A Future History of the United States

Tim looked up with a start. He had become so engrossed in his reading he had spent the entire rest period in study. “But ‘A’ just left a little while ago. It can’t be breakfast time already.”

“Wrong,” chuckled Dennis “He left your room over 10 hours ago. In fact, you are actually late for breakfast. I had to come see if you were alright.”

“Well,” said Tim as he stood and stretched, rubbing his shoulders and neck, “I did find this very interesting. Is this information available to anyone who wants to read it?”

Dennis slowly shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. Everything you’ve been reading was banned by the Church decades ago. They tried to eliminate all traces of it, but with the way the world had been interconnected with computer networks, it was an impossible task. When the economy of the United States collapsed it took the rest of the world with it. This made the problem of preserving information that much more difficult.

Local conflicts in other countries destroyed many of the most important libraries. A world wide depression has virtually dismantled the system linking computers together. It has taken many people, working many years, to gather what we have now. When Church officials catch anyone with any of this information they simply disappear. We’ve had to be very careful to avoid letting this information get into the wrong hands.

“Enough of that,” he said as if dismissing the topic, “come on to breakfast and see your surprise.”

Tim walked through the door and looked toward the dining area and stopped, stunned, almost unable to believe his eyes and temporarily unable to move. There at the table sat his wife and son! “Jane! Billy!” Tim screamed. “How did you get here?” Then he noticed they both looked tired and worn. “What happened? Ron told me the Church had put you in prison. How did you get out?”

Tim had been so shocked by seeing Jane and Billy he had not even noticed that Ron was also present. Ron spoke up, raising his voice to get Tim’s attention. “Slow down, son. We’ve got plenty of time to explain. We’ll take things one at a time. Right now, these two need some good food and rest. They’ve had a rather rough time.”

Tim rushed to the table and embraced his wife and son. Looking at Claude he said, “I don’t know how you did it. I owe everything to you. Until now, even with everything I’ve been taught here, I was still uncertain if I could really join with your movement. After this I’ll do anything I possibly can to help.”

“Like I said, Tim, let’s take things slowly. Right now it’s your emotions speaking. We want your brain fully involved, too,” Ron replied. “Your training has just begun. You have much more to learn before you will be ready. For the next few days we want you, Jane, and Billy to just spend time together. They can tell you what they’ve been through, and you can explain to them what is going on here.”

For the first time Billy spoke up, “Dad, let go of me so I can sit down and eat. I’m starving.”

Tim looked at both of them. “I’m sorry. I’m so happy to see you, I didn’t realize how tight I was holding you. Let’s eat. We can talk while we’re eating.”

Even though all three ate their fill, later none of them could recall what was on the table. The conversation was continuous and at times intense. At one point, in answer to a direct question, Ron told them that it had been six weeks since Tim had first been brought before the Archbishop. He also confirmed that the bunker maintained a normal twenty-four hour schedule.

Jane and Billy insisted that Tim be the first to describe his experiences. Looking at Ron he said, “I’ll do my best, but if I miss anything important, please help.”

A good forty-five minutes later he finally paused. Claude interjected, “I knew you had a good memory Tim, but I didn’t expect you to actually be able to quote so many of my comments verbatim. You will find your ability to remember things like that quite helpful in the task you have before you.”

Jane then began to tell her story. “After they took you away in the middle of the night they ordered us to stay in the house until we were told we could leave. I was so frightened when they took you away I couldn’t think straight. Our life had been so happy and satisfying. I didn’t know how I could go on living without you. I kept hoping you would come right back. The next night two women in Church robes came to the house and told us we were to come with them. I thought they were taking us to be with you.

“Instead they took us both to the Archbishop. He said that you had confessed everything, and that he knew we also were guilty of heresy against the Church. He told us we must repent and name all others we knew of who had sinned against the Church.”

Tim interrupted, “He’s a damned liar! I never confessed anything. I told him I had nothing to confess to.”

“I didn’t believe him. I know you too well. I told him the only way he could have gotten any confession out of you was through torture. He looked at me and said ‘that’s one of our methods.’ I was shocked. I told him Christ would never condone such action on His behalf.

“He actually laughed at me! He said, ‘Who are you to say what Christ would do? I represent Christ. You are just a woman.’ That’s when I really got scared. He seemed to have no sense of mercy or compassion so I told him he was a very poor example of what a Christian should be!

“He laughed at me again and told me I needed to confess to being a heretic. When I refused, he told the two women who had brought me before him to take me to the Rehabilitation Facility. Through all of this they let Billy stay with me.”

After pausing for some time Jane continued. This time her voice was barely audible. “I think it was about three days later some men came to get us. I was afraid they were going to …”

Tim jumped to his feet “Did they …?” he shouted.

“No. I thought they intended to, but they never gave any indication that was even on their mind. As they led us out of the prison one of them grabbed me by the arm. I told him to turn loose of me and slapped him so hard I thought I might have broken my hand! He looked stunned but refused to let go. I told him if he didn’t let go he would have to drag me wherever we were going. He finally did let go but said that if I gave him any more trouble I would really be sorry.

