CHAPTER 86

THE INVESTIGATORS TRIED to find out how the man was able to hack into the system and use the sound, they tried to access it, but without success, because everything was blocked.

— Access is blocked! — said one of the operators.

— This is a wall, there is no way to hack it! There is no single source of access, there are parallel routing packets from several countries! He is a master! — said another hacker, moving his fingers on the keyboard of his computer.

— I will need much more time to find the source!

— Just find out! — shouted the nervous officer as he coordinated the event's task force.

FLOYD LISTENED TO THE CONVERSATIONS on the radio, astonished, never in the history of the country had anyone posed such a risk to security as his current enemy.

Killing the President, if that was the terrorist's real intention, seemed to him to be a simple task. He didn't want that, that wasn't his goal... — he thought — "he wanted to humiliate the government, shame the country's sovereignty...

TONY, TOMMY AND THE OTHERS WERE fearful, men like them could easily be discovered and considered highly dangerous in that situation, even Rodman seemed shaken by the surprise.

KENAN SWALLOWED AS HE listened to his rival's performance. Trembling, he looked for support on the pulpit and looked at the astonished crowd in front of him. Control of the situation was no longer in his hands. He looked for saliva to moisten his tongue and inhaled as much as he could, before resuming the word:

— If you are what you say you are, then why are the people I see in front of me responding with so much fear?

— These people fear what they don't know... — the voice replied.

— These people fear the terrorist that you are! They fear the terror that you cause! — They fear being victims of your insanity!

— These people are victims of their own conscience!

Hearing this, Kenan fell silent. Many turned their attention back to the conversation.

The terrorist continued:

— The human being is a wild beast, intoxicated by his own ego, endowed with numerous desires and satisfactions, but tortured by his conscience. He eagerly searches for legal ways to allow his misfortune, to transform his appetites into rights, so that his conscience does not torture him during the transgression. As Goebbels, propagandist of one of the greatest corruptions of the human conscience, said:

— A lie repeated many times becomes a truth...

— ...And we continue in search of the lies that satisfy us the most, so that one day they will become truths that soothe our own futility. I could bring it to light and show them the truth, but they are so attached to their self-pity that they would see nothing more than shadows on the wall of their caves. And inside these caves, they only feel the need to be satisfied with themselves...

— ... Millions are starving in the world and they only comment on this on their social networks, not because they believe that they will change anything, but simply to alleviate their own guilt for being so inert. They see news of pain and suffering every day, but only think about it when their idols talk about it. They donate old clothes and alms to charity, but they continue with their own destructive lifestyle, anesthetized by the idea that their small patch of kindness will cover the immense tear of selfishness that grows every day. Is it their fault? I dare not accuse them of their own ignorance!

— ... Ignorance is a blessing, it allows us to use our own concepts to judge what is around us! Pure ideological oblivion that infects them. They only accept the ignorance that you propose to them, that you teach them from your first words. There are no more values, no more principles, they are just ideological pawns moving according to the game of power. That is why I am here, bringing the bonds of conscience to those who can truly use them to make the right moves..."

— You, President Kenan Vaine. I will no longer allow us to be a people at the mercy of authoritarian stimuli, incapable of opening our eyes to see the evil we cause..."

Unable to bear such an affront any longer, Kenan furiously burst into the invader's speech:

"Who do you think you are to make such an affront to the sovereign government of this country? You are nothing more than a lunatic, a madman! A madman!"

— Don't be foolish, Kenan... — said the voice — or you will succumb in the next act! From now on I will make you see from the point of view of those you oppress. Enough of these little warnings, this is the last time I will speak! I am the people, Mr. President, and the people are no longer with you!

Having said that, a symphony began to play, at a very high volume, but the sound was noisy, a very loud noise that even interfered with understanding the melody, which mixed voices, strange noises, natural and synthetic. Many people began to feel ill, some even fainted or had nose and ear bleeds.