The Grasshopper (17 page)

Chapter 59

“The Balance in our society
functions flawlessly,” said Mr. Kaella, without taking his eyes off
the text which appeared on the teleprompter. “And that is no
accident. This is in accordance with the essence of the human
being. This is how Mother Nature created us. As Consumers. We live
by consuming air, water, food, energy. When we stop consuming, we
are dead… we are no more. Consumption, that is life itself. We were
created in order to consume. This is the only purpose of existence
of every single person and mankind as a whole.

“The consumer is the center, the
foundation of the universe. We are born, study, we work, create,
only in order to discover new objects of consumption. Scientists
and engineers are constantly working on this. Artists of all kinds
create works of art so that people would consume them. When I
realized that, I immediately cut all funding for further space
exploration.”

Babe’s bellybutton was covered by a
crown made of real gold. From it descended a gold chain, which
ended in a fluorescent green broken arrow, like a bolt of
lightning. This arrow was the emblem of Kaella’s Company and
represented a ray of cosmic energy traveling towards the Earth. The
arrow pointed downward.

Prince could no longer control
himself. “A crown! That’s me! That is why you say that it is only
mine… you magnificent woman! No one understands who I am! Only you
do! And my beam, my lightning, my deadly arrow!” he
thought.

“Look, look at your crown and your
lightning… look, Prince!” Babe told prince with her fiery stare.
“And tonight you will look at my crown! I told you that I would
have a backless dress, but what I didn’t tell you is what will be
on my back. What is already tattooed on it. Something that is only
mine. Something that is me! A huge gold crown with rubies. The
crown of the Princess of the Planet Earth!”

Chapter 60

“Pascal, hey, Pascal, stop that
already! You’re a detective. Have you forgotten?” Pascal shouted at
himself.

“Yes. I’m a detective. Where were
we?”

Pascal didn’t move from the mirror,
as though his image was the counterpart forcing him to
investigate.

“Think, Pascal. Who among the
important individuals in the state, among the persons who could
build themselves such a shelter, who has three children. Two boys
and a girl?”

“Well, I understand what you’re
trying to say, OK… President Xing has two children…”

“That’s right,” the counterpart
from the mirror responded.

“Erivan is alone. He doesn’t have
anyone. In the top of the Inspectorate…”

“Leave the top of the Inspectorate.
Erivan is the top of the Inspectorate.”

“Yes… In the Company… by
sectors…”

“Leave the sectors. Who is the
Company, Pascal?”

“Kaella… he only has Prince… Well
of course! Prince has two boys and a girl. But they are students.
They don’t need pink covers… the bunk beds, that I understand, the
rooms are small… but the light blue covers for adult
men…”

Pascal turned around and once again
took a look at the bathroom accessories… the tiles…

“But ten… fifteen… twenty years
ago, Prince’s children were little. And it’s… it’s Prince Kaella’s
shelter!”

“It can’t be… Raul and Seneca would
not hand me over to Prince. Perhaps Seneca, if he was scared… but
if he was in cahoots with Prince all this time, if it was all just
a ploy, pretend… if they waited for the right moment before the
elections… to instill fear.”

“No, no… Raul injected me in the
arm. Raul would never be on their side. That’s for sure. Don’t even
think about that…”

“Oh my God, Prince killed them! He
killed both Raul and Seneca! And he abducted me from them! And now
I’m in his shelter… beneath the palace… in Capital City. That’s got
to be it. I slept through the flight to Capital City. And Prince is
holding me. He has some plans for me… Raul! My Friend! My best and
only friend! And your people… and our people… you’re all dead! All
of you!”

Pascal covered his face with his
hands and trembled. “And you Seneca. You are dead because of me
too. Because of me you too lost your life.”

Pascal opened his eyes wide and
screamed. He ran out of the bathroom, ran to the exit, the locked
door, and pounded on it with his fists and feet,
screaming

“Don’t you dare touch her, you
scoundrels! Don’t you dare touch her! Or even look at her! Not even
the children! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all! All of
you!!!”

Chapter 61

“Why would I spend money on space
exploration?” Mr. Kaella wondered in front of the viewers. “It
could have paid off if we knew that in some remote corner we would
find consumers similar to us. Because we could sell our products
and service to them and make a hefty profit.

“But they don’t exist. It’s only
us. What do I care if there is water on some planet out there?
Like, life is possible. Let that life transform itself into a
consumer, my buyer. Then we can talk.”

“You’re trembling, my Prince… you’d
rush me… take off my jacket… raise my skirt… and I would tuck my
hand into your pants…”

Babe was losing control of herself,
which was uncharacteristic for her. Her case was the most striking
evidence that the sense of power, as the strongest aphrodisiac,
acts equally in both directions, on males and females
alike.

“My arrow, my lightning… from my
crown… from me… from my soul…” Prince’s eyes were pinned to Babe’s
bellybutton. “You aimed the arrow downward… towards your… towards
her… That’s what you meant! That she is only mine… your intimate
thing… You… you are only mine, Princess!!!”

“I cannot stand it any longer
either, Prince, I can’t… I need you immediately… now. Call a
limousine for the two of us… call…. And do you know what I’ll do to
you? I’ll wrap myself around you. I’ll squeeze you both with mu
hands and legs. And I won’t let you go until you pour the last drop
of your semen into me, Prince Kaella! And I’ll bear you a son! A
true Kaella! Not only a Prince of Earth, but emperor of the entire
Universe. And my blood will rule this world for a million years!
Just watch, Prince… Watch!”

