Agents

The Agents

The darkness spread all around the cylinder walls, making it impossible for Dox to distinguish any of the others. As the light grew dimmer, so did their voices, which would have sounded as mysterious as the whispers of a magic spell, if he had not known what they were discussing.  It was obvious that they were addressing the same issues as they had been addressing ever since they had all voluntarily entered the cylinder. The fact that they all agreed on the matter, made Dox wonder if his decision to join them had been a bit too rash. After all, he could have still been on the outside, judging if the cause was truly justified and worthy of his huge sacrifice. On the outside, he could have listened to some arguments, to some pros and cons, whereas, here, everybody had their minds already made up and no one had any arguments or seemed to be in pursuit of the truth. Indeed, here, on the inside, the only thing that ever changed was the intensity of hatred expressed against their common enemy: The Blue. One could claim temporary attention of the entire group if one’s hysteric outburst of hatred would impose silence and dominate the rest by its thundering of the voice and paroxysm of the emotions. The general state of awe, would last just under a minute, as it was always replaced by simultaneous shouts of group members who were aiming for the same kind of attention as their colleague had just had.

How could he doubt the color of his mind, inside such a clearly defined mechanism, which seemed to function “sui generis” and even had the power to propagate these credos in waves reaching far beyond the cylinder? While more and more agents were storming in, to join the green cylinder, would he alone be allowed his exit? What if his doubts will prove to be fundamentally flawed and he will not be allowed to enter ever again, losing all status he had acquired in all this time? This train of thoughts was interrupted by the whisper of his neighbor, Poroo, who addressed him in a snakelike fashion:

“They’re all whispering about a traitor among us and I am sure I know who it is. YOU ARE THE TRAITOR, DOX!” When uttering the last words, Poroo’s voice raised to such a high pitch that it got everyone’s attention. All the lights came on. He continued then, aware of his spotlight:

“Brothers of the Just Cause, we have all been given the blessed opportunity to join the GOOD as soldiers of the Green Cylinder.” The unison voice of the crowd followed: “Hurray, hurray, hurray!” With a raise of the left hand, he silenced them and continued:

“As some of you know, I, Poroo, have been entrusted by the members of the High Sphere with the noble duty of watching for possible spies and weak agents who might turn Blue in our midst. You all know how dangerous that is!” Then they all shouted: “Death to Blue, Death to Blue!” The shouts were followed by humming voices of agents pointing in anger at Dox.

“But brothers” he then went on “for killing Dox, we need clear evidence that he is blue. It is only up to the Supreme Green to sentence him”

At this point, Dox shouted in a thundering voice:

“You are all idiots! What kind of speeches are these? Those of a traitor indeed! It is not only Poroo who’s been entrusted by the High Sphere with checking on the others. We all have this duty! If not officially, then morally! Do you remember Poroo addressing any important issues recently? Did he come up with strategies on how to perfect the serum? Did you hear him shout anything except ?” There was silence and then whispered dialogues among some of the agents who remembered that Poroo had previously accused two more agents of high treason and they had been judged and executed by the Supreme Green.

Dox then continued: “Why would he get rid of agents? Is it maybe time to ask yourselves who is going to be next?

Poroo was astonished by the roles switch and needed a little time to retort. He then rushed into shouting:

“Brothers, in the last couple of days, Dox here, has never raised his eyes from the ground when we were debating the Blue threat, he never really cheered for the Just Cause, he’s got this sad countenance…one could say he’s got “the Blues”.

Dox violently interrupted him: “Ridiculous!! If agent Poroo turns on us so easily in time of peace, imagine if a war broke out! I have nothing against a trial, but let Pooro join me and debate his own loyalty for the Green and treason for his fellow agents. My loyalty has been proven for the 48 days I’ve been here. He only joined a week ago and the Blue seem to have more and more information on us ever since! Does it not seem just a little odd?”

 At this point, everybody started screaming from the top of their lungs “Trial, trial, trial, trial” until Arook, a female agent burst into the dominating shout:

“We need 120 agents to make the serum! We are 101! If the Blue inject themselves first, the Organism will not give us another chance for the next eight generations! You idiots, improve the propaganda, don’t kill each other!”

They knew they were racing against time and according to the last information they had received from their spies, the Blues had already reached 103 agents and were assiduously working on developing their PR strategy to attract new agents. Thus, they all agreed not to denounce each other for anything and try to focus on increasing their numbers.

Dox was taught that joining one side or the other at the Right Age, was the most important thing in the whole world and that being part of the serum injected into the Organism is the greatest achievement anyone could ever dream of. But just before joining the Greens, he had met a retired member of the High Sphere. He told him that the Blue and the Green were equally useful and justified and that the judgments of the Supreme Green and those of the Supreme Blue were equally righteous. Dox thought it was a test of his loyalty to the Green and he praised the doctrines of the Green to the member of the High Sphere, who seemed to be very amused by his determination and unshakeable faith. It was not until recently that Dox remembered this ex member of the High Sphere, at the time when he was trying to understand what the Blues were plotting. He imagined them having the same race against time, the same frustration and debates and he even saw the Blue version of himself there, surrounded by 102 agents with wrung up keys.