Dystopyum (The D-ot Hexalogy Book 1) (15 page)

says,” Rebecca proclaimed, as Jan and his parents were
getting ready to attend “Cleansing Day”. She was getting
along better with Hais now after accompanying him this

Martha had been complaining all morning about having to attend this
monthly event. Apparently, the local NOV Temple had seven children
ready for today’s burning. The higher the number they had, the more
attendees, and thus higher collections.

Because of WADD, (Witches Against Delinquent Daddies,) there was
steady pressure on the various police districts to increase the numbers of
child donations. A great competition had evolved between police
departments to accomplish this mission. The numbers were published in
the local news, thus calling to task the police departments that were
lagging behind.

After all, it was a noble cause. It prevented delinquents from living
long enough to either kill, commit crime, or become fathers, (or mothers.)
This stopped society from breeding more of the same self-destructive
people. It was easy to prove in all measures that lives were saved because
of this. WADD had been able to increase the child-donation numbers by
encouraging random police checkpoints on the roads. Since arguments
often arose when traveling, they were able to get parents to donate their
children more readily in those situations. Numbers increased.

Martha responded to Rebecca’s statement, “Well we know that your
father loves to repeat temple dogma, but I still think it’s terrible.” She
looked at Griswolt, hoping for him to give in, and not force her and Jan to
attend the event this month. She could sometimes wear him out.

Griswolt had been trying to ignore her, but instead said, “Why can’t
you get it through your head that I must show up with my family,
especially today? This is where I get to show that I am respected by my
family. This makes me promotable in the department. You know what
that means — more money and prestige for all of us.”

“Its politics,” Jan chimed in, understanding his father’s need to do
this. It was plain to see that Griswolt did not like going there anymore
than they did. He was busy shining his new and bigger slick black dress
shoes.

Martha glanced at Jan with a curious look, and went back to buff
polishing the scales on her arms and legs. She had her perfume on, and it
made the event seem more familiar.

“We’re going to be late to the temple today,” Rebecca said. “Dad is
setting up tack traps this morning. He’s in a bad mood — that’s why I
came over.” Tacks had been getting into her house lately. They were
small, typically not harmful, but they hid, were dirty, and spread disease.

“How is Hais doing these days?” Griswolt asked, not sure if he
wanted to hear the answer.
Rebecca looked away, “He came home from the bar with someone
new last night.” She paused. “He still wants to kill Jan because of what
happened to Mama. I try to talk to him but he won’t listen.”
Jan chimed in, “Dad didn’t have a choice! It’s not fair, and your father shouldn’t blame us.”
Rebecca just shrugged her shoulders. She was torn over the whole
thing, because it was the reason she was saved from the NOV orphanage
she had been placed in.

Griswolt changed the subject, “I would like to get there early, and get
a good seat with the others.”
“Yoiccccch,” said Martha in disgust.
Not to be deterred, Griswolt said, “Well, the bus stop is sure to fill up,
we had better get going.”
They all left the house, and Rebecca went home. As they were walking by Hais’s house on the way to the bus stop, Griswolt smiled and
waved at Hais, who was going back to his shed for more traps. Hais just
stopped and glared at them. Griswolt and family continued on to their
way.
As they were walking, Jan asked a question, “Why is does he want
revenge Dad?”
Griswolt shook his head and said, “Hais is having evil thoughts, and
wants to get even. This is an evil world, son — you can’t have “getting
even” without evil, and you can’t have evil without “getting even”.
Griswolt sighed, and said to Martha, “You know, I’ve been waiting
for Hais to cool down, and he’s showing no signs of it. Maybe I should
have him killed before he kills one of us.”
Martha was shocked, “I’m surprised you would even think about
taking such a chance!”
“Exactly,” replied Griswolt, “But what else can I do? What’s the
alternative? Must we always be on guard for when he thinks he can
attack?”
Martha gave a big sigh. They were about to get in line for the bus.
“Just give it time, OK?”
Griswolt growled, “I don’t know. It’s a hell of a way to have to live.”
They boarded the bus, and took the short ride to the temple.
The usual repertoire of choir and prayer occurred in the beginning of
the service. The collection for the service took place right before the
sacrifice. Then they brought the children out, all shackled to one another.
They were dressed in refined black ela robes, (very expensive,) and there
were seven of them. They were mostly boys, as usual. The children were
rarely very dramatic during the spectacle. They were always drugged, for
convenience and predictability. The posture of most was a bit slumped, as
if they had accepted their fate. Fear was still evident as some were visibly
shaking, eyes wide.
The children were ushered up to a pit that was circular and very wide
— about eighty feet in diameter, and twelve feet deep. It was rounded and
tapered, so that the congregation could have a good view. It was also
acutely angled at the edge, like a bowl, so the children could not get out
once thrown in. Most of the interior of the bowl had small holes in it, with
small hydrogen fueled flames coming out of them. The sides were steep
enough so that when the first children were thrown in, the rest of them
were simply pulled in by their common bindings. Then they all slid to the
center, and the pressurized fuel was released, causing giant flames. In less
than a minute, the screaming would die out and the smell of burnt protein
would fill the air. The congregation stood in silence as this occurred,
some quietly humming hymns to themselves, others praying, the rest just
soaking it in like sadistic iron drawn to a suffering magnet.
Jan’s reaction was similar to his mother’s. They would just look
away, or down, or close their eyes. It was difficult to cover their ears in
public, or their noses. Over the years, they could not but become
desensitized, albeit never completely.
Martha let go a breath as if she had been holding it forever.
It’s over.
Thank God,
she thought to herself.
I can’t stand this. I have to find out
more about the escape. We must escape, or we will be like everyone else
here.
It usually took half a day or so for the shock to wear off Martha, not
that anyone noticed. She would just hope that she would feel better.
They were quiet on the way home. It had been a nice summer. Fall
was coming, and the air was getting cooler. The insects would be trying to
get in the house again, like every year.

