I might as well have been of royal descent. I never payed that much attention to my family tree too much, I know all my uncles, aunts, sisters, grandparents, nieces, nephews, and all the rest who'd like to join the bunch. A liberal grandfather who begot four children to a woman who died very soon. His remarriage was considered a liberal, progressive move in the climate back then. I'm not jealous, but I feel for the rare black-and-white pictures picturing the breed of farmers that generation was. With a horse down dusty roads, working on the fields, bullying the nuns at the local parish, before being kicked in school and being submitted to their wrath and indirect the Lord's. They taught Goth back then. He was very good at language; a quintessential talent for his world trip during the war. It all has a sense of home to it; but I grew up in a different climate; even a different place. Perhaps it's my first name that does the trick. I can't predict what it'd matter if I met people who could make a difference. Confirmation of my averageness... Or would I prove susceptible to my secretive identification entitlements... I'm just as working class as can be. Even my attempts to cease this tradition can be added to my resume of typical working class day-to-day first world problems. Isn't the black sheep just another predictable cliche, as well? Everyone I meet, everyone I deal with are in the same social-economic class as me. I shouldn't feel as special as I do. Ageing does not have the most resplendent effect on my nobility. Some of the past glories are just faint memories indeed. When I used to be called knight, my modesty in turn belittled that; I made it look like I was a mere squire. In small communities, especially for children it is easy to gain an image. I was sometimes just so mealy to people they automatically started to search for the ugly and bad sides. My 9 to 5 parents didn't care about the community; and the community didn't really care about them. As a result I was, with my peers the gang of the local neighborhood. We got in trouble, of course, and you understand that was owing to thin-skinned blabber. Only then my parents suddenly cared, when other people had an opinion. They always picked their side. I was a nuisance. The best at school, and it mattered to them, but they put so much weight on what people would think and what not, so I don't really got the approach of appreciation. Just a "go on like this and you'll make it to president one day, son". What did they really know. My mother is the daughter of a housewife who didn't go to school after being kept in nursery for too long. I don't know much about her, but I feel like she does not prefer to talk about the past. I guess emancipation happened to a lucky few, but not to my grandmother. She is lucky to have married my grandfather, who, like my other grandfather, is very intelligent. Not a veteran, but a proper business man with degrees. Also very world wise, but let's say 'unique' ideas of raising children. Very successful people, from a societal outlook. Also really fun people to be around, like all of my family. It really is always fun. Life goes on, people change their expectations. Or scrap them completely if they can't take a little change. If If I could go back to tell my parents based on what I know now, it would be: "These aren't the 70's. Don't use me as a means to force your own values on me. I don't think I should have anything to do with your issues on these levels. Do be concerned about me; without struggle there is no education. Use humor, for Christ's sake. Hear my voice; I'm going to have to carry my own weight but I rely heavily on your help sometimes. I'm not going to grow up if you don't accept me as a person with hopes and dreams. You know damn well what I can be like. It's tiring to figure this all out by myself, without anyone giving a damn about my direction." Of course this would take place on an age where I was too young or just kept naive 'for my own safety' on subjects such as marriage. I turned out to be a flop, and in turn it's me who just has to accept things happen; and people do the best in their power to make things better. (I feel disgusted for this; I just can't really believe it. I must be some kind of joke to my parents). I could just as easily be trapped in a south park episode. You might wonder 'what happened?' but I'm not going to explain that in detail. I just grew up after being quite a happy child into somebody with a complete lack of motivation. A bit spoiled, as a matter of fact. I just derive that from the contrast of me and especially my sisters who just accepted the fight and work daily and have a relationship and all that. And I'm just a drop-out. I'm 'homeless' material and a bit neglected and taken advantage of. And rejected. There, I did tell it anyway. Things will get better, I have faith in that, but it's going to have to be very weird because I just can't see a way out of the situation. I don't run away from the past, but only when I just barely process one thing a bunch of things happen and so on. "Up shit's creek", thanks, Scots. Speaking of Scots. "Honi soit qui mal y pense". I know it's not particularly Scottish, but not exclusively un-Scottish. The slogan of the Royal order of the Garter is just about the gayest slogan possible. I like parties and such, but I wouldn't have come up with it. Noble or not, I might even be on the wrong end of the slogan when it was coined; "qui mal y pense". I guess I'm an indignant fool above all, who thinks he has honor left just because all else was