Electronic Gags

by Kudakwashe Muzira

  “I want to see what happens to someone’s account when he speaks without airtime. When I bring the gag, I want you to spend all the money in your account.”

  “What will I talk about?”

  “I don’t know. Just don’t say anything that can get us in trouble. When the CIB and the police find out that I’m no longer in the wildlife refuge, they will listen to everything that my family and friends say.”

  He gently pushed Jennifer from his lap and went to Kyle’s room. The electronic gag was on a shelf in the closet. He pulled out the gag’s keypad and display panel and dialed *100#. Kyle had six lucres and eighty-one cents in his NASP account. Freddie quickly took the device back to the basement and put it on the desk in front of Kyle.

  Kyle shuddered as he looked at the electronic gag. Now that he knew the government could kill him at the click of a button, he didn’t want the device near him.

  “God please help my cousin, Freddie, who is in the maximum security prison. Please make prison guards kind to my cousin…”

  Freddie and Jennifer gritted their teeth to avoid laughing as they listened to Kyle’s ‘prayer.’ If CIB agents were listening, they would surely think that Kyle knew nothing about Freddie’s release from prison. Kyle checked his balance after praying for more than half an hour. He had spent just over three lucres.

  Freddie looked at his watch. Three minutes to twelve! He patted Kyle’s shoulder, beckoned him and quickly led him out of the basement, out of the range of the electronic gag’s microphone.

  “It’s three minutes to twelve,” he whispered. “Don’t forget the national anthem. We don’t want the CIB here.”

  “Good Lord!” Kyle said, rushing back to his electronic gag. “I had forgotten the national anthem.”

  He sat near the electronic gag and opened the clock of his computer. When the clock struck twelve, he started singing God Bless the Ten Districts of America. Kyle’s voice amazed Jennifer. If the supreme leader was listening, he would have enjoyed Kyle’s flawless singing of the national anthem.

  At four minutes past twelve, Kyle resumed his prayer. He checked his balance after more than twenty-five minutes. His NASP account had fifteen cents.

  “Jesus, I’m left with only fifteen cents,” he pretended he was talking to himself. “This thing is very expensive. I guess I have to buy more airtime…” He kept on speaking, and checking his balance till he was left with only two cents. He beckoned Freddie and they went out of the range of the NAST’s microphone.

  “There is only two cents left.”

  “Let’s go back and see what happens to your account when you speak without airtime.

  They returned to the basement and Kyle entered his ID number to open his NASP account. As he spoke his balance came to minus four cents but quickly returned to zero when he stopped speaking. He spoke again and his balance went to minus eight and returned to zero after he stopped talking. Freddie grinned and beckoned Kyle.

  “I think we have found our weapon!” Freddie whispered when they were out of the basement.

  “Explain.”

  “When someone speaks without airtime, his balance falls below zero and his NAST shocks him for the time equivalent to his arrears.”

  “You mean that defaulters pay their arrears with electric shock?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can that help us?”

  “All the NASP accounts of members of the security forces have a zero balance. If we manage to reduce the balance of their accounts to a negative figure at a one given time, we will shock policemen, soldiers and CIB agents, creating a diversion that will help us kill the supreme leader.”

  “What are we waiting for?” Kyle said, walking back to the basement. “Let’s test it on one serviceman.”

  Jennifer looked at them with suspense. She knew they were on to something. Kyle selected a file from the accounts marked X and debited it with a cent. The account stayed negative for six seconds before it returned to zero. Freddie gave Kyle a high five. Kyle debited the account with two cents, laughing as he imagined the unfortunate serviceman in fits of electric shock. After that, he selected five X accounts and clapped his hands with ecstasy when he managed to debit them at once. It was possible to shock President Ward’s entire security force at the click of a mouse.

  He beckoned and Freddie and Jennifer followed him out.

  “What are you guys grinning about?” Jennifer demanded.

  “We have just discovered that we can administer electric shocks on Ward’s servicemen,” Kyle said.

