1: When the Silence Kills You

Chapter 1

Sentenced to life. My best friend lies in a sleeper prison for doing what I am doing right now - writing about the real American history that the Falconal Faction doesn’t want you to know about. I wish I could pen his name or mine, but I can’t. Oh, dear reader, how I wish I could, but secrecy is a must in this world.

20 years of Reconstruction after the Second Revolutionary war didn’t propel us into that advanced society they promised, did it? It didn’t make us better, and I’d argue we went backwards instead of forwards but who is really dictating history? Who really knows?

Today I ask you, how do you fight a war without guns when all you have is truth? If all history is a filtered version, void of truth, then what is true? I must pen the truth because I have seen remnants of a world much different from our own. A world where freedom reigned, and people could choose their own destiny and make their own way. A world without the Faction.

So, I ask you again, how do you fight a war without guns? How do you defend the ones you love without bullets? In closing, I’d love to share a happy ending with you all, but instead, all I can do is encourage you to keep fighting. It’s far from over.

But tonight, before you go to bed, I want you to ask yourself a question: are you safe? If you do nothing at all, could you live the way you do right now? Could you live in fear of those that want to oppress your voice and demand that you conform to what they want you to believe and do? Will you let them continue to win? So how do you fight a war against a powerful opponent who wants to silence and destroy you into submission? I’ll tell you, my friend. You destroy it from within.

-Lincoln.

Darius scanned the passages he just finished typing while he sat inside a dingy storage room that smelled like wet cardboard. The ceiling lights flickered periodically, but the location was perfect because it was quiet and isolated. The printer continued to spit out pages of the next circular that he would distribute to several newsstands in the middle of the night across the city - Old World communication for New World hopes.

“If it weren’t for you, buddy.” Darius whispered to himself as he thought of Eric asleep in some undisclosed location as a political prisoner in a sleeper prison. He wondered if Eric dreamed and if so, were the dreams good?

He folded and stacked the sheets in bundles, ready for distribution. The progress of the Uprising was slow, but people were listening, reading, and talking.

He looked over at a box on the ground filled with pamphlets of The Maverick where a fine layer of dust formed over them. “Eisenhower.” He said, “who are you?”

He had never met the elusive “Eisenhower” who was the only one of the original Maverick team to escape into hiding. Eisenhower was still writing, keeping The Maverick paper alive from somewhere, rumored to be in the barren lands of New Mexico. Darius collected a copy of The Maverick each time it came out on streets of downtown New York city and had a growing collection of them inside the storage unit where he wrote his own circular, The Independent Nation.

He picked up one of the freshly printed sheets. Simple design of text. The Independent Nation in the center of the page with the subtitle - The Dark Horses graced the front. Inside were two short articles of American history that the Falconal ruling world class tried to erase.

Darius particularly liked the stories of the presidents, and in this circular, he wrote about the “dark horse” presidents starting with James Knox Polk, who came out of nowhere to become the 11th U.S. president. He highlighted the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes on the opposite page, another “dark horse” president who believed that a united local government was key for a united nation in which men were equal and free. As the 19th president, Hayes pushed the American dream of opportunity, obtainable by anyone of any race, social status, or background.

Darius finished stacking the bundles. The timer on his watch chimed, and he tapped the faceplate to turn it off. It was already 6pm and his wife was expecting him home. He ran his hand through his thick, wavy brown hair and then stretched his brawny arms out wide. She was growing suspicious of his coming and goings, and he wondered how much more their marriage could take. It was better for her to think he was having an affair than to know the truth of what he was doing. How much longer could he get away with the excuse of another late night at the office?

He loaded the stacks into the spare tire well under the floorboard of the trunk of his used car and drove home. Arriving at 6:30pm, his wife eyed him from the kitchen as he entered and kissed his daughter’s head. She was finishing up her dinner of lasagna. Robust tomato sauce and the heat from the oven danced in the air and his stomach growled in response.

“Dad, guess what happened at school today.” Lily beamed through a toothy grin.

“Oh, something fun?” He asked, “tell me all about it after I take a quick shower.” He still smelled of dust from the storage room and he could feel the grittiness of it on his face.

“You’re late.” Nora said as she shoved a fork into the overcrowded dish rack.

“I know, I had a lot of work to do.” He said, sounding somber while he smiled at his daughter. “I’m going to take a shower first before I eat.”

She slammed the faucet handle closed, “No, you’re going to talk to me.” She grabbed a towel to dry her hands and then tossed the towel on the counter, hitting the coffee maker. Score 1 for Nora, he thought. Was she already in a sour mood?

He watched her in silence, searching her face for an answer. “There’s another meat shortage.” She blurted out, hand on hips, stern pressed mouth. Yes, she’s mad. “What’s your excuse this time for being late?”

