That was the only sound in this eerie vault and
Kohlhaas
was happy to hear it after a while.
Orwell - 1984
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.
The fire flickered and fought against its extinction for a
while. Finally Kohlhaas had to return to the eerie corner to
bring some more firewood. He was still scared and looked
around, waiting for the coming of the ghostly child. But it did
not come and left Frank alone in the cold darkness.
On the next day, at half past eight, Alfred heard voices.
„Calm! ", he hissed and touched Frank lightly. „Hey! Don't
you hear that? "
Kohlhaas startled and sharpened his ears. Baumer was
right. Now he heard the voices too. Someone was shouting
in the distance, and the calls resounded in the tunnels. They
had to be vigilant now.
J take a look! ", said Alfred quietly.
„Damn! Be careful! ", answered Frank and slapped on
Baumefs shoulder.
Alf jumped up and crawled through the hole in the wall into
the sewer corridor. He ran to a bifurcation and went into the
next passage. In his corner of his eye, he could see one of
the red crosses, he had sprayed on the wall before. The
voices became louder. They probably came from the larger
hall with the control room. After some minutes, Alf had
165
advanced far enough into the tangle of sewers corridors and
had reached the room with the water basins. Again, he
heard someone call in French. He turned off his flashlight
and disappeared in the darkness. Then he sneaked towards
to the source of noise. Someone had put on the lights in the
hall and the old, high vault was weakly illuminated now.
Baumer dared not to go further and huddled in a corner of
the corridor, which led to the hall. The voices still became a
little louder and came out of the small room beside the hall,
which could be reached over the stairs.
Finally a man came out of the chamber and called his
colleague. These men were workers of the public utilities of
Paris, and made their daily inspection round here. Alf hoped
that they would not come too often.
After he had observed them for a while, and one the
workers had examined a water basin, the two men walked
away and disappeared into a sewer corridor.
Alf heard them talk loudly. Then their voices faded away in
the distance. The rebel turned around and sneaked again
towards the closed metro tunnel.
„l just hope, they haven't noticed that we have opened
those grids and that steel door", he said quietly to himself.
But the workers had made a calm impression. This was
obviously just an usual inspection round, that they made
repeatedly, and with not much eagerness. And even if they
would repair something, Frank and Alfred could still destroy
it in the next night again. Kohlhaas was waiting at the small
campfire and was relieved, when he saw Alfred creeping
through the hole in the wall.
„Damn! Where have you been? Thank God, it was your
flashlight. All right! I have already pulled my gun! ", said
Kohlhaas.
166
„lt were just some workers", explained Alf and sat down
beside his friend. . . Let's see, who will come down here
tomorrow! "
„Do you know, that they have found a full-grown alligator in
the canalization of Paris some years ago? ", interrupted him
Frank and smiled grimly, looking at his comrade.
„l still prefer alligators to cops, Franky! ", answered Alf.
This time, the night, that could only be differentiated from
the day by a look at the clock, was almost relaxing for the
two rebels. It was a bit like in the good old schooldays,
before a classwork, after a long time of learning. They knew
that the big showdown was inevitable now.
Tomorrow was the day of their final paper. Maybe a little
more bloody and dangerous as a class test. Frank and
Alfred kept guard once more and no ghosts or shades
appeared.
At 6. 30 o'clock, Alfred's DC-stick beeped and woke the two
men. The campfire was still glowing, otherwise the cold
darkness had crept into each corner of the metro shaft
again.
They slowly got up and ate a few toasts for breakfast. The
slices of bread tasted like nothing, this cheap and lousy
grub from . . Globe Food". But it could still be used as a
possible last meal.
„We must go to our target area now. If some cops come
down here today, then in the morning hours. We must keep
everything in sight", explained Baumer and examined the
equipment on completeness.
He checked the time fuse of the bomb several times. Then
he hid the explosive under a pile of debris to avoid that any
derelicts find it. Meanwhile, Frank Kohlhaas looked at his
DC-stick. He wanted to make no mistakes, although they
had already gone the way twice. Like canal rats, which had
meanwhile become accustomed to their wet and dark home,
167
they silently crept through the sewer corridors and were
particularly careful in the bigger halls, which hardly offered
any cover.
