Chapter three in which the stone begins to roll down the hill
December 15th
“Margret, Margret!!” Janet December said, bursting into Margret's room holding a piece of paper.
“Hello Janet.” Margret said, greeting her roommate, “Where have you been all morning? The others were worried but I told them that it was fine and they went to breakfast in the dining hall. Happy Birthday by the way.”
“I went for a walk.” Janet said, hurriedly, “And I need to talk to you!”
“Ok.” Margret said, setting down her cup of coffee, “What is it?”
“I'm a 16!” Janet said, “And you know what that means!”
“Um,” Margret said, “Actually no I don't. What does it mean?”
“It means that it's time for the revolution to begin!!” Janet said, “Oh my God, we're not ready, what are we going to do!!”
Margret sighed, it was seven in the morning and it had looked like it was going to be a good day and then Janet came in. Margret liked Janet, she did, but...Janet could be kind of hyper. She got very worked up over the smallest things. So Margret sighed again and spoke.
“I don't think that that is true, Janet.” Margret said, “Why don't you sit down, take a deep breath, and tell me why you think that?”
Janet sat down, took a couple of deep inhales, and began to speak slowly while Margret listened.
“We agreed at the beginning of the October Conspiracy that the Revolution wouldn't begin until one of us was chosen as a 16. And now I have been chosen so that means we have to start the revolution today! What are we going to do!”
“Surely,” Margret said reasonably, “Now that there are 16s in the October Conspiracy that doesn't stand anymore, the Revolution doesn't have to begin today.”
“Yes it does.” Matthew said as he entered the room.
“Matt,” Margret said turning around, “I thought we agreed that neither you nor John would come here!”
“Everything has changed now.” Matthew said sighing. Margret was shocked to noticed that he was wearing a leather jacket and a gun belt. “John decided that we are as ready as we're ever going to be so...”
“My god,” Margret said, running a hand through her hair, “Revolution.”
“Yep.” Matthew said, “Janet go to my room. John will have instructions for you there. He'll also tell you how to get the equipment and weapons that you'll need.”
“Ok.” Janet said, standing up, “I'm ready.”
“Good.” Matthew said and Janet walked to the doorway, turned around saluted Margret and Matthew and then walked out, shutting the door behind her. Matthew chuckled a little and turned back to face Margret.
“You know what this means, don't you?” He asked seriously.
“Yes I do.” Margret said, “And like Janet, I'm ready.”
She strode over to the couch, bent down, and pulled out the pistol that was hidden there. She loaded it with the ammunition that was also hidden under the couch and cocked the gun.
“Good.” Matthew said, smiling a little, “because I don't know if I am.
End of Part 2
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
the house part 7
Chapter Two in which we meet Margret again
November 28th
John was freaking out.
“Matt!” He yelled, “For God's sake! When I put you in charge of creating battle plans I thought you would actually, you know, create battle plans! We've been lucky so far, none of us have been chosen as a 16 but as soon as one of the October Conspiracy gets the letter we have to be ready to go, you know that! Right now the revolution would fail within about a day and a half. So would you please start formulating some freaking battle plans!!!”
Matthew nodded and kept on doing what he was doing. John's outbursts were not particularly uncommon nowadays. They had caught a break last week though when they recruited Josh August, a 16. Thomas had practically had a heart attack when Josh walked up to him and said that he wanted to join the October Conspiracy.
They had all decided that they wouldn't try to recruit any of the 16s because of the security risk. But the fact that one of them had come to them and asked to join was seen as a major coup. Matthew and Thomas wanted Josh to tell them everything he knew immediately but John had been more cautious.
“Go back to your room.” John had told Josh, “And think about the full implications of joining us. And then, if you still want to join us, write a report about the 16s. Try and be as detailed as possible. If you do want to drop out that's fine, but if you go to the Foremen, we will kill you. I don't want to threaten you but I feel I need you to understand the stakes. We are fighting for independence and freedom from oppression. We can't be all touchy feely. Understand?”
Josh had said that yes he did understand and he went back to his room. Two days later he had come back and said that not only was he in but he had also recruited his roommates, who were also 16s, to join as well. The three of them were working on their report, it should be done any day now. A knock came at the door, snapping Matthew out of his memories.
“Come on in.” Matthew called, hiding his papers under the couch as the door opened. The doors opened and in walked Margret.
“Hey Margret.” John said jovially, while Matthew tried hard not to look guilty. Margret had changed a great deal since Philip's death. She was a lot quieter, she had also stopped wearing contacts and started wearing glasses. Most disturbingly to Matthew and John, she had begun to work with the Foremen, enforcing the rules of the House. She had even begun to carry a side arm.
“I didn't come here,” Margret said coldly, looking around the room, “To chat. I came to ask you some questions.”
“Ask who some questions?” John asked, without a touch of guilt in his voice, “Me or Matt? Or maybe both of us?”
“I came to ask both of you some questions.” Margret replied, still scanning the room with her eyes, “Please come with me.”
“Come with you where?” Matthew asked suspiciously.
“To what used to be the Council Chambers.” Margret said, “I need to speak with the two of you, alone.”
“Well,” John said, clearly a little worried by Margret demeanor. John and Matthew had discussed at length Margret's behavior and they believed that she may have lost her mind a little after Philip's death. “Actually Margret, as great as it would be to get together and talk, but we're kind of busy today so maybe later.”
“No!” Margret said harshly, drawing her gun and pointing it at John, “We need to talk now! Come with me or I'll kill you, I swear to God I will!”
“Ok, Ok.” John said, holding up his hands as Matthew jumped to his feet, “No need to bring in firearms, we're reasonable people, The old council chambers you say? Why don't we meet you there in a quarter of an hour? So we have time to run to the bathroom and what not...”
“No!” Margret said, desperation creeping into her voice, “We go together and we go now! Come on!”
“Ok, fine, cool.” John said, glancing towards the desk where he and Matthew had hidden a pistol. “Do you mind if I just...”
“NO!!!” Margret roared, waving “We go now!!”
“Ok, ok, no need to freak out.” John said trying to remain very calm, “Matt, would you lead us out please?” He shot Matthew a look that was obviously trying to tell him something but Matthew had no idea what. So he just walked to the door, opened it, and walked out.
“You next.” Margret said to John gesturing him forward.
“Ok, ok.” John said, shooting a nasty look at Matthew.
As they walked along John leaned forward and hissed into Matthew's ear.
“You were supposed to hit her as you passed. Now what are we going to do?”
“We could try and reason with her.” Matthew hissed back.
“She is holding a gun on us and screaming.” John replied, “Somehow I don't think that reason is going to win the day.”
“Stop here.” Margret commanded, ending their conversation. Matthew looked around, they weren't at the Council Chambers. In fact they were outside the House History Classroom. Margret stepped forward and opened the door. She gestured with her gun for Matthew and John to enter the room. They did so and Margret followed them in, shutting the door behind her.
“Sit down.” Margret ordered. John and Matthew did so and then Margret did something that shocked and surprised both of them. She tossed her gun across the room.
Both Matthew and John jumped to their feet.
“Why in the name of God,” John demanded, “Did you do that?”
“Do what?” Margret asked absentmindedly, as she pulled the band out of her red hair, letting it fall down to near her shoulders.
“Throw a loaded firearm across the room.” Matthew said, looking at Margret like she was crazy.
“Oh it wasn't loaded.” She said, “Why would I carry a loaded gun?”
“Wait hold on,” John said, trying to restrain himself, “You force marched us here by threatening us with a gun that was not loaded. Please tell me I'm wrong about something.”
“You're not.” Margret said, “I didn't want to threaten you, but you guys wouldn't come with me.”
“Because we thought you were going to arrest us!” John said, angrily, “Lord Margret! Why didn't you just ask us whatever you wanted to ask us in our room?!”
“Because I can't be seen around you guys,” Margret said, “The Foremen are very suspicious of you two. And they are also very suspicious of me. And I have worked hard to build up a reputation as a Foreman supporter, but if I am seen coming out of your room they will start to investigate both of us more intently. And I think that I can be pretty sure when I say that neither of us want that.”
“What do you mean by that?” John asked, “We have nothing to hide. Why would you think that?”
“Because Josh tried to recruit me.” Margret said simply.
“Josh?” John said, still playing the innocent act, “Josh who?”
“Josh August.” Margret said.
“I don't know a Josh August.” John said turning to Matthew, “Matt, do you know a Josh August?”
“Nope.” Matthew said, “Wait actually no, I think a talked to him once. Nice guy, tall, with blond hair?”
“Come on guys,” Margret said, smiling slightly, “I don't really have the time to watch your very believable innocent act but Josh told me all about your organization, what's it called....that's right the October Conspiracy. He told me all about it.”
“So,” John said, trying to think of a way out of the situation, “Either you want to join, want us to stop, or this entire conversation is just a strange ploy to get us to admit that we are planning something illegal and then you can arrest us for treason. Which is it?”
“I want to join.” Margret said, “On one condition, I will not reveal what is on Page 504 or what is on Floor -22.”
“Why?” Matthew asked, “Why won't you reveal those things, and what the heck is Floor -22, I thought there was only Floor -19.”
“Ok,” Margret said, “Well the answer to your first question is that I won't reveal those things are because I firmly believe that they should be kept secret for the public good. The answer to your second question is that certain 16s are chosen to go deeper than Floor -19 and I'm one of them.”
“Who else has gone deeper?” John asked, interested, “Surely you can tell us that.”
“ Nobody other than me, Brien May, Olivia July, Nyssa March, Ben September, and Emily February were taken that deep.” Margret said.
“Why you?” John asked, even more curious than before, “I mean, I get the others, they're all important politicians and leaders, but what's so special about you?”
“You know how the position of Head of the 16s has been empty for a while?” Margret responded.
Both Matthew and John nodded.
“Well,” Margret continued, humbly, “I was going to be the new Head of the 16s.”
“Was?” Matthew asked, noting Margret's use of the past tense.
“Well,” Margret said, “Now that the council has been dissolved and Brien May has appointed himself to every position it appears that he is also now Head of the 16s.”
“He appointed himself to every position?!” John asked, shocked.
“Yeah,” Margret said, “Didn't you know that he had taken over?”
“I knew that he was leading the Foremen and that the Foremen had taken over but I didn't know that he personally was serving in every position.” John said, surprisingly angry.
“Well,” Margret said, humorously, “He has.”
“This is an affront to the Founding Charter!” John ranted, pacing up and down while Margret and Matthew looked on, a little amazed. “This is preposterous, Lord, this is insanity! How can the people tolerate this!! MY GOD!!! I was wondering if Revolution might be a bit of a overreaction to our situation but now MY GOD!!! I want to go and shoot that crazy freaking fascist!! LORD ALMIGHTY!!”
“Dude,” Matthew said, trying to restrain his laughter, “Calm the heck down.”
“I WILL NOT CALM DOWN, HECK OR NO!!” John shouted, waving his hands in the air, “THIS IS TOTAL AND UTTER CRAZINESS!! THE'RE SCREWING UP OUR GOVERNMENT AND OUR SOCIETY!!! HOW CAN YOU GUYS POSSIBLY JUST BE SITTING THERE??!!! DON”T YOU GET IT?! HE, ONE MAN, NOW CONTROLS ALL OF THE POLITICAL POSITIONS IN THE HOUSE!! HE'S THE CLERK, HE”S THE SECRETARY, HE”S THE CHIEF LEGAL COUNSUL, HE”S THE PRESIDENT, HE”S THE VICE PRESIENT!!!! GOD ALMIGHTY!!”
By this point, Margret and Matthew were literally rolling on the floor with laughter. They had seen John rant before, but this was something different.
“By God!” John said, calming down a little, “Let's go start us a freaking revolution!”
November 28th
John was freaking out.
“Matt!” He yelled, “For God's sake! When I put you in charge of creating battle plans I thought you would actually, you know, create battle plans! We've been lucky so far, none of us have been chosen as a 16 but as soon as one of the October Conspiracy gets the letter we have to be ready to go, you know that! Right now the revolution would fail within about a day and a half. So would you please start formulating some freaking battle plans!!!”
Matthew nodded and kept on doing what he was doing. John's outbursts were not particularly uncommon nowadays. They had caught a break last week though when they recruited Josh August, a 16. Thomas had practically had a heart attack when Josh walked up to him and said that he wanted to join the October Conspiracy.
They had all decided that they wouldn't try to recruit any of the 16s because of the security risk. But the fact that one of them had come to them and asked to join was seen as a major coup. Matthew and Thomas wanted Josh to tell them everything he knew immediately but John had been more cautious.
“Go back to your room.” John had told Josh, “And think about the full implications of joining us. And then, if you still want to join us, write a report about the 16s. Try and be as detailed as possible. If you do want to drop out that's fine, but if you go to the Foremen, we will kill you. I don't want to threaten you but I feel I need you to understand the stakes. We are fighting for independence and freedom from oppression. We can't be all touchy feely. Understand?”
Josh had said that yes he did understand and he went back to his room. Two days later he had come back and said that not only was he in but he had also recruited his roommates, who were also 16s, to join as well. The three of them were working on their report, it should be done any day now. A knock came at the door, snapping Matthew out of his memories.
“Come on in.” Matthew called, hiding his papers under the couch as the door opened. The doors opened and in walked Margret.
“Hey Margret.” John said jovially, while Matthew tried hard not to look guilty. Margret had changed a great deal since Philip's death. She was a lot quieter, she had also stopped wearing contacts and started wearing glasses. Most disturbingly to Matthew and John, she had begun to work with the Foremen, enforcing the rules of the House. She had even begun to carry a side arm.
“I didn't come here,” Margret said coldly, looking around the room, “To chat. I came to ask you some questions.”
“Ask who some questions?” John asked, without a touch of guilt in his voice, “Me or Matt? Or maybe both of us?”
