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	Mono by Duarte Feliciano :: 2010 :: Download To download this book on pdf format please click here. Alternatively you can read the book on this page bellow.
	"When I started writing the lyrics for the songs of the first album I came up with a set of characters and story lines, mostly to make my life easier. If I created a sort of story I could connect one song to another and I never had to struggle coming up with a subject or theme for the lyrics. All I had to do was keep developing the movie inside my head. It ended up stretching itself onto the lyrics of the second album and by that time I was having to explain to friends all the concept and plot line behind them. A friend suggested I should write it down so I always had my facts straight. I started writing what I thought would be a short story loosely based on the lyrics hoping to release it somehow with II but before I knew it, it had already grown too big. My short story had grown up to a novelette..." Duarte Feliciano
Mono ny-shqnyn' ny-xvenz V fraq guebhtu guvf pbhevre cebprff 558317529319-CT-OP bs bar Yhpvhf Vhyvhf Cebphyhf. V oryvrir vg'f pbagragf ner bs hgzbfg vzcbegnapr gb hf. Gur fhowrpg unf orra gevttrerq nf cebprff vagrtengbe naq uvf jbbytngurevat qhevat gur jrrqvat qvq abg sbyybj hfhny cnenzrgref. "Va guvf Oebgureubbq, frys vf sbetbggra; nyy npg ol gur uryc bs rnpu, nyy eryl hcba rnpu sbe fhppbhe naq nqivpr, naq vs n Oebgure frrf vg jvyy or tbbq sbe nabgure gung ur fubhyq fnpevsvpr uvf yvsr sbe uvz, ur jvyyvatyl tvirf vg." 003862074864-PG-BC PRAETORIAN GUARD ARREST REPORT IDENTIFICATION DETAILS Citizen ID Nr: 0064287-BP Name: Lucius Iulius Proculus Alias: Mono Parents: Unknown, see process 000046289532-PG-BF Date of Birth: Unknown, see process 000046289532-PG-BF Spouse: none Address: SB-325-6-22-CBR-1038-312 Height: 1,78 m Weight: 75,6 kg Eye Color: Green Known associates: Subject was known to fraternize with two other citizens under custody one of which has since been terminated, see process 003612496356-PG-BC-T and process 003612496362-PG-BC-BM. ARREST DETAILS Arresting officer: 0034529-PG Darius Quintus Date: 25/02/32 Time: 09:45 Location: SB-23-BP-CBR-1038-214 Source of Activity: Praetorian Guard militia of ten was dispatched from central SB-34-PG-1038-216 after incoming call from telephone number 214468254 caller ID 0065623-BP reporting the display of erratic and violent behavior towards coworkers as well as destruction of state property by the subject. Upon arrival the subject was still agitated threatening both coworkers and officers, claiming to be unable to resume normal social conduct, denying his proper role in the state apparatus, spewing incoherent statements regarding state's suppression of individual freedom and the oppressive nature of the enforced orthodoxy. The subject was then notified by officer 0035246-PG to cease the disturbance of the peace and all seditious behavior and refused to comply. Officer 0034529-PG issued the order to take the subject into custody. Arrest: Subject displayed erratic and violent behavior during arrest towards the praetorian militia officers. Neuro-paralyzer 313-B was deployed through use of three 13-C cartridges shot by standard issue Pacifiers of officers 0034529-PG and 0034842-PG; two successful hits on the subject, two confirmed inoculations, paralysis time: 15secs. No other bodily damage inflicted on subject. No Praetorian Guards injured. Booking Subject was charged with unsocial behavior, disturbance of the peace, sedition and detained at SB-34-PG-1038-216 temporary confinement facilities. Officer 0034842-PG then released the subject under custody to officer 002328-BC for normal arrangements of transfer to the Bureau of Correction's permanent detainment facilities. BUREAU OF CORRECTION INCEPT RECEIPT Incept date: 25/02/32 Time: 12:45 Health inspection: Stable, unconscious, no major trauma signed by 0024262-BCMD Annex IIIA Cell deployment: 505, by officers 0024563-BC and 0023285-BC, no incidents reported. BUREAU OF CORRECTION INTERROGATION LOG INTERROGATION SESSION I Date: 25/03/32 Time: 15:15 Interrogation officer: 0018624-BC Gaius Agrippa Audio Transcript: GAIUS AGRIPPA State your name and ID. MONO You know my name and my ID. GAIUS AGRIPPA Of course I know your name and ID, you will state them for the record regardless. MONO Lucius Iulius Proculus 0064287-BP GAIUS AGRIPPA How long have you been assigned to the Bureau of Propaganda? MONO You know the answer to that question also. GAIUS AGRIPPA How long? MONO Two years, three months, seventeen days. GAIUS AGRIPPA Straight from State Academy? MONO Yes. GAIUS AGRIPPA You graduated top of your class was it not so? MONO That is correct, although I fail to see the relevance of my academic prowess to my current predicament. GAIUS AGRIPPA It's not the only thing you fail to see. Thank you, you've been most helpful, we'll reconvene as soon as appropriate. MONO This is it? GAIUS AGRIPPA For now... INTERROGATION SESSION II Date: 25/03/32 Time: 17:15 Interrogation officer: 0018624-BC Gaius Agrippa Audio Transcript: GAIUS AGRIPPA Before we go any further with these proceedings I have been authorized by my peers to give you some insight as to what situation you are in and in what circumstances these conversations are to occur, so listen carefully and do not interrupt me for your life may depend on the full comprehension of what I am about to say. You are now a State political prisoner. You have been charged with unsocial behavior, disturbance of the peace and sedition. These charges as you may well suspect are for us just an excuse for your detention. One that you were kind enough to provide us with. We are of course aware that you are involved in activities far more damning than the ones I've just stated so rest assured that unless you are completely honest with me I have been entrusted with the power to recommend the termination of your life if I so see fit. You should also be aware that these conversations are being recorded and transcribed. They are to be made accessible for examination of all peers appointed to evaluate your case. The decision pertaining your case will be decided by such group. Besides access to the transcripts of our conversations such group will convene with me regularly so as to be debriefed with my personal assessment of your performance during our interviews. Further, I have also been permitted to inform you that your associate Tiberius Rubellius Calidus is also under our custody. He is currently detained for treatment at the Bureau of Mental Facilities. He is as well as can be expected under the circumstances... You seem taken by surprise by such news. MONO I imagined him dead by now. GAIUS AGRIPPA Killed by us? MONO Yes. GAIUS AGRIPPA Would you find that a justifiable act if you were on our position? MONO I have no means to assess what your position currently is, so I can make no judgment about it. GAIUS AGRIPPA But by your own assumption you reveal that if you were in our "proverbial" shoes you would find such an act logic and justifiable. MONO Tiberius's intent was to overthrow your regime. He was a threat to you. It would be logic to assume that you'd do everything in your power to neutralize a threat before it became a real danger. GAIUS AGRIPPA Would you? MONO I would never find myself in the position of having to defend such a regime in the first place. GAIUS AGRIPPA I see... That was an interesting way to avoid the question. I could press on the subject but I see no need for it now, we shall have time to come back to this particular issue if necessary. Right now I am more interested in a couple of other details. I will leave you a warning though. Logic is a wonderful tool, one which my peers and I look upon with the utmost respect and one that has been serving us well for immemorial times. It is universal