcuffs in a little while from now.
Moke closed his eyes; they felt as if they were burning.
“All rise,” the bailiff said with a deep voice, “the honorable Judge Kamakala Waimanalu will be presiding.”
The hardwood floors rumbled as people stood up to show their respect.
The judge walked in with his black robes flowing. He sat down as if he was about to eat breakfast. His Bontune eyes were puffy, and his hair was sparse and gray. A few moments later, a group of people entered the room and began to sit down at one of the courtroom’s hardwood tables. There were three human men, four human women, and five Aurorian men, all of these people wore serious clothes and there was not a smile among them. The air in the room was becoming hot and stale.
“Has the committee reached a decision?” Judge Waimanalu asked with a stoic tone.
“We have, your Honor,” One of the Aurorian men said gracefully.
The Judge replied, “Very well, Ambassador Banka… please give us your statement.”
Chezui Banka’s pale, Aurorian skin was flawless. He looked like an angel as he said, “In our review of the data, accusations, defenses, evidence and interpretations of this case, we of this committee, find the Ailanian CIA, and the Ailanian Attorney General’s Office…to be defendants in this case…and we have ruled that…”
Moke gashed his teeth. “Oh gods, here it comes…and I am so completely guilty of all the charges brought against me. This is gonna be the final nail in my crucifixion…I was the one who freed Jacob Colombe from The Penitentiary…but I had no idea what he was truly involved in…I thought the bastard was just a protest organizer being sent up the river for having the belief that he had free speech and a good cause…my plan was to simply beat that white haired fucker at his own game. I know the bastard is up to something…he used Jacob as a means to trap me…Jacob, that fucking computer geek…it he had only trusted me…that white haired bastard would not have been able to get ahold of the digital files that allowed him to find out about Marco and his schemes…because I was late getting to Marco…that goddamned bomb ended up in that stadium…Kara is dead because of that inhuman white haired monster that the Allied Government allows to operate his black ops on my home world with impunity! I tried to save my world from that bastard and now his crooked cronies in the High Senate! Audrey and Jack did the best they could to cover up my mistakes…and I guess now is when I find out how intelligent and loyal my people are…if they didn’t delete all those data files and surveillance tapes…then these bastards in the High Senate will make sure that I am sent to prison…I have failed! Oh gods! I am so fucked!”
The handsome, pale-skinned man remained stoic as he said, “we find the defendants not guilty…of committing of any humanoid rights violations during said investigations, and we cannot find any evidence that they committed any breach of professional protocol as stated by Allied Law Enforcement policies. It is our decision that what they did was completely lawful, and ethical, and they are to be found not guilty of the charges brought against them by the Ailanian High Senate…”
Moke felt his lungs deflating, and he let his shoulders slump, for just a second, and then took a deep breath as he stood up straight and proud.
The handsome, Aurorian ambassador looked up and made eye contact with everyone, who sitting either in the audience or at the prosecution and defense tables. His honest glance was instantaneous, yet meaningful as he said, “While we on this committee…feel that what happened at that stadium was of the utmost tragedy…the law enforcement agencies of Ailana are not to blame…and we must find a way to learn from this tragedy and move on.”
Moke opened his eyes as wide as he could as he allowed his lungs to suck in the precious air he had been too frightened to breathe. His thoughts became ecstatic, “Oh my gods! He believed me! He saw the truth in my lies! He’s on my side! That bastard and his crooked cronies failed to nail me to the wall! My enemy is a white haired man from Earth…my savior is a white haired man from Aurora…the Aurorians are on our side! We might win this secret after all. The end is near, there will no longer be a war going on between these intergalactic spy agencies, which are financed by the corrupt ideology of powerful men, who only excel in backroom dealings…the Earth’s government will be exposed for what it did to our planet…this secret that I have been forced to keep for all these years will finally be revealed to the people of the Primary Worlds….and we Ailanians…might soon be free of the tyranny their governments have infringed upon us…because so many members of The Ailanian Moralist party, are soon gonna be lying in that Penitentiary they built!”
The handsome, Aurorian Ambassador cleared his throat before he continued speaking in a serious tone of voice, “We also unanimously ruled that the evidence, which has been presented to us today, fails to convince us that the recent election, which resulted in High Senator Rammy Klunka to be voted out of office and replaced by Mr. Keiki Karatau, had its outcome due to fraud.”
