The Grasshopper Page 15

  Pascal was silent and standing in the same place where had been in when he saw Manami.

  “You can also wait for me here, in the living room, if you wish. I will come as soon as I can. Tonight, before morning… I will tell everyone that I will take a nap in the office, and that I’m not to be disturbed. Ah, yes… I haven’t explained this. This is Prince Kaella’s shelter. He built it while he was building Megapolis. It is located between the television station and your hotel. It has entrances on both sides. The quarters that you were in were for his family. That is why my wife and children will be there. And the others, which are now your quarters, were for his bodyguards. We brought you from the hotel, and we now came down using the secret elevator in my office. I really have to go now. People will get suspicious…” said Seneca, while going out the shelter door.

  “Their quarters… my quarters… The living room… I was lying on her bed… Get it together, man! What are you doing?! Don’t you have at least a sliver of dignity left? The man sedates you, drags you to some shelter, he comes… and I? What do I do? I ask him where his wife is? And when I see her I go numb. He tells me about Raul… and I don’t even think of asking him. Instead of hitting him. Hey, this man took me captive, deprived me of my freedom… and I didn’t say a single word! What will she think of me? What does she think of me? Well that won’t do, Pascal! That simply won’t do!”

  “Alexander, lock the door! The card is on the dining room table,” Seneca shouted, quickly making his way to the elevator door at the end of the corridor.

  “Seneca!” shouted Pascal while running out of the living room and down the corridor after him.

  “Yes?” the surprised Mayor turned around.

  “What is the meaning of this, sir?!” shouted Pascal, stopping in front of him. “Release me immediately! Call and open that elevator of yours! Immediately!”

  “Back!” Seneca shouted at Pascal. “Return to the shelter! You are my prisoner, sir!”

  “What prisoner?! Don’t be ridiculous! Open the elevator! Take me to Raul immediately! Where is he, anyway!? Why has he conspired against me?!”

  “Raul is not in Megapolis. He has ordered you to remain in the shelter. Go back!” Seneca pushed Pascal.

  “Don’t do this, Seneca! You know how much I have respected you! And trusted you! Don’t make me hit you!” shouted Pascal walking backward, pushing Seneca’s hands away from him.

  “Raul is dead! They’re all dead! All your people, Alexander, are dead!” shouted Manami, running into the corridor.

  Chapter 73

  Having ended his communication with the Grasshopper, Erivan immediately contacted Sigma, the leader of S Squad. Sigma and his squires, deployed on three fighter spaceships, was following the Grasshopper’s ship at a distance.

  “Yes, Mr. President?” Sigma responded.

  “Return to Earth.”

  “To Earth?”

  “Yes. There is no more need for your mission, Sigma. I’m aborting it. You are needed here more.”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. President.”

  *****

  The Grasshopper calmly watched three bright dots stop on his screen, then move in the opposite direction from their previous course. Towards Earth.

  Chapter 74

  Pascal and Seneca froze and let go of each other. Seneca stopped in his tracks, with his head hung low, speechless. Pascal took a step towards Manami, stopped and shouted, looking her straight in the eye,

  “What are you saying, ma’am!? What are these lies?! Why do you think you can use them to keep me here?!” He turned to Seneca again. “Take me to Raul! Immediately!”

  “It’s not a lie, Alexander,” Seneca whispered, raising his head. “They are all dead. It’s my fault.”

  “It’s not your fault, Julius! Don’t say that! None of you knew what Erivan was preparing,” Manami shouted.

  “Erivan?! Erivan killed them?!” Pascal cried out.

  “No… no, not Erivan,” Seneca whispered.

  “Raul crashed their airplane into the ocean. Or they had all agreed to that. We will never know,” said Manami, lowering her voice.

  “Raul?! Why? Why?!”

  “Mr. Alexander, please. Return to the shelter. We have to tell you everything,” Seneca said.

  Pascal briskly walked past Manami, entered the living room and turned towards the wall. Seneca and Manami came in behind him, locked the door and silently watched as sobs shook Pascal’s shoulders. After a while Pascal wiped his face with his hands, took several deep breaths and turned towards them.

  “Alright. I’m listening,” he said quietly.

  “Julius, Mr. Alexander, sit down at the table. I’ll bring you something, let me just see what we have here,” Manami passed by the dining room table and into the kitchen.

  “A glass of water, ma’am… please,” Pascal said while taking a seat.

  Seneca sat down in the chair across from Pascal. Manami poured two glasses of water, placed them on the table in front of Pascal and Seneca and sat down next to her husband.

  “All three of us were wrong, we misjudged the situation. We were afraid of an assassination attempt against you, Alexander,” the Mayor of Megapolis spoke quietly, looking at his fingers, wrapped around the glass. We thought that the Kaellas were controlling the game, as it has always been. The two of them believed that too.”

  “What do you mean ‘they believed that too’?” asked Pascal. “Did Erivan do something on his own?”

  “He killed them, Alexander… both of them. Father and son.”

  “Killed? Kaella? And Prince?”

  “Yes. During the interview. He destroyed the submarine.”

