CHAPTER 21
“I could if I would, but I won’t so I can’t, yet I did it anyway. I suppose it’s difficult for me to decide if making decisions is easy.” -- from the Book of Bob
She remembered what Adam had repeated many times. Don’t appear in front of people who don’t know or click out in front of people who don’t know. But this was a different circumstance. She had learned, after doing it many times that I left an effect on people that was more valuable, so far, than it was harmful. She knew the time would come when it would catch up with her. Adam would be right. Adam was always right, eventually. It was part of what annoyed her about him and why she couldn’t forget him.
“Just hand over everything and head back to whatever hole you crawled out of.” The man yelled. He motioned for one of his accomplices to take action against the weakest of the group.
The man walked over and kicked the elderly lady hard. “He means don’t come back. Be glad you’re getting away with your lives!” He turned to the his fellow accomplices and smiled knowing he had affected a psychological blow to the entire group that he intended. It was evidenced by the fact that they all began laying down everything they were carrying and backing away as a whole. He smiled to himself for his deed and thought to himself, “Get the job done!” and then he laughed out loud.
The obvious leader of the bandits, spoke again, “Tell people you meet they can’t get into the city or they can pay the tariff. Otherwise, don’t waste our time.” He looked down at the things the pilgrimage group had brought with them to start their new life in the city. He saw a glass trinket. That was rare. He stomped on it. “We control all roads in and out of there.” He turned and pointed back to what had been a growing city, now stifled due to the actions of those who didn’t want certain people in their city. He yelled loudly to make the next point, “You all clearly don’t have the money to pay the tariff, so pick up your feeble woman. Filthy disgusting drain on the rest of us! I’ll give you ten seconds to carry get her and carry her away and take yourselves with her!”
As the group of people turned, realizing their pilgrimage to the promised city was in vein, they had their heads hung low. Staring at the ground, they didn’t immediately notice. Then they looked up at the woman standing there. The coterie of men who had taken everything they had was behind them laughing and suddenly went silent.
“Where the hell did she come from?”, yelled the man who had kicked the elderly woman.
“If you survive this day, let it be known the roads are open to everyone. As the martyr intended!” Tomorrow bellowed to them and then clicked behind them. Then she yelled out, “Boo!” As they all turned she asked, “Who’s first?” Then she clicked again and was again aft of their focus, but this time she grabbed the head of the one who was clearly the leader of the pack and twisted his head upward and to the right, hard. As his body fell she clicked again and reappeared to their left, again the direction opposite of where they were looking. “The city is for all people.”, she yelled. Then she again clicked and was one hundred-eighty degrees from her previous location to be behind their focus again, she grabbed the hand of the one who had kicked the elderly woman. “You don’t get to go so easy.” She then forced his hand downward and back crushing his wrist and again clicked to be on his right and grabbed his other hand and used the same maneuver, breaking most of the bones in that wrist. Then she clicked again behind him and kicked him hard as he went forward he instinctively put out his hands to catch his fall. It was a painful mistake on his part. He screamed in agony as she clicked again behind whom she had designated as number three. She lifted her boot to her right hand, swung wide. Blood began spraying from the man’s neck. She ducked as the blood hit the man she had designated as number four in the face causing his advance to pause. She stepped into his belly and with the same hand and instrument within it, she cut deep into the soft spot, pulled up quickly, then withdrew her hand. She turned to the man she had designated number five. His eyes were wide in fear and confusion. She yelled, “I am telling you right now, if you run I will kill you. If you turn your head away from me, I will kill you. You will watch what happens to him. If you close your eyes, I will kill you. In fact, if I see you blink, I will kill you. Have I been clear in my instructions of the multiple things you could possibly do right now that will end in me killing you?” The man nodded and he opened his eyes wider while concentrating on not blinking. She saw him blink reflexively and chuckled to herself. As she approached the man who had kicked the elderly lady. He was laying on the ground staring at her, chest planted in the dirt. His hands were trembling and useless to him. He focused on her eyes as he tried to covey that she should have mercy on him. She grabbed at his right ankle and slit his Achilles tendon. His leg jerked at the pain and as it found target in her abdomen, he screamed again in pain. As his left foot rose instinctively she grabbed it and cut the Achilles tendon on that ankle. She walked over to stand in front of him. “I guess you’re not going to run away, little man. You’re friend here could carry you back to safety when I leave, but…”, she clicked over to the one she designated as fifth, while looking him in the eyes she rose her voice to be sure the man on the ground could hear her. “If he tries to carry you back, I will kill him.” Then she looked number five deep in his eyes and he nodded understanding to her. Then she moved her face close to number five’s as she whispered, “Tell anyone who will listen what happened here today. This city will not wither because your kind want to keep a monopoly on it and treat people whom have come hundreds, sometimes a thousand miles or more to be in a place they thought was safe. Do you understand?” He nodded. “If you don’t you will wake up one night and I will be there and, I’ll kill you.” He nodded again trying hard not to blink. Then Tomorrow vanished.
