Living History - Ben Essex (brene brown rising strong TXT) 📗

every wonder, I see something else, something to… to repulse me. Decadence. Crime. Ill-virtue ruling the streets, apathetic young and violent old. People who have forgotten where they came from. People who have forgotten the values upon which this nation was built, the values we need to be worthy. I have not forgotten. I was there… it seems like yesterday. I was there, at the beginning of it all. I saw those who forged a nation from fire and blood and they birthed a beautiful dream. I walked with great men, and did what little I could to help. Perhaps you will say that there are no longer such men. I do not believe that. There are always giants, and each of you has the potential to become one. I was there at the beginning of it all, and I am here again. Those days were bright and full of promise, and they can come again.

‘I have not forgotten, and it is comforting to know that neither have you. My name is Benjamin Franklin. My return from the dead is nothing to get excited about. But if we can bring some of those old morals back, if some us of can be giants again…then perhaps I will have proved myself worthy of such small resurrection.

‘Thank you all for your attention. Enjoy the party.’

Wow, I thought, stepping back. Where did that come from? Some of it was what I’d rehearsed, but a lot of it… just came from nowhere.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Someone was applauding.

Clap-Clap-Clap-Clap-

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Everyone was applauding.

Clappa-clappa-clappa-clappa-

The air was filled with cheers. Apparently, I’d done well this time.

Whisking me off-stage, Natalia whispered: ‘Looks like you have some of the old magic left after all.’

I could only nod.

Looks like.

*

Shortly after, the buzz began to spread.

I was a hit.

I travelled from town to town, Natalia in tow-streaking all across America Large, hitting one border community after another. Setting the Oil Belt on fire-metaphorically speaking.

The crowds got bigger. The cheers got cheerier. My speeches grew in length and verve, though I always tried to keep them reasonably brief. I was afraid that talking too long might break the spell, or blow my cover. I never answered questions from the audience; too risky.

After dark, I had nightmares about Mr. White and my long lost body. Come morning, I tried not to dwell. The day would invariably bring exciting things.

One day in particular, Natalia barged into a quaint little hotel room to find me in underwear, splayed out on the floor.

She just stared, apparently not so much embarrassed as perplexed.

‘What are you doing?’ She demanded.

‘Stretching.’ I wasn’t sure whether or not I should be embarrassed. Any attempt at movement risked unwanted exposure, so I stayed very still.

‘Stretching?’

‘Trying to get into shape.’

‘Why?’

‘Why not?’

Natalia was apparently satisfied with this. She didn’t go away.

‘Uh… Natalia, this isn’t the best time for-‘

‘What do you think you are doing?’

There was a brief pause.

‘We just-‘

‘I mean your speeches,’ she said sharply. ‘They are incendiary.’

I blinked. ‘They are not.’

‘ “Forgotten morals,” “the lessons of the past,” “building tomorrow.” You sound like a revolutionary.’

‘I simply saying what comes to mind,’ I huffed.

‘The Corporation did not hire you to be inspirational.’

‘Actually,’ I took the risk of standing. ‘They did. They wanted me to inspire people in the direction of merchandise and that is exactly what I’m doing. I just happen to be doing it in my own way.’

Natalia stared me down. ‘Perhaps,’ she suggested, ‘you do not grasp the situation as completely as you think.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning these days no one is indispensable. My superiors are prone to shifting expectations, especially when what they perceived as an exercise in style starts to have substance.’

‘Are you threatening me?’

‘I’m warning you, because despite myself, Mr. Franklin, I find myself beginning to like you. I wish you to take care.’

I was caught off-guard by the unexpected pleasantness. ‘Thank you, Natalia,’ I said. ‘Thank you very much.’

She answered with a terse nod, striding straight out. I assume the kindness was a terrible strain.

A few minutes later, I was back into my stretching.

The telephone rang.

I was surprised-I didn’t even know the room came with a phone. After a bit of pottering about, I found it on the bedside table. It was a ridiculously old-fashioned device; a circular dial plate with a corded speaker. For a moment I just stared at the thing, then a fresh burst of ringing convinced me to pick up.

‘Hello?’ I held the speaker to my lips.

There was a pause. Then Mr. White’s voice froze my heart.

‘Hello, Ben.’

All of a sudden, my new life melted away. The crowds, the charm, the success… I remembered my ultimate nature as a fraud. How convincing I’d been; for a brief time I’d even conned myself. Mr. White could strip that away with a word and make me remember all those nightmares.

‘I hear you’ve been enjoying yourself.’

I didn’t know what to say, so I let him talk.

‘Listen, Ben, I don’t have long. I imagine you’ll hear why in a minute. I just wanted to tell you-no hard feelings.’

I breathed: ‘Who are you?’

‘Don’t be coy. You worked that out ages ago.’

‘Franklin.’ The Franklin Sim.

‘Benjamin Franklin has been dead for several hundred years. You’re his close successor. And I… I am just a faulty echo. Jacob White. I like that name. It has a nice ring to it.’

‘Listen.’ I struggled to sound commanding. ‘Listen, Mr. Franklin, you have to understan-‘

‘Don’t.’ The word was sharp. ‘Don’t call me that. That’s your name now. Yours. I am Jacob White. We have swapped places. We’re not going back.’

