This new protest movement, led by the Living Lost, is gaining momentum. We expect the Transitional Council to prove its commitment to democracy by taking these demands seriously.
—Editorial comment, The Solar Flare, October 7, 2370
The next morning, when Erica and I arrive at work, a larger group is gathered on the lawn, maybe fifty. Security officers are trying to keep them off the sidewalks. Some of the protesters hold signs. The sight of a mob like this makes me want to run away.
“Don’t be alarmed,” Erica says, “I’m sure they’re peaceful.“
I wish I could share her confidence. I take a closer look one of the placards. “All of us are innocent, all of us are guilty,” I read. “Those are my words. I said that.”
“Isn’t that her?” a woman cries. “Isn’t that her over there?” She’s looking at me. Now everyone is.
I grab Erica’s hand. “Come on.” I drag her up the steps and we burst into the building, startling the security guards until they recognize us. “What was that about?” I ask, as if Erica ought to know.
“It must have something to do with the interview you gave.”
“Do you think they’ll go away?”
“I don’t know. This sort of thing should be part of Hanif’s job. He’ll still be on the minibus, but I’ll ask him to meet us later.”
In the media conference room, Kayko smiles. “You’re famous.”
“But I don’t want to be. Do you know who those people are?”
“I don’t, but Security will.”
We settle into the difficult task of sorting through the remains of the hologram. Compared to the huge information gain we made yesterday, this work is slow and unrewarding. Griffin and I follow persons of interest through fractile after fractile while they talk about nothing. Yesterday, I would have hated to leave my work, but when Erica pages me to come to her office after a few hours, I’m glad for the break.
“Who are those people outside?” I ask as soon as I see Hanif.
“They call themselves the Living Lost,” he replies. “The group emerged just after the Uprising. They’re all people who suffered in the technocaust. They’ve been quiet until now.”
“What are they doing here?”
“From the signs they’re carrying, I’d say that interview you gave struck a chord with them. Have you looked out front lately? There must be a hundred people now.”
I remember the day he rescued me with Spyker. “But you can get me in and out of here without being seen. If I disappear, they’ll just go away, won’t they?” It seems like the perfect solution.
Erica speaks. “Hanif and I discussed that option, Blake. It doesn’t seem fair to them.”
I’m trapped by our principles. “That’s the sort of thing the Protectors would have done, isn’t it?”
Erica smiles. “I knew you’d understand.”
“This may pass quickly if we let it run its course,” Hanif says. “I want you and Erica to take a private car and a driver for the time being, but you will have to walk past the crowds as you enter and leave the building, just so they can see you. That might be enough to keep them happy. And someone will be with you whenever you go out now.”
“Someone?” I ask.
“A bodyguard. Mostly, it will be me. We’ll be as discreet as possible.”
Life is getting more and more complicated. “But, I don’t understand why this happened. The Justice Council is about to begin the hearings. These people are getting what they want. What’s their problem?”
Hanif looks to Erica, who nods. “You should tell her everything. “
“The Living Lost is not exactly a typical victims’ group. How can I say this? They cast a wider net. Anyone who suffered because of the technocaust can join.”
“You mean people who were related to the ones who carried out the technocaust?” I ask. I’m slowly starting to accept the idea that some of these people might be victims.
There’s an uncomfortable pause. “Anyone who suffered,” Hanif repeats.
“Blake,” Erica says, “people’s lives were ruined by the things they were asked to do. Families fell apart, men were psychologically broken.”
“So, anyone?” I ask. “No matter what they did?”
“Yes,” Hanif replies. “They even run a group inside the prison.”
This almost knocks me over. I sit back in my chair. “I’m going to need time to accept this.”
Hanif and Erica let me go back to work. I walk through the hall, seeing nothing, I’m so absorbed by my thoughts. A few weeks ago, even the idea of a group like the Living Lost would have made me furious. I can’t feel that way now. Along with a lot of other baggage, I seem to have lost my capacity for righteous indignation.
“Did you learn anything?” I ask Griffin when I come back into the media room.
He grins. “A recipe for using up leftover chicken. It didn’t sound bad. What about you?”
I tell him about the Living Lost.
“I can understand why they were drawn to you,” he says when I finish. “You talked about your confusion with such honesty.”
I realize this is my chance to ask him something I’ve wondered for weeks. “Griffin, where do you fit in to all of this? I mean, I know what happened to Astral and me, what didn’t happen to Luisa and Kayko, but I don’t know anything about your past at all.”
“Both my parents died in the technocaust,” he says evenly. “Monique and my mother were friends from university. Monique was given the chance to escape to Haiti in a cargo ship. There wasn’t room for other adults, but my mother begged her to take me. A few months later Monique heard my parents had been taken, and eventually, she learned they were dead.”
“But you’re so normal. Compared to Astral and me, I mean. How did you do that?”
“I didn’t. Monique did. She was sure my parents wouldn’t have wanted their deaths to ruin my life, so she raised me not to hate anyone. I was only about four when she started talking to me about it.”
I sigh. “I wish someone had done that for me.”
“Blake, until a few years ago nobody did anything for you. What you’ve done for yourself is remarkable. You know that, don’t you? Most kids who grew up the way you did are either criminals or dead by now.”
I’m not good with praise. I blush. “I guess I know that, but I feel like I’ve only gotten halfway to being what I’d like to be, and now I’m stuck. I’m so tired of feeling angry and bitter. It’s like I’ve been carrying this huge weight around, ever since I found out about the technocaust and what happened to my mother. I just want to put it down.”
“Maybe wanting something is the first step to getting it.”
“But how do I start? It’s too late for me to be like you, Griffin. You were raised to be the way you are now.”
“I guess that’s true. But there are people like you who seem to have found a way to get over their anger.”
I stare at him. “How do you know that?”
“Blake, they’re standing outside carrying signs with your words written on them.”
It takes me a moment to process this. “You think I could learn from the Living Lost?”
“I think so. It’s your decision, though. Let’s get back to work.”
Until I spoke with Griffin, my only concern with the Living Lost was how to avoid them. His words stay with me for the rest of the day. Meeting with the Living Lost seems impossibly difficult, but I can’t shake the feeling Griffin’s right. They must know something I need to know. Still, I let the afternoon and Friday pass without doing anything about it.
One impossible task at a time, I tell myself. Because now, I have to deal with Prospero.