No More Learning

"The others have freed me from this damn prison too. "Big
Eye" would have been my doom as well. They put me two
years in incommunicado detention, luckily, I had not the
pleasure to get a so called "therapy" in a holo cell.
I would have gone to hell there, no doubt. Apart from this,
they don't let you just go, when your time in jail is over. One
or two are also liquidated, if their behavior analysis is too
negative. These damn holo cells have once been an
experiment for perfect conditioning and brainwashing. The



61



former "Mind Control", which the NSA, when it still had this
name, had developed together with many other methods",
declared Alf. "These holo cells will be used against all
prisoners with politically incorrect tendencies one day. You
have been one of the first human guinea pigs. It has just
been interesting from them to analyze, how long you would
suffer this torture. Of course, they knew that you would not
survive this procedure! "

"Fuck these rats! ", said Frank and tried to banish the
thoughts about the terrible time in the holo cell.
"The entire political and historical background can't be
explained in two sentences, above all, if you have never
thought about it before", ended Alf his small speech.
Frank signaled by turning around and pulling the cover over
his head, that he wanted to sleep now. It was 21. 16 o'clock
and the young man was still exhausted and weak. He dozed
for a while and examined the shabby, dark red wallpaper,
then he fell in a deep and restful sleep.

On the next morning, Frank Kohlhaas felt unusually
recovered. He had slept over 13 hours and for the first time
since months, he had not awoken with a start in the middle
of the night. He yawned and noticed that Alf had put some
fresh dresses beside his bed.

Kohlhaas still wore his white prison clothes, which smelled
of sweat and were still covered with dark red traces of the
policeman's blood.

Frank plodded out of his room and noticed that it was very
quiet in the house. Nobody sat in the kitchen, so that he
could look around without ruffle or excitement. Everything
looked very poor. Dirty dishes were piled up in a rusty sink
and in the corner of the room, an ugly mold spot was on the
wall. Indeed, Alf lived in a hovel - if it was his house at all.
However, his housemate seemed not to be here. The young



62



man walked over some old wood stairs to the upper floor,
where he found only a few empty and poorly furnished
rooms. One of them was full of cardboards and wooden
boxes, almost up to the ceiling. But Alf Baumer was
nowhere to be found.

„Where am I here at all? ", thought Frank and scratched his
head.

Since the escape from "Big Eye", he hadn't been in the
condition to think about these strange men, who had
rescued him. Who were they?

He opened the entrance door of the house and stepped
outside, left it open a bit, so that he could come back again,
because he had no key for the ramshackle door. When he
looked down the street, in which Alf s house was, Kohlhaas
saw a lot of further hovels on each side. Some of the
houses seemed to be empty, others had weathered fronts
and in the gardens, a sprouting, uncontrolled growth was
spreading everywhere.

Some of the windows had been nailed up with rotted
boards, probably long ago. One house had even a
collapsed roof. In addition, here and there, one of the
houses had been renovated again and Frank heard the
voices of children out of a side street. He could even
understand their language, it was German.
Nevertheless, the sun shone on all the roofs, whether
desolate or repaired again. But many people didn't seem to
live in this rundown village. Finally, Frank saw two men, who
unloaded crates out of a delivery van. A tractor rattled
somewhere in the distance and a mature woman leaned out
of the window in the house opposite to him.

Frank walked down the road and came to a square, which
probably must had been the center of the small village in
former times. Weed sprouted out of the cracks between the



63



cobblestones, which covered the whole place. Here, in the
center of this ghost town, Frank could see three old houses
with big shopwindows. Two of the large windows were
broken and the buildings looked dilapidated. The
shopwindow of the other house was completely plastered
with yellow cellotape. In the center of the square was a
memorial stone, completely overgrown with all sorts of
grass and bushes. It was surrounded by a wooden fence.
Kohlhaas could hardly recognize the memorial stone and,
apart from this, the inscription on it was in Cyrillic, so that
the man from "Central Europe" could not read anything.
On the stone, a soldier with a helmet and a rifle was shown.
Nevertheless, Frank had already seen this helmet from the
old time in a history book. Furthermore, he was able to
decipher the years, which had been engraved on the
memorial stone: 1941 and 1989.

