Anathema

Venat looked at the men behind the lighted glass partition in front of him. He had only the vaguest clue why he was here.

This innocence of doubt vanished as the partition swirled with colored light, projecting it slightly, giving an almost holographic feel to the flat glass screen. Yet the face that emerged from the middle of the pane was far more detailed and real than standard holoprojections The face projected, his face in fact, looked almost more real than his own.


Councilman Venat looked almost nervous as he eyed the press. His expression steeled as he prepared to enthrall the public on the other side of their third eye cameras.

As quietly as he could Venat cleared his throat; even this subtle noise quelled the anxiously mumbling crowd.

�As you may know,� he started and paused to exert control of his facial expressions. In this day and age of cameras attached to the faces in the crowd at all times one of social or political importance had to be on constant guard as someone could be, and often was, constantly filming him, waiting for a crack in the facade that, for fifteen minutes or more, would make their video a star on the web.

Venat felt tears coming during his pause but he knew he couldn't cry. So instead he rubbed his left eye symbolically. Life, since he had been appointed to the Council, had become like a play for him, and dramatics, genuine or faked, were what the public wanted to see, what news sites needed to garner subscriptions and attract attention from random occurrences in other peoples lives.

�You may have already heard this but my daughter was raped by a criminal, Dominik Takiado. He, of course, has been sterilized in accordance with the Purity Act. However, my issue with this is not with Takiado himself, though I harbor great malice toward him. My issue is with the technology that created him.�

A wave of unhushed and largely unexpected gasps rushed like running water through the press. Venat allowed brief pause for effect, then continued on as if he had never stopped.

�Virtual simulation.� The press began to chatter amongst themselves. However, the cameraman, who was watching for this recording, remained silent. �Records show Dominik experienced virtual sex with minors on a more than daily basis. He was, virtually, an obvious pedophile. Yet, the news, courts, everyone, is saying there was no warning. Is there not a great fallacy in this logic? Virtual sex with children as young as four often twice a day; how is that not a warning? The man was sick, and obviously so. Yet we, as a people, as a government, have no power to do anything until he ruins the life of a real person. Should we just let this happen?�

Venat paused. He desperately needed to breathe. Looking back on the press conference, he regretted the silence. This was the point where everything went downhill.

Venat remembered the man and his antique, handheld camera who would've been moving to the front of the crowd right about now.

Hidden speakers in the observation room rang with the reporter's voice before he could even be seen onscreen.

�And your daughter, Serenity, she is mentally handicapped, correct?� Venat watched his face pale then flush to a deep red. The secret of his daughter's birth defect had been, until then, kept a deep dark secret.

�I don't see how that has anything to do with this discussion.� Venat gestured to his guards to detain the man.

�And you have had her sterilized, haven't you?�

On screen, the camera panned to Venat as his face became a furiously dark shade of red. Venat felt his face warming as he watched his onscreen double. The image of his face disappeared, leaving only the plate of glass which was clouded by rippling white waves that almost appeared to imitate water. The two silhouettes still stood behind the glass, their eyes curiously fixed on Councilman Venat. The one on the left approached the glass, his silhouette growing larger and his features becoming gradually less clouded by the barrier.

�So what is the answer Mr. Venat?�

Venat turned away from the glass feeling the burning stares of the two men. �Press play. I gave him an answer.�

The man on the right spoke, though he did not move closer to the screen. �We don't want a recycled answer, Mr. Venat. Just tell us, not the press. This isn't being broadcast; there is no reason to worry. Was Serenity sterilized?�

Venat knew there was plenty of reason to worry; he, and his family alongside him, could be executed if the wrong decision was made here. �Is that not the law?�

�We are busy men Mr. Venat. We have no time for double talk.� The man on the left reached back and and tapped him on the shoulder and then whispered in his ear. There was a brief pause followed by the right man's voice. �Perhaps we should remind you of your answer and also remind you of the penalty of those who lie to Imperial Watchmen.� The man on the left ran his finger across his throat and the screen between them surged back on.


On the screen, Venat saw his face was still flaming red, though he could feel a clammy coldness on his cheeks. Venat remembered the headlines the video had made in it's heyday. He shuddered.

�Of course,� Venat's voice trailed off sorrowfully, �in accordance with law.� Raising his lowered hand Venat started back in strong. �But the issue here isn't the Purity Act...�

�Do you take issue with the Purity Act?� The reporter with the outdated camera had now moved slightly closer to the man recording this video though there was still a number of reporters between the two of them.

�No, of course not. We mus'n't allow murderous, rapistic, cannibalistic, or any of the multitude of negative traits be passed on to the next generations. Purity ensures a safer, kinder tomorrow for our children to enjoy. But the virtual world harbors potentially threatening...�

�What about the retarded? Don't their lives have value?�

�No one can be allowed to genetically damage our children, and I don't believe you understand, we aren't killing anyone...� Venat was digging himself a hole and walking along the edge of it. Almost anything he said now would cast him in a bad light either politically or socially. But, perhaps to his benefit, the man with the antique camera interrupted again.

The guard who had been told to remove the man later said that he didn't think he had grounds. The guard was fired and �disciplinary action� was taken against him. Needless to say, he came to regret his inaction.