  “Whoever they are, those servicemen had the shock of their lives,” Freddie said with laughter.

  “How did you do it?”

  Freddie explained everything to Jennifer.

  She hugged him with joy. “We just have to look for a public event that Ward will attend. When Kyle shocks cops and CIB agents, I get a gun from the nearest cop and shoot the president.”

  “Now we have to lie low and avoid doing anything that might lead to our detection,” Kyle said.

  “Our next job is to look for news about Ward and find the place where we will kill him.”

  * * * * *

  Professor Reed arrived at the CIB headquarters eighteen minutes after receiving the supreme leader’s call. He went straight to the director-general’s office to ask for permission to use the CIB’s computers. He didn’t need the director-general’s permission but he wanted to be polite. He didn’t want to antagonize security chiefs.

  “The director-general is out,” said the CIB chief’s secretary. “You can talk to the deputy director-general.”

  “The deputy director-general will do,” Reed said.

  “Go one floor down.”

  “Thank you, patriot.”

  He rushed downstairs, unwilling to waste time waiting for an elevator. The deputy director-general frowned when he saw Reed. The professor was a civilian but he was now acting as the CIB supremo.

  “Good afternoon, Patriot Taylor,” Reed said. “I come here on the supreme leader’s orders.”

  “Please sit down, professor.”

  “Thank you, Patriot Taylor,” Reed said, dropping to a chair.

  “How can I help you, professor?”

  “Patriot Taylor, do you know of the drill the police are carrying out using prisoners from maximum security prison?”

  The CIB deputy chief snickered. “Professor, we are the CIB… we know everything.”

  “Two of the prisoners vanished from NASP and the supreme leader wants me to find out why?”

  “All CIB resources are open to you as always, professor. Do your thing.”

  “Thank you, Patriot Taylor.”

  Professor Reed went to the sixth floor and walked straight to the office of the CIB agent in charge of the NASP computer hall.

  “The good professor,” said the CIB agent in charge. “What brings you here?”

  “Two fugitives disappeared from NASP and the president sent me here to investigate. Do you know of anyone else who disappeared from NASP?”

  “No, professor, only those two. Please sit down.”

  “I have no time to sit down, Patriot Roberts. I want to go into the computer hall.”

  “Okay professor.” The agent in charge was once Professor Reed’s student at the Brandon Ward National University and he respected the professor. “I hope you will help us track the two fugitives.”

  The professor entered the NASP computer hall, which was full of computers manned by more than fifty CIB agents. All the agents he met greeted him with respect. They didn’t see him as Minister of Education, but as a high-ranking CIB agent. He went to an unoccupied computer and entered the administrator’s password. Professor Reed, President Brandon Ward and the CIB director-general were the only people who had the password. Without this password, one could not do such things as changing the status of a person from civilian to serviceman, or editing the list of red words.

  He took out his phone and phoned the Minister of Interior.

  �
�Reed, what do you want?” was Campbell’s disgusted reply.

  Reed smiled, delighting in Campbell’s displeasure. “Hallo Patriot Campbell.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I call you in the supreme leader’s name. I need the ID numbers and the names of the four death row prisoners who were released from prison on Wednesday.” He smiled as he imagined the Interior Minister’s disgust at taking orders from him. “I want the information as soon as possible, Patriot Campbell.”

  “Okay sir,” Campbell bellowed.

  Reed returned his phone into his pocket and laughed. He was a junior member of the National Party’s National Executive Council and he enjoyed giving orders to Campbell, the party’s deputy secretary-general. Campbell and his friend Collins always opposed Reed in Cabinet and in the National Executive Council. Now it was payback time.

  Three minutes later, Reed received a call from Retired Colonel Carter, the head of the prison services.

  “Patriot Reed, I understand you need the details of the prisoners who entered the death games on Wednesday.”

  “That’s true, Patriot Carter. I need the details of the two who are still at large.”

  “Do you have pen and paper?”

  “Yes, Patriot Carter.”

