Join the new world

The New Republik

Chapter 1 – Tabula rasa

Darkness. You groggily open your eyes, and the dimly lit room slowly shifts into focus. Your back hurts sharply between the shoulder blades. You start to move, but your hands are hindered. A course rope binds your wrists, ankles, and neck to a wooden chair. An unpleasant sinking feeling envelopes you. You can’t seem to remember anything.

You try to keep calm, and squint at the dim shapes in the room, hoping to learn more of your situation. There are some wooden crates with insignias on them, lined up against a concrete wall. The insignias are hard to make out in detail but appear to feature an eagle. In your peripheral vision you can see a camera on a tripod, and next to it, a crate with a newspaper on it.

What’s that for? A ransom video? A kinky porno movie?

With disappointment you reason that if it were the latter you would probably remember it.

You pull with your arms and legs but they are securely fastened by the rope, the roughness of it rather uncomfortable. You decide to try rocking the chair from side to side, hoping to tip it hard enough to smash one of the arms against the floor, which feels like solid concrete under your feet. The more you struggle to rock the chair, however, the more uncomfortable the rope around your neck gets. You give it up for fear of being choked.

Growing more stressed, you call out for assistance. Your voice echoes, bouncing off hard concrete walls. It sounds like you are underground. Your own voice reflected back sounds oddly unfamiliar to you. As you begin to ponder this, you hear the distant sound of footsteps. They are hard footsteps, as if from military boots. You can distinguish two people, and they are approaching from behind you.

You squint as a powerful light is suddenly switched on with a cracking sound. The light flickers a few times then remains on, directed downwards onto you, making it hard for you to properly see the two figures now circling around to the front of you.

“So glad you could join us.”

He takes a drag from a cigarette, and breathes the smoke at you. His voice sounds young, but cold and menacing.

“My boss here has some questions for you. You will answer them.”

A tense moment passes as he moves to the side to activate the camera. The second figure steps in front of you and speaks, with an older, calmer voice:
“First question, citizen. What is your name?”

With some difficulty you stammer, “I don’t know, I can’t rememb-” but you are interrupted by the first figure punching you square in the jaw, with brass knuckles.
“This,” he scoffs, “is what will happen when you do not answer my boss’s questions.”
You reel painfully from the shock, as far as your bindings will allow.

The older man resumes, “Citizen, I am a patient man, and we will continue this for as long as it takes.” He leans forward, showing you his aged face, with a white beard. “What is your name?”

“Okay, okay… I am… John Smith.” You blurt out the first name that pops into your head, real or not, as you don’t see any other way forward.

The old man chuckles. “Fantastic. Except that we already have a John Smith. You would be John Smith 5, but let’s just call you Johnny5 for short.” For some reason, he whispers to his officer what sounds like “Subtract 5 gold,” then he asks you again to say your name for the camera.

The interrogation continues in the manner for several grueling hours. Since you have no memory and would prefer to avoid filling up on brass knuckle sandwiches, you have to let them alter each of your responses to their liking.

The end of it finally arrives. On review, you are apparently Johnny5 from Arizona. You are a freedom fighter, recruited by an organization with foreign interests to overthrow an oppressive regime, as they would describe it. This is all news to you.

The old man says ironically before he leaves, “You won't remember any of this, but the recordings have been made, and the control chip we implanted in your spinal column has been calibrated. Congratulations, Johnny5. You are ready for deployment. We will be in contact with further instructions. Welcome to the new world.”

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