They groped in the dark of the tunnels, mostly with just one
flashlight in use, in order to cause no all too big light cones.
Shortly afterwards, they came to the larger vault with the
water pumps, that reminded Frank of „Moria" from the old
film. Now they saw that the steel door was still open.
Kohlhaas beheld the lamp. It looked like the blinde eye of a
Cyclops, staring at him. Nobody seemed to have been here
or nobody had recognized the destruction of the door. Both
men breathed again.
After a walk through several sewer corridors, they had
already come close to their goal. Now they squatted in a
dark corner and waited. The "Temple of Tolerance" and the
metro station „Charles de Gaulle" were near. They heard a
metro rumbling in the distance. Cars could not be heard
today, because the "Avenue of Humanity" had already been
closed off since a few hours. Suddenly human voices came
nearer and the two men looked at each other. What was
that?
At this very second, a cone of light shot directly above their
heads. Frank's and Alfred's hearts dived. But the ray
fortunately found no target, except for rusty pipes and the
dark throat of a sewer corridor.
A policeman of the GP, the "Global Police", approached and
scoured the environment for something.
„There is nothing here! ", he shouted at one of his
colleagues, obviously also no Frenchman. The other man
answered in a strange sounding jargon.
„Okay! ", it resounded out of another sewer tunnel in the
proximity of the "Temple of Tolerance".
„This job is fucked up! ", said the cop near Frank.
168
Obviously he had no greater desire to crawl through dark
and stinky sewers.
„Check the tunnels in your area! ", shouted the second GP
officer in the distance.
The policeman pointed his cone of light at the opposite
tunnel. Meanwhile, the two men were scared to death and
crouched in the brackish water, that flowed beneath them.
The policeman was only about fifty meters away from them
and mumbled something into his radio.
. . Let's disappear from this hole! ", hissed Frank quietly.
„But carefully. . . ", whispered Alf and tried to turn around
noiselessly, while the cop babbled with the other one.
Frank and Alfred prepared for a quiet retreat to another
sewer corridor. They carefully crept away, but Frank
suddenly slid on the wet ground and slipped into the dirty
trickle. A quiet „Plop! " resounded out of the sewer, which
still increased the noise.
Now the two men were gripped by fear and tried to escape
from the danger zone as fast as possible. The head of the
policeman turned around and his flashlight with him. A light
cone immediately jumped towards the tunnel like a furious
lion, but there was nobody anymore.
Frank and Alf were already on the run to the next reservoir
room and the cop only heard quiet steps and the lapping of
water. A ray of light bored itself into the dark tunnel and
illuminated its forepart.
„ls there somebody? ", shouted the policeman into the black
hole. „Hey, give me a sign! ", he added.
Then he went back to another place. His radio croaked and
he tried to give an answer in English.
"I thought, I have heard something. But I think it was only a
rat! ", he said.
169
In the meantime, Kohlhaas and Baumer had reached
another sewer corridor and the cop made no move to follow
them through the ugly passage.
"Don't know! Shit! ", Frank heard him curse quietly.
He finally walked to another area of the sewer system. Both
assassins breathed again. Totally unprepared, they had
been surprised by that man. This cop had almost seen
them. Both still waited for another hour in the protection of
the smelly darkness, until no more voices could be heard in
the distance. On the way back to the closed metro tunnel
they did not encounter any other policemen. Nevertheless,
their nerves were still raw.
These GP's, who had been recruited in many different
countries, just like the GCF occupation troops, obviously
had no bigger references to the French culture. However,
their interest to explore the famous historic sewer system of
Paris was limited.
They just did their job and examined the direct area below
the square in front of the "Temple of Tolerance", that was
all. Policemen, who solely made "their job", just arrived at
the right moment in the eyes of Frank and Alfred.
When they came back to the metro tunnel, everything was
still at its place. Also the NDC-23 - which should have its
great performance in about two to three hours.
170
Bomb-happy. . .
While Frank and Alf were waiting for the attack in their
hiding place, and the minutes passed in a state of
nervousness and tension, Paris resembled an anthill at the
surface. The opening speech of Leon-Jack Wechsler,
governor of the administrative sector . . Central Europe",
should start at 13. 00 o'clock. The streets of the metropolis
were already now, around 11,00 o'clock, perfectly
overcrowded.