The young man continued his walk and regarded a
moldered church, which stood next to the village square. Its
roof was damaged and had enormous holes, bricks covered
with moss and lichens lay in front of the rotten, wooden front
door, that was adorned with a hardly recognizable picture.
On the tower was a rusted cross of iron. The winged thing
on the door of the church, which was completely overgrown
with lichens, was probably an angel, that had symbolically
welcomed the people at the entrance of the church in the
old times.

But in a world, that had been left alone by God, perhaps
even this angel had lost his "job" one day. Frank pushed the
large wood door to the side and climbed over a pile of
planks, in order to reach the inner part of the old church.
Dried out leaves, dirt and dust were everywhere on the
ground in front of him. The benches of the old building were
dirty and everything made the impression of being lost. The
altar was also damaged and had small tears and cracks,



64



probably because of the cold of a hard winter. The visitor

finally turned his head towards the ceiling and examined the

wooden frescos on the walls, which also showed traces of

decomposition. Frank beheld some angels, that were

fighting against strange looking demons or something like

that - creatures from hell. Other frescos depicted mother

Maria and Jesus Christ.

"The superstar of Christianity. . . ", said Frank to himself and

smiled cynically. This church appeared old and somehow

also sublime. The chapel had possibly been built in the late

Middle Age, but Frank did not know it for sure. He knew

nothing about history.

But the young man didn't care about the age of this church.

Only one thing was true - the building touched his inner

self, although, he never had believed in anything.

Maybe just because it was beautiful and old. In his previous

world, he had never beholden an old building. Gray

plattenbauten, dirty streets, underpasses and factories were

nothing new to him, but he had never looked at old

churches or castles. This house of God was just like a

memorial of a forgotten time. A time far beyond this dark

age.

The church had probably been the heart of this village for

many decades or even centuries. At this place, the people

had prayed to a higher power, begging it to take care of

them. But in the end, it all had come differently. In the year

2028, mankind was alone, and Frank had never noticed a

higher power, that wanted to protect its children.

„Father, if you exist at all, why have you left us? ", said Frank

quietly to himself and looked at the fragile ceiling of the old

building again. Then he went back to the square.

He walked through the hopeless village for several hours.
Again and again, up to the other end and back. Around the



65



locality were fields and forests, and only a muddy street
seemed to connect it with the rest of the world. The young
man sat down on a bank and looked at the sky, when three
little children, probably those, who he had already heard
before in the side street, ran across the road in front of him.
They briefly examined him and smiled, but Frank didn't take
heed of them.

Somewhere a dog barked in a house, which looked
inhabited. He stood up and passed some vacant, rundown
houses. This village, the renegate citizen had already
forgotten its name, was a bleak place, as Kohlhaas thought.
Nevertheless, he prefered this village to the rotten, former
FRG capital Berlin, his old home. He wouldn't miss the
criminality, the cultural and racial tensions and all the decay,
that was typical for the shabby metropolis, where he had
grown up. Now he was here. In this strange hicktown. . .
„lvas! " Now Frank remembered the name of the village. Alf
had said it several times. Ivas, somewhere in Lithuania. But
what was this for a strange village? Frank Kohlhaas was
puzzled.

Meanwhile, he was tired and his shoes were completely
covered with mud. He finally decided to return to Alfs
house, because the front door was still open, although it
was improbable, that the other villagers would steal from
them. It was not like in Berlin. Soon the day came to an end.
Frank didn't know yet, where he was here.

„ln three days we must leave this house, Frank! I must leave

it too, because it is doesn't belong to me", explained

Baumer after a meager lunch.

