by Phoenix Ward
Deep in the middle of Fort Leddy, a thin column of smoke could be seen rising into the sky.
“People!” Maynard said, breaking the silence in Karl’s head.
I knew it! Karl said. Stewart’s men are here, just as I predicted.
“How can you be sure it’s them?” Maynard said. “In fact, how do we even know there’s people down there? It could just be a natural fire.”
A natural fire that small? No, that’s a campfire.
“A campfire in the middle of town?” Maynard said.
The whole place has been abandoned for years. I doubt any of the old electrical systems are still active, or that anyone’s bothered to repair them. They need to stay warm and cook their food somehow.
With his concentration focused, Karl scanned over the town once more. This time, he was able to make out some colorful and rather pristine-looking forms in the streets. He pulled out a pair of binoculars from his bag and found that that the forms were tents. Dozens, if not hundreds of tents lined the streets, grouped together in such a way that reminded Karl of old music festivals.
Around these tents, Karl saw people stirring, though there were only a few he could see from his vantage point atop the hill. They wore grubby clothes and their hair seemed long and unkempt. The men he saw were all unshaven, some with beards that reached down to their bellies.
Karl couldn’t see any computerized vehicles or artificial lighting at all. The only light came from the stars above and, he presumed, the fires down below. He couldn’t hear anything but the wind and smelled only dust.
“Why aren’t they living in the houses? Why the tents?” Maynard asked.
The houses are probably too damaged, Karl said.
“Then why not fix them back up? They’ve had the time.”
I don’t know, Karl said. It doesn’t look like they have any modern machines down there. Perhaps they are limited by the tools at their disposal.
“They’re like cavemen down there,” Maynard said. “Why don’t they just bring some machines in? I’m sure Stewart could buy them some.”
Not everyone wants to keep up with technology. I’ve never seen it before, but they could be adverse to modernization. Being raised in a town like that, cut off from the grid for half a lifetime, one could see advanced technology as alien and unnatural. I’ve heard people like that called Luddites before.
“What a strange mindset those people must have,” Maynard commented. “To work so hard to avoid progress—it baffles me.”
I agree, but remember that ‘progress’ is a subjective term.
Karl sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the scene below through his binoculars. The more he observed, the more he felt confident in his conclusion that these people were anti-technology. Fort Leddy looked like some sort of survivor camp in an old post-apocalyptic film, he thought.
“So what’s the plan?” Maynard asked. “Sit up here and watch until they progress into the Information Age?”
No, Karl said. The plan is to watch. We need to know what we’re dealing with before we act.
“Then what?”
I don’t know yet. I was going to figure that out as we watched.
“And if nothing happens?”
Then we’ll think of a plan.
“Your plan is to come up with a plan? Maybe you should just let the police hear you say that; they’d never believe you to be the mastermind they think you are.”
Shut up! Karl thought, pulling the binoculars from his face and listening. I hear something.
Maynard heard it, too. “An engine?” he said.
Karl lifted the binoculars once more and followed the sound. A small cloud of dust was being kicked up behind a shiny black Mercedes, which approached Fort Leddy from a dirt road to the north.
Someone’s driving into town! Karl thought.
“What the hell?” Maynard said. He was just as confused as his host. “Maybe it’s the pizza boy?”
I don’t think this is delivery, Maynard. It’s DiGiorno.
The psychologist lay down on the hilltop, worried the approaching car might be able to see him. He blew some dirt away from his lips before resuming his observation.
The vehicle drove straight into town without any concern whatsoever. It stopped just before the center, in a large patch of broken concrete. Karl guessed the location had once been a town square.
Some of the townspeople below were stirring at the car’s approach. They didn’t seem to be worried about the intruder, as far as Karl could tell through his binoculars. In fact, they didn’t even seem surprised.
“An expected guest?” Maynard asked.
It seems so.
The dust had started to settle around the car and the engine was turned off. Karl was amazed at how audible the difference was once it happened. He realized at that moment how quiet a ghost town truly is.
He readjusted the binoculars when he saw the car’s door open. They locked onto the driver’s face as soon as the man stepped out.
Karl couldn’t help but gasp a little.
“It’s him.”
Stewart.
Negotiations
Some of the Fort Leddians came out to meet with Stewart. He had parked a good distance away from any of the populated areas, so it took them a short while to reach each other. In that span of time, Karl decided to descend the hill into town.
Maynard insisted that it was a bad idea and they should go back to the car immediately, but Karl refused. A small spark of fury in a gas chamber of curiosity fueled him on as he crept down the hillside. Though his heart burned with a somewhat reckless furor, he still took care not to draw any attention as he made his way into Fort Leddy.
It only took him about five minutes to get down behind a short metal dumpster within earshot of the meeting. The town was remarkably small, but it helped that square was in the part of Fort Leddy that the hillside skirted, rather than in the geometric center.
He moved with such intensity that the environment blurred around him. He didn’t know if anyone had seen him, but his instincts told him he remained hidden.
“It’s a heavy request, Stewart,” one of the townspeople, or Leddites as Maynard was now referring to them—an unclever combination of Fort Leddy and Luddites—said.
