“If that’s all, I suppose we should bring this meeting to order,” Pare begins. “You may take a seat.”
I sit next to Joley and Jkahl on the floor while Clyde, Klayden and Blair seat themselves at the table. Lai keeps her position in the back and Pare stands in front of us all.
“First item of business—I believe Kole had something to share with us.” Pare sits at the table.
“Yes, and I think it’s the beginning of a breakthrough for us!” Kole starts rummaging through his bag. “I found a newspaper—from over seventy years ago!”
Pare snaps to attention. “Seventy years?”
“Well, sixty eight really, but I rounded up.” Kole pulls out a faded, yellowing packet of paper, holding it delicately. He places it in the center of the table and we all gather around it.
“From 2094,” Blair says quietly. Klayden whistles.
“I didn’t know paper could last that long,” Clyde remarks.
“I found it in—in my son’s room,” Kole’s face falls. A silence falls over the group.
“I’m sorry Kole,” Joley puts her hand on Kole’s arm.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Blair
“Yes it was.” Kole’s hands grip the edge of the table. “If I had been home—”
“Then you’d be gone too,” Pare reminds him.
“And now you get the chance to avenge his death,” Blair contributes.
“What happened?” Clyde whispers to me.
“His son was killed when soldiers found illegal literary material belonging to the family,” I reply.
“Ten years ago,” Kole stares ahead of him, eyes unfocused and not seeing. “He would have been seventeen now. Do you know what they found that gave him away?” he turns to Clyde. “His journal. It would have been okay, most of it was just seven year old blabber, but I told him…” Kole looked down at his hands. “I told him about how it used to be. That when I was child, like him, there were legends, talk of old times being different than how their taught. The legends told of inventions and a world full of wonderful things. And I told him about the ones I’d heard.”
“Kole, I…” Clyde trails off, at a loss for words.
“I had just come back from buying the week’s rations and I found him, lying on the floor, a hole in his temple. I didn’t even have time to bury him,” his voice comes out as a dry whisper. He shakes his head, coming back to reality. “That’s why this is so important. So others don’t have to die the same death he did. Just because of a stupid story.”
“And, the—the newspaper?” Klayden asks.
“I was just going back to the house, to see if there was anything I missed when I left. I found this in his room. I don’t know how he found it.” Kole explains.
“What does it say?” Blair leans closer to read it.
“It talks about the way politics used to be,” Kole replies.
“Politics?” Jkahl
“Politics;” Lai flips through a thick book. “Activities that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting and keeping power in government.”
“Which means?”
“It’s a different form of government,” Kole answers.
“A different kind?” Clyde inquires. “How would that work?”
