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To the Victor… To her left
were two of her dogs. The third was curled up beside Beau who was
on her right. Her outfit was balled up under her head to act as a
pillow. “This is
really beautiful,” she said. I can’t believe we’re this close to
“I was hoping
you’d like it. I was surprised at your
call.” “I was
too. Today was a bad one. Too much stuff to deal
with.” “Anything you
want to talk about?” “No.
Well, yes. But no.” “I’m not sure
I understand.” “There is
stuff I want to talk about, but I don’t want to talk about it. At
any rate, I don’t want to lay it all on you. “Talk to me,”
he said, rolling up on one elbow to face her. “I—I
can’t. Not about this.” “Hero
stuff?” “Sort
of. I’m just not really feelin’ very heroic lately.
Lis’ was my balance. If I started to over think something,
she’d jump in and force me to act. Now, it’s like I don’t know if
I’m even doin’ the right thing. All these new kids comin’ in have
no idea what they’re in for.” “Neither did
you when you started.” “That’s
different.” “Why?” “Because… Well, okay,
you’ve got a point. Do I have the right to put these kids on the
street?” “They are
putting themselves on the street, whether you help them or not.
How many stand a better chance because of stuff you taught
them?” “Yeah.
I’ve gone over that argument in my head too. But what about
the ones that don’t come to us? The ones that see our kids, then
think they can do it on their own?” “Well, you
should know better than anyone you can’t save them all.” “Bet I could
have saved Lis’.” “You don’t
know that. You can’t. Even if you were there, there
is no way to know that you wouldn’t have been lost too.” “Maybe so,
but at least I could have actually done somethin’.” “She took off
before anyone even knew where she was headed. What could you have
done? Do you think she’d have taken you with
her?” “No, I think
I would have stayed with Marcus and told the others where to meet her, but I
might have been able to talk her out of going. Just like with Jyn
and Tonix, I never got a chance to even try.” “Come here,”
said Beau as he laid back down and pulled her head gently onto his chest.
He glanced over at the dogs to try to reassure them that she was okay.
Her warm tears pooling on his chest made him give that up.
The dogs knew. ~~~~~ Epim and Tog
sat at the conference table with Sliss. The reptile was having a
difficult time seeing things from their point of view. “How is it
different from when you found me? You sat down and heard
something, and there I was. You brought me here and kept
me.” “It’s
different, because when I found you, you were a normal lizard, like the ones we
saw at the pet shop. That’s all I thought you were.
It wasn’t until later that you started to change. By the
time you were old enough to understand well enough to be alone, you were already
part of the family. She’s not. She’s a scared little
girl that has been taken from her dimension. You can’t keep her as
a pet.” “Sliss. Do you recall
where she came from? The name of the dimension or the name of the
team leader, or anything that we can use to send her
home?” “I told you,
no! Even I did remember any of that stuff, what if I promise to
take care of her? What if she doesn’t want to leave
here?” Tog stood up
and walked to a corner of the room. Epim responded.
“She’s old enough to choose, but if she’s not a threat to us, and she’s
willing to stay, we’ll take her on as a student like any other.
She’s not a pet.” She paused. “She’s not Cursed
Phoenix.” Sliss looked
at Epim, his eyes narrowing. “I know! I know she’s
not. I’m not stupid. You all think I’m
stupid! I know what happened to CP. I’m the one that
suggested it. I was the one that pushed the button when Zach said
to! I—I…” “Sliss. All I meant was
that I know you miss her. I know how much of a personal sacrifice
it was for you to make. This new girl reminds you of CP, but she
may not be anything at all like what you really want her to be.
She’s not a pet. She’s a person. As a person,
she has the right to stay or leave as she chooses.” Epim and
Sliss sat in silence while Tog left the room to bring the girl in.
She looked at them for a moment, as if it were some kind of trap, then
sat down as far from them all as she could. “I’m Doctor
Jensen, but you can call me Epim. Do you have a name we can call
you?” “Ahm-ee.” “She’s
fast. And twitchy. But in a good
way.” “Yes, Sliss,
you said that,” said Epim in one of her more patient tones.
Ahm-ee? Do you know where you are?” “I think
so. I heard some of the others talking. I was in an
arena, about to have a match. When the gate opened, I jumped out
and passed through some bright light. That was a doorway from my
world to yours, wasn’t it?” “Basically,
yes. This world is Earth. Have you heard of
it?” “No.” Epim was
unphased. “All right. You say you were in an arena.
You were about to fight? Are you a gladiator of some
kind?” “I’m not sure
what a gladiator is. I’m an Enforcer
recruit.” “And what is
that?” “People on my
world are tested when they’re young. Those who pass are taken to
Enforcer training. Those who pass, are taken on as
recruits. Those who survive become
Enforcers.” “Are you
saying that people die in this training?” said Epim, her voice raising a
bit. “Yes.