“And you will be heavily compensated, I assure you,” Stewart said.
“You’ve said that before,” the same Leddite replied. She appeared to be the leader of their small meeting. “The food shipment we expected to arrive last week still hasn’t turned up. We have hungry children, Stewart. We have sick people. How long do you think they can last on crumbs?”
“I know, I know,” Stewart said, throwing his hands up as if to defend himself against the accusations. “I don’t know what happened, but I can tell you that two shipments will be arriving this week. And next week, you’ll have two more. Consider it a sincere apology, Alesha. A taste of the wealth you can gain by working with me.”
“My people still aren’t entirely on board with your plan,” Alesha said. “They say it isn’t worth their lives to get involved in the world’s affairs. We all live here for a reason, you see. We don’t want to be a part of the world. We don’t want its problems, and we don’t want its help.”
“Surely that argument won’t stand when people start starving. Where do you expect to get the seeds to sow your fields? What roaming herds are you going to get your cattle from? Everything is owned by somebody else, Alesha, and the only way to get it is to give them something they want. In this case, I’m just asking for a bit of service.”
“You’re asking for lives.”
“Not if everything goes as planned. Not as long as every step is followed to the T.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Which is why I turned to you. You and your people can handle this. I know you, and we want the same things.”
“Do we?” Alesha asked. “What is your vision of the world? Mine is one where everyone forsakes their lust for man-made technology and begins to explore th
eir spiritual selves. There is no heaven that can be programmed. It can only be achieved within. It breaks my heart to look at the world and see it so wholly taken by the distractions that keep us off the path of enlightenment. To me, Fort Leddy is like an oasis of spirituality in a vast wasteland. Do you understand how lonely that is? That’s what I want.”
“And I want the same,” Stewart said. “Why do you think I’m fighting so hard against this I.I. fetishism that’s taken over society? I want a world where a man’s mind is his own. And we’re only one job away from that. I believe our dreams complement each other, don’t you? It only makes sense to work together.”
“But you’re asking us to put our lives on the line, Stewart, and I cannot see why your mission is so important to our combined goal,” Alesha said.
“Because it knocks down all the barriers,” Stewart started. “Once you and your people take out the people opposing my new legislation, we’ll be able to transform the world. We can drive them away from a dependence on technology to one of true progress. And all it’ll take is this one job.”
“Very well, but you’re still asking us to murder,” Alesha said. “We are not without conscience. We find no joy in bloodshed or senseless violence. If these ‘barriers,’ as you keep calling them, are so crucial, then we will of course knock them down. But only if we can be assured that it will work.
“Some of the other leaders think that we would incur the wrath of the outside world if we killed your political opponents. They would see Fort Leddy and others like us as the enemy and might start a war against us. We don’t just risk our lives, or our morality, but our existence as a people. Most of the others think it’s too great a risk.”
“They seem be exaggerating the danger,” Stewart replied. “They wouldn’t know anything about you. All blame would fall on Terrace.”
“The crazed psychologist? The one with the ghost in his brain?”
“That’s right.”
“How can you be sure?”
“He would be the assumed culprit, first of all,” Stewart said. “He’s been deemed the mastermind of those other attacks, so we just need to follow his M.O. Don’t worry, I’ve planned this job out with careful focus. The I.I. summit next month will be practically unguarded. It’s just a quick hit and then flee. They won’t be able to pursue you. Everyone will get out just fine if they do everything I say.”
“How many targets?” Alesha asked.
“Three.”
“I will discuss it with the others, perhaps they can be persuaded. You can consider me interested. But in the meantime, we need to talk about these upcoming shipments. Will they have antibiotics as well?”
Karl’s blood boiled the entire time he was listening. It felt like his anger had been growing thicker and thicker ever since he’d entered Fort Leddy, and he couldn’t take it much longer. The muscles in his fingers spasmed as he struggled to hold still.
Then he couldn’t anymore.
Confrontation
It was hard to explain, but the fury reached an erupting point in Karl’s chest and he couldn’t be still. He couldn’t sit there and listen to the man who had ruined his life discuss ruining it some more. He couldn’t listen to Stewart plot the murders of any more innocent people. He had to act.
“What are you doing?” Maynard asked. There was panic in his tone.
I’m not putting up with this anymore, Karl thought. I’m going to do something.
“And get us killed? You realize that’s what’s going to happen, right?”
I don’t care.
“Well you’re not the only one in here! What’s your plan, anyway? Go in guns blazing?”
Karl looked down at the handgun on his belt. He took it out of its holster and felt its weight.
Maybe.
“Karl, stop!”
But he didn’t. Against all the logic in his head, Maynard’s and his own, he rose from the dumpster, his gun level with his waistline.
“Karl!”
It was hopeless. Even if Maynard’s cries could bring sense back into Karl’s head, he had already moved into sight. The male Leddite beside Alesha noticed the psychologist moving. With an expression of alarm, the townsman was reaching for his own firearm. The others took notice of his sudden reaction and followed his gaze.
