The Grasshopper (35 page)

“That is why at the camps they
designed state-of-the-art maximally automated and robotized plants
with excellent productivity and the minimal need for human labor.
They trained the most successful specimen of the Super-Consumer to
work and employed them at these plants. The calculation showed that
their appetite for new models could be financially covered only if
they worked sixteen hours per day at these most automated plants.
And they worked.

“The next problem occurred when the
Super-Consumers, having seen the first pieces of the new model on
the assembly line, would jump onto the conveyor, steal the piece
and run around the factory with it, already trying it on. When they
would change, they would see the next piece on the line. They would
again steal it and take off the piece from a minute ago, even
though it was the same model. But this piece was a minute newer.
And so on indefinitely.

“It turned out that the
Super-Consumer was unusable, that their desired passion for
consumption, which the Kaellas had finally developed, at a huge
cost, prevented them from working and earning to satisfy their
super-consumer needs. They shut down the labor camps and killed all
the people.”

“Dreadful.”

“Nothing new, Dr. Palladino. It’s
always the same, all throughout the existence of mankind. All the
Kaellas and the Erivans of this world, regardless of the level of
development of the civilization or its social organization, under
the excuse of expanding its ideology, territory, wealth, power…
they killed with impunity. Killing was always the only goal and
death was the final outcome.

“It was by mere chance that these
historic individuals, who we are familiar with, gained the
oportunity to kill. Had they not killed, someone else would have.
The problem of ordinary people was that they didn’t get the
opportunity. And the problem of those that had the opportunity were
the instruments. They had to use one group of people as the
instrument for killing a different group of people.

“Through history the development of
science and technology changed the structure of the killing
instruments. In each subsequent epoch an increasingly smaller group
of people were needed for killing an increasingly larger other
group.

“This was labeled the increase in
the number of civilian casualties. The need for subjects or
followers was decreasing. The instruments were becoming more
advanced and the killing was simpler.”

Chapter 130

“Well, I don’t know if that’s
great,” Sayash hesitated. “It’s a very large city. I’ll lose
you.”

“No, you won’t, Mr. Sayash, we
promise!”

“We won’t leave your side, or
Lucky’s!” the children shouted out.

“What grade are you anyway?” Sayash
suddenly wondered.

“First, Mr. Sayash,” Larisa
said.

“First? Well then the big city is
out of the question!”

“Why?” they shouted all at
once.

“What do you mean ‘why’? You’re too
small. You don’t even know the alphabet. You’ll need to read all
the signs… you know which ones… and all that…”

“We know how to read!”

“And write, Mr. Sayash!”

“Aha! And how do you know?” Sayash
didn’t believe the children.

“Well, we know. We learned in
preschool,” said Sib.

“Hmm… You have an answer for
everything, don’t you?” Sayash smiled, already giving in to the
children.

“What can we do - we’re smart!”
Ekene smiled.

“Well, even if we didn’t know how
to read, you’ll read the signs for us, Mr. Sayash,” said
Mariam.

“Me?” Sayash was shocked. “Oh,
children, you’re so naïve! You think that when you are as old as
Mr. Sayash you’ll still be able to keep all the letters in your
head. You won’t. They fall out… For example, the letter
L
is
still in my head. I mean, in addition to the letter
S
.
That’s why I named Lucky - Lucky; in case I had to sign our names
somewhere. So that we are not embarrassed…”

“So how would you read the signs in
Megapolis, if you didn’t have us, Mr. Sayash?” Milan
asked.

“I wouldn’t read them. Lucky and I
don’t need that. The two of us aren’t interested in where we are…
or where we’re going. No… we never part…”

“We’ll do the same, Mr. Sayash!
We’ll never part from you and Lucky! We too aren’t interested in
the signs. Here, the letters have already fallen out of my head!”
Flavia said out loud.

“Oh, you’re so nice…” Sayash was
getting soft. “OK, so let’s get going. This is how we’ll do it. Now
listen to me very carefully. I’ll go at the head of the group. You
follow me, in pairs. And hold hands. I’ll hold Lucky in my hands,
but backwards. He won’t look forward but back at you, over my
shoulder. As soon as someone lets go of their pair or leaves the
group, Lucky will whack me with his tail. And if I turn
around…”

“No one will, Mr. Sayash. We’ll be
good. We’ll listen you!” said Nirmala.

“And if someone did let go, Lucky
wouldn’t give us up, would you, Lucky?” asked David, holding Lucky
to his chest.

“You’ve really grown close, haven’t
you?” Sayash smiled.

Chapter 131

“I realized that the end of the
epoch of Humane Capitalism was coming to a close,” said the
Grasshopper. “The appearance of Mr. Alexander and the unstoppable
growth of his movement had shown me that the system would collapse
in my lifetime. And that entire time, up there, above all of us,
the absolute killing instrument has been suspended. And I wondered,
what would Kaella do when the system started to collapse, when he
saw that he was losing? What do you think, Doctor? What would
Kaella have done his last moments, when he realized that there were
no more buyers?”

“I know what you mean.”

“He would think ‘if you’re not my
Consumers, then you have no more reason to live.’ And Kaella would
finally find his excuse to use this absolute weapon.”

“Probably,” Dr. Palladino
agreed.

“Or imagine Prince, sitting in my
place, at the command desk, watching live satellite feeds. Watching
Non-Consumers taking out wads of money and gold bars from the vault
beneath his palace. Or David from his garden, or The Night Watch
from his hallway, or the Mona Lisa from the wall over his bed. What
do you think, which buttons would Prince press at that
moment?”

