»So you claim that you don’t know that the League of Free Men consisting of the NAU, UNASUR, the Mediterranean Union and the South Asian Union is at war with the Technocratic Bloc? And I suppose you are also unaware that the possession of androids and electronic devices is prohibited within the League of Free Men?
»I’ve never heard of this weird league.« Again, the corporal punched me in the face in response.
»I’m fed up with your lies!« said the officer. He held a paper in front of the spotlight so I could see. »These are the orders for your execution. It is already filled out. I only have to present it to the Commissioner to get him to sign it. »And then you will be tried as a traitor and walked before a firing squad. We have martial law. We don’t waste much time with people like you that want to sell us out to the machines.«
»What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t sell anyone to the machines,« I protested.
»So, look at this! Tell me what this is. He bent over and placed a cylindrical object ten centimeters in diameter in front of him on the desk. The cylinder had two counter-rotating rotors inside and a metal capsule in the middle.
»Mmm... looks like a small drone,« I said.
»This is a killer drone from the war arsenal of the Union State. It has a computer brain and will autonomously attack an enemy. It then fires this detonator in the middle or detonates itself on collision with the target. A devilish weapon, the likes of which can only be devised by godless technocrats. But don’t worry! This one has been defused and deactivated. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do the same to the two others who killed our men at the checkpoint you attacked with your two androids. Tell me how you acquired these weapons!«
»I’ve never seen these things before,« I said.
»But one of your androids carried it with her.«
»I told you, she’s not an android, she’s a woman.«
»Don’t tell me any bullshit! After all we captured the other android.«
»Yes,« I admitted. »Anabelle is indeed an android, but the other one is a woman of Japanese descent. That’s why she looks similar to this android.«
»So an agent of the Technocratic Bloc, just like you. How else did she get her hands on those Russian high-tech weapons?«
»I don’t know,« I said truthfully. In fact, I was amazed myself at what the captain just told me. Did Aiko really have those killer drones with her? That’s apparently how she had eliminated the soldiers and escaped. Was she really a GRU agent? And what about Sarenna? Was she also one of them? A lot of things in that club had looked suspicious to me. What had all those mysterious visitors who had only spoken Russian wanted in the club?
»Then you know nothing about the two Russian stealth helicopter drones sighted over Washington Highlands yesterday. What were those helicopters doing over there? Did they evacuate your spy ring over there?«
»What? Russian helicopters? Over Washington? Where did they come from? Is there no radar surveillance anymore?« I wondered.
»As you should know, all electronics have been shut down. That of course also applies to military facilities,« said the captain, whose face I hadn’t seen yet. »Although the Air Force resisted at first. But after the traitorous generals were arrested, the U. S. military is now back in human hands.«
»The U. S. military? I thought there was only NAU military left.«
»Stop your nitpicking! The U. S. military was officially placed under the control of the NAU Security High Commission.«
»I hope the President knows that too«, I said sarcastically, which earned me an immediate punch by the corporal.
»Vice President Gordon was a traitor. He’s been deposed by Congress. It’s only a matter of time before our forces take Washington, D. C., and arrest him.«
»Congress doesn’t even exist anymore.«
»Shut up! You better tell me where the aircraft carrier of the Union State from which the helicopters evacuated your people is located! What was your mission here? What are the technocrats planning here?«
»Listen, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m getting tired of this stupid game,« I said and tried to get up. A sharp pain in my left leg prevented me from doing so. The corporal pushed me back onto the chair.
»You will give me the answers I want, or I’ll just hand you over to the Commissioner. And he’s not as forgiving as I am.«
»Oh, do whatever you want.« I didn’t care anymore. I felt bad. I was hungry, thirsty, my leg hurt, and I felt cold. I’d screwed everything up. I had no idea what they had done to Anabelle, who I was supposed to take care of. I couldn’t go back to Evelyne and Sarenna. And heaven knew where Neil O’Neil was. That captain wasn’t gonna release me anyway. Why should I play his game anymore? For those National Guardsmen I was guilty anyway and would be put up against the wall at the next opportunity.
The captain had got up and walked around the desk. He was standing right in front of me now. »Mr. Dexter, I don’t think you fully grasp your situation. Your fate depends entirely on me. I can turn you over to the Commissioner, who will simply have you shot without a fuzz, or you can start talking and tell me what you know about the technocrats’ agents who infiltrated Washington, D. C. How many are you? Who are your contacts? Where do the androids and these weapons come from? If you cooperate, I will return the favor. You’ll get a second chance. I know you’re not a bad person, misguided perhaps, but not fundamentally bad. You help me and I’ll see to it that you get a second chance to prove your loyalty to humanity. We are recruiting you as a crusader for the League of Free Men. There’s a new ship leaving Baltimore for Warsaw in two weeks. There you will receive your training and then support the uprising against the machines in the Union State.«
So that’s what this self-proclaimed NAU army did: recruiting volunteers and then shipping them to Eastern Europe and Asia to spread the same chaos there just as here in the States.
