Chapter 4: The Opiate of the Masses

[Jumala Keitoleinen]

Keitoleinen returns to Helsinki after a weekend meeting with the Global Bank to discuss Creditor Androids. He heads back to his office, but notices that Linnea is not back yet. This angers him a little, but he tries not to let it bother him. Instead he calls Calithin, who he heard is in Helsinki. He leaves a message that Calithin should stop by sometime if he is in town. Maybe a visit from his son will improve his mood.

[Eun/Aoi Kiriyama]

"You're welcome, Linnea." Eun reply

"Do you want me walk with you to your home or you don't me too?"


(thats okay ;D )

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

After work at Charon's, I head home for a political meeting. Armin, Kasper, Jatta, Rose, and some others are there. We all sit down at the large table in the dining room to discuss some political things or what we can do to organize. Armin is chairing the meeting.

I arrive a little late because of the long day of work and because I had to walk from Charon's home.

I take a seat and try to listen carefully to what Armin or the others have to say.

[Lena Eva Aysel]

There were shouts and screams, the flashes of silver from artificial lights on steel, and the sound of running feet... But they were all distant. Everything was distant, as if she were observing it from a stand in a theater. She knew that she wasn't, though, knew she was in the middle of it.. Her creamy skin various shades of pink and red from blood, her clothes sticky and ruined from it...

Was she not supposed to be a pacifist? Was she not told she was pure of heart? Ingrid's voice echoed in her head. "Survive... You bear the eyes of the wolf... you must bear his soul..." As her blade slid into the belly of another man, moving like a knife through butter, she felt a part of her slipping away forever. A part she could never gain again.

Ingrid and him. This was for them. These people deserved death, or they would take more dear people from those who could not protect them. She felt an insane urge to laugh as she realized she was doing exactly as he had, what she had tried to talk him out of doing. She finally understood. She finally understood all too well.

Lena awoke with a start, her heart pounding and sweat glistening against her skin. She often relived her memories in her sleep, mainly the memory of Ingrid's death and when she finally found clarity. "Oh, Goddesses..." She sighed softly, rubbing her face as the sweat soaked into her skin. She found it strange how she could sweat in her sleep no matter how low she turned the AC of where ever she was staying.

Sitting up, she threw her legs over the side of her bed while glancing at the clock. As usual, her blankets were twisted and half tossed onto the floor. Standing, she paused on her way to her dresser to toss the blankets back onto the bed. Her thin, sleek cell phone rested at the top of her dresser with her two hair clips. They were all colored the same soft pink tone.

Pulling it from the dresser, she turned it on, flipping through her calls and messages. Perhaps she should make a call to the council, see if they had any jobs for her... She hadn't really seen any things that struck her interest to investigate...

[Bambi Engel]

After sorting out the files and getting all that done, Bambi spent the rest of her day with accountant work. It was relaxing to her, and by the end of the day she felt brand new. Which probably meant she'd get close to no sleep that night. Sighing, she stood and grabbed her purse after she got everything shut down for the night.

Heading to her apartment, her eyes darted around as usual, the shouts and noise of the city making her feel jumpy once more. Once in her apartment, she threw her purse down on the couch and sat next to it. Leaning her head against the back of her couch, she closed her eyes and begun to review the events of the day.

[kasper]

Kasper is at the Socialist meeting, he looks pensively at the table with papers strewn about, awaiting Hilja's arrival.

The door opens and Hilja joins the table for discussion. I wait until she is fully seated before barking at her: "Your late again! And I can see by your empty hands that you forgot to bring the granola snacks too!"

[Kaschei Bessmertny]

Kaschei arrives in Havana and starts his search for Machiavelli and Alexei. He imagines they might not be pleased with what has transpired, but, he believes that things will work out. He will form a relationship with Allmart and with time, it will work out well for the both of them. He does regret that maybe he was a little too intimidating to Dinari, but this is something he has a hard time with. In any event, he notices that construction on new hotels has already started. He spends a few hours interviewing people and trying to learn what he can of the rebel movement that was on the island. Hopefully Alexei or Machiavelli learned something concerning the rebels.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

Kasper barks at me for forgetting the granola and I feel horrible! But I've been working all day and I don't even like granola. No one in the party likes it but him. I sigh and look to Rose or Armin, but both are quiet on the issue.

