Chapter 17: The Season for Taking

[Dinari Dollar]

"Oh, it won't take long, maybe 20 minutes." Dinari replies. They talk along the way and like Dinari said, they arrive at the airport about 20 minutes later. There, waiting for him is the Allmart jet he took to get to London in the first place. It is blue and yellow with a smiley face on it. Dinari is greeted by the pilot and notices that he has yet another message from the Moderator. He doesn't check it though until they have already taken off and are on their way to the great American Wasteland. (moving things along...)

.....

Hours later they arrive over the former United States. There isn't that much to see, but their first part of the tour is flying over the Great Wall. The Wall was built to keep Mexican immigrants out of the country. There are areas in the wall now that are, of course, in disrepair. There are holes and parts that have crumbled. The wall is seen pretty easily from above.
As Dinari looks down at the wall, he talks to Momo and Max about his earlier message from The Moderator.
"There's going to be a birthday party for Annette Rosenthal. Do you guys want to go?" He asks them.

[Yasmin Seyyedi]

Yasmin almost jump when someone ask her a question. She slowly turn around and saw a young woman. Before she could reply, a man appear.

"They're like bugs....They appear out of nowhere....." Yasmin thought to herself. Yasmin felt little mad when Hilja says that she look 'cute'.

"He let me stay here for a few days......" Yasmin answer. "The one who like Tang......"

[Heikki Toivonen]

As soon as Tristan is distracted by Linnea, Heikki gets back into the van and the driver pulls away. They get out of there pretty quickly, but not so quickly as to be suspicious. After all, they could have been delivering flowers. Tristan will never know. Once they are a safe distance away and it appears clear that they are not being followed, Heikki breathes a sigh of relief.

"That wasn't so bad." He remarks to Zindy. "Anyway, no I don't usually do a lot of this kind of stuff. I am just helping out Bonifaz...he's with Null. I take it that...you must be with another group though." Heikki assumes.

[Annette Rosenthal]

Annette wakes up and attends a couple more meetings in Helsinki before taking the teleportation booth back to Switzerland. She tries not to think about the conversation with her Creditor android. She knows that she is getting older. What's worse, her birthday is in three days. She hopes that no one remembers. "They never remembered before. I shouldn't have to worry." Annette says under her breath as she arrives back at Global Bank. Everyone seems extra nice to her today. She isn't sure why. She doesn't like it. She bites her thin, wrinkled lip as she heads up to her office.

[Lucio De Saldanha]

Lucio looks all around the house for Armin or Hilja. Finally, he wanders back downstairs to see that Hilja is in the kitchen and that she has already discovered the guest. "This is Yasmine. She's just an orphan. I'm going to let her stay in the basement for a few days." Lucio says of the little girl.
He sees that some of the tang is missing. He pours himself a glass and looks at the little girl. "How you doing, squirt? Do you wanna play a game?"

[Malak Al-Dabaran]

Malak spends his days working hard, preparing for the rebel conference which will take place in just a few weeks. He has reserved rooms at hostels, since that is inexpensive, and most of the rebels do not have money. The event itself will be in the meeting room of Socialist Revolution's London office. The office is actually in the basement of a worn down school. The small party rents the caffeteria and downstairs offices, while above it is low income apartments that were at one time classrooms. Because of this set up, the authorities have not yet located the office.

Things are busy. One of the offices is being used to print the new rebel newspaper Rebel Action. Malak has been writing for that as well. In the past few weeks, he has only gotten a few hours of sleep as he prepares for the big event.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"I see. Well, nice to meet you Yasmine. I actually used to work at an orphanage in Helsinki here. We got...lots of kids from all over the world. But, we were short on funding so I got...laid off." I explain to the girl. "I'm sorry that you are alone and homeless. If you like, you can stay here. Do you know how to read?" I ask her.

I turn to Lucio and give a smile. I also notice that we got our new issue of Rebel Action. I pick it up and start reading it.