A large group of people on the far right side of the room began to grumble and gash their teeth in anguish.
“Order in the court!” The knocking of the wooden gavel rang through the entire room. The Judge raised his hand and the lamentations became muffled as he shouted, “Order in the court!”
Moke turned his head to the left and noticed how Malia was beginning to smile. He smiled as he saw how very beautiful she looked in the illuminating glow, which shined from the courtroom’s crystal skylight. Suddenly he found himself stuck in a memory and unable to concentrate on the verdict. He forgot how joyful he felt when Ambassador Banka looked him in the eye, and instead, remembered how she once looked at him and smiled. He remembered how beautiful she looked that a sunny day, when they were both sixteen years old. Moke remembered how hot it was that day. At the time, Moke had figured her to be a sheltered girl, whose Moralist parents would never let her out of their sight.
He remembered how she looked at him and smiled.
Moke then bit his lower lip as he remembered how Ronald Harris had said, “It looked as if she was thinking to herself, ‘He looks like the sort of guy my mother warned me about.’”
Location: ANACO Fuel and Go Station….Township of Huluki….Ailana.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1430 Hours.
The woman’s restroom was mauve-colored and very clean. Audrey stood over a sink, looking into the mirror and thinking naughty thoughts. “He’s so cute…he hasn’t said anything about his wife…and he is a few light years away from her…
Her forehead wrinkled as she tried to suppress her giggling.
“Oh come on, Audrey…don’t think like that…”
Audrey took her brush out of her purse and watched as her smirk grew into a smile in the mirror, “Maybe I’ll suggest we have dinner in New Hamakua…he seems to be lightening up a bit. I’ll bet he’s just shy…I suppose he wants to be polite and professional, that’s why he’s acting the way he is. Maybe he’ll open up more if I buy him another beer.”
Audrey felt the brush pull out a bit of hair from her bangs. She experimented with pulling her hair back again, and then decided to let it fall about her shoulders. “I’ve been given time off, that is to be spent on the beach with a hunk…I should really take advantage of this opportunity.” Audrey smirked to herself, “oh stop it…I don’t remember the last time I had fantasies like this…but there is just something about this guy…”
Audrey laughed to herself. She turned her head as she fondly remembered how she had seen him smile, for the very time first time, since they had met. She replayed the memory of the little, dank shop that was located deep within one of the ground floors of an Ailanian shopping center. The shop had been located deep inside the belly of one of the original Star Cruisers, which had landed on Ailana nearly one hundred years ago. Unable to the escape the planet’s gravity, these Star Cruisers became Instant City Ships. The largest buildings in Polynea had been built on top of and around these Instant City Ships. Over the years of construction, these buildings developed deep labyrinths of pathways and corridors, in which the businesses and living areas became less trendy, less maintained and cheaper to rent the farther a person made their way into the superstructure.
Audrey swallowed as she remembered how out of place Harris seemed to feel as they perused the shops and stores that were located next to the streets and sidewalks. She inhaled deeply as she recalled how she had been able to notice how his level of comfort seemed to increase the farther they made their way into Instant City Ship’s superstructure. His confidence seemed to increase as they began making their way past the shops and stores where people, who appeared to have money, were holding their noses in the air.
“He felt uneasy around the rich people…he seemed more comfortable…with regular people…he appeared as if he had been looking for something specific…” She ran her fingers through her hair as she remembered how he had smiled when they found the place they had been looking for. The shop had been located deep inside the original Star Cruiser and appeared as if the owner had simply moved the bunks out of one of the original crew rooms and filled the place from wall to wall with humble items that people had simply thrown away.
She remembered the look of relief on Captain Harris’ face as he saw the long, white objects, which had been carefully placed in the corner of the room. They were the shiniest things in the entire shop. She felt her breath stopping as she remembered how the two surf boards were the only items in that shop that had never been used before.
She bit her lower lip, and twisted a lock of hair between her fingers, as she recalled the look on the surprised shop keeper’s wrinkled face as he said, “Ain’t much of a market for these things anymore,” The shop keeper had said in a gruff tone. “Not since the Moralists banned surfing on Ailana ten years ago has anyone bought one of these from me. I made em’ myself. They are original works of art. Ya know how artists, like myself…well, we’ve fallen on hard times, since the economy went in the shitter and all. Things that ain’t practical, just ain’t selling since folks ain’t got the money…nor the freedom…to spend in the ways they want to anymore. A man who owned a surfboard today…and could get away with riding it…could feel a bit of that freedom we lost when the Moralists took over…a man like that, could be free again, if not for just a little while.”
