Back to top 6th Nov. 2005

"Ok Cogil you're going to have to explain some of this eventually...", Vincent started to demand. The situation Vincent now found himself in just kept getting stranger. It was like he was visiting this place he'd grown up in and it all seemed alien.

"Look Vincent, like a badly written novel there's just some things you're going to have to wait to find out about, alright? It's a little thing called suspense and stalling until a good place to start the real plot. Ok?" Cogil's explanations were always cryptic. "Alright lets get moving. It's a long walk."

The three of them turned and started walking east again. As they passed the always-familiar Hall of Happiness Vincent couldn't resist asking Ryan about his past. Ryan had grown up in the West Towz and stumbled from appointed position with the city to the next. Finally he found the group of protestors. He had staid with them for several months protesting as the appointed locations. Adrian had been a good leader but he eventually started to notice something about group. The required groupthink started to grade on his nerves. He kept having questions about the group and the whole set up. This more seemed to annoy his fellow protestors than anything else. He could tell this annoyed the group and especially Adrian. So when he noticed Cogil also showing signs of independent thought he knew he wanted to leave with him.

Now the group was coming up on the Hall of Bureaucracy. By now it was near the middle of the night and no one would be inside, although there did seem to be a light on in one of the windows.

"Hey Cogil, why would there be a light on in the Hall of Bureaucracy this time of night?" Vincent asked. "Aren't bureaucrats usually gone by now?"

"Yes, usually they are. What? You want to go up and see what the hell is going on?" Cogil sounded sarcastic, but Vincent couldn't figure out if he had some other meaning to his tone.

"Sure, why not?" Vincent finally answered. "What do you think Ryan?"

Ryan looked up as if he had been thinking about something else. "Yes, of course. The light in the window." He answered.

The three of them started climbing the stairs to the great hall. Vincent noticed the stairs seemed like more every time he attempted to go up or down them. Usually repeating something like that made the trip seem shorter, but in this case longer. He started to think obviously reality was warping around him or his sanity was starting to slowly deteriorate --

"Hey, Vincent. Pay attention will ya? You looked like you were kind of nodding off there."

"Yes, I was a bit. My mind wanders off without me once in a while." Vincent explained. That didn't make that much sense. But Vince tried not to think about such details.

The three finally came to the top of the stairs. The main entrance to the Hall of Bureaucracy was a rather large foreboding looking door. Above the door was a plaque with some old phraseology on it. Vincent read it and wondered if there was anyone left who actually knew what it meant. It said only "tiurf yciuj ruoy eb ot tnaw i". Stupid government buildings: always trying to special and capable of lasting throughout the ages. Although this one had done a pretty good job.

Cogil went to open the door. He turned the knob, obviously expecting to be locked. After all, who would leave an important institution such as the Hall of Bureaucracy unlocked? But to his surprise it opened right up. Inside was already familiar to Vincent, of course, but the inside of the Hall of Bureaucracy was quite unfamiliar to Cogil and Ryan. The immediate inside contained a lobby with a high ceiling and a giant hanging chandelier. About fifty yards from the entrance was a long row of booths usually used to help "enbureaucrat" whatever unfortunate citizen decided to come in to the Hall of Bureaucracy.

The group made their way over to the entrance in the barrier between the lobby area and private area for the bureaucrats. Again expecting the door to be locked, Cogil turned the knob. And again to his surprise, the war swung open.

"Ok, this is getting weird" Cogil opined. "Why are all these doors unlocked? Isn't there sensitive information to this place?" This, Vincent was fairly certain, was a rhetorical question. But he answered anyway. "Ya, they must have citizen records here. You'd think even bureaucracy-enthusiasts would want to pretend to protect at least some information."

"Vincent, Vincent, Vincent: as bureaucracy increases logic usually goes down. Don't you know that? I hope you didn't give these bureaucrats a whole lot of information about you. Also, I hope they didn't promise to help you in some way. You shouldn't hold your breath."

"Ya, thanks Cogil. I think the stairs were somewhere around here. The window with the light was on the second floor, right?" Vincent asked.

"Yes, the stairs are over here. Oh look another door. Let me guess, it's unlocked. Man, this is way too convenient." Cogil noticed.

Cogil tried the door, and was indeed unlocked. The group climbed up several flights of stairs and arrived at the second floor. The second floor seemed much different than the first floor. For one thing the floor was tiled and quite smooth, while the lobby was all carpeted. From the entrance to the stair well the group had just come up there was just a seemingly endless hallway with doors every so many feet on either side of the hall.

As the group moved down the hall some of the doors seemed to have windows while some did not. The hall light seemed to be on but was obviously dimmed for the nighttime. Finally all three of them were standing in front of the office that had a light still on. Cogil turned the knob and went in.

