Читать книгу PIPER'S, INC. 2 - JUDAS KISS - Joaquin De Torres - Страница 7

Dear Dr. Turnbull,

What are we about? What are we building? Why is this our new goal? What is our true endgame? I apologize for the questions, but I can’t possibly address the latest challenge you’ve put to me without first understanding why you think it’s necessary to achieve it. Well, here are my thoughts as you’ve tasked me to hammer down.

You’ve clarified that the new goal of PIPER’S, Inc. can be encapsulated in but a single word: Utopia - the so-called perfect world. Everyone dreams of living in Utopia on some level, even though it may mean something different to each person. They all want it, or at least think they do, but why do some refuse to work towards such a goal? After all, a perfect world should be desirable for everyone. Is there such a place? Is it practical, let alone achievable?

Unfortunately, the problem with that theory is that Utopia actually means a loss of freedom. There’s no way it can exist in a free society. You see, freedom means freedom for things you dislike. The presence of that which you dislike, even possibly the prevalence of it, automatically makes it at least a little less than perfect.

In order to have Utopia, you must remove people’s rights. Property rights, free speech, Second Amendment rights, freedom of religion, what have you-all, freedoms have their dark sides that makes the world less perfect. For some, they accept the dark side as being preferable to losing rights. There’s always a downside to all of it. We accept that. We know that about religions, we know that about Capitalism, in which the perversion of such institutions leads to loss and suffering.

Are we right to try to correct it all? Is it too big for us? Can a few, with our strength and with our vision, still change the course of an entire nation? The duality is immense, unconscionable and frightening. We understand that the world will never be perfect, but we also understand that we should strive to make it such. No one who loves freedom truly wants a Utopia. They might think they do, but the reality is that Utopia cannot exist without sacrificing what makes humanity so truly wonderful as a whole. Free will.

The ability to decide for ourselves if we will walk in the sun or cower in the shadows; the ability to determine for ourselves how we will shape our own destiny towards whatever hopes and dreams we cling to – this freedom. The idea that we, as people, are ultimately heroic in an age when heroes are trivial and legends nonexistent. These things cannot happen in a Utopia.

And yet, we keep fighting. We keep killing to change the course of this mighty river of corruption. But will we one day be swept up in that river and drown despite our efforts? Utopia is a goal for so many people, but it’s an unattainable one. The perfect society is impossible to craft by mortal hands, because those mortal hands are attached to mortal minds –people - who are the most unreliable entities in life.

Human hands will take your noble goal and smash it like a glass figurine thrown upon the rocks. Is that what awaits as we aspire to achieve the goal of Utopia? Or, is that inevitable despite how hard or how desperate we move to create the lofty vision? Those who seek power don’t want Utopia, they want control. If there was a Utopia, they’d seek to manipulate it for their own ends - just like Capitalism, just like religion.

This is why PIPER’S, Inc. set out to do the impossible thing of ending such control. You taught us this. But did we really end it? Or, did we inspire more of it? With so many enemies eliminated, competition for those who have survived, those who hid, is lessoned, allowing for them to plan a much easier and insidious takeover. Did we not create a Utopia of sorts for them? Did we not pave an easier road to travel towards their ultimate victory?

That is where the danger of Utopia lies. It must be believed that it’s not in the achievement, but in the journey itself that we may find solace.

But that journey, when warning signs are ignored, is where we find the road to the evil castle. A hell bent, almost maniacal mission, blinded by the opacity of good and purity to achieve Utopia is when we stumble upon the path to hell. And I wonder . . . is this where we stand now, Brother?

* * * * *

PIPER’S, Inc. HQ

Northern, California

Dr. Dale Turnbull, founder and Executive Director of PIPER’S, Inc., read the document again before returning it to its folder. It was his fifth reading. He sat back in his high-backed leather chair and gazed out into the natural, ethereal beauty just outside his glass-walled office. It had rained all morning, but now the clouds had cleared. He took a sip of his cognac and glanced at the folder.

Six stories up, he literally sat within the canopy of mighty redwood trees, hidden from the world within their mighty branches and lush foliage. The view was magnificent from every angle on any given day, whether it be bathed in sunlight, glowing in moonlight, or drenched in mountain rain as lightning bolts forked across the distant sky. The spacious office of glass, leather and polished wood, the top floor of the building, was an architectural beauty that brought Turnbull to a oneness with Heaven and Earth.

