New Kings of Tomorrow

by J. M. Clark

  A bright grin came over his face. “I would say that I’m surprised to see you here, Jacob, but I’m not. I also doubt that you are surprised to be here.” Sirus crossed his legs and placed both hands on his knee. “So, what brings you to my office today? No, tell me something else first. How did you even find this part of the Palace? I have a bit of bet going with Teacher Simon.” The grin on his face somehow got bigger.

  “I…well, I was messing around with the buttons in the elevator, and it brought me here,” Jacob said. He could feel his posture falling, like he was visually submitting to the man sitting before him. Jacob suddenly stood up straight, lifted his chin a bit, and spoke louder. “I just found it. That’s beside the point, sir…Sirus. Where is my friend Trevor, and why is this room hidden away?”

  “Hold on with all the tough questions, Jake. There will be plenty of time for that.”

  Jacob felt the corners of his mouth turn down. No one had called him Jake since he’d been with his best friend from the Old World, Logan. It made him angry to hear it come from Sirus.

  “I told Teacher Simon that someone would one day stumble upon the nineteenth floor, just as you have. Honestly I’m surprised that it didn’t happen long ago.” He looked up at the ceiling, thought for a moment, and then said, “Twenty years was a good run.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jacob asked, trying to keep his cool. “What does all this have to do with Trevor?”

  “We will need to come up with something better in the future, but that’s another talk for another man. To answer your question, Trevor was admitted into the Greater Understanding Program. He outgrew the Palace—his mental stability waning in the end there proved that.” Sirus twirled one finger around the side of his head in a circle. “Aren’t you happy for him?” Sirus asked, opening both arms like he was expecting a hug. “No, you aren’t happy because you don’t believe me, correct? You are an easy read, Jake.” He brought his arms back in and rested them on his knee again.

  “Stop calling me Jake. My name is Jacob,” he said with authority in his voice.

  “Calm yourself, let’s try to be civil…Jacob. Better?” Sirus said with a wink.

  Mary was in the corner, still wiping her eyes and listening to their conversation. She had not moved from the spot Sirus had ordered her to stand in, near the bookshelf.

  “I asked you,” Jacob said, “where is Trevor? I’m not going to ask again. I just found his file here, and you were looking over all this information on him. What’s that about?” He shot Sirus an annoyed look. He was beginning to feel his temper rise, the initial surprise and fear slowly being replaced with rage.

  Sirus got to his feet faster than anyone Jacob had ever seen, and by the time he noticed it, he was face to face with the program director, who was still smiling. Mary let out a small cry from across the room. Jacob instinctively jumped back, lifting an arm to block his face, but Sirus didn’t make a move to strike him.

  “Tell me, Jacob, what happens if you have to ask me again? I’m a tad confused by this statement. Is that a threat? Of what, I wonder?”

  His head snapped over to Mary, and he pointed at her. “Did that sound like a threat to you as well?”

  Mary sobbed. “No, he was not threatening you. Please, Sirus, can we just leave? We are sorry, and we will never return to this floor,” she said, crying while holding herself up by gripping the bookshelf with her right hand. She looked as though her legs would break beneath the weight of her body.

  Still looking at Mary, Sirus continued talking. “I don’t wish to take those words as a physical threat, but I have no issue with things escalating to that point.” He looked at Jacob again, glaring into his eyes. Jacob felt like Sirus could sense his fear.

  Without thinking, Jacob took a step back to make space for a right hook. He swung and fully missed Sirus as the program director swiftly moved to the right, causing Jacob to stumble forward and hit his hip on the side of the desk. Before he could register the pain reverberating through his side, a quick jab crashed into his right jaw. He heard a cracking sound.

  Jacob went down to one knee, spitting out two teeth on the carpet along with a mouthful of blood. Even though his right ear was ringing, he could hear Mary yelp in fear. He felt ashamed at that moment. True enough, he hadn’t been in a physical altercation since he was seventeen, and the older Sirus had just reduced him to a child…and in front of Mary.