»And when can I go back home?« I asked him.
»When you have proven yourself in the Crusade against the Machines and the countries of the Technocratic Bloc are liberated.«
»So what you are trying to tell me in other words is that so far none of your crusaders has ever returned at all. You send shiploads of humans across the Atlantic, and all the ships return empty.«
»Man’s liberation war against the machines is not over yet. But we will eventually win. You can count on it! We are not alone in our fight in Eastern Europe. We have allies there. The people of the Union State are just as sick of the machine tyranny as we are here.«
»I believe your crusaders are simply being slaughtered there by the Russian and Chinese combat robots. There are no hand-held weapons, with which a human being can stand up to these combat robots and drones. This is not war. This is slaughter. You’re sending people to the slaughterhouses of the machines, nothing more. If I let you recruit me for your so-called Crusade, I’m as dead as if you send me straight to a firing squad.«
»If this is what you believe, there is nothing more I can do for you,« the officer replied disappointed.
Someone entered the room through a door that had previously been in darkness. »Captain, the Commissioner is here,« the man said.
»Let him in. We’re done here anyway. Let him take him and court-martial him.«
The light in the room was switched on, but it could just as well have remained switched off, since there was nothing to see at all. The room was completely bare. My chair, the captain’s chair and the desk were the only furniture. Not even the walls were plastered. It looked like a makeshift storage room without windows. Then the Commissioner entered.
It must have been the first time in my life that the sight of Neil O’Neil made me feel relief. I was genuinely glad to see that the Commissioner was none other than my boss, Senator Neil O’Neil.
»Boss!« I called out with relief.
»That’s still Senator O’Neil to you, Mr. Dexter. I still resent this misplaced confidentiality,« the Old Man replied as posh and formal as
ever. Only then did he realize the surprising nature of meeting me here. »What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were in Washington, D. C.«
I grinned and managed to get up despite my injury and limped towards him. »What are you doing here, man? I can’t tell you how happy... Did you know I was looking for you?«
O’Neil looked at me and shook his head. »And why do you look so disheveled like that? As soon as you are out of my sight for a while, you immediately fall into a state of complete neglect.« He turned to the officer: »Captain, what is this man doing here? And why is he in such a deplorable condition?«
»Commissioner, this man is a captured technocratic spy,« he replied.
»Nonsense! Take these handcuffs off him right now!« O’Neil ordered.
Grinning, I stood in front of the corporal so that he could unlock my chains.
»Now, come along, Mr. Dexter! You’ve been loafing around here long enough. It’s about time to get to work again. There is a lot to do for us.« O’Neil obviously was in charge here. No one dared to object. It was like old times in his office. Well, the Old Man had always had a talent for cheating his way up the career ladder. And where the corruption was worst, you could always find O’Neil right in the middle. So somehow he had managed to get himself appointed as a member of this dubious NAU Security High Commission, which was in charge of this part of the former National Guard. Well, it was like Sarenna had told me, but I didn’t exactly expect him to be that commissioner, who was apparently the top boss here.
I left the room with O’Neil. I hobbled behind him with difficulty. Every time I put weight on my left leg, it hurt like hell.
»Don’t be a cry-baby, Dexter!« O’Neil just said.
When I had gotten close enough to talk to him without any of the soldiers being able to hear, I whispered to him: »Anabelle must be here, too. We had some kind of trouble getting through to you.«
O’Neil warned me to be silent. »We’ll talk about this when we’re alone,« he returned with a low voice.
O’Neil got me a shower, decent clothes, a crutch and some food. The latter was served to me in his new office. It was just normal military rations and in the past I probably wouldn’t even have touched that kind of food. But this time I ate like a starving man. Hunger is the best cook.
At the same time I told O’Neil what I had happened to Anabelle and me in the meantime. I told him how I had tried to get through the checkpoints with Anabelle and Aiko to get in contact with him in this part of the city and how I had been injured and no longer knew anything about Anabelle’s whereabouts.
»You should have left Miss Palmer where she was safe,« he said. »Why didn’t you come alone? We could’ve waited and then seen how to proceed.«
»It wasn’t my fault,« I defended myself while stuffing the food inside my mouth. »She insisted on coming along.«
»Well, it’s too late anyway,« he said. »But she’s going to be quite a problem for me here. These people here are pretty radical when it comes to robots and androids.«
»Can’t you prevent them from destroying her, I mean with your influence?« I asked worriedly while chewing on a piece of tough meat. How long had I not eaten meat?
»You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full,« O’Neil reprimanded me. Then he went on: »I’ll see what I can do. As security commissioner, I have certain privileges here. When I say that we need them for an investigation to analyze the weaknesses of the new androids, they won’t touch her. But she will have to remain shut down for the time being. She is currently in the armory.«
»What’s going on now, I mean the big picture?« I asked him.
