Free The Grasshopper by TheGrasshopper Page B

rotors of a helicopter, airplane
engines… I don’t feel any vibrations… shaking. I’m not in a car, in
some trunk. Or maybe I am? Just that the vehicle is standing still,
that it isn’t moving. Am I still in Megapolis? Or did Raul take me
with them? And we might already be there… in one of our cities. Or
are we waiting for the airplane to take of? But… this silence… is
so absolute. If the vehicle is stationary… it isn’t an airport or a
parking lot… no one is passing by… there’s no sound of the wind… no
sound at all. No smell. Smell?”
     
    Only then did he realize that he
smelled something. Stale, right next to his nostrils. “There is
some kind of cover beneath my cheek. I can feel it on my skin. It’s
soft… I’m lying on a bed. On my right side. It isn’t the cold floor
of some cell. And it’s completely dark. If there was any light I’d
see it through my eyelids. I’m sure I would. But the darkness is
absolute… Is this a grave?”
    Pascal abruptly opened his eyes.
And it was as though he hadn’t. The darkness truly was absolute. He
pushed himself up on his elbow. He felt a pain in his arm and
thought of Raul again.
     
    “Raul, who gives you the right to
decide about my life? Who are you to save me from myself? Not even
you, Raul, after all these years… the struggle, everything… you
don’t understand. Freedom is above everything else. Not only
freedom from Kaella. The freedom to live as you want and die as you
want. You don’t understand… Don’t get me wrong, I’m not angry at
you. Nor at Seneca, or anyone. You can’t learn these thing, that is
something you have to be. I would never prevent you from dying, my
friend. For any reason. Regardless of whether I knew the reason or
not. Regardless of whether I understood your reason or not. I would
never in any way limit your freedom. To decide about you instead of
you. I’ll explain it to you. You’ll set me free. When you come… to
bring me food and water.”

Chapter 31
    “Why are you asking me, Babe?”
Prince thought to himself. “Talk to my father, let me watch you in
peace.”
    And he told Babe in front of the
camera:
    “Well… I wouldn’t… I really
wouldn’t want to take valuable time from my father and you. There
will be other opportunities for those topics.”
    “You know, Miss Babe, my son is
very modest,” Mr. Kaella explained. “He never wants to talk about
himself and his achievements. Not only in public. He is the same
within the family. And he always has been, since he was a
child.”
    “That is the characteristic of
great people, I think, Mr. Kaella.”
    “That’s right. That is why I will
sing some praise for my son, if you permit.”
    “Of course, of course. Please, Mr.
Kaella.”
    “Through his struggle with the
ruthless nature my Prince is saving humanity, while we await the
arrival of the ice age. And one day when it comes it will be much
milder than ignorant people fear, precisely thanks to the
greenhouse effect. It will be like a slightly colder winter from
the past. And we will easily adjust to it. Industrial production
will turn to making heating appliances instead of cooling
appliances. Transportation means will adjust to snow and ice
instead of sand and rocks, and there will be countless, I mean
countless, other changes and adaptations. And what is the main
thing that this new industrial drive will bring?”
    “Jobs and preservation of the
Balance.”
    “Bravo, bravo, Miss Babe. And let
someone try and tell me again that beauty and intelligence don’t go
together. Of course – the Balance. That is my greatest achievement,
the pinnacle of my life.”
    “Mr. Kaella, the Balance that you
have established in society, which you yourself say is the pinnacle
of your life, is such an important topic, the most important topic.
I would like to give it more time. Actually, I would like for you
to tell us your life’s journey. Please describe how you made it
possible of us, people,