Abandoned World: The Awakening

— Maybe he found out that no one wanted to tell him, that he didn't believe in these theories of humanity and stuff? And he just got worried that the elders would want to change things?

— You don't think he knew he was being disbelieved? I wouldn't believe it for the life of me. He's so smart. How can he not see it… He's definitely pretending not to notice. But he realizes it…" Sierra said all this, not even trying to hide the fact that she wasn't sure she did.

— All right…what else then? — Natalie remembered the horrible suicide she'd seen yesterday when Morgan had been summoned. She also remembered that it wasn't the first time. Though she didn't know much about the first one, and frankly didn't want to know, it might have surprised her, but if he didn't know, it might shock her, because he was responsible for what people thought and how they thought. For what they will think tomorrow, what mood they are in, and, most importantly, for making sure that this mood and thoughts give them confidence for tomorrow.

Suicide is the worst thing that could be imagined as a failure of this policy.

— I don't know, Natalie… That's why I came to ask you… What else could have upset him so

much?

Natalie was about to talk about the suicide at the station in general and what she'd seen

yesterday in particular, but she noticed three men in the distance approaching the table where Taylor was now sitting. She didn't know their names, but she definitely remembered seeing two of them in the room yesterday with Deputy Chief Security Tannet. And that only meant that Taylor and her Starcraft and Armageddon seemed to have gotten to Tosca after all.

It was strange, too, that he was being detained in front of everyone. All the cases before, at least the ones she had heard about and seen for herself, had been of a completely different kind: the suspect had been summoned to the administration, and there they had taken him under the white arms and taken him to Tosca. After that they informed his superiors that such and such a citizen had been arrested and sentenced to stay in prison for such and such a preliminary term. By the way, some of them had their sentences increased, and there were those who were initially sent to correctional labor and never returned.

The three stepped around him from different directions, and Taylor stood up. Apparently he had been ordered to put his hands behind his head, then to come out from behind the table, and then to kneel. The people around him instantly fell silent, and despite the distance, Natalie could hear the words "Taylor," "mining section," "host," "felony," etc… She was both very interested in what they were saying and disgusted. After all, he was basically acting like a child. Yes, he hadn't turned in the flash drive as instructed, yes, he'd even told others, particularly Natalie, what he'd found on it. But in reality, what threat could it pose? What threat could he pose to the station, to the elders, to all the current rules on Apollo 24?

For a moment it all seemed absurd to her. What kind of person would be taken away and put away, maybe forever. And he would spend the rest of his life alone there. Just because he didn't control his human interest, one might say boyish interest… Felony? What felony could there be, if he had no malice toward others: a desire to know more and show off in front of the girl. That's all he had in mind. Should his life be ruined like this? It was beginning to seem that they had organized some very wrong society for themselves, where preserving the status quo of knowledge about the past had become an end in itself. And now there was no way to prove it to anyone. You can't prove that it's wrong.

Natalie looked at the others, at their faces, their eyes, their facial expressions and their eyes. Looking at the way they were looking at Taylor, she saw joy. It was striking. She saw a kind of joy in

their eyes. It turned out that people liked it when someone was caught, detained, made to kneel with their hands on the back of their head, and even right in front of everyone. And it turns out people like it.

She saw this creepy picture, trying to figure out what could be going on, that people were starting to like this kind of thing. Didn't they realize where this was going? Did they not realize that the same thing was waiting for them? Or did they believe that it wouldn't and couldn't happen to them?

Natalie wanted to get up so she could head over there and ask what was going on. Why was this happening in front of everyone? Why was he on his knees, and what kind of abuse was this, even if it was his fault? After all, we are all human beings, we have our weaknesses, strengths, advantages and disadvantages. And if someone had made a mistake, it did not mean that now he should be humiliated in front of everyone… But at that moment, when she was on her way up, one of those who had come after Taylor hit him with a club right on the head.