Kohlhaas sat
in the provisionally furnished kitchen and came to the door
after a few minutes.
in the provisionally furnished kitchen and came to the door
after a few minutes.
Orwell - 1984
Furthermore, the World
Goverment held the whole continent in an iron grip of
dependence by indebtedness. Occupation troops enforced
the rough adherence of the instructions from above. This
was enough. Otherwise, the World Government only
occasionally intervened, in order to decimate the population.
Hunger blockades and even epidemics, made in
80
laboratories, ensured, that the population could not grow too
much. Other countries, for example in Eastern Asia, were
also controlled from the outside. The new rulers simply used
the weapons of financial dependence, the military threat or
economic sanctions.
In these regions, including India and China, the Scanchip
had been introduced as replacement for credit and identity
card a few years ago, but the number of people in these
countries was just too big for a close monitoring.
Together with the downfall of formerly high technicalised
Europe, the infrastructure in these regions slowly moldered.
Nevertheless, the World Government also wanted to accept
this challenge. Much still had to be done. At first, the 1. 9
billion Chinese and 1. 5 billion Indians had to be decimated,
that further political steps could follow.
The appropriate plans for this cruel process, were already in
the drawers of the think-tanks of the New World Order. They
worked on it.
In the last decades, the nations of Europe, once highly
developed and sophisticated, above all Germany, England,
France and Russia, had successfully been destroyed by a
creeping procedure of decomposition by the predecessors
of the now ruling forces. Finally, they had brought the
Europeans to their knees. Knowing about their
inventiveness and their ability to create high civilizations,
they had purposefully selected the Old World as their
primary target. And soon they had taken control of the Great
Powers of the old age.
And it had been the same with the North American
continent. These regions had to be taken at first, even if it
wasn't always easy to conquer them. But the hidden power
behind the curtains of world policy, had acted intelligently,
cleverly, shrewdly. There was no doubt, if one analyzed the
81
past. In the old age, the Europeans had been proud and
strong, and had patronized values like freedom or
independence. Therefore, they had to be slowly poisoned,
as you never attack a powerful lion directly, but put it to
sleep or sicken it first.
It would last a long time, to describe all the procedures,
which had made the world to the sad place that it was
today. But it was nevertheless a cruel fact, that these once
great old countries were in just one hand today - without
exception. The European nations crumbled, decomposed
and were close to total extinction.
Foreign people were brought to these lands, and soon all
the big centers of European civilization were a puzzle of
different races, cultures and religions. The international
yoke of modern slavery and the imperative to consume,
preached by all the media of the global system, was the
only thing, which connected them. And this had always
been the plan.
So the danger was avoided, that united fronts could be
formed one day against the world dictatorship, because the
interests and purposes in life of the numerous nation
particles and cultural fragments were too different. It had
worked well, the hidden forces had infiltrated the Old World
like a virus.
The plan had been successful and the Lodge Brothers had
laid the foundation, for what the Elders of the New World
Order had already prophesied long ago: The "Multicolor-
Man". A so called "united" human, without clearly defined
origins, torn inside his soul and groundless.
"Will will create the Eurasian-Negroid future-race! ", was the
slogan of this new policy. So the powerful gentlemen
worked on a creature without an own culture, without a
higher intelligence and without an identity - the natural born
slave.
82
World Peace in Ivas?
„Not this Ronald Miller shit again! ", groaned Alf on the next
morning, as he sat in front of his laptop and watched the
news from all over the world. On an Internet site, which was
officially marked with a blocking note and should actually
not be accessible for "good normal citizens", he saw the
commemoration ceremony of a soldier of the international
GCF troops in New York, kidnapped and shot by Iranian
partisans.
The video had already been shown by the official television
stations, but the forbidden Internet site complemented it with
some background informations and let its content appear
differently, from what the media of the system wished.
The World President squeezed out some crocodile tears in
front of the cameras, which rolled along his beaked nose.
Then he thanked the not anymore "unknown soldier" for his
fight against terrorism, for human rights and world peace.
The television report showed Ronald Millers crying widow,
his newborn baby and his daughter in the kindergarten. The
report about his sweet little children lasted a whole hour.
The daughter told, that she liked to paint pictures with her
wax mark pins, loved her hamster and finally cried for her
dead father - in close up.
The World President visited her in the kindergarten, tried to
look affected and explained to the kindergartner, how
important it was, to go on with the war against Islamic
fanatics and renegade tendencies in all regions of the world.
„Those fucking media rats should mention, that the World
Goverment has nuked Teheran nine years ago! ", screamed
Alf furiously and banged on the table. "So they could also
make some good video reports about crying children there! "
83
He turned around to Frank. „At that time, over one million
people, women and children, were burned to ashes. The
GCF just wiped them out, in order to make an example! "
„l know. . . ", answered Kohlhaas.