  “We are so much better than these violent acts, Jacob. Stay on your knee until I tell you to get up. If you choose to rise, I’ll take that as an aggressive act and strike you once more…or twice more.” Sirus leaned against the desk next to Jacob, shaking his head at Mary and her cries. “Don’t do that.”

  Jacob heard Mary stifle her sobs and quiet down immediately.

  “Do me a favor, Jacob.” Sirus began to move around Jacob. “Switch me sides of the desk, please. This is actually where I sit, and you sit—look at me!” Sirus raised his voice, causing Jacob to jump. Jacob looked at him warily. “You sit in that seat.” Sirus pointed at the seat he’d been sitting in moments ago.

  “You are not doing a good job of leading the conversation, Jacob. If violence is the only language you speak, this will not last long. Get up and go to your seat. I’m sure you came to talk. Go on.” He waved Jacob away. “Ah, no place like home, right?” he said as he plopped down hard in his chair. “Well, I didn’t mean that the way it came out, but yeah. Get comfortable. Let’s talk about Trevor. Mary, you stay right over there, I’ll dismiss you soon enough. You need to hear this though.” Sirus straightened his suit jacket and adjusted the sleeves.

  Jacob sat across from Sirus. Mary stood behind him in the corner, no longer crying but seriously distraught. Wiping blood from his mouth with the bottom of his shirt, he now understood that using his words would be more useful in this situation. How is a man of that age so fast and powerful?

  “About Trevor…Trevor was an older man when he arrived here; close to my age, actually. He suffered from small mental issues even then, but the death of his children and wife did the remaining damage. For the last twenty years, we have been trying to rehabilitate Trevor, but his brain fights back. He is…was, quite the powerful soul. You were friends, so I’m sure you can attest to that. He was able to accept that his children had passed when the sickness came for everyone. The fact that his wife died with them was not something he was ever able to accept.

  “I’m quite sure you have seen him speak to himself, pretend to hold hands with someone behind him? Of course, we wouldn’t be able to see the person behind him, but to him, she was very real. Reality is only what you can see, hear, and feel. Not what others perceive. Do you understand?” Sirus grabbed a pen and began tapping it on the desk, waiting for Jacob’s response.

  “Hold on, are you saying that Trevor believed that his wife was still alive? We were close for the last twenty years—I think I would know if that were the case. He never even wanted to talk about her.”

  “Well, for obvious reasons, Jacob.” Sirus laughed a bit. “Had he brought it up, you would have forced him out of his fantasy. A part of your friend knew that he was lying to himself. Not speaking about it was…shall we say, a preemptive defense mechanism.

  “Before he spoke with me, he came up with some story about one of the teachers telling him that his wife was killed here in the Palace because she saw something she shouldn’t have. That wasn’t the first issue he’s had with wild stories that had a tendency to send him into a frenzy, but he was getting worse. Walking up to women in the courtyard and forcing flowers on them, calling everyone Amy. Trevor was tortured by the past, and he needed to be set free. Maybe you hadn’t noticed his behavior until the classroom blowup because you have been busy screwing with that sweet thing in the corner over there.” Sirus winked at Jacob.

  Jacob’s face scrunched up as he tried to understand how that made any sense. “Even if I did choose to believe that, you are telling me that because Trevor had mental issues, which the Order faile
d to fix, that he was rewarded by being promoted to the next level ascension? I just don’t understand the logic.”

  Sirus leisurely tossed the pen into the air, letting it fall onto the carpet near his chair with a dull thumping sound. He then laughed, almost uncontrollably.

  Jacob turned in his seat, looking over at Mary. She looked just as confused as he was by what was happening. Sirus slowed his laughter. “You are good, Jacob.” He looked over to Mary. “I see why you love this one—he’s good looking, and with investigative skills beyond any before him to enter this room. My excuse would have worked on you, I bet.”

