Chapter 12: The Invite
The chaos of that day was bad, but things became worse. Sapiens started to turn on each other. Several members of the audience were convinced by Orcille’s speech. They wanted the walls removed, and they wanted the system reformed.
Most Sapiens were strongly opposed to Orcille and were outraged by his behaviour. The media described his demonstration in the theatre as a basic magic trick using a fake gas and not the gases from the wastelands. Most Sapiens were receptive to that explanation.
On top of the chaos caused by the events at the House of Divine Knowledge, two children had gone missing from school. This was the first time children had disappeared in Adoy. The chaos had led to lax monitoring of schools. Many parents were afraid that something bad had happened to them. Vulay, the Commander of the Enforcers, addressed the media. She claimed that the children were most likely fine and were probably hiding somewhere to escape the chaos occurring in the streets. A party of enforcers was sent out to look for them.
Orcille was briefly held in custody by the enforcers but was released on the same day. Vulay wanted him to be released because she claimed it would be better if Orcille were tracked so that they could learn more about his behaviour. Orcille suspected this to be the case. To the frustration of the enforcers, he managed to lose them. He evaded all the cameras in the region, and he removed any secret tracking devices that they had slipped onto his clothes. Once the children had gone missing, the enforcers were forced to use most of their resources to search for them. Orcille became less of a priority.
The next morning, Morgan was on his computer. He was surfing the web for more information about what was happening. He believed Adoy was on the verge of a revolution. However, there were no news updates. The media attention had now switched to the missing children. He found this a little frustrating. Then a message popped up on his screen. The message made no sense. It looked like a collection of random letters and numbers.
Morgan called out to Denise, ‘Hey kiddo, did they teach you gobbledygook language in school?’
‘Of course they did, but it didn’t stick,’ she responded in a polite tone. She walked over to him and gazed at the screen for a few seconds. ‘This isn’t gobbledygook, Dad!’ she exclaimed. ‘This is an encoded message. Look, the numbers represent page numbers in a book, and the letters represent the word on the page,’ she explained.
‘How do we decode it?’ asked Morgan.
‘Well, whoever sent the message would only reference a book he knew you had. The numbers are high, so it must be a thick book,’ explained Denise.
‘I’m guessing it is the House of Divine Knowledge book of scriptures. We are all given a copy of this book when we graduate. This book only has one version,’ explained Morgan.
Denise walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out her copy of the book. ‘Let’s see, first word, page 934, S, which represents word 19,’ said Denise as she flipped to the correct page. The word was ‘meet.’ She continued until the entire message was revealed.
The message read, ‘Meet me near the big door at nine tonight. I have a surprise.’
‘Great, we still don’t know who sent it,’ remarked Morgan.
‘It’s Orcille, Dad,’ responded Denise with a smile on her face.
‘You’re too smart. It’s going to get you into serious trouble one day,’ remarked Morgan.
Denise looked over at Morgan’s computer. He had nine unread messages. ‘Looks like you’re popular,’ remarked Denise.
Morgan opened the message from Victor. It read, ‘Hey Morgan, I got some crazy message, and so have a few of the others.’ Denise and Morgan looked at each other and smiled.
The Inquisitives gathered a short distance from the main gate into the Industrial Zone. Orcille appeared from behind a large bush. He carefully scanned the group to see who was there.
‘I’m impressed. You all figured out my message,’ remarked Orcille.
‘I believe our presentation at the House of Divine Knowledge was a success,’ claimed Orcille confidently.
‘It’s complete chaos. I’m not sure that is a good measure of success,’ interrupted one of the Inquisitives.
‘That is because the job has only just begun,’ snapped Orcille. ‘There is still much to do.’ ‘For now, we should still celebrate the success we have had. The beginning is often the most difficult stage,’ he said with a little excitement in his voice. ‘I have prepared a wonderful feast at our special hideout. You will taste the finest Sape meat you could ever imagine.’
