The much awaited prequel to "A Treble Clef"
![Untitled.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmPuiFiXPph2VBJtB2rJdtfD7Yu9ntp4aFpUeRAMcg7AYq/Untitled.png)
Few days ago I participated in a contest hosted by @f3nix. He found that my submission could be further developed. So here is it guys!! the prequel to a story that crashed in box office. I felt my work so unappreciated I went to @minnowsupport to make up for hours I lost on it. lolz. If you guys like it, please be generous to resteem, upvote and comment in that order. Thank @f3nix for your encouragement and honest feedback. A truly rare thing to come by.
"We're honored to be in presence of Major Lucien Bonaparte, the champion of peace who negotiated a delicate peace treaty bringing together the most tragic of war humanity ever brought upon itself. Before we congratulate ourselves with the niceties of peace-time it becomes prudent to make remedies for preventing something wasteful like this from ever happening again and finally, I urge you to ask who else should work for that future other than the men and women who knew time before war, fought to first prevent it then end it; men and women who know time of prosperity and progress, who else but us? Major Lucien Bonaparte everybody..." Micheal looks at Lucien who has managed to fit half of dry sandwich in his mouth and trying to wash down the viscous sludge with orange juice. Farah drums her spoon and fork on a plate to make most disharmonious beats and chants: "speech! speech! speech!..". Lucien gawks as he swallows the lump with visible difficulty, brushes down his black tuxedo with his hands and stands up. "It would not have been possible without you guys. This is the best team I've ever worked with and this might just the greatest thing we'll ever accomplish. champagne are one me." Lucien prepares to sit down, eyeing his half finished oyster sandwich he fashioned with hotel breads and riff raff he gathered from buffet table. He instinctively turns to the approaching footsteps. It is General Dunst. Lucien salutes the man, awkwardly hitting the chair with his leg in the process. Micheal laughs at the visible pain and regret and surfacing on Lucien's face. Farah cringes a little at the sight. "Gentlemen! ..and lady, if you don't mind I would like to steal your comrade for a while. Lucien! come this way, ..if you can walk." General smirks but controls himself and swiftly turns purposefully and with grace to lead Lucien to the party. Lucien points to his oyster sandwich and mouths: "Don't touch that!" at Micheal and Farah as he walks away with the General.
Lucien come backs to his comrades after few minutes or an hour who seems to be giggling at something but, Lucien seems quite serious when he says: "I've got news guys. They want us to work on a project. same engineering stuff for the government but, this time opposite of weapons.. entertainment systems." Well, is that good or bad news?" Farah queries. "I think it's good news." Lucien replies. "Why don't you tell your face that?" Farah jokes and start to giggle anticipating a laugh from Micheal who now invested in a thought or maybe trains of few. "Government work, huh? what's the catch?" "It's with NSA." Lucien replies. "Perfect!" Micheal replies with sarcasm. "Let's get shitfaced." Farah tries to relieve tension. "Yeah! lets do that and maybe think about this with clear head."
Farah is passed out on couch and Micheal is drunkenly trying to make sure she sleeps on her side. "Dammit. Just let me.. this.. perfect!", Micheal utters nonsense non sarcastically. Lucien walks in with a whiskey on his hand and says: "So what do you think about the project?" "Government.. making entersainment system with NS..A, seems .. seems suspisus don't it?" Micheal replies while he throws a bed sheet over Farah like fishermen their nets. "I say we.. um.. lets talk with clear head." "That's exactly why I am here." Lucien replies sipping his whiskey. "This is only when you are honest to yourself and I need honest answers. You always have trouble walking the grey path and this is something of an extraordinarily thin line." They both walk to the balcony as Lucien continues: "I cannot ask you to do things what you don't believe in but, this is what I believe: The tension of war lives among the people, the militia citizens, the guerilla survivors, spies and opportunists all want to claim bounties in this time of instability and maybe nudge us back to war. How easy was it last time? That's why NSA wants the entertainment system and they will go to someone.. anyone.. and that scares me. I have a plan.. to control the transition. I will take the contract but, you and Farah will have to quit due to creative differences. Start that family you keep planning to add dogs to." "a poodle, a shiba, ..a greyhound" Micheal counts on his fingers. "..then build the immune system." Lucien continues. "every system needs one." "a bulldog, build a what?" Micheal flashes back to reality, his eyes glitters with distant blue light as he processes what he just heard. "Build an immune system. Come to project and we'll detail all the way things can go wrong. Quit. Build the immune system." Lucien explains the steps. "And, how do we reach you? The feedback?" Micheal, a little sentimental but, still rational inquires. "same as before." Lucien, Farah and Micheal used to communicate in the wartime by dumping their biodegradable waste in a bag with messages hidden within in dumpsters marked with big red two sided arrow. "You don't have to do this, man! I mean we just got out of the war." Micheal's sentiments seeps out as he eagerly watches Lucien for a reply knowing in his heart what it's going to be. "I have to. Just like you said back at the party. who else but us? it's either me or the lowest bidder will be in control of whatever NSA is up to. And if there isn't any significant improvement in quality of life, people will be against the treaty. The instability needs to be contained. General Dunst was very clear about that." Lucien hand Micheal a yellow post it. "Who else but us, eh?" Micheal contemplates staring at the scribble on the yellow paper. Lucien leaves him to his thoughts. "You tell Farah. You explain it to her." Micheal shouts out from the balcony to Lucien.
seven years later this happened.
Thanks to you, sincerely. I see that you took me seriously and, moreover, you understood that I try to give all the due and true attention and care to works that are worthy pieces of fiction. I say it would be a pleasure to keep reading you as one day, if we feel like, this contest could become a great ongoing fiction workshop. I hope one of your stories will be awarded by some great curators like the #ocd-resteem team, you deserve it.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by callmecrazy from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.