No More Learning

Frank's mother had died three years ago, he had
loved her very much and with her death he had lost not only
his biological mother, but also his best friend, his closest
reference person in this world. The time after her death had
been hard. Now, nobody was left to talk to.
To his father, Rainer Kohlhaas, who lived in the eastern part
of Berlin, Frank had had only irregular contact. Rarely, too
rarely, he had visited him so far, if he was honest. But
Rainer Kohlhaas was an unemotional, taciturn man, and
each discussion with him was laborious.
Frank and Rainer had frequently argued in former times.
Often the father had openly shown his displeasure about
Frank's path through life and had always upholded Frank's
sister Martina, as the positive example. His son had hated
these permanent comparisons, but now, all this was no
longer important.

From time to time he had telephoned with his older sister,
the more successful one of the two children. Martina had
become a teacher, had married and Frank had often envied
her, because of her good payment. But one day, she had
confessed to him, how fraught and exhaustive her job was.
She just hated to work on her school.
She teached the subjects „Biology "and . . English" at a
school complex in Wuppertal, in the sub-district Westfalen-
Rheinland. Martina described the situation in German



38



schools as more than intolerable, and Frank had the
suspicion that she already drank and took tranquilizers. But
she held on, for her husband and her son, the little Nico.
However, citizen 1-564398B-278843 had seen his nephew
only twice and had always been proud to be his uncle.
In these terrible days, he often thought about the rest of his
family which probably didn't know at all, that he was locked
up here. Perhaps, they would only be surprised about the
fact, that Frank didn't answer the telephone since weeks.
Perhaps the police had even informed his family members -
that he had become an offender and was a criminal now,
and had to face his fair punishment in that prison. He just
didn't know, but he could imagine his father's face, if he got
that message.

J have always said, that the boy wastes his life. Now my old
sorrow has finally been confirmed! ", he had probably
murmured. The prisoner didn't try to think too much about
these unpleasant things.

„What has happened to my apartment? ", he pondered. „l'm
sure that they have already rented it to another person. This
can be done fast if the rent can't be deducted from the
Scanchip anymore. "

In these days, Frank could only speak with himself and tried
to handle the pain. But it did not change anything. He had
served only one month in this room, but Frank already got
the feeling that he had walked from one end of hell to the
other.

It was not easy to persevere here. And the daily two
reeducation hours finally became even the most interesting
things, which happened on a day in the holo cell. After a
while, Frank occasionally even looked forward to them.
Nevertheless, sometimes he tried to destroy the
loudspeaker, which hung much too high, to tear it down.
Then he became so angry that he kicked against the walls



39



or bit in his underarm till it bled. Frank's lonely fight against
windmills continued for a while in such a way. Always
unsuccessful and ever more closer to the loss of his good
judgement. Sometimes he cried below the loudspeaker,
begged for grace and forgiveness and promised to follow
each rule and each regulation for all eternity. He swore, to
believe everything, what they told him. But nobody ever
answered.

When two months had passed, Frank broke out in tears
ever more frequently or crawled under his light gray plank
bed. He thought, that insanity had already found him and
skid down into a state of permanent panic. Patient 111-F-47
didn't trust his own judgement any longer and felt seperated
from the rest of the world like by a great ocean.
In the second month of his term of imprisonment, he made
"insanity" to his companion. He invisaged him as another
inmate, as a cellmate.

A very tall guy, gaunt, with completely pale skin and deep
furrows in the face. Also dressed in the correct white cell
clothes of „Big Eye". However, if the "insanity" sat beside
him on the plank bed, he unfortunately never answered. He
just sneered at him, showing Kohlhaas his yellowish-brown
teeth. But nevertheless, Frank told his spooky friend a lot of
things.

Sometimes the patient also imagined, that „Mr. Madness",
as Frank called him after a while, snored in the complete
darkness of the night, lying somewhere in the room. Then
he crept over the ground and tried to find his strange
cellmate, in order to tell to him that he might be silent. Frank
thought about much confusing things and nobody could say,
if the young men still knew, that it were confusing things. It
was a nocturnal trip beyond the borders of human
understanding, a mental journey through the darkest tunnels



40



of his mind. And every morning, Kohlhaas was awaked by
that bright, hellish light again.