amongst humans, and beside music the only language that can break down all barriers of communication. Still, it is only a tool, and a blind one at that. Do not put excessive trust on logic. Logic is a mathematical process that will spew the correct answer to your question only if you provide it with the correct premises. MONO I understand. GAIUS AGRIPPA Thus you now stand before me surprised by our decision to keep your friend alive. One of your premises was wrong. Maybe you'll have the chance to find out which. For now let me tell you that transferal to the Bureau of Mental Facilities for treatment is also one of the possible outcomes for your case . What do you think of that prospect? MONO I am not mentally deranged. Why should I be transferred to the BM? GAIUS AGRIPPA And your friend is? MONO I didn't say that. GAIUS AGRIPPA No you didn't, not out loud anyway, but you did instantly assert a difference between your case and his. You do believe he is more plausible to be considered as mentally ill than you. I can somewhat understand that considering the circumstances of your last meeting. MONO He was rambling and incoherent. He was threatening me, saying that I had betrayed the cause and sold him out to the praetorian militia. GAIUS AGRIPPA You were rambling and incoherent too when you were arrested, but regardless of that, did you? MONO Did I what? GAIUS AGRIPPA Betray him? MONO No. GAIUS AGRIPPA Are you sure? MONO Yes I am sure. I wouldn't betray him even if of lately I wasn't as sure as I had been that he was on the right path, that his ideas were good. GAIUS AGRIPPA Again a word of caution. Be wary of using such words as good or evil as they leave little room for compromise. Their usage will not be to your advantage. But please carry on... MONO I'm not sure I get your meaning but either way, regardless of my opinion towards Tiberius's ideas or actions I would not betray him. I am not the kind of person to betray the loyalty pledged to a friend. GAIUS AGRIPPA I see... Would that loyalty still stand if you were to loose all faith in your friend's cause and come to believe it would be prone to cause harm? MONO Harm to whom? GAIUS AGRIPPA Does it matter? MONO Yes it matters, you can't go about trying to change how society works without causing harm to at least some faction of it... GAIUS AGRIPPA Go on, your words can't really hurt your friend, you are not betraying him. His fate is already set, it is yours that is still to be determined and a positive outcome depends on your complete honesty. MONO You know that Tiberius was planning to eventually overthrow your regime. GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. MONO The change he envisioned would cause you harm, but it would be for the benefit of the people and the greater good so I would support it even if it meant that some would suffer from it. GAIUS AGRIPPA You would support it if you'd believe it to be beneficial to the majority? MONO Yes. GAIUS AGRIPPA And how can you be certain that this change would indeed benefit the people? MONO I believed it would, but I'm not sure you can be fully certain of such an outcome. GAIUS AGRIPPA And yet, you were prepared to go along with his plan even though if successful it could bring about the destruction of the stability and prosperity we now enjoy. MONO I wanted change, I want change. You talk about stability and prosperity but at what cost do we have them? This society we live in is sterile. Most of the population is never encouraged to think for themselves. They are drowned in orthodoxy from the day they are born, given templates on how to behave, how to feel, they are told what opinions to have. There is no room for them to know what it is they want. I sometimes doubt if they are even aware of themselves. GAIUS AGRIPPA But, you are? MONO At least I am aware enough to see all this happening around me, to know that I want more, that I want to live in a world in which people are encouraged to grow and learn and to explore what it is they want to make of themselves. GAIUS AGRIPPA So you'd like to change the world in order for it to suit you better. MONO No! This isn't solely about me, everybody would benefit from it. Who wouldn't... GAIUS AGRIPPA You said before you couldn't really be sure. MONO I... GAIUS AGRIPPA Would you like for us to interrupt this session? MONO Yes please! GAIUS AGRIPPA I'll be back later. INTERROGATION SESSION III Date: 25/03/32 Time: 20:15 Interrogation officer: 0018624-BC Gaius Agrippa Audio Transcript: GAIUS AGRIPPA Shall we continue? MONO Is there a choice? GAIUS AGRIPPA Not really no. I was merely being amenable. So, you feel unhappy and maladjusted in this society you believe to be of our creation. MONO Is it not? GAIUS AGRIPPA We are less responsible for it's current form than you would think. We are much less the designers and much more the maintainers. MONO Still you enforce it. GAIUS AGRIPPA We enforce order, not form. MONO You are in charge, so ultimately responsible. GAIUS AGRIPPA In a way, yes. MONO I hate it, and I hate you for forcing it upon us. GAIUS AGRIPPA Who is us? MONO All of us, of course. GAIUS AGRIPPA You misjudge us. We may force it upon you, but not upon most of the population. They accept it freely. MONO Because they don't know any better. GAIUS AGRIPPA Because they are satisfied with what they have right now. MONO They are so tangled up on the orthodoxy you jam down their throats that they can't even imagine there could possibly be a better way to lead their lives. GAIUS AGRIPPA What is better? MONO A fuller life, filed with meaning, one in which we take responsibility for our actions, make our own decisions, one in which we are free to find out what we truly are, what we feel, what we want to be. One in which we are free to reinvent ourselves if we feel we must. GAIUS AGRIPPA Is that what you wish for yourself and others? MONO I want more freedom. GAIUS AGRIPPA And you believe others wish it too? MONO Yes, why wouldn't they if they were aware that it was possible? GAIUS AGRIPPA Why aren't they aware? MONO Because you don't allow it. GAIUS AGRIPPA Well, we didn't allow you to be aware of this better life you seem to wish for and yet you still are. Why aren't most? MONO I... GAIUS AGRIPPA Not allowing you to be aware of whatever you may think of didn't do us any good did it? I mean, you are aware that you want more from life. So what's it worth this prohibition of ours? What's it good for if it can't really prevent people from being aware that they want more? You are living proof that this so called prohibition we enforce upon people doesn't actually work. It is unenforceable. Yet most seem to abide it, and I dare to say that they may even not be aware of such a prohibition. Why is that? MONO Why are you asking me that? GAIUS AGRIPPA Well you are the one that has his mind set on changing things for the better. Bring freedom to the people. If you are serious about change the onus is on you to prove that what you propose will be in fact better for everyone, otherwise what gives you the right enforce such change? I ask you again why is it that you can elude this prohibition of ours and render it worthless whilst the majority is either unaware of it or abides it? MONO Are you implying I'm different? GAIUS AGRIPPA No, you are. By your actions and by your words, and I find it hard to believe that one as perceptive as you have proven to be thus far would not at least suspect of his own singularity. MONO But that's bullshit! I refuse to believe that it isn't innate to every human being. GAIUS AGRIPPA What is? MONO Self awareness and the desire to be master of your own destiny. GAIUS AGRIPPA It may seem to you so because you have lived it all your life. Even if you've had to hide it from others for fear of State repression or tried to suppress it yourself. You know no way to mitigate that thirst you feel. It