Onwards

They decided to continue on their journey and experience other communities. Saying goodbye to the people they had met took a while but eventually they got on their way.

This time, Ignatius was fully awake.

Ten kilometers later, the cruiser needed to recharge and it stopped at a station near where the border between where the border between the old State of Utah and the old State of Arizona used to be. They decided to eat at the restaurant nearby. In front, there was a renovated old sign that said SUBWAY.

Was there a subway here? Ignatius asked.

No, that’s the name of a Fiat business that no longer exists. They sold sandwiches and other junk food.

What is ‘junk’ food? Petra asked.

Food that wasn’t good for you. It filled you up but it wasn’t good for you or the Earth.

They both were now obviously confused.

Well, their sandwiches were cheap thanks to the overproduction of red meat. That caused all kinds of problems, starting with unhealthy animals, the stink that the adjacent communities had to put up with, and pollution of the water supplies. Besides the meats, the breads, drinks, and everything else were just fillers good to nobody. On top of it all, the accumulation of power by the whole industry caused all kinds of political corruption.

You might as well be describing the People’s Choice shops in The Bracia. Their food is cheap alright, Petra said.

Yeah, and there are outbreaks of one illness or another on a regular basis, Ignatius said, Come to think of it, it’s always blamed on the local operators. Never thought about the impact they may have on the rest of the world.

The good thing is that eventually they became co-owned, like Perradero, and slowly but surely they ended up serving real food. Kind of like a dedicated big open kitchen.

After eating, as they were walking back to their cruiser, Bayta said, if you want to see something really pretty we can stop at the Grand Canyon Park. That was the first forest I ever saw.

As they drove away, Petra and Ignatius were glued to the scenery which was spectacular. After about an hour, the cruiser entered a rotunda and exited going west. They stayed on that road for about 40 minutes and then came to a stop on top of a ridge on top of a meandering river, below. Petra and Ignatius were completely quiet as they looked into the river and took in the expansiveness of the place. You could almost touch it.

Our family stopped here on the way back from the forest and I’ve never forgotten it. I felt then that I was in touch with infinity. That’s when I first realized that I was truly free and that the only thing standing in the way were other people wanting to impose their will on me. I felt truly grateful for what my parents had done.

They stopped at the nearby forest and stayed there for a while and then decided to go all the way to Flagstaff. As the cruiser approached town it sounded an alert and asked for specific directions. Not sure where to go, Bayta blurted out the university and that seemed to be enough. As they were coming close to the imposing dome,</span> Bayta said, Actually, we need a place to sleep. The cruiser found one and veered off in its direction.

Surprise!

The next morning a new cruiser was waiting for them but they decided to walk to the nearest open kitchen. They found and went up a few steps to find mostly young adults talking and eating. Most of them had their glow on.

They headed for the kitchen and Petra and Bayta grabbed food and walked back out. Ignatius stayed in the kitchen and it looked like he was ready to cook.

As Bayta and Petra were talking a couple of people introduced themselves. Hi, I am Julian and this is Mirna.

Hello. I am Petra and this is Bayta.

Are you from here? asked Mirna.

No, we came down from Hurricane and I am not sure where we are going, said Petra, chuckling.

Hurricane? That’s where The Bracia aggression happened, right? Julian asked. How did you do?

There were seven deaths in all. We didn’t know any of them first hand, but we mourn them all.

I was on The Bracia side at that point, but I wasn’t part of that action, as Petra blurted the words, Julian and Mirna looked surprised.

You are from The Bracia? Julian asked carefully.

Petra and another person escaped The Bracia a day after the fatal aggression.

But we were not part of it. In fact, the deaths made us decide to leave. Petra’s face was bloodshot by now.

Sorry for what you must have gone through, Mirna said, but I take it you didn’t have a choice. Jacob has told us a lot about it.

Is Jacob from The Bracia?

Yes. Evidently, he was sent as a spy. Later they told him to do some terrorist act that he couldn’t do. That’s when he came out and, I guess, defected. Is that the right word?

Can I meet him? Petra said breathlessly.

Julian and Mirna went to get Jacob and Petra went to get Ignatius. Bayta watched as Julian spoke with a skinny fellow and they went and got another young man. They started heading for Bayta and just then Petra and Ignatius showed up.

Hi I am Jacob, said the skinny one.

Hello, I am Clayton, said the other young man.

These are the people I told you about, Mirna said.

Are you three from The Bracia? inquired Jacob.

I am not, but they are.

They shook hands and then they just stood there.