. . That's the army of the light particles, which destroys my
lids with their ramming supports, piece by piece, pouring
into my head-fortress with loud screams - slaughtering
everything without further warning. And this cruel horde
massacres my helpless grey cells! ", said the young man, if
he could hardly bear it.

Then he had phases, in which he searched his body on
diseases for hours. He found malicious knots and parasites
everywhere. His body seemed to be full of degenerated
pimples and strange maladies under the skin, which filled
his mind with sorrows.

At the end of the third month, he discovered some red
points on the white wall behind the toilet, when he huddled
on the ground, in order to protect himself against the
aggressive light. Frank was sure that it were traces of blood,
which had only provisionally been overcoated with white
color by the prison's staff.

Mr. Madness had no opinion about this, he just sat in the
corner and beheld Frank sadly. Often Kohlhaas
remembered, whether it was actually possible, to smash his
own head against the wall or the ceramic toilet bowl so
hardly, that this torture was over. What would happen?
Would the attendants save him, just to let him rot here until
doomsday? Another possibility was, to bite open his pulse
veins. Unfortunately, there were no bedlinen or other things
in this cell, which would have made a suicide possible.
But each time, when Frank had these thoughts, he finally
lost the courage to do it. Moreover, Mr. Madness always
looked worriedly at him in these situations, still sitting in his
corner. The light disappeared, it was 22,00 o'clock.
Starting from the fourth month of his captivity in the holo
cell, Frank Kohlhaas spent the most days with being just



41



motionless for hours, lying on his belly - under the plank

bed.

„May this damn light hit Mr. Madness! May he sit on the

plank bed! I will stay here. Here, that blaze will never find

me! ", he said to himself with a lunatic smile.

Meanwhile, Frank thought about his family more rarely. And

what was the use anyhow? He was separated from the rest

of the world. And his father, his sister or the little Nico, could

not safe him from this horror.

And as the computer-controlled woman voice had already

explained in one of the reeducation hours: „The connections

to family and kinship are errors of nature, and all citizens of

the New World Order must get along without them! They

must be corrected by modern rules.

Interhuman relations harm the new order and obstruct the

economic development. Humans must learn to overcome

them. Having a family is not progressive, it restrains every

advancement. Forget your family, because your new

community is the community of the "One-World". You are

part of the whole, patient 111-F-47, and the whole is a part

of you! "

His only entertainment in this confusing time was to

examine the dust grains on the cell ground and Frank

wondered how many interesting forms and colors he could

find.

Sometimes it was really fascinaiting for him and so he

hardly listened, if the gentle voice of reeducation from the

loudspeaker explained to him, why the old order of the world

was just wrong, and the new order was good without

exception.

When the fifth month began, Frank suddenly became

talkative. He talked with Mr. Madness about a lot of things

and often his speeches lasted several hours. He invented

lectures, which were similar to the instructions of the



42



reeducation hours. Meanwhile, Frank planned to reeducate
Mr. Madness, a very important personality who had already
visited millions of people around the world.
Sometimes he preached the most important facts of each
current reeducation hour, he recited them, yelled them and
sometimes he tried to kick or beat Mr. Madness, if his pupil
didn't show enough interest. Although, he actually viewed
this gentleman in the corner, who sometimes also sat on his
plank bed, as his cell comrade and friend, he had
occasionally to give some pain to him, so that he learned.
But all his attemps to hit the imaginary man were
unsuccessful. After a while, Frank had kicked a little hole in
the white wall of the holo cell - but he had never hit Mr.
Madness.

When another month had passed, Frank had given it up to
convince Mr. Madness, to become also a good citizen of the
new world state. Now he tried to memorize every single
word of the reeducation hours and often he could
completely repeat the first two or three minutes by heart.
He cried, sang and howled the slogans from the
loudspeaker like a parrot. The necessity of the registration
of earth's population, the obligation of obeying, the
autoregulation of economics, the inevitability of a society
without sexes, nations and races, the necessary dissolution
of all cultures and religions, the requirement of inhumanity
as the basis of a new humanity.