“I came to ask both of you some questions.” Margret replied, still scanning the room with her eyes, “Please come with me.”
“Come with you where?” Matthew asked suspiciously.
“To what used to be the Council Chambers.” Margret said, “I need to speak with the two of you, alone.”
“Well,” John said, clearly a little worried by Margret demeanor. John and Matthew had discussed at length Margret's behavior and they believed that she may have lost her mind a little after Philip's death. “Actually Margret, as great as it would be to get together and talk, but we're kind of busy today so maybe later.”
“No!” Margret said harshly, drawing her gun and pointing it at John, “We need to talk now! Come with me or I'll kill you, I swear to God I will!”
“Ok, Ok.” John said, holding up his hands as Matthew jumped to his feet, “No need to bring in firearms, we're reasonable people, The old council chambers you say? Why don't we meet you there in a quarter of an hour? So we have time to run to the bathroom and what not...”
“No!” Margret said, desperation creeping into her voice, “We go together and we go now! Come on!”
“Ok, fine, cool.” John said, glancing towards the desk where he and Matthew had hidden a pistol. “Do you mind if I just...”
“NO!!!” Margret roared, waving “We go now!!”
“Ok, ok, no need to freak out.” John said trying to remain very calm, “Matt, would you lead us out please?” He shot Matthew a look that was obviously trying to tell him something but Matthew had no idea what. So he just walked to the door, opened it, and walked out.
“You next.” Margret said to John gesturing him forward.
“Ok, ok.” John said, shooting a nasty look at Matthew.
As they walked along John leaned forward and hissed into Matthew's ear.
“You were supposed to hit her as you passed. Now what are we going to do?”
“We could try and reason with her.” Matthew hissed back.
“She is holding a gun on us and screaming.” John replied, “Somehow I don't think that reason is going to win the day.”
“Stop here.” Margret commanded, ending their conversation. Matthew looked around, they weren't at the Council Chambers. In fact they were outside the House History Classroom. Margret stepped forward and opened the door. She gestured with her gun for Matthew and John to enter the room. They did so and Margret followed them in, shutting the door behind her.
“Sit down.” Margret ordered. John and Matthew did so and then Margret did something that shocked and surprised both of them. She tossed her gun across the room.
Both Matthew and John jumped to their feet.
“Why in the name of God,” John demanded, “Did you do that?”
“Do what?” Margret asked absentmindedly, as she pulled the band out of her red hair, letting it fall down to near her shoulders.
“Throw a loaded firearm across the room.” Matthew said, looking at Margret like she was crazy.
“Oh it wasn't loaded.” She said, “Why would I carry a loaded gun?”
“Wait hold on,” John said, trying to restrain himself, “You force marched us here by threatening us with a gun that was not loaded. Please tell me I'm wrong about something.”
“You're not.” Margret said, “I didn't want to threaten you, but you guys wouldn't come with me.”
“Because we thought you were going to arrest us!” John said, angrily, “Lord Margret! Why didn't you just ask us whatever you wanted to ask us in our room?!”
“Because I can't be seen around you guys,” Margret said, “The Foremen are very suspicious of you two. And they are also very suspicious of me. And I have worked hard to build up a reputation as a Foreman supporter, but if I am seen coming out of your room they will start to investigate both of us more intently. And I think that I can be pretty sure when I say that neither of us want that.”
“What do you mean by that?” John asked, “We have nothing to hide. Why would you think that?”
“Because Josh tried to recruit me.” Margret said simply.
“Josh?” John said, still playing the innocent act, “Josh who?”
“Josh August.” Margret said.
“I don't know a Josh August.” John said turning to Matthew, “Matt, do you know a Josh August?”
“Nope.” Matthew said, “Wait actually no, I think a talked to him once. Nice guy, tall, with blond hair?”
“Come on guys,” Margret said, smiling slightly, “I don't really have the time to watch your very believable innocent act but Josh told me all about your organization, what's it called....that's right the October Conspiracy. He told me all about it.”
“So,” John said, trying to think of a way out of the situation, “Either you want to join, want us to stop, or this entire conversation is just a strange ploy to get us to admit that we are planning something illegal and then you can arrest us for treason. Which is it?”
“I want to join.” Margret said, “On one condition, I will not reveal what is on Page 504 or what is on Floor -22.”
“Why?” Matthew asked, “Why won't you reveal those things, and what the heck is Floor -22, I thought there was only Floor -19.”
“Ok,” Margret said, “Well the answer to your first question is that I won't reveal those things are because I firmly believe that they should be kept secret for the public good. The answer to your second question is that certain 16s are chosen to go deeper than Floor -19 and I'm one of them.”
“Who else has gone deeper?” John asked, interested, “Surely you can tell us that.”
“ Nobody other than me, Brien May, Olivia July, Nyssa March, Ben September, and Emily February were taken that deep.” Margret said.
“Why you?” John asked, even more curious than before, “I mean, I get the others, they're all important politicians and leaders, but what's so special about you?”
“You know how the position of Head of the 16s has been empty for a while?” Margret responded.
Both Matthew and John nodded.
“Well,” Margret continued, humbly, “I was going to be the new Head of the 16s.”
“Was?” Matthew asked, noting Margret's use of the past tense.
“Well,” Margret said, “Now that the council has been dissolved and Brien May has appointed himself to every position it appears that he is also now Head of the 16s.”
“He appointed himself to every position?!” John asked, shocked.
“Yeah,” Margret said, “Didn't you know that he had taken over?”
“I knew that he was leading the Foremen and that the Foremen had taken over but I didn't know that he personally was serving in every position.” John said, surprisingly angry.
“Well,” Margret said, humorously, “He has.”
“This is an affront to the Founding Charter!” John ranted, pacing up and down while Margret and Matthew looked on, a little amazed. “This is preposterous, Lord, this is insanity! How can the people tolerate this!! MY GOD!!! I was wondering if Revolution might be a bit of a overreaction to our situation but now MY GOD!!! I want to go and shoot that crazy freaking fascist!! LORD ALMIGHTY!!”
“Dude,” Matthew said, trying to restrain his laughter, “Calm the heck down.”
“I WILL NOT CALM DOWN, HECK OR NO!!” John shouted, waving his hands in the air, “THIS IS TOTAL AND UTTER CRAZINESS!! THE'RE SCREWING UP OUR GOVERNMENT AND OUR SOCIETY!!! HOW CAN YOU GUYS POSSIBLY JUST BE SITTING THERE??!!! DON”T YOU GET IT?! HE, ONE MAN, NOW CONTROLS ALL OF THE POLITICAL POSITIONS IN THE HOUSE!! HE'S THE CLERK, HE”S THE SECRETARY, HE”S THE CHIEF LEGAL COUNSUL, HE”S THE PRESIDENT, HE”S THE VICE PRESIENT!!!! GOD ALMIGHTY!!”
By this point, Margret and Matthew were literally rolling on the floor with laughter. They had seen John rant before, but this was something different.
“By God!” John said, calming down a little, “Let's go start us a freaking revolution!”
the house part 6
CHAPTER one in which a conspiracy is formed
NOVEMBER 8st
“Matt, wake up.” Thomas March said, shaking Matthew January awake. “Come on man, you know that we have a meeting.”
“I'm up,” Matthew said, “Tom, I'm up. You can stop with the shaking. Lord!” Matthew got out of his bed and walked over to the closet. He changed into some clothes and turned to face Thomas.
“Are they here?” He asked running a hand through his hair.
“They're in the Outer room.” Thomas answered, pulling several books off the book shelf next to his bed, “Come on.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Since Thomas March had moved into Room 1232 things had gotten a lot more organized. It was Thomas who first suggested forming the October Conspiracy. The October Conspiracy was a group of Philip October's friends that Thomas got together to discuss possible options. Nobody was totally sure what Thomas meant by “Possible options” but they had all turned up to see what was going on.
Matthew and Thomas walked into the outer room where about 20 of Philip's friends were waiting. Thomas stepped forward and began to talk.
“Hello everyone. I'm sure you all are wondering why I asked you to come here.” Everyone nodded. “Well I, like I think everyone else here, was shocked and appalled by Philip's death and also Marcus and Madeline's deaths. I wondered what secret could possibly have been worth all those lives. But then I realized that the only people who know the secret are the 16s and they will never reveal their secrets. Which, for those of you who were wondering, is why Margret is not here. After I realized that we can never find the answers to our questions through traditional means I then decided to explore other options.”
“Other options?” Matthew repeated, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” Thomas said, smiling a little, “Other options. Now I quickly decided that we had two other ways of getting the information. The first is that one of us becomes a 16, which is probable considering both the number of people in our group.
“Which group would that be?” John June asked, John had never really liked Thomas and, in Matthew's opinion, was a little jealous of his power in the Under 20 community.
“Us!” Thomas replied, grinning from ear to ear. Matthew did like him but he thought that John was far more intelligent than Thomas. However Thomas was a much better public speaker than John was.
“We,” Thomas continued, “Are Philip's closest friends and we all want to know what he was about to reveal. But, as I was saying, we have two options. The first option is that one of us becomes a 16 and then they tell us the secret. That's option one, but since that has already failed in a dramatic and tragic way, with Philip's death, I decided to eliminate that option which left only one option. Revolt. What we should do, what we need to do, is stand up and take over the House!”
“Take over the House?” John asked, “Are you joking?”
“Not in the slightest.” Thomas said, still grinning
“So,Just to be clear, You're saying that a bunch of teenagers.” Janet December said, disbelievingly, “should overthrow, by force, the government of The House?”
“I know it sounds crazy.” Thomas replied, pacing up and down.
“Good,” John shot back acidly, “Cause it does.”
“But why not?” Thomas continued ignoring John,“Why can't a bunch of teenagers overthrow the government?”
“Well...” John replied, counting off the reasons on his fingers, “Number one, they have guns. Number two, we don't have any guns. Number three, traditionally in a military conflict the people with guns beat the people without guns. Number four, They have a huge number of supporters. Number five, We have a small number of supporters. Number six The people with a huge number of supporters normally win when they face people with a small number of supporters. Shall I go on?”
“But we could get guns!” Thomas said, slapping his hands together, “We could get supporters and we'd have surprise on our side!”
“Ok,” Matthew said, he liked Thomas more than John did so he was giving his idea more thought than John was, but he did think that this idea was a little crazy “But what then. So we get guns, we get supporters. We surprise the Foremen and we take over. Yippe, woohoo and what not.”
“Go on.” Thomas said interested, “What's your point?”
“Ok so after we take over.” Matthew continued, “What in God's name do we do?”
“We make this place right!” Thomas said, excited “We make everything public record, we hold open elections. We get rid of the 16s, we get rid of the Teachers, we get rid of the Foremen, we make everything open and free!”
“So,” Ava January , who was the only member of the October Conspiracy not to have actually known Philip October personally, asked. Nobody was totally sure why she was there, but she had always had a reputation for being the smartest person under 20 in the whole House.
“What you're saying is that, after we get weapons and fighters and take power by force, we will get rid of the educators and get rid of the officers of the law?” Ava asked doubtfully.
“Yes.” Thomas said, a fire dancing in his eyes, “Let's end the corruption, let's break down the walls! LET”S CHANGE THIS PLACE!!!”
“Matt,” John said with a forced smile plastered on his face. “Could I speak to you for a few moments, please?” He gestured toward Matthew's bedroom.
“Sure.” Matthew said and followed Joh. John swung the door shut and turned to face Matthew.
“Thomas.” John said, speaking very, very slowly, “Has. Gone. Insane.”
“Now I know you don't like him...” Matthew began but John cut him off.
“You're right I don't like him. But, setting his annoying personality and total lack of substance and shameless manipulation of people's emotions aside, saying that we not only need to overthrow the government but also that we are able to overthrow the government is total and utter insanity”
“True.” Matthew said, “but...”
“No,” John interrupted him again, “There is no but. This is craziness. It is also totally and completely illegal. Now that the Foremen have dissolved the council who knows what will happen! My God! This could get us all killed!”
“You might have a point.” Matthew agreed, “It is a little out there.”
“A little?!” John hissed, “It's madness, it's craziness, it's disastrous, and all those people in there are going to go for it and get themselves shot.”
“Come on,” Matthew disagreed, “They're smarter than that.”
“No they aren't.” John said angrily, “They're angry and they want to strike out. And they think that Thomas is smart and always has the right idea. So they'll go along with it. And then Brien May will find out and they will all get arrested and probably be executed. This is a disaster!”
“So,” Matthew said, “What do you suggest we do?”
“We have to protect ourselves.” John said, “The Foremen will suspect us first and foremost because of Marcus and Philip. We, we, we should go to the Foremen.”
“What?!” Mathew said, totally and completely shocked. That was probably the last thing that Matthew has expected John to say. “Why?”
“Because when they're caught, and they will certainly be caught, who do you think the foremen will suspect first? Thomas March, who doesn't have a black mark to his name and has never been involved in anything important, or you and me who had two of our roommates shot by foreman. Who do you think will arrest? Who do you think they will charge and, probably, execute?”
“You have a point.” Matthew admitted, “But can we, or rather should we go to the Foremen? I mean, they could be executed by the Foremen. Is it right for us to do that?”
“Yes.” John said simply, “Yes I do believe that It is right for us to do that.”
“Really?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah.” John sighed and sat down on his bed, “It's just the more I think about the more I think that Brien May...I think that he made some good points.”
“What?”Matthew asked, totally shocked by this, “You think he was right?! But he...he shot Madeline!”
“By accident.” John said, all the fire had gone out of his voice, he sounded resigned and tired, “He was trying to shoot Marcus, who had already killed a foreman and had just thrown a cup at Allison's head, she's still in the hospital by the way, and Madeline jumped in front of him. It was tragic, but it was kind of her fault.”
“Kind of her fault?” Matthew asked, he was angry now, Madeline was a close friend of his. “Really?! You really think that?!”
