Hadrian's Rage (16 page)

It is absolutely absurd that President Stiles is even considering allowing more laws to support and create freedoms for heterosexual citizens. Heterosexuality is a behavior, not a civil right. If one chooses to be straight and participate in sexual activities that continue to augment the human population explosion on our planet, then these people should expect, at the very least, to be denied basic civil rights. The call for job security, laws to protect strais against discrimination, laws that would force ethically-minded and loyal Hadrian businesses to serve strais, even a law allowing them to register with all the rights and privileges given to same-sex couples, is preposterous. That President Stiles is even willing to listen to these seditious radicals is horrifying. Well, we’re going to block this law the same way we blocked strai marriage!

Be warned, Hadrian; our current government is pandering to the demands of a very dangerous minority. We know the perils of strai relations; we live in an overpopulated world. The only reason our country isn’t bursting at the seams like the rest of the planet is Hadrian’s respect for our founding principles, in particular, the cornerstone that indicates we are a homosexual society. We do not copulate like rabbits out of control. Hadrian’s citizens are dedicated to reducing the human population on this planet, and if that is to happen, then people have to stop having het’ro sex. By ensuring that all citizens procreate through government controlled IVF, we have maintained a stable human population. Our past laws of exiling anyone who is openly het’ro proved very successful in keeping that unwanted element on the outskirts of our society where it belonged. But with the law Stiles signed into effect three years ago, making breeders legal, we must now endure individuals who are openly strai taking to the public airways, spreading their debauchery amongst our youth like a viral plague.

Thank goodness for all the right-minded folk who are working in the government, circumventing Stiles from getting too carried away with all her “philanthropy.” These individuals, like Cooper Johnston, who, last year, resigned his position in Stiles’s cabinet in order to form the Conservative Right Party, were at least able to ensure the Anti-Strai Propaganda Law was signed and sealed when all this folly began. Now there is a man with foresight!

And then there is the alternate media,
HRN
! Melissa Eagleton should be ashamed of herself for spreading its lies and supporting its agenda, which is to pull down the cornerstones of our society and have us descend into madness like the rest of the planet. She better be careful because she is walking a very fine line between presenting the news and spreading strai propaganda! Tsk, Tsk. It would be a sad day indeed if she were to be exiled.

What is truly frightening, though, is to see how the strai agenda is tearing apart one of our greatest families. Gordon Stuttgart is suffering a great deal, having both his son and his mother working in cahoots with strais. To have his son come out as het’ro has put a huge strain on the poor man. We all know that Dean Stuttgart was said to have died when he was still a teen, but it turned out that he had been caught sexually accosting a young woman. It is understandable why Gordon Stuttgart would like to sever any connection with his son. Of course, Dean Stuttgart entered the reeducation system. It appeared to have worked for him since he married and seemed to have lived happily with his husband, Geoffrey Hunter, until the trial of their eldest son. It seems that Frank Hunter being found guilty of having murdered a confessed strai and the young man being sentenced to a life of servitude in Hadrian’s military destroyed the façade of love these two men had been projecting. Dean Stuttgart cruelly reclaimed his name and family status. He then worked his charms on a senile, little old lady, somehow convincing his grandmother to take him into her home and pledge herself to his insane cause. No founding-family member would stand behind such a hideous plot to destroy our good country, but as we know, Mother Stuttgart is close to ninety years old. She is no longer in her right mind, and dementia is steering her away from the country she once fought so hard to form.

This is it, Hadrian. The heterosexuals are now waging war against us from inside our Wall. This is not the petty fear-mongering the pro-strai
movement accuses us of. No—we leave that sort of devilry to the het’ros outside our borders—those who claim homosexuals are the agents of the underworld, here to wreak havoc upon the planet by causing all the natural disasters resulting from global warming and the overpopulation of our planet. No! What we at
Salve!
bring you are facts—pure and simple facts. The breeders have overpopulated our planet, burgeoning human numbers beyond that which the earth’s natural resources can sustain. There is only one way to counter this unholy human explosion, and that is to curtail—nay—halt all heterosexuality, ideally bringing it to its well-deserved end across the whole of the planet, but as our reach doesn’t extend that far, we can, at the very least, stop the progress of heterosexuality, abort its very presence within our borders! We must fight back against this insidious insurgence, this friendly-faced form of protest, this attack of “Love us; we’re your children” crap! Or, as William Shakespeare would have said it, those who “look like the innocent flower” while “being the serpent under’t.”
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The ethical and moral foundation of our good country is at stake! Do not allow the strais to destroy all we have worked for here in Hadrian. Do not let them destroy our sanctuary and the only hope left for our planet!