is such a huge part of your life that you cannot imagine that others do not possess such strength. It is empathy for your fellow man that makes you believe they too wish to be liberated, but if it were so then why the feeling of estrangement when in their midst? You do feel estranged when amongst them, do you not? MONO I do because you have turned them to automaton. GAIUS AGRIPPA Did we? MONO Well didn't you? GAIUS AGRIPPA I have proven to you that even if we wanted we couldn't really control what goes on in peoples minds. We have modest influence and we can control cultural trends so as to facilitate or encourage some types of behavior. But we are not turning men into something they are not. We are not forcing the population to accept orthodoxy as you claim. I don't believe you can force change in the nature of an individual from the outside. It is you my friend that finds himself in such a position. It is you the one proposing to change people's hearts and minds into something they are not, for you my friend find it hard to believe that they do not feel the same lust for freedom as you do. You cannot accept they may be of a different nature than your own. You dear friend suffer from a disease. That disease is idealism and it was known to create some of the finest and cruelest dictators of yesteryear's. Even if your intentions are good, which I'm sure they are, you would trample over those you pretend to defend in order to prove you point. To quench your thirst. To fly your flag. MONO But would they not benefit from it? GAIUS AGRIPPA From what? MONO From freedom. GAIUS AGRIPPA What would they do with it? MONO Live it of course, live free, think for themselves... GAIUS AGRIPPA Do you know what a processing integrator is? MONO What? No. GAIUS AGRIPPA A processing integrator is a wonderful tool, one that makes use of logic in its purest forms, its use is endless, limited only by the imagination of those that operate it. Unfortunately for you that have never heard of such a thing and do not understand its concept such an incredible tool would be worthless, for you wouldn't know what to do with it, how to get it running, how to extract advantages from it and even if you did learn how to do it, either on your own or aided by others, you could find yourself to not be particularly fond of working with such a tool. Freedom as you keep mentioning is nothing more than such a tool. Even if you have the ability to operate it you may find yourself lacking the inclination to do so. Most wouldn't know what to do with the liberty you propose to force upon them. They would feel lost without direction, overwhelmed by the amount of information they would be made to process in order to decide every single aspect of their lives. You would have them tearing themselves into a state of misery and depression in no time at all. They would feel as inadequate as you do now, and they would probably act in a manner not much different from yours, trying to change things. MONO No, you are wrong. I have heard them talk amongst themselves. You are making this out to be as if only I feel this need, only I feel like being oppressed. But I'm not the only one, the people hate you and they hate you regime. GAIUS AGRIPPA I know they do, and so they should. You should never trust those in power even if they do their best to facilitate the way you lead your lives by actually leading you. Besides, all those that lack leadership qualities tend to not speak fondly of those that do, even if their work ultimately benefits them. MONO So you enjoy being hated by the population? Don't you think that you should do the best to make them love you instead? GAIUS AGRIPPA What purpose would their love for us serve? It wouldn't make our job any easier, it would only complicate it. Once you fall prey to the crowd's "love" you are held for ransom. To maintain it you are forced to comply with every single whim, every single passing interest or demand of the mob. The mob has no deep thoughts, it is shallow, brutish and acts like the headless beast it is. Depending on the love of the people as an authority to lead would have us fall onto chaos and the mob would quickly turn against us and against themselves. You especially should be weary of such a prospect for under this tyranny of the majority you would be one of the first to be ousted out of your shell onto the sand of the circus for the mob's delight. MONO What do you mean a circus? And why should the people turn against people like me? What do you mean people like me? GAIUS AGRIPPA Pardon me for the historic reference. I sometimes forget that in the State Academy you are not granted access to records of our far history. One of the mechanisms put in place to aid us in our selection. No matter, I believe I can share with you some of this information you lack, for you seem so far to be an interesting prospect if still a somewhat problematic one. The name Rome reverberates deeply in the hallways of our marble temples. Though no one but us know of it. Rome grew to be the first State worthy of such a name and it much influenced the development of such structures of power for millenia after its own downfall and it came in part due to the authority of the ruling class being established almost exclusively on the love of the people for them. What we call an Ochlocracy was thus in place and if the ruling class did not keep the mob happy they would swiftly loose their heads. The mob loves blood, and so they gave it to them, in special theaters called circus where those that were different enough from the tyrannical majority would be slain by the thousands for amusement. When the ruling class had those in short supply their own heads would roll. You my friend would decry this as madness, you would rally against it and you would find yourself in the circus trying to keep your guts from spilling onto the sand. You would die because you'd know that sometimes decisions must be made against the will of the mob, for they maybe unpopular but necessary. You would be one of those that would sense that this form of government would lead to nowhere except murder and chaos. MONO A moment ago you were telling me I was wrong because I wanted to force the mob as you called them to be more like me and yet now you are telling me that sometimes you have to force the people to accept decisions which they may not agree with. What's the difference? GAIUS AGRIPPA The difference comes mainly from the fact that we are not forcing them to be something they are not. We may force upon them unpopular decisions but always taking into consideration that on the long run the consequences of such decisions will bring benefits unapparent to them. We know that some of the population can only grasp the short term results of a taken action and we know that to be part of their inherent nature, we respect it, yet we will not let their own limitations cloud the decisions we may take on their behalf. MONO Shouldn't they be making their own decisions? GAIUS AGRIPPA Why? Are they better equipped than us to do so? Are they better qualified for this particular task? Would they do a better job? MONO But how can they be sure you'll look out for their best interest? GAIUS AGRIPPA Aah! Good old fashion greed and suspicion finally making their entrance. That is a valid question you have there and one I hope will lead further down our conversations to a more interesting one, but we shall come to that later on. So you want to know if we are not cheating some faction of the populations out of their proper worth. What would be the point? The end result of such action on a long term scale would obviously be social uprising and the demise of "our regime" as you call it. What we aim for is social stability and slow self sustaining progress. Why would we undermine ourselves? MONO How can you be so sure of yourselves? Can't you envision that some amongst your midst may turn rogue and play only for their own benefit? Can't you accept the possibility of greed and lust for power to blind you? And in your arrogance can you not see the possibility that you may error on occasion? GAIUS AGRIPPA Now that's more like it, I was hoping you'd get to that. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Now that is a question worth asking over and over again. I shall try to answer your questions. How can we be so sure of ourselves? We aren't, the moment we start to we'll undoubtedly fail. Doubt must place a central role in every decision we make, it must work to our advantage as a safeguard one that will not let us trust our own intellect too much. We must doubt our intentions every single time we exert power and no decision should ever be taken by only one peer. At least three should always be involved, so that each one's doubts will be put forward and be sufficiently appeased before any act enforced. And still error we will inevitably, for imperfect our nature is, as is of all humans and we must so accept. Yet, though imperfect, improvement is always possible and that is what we strive for, constant relentless improvement. This is what we strive for, our aim, our inclination, if your prefer our nature. MONO Leaders. And who grants you the right to lead? Where does your authority come from? GAIUS AGRIPPA Another good question my friend, one that I will be glad to answer later. We shall interrupt our session for now and we'll reconvene later. INTERROGATION SESSION IV Date: 26/03/32 Time: 15:15 Interrogation officer: 0018624-BC Gaius Agrippa Audio Transcript: GAIUS AGRIPPA Now then, before we get into the question of what legitimates our authority I'd like to know a little more about Tiberius. Don't worry I am not avoiding the question, merely arranging the necessary background so my answer can be easier to digest. MONO What does Tiberius have to do with it? GAIUS AGRIPPA Lets just say that Tiberius's ideas are a good starting ground. Indulge me please. MONO Tiberius wanted above all a society where the state would cease to exist. In our current society we are required to enroll into State Academy by the age of 3 and we stay there until we are adults. There we are indoctrinated, evaluated and sorted. You determine what we will do for the remainder of our lives and give us templates on how to act, how to think and how to fit into this predetermined machine you have already constructed. You give us rules to which we must conduct ourselves by and you accept little or no deviation from them. You enforce this state of affairs through the Praetorian Guard and State Academy officials. You dominate every aspect of our lives from birth to death leaving us no space in between. Every meaningful decision is taken by you with no appeal possible, no explanation required. Tiberius called you a “nanny” state and we wanted the opposite. He wanted the annulment of state apparatus, he denied the need for its existence. If people were free to live their lives the way they wanted taking only into consideration the respect for their peers need for freedom then there would be no need for the Praetorian Guard, the State Academy officials nor the production bureau foremen. We would be free to associate as we would please, trade amongst ourselves the fruit of our labor and teach our children in the way we believed to be the most fit. Each man and his family would have their own space, would manage their own produce and would be free to do with it what they would please. GAIUS AGRIPPA A wonderful utopia. A beautiful dream. One that even I would be glad to be a part of if... MONO If it were possible to implement I suppose. GAIUS AGRIPPA Exactly. You doubt such a possibility too? MONO I do. GAIUS AGRIPPA And may I ask what makes you doubt the possibility of its implementation. MONO In such a fixture how would you resolve a dispute amongst two men? One would eventually come up no matter how happy and free the people are. Who would we go to, to sort things out? There would at least be necessary a structure that would resolve disputes amongst men, and how would such a structure decide? What should their guidelines be? How do you determine who's right and who is wrong if there are no rules laid down except the need to respect others freedom and property. A minimal number of key structures would have to be present and that would imply a state. Tiberius idea was too radical, impossible to implement. Anarchy would ensue and people would be at each others throats constantly. No one would have authority and while appealing such a prospect would be impractical. GAIUS AGRIPPA I agree for the most part with your analysis, please continue, how would you change Tiberius model in order to improve its foreseeable implementation. MONO Organizational structure is necessary, rules and guidelines are necessary. Both should be as least intrusive as possible in the lives of individuals, but they must be there. They must act as a safeguard to ensure that minimal levels of civilization are kept. One of the state's primal legitimate function must be that of the protection of individuals from aggression, both from internal and external menaces. GAIUS AGRIPPA Again, I agree for the most part with your analysis. You talk of organizational structures, rules and guidelines. Which organizational structures would you implement and how are the rules and guidelines to be decided upon? MONO Something like the Praetorian Guard would be necessary. Probably the best way to implement such a structure would be to invite the population to serve as Praetorian Guards for an agreed amount of time, as a tribute for the protection received when in general population and for the usage of other organizational structures. The passage of regular people by the Praetorian Guard would also make it less prone to abuse since it would be a body of peers working for the protection of their own. Special provisions could be made when faced by extraordinary external menaces to increase its size but in general the number of its effective should be kept to a minimum. A quorum of peers should be chosen amongst the population to decide upon divergences and disputes and apply agreed upon rules and guidelines in order to do so consistently. Basic structures like hospitals and roads could also be maintained by the state, perhaps via specialized and in same cases more permanent Praetorian Guard militia. Rules and guidelines would be agreed upon by majority vote on assemblies of peers. GAIUS AGRIPPA Though interesting your ideas suffer from a few shortcomings. One of which is the problem of scale. It would only be feasible if the scale of your organizational state were small. I would venture no bigger than a city. MONO And that would be a good thing, allegiance to a state would be voluntary and if you were unhappy you'd be free to move to another state. An assortment of smaller states would provide the opportunity to find the place that suited you better. GAIUS AGRIPPA Inevitably feuds between such small states would ensue. Those would lead to war, war to the need of interstate regulation and legislation and the need for bigger structures of power. Again you're faced with problems of scale. If such regulatory structures were not implemented and agreed upon the most successful states would grow at the expense of the least successful ones by force, if implemented and agreed upon they would grow on merit, but either way the end result would be that the maintenance of such small states with such simple structures of power would be impossible. As such a need for bigger organizational structures would arise. Do you agree? MONO It is a possible outcome yes. I don't think though that it would make it impossible for this relatively larger state to be less pervasive on the lives of its