"I'm sorry. I came right from work and didn't have time."

Armin starts the meeting and we discuss what we should try to do at the moment. He says that right now he would like us to try to distribute our secret newspaper. That might at least inform people of an alternative to Manalism and the truth of world events.

Armin assigns Rose, Kasper, and I to work together tonight dropping off a bundle of newspapers at locations across the city. We will have to be very careful of course.

"Do you think you can handle this, Kasper?" I ask him.

[kasper]

"No one has time for me it seems," Kasper whimpers, "but I guess its OK. I know you work hard, and I can't hold that against you." Kasper listens to Armin's assignment and can't help but to feel a little worried. Distributing literature that is anti-manalist has always been a dangerous task.

"No problem Hilja," Kasper tries to fake a brave voice, "we have a duty to inform the world."

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"Oh don't worry Kasper, maybe while we are distributing literature, you'll meet a cute girl!" I encourage him, since he has some troubles in his love life. The meeting goes on for a while, then Armin hands us a stack of papers. I am not sure how we can go about delivering them, but maybe Kasper has some ideas.

"We could divide up the papers between us and put them in sacks. Maybe we could put something else in the sacks so it looks like we are selling something or making a delivery. That way, by simply looking at us, it would appear we are doing nothing wrong...only if the bags were inspected would we find ourselves in trouble. Any thoughts on this matter?" I ask the others.

[kasper]

Kasper agrees with Hilja's suggestion, "Perhaps potato sacks would work?" he says. "If we mix in some real potatoes, the bags will look like they are filled with them!"

Kasper neglects to say that with the potato sacks filled with REAL potatoes, that he will probably not be strong enough to carry more than a half of a bag. He thinks to himself, "Well, at least I probably won't be caught."

Hilja's comment about meeting a cute girl while out making deliveries bounces off of Kasper's ears. He's so used to people poking fun at him for failing with women that he has all but accepted defeat.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

I try to think if three people carrying sacks of potatoes would look abnormal. I am not sure, I guess we could be selling them. I try to think of something less heavy that we could carry. Bricks..no. Rocks..no. Bowling balls..no. "Well, maybe bags of laundry would be lighter and less suspicious. We could hide papers in the clothes so that if the bag is inspected, they would have to shake out the clothes to see the papers. Anyway, it is more plausible that we would all be doing laundry than we would all be selling or buying large sacks of potatoes. Anyway, I have some laundry to do, so it wouldn't really be a lie.."

I really have a hard time with lies, so these things are always a little difficult.

[kasper]

"Laundry bags would be a great idea Hilja!" Kasper exclaims. "It will be light enough for most of us to carry more than one bag too! The only problem is that I already did my laundry two days ago, and I don't have any "dirties" right now."

Kasper thinks a bit more about the situation and says, "Well I guess I could just carry some of YOUR laundry Hilja." And then it dawns on Kasper that he would be carrying around Hilja's dirty underwear. Kasper's face quickly turns pale and contorts into a look of horror.

"But what if I'm caught with YOUR dirty.....umm......errr.....ahh......unmentionables?!?! That would be worse that being caught with a bag of manala pistols!"

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

"Well, just say that you are helping me with my laundry ..and I can just keep those things to my bag. You can have just shirts and pants.. REALLY Kasper." I say and feel a little upset about all of this. But, there is no time for that! I quickly go upstairs and gather my laundry into three bags. We then start tucking papers into the clothes. In about a half an hour, we are ready to drop off papers!

"Ready guys?!" I ask Rose and Kasper. I throw a laundry bag a Kasper and sling one over my shoulder. I am excited to actually do something! Yay!

[kasper]

The laundry bag that Hilja tosses at Kasper just about knocks him over, his weak and scrawny body clutches at the walls to prevent him from falling. Kasper regains his composure and acts as though nothing happened.

"We've got more papers than usual this time." Kasper notices. "Hopefully we can get the word out to a few more people."

As the group begins the quest, Kasper feels the need to boost moral a little and says, "Don't worry guys, there is no way we'll get caught this time!" Kasper forces out a laugh and they begin down the sidewalk.