„As I already guessed. Whose house is it? "

„lt belongs to another villager, who is currently in Minsk to

buy some things", answered Baumer. „Wilden has said, that

we can live here for a few days. If the owner comes back



66



home, we can surely move to one of the other vacant

houses in the village. "

„What is that for a odd village? ", murmured Frank.

„Wilden will explain it to you tomorrow. Actually, he already

wanted to talk to you today, but you were not here. You took

a little walk, isn't it? ", said Alf, whose tiredness meanwhile

shone in his eyes.

„Tell me, where are you from, Baumer? ", asked Frank

suddenly.

„Well, I was born in Dortmund and have lived in some other

cities in the Ruhrgebiet, also in Frankfurt am Main, for four

years", said Alf and took another tea.

„Why have they brought you to „Big Eye"? , Frank became

curious.

„My God, you ask a lot. But well, you will have to remain

here in Ivas, this is hopefully obvious to you, and therefore, I

will tell you a few things about me. "

Alfred Baumer decided to make another camomile tea and

went to the boiler. Then he fetched a cigarette and began

with a small lecture about his life.

Frank actually didn't want to know all the details, but Alf

seemed to look forward to a little speech. Now he was

awake again.

J had troubles with the authorities since my 16th year of life.

I was active in various political groups, which you don't

know, as I think. Anyhow, they are all forbidden since many

years.

I have already been in jail for one year in 2013 - when the

political system of the FRG still existed. They have punished

me for so called "opinion crimes" - because I have designed

a few Internet sites, which were uncomfortable for the state.

At that time, I was just 19 years old. My parents have lost

their jobs during the great world economic crisis in 2012/13,

and have jettisoned me after my term of imprisonment. I



67



have never returned back home again. Afterwards, I have

lived with some friends, in various housing groups, and of

course also alone. After six years, in 2020, I have joined the

Red Moon groups, always trying to live inconspicuously.

Nevertheless, it has gone wrong. "

„The Red Moon groups? " Frank looked surprised. „They

were terrorists, isn't it? These guys have burned a hospital

in Berlin, right? "

. . That's nonsense! Lies! ", grumbled Alf and gave Frank an

annoyed glance.

„l'm sorry. They have said it on television at that time",

remarked Frank and tried to calm down his comrade.

„On television. . . on television. . . ! Nevertheless, fucking

television is even the biggest lie of that world system, man!

Didn't you understand this yet? ", grunted Baumer and felt

accused wrongly.

„No offense meant! ", apologized Kohlhaas.

„No, it is a lie, Frank. The Red Moon groups publicy

protested against the World Government and united

thousands of young people in their fight. Opponents of

globalization, free philosophers, patriots and others. After

that damn hospital hoax, which the media exaggerated with

all their might, we were criminalized. It had been the work of

the GSA, the international secret service, there is no doubt

for me. It has not been activists of our group! However, the

following crusade of the international media, broke the neck

of the Red Moon organization. Tell me, why should a group

of freedom fighters burn innocent people in a hospital? ",

asked Alf with visible rage.

„Do you see the tattoo on my neck? This is the „Red Moon",

the blood-red moon of the fight for liberty - our old symbol! "

„l don't know enough about all this and I don't care. . . ", said

Frank. „l only know, that I hate that goddam World



68



Government, that terrible system - from the bottom of my

heart! "

„Then Ivas is the right place for you, my friend! ", said Alf and

stared at his tea cup, clenching his fist.

„And then? ", asked Frank.

„Then? Then I was still active. After the Red Moon groups

were forbidden worldwide, we continued our struggle in the

underground. Finally, I was arrested during an illegal,

spontaneous demonstration, which I have organized with

some of my comrades. I had to go to jail again.

My time in „Big Eye" began and I can be glad, that they did

not find other loading material during the house search at

that time, otherwise I would have been liquidated.
"

„What material? ", questioned Kohlhaas. Alfred Baumer

looked at him and shook his head.