“Yeah,” John said, sighing, “Matt, I'm sorry, I know you liked her but....she did jump in front of a gun as it was being fired she must have known that she probably wasn't going to survive.”
“Maybe if the foremen actually looked before they shot she wouldn't be dead!” Matthew said, his voice getting high and shrill, “Maybe if they didn't want to shoot us all then she wouldn't be dead! Maybe...”
“LOOK!” John said, harshly as he jumped to his feet, “You don't understand, ok, you don't understand at all! Our society is on the tipping point, ok, we are literally this close to total and utter anarchy. I don't like what the foremen are doing anymore than you do but you have to admit, The Head Foremen made some good points. There has to be order, and nasty and violent order is better than no order at all”
“He dissolved the council!!” Matthew yelled, “He's persecuting the teachers, the man is a megalomaniac! We have to do something before he comes for us!”
“THIS ISN”T HOW TO DO IT!!!!” John screamed, “IF WE REBEL THEN WE CAN”T HAVE THAT FOOL LEADING US!!!”
“Then you do it!!” Mathew snarled, they were nose to nose now, spitting in each other's faces, “You've always talked about the problems in the charter, now is your chance to fix it up!! The public is angry and they want change. If you're so freaking smart than you lead a rebellion!”
“Fine!” John said, “I will, but we do it my way! Not Thomas' way!”
“Fine!” Matthew said, “But you can't kick him out because you need as many people as possible.”
“I know that.” John said, calming down considerably and staring off into the distance. He was like this whenever he got a new idea. “We'll tell them that as Philip's only surviving roommates we think that we will give a better and more sympathetic public face for the movement. They won't be able to argue with that. I'll but Thomas in charge of getting weapons..no! I'll put him in charge of getting new recruits, he's so well spoken...Yes that's what I'll do.”
Mathew opened the bedroom door and walked out to talk to the others.
NOVEMBER 8st
“Matt, wake up.” Thomas March said, shaking Matthew January awake. “Come on man, you know that we have a meeting.”
“I'm up,” Matthew said, “Tom, I'm up. You can stop with the shaking. Lord!” Matthew got out of his bed and walked over to the closet. He changed into some clothes and turned to face Thomas.
“Are they here?” He asked running a hand through his hair.
“They're in the Outer room.” Thomas answered, pulling several books off the book shelf next to his bed, “Come on.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Since Thomas March had moved into Room 1232 things had gotten a lot more organized. It was Thomas who first suggested forming the October Conspiracy. The October Conspiracy was a group of Philip October's friends that Thomas got together to discuss possible options. Nobody was totally sure what Thomas meant by “Possible options” but they had all turned up to see what was going on.
Matthew and Thomas walked into the outer room where about 20 of Philip's friends were waiting. Thomas stepped forward and began to talk.
“Hello everyone. I'm sure you all are wondering why I asked you to come here.” Everyone nodded. “Well I, like I think everyone else here, was shocked and appalled by Philip's death and also Marcus and Madeline's deaths. I wondered what secret could possibly have been worth all those lives. But then I realized that the only people who know the secret are the 16s and they will never reveal their secrets. Which, for those of you who were wondering, is why Margret is not here. After I realized that we can never find the answers to our questions through traditional means I then decided to explore other options.”
“Other options?” Matthew repeated, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” Thomas said, smiling a little, “Other options. Now I quickly decided that we had two other ways of getting the information. The first is that one of us becomes a 16, which is probable considering both the number of people in our group.
“Which group would that be?” John June asked, John had never really liked Thomas and, in Matthew's opinion, was a little jealous of his power in the Under 20 community.
“Us!” Thomas replied, grinning from ear to ear. Matthew did like him but he thought that John was far more intelligent than Thomas. However Thomas was a much better public speaker than John was.
“We,” Thomas continued, “Are Philip's closest friends and we all want to know what he was about to reveal. But, as I was saying, we have two options. The first option is that one of us becomes a 16 and then they tell us the secret. That's option one, but since that has already failed in a dramatic and tragic way, with Philip's death, I decided to eliminate that option which left only one option. Revolt. What we should do, what we need to do, is stand up and take over the House!”
“Take over the House?” John asked, “Are you joking?”
“Not in the slightest.” Thomas said, still grinning
“So,Just to be clear, You're saying that a bunch of teenagers.” Janet December said, disbelievingly, “should overthrow, by force, the government of The House?”
“I know it sounds crazy.” Thomas replied, pacing up and down.
“Good,” John shot back acidly, “Cause it does.”
“But why not?” Thomas continued ignoring John,“Why can't a bunch of teenagers overthrow the government?”
“Well...” John replied, counting off the reasons on his fingers, “Number one, they have guns. Number two, we don't have any guns. Number three, traditionally in a military conflict the people with guns beat the people without guns. Number four, They have a huge number of supporters. Number five, We have a small number of supporters. Number six The people with a huge number of supporters normally win when they face people with a small number of supporters. Shall I go on?”
“But we could get guns!” Thomas said, slapping his hands together, “We could get supporters and we'd have surprise on our side!”
“Ok,” Matthew said, he liked Thomas more than John did so he was giving his idea more thought than John was, but he did think that this idea was a little crazy “But what then. So we get guns, we get supporters. We surprise the Foremen and we take over. Yippe, woohoo and what not.”
“Go on.” Thomas said interested, “What's your point?”
“Ok so after we take over.” Matthew continued, “What in God's name do we do?”
“We make this place right!” Thomas said, excited “We make everything public record, we hold open elections. We get rid of the 16s, we get rid of the Teachers, we get rid of the Foremen, we make everything open and free!”
“So,” Ava January , who was the only member of the October Conspiracy not to have actually known Philip October personally, asked. Nobody was totally sure why she was there, but she had always had a reputation for being the smartest person under 20 in the whole House.
“What you're saying is that, after we get weapons and fighters and take power by force, we will get rid of the educators and get rid of the officers of the law?” Ava asked doubtfully.
“Yes.” Thomas said, a fire dancing in his eyes, “Let's end the corruption, let's break down the walls! LET”S CHANGE THIS PLACE!!!”
“Matt,” John said with a forced smile plastered on his face. “Could I speak to you for a few moments, please?” He gestured toward Matthew's bedroom.
“Sure.” Matthew said and followed Joh. John swung the door shut and turned to face Matthew.
“Thomas.” John said, speaking very, very slowly, “Has. Gone. Insane.”
“Now I know you don't like him...” Matthew began but John cut him off.
“You're right I don't like him. But, setting his annoying personality and total lack of substance and shameless manipulation of people's emotions aside, saying that we not only need to overthrow the government but also that we are able to overthrow the government is total and utter insanity”
“True.” Matthew said, “but...”
“No,” John interrupted him again, “There is no but. This is craziness. It is also totally and completely illegal. Now that the Foremen have dissolved the council who knows what will happen! My God! This could get us all killed!”
“You might have a point.” Matthew agreed, “It is a little out there.”
“A little?!” John hissed, “It's madness, it's craziness, it's disastrous, and all those people in there are going to go for it and get themselves shot.”
“Come on,” Matthew disagreed, “They're smarter than that.”
“No they aren't.” John said angrily, “They're angry and they want to strike out. And they think that Thomas is smart and always has the right idea. So they'll go along with it. And then Brien May will find out and they will all get arrested and probably be executed. This is a disaster!”
“So,” Matthew said, “What do you suggest we do?”
“We have to protect ourselves.” John said, “The Foremen will suspect us first and foremost because of Marcus and Philip. We, we, we should go to the Foremen.”
“What?!” Mathew said, totally and completely shocked. That was probably the last thing that Matthew has expected John to say. “Why?”
“Because when they're caught, and they will certainly be caught, who do you think the foremen will suspect first? Thomas March, who doesn't have a black mark to his name and has never been involved in anything important, or you and me who had two of our roommates shot by foreman. Who do you think will arrest? Who do you think they will charge and, probably, execute?”
“You have a point.” Matthew admitted, “But can we, or rather should we go to the Foremen? I mean, they could be executed by the Foremen. Is it right for us to do that?”
“Yes.” John said simply, “Yes I do believe that It is right for us to do that.”
“Really?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah.” John sighed and sat down on his bed, “It's just the more I think about the more I think that Brien May...I think that he made some good points.”
“What?”Matthew asked, totally shocked by this, “You think he was right?! But he...he shot Madeline!”
“By accident.” John said, all the fire had gone out of his voice, he sounded resigned and tired, “He was trying to shoot Marcus, who had already killed a foreman and had just thrown a cup at Allison's head, she's still in the hospital by the way, and Madeline jumped in front of him. It was tragic, but it was kind of her fault.”
“Kind of her fault?” Matthew asked, he was angry now, Madeline was a close friend of his. “Really?! You really think that?!”
“Yeah,” John said, sighing, “Matt, I'm sorry, I know you liked her but....she did jump in front of a gun as it was being fired she must have known that she probably wasn't going to survive.”
“Maybe if the foremen actually looked before they shot she wouldn't be dead!” Matthew said, his voice getting high and shrill, “Maybe if they didn't want to shoot us all then she wouldn't be dead! Maybe...”
“LOOK!” John said, harshly as he jumped to his feet, “You don't understand, ok, you don't understand at all! Our society is on the tipping point, ok, we are literally this close to total and utter anarchy. I don't like what the foremen are doing anymore than you do but you have to admit, The Head Foremen made some good points. There has to be order, and nasty and violent order is better than no order at all”
“He dissolved the council!!” Matthew yelled, “He's persecuting the teachers, the man is a megalomaniac! We have to do something before he comes for us!”
“THIS ISN”T HOW TO DO IT!!!!” John screamed, “IF WE REBEL THEN WE CAN”T HAVE THAT FOOL LEADING US!!!”
“Then you do it!!” Mathew snarled, they were nose to nose now, spitting in each other's faces, “You've always talked about the problems in the charter, now is your chance to fix it up!! The public is angry and they want change. If you're so freaking smart than you lead a rebellion!”
“Fine!” John said, “I will, but we do it my way! Not Thomas' way!”
“Fine!” Matthew said, “But you can't kick him out because you need as many people as possible.”
“I know that.” John said, calming down considerably and staring off into the distance. He was like this whenever he got a new idea. “We'll tell them that as Philip's only surviving roommates we think that we will give a better and more sympathetic public face for the movement. They won't be able to argue with that. I'll but Thomas in charge of getting weapons..no! I'll put him in charge of getting new recruits, he's so well spoken...Yes that's what I'll do.”
Mathew opened the bedroom door and walked out to talk to the others.
the house part 5
Part Two: Things Begin to Become Unpleasant
Prologue
Transcript of High Council meeting the night of Philip October's death
Olivia July: This meeting of the High council will now come to order. Mister Secretary are you prepared to take down the following proceedings?
Daniel January: I am, Madam Clerk
Emily February: As president of this council I would like to formally welcome Mr. Daniel January into this council and congratulate him on his election to the position of Secretary
Brien May: As the Chief Foreman and the Prime Minister of the House, I would like to second President February's statements and also congratulate Mr. January on being the first Foreman to serve as secretary since the founding of the House.
Daniel January: Thank you, Madam President and Mister Vice President, it is an honor to serve among these great public servants. I have prepared a short speech that I would like to read into the record.
Nyssa March: Madame President, I would like to move that the Secretary insert his speech into the record of the next meeting, which is the scheduled meeting so as to save time during this emergency meeting.
Brien May: I agree with the Chief Legal Consul.
Emily February: Mr. Secretary please do as the Chief Legal Consul instructs.
Daniel January: Very well Madam President.
Olivia July: I called this meeting at the request of the Prime Minister and the Vice President to address the events that took place earlier today.
Nyssa March: Where is the Vice President? I heard that he was involved in the situation.
Emily February: I would also like to know why the Vice President is absent. In fact, as the Vice President is missing and we may have to make some important rulings today that would fundamentally change our society, I move that the Vice President be replaced. I would like to nominate Alexander August to fill that post.
Brien May: Another teacher. Funny.
Emily February: Excuse me?
Brien May: You are excused.
Nyssa March: Mr. Prime Minister what did you mean by that?
Brien May: What I mean is that, with Daniel January's election to the board there are an equal number of Foremen and Teachers for the first time since you became president. And with Olivia July about to retire, who knows! (Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May stands up and begins to shout at President February) You might be the first Teacher President to lose control of the High Council since Martin July! So you decided to use this young man's death to your advantage. Very very clever.
Emily February: That makes no sense, whatsoever.
Brien May: You are manipulating this situation for your own political benefit!
Emily February: I move that the board temporarily suspends Brien May.
Olivia July: On what grounds?
Emily February: Severe Emotional Distress that doesn't allow him to perform his job appropriately.
Olivia July: Denied.
Emily February: What?
Brien May: She sees through you! Don't you get it? We're all sitting around playing these little games. Who's up who's down what's the point?! Today I shot a 15 and a half year old girl, but you know how I'll sleep tonight? Do you know how I'll seep tonight? I'll sleep tonight because I know, I know, that I did what was needed to protect the House. And that's how Ben will sleep tonight, Because both us know that we did what we needed to do, that we did our duty! But then I come here, and I fell sick! By God, what is the point of all these political games?! MY GOD!!
Nyssa March: I would also like to ask for Brien May's suspension. On the grounds of inability to perform his position and function properly.
Olivia July: Denied.
Brien May: You are a DISGRACE to your position! I am DISGUSTED by what you have done to the position that I once held! I am embarrassed to have ever served as Chief Legal Counsel!
Nyssa March: I move that Brien May be forced to resign from this council on the grounds of gross disrespect to his fellow members!
Olivia July: Denied.
Emily February: Olivia!
Brien May: FOOLS! WE”RE ALL FOOLS! We are taring this place apart!! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!!
Nyssa March and Emily February(together): OLIVIA!!
Olivia July: Denied.
Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May begins to laugh manically.