an was finally and gratefully into his senior year of school. He
was not going to college. With great difficulty, Martha had
arranged a job for him in the mining industry, as her father had
done for her. Griswolt was agreeable, considering his private

opinion that Jan would not make it in Griswolt’s field. His was an
aggressively competitive environment, and Jan would have needed to
start as a trooper, just as Griswolt had.

At eighteen years of age, Jan was becoming more adult looking. He
was now just over nine feet tall, and was filling out as well. Jan had been
told that he was looking more and more like his father Griswolt, who was
still a few inches taller, much heavier and more muscular. Jan had his
mother’s eyes — big, deep, and translucent green. He also had her
temperament, for now.

Jan was sitting in the last class of the day, history class, listening to
the teacher.
“Stop it!” he heard his buddy, Buz, say to Sak, the guy sitting behind
him. Sak had killed a pladis, and was rubbing it on the back of Buz’s neck
when the teacher wasn’t looking.
A pladis was a nasty little worm-like insect that had hundreds of legs.
It had poison in the tips of its many feet, which left red marks on
D’otians. These would tend to become infected. Their primary food
sources were dead animals or other insects.
“I said cut it out!” Buz complained to Sak, as he turned around in his
chair to glare at him. If he made a loud scene, he would likely get into
trouble as well. Sak just snickered, and looked back over to his right to
make sure Barab was watching and enjoying this as well. Barab was
relishing the show immensely. He had returned to this school again last
year, after being forced to attend elsewhere for the previous four years.
The teacher, Mr. Rachnard, was busy up in front of the class talking
about the round black/white symbol behind him up on the wall. It was the
symbol of the Temple of the NOV. Jan’s attention was on the teacher
again. The symbol reminded Jan of a slowing swirling whirlpool.
Mr. Rachnard was saying, “We all know that the obvious meaning of
the black/white symbol. It represents the black dragon chasing, penetrating, and succeeding in attacking and possessing the white dragon. The
white dragon, being empty and weak, is under attack by the black dragon
for all of time. The reason that the white dragon is able to replace the tail
of the black dragon is because of the laziness in the tail of the black
dragon.”
Jan was getting more and more frustrated with Sak’s treatment of
Buz. He flicked his heavy pen in the air towards their metal chairs, hoping
to make a noise that the teacher would notice.
It didn’t work and Sak picked up the pen, smiling at Jan, and slipped
it into his pocket, once again glancing over at Barab for approval.
That was lame,
Jan thought, disgusted with himself, and Buz.
Mr. Rachnard was still at it, “The return of the Black Dragon will be
the return of our salvation. He will rule with an iron fist and annihilate the
lazy, the stupid, the love-lovers, and all the useless people in our society.
We will finally be purified, and go on to live great lives for all who he
allows to live.”
The teacher paused for emphasis and said, “The Black Dragon was
perfectly ruthless. His name was Ido the Great, a grand conqueror and
leader, and he ruled with fierce vengeance against any who challenged
him. His armies had been decreasing their momentum in the expansion of
his empire. They had become soft. Mercy had begun to creep in to his
campaign. Therefore, he went into battle, with the front lines of his
troops. He did this to show them how to focus, how to show no mercy to
the enemy. Ido died in righteous rage as he slaughtered the males, females
and children of Platacs. His own armies had been decreasing the slaughter
there because they had been seduced. They grew fond of the people of
that enemy nation. Ido showed them their weakness when he martyred
himself as an example to follow. His was the motto: ‘No mercy to the
non-Aletians! Victory is great!’”
Jan was distracted again by Buz’s weak protests to Sak. “Why doesn’t
he do something more than just complain?” Jan asked himself.
A voice popped up behind Jan —
“Fuck this!” It was Huto, a friend of Buz’s. Huto got up, ignoring the
teacher, and marched over to Sak.
Sak stopped what he was doing and looked at Huto, with a look like
“What the hell do you think you’re gonna do?”
Huto responded to Sak’s expression with a hard openhanded ear slap
to the side of Sak’s head, the blow promptly knocking Sak out of his
chair. Huto was one big guy.
His attention drawn to the action at the back of the class, the teacher