“All of them.”

“And…”

“Forgive me for interrupting you,
but what happened to all those masterpieces? Erivan demolished the
palace…”

“Yes, he demolished it. And he
tried to build higher colonnades. As though Kaella wouldn’t have
done so, if the construction could support them. Charlie removed
the artwork to a safe place on time. In the underground depots of
Erivan’s squads. I wouldn’t allow anyone to lay a hand on them.
Only I can destroy such beauty.”

Dr. Palladino sighed a deep sigh
and lowered his head.

“Why don’t you light a cigarette,
Doctor? Charlie tells me that you are a heavy smoker.”

“I myself don’t know why,” said Dr.
Palladino, taking out a pack of cigarettes and lighter from his
jacket pocket. “I guess because this is the presidential office.”
He lit the cigarette and took a drag.

“That is how you still perceive
that space? And you’re still sitting in that uncomfortable chair,
as you did on the first day. Why don’t you sit in the armchair?”
the Grasshopper asked.

“I don’t want to.” Dr. Palladino
took a small silver dish from the stylish dresser and sat back in
his chair. He lay the dish in his lap and put his ashes in
it.

“May I continue, Doctor?” the
Grasshopper asked.

“Yes, yes… of course…”

“Thank you. Consider any ruler in
history who lost the war. And at the ends of the epochs every ruler
lost it. Imagine the enemy capturing his castle or city, his
residence… and he’s sitting at this table. What would the ruler do?
Any of them?”

“The same. They would all do the
same.”

“And don’t you think that the
Kaellas were aware the entire time of the weapon that they had at
their disposal? Their last interview reminded me of that. Did you
watch it?”

“I didn’t.”

“Kaella said that he had reduced
the State’s expenses by merging the army and police into a single
organization – the Inspectorate. And he didn’t merge them. He
abolished the military, in the classical sense. The inspectors
spent their entire time searching people’s apartments and
preventing petty crimes. Or they would stifle an uprising or
protest. That is why he stopped producing weapons. He produced
minimal quantities, and only conventional weapons. Why? Because he
knew that no one could do anything to him, that he could ultimately
come and sit down at this table.”

“You’re right. It all fits. They
were aware of what they had in their hands.”

“Exactly. Just like all rulers, the
Kaellas lived in their own world. And that’s why they didn’t sense
the threat on time. That is why they allowed the unintelligent but
wily Erivan to mislead them and outmaneuver them. And I clearly saw
the course of events and the end of civilization. The destruction
of the planet. And I wondered, why would the Kaellas have to do
that? Why wouldn’t I do that?”

“Because you didn’t want to be
their victim? Because that would be an insult to your
intellect?”

“No, because I wanted to be the
executioner. Because I wanted to lower the curtain. And I will be a
victim. I told you that I would kill all life. And as you can see,
I too am alive.”

“Unfortunately.”

Chapter 132

“In that largest city in the
world…” Sayash told the children sitting around him, during one of
the breaks on their voyage.

“Megapolis,” Hideaki reminded
him.

“Yes… there are many
streets…”

“We know that!” the children
shouted.

“Pssst! You’ll wake Lucky!” Sayash
hushed them.

Lucky was lying on his back in
Sayash’s lap, and Sayash was stroking his stomach.

“Well, you know that…” Sayash
continued with a whisper. “But you don’t know what there is in
those streets.”

“We know that too.
Shops…

“Monuments…”

“Advertisements…”

“Cars…”

“Stoplights…”

“Newsstands…”

“Crosswalks…”

“Cafes…” the children went
on.

“Yes, yes… there is all that. But
that’s not important.”

“I know what’s important, Mr.
Sayash,” said Zita.

“What?” Sayash asked.

“There are many
dumpsters.”

“Bravo, Zita!” Sayash shouted out,
waking Lucky, who was on his feet in an instant. Sayash immediately
took him in his arms and stroked him with one finger between the
ears.

“I’m sorry, Lucky. Please forgive
me. But they made me so happy! These children of ours are really
smart.”

Lucky looked at the children and
wagged his tail. It seemed that he wasn’t angry at all.

“Mr. Sayash will change your
clothes. We’ll find all kinds of things in those dumpsters. You’ll
take off those stained shirts. What class did you have before the
fieldtrip? Art, wasn’t it? You got it all over your shirts. And all
of you the same color. What kind of art is it if they give you only
one color? I have a bone to pick with your teacher when we get back
from the fieldtrip. Hmm, art with only one color… although it is
bright red… but still…” Sayash wouldn’t stop bickering.

Chapter 133

Seneca had spent the previous night
in the shelter with his wife, for the first time since the
beginning of the war. The following morning Pascal didn’t come to
breakfast.

“Sir, breakfast!” Manami said
loudly, standing in front of the door to Pascal’s
quarters.

“I won’t be having breakfast!”
Pascal said from behind the closed door.

“Why?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Alright, sir, as you wish. Peter,
you’ll have two eggs, right?”

*****

“Sir, lunch!” Manami said loudly,
standing in front of the door to Pascal’s quarters.

“I won’t be having lunch!” Pascal
said from behind the closed door.

“Why?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Alright, sir, as you wish. Peter,
help Eir get into the chair.”

*****

“Sir, dinner!” Manami said loudly,
standing in front of the door to Pascal’s quarters.

“I won’t be having dinner!” Pascal
said from behind the closed door.

“Why?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Sir, you haven’t eaten anything
today. Are you ill?