Nyssa March: Alright Olivia, I didn't want to do this but, as Chief Legal Consul I remove you as Clerk of the Council.
Brien May: Oh, You're pulling in Clause 29, very good, very good. I applaud you. I applaud you and your political wrangling!
Emily February: As President of the House, I invoke Clause 12 of the Council Charter. And I appoint myself Clerk.
Nyssa March: I wish to move for Brien May's immediate dismissal on the grounds of gross disrespect to his fellow members and inability to perform his job.
Emily February: So ruled.
Brien May: Big Surprise.
Emily February: Former Vice President May will sit down.
Brien May: Make me.
Emily February: Ethan September please take Former Vice President May into custody and charge him with Disrespect to Authority.
Brien May: Go on Ethan! Take me into custody! You are the Chief Security Officer after all? Or maybe you don't want to! Maybe you don't want to arrest the guy who first taught you how to shoot a gun! Is that it? Or maybe the guard on duty today should! What's your name? Hmm?
Emma May: Emma May, sir.
Brien May: Oh you don't have to call me sir anymore, you see I'm just a common criminal now apparently. So hey, Emma arrest me. Slap some cuffs on my wrists and take me down to the prison floor! Hey that's how we do things now! Oh but maybe you won't! Maybe you won't arrest the man who changed the way foremen work. There is a lot of talk nowadays about how I put in all these laws, disrespect to authority and what not. But the truth is, and you know the truth, is that I allowed the Foremen to arrest people who would yell abuse at them. I closed a huge loophole in the laws. I SHOULD BE THANKED!! Thanked by every law abiding citizen. But I'm not thanked! Am I?
Nyssa March: Madame President, I also move that Ben September is removed as Vice President.
Brien May: ON WHAT GROUNDS?!
Emily February: Accepted. Ben September is removed as Vice President, effective immediately. He is replaced by Nyssa March, who will remain as the Chief Legal Counsel.
Secretary's Note: At this Point Brien May screams in anger and rage, draws his gun and shoots at Emily February missing her by inches.
Emily February: What?
Nyssa March: WHAT THE BLAZES?!
Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May turns to face Nyssa March. But before he takes the shot Ethan September shoots her in the shoulder. She screams and falls to the ground.
Emily February: THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!
Brien May: BY GOD IT IS!
Ethan September: As the Chief Security Officer of the House I hereby dissolve this council under Emergency Rule 19.
Nyssa March: WHAT”S THE EMERGANCY?!!! TO ENACT THE EMERGANCY RULES YOU NEED TO HAVE A CRISIS,WHAT”S THE CRISIS?!
Brien May: Your Murder.
Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May walks towards Nyssa March and points his hand gun at her head.
Olivia July: NO!
Secretary's Note: At this point Olivia July rushes at Brien May and runs into him as he fires his hand gun. His shot goes wild. Brien May pushed Olivia July away and is promptly attacked by Emily February. She wrestles the gun away from him and tries to shoot him. Brien May manages to grab her hand in time and forces the gun away as Emily February fires. The bullet flies across the room and hits Emma May. She slumps to the ground, blood pouring out of her stomach. Emily February drops the gun in horror and Brien May catches it. He whips the gun across Emily February face and she falls backwards. He points the gun at her face.
Brien May: You, Madame President, are a murderer and I hereby arrest you.
Emily February: Fine..Fine...Is she..Is she really dead?
Ethan September: Yes.
Emily February: Oh my god.
Brien May: Ethan, take her away.
Ethan September: Yes, sir.
Emily February: I didn't mean to do it. It, it, it was an accident. I didn't mean to kill her.
Ethan September: Come along Madame President.
Brien May: Come along Madame Former President, we have no President anymore.
Ethan September: Yes sir.
Brien May: Take the Former Chief Legal Counsel as well, throw her in jail. I don't care on what charge, just put her in a cell. I'll be the Chief Legal Counsel now. I'll be everything now, who needs divided government!
Ethan September: Yes sir.
Brien May: Well I have to say, this was certainly a more action packed council meeting than I suspected coming in today.
End of Transcript
Prologue
Transcript of High Council meeting the night of Philip October's death
Olivia July: This meeting of the High council will now come to order. Mister Secretary are you prepared to take down the following proceedings?
Daniel January: I am, Madam Clerk
Emily February: As president of this council I would like to formally welcome Mr. Daniel January into this council and congratulate him on his election to the position of Secretary
Brien May: As the Chief Foreman and the Prime Minister of the House, I would like to second President February's statements and also congratulate Mr. January on being the first Foreman to serve as secretary since the founding of the House.
Daniel January: Thank you, Madam President and Mister Vice President, it is an honor to serve among these great public servants. I have prepared a short speech that I would like to read into the record.
Nyssa March: Madame President, I would like to move that the Secretary insert his speech into the record of the next meeting, which is the scheduled meeting so as to save time during this emergency meeting.
Brien May: I agree with the Chief Legal Consul.
Emily February: Mr. Secretary please do as the Chief Legal Consul instructs.
Daniel January: Very well Madam President.
Olivia July: I called this meeting at the request of the Prime Minister and the Vice President to address the events that took place earlier today.
Nyssa March: Where is the Vice President? I heard that he was involved in the situation.
Emily February: I would also like to know why the Vice President is absent. In fact, as the Vice President is missing and we may have to make some important rulings today that would fundamentally change our society, I move that the Vice President be replaced. I would like to nominate Alexander August to fill that post.
Brien May: Another teacher. Funny.
Emily February: Excuse me?
Brien May: You are excused.
Nyssa March: Mr. Prime Minister what did you mean by that?
Brien May: What I mean is that, with Daniel January's election to the board there are an equal number of Foremen and Teachers for the first time since you became president. And with Olivia July about to retire, who knows! (Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May stands up and begins to shout at President February) You might be the first Teacher President to lose control of the High Council since Martin July! So you decided to use this young man's death to your advantage. Very very clever.
Emily February: That makes no sense, whatsoever.
Brien May: You are manipulating this situation for your own political benefit!
Emily February: I move that the board temporarily suspends Brien May.
Olivia July: On what grounds?
Emily February: Severe Emotional Distress that doesn't allow him to perform his job appropriately.
Olivia July: Denied.
Emily February: What?
Brien May: She sees through you! Don't you get it? We're all sitting around playing these little games. Who's up who's down what's the point?! Today I shot a 15 and a half year old girl, but you know how I'll sleep tonight? Do you know how I'll seep tonight? I'll sleep tonight because I know, I know, that I did what was needed to protect the House. And that's how Ben will sleep tonight, Because both us know that we did what we needed to do, that we did our duty! But then I come here, and I fell sick! By God, what is the point of all these political games?! MY GOD!!
Nyssa March: I would also like to ask for Brien May's suspension. On the grounds of inability to perform his position and function properly.
Olivia July: Denied.
Brien May: You are a DISGRACE to your position! I am DISGUSTED by what you have done to the position that I once held! I am embarrassed to have ever served as Chief Legal Counsel!
Nyssa March: I move that Brien May be forced to resign from this council on the grounds of gross disrespect to his fellow members!
Olivia July: Denied.
Emily February: Olivia!
Brien May: FOOLS! WE”RE ALL FOOLS! We are taring this place apart!! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!!
Nyssa March and Emily February(together): OLIVIA!!
Olivia July: Denied.
Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May begins to laugh manically.
Nyssa March: Alright Olivia, I didn't want to do this but, as Chief Legal Consul I remove you as Clerk of the Council.
Brien May: Oh, You're pulling in Clause 29, very good, very good. I applaud you. I applaud you and your political wrangling!
Emily February: As President of the House, I invoke Clause 12 of the Council Charter. And I appoint myself Clerk.
Nyssa March: I wish to move for Brien May's immediate dismissal on the grounds of gross disrespect to his fellow members and inability to perform his job.
Emily February: So ruled.
Brien May: Big Surprise.
Emily February: Former Vice President May will sit down.
Brien May: Make me.
Emily February: Ethan September please take Former Vice President May into custody and charge him with Disrespect to Authority.
Brien May: Go on Ethan! Take me into custody! You are the Chief Security Officer after all? Or maybe you don't want to! Maybe you don't want to arrest the guy who first taught you how to shoot a gun! Is that it? Or maybe the guard on duty today should! What's your name? Hmm?
Emma May: Emma May, sir.
Brien May: Oh you don't have to call me sir anymore, you see I'm just a common criminal now apparently. So hey, Emma arrest me. Slap some cuffs on my wrists and take me down to the prison floor! Hey that's how we do things now! Oh but maybe you won't! Maybe you won't arrest the man who changed the way foremen work. There is a lot of talk nowadays about how I put in all these laws, disrespect to authority and what not. But the truth is, and you know the truth, is that I allowed the Foremen to arrest people who would yell abuse at them. I closed a huge loophole in the laws. I SHOULD BE THANKED!! Thanked by every law abiding citizen. But I'm not thanked! Am I?
Nyssa March: Madame President, I also move that Ben September is removed as Vice President.
Brien May: ON WHAT GROUNDS?!
Emily February: Accepted. Ben September is removed as Vice President, effective immediately. He is replaced by Nyssa March, who will remain as the Chief Legal Counsel.
Secretary's Note: At this Point Brien May screams in anger and rage, draws his gun and shoots at Emily February missing her by inches.
Emily February: What?
Nyssa March: WHAT THE BLAZES?!
Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May turns to face Nyssa March. But before he takes the shot Ethan September shoots her in the shoulder. She screams and falls to the ground.
Emily February: THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!
Brien May: BY GOD IT IS!
Ethan September: As the Chief Security Officer of the House I hereby dissolve this council under Emergency Rule 19.
Nyssa March: WHAT”S THE EMERGANCY?!!! TO ENACT THE EMERGANCY RULES YOU NEED TO HAVE A CRISIS,WHAT”S THE CRISIS?!
Brien May: Your Murder.
Secretary's Note: At this point Brien May walks towards Nyssa March and points his hand gun at her head.
Olivia July: NO!
Secretary's Note: At this point Olivia July rushes at Brien May and runs into him as he fires his hand gun. His shot goes wild. Brien May pushed Olivia July away and is promptly attacked by Emily February. She wrestles the gun away from him and tries to shoot him. Brien May manages to grab her hand in time and forces the gun away as Emily February fires. The bullet flies across the room and hits Emma May. She slumps to the ground, blood pouring out of her stomach. Emily February drops the gun in horror and Brien May catches it. He whips the gun across Emily February face and she falls backwards. He points the gun at her face.
Brien May: You, Madame President, are a murderer and I hereby arrest you.
Emily February: Fine..Fine...Is she..Is she really dead?
Ethan September: Yes.
Emily February: Oh my god.
Brien May: Ethan, take her away.
Ethan September: Yes, sir.
Emily February: I didn't mean to do it. It, it, it was an accident. I didn't mean to kill her.
Ethan September: Come along Madame President.
Brien May: Come along Madame Former President, we have no President anymore.
Ethan September: Yes sir.
Brien May: Take the Former Chief Legal Counsel as well, throw her in jail. I don't care on what charge, just put her in a cell. I'll be the Chief Legal Counsel now. I'll be everything now, who needs divided government!
Ethan September: Yes sir.
Brien May: Well I have to say, this was certainly a more action packed council meeting than I suspected coming in today.
End of Transcript
The House Part 4
Chapter four in which terrible things happen and things get complicated
Matthew ran to the nearest flight of stairs and took them three or four at a time.
“Hey! Kid!” A Foreman yelled at Philip as he shot out of the staircase on Floor 14. “Slow Down! Where's the Fire?!” The man had the misfortune to get in Philip's way and was shoved roughly into the wall. Philip wasn't stopping for anyone.
Finally reaching the dining hall he ran in. Glancing around wildly he saw Margret sitting with Marcus, John, Matthew, Madeline, Janet, and Allison.
“Why didn't you tell me?!” Philip yelled at her as he ran to their table, “God Almighty Margret! Why DIDN”T YOU TELL ME?!”
“Phil,” Margret said, standing up, “Calm down. What was I supposed to tell you but didn't?”
“What is on page 504!” Philip said the veins in his neck bulging, “This morning how could you not tell me?”
“You weren't supposed to know yet.” Margret said after thinking for a moment, “And anyway, it's not that big of a deal.”
“NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?!!!” Philip repeated, “How can you possibly say that? I knew nothing! Everyone knows nothing.” He looked around wildly and jumped up on the table.
“EVERYBODY LISTEN!” He roared at the top of his lungs, “We have been lied to and deceived all our lives! But I was chosen as a 16 so now I know the truth. And you know NOTHING! ALL OF YOU KNOW NOTHING!! WE ARE BEING MANIPULATED BY...” Suddenly Philip stopped speaking. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell backwards onto the table.
“Philip! Philip!” Margret yelled and ran towards him. He hit the table hard and rolled over off the table and onto the floor.
“Phil!” Marcus said as he bent down next to Philip, “What happened? Tell me, what did you see?!'
“Page 504....” Philip mumbler, “It...it.”
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” Brien Mary yelled, firing a round of bullets into the air, “GET OUT OF THE WAY OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL KILL YOU ALL!”
Marcus stood up and faced Brien May, pure hatred in his eyes,
“You Maniac.” He hissed, “You absolute and total Maniac.”
“Marcus,” Allison whispered, grabbing his shoulder, “What are you doing? You're going to get us arrested.”
“HE SHOT PHILIP!!” Marcus roared, pushing Allison away and stepping toward Brien, “He stood at the back of the room and shot Philip. He killed him.”
'What?” Matthew asked, shocked.
“It's true.” Margret said, fighting back tears, “He's dead.”
“No!” John yelled, “No...MY GOD!! He posed no threat to you, none! There was no need for you to shoot him! He hadn't committed a crime!!”
“Assault and battery of an officer of the law.” Brien said angrily, “Disturbing the peace. Revealing classified information. I'd say your friend deserved all that he got. Now everyone take a step back or I'll start shooting.”
