The Land Of K.

30

03:32

Adam started loving his life in K. He now owned a bicycle and a watch in quite a good condition. He finally found a girl of his dreams and decided to spend the rest of his life with her. They agreed that they were going to visit only themselves and reject other affectionate friends. He could read and write so with pleasure he attended those communal evenings in front of the housing buildings and sunk deeply in the stories told by the elderly. He was keen on his physicality and appearance. He was satisfied with himself as a man.

But then he started to be scared of losing everything he accomplished with such a great effort. Some of his friends disappeared one night. The district was closed. The flats were emptied. And the morning after it he couldn't find anyone in the surrounding area. They were gone. They were a surplus and they had to be transported to N. The fear of him sharing the same fate was growing. Adam looked at his woman hopelessly, looking for answers. He knew she was incapable of giving him any sensible solution. This had been Gemma's responsibility. She had managed his decisions and she had taught him everything he knew. As much as he appreciated his watch and his bicycle, he was expecting her to take the responsibility for his life again, even though for him she was insignificant. She was just a distant memory from the past. But she was an N. She had a better life, so she should throw a rope to him and pull him towards all the wellness he deserved.
Adam loved his life in K. He couldn't lose it just when things started getting better. He was furious. If he was to share the fate of his people, he might as well never have met the blond beauty who was the center of his formative years.

One night he received a message. He hid the bicycle which might have been stolen by his greedy friends. He gave his woman a goodbye kiss, hoping that she would enjoy a good life after his disappearance. He remembered his promises. But now they were for him irrelevant. He looked at his K. town one last time and he got himself to the train station.

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29

03:27

Panic started spreading slowly among the citizens of N.. Jacob was away when all this happened, so Gemma was the sole royal witness of the behavior of all her people. Mice were noticed and their number surpassed the wildest expectations that she stored in her mind for what was about to happen. They were everywhere, from dustbins to basements, from pavements to the highest floors of skyscrapers. They fed themselves with everything they found on their way and grew bigger in size and number. And as Gemma suspected, people read the information she placed in the system.

Groups of twenty were falling on their knees at the sight of a mouse, knocked themselves unconscious from the contact with the deity or simply froze, not knowing where to turn their heads and hands, without being trained how to pray and worship in their youth.

People went crazy from the fear of the surprising appearance of mice. Some suffered heart attacks when those little rodents jumped onto their sleeping bodies in the middle of the night. Some wanted to buy their good will by giving them their flats and leaving bags of wrapped-up food. Now mice inhabited the buildings of N. and people turned to the streets, wondering how quickly their fate from luxurious and peaceful life was turning into the life of beggars.

Meanwhile, the news about K.'s prosperity were getting across the borders. All of a sudden their source of meat was driving their own cars and watching the same films as they were watching, apparently, thanks to the good will of Jacob. And similarly, the news of N.'s strange behavior was crossing the borders of K., making people of K. wonder how it was possible that the ones whom they were so afraid of for years were terrified by a tiny creature, even less dangerous than the funny little planes with beaks which were flying over their heads, not causing any harm or damage.

And to these circumstances came Jacob, who furiously stormed his palace and logged on the system. He saw people running around and screaming. He witnesses a total disintegration of his palace service. He gasped at the sight of a fully crowded bus, stopping in front of a group of mice, letting them safely cross the street. The system was obviously tampered with. He wrote the password allowed only for the royals. Once he saw the information about mice he made sure to check who was responsible for that little act of good educational will.

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28

03:24

Things started changing very slowly. It wasn't solely the appearance of mice that disturbed the citizens of N. in their monotonous and peaceful day-to-day routine. Very few people noticed the presence of rodents but, since N. was devoid of any harmful and chemical substances which might have killed the unwanted visitors, mice had a great opportunity to reproduce. Even greater than in the confined wooden boxes in K., since trash bins were abundant, basements unoccupied by any hostile representatives of animal kind and people - unprepared.