“I’m done.” Lily happily announced cheerfully through a large smile, “do I get a dessert now?”

Nora grinned, “no, you can’t have dessert after every meal, Lily. Sometimes you just don’t get dessert.”

Lily pouted in her seat, “I’m going to ask dad then.”

“No, you will not ask your father for something I just said that you couldn’t have.” Nora retorted sternly. Nora had a stern upbringing and even though she was quite lenient with her own child, there were some things just drilled into her psyche and one of those things was that too many sweets can rot your teeth. That and chocolate was at a premium these days, anyway.

Lily turned to Darius and said, “Dad, mom said I can't have dessert but if you say I can have dessert then well I can have dessert, right?” Apparently she was not ready to give up.

Darius smiled down at her.

“Honey, if mom says no then I’ll have to agree with her. It is not fair to ask one of us for something and then when you get the answer you don’t want, go, and ask the other. I tell you what, tomorrow you can have dessert if you eat all your dinner again, alright?”

“Ok.” She said, hanging her head down.

Darius served a piece of lasagna and sat next to her to eat. He’d skip the shower for now. Nora watched with arms crossed as he continued to ignore her request to talk. He could almost feel her burning that stare into his back.

“But can I tell you what happened today at school?” Lily asked, not noticing her mother’s agitation.

“Sure.” He replied. He took a bite and savored the flavors of tomato sauce and ground beef with the chewy texture of the lasagna.

Lily beamed with delight as she spoke, “today we had a substitute teacher, and all the kids were acting bad. I wasn’t acting bad though, dad because I knew if I acted bad, then I could get in trouble. There were kids laughing and playing when they weren’t supposed to, but I was good and because I was good, I got a gold star.” She lifted her honey brown bangs to reveal a tiny gold star in the middle of her forehead.

“That’s great sweetheart, but why is it on your forehead?” Darius asked in between bites of food. His eyes followed Nora as she put away dishes, stacking plates with loud clanks and slamming the drawers.

“Because that’s where the teacher put it.” Lily exclaimed; her pear-colored green eyes bright with a child’s innocence that he knew would not last for long.

Nora returned with a children’s book featuring a set of smiling faces on the cover. “She’s going to learn about the Great Liberation this semester.” She turned the book over and as she scanned the cover she said, “the teacher’s note says it’s required reading so that students as young as our 6- year-old daughter will learn who delivered the world from starvation and near destruction.”

Was she prolonging the fight she wanted to have? Darius sighed with cynicism, “sounds spectacular. I’m sure there are loads of misinformation in there.”

“What’s misinformation?” Lily asked as she squinted.

Nora glared at him but spoke to Lily. “Alright you, time to get ready for bed.”

“Awe, but I’m not tired yet.” Lily said as she reluctantly obliged. She hugged her dad goodnight and followed her mom up the stairs to her bedroom. Meanwhile, Darius ate quickly. He did not want to fight with Nora, but over the past year, their relationship had become strained. The secret he kept from her was tearing them apart, but there was no way he could tell her he was writing things that could send him to prison. Just like Eric.

Sometimes he battled within himself as if he were even making a difference with the small circulation of The Independent Nation. While others were voicing their opposition to Falconal rule, he preferred to stick to the shadows and remain an anonymous contributor.

“You shouldn’t make comments like that in front of her. You know her teacher asks questions. They all do.” Nora snapped harshly from the staircase. “We need to talk.”

He dried his large hands with the white dish towel and hung it over the lip of the sink.

“I know.” He replied, “but can this wait until tomorrow? I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and I'm pretty tired.”

“No, we need to talk now, Darius.” Nora insisted.

Her light green eyes looked worried, but he couldn’t help but think about the first time he gazed into them and how lovely they were, even when she was mad. Her cheeks turned pink, contrasting with her dove-like complexion.

“Alright, what do you want to talk about then, Nora?” He asked, slouching onto the couch.

His weighty linebacker frame took up a good portion of the couch as the cushion sunk below him. If he was going to fight with her, at least he could do it sitting down. He yawned and as he looked over at her; he knew from her fiery glare that she wasn’t pleased.

“Us, Darius. I don’t understand what is going on with you, but ever since Eric disappeared, you’ve changed. It’s like some part of you went with him and you don’t even spend time with me anymore. You are always working and then when you come home, you’re too tired to even speak to me. I need to know what is going on. I’m your wife, doesn’t that mean anything to you?” She scowled down at him as she stood over him like an upset parent scolding a child.

“It does, Nora. And no, it has nothing to do with Eric. You know I lost my job too, right after everything that happened, and this new job is more demanding than the last one. There’s more expected out of me there. I’m sorry you feel like I’ve pushed you aside-”

“Well, you did, Darius,” she snapped. “How do I know that it really is all about work and not something else?”