“Do it.” Marcus sneered at Brien, walking forward so he was an inch away from Brien. “Do it, shoot me, shoot John, shoot anyone, that's what you want isn't it? To shoot and kill everyone. You are a homicidal maniac!” Bang! Marcus fell backwards, blood dripping off his face. Brien had hit him in the face with his gun.
“Now,” Brien roared waving his gun around, “EVERYONE GO ABOUT YOUR BUISNESS AND TAKE A STEP BACK!!!”
“Die a painful death.” Marcus said pulling himself to his feet and spitting in Brien's face.
“You are under arrest for disrespect of an officer!” Taylor August, one of the other Foremen said walking forward.
“Get away from me.” Marcus said warningly, “I'm warning you. Get away from me.”
“Please place your hands behind you back and come along to Headquarters where you will be charged and tried.” Taylor continued, pulling out some handcuffs. He stepped forward and tried to put the cuffs on Marcus but Marcus swung around. Suddenly Taylor screamed, stepped backwards, and collapsed. A butter knife was sticking out of his chest.
“I told him to get away from me.” Marcus said, sounding a little shocked, “I did warn him.”
“You are under arrest for murder.” Ben September, who had just walked up, said, “Marcus please don't make this harder than it needs to be.”
“Forget arrest.” Brien said disgusted. He raised his gun to point at Marcus, “Get out of the way Ben.”
“Brien,” Ben pleaded, “Let's at least give him a trial and time to get his affairs in order.”
“Ben,” Brien said surprisingly politely, “We just saw him stab Taylor to death just for doing his duty. I was going to let his disrespect slide because he was so broken up over Philip October's death but I can't let this slide. Not Murder.”
“Fine.” Ben said and stepped aside.
“BEN!” Matthew said, shocked “How...how can you do this?! How can you just let Brien murder Marcus like this?!”
“Marcus killed Taylor.” Ben said, trying to remain calm.
“And Brien killed Philip!” John said, not trying to remain calm.
“No He didn't.” Ben said.
“Then who did?” John demanded.
Ben opened his mouth to reply but Brien cut him off.
“Taylor did. He saw Philip standing on the table, we were already searching for him and he heard Philip about to reveal classified information so he took the the shot. He did his duty and was killed for it. Now! Step aside!”
“Die a painful death!” Marcus repeated and prepared himself to be executed.
As Brien leveled his gun and prepared to blow Marcus' head apart Janet stepped forward to block him.
“Please sir.” She begged, “Don't shoot him, he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He was torn apart by grief, don't shoot him!”
“We have laws miss.” Brien said, kindly, “To protect society and innocents. If I let this young man get away with murder then it will set a precedent.”
“What do you mean?” Janet asked, confused.
“Ok,” Brien said, still pointing his gun at Marcus, “Let's say that, hypothetically, a friend of yours has a terrible accident.”
'Ok.” Janet said, trying to follow what he was telling her.
“And after you hear about it you naturally go running to see if they're all right.” Brien continued.
“Naturally.” Janet said..
“And when you get to the hospital you go in to see your friend. He's lying on the bed pretty badly scratched up.” Brien said, everyone was very surprised by this side of the Head Foreman. He appeared to be actually.....sane. “So you walk over and try to comfort him, like any good friend would do. You tell him it will be all right. You tell him that he'll get better. You tell him all sorts of things to cheer him up. But he freaks out an starts screaming at you. You try to calm him down but he gets violent and jumps out of bed and begins not attack you. You try to get him to stop but he is acting crazy and eventually you go down under all the blows and die. But your friend isn't punished because, hey, he was acting out of grief and didn't know what he was doing. Do you see the problem?”
“Isn't that a big jump though?” John asked, respectfully. “That by not executing Marcus suddenly we'll make murder legal?”
“Not really.” Brien answered, sill holding Marcus at gun point, “You see the Founders weren't very clear about their definition of murder.”
“Murder's pretty straight forward in my book.” Marcus said, speaking for the first time in a long time.
“Do you mind if I sit down while you'll debating the morality of killing me?” He asked nastily.
“Fine.” Brien replied, “But you are wrong, murder isn't straightforward at all. For example, you believe that Taylor shooting Philip was murder, correct?”
Everyone who wasn't a foreman nodded except for Margret who was sitting near Philip's body quietly weeping.
“So, just to be completely and totally clear beyond even a hint of a shadow of a doubt,” Brien all of you believe that Philip's shooting was murder and should be treated as such, correct?” Brien asked, relaxing his gun arm and sitting lightly on the edge of one of the tables. Again everyone except the foremen and Margret nodded.
“Ok,” Brien said, “But the reason Philip was executed was because he was breaking a law, which is in the Founding Charter. That law explicitly forbids 16s from revealing their classified information. The information is classified for a reason and it can't just be spread around”
“But,” Mathew said, “Don't you agree that there has to be a balance? The punishment can't out weigh the crime.”
“That is actually very debatable.” Brien replied.
“How so?” Matthew asked, interested. Both he and John loved discussing politics and morality and Brien was very well spoken.
“For example your friend, Philip, was breaking the law against revealing classified information.” Brien explained, “The only way to stop him revealing the information was to shoot him. Now normally that would be too harsh a punishment for that particular crime but in this case it was the only way to prevent the crime from being committed. So in certain cases it is both acceptable and necessary for the punishment to out weigh the crime.”
“You might have a point.” Allison said, speaking for the first time. Prior to this she had been sitting back and listening intently. “But, and I'm just play the devil's advocate here, one might argue that if the only way to prevent a crime is to use a punishment which so greatly out weighs the crime that you should instead simply let them commit the crime and punish them afterward when, hopefully, more punishment options are open to you.”
“But shouldn't the main objective in any situation in which a crime is being committed be to stop the crime?” Brien asked, very reasonably, “And by that same notion wouldn't you also agree that the innocent civilian's life and well being is worth more than the criminal's life and well being?”
“Yes, I would agree with that.” Allison said while everyone else, including Marcus nodded. Margret, who was still sitting alone, sniffled to herself. She neither knew nor cared what was going on.
“So,” Brien continued, “Let's take that one step forward; if the innocent civilian's life and well being is worth more than the criminal or potential criminal's life and well being and the main objective is to prevent the crime then, logically, if it was a choice between great force being used to prevent a crime and a criminal being hurt or a crime being committed and an innocent civilian being hurt, you would pick the great force and the criminal being hurt correct?”
“Yes, I would.” Allison said, hesitantly, “If those were the only two choices.”
“So,” Brien said, “Just to be clear if those were the only two choices and you were the Foreman you would use great force against the criminal in order to protect the innocent civilian.”
“Correct.” Allison said, after thinking for a second.
“And the rest of you? Do you agree?” Brien asked the rest of the group. They all nodded including, after a few moments of thought, Marcus.
“But you can't compare,” Marcus said, sounding considerably more reasonable than he did before, “What you, or rather Taylor, did to Philip and the type of situation that you are describing. They are completely different.”
“How so?” Brien asked politely, “How is Taylor's actions towards Philip different than what we were talking about?”
“Philip wasn't a criminal.” Marcus said stubbornly.
“But he was.” Brien explained patiently, slinging his gun across his shoulder for the first time during the conversation, “He was revealing classified information that could have, no would have, jeopardized the stability and structure of our society.”
“That's a lie.” Marcus said, shaking his head dismissively.
“Really?” Brien said raising his eyebrows “Margret!”
'What?” Margret asked, wiping tears from her eyes as she looked up.
“We were discussing whether Philip revealing what was on Page 504 would have damaged the stability of The House.” Brien explained, “As the only 16 here who is not a Foreman, what is your opinion?”
“Page what?” Margret asked. She seemed to be very out of it, Philip's death had struck her very hard. “Which page did you say?”
“504.” Brien repeated, kindly. Everyone was a little shocked by Brien's demeanor throughout the whole conversation. The evil megalomaniac Head Foreman had turned into a kind, polite, logical, political philosopher. “Page Five Hundred and Four.”
“What about it?” Margret asked, shaking her head.
“Would it damage our society if it's contents became public?” Brien said patiently.
“Yes.” Margret said, “Yes, Yes it would. It would be very bad, very very bad.”
“Very very bad?” Brien asked.
“Yes,” Margret repeated, “Very bad.”
“Would it be disastrous?” Brien pressed.
“Yes,” Margret said, “It would change society as we know it.”
“In a good way or a bad way?” Brien said. Suddenly Matthew remembered, and whispered to John, that he had once read that Brien, before he became the Head Foreman, was the Chief Legal Counsel for The House, basically the House's chief judge and the person in charge of setting legal policy for the House.
“In a bad way.” Margret sniffed, “It would cause a panic and probably quite a lot of destruction.”
“So,” Brien said, “Very very bad?”
“Yes.” Margret said.
“Thank you.” Brien said, “Thank you very much.”
“But...” John said, “Surely...”
“Don't listen to him.” Marcus said nastily, “He's twisting everything!”
“He's not twisting anything.” Allison said.
“You agree with him?” Matthew asked, shocked.
“Well...” Allison paused, and then started speaking very fast, “Yes, yes I do. I mean I think that he is making a lot of sense. I mean, you have to put the well being of the society as a whole before the well being of a single person. And if whatever is on this page 504 is really that big and important and secret and destructive and Philip was about to give it all away, and the only way to stop him was to shoot him then maybe...”
“What?” Marcus snarled, “Maybe what? He should have been shot?”
“Well...” Allison said, “Yes, maybe....yes!”
“You make me sick!” Marcus said, “I hope you die! I really do. I hope you die a painful painful death.”
“Marcus...” Allison said, close to tears, “I...”
“Die a painful, torturous death!” Marcus screamed and threw a glass that was sitting on the table at Allison's head. It struck her head and exploded into several pieces. Allison fell to the ground. As she hit the ground Brien grabbed his gun and took aim at Marcus. As he fired Madeline jumped in front of Marcus. Red exploded on her chest. She fell backwards, smashing into the table and sliding off, leaving a long sticky trail of red on the table.
Ben whipped out his hand gun and took aim at Marcus.
“I HOPE YOU ALL FALL DOWN DEAD!!!” Marcus roared at the top of his lungs, jumping up onto the table, “AND I HOPE TAYLOR ROTS!!!!”
Bang!
Marcus screamed as his chest exploded. Ben fired again and this time hit Marcus in the head. Blood splattered everywhere. Marcus' body thumped to the floor next to Madeline's body.
“Whhhhho.” Brien blew air out of his mouth and stared down at the four dead bodies lying on the floor.
“Well,” He said acidly, “That could have gone better.
End of Part 1
Matthew ran to the nearest flight of stairs and took them three or four at a time.
“Hey! Kid!” A Foreman yelled at Philip as he shot out of the staircase on Floor 14. “Slow Down! Where's the Fire?!” The man had the misfortune to get in Philip's way and was shoved roughly into the wall. Philip wasn't stopping for anyone.
Finally reaching the dining hall he ran in. Glancing around wildly he saw Margret sitting with Marcus, John, Matthew, Madeline, Janet, and Allison.
“Why didn't you tell me?!” Philip yelled at her as he ran to their table, “God Almighty Margret! Why DIDN”T YOU TELL ME?!”
“Phil,” Margret said, standing up, “Calm down. What was I supposed to tell you but didn't?”
“What is on page 504!” Philip said the veins in his neck bulging, “This morning how could you not tell me?”
“You weren't supposed to know yet.” Margret said after thinking for a moment, “And anyway, it's not that big of a deal.”
“NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?!!!” Philip repeated, “How can you possibly say that? I knew nothing! Everyone knows nothing.” He looked around wildly and jumped up on the table.
“EVERYBODY LISTEN!” He roared at the top of his lungs, “We have been lied to and deceived all our lives! But I was chosen as a 16 so now I know the truth. And you know NOTHING! ALL OF YOU KNOW NOTHING!! WE ARE BEING MANIPULATED BY...” Suddenly Philip stopped speaking. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell backwards onto the table.
“Philip! Philip!” Margret yelled and ran towards him. He hit the table hard and rolled over off the table and onto the floor.
“Phil!” Marcus said as he bent down next to Philip, “What happened? Tell me, what did you see?!'
“Page 504....” Philip mumbler, “It...it.”
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” Brien Mary yelled, firing a round of bullets into the air, “GET OUT OF THE WAY OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL KILL YOU ALL!”
Marcus stood up and faced Brien May, pure hatred in his eyes,
“You Maniac.” He hissed, “You absolute and total Maniac.”
“Marcus,” Allison whispered, grabbing his shoulder, “What are you doing? You're going to get us arrested.”
“HE SHOT PHILIP!!” Marcus roared, pushing Allison away and stepping toward Brien, “He stood at the back of the room and shot Philip. He killed him.”
'What?” Matthew asked, shocked.
“It's true.” Margret said, fighting back tears, “He's dead.”
“No!” John yelled, “No...MY GOD!! He posed no threat to you, none! There was no need for you to shoot him! He hadn't committed a crime!!”
“Assault and battery of an officer of the law.” Brien said angrily, “Disturbing the peace. Revealing classified information. I'd say your friend deserved all that he got. Now everyone take a step back or I'll start shooting.”
“Do it.” Marcus sneered at Brien, walking forward so he was an inch away from Brien. “Do it, shoot me, shoot John, shoot anyone, that's what you want isn't it? To shoot and kill everyone. You are a homicidal maniac!” Bang! Marcus fell backwards, blood dripping off his face. Brien had hit him in the face with his gun.
“Now,” Brien roared waving his gun around, “EVERYONE GO ABOUT YOUR BUISNESS AND TAKE A STEP BACK!!!”
“Die a painful death.” Marcus said pulling himself to his feet and spitting in Brien's face.
“You are under arrest for disrespect of an officer!” Taylor August, one of the other Foremen said walking forward.
