No More Learning

Julia Wilden obviously found this not very funny and shook

her head. „Don't say such stupid things! ", she spoke quietly

and seemed to be close to tears. Kohlhaas enjoyed it, to

see her in such a condition, if he was honest. Now the

beautiful Fraulein, who was always a bit precocious,

showed some feelings.



123



But Frank still played the hard rebel: „We will return for sure,

Julia! We will kill this asshole without mercy! "

Then she said goodbye with tears in her eyes and shook

Baumefs hand. Frank was even hugged by her. He was

pleased that she treated him in such a way, and briefly, he

was nearly inspired. But he checked himself and tried to

think about something else, ignoring the pretty, young

woman.

„She likes you, Franky! ", teased him Alf, after Julia had left

the house.

"No idea! ", answered his friend with a shake of the head.

"She is really nice! ", added Baumer with a broad grin.

Frank turned away from him, went to the window and stared

at the squalid garden behind the house. It was dark and

rainy outside.

The two rebels were still awake for several hours. Now they
were untwisted and nervous. This last night in Ivas, before
the highly dangerous job in Paris, was terrible for Frank. He
had weird dreams again, which afflicted him in the short
phase of his sleep during the morning hours. He could
remember just a few things on the next morning, when the
Fleming, his pilot, awaked him with loud banging and calling
at the front door:

Frank walked through a strange dreamworld once more. It
completely resembled the holo cell, in which he had
suffered for eight long months. White, sharp neon light cut
into his eyes and he trudged through the bright fog of light
without a real goal.

After a while, he recognized that it was his holo cell, but it
appeared much bigger as he could remember. The walls
could not be seen anymore and only the toilet and the hated



124



plank bed with its light-gray pleather stood in the middle of

the white light.

„Frank! ", he heard the deep voice of an adult of man from a

distance. „Fraaank! "

He followed the call and soon faced a terrible sight. In front

of him was an enormous spider net, full of thick, black

spiders. Some hatefully stared at him with their glinty eyes,

and their slimy mandibles twitched. Some of the creatures

hissed, when he appeared in front of their net, others were

busy with eating their prey.

The enormous spider net, which seemed to broaden into the

white illuminated sky, was full of screaming humans, who

were clinging to thick and slimy threads.

The young man came closer and saw now, who was in the

claws of the ugly spider monsters. It were babies. It was

Nico. They all were little Nicos. Nevertheless, their voices

did not sound like the voices of babies, they were deeper.

Voices of men, who were already adult.

„Frank! Look at us! ", yelled one of the babies, in whose flesh

one of the spiders had bored its mandibles. „Look at us!

Look at us! "

The beasts munched and refreshed themselves with the

warm blood of the little humans, while the babies called: „As

you can see, Frank, the holo cell has grown! Can you see

it? Can you see, how outstanding perfected it is? This cell

does not know walls or borders anymore, because it covers

the whole world. It has been improved greatly, hasn't it? "

And the spiders continued to eat their victims. Soon they

had turned away from Frank again, crept over the gigantic

net and sucked and ate and devoured.

Just look at us, Frank! ", chorused the babies. Then it was

again black in the head of the dreamer and he forgot, how

the dream continued. . .



125



Frank and Alf packed their bags and Steffen de Vries

helped them. Already in this phase of the operation,

mistakes had to be avoided and at first, the list of equipment

was checked off.

Flashlights, explosive, pistols, close combat weapons for

the case of emergency, meal rations, gumboots, army

boots, construction plans of sewers and so on. The list was

long and it lasted over one hour until the three rebels had

finished their work. Before they went to the transport

aircraft, Mr. Wilden suddenly came to them.

„l wish you all the best, my heros! ", he called. „Have you

already heard the news today? "

Wilden smiled and was gasping for breath, while Frank, Alf

and the Belgian turned around: „No, we had other

problems! "

Japan! ", said the gray-haired man. Japan has left the

World Union! They want their old state back! "

"Aha. . . ", answered Frank without any interest.

J wanted to tell you that, before you fly away! There were

big demonstrations in Tokyo and in many other cities of the

country, one week ago. Governor Kaito Ikeda, the servant of

the World Government, and his advisor Ron Baldwin, have

resigned and have been expelled from the island. The new

president of Japan is Haruto Matsumoto, the leader of the

reform movement. Japan has moreover stopped all

payments and tributes to the World Government.