constituents. GAIUS AGRIPPA Perhaps so, but for the moment let's concentrate on establishing a working model for this shall we call it stage two of your original construct. Given the enlargement in scale of your hypothetical state, organizational structures and rules or guidelines would so have to adequately grow, both in size and in complexity. This growth would imply, for matters of efficiency, that a central authority would need to be setup so that the administration of the structures in place could be better coordinated. This authority would have to be accepted by the constituents of your state, they would perhaps accept it under the guise of rationality and mutual benefit. The problem you face in all this is that unless you find a way to keep your model state frozen in time, its evolution will inevitably lead to further growth in size and complexity and with the growth in size and complexity of its structures and guidelines your minimal state would be no more, replaced by one that would be as large and as oppressive as you claim ours to be. Do you accept my analysis? MONO I need time to think about everything you said and to study it properly. Would I be permitted to have a transcript of this conversation of ours and perhaps pen and paper? It would be easier for me to organize my ideas if I had access to these items. GAIUS AGRIPPA Let's say an authorization for possession of these items were granted. You are aware that though I have been, shall we say, candid with you so far that you are still a state prisoner and that everything you do whilst under our custody we have the right to inspect and analyze. You will not be able to keep anything you write from us, you will not gain further space of privacy by use of this subterfuge. The only private space you have will remain the one confined between your ears. Do you understand our terms and accept them? MONO Yes. GAIUS AGRIPPA Very well. You will be permitted pen and paper and a transcript of this last conversation of ours. I shall allow you some time to go through everything that was said and I hope our next meeting will benefit from it. If my perception that such an allowance from our part would prove to be detrimental to the natural unraveling of your case it will revoked immediately and without possibility of appeal. So make the best possible use of it. We will stop now and reconvene at a popper later time. Until then... Process addendum I Due to request by the interrogation officer 0018624-BC a proposal was put forward under special dispensation request form 0073654-BCDRF to allow the prisoner access to the following items: Transcript of Interrogation Session IV Pencil 50 sheets of plain white paper The request form was approved due to the acknowledgment of officers 0015634-BC and 0018276-BC of concurring opinion thus achieving the necessary Triumvirate Unanimity. Prisoner was delivered said items at Date:26/03/32 Time: 22:45 Excerpts of prisoners written works are included thus in this process so as to complement the information obtained by formal interrogation. Such excerpts will from now on be identified in this process by the denomination of "PRISONER WRITTEN LOG EXCERPT X" substituting the letter X by the appropriate index number. PRISONER WRITTEN LOG EXCERPT I The last few seconds before committing ourselves to put pen to paper are the tearing out of all restraints inside our head and from them on letting thoughts pour directly from our brain onto the white sheet. The feeling of freedom we then achieve is the most beautiful and satisfying thing in life. I know that right now I probably won't be able to get out of my mind that all that I am writing will be read by others, but the need I feel for this privilege is well worth such risk. I can endure anything as long as I have with me pen and paper. I will take time later to review the transcript of the interrogation log but for now oh let me enjoy the sweet taste of freedom even if it is one that will be later taken away and shred to bits. I thought it would be much harder to endure, this situation I am in right now but it turns out I am much calmer than I would've thought. I guess I have made peace with it. The possibility exists that I will die in the near future and though my instinct of self preservation still kicks in every time I think about it I know that whatever happens to me isn't all that important. I have no regrets. I leave no one behind. Everyone I could call a friend has also been taken prisoner and so they share my predicament. I will not betray them by succumbing to fear nor to pressure. I have to take sometime to say goodbye to you Tiberius even though you will never read what I am writing right now and even if you did I'm not really sure you'd be in the condition to understand it. Your loss is what hurts me the most because, even though I had already lost you to this monomania you fell into, once you were able to light my heart with fire and inspire in me what latter came to be my... I'm not even sure how to put it down. All I know is that before I met you I was a adrift and my life was without meaning and found my true self only after you set off the fireworks in my brain. I cannot follow you down the path you have chosen for yourself. Your delusions of self grandeur betray everything you set out to accomplish and have destroyed you both mentally and physically. No matter how much I try to convince myself that there was nothing I could do to prevent it I still feel guilty, I still feel like there should of had been something more I could've said that could've brought you back to reality. That could have saved you from your fate. It's too late now and I have to let you go. I have to accept that and if I am true to myself I have to accept also that I would eventually deny you, for you instilled in me the need to think for myself and have my own opinion. You taught me to doubt and question everything and come to my own conclusions. How ironic it is that you could not accept the fact that the practice you preached made me decry the path you chose to take. No matter, even if the teacher is lost the lesson will not be. You might have forgotten the principles that led you to fight for what you believe but I will not. So I must bid you farewell, I'm sorry I could not save you but then again maybe I will be able to save what I have learnt from you and that is not a bad legacy for a man to leave behind. It never ceases to amaze me how contradictory our nature can be and how fast our actions betray what we profess. Let me then remind myself of your words and not your actions. But even those I am not sure I can recite in my head without the shadows of doubt creeping in amongst them. Are we all truly equal like we thought? Do we all have the same aspirations? Is the need for freedom truly innate in all of us? I must question all this and come to an answer. I must equate all the possible factors that can cloud my judgment towards these questions. In the end, no matter how much logic we use it all comes down to belief and that turns everything into a subjective muck that is so hard to navigate. I am adrift again but I have not lost my meaning. I still believe that even if we were wrong about so many things there is one that stands out as true. We all have the same rights. It is a matter of personal choice if we choose to claim them or not, but they are there from the beginning, justifiable only by our existence. We all deserve the same opportunities. These were until now the basis of my creed and what made me want to fight for a chance to change the world we live in for the better. But we forgot to think about what better meant. We forgot to think about what better was for whom. The question burning in my mind right now is: "How can we balance this need for individual freedom with the need for organizational structure and the rules that