„Oh, shit! I just hate the fucking media! I would execute
them all, if I had the chance! ", he spat out.
„lfs the usual propaganda", said Frank and went into the
kitchen. „Calm down, Alf! Don't risk a heart attack. . . "
Baumer still grumbled for a while and finally followed Frank.
He stood before his fellow and raised the forefinger.
„Today John comes back from Minsk", he said. „We must
talk to Wilden, so that he tells us, where we can live here in
the near future. "
. . Living together with you? Then I will give you the
prohibition to watch TV! ", answered Frank with a smile.
. . Don't make me angry, little boy! ", hissed Baumer, grinned
villainously and made some boxing movements toward his
interlocutor.
The discussion with the leader of the group was short and
factual. Wilden told them that they could move into another
vacant house at the further end of Ivas. It was an incredible
hovel, but at least, it had an old wood fired oven and the two
men could even get some electricity for the barrack.
When Frank and Alf returned to their provisional home, they
met a probably 45 years old man in a cord sweater,
unloading some crates from a shabby, white combi-van.
With him was a beautiful young woman with long fair hair,
which she had tied up to a queue. John and the woman
welcomed them.
„Oh, who are you? Allow me, I'm John Thorphy! ", he
introduced himself.
. . Julia Wilden! ", added the blonde and smiled.
84
„Alfred Baumer, we don't know each other yet", answered
Alf.
„Eh. . . Frank Kohlhaas! ", said the young man.
John Thorphy had a strong English accent, which, however,
clarified the question of his origin only superficially.
„We lived in your house. Thank you again. We have been
freed, straight from prison", explained Alfred.
„No problem! ", replied John and continued to unload his car.
„rm sure that my father has organized everything correctly",
said Julia and examined Frank with an inquiring look.
„And how was it. . . ? " Frank tried to begin a conversation.
„How was what? ", asked the young woman and stroked with
her fingers through the blonde hair. Then she beheld
Kohlhaas again.
"Where you have been. . . I mean. . . your trip. . . ? "
"Nice! ", returned Julia.
„The man is. . . eh. . . John. . . an Englishman? ", asked Frank.
„No, and he does not like Englishmen! ", he heard from Julia.
John is an Irishman. Don't talk with him about England or
even Englishmen. . . "
"It was just a question", said Frank and looked unconfidently
at the young beauty.
"Okay, all questions have been answered. Now you can
help us to unload the van", said Fraulein Wilden and kept a
straight face.
„No problem! ", answered Baumer and waved Frank nearer.
In the following weeks, Frank and Alf had a lot of work to do.
Necessary renovations in their new home waited for them,
and furthermore, Wilden gave them some more tasks, in the
name of the community. Kohlhaas became acquainted with
some of the other villagers and thought that most of them
could stand him - more or less. However, a few still faced
him with distrust and avoided to talk to the young man.
85
Nevertheless, the fact that he had been in a holo cell,
caused a mixture of compassion and respect in many of the
villagers.
Julia Wilden mostly just ignored him and didn't seem to
seek his proximity. He rarely saw her, even when he
unusually often walked past Mr. Wilden's house, although it
was located in a side road.
„She looks good, but she is „Misses Important", the
daughter of the great boss. . . ", thought Frank sometimes.
"She thinks that she is better than the rest here and she
obviously doesn't trust me very much. "
Frank was right. Julia Wilden and also the young Sven
belonged to those villagers, who avoided the contact with
him.
But Kohlhaas tried to understand the behavior of these
people. They didn't knew him and he had only come to this
strange place, because of luck and coincidence. What
should he expect now?
Prison or even liquidation would wait for them all, if he
would prove himself as a blabber or a safety risk. So the
fear of the unknown man wasn't unjustified. But Alfred
Baumer and Thorsten Wilden seemed to like him. The
village boss took every opportunity, to explain to him any
political and historical facts. He started with world history,
from the ancient cultures of the Indogermanics, over
Alexander the Great, up to the present. Sometimes,
however, even everything at the same time.
„They could have used Wilden for the reeducation hours in
the holo cell, apart from the fact, that he preaches the
converse theses. Nevertheless, he talks even more than
that computer! ", said Frank to Alf once.
Baumer admired the former entrepreneur, because of his
universal knowledge about politics and history, but this time,
he had to laugh about Frank's statement. So the days,
86
weeks and months passed in monotonousness. Often some
of the villagers disappeared for a while. Occasionally, even
one of the three small transport aircrafts left its hideout, in
order to fly somewhere and to come back again a few days
later.
The airplanes were always hidden under camouflage nets
or in large, old barns. Although it was not illegal to own
them, since they had been duly registered, caution was the
first rule in Ivas.
In the meantime, Frank and Alf were working hard, in order
to make their house more habitable. Wallpapers were
procured over many detours, because there were no more
shops in the periphery of many kilometers, which got such
articles. At least, the most important rooms could be
renovated.