Furthermore, all the foreign diplomats and supervisors have

been expelled from the country too. No country has dared a

thing like that since 2018! ", explained Wilden with

unconcealed enthusiasm.

Japan is at the end of the world and we are here", returned

Steffen de Vries.

„However, this is nevertheless a sign! The system is

crumbling, my friends. Perhaps, other states will follow



126



Japan! ", said the village boss, somehow disappointed that

the three men had not fully understood the meaning of

Matsumoto's rebellion.

Then he added: „lf you read between the lines, beyond the

lies and the agitation of the international media, you could

believe, that even China and Korea are close to a revolt! "

The three rebels, who were waiting for the flight to a deadly

mission, just nodded and said goodbye to Wilden.

Finally the village boss shouted: „You see, nevertheless,

there is still hope! Our fight is not in vain! Good luck! "

At half past ten in the morning, the small airplane rose into

the air. Kohlhaas and Baumer looked wistfully back at the

place of their provisional peace, the village Ivas. Then they

disappeared on the horizon.

Below themselves, they saw the landscape becoming

smaller and soon the plane flew so high, that they could see

the clouds. The hidden and open war, which raged below

them on the ground, seemed to be forgotten for a moment.

But it would not be vanished, when they would come down

to earth again.

They were silent for a while, also the Flemish rebel Steffen

de Vries, Alf and Frank only knew volatilely. The Belgian

lived with his two daughters, his son, his wife and his dog in

the proximity of the village center, in a barely renovated

house.

It was just beautiful, here in the sky, much more pleasant

than on the rotten earth below them. The nervousness in

their minds briefly died down and Frank remembered the

words of Mr. Wilden.

„Japan! ", he thought. „This land is far away and has nothing

to do with us. Nevertheless. . . ? "

Perhaps it was a sign of hope, also for the rest of mankind,

that one day the slave chains could be broken again. But it

was so grim. The enemy had become more than superior in



127



this age. The mass media danced his dance of fraud and lie

without exception, and they flew each day new attacks on

the brains of the people, like on cities, which were already

destroyed and still had to be devasteted.

The power of finance, the whole monetary system, was in

the claws of the enemy since a long time. And with this

weapon, he had crushed the world piece by piece.

The military had been bought by him and he sent out his

dull mercenaries, who seemed to have no more own will,

against everyone, who tried to resist him.

What would be in the future? The hangman's noose around

the neck of mankind tigthened with every passing year more

and more. Something had to be done, there was no doubt.

„Japan! ", said Baumer with a lack of understanding.

„Wilden, the great analyst of world politics. I don't know,

what I shall think about that. "

„ln any case, better than nothing! ", it came out of the cockpit

with Flemish accent.

. . We'll see what happens now! ", answered Frank.

„l will tell you what will happen next! ", growled Alf. "Now, the

Lodge Brothers will demoralize these stubborn Japanese.

Slowly but surely. As they always do, if states dare to act

independently.

It will begin with a worldwide press agitation, which will

slander the Japanese to the bone. Then the economic

boycott will come and in the end another war - or the

Japanese will submit to the World Goverment again. That is

an old and proven tactic. "

„But it could really be, that other countries will support

Japan", returned Kohlhaas with a tang of confidence.

„No, this is an illusion in my eyes! ", answered Alf. . . This new

president, this Matsumoto, should be a born samurai, in

order to endure, what expects him and his people now. He



128



should have nerves like steel cables and should always
sleep with one eye open. "

. . Let's hope that he has the spirit of his brave ancestors",
said Frank.

Anyhow, Japan's act of restoring its independence, was an
incomprehensible boldness from the point of view of the
World Government. The country had gone through hard
times since the great crisis in 2013. Its export trade and the
industry had collapsed and the national indebtedness had
been so gigantic, that the highly technicalised country had
almost broken down like a house of cards. The Japanese,
who had successfully copied the European technology for a
long time, had lost their commercial relevance in a few
weeks.

Japan's economy, the cornerstone of its new national pride
after the Second World War, had declined. After 2018, it
had still become worse and the island had turned into a
bubbling cauldron full of discontent. While a great part of the
nationalistic and traditional Japanese population had
postulated the return to the "old way", the care for their
culture and the preference of Japanese interests, the
puppet government of Kaito Ikeda, who had been assigned
by the World Government, had done the opposite. So the
tensions had risen with time.