Gemma's actions were put to a halt. Spending nights with Jacob wasn't something she was fond of doing and her frustration grew every day. She decided to make use of the system and started supplying the only man who needed her help. If she could do anything, it was making use of something that was abundant in N. and scarce in K. She started taking a percentage of the profits from the bean trade and sending them to Melquiades.

Melquiades was temporarily tempted to buy something for himself, possibly some new furniture or a new set of clothes but then he felt too old for the material possessions and desired youth which couldn't be bought by any amount of money. The possibility to travel in time would be his second wish, but could not yet be accomplished. So, instead, he again contacted the consulate and asked him to organize the shipment of goods.

The planes were flying over K., leaving bags, boxes, and sacks full of second-hand items. Melquiades ordered clothes, sheets, cutlery and crockery, pots and pants, shoes, bicycles, old TV sets, used furniture and fifty cars which were given to those who could still drive a car. The new cargo was supplied every day and soon the streets of K.'s cities started changing. People were wearing more colorful clothes, they were carrying bags, umbrellas, wearing watches. Children were riding bicycles all at the same time and it was a wonder for Melquiades how it was possible that a dozen little kids were able to keep the balance on a two-wheel vehicle. People weren't happier but they definitely were better equipped. Sofas were placed in front of the living spaces and people would sit in front of their buildings and enjoy the setting sun while eating and drinking, and taking pleasure from each other's company. There was still almost no electricity in K., and the petrol was scarce so one could use the car if there was something really important to carry. Then Melquiades noticed something else which gave him food for thought. People were learning how to make use of their new acquisitions. They were learning with the pace of how they taught each other to cook. Imitation was the key to success. And Melquiades asked those who could still read to sit still in the street sofas, open second-hand books and read aloud so that those who wanted to listen, could do this easily. And soon there were groups fond of books and groups fond of films displayed on old TV-sets running on old aggregates. The people of K. started to be more occupied and the food wasn't such a crucial matter, even though it still was the major part of their time. And while the majority were still living the same exact life they were leading every single day for decades, some things were changing. Melquiades appreciated these changes and every day ordered more goods, so more and more planes were flying over K. Funny enough, with planes something else changed. With planes came also birds.

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27

03:20

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26

02:15

Jacob would visit her every night in her chamber and did exactly the same. He explored her body, played with it, licked it, touched it, which gave her tremors of disgust to him and herself equally, as he found her attractive but she didn't find him attractive at all. He was still handsome and a team of specialists were taking care of his looks, clothes and health. But you cannot help not to abhor the body that you don't love, don't care about and don't desire. She was desired and that made her nervous system weak and unstable. She was afraid of his touch and felt every pressure of his fingers with pain.

Gemma knew she wouldn't be able to stand it for a long time. The situation was exhaustive both to her mind and her body. She had to act quickly. She had to hatch a plan which will prove successful.
First she checked whether she could maintain contact with K. She could send letters and did that in the most complicated manner she could think of at that time. She sent messages to her previous job with an instruction to redirect them to Martha. Martha received messages in the wrong order but she knew from the first message that she had to reverse the order and send messages to K. Half of them she sent to someone named John, half of them to a man called Adam. None of them Martha knew, and none of them was she ever going to meet. Gemma never mentioned Melquiades in front of anyone. Melquiades was to take messages sent to John, as John was asked to give them to the old man. If the receiver was unable to collect the letters they were to be left at his place. Gemma was sure that at least no one in the nearest proximity could read them, as there were very few who could do that. Schools appeared to be a failure. What children knew were basic arithmetics.

When she managed to organize this strange way of communication, she was ready to act on a different level.

Jacob spent most of his time in his palace, either receiving important officials or wasting his time on performances or feasts. Gemma had to accompany him and soon she realized what made his previous wives so unhappy. Jacob laughed at her and humiliated her in front of the crowd, sometimes he threw the plate with food at her feet and ordered her to eat from the floor. He called her an ungrateful slave, a silly peasant girl, a sexless sack of bones. Hurtful little words of failed admiration. The crowd was amused. Gemma was furious, but she wanted to maintain the safety she really needed. She didn't want Jacob any angrier, so she obeyed, biting her teeth every time he wanted her to do something hurtful. She thought that his problems in the bedroom resulted in him wanting to punish her since obviously, she was his ideal woman. He desired her and she saw that in his eyes.
And the worst thing was that Jacob was fond of hunting. He and his fellow officials would take a few people from K. placed them in the field and made them run for their lives. And then the chase began. With swords, spears, and bows Jacob and his friends would run after the prey and once they caught all of running wild, they stuck their heads in pikes and left them to rot outside of the palace. Then they ate the meat.

