Human Error

In Sam’s absence, he wished that all was how he had left it.  Where he lived, in London, there was turmoil brewing and the mayor of the city was currently in a late night meeting to discuss the solution.
    The mayoral office at City Hall was very large but not as opulent as Commissioner Lawrence Ward had expected.  He was sitting in a chair made of dark wood and green leather in front of the desk of the Mayor of London.  At the moment, he was awaiting the mayor’s arrival so he had time to observe his surroundings.
    A large glass wall behind the desk lead out to a semi-circular marble balcony through a set of sliding doors.  As for the desk itself, there was very little in the way of clutter.  A running theme of dark wood and even darker green leather was evident, the desk was decorated as such, so were the chairs and the settee in the corner.  Commissioner Ward wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the leather was real, which would’ve been extremely expensive.  The office was in fact luxurious; it was just subtle about it.
The carpet below his feet was a slightly lighter shade of green than the rest of the office.  The Police Commissioner knew that it wasn’t like that on purpose; its colour had probably just faded from the nervous pacing of people’s steps on it every day.
The whole office certainly lacked any kind of personal touch; it was cold and barren.  The only real decoration he could see was a large painting on the wall, depicting a battle between the angels and demons of the old mythologies.
    Lawrence Ward was feeling quite worried, he had never had a meeting with just him and the mayor before; he kept tapping his leg and looking back at the antique digital clock above the door behind him.  It had changed by one minute since he had last looked at it; it now said that the time was 23:16 on the 10th of November 2118.
    As he was looking at the clock for the fourth time since entering the office, the door opened.  What entered was a woman, barely middle-aged and with a look on her face of both severity and anxiety, she went straight for the chair behind the desk and sat down.
    “Good evening Commissioner,” she said.
    “Ma’am,” he said,
    “Sorry to call you in so late but I think you know what I want to discuss,” she said.
    “The Followers of Mantis,” he said.  Lawrence Ward hated the way she looked at him, like he was a broken cog in an intricate machine, hindering more than helping.
    “Don’t call them that,” she said.  “They don’t deserve a name, they are nothing but fanatics and idiots and I want to know what is being done to remove them from the streets of my city.  It’s been over six months since I told you to locate the one known as Mantis.  How has the investigation progressed?”
    “It hasn’t,” he said.
    “I already knew the answer but I didn’t actually think you’d actually admit it,” she said.  “Please elaborate.”
    “I’m sorry,” he said.  “He’s like a ghost, I’ve had virtually the entire police force working on this and it’s led to nothing.  We can’t find any details at all about him, never mind the location of the man, if indeed he is a man.  I’m starting to believe he’s most likely little more than a myth.”
    “I had believed that if we captured their leader these ‘Followers’ would weaken,” she said.  “Since you have failed me, what do you now plan to do regarding these lunatics collaborating in my city?”
    “Well that’s the thing ma’am,” he said.  “They haven’t actually broken any laws.  There’d be public uproar if I let my officers go around arresting anyone you like without a reason.”
    “A reason?” she said.  “A year has passed since their ridiculous protest began, exactly one year since you promised that they would soon become bored and dissipate.”
    “I’m sorry,” he said.  “It appears I was mistaken, they are more resilient than I first estimated.”
    “They’re not resilient, they’re like robots, always there every day without fail, never tiring, never resting and never showing signs of stopping anytime soon,” she said.
    “I don’t understand what you want me to do about it,” he said.  “Even policemen are confined to the law.”
    “They’re loitering, disturbing people and disrupting the everyday workings of the city,” she said.  “If that’s not reason enough for you to get rid of them, maybe I need to find a Police Commissioner who can do his job properly.”
    “Maybe you should see exactly what they’re doing,” he said.  “They’re very careful, they don’t disrupt city life at all and no formal complaints have been made against them.  This group is incredibly organised.”
    “Organised?” she said.  “They’re a chaotic mob.”
    “They’re a controlled chaos,” he said.  “Mantis has a tight grasp on them from somewhere.”
    “It doesn’t matter how careful they are,” she said.  “The only reason no formal complaints have been made is because everyone is too scared to come forward.  You’ve seen those freaks all painted in green, they look like they could turn violent at any time.  Their presence is unwanted and it’s an embarrassment to have gone on for this long.”
    “Clearly the fact that their routine has remained unchanged for a year now demonstrates their stability,” he said.  “If they’ve lasted this long without turning to violence, what makes you believe that they would start now?”
    “They’re all insane, who can predict anything that madmen will do,” she said.
    “So you don’t think that they will become violent then?” he said.
    “I’m saying that I have no idea what they’re going to do,” she said.  “All the more reason to be rid of them.”
