These men were workers of the public utilities of
Paris, and made their daily inspection round here.
Paris, and made their daily inspection round here.
Orwell - 1984
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.
Huge masses of people, roughly about two millions,
clustered towards the "Avenue of Humanity" and it came to
the first clashes between the visitors of the event and the
police in the early morning hours.
In the gray of dawn, bloody riots had broken out with
numerous casualties and many deads. In many parts of the
metropolis the violence still ruled the streets, particularly in
the Arabic ghettos.
Over 40 GP-Policemen and hundreds of Arabs had already
been killed. Last night, French patriots had fixed some
enormous transparencies with slogans like . . France is the
country of the Frenchmen! " or . . Freedom for France! Down
with the World Government! " at several big buildings in the
inner city.
Some activists had been caught by the police, three young
Frenchmen had even been shot. In the north of Paris, young
Arabs had tried to penetrate into some suburbs, which were
inhabited by Frenchmen. Here they had burned cars or had
broken into houses. Finally they had encountered some
armed Frenchmen and the police. Over 200 people had
been killed in that street fight. An illegal demonstration of
the "Islamic Federation" in the opposite part of the former
171
capital of France against the policy of the World
Government in the Middle East, had likewise ended with
violent outbursts. Over thirty thousand Muslims had come
together to protest and could only be dispersed by the
security forces, after they had attacked the crowd with
tanks.
Hugo and Baptiste, the Frenchmen, who had visited the
meeting in Ivas at that time, were already active in the
boiling metropolis since weeks.
Their political group had distributed tens of thousands of
illegal leaflets in the whole city, in which they called up the
population to resist the foreign rulers and to fight against the
World Government. Some activists who had been caught by
the police, were never seen again.
Furthermore, they let countless little pieces of paper with
rebellious calls rain down on the shopping streets, from the
roofs of some multistory buildings.
They had uploaded a lot of forbidden webpages on the
Internet and had even established a secret radio channel
which daily sent informations. Apart from this, the freedom
fighters had sprayed some oppositional slogans on the
entrance door of the "Temple of Tolerance". The police and
the GSA were still investigating feverishly. When the police
had located the secret radio station in the end, most of the
French acivists had made it to esape them.
This form of resistance was also not less dangerous than a
bombing because prison or even death was waiting for
people who were classified by the GSA as "incurable
politically incorrect".
Therefore, not only Frank and Alfred risked their lifes down
in the tunnel system below the city, in the battle against the
global dictatorship. Even at the surface, many Frenchmen,
above all the young people, stretched their heads that far
out of the swamp of anxiety and anonymity that the police
172
could cut them off. This so called "festival" would become
bloody. Even without a bomb strike. After the opening
speech, the people would only see on video, the military
parades of the GCF troops would begin. Moreover, masses
of journalists infested the city like a swarm of grasshoppers
and were eager to spread the ideology of the New World
Order. A happy world full of peace and harmony, wearing a
long cloak - made of lies.
As the „One-World-Song" resounded out of the
loudspeakers that had been situated everywhere along the
"Avenue of Humanity", only a small part of the giant crowd
sang along. This was disappoiting for the GSA agents who
meticulously filmed the people.
Sometimes, even bottles and stones were thrown in the
direction of the loudspeakers and screens which showed no
pictures yet. Here, the GP officials took drastic measures
and pulled every molester out of the crowd. Who was
caught disappeared in a police vehicle.
So many of the two million spectators were already upset,
although the festival had not been opened by Wechsler so
far. Apart from that, many Parisians also just holed up in
their houses, hoping that this day would pass as quickly as
possible. In spite of the publicity campaign of the media
which stylized the "Festival of the New World" to a new
climax of human development.
The population of the sector . . Central Europe" had been
forced to pay still higher tributes and taxes in the last
months and the social misery was growing more and more.
Therefore, the people had not very much of this . . Festival of
the New World", and all the propaganda around it. The
racial tensions also continued to extend. If one drove
through some parts of Paris, it seemed that France was
close to civil war. But all this was a part of the policy of the
new rulers, a small piece of their worldwide opus of decay.
173
The screaming crowd above their heads could easily be
heard, down in the canalization. It roared and yelled and
sang and stamped. Frank and Alfred seemed to become
only more nervous, because of this din. Time was running
out fast, and soon the critical moment would come. The
governor was on his way to the inner city of Paris. Now it
was vital to pay attention. All or nothing!
„Whafs the time, Baumer? ", asked Frank with an uncertain
flickering in his eyes, while the „One-World-Song" was sung
above him.
„Three minutes past twelve. Still about an hour. . . ", answered
Alf and extinguished the campfire.
„Okay, let's go! ", said Kohlhaas, nervously fumbling on his
cap.
They checked their equipment again and Frank stroked the
explosive in the blue bags.