come with it?" In the end I guess what I am really asking is how can we balance our inner freedom with the need to function inside a stable society. We can't escape the fact that living amongst a fairly large group of peers, each one somewhat specialized into performing some determinate function, brings us an inordinate amount of advantages. With that however comes one inordinate amount of regulation crashing into every aspect of our lives. The bigger the group, the bigger the need for regulation and the more strict its implementation. You really can't escape it because the bigger the group the bigger the need to exercise broader authority to keep everything in check. I believed we all were equal and we all should develop the same capabilities and perform the same duties but I see now that I was wrong. And how wrong was I that I was contradicting the very essence of what I was fighting for. If above all I am an individualist and I am fighting against the grip society has on me, how could I then defend forcing everyone to have the same aspirations and to develop in the same exact way? If I am to defend individuality I must defend man's right to difference. We may all have the same rights but we can go about them each in its own way. This diversity must lead to an increase in regulation I am sure because when a group is not homogeneous and people go about doing the same things in different ways, the possibility of discord and violence increases sharply. This leads to individual repression. The benefits though are palpable, beginning with specialization onto different tasks to the increased flexibility and capability to survive external pressures. The more homogeneous a society is the more fragile it becomes, for everyone in it is susceptible to the same weaknesses. So, it seems I have established that diversity must be paramount to the development and survivability of a society and that it is one of the causes of increased restriction of the individual liberties of its constituents. The more diverse the society the more restricted the individual will be. If so at least one faction will eventually feel too restricted to live a happy healthy life and this faction would eventually uprise. Further it is most possible and indeed probable that factions would arise inside this society in which people would agglutinate according to their inclinations, desires or shortcomings. These factions would inevitably clash with each other trying to gain further benefits for themselves at the expense of others leading to further regulation and restriction. The uprising of those dissatisfied with the state of things would on long term create even worse conditions for themselves unless they came to be a significant enough portion of society. Would they? Or would those, to whom individual restrictions mattered not, be the majority faction? I fear that those capable of not being bothered by such restrictive environment would be better equipped to function in such a society and thus would probably achieve success in it with less effort. The problem then becomes that if by pressure of the success from a faction composed of individuals capable of thriving in individual restrictive environments should the faction of individual restrictive sensitive wane the net result would be that society would be less diverse and so in itself less successful. An equilibrium of sorts is then required. One possible outcome of this maybe that there is a finite limit to which a society may grow before imploding onto itself. But this would eventually lead to an arrest of progress. We would remain static for eons frozen in a bubble of self sustaining bureaucratic peace. That in itself may no be such a bad thing but I have serious doubts that it could be so. Humanity is everything but static and peace bores us immensely. It seems then that society must find way to get around these shortcomings and one possible way to do so would be to accept a less than optimum state of functioning. One that would be able to deal with the noise introduced by the existence of those individual restrictive sensitive factions, one that would be able to keep such a faction happier so they would function adequately enough. A laxer enforcing of regulation perhaps? I have to stop now. My head hurts and I need to take a break, to go elsewhere inside my mind besides this tangled web of bureaucratic logic otherwise I will go mad. Besides I don't have to do this all at once and it is always better to stop and review your thought process before it goes on too much by itself, so you can find flaws that may lead you on a path that is flawed and to prevent you from loosing all that effort. I need to slow down every process going on in my brain, catch my breath and try to relax. I haven't slept in weeks. I knew that you'd eventually get to me, it was only a matter of when and how. I have been living in fear ever since I joined the Tiberius's group. I was already imprisoned by then. Sitting here in this cell block I can finally let go of all the defenses I was building up. It's finally happened. You got me. I don't have to wonder any more when it's going to happen. It's a comforting feeling I guess, like when you've just had a tooth removed, one that had been giving you pain for while and after that acute agony of ripping it off your jaw bone you can finally feel the pressure wear out on itself, replaced a thick dull lesser pain and the void left. You've got me, only question is what will you do with me, but that is out of my hands. There is no way I can present a defense for my case if I don't know by which parameters I am being judged. I still know almost nothing about these people. On the outside all we knew of the regime was the Praetorian Guard, the State Academy, and all the smaller bureaus that took on doing the rest of the work that wouldn't fit in the ethos of each of those two main bodies. We knew nothing of the beast's face. We had only felt its massive shoulder pressing onto our bodies and squeezing us out of ourselves. Who knew it had a brain behind the brawn? Who would have guessed? It felt much more like a blunt instrument instead of a precise one. Perhaps it is as it should be, a blunt instrument to deal with the blunt people and a scalpel to weed out the stems of stubborn fistulas that dared to grow on such perfectly flat skin. A morphing apparatus with more than one side, more than one story. I can finally sleep now that you have gobbled me up inside your beastly body. I can't escape your innards anymore so I might as well turn off and enjoy the the comfort this certainty brings. I felt this way before. I am sure of it. Though I can't remember all of the details. I was young, I had a fever and I was in my bed in one of the State Academy's nurseries. I got up, I wanted a drink of water, the ground seemed to sway beneath my feet and the moon on that tall curtainless window started dancing in front of my eyes drawing circles of light. My vision narrowing down, smaller, and smaller until all that was left was a single stream of light hitting exactly the center of my retina. I remember hearing the thud but not feeling anything as I landed on the floor. I remember that needle of light filling everything inside me, coming all in, all in, piercing through layer after layer of my consciousness. Turning each one off. One after another, until there was nothing left except the cold of the floor on the back of my neck. I laid there they told me for 4 hours. It felt like days. Days on end of nothing but a needle of light piercing trough my mind and the dry coldness of the floor. No thoughts, no dreams, total obliteration of the self. Total... [footnote: officer 0019527-BC note: Last sentence is unfinished by the prisoner, one more word was scribbled onto paper but is impossible to transcribe. Prisoner's brain had been emitting theta