  Sirus placed both hands onto the desk, tapping his fingertips one after the other. “How about some truth? Haven’t played that game in quite some time, but I feel you both deserve it. I mean, look how far you have gone to speak with me. Things are changing here in the Palace, and honestly, there is no place for you here.

  “You already know too much, and I can’t possibly allow you to go back into the population here. I know why you are here, I know what you have found out—I know it all. Not because we are watching you in particular, but because we are charged with watching everyone and everything, Jacob. There are over three hundred bugs in each pod, video and audio. Microscopic little things, but the video comes across in amazing clarity and the audio is astounding.” Sirus lifted both hands and gave Jacob a double thumbs-up. “What happens or doesn’t happen in the Palace is decided by the Order, and we have our reasons. One man could…ascend, for talking too much about the old ways, while we may allow another Palace member to go as far as he can…even to kill.”

  “But why?” Jacob said, so softly the words barely came out.

  “Why, why, why…always a ‘why’ with you people. Okay, I’ll explain everything before I allow you both to scatter off into the great beyond like the new modern-day Adam and Eve.” Sirus looked over at Mary, Jacob thought maybe to make sure she was still paying attention. And she was.

  He then focused his attention back on Jacob. “No interrupting, okay? Once we are done speaking, Teacher Simon will show you both out through the door across the hall. By the way, the guard outside of the cluster of trees has been removed. See, I’m not so bad. Your escape was to be unimpeded. We knew you were leaving and planned to allow that.”

  “Just like that, you would have let us leave? If so, why did the guard get so aggressive with me at the front exit?”

  “Well, we couldn’t have you influencing the crowd to…think the same way. All influences are meant to serve a purpose, even the ideas you believe you come up with on your own.” Sirus sounded proud of himself.

  “Anyways, I’d been watching your friend Trevor since he got here, that is true. It’s also true that he had severe mental issues and couldn’t accept that his wife died twenty years ago. The deeper we got into his psyche, the more he saw us as the enemy. Then his military background kicked in, allowing him to create this narrative in which we, the government, were doing crazy things behind his back. Which is not one hundred percent false. We will get there though.

  “Trevor began to lose his way, and at one point he became a physical threat to everyone around him. You are from the Old World, just like I am, Jacob. What do we do with rabid dogs in the Old World?” Sirus’s eyes narrowed as he pointed to Jacob. “C’mon, c’mon, I know you know the answer.”

  “Put them down?” Jacob said. He sounded unsure, even though he knew it was the correct answer.

  Sirus’s lips curled downward into a sad face. “Aww, don’t be so somber about it. Death isn’t so bad, trust me. Maybe he will do better in the next lifetime. But yes, you are right. We put them down for the better of the group, and the group is us, sir, the Palace members.”

  “So, you killed him?”

  “Well, yeah. I had Teacher Simon take him out back and terminate him,” Sirus said nonchalantly with a wave of one hand as he sat back in his chair. “If it’s any consolation to you, I think he was okay with it. The man was being tormented by a past he couldn’t escape. It was for the better. His purpose was served.”

  Jacob could hear Mary crying in the background. “You people are monsters. What the hell is going on here?” Jacob said.

  “Oh hush, don’t be dramatic. Preservation is going on here. There are things worse than death, you know that, you saw it. You still see it every night when you sleep. Tossing and turning, kicking the covers off, waking up in a sweat and still seeing your folks covered in their own mess. I know these things,” Sirus said as he raised a hand at Mary over in the corner, motioning for her to be quiet. She complied.

  Jacob was fuming; he wanted to say so much, but he also needed to hear whatever information Sirus was willing to give. He swallowed his pride and stayed quiet. “Mary, let the man speak without interrupting. I know it’s hard, honey, but we do need to hear this. I need to hear this.”

  “Good man,” Sirus said. He reached out and gave the golden globe a spin on his desk, never breaking eye contact with Jacob. It made Jacob uncomfortable as he spun the globe like he was God or something. Jacob felt like a mere piece in a grand game played by Sirus and the Order.

