The Judas Factor

Part 1

I gushed upon the doorstep, the heavy rain-drops following me, attaching themselves to my great-coat like some inhuman swarm. I stood there dripping profanities as I clumsily shed my hat and coat, it was the culmination of my awful day, this day which was supposed to be my most glorious. I alone among my peers had been selected to author the inaugural address. Tonight the first New World President would address the people for the very first time. My cubicle in the macabre landscape of The Press, like an endless sea of coffins, had shone brightly for brief moments as I phrased and paraphrased, I sculpted words with fierce abandon, my words which would soon be transplanted to His lips. The newly formed Press was the interface between the people and the government, or what had more commonly become referred to as Him. Ironically almost the entire population worked for The Press in one way or another, whether it was writing broadcasts (my assignment), policing, feeding, or just cleaning up after us, it seemed to be endless. But I, in my fury of words, had lost track. Soon my cubicle was the only one shining in a sea of darkness, I was minutes away from curfew and my position did not allow for any grace above any other of my peers. Gathering my thoughts and things I burst through the empty halls and malls of The Press. How strange they seemed now, so unusually quiet it seemed almost sinful to be making such a ruckus in my haste, like the quiet kept as the side of the dead, as if noise might disturb a corpse. I was in the cab when curfew kicked over, the driver panicked and dumped me on a strange corner just as the streetlights were being cut. Splashing away in the torrential rain were the only lights for miles, apart from what would surely be the solitary light-bulb of a Press interrogation chamber shortly. I could see the lights of an approaching Press patrol-car reflected in the damp concrete, yet I spied a glow from around the corner and found this place. An old bar, one of those retro places, yet a little too authentic to be of comfort. Moments later, there I was shedding my frustration like so many drops of rain, unfamiliar words dripping from my lips in my unconscious baptism, it was several minutes before I bothered to survey the place which I had so abruptly entered. Behind me a billboard sprang to life; the ubiquitous image of Him, arms outstretched as if He was about to snatch me off the very stoop on which I stood. There were screens around the room, the inauguration was beginning and all eyes turned toward the monitors, all except a dishevelled old man who sat at the bar enveloped in a cloud of smoke which issued sulfurously from his cigar. He remained ignorant of the screens, observing me from beneath the wide brim of his hat. I don't know what drew me to him, perhaps it was his disinterest in our leader, perhaps it was his interest in me, but it was certain to be inevitable. I approach the bar and wait for the barman to approach me, this is apparently not a priority for him.

"So who are you?" Says the old man.

"Me?" I reply affronted "I'm nobody."

"Nobody's anybody anymore." He gruffs.

I'm confused and not sure whether to be insulted, I try and change the topic. "So what do you think of Him?" I say indicating the picture of the Leader on the screen it was an image of Him being blessed by the Healers. The Healers were a group of mystics whose ability to heal by touch had endeared them to the public though not much else was known about them.

"Gah! Thaumaturgists!" Says the old man, and I smile and nod, though not really knowing why. "Let me ask you." He continues. "At what point do you decide you want to be a World President? Five, Ten, Thirty-three? Shouldn't it be inevitable? Shouldn't it be that such a leader would rise of his own accord?"

"Well... I suppose, but he's not a politician, he's a regular citizen like us." I say, reciting some part of some sales-pitch I heard somewhere.

"He's sure got his advertising division together then." He said "Plus the Press seem to be on his side, shut down the whole city for him tonight.