A Future History of the United States

As Tim walked back to the house where he had spent the night, he kept expecting Archbishop Paul’s men to come running after him. He maintained what he hoped was a stately pace, looking neither to the right nor left. With his nerves on edge, the distance seemed more than twice what it had earlier. Finally, he reached his destination.

Once inside, with the door locked behind him, he relaxed slightly. He would not feel really safe until he had passed through the portal into the passageways of Son City. Gathering the few belongings he had brought with him, he made his way to the room with the portal. As the portal opened, he heard someone pounding at the front door. Ignoring the sound, he stepped through and watched the portal close behind him.

The passageway he had entered extended a short way to his left and ended in a steep flight of stairs leading down at least ten meters. Once at the bottom he found himself in another corridor stretching off in both directions. Remembering his direction finding disk, he pulled it out. It was pointing to his right.

After about thirty paces, he came to what looked like one of the moving walkways, but it was still. Even so he gingerly stepped onto it. Apparently his weight activated some mechanism and it began to move, slowly at first, but with the speed gradually increasing until he was going quite fast.

After a few minutes of high speed transport, the walkway slowed to an easy stop. Stepping off and walking a short way, he reached a sharp left hand bend. Turning the corner, he found he was back where he had exited the capsule a little more than twenty-four hours before.

Dennis was waiting for him, just as he had promised.

Greeting him with a big smile and a warm handshake Dennis said, “That was another job well done. Archbishop Paul believed everything you said.”

“Then why did he send someone after me? They were pounding on the door hard enough to break it down as I left through the portal.” He paused for a few moments, “But how do you know what happened?”

“First of all, that wasn’t someone from the Archbishop. It was just some poor beggar hoping for a handout. As to how I know, it’s about time we let you in on another one of our secrets. We have the Archbishop’s entire compound wired for sound.” Pulling a small device from his right ear he showed Tim an object smaller than a fingernail, “With this little jewel I can hear everything that he says, no matter where he is in that building.”

Tim started to respond, “But…?”

Anticipating Tim’s question, Dennis went on, “We’ve told you that even while things have been going to pot out there on the surface, we have managed to maintain, and even improve, many of the technologies of the past. This is just one more example. It really comes in handy when you want to know what kind of plans your opposition is making.

“Let’s get back home. Things are boiling over in St. Louis, and we need to be sure they don’t get too far out of hand.” With this, he opened the transport capsule, assisted Tim into it, and stepped in himself. “And off we go,” he said as the capsule began to move.

Tim had not realized just how exhausted he was, both physically and mentally. After the initial push of acceleration eased off, he sat back in his seat and was soon asleep. He was awakened by the movement of his chair as the capsule prepared for deceleration. Looking over at Dennis he remarked, “I think I could get use to traveling like this.”

“You may come to regret that remark. If everything works out as we hope, travel will become a major part of your life.”

Tim was waiting for further explanation when the capsule slowed to a stop. As they exited the capsule Dennis said, “Dinner should already be on the table so we don’t have time to change clothes.” With this, he led the way to a walkway which took them directly to the dining room.

Jane and Billy were already at the table as Tim and Dennis walked in. Billy took one look at the newcomers, let out a strangled cry, and grabbed his mother, burying his face in her arms. When Jane turned to see what had disturbed him her face went white.

This unexpected reception puzzled Tim. Since every time one of the group went into the outside world he dressed as a bishop Tim thought Jane and Billy would be use to seeing them in bishop’s attire. He continued to walk toward the table, “I’ve come back for you. What’s wrong?”

Jane tried to respond but no words would come out. She simply looked at him with terror in her eyes. Ron was also sitting at the table. Speaking up he remarked, “With what they’ve been through, how do you expect them to react when two bishops come walking into the room?”

Ron put an arm around Jane’s shoulder to comfort her, and using a soft, gentle voice, he said, “It’s just Tim and Dennis. They’ve been out on an assignment, and haven’t had time to change yet. As we’ve told you, you are safe here.”

With fear turning to anger, Jane pushed him away. “Someone might have told us you people dressed like this sometimes. Seeing them like that frightened Billy almost to death.”

Tim interjected, “You looked pretty bad yourself.”

It was the wrong thing to say!

The fear and frustration of the past few weeks came rushing out in a torrent of words. “And you,” giving Tim a wrathful look, “you should know better than to scare Billy like that. We’ve hardly seen you at all since we got here, and you go gallivanting around dressed up like some monster.” Stopping, she burst into tears.

Once Billy recognized his father, he had returned to his meal. In the silence following her outburst he said, “I think dad looks good in that outfit.”

Smiling at Billy’s comment, Tim tried to calm his wife. He put his arms around her, only to be pushed away. “You don’t love me any more,” she whimpered, “leaving me alone all the time like this. When are you going to show me some attention?”

Dennis sat down beside her, “Jane,” he said softly, “look at me.” Getting her attention, he continued, “I know it’s hard on you. There are things going on that you can’t understand. Even if we tried to explain them, a lot of it would make no sense to you. You’ve gotten caught up in something that’s bigger, and more important, than you can possibly imagine. I promise you, once this is all over, you will by the proudest wife in the entire country.”

