Beaver2416 (Reviler's Affray) (3 page)

“
You weren’t there! You didn’t see what I saw
!” Beaver said in agitation, quickly wiping his eyes.

“Ok!
Ok
… for the hundredth time,
I believe you
. But, there is no sense pining and sorrowing about it, because there is nothing that you or any of us can do!
We are only rats in a maze … that is all.
” Tim quietly interjected with an older brother-like authority.

Beaver just sighed, knowing what he had said was the truth.

Tim and Beaver were only two people out of an unknown number willing to fight. No amount of sabotage or terrorism carried out by two people could ever stop this evil machine, manufacturing lies and deceit in the name of a false god called
Great Master
. Beaver knew would take a massive army, with hundreds of thousands, if not millions; armed to the hilt; to even begin to
break the back
of the ruling Academy. Tim and Beaver were literally prisoners to the state, without a single hope or glimmer of change.

“I don’t have to like it, though!” Beaver said, trying to get in the last word.

With the sounding of an ear piercing tone, Beaver had succeeded in just that. It was finally the last stop … their stop.

The end of their daily journey always ceased in Westbrook. It was so named after an ancient stream on the outskirts of the prefecture. This is where all of the Select party members live, along with a few Elites who liked the quaint accommodations rather than the Country Club life. Westbrook would seem to many in the former time, like an utopian city. A place with no crime, no violence, and no shouts of anger in the night; where everyone is taken care of and all have enough food and shelter. However, this clean mecca of self-servitude was a very terrible place to live. Unlike the Elites, every aspect of the lives of the Select party members was regimented. It was planned out, like a sadistic itinerary formed by an evil mid-ancient cruise director.

You could not live as you pleased. You are to eat when they told you to. You are to sleep and wake up at their command. Your activities are pre-planned according to your physical skills and body type. You are to go to work, regardless of sickness. You are to go to sleep, regardless if you were tired or not. If you were
brave
or stupid enough to become defiant; mechanized androids would suddenly appear to make you comply or cripple you. Far beyond its façade of clean living and affluence, Westbrook was truly the
new plantation
of the Omni-digital age. Electronic man had enslaved natural man, with only the Elites standing as sadistic taskmasters and slave brokers; pulling the strings behind the curtain.

By the grace of the Academy powers, there were days that were not so regimented. The Academy called them
decisions
. These were days in which free will was tolerated. They were instituted to curb man’s natural ambition and primal need to have freedom. This was their insurance policy to keep uprisings and revolts among the population at bay. As long as the ruling Academy did not push the limits, they would continue to seem benevolent and the people would follow like blind sheep to be slaughtered.

On these times of contemplation, which happened about every 8 Earth days (by measure of the former time); the mechanical sentries and
bouncers
as they were known, were put into a state of suspended animation. (Unless … you were
dumb
enough to attack them.)  On this day, you could decide whether to wake up or not, go into work or not (no one would be there anyway), eat what you wanted to eat, and even travel about. However, you were still forbidden to truly think for yourself. All forms of rebellion and free-thought against the Academy were considered treason. Any form of religion or religious action that was not toward the Great Master was forbidden as treason as well.

To further explain, in the beginnings of the Great Conflict, the Academy scientists and free-thinkers knew the two greatest factors that would kill any effort or hope of dominancy was the threat of
religion
and
patriotism
. They devised a plan to use extreme patriotism for the Academy, to destroy any threat of religious piety or
holy war
.

First, it started with the standard campaigning of doubt and contemplation. The Academy propagandists, flooded the populous with well-planned progscreen advertisements, catchy wave holographia music by the latest of popular glamstars, and electron billboards on the side of each and every trackstreet, hoverway, and groundtube. They had loud, bold colors and were filled iconic lines like:

“Did you know the Bible is hatespeech?”

“Did you know all religion is evil?”

And, the ever-popular, “Did you know all Christians are narrow-minded and bigoted?”

The music that blared upon every Lev-tower had infectious titles like:

“Do it for the Academy”

“Corrupt Christ”

And, the rock anthem, “Did you know? … Holy must go!”

Each one went on to relay, in one way or another; whether it was a paragraph, sentence, or in music form, why all people needed to get rid of their religion for the impending conflict and Academy’s sake. It was so prevalent and overused that it is still mockingly called by the Humbles and the Select party members, (who are alive and can vaguely remember) the “Did you knows.”

After these
did you knows
swept through millions of hearts and minds, they began to open sadistic lines of perverted dialog. Then seemingly overnight, they morphed into the
whys
and
why not’s
. More catchy titles of official Academy propaganda were used. And like before, they accented the need for party compliance, and for religious abandonment.

Titles were used like:

“Why do you let those Christians live your life?”

“Who’s the boss of your life?”

“Do you really need a god?”

And, the tour-de-force en masse “If god is real, why are we living in hell?”

After this set of mental conditioning was strategically bombarded upon the people, the Great Conflict was now in full swing. With the constant barrage of wicked chemistry, hyper weapons decimating entire city blocks, and the pangs of hunger looming; most in desperation, mentally conceded to every anti-religious idea set forth by the propagandists. And with their compliance, they also pledged their allegiance to the Great Master and the Academy powers. Then, like the Hitler youth and SS officers of the mid-ancient times, they rounded-up every nuance of religious paraphernalia, forsook their former ideals and morality, and burned each and every one of them. The ones, who were not willing to conform, were herded and collected like the concentration camps of old. Their children were stolen to be brainwashed, and the adults were murdered with mid-ancient weapons; most at the Arcade, and in the Arena.