taken away and it can't. My devices aren't palatial parlors. It's the neighbor who rings at the door to ask for a cup of sugar. It's the old man down the street who invites you for dinner because you helped doing groceries. The inner circles of undictated societies mark the most resourceful patterns. Strangers as friends. Unexpected masters show up around the corner now and then and guide as parents shamelessly; honorably even, and make up for what shortcomings you perceived in your parents who might have tried. Friend or no friend, all's fair in love and war. That realization just show who are really on your side. And they make up just for all the weak who would take advantage of you. True weakness aren't detected impurities or pointed out differences. You can learn from it yes, there lie some lessons here and there, but true weakness is taking advantage of this information; of others who are perceived less. The strong and rigid are the weak and dull. The depraved chickens might acknowledge your resplendent feathers, but do so as a warning before you let them pick you bald and send you from whence you came, but like a cuckoo into the nest; an intruder at home. Where the blood flows, so too goes the victor.
}< Prologue >{ Lou put away his safety goggles next to his ear protection, put in his hearing aid, picked up the newspaper and went to the couch to conclude the day. He took the cage of his new pet and put it next to the TV. He figured he should name the frog after something mythical, and he wasn't sure how he would keep his methods a secret. Something fitting would pop up soon as he got a better habitat for his majestic show piece, he thought, as he sank into his couch, broke eye contact with the animal, and turned on the television. Now he jumped up again right in the air. Lou stood with his eyes wide open, unable to blink, staring at the television screen, trembling, and just forgot about everything he had achieved in the past few weeks. He never thought this outcome would be possible. He wanted to wake up now, but there was no escape from reality. Why didn't he bother to call back? He could have prevented it, or at least saved so many lives. >{ Earlier that day }< "So, Ettina, describe to me what progress you are going to make today", Ed said. "Well, I am here today because the electrical circuit is finally installed," she wasn't going to finish her sentence, when the electrician opened the door, who looked puzzled as if he just tried to travel to Mars but came back to ask for directions. "There seems to be an older installation embedded in the foundation of the building that conflicts with your desired configurations. I have to make a temporary shortcut if you want to use the electricity today, I propose a short term solution." "Let me see what hideous outcome you are talking about", said always curious Ed, and the two of them disappeared into the basement. Ettina was not prepared for her career to turn into zoo keeping. Anymore setback and the animals are going to have to be sold. She was dressed in her white uniform, and tried rehearsing in her head what steps she would take in the supposed finished laboratory to undertake initial experiments. The sink in the kitchen, and the central heating on her floor echoed noises that the electrician and Ed down in the basements caused. She picked up the phone to call her colleagues in the head office from the other side of the world. Annoyed by the sounds from down the reinforced iron door of the elevator shaft, that sounded like a construction site, Ettina went over to the balcony, trying not to think about the bills that would grow as there might be a complete renovation, even a plummer needed later, and the contractor might have to be contacted soon, by the sound of it. She wasn't afraid of heights. "Etty! Tell me how the results are looking!" Said Lou on the phone. He wasn't normally enthusiastic at all. To this day his voice didn't match any image in her head of what he could look like. Trying to think of a way how he looks just made her feel silly, but she was glad about his refreshed attitude."There is a delay in our agenda, we can't begin testing today." She calmly replied. She wasn't sure if Lou heard her, but from his reaction he didn't seem annoyed by the noise on her end; "Well, we are living up to expectations. Most subjects recover before they even know what hit 'em!" How long lasts the interval between shock and revival?, she thought in excitement. Ettina thought about the side effects of the chemical bath. "It's important nobody contacts the press before enough data are covered with certainty." The growing noise from inside, briefly reminded her to make an appointment with the dentist, and she just wanted to close the balcony door. "I'm surprised, congratulations to you, Lou and the rest of the enterprise, I think the news will spread fast. I really hope we will have the same --- " Ed looked at the sweaty electrician that smelled like burned rubber, grind metal and dank concrete. He had been at the job for the morning and he had a blank expression on his face that was placed high on his neck, with a heavy chin and deep, dark, dirty but rare wrinkles around a nose with a bridge wider then the two far ends of his nostrils. The elevator ride took them to the lab. Ed was really proud of his work, and knew his pride was out of place at the moment, but he just wanted to compliment the electrician, who discretely had "Marcelino" as a name tag embroidered on his chest. Ed was proud his office had access to two elevators, and that it was functioning, and