Steffen de Vries switched on the digitized radio and a song
of the Cyberpop Hipcore star Evan Steele resounded out of
the cockpit, which soon got on Frank's and Alf's nerves.
Then the news followed.

First came a message about the World President, who had
opened an „One-World-Kindergarten" in Washington, telling
the listeners, that inattentiveness or rebellious behavior,
particularly among little boys, had to be fought with new
drugs. Early childhood disturbances had to be wiped out by



129



the use of more pharmaceutical products and it was a holy
assignment for all great humanists, to liberate the children
of the world from these "diseases".

The chief of the kindergarten was asked about this and
seemed to be enthusiastic about the new medicines. Then a
representative of a big pharmaceutical company gave an
interview and announced that they intensively worked on a
new drug programs for infants.

The next topic was Japan and the newscaster said: „This
morning, the World Government discussed further
measures at their crisis meeting in New York, to handle with
the fascist Japanese state.

The World President and other prominent representatives of
politics and economics, came to the decision, that the global
community has to consider drastic measures, because of
the increasing threat to all peaceable people. Matsumoto's
Japan, where political dissidents are persecuted and
murdered, has nuclear weapons and seems to be willing, to
use them against the free world, as secret GSA reports
prove.

The governor of the administrative sector . . Eastern Asia",
Mr. Kim Bo-Hung, and his advisor Mr. David Frost,
announced a hard course against Japan during the
conference.

„We can not permit, that fascist polititians like Haruto
Matsumoto become new cancerous ulcers in our peaceful
and free world! ", stressed the World President literally.
GCF commander Edward McOwen said that a possible
security zone has to be established around Japan and
arranged the sending of warships of the GCF Pacific fleet to
Eastern Asia. He exhorted all administrative districts and
sub-sectors of the world community to watchfulness, in
order to make fanatics and dictators like Matsumoto
innocuous, before they become too powerful. The plan of



130



Japan, to become independent from world economy, and
also the intend to abolish the interest system, the World
President castigated as a . . perverse act of a mad gone
dictatorship".

. . What did I say? ", muttered Baumer and smiled sufferingly.
„Now it starts! "

„We can only wish the Japanese good luck for the future. I
hope, they have a thick skin. Now we have our own fight! ",
replied Frank.

The airplane flew over Poland and came nearer to the
sector . . Central Europe", while time passed. Meanwhile, the
three men were seized by a growing nervosity.
They talked quietly with each other, as if they would fear to
be intercepted by an enormous ear in the sky. And actually
the curious ears and eyes around them became more
numerous. The countless radar and alarm systems,
supervising the airspace, let Frank think of the spider net in
his nightmare. . . Central Europe" was near.
But nothing happened.
Nobody noticed the inadvertent
guests, who penetrated the completely supervised area. If
someone had really scanned the flier, he had only found an
insignificant name in the registration card index of the
machine. The big eye looked past them, although they were
directly in front of its pupil. The hours passed and Frank,
Alfred and Steffen breathed again, when they crossed the
old border of France and no radiogram of the air traffic
control was sent. Compiegne was close now and the
airplane started its final descent.

Finally, they reached the ground without incidents, but a
feeling of biggest uncertainty tormented them, when they
stepped out of the airplane. It was like in former times, when
the Europeans could still afford vacation travels to the
southern countries. If they had left the cold north and had



131



finally come out of the plane in the south, they had often
been confronted with an unusual wall of stifling heat. Today
it was different, because the wall, which waited for Frank
and Alf here in the center of France, was not made of heat,
it consisted of distrust.

In his meticulous fashion, HOK had selected a small village,
where there rebels should land. Far away from the attention
of the natives.

The Belgian had opted a large field near the village to land.
Frank and Alf said goodbye and took their backpacks. Then
de Vries took off again as fast as he could.
For safety reasons he flew directly back to Ivas, because he
didn't want to stay just one minute longer in such an
extremely monitored zone. If he would have parked his
plane somewhere in this rural area for seven days, the
danger to be controlled by a police patrol would still have
been small, but his nerves were raw.
He had been relieved, when he had left the sector "Central
Europe" with his Family in 2019 - never to be seen again.
Perhaps, de Vries was a little too paranoid, and he also had
a perfectly falsified Scanchip, but only the thought of being
caught by the police filled him with panic. The Fleming had
already been arrested in 2011, because of smuggling arms,
and his name was still listed in all official databanks. Steffen
and his family had suffered a lot in "Central Europe" and
when he finally came back to Ivas, he was more than happy
about this.