His memory proved, although it was already owergrown by
a mushroom of insanity, as amazingly good. Frank saw
himself as a learner and with bloodshot eyes he cried, while
the loudspeaker talked: „Jawohl! This is the only truth! "



43



Meanwhile half a year had passed and patient 1 1 1-F-47 had
developed many possibilities of overcoming the hours and
days. He had even set up an own daily plan in his mind:

- Meal

- Learn as much words from the reeducation hour as I can

- Explain them to Mr. Madness (however, only if he listened)

- Investigate the fibers of the white wallpaper more exactly

- Finding new dust particles on the ground

- Lunch

- Arguing with Mr. Madness

Frank's meal rations came through a hatch in the wall three
times a day. The inventors of the holo cell had kindly made
certain that he had never to leave this terrible room, not
even for the intake of food.

Two months later, the monitoring cameras of „Big Eye",

which always kept every corner in this big prison complex in

sight, including room 47 in block F, saw a broken man, lying

like dead with face down on his plank bed.

Frank Kohlhaas, patient 111-F-47, seemed to have slipped

into an endless lethargy. Meanwhile, he wished nothing

more than the end of his shattered existence.

The cruel treatment had internally destroyed him, and even

the irrational behavior and the emotional outbreaks, which

had kept him alive for so long, were over.

Over eight months of holo cell had corroded his mind so

strongly, that his body seemed to refuse its service any

longer under such inhuman conditions.

The sharp, malicious light, which tormented him 14 hours a

day, hand in hand with the impenetrable darkness of the

artificial nights, had finally crushed Frank's will to live. The

holo cell 47 in block F, this hell chamber without windows,



44



with only a plank bed, a toilet and a little hatch in the white

wall, was ultimately the winner in this war against insanity.

Not even Frank's only friend, the mutely smiling Mr.

Madness, had had the guts to stay here any longer - he had

vanished.

On 21. 03. 2028, the light was switched off again at 22. 00

o'clock in the evening by the computer-controlled system of

„BigEye".

The unconscious Frank Kohlhaas, who layed somewhere in

this cell, down on the ground, with his face in a puddle of

saliva, was swallowed by the darkness again. He did no

longer notice it.

The next day, the army of light particles started another
great attack on Frank's head. With loud crashing it surged
against his lids like a battering ram and awoke the halfdead
patient again. But Frank's will was already destroyed and
why should he be interested in another day of hundreds
more in this holo cell. He hoped, with the still smoldering
rest of his understanding, that he would meet death as soon
as possible. Kohlhaas was sure, that he would praise the
Grim Reaper like a redeemer, when he would finally come.
On 22. 03. 2028 at 9. 45 o'clock in the morning, the electronic
woman voice suddenly resounded through the brightly
illuminated cell. Frank lay on the ground like a dying animal
and hardly heard this anymore. The small part of his brain,
which hadn't been razed to the ground and hadn't been
brunt by the horde of light particles yet, was briefly surprised
for a second about the fact that there was another
announcement after the wake-up call. Then Frank's mind
switched off again. Nevertheless, this was unusual.
„l_isten, patient 111-F-47! Your holo cell has been given to
another patient by the computer-controlled administration of
„Big Eye". You will be brought to the mental hospital "World



45



Peace" in Bonn, where your therapy will be continued for
the next four years and four months. Please be
unconcerned, your healing process will not be interrupted. A
holo cell of the same type is available for you in "World
Peace"! "

The young man hardly thought about the content of the
announcement. They should freight him, whereto they ever
wanted. He would hopefully soon be dead and free.

But up to the next morning, he still lived. Or better said: His

heart refused stopping, although his owner really wished it -

"from the heart". He hadn't moved at all, during the whole

day and the following night, because he took his desire to

die very seriously.