Similar difficulties also appeared with the building materials,
which had often to be taken from the other vacant houses,
for example intact bricks to repair the leaky roof. It was a
long and toilsome work, but the two men became friends
along the way.
There was still only a very old wood fired oven in the biggest
room of the house and both men became a bit nervous,
when the thought about the coming winter of the year 2028.
At the end of the month, Frank's sleep disturbances
suddenly came back. He had scary nightmares, in which the
cruel light of the holo cell tortured him again, and also Mr.
Madness returned.
Sometimes in these dreams, this strange man talked, and
Frank was surprised that his voice was high and shrill.
Baumer often woke him up, when he flailed or talked while
he was sleeping. It was weird. Right now, where peace had
entered his life, compared to the time in „Big Eye" even the
idyl, the bad memories came back. Kohlhaas had thought,
that the pain in his mind was over - but he was wrong. . .
87
One day in August, HOK stood in front of the entrance door
on an early morning and asked Alf for Frank.
Kohlhaas sat
in the provisionally furnished kitchen and came to the door
after a few minutes.
„Good morning, Frank! Please come with me, immediately! ",
said HOK with a sad face.
. . What's up? ", asked Frank with an uncomfortable feeling
deep inside.
. . Hurry up! Just come with me! ", answered the computer
specialist and spreaded a disastrous atmosphere.
Shortly afterwards, the two men went to HOK's house and
Frank hardly noticed the warm and bright autumn sun,
which stroked the little village on this day. HOK ran to his
untidy office and sat down in front of his computer.
. . Please take a seat, Frank! ", hummed HOK. „And try to stay
calm, with all, I will say to you now! "
„Tell me, what has happened? ", claimed Frank with a
mixture of impatience and deep concern, because HOK's
countenance let expect nothing good.
„l have examined your old Scanchip. I meant no harm by it,
but it is an order of Wilden, concerning each new person
that comes into our village. It is a safety precaution. The
Scanchip is examined for suspicious sub-datas and cross
references. I penetrated an internal data server and studied
some not public informations, which are automatically
collected about every citizen in the sector . . Central Europe"
by authorities or secret services. These sub-datas contain
many informations about a citizen's life. Of course, the
ordinary people don't know anything about their existence.
Okay, I have the skill to look for all this stuff. Let's see. . . "
„Aha. . . ", answered Frank with a complete lack of
understanding.
„An usual Scanchip has about 500 internal sub-datas and
cross references, which can't be read by the owner,
88
because they are only for the authorities", explained HOK
hastily.
Frank's brain was tormented again with some technical
terms of the computer language, although HOK tried to
explain everything understandably for the layman.
The sub-datas of each Scanchip contain a fulness of
informations, for example:
- Behaviour analysis at the workplace
- State of health, for the further economic utilization
- Income
- Consument behaviour statistics
- Social compatibility
- Subversive statements at the telephone, on the internet. . .
- Family members and relatives
- Reactions on political propaganda and advertising
- Religious faith
- Friends and acquaintances
- Frequentcy of contacts to friends and acquaintances
- Sexual behavior
There are still hundreds of further informations and details,
but I think you know, what we are talking about", said HOK.
„And now? What's wrong? ", asked Frank quizzically.
Just wait! ", answered HOK. „l have to look for some special
things. For example, if there is an entry like: JOS" (informer
of the state) or „ROP" (receiver of official privileges) - what
would mean, that you are an informer - or you have been it
once. "
„What do you want from me? Tim no informer, man! ",
screamed Frank.
„You don't have anything to do with such things! Your old
Scanchip is clean, don't worry! ", calmed him HOK.
89
„This is not the problem. . . ", he continued. „We must be very
careful and everybody in Ivas has to endure this process! "
„Then you want to establish your own little surveillance state
here, isn't it? ", gnarled Frank angrily.
„No, we do not want that! ", replied HOK and seemed to feel
ashamed.
„l looked at the cross references, concerning your family
members and your relatives. I'm sorry, this didn't belong to
my tasks and I must excuse myself for that", murmured
HOK sheepishly and stared at his keyboard.
„And then you pretend to fight against the World
Government! Maybe these guys were also just bored, and
so they decided one day, to spy out all the other people! ",
grumbled Kohlhaas.
"I'm sorry! Really! " HOK tried to calm down his angry guest.
. . Unfortunately, I have noticed something terrible on your
Scanchip: Rainer Kohlhaas is your father, right? And
Martina Gunther, born Kohlhaas, your sister, isn't it?
Nico Gunther your nephew. . . ? "
. . What's up with them? ", asked Frank excitedly.
„The Scanchips of Rainer Kohlhaas and Martina Gunther
are shut down. Their citizen numbers will be assigned to
other people in the near future. . . ", spoke HOK quietly.