that there was a functional electrician in it. "Your first job today?" Asked Ed. "Yes, and I was thinking of taking the rest of the day off." Said the electrician, while he spontaneously shuddered the keys in his pocket. "Not that I'm going to cancel anything". They entered the basement. To Ed's relief, the animals were stored safely and healthy away from the equipment and dusty dig site. He saw the basement floor was made out of concrete and had the electricity, and other lines among pipes cast into the ground, without efficient orientation or proper modern day functionality. He was against using this location, but the head office needed quick verification of test results, when they had it, they could send in an observer for official verification, and then begin large scale experimentation with government funds. By then, this project would have become obsolete, so it was serving as a cheap, short term solution anyway. Clearly, his job was to create the future, but right now he believed in cleaning up in the present, for leaving traces of a representational past. A historian would be happy here, not a scientist. The whole floor needed to be renovated in order for it to become a genuine trustworthy lab. The electrician went at it to pull some lines, poke with his tools in trenches and holes, scraping off rust from pipes, as he explained how a shortcut can be made, fitting to the lab's needs. "Just shove the dirt under the carpet", Ed agreed with the solution, to make no further delay in the agenda. "You will have access to the circuit before lunch", the electrician required no further assistance, except possibly for being served by Ed at his installed coffee break, lasting until lunch. Ed turned to the elevator with the mesh netting door, and was glad to leave the site because of the noise that started to come from the equipment. Maybe this day it was better to give the animals some rest before handling them, and he figured he should spend the rest of they day testing the cages, testing the microscopes, the clamps, doing theoretical experiments and all round check ups in and around the lab doing work of too great importance. *Clang!* The old elevator got stuck. Ed wasn't even two meters up, still could see the electrician who already noticed the situation, through a gap. "I need to reassemble a lot of cables in order to get the elevator running. I hope you have something to do in the meantime." He said. There was no emergency button or anything in this outdated cage. "Well, instead of fixing that, let's focus on opening the doors", Ed replied, with his head and knees on the bottom. "I can fit through the gap". With a lever they forced the doors open, and Ed got out. He was never in the basement before this day, but he had seen blueprints. There was a different way out, a crawlspace leading to the elevator shaft of the public elevator. They could get on top of that, then get in to it, and be free. Ed explained the idea to the electrician, who was a professional, so he didn't leave his equipment behind. Besides, they could use it to enter the functional elevator. He took the electricity off, because of the risk of fire hazard, and he was not sure when it would be necessary to return and followed the sound of the scientist, who might have found the opening to the tunnel, because he was making sounds of being pleasantly surprised. Ed was 100% surprised, but not totally pleasantly, as he did find a way out of the basement. "I am afraid of the dark." The smart thinking electrician knew what to do. He turned the light and the electricity back on, followed by relief and praise of Ed. Then he started to remove and connect wires and light bulbs, and went into the tunnel to decorate it. After a while he heard the electrician return, and he had time to look at the creatures in the cages with terror in their eyes. "I have lit up the place and installed a wire, pull it, if you are at the end of the tunnel. There is light from the elevator shaft, so then I will pack up and come after you in the dark. Don't stick your head out the exit; the shaft is too tight for passing trough anything other than the elevator." "Thank you", Ed said with a wide smile, that turned into an ever wider grin when he entered the decorated tunnel to the elevator shaft, worried. The shaft was silent, the elevator was not at their level. He pressed himself to the wall, then he yanked the string. The line was dead. Great. The noise from inside was gone too. Then: an audible roar, a buzz raced through town, and Ettina thought this sound was added in movies for drama. * BZZZwooMMMmmm * The lights went off. He blinked. The sound so loud and prolonged didn't seem right for a couple of light bulbs. He looked around in complete darkness; there was no light source available up the shaft. He started to shake and pulled again on the rope. He wanted to hold on to it, but felt it being pulled back to the basement. Ed backed away from the exit to the shaft, afraid of falling into the shaft. "Hey, man get me out of here!" He yelled. No reaction. As Ettina looked up and peered around town, her gaze hunted about, as all power in town turned off in synchronicity. A crashing car, cars honking. More crashing. Chaos: the city was without electricity. Nothing lit the shadows that were cast by the tall buildings. Some people got out of their cars to resign from traffic that has become lawless and rowdy, some didn't even park. The subway station drained the surfacing crowds it poored on the street. Some buildings flushed all residents. Ettina felt little for...