  “How? Where were the inspectors? The bodyguards?”

  “Erivan had obviously prepared all that in advance. He hid the real results of the polls from the Kaellas. And served it to him at the last moment. He forced him to panic. Kaella became reckless. I think Erivan’s squads carried it out. He killed them, Alexander. And President Xing too.”

  “Xing, too?”

  “Yes. His entire family. Wife and children. They fired a missile at the presidential motorcade in the center of Capital City… from your airplane.”

  “What do you mean ‘from our airplane’? I don’t understand…”

  “He somehow got his hand on one of your aircraft… one built by you. From one of your factories… or from an airport.”

  Pascal was silent.

  “I gave Raul and your people my airplane,” Seneca continued. “And a squadron to protect them. But that was not enough. Because as soon as Erivan declared war numerous airplanes took off in their direction from several airports.”

  “Erivan declared war?” Pascal asked.

  “Yes. War on the Non-Consumers. He took over the position of President of Earth, in accordance with the Constitution.”

  “But… you, ma’am, said that Raul…” Pascal looked at Manami.

  “That is the only thing we can conclude, Mr. Alexander,” Manami answered, “because…”

  “When I was informed about all of Erivan’s squadrons that were headed their way, I immediately called Raul,” Seneca explained. “And I informed him of everything that had happened. About the murders of the Kaellas and the Xings. And the threat against them. I told Raul that I had informed all your closest cities and that your airplanes were taking off too. That my squadron would protect them until they arrive…”

  “Don’t tell me any more, Seneca. It’s not necessary,” Pascal whispered through his tears. “My noble Raul… all of them… Margot… Jagdish… all those young people… children, they were still children… My faithful Liam… my Citra…” Pascal fell silent, with his head hung low, covering his face with his hands. “Erivan didn’t fire on them?”

  “No,” Seneca whispered. “Our squadron created a shield around them. He didn’t fire on them, he didn’t even try.”

  “He didn’t…” Pascal wept. “He sent planes… to force them down. He wanted me alive. And they crashed the pl
ane down because… only so… So that Erivan would think… that I was dead too! You didn’t kill them, Seneca!” Pascal shouted. “I killed them! I did! It’s because of me that they are dead! They sacrificed themselves for me!”

  Pascal jumped from the chair and rushed towards the exit. He turned the doorknob.

  “Unlock it, Seneca! I’ll kill him! I’ll kill Erivan! Unlock it!” he screamed.

  Seneca got up from the table but did not approach Pascal.

  “As you have said yourself, Alexander, your friends brought down the plane so that Erivan wouldn’t learn where you were. So that he would think that you were dead. So that you would be safe. By leaving the shelter you would render their heroic death worthless. Make it futile. The last words that Raul said to me, before he hung up, were ‘Save Pascal, Seneca. He is the only hope that this world has.’”

  Pascal cried out loud. Seneca went to him, put his hand on his shoulder and said

  “Wait for me just until tonight. We have to talk… after that you will make up your mind. If you want out of the shelter, I will get you out of Megapolis. I have to remain neutral in this war. I have to save this city. No one can know that you stayed in Megapolis.”

  “Yes… I will… I’ll wait for you,” Pascal said quietly.

  Seneca went out of the shelter and locked the door behind him.

  “Sir,” said Manami. “Do you need anything? I have to go to mu children.”

  “No… no, ma’am. Thank you. I’ll retreat there… to those quarters… until the mayor comes.”

  Chapter 75

  Sayash was a regular dandy. He trimmed short his gray hair, with its M-shape receding hairline and magnificent white beard, a real man’s beard that grew far below his Adam’s apple and high up on his cheek bones – with a few passes of the trimmer. In the beginning, when he had just found the trimmer, in an alley behind a salon, Sayash used to stand at night in front of a lit shop window to see what he was doing. But that stopped being necessary a long time ago. It appeared that now he could trim his bear even in his sleep.

  He didn’t touch his eyebrows. He knew that he was more masculine, that he was more intimidating when he let them grow, and hang down over his dark eyes, bristly as they were. And the capillaries in the corners of his eyes were charmingly ruptured, from the wind and the sun. The only thing that he uncompromisingly purge almost daily were the hairs in his nose and ears.

  He was especially proud of the white carpet on his chest. When he would wake up and prop himself on his elbow to see where he had spent the night, without thinking, mechanically, by force of habit he would draw the tips of the fingers of his other hand together, as though to take a pinch of salt, grasping the highest hairs on his chest and drew them to the ends of his beard so that they would connect. He was aware of how the continuous whiteness emphasized the beauty of his dark, wrinkled face.

  And of course the shoelace around his neck. He always put in his backpack any type and any color of shoelace that he found. He liked to change them a lot. Either a different one every day, or several of them braided, several days in a row. He would tie to the shoelaces the occasional pendant, a bottle cork or piece of glass, if it was striking enough, with a piece of twine. But not very often.