�But your daughter is mentally deficient because of postnatal strangulation. Genetically there is nothing wrong with her and nothing for her to pass on to her children.�

Venat was speechless and wide-eyed. �Her mental deficiency makes her a threat as defined by the Purity Act, and genetics... Leave genetics, as well as lawmaking, to the Emperor.� Venat noticed that in this video he could see the tears running down his face by this point though he could only vaguely remember crying.

�And what do you know of genetics? It is a science forbidden to learn without expressed imperial permission, and do you expect me to believe that you, with your antique camera and poor man's clothes, have imperial favor?� The guards were already rushing toward the man in droves. He had said the magic words that would lead to detainment and intensive questioning, if not more. But he still had words to say before he was carried away. These words had been edited from every copy of the video Venat had ever seen, he himself would've never known that if he hadn't been there in person. �Imperial censoring of treasonous speech� they had called it as they erased the last minutes of the recordings. But this copy had not been censored, Venat began to wonder why.

�Purity is just imperial nazism,� he began, �a way to weed out all those who speak out against the Emperor.� He lifted his shirt to show the faint scars of his own sterilization. �Your daughter is just the victim of collateral damage, can you stand that?� The oncoming guards were being blocked by protesters who apparently wished to risk their own lives to let this man speak. The cameraman began to move nimbly through the chaos. When he got within ten feet of the man with the antique camera he stopped, seemingly waiting for the guards to detain the man. The man continued, having to yell over the cacophony. �Purity is only an instrument to keep the people down, quiet, fearful, submissive. Purity will never bring us up.�

Hands came in between the camera and him and in them was a energy pistol, a form of technology only the military had access to. The cameraman lined him up in the gun's sights with expert precision and with a final scream of independence he fell, three smoking craters in his chest, blood and smoldering ash flung over a wide radius.

With that the feed ended leaving Councilman Venat cold and alone in the stark room with only the faint murmur of the nearby Transentia energy converters to keep his from madness. The silhouettes continued to stare from the other side of the clouded glass. The man on the right was now seated but still no closer to the glass screen almost giving Venat the impression of fear.

�So what is your answer?� Asked the seated inquisitor.

�Of course, in accordance with law.� Venat replied, parroting his now off screen double.

The man on the left clapped his hands, �Told you,� he said, in an almost indecipherably low tone to the seated man. If the situation hadn't been so tense Venat would've taken the comment as humorous, perhaps even mocking. The seated figure stood and drew so close to the screen that Venat could almost smell his fury through the glass. His face, now visible yet slightly clouded, was strict and authoritative and his thick features were pulled tight in rage.

�Dissent, lies, heresy, treason.� He spouted the words almost randomly. �Don't you realize that these things are more repulsive to the Empire than simple disobedience?� His words foamed with anger and spit and steam from his hot breath further clouded the glass in front of his face. The man on the left approached him. �Regan,� he said softly while placing his hand on his comrade's shoulder. Then turning to face Venat, he spoke.

�It would seem you have been caught in a lie Mr. Venat. An unrelated segment of video was discovered on the net with you and your daughter in an abortion clinic out of country. This, of course, sparked an investigation which revealed that the doctor listed on your daughter's sterilization papers, Dr. Merkov, a friend of yours perhaps, quits practice a year before the supposed exam and the attending nurse listed says she had never worked with him or even heard of you aside from the rape controversy. In short, you lied and we've caught you and now you've lied again, compounding disobedience with dissent.

It is the Empire's goal and hardy intent to create an ideal world, a utopia ,if you will, for our children. As God wrote the Bible and his word is unquestionable to believers, our Emperor writes the laws and must be unquestioned. It is humanity's base instinct as animals to return to animalistic behaviors. Through strict rule we weed out these behaviors and humanity reaps the benefit as a whole. This is society, Mr. Venat, civilization in pure form. You, as a member of council, enforcer of rules, should realize this more than most. Question, lies, and disorder breed dissent and anarchy whose effects you surely felt in that video. You, a calm man, cried in the face of such dissent. Do you not realize it's power to destroy?�

Venat steeled himself for what could very well be his last words. �But you are mistaken, Mr. Left Side, I wasn't crying because I was hurt, I was crying for all the people like Serenity that you've hurt in your perverse quest for perfection. He was so right about you and I knew it better than anyone there. My despair for them I blanketed to speak on your behalf, in your defense, in defense of your so called ideals. There are some structures built, that so right as they may seem, hinder humanity and so are destroyed by dissent as a natural example of evolution. Through the doctor in Germany I confirmed the man in the crowd's suspicions about genetics. The rest of the world isn't like this, creation and free expression are rampant beauty on the disappearing hillsides...�

His speech was cut short by the clamor of shattering glass between the three men and Regan's charged slug entering his chest. The singular shock rendered him speechless and numb as he fell to the ground, only able to grin in satisfaction as he now clearly saw the men's faces. The man on the left was shocked by the unreal display of violence, as a single tear burned a trail down Regan's face.

When the man on the left regained his voice he asked his compatriot, �Could he be right?�

�I don't know.� A second shot rang out in the room and there was silence. There was no one left for him to talk to.

Reviews

[Phantom.Bite]

I love that your story is something fresh and different, but the flow needs a little work.