The conversation he never wants to have with her was unfolding before him, and there was nothing he could do to stop the freight train in its tracks. It was literally crashing into him as he sat there feeling sheepish and tired.

“How do I know you’re not out there with someone else?” Her tone raised with accusation and then fell at the last word as if she almost didn’t want to voice that question. “You missed the parent-teacher conference today. You said you would be there. It’s important.”

“I’m not seeing anyone. There’s no one else.” Darius said, feeling defeated and defenseless.

“I’m tired of this, Darius. I know you’re lying to me and you’re keeping secrets from me.” Her voice broke with anger and grief.

“Stop it, Nora.” He said abruptly, “I work hard to keep this family going and bust my ass every day. You don’t even have to work. All you have to do is take care of Lily and the house.” He immediately regretted the words as they came out.

He wondered if he were making the situation worse. How could he be civil and deceitful at the same time? At that moment he realized his heart rate was increasing. He needed to smooth out the situation.

“Yeah, well, I called your job today, and they told me you left at 4:30pm yet you didn’t come home until 6:30pm. Where were you?”

She glared at him, but he said nothing. He thought of what kind of lie he could make up, but would she believe he went to a bar for a drink? He hadn’t done that in a year either, despite that, he used it lots of times before and it always seemed to work. Plus, he needed to know where her loyalty was if a revolution was to come. It was time to test his theory on where his wife stood. Time to be dishonest again.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call first, and that I made you worried, but I stopped at the bar with some guys after work.” He finally replied somberly. “I’m sure if you call the bar there will be a record of me there since they did scan my track card for the beer I had.”

Her eyes bore into him now, “Really? And the bartender is just going to search the whole place for you? Darius, you did not tell me where you went.”

She signed and sat down next to him, taking his big, rough hand into her small, tender palms. She looked lovely in her simple buttercream button top and shape hugging blue jeans. Her dark blond hair was lightly curled and hung just past her shoulders. He knew she wouldn’t call the Roxford pub to check his story. She was not one for drama, no matter her suspicions.

Her face relaxed as she asked in a concerned tone, “what were you doing there?”

“They were talking about the Uprising, and I wanted to know what was going on.”

“Darius.” She said. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is? What has gotten into you?”

“Yes, but how could I resist?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, “they were discussing the Second Revolution and you know I love history.”

The Second Revolution ushered in an era of darkness. While flashy gadgets and technology blinded people with fashion and movie stars, the powerful Falconal Faction planted subjects into every important political and social fabric of life. And one day, the Old World came crashing down like a row of dominos in a glorious display of the perfect coup. The people’s ignorance and blind allegiance ushered in the ruling class of the Falconal Faction.

The Falconal ran on a platform of free healthcare, college, and equality for all. However, once they seized power, the ugly truth came out. Darius did not know a world without Falconal propaganda. It was everywhere from the billboard overlooking the highway to the school curriculum.

He gazed at her as she scowled back at him which then turned into a sympathetic smile. It ripped at his heart not to tell her the truth. Every time he lied, he thought for sure she would disbelieve him and leave. He brushed a wayward strand from her face. He could see the cracks in her stoic composure fade as she kissed the back of his hand and then held it in hers.

“Darius, it’s still dangerous to talk about those things, especially in public places like that.” She said tenderly. “I don’t want you to end up like Eric. Doesn’t that scare you? You’ll lose everything, including us.”

“I know, my love but it was important for me to know what people are saying and how they feel about it, so I had to go.” He replied feeling a little relieved that she stopped talking in the ‘mad tone,’ and that his lie seemed to work. “You know they don’t report that stuff in the news. How can I keep my family safe if I don’t stay informed on what is really going on out there?”

“Promise me then that you’ll call first and tell me where you’re going? If the police arrest you, at least I will know why you didn’t come home.” She said, raking her fingers through her hair…. “You know they do not allow people to make phone calls. They go missing and leave their families wondering what happened to them. And then when they find out, it’s too late, and no one knows if they went to a sleeper prison or put into a reeducation camp.”

“I promise, I will call you first next time. Don't worry.” He kissed her lips to seal the deal, and he knew the trust was still there when he felt her hand on his neck. “Nora, what do you think about the Uprising?”

She took a breath, looking into his hazel eyes, “well, I think they’re fighting a lost cause. The Faction owns everything, land, production, agriculture. I don’t see how they plan to win back this country, or even the world. You can’t even walk down the street without being spied on. The lights at the intersections have hidden cameras. Not to mention the fact that there are drones all over the place. They could be hovering over our house right now, and we’d never even know it unless it was so quiet you could hear the hum they make. I think it is dangerous. It’s all very dangerous. Even the thermostat has ears, so us talking about this at home is dangerous too.”

