Original Fiction: The Anarchist's Almanac, Episode 9

The meeting place was an abandoned college outside of a town about an hour from their current Settling.

*If you missed the last episode, find it here, to start from the beginning go here, or find all of the episodes on my blog. *

A generator had been set up alongside one of the old labs for research and testing purposes and by the time Joshua pulled up, John and Eugene were unloading their gear and hauling it in.

In the post Abdication world, Dwellers with technical or science skills tended to be in demand. While technology had taken a back seat to hard skills, like construction, hunting and farming, it still had its place and in many cases, the outcomes were much more vital than they had been in the old days, like today, for instance.

The lab they were using had once been part of a Criminal-Justice training program and somewhere among all the antiques in the college basement, someone had discovered an ancient lie detector that John had taught himself to use.

They used it for interviewing new potential tribe members, and as Eugene had pointed out, it was more the intimidation factor of getting caught and the fear of the unknown than the machine that made people confess their motives once hooked up to it.

“Joshua,” John said, pulling him aside just outside the room where Eugene was prepping Vernon for testing, “I’m not sure how much I can learn from this. We can't properly monitor everything with him due to his injuries, just so you know."

"But, the ultrasound should show us if there are any transmitters still in place. We think all of the tracking hardware was in the suit and he’s clean, but we’ll know pretty quickly.”

“How sure can you be?” Joshua glanced over John’s shoulder. Eugene was giving them the thumbs up. It was time to start.

“Well, unless they are using some type of biological device, or a psychic link of some sort, pretty certain.” John looked Joshua in the eye.

He seemed sure of himself.

Joshua brushed past him and into the room, “Alright, let’s do this.”
For about two hours they questioned and scanned Vernon. He had to take a break at one point and lie down for a few minutes.

As he told his story, a picture began to develop for the Dwellers.

After he and his family were taken, they had been moved into an internment camp. They were kept isolated for a time, then slowly worked into the camp life. After a few weeks, they got a visit from a Consensus Caucus facilitator.

“So, you and your family are comfortable here? Are you prepared to join the Consensus and become a part of the human race again? We need to know that you are willing to conform before we can release you from here and get your family a home, and you some meaningful work,” The facilitator had said.

Vernon had determined to say whatever he felt was necessary to leave the camp. His wife hadn’t been feeling well, and they were so closely guarded that escape back to their tribe was impossible.

They even thought that returning would present too big a risk to the others. Vernon and his wife had been asked to sign the Twelve Laws and confirm their commitment to the Consensus.

The next day, a van came and took them to a Consensus City where they were given a small apartment, his kids were placed in a training facility and he and his wife had been assigned jobs in a gardening cooperative.

“So, when did you go to the Reaper Corps?” Joshua asked, after Vernon had been silent for a moment.

“It was so hard to know how long it took. They don’t allow clocks, or calendars. Each day is supposed to be the exact same as the day before, but I tried to keep track, and it seemed like a month or so. We just focused on doing our job to the best of our ability."

"One day, a man in a Seeker uniform came into the greenhouse where I was working and handed the daily supervisor a clipboard. I was asked to go with the man. I didn’t get a chance to talk with Mary, that's my wife...”

Vernon swallowed hard. It was obvious these memories were hard for him to bring up.

“We drove quite a way outside the city and into an underground bunker. The officer walked me in and showed me a lab where the human Magistrate tests were being conducted."

"He told me how lucky I was to be selected, and showed me what the suit was like and explained what the mission was. The whole time I was just wondering about my family." Vernon’s hands were shaking now.

“Then he took me to an office with a wall filled with video monitors. Most were black, but a few had drone footage playing. He sat down at a desk and asked me to take a seat. A man came in and placed a video visor over my face, and images started playing out right there in front of my face,” He paused, sobbing.

“It’s okay Vernon, can you keep going, or do you need to rest?” Adam asked.

For the first time, Vernon looked one of them in the eye. He stared fiercely at Adam for a moment. “What good will that do? Hmm? Can it bring my family back out of stasis? Can it take the Consensus’ fingers from the throat of every living human? No. I don’t need a break."

"I need my family back. I need to break the back of this monster. I need the Consensus to cease to exist.” He took the canteen that Joshua offered and took a long drink.

“At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was dim, but there was a lot of medical equipment. I saw stasis pods with people in them, but the mist from the coolers was thick enough I didn’t see any faces, until they focused in on one of them."

"I didn’t recognize her at first. It was my eight-year-old daughter. Then my son, and my wife. They were all three in stasis, which surprised me, because I had just been with them all at breakfast about three hours before.”

Vernon was regaining his composure now.

“The man told me that my family was in “reeducation' and would be back with me soon. They had shown signs, he said, of resisting consensus, but I could help them. They took the visor off, and he leaned across the desk to me and slid a form across on a vidtab with a stylus."

"He told me that if I signed up for the Magistrate trial they were getting ready to run and finished my time; I could be back with my family. You know the rest.”

The four Dwellers met in the hallway.

The scans were conclusive. Vernon was not a risk to them as far as the technology available to them could tell.

“So, Adam, we trust your instincts. You seem more in tune with things, what do you think?” Joshua asked.

All three of the others studied Adam’s face as he chose his words carefully. “It’s like I told you. This doesn’t end here, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. However, I think this is the path the universe has set for us, if we’re up to the challenge.”

“What about the rest of you? I can’t ask anyone to take a risk for me without having their opinion heard. We’ll have to keep him in the dark about our location until the tribe can decide, but what do you think?”

Joshua looked at the other two men.

“I’m in,” John said. “I think this is a battle we have to fight sooner or later if we really intend to live in anything resembling liberty.”

“Me too, I think we’ve got to do this. I just feel awful for the guy. First, we need to get to his family,” Eugene said, watching Vernon as he sat in the other room awaiting his fate.

“Well, if we’re not smart about that it could be all of us in their “reeducation' facility. We’ll have time to think this through before we go charging in guns blazing. So, let’s get him back and see what the tribe says."

"If they say no, we’ll take him to a remote Settling with supplies, and he’s on his own, I guess.” Joshua stood up off the wall he’d been leaning on, and went into the room.

“Vernon, I’m Joshua. I know we’ve met before, but I wanted to make it official.” He shook Vernon’s hand. Vernon looked up at him. “We’ve decided to take you home with us for now. Our tribe will have to decide if they are willing to risk you joining us for a while, but we’ll do what we can to help either way.”

“Thank you,” Vernon said, standing and wrapping his arms around Joshua Claiborne with a wince.

The other three men introduced themselves, and they packed up to head home.

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