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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
The fire flickered and fought against its extinction for a
while. Finally Kohlhaas had to return to the eerie corner to
bring some more firewood. He was still scared and looked
around, waiting for the coming of the ghostly child. But it did
not come and left Frank alone in the cold darkness.
On the next day, at half past eight, Alfred heard voices.
„Calm! ", he hissed and touched Frank lightly. „Hey! Don't
you hear that? "
Kohlhaas startled and sharpened his ears. Baumer was
right. Now he heard the voices too. Someone was shouting
in the distance, and the calls resounded in the tunnels. They
had to be vigilant now.
J take a look! ", said Alfred quietly.
„Damn! Be careful! ", answered Frank and slapped on
Baumefs shoulder.
Alf jumped up and crawled through the hole in the wall into
the sewer corridor. He ran to a bifurcation and went into the
next passage. In his corner of his eye, he could see one of
the red crosses, he had sprayed on the wall before. The
voices became louder. They probably came from the larger
hall with the control room. After some minutes, Alf had
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advanced far enough into the tangle of sewers corridors and
had reached the room with the water basins. Again, he
heard someone call in French. He turned off his flashlight
and disappeared in the darkness. Then he sneaked towards
to the source of noise. Someone had put on the lights in the
hall and the old, high vault was weakly illuminated now.
Baumer dared not to go further and huddled in a corner of
the corridor, which led to the hall. The voices still became a
little louder and came out of the small room beside the hall,
which could be reached over the stairs.
Finally a man came out of the chamber and called his
colleague. These men were workers of the public utilities of
Paris, and made their daily inspection round here. Alf hoped
that they would not come too often.
After he had observed them for a while, and one the
workers had examined a water basin, the two men walked
away and disappeared into a sewer corridor.
Alf heard them talk loudly. Then their voices faded away in
the distance. The rebel turned around and sneaked again
towards the closed metro tunnel.
„l just hope, they haven't noticed that we have opened
those grids and that steel door", he said quietly to himself.
But the workers had made a calm impression. This was
obviously just an usual inspection round, that they made
repeatedly, and with not much eagerness. And even if they
would repair something, Frank and Alfred could still destroy
it in the next night again. Kohlhaas was waiting at the small
campfire and was relieved, when he saw Alfred creeping
through the hole in the wall.
„Damn! Where have you been? Thank God, it was your
flashlight. All right! I have already pulled my gun! ", said
Kohlhaas.
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„lt were just some workers", explained Alf and sat down
beside his friend. . . Let's see, who will come down here
tomorrow! "
„Do you know, that they have found a full-grown alligator in
the canalization of Paris some years ago? ", interrupted him
Frank and smiled grimly, looking at his comrade.
„l still prefer alligators to cops, Franky! ", answered Alf.
This time, the night, that could only be differentiated from
the day by a look at the clock, was almost relaxing for the
two rebels. It was a bit like in the good old schooldays,
before a classwork, after a long time of learning. They knew
that the big showdown was inevitable now.
Tomorrow was the day of their final paper. Maybe a little
more bloody and dangerous as a class test. Frank and
Alfred kept guard once more and no ghosts or shades
appeared.
At 6. 30 o'clock, Alfred's DC-stick beeped and woke the two
men. The campfire was still glowing, otherwise the cold
darkness had crept into each corner of the metro shaft
again.
They slowly got up and ate a few toasts for breakfast. The
slices of bread tasted like nothing, this cheap and lousy
grub from . . Globe Food". But it could still be used as a
possible last meal.
„We must go to our target area now. If some cops come
down here today, then in the morning hours. We must keep
everything in sight", explained Baumer and examined the
equipment on completeness.
He checked the time fuse of the bomb several times. Then
he hid the explosive under a pile of debris to avoid that any
derelicts find it. Meanwhile, Frank Kohlhaas looked at his
DC-stick. He wanted to make no mistakes, although they
had already gone the way twice. Like canal rats, which had
meanwhile become accustomed to their wet and dark home,
167
they silently crept through the sewer corridors and were
particularly careful in the bigger halls, which hardly offered
any cover.
They groped in the dark of the tunnels, mostly with just one
flashlight in use, in order to cause no all too big light cones.