“Yeah, it is. But what there is a chance to rise and take back the country? Could you imagine what freedom feels like? Even our parents didn’t know what freedom felt like.” He said.

He squeezed her hand as he spoke. His eyes searched hers, “that isn’t fair, right? The elite control the world, and that’s not the way it should be. Don’t you even know that the Old World was a democratic republic? That means the people made the laws. The Falconal destroyed everything of the Old World so we wouldn’t remember any of it.”

She scoffed, “I don’t even know what any of that means. And you learned all this by listening to other drunks in a bar?”

“Nora, there used to be a giant statue of a woman named Liberty that was a gift from France to the United States. Liberty was her name because that’s what we once stood for and she stood tall and proud, greeting those that fled their country, into the land of opportunity where one could seize that freedom with both hands.”

“Darius, maybe you should stop going to these bar meetings. Besides, it sounds like drunk talk. None of that is true.”

“Nora, they took it all away from us. They destroyed all the monuments of the Old World. The books, the data, everything that didn’t align with the Falconal vision of the future so that they could create a new system to control us.” He said passionately. Yet he knew without her seeing the truth with her own eyes, she would continue to dwell in the darkness of ignorance.

“Darius, you’re talking crazy right now. Of course, I don’t know that. Where did you get that information from?” She asked. “oh, that’s right, the other drunks at the bar.”

He sighed and said, “But what if it was all true? Would you rather have freedom, or would you rather keep everything the way it is right now?”

He wanted to tell her he was writing The Independent Nation. Couldn’t he trust his wife of 13 years?

She shook her head as she thought about it. Her big blond curls cascaded around her face. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to think about that. I’ve never thought of something different from what we currently have. I don’t even understand what kind of freedom you mean. Is it supposed to be more of something?”

He stared at her for a moment, still holding her hand. She was totally clueless, and there was little he could do without revealing his covert operations. “We can talk about it some other time then.”

She nodded in agreement.

He kissed her again and went upstairs, stopping for a moment to look in on his sleeping princess, tucked into her bed and probably dreaming of unicorns in her bedroom. The situation was a complicated balance of fabrications. In the beginning, he did go to the bar to converse with secret freedom fighters and listen like a fly on a wall for any news on the Uprising. Most were rumors and some seemed to be fictional tales of how the Uprising was making headway in the west, taking over cities in California yet reading or watching the secular news depicted states still controlled by Faction leaders.

He set his alarm to midnight to deliver his circular, he always did so in the middle of the night. So far it worked every time, and he could make his deliveries under the cover of night with no one seeing him. Old World delivery of news.

CP7 Broadcast No 45: beginning of March 2144, unknown recording.

Static filled the airway for a moment, and then a male voice broke through. A deep, melodic voice, like a poet singing a song without a tune. Soothing, calm, and refined. The voice often spoke in parables and delivered to the world, a craving, and a need for something more. A secret station, still accessible through radio frequencies of the Old World. But who was listening?

“Good evening, prisoners.”

“Welcome to another episode, another underground broadcast of the always scrumptious hour of delight, the Jeckal hour. I’m your host, the ever handsome, ever articulate, Dr. Jeckal. Mr. Hyde has the evening off but never fear, fellow prisoner, he’ll return shortly to bring you those candid moments of pleasure that tickle your ears and rub your fancy.”

Pause and then, “where did he go? Why, to fetch more classical delights from a world you do not know - the world of the forgotten. Before we get down to our groove and I unleash a treasure trove of musical taboo from my favorite lost decade, I must relay a few words to my fellow countrymen. May you find comfort in these words and may they restore your spirits.”

He laughed hauntingly and said, “that’s something you don’t have, right? A spirit."

He laughed again at the irony of his joke. The only one in the room and the only eerie voice coming through the radio at the dead of night when most of the world slept, and the bats roamed the skies.

Then his voice became stern. “This comes to you from the most forbidden of them all. Verboten most definitely so listen close. This is a story of 10 lovely ladies.”

He read, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefor, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

A shuffle of papers followed and then music started softly in the background as he spoke again. “Take heed, prisoners and be like the virgins who prepared, for you don’t know the hour but the hour is coming. If you’re listening, then you know exactly what I mean.” His tone changed and so did the message. “And now, I take you up to the rapture of the great Al Green because I don’t know about you, but I’m ‘Tired of Being Alone’. And we’re going to follow that up with some ‘Love and Happiness’. Make you want to do right, make you do wrong.”

The music took over with the husky sensuality of a song cradled in the melody of a gliding male voice. The female trio of the chorus added grace in between the beats of trumpets and grit of a classic rhythm and Blues masterpiece.