Clayton broke the awkward silence, What are you doing here? I mean, how’d you get here? I mean, I am happy to see you, but I am surprised.

You were not sent by The Bracia, otherwise you would have known the code word, clarified Jacob.

Petra and Ignatius didn’t seem to know what to say, so Bayta jumped in.

They escaped with their whole fighting unit to Hurricane. Unfortunately, the others went back and only Petra and Ignatius remained.

Jacob looked at Clayton momentarily and said, We are not surprised that the others went back. What’s more surprising is that you two stayed.

Ignatius said, We don’t have anybody back there.

Well, I don’t have anybody now. My brother was in my unit but he committed a mortal sin by lying about us. Petra held back the tears as she said that.

Jacob and Clayton were visibly shaken at the mention of the mortal sin. They both stumbled out their condolences.

Bayta, Julian, and Mirna left them alone while the four of them went into an intense conversation.

No Violence!

Bayta turned around at the tap on her shoulder and found herself face to face with all of them.

We have a plan, said Petra matter of factly.

Great. A plan for what?

We know how we can disassemble the violence machine that The Bracia has put together. And we can do it without hurting anybody. It will let people collaborate without fear. Petra said very determined. In the end, it is not a fight to be won. We are going to make a space so our people can do and say what’s in their heart without fear.

They sat down and Bayta listened to them. The discussion went on for quite a long while.

Petra started to get up and said, What about grabbing dinner somewhere? Maybe an open kit… As she was stretching from all that sitting, they felt a rumble. Then the whole place rattled.

Jacob and Clayton looked at each other with concern in their faces. I don’t think that was an earthquake. Clayton said.

They turned on the Anchortron and found themselves facing a cloud of smoke and flying debris where a building had been. The few people who were in the room were all around the scene generated by the Anchortron. Nobody was saying a word. Their glow had turned on automatically, which made the gathering look eerie.

You should stay with us, were the first words out of Jacob.

Where? Are you staying in the same place? Ignatius asked awkwardly.

I think we can all agree this was a Bracia attack. That means they have other people here and they may be hunting for any or all of us. Let’s get away from these folks so if anything happens, nobody else is hurt. As Clayton was saying this, two other scenes of attacks appeared in the Anchortron, one in Tia Juana, a community near where San Diego used to be, and another in the El Paso de Juarez community.</p>

I am going with you.

Jacob and Clayton looked at Ignatius and Petra. They shook their heads in agreement and walked for a long time to reach their camp. They avoided cruises or anything else that could be tracked from a distance.

Action!

The next morning Petra, Ignatius, and Bayta picked up their backups and met Jacob and Clayton in front of the house where they had met. Jacob was driving a really old car.

Whoa! Where did you find this thing? said Ignatius, obviously impressed by the vehicle.

Clayton smiled and said, we stole it from a museum?

Jacob yelled from behind a huge wheel, Actually, we bought it off a woman and her daughter who converted a lot of old gasoline cars but rigged them so they would still sound like they had a combustion engine inside. What we liked the most is that there is no way of tracking this baby through digital means.

Petra, Ignatius, and Bayta got into the back seat.

Put your seatbelt on! exclaimed Jacob

Looking confused, Petra said, My what?

Ignatius was beyond giddy now, Your seatbelt. See? Like this. And he demonstrated how it worked.

I think we are ready to go.

The car made rumbling noises as it got going, but it had the familiar non-combustion ride. They made a couple of stops, but other than that they drove straight to Hurricane. Ignatius even got to drive the car with Jacob’s help.

Returns

A few days later, climbed the hill that Petra, Ignatius, and the others from their fighting unit had used for their escape. But this time they were going into The Bracia domain. Their fighting unit recognized Petra and Ignatius right away and, after a moment of confusion, came to greet them. They were all talking at once and hugging them. And then they were telling them to go back and leave immediately before they were caught. Petra and Ignatius started to tell them what they had learned and their mission was. That’s when the people in their unit noticed that they were covered by a faint glow.

Sarah, from the fighting unit, simply said, Wow! Is that what I think it is?

Yes, was Petra’s response.

Who’s Lamanite is it?, asked Jesus, a young man from the unit.

She’s our friend Bayta. She was born to a community like The Bracia used to be and so she’s been very, very helpful in helping understand what’s going on behind these arbitrary borders the Far made up.

May I jump in?

Of course. And, look, we have nothing against you. Lamanite is just a term we are used to, Sarah said while looking at Jesus. We meant no harm.

All I wanted to say is that there’s some important things that we need to touch on and we should get to it before we have to get back. Looking towards Petra and Ignatius, Bayta said, Go ahead, please.

