Although this attack was expected and Crystal appears to remain calm and in control, her insides have turned to jelly and her knees feel weak. In as cool and controlled a manner as she can muster, Crystal reminds Devon, “You don’t get to make that decision, Rankin.”
Crystal’s words stir up something inside of Coach Miller who, instead of sanctioning Devon Rankin for his outburst, takes one determined step towards the young woman before saying, “That’s right.” The coach cannot help but study the face of the young woman who destroyed the life of her star player, and, although she only surmises the young woman’s role, Rankin’s outburst confirms her suspicion. The students in Ms. Sterne’s math class may have signed waivers and none will risk exile by revealing the truth, but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from turning its wheel over the river gossip. Coach Miller has heard much and believes all. “I do. And Rankin and I are like-minded. I will not coach a team with you on it.”
Crystal is stunned. She never dreamed her coveted role on the team could be swiped from her. “But I’m your best player.”
“Was, were, one of my best players.” She stops momentarily as if to ponder, “The other two, hmm, where are they?” Now with sarcasm thick and dripping, Coach Miller adds, “Oh, yeah, Todd is dead and Frank is imprisoned in the military!” Glaring at Crystal with hate enough to rival Devon, she concludes, “No, Miss Albright, I will not be coaching you.”
“You have to,” Crystal sputters. “My mothers…”
The coach now bears down on the girl. “I don’t give a rat’s ass who your mothers are.” Few people know that Crystal Albright’s mama is President Stiles. “They can fire me for all I care. I will never coach you again.”
Stunned by this violent outburst against her, Crystal backs up, tripping slightly on her heels before turning and running out of the gym.
No one saw Crystal Albright again. It was rumored that she had transferred to Virginia Woolf High, following her aunt, Ms. Sterne, who had taken a job teaching math at the illustrious high school, but when Devon later investigated Crystal’s whereabouts, he had some odd sadistic need to know what had happened to her; she was not registered, and no one, not even Millicent or Lolita, Crystal’s exes, had any idea where she had gone. It was as if Crystal Albright had vanished off the face of the earth. She had effectively hidden herself deep inside the bowels of Hadrian. The only upside to this horrible experience was that the coach had somehow managed to escape dismissal.
*****
Six Month Evaluation and Review—Frank
Hunter (Private) {penal restriction}
Guillaume de la Chappelle, Colonel-HDF Training/Logistics
Dated this day, January 2, 21__.
As my transfer to the Midwest Gate was recently approved, I requested that Private Frank Hunter be transferred with me so I can continue working with this extraordinary youth and participate in his reviews. Although Lieutenant-General Pauloosie was reluctant to release the private, General Birtwistle considered my request and readily agreed. It took little convincing considering Private Hunter was amongst the first of the recruits to complete effectively phase one of his marksmanship training. He has become the fastest in his company at disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling his weapon. He has excelled in all safe handling procedures as well as skillfully loading and unloading his weapon.5 During his arms training, Private Hunter surpassed the required scores, with very high marks in both close range pistol shooting and long range rifle shooting. He is a “natural” marksman and has completed his training with Expert status. Private Hunter is also seen and respected as a leader. His fellow recruits often turn to him for advice and assistance, and Private Hunter has never been known to refuse aid to any of them. Combined, these behaviors put him in an elite group for consideration in Defense Sniper School training, to include physical training, hand-to-hand combat (offense/defense), combat tactics, defense strategy planning, and emergency medical care. He is excellent officer material (with one obvious exception: Private Hunter refuses to interact with anyone when not on duty), though present laws and the sentence given to him do prevent his promotion to officer rank.
5 http://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/army-weapons-qualification-course.html
One Year Evaluation and Review—Frank
Hunter (Private) {penal restriction}
Guillaume de la Chappelle, Colonel-HDF Training/Logistics
Dated this day, July 2, 21__.
