Chapter 23: Heaven Is A Gated Community

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"Maybe to avoid it in the future, we should try to make a contact with someone who actually knows how to fix androids. There must be some rebel...somewhere...with robotics skills." Bonifaz replies to Archer. He takes a deep breath and crosses his arms over his chest. The room is a little messy now and part of the wall has a hole in it because of the energy blast that Amelia created. It will have to be fixed. Bonifaz starts paging through the phone book for a reliable home repair or remodeling company.

"How was Heikki doing?" Bonifaz asks as he looks through the numbers. He finds one and puts it into his cell phone.

"Oh...and there is some sort of anarchist meeting on the 4th of July in Allwhere, Florida. I was thinking of attending." Bonifaz adds as an after thought. He doesn't care to dwell on the android situation, since he knows he was at fault for it.

[Dinari Dollar]

"The Buddhist guy might do okay. He fought a Yeti and won. I think Yetis are probably pretty strong." Dinari remarks. He watches the fights and it seems like the little socialist guy is the most active and aggressive.

"I don't think that the women will win. They look kind of weak." Dinari adds after observing some more.

It's been a long day! Those fights seem to have lasted forever, but, at least he got to see some interesting animals and eat a couple of hot dogs. This final fight is the most interesting. He wonders what will happen to the winner.

"What do you think should happen to the winner?" Dinari asks Calithin. As they sit there, Dinari flags down another vendor and buys a giant pickle on a stick.

[Kaschei Bessmertny]

The Buddhist rebel moves away from the other fighters. He moves off to the side, but starts shouting something to the crowd. It is barely audible, since he is so far away from everyone and there is so much noise from all of the people in the arena. Only the first few rows would be able to hear him. Even Kaschei can't hear what he has to say from up in the balcony with The Master and some other important Manalists.

For those in the first few rows, the Buddhist rebel calls out and says: "I refuse to fight! I won't be put against other rebels to kill them for your entertainment! I am not your sick entertainment!"
And, in a final act of protest, he uses his own knife on himself, in a grotesque suicide attempt through desanguination. He used it on the carotid artery on his own neck and started bleeding out.

Immediately, some Manalist guards rush over to him, since if they can, they want to save him so that they can be the ones to kill him. He is rushed off out of the arena, leaving only a large blood spot behind. It is uncertain if he died or if the Manalists would save him. All that was known was that only three fighters remained.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

To Cephrien

While Hilja is still sick with Cat Flu, Sasha remains near the arena in Rome. He finally spots Cephrien when he runs by. Sasha quickly follows after him and runs until he is right beside him. Both stand there quietly and watch the fights. The Buddhist rebel just tried to kill himself in front of everyone. He is taken out of the arena by some guards. The socialist fighter Lucio seems to be doing the best in the fight.

"My name is Sasha. You don't know me, but I want to help you if I can." Sasha says to Cephrien. Cephrien might remember him from when he appeared briefly during the fight in Helsinki.

[Lucio De Saldanha]

One of the cooks spills speghetti sauce all over himself, so, his assistants come to take him away so he can get a new apron. That's okay to Lucio, since now he won't have to compete with that one. If he wins, maybe he can bake a pie fit for the king. Lucio waves at the king, and is so happy that all these people showed up to watch the cook off. When he is distracted, the female chef pokes him with her fork. This makes Lucio angry, since it hurts pretty badly, and he won't be able to make a pie if he is hurt. "I'll make a pie fit for a king!!" Lucio says as he lunges towards the female chef. He attacks her numerous times in an angry frenzy. She tries to hit him back, but he is so fast and aggressive, that she starts running from him. Lucio chases after her. When he is close, he tackles her! He pulls her down to the ground and pins her down. He jabs her with the fork numerous times until she doesn't move any more.

[Salome Weil]

I am very frightened when Lucio kills the feminist rebel. I watch him attack her wildly and the poor woman is barely able to defend herself. To make matters worse, the Buddhist rebel attempts to kill himself. Actually, that is looking like a better option right about now.

"Lucio, what are you doing? We can't do this! She was a rebel!!" I call out to him.

He seems like he is crazed or something. But, he is not a bad or violent person. He is just some silly socialist who likes to say strange things. He is just a creative person. Why did he do that?

I watch him carefully, afraid he might actually come after me...