‘I’m sorry,’ interrupted Denise, ‘I do not eat Sapes. I consider them friends and not food.’
‘Well, I’m not offering a veggie option. You eat what I offer, or you don’t come,’ responded Orcille sternly.
Denise walked up to Orcille. He towered above her, but she was not intimidated. She looked him in the eyes and responded with an equally stern voice, ‘Then, I don’t come. I won’t compromise my values just to feed your ego.’ Orcille stared angrily at her.
‘I can’t come either,’ announced Darius. Denise moved over to Darius and held his hand.
Orcille glared at their hands for a few seconds before he responded. ‘Fine, so be it. Your loss.’ Orcille led the Inquisitives on a new route to the train station.
When Morgan passed Denise, he mouthed, ‘I’m sorry,’ to her. Denise mouthed, ‘It’s okay,’ in return.
When they were alone, Denise turned to Darius. ‘Thanks. You didn’t have to turn down Orcille’s invitation,’ she said while raising an eyebrow.
‘I did. I really did. I have a terrible stomach ache. I couldn’t eat a thing,’ responded Darius with a cheeky grin on his face.
They looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds. Darius moved his face closer to hers.
‘I want to show you something,’ said Denise as she took a step back from him.
‘Okay,’ responded Darius, with a hint of frustration in his voice.
They walked to the edge of the Agriculture Zone. They could see the figure of a short, stout male Sapien and a very large Sape on the other side of the low fence.
‘Oh my, that dude is weird-looking, and he’s touching a fat Sape, that’s even weirder,’ blurted out Darius.
‘That observation is so shallow. There is so much more to this than you are willing to understand,’ said Denise with an annoyed tone to her voice. ‘The dude is David. He is two years older than us, but you should have seen him before. I know your powers of observation were a little stunted in the past. The Sape with him is Hamlet. He bought Hamlet with tokens he earned from his job picking fruit. Hamlet is now protected and will not be slaughtered for meat,’ she explained. ‘Me explaining this to you will not mean much. You need to meet them.’
‘Oh, I remember David. He’s intellectually impaired or something like that,’ replied Darius.
‘Just meet him,’ growled Denise.
Darius walked over to David. ‘Hi David, how are you?’ asked Darius.
‘I’m very well, thank you,’ replied David with a slight slur. ‘Meet my best friend, Hamlet.’ Hamlet onked three times. ‘She wants a carrot,’ stated David. David pulled a carrot out of the bag and fed it to Hamlet.
‘David and Hamlet know each other so well that they are able to communicate with each other quite effectively. Hammy can’t talk, but she can make a wide range of complex noises,’ said Denise to Darius.
David walked over to Denise and gave her a hug. ‘She comes to visit me all the time. She’s my Sapien friend,’ said David.
Darius, Denise, David, and Hamlet spent an hour together chatting, laughing, and occasionally onking.
It was around 10:30 p.m. Darius and Denise said their goodbyes to David and Hamlet. They began walking towards Denise’s home.
‘You are full of surprises,’ said Darius as he looked at Denise lovingly. ‘You have opened my eyes in ways no one else has ever done,’ he said in a soft voice.
‘I share what I know. The rest is all you,’ replied Denise.
‘You make me a better Sapien. I don’t know what else I could ask for,’ said Darius with a smile on his face.
‘You give me purpose. What else could I ask for?’ Denise responded while looking into his deep blue eyes. The two embraced as they shared their first kiss.
A few seconds later, alarm bells rang. This was followed by enforcer vehicles, both land and air. Darius and Denise looked around in shock. The vehicles were heading towards the far end of the Industrial Zone where the Inquisitives were having their meal. One enforcer vehicle pulled up next to Darius and Denise. Two enforcers got out. They grabbed Denise and Darius. They slammed both of them against the vehicle. They pulled their hands behind their backs and handcuffed them. Then they forced them into the back of the vehicle.
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