"What? ", Frank winced.
„On the Scanchip of your father, there is an arrest note on
09. 04. 2028. At the beginning of June 2028, it has finally
been shut down. As additive there is a footnote: "ODOA"
(official deactivation by official arrangement) and further
„CSO" (citizen switched off). He has been liquidated! ",
explained HOK.
. . What? ", cried Frank in pain.
„lt's the same in the case of your sister. She was first
arrested, and then liquidated. Your nephew. . . " HOK was
interrupted.
90
„What? What's up with Nico? ", gasped Frank with fright in
his eyes. "Tell me what. . . "
„He is registered here as an "orphan in national care". So he
is still alive! " The computer scientist didn't dare to look in
Frank's direction.
But it didn't work. The young man was speechless with
terror and sank back on the chair. He struggled for air and
tried to shake off the claws of horror that griped his throat
and took his breath away. But it was impossible.
Within a few seconds, he fell into a black hole of despair
and ran crying out of the house of the computer scientist. All
the distress and the fear had returned now. They had
spared him in the last months, to come back in this second
in their whole, dark size.
In the next days, Frank hardly left his sleeping room. Alf
tried to explain to him, that the arresting of relatives or
family members was used by the system, to lure
disappeared offenders out of their hideouts, to make them
ring up at home, while the telehone call was bugged, or to
make them even visit their old homes. But Frank just told
him to back off.
Now the scary nights returned and the mental terror, the
holo cell had kindled in his mind, crawled around him in the
darkness, arm in arm in old unity with the new horrors.
Again, the young man thought about following his parents
and his sister to the netherworld, he mused about
terminating his hopeless existence, but Alf stopped him from
doing such things and cared for Frank as good as he could.
When September brought the autumn to Ivas, Frank was
afflicted by a strange dream one night. He could no longer
completely remember each detail, when he woke up again
91
on the next morning with a bad headache, but the most
pictures remained in his memory.
He was a spectator in an hall, which looked very similar to a
court room. In front of him were the judge desk and the
dock, and only this place was lit by a lamp. The rest of the
room remained in a hazy twilight, also the seat rows of the
spectators, on which Frank sat alone. In front of the dock
were two persons and Frank could not exactly recognize,
who it was, because he saw only their backs. Behind the
judge desk was no human being, it was rather a shadow or
a ghost.
"The negotiation starts! ", called the shade. „Be quiet please!
Today, we talk about the following criminal case: The
politics against Mr. Rainer Kohlhaas and Mrs. Martina
Gunther, born Kohlhaas. "
The two accused turned around and gave Frank a fearful
look. It were his father and his sister. Now they turned
around to the judge again, because he began with his
remarks. The spectator nervously stared at the ghost and
tried to decipher the name on the plate, which was on the
desk in front of him. Only after an arduous staring, Frank
was able to recognize that there was no name. The only
words on the plate were "The Politics". Now the judge read
out the charges and began with the interrogation.
J will start with you, Mr. Rainer Kohlhaas", he said with a
glowering, deep voice. „Can you remember, that you have
ever cared about the important facts around me? "
„Well, I have already been concerned with you, if it had
something to do with my life", stammered Rainer Kohlhaas.
„Can you describe that more exactly? ", asked the judge.
„Thus, I watched TV and read the newspapers", Rainer
Kohlhaas tried to explain.
92
„And you, Mrs. Martina Gunther? Did you have ever
seriously worried about me? ", grumbled the shady judge
with a threatening voice.
. . Perhaps not enough. Only sometimes. I was too busy,
most of the time. My job was full of stress and so I had other
things on my mind than thinking about you. . . ", replied
Frank's sister sheepishly.
„And it was the same in your case, Mr. Kohlhaas? ",
resented the judge angrily.
,,1'm sorry, but if Tm honest, I have just worked all my life,
and have primarily cared about myself. It was a constant
struggle to survive and to make money. And finally, there
has been no more time to think about any politics",
explained Rainer Kohlhaas ruefully.
„And you really think, that was enough? That you could just
ignore me in all these years? ", hissed the ghost.
"Please forgive us, Mr. Judge! Today, we know that we
have made a big mistake! But we still have watched the
news on television. . . ", Rainer Kohlhaas tried to justify
himself.
"Yes, I did the same! ", agreed Martina.
"And you think, it was sufficient, if others talked about me
and you just parroted their slogans? Why didn't you think
about me for yourself? ", asked the shadow reproachfully
and stared at them.
"Forgive us, Mr. Judge, but we viewed many other things in
our life as more important, than caring about politics! ",
lamented the two accused, full of sorrow.
Suddenly Frank appeared at another place in his dream. A
disgusting stench became noticeable to him at first. It
crawled over the ground right into his nostrils. He was on a
great field that extended till the horizon, and only some
mountains were recognizable, somewhere in the far
93
distance. Now he saw, what covered this field.