Vale!

Destiny smiles. Fading before her eyes is the shimmering countenance of Danny Duggin.
Vizard
, she muses, is a far more apt word to describe the lineaments of this man’s facial features.
So smug, so confident, so self-assured—so bigoted!
“Yes,” she decides, speaking out loud, regardless of being alone. “An interview with this man is essential.” And yet, she knows Duggin—or rather, his puppeteer,
Salve!
’s new production manager, Darien Dumas, will not be so eager to grant her one, regardless of the assured higher ratings.
No
, she thinks,
Darien Dumas will not be so eager to pit me against his real-life Pinocchio
. Destiny giggles at the sudden image of Danny Duggin with a foot-long nose. It is at this point that Dean walks into the room, arms overflowing with books. Seeing her grandson with what is deemed contraband in Hadrian, she chastises him, demanding, “What are you doing with those antiquated items?”

“None of these are new, Mimi. I borrowed them from the uni’s historical library. I’m curious to see whether any of our historical medical texts have been tainted by propaganda.”

“Hmm.” Destiny’s eyes mist. “There was a day when no one would have ever considered that sort of conspiracy theory happening in Hadrian.”

“Sorry, Mimi, but times aren’t like they were when Hadrian was first founded.”

“I know.” This concession saddens her further.

“Gee, Mimi, I’m sorry.” Dean sets the books down at his feet; then briefly relieved of the weight, he takes a moment to crack his upper back before sitting next to his mimi. Dean gently caresses her arm. “You looked
so happy when I walked in, even a little mischievous, and I go and bring a damper to your mood.” The reminder of her previous decision causes Destiny to chuckle gleefully. “There’s my irreverent granny.” Pleased that Mimi is back to her jovial self, Dean smiles. In fact, Mimi is more than a little jocular. She now looks downright fiendish. “Okay, Mimi, now you’re scaring me.” He can’t help but smile at the thought of what his grandmother has planned. Whatever it is, he knows she’s up to no good—or, rather, a lot of good, the kind of good that can get a person into trouble when living in a corrupt society. “What’s brewing inside that mind of yours?” Dean wants to know out of pleasure as much as out of worry.

“Well, before you walked in here and scared the beejeebers out of me—”

“Oh, Mimi,” Dean protests joyfully, “I did not.”

“Damn near gave me a heart attack.” Mimi enjoys teasing her grandson.

“That old ticker of yours,” says Dean, always joining in on her little game, “has a good twenty years or more left to it.”

“Oh, dear,” she replies quite decidedly, “let’s hope not.”

“Don’t talk like that, Mimi.” Their teasing has become serious again.

“Twenty years or more; why that’d make me well over one hundred. By then, I’d very likely be suffering from the senility Danny Duggin just accused me of. I want to die before I lose my mind.” Looking Dean straight in the eye, she adds, “And I’m counting on you to make sure of that.”

Completely ignoring his grandmother’s request, Dean hones in on the mention of Danny Duggin and his false accusations laid against his grandmother. Appalled and incensed, he immediately replies, “Danny Duggin called you senile? On a
Salve!
episode?”

“Yes, sir. For all of Hadrian to hear.”

“That miserable little sycophantic son of a Vibia bitch!”

Destiny tries to hold back her smirk. “Oh, Dean, I’ve never heard you swear like that.”

