Judas' Gospel

Chapter 4

An absolute order reigned into the house, as if it had been uninhabited for some time; the quiet was disturbed only by the damaged domestic robot, which continued to turn on itself. “Something to drink … something to drink …” he repeated obsessively in his cold and unnerving metallic voice. Judas turned it off and went inside, near the staircase leading to the rooms he found the lifeless body of another Lord of the Order. He was lying on the floor with his helmet visor splattered with blood, Judas walked past him, trying hard not to look at him, and cautiously peered into the living room. He saw the madman settled in a corner, overlooking the window, he was shielding himself with the body of a boy in uniform and had a dark stain of congealed blood on his shirt, corresponding to the left side. The hostage could have been up to twenty-five years old, had short dark hair, a face covered in mud and eyes swollen with tears. He held his right arm and continued to stare in dismay at the protrusion of the bone on his shoulder. The man greeted the newcomer with an indecipherable smile, accompanied by a furious and frightened look at the same time, Judas wondered what else he would still be able to do.

“I have to hold his gaze, - he thought anyway to give himself courage, - I have to make him believe that I am not afraid of him.”

“Let the boy go, he was just doing his duty. You know very well that he is not the cause of your problems, “he suggested, trying to keep a neutral tone.

“I haven’t done anything wrong, I just want to live my life … but you want to stop me!” replied the killer.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t want to stop you, but apparently that doesn’t matter to you. You wanted me and I’m here, now let the boy go,” Judas insisted.

“We don’t talk about it! The boy stays here with us, and if you just try to cheat me …”

“Even if I wanted to, how could I? I’m just a journalist and I’m unarmed.”

“Come closer!” the murderer ordered him showing him the gun, he obeyed and the other thoroughly searched him. Then he quickly checked his journalist’s card, when he felt satisfied he pushed the hostage away.” Go away, before I change my mind about it!” he said accompanying the words with a shove. The boy looked at the newcomer as if asking for Judas’ permission to go, he nodded and then walked with his head down towards the exit, shuffling his feet.

“He is one of those who should guarantee the safety of us citizens,” the murderer commented in a contemptuous tone, “and he was not even able to look after himself!”

“Why did you want me here?” the reporter went straight to the point without replying, he did not intend to be drawn into useless and dangerous discussions.

“I don’t want to be hibernating, I don’t want to lose my son,” the killer whined, Judas thought of Nicole’s belly and felt a cold grip in his stomach.

“You know very well that this is not possible,” he replied after a moment, trying to piece together the little information they had given him along the way. “When your wife died, your son was placed in a regular family. There he will be able to grow with all the points of reference he needs … I know this hurts you, it would hurt anyone, but you also know it’s only for his own good.”

“This isn’t fair, and you know it! I want you to write in your damn newspaper that I’m suffering an absurd injustice!”

Judas imagined that pretending to go along with him would be the best solution, but he feared that if he lied to him, the other would have understood it becoming furious, generating unpredictable consequences.

“I can’t write such a thing. Doing so I would express a judgment and you know that I am not allowed; such an article would not even let it out. All I can do is tell the facts as they happened… moreover, if you want, I can put your protests in writing and try to get them to those who are higher than us” he proposed then, to look for a compromise. “I can’t argue The Law, none of us can. All that is allowed to us is to respect it … like all laws it will not be perfect, but at least it guarantees Order. If this were not the case, if each of us tried to fix it as we see fit, things would be back in a short time as they were two centuries ago. It would be chaos again,” he said. The killer looked at him skeptically, and then motioned him to continue.

“I think I understand how you feel. I have a little daughter, when the thought that one day I might lose her touches me, I feel like I’m dying. I can tell you that I am very sorry, I am really sorry, but for you I cannot do anything more or different from what I have told you. Anyway, you won’t lose your child forever. You know that the initial cycle of Transitional Hibernation lasts only seven years, hopefully, at the end of that period he can go back to live with you.”

All the while the killer had listened to him, continuing to scrutinize him with that hallucinated look and the pistol in his hand.