Goverment held the whole continent in an iron grip of
dependence by indebtedness. Occupation troops enforced
the rough adherence of the instructions from above. This
was enough. Otherwise, the World Government only
occasionally intervened, in order to decimate the population.
Hunger blockades and even epidemics, made in
80
laboratories, ensured, that the population could not grow too
much. Other countries, for example in Eastern Asia, were
also controlled from the outside. The new rulers simply used
the weapons of financial dependence, the military threat or
economic sanctions.
In these regions, including India and China, the Scanchip
had been introduced as replacement for credit and identity
card a few years ago, but the number of people in these
countries was just too big for a close monitoring.
Together with the downfall of formerly high technicalised
Europe, the infrastructure in these regions slowly moldered.
Nevertheless, the World Government also wanted to accept
this challenge. Much still had to be done. At first, the 1. 9
billion Chinese and 1. 5 billion Indians had to be decimated,
that further political steps could follow.
The appropriate plans for this cruel process, were already in
the drawers of the think-tanks of the New World Order. They
worked on it.
In the last decades, the nations of Europe, once highly
developed and sophisticated, above all Germany, England,
France and Russia, had successfully been destroyed by a
creeping procedure of decomposition by the predecessors
of the now ruling forces. Finally, they had brought the
Europeans to their knees. Knowing about their
inventiveness and their ability to create high civilizations,
they had purposefully selected the Old World as their
primary target. And soon they had taken control of the Great
Powers of the old age.
And it had been the same with the North American
continent. These regions had to be taken at first, even if it
wasn't always easy to conquer them. But the hidden power
behind the curtains of world policy, had acted intelligently,
cleverly, shrewdly. There was no doubt, if one analyzed the
81
past. In the old age, the Europeans had been proud and
strong, and had patronized values like freedom or
independence. Therefore, they had to be slowly poisoned,
as you never attack a powerful lion directly, but put it to
sleep or sicken it first.
It would last a long time, to describe all the procedures,
which had made the world to the sad place that it was
today. But it was nevertheless a cruel fact, that these once
great old countries were in just one hand today - without
exception. The European nations crumbled, decomposed
and were close to total extinction.
Foreign people were brought to these lands, and soon all
the big centers of European civilization were a puzzle of
different races, cultures and religions. The international
yoke of modern slavery and the imperative to consume,
preached by all the media of the global system, was the
only thing, which connected them. And this had always
been the plan.
So the danger was avoided, that united fronts could be
formed one day against the world dictatorship, because the
interests and purposes in life of the numerous nation
particles and cultural fragments were too different. It had
worked well, the hidden forces had infiltrated the Old World
like a virus.
The plan had been successful and the Lodge Brothers had
laid the foundation, for what the Elders of the New World
Order had already prophesied long ago: The "Multicolor-
Man". A so called "united" human, without clearly defined
origins, torn inside his soul and groundless.
"Will will create the Eurasian-Negroid future-race! ", was the
slogan of this new policy. So the powerful gentlemen
worked on a creature without an own culture, without a
higher intelligence and without an identity - the natural born
slave.
82
World Peace in Ivas?
„Not this Ronald Miller shit again! ", groaned Alf on the next
morning, as he sat in front of his laptop and watched the
news from all over the world. On an Internet site, which was
officially marked with a blocking note and should actually
not be accessible for "good normal citizens", he saw the
commemoration ceremony of a soldier of the international
GCF troops in New York, kidnapped and shot by Iranian
partisans.
The video had already been shown by the official television
stations, but the forbidden Internet site complemented it with
some background informations and let its content appear
differently, from what the media of the system wished.
The World President squeezed out some crocodile tears in
front of the cameras, which rolled along his beaked nose.
Then he thanked the not anymore "unknown soldier" for his
fight against terrorism, for human rights and world peace.
The television report showed Ronald Millers crying widow,
his newborn baby and his daughter in the kindergarten. The
report about his sweet little children lasted a whole hour.
The daughter told, that she liked to paint pictures with her
wax mark pins, loved her hamster and finally cried for her
dead father - in close up.
The World President visited her in the kindergarten, tried to
look affected and explained to the kindergartner, how
important it was, to go on with the war against Islamic
fanatics and renegade tendencies in all regions of the world.
„Those fucking media rats should mention, that the World
Goverment has nuked Teheran nine years ago! ", screamed
Alf furiously and banged on the table. "So they could also
make some good video reports about crying children there! "
83
He turned around to Frank. „At that time, over one million
people, women and children, were burned to ashes. The
GCF just wiped them out, in order to make an example! "
„l know. . . ", answered Kohlhaas.
„Oh, shit! I just hate the fucking media! I would execute
them all, if I had the chance! ", he spat out.