He stepped through a set of glass French doors, and onto the large wooden deck with the document in his hand. The mountain breeze hit him gently as it had always done, bringing with it the fresh scent of pine and the chirping of birds. For a time, he gazed out over the panorama of forest and mountains, then raised his eyes to the cloud-streaked azure sky. This was his place. The perfect spot to ponder the enormous burden he carried and envision things far greater than anyone had previously imagined for the organization.

Although the breathtaking view never failed to ground him, humble him and refresh his perspective, today seemed different. What he’d just read made it seem different. He pulled up one of the nearby deck chairs, sat down and read the treatise written by Draven Moon, callsign Temujin, yet again. His response to his question wasn’t the answer he was expecting.

Days earlier, he sent his closest advisors a question: “Is PIPER’S, Inc. capable of bringing about an American Utopian society?” He understood that it was an awkward question, but it was something that he had been obsessing in his head for months. It was spawned by the massive success PIPER’S, Inc. had had within the past three years.

He met privately with Jim Fite, his Head of National and Political Affairs; official advisor to the Order Jon Zimmer; Vice President of the United States and personal friend Ericka Hedlin; the New Constitution author and Education Director Dr. John Belleci; and finally, his most celebrated combatant and personal friend, Director of Combat Operations, Draven Moon. Of them all, Moon was the one he trusted most.

With seemingly so little to do because of the last years of unbridled success of the organization, the responses came back within just a few days. The invited respondents all offered his or her perspective on the subject via email or point papers. They were all compelling, logical and salient in their points. Several statements stood out for Turnbull. Some poignant, some alarming as he read the treatises of his colleagues several times. For days he mulled over any possible hidden meanings or dangers, concerns, any clues to indicate that he, himself, could be on the wrong path, or setting himself up for failure.

He recalled snippets from his colleagues as he sipped his drink. He had basically memorized all of the input given to him, but the answers were not – to an extent - to his liking.

Jon Zimmer, callsign Shaman, spoke with societal concern as he warned:

If humans, as a race, start to accept unconditionally one another's cultures then there will be issues with inter-cultural relationships, specifically with their children.

Their children will feel divided culturally, and older citizens will never give up their racial identity. Cultural diversity has always been a problem in every country, ours especially. For there to be a successful Utopia there would need to be no cultural diversity. No diversity at all so that citizens would have to live and feel like one people, homogeneous - equal on all levels - not multitudes tolerating each other. That being said, no, Dale, I don’t believe it can be done.

Jim Fite extended a more grim testament:

Can the goal of Utopia be achieved through the assassination of enemies of democracy? A: No. The basic definition of 'democracy' is ‘the rule of the majority.’ That being the case, by definition, there will always be a minority with which the majority will have to contend.

And if the rules of the majority begins to threaten the minority with destruction (assassination), the minority will have no choice but to meet destruction with destruction. Fear (assassination) on a broad scale would inevitably be used against the pursuit of Utopia, to encourage more resistance, not less, and that could result not only in the Corporation's destruction, but also in the destruction of the balance that has already been achieved.

Vice President Ericka Hedlin gave a more down to Earth approach:

I remember the first time I read the word Utopia, I was eight years old and I was up to the letter “U” in the encyclopedia I was reading. I thought that this was the perfect name for the place that I went to when things in my not-so-perfect life got ugly. Whether I needed to escape for a few minutes or a few hours, this was the place that made everything okay, allowing me to live in a place where everyone took care of everyone else, that every life was important and that no one was ever hurt.

By the time I was fifteen, I knew for a fact that there was no Utopia. I knew that as human beings we were incapable of putting everyone else before ourselves and that if you wished for that, you were bound to be disappointed.

If a parent wouldn’t put a child’s safety and health before their own humanly fallible need for affection and attention, then why would a stranger do otherwise? As I got older I saw that wishing for Utopia was simply a folly. I was setting myself up every time I would place my dream of a perfect existence in the hands of another. But, I learned too, that beauty is not always in the perfection of something, but in the difference of it.

And finally, there was Dr. John Belleci’s unabashed treatise which did not waste time with political correctness. The Director of Education and the author of the New Constitution’s words were blatant and straight from a place of hard experience. This was what Turbull wanted, a paper that encouraged his ideals and defended his motives.

Our critics stir up fear and apprehension by calling PIPER’S Inc. fascist. I beg to differ! PIPER’S Inc. stands vehemently against the tenets of fascism; in fact, I would argue that the oligarchic plutocracies that ran America into the ground and made a mockery of Democracy were and still are the true fascists.

These corporate capitalist cocksuckers epitomize the eloquent words of Sinclair Lewis when he stated, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Our critics will call us Socialists and Communists, so be it. Fuck them. Their words mean nothing because for far too long American schools have never taught the true meaning of these political ideologies. This will change!

