Reinke Faces Life

“Now see here, Eleven, all you have to do is follow my orders.”

“Yes, sir!” You pompous ass. Of course, I didn’t say that. After all I was only breveted to him for this assignment, then I could get back to counting lab rats, vials of distilled water, or whatever beans they needed counted.

We were signed into the secure facility and escorted to the observation area. I was curious and observant. A lot of red buttons in the observation area and in the observed are. No obvious exits from the observed area and only one entrance / exit from the observation area. Made me wonder who was the lab rat.

“Hi, I’m Kelly. Your narrator for this demonstration”, said a pretty young thing with a big smile. She had the obligatory photo id with lots of colors and letters along the bottom. “This is a demonstration of our new genetically engineered platypus. Its purpose is to infest enemy sewers and explode when needed. Needless to say everything you see here, stays here. Top Secret and all the mumbo jumbo. But then you know all that.” I thought she was very glib. Probably from repetition.

“You’ll see the tank on the other side of me with tubes and connections. For the purposes of this demo, we’re using clear water, but, in the real world, it would be sludge or human waste. Since our platypuses are blind, they are in the designed element. Observe!”

Then in the observed room, something opened and about a dozen “things” shot out and dispersed into the various tubes, tanks, connections. One tank was illuminated in red.

Kelly continued: “The red tank is the bathroom of the target. Let’s say the President of Lower Slobovia. By electronic waves, the brain of the next animal is given the target and released.” Another think opened and out shot a slightly different color animal. “The targeting changes the animals color and everyone he contacts.” Sure enough, every time those creatures bumped into one another, they assumed the new color. 

Almost at random, these things ferreted out the different paths. “We change the maze for every demonstration.” Finally, one reached the red target and popped. All the creatures returned to their original color. 

Then, from the popped creature, a smaller different thing emerged. It was black and had razor teeth as it chewed the carcass. When done, it moved at amazing speed. It attacked every creature it saw making short work of them. Then from the carcass of an early kill, another emerged. 

I could see from the expression on Kelly’s face that this was NOT part of the show. My survival instincts kicked in and I headed for the exit. As I passed thru the door, I looked back. The tank had exploded from all these creatures multiplying. Kelly’s leg was being gnawed and she was hitting one of the many red buttons. She was yelling: “Lock it down.”

Like a guillotine, the door knifed shut as the alarms sounded. I quickly walked out the compound’s exit and back to the car. The guard towers wailed and those gates locked. 

I got into the car and drove away. Never looked back and headed for the airport. I wanted to get back to bean counting where the beans didn’t eat you.

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It was time to strike back. His own personal Fifth of November. He was consumed with grief.

Universal Healthcare they called it. What it was was rationing. And crude rationing at that. Against the old; against the have nots; against those not in power. It evolved into a two tier system. One for the politicians, komisars, and bureaucrats; another for the serfs. He and his wife were serfs.

They had played by the rules working their whole life. They were soulmates. She was diagnosed with a curable cancer, but that’s when rationing killed her. Treatment was expensive and they were old. Paying for it was against the rules. He filed papers, he appealed, he got a lawyer, he bought a politician. He even found the deciding bureaucrat and begged. That to was against the rules. The decider unmasked called the police and Old Serf spent some time in custody. The police beatings were painful. But strangely the other inmates left him alone. Maybe out of pity; more likely for the crazed look in his eyes.

In the end it was to no avail. They were old serfs. No longer useful to the empire. She died and excruciating death. He was with her every step of the way. Now his was alone.

Be careful when you take away everything that civilizes a man.

It was easy. He had met the man that had virtually signed his beloved’s death warrant. So, an example was needed. It would be one small strike at the root. It was oh so easy.

In the library, the government pravdas tracked the decider’s career with the state’s meaningless awards. Most dollars saved by rationing. Most effective “care” region. Biggest growth in organization. New rationing initiatives. What sick joke.

The internet provided the information. Saxon’s poor man series for details. The essays of Jefferson and Paine for inspiration. Directions to the decider’s house.