But the three execution officials, who opened his holo cell

punctually at 8. 00 o'clock and entered the room, didn't

understand this. They were the first human beings since

over eight months, who visited Frank here - to bring him

from A to B, from one hell chamber to the next.

„The guy still breathes, but he is totally down! ", said one of

the three guards.

„Hey! Stand up, man! Don't waste our time! ", remarked

another and kicked Frank in the back.

„Hrrrr! ", hummed the prisoner.

„Shit, the guy is really broken! Uwe, look at this! " The third

enforcement officer was astonished. "Bring us some

stimulants! We need some extra help in this case! "

One of the officials departed and came back with a cup of

water and two red pills after a quarter of an hour.

„Hey! Hey, 111-F-47! Open your mouth! . Yes, good boy!

And now, down with it! ", he muttered.

Frank swallowed the pills and was able to walk after a few

minutes. He didn't understand, what happened to him and



46



hardly noticed, that he was on the way to leave the

abhorrent holo cell behind him.

„Go! Get a grip, man! Just walk! . Yes, this is good. One foot

before the other one! Forward! ", said the guard and

supported Frank cynically.

Patient 111-F-47 had to be carried out of the prison building,

more or less, because he was too weak to walk.
After a

while, the policemen simply pushed the young man forward.

„That the guy isn't fit yet, after two pills of steroin! ",

remarked the officer with surprise. „Hurry up! The driver of

the transporter is waiting in hall B! "

The three man brought the picture of misery, which once
had been called Frank Kohlhaas, with the help of steroin, a
highly concentrated stimulant, and some beats against the
head to the transport van.

Frank crept over the three stages of a metal stair and sank
down on one of the seats. His hands were secured with
handcuffs behind his back and he stared at the ground.
„Watch out for this guy! He is finished! Maybe he gonna
vomit in our van! Ha, ha! ", said a guard to his colleagues.
„We will watch out for him! Don't worry! ", answered one of
the policemen with a grin.

Next to Frank were two other officers and a further prisoner
in the back area of the transport van. The cops were armed
with shotguns and tied Frank, who almost slipped on the
ground, and also the other inmate, with an additional seat
belt. Both men could only move their legs now.
The transport van started moving at 9. 00 o'clock, and finally
left the prison complex. Even if Frank had had the
opportunity, to have a last look at the hated place of horror,
which had brought him to his knees, he probably wouldn't
have done it. First of all, the back area of the transporter,
secured by lattices, had no windows anyway, and secondly,



47



patient 111-F-47 didn't care, where he would find death. If it

was in "Big Eye" or in "World Peace" or somewhere else,

wasn't important anymore. His only concern was, if it would

go fast.

After they had driven one quarter of an hour and nobody

had spoken a word, the prisoner, sitting diagonally opposite

to Frank, hissed: „Hey! Pssst! I am Alf! Who are you? "

Frank ignored the question of the man. It didn't interest him,

who still sat there. He stared at the metallic ground of the

van's back area with blank look.

Suddenly one of the policemen said: „Baumer, you crank!

Stop that damn whispering! Contact among prisoners is

against the regulations! "

J thought, we are patients? ", answered the prisoner

sardonically, giving Frank a nod.

Now the policeman reacted. He struck Baumer in the face

and grumbled: „Oh, I'm sorry, asshole! I didn't want to be

impolite. "

The prisoner swallowed some blood and saliva and looked

at Frank with psychotic eyes. However, the young man was

still mute and didn't mention the small sign of defiantness,

the other prisoner had shown.

"Alf Baumer! ", he thought briefly, then his mind sank again

into a blurred fog.

Alfred Baumer, patient 578-H-21, was a tall man. He had a

dark brown beard, broad shoulders and a tattoo at the neck.

The few hasty looks, Frank had given to him, showed the

picture of an aggressive man, who was about thirty years

old. Above all, Alf's bright blue eyes and the large scar in

the right half of his face were noticeable.

