“So, how can I help you? Do you need a new smart farmer’s contact?”
“No, I’m doing fine with the ones you introduced. Actually it’s about your newspaper. When will you release the next issue? I don’t think you publish it daily anymore.”
“No, we can’t. We publish it weekly, every Wednesday.”
“Good. You still have time to change the article.”
“Change the article?”
“Yes. Your reporters interviewed someone I know and I strongly believe she will be in danger once her words are published.”
“What did she say?”
“She said STT is like North Korea.”
She laughs.
“It’s not a laughing stock. You’ll have to remove the whole article. Can you call your writer to eliminate it right now?”
“Sorry, General Moon but, I can’t reach any of them now.”
“What do you mean? Are they caught?”
“Not yet. We still work together but, just not in the same office. We had to hide in different places until we publish our feature story safely.”
“Feature story?”
“Yes, we are going to reveal a big plot of STT this coming Wednesday.”
“What plot?”
“Okay… is your friend a foreigner?”
I narrow my eyes. “How did you know?”
“She’s the other living evidence then.”
“Evidence? For your story?”
“Yes sir. Maybe you didn’t really feel it but, MTT is bringing more and more immigrants from outside.”
“You are saying there are more foreign families? How come?”
“MTT sends agents to each timeline to take them. They show pictures and videos of their district and sway them. But when they actually arrive and sign a contract, the agent disappears, leaving them in our district.”
“That’s my friends’ story.”
“It’s everyone’s story.”
“What’s going on?”
“I believe you already noticed NTT trafficking. They are selling us out.” I nod yes. She goes on, “Recently, too many NTTs were sold out. We have a graph of population changes. That’s why we took a long time to support our story. We had to make a firm research, ourselves, for years. MTT doesn’t reveal the information to us, of course. Anyway as more and more NTTs are demanding, they are supplying the number with immigrants.”
“Will they sell them out as well?”
“I believe so. They will fill our district with new immigrants when the old ones are all sold.”
I swallow. Hera did not end up here by fraud. It was planned by them from the beginning. “Are you going to publish this?”
“Yes.”
“And you know what’s waiting for you.” I see her only smiling. “Safire, it’s a suicide. Leader of Generals, he was reading your paper. The man is merciless. You will, in the worst case, be killed.”
“It’s a good way to die, isn’t it? And I have you here who will spread what really happened to me when I disappear.”
“What are you talking about? I beg you. Think of your husband and children. Will you let them be slaves in foreign lands? You have to remain and think of other ways to save them. Revealing can’t be a solution.”
“But more people will know what is really going on. Every one of us should make a change to form one big revolution. This article, this revelation will be my shot. I believe my children will make their changes as well.”
I pause as my heart feels stung by guilt. Safire’s eyes seem to ask me “What’s your change, General Moon?”
My change? I haven’t agreed to such thing. Likewise, I always thought her efforts were all meaningless. Of all the projects, campaigns and stories she and her Morning Call team had made, nothing changed. This cycle won’t change. Because this slave factory is so closed.
“There will be a meeting on Tuesday night. I want you to come. Your presence will give us courage.”
“I’m not the one who can encourage you,” I want to tell her.
I’m your enemy, can’t you see, Safire? We are walking in opposite directions. Let’s assent to them. Let’s obey. Know your limit. That’s me. And what are you saying? My presence will give you courage? No way! I want to beat you all down to stop publishing the article. But I know you’ll keep telling the story even though I break your wrist.
And I can’t say any of my real thoughts because I’m afraid to see her disappointed face. That’s the real me.
“I’ll be there,” I say. “I’ll be there for your last meeting.” I nod at her soundless thank you. “…to encourage you.”
CHAPTER 15
Nine PM, I am standing in the door way of my dorm room, feeling that something had happened to Cooper. There is no Cooper. I can’t see his bed either.
Who transferred his bed and why?
“I offered him a new bedroom,” says a chilling voice behind me.
I quickly turn back. “Zeus. Where is he now?”
An obscure smile floats on his face. “It’s up to the doctor, whether he performs an operation on a bed or a toilet floor.”
“Doctor?” I ask, alarmed. “Is he hurt? Did you hurt him?”
“You know very well I don’t enjoy blood.”
I don’t listen to him but, only think of the shortest way to the clinic. Before that, I have to pass by this man in front of me.
“I recommend you consult the doctor when you arrive there. You also need to change your attitude how you deal with us.”
I narrow my eyes. Change attitude? Don’t tell me he’s with…
“A gene doctor,” Zeus connects the words. “He’s the most reliable doctor in GTT operations.”
* * *
I hear rough breaths of my own as I run to a clinic inside MTT building, only thinking of Cooper who must be lying down on an operation table.
GTT operation. That is a term of procedure that a non-time traveler becomes a genetic time traveler. It is very pricy that only a few rich people can afford. MTT offered me free GTT operation twice but, I refused all, knowing it was a trap.