stopped talking and called out Huto, and sent him to the principal’s office.
Huto left the classroom with a cocky look, glaring back at Sak.
Mr. Rachnard started to continue when Jan said to himself, “I can’t
stand any more this crap.” He waived his hand to the teacher.
“Yes, Jan?” the teacher asked.
“Mr. Racknard,” said Jan, “Regarding the NOV Temple symbol up on
the wall, since both sides are equal and balanced, how can one be more
powerful?”
“Why, that’s just common sense, Jan. It’s the good sense God gives
us that allows us to see the true meaning of such things,” the teacher
responded. He stopped, looking around the room for a moment.
That’s it? What typical NOV shit,
Jan thought —
and look at him —
he’s happy and satisfied with his answer. What a stick. Should I mess with
him? Hmmm. Oh, what’s the use? He’ll bend heaven and D’ot to support
his position.
Jan decided to drop it, and just make it through class. The
school day was ending soon.
The teacher went on, “The Nation of Vengeance is the sole authority
on D’ot now. In ancient times, we had been part of a worldwide attempt
to instill law and order. Ido was able to convince all four of the races to
agree to separate into their own nations, and he expanded the Aletians’
land into theirs as well. Borders were drawn, however Ido shrewdly
resolved to keep the Tomaks joined with his nation because he could use
them to his advantage.
“Wars stopped for a half-century, and then they slowly started battling again. Ido eliminated the green demons from his land, and our
successful conquests rose dramatically. Then the other countries followed
suit as well, banning the green demons from their lands as well.
“However, the totally corrupt Platacs would not give them up, and
suffered the consequences. They were weak, and easily beaten. Some
people today think the green demons were a superstition, and never
existed. Look up at that wall over there,”
Mr. Racknard pointed to the west wall. Up there was a small poster, a
copy of something used as a symbol six thousand years ago. It looked like
a hand, its green scales were very pointy, and there was a big “X” over
the entire picture. He continued speaking, “Thanks to Ido, we do not need
to worry about the green demons anymore, they are extinct.
“Eventually, the fierce Nahabs, the thieving Platacs and the treacherous Tomaks could be tolerated no longer. Ido’s descendent Agrimon
almost succeeded in wiping them all out, but they kept breeding. It took
us five thousand years to finish what he started then.”
“As you all know, we Aletians came up with the final solution, and
annihilated them all over one hundred years ago. We now have expeditions going into these lands, but progress is slow because of the
specialized vaccines needed to live in those territories. In any case, the
poison out there keeps getting thinner and thinner, and we will someday
be able to start new colonies all over the planet without vaccines!”
“Fat chance for that,” Jan muttered under his breath. He had heard
through LERN that even with the new specialized vaccines, the NOV
colonists had failed. They had been sent out into the far southwest old
Tomak territories. Once away from the fear of a rigid central authority,
certain ones would inevitably try to take over control of the colony.
Fighting would always break out, ending in mutual slaughter of the
colonists and their families, who would be on differing sides of various
arguments. The few that survived were usually executed by the NOV for
either their success of killing the others, or for their failure to thrive as a
colony. This type of disaster had happened on four occasions. Very few
people knew about the NOV’s top-secret development of other vaccines
that were meant for the old Platac territory as well, which was southsoutheast. Being next to the ocean, it held great yama reserves, and there
were plenty of wild keesh and fish to be harvested there. These would
fetch a much higher price than farm-raised stocks.
The bell rang, and the school day was over. Jan and Buz headed out
together quickly. They both knew that if they did not get rolling, Barab
and his gang would mess with them on the way to the buses.
In the hallway heading to the buses, Buz saw Tama, a girl that he had
a crush on. He was not the most confident kid in school, and Jan was
always encouraging him to engage her. Buz was smaller than Jan was,
and skinnier. Jan, amused, watched Buz as he stared at her walking in
front of them.
“Go say hello,” Jan said, elbowing Buz, egging him on.
Buz dodged Jan’s jabs, looked at him in a panic, and harshly whispered, “Shut up!”
Jan did get some humor out of the situation. He knew that Tama was