Meanwhile, Frank and Alf stood on a field close to a small
village near Compiegne - with full backpacks. Their hearts
were pounding like mad. Now they were on their own,
standing in the middle of enemy country. Therefore, it was
important to behave inconspicuous.
„We look like ramblers from the forest", muttered Alf.



132



. . Let's go to the village and then we will drive to Compiegne

by bus. We still have to make it to Paris today! ", explained

Frank and felt uneasy.

They walked along a dusty road, which led from the landing

zone directly to the small village, always looking around.

The load was heavy, everyone had to carry about 25

kilograms, and they just hoped that no policeman would find

them strange.

However, the two rebels had some ordinary clothes. Frank

wore some blue jeans and a dark green polo. Furthermore,

a light gray baseball cap, which was pulled deeply into his

face, covering his head.

Baumer also wore blue jeans, a brown turtleneck pullover

and a reddish baseball cap with the symbol of the the

"Cleveland dead Indians". Under the trouser legs of the two

men, black army boots could be seen, because firm

footwear was essential on this mission.

Their warm jackets had been stowed in the backpacks.

They also had sunglasses in their bags, but the weather

was sulky today, and so sunglasses would have looked not

very inconspicuous.

On the way to the village, they didn't see many people. Just

an old man, who passed and briefly examined them. Apart

from this, there was not a soul to be seen. However, the

village didn't pulsate of life. Everything looked poorly and

only a few inhabitants were on the street. Just a little boy on

the opposite roadside, who shouted something in French,

gave them a bit attention. But Frank and Alf didn't mind him.

They went to a bus stop and drove with line 38 to

Compiegne.

. . Just cut and run! ", they thought to themselves. The bus

driver had warily looked at them, when he had debited the

amount for the trip from their Scanchips, Frank was sure.

Alfred, however, protested that this hadn't been noticeable



133



to him. Both were silent and tried to ignore the other
passengers. They just sat in the last row of seats of the bus
and were glad about everyone, who did not turn around to
them. The bus driver talked with an older woman during the
trip, and she probably told him her whole life story with wild
gestures. „Oui! " and „Non! " it resounded through the shabby
bus. Then the vehicle arrived at Compiegne.

„Give me the DC-stick! ", said Frank, after they had stepped
off the bus.

Anyhow they had already taken this small hurdle without
any problems. Alfred ransacked his black backpack and
pulled out a small data medium. On the DC-stick were the
construction plans of the canalization of Paris and other
files, also a map of Compiegne.

„We are here, in the center. The rental car company is not
far away. We can walk! ", said Frank and nervously looked at
Alf.

Now they were surrounded by a lot of people. It was not like
in the small village they came from. The two assassins were
close to a shopping mile and masses of passersby were all
over the place. But they didn't regard them, if at all only as
tourists, and gave them no closer looks. Both men heard a
tangle of languages beyond their ears, mainly French.
Some children, probably Arabs, ran over the street and
were screamed. At first sight, Compiegne was an ugly, gray
and dirty city. At second sight, it was still more disgusting!
The shopping mile was full of beggars and homeless
people, who hung around in the corners, wrapped in covers
and drunk. An old man roared loudly with a babbling voice
and threw his bottle of cheap liquor on the asphalt.
Somewhere, someone tried to play on a guitar and sang flat
to get some Globes. It was just odious here. But where was
it still pleasant in this age? Anyhow, Kohlhaas and Baumer



134



hit the road immediately to reach the rental car company in
time. It was already after 17. 00 o'clock and they had to
hurry up.

Frank noticed that the people around him walked with a
stoop, as if they would have an interest to look like midgets.
Their faces reflected poverty, many looked ill and pale. The
two Germans were regarded by nobody and silently walked
down the street. Shortly afterwards, they passed some
abandoned shops. Probably there had been a flourishing
retail trade in former times, but this was long ago.
Meanwhile, the shopwindows of the dirty houses in the
center of Compiegne looked dead and dusty. The downfall
of a once beautiful city was obvious.

