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PicturesBackYou missed the sunrise.
What day do you suppose it is?
Wednesday.
You said it was Wednesday two days ago.
Every day you ask me what day it is. Why should I be required to associate every seventh rotation of the earth with the name of a particular Pagan god?
I'm sorry.
A day makes sense. Its one rotation. A month even - it's a cycle of the moon. But a week! A week is inessential.
You're right.
"Eliminate the inessential." It was your slogan, was it not?
(Pause)
It was. And it always surprised me, after I coined it, the infinite ways in which "the inessential" could be splintered and redefined.
And yet the idea spoke to people... people who saw their lives entrenched in materialism and triviality - from gold-plated baby rattles to silver-lined coffins.
Indeed... but I am struck by the notion that if such things were not essential, at least in some manner of thought, then they would never have come into being...
Oh, if you're wounded legions could see you this morning... the great Franco Fontani, The White Thorn, questioning the logic of his own slogans...
They would tear out their sutures and bleed their shame, no doubt... It seems, this morning, that my exile has put distance between my mind and the cause. Beliefs which were once undeniable are now slippery and quick. The mountains and trees proclaim their own slogans... the wind whispers its own agenda...
(Pause)
When I was young, free from the gravity of civilization, I would sit beside the railroad tracks and watch the military trains carry the soldiers to the front. I remember catching the eye of a young private who was looking out the window. He smiled and waved... I waved back... For all I knew, he would die the next day in defense of an uncertain cause... Lately, I have found myself thinking back to how I must have looked to the young soldier, sitting alone in the tall grass. Free and unaware. Could there have really been a time when the political sphere was so calm and invisible? What residue collects on its transparent shell to reveal the hideous framework of power and corruption?
It would seem that the mountain breeze has cleared it somewhat...
But to think: That I have spent the better part of my life tearing away at this thing which, during my childhood, when my senses were at their clearest, seemed altogether non-existent...
The motives for the espionage do indeed seem fleeting.
It was a movement employing one set of lies to combat the greater lies of others.
Its fortunate for your comrades that these insights did not arise in the thick of a mission.
They would suspect my mind had been subjugated by the dogma of our opponents...
Franco wanders to the part of the stage where the Masked Figures had been standing. He begins to sniff the air.
What is it?
A smell in the air brings to mind a dream...
(Pause)
In the dream I was starving... I was looking down at my wrists - they were thin, like twigs... My skin was grey and my ribs were clearly visible. But you... You were pink and healthy.
(Pause. He sniffs some more.)
They came again last night.
What? The informants were here?
They were.
Why didn't you wake me?
I wanted to be sure you were fit to receive their message.
They had a message?
They did.
Did they say we can return?
It was about the food supply. They said we needn't concern ourselves with it.
But was it the sign?
Oh Franco! You need to listen. It was all so clear. It's the next step towards completion.
Did they say how long we would have to wait? Have the armies retreated?
You must listen, Franco. The need for food is only in the mind, Franco. As are all the appetites of the flesh.
You heard them say this?
Their messages are encoded in smell...
I remember now.
All along, I knew it to be true. I just didn't know how to ingest it. They are teaching us Franco. They're giving us new tools for survival.
I don't believe you. Why wasn't I informed directly. What need have I for a mediator?
Their method of encryption takes a lifetime to master - only an experienced interpreter can make sense of their chemical ciphers.
Then wht are the messages not issued verbally?
The precepts of the new ideology can not be communicated through conventional language. And besides, they feel it is safer to work through me.
Safer? How so?
They know of your creeping apathy, Franco. They are aware of your difficulties with the cause.
I am experiencing no difficulties. I built an army around the cause!
But the cause has moved beyond us now, there are ramifications to your ideas which other members of the party must bring to fruition.
And who are these other members?
They choose to remain anonymous.
I did not participate in this revolution only to have second-hand directives issued to me by anonymous authoritarians. I have raided arsenals single-handedly, I have seen friends slaughtered before my very eyes, I have hidden in sewers to for days to evade capture... For this I deserve to see the results of my work! I want to live in the new world. To be part of it.
But understand, Franco. If the revolution is successful, there may be nothing left. Just the land. The trees and brooks.
I have a need to know what world lies beyond those hills.
Our orders are to remain here.
Sophia... Why did you bring me here? Why didn't you leave me to rot in the ravine?
You are a key operative. Your survival is essential to the success of the revolution.
So you say. And yet, I have remained here for months, far removed from all party activity...
You are safe here.
You must be aware that if my safety was a primary concern, I would have never involved myself in the movement.
You are too recognizable. You know too much. If the opposition were to get to you, it would put all our operations in jeopardy. It is best that you remain here.
They haven't even told us where we are.
We're here at the place where we first became certain we were lost.
Why can't I remember?
You were injured. You were bleeding from the head.
Tell me again where you found me, so that I might trace this moment back to its origin.
You were at the edge of the river near the bridge leading to the southern entrance of the city.
The bridge had been demolished.
The charges had been detonated only a few hours before I found you. You had been struck by a piece of burning debris. The enemy was very close. It was raining horribly. I was on horseback trying to find you when I heard Rinaldo call out.