„You ask very much for a man, who still was flat on his face

a few hours ago. Never mind! That would have made me

more than just some problems, believe me. So I was

sentenced to nine years of detention, only because of the

spontaneous demonstration. I would have never endured

that. In my time as an activist of the Red Moon groups, I

became also aquainted with some of these weird guys from

here. They have already told me years ago, that I should

escape from the sector "Central Europe", to come with them

to Lithuania.

Nevertheless, I was not willing to give up the fight in my

homeland, because it was my aim, to liberate it from this

global insanity. Today I say to myself, that it was just stupid

to wait for so long. It would have been wiser to leave

"Central Europe" in time, because the great enemy is much

too strong in the West. "

„Well, now you are here. And me too. The best thing that

could happen to us, Baumer. This fucked up sector "Central



69



Europe" shall go to hell, it shall rot forever! ", hissed Frank
and wiped off some tea drops from his lip.
"We must not let our compatriots go to the hell! It is our
country! No, we are not on vacation here! We just relocate
our fight. We will only surrender, when the maggots corrode
us in our graves! ", answered Alfred and put his foot down.
Frank was astonished and observed his partner, who
snatched the teapot with a loud curse. "We are not on
vacation here! "

Frank was surprised about this statement, his housemate
had shouted out with so much passion. What did Alf mean
by that?

Again, Frank Kohlhaas slept well and firmly. He had

amazingly regenerated himself, in this short time.

Sometimes he even felt euphoric.

„l am not even afraid of the devil! ", he thought then and

smiled proudly.

But it was not that simple. The aftereffects of the holo cell

were far more malicious, than he could imagine and they

were still there, deep in the dark corners of his brain. They

just lay in wait and planned to erupt, in order to strangle

Frank's peace of mind, while he was sleeping.

Like the mourning, after the death of a beloved person,

usually comes in waves, it was the same with the mental

horror, the holo cell had unleashed in Frank's mind.

The dread had only entrenched itself and waited now, in its

fortified position, for the signal to attack Frank again. No, the

fright wasn't gone. But in these first days of his new

freedom, Kohlhaas had a peaceful time - so far.

The rain pattered on the corrugated iron roof of the small
shed in front of Frank's window, and the untiring noise
made him wake up. It was already after ten o'clock on this



70



wet morning and the young man rolled from one end of the

bed to the other. Suddenly Alf entered the room and said:

„Good morning, Frank! Please get up! Wilden is here and he

would like to talk to you! "

The village boss already sat in the kitchen and sipped his

coffee. He welcomed Frank friendly and told him to follow

him to his house after the breakfest. Somehow, the situation

was unpleasant for Frank, but he tried to avoid problems

and obeyed.

„We must talk about some things, Kohlhaas! ", remarked the

leader of the village community, who wore a long gray coat

and a hat with a narrow brim.

The rain had softened the muddy roads of the village, and

Frank waded behind the somehow authoritarian and

impressive Mr. Wilden through the dirt. After a short foot

march, they finally came to an amazingly well renovated

house, which was even surrounded by a beautiful garden.

„We go upstairs! ", said Wilden.

The former entrepreneur sat down behind an adorned desk

of dark wood and remained silent for some minutes. Frank

took a seat on a soft armchair of black imitation leather,

which smelled cleaned. He looked around. The room

seemed to be an office and was in a perfect condition.

Everywhere he could see pictures on the wall with the light

brown wallpaper: battle paintings, framed photos of some

great men from the old times and a lot of other things.

„Well, Frank Kohlhaas. Do you like our village? ", asked the

gray-haired man, smiled and tried to take the uncertainty

from his young guest.

„Nice! ", was Frank's short answer.

„Nice! ", repeated Wilden soberly. J want to make it short,

and I will not talk around the bush", said the village boss

and looked out the window.