  Reed wrote the details on a piece of paper and thanked Carter. The word MISSING blinked on the computer’s screen when he entered Freddie’s ID number. The same happened when he entered Jennifer’s ID number. Reed sighed and adjusted his spectacles. This wasn’t good. If NASP started malfunctioning like this, the supreme leader would not give Reed the Golden Order of Merit.

  He opened the detonation dialogue box, entered Freddie and Jennifer’s ID numbers and clicked on the “detonate” button. The computer asked for the detonation password. Only President Brandon Ward was supposed to have the password. Reed was present when Brandon Ward set his password and he saw the keys the supreme leader used. He entered the detonation password and the computer displayed the “detonate now” button. He clicked the button and the computer processed his command for seven seconds before the words TARGETS NOT FOUND blinked on the screen.

  Professor Reed phoned Wallace, the Minister of Information, and asked him if he was certain that TD Communications, the state-owned telecommunications monopoly, had installed enough cell towers to provide cell network to the whole of Brandon Ward Wildlife Refuge. Wallace said the TD Communications director had assured him that they had put enough cell towers to cover the whole wildlife refuge.

  This was bad news. Reed adjusted his spectacles. All this pointed to one thing. Something had destroyed the electronic gags of the two fugitives. What could have done that? In the wildlife refuge, there were many possibilities. Maybe the fugitives were attacked by bears. The professor knew that a polar bear’s powerful jaws, which can crush the skull of its prey, could crush an electronic gag. Perhaps the fugitives themselves removed the electronic gags from their necks and destroyed them.

  Reed dreaded the last possibility. The fugitives had to be intelligent or to have some experience as electricians or electronic technicians. The professor studied Jennifer’s file. She had gone to the police academy just after finishing high school and her school grades were average. She didn’t look like someone who could remove an electronic gag from her neck. When the professor looked at Freddie’s file, he knew he had found his man. Freddie was a scientist and his school grades were exceptional. When cornered, someone like Freddie could take the risk to remove his gag. Professor Reed wanted to make the electronic gag foolproof but President Ward had rushed him. Had the supreme leader given him enough time, he would have put a network of fuse wires in the walls of the electronic gag’s casing to make it explode the moment someone broke its casing.

  Professor Reed had to catch Freddie and Jennifer before they taught others how to remove electronic gags. NASP was Reed’s only hope of going up the political ladder and he couldn’t let Freddie and Jennifer sabotage him. Maybe they skipped out of the country, Reed thought with horror. If that’s the case, they are making noise about electronic gags in the international press. For more than ten minutes, the professor searched the internet for news about Freddie and Jennifer. There was no news about the fugitives, leaving the professor with no doubt that the two were still in the Ten Districts of America.

  “Where are you hiding, Freddie,” the professor mused. There were people in the Ten Districts who knew Freddie and Jennifer’s whereabouts. He was going to record everything that the fugitives’ relatives and friends said. Freddie’s file listed his mother and Kyle as his next of kin. The professor tuned in to the audio from Melissa’s electronic gag and listened for two minutes. Freddie’s mother was quiet. Silence met the professor again when tuned in to audio from Kyle’s electronic gag. He couldn’t blame them for being silent; they had to save airtime. The professor selected Kyle and Melissa’s accounts and pressed the “capture audio” button. NASP would record everything Kyle and Melissa said. The professor also selected the accounts of all of Freddie’s former workmates at the wildlife refuge and pressed the “capture audio” button. He also did the same with Jennifer’s mother, brother and former workmates in the Police Special Branch. If they knew where the fugitives were, they would surely talk about them. He was going to copy the recordings into a flash disk at the end of the day and analyze them at home. The professor opened the list of red words and added the word Freddie and the word Jennifer. If anyone with an electronic gag said these two words, the system would alert the CIB.