waves, high amplitude, low frequency consistent with sleep stage 1 during the last 4 minutes of writing. Notice the lack of paragraphs and entangled discourse. Most probably fell asleep mid sentence ] INTERROGATION SESSION V Date: 27/03/32 Time: 09:15 Interrogation officer: 0018624-BC Gaius Agrippa Audio Transcript: GAIUS AGRIPPA Wake up. MONO What? What are you doing here in my cell? GAIUS AGRIPPA I can choose to perform my duties regarding your case wherever I think to be most adequate. Right now, this cell is adequate enough. MONO You could have sent for me as usual. The gorillas in the lobby seem to enjoy dragging me to the interrogation room. We wouldn't want to deprive them of the pleasure of performing their duty now would we? GAIUS AGRIPPA Don't worry, they won't hesitate to perform their duty should it be decided that the time for it has come. Snapping your neck is not a hard task for the likes of them. MONO I would suppose not. How long must I wait until then? GAIUS AGRIPPA Why are you in such a hurry? MONO What do you want me for? GAIUS AGRIPPA I ask the questions here. Don't you forget in what predicament you find yourself in and don't be stupid. Suicidal thoughts don't become you. MONO Why are you keeping me alive? What do you expect to gain from this experiment you are performing on me? GAIUS AGRIPPA Silence you fool!!! Had I not read your notes from last night and you would now be strapped to a chair with one of those gorillas ripping the nails off your feet one by one. How close you are to understanding your true meaning, to comprehending your real talent and still you stand there in front of me with that stupid grin in your face, trying to get yourself killed. Would it make you happier if we made you into a martyr? Is that what you are aiming at, you blubbering idiot? What purpose does martyrdom serve without an audience? Who would know of your death? Who would care? Your sacrifice would be in vain. No one would benefit from it. It would serve only to appease that vanity of yours. Shape up you moron you are better than that. You have what it takes to understand how this works. That hubris you display, feeding off on your messianic self righteousness, is nothing but a manifestation of your self pity and commiseration. That high horse of self righteousness you imagine yourself in, pointing fingers at our supposed monstrosity is nothing but a... MONO You need me! GAIUS AGRIPPA What? MONO You are doing your best to keep me alive. I have something you need. You are not acting this way out of your grand nobility, you have a very definite interest in something about me. GAIUS AGRIPPA Better young pup, much better, but still way too self centered. Your talents are in no way unique. You hold no upper hand over us. If we were to decide to terminate you that would imply no sort of setback for us. Many have been in your shoes before and many have failed. We remain. MONO There's more to it than that. You are not just testing me, you are hoping to trigger off something within me. GAIUS AGRIPPA It will happen sooner or later. MONO How can you be sure? GAIUS AGRIPPA Because I've read your notes and they confirm our suspicions. MONO I suppose you wont care to tell me what those are? GAIUS AGRIPPA You are correct. It must play itself out without interference. MONO That is to say I must find out what my role in all of this is by myself. GAIUS AGRIPPA Again you are correct. MONO I see. So what's next? GAIUS AGRIPPA Continue your written analysis. MONO You want me to understand what legitimates your authority. You want me to continue playing out my model until I reach that conclusion. GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. MONO Why is it so important for you? So that I validate all that you are by my own accord, so that I justify your existence and that of your regime by my own voice? GAIUS AGRIPPA We don't need your validation. Our authority exists, it is not a conjecture it is a fact. We don't need to justify it. We'd only need to justify it if we had taken it by force and that is not the case. What we need is for you to see the same we have seen, to understand what made us take on such a task of exerting it. MONO You want me to join you? GAIUS AGRIPPA We want you to understand why we exist and why your life has played out the way it has so far. Whatever happens after that it will be because you wish it. Everything will seem different after you have awaken. MONO That's what you are hoping to trigger, my awakening! GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. MONO What if I reach a different conclusion from what you expect me to by playing out my mental construct? What if the analysis I perform of my model takes me somewhere else? And doesn't this conversation taint the direction I might take? GAIUS AGRIPPA It might. That is for you to sort out. We'll see our far it leads. MONO I see. I think I understand. GAIUS AGRIPPA Good. Tell me something, do you write yourself to sleep much? MONO All the time. Sometimes it's the only way I can find to fall asleep. GAIUS AGRIPPA Good. Don't worry. Everything will play out like it should. Just keep reminding yourself that this isn't solely about you. While you may play a considerable part in the process you are not irreplaceable. Your role is interchangeable. You are not unique in that regard, though you may be in many others. I think we're done for now. I leave you to complete the work you have already started. Until our next session. MONO Breadcrumbs. GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. Breadcrumbs. Good bye. PRISONER WRITTEN LOG EXCERPT II There must be a logic to this madness. I feel like my mind is going to burst out in flames. I have to focus on what they want from me otherwise there will be no resolution possible. No possible outcome, no way out of this stalemate. What do they want from me? What do I possess that makes them have such an interest on what I think? If I am to awake like they want me to, first I must be the sleeper and when I am buried in the depths of slumber I might as well dream. A funny dream it will be. One set in motion by my captors with rules dictated by them and set to play out in a predetermined fashion. How can you predict the outcome of a dream if you don't restrict the ways in which it can play out? Lets then play out the dream like requested. The problem remains to be solved, how can you maintain a safe organized society that inevitably restricts individual freedom whilst maintaining it diverse enough through the individuality of it's constituents? You create the illusion of freedom. You make them believe they are indeed in charge of their destinies whilst the whole time they are only playing out their intended roles. It wouldn't be such a hard undertaking. All you need to do is to make them believe they are the ones that take all the decisions. If organized in opposing factions pitched against each other for control of their society their attention would be divided and they could always blame another faction's input for what bothers them. If the apparent authority was to be put under the care of the whole population diversity would be ensured whilst maintaining high levels of individual restriction. Such an illusion could work for a couple of centuries. Of course authority would rest mainly with those in charge of organizing such factions for they would lead by proxy. The further the complexity of the society the further the bonds of this authority by proxy would wane. Since it appears that most of the population has no real interest in the decision making process their allegiance to a particular faction would be nothing more than fitting themselves to the one they felt closest to and once that done the organizing leaders of such faction would have their support no matter what they chose to propose. The mob is a blind beast. Give