To get out of training requires a person to fight in one match every ten
days. Each match has one chance in twenty to be a death
match. The second year, the odds of a death match doubles, and the
fights come every seven days. In the third year, the fights are
every three days, and there is a death match about every fifth or sixth
fight. Today was my first fight as a third
year.” “So, you’ve
killed other people in these matches?” “Two my first
year and five last year. I got good draws.” “Are these
people from rival, umm training centers?” The girl
shrugged her shoulders. “Not always. Sometimes you
fight a room mate. Sometimes you don’t know the person.
You have no way who your opponent is. We have helmets with
masks.” “So then, how
do you know you may have fought a friend?” “If they
don’t show up for dinner, they lost. If I killed someone that day,
it might have been that person. We’re never told for sure, but
it’s usually not that hard to figure out.” Epim’s voice
began to reflect her outage; and her pity. “And what do enforcers
do, exactly?” “Enforce the
laws.” “Laws such
as?” “Citizens are
not allowed to commit any form of violence on one
another.” There was a
pause while Epim took this in. “Violence is wrong, but you end up
killing 20 people to get a chance to enforce that?” The girl had
a confused expression. It was almost as if she were about to
explain to a child that fire is hot. “Is that any different from
the way your world works? Surely you have people to enforce the
laws? If someone acts against the law, they are punished, are they
not?” “Yes, but
those who enforce the laws do not hand out the punishments, and our police are
required to use as little violence as possible to catch
them.” “The Police
are your Enforcers? While I was waiting I saw your news.
People here do not fear the police. There is no
respect. The police have no power over them. I saw a
woman on that screen talking about a man who charged a police with hurting
him. Is that really a crime?” “Tog, could
you take Sliss out to the common room, for a while.” Epim said
this with a tone and look that Doug understood to mean a session was about to
begin. He gathered Sliss, and they went out to the television,
leaving Epim alone with the girl. ~~~~~ Zach had much
on his mind. So much that he had forgotten all about the memory
card Epim had passed to him a few hours before. He wouldn’t have
thought back to it now if not for an announcement brought to his attention by
Athena. A man was
attacked in The small
card seemed to border on microscopic in the big man’s hands. He
eyed it with suspicion for a moment, then decided to get an opinion from Epim
and Mourning before continuing. ~~~~~ Tog looked
over as the door to the conference room opened. The girl had come
out and headed for the room she had been given in the guest section.
Epim signaled him to come back in. “Is she
dangerous?” “Yes.
Very. But she’s not a risk.” Tog sat
down. “This isn’t something I’m gonna need a translation on is
it?” Epim sat down
beside him. “No. Her world is different than ours,
and it may take a while to get her to adapt, if we can’t send her
home.” “Different in
what way? Aside from teenage death matches?” “Well, they
don’t lie. Ever. About anything.
Dishonesty is abhorrent to them, and grounds for immediate
‘enforcement’. That’s her way of saying
killed.” “Any
lie?” “Yes.
Any lie. If she wakes you up at three in the morning and
asks if you were sleeping, you tell her ‘yes’. If she asks you if
her outfit makes her butt look big, and it does, tell her ‘yes’.
She will view any lie as a sign of disrespect for her and her position as
an enforcer. It’s actually a capital offence where she’s
from.” “So, she’s a
cop?” “In training,
yes.” “And she’ll
kill people for lying?” “Yep.” “So, she’s a
psycho?” “You’re one
to talk.” Epim said it with a grin. “No.
She’s every bit as sane as most of the people here. She’s
quite a bit better off than a few. It’s just that she’s a product
of her society. In her world, if one guy hits another guy, the
Enforcer can kill the one that threw the punch. There are no
courts or trials, and every crime carries a death
sentence.” “Wow, that
must suck.” “Not from
what she said. There is practically no crime. In a
twenty year career, an enforcer may never need to kill a single
person.” “Other than
the twenty they killed to get the job.” “Yep.
The reason is that the people know that an Enforcer won’t hesitate
or feel remorse about killing them. The family can’t sue,
either.” “What if an
enforcer is wrong?” “See, that’s
the thing. It’s not just the Enforcers that tell the truth.
It’s everyone. If someone reports a crime, they take that
person on their word. That person knows that if they lie, and get
caught, they die too. It keeps false reports to a
minimum.” “I imagine it
would. How exactly does this make her not a serial
killer?” “She knows
right from wrong. She feels compassion for those that deserve it,
but only those who follow the rules are deserving. She is no
different than any other seventeen year old girl, apart from the body
count. Actually, she’s very polite and respectful.
That reminds me. Keep Kym away from her for a
while.” “Does she
understand that killing people here is wrong?” “Yes.
