No More Learning

„Look at this enormous room! It had already been built in the

good old times. Really impressing! ", whispered Alfred.

"Yes, a very big hall below the earth. Like the old „Moria" in

that film. Just smaller. . . ", said Frank.

„Moria? ", asked Baumer and was puzzled. „What do you

mean with that? "

„Well, there is an old fantasy film. My father had once

brought me a video tape, when I was still a little boy. It was

called „The Lord of the Rings". In that movie, the heroes had

to pass an underground labyrinth too - and it was called

„Moria". An giant underground city, built by the dwarves in

the ancient times of Middle-earth. . . ", described Kohlhaas. „l

really loved that film! "

„You are a dwarf too, ha, ha! ", answered Alf and smiled.

„Where are we here? "

A look at the map seemed to be necessary now. Probably

the steel door at the end of the vault led into a bigger area,

from where the men could reach the "Avenue of Humanity".

J hope that there will be no workers of the public utilities",

whispered Alfred. It was already after five o'clock in the

morning. „We must hurry up! "

"Maybe the workers are more often here, than in the areas

behind us", answered Frank quietly.



150



The steel door was secured with a digital code lock. Apart
from that, the door looked old and was strongly rusted. The
dark green paint on its surface had already peeled. Alfred
started working immediately. He used his blowtorch, but the
door was very solid.

Baumer had to destroy a big part of the lock and needed
nearly half an hour to open it. Meanwhile, Frank looked
nervously around and hoped that nobody would disturb
them.

Finally, the steel door opened with a quiet crunch and the
two assassins came into another room, which was equipped
with some shelves and an electronic control desk. The old
desk reminded them of the seventies of the last century,
because of its design. It was a true relict of technology.
Soon after, they left the area over some stone stairs and
sneaked over a way with deep water reservoirs at the sides.
Finally they disappeared again in one of the sewer tunnels,
because Frank believed, that he had found this passage on
HOK's map. Alf marked the way and they continued with
their search.

„The "Avenue of Humanity" is no longer far! ", called
Kohlhaas and disappeared into another dark hole.
They walked about hundred meters straightforward and
turned then to the left into a further sewer corridor. Again, it
was one of the bigger tunnels, because a small river rushed
beside them here. Now they saw numerous cables, rusty
lamps, old pipes and also a faded sign with some warnings.
A little later, both men stood in front of the next grid, which
blocked their way. Alfred's blowtorch cut through the rusty
metal and he threw a glowing piece of the grid into the
water. After further hundred meters, a rat swarm, which had
probably held a meeting here, fled from the blaze of their
flashlights in all directions. Then the old brick ceilings



151



became higher and they reached a hall with an enormous
water pump and a large basin in its center.
While the two rebels felt safe in the narrow and dark sewer
corridors, which led through the underground of Paris, they
had the impression of being observed in the larger rooms
and halls.

Here they could have encountered another derelict or a
worker of the public utilities. But it was still very early in the
morning and nobody, except for the two rebels, seemed to
be here. From a distance, they suddenly heard the
thundering of an arriving metro. That was a good sign.
„Charles de Gaulle! ", whispered Frank and leaned against a
large, gray column. „lt must be the underground station
Charles de Gaulle. It is close to the "Temple of Tolerance".
We have almost reached our goal! "

The two men looked at the map again, then they climbed
down an iron ladder and disappeared into a larger tunnel,
which led them towards the source of noise. The way
through this passage was long, monotonous and stinky. It
seemed to lead many hundred meters into nothing. Frank
reassured Alf that it was no longer far.
Only one last sewer corridor had to be passed now. Then
they would be directly below the square, that had once been
decorated by the Arc de Triomphe. Again, they heard the
noise of a metro, speeding through the earth. The two
rebels had crept through the guts of Paris with success.
Frank and Alf were proud.

Beside them, a rusty ladder led upward to a dirty gully
cover, where armies of black spiders were waiting for them,
as a closer look proved. A little later it was done. The
"Temple of Tolerance" was directly above their heads. Cars
were humming and honking on the heavily travelled street,
and they heard some people shout. Paris awoke.



152



Now it was time to disappear. Frank jumped up the ladder

like a cat, climbed upward and lifted the gully cover to look

over the square. Frank smiled grimly. They had finally made

their way through the canalization - it was possible!