  “Let’s be honest here—there is no Greater Understanding Program.” Sirus looked to Mary again. “If you make a peep, I will have Teacher Simon come in here and remove you.” He turned his attention back to Jacob.

  “The Greater Understanding Program was always a goal for you to reach, to keep you focused on something. God knows you people can’t focus for longer than a few seconds if there isn’t an apple on a stick in front of your face. I’m surprised that the guise worked as long as it did, but all good things come to an end, right?”

  Jacob held his head in his hands, unable to believe what was being said to him. This was all much worse than he’d thought. Why are they doing all of this?

  “There are no people on the outside trying to fix the world. That’s not a thing, Jacob. Mary, it’s not real. It never was. You people did in fact bring on this sickness though. That much is true,” Sirus said while straightening the folders on his desk. “Feels good to be honest about this.” He paused for a second. “Also, I’m tired of eating dinner with you,” he said as he stacked the folders in a neat pile, casually explaining that everything in their lives was a lie.

  “Why? Why lie about all of this? Why would the government do this?” Jacob said.

  “There is no government as you remember them. Everyone died for the most part. Including them. Do you really think that you could put together something like the Order in a few days with remaining members of governments from all over the world?” He laughed.

  “You are smarter than that, Jacob, I know you are. Look at all that I’ve explained thus far. Now be creative. Tell me what you think this is. Why this is.”

  “To lower the population?” Jacob was so perplexed by what he was hearing, he couldn’t see straight.

  Sirus laughed again, close to spinning around in his chair. “Of course not, don’t be silly.” He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, contemplating something. “But…it depends on which revolution we are speaking of. This is the fourth revolution of Planet Earth.”

  “Revolution? What are you talking about? Speak plainly, Sirus!” Jacob smacked several items off the table, hurting his hand in the process.

  “For a man of forty years old and twenty years of intense learning, you are still as dumb as the day you arrived here.” Sirus leaned closer to the table, turning his head to the side and giving Jacob the eye. “I think you know who I am, and who we are. What we are attempting to create, and with whom.” He nodded at Mary.

  “I don’t. Call me stupid or whatever you want, but I’m lost. Just tell me what the hell is going on,” Jacob screamed. His voice echoed throughout the room, making Mary jump.

  “This one does not have a flair for theater, it seems,” Sirus said, pointing at Jacob but speaking to Mary. “Okay, I’ll make this as simple as I can for you. We have always looked over what you all called Planet Eart
h, as it’s a creation from our…area of the universe. This planet has been here longer than you could even imagine—your brain couldn’t possibly fathom it.”

  “What…” Jacob tried to find the words—any words. He couldn’t be hearing this. But Sirus went on before he could think of how to respond.

  “For that amount of time, we have been here, watching, visiting, testing, starting, ending, starting over, then starting over again. This is the fourth revolution, meaning the fourth time we have had to forcibly instill order on this particular planet, and for lack of a better term, start over. To you this sounds heartless, but you have yourselves to blame.”

  Universe? Created this planet? What the hell is he talking about? Jacob rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, unsure if any of this was real. He had gone from reliving the same weeks over and over for the last twenty years, to now being told it was all a lie and the person in front of him was…not from the same planet as him.

  “No matter what we do, you people find a way to screw things up. We let you live near each other, you kill everyone you can and wage war. So, we split the planet up into continents. Think that will stop your kind? Of course not; you find ways to meet up and begin the killing again.” Sirus’s voice began to show his passion and resentment as he spoke.

  “And it’s not enough for you animals to just kill each other normally. No, you sit around thinking of more fantastic and amazing ways to kill each other in droves. Guns, bombs, drones, nukes, and other things that we stopped from happening.” At this point, Sirus was yelling. “There are only so many great floods that the planet can take! We already did three of those, and forty percent of the planet is now below sea level. You monkeys think that Atlantis was an underwater city. But no, it was above ground to begin with. Much like your society, the people there became greedy and murderous beyond repair. So, they needed to be ‘put down.’ We wanted something different this time around.