Two days later, James was in his office. He was eyeballing a plate of pineapple custard turnovers.
‘Look at this puff pastry,’ he said to himself. ‘Perfect density and fluffiness.’
His assistant walked into his office holding an envelope.
‘Here are your poll results, sir,’ said the assistant as she handed them to James.
‘Excellent, well done,’ said James enthusiastically. ‘You guys have done a great job.’
‘Ohh, does that mean there’s a pay rise in my future?’ asked the assistant.
‘Yes, there is,’ said James, nodding his head. ‘In your very distant future.’
The assistant sharply turned around and walked out.
James opened the envelope and pulled out the poll results. He looked at them for a few seconds, and then he pulled them to his chest and sighed in relief.
‘From your response, I gauge the results are favourable,’ said the Hat Lady as she appeared in the armchair in the corner of the room.
‘More than favourable,’ said James excitedly. ‘Waldo is finished. His popularity has completely tanked.’
‘Sometimes you just need to let them dig their own graves,’ said the Hat Lady.
‘Better than that,’ said James. ‘He dug his own grave, rolled into a coffin, and buried himself.’
‘Okay, let’s hear the numbers then,’ said the Hat Lady as she smiled slightly smugly.
‘In the lead we have Ryan on 44%, in joint second we have Joan and Sally on 18%, in fourth we have Julia on 11%, and rock bottom we have Waldo the deceased on 9%.’
‘Your sample size?’ asked the Hat Lady as she sat forward.
James paused for a few seconds as he looked at the printout and then looked up and said, ‘2,114 with a maximum error of 4%.’
‘With the big concert in a few days, I think we can say this is over,’ said Hat Lady as she nodded. ‘You are truly the great 5D chess player.’
‘You’re forgetting one thing,’ said James. ‘We still have those raunchy photographs of Joan. Why not completely destroy her too?’
‘They have foolishly run their campaign as a team,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘This has made them close to indistinguishable to the voters. At the debate, they reinforced this. They represented themselves as the Democracy Chasers. They took turns answering questions. Joan and Sally were equally charismatic; they could have almost been the same person.’
‘I assume there’s some point to that beautiful monologue?’ asked James as he raised his eyebrows.
‘If you destroy Joan, most of her votes will go to Sally,’ said the Hat Lady calmly. ‘She will now be seen as the victim. This may also influence those who intended to vote for Julia to now vote for Sally. The votes for the Democracy Chasers will consolidate around Sally.’
James studied the poll results carefully. Then he looked up abruptly at the Hat Lady.
‘You mean that could actually cost us the election!’ said James, sounding alarmed.
‘Afraid so,’ said the Hat Lady as she got up from the seat and walked towards James.
‘Damn, it feels like such a lost opportunity,’ said James as he banged his fist on the table.
‘Not at all,’ said the Hat Lady as she smiled. ‘Why destroy someone when they could become such a useful asset to control?’
‘You want to blackmail her with the photographs,’ said James.
The Hat Lady nodded as she held her hand out.
James opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out the envelope with the photographs in, and he handed them to the Hat Lady.
‘You’re such a mean and ruthless manipulator,’ said James as he looked up into her face. ‘If I weren’t a genius, I bet you’d be trying to pull the wool over my eyes.’
‘Thinking of genius, I’ll be over to give you a top-up on blue juice tonight,’ said the Hat Lady as she winked and became invisible.
‘Ha, I’m two weeks overdue,’ said James to himself. ‘I’m as smart as ever. In fact, I was pretty accomplished before she even showed up.’
He turned to pick up a pineapple custard turnover, but the plate had gone.
‘Soon the day will come when I won’t need to put up with your nonsense,’ said James to himself as he stared through the glass in his office door. His assistants appeared to be eating some type of pastry.
It was the evening just two days before voting. Kingdom Stadium was packed for the mega concert featuring all twelve celebrities running in the election as well as a special performance from Saliyah. Televisions were set up at public venues across all of Sapey. These venues were completely packed out. There was not even any room to stand.
The event began when players from all twenty-four Pound Ball teams ran onto the field to the blaring music of the Pound Ball weekly show. Each team ran an entire lap. The best thrower from each team lined up on the goal line next to a basket of balls. Once the players had left the field, a row of flaming hoops was moved to the end of the first section of the field. The Phoenix City Flyers rookie triplet catchers ran behind the flaming hoops, catching the balls thrown through them in spectacular fashion.