From the corner of his eye Kohlhaas could recognize an

outside wall of the ugly concrete monument, that looked like

a huge pyramid.

"We have arrived! Great! ", said Frank joyfully and climbed

down the ladder again.

"Over there! Look! About thirty meters away from me! "

Alfred pointed at the darkness of the sewer corridor next to

him. "We will place the bomb there and send Wechsler to

hell! The explosion will be strong enough to tear up a big

part of the square in front of the monument! "

"Yes! We will fucking do that! ", muttered Frank with a

poisonous smile.

"And now we have to move our asses out of this

canalization! ", he added and both men headed back. With

growing internal confidence and contentment, the two rebels

slunk off.

Occasionally, Frank had to study some construction plans

again, but mostly his sense of direction was right. The red

crosses, Alfred had sprayed on the walls, were a good

additional help. Perfectly tired, stinky and filthy, they finally

crept out of the sewer tunnel next to the abandoned factory

hall in the early morning hours. Soon they would spend

many hours in the canalization again.

On their way back to the hotel, at dawn, no one noticed

them. Indeed their clothes were dirty, but this was not

unusual in Paris. There were a lot of filthy guys in the

streets of this metropolis. A warm hotel room was waiting for

them and it was silent on the unlit floor. They just closed the

door behind them and looked forward to a hot shower.

Frank and Alf had no longer had this luxury since years, and



153



both enjoyed the water, washing all the dirt and the stench
away from their bodies. Then they quickly fell asleep. Soon
the great day would come. The day of bloody revenge. And
Frank looked forward to his payback. . .



154



The Lull before the Storm



Frank and Alfred left the small hotel . . Sunflower" in the

following days always alternating, in order to buy some food

in the nearby supermarkets. They never ate in the small

dining room of the hotel together with the other guests and

avoided every contact to them. Only in their hotel room, they

took their meals, which were usually produced by the

"Globe Food" grocery chain.

The television was on, all day long, and overwhelmed them

with dull entertainment and repetitions of old movies,

interrupted by the hourly news. In this context, it was

interesting to see, how the World Government dealt with the

renegade state of Japan. At an interval of a few hours, the

newest reports came over the air.

Japanese were interviewed, who allegedly had left the

country, . . before Matsumotos firing squads could execute

them", because they had fought for . . world peace" and

"freedom". Ron Baldwin, the not very trustworthy looking

advisor of puppet governor Ikeda, who had also been blown

off the country, appeared in nearly each newscast.

He whined and stressed his . . great sorrows about the new

Japan", that he had learned to love soo much, since he had

come to the island in 2020, as a manager of the Greenbaum

Brothers Bank

He tried to look dismayed and affected to convince even the

ignorant viewers. Nevertheless, it was his job to lie in front

of the telecameras and he seemed to be eager to play his

role.

Eight great warships had been sent to the eastern seas of

Japan by the GCF high command, in order to observe the

situation. Furthermore, the World President had demanded



155



an ultimatum to the island people. They had to return to the

World Union until the end of the month.

"Otherwise, unpleasant consequences for the Matsumoto

regime could follow! ", he threatened on television.

The media concealed that the new president of Japan had

come to power by the will of his people. He had been voted

by over eighty percent of the Japanese population.

Meanwhile, the Japanese had abolished any further

elections, and Matsumoto called democracy a "giant play of

mass manipulation".

Moreover, the new president controlled himself and let all

representatives and ambassadors of the World Government

leave the country. And Matsumoto did not lay a finger on

them.

However, during the rebellion it had come to spontaneous

lynchings by the furious people. Some Japanese had just

taken revenge on those persons, who had exploited them

for many years and had destroyed their country. The most

"global parasites", as many Japanese called them, had

been killed in Tokyo and Osaka.

But the "fascist Matsumoto" was responsible for all this, in

the eyes of the international media. Therefore, they

unleashed a furious hate campaign against the rebellious

Asians. Soon after, it changed to an irate and hysterical

choir of slander and lies. A military intervention, however,

was "currently not planned", according to the words of the

World President. The newscasters tried to calm the viewers,

but the whole thing smelled like war.

„We will see! ", thought Frank.

„Now in your KCN-Shop! Call 070023456 and get him!
Sergeant Powers, your supersoldier! He fights them all,
yeah! ", resounded a pithy voice out of the television. A hand
was waving with an action figure - Sergeant Powers.