    “I think you’re overreacting,” he said.  “They’re just protesters.”
    “I can’t stand protesters, why can’t they just do what they’re told?” she said.  “I don’t even know what they’re protesting, what do they want, what is their purpose?”
    “They are protesting against global corporate policy and the leniency with which the continental unions treat them,” he said.  “They seek to bring an end to the companies.”
    “And you think they’re not insane?” she said.  “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.  Arrest them all, we can’t have mentally ill people wandering around our streets.”
    “They haven’t shown any indication of violence,” he said.  “I’m afraid that they may become aggressive if we start oppressing them.  Perhaps you could try negotiation if you really want to be rid of them?”
    “I will not reason with people who don’t know the meaning of the word,” she said.  “Even if I wanted to, they wouldn’t listen to me, all they do is shout about someone named ‘Mantis’ all day who we know nothing about.  We assume he’s their leader but there’s a chance he might not even exist.  Do you think this ‘Mantis’ has ever been among their number?”
    “We don’t know,” he said.  “If he has, he never made himself known.  I had hoped to find him so that negotiations could begin.  He seems like the only one we could confer with.  If we could’ve only set up a meeting to discuss a compromise, this matter could’ve been settled months ago.”
    “I can’t believe you still think we should lower ourselves to begging these illegal activists to stop,” she said.  “I wanted you to discover the identity and whereabouts of Mantis so he could be arrested for Incitement of Violence.  Then I hoped the Followers would lose their motivation and disband.  This method would’ve required less violence than just forcing them to cease their actions.  That’s why it was my first choice, but now you leave me no alternative.  I can’t believe the entirety of the London Metropolitan Police, with all their resources, can’t even find me one person.  It’s a disgrace.”
    “Have you read any of their literature or the writing on the walls of the city?” he said.  “Some of it describes Mantis as an omnipotent deity, an immortal.”
    “I don’t understand these people,” she said.  “Are they some sort of cult, trying to bring back religion to mainstream society?  They must know that they can’t defeat the companies; maybe the return of religion is their true goal.  If so, then I won’t let them succeed, the world is a better place now those archaic beliefs have been abolished from civilisation and I refuse to be known as the person who let that darkness back into existence.  I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to be remembered as that.”
    “I don’t see why they bother you so much,” he said.  “They’re not really bothering anyone else.  I still maintain my initial theory that if you interact with them in any way, if you even acknowledge their existence, you’ll be giving them what they want and will just exacerbate the entire situation.”
    “It’s insulting having them running about in this city,” she said.  “People will think that I have no control over the situation and that will lead to more problems in the future.”
    “If you were to just let go of your pride for one moment and leave them alone, everyone else would follow suit and begin ignoring them,” he said.  “Then they wouldn’t still be all over the news after all this time and without the attention, they would probably just get bored and go back to wherever they came from.”
    “I’m not going to let the fate of the city be decided by taking that chance,” she said.  “A message needs to be sent, not just to the protesters but also to every citizen of London who have their eyes on what is about to happen next.  If I let these troublemakers continue then criminals will think they can get away with more and crime rates will increase.  The rest of the populace will think I’m lenient on crime and my popularity will decrease, I’m up for re-election soon.”
    “So what are your new orders?” he asked.
    “There’s no real plan involved,” she said.  “I just want you to send as many policemen as you can to where they are and tell them to either disperse or they will be arrested.”
    “There’s no way they’ll comply,” he said.
    “I know,” she said.  “As soon as they refuse I want them all to be arrested and removed by force.”
    “What if they resist?” he said.
    “You have my permission to use as much force as necessary to remove them from civilised society,” she said.
    “This is no small group,” he said.  “That number of people in that mob waiting for us out there is well into the hundreds, if they resist we could be talking riot proportions.”
    “If they do then bring in the riot squads,” she said.  “There’ll quickly put down a violent mob if they get too out of hand.”
    “At the moment no one is getting hurt,” he said.  “If you force this, you could find that changing very swiftly.”
    “I won’t shed any tears if some fanatical cultists get themselves hurt over this, will you?” she said.  “It’ll be there own fault anyway.”
    “This Mantis has many Followers,” he said.  “Even more than with the main group.  It will probably not be just his men getting hurt if we have a full blown riot on our hands, some people may even die.”
    “I doubt any of our lot will lose their lives,” she said.  “These activists don’t even have any weapons and if some of them have to die to bring back civil order, it will be a price I am prepared to pay.”
    “You won’t be the one paying it,” he said.  “I don’t think the risk is worth the gain.”