“Get away from me.” Marcus said warningly, “I'm warning you. Get away from me.”
“Please place your hands behind you back and come along to Headquarters where you will be charged and tried.” Taylor continued, pulling out some handcuffs. He stepped forward and tried to put the cuffs on Marcus but Marcus swung around. Suddenly Taylor screamed, stepped backwards, and collapsed. A butter knife was sticking out of his chest.
“I told him to get away from me.” Marcus said, sounding a little shocked, “I did warn him.”
“You are under arrest for murder.” Ben September, who had just walked up, said, “Marcus please don't make this harder than it needs to be.”
“Forget arrest.” Brien said disgusted. He raised his gun to point at Marcus, “Get out of the way Ben.”
“Brien,” Ben pleaded, “Let's at least give him a trial and time to get his affairs in order.”
“Ben,” Brien said surprisingly politely, “We just saw him stab Taylor to death just for doing his duty. I was going to let his disrespect slide because he was so broken up over Philip October's death but I can't let this slide. Not Murder.”
“Fine.” Ben said and stepped aside.
“BEN!” Matthew said, shocked “How...how can you do this?! How can you just let Brien murder Marcus like this?!”
“Marcus killed Taylor.” Ben said, trying to remain calm.
“And Brien killed Philip!” John said, not trying to remain calm.
“No He didn't.” Ben said.
“Then who did?” John demanded.
Ben opened his mouth to reply but Brien cut him off.
“Taylor did. He saw Philip standing on the table, we were already searching for him and he heard Philip about to reveal classified information so he took the the shot. He did his duty and was killed for it. Now! Step aside!”
“Die a painful death!” Marcus repeated and prepared himself to be executed.
As Brien leveled his gun and prepared to blow Marcus' head apart Janet stepped forward to block him.
“Please sir.” She begged, “Don't shoot him, he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He was torn apart by grief, don't shoot him!”
“We have laws miss.” Brien said, kindly, “To protect society and innocents. If I let this young man get away with murder then it will set a precedent.”
“What do you mean?” Janet asked, confused.
“Ok,” Brien said, still pointing his gun at Marcus, “Let's say that, hypothetically, a friend of yours has a terrible accident.”
'Ok.” Janet said, trying to follow what he was telling her.
“And after you hear about it you naturally go running to see if they're all right.” Brien continued.
“Naturally.” Janet said..
“And when you get to the hospital you go in to see your friend. He's lying on the bed pretty badly scratched up.” Brien said, everyone was very surprised by this side of the Head Foreman. He appeared to be actually.....sane. “So you walk over and try to comfort him, like any good friend would do. You tell him it will be all right. You tell him that he'll get better. You tell him all sorts of things to cheer him up. But he freaks out an starts screaming at you. You try to calm him down but he gets violent and jumps out of bed and begins not attack you. You try to get him to stop but he is acting crazy and eventually you go down under all the blows and die. But your friend isn't punished because, hey, he was acting out of grief and didn't know what he was doing. Do you see the problem?”
“Isn't that a big jump though?” John asked, respectfully. “That by not executing Marcus suddenly we'll make murder legal?”
“Not really.” Brien answered, sill holding Marcus at gun point, “You see the Founders weren't very clear about their definition of murder.”
“Murder's pretty straight forward in my book.” Marcus said, speaking for the first time in a long time.
“Do you mind if I sit down while you'll debating the morality of killing me?” He asked nastily.
“Fine.” Brien replied, “But you are wrong, murder isn't straightforward at all. For example, you believe that Taylor shooting Philip was murder, correct?”
Everyone who wasn't a foreman nodded except for Margret who was sitting near Philip's body quietly weeping.
“So, just to be completely and totally clear beyond even a hint of a shadow of a doubt,” Brien all of you believe that Philip's shooting was murder and should be treated as such, correct?” Brien asked, relaxing his gun arm and sitting lightly on the edge of one of the tables. Again everyone except the foremen and Margret nodded.
“Ok,” Brien said, “But the reason Philip was executed was because he was breaking a law, which is in the Founding Charter. That law explicitly forbids 16s from revealing their classified information. The information is classified for a reason and it can't just be spread around”
“But,” Mathew said, “Don't you agree that there has to be a balance? The punishment can't out weigh the crime.”
“That is actually very debatable.” Brien replied.
“How so?” Matthew asked, interested. Both he and John loved discussing politics and morality and Brien was very well spoken.
“For example your friend, Philip, was breaking the law against revealing classified information.” Brien explained, “The only way to stop him revealing the information was to shoot him. Now normally that would be too harsh a punishment for that particular crime but in this case it was the only way to prevent the crime from being committed. So in certain cases it is both acceptable and necessary for the punishment to out weigh the crime.”
“You might have a point.” Allison said, speaking for the first time. Prior to this she had been sitting back and listening intently. “But, and I'm just play the devil's advocate here, one might argue that if the only way to prevent a crime is to use a punishment which so greatly out weighs the crime that you should instead simply let them commit the crime and punish them afterward when, hopefully, more punishment options are open to you.”
“But shouldn't the main objective in any situation in which a crime is being committed be to stop the crime?” Brien asked, very reasonably, “And by that same notion wouldn't you also agree that the innocent civilian's life and well being is worth more than the criminal's life and well being?”
“Yes, I would agree with that.” Allison said while everyone else, including Marcus nodded. Margret, who was still sitting alone, sniffled to herself. She neither knew nor cared what was going on.
“So,” Brien continued, “Let's take that one step forward; if the innocent civilian's life and well being is worth more than the criminal or potential criminal's life and well being and the main objective is to prevent the crime then, logically, if it was a choice between great force being used to prevent a crime and a criminal being hurt or a crime being committed and an innocent civilian being hurt, you would pick the great force and the criminal being hurt correct?”
“Yes, I would.” Allison said, hesitantly, “If those were the only two choices.”
“So,” Brien said, “Just to be clear if those were the only two choices and you were the Foreman you would use great force against the criminal in order to protect the innocent civilian.”
“Correct.” Allison said, after thinking for a second.
“And the rest of you? Do you agree?” Brien asked the rest of the group. They all nodded including, after a few moments of thought, Marcus.
“But you can't compare,” Marcus said, sounding considerably more reasonable than he did before, “What you, or rather Taylor, did to Philip and the type of situation that you are describing. They are completely different.”
“How so?” Brien asked politely, “How is Taylor's actions towards Philip different than what we were talking about?”
“Philip wasn't a criminal.” Marcus said stubbornly.
“But he was.” Brien explained patiently, slinging his gun across his shoulder for the first time during the conversation, “He was revealing classified information that could have, no would have, jeopardized the stability and structure of our society.”
“That's a lie.” Marcus said, shaking his head dismissively.
“Really?” Brien said raising his eyebrows “Margret!”
'What?” Margret asked, wiping tears from her eyes as she looked up.
“We were discussing whether Philip revealing what was on Page 504 would have damaged the stability of The House.” Brien explained, “As the only 16 here who is not a Foreman, what is your opinion?”
“Page what?” Margret asked. She seemed to be very out of it, Philip's death had struck her very hard. “Which page did you say?”
“504.” Brien repeated, kindly. Everyone was a little shocked by Brien's demeanor throughout the whole conversation. The evil megalomaniac Head Foreman had turned into a kind, polite, logical, political philosopher. “Page Five Hundred and Four.”
“What about it?” Margret asked, shaking her head.
“Would it damage our society if it's contents became public?” Brien said patiently.
“Yes.” Margret said, “Yes, Yes it would. It would be very bad, very very bad.”
“Very very bad?” Brien asked.
“Yes,” Margret repeated, “Very bad.”
“Would it be disastrous?” Brien pressed.
“Yes,” Margret said, “It would change society as we know it.”
“In a good way or a bad way?” Brien said. Suddenly Matthew remembered, and whispered to John, that he had once read that Brien, before he became the Head Foreman, was the Chief Legal Counsel for The House, basically the House's chief judge and the person in charge of setting legal policy for the House.
“In a bad way.” Margret sniffed, “It would cause a panic and probably quite a lot of destruction.”
“So,” Brien said, “Very very bad?”
“Yes.” Margret said.
“Thank you.” Brien said, “Thank you very much.”
“But...” John said, “Surely...”
“Don't listen to him.” Marcus said nastily, “He's twisting everything!”
“He's not twisting anything.” Allison said.
“You agree with him?” Matthew asked, shocked.
“Well...” Allison paused, and then started speaking very fast, “Yes, yes I do. I mean I think that he is making a lot of sense. I mean, you have to put the well being of the society as a whole before the well being of a single person. And if whatever is on this page 504 is really that big and important and secret and destructive and Philip was about to give it all away, and the only way to stop him was to shoot him then maybe...”
“What?” Marcus snarled, “Maybe what? He should have been shot?”
“Well...” Allison said, “Yes, maybe....yes!”
“You make me sick!” Marcus said, “I hope you die! I really do. I hope you die a painful painful death.”
“Marcus...” Allison said, close to tears, “I...”
“Die a painful, torturous death!” Marcus screamed and threw a glass that was sitting on the table at Allison's head. It struck her head and exploded into several pieces. Allison fell to the ground. As she hit the ground Brien grabbed his gun and took aim at Marcus. As he fired Madeline jumped in front of Marcus. Red exploded on her chest. She fell backwards, smashing into the table and sliding off, leaving a long sticky trail of red on the table.
Ben whipped out his hand gun and took aim at Marcus.
“I HOPE YOU ALL FALL DOWN DEAD!!!” Marcus roared at the top of his lungs, jumping up onto the table, “AND I HOPE TAYLOR ROTS!!!!”
Bang!
Marcus screamed as his chest exploded. Ben fired again and this time hit Marcus in the head. Blood splattered everywhere. Marcus' body thumped to the floor next to Madeline's body.
“Whhhhho.” Brien blew air out of his mouth and stared down at the four dead bodies lying on the floor.
“Well,” He said acidly, “That could have gone better.
End of Part 1
the house part 3
CHAPTER three in which we meet Brien May and Philip discovers something disturbing
Philip ran down the stairs until he arrived at Floor one. He looked around, hoping to see Ben September, the Vice President of the House. Everyone liked Ben September, he was young, kind, and good looking. He was everyone's favorite Foreman.
In the House there were too types of Administrators, the Foremen and the Teachers. The Teachers' job was to educate the young people of the house and to help run the government of the House. The Foremen were the ones who actually ran everyday life in the House. They told people where to work and what to do on a given day. The ruling council of the House was made up entirely of Foremen and Teachers. The leader of the Teachers and the current President of the House was a middle aged woman named Emily February and the leader of the Foremen was...
“October! Get over here!”
Just as Ben September was universally liked, Brien May was universally disliked. No one was totally sure how he had attained the position of Head Foreman. His adversaries had all dropped out of the race early on, so the current theory was that he had threatened them. Philip didn't like Brien very much, but John and Marcus hated him.
“He is pure evil.” Marcus had said when he was sworn in, “I swear to God he wants to kill us all.”
“With him in control,” John had continued, “The number of executions will triple, I guarantee it.” In fact the number of executions had doubeled.
“Are you leading me down, sir?” Philip asked politely. When dealing with Brien May being polite was a good way not to get arrested with Disrespect to Authority, a new offense that he had made up so as to arrest people he didn't like.
“Yes I am. Now let's get moving. I don't have all day.” The Head Foreman said, fingering the assault rifle which always hung off his shoulder.
“Right, sir. Straight down?” Philip said moving towards the stairs, like all those under 16 he had never been underground.
“No Straight Up.” Brien deadpanned, “Of course straight down.”
Philip bit back a sarcastic reply that would have earned him several days in jail and opened the door. He walked down the stairs, not knowing when to stop. Would Brien tell him or would he just let him keep walking till he hit the bottom.
They walked on for what felt like hours. Brien's thick boots sounded like gun shots as they hit the stairs. Finally they reached Floor -19.
“Stop.” Brien commanded as he walked forward. He pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. “Go Inside. Look around, do whatever you want, then come back out and go upstairs on your own. I don't have time to sit around with you for hours. If you take anything out of the room I will have you arrested. If you share the information with anyone who is not a 16 I will have to arrested. I am having a really really bad day so I would not suggest annoying me. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Sir.” Philip said, strongly resisting the urge to salute.
“Good.” The Head Foreman turned on his heel and strode off.
Philip sighed, opened the door and stepped inside.
The room was relatively bare. There was a table and chair with a big book set on it and that was about it except for a painting hanging on the wall and a cupboard that contained various food stuffs and beverages. Philip poured himself a glass of Apple Cider and opened the book. He read the first page and then read it again. Surely this had to be a joke. He read the page for the third time and then turned to page two. Again he read the page several times.
What was this? Some kind of hazing ritual for new 16s? Show them a book of nonsense? He decided to keep reading and play along with whatever joke was being played on him. By page 107 he decided that maybe there wasn't a joke after all, but this stuff he was reading couldn't possibly be true, could it?
He flipped to a random page in the book and almost had a heart attack. What? No, no this had to be a joke or he must've misread it or something. No, he did read it right, Good Lord! He had to get out of here and talk to Margret, how could she not have mentioned this? He threw the book down and ran out the door without bothering to close it.
Philip sprinted up the seventeen flights of stairs until he reached Floor one. He ran out the door and flung it closed behind him. It shut with a huge bang. Everyone turned to stare at him, but he didn't care. He needed to find Margret for her to tell him that yes it was a joke. That what he had read wasn't true.
Philip ran down the stairs until he arrived at Floor one. He looked around, hoping to see Ben September, the Vice President of the House. Everyone liked Ben September, he was young, kind, and good looking. He was everyone's favorite Foreman.