As one of twenty-six gate area-training officers at HDFA, I have assigned Private Hunter to Gate 4 Defense Area (Lt-General Birtwistle, Commander). Though Private Hunter is restricted by the tactile tattoo restraint, he has performed said duties well. He has excelled in marksmanship (pistol and rifle), guerrilla tactics, and strategy planning. He works well with others and is highly thought of as one of our best Defense Snipers. Regardless of the overall respect held towards Private Hunter, some fellow defenders of Hadrian’s Wall, due to his “penal restriction” status, often avoid him. It is also noteworthy that Private Hunter in no way seeks camaraderie amongst his fellow soldiers. When off duty, he isolates himself from others. When not engrossed in historical texts found in the military library museum, Private Hunter is often seen running long distances, and putting himself through continued, extensive physical training. Private Hunter recently scored the highest award in physical combat training in the Advance Defense Sniper School at the Hadrian Defense Academy for Enlisted Personnel. During the annual physical training evaluation (running, strength, endurance, offense, defense, arms/weapons), he was awarded the second highest score possible. Again, I would recommend him for promotions in rank were it not for the “penal restriction” limiting him to private.
Geoffrey and Dean
Dean knows he is being cowardly, yet he cannot bring himself to say the words face-to-face. They had fought again last night. Dean told Geoffrey that he hated him, and the look of anguish that sprung onto his lover’s face was unbearable. Dean had to turn and look away. The last words that Geoffrey spoke were soft and bitten with remorse. “Well, then, Dean, if that’s the way you feel, I guess you better leave me.” Geoffrey turned and left the living room. Dean kept his back turned but waited quietly for Geoffrey to return. Self-recrimination swirled within the delay. What must Geoffrey see in me? he wondered. What must he be feeling? Anger? Hatred? Remorse? Turning now, Dean walked towards the hallway to stare down what now appeared to be a vast emptiness towards their bedroom. The door was closed. Dean hadn’t even heard Geoffrey shut it. Dean suddenly realized it wasn’t their bedroom anymore. Knowing he could not go back in there, he had chosen to sleep in Frank’s bed last night.
Even knowing the words he had uttered the night before were lies, Dean cannot bring himself to take them back. Geoffrey is angry and rightfully so, he reminds himself. Just as he had tried to talk Dean out of testifying at Gideon Weller’s trial, Geoffrey was now trying to convince Dean not to pursue suing Hadrian’s government for damages committed against heterosexuals incarcerated at the Northeast Reeducation Camp. That Geoffrey keeps trying to talk him out of taking legal recourse is hurtful, and Dean isn’t sure whether he can forgive the man. In his heart of hearts, Dean knows Geoffrey’s reasoning is out of love. He doesn’t want me to have to relive the horrors of reeducation. But the way Geoffrey worded his concern was inappropriate. “There are,” he had said, “plenty of men crawling out of the woodwork willing to testify.” Geoffrey never should have worded it that way; those words, they suggested Dean and the other men abused by Gideon Weller were somehow acting in an unseemly manner, even though Dean knew that was not what Geoffrey had meant; he had even tried to take the words back, but to no avail. Some things said can never be unsaid. All Geoffrey really wanted to express, Dean suggests to himself, is his fear that I’m putting myself through a hideous emotional trial. Geoffrey even attempted to express this when he had shouted, “How can any man live with so much anguish, despair and hate?” Dean shudders as he remembers his reaction, a wild scre
am having emerged from his breast, “But I need to do this!” Why can’t Geoffrey understand? I need to heal and I won’t be able to until that bastard is finally exiled and the government acknowledges its role in the wrongs committed against Hadrian’s heterosexual citizens.
Dean feels an insurmountable amount of hatred towards Gideon Weller, and although justified, it is beyond the bounds of reason. Gideon Weller had been the warden of the Northeast Reeducation camp where Dean had been sentenced after being caught kissing a girl. It was also the camp where Todd Middleton had been incarcerated for having been a sexually active heterosexual as well as accused of—but never proven—rape. Todd Middleton was the sixth supposedly active heterosexual youth who had been accused of rape who had successfully committed suicide while under the command of Gideon Weller. The reason why these young men had committed suicide came to light during Frank Hunter’s trial. Gideon Weller had raped each one under the auspice of having performed “medicinal intercourse.” In every case, he had claimed the youth in question had requested sexual intercourse to help him learn to accept Hadrian’s chosen sexual orientation, but Dean knew better and so did Weller’s henchman, Darrell Jeffreys. Faial Raboud, Frank’s lawyer, had successfully got the man to confess the truth at Frank’s trial. This confession was the basis for Gideon Weller’s trial, and Dean felt obligated to testify against the man who had made his own life a living hell and who had intentionally worked to destroy the boy Dean loved like a son, his best friend Will Middleton’s boy, Todd Middleton. Dean had promised Will on his deathbed to look after Todd, but he had failed. Now Todd was dead and Dean felt responsible. He had to make sure the man who really killed Todd, not Frank, but Weller, suffered the severest penalty of the law: exile or assisted suicide. In Hadrian, there are only two sentence options for anyone convicted of a crime, and for Dean, not even death was good enough for Gideon Weller. Now that Weller had been convicted, the country waited with bated breath for his decision: exile or death. Dean did not want Weller to choose death, to drink the poison Hadrian’s government cultivated for those who could not bear facing life outside Hadrian’s Wall. He wanted Weller to be exiled. Government propaganda was clever enough to have everyone, including those who saw holes in the system’s management, convinced that life outside of Hadrian was nothing short of hell. With a planet overflowing with human population, it was relatively easy for Hadrian’s satellite system to collect countless horror stories about the squalor of life for billions living outside Hadrian’s Wall. Images of skeletal bodies, wasted corpses, warring over life-sustaining land, even cannibalism have made their way into Hadrian’s propaganda machine, leaving little room for doubt that the citizens of Hadrian are living in an enclosed utopia and anyone who fights against its rules is a fool deserving of death or exile.
