It was a strangely quiet populace that sat looking at their T.V.
sets as the woman went off the air. She had said so much and yet
they still had no information on the children or their actual
whereabouts. What she had said stunned them into silence. She had
inferred that they were somehow to blame for what had happened.
And everyone of them was feeling that guilt a little bit. How
could they be responsible for the mess they were in? Weren�t
they just the little people? What could they do about it? Now she
was saying it was up to them to do the rest.
Each person sat trying to puzzle out the meaning of the message
until a strange urge came upon them to move and with it the
knowledge that that had been the problem all the time; the desirenot to be involved in what they thought was someone else�s
business. Now it was their business, their children. They had to
do something for themselves this time, but what? As they stood up
and moved around it seemed only logical for them to get coats on
and go outside. There was no anger in the act, no hatred, just
the need, deep down in their beings to DO. For them to finally
take the responsability for themselves as individuals to get a
thing done. How had they let this slip from their grasp?
All over the lower mainland of B.C. and in those area�s that
received that channel, including parts of Washington State, they
walked out of their homes and apartments. At firt they just
looked at each other in silence, for each man and woman was still
troubled by the depth of their own thinking. Slowly at first a
few began to walk towards the centres of their own communities.
The core area�s where those in command of their lives had their
offices. It didn�t bother them that there would be no one in them
at this time of day. It was enough that they were willing at last
to face what the offices represented. Others joined them until
what had started on the outskirts of the communities as a slow
trickle, soon became streams and swelled into rivers that finally
ended as an ocean of silent,swaying people in front of court
houses, town halls, police stations, and government buildings and
offices.
There was no mob. There were no shouts of anger. Only the sounds
of those who had missed the telecast, asking what was going on.
And those who did break silence long enough to speak to them told
them to move on, it was none of their business, in such a way
that they were obeyed.
This was one time the people were acting as individuals within
the group, and the message was; if you don�t know why I�m here
than you don�t belong, for this is no mindless gathering. I�m not
here because the others are but because I want to be here.
There is menace in a mob that makes man react, by either
mindlessly joining it, as an excuse to release all the pent up
frustrations against our loss of personal control over our lives,
or by instinctively trying to destroy the mob for what it
represents, which is loss of power regained. Who joins what side
depends on the individuals own feeling about whether he is being
led or a leader. That is the secret of a mob and why, once
formed, it works as one mindless entity,for it is a creation of
angry emotions caused by the frustration of having no control any
more over our lives, and emotions don�t think or reason.
This was not a mob, for these people were accepting the
responsability for themselves at last and not directed outward.
In a sense, each person was there alone and had no awareness of
the others except as moving bodies they sometimes happened to
touch. They were standing there to be counted. To say to the
powers they had raised up: I must be acknowledged at last.
The effect of this silent group was like a shock wave that spread
out picking up force. As the words of the woman were repeated
over the other stations and picked up by news casts around the
world, the same scene was repeated over and over.
The structures of power they had built were tumbling like the
tower of Babel. Only this tower was crumbling from the silence
and the unspoken accusations. The intention was not to destroy
the structure itself, for it had never been created out of a
useless need for its own existance, but to remind the men who
made up the powers, who had put them there and why.
And for the first time these men of iron will and great ambitions
trembled for they knew they had lost something they valued and
would never have it back in the old way again. They could only
fight now to keep what little they had left. They were still the
spokesmen of the people.
The woman would have what she wanted and the world would hear her
message. And in this manner, without bloodshed and tears, the
world was united in a common goal at last, for it had realized
that without the little ones, mankind would cease.
There wasn�t much time to do the work that needed to be done. The
wise ones realized that if they had been given longer the project
just might have failed. But given that sense of urgency made
people work together to get it done in time. Not even a war had
made the people cooperate with each other as they did now.
There were no strikes on this job. No lack of funds, for all the
materials and money normally spent on war budgets or used for war
went into it. The brain power and the technology of a world was
available for the asking. But as always, when it came right down
to it, the ordinary man did the hardest job of all.
Portable TV�s were cleaned out of all stores and wharehouses that
had them; either given away by the owners in a wild burst of
sharing or paid for by the people themselves and taken to remote
places in the world by car, truck, plane, boat, horseback or on
the back of men. As many villages as they could reach in time
were provided with a set.
For those isolated people that had never seen a TV before; men
and women stayed behind to man them when the time came. They were
taking no chances if they could help it that the sets would be
damaged in some way by these primative tribes. They too had a
right to hear what had happened to their missing children.
The great meeting hall of the United Nations in New York was
readied and for the first time in its history the heads of state
of all countries were going to attend in person. Those countries
that didn�t belong to the United Nations were sent invitations by
demand of the people; who were getting their way these days.
By 4:45 on June 2nd, they were as ready as they could be. The
great men and women of the Nations were in their places and
silent. Three cameras were ready. A hush fell on the people as
they watched the great clock that had been installed over the
speakers podium. An announcer who had been speaking into the
microphone to test the equipment, watched a panel at the back of
the hall light up as area�s all over the world reported in that
they were receiving.
There was now five minutes left to go and it had been decided to
keep the mike free and the cameras on the podium with the clock
imposed over it. By now everyone that had access to a paper or TV
set knew what the woman, who called herself �Mrs. Fairway,�
looked like. The pictures had been taken off the tapes of the
first vidio broadcast.
There was no way to tell how she would arrive, so escorts were
posted at every entrance to guide her to the conference room.
All were still as the second hand moved to strike away the last
minute.
Two guards who were standing at the right of the podium near a
side exit heard a single knock on the door behind them and turned
in annoyance at the disturbance. The tallest of the two walked
over quickly and opened the door. Mrs. Fairway had arrived.
She was so small when seen in reality it was hard to accept that
this small form had shaken the earth so deeply. As the proud
guard escorted her to the podium, all eyes followed her and a
camera that had been turned to the main entrance was hurriedly
swung around to follow her last steps. This gave the appearance
of her having appeared out of the thin air to those who watched
the screens.
Her hair was in a soft little cloud that formed her small,
unlined face and the long gown she wore was severe in the
simplicity of its cut. It was of deep blood red and looked to be
of wool though it was hard to tell. She wore no ornament or
jewely on her person but carried an object in her hand that was
startling in its appearance.
The camera left her face to show the people what she carried.
It was a palm sized sphere of crystal that bore a brilliant blue
light in its depths that was shooting beams of light out to every
point in the compass. They flickered over the dress of the woman
so that it seemed like a living thing that she wore.
When she arrived at the podium, a stir of embarrassment rippled
the hall. It had been built for men of stature and her small body
barely showed over its top. To those people who saw dignity
represented in highth, they were uneasy lest she suffer her own
embarrassment and grow angry with them. They were all leaders
used to sitting high as a mark of esteem.
Instead she laughed and motioned the men that stood by, to her. A
whispered consultation sent two men out of the room and three
others to the podium which was removed from its base and set
aside. A few minutes later a chair was brought in and placed for
her.
It was strange the effect this had on everybody watching. Almost
as if it had been planned. There was a relaxing of tense muscles
that had been strung tight by the suspense of waiting. The fear
of the power behind this small form that could make a billion
babies dissappear was still there but they were beginning to
wonder if it was warrented. In these housewifely actions, of
moving furniture around to suit herself, she lost the alian
expectancy they assumed about her.
The Orb was still glowing in her hand as she sat down in the
chair. Slowly it was held out between her body and the audiance
and just as slowly her hand was removed from under it. The Orb
stayed where it was! It floated in the open space between,
defying the gravity of this world..