In the House there were too types of Administrators, the Foremen and the Teachers. The Teachers' job was to educate the young people of the house and to help run the government of the House. The Foremen were the ones who actually ran everyday life in the House. They told people where to work and what to do on a given day. The ruling council of the House was made up entirely of Foremen and Teachers. The leader of the Teachers and the current President of the House was a middle aged woman named Emily February and the leader of the Foremen was...
“October! Get over here!”
Just as Ben September was universally liked, Brien May was universally disliked. No one was totally sure how he had attained the position of Head Foreman. His adversaries had all dropped out of the race early on, so the current theory was that he had threatened them. Philip didn't like Brien very much, but John and Marcus hated him.
“He is pure evil.” Marcus had said when he was sworn in, “I swear to God he wants to kill us all.”
“With him in control,” John had continued, “The number of executions will triple, I guarantee it.” In fact the number of executions had doubeled.
“Are you leading me down, sir?” Philip asked politely. When dealing with Brien May being polite was a good way not to get arrested with Disrespect to Authority, a new offense that he had made up so as to arrest people he didn't like.
“Yes I am. Now let's get moving. I don't have all day.” The Head Foreman said, fingering the assault rifle which always hung off his shoulder.
“Right, sir. Straight down?” Philip said moving towards the stairs, like all those under 16 he had never been underground.
“No Straight Up.” Brien deadpanned, “Of course straight down.”
Philip bit back a sarcastic reply that would have earned him several days in jail and opened the door. He walked down the stairs, not knowing when to stop. Would Brien tell him or would he just let him keep walking till he hit the bottom.
They walked on for what felt like hours. Brien's thick boots sounded like gun shots as they hit the stairs. Finally they reached Floor -19.
“Stop.” Brien commanded as he walked forward. He pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. “Go Inside. Look around, do whatever you want, then come back out and go upstairs on your own. I don't have time to sit around with you for hours. If you take anything out of the room I will have you arrested. If you share the information with anyone who is not a 16 I will have to arrested. I am having a really really bad day so I would not suggest annoying me. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Sir.” Philip said, strongly resisting the urge to salute.
“Good.” The Head Foreman turned on his heel and strode off.
Philip sighed, opened the door and stepped inside.
The room was relatively bare. There was a table and chair with a big book set on it and that was about it except for a painting hanging on the wall and a cupboard that contained various food stuffs and beverages. Philip poured himself a glass of Apple Cider and opened the book. He read the first page and then read it again. Surely this had to be a joke. He read the page for the third time and then turned to page two. Again he read the page several times.
What was this? Some kind of hazing ritual for new 16s? Show them a book of nonsense? He decided to keep reading and play along with whatever joke was being played on him. By page 107 he decided that maybe there wasn't a joke after all, but this stuff he was reading couldn't possibly be true, could it?
He flipped to a random page in the book and almost had a heart attack. What? No, no this had to be a joke or he must've misread it or something. No, he did read it right, Good Lord! He had to get out of here and talk to Margret, how could she not have mentioned this? He threw the book down and ran out the door without bothering to close it.
Philip sprinted up the seventeen flights of stairs until he reached Floor one. He ran out the door and flung it closed behind him. It shut with a huge bang. Everyone turned to stare at him, but he didn't care. He needed to find Margret for her to tell him that yes it was a joke. That what he had read wasn't true.
The House Part 2
CHAPTER two in which we meet Marcus November
“Philip!” Marcus November called to Philip as he walked back into his room, “Where in God's Name have you been? Matt and John are out looking for you and I was this freaking close to calling the Foremen and getting them to search for you!”
“No! Don't call the Foremen!” Philip said urgently, picking up on the last that that Marcus had said, “Don't do that at all!”
“Dude,” Marcus said standing up from the kitchen table where he had been sitting and raising his eyebrows, “What's wrong?”
“Oh nothing.” Philip said evasively, pouring himself a cup of coffee “I was chosen as a 16 so I went and talked to Margret about it. I should have left a note but I was surprised and forgot. It really isn't all that dramatic.”
“You're a 16?” Marcus said still studying Philip.
“Yep.” Philip said taking a sip of his coffee, “That means we'll get better quarters now.”
“Okay cut it, Philip, just cut it.” Marcus said, shaking his head, “What is going on? And don't tell me nothing because I've been your roommate for seven years and I know when you're not right. So tell me, what is going on?”
“Just nervous about the 16 thing.” Philip said taking another sip of his coffee, trying to appear casual.
“It's Margret isn't it?” Marcus said, “You have a thing for her.”
“What?! No!” Philip protested.
“Come on man,” Marcus said “You've had a thing for her since we were kids. So what happened today?”
Philip sighed and decided to tell Marcus the truth.
“Last Easter Margret and I got separated from the rest of the group remember?” Philip asked, setting his coffee cup down.
“Yeah,” Marcus nodded, “I remember. You said that you wandered around trying to find us until you finally just decided to go back to Floor 17.”
“Well,” Philip said, trying not to blush, “We didn't exactly get separated from the group.”
“Oh My God.” Marcus said. setting his coffee cup down on the kitchen table, “You broke Rule one?”
“She and I sneaked off to the History classroom.” Philip continued without acknowledging that Marcus, who was now staring at Philip in total shock, had spoken, “We went to talk but then things...got out of hand.”
“What the blazes were you thinking?” Marcus said, outraged, “Rule one isn't called Rule one because it's catchy; it's called Rule one because it's the first rule that the Founders made after founding the House. It's the law that our entire culture is built upon! And you go and break it with a 16 no less! If you guys get caught who do you think will be punished the most? Not the 16 I can tell you that! Lord Almighty Phil!”
“Marcus I think you're forgetting that I'm a 16 now.” Philip said trying not to get annoyed, “And it's fine. Nobody cares anymore.”
“Nobody cares anymore?!” Marcus said grabbing Philip's shoulder and staring into his eyes, “Dude, what have you been drinking? It is the single most important law on the books! You have to break it off and pretend like it never happened!”
“No I don't, Marcus.” Philip began but he was interrupted by Mathew January's entrance.
Matthew January was probably the least popular of the four boys who shared Room 1232 not because he wasn't kind, which he certainly was, but because he didn't fit neatly into any box. John was the intense intelligent one, Marcus was the voice of common sense and reason, and Philip was the funny charming one. Nobody was really sure how to describe Matthew. He was efficent but he never really stood out. He kept his head down and rarily caused trouble, though sometimes he would get very moody and aloof.
Marcus particularly got annoyed with Matthew's behavior sometimes.
“He's so boring..” Marcus would say sometimes to Philip, “I just want to walk up to him and say 'For God's Sake get a personality!'”
John, on the other hand thought that Matthew was very intelligent and they were quite friendly. They would often sit by the fire, drinking tea, and have loud discussions about politics. Marcus and Philip hated politics and would always find an excuse to leave the room once these discussions began.
“Philip!” Matthew cried, “Where the blazes were you?”
“I was made a 16 so I went to talk to Margret about it.” Philip said, glancing at Marcus, “I should have left a note for you guys, sorry.”
“So you really aare a 16?” Marcus asked, shooting Philip a look that clearly said that their conversation was far from over. “That is super cool, man. What time do you have to go down?”
“Let's see...” Philip said pulling out the letter, “Um.....ten:30.”
“Dude!” Marcus said looking at the clock on the wall, “It's ten:15 now! You're going to be late!”
“Lord, you're right.” Philip said stuffing the letter back into his pocket, “Talk to you guys later!”
“Happy Birthday!” Matthew called to him as he rushed out the door.
“Philip!” Marcus November called to Philip as he walked back into his room, “Where in God's Name have you been? Matt and John are out looking for you and I was this freaking close to calling the Foremen and getting them to search for you!”
“No! Don't call the Foremen!” Philip said urgently, picking up on the last that that Marcus had said, “Don't do that at all!”
“Dude,” Marcus said standing up from the kitchen table where he had been sitting and raising his eyebrows, “What's wrong?”
“Oh nothing.” Philip said evasively, pouring himself a cup of coffee “I was chosen as a 16 so I went and talked to Margret about it. I should have left a note but I was surprised and forgot. It really isn't all that dramatic.”
“You're a 16?” Marcus said still studying Philip.
“Yep.” Philip said taking a sip of his coffee, “That means we'll get better quarters now.”
“Okay cut it, Philip, just cut it.” Marcus said, shaking his head, “What is going on? And don't tell me nothing because I've been your roommate for seven years and I know when you're not right. So tell me, what is going on?”
“Just nervous about the 16 thing.” Philip said taking another sip of his coffee, trying to appear casual.
“It's Margret isn't it?” Marcus said, “You have a thing for her.”
“What?! No!” Philip protested.
“Come on man,” Marcus said “You've had a thing for her since we were kids. So what happened today?”
Philip sighed and decided to tell Marcus the truth.
“Last Easter Margret and I got separated from the rest of the group remember?” Philip asked, setting his coffee cup down.
“Yeah,” Marcus nodded, “I remember. You said that you wandered around trying to find us until you finally just decided to go back to Floor 17.”
“Well,” Philip said, trying not to blush, “We didn't exactly get separated from the group.”
“Oh My God.” Marcus said. setting his coffee cup down on the kitchen table, “You broke Rule one?”
“She and I sneaked off to the History classroom.” Philip continued without acknowledging that Marcus, who was now staring at Philip in total shock, had spoken, “We went to talk but then things...got out of hand.”
“What the blazes were you thinking?” Marcus said, outraged, “Rule one isn't called Rule one because it's catchy; it's called Rule one because it's the first rule that the Founders made after founding the House. It's the law that our entire culture is built upon! And you go and break it with a 16 no less! If you guys get caught who do you think will be punished the most? Not the 16 I can tell you that! Lord Almighty Phil!”
“Marcus I think you're forgetting that I'm a 16 now.” Philip said trying not to get annoyed, “And it's fine. Nobody cares anymore.”
“Nobody cares anymore?!” Marcus said grabbing Philip's shoulder and staring into his eyes, “Dude, what have you been drinking? It is the single most important law on the books! You have to break it off and pretend like it never happened!”
“No I don't, Marcus.” Philip began but he was interrupted by Mathew January's entrance.
Matthew January was probably the least popular of the four boys who shared Room 1232 not because he wasn't kind, which he certainly was, but because he didn't fit neatly into any box. John was the intense intelligent one, Marcus was the voice of common sense and reason, and Philip was the funny charming one. Nobody was really sure how to describe Matthew. He was efficent but he never really stood out. He kept his head down and rarily caused trouble, though sometimes he would get very moody and aloof.
Marcus particularly got annoyed with Matthew's behavior sometimes.
“He's so boring..” Marcus would say sometimes to Philip, “I just want to walk up to him and say 'For God's Sake get a personality!'”
John, on the other hand thought that Matthew was very intelligent and they were quite friendly. They would often sit by the fire, drinking tea, and have loud discussions about politics. Marcus and Philip hated politics and would always find an excuse to leave the room once these discussions began.
“Philip!” Matthew cried, “Where the blazes were you?”
“I was made a 16 so I went to talk to Margret about it.” Philip said, glancing at Marcus, “I should have left a note for you guys, sorry.”
“So you really aare a 16?” Marcus asked, shooting Philip a look that clearly said that their conversation was far from over. “That is super cool, man. What time do you have to go down?”
“Let's see...” Philip said pulling out the letter, “Um.....ten:30.”
“Dude!” Marcus said looking at the clock on the wall, “It's ten:15 now! You're going to be late!”
“Lord, you're right.” Philip said stuffing the letter back into his pocket, “Talk to you guys later!”
“Happy Birthday!” Matthew called to him as he rushed out the door.
The House Part 1
Quick Blog Note Here: This book was written for National Novel Writing Month and is being published as it is edited. I have a challenge for those reading this book: Many of the characters are named after people who I know but only one character is truly based off of someone I know.
The Month Trilogy book one
THE HOUSE
By Rock4ever
To Emily who got me to do this and who is going down
Part One: Business as Usual
Prologue
The Following is an excerpt from the Complete Authorized History of The House by Claudia August, a prominent House Historian. The book was written prior to the birth of Philip October.
The House is not a house, or at least not exactly a house. It stands Hundreds of floors high with several under the ground as well. No one is completely sure how anyone got into the House, as it has neither doors nor windows. The current theory advanced by the chief scholars inside the House is that after the Great Unpleasantness which was the most devastating event in the history of the Planet Earth, so devastating in fact that it is not documented in any Earth History Book, the Founders built and moved into The House and then sealed it off from the outside.
Most accept this theory while others say that the founders used their mystical powers to build the House. But even the “True Believers”, as they refer to themselves agree that the Founders moved into the House because of the Great Unpleasantness.
The House functions both as a home for its many residents and as a giant factory. The House is completely isolated from the outside so the Founders built in a school for the young residents and numerous different production lines to create things which were deemed necessary for the survival of the House, weapons, clothes, and the like. Eventually luxury items were also produced after the workforce grew.
Food is produced by machines which were built by the Founders. Only the 16s, an elite group of residents who will be discussed more in a moment, know how to work the machines. This is due to the fear that Terrorists could sabotage the machines and thus destroy the House's only food source.
The Founders made several laws so as to ensure that the Great Unpleasantness could never happen again. The first law that is listed in the Founding Charter is known as Rule One, Rule One made all Romantic Relationships illegal. All children were to be wards of the state and created through scientific means. The children would also receive as a surname the month that they were born. Their first name would be given to them by whichever person happened to be filling out the naming forms. This law stopped families from forming. The Founders strongly believed that families were harmful to society.
The other important law that the Founders made was that when a resident in 16 he or she will find out whether or not they are a member the 16s. The 16s run the House and, on their 16th Birthday, they are taken underground and shown various secrets that they are then forbidden to speak about. This enables the House to function without the constant fear of terrorist attacks.
Chapter One in which we meet Philip October and he receives an unexpected birthday present
October 28th
Philip October woke with a start. It was his birthday today! What time was it? He looked over at the clock which hung on the dormitory wall. Naturally he was up obscenely early. His roommates would probably literally murder him if he woke them up now.
