Sayash believed that his greatest gift in life was that he was a dandy. Because if he hadn’t been, he would have never met his best friend, Lucky.
Chapter 76
Manami knocked on Pascal’s door.
“Mr. Alexander…”
Pascal got up from the bed in surprise, approached the door and without opening them said
“Ma’am… just a moment, to make myself decent.”
He soon entered the living room. He saw that Seneca wasn’t there and that Manami was very anxious.
“Ma’am, what has happened?”
“Mr. Alexander, forgive me, please, for disturbing you. Perhaps you were asleep…”
“I wasn’t…”
“But I have to apologize. To beg your forgiveness…”
“You want to…”
“The two of us have never met. I mean to say… we have, of course, met… but we have never spoken. It is so difficult for me…”
“Why, ma’am? You are too anxious… Sit down, please.”
“No, no… I have to get back to the children. So that they don’t wake up and get scared… They are very scared… And Eir… She feels that something terrible is going on. I just briefly wanted to… while we were alone… before my husband comes… to tell you, to ask you…”
“Please calm down. There is no reason to…”
“I was the one, I told you the horrible news. My words… the words that I said to you… My first real words… and not our courteous greetings… back at our house… are surely the most horrific words that you have ever heard…”
“Yes… it is horrific… it is difficult…”
“I didn’t want it to be… our first conversation… And I know that my husband would have told you the truth in the end, but… you know… Don’t be mad at him, please…. He blames himself… He has never wrestled with anyone like this, like with you… He is completely beside himself…”
“I’m not mad, of course… I…”
“But I listened to everything… I heard everything… the two of you… And I was afraid that when my husband told you about Raul and all your friends… that you would… just as you had reacted… leave… And I thought…” Manami stopped, but didn’t bow her head. “I thought… if I was present… if I was there… if you saw me… that perhaps… perhaps you wouldn’t leave.”
Pascal just looked at her. He didn’t say anything.
“Because you are not a commander… Forgive me, please, you are not capable of such things. Not only war… but everything… the organization… Do you understand? You had Raul… or he had you… You were successful together. A capable man with both feet on the ground and a dreamer. You are the dreamer, sir. And people need dreams. Because nothing else makes sense anymore. Raul is gone. But now there is my husband. He now understands everything. He knows. Just like Raul knew… and your entire wonderful staff. My husband will use all the strength, all the power of Megapolis to safeguard you… To safeguard people’s dreams. I wanted that… I know how difficult it is for you… I know. But stay… stay, please.”
Manami quickly turned around and ran to her quarters.
Chapter 77
When Seneca returned, just before dawn, he found Pascal sitting motionless and alone at the dining room table.
“Mr. Mayor,” said Pascal, raising his head only after Seneca had sat down.
“Erivan appeared on television once more and announced your death, Alexander. Of course, he said that the Inspectorate’s air force crashed your airplane in the ocean.”
“What else did he say? Will he still go to war or is this enough for him?”
“Alexander, Alexander…”
Pascal was silent, looking at his hands resting on the table.
“Raul knew the entire time why you wanted to hold that speech. Why you wanted them to kill you. So that you would be the only victim. Did you really believe that would happen?”
“If Kaella were alive, had the old government remained, perhaps that would have been enough,” Pascal said.
“It wouldn’t have. Nothing can stop your movement now, Alexander. Neither this war nor Erivan will succeed in that. The world will never be the same again. How many sacrifices will this war demand, what will the world look like after it… that I don’t know. And the price is high, Alexander. You felt it today… and I felt it. I will never be the same person again. My conscious bears the burden of your people… and my pilot, Aslan.”
“Please, Mr. Mayor, don’t place such a burden on your soul. During all these months you did for us the maximum that was possible. You asked Raul and me to leave Megapolis. You didn’t order us, your inspectors didn’t force us. And both of us, Raul and I, accepted it as the best solution for Megapolis. And Megapolis was most important to us, Mr. Mayor. It brought us votes, you brought us votes. In any case, it is pointless to now go back to that meeting of ours. At the time we were expecting an assassination attempt on me, and Erivan outsmarted us all. And Kaella… and Xing. You say he also killed his wife and children… He had a wonderful family… and he was a good man… A good president. Xing, he was the right person to be president, not I.”
“That is what I wondered, Alexander… The two of you, Raul and yourself, your first reaction to the high percentages was very strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… you immediately started thinking about Kaella’s possible move. Not at one moment did you consider that the elections would take place and that you would become president. You never saw yourself in Capital City, in the presidential residence?”
“Never. Neither Raul or I. Mr. Mayor, can you imagine me sitting down with Kaella and trying to change the world in small steps? As president Xing had done? He pushed back the first medical exam one year, he subsidized two percent of medical treatment costs… Can you imagine me in that role?”
“I can’t. But what was your goal then? You must have had some concrete goal.”
“Concrete? I don’t know how concrete it is for you, but my goal was to awaken the people, to spread free thinking… And Raul? He was planning on establishing a parallel government… He was convinced that the people’s resistance would increase enough and that Kaella would fall… that the system would simply collapse by itself. But neither of us were interested in the position of Kaella’s president. We entered the presidential race just so that we could have a greater opportunity to spread our ideas.”
“I understand.”
“Tell me, please, how is it that you and Raul decided to sedate me and bring me to this shelter?”
“It wasn’t our decision. Raul demanded it of me. I mean, he didn’t demand… He convinced me.”
“How?”
“The most important thing for Raul was that you are safe until the elections. He believed that you would be safest in Megapolis, but that you had to be isolated and that you should not be allowed out into the street.”
“Actually, for me to be locked up.”
“Yes.”
“As I am.”
“Yes. And that no one should know where you are. Not even your staff, or anyone from my surroundings. Just him and me.”
“Why did he trust you? And why did you agree to it at all, Mr. Mayor?”
“Wouldn’t you trust me, Alexander? Don’t you trust me now? Now, that I have hidden my family here, too?”
“I trust you, I trust you… Forgive me, please.”
“You’re surely wondering why I’ve sheltered my family, when all the other people, all the other families are in jeopardy?”