Gasoline was freely available still; even to serfs.

A printer produce press credentials. He interviewed all the decider’s neighbors as a ersatz local reporter. He knew the decider’s wife and family and schedule. Each workday, the decider would wave goodbye as wife ‘n’ children left for the school. He go back in the house, finish his coffee, and then go to his job killing people. With kindness of course.

So the plan was set.

Be careful when you take away everything that civilizes a man.

The Old Serf had set his affairs in order, given his money to the Old Serfs Charity Fund, prayed to his God for forgiveness, and drove his van to the decider’s house. The decider’s family was just pulling out of the driveway. He gut them off and hit them. He turned and flicked the lighter. Eighty five gallons of gasoline, suitably warmed vaporized, mixed with fertilizer, sprinkled with thermite, exploded. Now TNT would be thousands of times more powerful but it was more than enough. The two vehicles were totally consumed. Siding off melted off the adjacent houses.

He did miscalculate. The decider was knocked down by the blast, received some burns, and was unconscious for his family’s screams. The State press labeled the Old Serf a loon. New laws were passed oppressing the serfs, protecting the privacy of the elite, and propagandizing the masses.

But it was too late. The “spark” from that explosion, helped by the Old Serf’s email to a million of his closest inet “friends”, sowed the seed of rebellion. He was dead, but his beloved wife was avenged. There was the lesson for “deciders”.

Be careful when you take away everything that civilizes a man.

“I know not what course others might take, but for me. Give me Liberty or give me death.”

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July 1, 2022

The postman arrived with his weekly delivery, the censor allowed it thru, and we received you letter. It bore the Forty Two dollar embossing on the tissue paper page and we appreciated the sacrifice you made to send it. The youngsters all marveled over it. We don’t get many letters; yours is the first this year. I had to handle it carefully; it was as thin as an angel’s wing or how we have the deli slice baloney these days. When we can afford it. I know I’m getting old when I remember back to fried baloney sandwiches where the baloney was an inch thick. Anyway, my mind wanders; back to the letter.

Oh how I miss my friends; the family finds it hard to believe that we used to take car trips just for fun to visit each other. That is understandable for they have only known rationed gas which varies always cycling higher from the 2200 $/gallon “government approved” price. When you can get it. Price controls always cause shortages. Most people just went along with the changes. But back to answering your letter.

We all gathered in the living room — me, my wife, the boy, his wife, their four children, the girl, her husband, their three children, and our “assigned guest”. In case you don’t have that stuff up there, our governor created a program where one homeless person was assigned to each house. Our guest is a nice man from Detroit, who used to build cars. We had no choice. If you didn’t take the assignment, they trippled your taxes. At that point, most people would lose their house and become homeless themselves and assigned. So they’d take your house, you’d be able to take only one bag, trucked to an assignment center, “assigned” a minimum of two counties away, and probably never see your family again. There was a lot of uproar about that. Most people just went along with the changes. But, back to answering your letter.

We were just interrupted. The Homeland Police & Drug Enforcement just conducted a house to house search. We all had to go stand outside with the rest of the neighborhood for an hour while they checked our identity cards and went through the house with the drug sniffing and people sniffing dogs. The penalties for non-compliance are severe. You lose your house and can even go to jail. Do you have that up there? Most people just went along with the changes. But, back to answering your letter.

We were sad to hear of your troubles. It’s a shame when youngsters die in far away wars. Your boy was a brave fellow. But then some of the choices we make are not really choices. When they brought back the draft, we knew there would be some breakage. Most people just went along with the changes. But, back to answering your letter.

Well, I am out of space on this page. Heaven knows we can afford to let go to a second page. It’s really a shame that there’s no work, little food, and no Lemons, Ice, Bacon, Englishmuffins, Rasberries, Tuna, Yoohoo, or other stuff. We’ll just have to go along with the changes and sing a little “barbara streisand”.

Regards to all,
You long time friend

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