Chapter 20
The Library was cordoned off. Police arrived to take charge of the campus. Every student seemed to know instantly of Callen and Eve’s capture. A crowd gathered at the library. Cries of protest rang out when authorities carried out a sealed body bag. Everyone assumed Callen lay within the black plastic. Mourning began amongst his most ardent disciples and a general anger simmered at the saga coming to a predictable and callous end. Callen had ignited the youth of the city and created a more curious attitude towards their world. He’d cast doubt on the teachings of the land beyond their walls and drawn a shadow over the official version of history. His death wasn’t the end his supporters wanted. The crowd gave out a spontaneous cheer when a heavily guarded Eve emerged. They began clapping and calling her name. Police whisked Eve away inside a transporter, leaving the crowd silent, unsure what to do next. There was no movement as shocked students looked within and reflected on events. A subdued, almost lost mood descended.
Then the police regrouped, becoming quick and urgent. The crowd came back to life, unsure what was going on. The police braced themselves linking arms to hold the crowd at bay. They secured a path between the library and the one remaining transporter. The curious students craned forward to get a better view. Callen emerged under guard. He was alive. The crowd went wild. Callen was in pain and had little time for the rapturous response as he was led forcefully to the waiting transporter, but the reception buoyed his spirits. The guards stopped at random intervals for no apparent reason. None of the students knew of the instructions barking down the earpieces to display the prisoner. By the time they roughly pushed Callen into the transporter, every person had an opportunity to assess his condition; he was alive, hurt from the initial shot to his shoulder, but otherwise, unharmed.
News of Callen’s survival and capture led every news bulletin. It began on the site with the city’s highest recorded daily traffic; the female anchor, her famous face synonymous with breaking news, a mixture of informed confidence and polished professionalism, detailed every event; this was her story, and she relished delivering it.
She held out her hand to summon a seven-year-old holographic Callen. Her fingers caressed his animated hair, like a parent or kindly aunt. She detailed his life history, drawing her audience in with skilled emotional nuance. She was a skilled storyteller and her revelations, as the holograph grew and aged, detailed Callen’s journey from innocent boy to dark and dangerous adolescent, drawing in every viewer. Holographic Callen ended as an ominous, radicalised and threatening youth. The description was chilling and swayed any undecided viewers to condemn him.
“Callen Helfner is a violent criminal,” the anchor declared, just in case the visual hadn’t sold the point. “His attempts to evade authorities have culminated in the death of an innocent student.” A picture of a young, smiling, good-looking young man blazed across the screen. The photogenic face of the dead student was constantly shown to try and sway opinion against Callen. The anchor made the dead student’s story sound extraordinary, compounding the loss at Callen’s hands.
“Blood is on Callen Helfner’s hands,” the anchor condemned down the camera lens.
The students, swept up in the growing fervour of a small revolution, sensed bias. They wanted to understand Callen’s motives. If it was simply a hoax, why had he risked his life to play it? Almost every young person liked the idea of change if it brought a better future and they wanted proof from authorities that Callen’s claims were false, not well-produced media rhetoric. The fire Callen had started was not yet under control.
Callen was quickly in surgery. The city’s advanced medical techniques sped his recovery. He wore a sling holding his arm, but this was the only sign of his injury, and he was able to discard it on his third day in custody. That afternoon, he was taken from his cell and marched down a series of corridors, through a set of wooden doors and into a large room. For the first time since his arrest, he was left unguarded. The room was too large for any of the furniture. It was too large for an office. It was an office in a ballroom. It stood silent, with its polished wooden floors, ornately carved wood panelled walls and large sandstone fireplace. The ceiling was in white plaster with gilded cornices, and a large centre rose on the ceiling almost five metres above. The height of the room was of no real advantage other than to waste valuable space. A woven carpet in natural fibres warmed the floor and disturbed the echo of footsteps. A banker’s desk of wood and leather stood to one side surrounded by elegantly upholstered chairs. The desk faced the centre of the room and pulled focus. Everything was opulent. The pride of the craftsmen showed in every piece and put to shame the mass produced plastic production line goods most people in the city coveted.
