Entropy Part 6

HIERARCH XAVIER
You are pathetic! I call you in to tail someone and you lose him after 10 minutes.

OFFICER
Well, it was 15 minutes actually - and the guy had a light breakfast. I need to have a hot breakfast, and it takes longer...

HIERARCH XAVIER
I don't care what sort of breakfast you have.

OFFICER
But Hierarch Susan tells us that a big, healthy breakfast is necessary for a healthy lifestyle. You wouldn't want me to criticise her policies would you?

HIERARCH XAVIER
Do you have any idea how important this is? The man you were following is a Free-trader. If you had followed him, you would have been led to other free traders.

OFFICER
With all due respect Hierarch Xavier, I don't think you know how important breakfast is. I know that free-trade is bad and should be destroyed, but the health department has released information constantly about the rise in bowel cancer, and the need to eat high fibre food. Perhaps if you...

HIERARCH XAVIER
Get out and never come back. Feel happy that I have allowed you to go back and work with Hierarch Susan again. Do not speak to anyone about this.

(Officer leaves, Xavier puts his head in his hands, shaking his head sadly.)

OLD MAN (Off)
He went to a newspaper publisher.

(Xavier Looks up suddenly. An old man with a broom is in the corner. He had been sweeping the floor, but was now facing Xavier)

XAVIER
What?

OLD MAN
The man you wanted tailed went to see a newspaper publisher in the Northern province.

XAVIER
Who are you? How dare you speak!

OLD MAN
Forgive me Hierarch, but I am an old man and I have been sweeping this room every day for 25 years. I hear everything that goes on, but when I heard you wanted this free-trader followed, I decided to follow him as well.

XAVIER
(a look of interest comes over his face) What did he do with this "news paper publisher"?

OLD MAN
They were inside only 5 minutes or so, and they came out quickly. The woman he was with looked very sick, and was wiping blood off her hands. I decided to go inside, and I found the newspaper publisher dead on the floor. I got out just before other free-traders entered.

XAVIER
Wait a minute, you say he killed this, this publisher person?

OLD MAN
That's right sir. A bullet in the back of the head. Very messy.

XAVIER
(Trying to think) But... why? What reason would he have to kill another free-trader?

OLD MAN
I saw the way she was killed sir. It was professionally done. The way an assassin kills.

XAVIER
Assassin, I've heard that word before. What does it mean?

OLD MAN
It usually refers to a person who kills for money.

XAVIER
Money? You mean a free trader?

OLD MAN
Yes sir. Assassins are used regularly by the free traders.

XAVIER
So he's a hired killer. (Look of questioning on his face) Who are you? How come you know so much about the free traders?

OLD MAN
I have heard many things in this office over the years sir. The free traders have been around for a very long time, and your predecessors have worked very hard to get rid of them, but without success.

XAVIER
I have an idea. I want you to be an assassin. I want you to kill Russell Gittins.

OLD MAN
But sir, I am just an old man...

XAVIER
An old man who is able to follow someone without being followed. Kill Russell Gittins, and any free trader who is in his way, including that fat woman friend of his.

OLD MAN
I don't think she's that fat sir.

XAVIER
I don't care what you think. All I care about is having Russell Gittins dead. He is a known free-trader. His release from prison was unfortunate and baffling, and I intend to follow the letter of the law that states that free trade is illegal and that its exponents are to be executed forthwith.

OLD MAN
(Darkly) I will need weapons.

XAVIER
You have my promise that I will give you the best weapons our manufacturers can produce.

OLD MAN
With all due respect, hierarch, if I am to kill this man I will need weapons that are better than the best we make.

XAVIER
Why?

OLD MAN
The weapons made by the government are old and badly made. (thinks) I think I can procure weapons from the free traders themselves, but I will need something to bargain with.

XAVIER
(heating up) What? You even dare to contemplate dealing with the free traders!!??

OLD MAN
(faces the floor humbly, speaks quickly) Please forgive me hierarch, but I think it is necessary.

XAVIER
(Begins to cool, but still angry) You had better have a good explanation then.

OLD MAN
It is a well known fact that all the goods made by the free trade movement are of high quality, including weapons. If I was armed with their weapons, it would give me an advantage. (Smiles and laughs) It's funny isn't it, I would be using the weapons of the free trade movement to bring it down.

XAVIER
(Light dawns on him) What an amazing thought. We use the tools of the free traders in order to destroy them.

OLD MAN
They give us the rope that we hang them with.

XAVIER
(Smiles darkly) Agreed. You will procure these weapons. What will you need to do this?

OLD MAN
In normal circumstances, I would need money (confused look on xaviers face) - it is something the free traders use to procure goods and services. It has no intrinsic value in itself. Anyway, normally I would need money, but many free traders accept bartering.

XAVIER
And what is this "bartering" you speak of? It sounds very depraved.

OLD MAN
It is hierarch, a very depraved practice. I suggest you look in some of the files of Hierarch Fred, one of your predecessors - he had a good idea of what it was.

XAVIER
...and it is...

OLD MAN
Well, I just swap something they need for something I need - in this case, weapons.

XAVIER
And you need....

OLD MAN
Something valuable. Something that only hierarchs own that others don't, for example.

38. Close-up view of wax-filled ear. Camera pulls back, showing a man aged in his mid 20s. Every day is bad hair day for this guy. He also has a very puny physique. As the camera pans back he laughs, and continues to laugh much longer than is necessary. "World news" is emblazoned on a wall in the background in very crude letters. The laughing young person is Terrance. Terrance and Gittins are sitting opposite each other in chairs. They are both smoking.

GITTINS
So, Terrance, you find that funny?

TERRANCE
(Laughing) Absolutely Mr, Mr, (looks confused) what was your name again?

GITTINS
I'm sorry I never told you. Gittins, Russell Gittins.

TERRANCE
(laughs again, again for longer than is tolerable) Yeah, I certainly found that funny. (Brightens) I know, how would you like to write a column in my paper? A joke column? You could tell funny stories about people, poking fun at them and showing how dumb they are.

GITTINS
Well, I could, but that's not what I'm good at.

TERRANCE
And what are you good at Mr Gitlins?

GITTINS
Gittins. I'm a freelance detective.

TERRANCE
(In awe) Wow. A freelance detective. That must be pretty exciting.

GITTINS
Oh, it can be.

TERRANCE
What does a detective do?

GITTINS
We're sort of like private policemen. People hire us to find people, solve crimes, that sort of thing.

TERRANCE
Wow. That's great. How about having a detective column in my paper. People will love that.

to be continued...

© 2005 Neil McKenzie Cameron, http://one-salient-oversight-entropy.blogspot.com/




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