‘You… you don’t want your body?’

‘In this world? What would I do with it? I let you have it. A donation for your hard work. I faked my death-my crash- and I moved in here, while you were busy packing.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘That’s because I’m a lot smarter than you, Ben. You’ve got the right idea, but you’re too slow. There are other ways.’

‘Mr. Franklin-White- please-‘

‘Goodbye.’

For a second, I could hear background noise from the other end of the line; a brief burst of ambient sound. I realised that White must be calling from the street. Then the phone went dead.

I was left in silence, holding the receiver. Breathing heavily.

That was when Natalia burst back into the room. This time, she looked solemn.

‘We have to return to the city,’ she said. ‘Now.’

Our helicopter tore through sky.

Outside, flying Raptors rattled the windows; an aerial assault from flustered dinosaurs. We were heading back to the city in a straight line-the route took us right over a bunch of Raptor nests. The helicopter was armed. Machine guns dealt with the overgrown birds.

Natalia wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. She said she didn’t know, exactly. Just that there had been an emergency.

All the way back, my heart wouldn’t stop pumping.

*

It didn’t take long to see the problem.

America Little stretched forever, home sweet home. In the distance, the factories and the cooling towers smoked hard and heavy, gushing up great clouds of grey beside the shinier skyscrapers. Metro-lines snaked back and forth beneath a billion glittering yellow street-lamps, and there were all sorts of other helicopters buzzing about-shining spotlights down on the concreted earth below.

The cooling towers were not the only sources of smoke.

Fire gushed up upon the horizon. Great billowing streaks of flame, snaking to heaven and coiling up the sky. Shifting velvety pyres of orange and red, crackling so loud as to be almost audible. Entire skyscrapers had been consumed by the blaze; it was like a forest fire, working its way through the city.

There stood the dark monolith of the Salmon Corporation skyscraper. All around it, buildings were burning.

‘Jacob White.’

His face was on the table; a spread of photographs. Family pictures, friendly photos, corporate ID badges…

‘As of this moment, he is the most wanted man in the city.’

Peter Greuze sat behind his desk, arms crossed. Natalia and I opposite.

‘He did this happen?’ Natalia asked, gesturing to a window. Flames were rising outside; the emergency services were desperately fighting them back. The disaster was under control, but only provisionally.

‘Apparently, when one has access to all the resources of Applied, building a series of highly destructive bombs becomes depressingly easy,’ Greuze deadpanned.

‘But… why?’ I asked weakly.

‘That’s where we were hoping you might have a thought or two,’ Greuze replied. ‘After all, the man created you.’

‘Not entirely,’ I snapped, harsher than intended.

‘Of course,’ said Greuze. ‘But still, you must have some insight…’

‘I’m afraid that I have absolutely no idea what might be going through Mr. White’s head.’

‘He must be apprehended,’ stated Natalia, blankly. Greuze stared at her.

‘Well…yes, that was the general gist of me calling him the most wanted man in the city.’ Greuze shook his head. ‘But if White has any designs at all on living, he’ll be as far from Little as he can possibly get by now.’

‘Perhaps not,’ Natalia said. ‘He may want to be close at hand for further attacks.’

‘We’re provisionally hoping that this’ll be an isolated incident.’

‘Unlikely. This kind of attack is a clear statement-an opening move, designed to get attention. A message.’

‘You’re very knowledgeable about terrorists this morning, Natalia.’

‘I am a publicist. I understand publicity stunts, and this is one.’

‘Maybe,’ Greuze seemed unconvinced. ‘But for now I think I’d prefer to view it as the single act of a madman. Optimism, eh Benjamin?’

I said nothing.

‘Hold on.’ Greuze held up a hand. He was staring at his desk, frowning. He pressed a couple of random spots on the shiny surface, and a holograph screen sprung to life before us. Modern computers can be disturbingly difficult to notice.

‘Look at this,’ Greuze said, as the screen started playing a video. ‘It was ripped off a network news broadcast three minutes ago.’

The picture was of White.

He was standing in front of a grey backdrop-somewhere that could be anywhere. Talking directly to the camera, White looked somewhat worse for wear. Like he’d just been through a storm of soot.

‘Citizens of America Little,’ he said. ‘By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the destruction outside. I am responsible. Let me assure you, this havoc was wreaked with only the greatest regret. I have done my best to target unpopulated areas at unpopulated times, but the guilt still weights heavy on my soul.’

‘Huh,’ Greuze muttered, looking my way. ‘The bastard sounds like you.’

‘It had to be done,’ White continued. ‘I’ve struck at the heart of the city, at the heart of the so-called Salmon Corporation-a holding of gangsters and criminals. Building after building filled with crook, strangling the city, breaking this great country. I have to tell you, I tried to understand it. I tried to tolerate it. I tried. But the truth is, I am sick of this world and its compromises, its lies, its immorality. This is not what our country deserves.’

Natalia also raised an eyebrow in my direction. I felt almost embarrassed.

‘This was a demonstration of power-to show you all that they are vulnerable, that one man can take them on and win. Imagine what a hundred could do. I know many of you must feel the same as me, so I’m asking you to join my struggle_._ Together, we can make the world the better place it was supposed to be.

‘A change is coming. Rest assured. This is not mere rhetoric. This is revolution.’

And then