She remembered seeing how Harris seemed to perk up when he heard that. She opened her eyes and admired her hair in the mirror as she recalled how the old man seemed to notice Harris. The man seemed to understand what Harris was thinking as he stood there staring at the two surfboards.
“Seeing him, looking at those surfboards, it was like seeing someone being reunited with a long lost friend. It was so…touching…”
She felt a bit of a chill going down her spine as she remembered how Moke had said to her, “Ya wanna know something about Harris? He was a shy kid. He was the only blonde haired, blue eyed kid in school. He got teased relentlessly. He could never get a girlfriend…so what did he do with his time since no one wanted to play with him or be seen at the prom with him? He went surfing. The ocean was his only comfort…to be in the ocean was like being in the arms of his mother.”
Audrey closed her eyes and felt a pain in her stomach as she recalled how sad Moke’s face appeared as he began saying, “His mother, was never present…she was never there for him since she was always doped up on drugs…his father was even worse…the feelings he received from the ocean, were the feelings of acceptance, that he never got from those humans who betrayed him. Be careful with him, Audrey…the man is probably still pretty shy. And shy people tend to remain…unpredictable.”
Meanwhile, as he waited in the hovercar, Harris felt his heart beating faster and faster. Ever since he drank those beers at lunch, his heart beat had increased and his breathing had become shallow. He drummed his fingers on the armrest as he felt himself becoming anxious for reasons he could not explain.
He tapped his fingers harder and swallowed nervously as he thought, “What is she doing in there?”
Harris felt his palms sweating and began wiping them on his pant legs. He stared at his twitching feet as his mind became awash with several memories. The swirling thoughts made his head hurt. The pounding headache soon began to form the kinds of memories which he could not account for. Reality, and what he believed to be fantasy, blurred within his mind as he remembered the voice of a teenage boy, who was bound for trouble.
“Hey, Iki…what do ya think? Ain’t it a bitching hovercar? Someone just happened to leave the keys in the ignition. What do ya think? Should we steal it?”
Harris blinked his eyes rapidly as he remembered how he had replied, “I dunno, man…what if we get caught.”
The first teenager’s voice began to shout with death defying encouragement, “Oh come on, Iki! We can do it! The keys are in the damned ignition! Just like Fats said they would be! Let’s do it, Harris! Let’s do it!”
As the strange memories bombarded him, time seemed to pass slowly. Harris gasped and shook his head as he attempted to make them stop. He was beginning to feel as if he could see the light entering the newly opened closet within his mind and he was beginning to see the first of many skeletons. He looked out the window and tried to fixate on something else other than the strange memories that he could not seem to control. As he gazed out the window, he noticed that they were finally out of Polynea and had set down in a farming district.
The massive agricultural fields, which belonged to The Hydroplantations, looked like enormous expanses of long, brown emptiness. Harris felt his heart sadden as looked out the window and saw the enormous shopping mall across the street. He swallowed a bit of fear as he saw how the electronic billboard, located on the side of the shopping mall, flashed the words;
BroadMart…Now Under Government Control…Liquidation Sale STARTS TODAY!
He noticed how the people, who lived in this small township, walked around in the Fuel Station’s parking lot with their heads down. They seemed unfriendly, and irritable. Their faces were drawn, and their shoulders were slumped.
“Why are we all so unhappy? Why are we not getting what we want from this life?”
Harris looked away not realizing that it was the lack of medication in his bloodstream, which was causing his memories to become hallucinations.
“Fats?”