How long the trip had already lasted, Kohlhaas could hardly

say anymore. Perhaps a further quarter of an hour. Alfred

seemed to have the things more clearly in sight. He

hatefully stared at the police officers with his blue eyes,



48



baring his teeth and looking at Frank from time to time. This
man seemed to wait for something. . .



49



The Change



In a small forest, close to the highway BAS-74, four men

lurked in the rainy undergrowth and peered eastwards. They

wore camouflage clothes and their faces were hidden under

black balaclavas. Three of them fumbled nervously with

their assault rifles, while another man had a field glass and

gave instructions to his comrades.

„How much longer, Sven? ", asked one of the men.

„l will already tell you. They must soon be here! And

remeber: Jens only shoots at the tires, the rest only shoots

at the drivers! ", answered Sven. „And don't perforate the

back area of the van by mistake, got it? ", he added.

„The whole thing is damn risky. I hope, we will come home

alive! ", said one of the men quietly.

„lt is too late for such thoughts now. We will just do it! Check

your weapons! ", hissed the young man with the field glass.

The minutes passed and the four men crawled further

forward, in the direction of the road. Sven suddenly stopped,

waving the other men nearer.

„Look! Over there! It's the van! Go! ", he called.

All jumped under cover and grabbed their assault rifles. The

transport van, the four men had waited for several hours,

came closer with medium speed.

Another long and tense minute passed, full of doubts and

uncertainty in the hearts of the four men. Then it began. And

while the three policemen, who sat in the driver's cab of the

transport van, were still grouching about the fact that they

had to drive from Bernau to Bonn, just because of the

transfer of only two prisoners, they suddenly saw four

shadows, coming closer to their vehicle from the forest.



50



„Now! Fire! ", roared the scout with the field glass and all four

men raised their weapons in the air, rushed forward and

sent a deafening hail of bullets to the transporter.

„Tac! Tac! Tac! Tad", it echoed through the small forest and

the four men continued to shoot at the windshield and the

tires of the vehicle.

With a loud clank, the windows of the transport van bursted

and it turned out in hurling. Then the damaged vehicle

stopped.

„Kill these rats! ", screamed a masked men and fired at the

driver's cab. One of the two officials in the forepart of the

van got a headshot and an enormous bloodstain spreaded

over the headrest of his seat. Another policeman was also

hit in the arm and tried to find cover behind the engine

mount, searching for his weapon in panic. The third tore up

the passenger door and fired wildly at the masked attackers.

A salvo of two assault rifles finally sent him to the ground.

Meanwhile, the four men had come so close to the vehicle,

that they could also fire from the side at the policeman, who

huddled between the seats. One of the men raised his rifle

and executed the official with an angry burst.

. . Destroy the detector! ", screamed one of the masked men

and the guy, who was called Sven by the others, jumped

forward and shot with his pistol at a radio-like thing in the

front part of the transporter.

„Bolt cutters! Hurry! Hurry! ", he yelled and the four men ran

to the backdoor of the vehicle.

The sound of gunfire, coming from outside, had not been
unnoticed by the two police officers, who guarded Frank
Kohlhaas and Alf Baumer. Even patient 111-F-47 seemed
to have briefly lost his mental confusion and looked around
with surprise.



51



„What the hell goes on there? ", said one of the officers,

loading his shotgun. Then he opened the door of the van's

back area. The other policeman followed him.

„Help me out! ", roared Baumer at the top of his lungs and

gave one of the officers a kick in the abdomen.

In the same moment, the door was broken up and light fell

into the darkness of the back area from the outside. One of

the guards fired out of the van and hit a masked attacker,

who tried to enter the vehicle. The head of the man

exploded like an overripe melon and Frank stared at a cloud

of blood and bone fragments, while he staggered to the

ground.

The remaining three attackers answered with fire bursts of

their assault rifles and killed the policeman, who stumbled

on the street like a bleeding sieve.

Meanwhile, Frank began to cry like a tormented child. He

shrieked in pain and wildly pulled, in an accumulation of

unrestrained rage, on his additional seat belt, tearing it out

of its holder. Then Frank hit the second guard's face with a

high kick and the man tumbled down.

