BioShock Rapture

“What’s wrong, Mary?” Jim asked, in that calm way of his. “You look like you’ve just heard some terrible news!”

“Capital punishment in Rapture!” Mary replied, worriedly. “This isn’t what I signed up for!”

Jim’s voice was almost jolly. “Now hold on there, pretty lady! The only people who face capital punishment in Rapture are smugglers, and that’s because they put everything we’ve worked for at risk. Imagine if the Soviets found out about our wonderful city, or even the U.S. government! Our secrecy is our shield!”

“A little capital punishment is a small price to pay to protect all of our freedoms.”

“Now you’re talking, Mary!”

Andrew Ryan switched off the recording, leaned back in his desk chair, turned to look at Bill McDonagh, eyebrows raised. “What do you think? What’s the first thought in your mind, hearing that, eh?”

“Well sir…”

Bill no longer felt he could say what he really thought. Especially when his first thoughts were: I think you’re looking mighty old, Mr. Ryan. Old and tired. And you smell like you’ve been at the martinis again … And that bit of propaganda is depressing …

He looked around at Ryan’s office—it seemed big, echoingly empty. He wished he had Wallace or Sullivan with him. Someone to back him up. It was getting harder to show enthusiasm for Ryan’s new direction.

“Go on,” Ryan urged him. “Spit it out.”

Bill shrugged. “We have the death penalty now, guv—I reckon people have to get used to it … Hard to ignore with people hanging from gallows. Council’s divided … Maybe it’s time to ease up on it…”

Ryan had two tape recorders on his desk—the smaller one, purchased, ironically, from Fontaine’s company. He smiled coldly, reached for the small recorder, hit Record, and intoned, “The death penalty in Rapture! Council’s in an uproar. Riots in the streets, they say! But this is the time for leadership. Action must be taken against the smugglers. Any contact with the surface exposes Rapture to the very world we fled from. A few stretched necks are a small price to pay for our ideals…” He hit the button, switching off the tape recorder, and turned to Bill with satisfaction. “There you are, Bill. I summed up my feelings about it—and recorded it for posterity. Have you been using your recorder? Rapture will define the direction of civilization for all the world, in time—and history will want to know what happened here!”

Bill nodded—without much enthusiasm. “I’ve been recording the odd comment, guv, like you suggested. Next one might have to be about this raid we’re planning on Fontaine Futuristics. What are we going to do with the bloody thing once we have it?”

Ryan’s face went blank. “That’s for me to decide. In my own good time.”

“I just think, ’ere—we can’t just take over another man’s business by force! We become bleedin’ hypocrites, guv’nor! That’s … like, what do they call it—nationalization! It’ll take Rapture in another direction—opposite where we set out to go.”

Ryan looked at him frostily. “Bill. It’s true that I prize your … outspokenness. And I prize individuality. But I also prize loyalty. Whatever I decide—I hope I can count on your loyalty…”

Bill looked at the floor. He thought about Elaine. And their daughter. “Yes sir. Of course—you can count on that. I’m all loyalty, me. That’s Bill McDonagh—straight through.”

But as Ryan turned back to the tape recorder to play the service announcement once more, Bill wondered. Could he really stomach Ryan taking over Fontaine’s business? There were already curfews, ID cards. How much closer to fascism could they get before they had gone into a complete, mad reversal of everything Ryan claimed to believe in?

“A little capital punishment is a small price to pay to protect all of our freedoms.”

“Now you’re talking, Mary!”

Ryan switched the tape recorder off and sat back, frowning thoughtfully. “I really have to make a decisive move against Fontaine. He’s going to new extremes—I’ve reason to believe he’s interfering in my private life. Jasmine! She was a real comfort to me, you know, Bill. We’re both grown men here. You understand. But she’s moved out of the snug little place I gave her. I know that Fontaine has his hands in this. Perhaps even putting listening devices in her apartment.”

“Hmmm…” Bill tried to keep his face expressionless. Privately, he thought Ryan sounded like a paranoid, imagining things.