He swung off his bed and grabbed his robe. He slipped it on and tiptoed out of the bedroom. He had only three roommates which meant that they got two largish rooms, three closets and a bathroom. No one was really sure why four people sharing a room only got three bedrooms but most people just shrugged and said that the Founders knew best and that was that.
One of Philip's roommates, John June, did not accept that explanation.
“The Founders wouldn't just think up some random rule that makes no sense.” He would often say, “They must have had some reason. Or they were just insane, in which case we should draw up a new charter with different rules.” Marcus November and Mathew January, Philip's other roommates would always laugh and say that not enough closet space probably wasn't reason enough to scrap the whole Founding Charter.
Philip walked over to the door to the room and looked down at the mail that had come during the night. He scanned it with his eyes. Where was that letter. The one that would tell him that he was going to be entered into the ETT, Elevated Teacher Training Program. Ah! There it was. He bent down and picked it up. He opened it and almost dropped it in shock.
There printed in big bold print were the last words Philip ever expected to read. The Letter read:
CONGRATULATIONS PHILIP OCTOBER
YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS A 16
Please Report to Floor one at ten:30 AM
The entire staff of the House offers you their congratulations
SIGNED Ben September, Vice President of The House.
Philip dropped the letter, totally shocked. He had never expected to be named one of the 16s. He had never really stood out in school and his technical ability was non existent. The only thing that he was good at was teaching! That was why he was going to enter into the ETT. He had to go and talk to Margret November. He went to the closet that he shared with Marcus and threw on some clothes. He quietly opened the door and slipped out.
Philip lived in Room 1232 which was on Floor 27 and Margret lived on Floor 20 in Room 876. The Founders had anticipated that, since there was such a great number of rooms, that it might get a little hard to navigate the hallways so they had installed computer terminals at various points in the wall that provided navigation if needed. Philip had visited Margret so many times however that he no longer needed the use of the House Positioning Systems, or HPSs as they were called.
Philip walked quickly down the hallways and down several sets of stairs until he reached Margret's room. He knocked at the door and Allison October, one of Margret's roommates, opened the door.
“Hey Philip.” She said smiling, “Happy Birthday.”
“Hey Allison.” Philip said, “is Margret up yet? I kind of need to talk to her.”
“Oh,” Madeline December, Margret's other roommate said walking into the living room, “Does that mean what I think it means? You're a 16?”
“Yeah.” Philip said, he knew he was being a little brusk but he really needed to talk to Margret, “I am. Is she here?”
“I think she's in the bathroom.” Janet December, Margret's other roommate said, coming out of the kitchen. As Margret was a 16 she and her roommates got slightly better quarters. Margret had made the unusual decision to stick with her original roommates instead of moving in with other 16s. “Coffee, Phil?”
“Philip.” Margret said, stepping out of the bathroom drying her hair, “Is that you?”
“Yeah.” Philip said again, “Can I talk to you, alone?”
“Sure.” Margret said, and led Philip into the tiny kitchen. She shut the door and turned to face Philip.
“Margret,” Philip said as Margret pushed her shockingly red hair out of her face, “I'm a 16.”
“Really?” Margret said smiling, “That's great, Phil.”
“No it isn't!” Philip yelled and then quieted down, “I'm not prepared to be a 16! I almost failed House History for God's sake! Plus I don't even know what it is you guys do!”
“I can't really talk about it.” Margret said, smothering a small smile. “It's top secret to all those not part of the group. And even though you've been picked, you haven't been initiated yet.”
“What's so funny?” Philip demanded.
“It's my roommates.” Margret explained, still grinning, “It just occurred to me what they must be thinking we're doing right now.”
“What?” Philip said and then the truth dawned on him. “Oh my God. Are they going to report us? We have to go out and talk to them right now! God Almighty!”
“No Phil It's fine. They're fine with it.”
“Fine with it?” Philip said looking around wildly, the stress of his important birthday was really getting to him, “Fine with what?”
“Fine with us.” Margret said laughing, “I told them about Easter.”
“Dear God Margret, are you insane?!!” Philip said blushing remembering the kiss that he and Margret has shared curring the Easter/Spring Solstice/Passover celebration.
“Phil,” Margret said laughing, “It's really not that big of a deal.”
“Not a Big deal?” Philip said outraged, “The first freaking law that the Founders made was No Romantic Relationships. I'm pretty sure that us breaking that rule kind of falls under big deals.”
“Our Generation doesn't care about that rule anymore.” Margret said reasonably, “Once we take power we'll probably stop enforcing it.”
“That's all well and fine.” Philip said, considerably less reasonably, “But our generation aren't going to be the ones to shoot us in the head, are they?!”
“Valid Point.” Margret said, “Seriously though chill out Phil. How is anyone going to find out?”
“Well how about this...” Philip said, harsher than probably was necessary, “Your stupid roommate, what's her name? Janet, gets caught with some boy and when they question to save her neck her she says 'Oh well Margret and Philip are a couple' and then we're dragged in and shot!”
“A,” Margret counted off on her fingers, “Janet is not stupid she's very bright.” Philip snorted. Margret shot him a look and continued. “B, she would never be caught with a boy. C, if she was she wouldn't sell us out. D, No one has ever been shot because they broke Rule one, and E, I don't like your tone.”
“Ok,” Philip shot back, “A, she failed three classes last year. B, Seriously? Never be caught with a boy? She's blond for God's Sake! C. Maybe so. D. The new chief foreman is pretty harsh and there's a first time for everything. E, Yeah well my tone doesn't like you either.
Margret laughed and Philip cracked his first smile as a 16 year old.
“You're too funny.” Margret said, “I'd give you a birthday kiss but I don't want to cause either of us to get shot.”
“Yeah well.” Philip said laughing and stepping toward Margret, “Being shot never hurt anyone.”
Margret stepped forward as well and together they broke Rule one.
The Month Trilogy book one
THE HOUSE
By Rock4ever
To Emily who got me to do this and who is going down
Part One: Business as Usual
Prologue
The Following is an excerpt from the Complete Authorized History of The House by Claudia August, a prominent House Historian. The book was written prior to the birth of Philip October.
The House is not a house, or at least not exactly a house. It stands Hundreds of floors high with several under the ground as well. No one is completely sure how anyone got into the House, as it has neither doors nor windows. The current theory advanced by the chief scholars inside the House is that after the Great Unpleasantness which was the most devastating event in the history of the Planet Earth, so devastating in fact that it is not documented in any Earth History Book, the Founders built and moved into The House and then sealed it off from the outside.
Most accept this theory while others say that the founders used their mystical powers to build the House. But even the “True Believers”, as they refer to themselves agree that the Founders moved into the House because of the Great Unpleasantness.
The House functions both as a home for its many residents and as a giant factory. The House is completely isolated from the outside so the Founders built in a school for the young residents and numerous different production lines to create things which were deemed necessary for the survival of the House, weapons, clothes, and the like. Eventually luxury items were also produced after the workforce grew.
Food is produced by machines which were built by the Founders. Only the 16s, an elite group of residents who will be discussed more in a moment, know how to work the machines. This is due to the fear that Terrorists could sabotage the machines and thus destroy the House's only food source.
The Founders made several laws so as to ensure that the Great Unpleasantness could never happen again. The first law that is listed in the Founding Charter is known as Rule One, Rule One made all Romantic Relationships illegal. All children were to be wards of the state and created through scientific means. The children would also receive as a surname the month that they were born. Their first name would be given to them by whichever person happened to be filling out the naming forms. This law stopped families from forming. The Founders strongly believed that families were harmful to society.
The other important law that the Founders made was that when a resident in 16 he or she will find out whether or not they are a member the 16s. The 16s run the House and, on their 16th Birthday, they are taken underground and shown various secrets that they are then forbidden to speak about. This enables the House to function without the constant fear of terrorist attacks.
Chapter One in which we meet Philip October and he receives an unexpected birthday present
October 28th
Philip October woke with a start. It was his birthday today! What time was it? He looked over at the clock which hung on the dormitory wall. Naturally he was up obscenely early. His roommates would probably literally murder him if he woke them up now.
He swung off his bed and grabbed his robe. He slipped it on and tiptoed out of the bedroom. He had only three roommates which meant that they got two largish rooms, three closets and a bathroom. No one was really sure why four people sharing a room only got three bedrooms but most people just shrugged and said that the Founders knew best and that was that.
One of Philip's roommates, John June, did not accept that explanation.
“The Founders wouldn't just think up some random rule that makes no sense.” He would often say, “They must have had some reason. Or they were just insane, in which case we should draw up a new charter with different rules.” Marcus November and Mathew January, Philip's other roommates would always laugh and say that not enough closet space probably wasn't reason enough to scrap the whole Founding Charter.
Philip walked over to the door to the room and looked down at the mail that had come during the night. He scanned it with his eyes. Where was that letter. The one that would tell him that he was going to be entered into the ETT, Elevated Teacher Training Program. Ah! There it was. He bent down and picked it up. He opened it and almost dropped it in shock.
There printed in big bold print were the last words Philip ever expected to read. The Letter read:
CONGRATULATIONS PHILIP OCTOBER
YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS A 16
Please Report to Floor one at ten:30 AM
The entire staff of the House offers you their congratulations
SIGNED Ben September, Vice President of The House.
Philip dropped the letter, totally shocked. He had never expected to be named one of the 16s. He had never really stood out in school and his technical ability was non existent. The only thing that he was good at was teaching! That was why he was going to enter into the ETT. He had to go and talk to Margret November. He went to the closet that he shared with Marcus and threw on some clothes. He quietly opened the door and slipped out.
Philip lived in Room 1232 which was on Floor 27 and Margret lived on Floor 20 in Room 876. The Founders had anticipated that, since there was such a great number of rooms, that it might get a little hard to navigate the hallways so they had installed computer terminals at various points in the wall that provided navigation if needed. Philip had visited Margret so many times however that he no longer needed the use of the House Positioning Systems, or HPSs as they were called.
Philip walked quickly down the hallways and down several sets of stairs until he reached Margret's room. He knocked at the door and Allison October, one of Margret's roommates, opened the door.
“Hey Philip.” She said smiling, “Happy Birthday.”
“Hey Allison.” Philip said, “is Margret up yet? I kind of need to talk to her.”
“Oh,” Madeline December, Margret's other roommate said walking into the living room, “Does that mean what I think it means? You're a 16?”
“Yeah.” Philip said, he knew he was being a little brusk but he really needed to talk to Margret, “I am. Is she here?”
“I think she's in the bathroom.” Janet December, Margret's other roommate said, coming out of the kitchen. As Margret was a 16 she and her roommates got slightly better quarters. Margret had made the unusual decision to stick with her original roommates instead of moving in with other 16s. “Coffee, Phil?”
“Philip.” Margret said, stepping out of the bathroom drying her hair, “Is that you?”
“Yeah.” Philip said again, “Can I talk to you, alone?”
“Sure.” Margret said, and led Philip into the tiny kitchen. She shut the door and turned to face Philip.
“Margret,” Philip said as Margret pushed her shockingly red hair out of her face, “I'm a 16.”
“Really?” Margret said smiling, “That's great, Phil.”
“No it isn't!” Philip yelled and then quieted down, “I'm not prepared to be a 16! I almost failed House History for God's sake! Plus I don't even know what it is you guys do!”
“I can't really talk about it.” Margret said, smothering a small smile. “It's top secret to all those not part of the group. And even though you've been picked, you haven't been initiated yet.”
“What's so funny?” Philip demanded.
“It's my roommates.” Margret explained, still grinning, “It just occurred to me what they must be thinking we're doing right now.”
“What?” Philip said and then the truth dawned on him. “Oh my God. Are they going to report us? We have to go out and talk to them right now! God Almighty!”
“No Phil It's fine. They're fine with it.”
“Fine with it?” Philip said looking around wildly, the stress of his important birthday was really getting to him, “Fine with what?”
“Fine with us.” Margret said laughing, “I told them about Easter.”
“Dear God Margret, are you insane?!!” Philip said blushing remembering the kiss that he and Margret has shared curring the Easter/Spring Solstice/Passover celebration.
“Phil,” Margret said laughing, “It's really not that big of a deal.”
“Not a Big deal?” Philip said outraged, “The first freaking law that the Founders made was No Romantic Relationships. I'm pretty sure that us breaking that rule kind of falls under big deals.”
“Our Generation doesn't care about that rule anymore.” Margret said reasonably, “Once we take power we'll probably stop enforcing it.”
“That's all well and fine.” Philip said, considerably less reasonably, “But our generation aren't going to be the ones to shoot us in the head, are they?!”
“Valid Point.” Margret said, “Seriously though chill out Phil. How is anyone going to find out?”
“Well how about this...” Philip said, harsher than probably was necessary, “Your stupid roommate, what's her name? Janet, gets caught with some boy and when they question to save her neck her she says 'Oh well Margret and Philip are a couple' and then we're dragged in and shot!”
“A,” Margret counted off on her fingers, “Janet is not stupid she's very bright.” Philip snorted. Margret shot him a look and continued. “B, she would never be caught with a boy. C, if she was she wouldn't sell us out. D, No one has ever been shot because they broke Rule one, and E, I don't like your tone.”
“Ok,” Philip shot back, “A, she failed three classes last year. B, Seriously? Never be caught with a boy? She's blond for God's Sake! C. Maybe so. D. The new chief foreman is pretty harsh and there's a first time for everything. E, Yeah well my tone doesn't like you either.
Margret laughed and Philip cracked his first smile as a 16 year old.
“You're too funny.” Margret said, “I'd give you a birthday kiss but I don't want to cause either of us to get shot.”
“Yeah well.” Philip said laughing and stepping toward Margret, “Being shot never hurt anyone.”
Margret stepped forward as well and together they broke Rule one.
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