Calming down only slightly, she turned to him, “Don’t treat me like a child. Just tell me what the hell is going on.

“How do you expect me to act? First some thugs dressed in long black robes yank Tim out bed in the middle of the night. Then Billy and I get tossed it a stinking hellhole of a dungeon. We are forced to watch people getting burned alive and tortured almost to death. Then we get kidnapped, and brought to heaven knows where. How do you expect me to act?”

She was clearly on the edge of hysteria. Speaking in a calm, soothing, almost melodic, voice Ron took over the explanation.

“Jane, you know that things have been bad out there in the world for some time. You also know things have been getting worse, not better, for a long time. Think back to when you were Billy’s age. There were things available then that people no longer have today.

“When you were little, you didn’t have to worry about someone being taken away in the middle of the night like Tim was. Back then, everybody would have been absolutely horrified at the thought of someone being publicly executed by burning them at the stake.

“The Church has strayed far from the path God intended. When people think of the way the Church is now, they blame ALL of the Church officials, from the Prelate all the way down to their local priest.

“That’s not the way it really is. There are many priests, and even some bishops, that know a wrong path has been taken. Unfortunately, those who are faithful to Jesus’ word don’t have the power to do anything about it on their own. Whenever the Prelate or one of the Archbishops identifies someone like this, they are immediately removed from their position and sent to languish in a monastery in some remote location.

“After President Degan packed the Supreme Court with his hand picked ‘Justices,’ the Church gradually took control of the Country. It wasn’t long before the President and Congress were simply doing what the Prelate of the Church told them to do. Now we don’t even really have a President. The Prelate has taken complete control.

“We have been working for years to try to correct this situation. It has required a lot of planning and placing people in strategic positions. We are almost ready for our final push. Once we found Tim, everything began to fall into place. He is really the key to our entire operation. You will see very little of any of us for the next few weeks. Just hang in there.”

Ron’s comments had calmed Jane sufficiently for Tim to get back into the conversation. “I’m sorry I frightened you. I didn’t even think about the way I was dressed. I was just in a hurry to get back and explain to you what I had been doing. Thinking about you gives me strength to do what I have to do. If we are successful then life will be even better for the three of us than it was before all this started.

“I know you don’t understand what is going on. I don’t understand some of it myself. I just know something has to be done to bring decency back to our world. You’ve always been there for me and I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Oh, Tim, why can’t things be like they use to be? We were so happy before those dreadful men pulled you out of bed. We didn’t have much, but we did have each other. Can’t we just find some quiet place to get away from this all and get back to a normal life?”

Billy had been listening carefully to the conversation. When his mother paused he asked Ron, “If Dad is so important, why are we here? Why did those men have to take him away, and then come back after us? Why can’t we still be living in our house, and him do whatever it is you want him to do?”

Ron addressed Jane, “I understand just how you feel. My wife has many of the same questions you do. If you were to try to go back to your former life now you would both be burned at the stake within a week! Tim is such a threat to those in power they could not let him live.”

Turning to Billy, Ron replied, “They took your dad because he is so important. The way the system works now, once they took him they had to put you and you mom in prison too. There are some things about your dad that even he doesn’t know yet. This makes him the only one who can do what must be done!”

Ron looked back at Tim, “The fuse you lit last Sunday has burned throughout the city in these last three days. I hope things don’t get too much out of control too soon. Some of our men are out there among the population trying to control and direct the anger that has been festering for way too long.

“There have been demonstrations against the Church in a number of locations. We are sure these will have the impact we want. What we are not sure of yet, is just how long it will take. The longer it does the more difficult it will be to control and get things calmed back down. Archbishop Rand has scheduled a meeting in his office tomorrow. We have a special event planned for tonight. That might have the desired effect.

“Claude is going to The one of the pubs and casually suggest the people tear down President Degan’s statue. He won’t put it quite that bluntly, but that’s what he hopes to accomplish. With the mood in town it shouldn’t be too hard to get them to do this. A few choice words to some of the more hotheaded should be enough.

“If this doesn’t work, then we will have to take some even more spectacular action. From what we know of the Archbishop’s condition, we are pretty sure tonight’s actions will do the trick. If it does, you will need to be ready for your next assignment by Friday morning.”

Claude, dressed in everyday workman’s clothes, joined with a group of men at the Horse’s Ale Pub near the Archbishop’s Cathedral. In the conversation several men had expressed their complete disgust with the Archbishop and the way the Church had conducted a reign of terror under his leadership. Such disrespect would have been unthinkable just a week earlier, but Tim’s sermon had fueled a long smoldering fire of discontent.

In a seemingly offhand manner Claude remarked, “We should go down there and show them how we feel. I never have liked having Degan’s statue right in front of a church.”

Having planted the seed, he moved on to another table. There he made a similar statement. After several more tables he quietly exited the pub and disappeared.