[Lucio De Saldanha]

When the one chef stops moving, Lucio notices Salome. He forgot that she was also in the competition. She is trying to tell him not to continue it. But, she is probably just trying to trick him so that she can win. He wonders what she will make. Probably not a pie. Probably something like...smeetloaf.

"I'll smeetloaf you!!" Lucio shouts back at Salome. He runs over to her and starts attacking her with his fork. She obviously doesn't understand that they are in a contest and he isn't going to stop just because she wants him to.

[Salome Weil]

"Snap out of it! This is real! You are really hurting people!" I reply to him. Then, he comes at me. At first I try to run away, but he gets me in the back with a swipe from his sword. I turn around and try to poke at him with my spear, but I am afraid to hurt him.

"Stop it!! We can come up with a plan or something..." I try to reason with him. I have no plan in mind. What can we do with everyone watching?

[Lucio De Saldanha]

Salome pokes Lucio in the arm with the fork. He is now bleeding and even more upset. She just doesn't understand. She isn't going to win this. Lucio growls and starts throwing himself and the fork at her. He pokes at her violently and relentlessly, with more anger than the feminist.

Her fork is long, but, it isn't as good at poking when he is so close. Eventually, he grabs her and bites her. He hits her with the fork through her stomach.
"I am the Iron Chef!!" He yells at her.

[Salome Weil]

When Lucio gets me in the stomach, I fall to the ground. I yelp in pain and cover the wound with my hand. I drop my spear to my side. I am not a fighter. I shouldn't even be here.

Maybe that is why I was given the lamb tree. Maybe they wanted me to endure this.

"Fine Lucio, if that is how it is, just finish me off!!"

[Lucio De Saldanha]

Lucio hits her hard in the side of her head with the blunt side of his fork. She is spreading strawberry jelly everywhere and Lucio is so happy. Everyone is cheering, since they must have brought bagels! He starts pulling out the jelly and finds that there are some solids too! He throws them around like confetti. After that, he runs around the arena, doing laps and jumping up and down.

Some time later, Salome is carried out of the arena. She isn't moving.

Reality sets in and Lucio remembers...for a moment that it was all just his imagination. But it was a fun little game. He decides that imagination is better than reality and he doesn't want to deal with the real world any more.

Now, it is just Lucio's play land, and today he is a champion.

"I am the champion....yay, the champion!!"

[Salome Weil]

I scream out a little, but feel it is better just to bite my tongue. I remain still and feel warm. Lucio tears at the wound he created, then leaves me.

I pass out soon after that...

My body is carried away by some Manalist guards. I am carried away out of the arena. My body passes Cephrien and Sasha, but I do not see them or know of them, since I am not awake...

[Master Scrag]

When Salome is taken out of the arena, The Master finally stands up to address the large crowd of people in the Colosseum. He steps up to a microphone in the balcony and clears his throat.
"So, we have a winner. Now, I will put his fate into your hands. What should the Manalists do with this winner. Call out your answers and we will vote on them by your cheers." Scrag orders the audience.

The audience may want to see him fight someone else. The audience may want him executed a certain way. It is even possible that the audience wants him to go free. The Master is sure they won't pick that answer though.

The Master stands there and waits for someone from the crowd to stand up and make a proposition concerning the socialist's fate.

[Calithin Crest]

Somehow I didn't think they were actually going to fight each other. I thought... Um... They were going to throw pies or something. Definitely not just start stabbing one another. Since it is so unexpected, this makes the fight much more interesting. I feel rather pleased when Lucio wins, since I thought he would all along. You can tell he has a little crazy in him... And you can't fight crazy.

"I told you he was going to win, Dinari. You can't fight crazy dude."

When Scrag asks for suggestions as to what should happen to the winning rebel, I am a little bit stumped. I think not-dying is a pretty solid reward.

"Maybe... Uh... Let him ride on one of the floats in the parade!"

[Archer Aylmer]

"Heikki is... Um... A trooper. Doing better than your wall. When I left him he seemed... Alive. He's alive. So."

I like being right, but, there's no need to dwell on it. People usually make misinformed decisions, so it is to be expected that when one deals with people one is going to be right in the midst of troubles and inconveniences.

"As for going to an Anarchist meeting... I don't see why not. We may as well. We've infected the Socialists, so, I suppose it's time now to make new contacts."