It means “surrender” and it means “absolute obedience”. They believe you admire them too much to hanker after something you don’t deserve. It is as if a slave wants to wear his master’s clothes.
I left Zeus behind in NTTs’ dormitory. Whatever he does in my room doesn’t matter. I only run to save him.
When I arrive in front of the clinic, I see a troupe of Zeus.
“What are you doing here, Cine Moon? Did you come to beg for one more chance? No way, we had enough with your stubbornness,” says Ares.
I ignore him and walk towards a large glass door of the operating room.
“You can’t ignore me,” Bacchus says, blocking my way.
“Did he just ignore me?” Ares says behind my back. “You arrogant cockroach, I won’t let you slide this time.”
When did you let me slide anyway? I think loudly. I’m not able to control my thoughts. My focus is only to Cooper on the opposite side of the glass door behind Bacchus.
“Cooper! Come out right away! Doctor, stop the operation!”
“Are you jealous your friend will become one of us?” says Ares, grabbing my hair.
While I can’t move my body freely, Bacchus slaps my face with his wine bottle. It hurts that I lose my sight instantly as my head spins giddily. But I don’t stop calling him.
“Cooper, Cooper! You have to stop now!”
“Is your mouth still alive?” Bacchus says and bends forward to pick up a broken neck of the bottle. Just before he brings it up to stamp the fragmented part onto my face, we hear his voice.
“Red wine, again?” says Zeus, looking streamed wine all over the floor and my face. Ares releases my hair without delay and steps aside. Zeus stands, looking down at me with a cold look. The door is wide open, now, behind him. I peep into it but, see no one in there.
“I’m here,” says a voice behind me.
I slowly turn
back and find Cooper. He teleported.
“Good evening.”
Generals laugh at my stupid greeting.
“Good evening?”
“Good evening!”
I move toward him, being worried about his blank eyes and his shaking legs.
“Are you okay, Cooper? Can you walk?”
Laughter becomes even louder.
I grip his shoulder to support his body and see his eyes gradually return liveliness. With my relief, he parts his lips to say “Remove your hands at once from my body, you filthy cockroach.”
CHAPTER 16
He pushes my hands wildly away before vanishing with Zeus.
“I think I like him,” Bacchus says, patting my shoulder, then leaves.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him with my beauty,” Venus says, stroking my chest tenderly and fades away with her goddess group.
I stand alone, thunderstruck. What just happened? What happened to my friend? My brother? How can he change that drastically?
“Are you still ignoring me?” says Ares from my back.
Yeah, you don’t give me time to suffer elegantly, do you?
I turn back to him to face his large fist soaring into my face. I can duck but, I don’t. I’m too exhausted to play with a rowdy tyke. I strongly covet his fist extreme enough to send me into unconsciousness. Please. Please let me fall into a deep coma. He strikes my face and I tumble over backward. But it was not intense enough. Hit me more! Quantity than quality Ares! I cheer him up. Hearing me or not, he feeds me a few more clouts on my face. He pauses and wipes red wine and blood out of my face with his rough palm. His eyes flicker with interest as if seeing a foreign animal.
“You are feeble,” he says and touches my nosebleed. He smells it and tastes it. “It is blood, real blood,” says Ares like a researcher found a new discovery. “You release blood this easily. Something’s wrong with your body.”
Something’s wrong with your brain.
He stands up. “Your friend will be fine. Zeus accepted him. Then we accept him as our friends.”
I snort. That’s what I’m most afraid of.
“Talk to me with your voice. I’m no mind-reader.”
I look up at him. “Get out, sucker.”
His last strike was enough to jolt my head. Thank you, Ares. You finally made it. A slow blackout is seeping into my brain and I’m left alone, completely knocked down. Maybe he tried to be kind when he said he will be fine. But the result doesn’t change. He was taken. He was taken from my office, room, and my life. I just lost him.
I recall the first day I met him. I recall the article he was keeping always with him. I imagine fifteen year old Cooper who dreamed to be like me. I visualize the wrestler studying nights.
I think I know why I erased my father from my memory. It is painful as if piercing my heart, when I realize that we just can’t be together anymore. I wish I did not meet Cooper at all. I wish Morning Call did not publish about me. Ever.
I wish, I wish, I wish I could be powerful enough to protect my people.
CHAPTER 17
How did I get back to my room? I question, opening my eyes in my dorm room. No, it’s not my room. Cooper’s bed was taken out but, why is there still another bed across from mine? And there’s a man sleeping on it. Was it a nightmare? Zeus’s joke?
I quickly raise my body up to check Cooper’s face.
“Are you alright, General?” says a voice on my left. It is dark but his white beard shimmers like a crescent floating in a black sky.
“Gascon, is it you?”
“Yes, General,” he says and turns on a small table light. I can see the person sleeping in the other bed now. Actually the sleepers were two. I recall two young soldiers who were newly joined members of the MTT army. Because of the small bed, their bodies seem to mold together as one.
“Sorry, I brought you to our room,” says Gascon.
“Don’t say that. Sorry for taking your bed. You can sleep now. I’ll go back to my room.”