them a flag and a hymn and they will follow you around like sheep. The problem then arises only when dealing with those that have a desire to actually rule themselves. The self aware. If we are to believe that proportions between factions would be maintained more or less constant during the decision making process, which would be logical since most of the population's allegiance would be a matter of canine loyalty, then those that could shift the balance of power around would be those that strive for individual freedom. They would try to defend theirs, supporting different factions, according to proposals they would set forward that would agree with their own needs. The majority of the population would be powerless. Authority would rest mainly on the shoulders of the self aware. After an initial stage these factions would crystallize, they would become encased in themselves except for the movers. It would be a matter of time before they realized that they needed only to maintain such a state of affairs long enough for the rest of the population to expect them to make all the decisions. Authority would rest on them fully. The problem then would be how to sort out which individuals were truly self aware and capable of the necessary discerning power for decision making and leadership. How would you test them? Breadcrumbs. So that's what you expect of me! INTERROGATION SESSION VI Date: 28/03/32 Time: 15:15 Interrogation officer: 0018624-BC Gaius Agrippa Audio Transcript: MONO I have questions. GAIUS AGRIPPA I'm sure you do. MONO Will you be able to answer them now? GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. MONO I've awaken. GAIUS AGRIPPA So it appears. MONO This isn't over is it? GAIUS AGRIPPA No. MONO It never ends does it? GAIUS AGRIPPA No. From now on you will be evaluated always. Even if we didn't do it as a routine group ritual you would still feel the need to do it yourself alone, but of course self evaluation is always a lot more dangerous and less accurate. We tend to be either too lenient or too hard with ourselves so we enlist the aid of our peers. Everything is done in groups of three and every three months these groups are disbanded and new ones are formed. Rotation of peers is mandatory. Everything else in the process is free as long as agreed upon within each triumvirate. MONO I see. GAIUS AGRIPPA You are one of the few given this chance. You have surpassed the initial trial, the Weeding. After which only the wheat is left and you will help feed future generations hunger for leadership and direction. Only those that have grown in the midst of the mob and that are aware enough to feel the shackles tightening against their ankles weighing them down. Only those that dare to go beyond the line drawn in the sand by an invisible hand they cannot accept. Only those brave enough to dream a different outcome for their lives are given this chance. MONO And what of those that fail the Weeding? GAIUS AGRIPPA Like Tiberius? MONO If you must use him as an example. GAIUS AGRIPPA There is no going back for them. We take care of them as best as possible but we cannot let them rejoin the general population. Our work must remain secret, that is of utmost importance. Some end up in the Bureau of Mental Facilities as did Tiberius. He was already slightly deranged before he faced the test. There have been cases where some have regained their sanity by being put trough the trials but that wasn't to be his case. The light blinds those that aren't prepared to stare at it. Some are exiled to our far colonies. We keep them as behavior laboratories and they are free to live their lives and interact amongst themselves as they wish. It is not impossible for them to live somewhat happy lives there. MONO And there are those that are terminated. GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. MONO Like Carrie? GAIUS AGRIPPA Why are you asking me this now? MONO During the process you mentioned Tiberius but you never mentioned her. I knew what had happened. GAIUS AGRIPPA Can you guess why she was terminated? MONO Yes. There are those that cannot help themselves from using their talents as an advantage to dominate and manipulate others. They tread over the heads of everyone that stands in their way. Their thirst is of a different kind, one that is self centered, ugly and leads to nothing but the rape and pillage of resources both human and material like there is no tomorrow. They appear self aware but they are nothing but good mimes. They fake empathy so as to blend in and achieve their goals but they possess none. They do not understand it. They cannot grasp the concept nor control the compulsion they feel to satiate their desires. Carrie's utmost desire was power. I knew it from early on. GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes, quite the conniving power hungry vampire she was. MONO She was the one that betrayed us. GAIUS AGRIPPA Yes. You can imagine what damage an animal like her could do set loose amongst our midst. Though we have safeguards in place still we couldn't risk keeping her alive. She was incinerated. MONO I understand. Perhaps even better than you are able to. GAIUS AGRIPPA What do you mean? MONO What is your name? GAIUS AGRIPPA Gaius. MONO Gaius, am I a Process Integrator? GAIUS AGRIPPA There is strong evidence that it might be so. MONO It is so Gaius. I've always ran every possible scenario inside my head before taking any action, any decision. I've done it all my life and around me I developed the structures that helped me deal with the loss of flexibility it induced in my behavior and reap the benefits of the increased success rate it provided. But I did it mostly out of fear of failure, fear of inadequacy and for personal benefit regarding duties I had to perform in the State Academy and the Bureau of Propaganda. A parallel could be drawn to what I have had the chance to do here in this cell but the scale is immensely different. Regardless of that, it has always been in my nature. GAIUS AGRIPPA So, you are to be one of the mirrors upon which we stare at ourselves. You will be the water that reflects back and forth, through the future and the past allowing us to foresee possible outcomes of our actions. MONO Yes, but not like those before me. There are things I must tell you before our session is interrupted. The first one is that I had seen you before. You were a portrait painter. You were commissioned to paint the portrait of the head officer of the State Academy I lived in. I crashed into you in the lobby while you were getting out after your first session with him. You looked tired, like you had been working for hours on end on a difficult task. I must of had been five, but I remember you. "Careful young pup, you'll poke an eye out and what wonderful deep green ones you have" you said. "Young pup"... I recognized your voice in our last interrogation session. Don't worry about the possible consequences of this, it won't matter as I can prove without question that in no way did it affect my ability to pass the trial. Now about the animals amongst our midst. In the transcript you read of the second text I wrote I omitted some important aspects I stumbled upon whilst woolgathering. We, and I use the term loosely for I know not for how much longer I can consider myself to be one of your own, we have overlooked it. The exclusivity, the claim to a special purpose, the carefully graded and progressed teachings that lead to hidden unique truths which lead to benefits beyond the reach and even the understanding of those left behind the Weeding. We are wrong. Gaius we are not the answer, we are an answer and worse, we are the answer to a question no one had ever dared to ask. Gaius we are the answer to the wrong question. The animals have been amongst us from the beginning.

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