    “I don’t recall asking your opinion,” she said.  “I’m the mayor; I’ll worry about the risk.”
    “Fine, if you feel good about your decision then I guess that’s all that matters,” he said.  “I just don’t see what you stand to gain from this; these people aren’t causing any major problems so nothing will really change for the better.”
    “You keep trying to persuade me, why is that?” she said.  “Why do you care so much?”
    “I’ve seen these people marching in the streets, the officers that you are basically asking to go to war have seen their enemy,” he said.  “Both them and I know what they are, those people are clustering together because they are afraid and confused.  They’re only doing this because they’re scared and they don’t know what else to do, can’t you see that most of them are just kids who got caught up in this mess.”
    “They should have known that there will be consequences to their foolish actions,” she said.  “All they have to do is come quietly and they will not be harmed, I’m leaving it in their hands.”
    “You already know that none of them will back down,” he said.  “Every member of that group are all too far gone to turn back now, they will continue wherever they are taken by their leader out of a misplaced sense of duty.”
    “We’ll see how strong their faith in Mantis is when they’re facing down all the riot police of London,” she said.  “I’ll bet that at that point, the commitment they once had to someone they never even met will start to waver.”
    “You’re going to see if zealots will blink?” he said, barely believing it.  “You’re going to back them into a corner, do that to anyone and they no longer care about their own safety, they become intent on just hurting the people who forced them into that corner, you’re barely giving them an opportunity to surrender.  I foresee a day that the people of this city, if not the world, will remember as one of the bloodiest in a long time.  So when are you planning on orchestrating this plan of yours?”
    “I see no reason in putting it off,” she said.  “We have no more options, the Mantis investigation is going nowhere so I don’t see why we don’t do this tomorrow.”
    “But tomorrow is the 11th,” he said.  “That’s the 200th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the celebration was organised months ago, you can’t do this tomorrow.”
    “Actually I can and will,” she said.  “Most people will be at the festival so it limits the chance of civilians getting involved in the operation.”
    “Technically the protestors are London citizens,” he said.
    “Stop joking,” she said coldly.  “Anyway, it needs to be tomorrow, we can’t have these activists ruining the celebration.  Wait till nightfall though, we should at least try to make it secret.”
    “If those cultists put up any form of violent resistance, which they probably will, it could ruin the celebration and will become all that people will associate with tomorrow,” he said.
    “They may get a little out of hand but I bet they won’t dare open war,” she said.  “They don’t even have any weapons.”
    “We’re in a city,” he said.  “Anything can be used as a weapon.  They can still cause some serious damage to my men who will only have shields and batons…”
    “…and guns,” the mayor finished.
    “What?” he said.
    “Guns,” she said.  “There are a lot of protesters, I want the riot squads supported by at least a few units of riflemen.”
    “No way,” he said.  “There’s no chance I am going to give that order, if you give people guns they are more inclined to use them, we could have a bloodbath on our hands.”
    “How many times do I have to remind you that I am the mayor and my decision is final,” she said.
    “I’m just thinking of you,” he tried to persuade her.  “Don’t you think that being the woman who caused the biggest massacre of this century might damage your re-election campaign.”
    “It’s better to be too strict on crime rather than too lenient,” she argued.
    “It’s that black and white is it?” he said.  “Besides, technically they’re not criminals, I’ve already told you that they haven’t officially broken any laws yet.”
    “This city isn’t going to turn to an anarchic ruin on my watch because of a technicality,” she said.  “They’ll break the law as soon as they refuse to obey the police, at which point I want you to be as harsh as possible with them.  I think that letting London become a lawless wasteland governed by mob-rule will be slightly more damaging to my public image than cracking down on a public nuisance.”
    “Letting this one go will hardly mean the downfall of the city,” he said.  “Don’t you think that possibly you’re over-exaggerating?”
    “Is it even possible to under exaggerate?” she said.
    “What does the European Parliament think of the situation?” he asked her.
    “I asked parliament’s opinion on the matter months ago, they finally got back to me last week,” she said.  All they had to say was that I should handle it in whatever way I see fit, it hardly seems worth the wait just be told to use my own judgement.”
    “You know there may be a better way to do this,” he suggested.
    “Tell me,” she said.
    “I have an idea,” he said.  “The headquarters for the Olympus Corporation is located right here in the city.  Since these activists seem to have a profound hatred for them and because they obviously won’t want their company to be harmed in any way, we could ask Olympus for support.  The removal of these protesters will benefit both of us, we could request some assistance from Olympus in the form of some of their security personnel.”
    “Why would that be such an advantage?” she asked.