„lfs the usual propaganda", said Frank and went into the
kitchen. „Calm down, Alf! Don't risk a heart attack. . . "
Baumer still grumbled for a while and finally followed Frank.
He stood before his fellow and raised the forefinger.
„Today John comes back from Minsk", he said. „We must
talk to Wilden, so that he tells us, where we can live here in
the near future. "
. . Living together with you? Then I will give you the
prohibition to watch TV! ", answered Frank with a smile.
. . Don't make me angry, little boy! ", hissed Baumer, grinned
villainously and made some boxing movements toward his
interlocutor.
The discussion with the leader of the group was short and
factual. Wilden told them that they could move into another
vacant house at the further end of Ivas. It was an incredible
hovel, but at least, it had an old wood fired oven and the two
men could even get some electricity for the barrack.
When Frank and Alf returned to their provisional home, they
met a probably 45 years old man in a cord sweater,
unloading some crates from a shabby, white combi-van.
With him was a beautiful young woman with long fair hair,
which she had tied up to a queue. John and the woman
welcomed them.
„Oh, who are you? Allow me, I'm John Thorphy! ", he
introduced himself.
. . Julia Wilden! ", added the blonde and smiled.
84
„Alfred Baumer, we don't know each other yet", answered
Alf.
„Eh. . . Frank Kohlhaas! ", said the young man.
John Thorphy had a strong English accent, which, however,
clarified the question of his origin only superficially.
„We lived in your house. Thank you again. We have been
freed, straight from prison", explained Alfred.
„No problem! ", replied John and continued to unload his car.
„rm sure that my father has organized everything correctly",
said Julia and examined Frank with an inquiring look.
„And how was it. . . ? " Frank tried to begin a conversation.
„How was what? ", asked the young woman and stroked with
her fingers through the blonde hair. Then she beheld
Kohlhaas again.
"Where you have been. . . I mean. . . your trip. . . ? "
"Nice! ", returned Julia.
„The man is. . . eh. . . John. . . an Englishman? ", asked Frank.
„No, and he does not like Englishmen! ", he heard from Julia.
John is an Irishman. Don't talk with him about England or
even Englishmen. . . "
"It was just a question", said Frank and looked unconfidently
at the young beauty.
"Okay, all questions have been answered. Now you can
help us to unload the van", said Fraulein Wilden and kept a
straight face.
„No problem! ", answered Baumer and waved Frank nearer.
In the following weeks, Frank and Alf had a lot of work to do.
Necessary renovations in their new home waited for them,
and furthermore, Wilden gave them some more tasks, in the
name of the community. Kohlhaas became acquainted with
some of the other villagers and thought that most of them
could stand him - more or less. However, a few still faced
him with distrust and avoided to talk to the young man.
85
Nevertheless, the fact that he had been in a holo cell,
caused a mixture of compassion and respect in many of the
villagers.
Julia Wilden mostly just ignored him and didn't seem to
seek his proximity. He rarely saw her, even when he
unusually often walked past Mr. Wilden's house, although it
was located in a side road.
„She looks good, but she is „Misses Important", the
daughter of the great boss. . . ", thought Frank sometimes.
"She thinks that she is better than the rest here and she
obviously doesn't trust me very much. "
Frank was right. Julia Wilden and also the young Sven
belonged to those villagers, who avoided the contact with
him.
But Kohlhaas tried to understand the behavior of these
people. They didn't knew him and he had only come to this
strange place, because of luck and coincidence. What
should he expect now?
Prison or even liquidation would wait for them all, if he
would prove himself as a blabber or a safety risk. So the
fear of the unknown man wasn't unjustified. But Alfred
Baumer and Thorsten Wilden seemed to like him. The
village boss took every opportunity, to explain to him any
political and historical facts. He started with world history,
from the ancient cultures of the Indogermanics, over
Alexander the Great, up to the present. Sometimes,
however, even everything at the same time.
„They could have used Wilden for the reeducation hours in
the holo cell, apart from the fact, that he preaches the
converse theses. Nevertheless, he talks even more than
that computer! ", said Frank to Alf once.
Baumer admired the former entrepreneur, because of his
universal knowledge about politics and history, but this time,
he had to laugh about Frank's statement. So the days,
86
weeks and months passed in monotonousness. Often some
of the villagers disappeared for a while. Occasionally, even
one of the three small transport aircrafts left its hideout, in
order to fly somewhere and to come back again a few days
later.
The airplanes were always hidden under camouflage nets
or in large, old barns. Although it was not illegal to own
them, since they had been duly registered, caution was the
first rule in Ivas.
In the meantime, Frank and Alf were working hard, in order
to make their house more habitable. Wallpapers were
procured over many detours, because there were no more
shops in the periphery of many kilometers, which got such
articles. At least, the most important rooms could be
renovated.