Then the music changed to Saliyah’s hit song ‘My Hero’. Ryan jogged onto the field to the roar of the crowd. One of the throwers from the Scarecrows jogged to the centre of the field to meet him. He handed a microphone to Ryan. The music stopped.
‘How would you like to see me and take on the Chiefs one more time?’ shouted Ryan into the microphone.
The crowd roared with delight.
‘Apparently, someone was a sore loser,’ shouted Ryan. ‘They thought we won unfairly. How about I single-handedly take on all fifteen of the Chiefs players?’
The crowd roared with delight.
The fifteen Chiefs players ran out onto the field as Ryan and the thrower jogged back to the goal line. The Chiefs mascot ran onto the field dressed as Waldo. He blew his whistle as he waved his arms frantically. The thrower gently flipped a ball to Ryan. The song ‘My Hero’ began playing again.
Ryan began dancing down the field. The Chiefs players ran towards him. Some pretended to tackle him, others fell over for no reason, and others bumped into each other. Ryan danced from side to side as if he were dodging tackles, but the Chiefs players were far from tackling him. This continued until Ryan reached the other goal line. He spun around and moonwalked for three points.
‘Ryan wins again,’ screamed the commentator.
The crowd roared with excitement.
The mascot dressed as Waldo rolled on the field, pretending to have a temper tantrum.
‘Send Waldo packing,’ screamed the commentator. ‘Get out there and vote for Ryan.’
The crowd began chanting, ‘Ryan in, Waldo out! Ryan in, Waldo out! Ryan in, Waldo out!’
Waldo was in his stadium box. He was standing up with his face pressed against the glass with his mouth wide open.
The event continued with individual performances from each celebrity from each district. This included songs, dancers, skits, and even a comedy act. At the end of each performance, the commentator would promote the celebrity and tell the crowds to vote for them.
For the final performance, a huge stage was rolled out into the centre of the field. All the lights went out. About a minute later, the spotlight shone on the centre of the stage. Saliyah was standing there. She was holding a microphone.
‘Tonight is not about us,’ she said loudly and confidently. ‘It is about everyone in Sapey. The day after tomorrow, Sapey’s destiny is in the hands of all of you. You can make democracy prevail.’
The crowd roared loudly.
‘People power! People power! People power!’ chanted Saliyah.
The crowd continued the chant. The noise in the stadium was deafening. This continued for almost ten minutes.
‘I want to sing a song that I wrote for all of you,’ said Saliyah. ‘My democracy, my freedom.’
The music began, and she started singing.
The song started with just one spotlight focused on Saliyah. Gradually, the stadium attendants turned on torchlights. They walked up and down the aisles. On television, photographs of those who worked in the mines flashed up. This was followed by photographs of the servants who had worked for the various chiefs from across the districts. After running through about a dozen of these photographs, the message ‘we will now be free’ flashed up on the screen before the television went back to the stadium. By now, the field and the crowd were entirely lit up.
Saliyah was singing the chorus for a third time. The other celebrities walked onto the stage and joined in with the singing. Ryan walked onto the field. He slowly climbed onto the stage and walked towards Saliyah. She dropped her microphone and ran towards him. She jumped into his arms.
The crowd began singing the chorus. The lights slowly began to dim on the field. Gradually, the field went dark. The singing continued. The voices of the crowd overpowered the voices on the field. Eventually, the music stopped. The crowd began chanting loudly. A few minutes later, the words ‘Democracy, it’s your time to choose’ lit up on the field. The music to the song ‘My Hero’ began playing again.
The crowds in the public venues locked arms. Joan and Sally were at one of the venues. Sally turned to look at Joan. Joan nodded. They both joined the crowd and locked arms with them. The mothers in the facility were sitting side by side, holding hands, gently swaying together. Demadrian stood behind them. He was watching the television screen intently. In Carrington, Locum was also watching the event closely. He had a very concerned look on his face.
The Hat Lady was standing on the roof of her hotel. She could see the stadium. She could hear the music and the roar of the crowd. A tear rolled down her face.
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my 