I told her about our world, and gave her some stuff to read and watch to
learn about how we do things. Tomorrow I’m going to go to Portal
Corp and see if I can find out how to get her home.” ~~~~~ The following
mourning, Mourning arrived to find a seemingly impatient Athena giving her a
scolding look and a message to meet Zach at “Just time to
get a quick shower,” she thought. She made it
to the room just a few minutes late, and found the whole team there, including
some new girl. “Now we can
start,” said Tog. “Yesterday,
Entimangler identified a man in Talos as the man she saw talking to the leader
of the Outcasts that ambushed Lista about 18 months ago. He was
being mugged by a pair of Warriors. One of the items they got from
him, and the only item he seemed concerned with, was this memory card.
He was teleported away again, but Ent was able to recover the
card. “Before we
had a chance to look at it, we got a message that there was a huge reward for
its return, provided that none of the files were opened. Since
this is our case, Zach has left it to us to decide what to do. On
the one hand, it could give us a lead. On the other, we’d be violating the
privacy of a possibly innocent person. What are your
thoughts?” “How sure is
Entimangler that this was the same person? It has been 18
months,” asked HAAL. Epim
answered, “She was born to do one job, control prisoners and prevent their
escape. If she says it’s the same guy, I won’t question her on
it. She saw him once before and considers him one of her
prisoners.” “Why is there
even a discussion about it?” asked Mourning. “He lost it.
We have it. He wouldn’t be offerin’ a huge reward for its
return unless he really didn’t want what was on it to be seen.
Open it.” “If it is his
property, what right do you have to open it?” said the new
girl. Mourning
turned to face her. “I’m sorry. Who are you?
I don’t recall you bein’ here when the men this guy hired ambushed Lista
in The girl
remained calm. Almost disturbingly calm. “So you
would take the property of another if it served your
needs?” “In this case
yes. It’s called ‘evidence’. If there is nothin’ on
it, we’ll return it. We wouldn’t have accepted the reward
anyway. If there is somethin’ on it, it might help us find Lis’
and put an end to this crap. Let HAAL open it. No
matter what it is, he can’t pass any form of judgment on it. If it
helps us, he’ll pass it on. If it’s nothin’, we’ll give it
back.” “This is why
your enforcement system is so filled with problems. Your culture
treats criminals like citizens, rather than predators.” “My
culture? And yes, criminals are citizens.” Turning
to the room she said, “Seriously, who is this?” “Sliss found
her in Portal Corp yesterday,” said Epim. We don’t know her home
dimension, so we took her in.” Mourning gave
a sigh and addressed the girl. “Okay, so how would you deal with
it?” “You know the
man to be a criminal? Kill him.” “We don’t
know who he is or where to find him.” “Arrange for
the return of the card to lure him out.” “Then kill
him?” “He is a
criminal.” “He’s a small
part of a large criminal group. Alive he may lead us to someone
higher than him. Killing him will mean that we lose the
chance. I’m a little confused why it’s okay to kill him, but not
look at his stuff.” “He is a
criminal. Criminals should not be allowed to live.
The property is his as long as he is alive. Return it, kill
him, then use it.” “Shouldn’t it
pass to his next of kin?” “All items
carried by a criminal at the time of death go to the Enforcer who then passes
them on to the proper owners.” “How can you
be sure that Enforcers don’t just kill people to get stuff they
want?” “In my world,
such thoughts have never come up.” “That you
know of.” “No.
They have never come up. You put the problems of your
culture upon mine.” Tog took a
step forward. “Okay, enough. You two can continue
this after. Show of hands time. Who says we look at
the data?” All hands
went up except one. “HAAL, run it.” ~~~~~ Kym caught up
to the new girl in the hallway. “Hi, I’m Kym. We
haven’t met yet. Some of what you said in there was
interesting. I’d like to talk to you about it, when you have some
time.” “I have
time.” “Cool.
So, what do they call you?” “A
name? Ahm-ee.” “Were you
serious about killing that guy?” “Yes.
There is no reason to keep a criminal alive. They are a
blight on the world. I do not understand the way your world seems
to revere them, and punish those that oppose them.” “Who reveres
them?” “Last night I
watched a number of videos about your world. Your entertainment
shows criminals getting away with their crimes. In many cases,
your police were actually punished for catching them. If a police
officer actually kills a criminal, even to save his own life, his branch has to
pay money to the family of the man who was killed. When they do
catch a person, they give them free food and shelter for years.
How does this do anything other than glorify the
criminal?” “Hey it’s not
all like that. It’s more wrong to kill than to imprison.