71



Then he continued: „This village is called Ivas. It is in the

area of the former state of Lithuania, in the southwest part

of this actually beautiful country. It is small and insignificant.

A small village, that has been abandoned by its former

inhabitants under the pressure of the worldwide economic

collapse some years ago. A ghost town, as you may know

them from North America.

"Aha. . . ", said Frank.

„This village is so small and so unimportant, that even the

sharpest eye must look twice to see it", explained Wilden.

. . Therefore, I am safe here! ", joked Frank.

. . Well, security is relative. Particularly in our time, Mr.

Kohlhaas. Above all, nowadays! ", said the host quietly.

„But here. . . ", remarked Frank.

„As I already said, Frank Kohlhaas", interrupted him Wilden.

. . Today it is a benediction to be safe. You are here in Ivas,

an insignificant village, in an also not excessively important

country in Eastern Europe. This village is so unimportant

that even the big eye, the eye, which can see the whole

world and always wants to see more, did not notice it yet.

Do you know, what this village really is, Frank? "

„No! Just tell it to me! ", Frank reacted nervously.

. . Then I want to explain it to you exactly. Where you are

here, and with whom you are here! ", answered the man with

a serious look. . . This is no usual village in the contemplative

Lithuania and we are no holiday community. We are rebels,

who fight against the World Government. Ivas is one of our

bases. Some of our men live here, with their families or

alone.

A few of these ramshackle houses, I had acquired for

relatively small sums from the former Lithuanian state in the

period of its dissolution. Finally, my fellows and me settled

in this abandoned village. Some more men will still come



72



and we will establish our position here. But there is one

important rule: Everybody has to be quiet! "

Frank wondered. . . Rebels against the World Government? ",

he thought and beheld Wilden with surprise.

„l think, I know, what you mean! ", he said then.

„You came to Ivas and you will stay here. We can't let you

go, because you already know too much and this is a safety

risk. Even if you tell just one single word about us and this

village, we must kill you! I say it to you not as your foe. This

is the situation, in which you are, Frank Kohlhaas! ", spoke

Wilden and nodded. „And believe me, we will not hesitate,

to wack you immediately, if you endanger our group! ", he

said with a cold voice.

„l understand! ", Frank was more than confused.

"But I don't want to threaten or frighten you, my friend. You

had suffered enough and I wish you a good recovering here.

Furthermore, I don't want to force you to join us. Just trust

Alf, he is a man with a pure heart and could even become a

good friend to you. Moreover, he bailes for you and told me,

that you are a nice person", said Wilden and smiled again.

„l want to rest, as a start, and then I will take a look at your

organization. And believe me, I'm really grateful, because

you saved my life. Don't worry, I would never betray you. I

give you my oath", said Kohlhaas to the older gentleman

and sounded resolute.

. . Trust me, Frank. You are here now, and you will find your

peace of mind among us. And on the other hand, there is no

turning back for you anymore. If they would ever catch you,

you would be liquidated immediately.

You are registered as a terrorist and a murderer, in all

worldwide databases of any administration and authority,

and a so called "normal life" is an illusion now. Whereby,

however, it becomes clear at a closer look that we are the

only ones who live a "normal life", because we are free men



73



and no slaves of this global system, born of terror and

oppression", explained Wilden with a more gently becoming

voice.

„l wanted to thank you again. . . ", whispered Frank quietly.

"No problem, my young friend! I am glad about the fact, that

Alf and the others didn't let you die", answered Wilden with

a paternal countenance.

The talk with the founder of this base took a long time and

Wilden became more and more kindlier. It seemed, that the

older gentleman, who had appeared so cold at first sight,

would have a fancy for Frank.

Since 2013, when the great crisis had shaken the entire

globe and had driven millions of people into poverty,

destroying innumerable existences and finally even leading

to famines, this village had been left by its former

inhabitants.

The collapse of the economy in Lithuania had caused a

mass exodus of young people, who had been driven by the

illusion, to be able to find jobs in the countries of Western

Europe.