CHAPTER 22
“I remember being a child, but I don’t think I ever was.” -- from the notes of his sayings in the Book of Tomorrow
Before even opening the door to the classroom, she knew. Again the kids were not in it. She could hear Venetia and Tina and their thoughts, but they were vague. Clearly both of them had spent enough time around the martyr that they had built up a natural haze to their thinking patterns. She sighed as she opened the door.
“Well, you decided to come to your own class.” Venetia said.
Tomorrow replied, “Yes, I know they were here and I wasn’t and now you two are.” She looked at the clock she had placed on the wall at the back of the classroom. She didn’t realize how late she was until that observation.
Tina spoke, “Mira tells me you are doing well now, with reading time.”
Venetia adds, “James agrees and says you learn fast.”
Tina says, “Which is why it is puzzling to us.”
Venetia continues, “If you can read time, why do you still have a problem with it?”
Both Venetia and Tina turn and look at her with a very clear look of inquisition on their faces.
“Not my strong suit I guess. Are you two hear to judge me on that, make a decision or just to annoy me while I am trying to get my next lesson across to your children?” Tomorrow blurts out.
Venetia turns to Tina and Tina smiles at Venetia. Then she looks up at Tomorrow, standing in the doorway and says, “We came to thank you for doing all that you do around here. The kids were restless, as they always are when not given a task to complete so we told them it was half-day and to come in after lunch.”
Venetia adds, “It is getting hard to cover for you since we hired you to do a job we would prefer to do ourselves, but didn’t have the time to do.”
Tomorrow nods, “I understand. And it isn’t right of me to treat your kindness in a way that must seem to you as if I don’t care. I do care. I’m just not good with time, I guess.”
Tina, feeling the tension replies, “Well, the good thing is, it’s not overtaxing right now. The city is doing well at the moment. Apparently someone dealt with some people who were terrorizing pilgrims looking for a better life within this city.” She looks at Venetia who remains silent. Then she says, “It was a pretty crazy story and the one who told it has been arrested. Apparently, he didn’t even try to run, but he’s also scared to blink, even though he does. I suppose while incarcerated he’ll continue to tell the tale. From the reports he seemed extremely effected by the events and he’s not the only one in the last few months telling the same story, so it will get around. True or not.”
“That’s interesting. Well, after lunch is two hours from now, so is there anything I can do to be productive or that would help you?” Tomorrow says while placing her books on her desk and briefly abandoning her purse. She has become accustomed to her purse. She likes the tradition but wonders why the custom doesn’t lend itself to men. Then she remembers Adam often asked her to carry things so he could have both hands free, in case something were to go awry. She understood his logic on that. He was more experienced and while older, far stronger than she was.
Venetia turns, without moving the chair, so she can face Tomorrow. “So you are not interested in the man’s tale?”
Tomorrow looks up and replies, “What man?”
Tina swivels to look at Tomorrow too and then says, “The one I was just telling you about.”
“Oh yes, the brigand you brought in. Go on. I’m trying to get settled in so I am ready for when the kids get back.” Tomorrow replies.