    “It would strengthen our forces and give the support you want,” he said.  “They will be carrying side arms, which if the situation does become too extreme, they can use and just the sight of these weapons will have a great psychological effect on Mantis’ Followers.  A holstered weapon can be just as effective at preventing violence as it can in resolving it.  We won’t need rifles, that’ll be overkill.”
    “We can’t trust Olympus,” she said.  “They don’t care about the good of the city like we do, they’re just concerned with serving their own interests.”
    “I know they don’t have the most selfless of reputations but there’s no money involved,” he said.  “Even they must realise that this movement affects us all, they’re as much a problem to them, if not more so, than they are to us.”
    “Exactly,” she said.  “I think that using the Olympus Corporation could result in more deaths.  They see these activists as a threat and could instruct their soldiers to open fire on these men and women without just cause.”
    “I don’t see how anyone is going to come out of this situation looking good,” he said.
    “I know that,” she said.  “It’s time to give up on putting a positive spin on events, this situation has gone too far for that, our only hope is to get everything wrapped up as neatly as possible.  I would prefer to have as little casualties as possible but I’m just being realistic, most people would see that as a good quality in a government official, I can foresee that individuals are going to have to die tomorrow.”
    “They’re only kids,” he said.  “If you look at the faces amongst the crowd, look beyond the green face paint and angry chants, you will see frightened children.  Most of these ‘Followers of Mantis’ are barely in their twenties, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that some of them were still teenagers.”
    “Are they really that young?” she said.  “I feel guilty, I haven’t even looked at them properly, all I see when I look at the pictures I am given is a light green entity full of loathing and violence.  I’ve never gone out to see them for myself, my security tell me it’s too dangerous.  It’s not right me making all these decisions involving their futures when I don’t know any of them, I’ve barely even looked at them.  Wait, if some of them are really just teenagers where are their parents?”
    “I don’t know,” he said.  “Most of the group have been living out there on the streets.”
    “So no parents have called the police about their missing children?” she asked.
    “Maybe they’re not missing,” he searched for a reason.  “Maybe their parents know exactly where they are.”
    “So they just don’t care?” she said.  “It seems there are other problems that I’m going to have to work on after I’ve solved this one.  I’ve got much work to do.”
    “Are you still certain about your plan of action?” he said.
    “Yes,” she said.  “I can’t falter just because the people causing trouble in my city are slightly younger than I expected.  If I let my own perceptions affect my judgement, I would prove myself to be a poor leader.  I need to do my job.”
    “Can’t I please just send the riot squads?” Lawrence pleaded.
    “No,” she said.  “My initial instincts were right, I want all riot squads accompanied by armed guards to break up this protest.  Have the riflemen wait in reserve, though, only bring them forward when and if I feel there presence is necessary.”
    “What of Olympus?” he asked.
    “Inform them of our plans but make it clear that we do not require their assistance,” she said.  “Tell them that they may protect their property and employees but under no circumstances are they to interfere with our police operation.”
    “The Olympus Corporation has never taken that much notice of the law, what if they don’t listen?” he said.
    “If they cause any unnecessary deaths of those protesters I will hold every single executive of that company personally responsible,” she announced.
    “I’ll be sure to send the message,” he said.
    “See that you do,” she said.  “As soon as this meeting is over I want you to notify the Olympus Corporation of the upcoming events.  Once that is completed, I want you to pool all your efforts into preparing for the raid tomorrow.   I authorise you to give the order to send in the riot police to break up this demonstration.  However, I must be clear that they need to be off the streets before tomorrow ends at all costs, do you understand my orders?”
    “If those are your final wishes then I will see that they are carried out,” he said.
    “They are,” she said.
    A few seconds passed in silence, the Mayor stared at Lawrence Ward and he tried to return it but felt uneasy doing so.
    “Well?” she said.  “Why are you still here?”
    “I’m sorry,” he said.  “We’re finished?”
    “Yes,” she said.  “I’ve given you my orders and you’re wasting time that could be spent implementing them.”
    “Yes ma’am,” he said as he shifted out of his chair.  He turned and swiftly walked over to the door, opened it even more swiftly and exited the mayoral office.  When he closed the door behind him softly he leant against an adjacent wall and exhaled.  That meeting did take a lot out of him, there was something about that woman that would set anyone on edge, she seemed to emit an aura of intimidation.
    Lawrence was surprised by himself, he didn’t think that he would have been able to even disagree with her but was proud of the fact that he said opinions that he needed to say.  
He looked down the long corridor that led to the way out.  There was certainly a large distance for him to travel, he had a lot of work that he needed to do in a short amount of time.  Lawrence Ward looked down at his watch; it was already past midnight, it was Remembrance Day.