This time of widespread surrender (and Abstersion for the non-conformists) was later compiled by the Elitist powers into a high decision day, known as
Great Ember day
. It is ceremonially remembered every span, and is officially cited to be filled with celebration for the
eradication of any knowledge of God.
(Other than the G.M.) However today, only a small handful of Elites, Selects, and Humbles were left that even knew why the Academy held this day in high regard. Tim and Beaver were ones that knew, but only because their parents went underground with several other families, before the Abstersion.

In their days of hiding, they lived in very meager surroundings. They were hidden from the view of the hordes of flying quadra drones and autonomous, roving sentries known as
sleuths.
The reason they were finally discovered was the same as every other hidden, non-conformist. Hunger and the depletion of supplies had brought them one by one to the surface, only to be captured and tortured into revealing their hidden location. Some would crack quickly, hoping to save their lives. However, others had to be broken to the point they literally prayed for death. In either instance, once their enigma was told they would be murdered, and with them those who stood waiting and praying for their safe return.

Upon discovery, Tim and Beaver’s parents were given a treatment like no other before their time. Instead of their blood being spilled with mid-ancient weapons, they were among the first to be infused and indisolved. To explain, the process of infusion was a relatively new thing, invented well after the Abstersion. The Academy Elites demanded something
less messy
after the mass killings, which did not involve the shedding of blood or the use of antiquated weapons. Therefore, the Perpetua Corporation was commissioned for such a task. After a span, they invented with much secrecy the
Dunner
.

A Death stunner, aptly named a Dunner; is a Hand held device that shoots a 2.4 cc poison laced burr-catch up to 1000 quadyards with its telemetry ABDIO-laser guided mechanism. (Active biometric digital input/output) Once it is attached to the target, it infuses its contents into their bloodstream with its microscopic tentacles, even through the thickest of Neo leather. This grave cocktail consists of super-heated and liquefied gases Hexofluroacetone, with a mixture of Flourine-19 and Hydriodic Acid. This conglomeration is so volatile and dangerous to carbon based organisms, that only platinum cladded, mechanized androids called
Synthborgs
are able to create, collect, and package this ammunition of the macabre.  Once a victim was infused, The Dunner then would beep with delight as soon as its task of death was successfully carried out.  Some would be indisolved instantly, some slowly over a day, some a week--the world record was One month Six days and Five hours (by measure of the former time). But death was always inevitable, and with it was total annihilation. 

There would be no trace of your existence. No burial or no bones to be found. The very building blocks of human matter would be accelerated to the point that they would become vapour. This was much like the burning of sugar accelerates into caramel, and then into a blackened lump of charred nothingness, and finally a puff of CO2 gas.  And because of this fact, whether you were indisolved immediately or not, the Academy treated you from that moment on like you were already dead. This period known as
good silence
by the Academy powers, was the same as the mid-ancient Death Row inmates that were given a last meal and perhaps an extinct tobacco cigarette before they were led to die.

Tim and Beaver’s parents were among the first guinea pigs to be tested at the hand of the Dunner. The Acad-troops were alerted to their location, and slowly broke through the bulk-headed iron hatch of the bunker with lodi-explosives. When they entered, they immediately separated the children from the adults, ripping them from the arms of their screaming parents. After the adults were herded into the middle of the bunker, white-coated Academy scientists also entered through the mangled iron hatch. With their various equipment in tow, they were present to simply observe and collect data from their new weapon. With the go-ahead signal from the scientists, several troops forcibly made the screaming youths watch what was to happen next. 

In horror, Beaver watched his mother scream her last, and then fold like an obsolescent accordion; only to disappear as two ticts passed. One by one, they went down their makeshift line infusing each adult in the bunker. Unlike Tim’s parents and the rest of non-conformists that were present; Beaver’s father was not indisolved immediately. He lasted about a quarter of a proc, and kept shouting a phrase incessantly until his last. In that moment, this grouping of forbidden words was etched forever in Beaver’s mind.

“
Jesus is the LORD! Jesus is the LORD! Jesus is the LORD! …
”

He must have said it over two hundred times, before he became vapor. This was one of the only memories that Beaver had of his father.

Whoever this ‘Jesus’ was, he must have been worth dying for--
Beaver always held this hidden thought, closely as possible to himself.

The Academy guards that were present simply stood by and laughed, as Beaver’s father delivered his own eulogy. Beaver noticed with each infusion, the scientists that were watching became increasingly joyful. It made them smile wider each time that someone successfully died. This caused him to think within his infantile mind, that everyone was suddenly going to re-appear with a wave of magic and everything would be alright. However, after several moments of waiting for a miracle, Beaver knew the ugly truth.

After the adults had successfully been indisolved and their test data recorded, Tim and the rest of the children present were herded and taken away to be
reformed
with the techniques of
Love
/
Master
. Beaver however, was groomed and put on display for the Academy. They told him that his parents were
heroes
, and they had died for the righteous cause of the Academy and the Great Master. He was then given the grand celebrity treatment, and taken from holopram to holopram. This campaigning to the masses, was for interviews and countless scripted monologues about the
righteous
and
noble
Academy. There was also numerous photo-ops and appearances at Elitist events, hobnobbing with many Glamstars. In short, he became a poster child for totalitarianism. Besides his own sociopathy, this reason of being a one-time
child star
was a major influence in receiving his workjob at the Perpetua Corporation. This star power was also greatly relied upon to make Timmy2845 an Acad-Propagator at the Archive of Fact.