Venetia quickly replies, “You just noted that’s two hours from now!”
“Oh, yeah, I suppose so. Well if I am prepared now, I’ll be prepared then, right?” She half smiles at the two leaders of the city. They had actually been lovers with the martyr she grew up hearing everyone talk about, but her mother tell her about. Tomorrow looks back at the purse and considers that it would be interesting if someone had made a version that could be helpful, not burdensome in a combat scenario.
Venetia stood, her finger motioned to Tina to do the same and her other hand motioned towards the door to Tina. “Okay, Tomorrow. We’ll leave.” Venetia pronounces.
Before Tomorrow can respond Tina adds, “We are thankful for everything you do around here.” Then Venetia opens the door, holds it for Tina and they both exit the classroom.
Tomorrow lays her face in her hands and says out loud to herself, “Well, Adam was right, kind of. As if there weren’t so many women around town that could disappear in one place and re-appear in another.” She let her head sink to her desk. She knew they knew. That was obvious. She simply didn’t want to talk about it. Adam had trained her and brought her hear for a reason. He had stopped coming back, so clearly this was her home and she was determined to make it a better place because it was the martyr’s dream. That dream shouldn’t be destroyed by brigands and bandits. Just thinking about it she began listening to all of the thoughts of people in a certain part of the city, then she clicked.
As she appeared she saw rocks being hurled at a man who was destitute. She saw they were teens. She began clicking and catching the stones with her right hand while cradling them all, as she caught them with her left arm. They stopped coming and she stopped clicking. She turned and addressed the teenagers. “You are free! Why would you subjugate someone else?”
They didn’t respond at first, not sure what they had just seen. Then one of them said, “Because he’s a crap.”
Tomorrow hurled a rock directly between is eyes and as he fell to the ground the youngest amongst them began drawing a stain on his trousers that was obvious to all. She looked at him. “Has this man done anything to you?” The kid didn’t respond but his friend did in his stead.
“Yeah, he smells and we don’t like him in our city.”
As the rock hit him in the groin Tomorrow said, “Your friend smells now, so are you going to throw rocks at him?” She watched as a third one literally stepped forward to her and said, “At least our friend know how to take a bath!” Then he looked down at his abdomen, sure that in that instant she had hurled a rock that had broken his rib.
“You have that luxury because the martyr gave his life so that all people could be happy again. Remember that.” Then she was back at her desk. She looked over at her purse. If it hadn’t have been cumbersome she could have used it to store the rocks she had caught. She pulled out a piece of paper and began drawing up different thoughts on things that would hug her body tightly enough not to shift and throw of her movements or center of gravity.
Eventually the kids came in and she decided to explain her drawings and what it was they should work on so they would learn about momentum. They seemed simply nonplussed at first, but eventually they began competing with each other and her on designs and by the end of the day, the three had come up with something interesting to Tomorrow.
She was sitting in her room, trying to find an efficient way to place things so she could get to whatever she needed, faster. She had very little. She had never had her own room before and she didn’t have much when she came and had acquired very little since coming to the city.
The door to her room came alive with a knock. She clicked to it listening for the thoughts of the person on the other side of the door and then she opened it.
“May we come in?” Venetia asked.
By gut instinct she thought to look for the guard who had helped her with seating arrangements before, but he was not the one on duty and she didn’t think she would get that lucky twice. She had no idea where to invite Venetia and Tina to sit. She felt awkward and noted to herself that she did have funds from her job. She might want to invest in chairs. However, that did not ease the moment and these were the two whom had been lovers with the martyr himself. They had escaped with him and built a city. She knew the stories well by now. She stared at them in wonderment, as she had done since the day she met them. She looked back into her meager room. It was efficient, but it was not well setup for company. She began to think of other ways to balance that. She decided that she should buy a portrait to hang over the two chairs she would buy. Then she realized they were still awaiting a response from her. “I’ll buy some chairs tomorrow. I promise. I’m sorry, I don’t get too many visitors.” Then she motioned into the room and stood clear of the door.
Tina said, “You can take us to our meeting room. You know where it is.”
