Livingstonia County

LIVINGSTONIA COUNTY

By Mordecai J Banda



“Yo Bob, another Outsider coming in at the west entrance.”

“Damn, I guess that means training is postponed again, huh?”

“Yeah, but it gets worse, it’s The President.”

“Oh? And why…?”

“Maybe trying to get some support? Dunno. All you gotta do is alert the teams that they’ll be no training today.”

Bob sighed through the cell phone, “Hope they haven’t already unwound, the kids are really tough to suppress when they have.”

“No kidding” Mary replied on the other end, “I have a missing left hand to remind me.”

“Technically…”

“Bob, just get to work.”

Bob nodded to the phone as though Mary could see the gesture, and cut the call. He turned to the mainframe laid out before him in a magnificent concave of blue lights and black alloy. The high-tech set up that sat before the man was quite impressive, and odd, in its particular setting. For this office was one of four booths that led into Livingstonia County.

The booth was old and made of wood, and everything else around him spoke of tradition and age, except the mainframe, of course. Bob wore basic khaki security man clothes, and had a walrus moustache and large cap to compliment the look. He was however, one of the most important people in the village, and one of the few relatively normal people trusted by the county.

It didn’t matter anyway if Bob ever got the urge to betray the county’s secrets. In a county full of mind-readers and geniuses, he had no chance of even thinking of such a thing without getting butchered. In the rare events that he did, two handlers always paid him a visit and verified whether it was just a random thought or deep calculation. It always turned out to be one. Bob was loyal to the bone, but of course he’d have his rough days with the occasional pressure his duty put on him.

Bob used the mainframe to forward an encrypted call through his satellite phone.

“Yeah, Robert? Watsup?”

“Do I need to talk?”

The man on the other end chuckled, “Let’s talk under the illusion that I can’t read your mind okay? As a courtesy.”

“You need to cancel training; apparently The President is dropping by for a visit.”

“That’s unfortunate; I can’t do anything about that. They’ve already unwound.”

“It can’t be that bad…”

“Bob, all of their Cerebral Dampeners have been released and they’ve been juiced up with the Nuero-Vitz, they’re sky high. For some of them its more literal.”

“What the hell? Why?”

“They have special training today.”

Bob cursed, “That ain’t good. You do realize the county’s secret is at stake?”

Michael sighed, “You know full well how suicidal it’d be to try to stop them… Maybe we can try…?”

“Don’t even think about it. You remember what happened the last time you modified an outsider’s memory… And this is a man everyone worries about.”

Michael groaned, “I guess I’ll make counsel and see what to do. Try what you can to stall the convoy, okay?”

“Wait! You can at least fire The Light. The side-effects aren’t as major.”

Michael grunted and cut the call. Robert scratched his scalp and started tapping commands into the mainframe. Today was going to be weirder than usual.

Mary came into the booth four hours later, she looked annoyed.

Bob took a swig of beer, “What?” Then he noticed Mary’s left arm. She had removed the false skin and it was exposed, showing the metallic workings, a bad sign.

“They’ve decided to tell The President.” She said with a frown to Robert, as though it were his fault.

“You're kidding, right?”

Mary sighed, “I wish they were. But they have the notion that maybe the time has finally come.”

Bob looked at her frown and smiled half-heartedly, “Maybe they’re right. How many more years would’ve it taken anyway?”

Mary frowned at Bob, but her expression softened, “Yeah.” She picked up one of the beer bottles and took a long drink, “At least we can finally move forward in life. And I’d love to see The President’s face when he hears the news.”

The President’s convoy was rounding the final bend towards Livingstonia County. There was a sudden white flash of light. The light was encoded with intricate design that reacted with all human brains present. They were stunned indefinitely. At least until the required counteractive sonic code was introduced. The President was brought into the county by Robert, who took quite some time to drag him into the car and drive there. He wondered why the others hadn’t simply levitated the man, but it was probably another test of loyalty. He was slightly annoyed by that, but it was inconsequential. At least the day was eventful.

The President took the news surprisingly better than expected. The sight of levitating children doing all sorts of impossibilities was a bit much, but the overall reaction was pretty civil.

The pale president looked at each of the County leaders, “So… millennia, huh? Just an ancient family dedicated to technology…”

“You can forget all this if you want. But we thought you’d like to know your country is protected no matter what happens, and we’re on the verge of completing the Spatial Jump engine, we’ll be able to travel light years within seconds soon.”

“No kidding.” The President looked extremely pale, “And I can’t-”

“If you expose us to the world in any way, then our plans are compromised and we’d have to kill all world leaders and take over the world.”

“Ha…” The President gasped with a bitter smile. He thought of something and asked Michael with a raised eyebrow, “Hey… do you guys happen to know…”

“Details of our exploits with Spatial-Time Analysis and subsequent discoveries are classified.”

“Damn.”



Note: Imagine, a small place cut off from everyone and looking just as regular as everyplace else is actually an ancient family dedicated to science and technology. They’re dedication passed on for generations, until they’re beyond our normal perception of possibility and advanced science. Imagine.

As I am still in Flash Fiction training, forgive any over-abruptness or awkwardness, but if it provoked your thoughts, then my job is done.