The next voice, to come up from the depths of his subconscious, had a cool, coy tone to it. Harris remembered the distinct smell of cigar smoke as he heard a calm voice saying, “And now, my brothers and sisters walk around with slumped shoulders…and do you know why? It’s because they’ve given themselves unto slavery. It all started with the War Machine…the Ailanian people began working for what they believed was a good cause. And when the war ended…they discovered that they needed to keep working because Ailana was now a world that had moved on. The Ailanian way of life had evolved and was changed forever because people had to keep working. They had to keep working because someone told them that they had to have a hovercar, in order to get to work…and for that, they needed to buy fuel. They found out that they had to keep working, because someone told them that they had to have a big house, and a lot of furniture…they were told they needed televisions and computers and cell phone plans…they were told they had to go to work, because they needed to give their money to corporations all because they needed to buy car insurance, home owners’ insurance, life insurance, health insurance…even death insurance. They were told that they had to work so that they could pay taxes on the fuel and food they needed to buy…they were told that they had to pay property taxes, housing taxes and even taxes on the wages they were so desperately trying to save up so they could buy more shit, which they didn’t really need. My brothers and sisters all discovered that they had to work so that they could keep their hovercars and houses up the standards of the law…it got to the point that if corporations weren’t taking our peoples’ money, the government was taking their money…for reasons that they never even bothered to explain…because of the corporations and the government…the people of this world found themselves in debt…”
“… And anytime you are in debt, to anyone, they own you…and that’s essentially what slavery is…”
When Harris looked out the window again, his mind’s eye showed him an image of two young men walking toward him.
“And that’s why we gotta do…what we gotta do…”
The young men walked slowly out of Harris’ fantasy and into the bright, shining sunlight. One of the young men was an Ailanian, and the other one, was human. One boy had bronze skin, while the other boy was of fair complexion and had long, blonde hair. They both had innocent faces, yet their eyes glowed with mean and aggressive stares.
Harris could hear the Ailanian youth whispering, “This is a great hovercar, Iki…let’s take it.”
He heard the human replying to his friend in a frightened voice, “I dunno, man…we might get caught…”
“Don’t be stupid, Iki…the moment is now. What’s to stop us?”
“I dunno, man…we might get caught…what would they do to us if we got caught?”
His heart started pounding faster as he heard the angry, Ailanian youth whispering, “Ya know what? I don’t really care, Iki. We have spent our whole lives following THEIR rules, and their orders…and just look at where it got us. Has saying ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’ gotten us what we want and deserve in this life? Have you ever wondered if the lives that they want us to live are just another extension of their plans to keep us licking their boots?”
“Who said that? Fats? Did Fats say that?”
The voice, which was swimming up from the depths of these repressed memories, was cool and refreshing. The voice was like jazz music, as it said, “And now, my brothers and sisters walk around with their faces down and their shoulders slumped. My brothers and sisters went to work for corporations that didn’t even have customers and made their money by exploiting their employees and borrowing money from the government. They went to work for the government, which couldn’t afford to pay them since it kept borrowing money from the corporations, who were in turn, borrowing money from the government. When the corporations laid them off, their crushing credit card debts forced my brothers and sisters turn to the government for help. The government told them they could have jobs with the Unions, and when the Unions took union dues from their paychecks, which were much smaller than the small paychecks they received from the corporations, they didn’t have any money left at the end of month. My brothers and sisters had no money left when the Unions couldn’t protect them from the government laying them off…and then the government put them on welfare and moved them into The Government Housing Projects. The government gave my brothers and sisters Meals Ready to Digest, which The Hydroplantations sold the government at a reduced rate. My brothers and sisters found themselves, having to vote, year after year, for the Conservative Moralists, who gave them their welfare checks and Meals Ready to Digest…they found themselves having to listen to speech after speech about how the government needed to keep loaning the banks and corporations more and more money and how it was so important for the corporations to have their taxes lowered and lowered some more, because the rich deserved the money they earned, and taxation is theft…my brothers and sisters listened to speeches about how one should be autonomous and not use their fellow man as a means to an end…and they bought that shit. Yet, while my brothers and sisters suffered, the corporations and the government were climbing higher and higher…because they were stepping on the backs of my brothers and sisters…and my people became like Atlas…they became like a man, with an impossible weight upon his shoulders…they became like a man…who wished day after day of his miserable existence…that he could just shrug that weight off…yet he holds onto that weight out of a sense of duty…out of a sense of patriotism…and that, my friend, is the worst kind of slavery imaginable…”
Harris closed his eyes and shook his head back and forth as he remembered how the cool voice has said, “My enslaved brothers and sisters are Ailanians of all the different tribes and races…my brothers and sisters are Ailanian-born humans of every creed and skin color…my brothers and sisters have been fooled into believing in something they called the Ailanian dream…and their lives…have become nightmares from which they cannot wake…”
Harris grabbed the sides of his head. His legs shook while he whispered, “And that’s why we do…what we have to do…”
In the fanciful memory, he recalled how the defiant, Kupano boy had said, “Think about it, Iki…does our government want us to become winners, or do they simply want us to spend our lives patiently waiting for that carrot, which they dangle from the end of that stick, to just miraculously fall to the ground? Well guess what, Iki? I believe that both you and I are too smart to fall for their line of bullshit. We now have the power to change everything. Think of it this way, instead of breaking the rules, we are making the rules…we can finally reach out and get what we want from this life. We shouldn’t ever have to ask permission to live our lives the way we want to…”
“I, myself, never want to ask permission, for anything…ever…again.”