The office was empty. Inside the light source seemed to be coming from the ceiling. In the office was what appeared to be a desk with various items on it. One of the items was a small box-like item with a few wires coming out of it.

"This is kind of weird room, don't ya think Cogil? Not sure I've seen anything quite like this." Vincent said.

"Ya I'm not sure what it is either. And what does this box do anyway? Let see, what does this it do when I push this..."

Cogil pushed a button and there was a voice coming through, saying "Yes, hello to the three of you. What you are listening to is a new magical device that communicates sounds and voices over great distances. I knew the three of you wouldn't be able to resist coming up to my office."

"Wait, wait. What do you mean the three of us? How do you know who we are? What do you magic? There is no magic."

"Oh, poor, poor Cogil. Thinks he knows so much." The voice continued. "And Vincent, sarcastic. Think you know from the insults do ya? And Ryan. Actually I'm not sure why you're there. Three's better than two I guess. It doesn't matter though. I knew there'd be three people and I knew it would be you three. I have a special mission for the three of you, should you choose to accept it."

This time Ryan wanted in. "What do ya mean three is better than two? I'm just as important as these other two damn it. Just because I don't talk as much as the other two doesn't mean I'm not as important as..."

"Yes, fine." The voice interrupted. " You're speaking to me on the voice-uh-ma-tron 42k. And it is magic; to you three anyway. The point is I want you meet me in West Towz. There I will give you more information on this mission. And you won't regret it."

"Since we don't have much better prospects we just might. This job pays right?" Cogil asked all the important questions. "And what should we all you anyway, mysterious voice coming from a 'magic' box?"

"My name is not important. When you get to West Towz You'll know where to look..."
"Don't you mean East Towz? We just came from West Towz, the residential district." Vincent interjected.

"Yes, yes. East Towz. You knew what I meant. Always details with you people. In any case get a move on. And take the light rail! It's much faster. Stop stalling for time."

The three of them all agreed this was a good idea. With a renewed sense of purpose in their step they set out once more. Down the hall, down the stairs and out of the Hall of Bureaucracy, hopefully forever the trio went.

The rail system was a short distance from the Hall of Bureaucracy, down Bureaucracy Blvd. past Bureaucracy Memorial Bridge and onto bureaucratic platform. To wait for the rail car to show up.

Very few in Towz actually knew how the rail system worked. Some how it just did. It had just worked, and worked well, for as long as any record in existence could recall. But then bureaucrats liked to edit certain records for the betterment of society (as defined by them).

Any citizen of Towz simply walked into the station, up the stars and waited on the platform. In a matter of minutes the rail car came down the line to pick the passengers up, screeching to a halt. It was free, always arrived within minutes, and there didn't seem to be a differentiation between one passenger or one-hundred. The rail somehow knew passengers were waiting and in many cases seemed to know the desired destination as well. And yet the citizens still seemed to prefer walking.

As the trio approached the platform the faithful rail car came down and tracks and halted right in front of them. They all boarded and the train was off once more, heading toward East Towz.

Even on this mysteriously intelligent railway system the trip to East Towz could take fifteen minutes or so. After a little of silence Vincent finally broke the silence.

"So Ryan do you do anything in your off time?"

Ryan stopped to ponder this a moment. "Oh I have a few a hobbies." Ryan began. "For instance right now I'm writing a fictional story about a group of explorers who get lost in the woods."

"I see", responded Vincent. "And how far along is it?"

"Oh I'm almost done with it. I'm also not that happy with it. I made a lot of it up, adlibbing as I went a long. Parts seem like the party that is lost could be all symbolism while other parts of it seem to be really literally a group lost in the woods. It's kind of a psychological thriller and kind of scary. But also the party is made up a bunch of idiots in their early twenties wandering the woods."

"Wow, that's sounds quite interesting. I'll probably want to read it once you're done. You have anything to say Cogil?" Vincent asked.

"You two are really boring, you know that? That comment about reading was a really pathetic golf clap of a response, Vincent. And you", he said, starting to face Ryan, "I suppose your group of lost idiots wander around the woods bypassing obvious terrain that could get them found."

"Woe, woe Cogil. Calm down. And no, that does not really happen. The group is quite affected psychologically bye being lost..."

"Ok. Did the group pass by a stream or river of any kind?", Cogil asked, sounding more agitated all the time.

"Yes, they do actually. But they still don't found." Cogil's facial expression changed a little. Like he was trying to control his response.

"Look if they find a stream it really can't be that hard to be found. Creeks lead to rivers. Rivers lead to other rivers and eventually they all lead to the frikkin ocean. And there's always a settlement or road way along an ocean. Even quite panicked and could a group of normal intelligence people miss such an obvious detail. At the very least following the same creek in one direction would prevent them from wandering around in circles..."  ¶ 8:02 PM