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| - It has been three weeks since the day Pierre came in his apartment. Kelly had read the book, yes. And he had to admit that it was pretty...convincing? The book talked about how almost every thing that happened in the commonwealth lately has been just a ruse after another by the party to control its citizens. The many wars were being used to distract people from economic problems and the lack of freedom. The "terrorist scare", as the book called the way the government operated, was being used to create a sense of paranoia and xenophobia so that the people would not object to the ever-increasing amounts of surveillance, which in turn was almost without exception used to find dissidents, which could then be easily arrested without protest from the people (who thought that they were indeed terrorists), thanks to the paranoia. The book also detailed how there was never a "revolution": The People's Freedom Party had made a "coup d'état" somewhere in the fifties and created this revolution story to instigate fear from a possible new revolution. Even the Great Guv'nor! He held no power at all and was merely a leadership figure, controlled by the party. The last one had tried to gain some power and thus had been "sent away". The book didn't specify to where the last Great Guv'nor had been sent away to, but the mere thought made Kelly uncomfortable. The other parties were mere puppets of the People's Freedom Party, existing to maintain a semblance of a democratic system. It isn't hard to figure that they never won an election. But what made Kelly angrier than everything else was one chapter in particular, entitled: "Disappearing". According to it, people that didn't accept the party's teachings disappeared without any traces, and could never be found again. Most of the disappearances took place during the seventies... The reason that this chapter, more than any other in the book, made Kelly angrier, was that Kelly's father had disappeared in the seventies. This couldn't be true! he thought. It certainly was revolutionary propaganda. He should show this to Grant and be done with it...but still...if it was true...then it explained some things. Some things Kelly usually asked himself in a regular basis. He opened his drawer. The picture was still there. He had smuggled it out of that office the day after his first time in the Department of Truth. It was the picture of the American Soldiers in front of the Eiffel Tower. This was the Truth. Even though it didn't make anyone feel better, it was the Truth. Grant would probably brush it off saying that it is better this way. But Grant wasn't here now and so Kelly was seriously thinking it wasn't better this way. "The people need to know!" he decided. He would find wherever Pierre lived, he would make him tell where Ivana was hiding and he would do whatever he could to help them bring the party down. ... After performing a quick CheckPosition check, then emptying the CheckPosition query's log using his access to the program as the Chairman of the Department of Truth, Kelly found out that Pierre lived in a old light-blue building in the suburbs. Kelly took the elevator upstairs, thinking this was his last chance to stop this madness and go back. He realized that that chance had already passed. He walked towards the white door and knocked once. After several seconds, he hesitantly knocked once more, a little harder this time. He heard a woman's voice from the inside: "He's coming!" and then she laughed. Some seconds later Pierre opened the door. "My wife. She's the reason I live here in London.", Kelly entered the cozy apartment with wood-paneled floor. The most striking feature of the living room was an immense home theater system that Kelly was impressed that fit in there. A redheaded woman was sitting on a water couch, laughing. She yelled to him (Or more probably to Pierre, since he had no idea what she meant): "The Irish guy said 'udders' again!". Pierre laughed softly, and seeing Kelly's puzzled expression he explained: "Big Brother. She loves that thing. This Irish guy has this horrible accent (even for an Irishman, you know) and every time he means 'Others', he say 'udders'. She...enjoys it." But she obviously did more than enjoy it, as she demonstrated by laughing out loud again. "Ahnn... I'm here to see that pipe in your bathroom. The one with a clog. I can fix it better than any repairman, you know?" began Kelly. Pierre feigned, as if this were exactly what he had been waiting for. "Oh, I see. I was wondering if you came for that. It's through here," he replied. Kelly followed him through a narrow corridor into a green door, which Pierre closed tight. "It's sound proof. Don't worry. I suppose you thought about my offer?" asked Pierre. Kelly nodded. "I want to help you." Pierre frowned. "To topple the government?" "Yes." "You understand that it would make you a revolutionary and that you could be arrested for that?". Kelly hesitated, and then said "Yes." "And you still want to do this?" Kelly was getting angry "Yes, for crissake!" "Well then...", suddenly Pierre whipped something from his right jacket pocket, pressed a button on it. It expanded and a blue light started to glow on the tip. He thrusted that into Kelly's stomach. "You're under arrest." The last thing Kelly thought before passing out was that Pierre had spoken that with no accent at all.
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