Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative
Subject: As It Fell Upon A Day: Part 10
Message-ID: <1kes0gINN12l@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
From: aa811@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Terri M. Librande)
Date: 30 Jan 1993 21:29:52 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu
Lines: 78


"Then don't let their deaths be a waste.  Today, you want to participate
in a rally, to participate in free speech, to show the Guard where you 
stand.  Nothing may happen, and then again, something may.  You could
change the mind of one person with your words, and that person might be
someone who can make a big change."

"What if they start shooting gas again?"  There was fear in the boy's
voice.  "We all had a taste of that, Doctor.  You included.  Do we just
sit by while they fire and run like rabbits or what?"

"Artie..."  Sam glanced at Al.  His eyes were on the link.  Still no 
help there.  "The Guard is afraid.  You have to fight their fear.  Not
them."

The other students seemed satisfied to let Artie do the talking.  "They're
the ones with the guns, Man."


"Do you want to die, Artie?  Do you want to see your freinds die?"

Al's head snapped up at Sam's fervent words.  "Sam!" he warned, his voice
carrying over  the student's heads.

"They won't hesitate to pull the trigger," Sam said, ignoring Al's protest.
Sam's eyes locked with the older man's for a moment.  It was a look of 
desperation.  //Let me try, Al.//  The hologram's gaze dropped, mouth 

tight.  According to the link, there was nothing Sam could do to change this
day.  It wouldn't hurt for him to try to change the way the kids in this
room thought.

"Those soldiers, some of them, are kids, your age."  Sam went to the 
window and gestured toward Blanket Hill.  The students heads turned to 
look at them--the Guard.  They were cleaning their weapons, loading
gas cannisters.  There were young faces visible under some of their 
helmets, the bright metal glinting in the sun.

The teacher turned back to his class.  The expressions of those seated
in front of him were frozen into masks.  Artie shifted uneasily in his
seat.

"Yesterday, we spoke to some of Them.  Remember, Artie?  They accepted
gifts, told us what they felt.  They want to be here as much as you want
them on campus.  They aren't faceless zombies, like some of you think.
Those
Guards are kids, in school like you, or men who only do this on weekends
and spend the rest of their time with their families and jobs.

"They aren't going anywhere, Dr. Barry."  Artie's voice was subdued.  "No
matter how they feel, they will still follow orders."

"We can't change the world, or the way they think by one rally."  Sam 
swallowed hard over the lump that was forming in his throat.  "You can
change one little part of it.  Whatever happens today," he said, eyeing
Al, who looked none too happy, "we can survive as long as we can change
the world by affecting our own little portion of it."  Sam had brought
the immediate situation down to the student's level, personalizing the
Guard, making them more than the killing machines the kids were seeing.
Perhaps he was changing the way they'd see the massacre today.  What he'd
said was for the aftermath, and for these students.

"I want our group to attend en masse."  Sam glanced at Al, who was shaking
his head slowly.  "We'll stay away from the Guard, but still show support."

"The athletic field, Sam," Al said, glancing up.  "Away from Blanket Hill."

more to come

I apologize for these being so short, but I'm typing these in from the
manuscript and have a bad right hand, so things can only be done for
a short time.

Terri
-- 
"Unscrupulous--but effective!"  Al in "Starcrossed"
Terri Librande aa811@cleveland.Freenet.edu  Assistant Sysop
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Sig--Go SCIFI