Harris closed his eyes and felt his breathing become almost frantic as he remembered how he said, “I dunno, man…are you sure ya wanna go through with this…what could happen if we got caught.”
The epiphany took place when he heard, “just think of what could happen if we didn’t.”
The cool voice spoke calmly one more time as the memories of cigar smoke and jazz music played through his mind, “And now, the government and the corporations have gotten so big…that they simply cannot fail. The owners of the banks and corporations have their mansions and droves of loyal employees, who are more than willing to work so much harder, for so much less, because they know that the government has their Social Programs, their Housing Projects, their Bureaus of Morality, which allow the Immorals to reform themselves willingly…those that don’t come crawling to the government on their own free will, they get caught by the Morality Squads, the police and the CIA. Those who are deemed Immoral by our government go to the jails, the prisons and this new place that they are calling…The Penitentiary…only the gods know what they do to those poor people in that place.”
Harris remembered how the voice had an honest quality as the cigar smoking man said, “My story, that I have been telling you, Iki…it’s all about what happened to my generation. It’s about how our parents and grandparents saw those enormous spaceships land on our planet and how they embraced the ideology of The War Machine. This story, which I am telling you, is also about that period of time, in Ailanian history, when my generation got old enough to think like our parents once did…back in those days some of us, well, a lot of us simply thought that those huge cities, corporate farms, polluting factories and over-bearing government policies, which came about because of The Moralist Revolution, were just a normal fact of life. My parents and grandparents saw the war come to an end…my generation…we saw our world come to an end…we saw the societal mechanism snap shut like a trap…and after we licked our wounds…we found ourselves helpless, and unwilling to do anything about the slavery we so whole-hearteningly agreed to…all because of the promise of the Ailanian Dream…”
The Kupano boy’s voice was deafening. “But guess what, Iki…this story is about our generation, and how we rose up to show those bastards that they can’t keep us down!”
In its own time and space, the mind seems to take an eternity to make a life changing decision.
“I said let’s take it already! LET’S DO IT, HARRIS! Let’s do it!”
Harris clenched his fists and gashed his teeth as he snapped back into reality.
He gasped as he looked at the keys to Audrey’s hovercar.
He nervously bit his lower lip as he made mental notes as to how they were placed in the ignition, just how she had left them. He began to breathe faster and faster as his palms began to sweat.
“What’s stopping you?”
As he stared at the keys in the ignition, Harris recalled what she had asked him at lunch while they had been drinking beer. He remembered how his replies had been given as if he were reciting lines from a script, “Yeah…I guess we knew each other in High School. Yeah…we were on sports teams together. His parents were rich…mine were poor…but I guess we still hung out together in the same circle of friends. Yeah, he got better grades than I did…yeah, he was smarter than me…better looking than me…the girls seemed to favor him more…he had himself a nice girlfriend when he was in High School…I was one of those unpopular guys…his family was well off…my family…they were Immorals…I’m glad I left Ailana to go to Earth…The Military made me the man I am today…Moke was a good kid, he made the right choices in life…I didn’t…and yeah, I’d say that we both got what we deserved in this life.”
Harris suddenly felt his teeth grinding as his mind burned with anger and resentment.
The voices in the back of his mind cried out to him, “Do it! Do it! DO IT!”
Harris made a fist and pounded on the dashboard as he cried out in anger and frustration,
“LEAVE ME ALONE!”
He took a deep breath and looked out the window; she was nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell,” He said softly as the wicked smiled curled upon his lips. He closed his eyes and held his shaking head in his hands as he thought, “hopefully, ya only live once…and this might be the only chance I’ve have, to make sure that I will not be forced to live this miserable life much longer. I’m sorry, Captain Kalapana…but I didn’t come here to make amends. I came here to make things right!”
Location: Hana Paloi Federal Building.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1800 Hours.
The man’s voice was soft and polite, “Captain Kalapana, may I join you?”