156



. . Terrorists, fascists, evil people! Sergeant Powers finishes

them all! Get your Sergeant now and annihilate the evil

forces! Only 19. 95 Globes, here in your KCN-Shop or in

every toyshop, yeah! ", it came out of the tube.

Then the voice kindly told the kids, that they could borrow

some money at the "KCN Bank for Children", if their parents

would not have the Globes for Sergeant Powers. But only

for children, who were already six years old.

„Oh, shit! ", sighed Alf. . . Turn it off! "

„ln a few minutes, I want to watch "The Little Whisperer" on

KCN. I always wanted to have a look at this brainwash

show for children. "

. . Please not. . . ", answered Baumer disgustedly.

Shortly afterwards, KCN (Kid Control Network), the biggest

telestation for children worldwide, started its famous show,

called "The Little Whisperer".

Some years ago, KCN had started the series. Meanwhile, it

had mutated to a blockbuster, which was also watched by

the adult population and had extremely high viewing figures.

Nevertheless, the actual target audience of the telecast was

the younger generation. Since some time, the absurd show

could be watched in innumerable languages and on all

continents.

Frank and thereafter also Alf, who could not successfully

hide himself from the acoustic irradiation of the television,

stared eagerly, and at the same time distastefully, at the

screen: Now it was time for „The Little Whisperer"!

A slimy presenter with flashing white teeth and an also

flashing white suit, opened the show and the audience of

little children cheered loudly.

„Hey, kids! Tm Funny Paul! Who of are you? ", he called

ecstatically.

"We are the kids! ", roared the children and raved with great

enthusiasm.



157



Every show of "The Little Whisperer" started in that manner.
This was the German version, which could also be received
here in Paris, together with approximately 700 other TV
shows from all over the world. The camera swivelled around
and showed alternating children of different nationalities.
The „One-World" - on television it was cute at first sight.
Then, all candidates of today's show were presented: The
little Tina from Bitterfeld, Tommy from Hamburg, Robin from
Bremen, Gulay from Bochum, Kim Song from somewhere
else. . .
Anyhow, the children screamed full of joy and Alf moaned:
„Turn it off! Please! "

But Frank remained hard. At least, he just wanted to watch
one show of the series, the two policemen had talked about,
when they had transported him to "Big Eye" at that time.
After a while, the presenter called for the little Tina, a sweet
blondie with braids and a cunning smile.
"You know, Tina, officer Bark and I must always pay
attention that people say no bad things about our World
President. Therefore, we also need the many children here
to help us. You have told us last week, that your papa has
said something very bad about our uncle World President.
And you want to win your pony today, right? ", said the
presenter and grinned .

"Yes, please, Funny Paul! ", begged the little Tina and cast
up her nice blue eyes.

„lf you have caught your daddy, making a very bad
statement, then officer Bark and I are more than proud of
you, because you have really helped us", whispered Funny
Paul and turned to the audience. „Now, Tina will tell all
these very bad words to our friend! And who is our friend? "
„The big Eeeeaaarrr! ", screamed the children and stamped
their applause.



158



A big ear of plastic was brought on the stage and the small

Tina uncertainly looked at it.

„Okay, Tina! The big ear is your friend, you can tell

everything! ", said the presenter to the little girl.

J. . . I will do. . . ", said Tina and smiled bashfully. J will tell

everything! ".

Then she whispered to the big plastic ear: „Daddy has said,

the uncle World President is. . . ehmm. . . a swine and the

World President. . . ehmmm. . . should be shot! "

She still told this and that, and apparently she had even

written a lot of things on a small slip. The moderator

encouraged her, to tell everything at all. It would remain

their secret, and except for the audience and millions of

other viewers, nobody else would ever hear it. Everything

the little Tina said, was shown at the bottom of the screen.

„Oh! ", shouted Funny Paul. „Your daddy really said all this? "

„Hmmm. . . , answered the child.

„Then your dad is not healthy. He is ill. I believe, we have to

help him, but we will ask him first. Now, we will ask Tina's

daddy! ", called Funny Paul and waved his hands.

„Jaaaaaaa! ", cheered the audience. Suddenly the cameras

switched live to a room, in which Mr. Notmeier, Tina's

father, sat behind a table.