I also do not agree with the accusation that a Utopian society cannot exist in America. That’s complete unadulterated bullshit! Capitalism has created the greedy dysfunctional dystopia that we call the USA. That is true because Capitalism cannot exist without the intersectionality of racism, sexism, and classism. This too will change!

With all due respect, to President Sanchez and the newly elected Congress, PIPER’S Inc. feels that their new laws are a start, but do not go far enough to maintain equitable and just access to the Human and Civil Rights that should and will be inalienable for all. With that said, let me introduce the basic tenets of the foundation of the new Constitution of an egalitarian government that will forge a Utopian United States...

Turnbull even memorized Belleci’s more than 25 tenants for creating a path towards Utopia. He sipped his cognac with delight as he let Belleci’s words rumble in his chest like an internal thunder storm.

Since PIPER’S Inc. is a movement for and by the people, the old America is now obsolete. Our organization will serve as the domestic and foreign watchdog for the nation and will police itself just as equitably and as vehemently as it does the rest of the country. In order to progress into this new Utopian America, a purge of all that is corrupt, greedy, and evil must occur. In the spirit of Nicolai Machiavelli and Malcolm X — two misunderstood political philosophers — in order to create the America that our citizens demand and deserve, the end must justify the means—by any means necessary.

Turnbull brought his drink up to his lips slowly fusing all the sentiments and analysis of the Utopian opinions in his mind as he sipped.

So, where does this leave me? he contemplated. I’ve built the greatest nation-changing organization ever seen on this Earth, and we did our jobs, we kept our promises. The American people have kept theirs, as well. We are on our way to Utopia!

The thought intrigued him; fresh, vibrant – he loved that word! He wanted that word used when one spoke of his legacy. PIPER’S, Inc. brought us to the brink of Utopia! He wanted to feel that his country was not just enjoying a ‘second wind’, or a ‘revolution’, or even a ‘renaissance’. These were beautiful descriptions, wonderful sentiments, but not on the level of a country he’d seen in his dreams. No, renaissance just wasn’t good enough. He wanted to bring his country to Utopia, or at least some form of it.

The economy is now magnificent, the GDP and trade pipelines are funneling in almost incalculable amounts of profit. That profit is now building schools, giving teachers raises, taking countless families out of poverty and rebuilding our infrastructure like never before imagined.

Clean and reusable energy is being developed and used at a phenomenal rate; fracking is banned; national parks are off-limits to oil production; Monsanto is being dismantled; every corporation is paying its taxes; Americans are working; students have no college debt – everything, EVERYTHING past presidents could not, would not or refused to do is being done under this president – because of PIPER’S, Inc! If this is not Utopia, then what the fuck is?!

He emptied the rest of the liquid down his throat. We’ve eliminated a great amount of money in politics, corporate greed, corrupt politicians, cops and lawyers. Not all of them, but thousands of them! The crime rate is at the lowest it’s ever been in the history of this country. The police are actually protecting and serving for the first time in decades, and racial tensions have cooled.

“Maybe that’s enough,” he spoke aloud. “I’ve done my part. I’ve brought my version of Utopia to America. Maybe now it’s time to retire, retreat to my Tahoe cabin and write my memoirs. Maybe take Roberta on that Hawaiian cruise I promised her five years ago.”

He shook his head and thought of his lovely wife who knew nothing of what he did for a living outside of the lies he’d told her. International Trade Consultant – that was the base line he used. The job took him all over the world for several governmental firms, as he would say, which would take him out of country for weeks at a time. Sounded official enough and Roberta never questioned him. The escalating amounts of money he gave her in cash and credit were mindboggling to her, but she kept her chin up whenever he said he’d have to leave.

He strolled along the deck taking in the fragrance of the forest and basking in the warm rays of the Sun as he imagined his new life with Roberta, their children and grandchildren. But as he toured his private terrace one thing dully throbbed in the back of his mind, a feeling that he couldn’t shake no matter how he mentally dodged it.

He stopped and marveled at a herd of deer meandering amongst the flora and fauna below. Scenes like this always captivated him, but this time it proved an ethereal distraction from the voice inside him.

Your work is not done, Dale. Not by a long shot. He lifted his eyes from the animals reluctantly and sighed.

“What’s left for God’s sakes?!” he spat in frustration. “What more can I do?!” The voice answered immediately. . .as it had done faithfully each time he asked himself such questions.

Utopia, Dale. Utopia.