Callen sat on a long leather couch. It stood hard against one of the walls. He sat nervously looking around the large room, once more waiting. Ten minutes later the doors opened. A single guard manhandled Eve into the room. Callen sprang to his feet and took her from the guard, wrapping her in his arms. The guard left the embracing couple alone. After standing together in each other’s arms for a long time, they sat together, holding hands in a gentle, reassuring way as they swapped stories, neither wanting to think of what lay ahead. Finally, the doors opened. A well-dressed man entered, followed by a team of equally well-dressed men and women, to take up positions within the room. The elderly man sat at his desk. He tapped at nothing in front of him and watched as a floating screen appeared. He looked at the viewer, tapped images on his projected screen and scrolled the information to the desired point. He worked with a methodical familiarity that belied the unusual nature of Callen and Eve’s presence. Finally, he looked beyond his screen’s projection to Callen and Eve.
“I am Alexis Prior, the Chairman of the city board. I don’t normally deal directly with issues involving law breakers, but the members of the board, some of whom are here with us, felt this important enough to warrant my attention.” Alexis spoke as if it were all an inconvenience.
“Could you show them in, please,” he said to the youngest member of his board who was standing near the wooden doors. Callen and Eve turned to watch. The young board member exited the room briefly and then re-entered leading Gerda and a sheepish looking Lien into the office. Callen and Eve stared in disbelief.
“You’ve been a great help,” Alexis said. “As promised, the young lady is free to go with you.”
“Thank you, Chairman,” Gerda said. Eve felt utterly betrayed. Lien couldn’t take his eyes off his daughter. He was relieved she was safe but aware his arrival could lose her respect forever.
“I didn’t know about this,” he called to her, immediately trying to defend his presence.
“Lien,” Gerda harshly admonished.
“What?” Lien spat at his leader as he spun to address her with anger across his face. He pushed into Gerda’s personal space to emphasise his fury, wide-eyed, flared nostrils and clearly in no mood to compromise towards his chief Elder’s duplicity.
“You have no rights with me anymore!” Lien’s words came low, slow and forceful. Gerda swallowed hard. Lien turned back to Eve.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “If I’d known it would never have come to this.”
“You’ve been helping them?” Eve asked, her outrage tempered by bewilderment, trying to reconcile exactly what had happened and who was to blame.
“To make sure you were safe. I didn’t know the rest. I had no idea we had contact with them.”
Eve nodded. She’d have more to discuss with her father at a later date, but his reaction and anger towards their leader convinced Eve his collaboration wasn’t by choice.
“Are we ready to continue?” asked Chairman Alexi, as if he’d been interrupted by an unruly school student.
“I’m sorry, Chairman,” said Gerda, as subservient as anyone could be. “Please go ahead.”
Gerda’s reaction to the Chairman left Eve in no doubt who was to blame for keeping the city one step ahead of her and Callen. She locked eyes on
Gerda who continued speaking with the Chairman. Only once did Gerda look at her and then only for the briefest moment. Gerda knew what Eve must think; she knew the young girl would never view their community with the innocence of youth again. In all likelihood, she would never view anything that way again. Once Gerda and Alexis had ended their brief discussion, Alexis turned to Callen.
“Callen Helfner,” he began. “You are free to return to the world of the Outlocked.” Alexis paused. “Provided you make a statement that your experiences, your relationship with this girl, everything you’ve said about the world beyond our walls was a lie. Announce that, declare it a hoax, a product of your imagination and you’re free to go and begin a new life.”
There was a brief silence. All eyes were on Callen. He was still coming to terms with the casual air the Chairman of the city was paying towards the Chief Elder. It was a comfortable relationship, cultivated over time. In the midst of this incredible hypocrisy of city laws and historical teachings, Callen faced a decision of conscience and principles. He looked to Eve. She knew what was coming before he spoke.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. The remark brought Eve instantly to tears. “I won’t be making any statement,” Callen said louder, announcing his decision. The Chairman looked at Callen with contempt.
“The alternative is body donation.”
Callen nodded and bravely stood his ground in the face of death.
“People have tried to tell me my whole life I shouldn’t trust my experience; that I shouldn’t make up my mind and believe in what I can see is real. They always wanted me to stop thinking and do what suited them. What sort of a person would I be if I turned around now, when I finally know I’ve been right all this time, and told people to do what I’ve been fighting against?” He paused, looking at Gerda and then Alexis. “That would make me as bad as you.”