While Hilja is reading the issue of Rebel Action, her male counterpart, Sasha, is in London, looking for the office of Socialist Revolution. It is hard to find. He can't ask anyone. So, he just walks around London, looking for any clue and feeling a little lost. He feels out of place. People actually seem trendy and fashionable there. He feels poor and out of date. He is wearing the same clothes that he was buried in back in the earlier part of the 1900s. It is just a plain black suit, but not one that looks like a modern business suit. It looks a little plainer, a little more drab... and old fashioned. It also looks hand sewn and has thinner material.

[Max Alexander]

Max was staring out the window at the once great American Empire when Dinari broke his many thoughts.

"Yea i will probably end up attending. For appearance sakes, you know. And i might talk to the moderator about setting up some satellites. We will see how it all pans out i suppose."

Max sips some rum and coke before staring out the window again.

"So where is our destination?"

[Dinari Dollar]

"Well, I just thought you guys wanted to check out America. There's no real destination. I guess when we are done, we can stop in Allwhere for a while. I don't think you guys have seen Allwhere. It is a great city!" Dinari says of the city he built himself. The city that is the only, real functioning city in the former United States. They spend some time looking over the wastes of America, but it starts to get dark. The sun sets and all that can be seen below are the campfires of camps of rebels, poor people, and the mentally ill. The rough communities of needful people that remain in the United States. Even Dinari feels a little depressed by it.

Sometime later they arrive in Allwhere, which in contrast to the rest of America, is clean and uniform. It is like an endless suburb of rambler houses of similar size, shape and color. The only businesses are those run by Allmart. People dress like they are from the 1950s. That's Allwhere.

[John Sweet]

John had gotten used to being snuck up on. So, when Master Scrag appeared behind him, it wasn't very horrifying. Definitely surprising on a small level, but far from the horrifying feeling he had always gotten before when Scrag had done it.

"Yeah, maybe just getting a new accounting book for the old woman," John said as he set the book back down. "The woman's may be older than dirt, but I have the feeling that she's not going to die anytime soon."

[Dr. Lonnrot Kukkanen]

My own sister must have forgotten that I was here! As disturbing as the thought was, I ignore it and walk into the same room as my sister, where she has a pot on the stove.

"You do realize that you can get serious time for even reading stuff like that," Lon said as he took a seat.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"I don't get much time to read it. Maybe a little in the evening after work." I reply to my brother. "It's good though. There are some good articles." I state and hand him the paper. "Take a look for yourself."

"What have you been up to?"


*****
Meanwhile, Sasha finds a copy of Rebel Action on the doorstep of a home. He wonders who put it there. He waits and watches from the alley. If someone picks up the copy of the newspaper, he will approach them and try to find out where it came from or where it is being made. He stands there, patiently watching.

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

"Oh? Well that's okay. I'm sure she'll like roses. Since you don't know her though, it might be best not to give her red roses. Red is romantic. Pink or purple is probably most polite." Ophelia told him, stopping in front of the rose bushes and looking back and forth between the pink and purple. "Hmm, how about pink? It's a festive feminine color.."

Ophelia couldn't help her mind from wandering from the task at hand.. She had to go to Helinski to deliver the red carnations.. and she had to take one of those out-of-date teleportbooth death traps to get there. She always kept her rosary tucked in her bra next to her heart when she took one of those. It was in there now in fact.. But the cross was dangling out of her bra tickling her sternum underneath her shirt. She wanted to adjust it,badly, but thought it might cause an awkward moment if she reached down her shirt to put it back in.. Not to mention make her look suspicious.. Perspiration had already formed underneath her bangs from her nerves, worrying the cross might somehow fall from her shirt.

[Master Scrag]

"They're having a little party on behalf of Annette. I detest social gatherings, so I want you to attend on my behalf. Though, that means that I will need to give some sort of gift on behalf of the Manalists." Scrag replies to John. He sighs and thinks about what kind of gift he could give that woman. "How about a slave. i want you to go to the market and find a nice servant for that woman."

"If you can't find a human to buy, just abduct one from the street. Maybe a nice young women who doesn't look like she'll put up much of a fight." Scrag decides. He nods. "Attend the party and give her a servant. That is what I want. If you do this, you will maintain the favor of the Master. And perhaps...maybe one day you will be THE MASTER."

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

filler post so I can close this thread...