  Pleased with himself, the professor stood up, cleared his throat and addressed the CIB agents in the NASP computer hall. “Excuse me, patriots.” He was pleased to note that all the agents in the hall stopped what they were doing and paid attention to him. “I have temporarily added two words to the list of red words. The words are Freddie and Jennifer. Freddie and Jennifer are common names in this country, meaning you will have lots of false alarms today. If you get anything about two fugitives called Freddie and Jennifer, who got out of maximum prison on Wednesday, please let me know. Thank you.”

  A computer bleeped in the District One section, the section that monitored traffic from District One.

  “Professor, we have a red alert here!” shouted a young female agent. “Someone just said Jennifer.”

  The professor rushed to the young woman’s computer. She gave him her headphones and he put them on. “It’s not her,” he said after more than a minute. “Just stay alert… you will get something about our fugitives.”

  Chapter 9

  “This is where we will strike,” Freddie told Kyle and Jennifer as they watched the news on TV.

  According the news, on Sunday President Brandon Ward would be the guest of honor at the Ten Districts Visual Arts Awards ceremony at the National Conference Centre in Subdistrict Six, in the centre of District One.

  “This is our best chance to kill Ward,” Jennifer said with excitement.

  “Kyle, go to the National Arts Council offices in Subdistrict Six and buy two first class tickets for the awards ceremony.”

  “Okay man. Give me the money.”

  Freddie gave Kyle a hundred lucres. “Don’t forget to bring the program of the awards ceremony. Also buy today’s paper. It might have more information.”

  Kyle went to his room and put Freddie’s NAST casing. Looking at himself in the mirror, he covered the hole on the gag’s casing with his collar. Satisfied with his appearance, he went out. He was enjoying the whole thing. If this succeeded, he would go down in history as the teenage hacker who masterminded the downfall of the world’s most powerful dictator. Freddie had given him the opportunity to use his hacking skills to do something good.

  Freddie pulled Jennifer close to him. “Kyle is gone. We have the house all to ourselves.”

  “What do you suggest?” she asked with a smile.

  “I suggest this.” He kissed her. “And this.” He caressed her. “And this.” He carried her to their room.

  * * * * *
<
br />   Cassandra Ward moaned, feigning orgasm. She knew that Brandon Ward would be angry with himself if he knew he couldn’t satisfy her. She was a good actor and her moans echoed in his ears, urging him on. The main reason why Brandon made love to women was to show them his sexual prowess, the pleasure he got from it was just a bonus. When she screamed and slapped his back, he believed she had come. She always screamed and slapped his back to indicate orgasm, and she always timed it before he came. Today she almost mistimed her simulation. He came only four seconds after her ‘orgasm’ and rolled away from her, panting. She looked at him, trying to appear as dazed as she could.

  “How was that, darling?” he asked, pleased with himself.

  “Dear Brandon, you take me up mountains of pleasure,” she said, thinking about Paul, Justin and Travis, the lovers she dumped when the supreme leader chose her. The year when she went out with the three guys was the highlight of her sexual life. All three of them were sex maniacs and she enjoyed the headache of trying to make time for each one of them. She didn’t hesitate to dump them when Brandon Ward chose her. No amount of sex could equal being the first lady of the Ten Districts of America, the world’s most powerful country. Brandon Ward had never satisfied her in bed and she knew he would never satisfy her unless he took an overdose of Viagra. Loss of sexual pleasure was the price she was paying for the privilege to be the wife of the most powerful man on Earth. Fortunately for her, she loved shopping more than sex and as Brandon Ward’s wife she was never short of money. She loved Brandon Ward more than she had loved any other man. She loved his power and his wealth.

  Brandon Ward looked at the ceiling with contentment. He had every reason to be contented. He was sixty-three years old and he could still make a twenty-five-year-old woman scream with orgasmic pleasure. He was the ruler of the Ten Districts of America and was commander-in-chief of the world’s strongest military. Yes, Brandon Ward had every reason to be contented.

  When he was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Brandon never thought he would one day become president. Upon finishing his training at The Point, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army at the age of twenty-one. When the First Gulf War erupted, Brandon was deployed to the front in Operation Desert Storm. His father and grandfather were decorated war veterans and Brandon vowed to make them proud.