Similar difficulties also appeared with the building materials,
which had often to be taken from the other vacant houses,
for example intact bricks to repair the leaky roof. It was a
long and toilsome work, but the two men became friends
along the way.
There was still only a very old wood fired oven in the biggest
room of the house and both men became a bit nervous,
when the thought about the coming winter of the year 2028.
At the end of the month, Frank's sleep disturbances
suddenly came back. He had scary nightmares, in which the
cruel light of the holo cell tortured him again, and also Mr.
Madness returned.
Sometimes in these dreams, this strange man talked, and
Frank was surprised that his voice was high and shrill.
Baumer often woke him up, when he flailed or talked while
he was sleeping. It was weird. Right now, where peace had
entered his life, compared to the time in „Big Eye" even the
idyl, the bad memories came back. Kohlhaas had thought,
that the pain in his mind was over - but he was wrong. . .
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One day in August, HOK stood in front of the entrance door
on an early morning and asked Alf for Frank.
Kohlhaas sat
in the provisionally furnished kitchen and came to the door
after a few minutes.
„Good morning, Frank! Please come with me, immediately! ",
said HOK with a sad face.
. . What's up? ", asked Frank with an uncomfortable feeling
deep inside.
. . Hurry up! Just come with me! ", answered the computer
specialist and spreaded a disastrous atmosphere.
Shortly afterwards, the two men went to HOK's house and
Frank hardly noticed the warm and bright autumn sun,
which stroked the little village on this day. HOK ran to his
untidy office and sat down in front of his computer.
. . Please take a seat, Frank! ", hummed HOK. „And try to stay
calm, with all, I will say to you now! "
„Tell me, what has happened? ", claimed Frank with a
mixture of impatience and deep concern, because HOK's
countenance let expect nothing good.
„l have examined your old Scanchip. I meant no harm by it,
but it is an order of Wilden, concerning each new person
that comes into our village. It is a safety precaution. The
Scanchip is examined for suspicious sub-datas and cross
references. I penetrated an internal data server and studied
some not public informations, which are automatically
collected about every citizen in the sector . . Central Europe"
by authorities or secret services. These sub-datas contain
many informations about a citizen's life. Of course, the
ordinary people don't know anything about their existence.
Okay, I have the skill to look for all this stuff. Let's see. . . "
„Aha. . . ", answered Frank with a complete lack of
understanding.
„An usual Scanchip has about 500 internal sub-datas and
cross references, which can't be read by the owner,
88
because they are only for the authorities", explained HOK
hastily.
Frank's brain was tormented again with some technical
terms of the computer language, although HOK tried to
explain everything understandably for the layman.
The sub-datas of each Scanchip contain a fulness of
informations, for example:
- Behaviour analysis at the workplace
- State of health, for the further economic utilization
- Income
- Consument behaviour statistics
- Social compatibility
- Subversive statements at the telephone, on the internet. . .
- Family members and relatives
- Reactions on political propaganda and advertising
- Religious faith
- Friends and acquaintances
- Frequentcy of contacts to friends and acquaintances
- Sexual behavior
There are still hundreds of further informations and details,
but I think you know, what we are talking about", said HOK.
„And now? What's wrong? ", asked Frank quizzically.
Just wait! ", answered HOK. „l have to look for some special
things. For example, if there is an entry like: JOS" (informer
of the state) or „ROP" (receiver of official privileges) - what
would mean, that you are an informer - or you have been it
once. "
„What do you want from me? Tim no informer, man! ",
screamed Frank.
„You don't have anything to do with such things! Your old
Scanchip is clean, don't worry! ", calmed him HOK.
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„This is not the problem. . . ", he continued. „We must be very
careful and everybody in Ivas has to endure this process! "
„Then you want to establish your own little surveillance state
here, isn't it? ", gnarled Frank angrily.
„No, we do not want that! ", replied HOK and seemed to feel
ashamed.
„l looked at the cross references, concerning your family
members and your relatives. I'm sorry, this didn't belong to
my tasks and I must excuse myself for that", murmured
HOK sheepishly and stared at his keyboard.
„And then you pretend to fight against the World
Government! Maybe these guys were also just bored, and
so they decided one day, to spy out all the other people! ",
grumbled Kohlhaas.
"I'm sorry! Really! " HOK tried to calm down his angry guest.
. . Unfortunately, I have noticed something terrible on your
Scanchip: Rainer Kohlhaas is your father, right? And
Martina Gunther, born Kohlhaas, your sister, isn't it?
Nico Gunther your nephew. . . ? "
. . What's up with them? ", asked Frank excitedly.
„The Scanchips of Rainer Kohlhaas and Martina Gunther
are shut down. Their citizen numbers will be assigned to
other people in the near future. . . ", spoke HOK quietly.
"What? ", Frank winced.