Dean blushes. Ever since the news of Tara’s death, Dean has been a swirling vortex of emotions. One moment he is grieving, the next he is lashing out, trying to hurt whoever is next to him, and other times, he suffers immense waves of guilt for having just felt happy. “Sorry, Mimi. This just makes me so mad. Anyone who knows you knows that that is utter balderdash.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” Patting his cheek reassuringly, Mimi adds, “Well, we can say Danny Duggin was the mouthpiece, but the voice behind the
insult was really Darien Dumas.” Noticing the look of concern on her grandson’s face, Mimi seeks to reassure him. “Oh, sweetie,” she says, smiling, “you don’t need to feel sorry for me.” Her smile widens and is tinted now with a wry expression. “Save your pity for
Salve!
and little Danny Duggin.”

With his grandmother’s eyes now ablaze, Dean can’t help but laugh in anticipation. “Okay, Mimi, what’s the plan?”

“I plan to entrap that man.”

“Dumas?”

“And I’ll get to him through his little sycophant, Danny Duggin.” Intrigued, Dean’s smile widens. “How?”

“Do you remember when Melissa Eagleton asked me in for a second interview? This time for her new show
HRN
?”

“Yeah. Why did you refuse?”

“Oh, that first interview was a real kerfuffle. I was still a little miffed at her.” Admitting a weakness only her grandson will ever hear, Mimi adds, “Sometimes, it’s hard for me to forgive.”

“I understand, Mimi.” Even though the conversation is about Eagleton, Dean knows she’s really referring to Dean’s father. Gordon Stuttgart had done more than just abandon a son; he lied to his country
and
his mother. Dean still isn’t sure Mimi will ever forgive him. Nor is Dean the one to act as intermediary between them. He knows his own weakness well. His father will never hear the words “I forgive you” from his son. But Gordon Stuttgart is only the subliminal element of this conversation, and Dean is curious how Mimi might, in fact, get back at Dumas through Duggin, so he asks again. “What does this have to do with getting back at Dumas and Duggin?”

“I’m going to agree to the interview.”

“Really?” Regardless of his grandmother’s status in Hadrian as an original founding family member, Dean still questions whether or not a second interview was possible after having rejected the offer.

Mimi answers Dean’s silent query. “Oh, she’ll take me up on it. My presence will ensure higher ratings for her, and though she is a proponent of the truth, human nature is more interested in human folly as humor than it is in its ghastly truth.” Sighing, she adds, “The truth, when it reveals how sordid humanity can really be, ends up repulsing one’s audience. That’s why she is still struggling to bring her voice into mainstream focus.”
Nodding a little acquiescence, Mimi acknowledges her newfound interest in
HRN
. “I know if I call her up now, I could have her in this very room tomorrow morning, no matter what show she had on the go.” Chuckling in a fiendish manner, Mimi continues, “She’ll be more than happy to help me taunt Dumas’s little lover boy into interviewing me.” With a wicked grin, she adds, “And then ‘I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.’”
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Trust Mimi to quote the Bard, especially a line from the Scottish play referencing the first of the weird sisters. Dean smiles, fighting back the stinging guilt over feeling joy at this moment.

Sensing her grandson has “harp’d” her meaning “aright,”
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Mimi giggles, adding “Danny Duggin is ‘ripe for the shaking.’”
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“I would like to begin by thanking Mother Stuttgart for accepting my invitation for a second interview with me. Had I been her, I would have flatly refused. Mother, please allow me to apologize for the horrendous treatment you received during our last interview when I was still host of
Salve!
”

“You are right, dear. Had you still been hosting
Salve!
and I had not been following your progress with
HRN
, I most certainly would have declined this offer, but I must say you have more than atoned for your previous stand on political issues. I always knew you to be a woman of integrity, even if much of what you touted while on
Salve!
made me cringe.”

“Those last few episodes on
Salve!
were eye-openers for me, Mother. I had no idea just how backwards our country had become and how much I was pushing an agenda of hate. The mortification I felt during our interview and what Darien Dumas forced me to say—”

“Blame him all you want, but you still said the words he fed to you through the link, and that remains your responsibility. The biggest mistake we make as humans is to constantly find someone else to blame for our own stupidity: ‘He talked me into it.' ‘It was her idea.' ‘He made me say it.' Well, it doesn't matter how much another person influences you. What matters is how much you allow him to influence you. But don't worry, dear; you regained your honor when you vacated that post and began your own newscast. I respect what you are trying to do here.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

“I do wish you'd call me Destiny. This Mother title is so vexing. It reminds me of Catholicism and Mother Superiors. I'm not religious, nor do I see myself as superior to any other human being. I'm just a woman who joined forces with other humans to try to create a loving environment where all of humanity is accepted.”