Prisons keep criminals locked away from the rest of the
people.” “Where they
learn to be better criminals for when they get out.” “Sometimes,
yeah. But other times, they are in prison in the first place
because they didn’t have the skill to do anything else. In prison,
they learn a real job.” “But when
they get out, no one will hire them because of the criminal past, so they go
back to being a criminal and use the training they got in prison to be a better
one. It is better for everyone to just kill them
all.” “I admire
your focus, but I think your head is so far up your butt it’s giving you a
limited field of view. So in your world, every criminal is killed,
no matter what?” “Yes.
There are Criminals, Citizens, and Enforcers. Enforcers
exist to eliminate the criminals.” “How old does
a person have to be before they can be killed for, say,
stealing?” “Once they
are of school age, they are expected to be educated. Until then
the responsibility falls on the parent.” “School age
is what?” “About 6
years.” “So, if a
five year old kid steals, something, his parents have to kill
him?” “No.
The child is taken to a re-education center, and the parents are placed
on watch to be sure that they are capable of raising a good citizen.
Two failed children result in the sterilization of both parents, as they
are obviously unfit.” “But after
they start school, you’d kill a kid for stealing?” “They know
the laws, and the consequences. If the parents teach them
correctly, they won’t be criminals. It’s very
basic.” “I agree it’s
basic, but where is the room for the person that breaks the law one time in an
act of desperation” “Explain.” “Well, the
classic one is a father whose daughter is very sick, but he can’t afford the
medicine to treat her. Without it, she will die. The
only way he can get it is to steal it. He’s not a criminal, he’s a
desperate father doing what he has to do.” “If is he
steals he is a criminal. Nothing changes that. You
are not understanding that the way laws are enforced is not the only difference
in our worlds. The situation you described cannot happen in mine
because the things essential for life are given freely to
all.” “Don’t people
take advantage of that?” “No.
That would be stealing. The risk is too
great.” “So, let’s
say I live in your world. I make clothes. How do you
get my clothes?” “You produce
them and make them available. When I need them, I go in and take
them.” “How do I get
the fabric?” “You take it
from the people that make it.” “No
money? No barter? I just take what I need from those
who have it?” “Yes.” “What stops
me from taking all of it?” “Well, I
do. Taking more than you need is stealing.” “So, if I
think, for example, that Tog is taking too many clothes, I can report him and
you’ll just kill him?” “If you tell
me he’s stealing, yes. If you only suspect it, then we talk to him
and find out why he’s taking so many.” “So, I say
Tog is stealing, and you kill him. How would you find out I was
lying.” “There would
be an investigation. If he did not have a surplus of clothing,
then you were lying, and we come after you.” “He could
have sold it, or traded it… oh.” “Yes, you
see. There is no one to sell anything to, and no one to buy
from. If he is hoarding, then he will still have it, or will have
hidden it. “It sounds a
lot like Communism. That didn’t play out so well
here.” “I watched
something on that too. What you call communism was flawed from the
start. There were still people in power. There was
still a need for money and barter. It’s only by getting rid of
that need and desire for money that the system could have worked.
On this world that would never have happened because there were other
places that did not use that system. There can be no harmony
between people that have such a different system.” “So, if you
get stuck here, will you try to change this system to make it like your
own?” “So much of
your culture is flawed. So much of it needs to be changed.
It’s probably impossible. Because of that, I’ll do what I
know how to do. I will learn your laws, and enforce them as you
do.” “You know you
can’t just kill people for stealing though, right?” “Can I cut
them just enough to pass out from blood loss?” “Better get
with Epim on that one.” ~~~~~ Tog was
seated in the common room. All that was contained on the memory
card were vacation pictures. Athena was scanning them for any
hidden messages or codes, but he wasn’t hopeful. Her call
startled him. She had found nothing encoded on the card.
He also had a visitor. “It’s not my
father again is it?” “No.
It’s a girl. A young girl.” With a sigh,
he heaved himself up and headed for the reception room. As he
entered the waiting area, his face lit up. Before him stood
Heather. She had been his brother’s best friend in the orphanage,
and had a knack for designing very complex things in very simple ways.
He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her. “Wow,
Doug. This place is awesome!” That computerized
reception thing is wicked cool. Who built
it?” “A guy named
Zach. He’s a little like you, but huge.” “Bigger than
you?” “Yeah.
I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet him.” “So, what’s
been going on?” Doug filled
her in everything since his last letter to her. The letter where
he told her about The Other Guy. Then he filled her in on the plot
they’ve discovered, Lista’s disappearance, and the memory card that turned out
to be a dead end. “Just
vacation pictures?” “Yup.” “With
sunsets?” she asked in a tone that suggested it might be
important. “Yeah.” “Three or
more sunsets?” Doug started
to smile. “Yes. Five in fact. One each
day, from the looks of it.” “I assume
Athena can do basic trig and hack into airline
records.” |