“Why don’t you stay here for tonight?” he asks me carefully. “I can’t sleep. Maybe you won’t be able to sleep as well.”
I don’t answer. I’ll not be able to sleep, thinking of Cooper all night, for sure. I will shed tears like a heartbroken girl, cursing him all night.
“Sorry if I’m annoying you,” says Gascon.
“Not at all. You’re right. It may be better not going back to my room tonight. Please sit here.”
He parks himself next to me on his bed. I call him Wisdom Man. I don’t know how wise he is but, his wrinkles make me respect him. He is a 60-years-old soldier. Sixty. I wonder if I can survive until then without being taken out whether as a sinner or a slave for sale.
Gascon was always there when I needed someone to talk about my fear and anger that I could not show to Cooper. And it’s my time to tell him something he must know.
“You once told me you want to work for MTT as long as possible.”
“Yes, General, and I haven’t seen an older man here.”
I nod. “But aren’t you tired?”
“I’m fine, sir.”
“Please call me by name when we are alone. I’m far younger than you.”
“I’m happy to call a younger man “Sir”. Makes me feel young.”
“Your spirit is more vigorous than any of us. But I’m worrying about your health. We have another time travel mission tomorrow. I read an article that time travel can shorten an NTT’s life.”
“I am sixty and still alive! My original lifespan must be 120 years then?” says Gascon jokingly.
“But Gascon, I can see your face turning paler every time I see you. Why don’t you retire?” I see his smile fade away. “I know how much you love your work. But you should end your career yourself before the board members force you out. Then you won’t receive any pension. You know they have the right to dismiss a sick soldier.”
“Is it really that visible?”
“Yes. I detected your illness quite a long time ago. I just couldn’t tell you because we had no chance to be alone. Gascon, I’ll accompany you next morning to request retirement.”
“No, sir, it’s not yet the time. Let me have the last mission with you.”
“Last mission, you sure?”
“Yes, sir,” he says, glum.
I sigh. “I really don’t want to send you away as well. I don’t want to be left alone here but, it is not safe if you stay close to me. I feel they are taking out people around me.”
“Like General Cooper?”
“Yes, and I’m afraid you will be the next. So I beg you. Please escape before they can do anything to you.”
“Why don’t we leave together?”
I shake my head no after a while. “Cooper is still here. I can’t just leave him alone in MTT. I’m sure BTTs threatened him with something.”
“General, it’s none of my business but, there must be some reasons for him doing this. You are worrying too much…”
I cut his words off. “Do you think he really admired them and wanted to become like them?” What nonsense! Cooper admired me, not them!
“General, please lower your voice or the boys will wake up. They are your followers. They will definitely make some noise if they find you.”
I feel a headache at the word “followers”. Followers, devotees, they are everywhere.
What did I do? What did I do for them? Why do they say they are my devotees and followers? Why do they call me the hope of NTTs? What do they expect from me? There’s actually nothing I can do for them! It’s tough enough to deal with my own problems. Why do they always want me to change things while they don’t do a single thing to change their situation? Okay, maybe except Safire. But most of them don’t realize. STT is not only my country. It is our home. Our permanent coop.
I stand up.
“General?”
“I had enough, Gascon. I don’t want to care for anyone. You’re right. There must be some reason for him when h
e chose to go through the operation. That must be the right choice, right? And I cannot return anything. I can’t bring him back to my side.” My throat chokes up before I can say my next words, “He chose to leave me. He must be disappointed with me because the real Cine Moon is not a strong man. He saw me being insulted by BTT Generals several times. He saw me keeping silent during the meetings even when they discussed wrong things, the things to torment us. I was not the person he was admiring. He just could not see a single special thing in me. Everything about me was just bubbles. Fake honors. I don’t want it anymore. I didn’t ask them to make me a hero! I’m just a simple man who struggled every day to be awake. Sometimes, I just want to give up everything, eat foods they give me and become brainless as they want. I want to suicide, spiritually, so I won’t know what’s wrong with my world. I will just accept that this world is the best I can have and I don’t deserve better. You see? It’s me! I’m not the person you think I am. I can’t make my life or yours any better than it is now.
He stands up to face me.
“General Cooper was not the only one who entered the army after reading about you, and I’m not disappointed with you at all. I haven’t thought of you as a perfect man, either. But, it did not change. You still make me dream.”
I am confused. I make him dream? How? Why? What did I do to all of you? I wished to live quietly, hiding under closets like a cockroach. But you all make it impossible. You just don’t leave me alone. You drag me out of my safe refuge and ask me to do something for you. And don’t see me dying of stress coming from the wrong expectations!
“You don’t understand. You all don’t understand me!”
“General!”
I run out of his room. I sprint fast and faster. I’ve never hated myself this strongly. I want to forget who I am even just for a moment. There’s only person who can make it possible as far as I know. He can send me to a mysterious dream where I can be someone else. Zeus. Save me. Please! Do your magic for me. Take me out from this hell!