“That doesn't sound like any of Hadrian's Founding Principles, Moth—I mean, Destiny.”

“Thank you, dear. Well, that was the wording of the first of many drafts. Unfortunately, the collective opted for segregation and separation over accepting all humanity. I wish I could have made them understand that segregation, regardless of how necessary the reasoning may seem, does not heal the breach between opposition. All it does is foster resentment and hate, cutting even deeper trenches for the bigots to sink their boots into while arming and aiming their weapons against us. Unfortunately, the aggressive attacks against homosexuals on a global scale, then and now, and the continued abuses of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters even in those countries that claimed acceptance convinced the majority of the families that we had to isolate ourselves from the heterosexual world. What this meant, I reminded them, was that by excluding everything heterosexual, we would also be excluding bisexuals, the transgendered, and the intersex. No one could see how this was possible. They argued vehemently against the idea that we would ever become prejudiced against our own. ‘Diversity,' I remember distinctly Mildred Stiles, my mentor and friend, claimed, ‘is the very foundation of our culture. It is the reason we have come together to found Hadrian.' ‘Yes!' I replied. ‘Which is why we cannot cut off any one segment of that which makes us all human.' Sadly, I was out-voted, even by Mildred. Don't get me wrong; I stand behind much of what is written in Hadrian's Four Cornerstones. Population control and creating and maintaining a stable balance between nature and humanity are both critical. I also approved the wording that Hadrian would be a safe haven for homosexuals from around the globe—that at least here in our small part of the world, we would never have to fear verbal or physical abuse for simply being who we are. Nor would we ever have to fear violent torture and death at the hands of those who continue vehemently to hate us. But I have never approved of the wording that homosexuality is Hadrian's chosen lifestyle.”

“And why not, Mo—Destiny?”

“Because no one chooses to be gay. No one chooses to be bisexual. No one chooses to be transgender or cisgender. No one chooses to be intersex. No one chooses to be straight. We are all who we are when we are born. This was an understanding I believe we all had when we first came together to found Hadrian, but fear—well—fear does
strange things to people. It occupies their psyches and convinces them that the very real dangers we see around us need to be combated by reacting against them in the extreme. And that is what happened here in Hadrian. We took extreme measures to make extreme changes, and by doing so, we have taken on the very characteristics of the people we are fighting against.”

“That is a very scary thought, Destiny.”

“Yes, yes, it is.”

“What do you propose we do?”

“At the very least, I propose a rewording of the cornerstone that dictates one sexual orientation on the population. It doesn't work in the outside world, and it doesn't work here inside Hadrian. Hadrian's first cornerstone needs to express how our country is home to sexual diversity and understanding.”

“And what about the anti-strai laws still upheld by our government; laws that allow for employers to fire an employee who is straight
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; laws that deny straight persons complete sexual freedom
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—”

“Yes, the Anti-Penile Vaginal Intercourse Law!”

“—laws that require a woman to have an abortion for an unplanned pregnancy even if it is her first; and, of course, the most recent being the Anti-Strai Propaganda Law
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that restricts heterosexuals from promoting their lifestyle to our youth?”

“All those laws need to be struck down.”

“That is a very radical suggestion, Mother.”

“Those laws came into place after the founding of our country, and they came into place at the hands of bigots. Somewhere, at some point, we have to learn how to accept humanity for who we are, every single one of us. Until that day, we will continue to hate and destroy one another.”

“Thank you, Mother; this has been a very insightful interview.”

“Destiny. Don't forget, Destiny.”

“Sorry, Destiny.”

“Oh. Oh, oh, let me say it, please. This is even more exciting than saying
Vale
because this sign off is infused with meaning.”

“As you wish.”

“Truth, Hadrian.

“TRUTH!”