»Well, the political situation is very muddled,« he said. »There is nothing like a functioning government. The President has his people; some members of the House of Representatives have formed a transitional government; there are various militias to which parts of the National Guard have defected; and there are we from the NAU. But our authority isn’t recognized anywhere else. We still have a few bases in New York, in Canada and down in Florida and Mexico, but even here we have to deal with a lot of resistance. There are even more radical groups of Neo-Luddites. I don’t think the NAU military will be able to stay here much longer. We don’t have enough supplies to feed our people either. To make things worse there are outbreaks of cholera, and people are blaming us.«
»What about that food truck I saw?« I asked. »You are even sending relief supplies into the territories of the other militias.«
»These supplies are coming by ship from the UNASUR, from Brazil. But they are subject to conditions. And the Brazilians have problems themselves. I don’t know how much longer they can afford to send these ships.«
»And in return, we send fighters for this League of Free Men to the Crusade in Eastern Europe,« I suspected.
O’Neil raised his eyebrows. »Mr. Dexter, you are surprising me. The food seems to stimulate your brain. You’re beginning to think like a politician.«
»No, certainly not,« I denied. »I’m certainly not made of the right stuff to be a good politician.«
Chapter 12
New Detroit, 2111
For sure I had never been much into politics. I was probably too straight forward and not dishonest enough. And that put me in conflict even here in this school with those who cared more about politics than I did. That is why now, after class, I was sitting in the teachers’ canteen with Reverend Carter and Director Wilson.
The principal said, »Well, I don’t understand how you could say that in front of the kids.«
Reverend Carter was completely outraged when he declared: »I only learned this by chance after one of the boys in the seventh grade, a certain Ned, asked me how I knew all this about the war against the machines and the apparitions of King Ludd. He said that I wasn’t there. And that there never actually was a war against the machines, Magister Dexter said. And that Magister Dexter had witnessed it himself after all and must therefore know it better than I do. The machines had switched themselves off, and King Ludd did never exist. Can you imagine that, Mr. Director? The children were completely rebellious and made all kinds of heretical speculations. One boy even claimed that the machines still existed and had not been destroyed, but had escaped to Antarctica, from where they would one day return, when all humans had killed each other or died of disease. This is the result of Magister Dexter’s history class.«
»I only said that I myself had not seen any battles between humans and machines,« I defended myself. »I told them that it was quite possible that such fights took place elsewhere. I just did not see it with my own eyes.«
»What is all this talk about the Crusade against the Machines never having taken place, Dexter?« Director Wilson asked. »What are you trying to say?«
»I didn’t say that at all.« Now I was really on the defensive. And, of course, that damn Carter had to dramatize everything. I had never said anything in the way he had put it. »Of course there was a Crusade. Otherwise, we would still have machines today. No one doubts that. What I said was that these heroic battles against the machines never took place, at least not here in America. The government decided to shut down the machines and that’s all! The war against the machines is more a symbolic thing.«
»You can’t tell children something like that,« Wilson said, shaking his head. »A symbolic Crusade! How are they supposed to understand that? What the children should learn is that it was a struggle about the future of humanity. Of course it was a war!«
»But not a war as some people imagine in their naive imagination, with an army of robots there and an army of humans here fighting each other like at the Battle of Waterloo,« I argued.
The Reverend disagreed. »But this is a very helpful image to describe the Crusade against the Machines. And in many occasions, it was exactly like that. What about the fighting in the Far East?«
»You have no idea what was going on in Asia. Were you there?« I asked him.
»To me it is enough to know what the scriptures say,
« Carter replied. »And I am also absolutely certain that such battles have taken place here in America.«
»In any case, I didn’t see any,« I insisted on my position.
»That’s not the point,« said Director Wilson before Carter could respond. »I really doubt your pedagogical abilities, Magister Dexter. A child’s learning process begins with the big picture and only then he looks at the details. What the younger generation needs to learn is that there was a war between man and machine. That’s all, whatever might have happened in detail. Then, when they have understood this, you can slowly begin to explain to them, when, how and where the war was fought and where it was possible to simply switch off the machines without much resistance. But you can’t start with a few nonviolent anecdotes, so the kids never get the big picture.«
»I know that myself,« I replied. »But when I’m asked about my personal memories about that time I can’t just make up some heroic tales. That would be lying, and I’m not going to lie to the children. The Crusade against the Machines was a much less spectacular event than most people imagine it.«
»How can you call the most important event in the history of mankind simply unspectacular?« shouted Reverend Carter outraged.
»Historical events are always more unspectacular for those who witness them first hand than for posterity, when people only read about them in history books,« I explained.
»Or an objective view on the big historical picture is simply obstructed by irrelevant subjective personal experiences,« replied Director Wilson. »I think it’s best, if from now on Reverend Carter takes over history lesson in the seventh grade. We’ll see how we can arrange this with the timetables. »You will take over the third grade math class, Dexter.«
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