a LERN member, but of course could not tell Buz about it.
Once they were on the bus, Rebecca and her friend, Ferta, were already there, so Jan and Buz sat across the center aisle from them.
Eventually Barab, Sak, and a couple more of their gang came in. Barab
and Sak took a seat behind Rebecca and Ferta. They immediately tried to
talk to the girls, but the girls of course were not interested in the least.
“There’s a party tomorrow night, what do you say?” Barab asked
Ferta, who was looking at Rebecca.
“When I want to get drugged and raped, I’ll let you know!” retorted
Ferta. She was a large gal, and would probably have been able to hold her
own against Barab.
Sak looked at Barab for his response, as if his hero were just insulted.
Barab took his time thinking of a good comeback. “Why would I want to
be seen with a gendra like you?” he sneered.
Ferta just shook her head, realizing that she would not get any peace
until she got off the bus. Moreover, what he just said did hurt, even
coming from Barab.
Barab turned his attention to Rebecca now. He leaned over and
touched her neck, and said, “What about you, sweetheart?” He was
smiling sadistically, knowing that Rebecca could not stand him. It made it
all the more amusing for him.
Rebecca pulled away from his touch, and now Jan, who was glued to
the entire thing, chimed in, “Leave her alone! She doesn’t want to talk to
you!”
Barab looked across the aisle at Jan with great distain, barking, “Mind
your own business, egg head. I’m just talking, that’s all.” He turned his
attention back to Rebecca again. “You sure are a pretty thing. I bet your
mama was real pretty, too.”
“Ugghh! Just shut up and leave me alone,” Rebecca responded, moving as far away from Barab as she could, while still staying in her seat.
Buz nudged Jan and said, “Tell him off! She’s your girlfriend!”
“She’s not my girlfriend — she’s —” Jan said to Buz, as he got up,
and stood in the middle of the aisle. Jan had Barab’s attention now as he
challenged, “I said to leave her alone!”
“Or what? What are you going to do?” mocked Barab, eyeing Jan
now.
Jan didn’t have a quick answer. He looked back at Buz, who was
clearly not impressed with Jan’s performance as hero.
“I’ll report you to the school! It won’t be the first time, and you know
it,” said Jan, with his arms crossed.
Barab looked at him with simmering rage. “You little tack. You probably
would
do that.” He leaned towards Jan and threatened, “You know
what I’m going to do with you the next time I get you alone?”
Jan stood there with his arms crossed, hiding his fear.
What have I
gotten myself into?
he asked himself silently.
Barab studied Jan for another moment, and said, “Fine!” He leaned
back, arms behind his head, half-smiling. He gave Jan an evil stare as Jan,
satisfied, turned to return to his own seat. Barab could not afford any
more “reports” like this if he could help it. He had already been removed
from this school twice. He really wanted to get into mining school, and
needed to keep any bad reports to a minimum now.
When Jan sat back his seat, Buz was smiling in approval.
In a short while, they arrived at Jan’s bus stop. Jan, Rebecca, and Buz
got off the bus. Buz said, “Great job with Barab in there, Jan. I think he’s
getting the message.”
“I don’t think that’s the end of it,” replied Jan. He looked at Rebecca.
She was glowing.
“Oh Jan, thank you! You’re my hero!” With that, Rebecca went right
up to an unready Jan, and planted a big kiss on his lips, surprising Jan,
and astonishing Buz.
Buz said, “I’m out of here,” and immediately left for home. Such
public or even private intimacy was alien to him, as well as most citizens.
Still, on the way home, he could not get the image out of his head. He
wondered what it would be like if Tama, the object of his affection, did
something similar to him.
Rebecca was still holding on to Jan just as Buz left.
She looks different,
Jan thought.
She’s looking at me like I’m a steak.
It made him feel —
uncomfortable —
what is that look?
Rebecca did indeed have a different shine in her eye. Something
about the episode on the bus had stimulated her. After all, she
had
been
laying hints on Jan of late. Indeed, for the past year, her attitude towards
Jan had been changing towards something more — close. Now, still
holding onto Jan, they were looking into each other’s eyes. Rebecca move
to kiss Jan again, more slowly this time. As her lips touched his, he began
pulling away.
Rebecca stopped, and became embarrassed. She looked down and
said, “Oh I — I don’t know what came over me!” She smiled and lifted
her head, letting go of her hold on Jan.
Jan was a little shocked.
I didn’t see that coming. I wasn’t ready.