Now the inmate squealed like a pig and started then to

laugh loudly. Finally, the laughter became an insane

screaming. Suddenly Frank's eyes were clear and gory, and

before the three other masked men had come into the back

area of the vehicle, he had sent the last policeman to the

ground with a headbutt. His hands were still bound on his

back, but he stomped on the guard's face and the man

broke down again.

Frank swooped down on him and bit in his cheek like a wild

animal. A shot from a handgun followed, which had almost

hit the crazy Kohlhaas - then also the last policeman was

dead. Frank howled and still kicked several times in the

head of the dying man. The other men finally pulled him out

of the van. His white dress was blood-smeared and Frank



52



reminded the masked men, who confusedly stood in front of

him, rather of a mad butcher than a prisoner. Now he

seemed to fall in a state of blankness again and sat down,

totally exhausted, on the metallic stairs of the transport

vehicle.

„Well, what's up now, man? Come on! Or do you want to

wait for the next policemen? ", asked Alf.

Baumer trailed him and followed the three other men into

the forest. Now it was important to hurry, because the

operation had lasted far too long and, moreover, such a

slaughter hadn't been planned.

Furthermore, they had lost a man and it was just luck that

no other car had come along the country road, otherwise

the bloodshed would have been much worse. The three

disguised men and Alfred, who was trying to propel Frank,

fastly ran through the thicket.

„Move! ", roared one of the three masked men. „Dash it!

What are you waiting for? "

Alf Baumer gripped Kohlhaas at the collar and ordered him

to run faster, but the confused young man still walked slowly

behind him.

„lf your buddy does not hurry a little more, I will shoot him,

Alf! I mean it! ", yelled one of the three men, who was

running ahead.

Alfred stood before Frank, vibrated him and growled: „This

is your only chance, you idiot! If they get you now, you are a

dead man! Come with me, trust me! "

Frank Kohlhaas hadn't been able to trust anyone in the last

months and the mental bleeding, the holo cell had

demanded of him, had been enormous. But the word „trust"

sounded like a gentle balsam in his ears, that had only

absorbed poison for such a long time. The fresh cold forest

air, he was inhaling now, slowly showed him that this

opportunity to attain freedom, should not be thrown away.



53



Suddenly he ran, ran and ran, catched up with the others
and disappeared with them in the thicket of the forest. The
five men reached a large field after some minutes, where
were an old looking and small airplane was waiting for them.
They jumped into the flier and shut a rusty door behind
themselves. All were totally exhausted and wheezed loudly,
while the plane took off.

„Who is that guy, Alf? ", asked one of the three liberators

with an unfriendly undertone and pulled the balaclava from

his face. The young man was blond, with short hair and a

boyish face.

J have no notion! He has been transported together with

me! ", answered Alf.

„Tell us your name, man! ", demanded the blond man and

regarded Frank with a searching look.

„Frank Kohlhaas, citizen 1-564398B-278843. . . . ", hummed

Frank and closed his eyes.

„Your citizen number isn't interesting for us, buddy! We

don't need to have this shit! ", hissed the young man, who

was called Sven by the others. „We are free men and no

slaves with citizen numbers. "

„Well, I think this man has been in a holo cell. That's the

reason, why he is so abstracted! " Alf tried to explain.

„Such a cell. . . ", stammered Frank.

„A holo cell? That thing, which is currently tested by the

GSA in all prisons worldwide? Really? ", asked one of the

three rebels with surprise.

„No wonder, that you seem to be on drugs. These things are

the worst instruments of brainwashing of our time. How long

have you been in this hellish cell? "

J think, since August 2027. . . leave me alone. . . ", hummed

Frank quietly and hid his face behind his knees again, as he

had done it so often in the last months. Then he turned to



54



the side and dozed in his usual half-sleep, although the
outdated airplane made a big noise and vibrated during the
whole flight.

In the year 2028, it was not easy to organize an operation
like this, because of the almost perfect air surveillance in
"Central Europe".