The War of Pages

3; The Most Dangerous Book of All

Cohen and his partner left Techno waiting in the interrogation room while they searched for Ska Faulkner, who had been Techno's best friend since the awkward fool mysteriously showed up in town when he was a kid. He could be shady at times, but he certainly meant well. His shadiness had come in handy every time Techno needed someone to deliver a book he didn't want to be caught with. Those days, he didn't want to be caught with any of them, so he partnered up with Ska to take some of the burden off his shoulders. Techno attracted way too much attention because of his family name to continue delivering the banned books. Hell, by the time Techno was born, every single book ever created had been banned.

He grew up in the middle of the resistance, so his involvement in the cause had been natural. It wasn't forced on him—he chose to be a banned book dealer. Of course, his name had given him some credibility on the street. By Techno's fourteenth birthday, there wasn't a person who didn't know that he was the guy if they wanted any sort of book. No matter what it was, he could get it for you. It would cost them quite a bit, but reading had become an addiction in a society that demonized the written word. And there was nothing dangerous about this addiction. That is, unless you wanted to read The Holy Bible. Getting a copy of that was a death sentence—literally.

Nobody knew better than Techno how true that was. His Grandfather, Straum Tru, had been executed for the crime before he had a chance to retire from a long life of chasing books, running from the cops, and writing Nevik's biography. (To this day, nobody had been able to find the manuscript, but it was still out there ... somewhere.) But when you were a part of the Tru family, there was no such thing as retirement if you didn't want to be ostracized. It was an unwritten family law that had only been broken by Techno's sister, Nev, and their uncle, Occid Guar. He changed his name because the parting of the ways was absolutely mutual, and nobody ever talked about why.

Techno was right there in the front row when the government murdered Straum by way of lethal injection. He was only seven years old at the time, but there was no such thing as innocence if you wanted to groom a soldier for the resistance. Before they administered the injection, the president—yes, it was that serious—delivered a lengthy speech she likely prepared many years before. But with Straum being the first person who broke that particular law, it was the first time she'd had the chance to deliver the speech.

President Taledivia stood in front of the large crowd and delivered her speech with too much pride and not enough dignity. "Today, on October 20th, 2199, we are carrying out the execution of Straum Tru, who has been convicted of the highest crime of treason—distributing a copy of The Holy Bible. He is the first person in history to have been found with the banned material since the work was first outlawed almost one hundred years ago. Before we continue with his long-overdue execution, I want to take a moment to focus on the importance of this historical event. Out of all the published literature our society has created and revered, this one is without a doubt the most dangerous. We now live in a society, a better society, that lives beyond the boundaries of this religious text, so many of you might not understand why his arrest and execution is so critical. Millions upon millions upon millions have died in the name of the words written in this book." She paused way longer than necessary to hold up the book for everyone to see.

"But our not-so-long-ago ancestors decided that enough was enough when they commissioned the chemists to invent a new ink with biological markers to track anyone who touched it. Through an investigation into Straum Tru and his entire family, the government was able to track down this bible he touched and at least a dozen other bibles he had stashed in the basement of his estate. It was at that time that all of the copies of the book had been accounted for. It was a huge win for national security when Straum Tru was arrested!

"This execution not only rids our beautiful country of a known terrorist, but it also makes our world a little bit safer to live in. No more genocide. No more massacres. No more suicide bombers. No more wars. After the terrorist has been executed, Homeland Security will be destroying every last copy of The Holy Bible we know to be in existence. That's a huge win for us today. Bye-bye terrorist. Bye-bye propaganda."

When she stopped talking, the room went quiet and watched as a doctor and nurse team approached Straum. They stopped and stared at the president, waiting for their cue to continue.

"Straum Tru, you are being executed for the crime of treason. The highest crime of treason which holds an automatic death sentence. Do you have any last words before you die?"

His eyes shot open, and he said, "You won't find anything you seek. When you stop looking, the truth will find you." Then, he closed his eyes again and waited for his life to end.

More than anything, that's what Techno remembered about the death of his grandfather—his last words. Knowing his grandfather well enough—even at that young age—he knew these weren't simply words of wisdom. They were a code of some sort. The fact that his father kept those words hidden in his office fascinated him. He'd always wondered if Bandit figured it out, but he never dared to ask. Grandpa Straum's fate was a taboo subject.

As he sat in the interrogation room alone, Techno repeated those words. "You won't find anything you seek. When you stop looking, the truth will find you."

"And here we are!" Ska Faulkner appeared in all his awkward glory alongside a strange, ethereal teenage girl, Veina Kythe—by way of teleportation.

"We don't have much time, Techno." Veina's normal speaking voice was barely louder than a whisper, but there was something more to it. Every word she spoke vibrated through Techno's body as if she was transmitting some secret message to every cell inside him.

"And who the hell are you?" Techno asked.

"Dude, we don't have much time. Trust her. She's going to get you out of here."

Veina touched the restraints on Techno's wrists and ankles, setting him free. He stood up but kept his eyes on her, waiting for her to do something he didn't approve of. "We don't have time for niceties if you want to get out of this alive," she said as she grabbed both Techno's and Ska's hands at the same exact moment. They disappeared, leaving the interrogation room completely empty. Nobody seemed to be paying attention, but it wouldn't be long before someone noticed.