All of them formed a huddle and Petra and Ignatius started to tell them about the few days they had spent outside The Bracia and what they had learned from interactions with regular people, even kids. There were a lot of questions and cries of bullshit. They even seemed that they were going to break up but after some more talking they reformed the huddle and ended up with lots of hugging and patting each other in the back.

Jesus came up to Bayta and said, My apologies for calling you lamanite. I said carelessly and for that I am sorry. Jesus extended his hand and said, Bayta, I am Jesus, very nice to meet you.

The Vecheka

They were eating when they heard from their drones that three Vecheka officers were approaching.

We expected this to happen. We are going to run to the ridge and you’re going to shoot us.

Sarah started to say, No, we would never…

Ignatius interrupted, Do as Bayta said. You won’t hurt us, the glow will protect us. It can bounce shrapnel and minor stuff like that, but lethal force will cause it to harden and that means that whoever goes down won’t be able to move and has to be dragged to safety. So, please, please, make sure to hit only one of us with lethal force.

With that, Petra, Ignatius, and Bayta took off for the hills. The fighting unit pretended to be confused but finally took their positions and started shooting just as the Vecheka got off their vehicle and walked into the camp. The Vecheka officers jumped immediately into action and started shooting at the retreating figures.

Jesus jumped in front of them to try to distract them, demanding, Please, identify yourselves. But the nearest Vecheka office simply knocked him unconscious. The whole unit had stopped shooting so another pointed his weapon at them and yelled, Keep shooting. When Sarah and the others turned around to retake their positions they saw that two of their friends had gone down and the third was struggling to pull them. One fallen body was dragged behind a rock wall, and, after what seemed like a very long time, the other was being pulled over the ridge.

The officers dusted themselves off and turned their attention to the fighting unit. Get on your knees and pray. This may be the last time you get to do this.

The officers discussed whether to pick up the body behind the rocks, but they decided to do the interrogation first. If the unit was found to be uncorrupted, they would be sent a couple of them up to fetch the body. Better that they do it, just in case the body is booby-trapped with explosives.

With that, two of the officers started to pull each of the fighters from their kneeling position for interrogation while the other watched the rest of the unit. As they were dragging away the third fighter a murmur ran through the unit as they stared up the ridge. The officers followed their gaze and saw whoever had been left behind the rock wall running to the ridge. Whatever else you could say about the Vecheka, they reacted quickly and were about to shoot again when several of their own drones fell on them and knocked them to the ground.

Different Approach

A few days after the incident near Hurricane a few people arrived at the ridge and set up camp up there. A few were hit with hand weapons but didn’t take people down, their glow could bounce lethal force as easily as it could bounce shrapnel.

A whole Vecheka unit occupied the camp and verified that their handheld weapons were ineffective. Then the shelling started and people did go down. And then they would get up and go about their business. Each wave of shelling had the same null effect in human lives at the camp.

The Vecheka declared the camps to be within their domain and the ghetto ready to take prisoners. The shelling came and before the explosions dissipated, the Vecheka went up, behind the local fighting unit, ready to capture the frozen bodies. Except they couldn’t because glowing drones kept them away. The crones came within inches of each of the Vecheka and interfered with the control of their hand-held weapons.

The Vecheka retreated and were angrier than ever.

About three hours later, about 10 new people arrived in the camp. From the appearance, these were the next level bosses. They were briefed with lots of pointing up to the camp. They even ordered a round of shelling to demonstrate how they had no effect on the people, even though they did destroy their equipment. Two of the mucky-mucks stepped into the transport to conference with their bosses about what they had seen.

They came out and talked briefly with the other high officers and these, in turn, spoke to the Vecheka unit commanders. After all that they went to sleep, while a couple of Vecheka stood guard.

The next morning a few other Vecheka units rode up and what had been an 18 people unit was now occupied by a force of 100 Vecheka soldiers, plus the 10 top rankers. And they were ready for a fight. The local fighting unit was kept out of the fight altogether, with two Vecheka officers guarding them. About half of them got outfitted with strange-looking poles, with bulbous heads at their business end. They charged up the hill with the regular Vecheka following.

As they got close to the top of the ridge, the drones came down and the pole handlers easily caused each of them to explode. Evidently, the people up the ridge were prepared and another gaggle of drones came up from behind the climbing Vecheka troops, got up close and personal to them, and basically disabled their weapons. The pole handler froze in place, figuring that having the drones explode right next to their fellow soldiers was not a good idea.