What had remained, were the cheap supermarkets of
„Globe Food" and „3X6 Market", which supplied Europe and
North America with their bad food.

Here, the homeless people clustered. They gestured,
shouted, brought new liquor out of the supermarket and also
vomited, when they were drunk enough. From the other end
of the long shopping street, which had already lost its gloss,
suddenly came a loud scream. A young man had stabbed
one of the derelicts, people ran around and started to yell.
Frank and Alfred walked faster, if a police car emerged.
A little later, they had reached the rental car company,
which lay in a halfdark backyard. A sturdy man with a beard
waited for them behind a desk and lolled on his chair. The
two rebels entered his office. Now it became thrilling,
because Frank had to use his falsified Scanchip for the first
time.

„We want a car. We want to go to Paris! ", said Alfred.

The Frenchman, who probably had a lot of contact with

tourists, looked up and fetched some papers.



135



„Oui! You want to go to Paris? Okay! ", he answered and

smiled.

„Eh. . . Yes! ", added Frank. „Which car do you want? A

normally car, a combi, a van? ", enumerated the renter.

„Normal car! ", answered Alf.

„Which type? ", asked the man.

„Tell that asshole that it is all the same to me. I want to

leave this place as fast as I can! ", hissed Kohlhaas quietly.

Alf nodded.

„lt doesn't matter. Any normal car! ", said Baumer.

„Okay! Where are you from? ", nerved the Frenchman.

„Austria. . . from Austria! ", stammered Frank. His heart

pounded and his hands felt sweaty.

„Ah! Aus Osterreich! ", joked the man and tried to talk

German.

„Ja! ", answered Alfred.

The renter stood up from his chair and waved the two rebels

nearer.

„Come on! ", he called. „Here! This car you can have. "

The friendly man showed Frank and Alf a black and no

longer new "Lion".

„ls der gut? ", he asked, grinned and was pleased that he

had made it, to speak German.

„Yes! We take this car! ", answered Frank, whose back

began to hurt, because of his heavy load.

„Okay, we go to the office. Than pay with Scanchip! ", said

the renter and walked off.

"Now we will see. . . ", whispered Alf.

„How long do you want to lease the car? ", asked the man

from the next room and typed something.

„Till the second of march! ", said Alf.

"Okay! ", it came back.

The Frenchman took the two Scanchips and pulled them

over a reader.



136



„A car is 40 Globes a day, my friends! ", he explained.

„Okay! ", breathed Frank and looked at Alf with fear in his

eyes.

The reader hummed quietly and for the two men the world

seemed to stop turning for some seconds. The tension let

their hearts pump faster and the adrenalin shot through their

veins.

Then the Frenchman looked up and smiled friendly: „Thank

you, Mr. Eberharter and Mr. Willner. Take your car. Have

much fun in Paris! Haben Sie vielen Spaft in Paris, mein

Herren! Ha, ha! "

The two rebels took a deep breath, walked fastly to their

car, threw the heavy bags into the trunk and disappeared.

The trip to Paris was more pleasant than in former times.
There were no more traffic jams of considerable size,
because the number of cars had increasingly been reduced
in the last years.

The breakdown of the automobile industry had begun in the
year 2009 and in 2029, cars were luxury articles for the
ordinary people. Who could hardly ensure, that there was
enough food on his plate, had no more Globes to fund a car.
Government officials and other higher earners, who still
could afford a car, were an exception. Moreover, the prices
for gasoline had drastically risen, particularly since 2018.
Meanwhile, a car devoured big sums of money.
Alternative energies, which could have replaced the
gasoline, were still suppressed by the oil industry and the oil
lords had still all the power, to exterminate any rivals in this
sector. In 2019, a worldwide wave of liquidations by the
GSA had hit many scientists and entrepreneurs, who
wanted to offer free energies. So the traffic jams slowly
vanished, and that was a real advantage on this day,
because the two rebels could nearly "enjoy" their trip to



137



Paris. However, the motorways and streets were in a
catastrophic condition. The administrative district . . Central
Europe" used its income for more important things than to
repair streets, for example, an improved monitoring or an
extended armament.

It lasted for a while, until the two men had found the hotel,
which HOK had chosen for them. The streets of Paris
appeared endlessly and darkly, and if one didn't know this
labyrinth of lanes, it was easy to go astray.
The hotel was called . . Sunflower" and was in the east of
Paris.