Before any of them could get their guns out, Karl had his raised on Stewart.
“Hold your fire or I unload the clip into him,” Karl snarled.
They froze with confused lethargy. Barely enough time had passed for the gathering to understand an intruder was among them, threatening harm, let alone for them to acknowledge his command. Still, they held their fire, realizing the peril Stewart was in.
“Karl?!” Stewart exclaimed. It looked like his eyes might pop out of his head. It was as if he had been boasting of being more powerful than the devil, only to find Satan himself behind him.
“Hello, Stewart,” Karl said. He steadied his aim on the traitor’s skull.
“Who is this?” Alesha demanded. “What is the meaning of this?”
Through trembling lips, Stewart managed to say, “It’s Karl Terrace.”
“The terrorist?” Alesha asked, her eyes also widening with terrible realization.
“Or so he’s told you,” Karl said. He stared at his former co-worker with such intensity that it felt like it could bore Stewart’s head clean off.
“What are you doing here, Karl?” Stewart said. His hands trembled a little as he held them up.
“Why am I here?” Karl echoed. “I’m here because of you, Stewart. I’m here because you ruined my life. Can you even understand what you’ve done to me? To everyone else? Would it even matter?”
Alesha made a gesture to her men, and they raised their guns to eye-level. Karl’s flesh was cold with icy fear as he noticed the motion and whipped his gun toward it.
“Stop!” Stewart shouted, waving at the Leddites. “Don’t shoot! For God’s sake, hold your fire!”
The men looked to Alesha, who gave a dismissive nod. They lowered their guns.
Karl was on the verge of tears. His whole field of vision vibrated intensely as he tried to focus on Stewart’s face. It felt like the blood vessels in his temple were about to explode.
“Now that I’ve caught you here, you know what the sickest part of it all is? That it doesn’t matter. There’s no way I’ll be able to get out of here alive. I won’t be able to tell the world the truth and clear my name. You’ll get away with it all. All the lives you’ve taken, all the lives you will take. I’ll never get to see you answer for it. Not really, that is. But before I decide what I’m going to do, I need to know one thing. Why?”
“‘Why?’” Stewart said. ” ‘Why’ what?”
“Why me! Why the lab! Why any of it? Do you just like to ruin? To destroy?”
“Karl, listen to me,” Stewart said. “I admit that I am planning to use you as a scapegoat for a future attack, but that’s all I’ve done! I have nothing to do with what happened at the lab. I thought that was all you. Everyone does!”
Karl blinked. He was starting to sweat, and he felt like he hadn’t closed his eyes in ages.
“What are you saying?” he asked.
“I didn’t frame you, Karl. At least not yet. As far as I know, you’ve organized two violent attacks, and I thought I could just pin another on you. If you’re saying that you were set up and you didn’t order the shootings, then I’ll believe you, Karl. Just put down the gun.”
“No,” Karl said. “No, I don’t buy it. You did set me up. You did order all those people killed. You had to. Who else could? Who else would?”
“I don’t know, Karl, but it wasn’t me!” Stewart replied. His volume was amplified by fear-induced anger.
Karl’s blood boiled to a bursting point. He couldn’t take it any longer.
“Liar!” he shouted.
He squeezed the trigger.
Spark
The bullet ricocheted off the concrete and whizzed off into the a
ir. Everybody flinched and covered their heads when the shot exploded out of the gun, as if hoping their hands could protect them from a lead projectile.
“Karl!” Maynard screamed in his head. “What are you doing?”
I don’t know, Karl thought. His inner voice wasn’t scared or confused. It merely stated a fact.
There was a strange pause in motion while everyone figured out what had happened. Stewart looked down at himself, searching for a new wound. The Leddites looked toward Steward with uncertain eyes. Karl looked at his gun, as if it had caused him to miss rather than his crippling adrenaline.
Then everyone burst into action.
Stewart spun around and started to sprint, without much grace, out of Karl’s line of sight. He kept his head bowed as he ran, preparing for another shot to ring out.
The Leddites fumbled with their weapons, which they seemed to have become unaware of when Karl fired. One nearly dropped his, but it was only a couple seconds before they had all barrels pointing toward the intruder.
“Karl, run!” Maynard shouted.
The psychologist ducked down low as he tried to reverse his footing. Without aiming, he fired off two more shots in the general direction of the townspeople, then stumbled a little as he jumped back behind the dumpster.
A barrage of gunfire tore through the air, some bullets punching dents and holes into Karl’s cover. The sound rapped on his eardrums like a chain on a steel barrel, piercing into his mind and even causing the I.I. some distress.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Maynard bellowed. “What are we going to do now? You’ve killed us!”
I know, Karl said.
Maynard growled. “What’s the plan? Wait for them to come around and shoot you in the head?”
I thought that’s what I wanted, but now… I don’t know. I don’t feel that way anymore.
“Well you should have thought about that before you jumped out and started a firefight!”
There was a break in the gunshots. Karl hoped it meant that they were reloading, or even out of ammo altogether, but he knew it was more likely a realization on their part that they outnumbered him. Flanking him would be effortless.