Too many thoughts are running through Dean’s mind, rendering him incapable of making sense of who he is, what he wants, or what he needs to do. All he knows is that he can no longer live a life of lies. As a result, he has decided to leave Geoffrey, the man he has been married to for twenty-four years; the man he loves but will no longer allow himself to hold. He must go. Dean’s grandmother, Destiny Stuttgart, or “Mimi” to Dean, has offered him a home. He will take her up on this offer. She lives in Augustus City, having moved there during the city’s rebuilding. Using her status as a founding mother, Destiny Stuttgart helped the fraught and careworn city raise itself up out of the ashes—nuclear ashes—like the phoenix reborn. Even with Mother Stuttgart’s presence, Augustus City continues to suffer the stigma of that fateful day, 6-13, when a Christian fanatic drove across the border and exploded a dirty nuclear bomb, destroying most of the city and killing Hadrian citizens in the hundreds of thousands. One victim was Dean’s best friend, Will Middleton. He had been working just south of Augustus city when the bomb exploded. Though he suffered no immediate damage, the cancer came shortly after. Years of battling the wasting disease had sucked his family of all financial resources until at last he died, leaving his son to be raised by a bitter, discontented man unable to bear the loss of his partner. And though Dean had done all within his power to protect Todd, he had failed the youth. The boy ended up suffering the same fate he had, being incarcerated in the Northeast Reeducation Camp under the tutelage of one Gideon Weller.
And now, with all these thoughts muddied over the love he once felt for Geoffrey, Dean chooses to leave. He chooses to leave while Geoffrey is at work. He made no mention of this the night before when they had fought. His last words being “I hate you” and Geoffrey’s being “You better leave me.” And this morning when he woke up, Dean knew that was exactly what he was going to do. Blinking open his vocal contact lens, Hadrian’s main means of communication, and staying connected to the country’s information wave, Dean selects the timed pin messaging system. This allows him to record a message to Geoffrey and “pin it” to Geoffrey’s messaging system but with a time delay so Geoffrey isn’t notified immediately. Most people use this system for sending birthday cards, congratulations, and the like; rarely is it used to send someone bad news. Dean, aware of this incongruity, knows the “pin” will cause his lover even greater pain, but he simply cannot summon up the courage to tell Geoffrey to his face, so, Dean chooses five o’clock for the message to be received. The message simply states, “I took your advice. I’m leaving.” Feeling that is too curt, he decides to add, “I’m going to stay with Mimi. She thinks she can get me into Augustus Uni. I always wanted to study medicine.” He wants to say “Love, Dean,” but that just feels cruel, so he doesn’t even sign off. By the time Geoffrey reads the message, Dean will be on Hadrian’s Public Tram, making his way south to Augustus City, where he will begin to reconstruct his life.
*****
Second Year Evaluation and Review—Frank
Hunter (Private) {penal restriction}
Guillaume de la Chappelle, Colonel-HDF Training/Logistics
Dated this day, July 3, 21__.