Villages like Ivas, which had lived on retail trade and

agriculture to a large extent, had just collapsed, and their

inhabitants had moved into the larger cities of the country or

to the West.

A ghost town had finally remained and meanwhile the rural

areas of Eastern Europe were full of abandoned villages.

Thorsten Wilden, the former entrepreneur from Westphalia,

had decided in 2018, when the shadows of a global

dictatorship had come over the former FRG, to leave his

homeland and to acquire houses in Ivas with his last money.

Wilden had already been registered as a political dissident

in the databases of the secret service, even at the time of

the FRG. He had too often been noticeable. When the



74



entrepreneur had stood for a political incorrect party against

the FRG system in 2012, the media had tried to

economically ruin him with a big campaign. The German

had already thought about emigration in these days. But he

had still persevered for a while, although the media had

called up to boycott his company and his family had been

threatened by incited fanatics. And the situation had

continued to become worse. During the great world

economic crisis, the entrepreneur had lost the biggest part

of his fortune and had become a target for the political

police of the FRG.

Thereupon, Western and Central Europe had been shaken

by a breakdown of the social system and racial and religious

conflicts. Europe had finally been close to civil war.

In the year 2018, Germany had been taken over by the

World Government, while Wilden had escaped to Lithuania

with his family.

He had offered the rest of his savings and had bought some

of the empty houses and also a few properties in Ivas, for

relatively small sums from the collapsing Lithuanian state.

The dying national state, which had been driven into

complete bankruptcy by the crisis, had been glad about

each cent that a foreign investor had given.

In the years 2018 to 2020, the World Government had been

established. The new rulers had promised the masses to

master the great crisis, and had moreover seized the

opportunity, to abolish the old states of Europe.

Then a massive wave of liquidations of political incorrect

persons had followed. Who had been located as a

suspicious person, had been arrested or killed by the

ruthless oppressors.

Shortly afterwards, the Lodge Brothers had founded the

international secret service, the GSA, to eliminate political

opponents. Campaigns of mass arrests, mass liquidations,



75



brainwashing, terror and intimidation had been the order of
the day in this years. Finally, the face of Europe had been
crushed to a bloody pulp. Only in the USA, the GSA had still
raged more effectively and had executed even larger parts
of the population as in Europe.

In this time of terror, Wilden had already escaped to Eastern
Europe and had overcome the first onslaught with his family
unharmedly. However, many of his political fellows of that
time had disappeared in prisons or mass graves.
Nevertheless, the terror had reached the countries of
Eastern Europe too, but the preparatory work for a perfect
surveillance state had only been made half-heartedly and
languidly here. Moreover, the registration of the whole
population wasn't as extensive as in the West yet. So the
strike of the World Government against the nations of the
world, had lost a lot of its power in Lithuania.
Apart from this, Russia and the other states of Eastern
Europe had become members of the world system in the
year 2020, two years after the official takeover of the new
rulrs. Here, some air for breathing had still remained. But
the Lodge Brothers were willing to make up leeway, in the
countries outside of North America and Western Europe.

After these difficult facts and explanations, Frank had never
thought about before, he was impressed by Wilden's talent
to elucidate things. Altogether, he was fascinated by him.
Communities of men like Ivas, had some more time to live in
peace, but the officials even pressurized the sector "Eastern
Europe" more and more, to create a modern system of total
control. So also in Ivas, strictest secrecy was increasingly
necessary to survive, and Wilden's village had ever more
problems to keep up the image of an unimportant village,
inhabited by some farmers. HOK or Holger K. , who didn't
betray his surname to anyone, except for Thorsten Wilden,



76



was one of the most important men in Ivas. The former
computer scientist was a master in tampering scanchips
and to rewrite registration datas of vehicles and airplanes in
a way, that they were inconspicuous. After four hours, Frank
Kohlhaas finally left the house of Thorsten Wilden.