“No, it is not true that you understand my situation … you say this only because you are afraid … but I guarantee you that you cannot understand … look at this!” he answered suddenly raising his voice, took a photograph out of his pocket and abruptly placed it in front of him. “This is my son! I will not see his first tooth come out; I will not see him take the first step. The day he first says “dad”, there will only be strangers in front of him. But I want to be there … I have to be there, you understand? Because when he grows up he will begin to ask where his parents are and he will be given vague answers, then he will wonder why I abandoned him and he will hate me. And in seven years he won’t even want to know my name anymore. You are not risking all this, so it is not true that you can understand me! I don’t want to be hibernated, I don’t give a damn about what might or won’t happen next, “he concluded, then he began to sob nervously and in spite of everything Judas almost felt sorry and supportive with him.

“And then,” he resumed, and now he looked really frightened, “you know the strange stories that are told about hibernating!” It is said that they will no longer be woken up because they are being used for experiments, that their organs are removed to replace the battered ones of the Elders of the Council.”

“What are you saying, these are just rumors. You know that lonely people are hibernated exclusively in order not to alter the social balance. And then, they constitute a “reserve of human beings” in case an unexpected event should drastically lower the demographic levels “objected the reporter.

“Oh yes? So tell me how much ex-hibernation you know personally! And while you’re at it, also explain to me why the subjects who are chosen are all healthy, young and strong,” objected the killer.

“Because one day they could become soldiers, to defend us in the event of an alien attack,” replied the other as if repeating a lesson learned by heart.

“And do you really believe it?” the other retorted with the tone of someone talking to a child, that simple question was enough to make all his certainties waver in an instant.

Judas felt the sudden urge to look out the window, looking for something reassuring. The snipers were stationed on the roofs of nearby buildings, the flashing lights of the cars continued to play with the black of the night. The many onlookers were still crowded with bated breath behind the cordon of Simple Guards, intent on savoring that absurd tragedy to the last emotion. The sudden perception of real reality shocked Judas, he realized that he had slipped into a dead end and had done it with his own legs. He thought that the similar stories he had experienced at the Total Cinema, impersonating some hero, did not do the slightest justice to the whirlwind of sensations that were tormenting his mind and heart. He found himself locked in a room, in the company of a distraught man waving a laser gun in his face, a maddened man who had nothing more to lose because he had just killed two policemen. He wondered if he would be able to get out unscathed and he began to feel bad, his family came to mind and he understood that he had to find a way to shake him, to make him understand that he had not a single chance to get what he wanted.

“You killed two men and maybe you will do the same to me, but that won’t change things,” he said with conviction. “You will not be able to escape anywhere and you will forever lose the chance to see your son again. The Law will never be changed and the world will always keep turning in the same direction, without worrying about you and me. And anyway you will end up in hibernation, or worse still, you will be killed by the snipers” he concluded pointing out to the window. “They are all out there for you, just waiting for you to make a mistake.”

He paused to give him time to think about it, hoping he finally understood that he had no way out, then resumed.

“If you give up now, maybe you can still get away with it. Perhaps you will be able to prove that the death of the two Lords of the Order was really just an accident, an unwanted thing.”

“Shut that mouth!” the other ordered, angrily tapping one foot on the ground, furious, he had just been cornered. He came within an inch of Judas’ face, who felt the hot gusts of his stinking, panting breath invade his nostrils. “Shut up, you’re just talking bullshit!” he said, took a step back extending his arm and began stroking the power button with sadistic slowness.

“It’s over!”, Judas thought resignedly, but the killer didn’t shoot him. He took his finger off the firing button and turned to the window, staring at what was happening in a secluded part of the garden. Under the hazy light of a street lamp, a man with snow-white hair was scolding Nicole bitterly. She kept her head down and stared at her arms folded across her chest, shook her shoulders rhythmically as if she were crying. Judas instinctively took a step towards the window but the other stiffened his armed arm, preventing him from taking another step. Soon after, Freddy also appeared on the scene, pushed Nicole aside in a gentle manner and took his place in the discussion with the white-haired man.

“Who is that woman? Do you know her?” asked the killer.

“She’s my wife,” Judas immediately confessed, a moment later cursed his inability to lie.

“I surrender,” the killer then announced, lowering his arm, Judas looked at him in bewilderment and he dropped the weapon to the floor. He bent down on his knees holding his side, he looked destroyed.

“You are happy?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Yes, I think I am,” he admitted, feeling a little ashamed with that man.

“I would like to meet your wife,” the killer asked almost politely, completely disorienting him. Judas did not intend to expose Nicole to such a risk, but he feared that in the case of his refusal, the other would lose his head again.