But when Babe looked at his father he noticed something else. A tattoo behind her right ear. The tattoo was very discrete. Like a chain of barely visible symbols, in a color that was just a shade darker than her skin, arranged in an arch that followed the contour of her ear, which was completely covered in golden star-shaped rivets.
Chapter 30
Pascal was waking up. But he didn’t open his eyes nor did he move any part of his body.
“I won’t move. Let them think I’m not awake. Maybe they’ll talk. Maybe I’ll hear them.” But he didn’t hear anything: no one’s breathing, movement, clothes rustling… nothing.
He recalled Mayor Seneca at the end of the hallway. “He was just standing there, waiting for me to approach him. And I was just thinking about… not revealing myself… for him not to notice, not to suspect anything. And I didn’t pay attention at all… It can’t be! That wasn’t Raul. No, Raul would not join up with Seneca against me. Not only with Seneca, with anyone. Except… to save me from… myself. Raul knows me. He saw… it was clear to him that I actually wanted to die. That I was practically committing suicide. And he didn’t allow it. He saved my life.”
“I really can’t hear anything. Silence. Absolute silence. How long have I been unconscious?” Pascal wondered. “I can’t hear the rotors of a helicopter, airplane engines… I don’t feel any vibrations… shaking. I’m not in a car, in some trunk. Or maybe I am? Just that the vehicle is standing still, that it isn’t moving. Am I still in Megapolis? Or did Raul take me with them? And we might already be there… in one of our cities. Or are we waiting for the airplane to take of? But… this silence… is so absolute. If the vehicle is stationary… it isn’t an airport or a parking lot… no one is passing by… there’s no sound of the wind… no sound at all. No smell. Smell?”
Only then did he realize that he smelled something. Stale, right next to his nostrils. “There is some kind of cover beneath my cheek. I can feel it on my skin. It’s soft… I’m lying on a bed. On my right side. It isn’t the cold floor of some cell. And it’s completely dark. If there was any light I’d see it through my eyelids. I’m sure I would. But the darkness is absolute… Is this a grave?”
Pascal abruptly opened his eyes. And it was as though he hadn’t. The darkness truly was absolute. He pushed himself up on his elbow. He felt a pain in his arm and thought of Raul again.
“Raul, who gives you the right to decide about my life? Who are you to save me from myself? Not even you, Raul, after all these years… the struggle, everything… you don’t understand. Freedom is above everything else. Not only freedom from Kaella. The freedom to live as you want and die as you want. You don’t understand… Don’t get me wrong, I’m not angry at you. Nor at Seneca, or anyone. You can’t learn these thing, that is something you have to be. I would never prevent you from dying, my friend. For any reason. Regardless of whether I knew the reason or not. Regardless of whether I understood your reason or not. I would never in any way limit your freedom. To decide about you instead of you. I’ll explain it to you. You’ll set me free. When you come… to bring me food and water.”
Chapter 31
“Why are you asking me, Babe?” Prince thought to himself. “Talk to my father, let me watch you in peace.”
And he told Babe in front of the camera:
“Well… I wouldn’t… I really wouldn’t want to take valuable time from my father and you. There will be other opportunities for those topics.”
“You know, Miss Babe, my son is very modest,” Mr. Kaella explained. “He never wants to talk about himself and his achievements. Not only in public. He is the same within the family. And he always has been, since he was a child.”
“That is the characteristic of great people, I think, Mr. Kaella.”
“That’s right. That is why I will sing some praise for my son, if you permit.”
“Of course, of course. Please, Mr. Kaella.”
“Through his struggle with the ruthless nature my Prince is saving humanity, while we await the arrival of the ice age. And one day when it comes it will be much milder than ignorant people fear, precisely thanks to the greenhouse effect. It will be like a slightly colder winter from the past. And we will easily adjust to it. Industrial production will turn to making heating appliances instead of cooling appliances. Transportation means will adjust to snow and ice instead of sand and rocks, and there will be countless, I mean countless, other changes and adaptations. And what is the main thing that this new industrial drive will bring?”
“Jobs and preservation of the Balance.”
“Bravo, bravo, Miss Babe. And let someone try and tell me again that beauty and intelligence don’t go together. Of course — the Balance. That is my greatest achievement, the pinnacle of my life.”
“Mr. Kaella, the Balance that you have established in society, which you yourself say is the pinnacle of your life, is such an important topic, the most important topic. I would like to give it more time. Actually, I would like for you to tell us your life’s journey. Please describe how you made it possible of us, people, Consumers, to live peacefully in a balanced community of man.”
“I will. I agree with you, Miss Babe, here…”
“Just one moment, please, Mr. Kaella. I would like to first briefly ask Mr. Prince how he succeeded in protecting people from such a fate, from the forever lost settlements, like the ones that we can see outside the submarine? What is your intention when you selflessly invest, building modern poleis and making it possible for people to resettle?”
“Alright, I’ll answer you. But really shortly. Unfortunately we inherited from our ancestors the greenhouse effect. Due to the climate changes food production and sources of drinking water inevitably relocated. Had food and water have had to be distributed to remote old human settlements under such conditions, it would have caused huge and completely unnecessary additional expenses. The development of modern poleis in the vicinity of food and water will allow people to satisfy their existential needs at the lowest possible price. We live in such a historical time. After the ice age, the mild one, as my father explained, the Earth will be once again become soaked and deserts will become fields, there will be plenty of drinking water throughout the planet. And then, once again, our descendants will be able to build their settlements wherever they want. I am only using basic logic for us to adapt in the most rational manner to the conditions that nature has imposed on us during this period.”
“You are right, Mr. Kaella. Your son is too modest,” said Babe.
“That is what he is like. There’s nothing we can change about it,” the proud father said.
“But we can admire him,” said Babe and nodded slightly, looking at Prince with eyes full of admiration. “And now, Mr. Kaella, I’d like to ask you to describe your life’s journey to our viewers. Before the interview I received countless messages, emails, letters, in which Consumers demand that I ask you this and that, so… and I think that you will answer all these questions if you tell us as many of your memories as possible.”
“Alright, Miss Babe, I will. Well…”
Chapter 32
“As you know, Seneca yesterday prohibited Pascal’s speech. You saw that they dismantled the stage this morning,” Raul explained the newly-created situation to his team.