He apparently was not very happy and smiled fearfully at

the telecameras. Then Funny Paul interviewed him to the

remarks, his daughter wanted to have heard and her father

tried to make some excuses. But he behaved more than

bumbling and finally started to stammer.

Shortly afterwards, some other candidates had a turn:

Tommy, Kim Song and a few more. They told the big plastic

ear all the "bad words" and politically incorrect remarks they

had heard from their parents, neighbors or relatives. Then

came the final.



159



„Who has been the best „Bad-Word-Detective" of today's

show? ", shouted Funny Paul through the hall.

The children were allowed to vote and made Tina to the

best „Bad-Word-Detective" of this day.

„Tina! Tina! Tina! Tina! ", it resounded out of the tube. The

little girl finally won a pony and fell down on her knees,

bursting with joy. Her was casually told by Funny Paul, that

her dad had to go to a "hotel" for a long time. The doctors

would do everything to help him, assured the presenter.

But the joy about her new pony was much too big, and Tina

probably heard this sentence only with half an ear. Then a

man in a dog costume and a police uniform came down

some stairs, went on the stage and welcomed his cheering

audience.

It was officer Bark, who was hunting „bad words" all day

long, in order to make the world a better place, as Funny

Paul mentioned. He brandished his police club, his

oversized hands of foam and his big handcuffs. The children

yelled.

At the end of the show, he sang the "One-World-Song" with

them. Funny Paul smiled at the telecameras and in the

background, the little Tina was leaping for joy about her new

pony like a bouncy ball. It all ended with some commercials

for kids. Frank and Alf were disturbed.

In the night from 26. on 27. February, Frank and Alfred
alternately kept guard at the window of their hotel room and
checked the equipment. At three o'clock in the morning,
they were finally ready to go. The rebels strapped their
backpacks on, left the hotel room and sneaked over the
dark corridor to the lower floor like two shadows. They
parked the hire car some blocks away in a small side lane
behind an old tenement. Both men would never return to the
hotel after the bombing, and planned to drive from Paris to



160



Compiegne as fast as possible. Their steps on the asphalt
were quiet, while the "Sunflower" slowly became a dark and
small spot behind them. This night was unusually cold, but
fortunately it was not raining. Now they moved with still
more caution than in the night, when they had explored the
canalization. This time, even little mistakes could endanger
everything.

If a police patrol had asked them about the content of their
backpacks, the two rebels would have had more than just a
problem. Apart from that, they had guns and knifes in their
pockets. And even the stupidest cop would not believe
them, that the were nothing but harmless tourists on a
sightseeing tour.

Again they crept from one dark corner to the next, crossing
a lot of empty streets. Their faces were partly hidden behind
broad baseball caps, under which four wary eyes examined
the vicinity, everywhere suspecting enemies or curious
observers. They were like two predators, always ready to
catch their booty.

Some cars drove past them. At the end to the "Rue de
York", when they lurked in the shadow of an empty shop,
they suddenly saw a police car, bending around the corner.
Frank and Alf were shocked, nevertheless, they tried to
saunter inconspicuously about and acted, as if they did not
heed the police car.

The sound of an humming engine became louder and the
tension rose to the extreme. If just a single policeman would
have asked them for their particulars or wanted to look into
their backpacks, then Frank and Alf would have had no
other chance than killing him. And in case of emergency,
also every other witness in sight.

No one had guns and NDC-23 by the kilo, who just wanted
to visit Paris. The police car approached and seemed to
drive more slowly now, but it didn't stop and no cop stepped



161



out. Probably, the driver only wanted to take a brief look at

these two strange guys. But this city was full of people like

this. It was luck for the two bombers, but probably also luck

for the policeman, because they had not hesitated to use

their weapons, if necessary.

„Lucky you! ", whispered Frank quietly.

„Come on! ", said Alf. „We are just good citizens. "

„With some NDC-23 in our backpacks. . . ", Kohlhaas giggled

and seemed to be relieved. Except for some tramps, the

streets of Paris were empty in this part of the city. After a

further short walk through the dark lanes, they had finally

reached the gully cover in front of the abandoned factory,

which Alfred had duly closed again, after they had returned

from the canalization. They entered the underworld again.

But this time it was no more disgusting but otherwise

harmless scouting expedition. This time, it was deadly

serious.