Shortly afterwards, they came to the larger vault with the
water pumps, that reminded Frank of „Moria" from the old
film. Now they saw that the steel door was still open.
Kohlhaas beheld the lamp. It looked like the blinde eye of a
Cyclops, staring at him. Nobody seemed to have been here
or nobody had recognized the destruction of the door. Both
men breathed again.
After a walk through several sewer corridors, they had
already come close to their goal. Now they squatted in a
dark corner and waited. The "Temple of Tolerance" and the
metro station „Charles de Gaulle" were near. They heard a
metro rumbling in the distance. Cars could not be heard
today, because the "Avenue of Humanity" had already been
closed off since a few hours. Suddenly human voices came
nearer and the two men looked at each other. What was
that?
At this very second, a cone of light shot directly above their
heads. Frank's and Alfred's hearts dived. But the ray
fortunately found no target, except for rusty pipes and the
dark throat of a sewer corridor.
A policeman of the GP, the "Global Police", approached and
scoured the environment for something.
„There is nothing here! ", he shouted at one of his
colleagues, obviously also no Frenchman. The other man
answered in a strange sounding jargon.
„Okay! ", it resounded out of another sewer tunnel in the
proximity of the "Temple of Tolerance".
„This job is fucked up! ", said the cop near Frank.
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Obviously he had no greater desire to crawl through dark
and stinky sewers.
„Check the tunnels in your area! ", shouted the second GP
officer in the distance.
The policeman pointed his cone of light at the opposite
tunnel. Meanwhile, the two men were scared to death and
crouched in the brackish water, that flowed beneath them.
The policeman was only about fifty meters away from them
and mumbled something into his radio.
. . Let's disappear from this hole! ", hissed Frank quietly.
„But carefully. . . ", whispered Alf and tried to turn around
noiselessly, while the cop babbled with the other one.
Frank and Alfred prepared for a quiet retreat to another
sewer corridor. They carefully crept away, but Frank
suddenly slid on the wet ground and slipped into the dirty
trickle. A quiet „Plop! " resounded out of the sewer, which
still increased the noise.
Now the two men were gripped by fear and tried to escape
from the danger zone as fast as possible. The head of the
policeman turned around and his flashlight with him. A light
cone immediately jumped towards the tunnel like a furious
lion, but there was nobody anymore.
Frank and Alf were already on the run to the next reservoir
room and the cop only heard quiet steps and the lapping of
water. A ray of light bored itself into the dark tunnel and
illuminated its forepart.
„ls there somebody? ", shouted the policeman into the black
hole. „Hey, give me a sign! ", he added.
Then he went back to another place. His radio croaked and
he tried to give an answer in English.
"I thought, I have heard something. But I think it was only a
rat! ", he said.
169
In the meantime, Kohlhaas and Baumer had reached
another sewer corridor and the cop made no move to follow
them through the ugly passage.
"Don't know! Shit! ", Frank heard him curse quietly.
He finally walked to another area of the sewer system. Both
assassins breathed again. Totally unprepared, they had
been surprised by that man. This cop had almost seen
them. Both still waited for another hour in the protection of
the smelly darkness, until no more voices could be heard in
the distance. On the way back to the closed metro tunnel
they did not encounter any other policemen. Nevertheless,
their nerves were still raw.
These GP's, who had been recruited in many different
countries, just like the GCF occupation troops, obviously
had no bigger references to the French culture. However,
their interest to explore the famous historic sewer system of
Paris was limited.
They just did their job and examined the direct area below
the square in front of the "Temple of Tolerance", that was
all. Policemen, who solely made "their job", just arrived at
the right moment in the eyes of Frank and Alfred.
When they came back to the metro tunnel, everything was
still at its place. Also the NDC-23 - which should have its
great performance in about two to three hours.
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Bomb-happy. . .
While Frank and Alf were waiting for the attack in their
hiding place, and the minutes passed in a state of
nervousness and tension, Paris resembled an anthill at the
surface. The opening speech of Leon-Jack Wechsler,
governor of the administrative sector . . Central Europe",
should start at 13. 00 o'clock. The streets of the metropolis
were already now, around 11,00 o'clock, perfectly
overcrowded.