A few nights a month, however, Jacob was away. He didn't mention where he was going but, apparently, he was going there every month over the scope of decades and his new wife wasn't going to change that. He simply disappeared and when he came back he was the same cruel, terrifying man she had to deal with every single night. Those days when he was away were a relief. But instead of rest, Gemma chose to do something different. She decided to log on the system and now as a royal, she had an unlimited access to all the data and all the necessary information. But all that was there wasn't all that she wanted to obtain. After days of searching, she was hopeless, since she couldn't find things for which she came there in the first place. She didn't know yet how people were counted and she couldn't discover the logic behind the transportation of the people to N. There were blank spaces in the system and it seemed that only Jacob had all the answers.

Angry, she had another idea.

"Mouse. An ancient creature. An animal. In old mythology it is the embodiment of deity, which you should obey at all cost and at all cost protect, giving it all the respect it requires. A mouse cannot be hurt, killed, wounded or stabbed. One should treat it better than one treats a child of one's own. The appearance of mice stands for the upcoming end of the world. "

She wrote a concise definition, attached a drawing of a mouse and put the information into the system. Then she sent a message to Adam and asked Martha to hire carriers who would carry the cargo from the train station to her old apartment on the outskirts of N.

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25

02:30

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24

02:38

Melquiades was fully aware that Gemma was at that exact moment with Jacob. He couldn't sleep for days in a row. He was waking up, sweating, worrying, dreaming a nightmare after a nightmare and was terrified. He remembered times when Jacob was fucking those girls from his neighborhood, he gorged on their breasts and buttocks, he fulfilled his wild desires in a sickly youthful way. People rarely change. They cannot be shaded by the years of events, their true nature might sooner or later see the light of day. But what was Jacob's true nature?

Melquiades had doubts. He vaguely remembered times he spent with Jacob. Jacob was always outside, always occupied by his mates, while Melquiades had none of them and would rather spend time alone, reading. When they talked there was no communication between them as lives that they were leading were completely separate. Their conversations were disconnected as a talk about agricultural machinery and a tale of love.

And now Jacob was having his girl. A woman that he was sheltering, bringing up and educating for years. It wasn't jealousy on the part of Melquiades. It was once and again the feeling of being defeated.

When he went outside and saw the crowds of men who couldn't properly count, who talked only about food and their wild, unexplained customs and didn't want to change a bit, he had doubts. He felt hopeless when he saw how his schools failed since fewer and fewer were willing to attend classes, and fewer and fewer were able to teach. People saw no profits in knowing more than they did as there were more interesting things to do and the knowledge didn't make them any happier; quite the reverse. He observed as the elderly saw that the profits of the old ways were far better for them and they stopped visiting him altogether. They needed no changes, they supported no reforms. All they wanted were young women ready for everything just to taste a bit of their wealth. There were no meetings, no discussions and he saw that his scheme slowly deteriorated.
The young man from N. also stopped coming to sleep in his house and Melquiades stayed there completely alone. Failed. Everything he knew failed him and every effort he made seemed to be futile.

Why did he come here in the first place? Why did he start this hopeless activity of saving the unsaved instead of staying where he had spent the major part of his life? Life had no problems there. Going gray might be easy and pleasant. And peaceful. Death might be a slow passage into the tunnel of unknown.

And now the only woman he cared about was in the mouth of a predator whom he hadn't seen for years. And while his back was getting rounder, his legs - thinner, his joints - less flexible, his face - wrinkled and his hair - whiter, he still hated one thing the most. His one youthful trace was in him alive as always. Impatience. He hated waiting.

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