125 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
125 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Banished </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><svg class="hidden_filter"><filter id="crunchy_blur" x="0" y="0"><feFlood x="4" y="4" height="2" width="2"/><feComposite width="6" height="6" in2="SourceGraphic"/><feTile result="a"/><feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="a" operator="in"/><feMorphology operator="dilate" radius="1.4"/><feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="2.2"></feGaussianBlur></filter></svg><div class="back"><a href="index.html"><</a></div>
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<h1>Banished</h1>
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<!-- Perspective: Isabelle -->
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<p>
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<span class="quote speech">Isabelle!</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Lucas!</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I got banished.</span>, he says with
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a shit-eating grin on his face.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">What...?</span><br />
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The guard behind Isabelle gives her a stern look, the one in front of her
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turns around:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">No chit-chat, move along.</span><br />
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Isabelle takes a moment to understand the implication of what Lucas had
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said.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">...ohhhhh. Congrats!</span><br />
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The guards grab her by the arms and drag her away.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Move!</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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They bring her to a room adjacent to the main court room where a bunch
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of important-looking people in suits are waiting for her. They introduce
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themselves and they all, including herself, sit down around a somewhat
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large table. One of the suits addresses her:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Before you go to trial, we have something
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to discuss with you. You are being accused of breaking and entering,
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property theft, interfering with law enforcement, compromising
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operationally critical systems, and conspiracy of terrorism. Some of
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these charges alone will land you in prison for a long time –
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unless you take this deal...</span><br />
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He grabs few sheets of paper from his briefcase and slides them over.
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Basically admit to everything you're
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accused of and you will be banished instead of going to prison.</span>
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<br />
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She absentmindedly acknowledges what he said as she is already reading
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the first page.<br />
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After reading it, she says: <span class="quote speech">There's
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a bunch of things in here that aren't true.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Take it or leave it.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">What are you getting out of this?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">We don't want people like you here.
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You cause too much trouble.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">What will happen if I sign this?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You will be removed from Sunside Cove.</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">That's what it says. And in practical
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terms?</span><br />
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Another one of the suits answers:
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<span class="quote speech">There is an ongoing power outage to parts
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of the city. We will have to send an expedition outside to fix it.
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You will join them and not return.</span><br />
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She looks back at the pages.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">... Okay...</span><br />
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The other pages are some half filled-out forms. She is given a pen and
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told to fill in the rest.
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</p>
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<p>
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<span class="comment">something is missing here, maybe add a
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paragraph about the trial itself</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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Isabelle is taken to a cell with no bed or toilet, just a bench.
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She sits down and waits. The guard leaves and the hallway gets quiet.
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The only thing she hears is the hum of the flourescent lights.
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She waits some more. Time passes.
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</p>
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<p>
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The lights go out. Relays click in the hallway. She tries to look
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around. The streetlight outside the tiny cell window projects a small
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shimmer onto the ceiling that slowly fades until she is surrounded by
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complete darkness. It gets even quieter than it was already – not
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even a noise from outside.
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</p>
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<p>
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After quite some time, she hears a door open. A guard comes walking down
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the hallway, looking into all the cells with a flashlight.<br />
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He arrives at her holding cell and says:
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<span class="quote speech">Good afternoon.</span> while opening the
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door, pointing his flashlight back where he came from.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">That way. Someone will be with you
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shortly.</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">You're just gonna let me go by
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myself?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">There aren't that many places you could
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run off to. Now go.</span><br />
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She gets up and does as she is told. The diffuse light reflecting off
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the floor and the walls lets her barely see her surroundings. Another
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gaurd appears in the door at the end of the hallway, holding
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a flashlight as well.
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</p>
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<p>
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She is cuffed and brought to a car where two other guards are waiting.
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It's a short ride from the prison to the nearest train station.
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Apart from a few cars moving around, the entire area is completely dark.
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No steetlights, no lit-up windows. It is dark enough that she can see
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a faint shimmer on the dome ceiling, reflecting from other parts of
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the city.
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</p>
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<p>
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A train is waiting at the platform. Rather than the usual metro, this one
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is made up of a battery locomotive and a few flatbed cars. The guard
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hands the key to her handcuffs over to a guy who seems to be in charge.
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They sign some paperwork. Then, the guard leaves and the guy tells her
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to go sit on the last of the flatbed cars.
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</p>
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<p>
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A few minutes later, the same repeats with Lucas. He sits down next to
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her and they start quietly chatting.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Any idea who else is gonna join us
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here?</span><br />
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<span class="comment">dialog here</span>
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</p>
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<p class="comment">
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Note: It was always intended that at least some of the rebels who got
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caught will be released to the outside. However, before starting this
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chapter, I have never actually considered what this means for the rest
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of the story. The following chapters weren't originally written
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with this in mind and may need to be significantly revised to take it
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into account.
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023-2025 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {if (lines[j].length >= 80) result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + "</span>\n"; else result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
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