In Private Hunter’s recent evaluation and testing (physical, arms, education, abilities), he revealed he has embarked on an independent study and research of Hadrian’s history, including border defense and outside infiltration tactics, such as guerrilla warfare training (with a list of improvements for better Wall defense, tactics, and offense warfare as needed). {REDACTED—His recent tests in leadership, tactics, strategy planning, and combat analysis show an advanced knowledge and awareness of several areas recently assessed by the HDF Command (classified-restricted access)}. The recommendations made by this youth should be taken into advisement. His “penal restriction” status should not be a reason to ignore his advice.
It is this officer’s belief that Private Hunter would serve our country far more effectively if he were no longer restricted to private status. His tactile tattoo restraint should be removed and he should be duly promoted to lieutenant. His exemplary work over the first two years of service has surpassed that of the majority of military career officers.
Third Year Evaluation and Review—Frank
Hunter (Private) {penal restriction}
Guillaume de la Chappelle, Colonel-HDF Training/Logistics
Dated this day, July 2, 21__.
Private Hunter continues to improve his skills in leadership, tactics, strategy planning, and combat analysis. As well, Private Hunter continues to excel in marksmanship (pistol and rifle), guerrilla tactics, and strategy planning.
All recommendations made by Private Hunter have thus far been overlooked due to his penal restriction.
All recommendations made by this officer to remove Private Hunter’s tactile tattoo restraint and revoke his penal restriction status have thus far been overlooked.
Private Hunter has not been promoted. Regardless of continuously being overlooked, Private Hunter continues to excel as a soldier in Hadrian’s National Army.
BOOK 2
HADRIAN’S RAGE
Salve!
Hadrian’s Rage!
HNN—Melissa Eagleton Reporting
Almost three years have passed since President Stiles signed government bill 657—the Heterosexual Legalization Act—into law, making it legal for heterosexuals to live openly in our country. The HLA states that no man or woman will suffer exile if caught in compromising circumstances including such acts as kissing, walking arm in arm, hugging, etc. Also, the HLA clarifies the private sexual acts an opposite sex couple can engage in without penalty under the law: all forms of coitus being permissible with the exception of penile vaginal intercourse. Many supporters of equal rights for straight men and women claim this law is no different than the one it replaces since men and women were only ever exiled after the state could prove they did indeed have opposite sex intercourse used in the act of procreation. There is a key difference, though, as prior to the HLA, any of our youth caught in any compromising position were required by law to attend reeducation, whereas HLA now stipulates that registration for reeducation is at the parents’ discretion. Nor will Hadrian’s quadrant officials and peace officers incarcerate a same-sex couple on “suspicion of heterosexual behavior.” HLA stipulates that concrete evidence of the man’s penis having penetrated the female’s vaginal region must be presented prior to arrest.
Regardless of its similarity to the law it replaces, HLA, not even three years old, has caused a seismic uproar in our small country. It is as if Hadrian has gone mad! The events that led up to this monumental change in our laws started with the death of Todd Middleton, built in force with the sentencing of Frank Hunter, and culminated into a class eight tremblor with Gideon Weller’s decision to drink henbane rather than face exile.
Most, I’m sure, remember Gideon Weller’s trial. It lasted well over a year and was the key focus of every Salve! for over nine months. Charged on multiple counts of rape, torture, and abuse of the many youth registered under his care at the Northeast Reeducation Camp, Gideon Weller ultimately confessed while being interrogated by Hadrian’s National Prosecutor, Graham Sabine. Gideon Weller was also charged with inciting suicide in no less than six boys at his camp, the last being that of seventeen-year-old Todd Middleton. As a recipient of an early entrance sports scholarship at Antinous Uni, Todd Middleton’s exposure, followed shortly by his traumatic murder, which many suggest was assisted suicide, truly was the beginning of the chaos our country is now suffering. As well as having been Hadrian’s “golden boy,” Todd Middleton was the son of Hadrian’s most famous agricultural engineer, Will Middleton. Will Middleton was the man who successfully genetically modified the soybean plant to grow in our northern climate. Considered a hero to our nation for helping Hadrian achieve close to 90 percent sustainability, it was revealed at Frank Hunter’s trial that Will Middleton, like his son, was heterosexual. In the years since these devastating events took place, our good country has become polarized—split in its opinions regarding its founding values. Although everyone agrees to the necessity of keeping Hadrian’s population at the ten million maximum, opinions differ as to the best means of maintaining that optimum. Let me begin by explaining to you the nature of these opposing factions.
Hadrian's Rage Page 3