At the very thought of staying in this stinky vault until
noontime of 01. 03. 2029, and even to sleep down here, the
two men shuddered.

What would be, if they suddenly stood in front of some new
grids, which had been repaired in the last days? Or even in
front of some policemen? No, there was no more room for
surprises. They had to keep their eyes open to react on
changes. Now it was the same way again, and rats and
spiders appeared as a greeting committee in the dark
tunnels once more. When they had reached the first larger
room, they examined their equipment, in order to be
prepared for all possible incidents.

Frank absently looked at his knife with the serrated blade,
which John Throphy had organized for him on one of his
trips to Belarus. Then he put it back into the pocket. The red
crosses which Alf had sprayed on some walls, were still



162



there and the two men were glad about this. Also the
destroyed grids had fortunately not been repaired, after their
first walk through the canalization. Frank and Alf decided
not to stay in the direct proximity of the event overnight. If
policemen would scan the passages before the
celebrations, then within this range. They finally chose the
closed metro tunnel, that they could reach through the dug
hole in the wall. The air was much better here and from
somewhere seemed to come a refreshing breeze.
Nevertheless, it was cold, scary and dark there.
„What will be if people walk around here again? ",
whispered Frank.

„One of us must stay awake and keep guard, while the other
one sleeps", answered Alf. „l will begin if you want! "
They searched the pit for some fire wood and found all
kinds of flammable waste after a few minutes. Probably it
were the inheritances of some tramps. Shortly afterwards,
they kindled a small campfire, a tiny place of warmth and
light in that endless, yawning pit. Kohlhaas accepted Alf s
offer, tucked himself up and slept on the uncomfortable
ground beside the rails, after he had put a few dry boards
and an old plastic foil there. However, this night was terrible,
all alone in the darkness of this old tunnel. Frank started to
freeze.

Two hours later, his friend woke him up and asked him to
take over the next night watch. Tired and nervous, Frank
straightened up and sat down at the glowing fire. It lasted
only some minutes, then Alf was sleeping and began to
snore.

That was the only sound in this eerie vault and Kohlhaas
was happy to hear it after a while. The darkness stared at
him from a distance and sometimes he believed to hear a
silent coughing or weeping somewhere, but in this night, the
metro tunnel was empty.



163



It was at 6. 00 o'clock in the morning. Frank and Alfred had
a pitiful breakfast and started with their reconnaissance.
They slunk quietly and slowly forward and still did not see
anybody at this early time. No grids or barricades had been
repaired by any workers or had been placed by the police.
At least, not on the first day in that hole. On 27. 02. 2029, the
two men played card games or spent their time with various
conversations at the campfire in the closed metro tunnel.
Later they explored some new passages and finally
returned to their hiding place. They preferred the old metro
tunnel to the canalization. Not only because of the better air
and the campfire. Apart from the bigger halls with the water
reservoirs, the narrow canals were no places, where they
wanted to stay longer than necessary. The hours seemed to
be endless, down below in the underground of Paris. Again,
a long and uncomfortable night was waiting for them and
Frank decided to be on guard at first, while Alfred tried to
sleep.

Kohlhaas was also very tired and nibbled boredly on some
chips from the supermarket. Meanwhile, the darkness
around him made the young man more nervous than ever
before, and so he decided to look for some more wood for
the campfire. Soon he had discovered another pile of
broads near the tracks. After a while he cowered at the
campfire again - but suddenly he startled up.
Something had shown its head in a dark corner beyond the
pile of firewood. It had been a ghostly, pale child, pressing
its finger to the lips, as if it wanted to remind Frank to be
silent.

„Pssst! ", he thought to have heard. Then the darkness
returned again.

He felt the adrenaline burning in his veins. Kohlhaas hastily
fetched his flashlight to examine the place of the spooky
appearance, but there were only stones and garbage.



164



Nothing was to be seen of a child. He thought about waking
up his friend to tell him about the ghost, but he did not do it.
There was nothing. Nothing at all.

After two hours, Frank was damn glad about the fact, that
he could hand over the night watch to Alfred now. Then he
immediately fell asleep. When it was his turn again, in the
early morning, he initially illuminated the strange place with
his flashlight. But there were no ghosts at all, only garbage.
Franks nerves were raw and he started to search more
thoroughly. But it must have been an illusion. Shortly
afterwards, the young man left the spooky place and hoped
that the panic would die down again.