Moke sighed as he closed his eyes and took a second to bask in the sunset that illuminated the large, stone balcony. He then opened his eyes and smiled before he turned around to address the person, who had just approached him. In the glow of the sunset, Moke saw a handsome Aurorian man, who was wearing a blue tunic. The golden sun made the man’s smile seem brighter as he stood in the doorway that led from the hallway to the balcony.
Moke smiled when he saw him.
The slender Aurorian smiled back.
“Please,” Moke said as he motioned for the Aurorian to stand next to him.
The Aurorian kept his hands behind his back as he walked over.
Moke extended his hand, as a friendly gesture, “How are you doing this evening, Ambassador Banka?”
The Aurorian extended his creamy white hand. His white hair fluttered a bit in the wind as shook the Ailanian’s hand gently. The Aurorians voice was angelic as he said, “Everything is quite all right, Captain, I assure you.”
The Aurorian released Moke’s hand and turned around slowly so that he might gaze at the city. He smiled as he took in the site of beautiful, chrome buildings that were bathed in the pink and orange sunset. “Having the chance to look at this beautiful sight…has made my day perfect.”
“I know the feeling of which you speak,” Moke said. “This has always been my favorite time of the day…all the colors imaginable can be seen in our sky before the sun sets.”
Ambassador Banka said, “I suppose I should congratulate you, Captain. I know what it is like to survive an attempted political assassination. I am constantly reminded how some people like to play dirty whenever I chair one of those committees.”
Moke looked confident. “I don’t hold any ill regard towards High Senator Wram Karamotzain. His people have a goal to achieve…and part of that goal includes getting this planet back on its feet again. However, Wram and I simply have a difference of opinion as to how that goal should be accomplished.”
“I can see that with you, humility comes before personal gain,” Chezui Banka said as he smiled. “I can tell that you are a good man, Captain…and that is why I would like for you to be an advisor for my council.”
Moke tried to remain stoic as he replied, “you mean the council that is deciding how the Economic Revampment Program will commence?”
“Yes sir. I need someone who knows how the money that we will be giving to the Ailanian government could be wasted by the greedy ambitions of men like High Senator Glik or the incompetence of Government Bureaus, such as the ones that High Senator Semnor created and oversaw.”
“Wouldn’t that create a conflict of interests?”
“What conflict of interest would there be, Captain?” Chezui Banka asked calmly. “We are talking about the interests of the Ailanian people. I believe that it is the Ailanian people, and not just the Ailanian politicians that are supposed to be deriving the benefits of this economic revampment program. Certainly, Captain, a man of your character, would like to see that the stimulus money, which my planet’s government is about to give out gets into the right hands. High Senator Keiki Karatau is onboard…he recommended you.”
“I appreciate the offer,” Moke said. “But I will have to discuss it with some other members of the government first…particularly, our Attorney General.”
“Of course, Captain, and in the meantime I simply wish to explore this beautiful, tropical paradise where you have been so blessed to live.” Banka said as he turned away from the city. “I also understand that you are quite good at an Ailanian marital art known as Hakaka…or is that just a rumor as well?”
Moke smiled and said, “It is an Ailanian style of fighting that I learned as a boy…every Royal child and the immediate members of the court were required to take it back when my Grandfather was a king on this world. Times have changed, the ancient martial arts are now simply forms of recreational competition…but I have kept my training up. However, I am by no means a champion. But in my line of work, it pays to know hand to hand combat.”
“Nevertheless, I am fascinated by the martial arts…I admire the beauty in them.”
Moke felt so relaxed as the Aurorian man clasped his hands together as he said, “And sir, if it would not be too much trouble…I if actually needed some advice from you, during the course of these politically charged hearings…could you show me around the war relics room in the Hana Paloi Museum of Natural History?”
Moke smiled as he said, “Yes sir, I understand that you will need a tour guide while you are here. I would be honored to show you around this wonderful planet.”
“I love museums, especially museums that display the weapons of war from the various ages of antiquity. You could advise me about the scoundrels that thrive here, and then show me the weapons the ancient Ailanians used to settle their differences, before these malicious methods of modern day politics were established here.”
“I wouldn’t see any harm in doing that,” Moke said with a smile. “Give me a call, I can free up my schedule for, fields trips, such a museum visit…or maybe a trip to the beach.”
“Thank you, Captain, have a pleasant evening.”