„For you father, for you sister! ", he silently murmured and
stared into the dark tunnel.
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
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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.
Huge masses of people, roughly about two millions,
clustered towards the "Avenue of Humanity" and it came to
the first clashes between the visitors of the event and the
police in the early morning hours.
In the gray of dawn, bloody riots had broken out with
numerous casualties and many deads. In many parts of the
metropolis the violence still ruled the streets, particularly in
the Arabic ghettos.
Over 40 GP-Policemen and hundreds of Arabs had already
been killed. Last night, French patriots had fixed some
enormous transparencies with slogans like . . France is the
country of the Frenchmen! " or . . Freedom for France! Down
with the World Government! " at several big buildings in the
inner city.
Some activists had been caught by the police, three young
Frenchmen had even been shot. In the north of Paris, young
Arabs had tried to penetrate into some suburbs, which were
inhabited by Frenchmen. Here they had burned cars or had
broken into houses. Finally they had encountered some
armed Frenchmen and the police. Over 200 people had
been killed in that street fight. An illegal demonstration of
the "Islamic Federation" in the opposite part of the former
171
capital of France against the policy of the World
Government in the Middle East, had likewise ended with
violent outbursts. Over thirty thousand Muslims had come
together to protest and could only be dispersed by the
security forces, after they had attacked the crowd with
tanks.
Hugo and Baptiste, the Frenchmen, who had visited the
meeting in Ivas at that time, were already active in the
boiling metropolis since weeks.
Their political group had distributed tens of thousands of
illegal leaflets in the whole city, in which they called up the
population to resist the foreign rulers and to fight against the
World Government. Some activists who had been caught by
the police, were never seen again.
Furthermore, they let countless little pieces of paper with
rebellious calls rain down on the shopping streets, from the
roofs of some multistory buildings.
They had uploaded a lot of forbidden webpages on the
Internet and had even established a secret radio channel
which daily sent informations. Apart from this, the freedom
fighters had sprayed some oppositional slogans on the
entrance door of the "Temple of Tolerance". The police and
the GSA were still investigating feverishly. When the police
had located the secret radio station in the end, most of the
French acivists had made it to esape them.
This form of resistance was also not less dangerous than a
bombing because prison or even death was waiting for
people who were classified by the GSA as "incurable
politically incorrect".
Therefore, not only Frank and Alfred risked their lifes down
in the tunnel system below the city, in the battle against the
global dictatorship. Even at the surface, many Frenchmen,
above all the young people, stretched their heads that far
out of the swamp of anxiety and anonymity that the police
172
could cut them off. This so called "festival" would become
bloody. Even without a bomb strike. After the opening
speech, the people would only see on video, the military
parades of the GCF troops would begin. Moreover, masses
of journalists infested the city like a swarm of grasshoppers
and were eager to spread the ideology of the New World
Order. A happy world full of peace and harmony, wearing a
long cloak - made of lies.
As the „One-World-Song" resounded out of the
loudspeakers that had been situated everywhere along the
"Avenue of Humanity", only a small part of the giant crowd
sang along. This was disappoiting for the GSA agents who
meticulously filmed the people.
Sometimes, even bottles and stones were thrown in the
direction of the loudspeakers and screens which showed no
pictures yet. Here, the GP officials took drastic measures
and pulled every molester out of the crowd. Who was
caught disappeared in a police vehicle.
So many of the two million spectators were already upset,
although the festival had not been opened by Wechsler so
far. Apart from that, many Parisians also just holed up in
their houses, hoping that this day would pass as quickly as
possible. In spite of the publicity campaign of the media
which stylized the "Festival of the New World" to a new
climax of human development.
The population of the sector . . Central Europe" had been
forced to pay still higher tributes and taxes in the last
months and the social misery was growing more and more.
Therefore, the people had not very much of this . . Festival of
the New World", and all the propaganda around it. The
racial tensions also continued to extend. If one drove
through some parts of Paris, it seemed that France was
close to civil war. But all this was a part of the policy of the
new rulers, a small piece of their worldwide opus of decay.
173
The screaming crowd above their heads could easily be
heard, down in the canalization. It roared and yelled and
sang and stamped. Frank and Alfred seemed to become
only more nervous, because of this din. Time was running
out fast, and soon the critical moment would come. The
governor was on his way to the inner city of Paris. Now it
was vital to pay attention. All or nothing!
„Whafs the time, Baumer? ", asked Frank with an uncertain
flickering in his eyes, while the „One-World-Song" was sung
above him.
„Three minutes past twelve. Still about an hour. . . ", answered
Alf and extinguished the campfire.
„Okay, let's go! ", said Kohlhaas, nervously fumbling on his
cap.
They checked their equipment again and Frank stroked the
explosive in the blue bags.
„For you father, for you sister! ", he silently murmured and
stared into the dark tunnel.