  Sayash was constantly moving from one city to another, because when a person is limited to the same dumpsters it means that they are limited to the same people and their tastes. He couldn’t get over the fact that some people always wore the same things. They stuck to certain colors their entire lives. He thought that he would die if someone forced him to paint this refined thin body of his in the same colors. That is why he always had many colors. He wore plaid.

  When Sayash would first approach a clothing dumpster he would be overcome with excitement. In the last several steps before their direct encounter he wouldn’t see the dumpster at all. A kaleidoscope with the most wonderful colors would be spinning before his eyes.

  Sayash believed that his greatest gift in life was that he was a dandy. Because if he hadn’t been, he would have never met his best friend, Lucky.

  Chapter 76

  Manami knocked on Pascal’s door.

  “Mr. Alexander…”

  Pascal got up from the bed in surprise, approached the door and without opening them said

  “Ma’am… just a moment, to make myself decent.”

  He soon entered the living room. He saw that Seneca wasn’t there and that Manami was very anxious.

  “Ma’am, what has happened?”

  “Mr. Alexander, forgive me, please, for disturbing you. Perhaps you were asleep…”

  “I wasn’t…”

  “But I have to apologize. To beg your forgiveness…”

  “You want to…”

  “The two of us have never met. I mean to say… we have, of course, met… but we have never spoken. It is so difficult for me…”

  “Why, ma’am? You are too anxious… Sit down, please.”

  “No, no… I have to get back to the children. So that they don’t wake up and get scared… They are very scared… And Eir… She feels that something terrible is going on. I just briefly wanted to… while we were alone… before my husband comes… to tell you, to ask you…”

  “Please calm down. There is no reason to…”

  “I was the one, I told you the horrible news. My words… the words that I said to you… My first real words… and not our courteous greetings… back at our house… are surely the most horrific words that you have ever heard…”

  “Yes… it is horrific… it is difficult…”

  “I didn’t want it to be… our first conversation… And I know that my husband would have told you the truth in the end, but… you know… Don’t be mad at him, please…. He blames himself… He has never wrestled with anyone like this, like with you… He is completely beside himself…”

  “I’m not mad, of course… I…”

  “But I listened to everything… I heard everything… the two of you… And I was afraid that when my husband told you about Raul and all your friends… that you would… just as you had reacted… leave… And I thought...” Manami stopped, but didn’t bow her head. “I thought… if I was present… if I was there… if you saw me… that perhaps… perhaps you wouldn’t leave.”

  Pascal just looked at her. He didn’t say anything.

  “Because you are not a commander… Forgive me, please, you are not capable of such things. Not only war… but everything… the organization… Do you understand? You had Raul… or he had you… You were successful together. A capable man with both feet on the ground and a dreamer. You are the dreamer, sir. And people need dreams. Because nothing else makes sense anymore. Raul is gone. But now there is my husband. He now understands everything. He knows. Just like Raul knew… and your entire wonderful staff. My husband will use all the strength, all the power of Megapolis to safeguard you… To safeguard people’s dreams. I wanted that… I know how difficult it is for you… I know. But stay… stay, please.”

  Manami quickly turned around and ran to her quarters.

  Chapter 77

  When Seneca returned, just before dawn, he found Pascal sitting motionless and alone at the dining room table.

  “Mr. Mayor,” said Pascal, raising his head only after Seneca had sat down.

  “Erivan appeared on television once more and announced your death, Alexander. Of course, he said that the Inspectorate’s air force crashed your airplane in the ocean.”

  “What else did he say? Will he still go to war or is this enough for him?”

  “Alexander, Alexander…”

  Pascal was silent, looking at his hands resting on the table.

  “Raul knew the entire time why you wanted to hold that speech. Why you wanted them to kill you. So that you would be the only victim. Did you really believe that would happen?”

  “If Kaella were alive, had the old government remained, perhaps that would have been enough,” Pascal said.

  “It wouldn’t have. Nothin
g can stop your movement now, Alexander. Neither this war nor Erivan will succeed in that. The world will never be the same again. How many sacrifices will this war demand, what will the world look like after it… that I don’t know. And the price is high, Alexander. You felt it today… and I felt it. I will never be the same person again. My conscious bears the burden of your people… and my pilot, Aslan.”

  “Please, Mr. Mayor, don’t place such a burden on your soul. During all these months you did for us the maximum that was possible. You asked Raul and me to leave Megapolis. You didn’t order us, your inspectors didn’t force us. And both of us, Raul and I, accepted it as the best solution for Megapolis. And Megapolis was most important to us, Mr. Mayor. It brought us votes, you brought us votes. In any case, it is pointless to now go back to that meeting of ours. At the time we were expecting an assassination attempt on me, and Erivan outsmarted us all. And Kaella… and Xing. You say he also killed his wife and children… He had a wonderful family… and he was a good man… A good president. Xing, he was the right person to be president, not I.”

  “That is what I wondered, Alexander… The two of you, Raul and yourself, your first reaction to the high percentages was very strange.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well… you immediately started thinking about Kaella’s possible move. Not at one moment did you consider that the elections would take place and that you would become president. You never saw yourself in Capital City, in the presidential residence?”