Babe suddenly spread her legs.
Prince did not bend forward. An invisible force threw him back into
the armchair. He saw what his fluorescent lightning was pointing
at.

A gold chain was intertwined with
the black threads of Babe’s lace thong. Hanging on it was a gold
coin, which Babe had commissioned from a goldsmith, in the greatest
secrecy. Engraved on the gold coin was a profile of Prince Kaella,
crowned with a laurel.

*****

The only state institution for
which Prince Kaella did not limit the budget was the Organization
for the Protection of the State and the Constitutional Order. The
Organization had been formed and was personally commanded by
Erivan. It was made up of squads labeled with letters.

The organization was popularly
called Erivan’s squads, and its members – squires.

Charlie, the leader of C Squad,
which Erivan had assigned to protect Mr. Kaella and his son Prince
at this decisive, historic moment, put his finger on the Torpedo
icon on the dashboard of his submarine. He then chose the Fire
command.

*****

Any man would be envious of Prince
Kaella on such a death. He died looking at his highness basking in
Babe’s pubic mound.

Chapter 62

The energy system in space
consisted of 96 cosmic energy collectors and the Command. The
collectors were actually platforms placed in 12 orbits around
Earth. There were 8 collectors in each orbit.

Each collector had 36 so-called
cannons. The cannons sent narrow, precise beams of accumulated
cosmic energy, which charged the cosmic power plants on Earth. The
received cosmic energy was transformed into electrical energy at
the power plants. There were no more other energy
sources.

The collectors were not
geostationary. Each collector could change its position by
switching on its engines. In addition to this it could also change
the direction of each of its 36 beams. This way the cosmic energy
beams covered every inch of the Earth’s surface.

There were no human crews on the
collectors. They were operated remotely, from the Command Platform,
which was simply called the Command. The Command crew consisted of
top experts and security.

The Grasshopper was on a spaceship,
on his way to the Command, together with five hand-picked members
of Erivan’s squads.

Chapter 63

Screens across the planet Earth
went dark and silent. But for less than a minute. After that they
displayed the image from a camera mounted on a crane on Short
Street. The unpleasant silence was interrupted by the television
commentator of the broadcast of President Xing’s last election
speech.

“Dear viewers, we have technical
problems with the reception of the signal from Mr. Kaella’s
submarine. While we are waiting to reestablish the connection and
the continuation of the interview, let’s take a look at how
Consumers are greeting President Xing.”

The motorcade was just entering
Short Street. At the moment when the presidential car passed by
fence beyond which pupils from the fifth and eighth grade were
waving Earth flags, the screens across the planet again went dark
and silent.

“Horrific crime! Heinous!” shouted
the shocked anchor from the studio of Capital City TV, after
several minutes of darkness. “An assassination has been carried out
against President Xing! Here’s the footage from our
helicopter!”

Short Street was no more. In its
place, beneath a cloud of smoke, was a deep crater. In some places,
where the wind had cleared the dust, pieces of the surrounding
buildings could be seen scattered at the bottom of the
crater.

The footage from the Capital City
TV helicopter suddenly disappeared, and the screens displayed the
text “We are awaiting an address from President Erivan.”

Chapter 64

Erivan stood in a black suit, black
shirt and black tie, perfectly tailored to his demanding figure.
There were no state emblems around him, nor was there any
indication of where he was located. Only he was illuminated, and
around him was darkness.

Erivan was silent while the camera
slowly zoomed in on his bust, until it completely filled the
screens. Not a single muscle on his face had moved. Only his tight
lips and ironclad eyes reflected the unfaltering determination of
the new ruler of the world.

“Less than fifteen minutes ago the
Non-Consumers carried out a terrorist attack and killed out former
President Xing and his entire family…” he said drearily. Then he
paused, looked at the floor, sighed deeply, raised his eyes to the
camera, now filled with pain and continued “at the same moment,
during the interview, the Non-Consumers also slew Mr. Kaella and
his son Prince.” Erivan paused, allowing people to accept this
horrific news. “On behalf of the State and from me personally, I
would like to express the deepest condolences to the Kaella
family.”

The pain disappeared from Erivan’s
eyes, giving in to deep and sincere hatred. “The State of Earth
declares war on the Non-Consumers,” he said menacingly and
continued “The State is taking over ownership and management of the
Association of Companies. After the war the shares will be returned
to the Consumers. They will also be given the stakes previously
owned by the Non-Consumers. All civilian courts are suspended and
martial law is introduced, enforced by the Inspectorate courts.
There is only one punishment for the Non-Consumers:
death.”

The camera zoomed out. The
spotlight on Erivan slowly grew fainter. His silhouette faded into
darkness.

Part II: The
War

Chapter 65

“You have no right to be mad at me,
Dorika,” Gloria told her colleague and friend. The two of them had
sat down alone, Gloria by the window and Dorika next to her, to
calmly discuss the newly-arisen problem.

Dorika was silent, staring at the
back of the seat in front of her.

“You called me while I was waiting
for you at the club and said that you weren’t feeling well, that
you had a migraine and that you had to go to bed immediately. Isn’t
that right?”

Dorika didn’t answer.

“Isn’t that right, I asked
you!”

“Yes.”

“There, you see.”

“But that’s not an excuse,” Dorika
softened up and looked at Gloria. “This thing with Svetlana was so
important that you should have woken me up. I would have taken
another pill for my head and…”

“I know…”

“Well if you know, why didn’t you
wake me up?”

“Because… but not a word to
anyone!”