„On the Scanchip of your father, there is an arrest note on
09. 04. 2028. At the beginning of June 2028, it has finally
been shut down. As additive there is a footnote: "ODOA"
(official deactivation by official arrangement) and further
„CSO" (citizen switched off). He has been liquidated! ",
explained HOK.
. . What? ", cried Frank in pain.
„lt's the same in the case of your sister. She was first
arrested, and then liquidated. Your nephew. . . " HOK was
interrupted.
90
„What? What's up with Nico? ", gasped Frank with fright in
his eyes. "Tell me what. . . "
„He is registered here as an "orphan in national care". So he
is still alive! " The computer scientist didn't dare to look in
Frank's direction.
But it didn't work. The young man was speechless with
terror and sank back on the chair. He struggled for air and
tried to shake off the claws of horror that griped his throat
and took his breath away. But it was impossible.
Within a few seconds, he fell into a black hole of despair
and ran crying out of the house of the computer scientist. All
the distress and the fear had returned now. They had
spared him in the last months, to come back in this second
in their whole, dark size.
In the next days, Frank hardly left his sleeping room. Alf
tried to explain to him, that the arresting of relatives or
family members was used by the system, to lure
disappeared offenders out of their hideouts, to make them
ring up at home, while the telehone call was bugged, or to
make them even visit their old homes. But Frank just told
him to back off.
Now the scary nights returned and the mental terror, the
holo cell had kindled in his mind, crawled around him in the
darkness, arm in arm in old unity with the new horrors.
Again, the young man thought about following his parents
and his sister to the netherworld, he mused about
terminating his hopeless existence, but Alf stopped him from
doing such things and cared for Frank as good as he could.
When September brought the autumn to Ivas, Frank was
afflicted by a strange dream one night. He could no longer
completely remember each detail, when he woke up again
91
on the next morning with a bad headache, but the most
pictures remained in his memory.
He was a spectator in an hall, which looked very similar to a
court room. In front of him were the judge desk and the
dock, and only this place was lit by a lamp. The rest of the
room remained in a hazy twilight, also the seat rows of the
spectators, on which Frank sat alone. In front of the dock
were two persons and Frank could not exactly recognize,
who it was, because he saw only their backs. Behind the
judge desk was no human being, it was rather a shadow or
a ghost.
"The negotiation starts! ", called the shade. „Be quiet please!
Today, we talk about the following criminal case: The
politics against Mr. Rainer Kohlhaas and Mrs. Martina
Gunther, born Kohlhaas. "
The two accused turned around and gave Frank a fearful
look. It were his father and his sister. Now they turned
around to the judge again, because he began with his
remarks. The spectator nervously stared at the ghost and
tried to decipher the name on the plate, which was on the
desk in front of him. Only after an arduous staring, Frank
was able to recognize that there was no name. The only
words on the plate were "The Politics". Now the judge read
out the charges and began with the interrogation.
J will start with you, Mr. Rainer Kohlhaas", he said with a
glowering, deep voice. „Can you remember, that you have
ever cared about the important facts around me? "
„Well, I have already been concerned with you, if it had
something to do with my life", stammered Rainer Kohlhaas.
„Can you describe that more exactly? ", asked the judge.
„Thus, I watched TV and read the newspapers", Rainer
Kohlhaas tried to explain.
92
„And you, Mrs. Martina Gunther? Did you have ever
seriously worried about me? ", grumbled the shady judge
with a threatening voice.
. . Perhaps not enough. Only sometimes. I was too busy,
most of the time. My job was full of stress and so I had other
things on my mind than thinking about you. . . ", replied
Frank's sister sheepishly.
„And it was the same in your case, Mr. Kohlhaas? ",
resented the judge angrily.
,,1'm sorry, but if Tm honest, I have just worked all my life,
and have primarily cared about myself. It was a constant
struggle to survive and to make money. And finally, there
has been no more time to think about any politics",
explained Rainer Kohlhaas ruefully.
„And you really think, that was enough? That you could just
ignore me in all these years? ", hissed the ghost.
"Please forgive us, Mr. Judge! Today, we know that we
have made a big mistake! But we still have watched the
news on television. . . ", Rainer Kohlhaas tried to justify
himself.
"Yes, I did the same! ", agreed Martina.
"And you think, it was sufficient, if others talked about me
and you just parroted their slogans? Why didn't you think
about me for yourself? ", asked the shadow reproachfully
and stared at them.
"Forgive us, Mr. Judge, but we viewed many other things in
our life as more important, than caring about politics! ",
lamented the two accused, full of sorrow.
Suddenly Frank appeared at another place in his dream. A
disgusting stench became noticeable to him at first. It
crawled over the ground right into his nostrils. He was on a
great field that extended till the horizon, and only some
mountains were recognizable, somewhere in the far
93
distance. Now he saw, what covered this field.
