A story exploring time travel and societal issues in the wake of 9/11. This is chapter 12. See previous posts for chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.
As their road trip progressed, they bought housing in urban locations and set computer servers up in every spot. In rural areas, they bought large tracts of undeveloped property and had wells dug for water. M2 spent much of the journey on the phone, engaged in conversations that Ana only half understood. The big picture wasn't yet clear to her, but it was coming into focus.
In DC, they met a lobbyist named Rick Rickle. Rickle sold himself as a well-placed insider, ready fight for industry interests if the price was right. As T2 laid out his needs and expectations, the larger plan began to make sense to Ana. It was obvious that T2 was building a national network, which he called The Federation, but she didn't fully understand what that might mean.
Leaving the meeting, Ana had questions. "What kind of eccentric rich guy hires his own lobbyist?" she asked.
"The kind who is fed up with cannabis prohibition and wants to popularize Universal Basic Income," said T2.
"You know you sound crazy, right?" said Ana.
"I'm hoping to accelerate the conversation," said T2. "Get people talking about this stuff sooner rather than later."
"Right, but no one's going to take you seriously," said Ana.
"Give them time," said T2.
In New York, they met up with Thomas, who had just bought a building in Brooklyn, on the edge of Red Hook. The place needed work, and Thomas was theoretically overseeing this, though when Ana and T2 arrived, Thomas was up on the roof, painting a sad skyline at an easel and wallowing in self pity. He'd found no justice for the man who had abused him as a kid. And now his girlfriend August had left him, having invested in a vineyard in France, which is where she was now.
"Oh hey, guys," said Thomas when he saw them open the door onto the roof.
"Let's see," said T2, moving to examine the canvas Thomas was working on. "So this is what you've been doing instead of getting the Brooklyn TAP node online?"
"It's happening," said Thomas defensively. "Internet was just installed this morning, and there'll be crews in here all this week and next. I didn't want to get the node all set up until after that."
"I guess that works," said T2. "Listen, why don't we go somewhere and talk? Oh, and would you mind winning the lottery again?"
The three of them found a deli, got sandwiches, bought a lottery ticket at a bodega, then walked to a park under a bridge. They ate in silence, with unseasonably warm autumn wind occasionally blowing the smell of trash their way. "You wanted to talk?" asked Thomas finally.
Not knowing where to start, T2 watched a bold rat scurry near them, stealing a bit of fallen bread. "Do you know what I like?" he asked finally. "I like action steps. Like, whenever something's got me all twisted up, I like to take some constructive action, even if it's small, to settle my mind."
"Maybe that's why I'm painting," said Thomas.
"And maybe painting isn't quite sufficient," said T2. "There's a social dimension to certain kinds of suffering, and I suspect you're trying to escape that with art, instead of getting into it and dealing with it."
"Getting into it, how?" asked Thomas.
"The guy that hurt you has been outed and nothing really happened to him beyond minor damage to his reputation," said T2. "And you're probably thinking that it was pointless. But your actions limited his access to other victims by making your hometown aware of his activities. That's something."
"I lost most of my old friends and my girlfriend left me," said Thomas.
"But you grew closer with your family, didn't you?" asked T2. "And anyway, there's a bigger picture here. If you feel you're ready to start engaging with it."
"What bigger picture?" asked Thomas.
"That our total system is run, in part, by pedophiles," said T2. "Predators like Dennis Hastert and Jeffrey Epstein have their hands on society's levers of control. But the problem isn't just at the top. There are tens of thousands of sex slaves being harmed by organized crime rings that operate largely with impunity."
Ana looked frustrated. "No one at the FBI is giving them a pass," she said. "I'd heard that about Hastert but not Epstein. He's a hedge fund guy, right?"
"He brings prominent men to his properties for sex with children," said T2. "There are hidden cameras everywhere, suggesting the possibility that he's blackmailing these powerful people. Tell me, if the FBI got its hands on video of top people in business and government abusing disadvantaged teenage girls, would they use the evidence, or would there be instructions from the top to bury it as deep as they could?"
"So ... is that supposed to make me feel better?" asked Thomas.
"I'm hoping it helps give your experience context," said T2. "You weren't just abused by a man, but by a member of a club. And that club is just one of an enormous number of other such clubs, which are all supported by a system run in part by club members."
Ana wanted to argue with this bleak assessment, but she couldn't.
"What were you saying about action steps?" asked Thomas. "I mean, I know the system's rotten. You think you have a way to bring it down?"
"Not bring it down," said T2. "But perhaps make it less relevant. Protect people from some of its harms."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Thomas.
"There are nine ecovillages forming in this country under the TAP umbrella," said T2. "And forty-four network nodes being set up in urban centers. Once you're done here, I want you in Minneapolis, then Eureka, California. When summer rolls around, go to the rainbow gathering outside of Likely to talk to people about our Federation. That sound like something you'd be willing to do?"
"Why Minneapolis and Eureka?" asked Thomas.
"I expect trouble at both nodes," said T2. "And I'll trust your assessment of our operations there."
"What kind of trouble?" asked Ana.
"Each node will support a collective," said T2. "I expect political trouble within these collectives. All of them, eventually, but these two to start."
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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