They took us out into the Church yard. There were thirteen people; men, women, and even two children. They were tied to posts with wood piled around them. They were in a big circle. There must have been hundreds of people standing around. A platform had been built in the middle of the circle.

“I’m not sure how long we stood there, but finally the Archbishop came out, along with another man. They climbed the stairs to the platform and the Archbishop started speaking. He shouted so that everyone could hear him.

“‘These,’ he slowly turned and looked at each of the thirteen, ‘heretics are condemned by their own actions. They have refused to repent of their sins and make full confessions. They have been offered every chance, yet continued to resist all efforts to save their souls. They deserve to die! The Church cannot execute them, so they have been turned over to the civil authorities.’

“Turning to the man with him he said, ‘Governor, give the word that they may be burned.’”

At this point Jane wiped tears from her eyes before continuing, “The other man simply said, ‘light the fires!’ I tried to turn away but my guards actually held my head and forced me to face the circle. I closed my eyes. The light from the fires was so bright it seemed I could see it even through my eyelids. The screams of the poor people being burned still ring in my ears.”

She sat, sobbing, unable to continue. Tim took her in his arms, trying to console her. Then he looked at his son. Billy had his head down on the table, covering his ears with his hands. “They made Billy watch, too,” Jane cried. “They shouldn’t do that to a ten-year- old boy!”

Dennis picked Billy up and held him tightly in his arms. “No one should have to watch something like that. You’re safe here. No one can harm you. Everyone here is determined to protect you.”

Claude had put his arms around both Tim and Jane. “I know nothing can erase this from your memory,” he said. “Time will help some, and there are some treatments our doctors can give you that will help you cope. All three of you are strong willed. You can, and you must, get through this. Knowing just how evil the Church leaders have become will help you see what we are doing is right. We will restore the Church to what Christ intended it to be.”

It took some time to get Jane and Billy calmed down after her emotional testimony. ‘A’ had also been listening to the conversation. While Jane was describing her ordeal at the public execution, he had quietly left the room. He now returned with two small cups containing an orange colored liquid. Handing each of them a cup, he said “Drink this; it will help you feel better.” He turned to Tim, “In my other life, I am a licensed physician. My specialty is dealing with people who have had extremely upsetting emotional experiences.”

“We have everything here to take care of almost any situation. We even have a full service hospital where we can treat of any condition that can be treated in one of the hospital on the outside. Of course, much of medicine is automated these days, but the personal touch is still a major part of patient care.”

Tim was beginning to realize the organization was much larger than he had thought. He still didn’t see how they could accomplish their stated goal of overthrowing the status quo with the Church, but he was beginning to think they may really have a chance to do it successfully.

After a few more minutes Jane indicated she was ready to continue her story.

“When the fires had just about burned out, they took me and Billy back to our cell. I was afraid they would separate us, but they always kept us together.”

Ron interrupted, “They always keep young children with the mother. It’s part of their psychological game. Letting the mother see how her child or children react to the various tortures can break the mother’s will to resist. This is especially effective when the children witness the mother being tortured. If everything else fails they will make the mother watch as her child is tortured. This will break the resolve of even the most stubborn individual. ”

Jane paused to consider this information. “If they had threatened to torture Billy I would have said anything they wanted me to say. I’m grateful it never got to that point.

“I’m not sure how many days we were in that stink hole. It seemed like years, but from what Ron says it was only six weeks.

“They gave us nothing but bread and water to eat, and not much of that.” Picking up a slice of bacon she said, “I never knew that bacon tasted so good… One other time those two men took us out to the Church yard. When I saw where we were heading I thought we were going to see another bunch of people burned.

“Instead they brought out two men who had been stripped naked. They tied their hands to a frame above their heads and whipped them with a long cord. You could hear the ‘smack’ each time the cord struck them on the back. After five lashes they were asked, ‘are you ready to confess?’ Both men said they had nothing to confess. Then they were whipped again. I lost count of the number of lashes they received, but both were steadfast in denying having done anything wrong.

“At last both men appeared to faint. Their tormentors then cut the bonds from their hands and let them fall to the ground. Some other men came out and carried them away. I don’t know what happened to them next but, if they weren’t already dead, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they were eventually burned like the other group we witnessed.

“Finally we were brought back before the Archbishop. He asked us the same questions he had asked before. We both again said we had nothing to confess and he dismissed us. As we were being led back to our cell this man here,” she indicated Claude, “came out of nowhere and took control of us.”

“I know just what you mean,” Tim said. “The same thing happened to me.”

At this point ‘A’ spoke up, “I think that’s enough for now. Jane and Billy should get some much needed sleep. That potion I gave them should help them relax. If you two will go with Dennis, he will help make you comfortable.”

He turned to Tim, “Your wife is a very strong individual. Very few people could take what she went through without breaking. It will take her some time to really recover. In the meantime you can expect her to have very strong reactions to anything that reminds her of these past few weeks. She will seem like a different person than the Jane you know. We will be providing some in depth counseling for her for the next couple of weeks.

“As for you, we’ll have everything ready for your first assignment in about another week. We’ll be sending you back out into the real world.”