Venetia added, “You have permission for this trip, but always ask first. Ok, Tomorrow?”
Tomorrow stood straighter as she replied, “Yes, Ma’am.” Then she puzzled over which one to click there first. Would she offend one if they were first to go and the other because they were last to go? She didn’t want to make an error. Whatever they had come to speak to her about must be important. It wouldn’t be good to start off with a blunder. Then she blurted out, “Who’s first?”
Venetia smiled seeing both questions in that. She moved her body to face Tina as she said, “I am patient. I think it should take mere moments. Phillip did it all the time. Have you been practicing your skill?”
Tomorrow caught the shrouded question and grabbed Tina’s out held hand and clicked. Then she appeared before Venetia, held her hand and clicked.
They were in the meeting room Adam had brought her to so long ago.
Venetia spoke first. “Tomorrow, do you know what a vigilante is?”
Tina leaned in towards Tomorrow awaiting the answer.
Tomorrow said, “I know what vigil means. Is it the same thing?” She watched as Venetia and Tina raised their eyebrows and both of them took a deep breath simultaneously. She could hear the familiar jumble of thoughts in their heads but she kept focusing for the dominant thought.
Venetia then leaned in and said, “Sort of, but here’s the thing. We think we have one in this city and vigilante’s tend to become obsessed and start acting on their own judgement without the council of others.”
Tomorrow could feel her own nervousness and wondered if they could see it. Then she said, “Wouldn’t that slow the person to wait for others to decide?”
Tina said, “Perhaps, but at least they wouldn’t do more harm than good.”
Tomorrow rolled her eyes and then became aware that they definitely could see that. “Why is this urgent to you and why have you decided to talk to me about it?”
Venetia said, “We’re starting to believe there may be some credibility to the stories the person has the ability to do what you do.”
Tomorrow froze. She knew this conversation was coming, but she wasn’t ready for it. Her mind raced and she felt her heartbeat raise. “You tow have done such a great job of keeping order here and making this dream happen, but you have never named the city. It’s known by it’s location as a place of comfort to the people outside of it. The ones you take in. But they don’t have something to call it. Adam taught me that when you can refer to something with a name it means more to you and to the person you are discussing the thing with.” She barely pause and continued in her panic, “Like that bottle. If I say bottle you know I am talking about the bottles in this room. But if I knew the contents I would say that bottle of and you would know immediately and distinctly which bottle I was referring to. You could focus on it more. It would mean more. You can’t just say a bird and expect someone to catch what you intend unless you tell them what type of bird you are hungry for. Then that person knows what they are looking for, by a name. The city is too hard to get to because people just call it the city. It should have a name to help people focus on getting here and helping to build the martyrs dream.”
Venetia looks at Tin and Tina back at her. Tina says, “Very well thought out. It’s why you’re the teacher. What would you name it?”
Tomorrow had begun looking around the room and was caught off guard by the question. “I don’t know how to name a city. This is the first one of it’s kind. I suppose I would call it First. No, that wouldn’t be good. Marty’s Dream?”
Venetia spoke, “Tomorrow, if we knew how to name city’s we would have thought about what you just said, a long time ago.”
Tomorrow thought on that and then said, “Well, I think it should be one word. More focused.”
Tina looked at Venetia who smiled back at Tina at the irony of the statement. “Perhaps we name it what it means to you, in one word, as you suggest.”
“That’s too important for me to do.” Tomorrow began to look confused at why these two would even suggest that something so important would be left to her to decide. Then she blurted out, “!”
They both looked at her confused. Tina said, “What does that mean?”
“I think it means retreat point or something like that. I remember the word from one of the stories Adam told me. There was a man who fought hard. When he needed to rest, he would go to a city he founded called Shang-tu. The martyr fought hard and is now at rest. This is the martyr’s Shang-tu. It is what he died for and you tow made it real.”
Venetia responded, “We had help. If it weren’t for Adam we could not have a place to grow as much food as we can here.
“Did you love him?” Tomorrow again blurted out a question and realized it only after it had slipped past her lips?