The top brass was frazzled. Part of it was the fact that they’ve been so easily neutralized and part of it was that they were afraid of having to report what happened to their bosses.

Nothing happened for the rest of the day. Then, in the early evening, an autonomous vehicle arrived and bodyguards poured out of it. Finally the Prime stepped out. The Vecheka top brass stood erect with a forced smile on their faces while the rest of their force had a euphoric look on theirs, as if they were in the presence of a supernatural being.

Surrounded by his bodyguards, the Prime spoke with a few of the top rank Vechekas. They made gestures to invite them to eat, but he ignored that, turned around, and walked back to his transport. After the bodyguards got in, it drove away. As the vehicle drove towards the horizon, the top Vechekas announced that tomorrow morning they would have a plan of action, as the Lord of peace himself will inspire and give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you. It sounded overly prescribed, but it had the right effect on the Vecheka who seemed very excited by it. The young people of the local fighting unit looked more skeptical and looked at each other with wide-open eyes and smirks on their faces.

A New Day

The next morning a carrier brought what looked like a hardened Anchortron. After the top Vecheka gathered around it, the Prime appeared via Anchortron with the Far sitting behind him. We have ordered 50 fighting units to reinforce your position. That will give you five thousand uncorrupted people to win this battle against pure evil. We are confident that such a force will overwhelm their tricks and toys. As he closed off, transports were just coming over the horizon towards approaching their site. The first two came to a stop and right after the armed people came out of them, they started to deploy full battle sites. Soon, three other transports arrived and while it followed the same steps and the first two, the last two didn’t. After a few minutes the last two units turned around and left just as soon as they had arrived. The Anchortron came alive again, with a new person who said, due to unexpected circumstances, 200 battle-ready fighters will stay with you, the others have been called to reinforce other locations.

The local fighting people were looking straight ahead and some of them were laughing out loud. As the vecheka turned around to look, they saw a virtual display, Other people are setting up camps all around the borders imposed by The Bracia. Let’s talk, yes? One of the Vecheka commanders yelled into his mobile, I want a wave of shells in the air now. Attack. ATTACK! Predictably, the shells fell on the ridge camp and the display stopped. Then, after the people in the ridge camp could move again, they came online. The same commander was about to bark orders into his mobile again, but the others were protesting and arguing with him. They went into one of the transports and stayed there for a while. When they came out, they tried to look calm and composed, but their fear in their eyes told a different story.

It turned out that the Perradero platform was used to organize the camps around The Bracia. The Perraderos based their technology developed by the Off Surface folks to communicate with their off habitat teams. This had originated from the technology used in the Anchortrons. They put it altogether and added a layer to fend off any attempts to interrupt communications. Basically, the software tissued together people of similar interest. Their original intent was to bring together companies that wanted to financially support projects that they considered worthy. As it turned out, many people wanted The Bracia to stop attacking their neighbor and once they knew how to do it without deploying violence, they organized together as camps all around The Bracia border.

In some of the camps, instead of written messages, they got to project people. I am from Kaibab, from the Benson family. We spent a lot of time at the Temple north of us and nobody has ever stopped from doing so. I was in posits with gentiles and I am now in companies with them and that has never been a problem for us. My sister left the faith, but still lives in town. Over here there are no bosses to force us to do anything. You can talk to anybody in my family, or your relatives in other communities. It had a powerful effect; even the Vecheka were listening attentively.

Falling Apart

As the Vecheka forces were pulled out of the urban centers and assigned to The Bracia borders, they left behind the regular fighting units, but they started to come apart. Conscripted soldiers went back to their homes and the very few Vecheka left were powerless to do anything about it because they were now facing armed people.

The people in command didn’t know how to react, either. They had grown used to a system that depended primarily on people’s fears to get things done. Without the gripping fear, they were lost. Some of the Vecheka were actually surprised that most people didn’t want to live in such a system.

Eventually, after some senseless violence, the most fervent believers headed for the Ox Valley, surrounded by mountains. Rumor has it that on the way there, the Prime killed the Far and then killed himself. Regardless of how that went, what we do know is that the Vecheka commanders split into smaller factions and ended up fighting each other. Alas, eventually that fighting petered out.

To this day, that community in Ox Valley remains very isolated of its own accord.

Onwards

Petra went back to Hurricane and helped her folks there ensemble with others throughout the biosphere. She continues to be an enthusiastic user of the Perradero platform.

Ignatius decided to live with different communities. He left North America a while back, spent time in South of the Sahara, and he is now in Europe. His next presentation is scheduled in Kyiv.

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