Free Intentional Dissonance by pleasefindthis, Iain S. Thomas Page A

tell you about what’s happened, I can explain everything but I need you to go to sleep right now and let me try and work out what to do.”
    Jon is helped back to bed. Jon’s father leaves the room and comes back with a pill. He gives it to Jon and holds him while he falls asleep.
    Jon does not dream. When he wakes up, his father’s pocket watch is clasped tightly in his hand.

Chapter 9
    Now
    The last poet in the world writes words on rocks with thick black permanent marker then dives to the bottom of the crystal clear water in the bay of NewLand and arranges them. He will never tell anyone what the poem says and the only people who’ll ever be able to read it are the ones who can dive as deep as he once did.
    Jon is convinced at this point that there is no reason for the government’s sadism, that it’s all just the fun and games of those in power and that they do it simply because they can. Why else would “Dr. Herengracht,” according to the little sign on his desk, tell him he knew his father.
    “I believe you know my father in the same way I believe that my suitcase was filled with vials of Sadness when the Peace Ambassadors picked me up in the train.”
    The doctor smiles. “That was an unfortunately necessary aspect of our plan to get you here. Apparently it wasn’t even needed; you had a vial of Sadness in your pocket.”
    “What do you want with me? Where’s Michelle?”
    “Michelle? Your girlfriend. She’s an incredibly interesting phenomenon. Almost as interesting as the relationship between you and your father, Jon Salt.” No one’s used Jon’s surname in years and the name sounds strange when he hears it now.
    “She’s a person, not a phenomenon. Leave Michelle out of this.” The doctor smiles.
    “Fine. Let’s talk about your father, Peter Salt.”
    “What do you know about my father?”
    “Your father used to work for me.”
    “Bullshit. My father was an engineer.”
    “Yes, that’s what he told his family and friends because that was the requirement for working on the projects he worked on with me, exploring his gifts. The same gifts you have, apparently,” says the doctor, folding his hands.
    “There’s no way my father worked for the government. This government, this global institution of leaders or United Government whatever the hell you want to call it, is evil and you, you and people like you have fucked the world. He was a good man. A better man than you’ll ever be.”
    “Ah, you are correct there, my friend,” says the doctor. He goes to stand by the window and watches men from the past die through the WindowSkreen™.
    “He did not work for this government. He worked for the previous government. And as you well know, the previous government became this government only after some very fundamental changes to it and the world,” continued the doctor.
    “He was killed in The End,” Jon says more to himself than anyone else in the room. He hasn’t talked about his father in a long time.
    “Now you are incorrect, my friend. Your father was not killed in The End,” says the doctor. Jon’s muscles contract.
    “What do you mean?” asks Jon. A spasm shoots through his body as he tries to launch himself out of the chair, some primal force driving him but the restraints hold him tight.
    The doctor laughs. “You are quite the energetic one, my friend.”
    “I’m not your fucking friend,” says Jon.
    “No, but you will be. Take him away,” says the doctor.
    “Tell me about my father!” screams Jon as the guards come in. The doctor shakes his head and looks away.
    “All in good time; but first, you need to calm down,” says the doctor.
    “You’re a liar! You’re a liar!” yells Jon as he’s dragged out of the room.
    The doctor, oblivious to the wild animal Jon has become, mumbles under his breath, “All in good time.”
    Jon is returned to the cell where he paces back and forth, thinking about what the doctor said. It can’t be true. His father is dead. He