“Thank you sir,” Moke watched how Banka walked with a smooth grace as he left. Within just a few quite moments, the Aurorian diplomat was soon out of sight.
“Oh thank the gods…” Moke sighed as he felt a feeling of calm wash over him. Suddenly, the sky never looked so beautiful, and the stars that were beginning to twinkle in the twilight, never looked so bright.
Moke took a deep, calming breath, and closed his eyes with a bit of disappointment when his com began ringing, ruining the first moment of peace he had had in what seemed forever.
He answered it with a slow voice.“Kalapana here.”
“MOKE!”
He almost panicked and said, “Audrey?”
She screamed in his ear, “He’s gone!”
“What?” He asked with an amazed tone to his voice.
“He stole the car and took off!” Audrey shouted frantically. “I was in the bathroom…I must have left the keys in the ignition…and he just took off without me!”
“My plan…” Moke’s thoughts became of selfishness and self-preservation, “How is this goddamn mistake on her part going to affect my plan?”
Audrey’s voice squeaked, “Sir?”
Moke gashed his teeth as he suddenly took a quick breath and said, “Where are you?”
“On the Eisenworth Platform, just off of New Hamakua Highway….”
Moke blinked his eyes a couple of times. “It’s worse than I envisioned…what Pete told me must be true. Have those suppressed memories, of our reckless youth…has the trauma, of what he experienced on this planet, as a young man…did it actually cause him to go mad?” He remained quiet for a few more moments, lost in a perpetual thought.
“Moke?”
“Ah, yes…Audrey,” Moke said with a stammer. He knew that he would have to keep lying to her, so he remained confident in his speech as he said, “he called me…we spoke for a while, and he asked me if it would be all right if he could just, well…have some time to himself…”
“What?”
“It’s nothing personal, Audrey…he just that he wants to go surfing early in the morning…he didn’t want you to feel like you were being dragged along…he wanted to sleep on the beach tonight…the best waves are always going to occur right as the sun comes up…that way the wind wouldn’t be messing up the surf…it’s a surfer thing. I’m sorry. I should have told you…will you please forgive the inconvenience?”
She seemed shocked. “What?”
“And I guess I agree with him, you would have probably just gotten a horrible sunburn anyway, and ruined the trip…at any rate…sorry for the inconvenience…I’ll have a driver come pick you up.”
“What am I supposed to do until them?” Audrey huffed.
“I understand they have one of those electronic bookstores that sell coffee now…why don’t you go find a magazine and just relax.”
“How about a trashy romance novel? One where the heroine gets DUMPED!”
“Hey it better than being duped, Audrey…at least now ya know that he just isn’t that into you.”
Moke hung up before Audrey could begin swearing at him. He then paused for a few moments before dialing his com again. He closed his eyes as he waited for the person to answer.
After what felt like an eternity, Pete answered in a groggy voice, “yeah?”
Moke bit the inside of his cheek and said, “He’s all alone now…let’s get this over with.”
“I’m ready to go.” Pete replied, “I’ll check back with you as soon as I make contact.”
“Pete,” Moke sighed, “I can’t emphasize enough that we only have one shot at this…we need to do this right…and nobody, I mean nobody can find out about what we are doing.”
“Don’t worry, Moke…we’ve taken every precaution to make sure he doesn’t discover what we are doing, or that anyone else finds out for that matter. We’ll get this over with as soon as we can.” Pete then paused and sighed before he said, “But, Moke…there is just one thing. My daughter…she’s gonna be safe…after all this shit hits the fan and all…you’ve some kind of plan to ensure that she’s gonna be alright?”
“She’s strong, Pete…I have faith that she’ll be just fine.”
“Moke…ya gotta promise me…if I don’t make it through this plan of ours…you have to be the one who tells her the secret I’ve been keeping from her all these years. She needs to know who her father really was, not just the bullshit she’s been told…she needs to know who she really is…”
“I promise…I will tell her. Good luck, Pete.” Moke said as he hung up the com.
Moke sighed and rubbed his face as he felt his mind turning over with troubling thoughts. “So this first test was definitely an indication of something…Audrey obviously failed to connect with him and he didn’t take the bait. Rejecting an offer for female companionship…that could be interpreted as a red flag according to the data we have. There is something going on inside the man’s head…I’m willing to be it’s something troubling…and I have to figure out what it is before it’s too late.”