“You’ll never see any of those people again, regardless of what you decide here today, so why does it matter? You’ll be dead or live a life outside our walls and be believed dead. If you say nothing and pay with your life, it will mean nothing, you will have gained nothing,” Alexis posed.
“Because you’ll lie to them to hide the truth.”
Alexis held Callen’s gaze, then went to the viewer and tapped it lightly. He dragged and swivelled his fingers to resize the screen, then adjusted the projection to face Callen. The anchorwoman was hard at work.
“Callen Helfner received counselling as a young man, unable to accept reassignment, he ran away and was attacked by an unknown assailant in the dead of night. How does this affect the young impressionable mind of a seven-year-old? Let’s take a look at some other case studies…”
Alexis tapped the screen away.
“This government reports and the people decide. Those decisions help cultivate an attitude towards a behaviour model that delivers harmony to over ninety million people.”
“You report lies,” Callen accused, pointing to the screen, indicating the anchor who had been singing her scripted song only moments before. “You give people like her so many privileges she’ll say whatever you tell her to say; however you want her to say it. She’s a hologram, she just doesn’t know it, or doesn’t care.”
Alexis smiled a capitulating smile. This young man was not for turning. Callen stood, listening to Eve sobbing. He went to her and squeezed her hand. Alexis moved his hand and tapped a point on his desk.
“Escort the prisoner to his cell,” he commanded.
“No!” Eve cried. Lien went to Eve and took her in his arms as the doors opened and two guards came and wrenched Callen from her. They dragged him through the door as Eve screamed for Lien to do something. She pleaded with Gerda, who remained silent and unmoved, ignoring Eve’s desperate cries. Lien tried to calm his daughter. She refused to calm.
“How could I be so stupid to believe any of you? What were we doing out there? What were we guarding against?”
Alexis tapped his desk a second time.
“Please escort the young lady to a cell,” he said calmly.
“You said she could go!” Lien screamed. “You promised me that!” he roared, turning to Gerda to back him up. The guards entered and took Eve from him, one on each arm and a third grabbing Lien from behind and putting a mild charge through him to quell any further protest. Lien dropped to his knees and cried out in pain.
“She’ll be fine. Nothing’s going to happen to her,” Alexis assured, as Eve left the room. Lien rubbed his shoulder, catching his breath as he picked himself up from the floor and glared at Alexis and Gerda.
“She’ll be held in a cell and given time to consider her options,” Alexis reassured.
“If she’s hurt in any way…”
“Very good, I’m counting on that fatherly concern to work in our favour. You need to get your daughter to persuade Callen to make that statement.”
“Her name is Eve,” Lien said in anger. He detested the idea of asking Eve to do the city’s bidding.
“Lien,” Gerda pleaded. “This is bigger than Eve; you know that.”
“She’s not the only one you’ve been lying to!” Lien shot at Gerda. She gathered herself, knowing she needed to appear confident, even though she wasn’t. She placed her hand on Lien’s aching shoulder.
“As a leader, I inherited decisions made in the past.”
Lien rolled his eyes, detecting first class spin coming his way.
“No!” Gerda said off his annoyed look. She was holding her ground. “It’s irresponsible to undo what’s gone before. It erodes a government’s stability. Someone else had the people’s trust and did what they thought was right at the time. Maybe it wasn’t right. Maybe they got it wrong, but the same way no law exists alone, no one governs alone. Few communities ever get to start afresh and then only once. If I reveal the mistakes made by those before me, I’d undermine our entire system. Leadership is compromise and part of that requires taking responsibility for what’s gone before, even if you don’t agree. And I didn’t agree, it shocked me, but it was too late to roll it back.”
Lien listened without response as Gerda argued her case, but she failed to change Lien’s mind. He wasn’t about to push his daughter to help dishonest leaders continue their dishonesty. The City Chairman nodded to one of his underlings who strode forward and handed Lien a report. Lien gave it a cursory glance.
“More reasons I should lie to my daughter?” he said, waving the report around with little regard.
“Read it. Then go and tell your daughter what she needs to do and why.”
Lien grew nervous. Alexis was too confident. Lien scanned the page not expecting to be impressed, but he stopped almost immediately when he saw the heading of the report. He read in more detail. A moment later he flipped to a second page then frantically skimmed further pages, checking and rechecking what was listed. He looked to Alexis in shock. Alexis smiled. He knew Lien would do what he wanted.