* * *
Naomi and Christopher weren't the only ones having a private conversation. No sooner had Lara and the others taken a look the dorm room, then she discreetly pulled Svetlana aside for a private talk.
"What is it?" Svetlana asked when Lara pulled her aside.
"There's something I wanted to ask you about." She looked over her shoulder to make sure her friends couldn't overhear. "About one of the faces on the Wall of Shame."
"Which one?"
"Alynna Colleton." Lara answered, her voice barely above a whisper. "I-I want to know more about her and why she's so reviled."
Svetlana sighed. "She is despised because for a time SHE was in charge. She tried launching a putsch to unseat Premier Odezvan-"
"What's a potsh?" Lara asked.
"Putsch. It's like a Coup. Anyway, she was worming her way into the government, trying to seize power. Then, in 3243 Comrade Odezvan apparently 'died' in a plane crash in the Ural Mountains. She seized power and made herself General-Secretary of the Communist Party. After that she began talking about 'spies and counter-revolutionaries in the pay of foreign governments' who sought to subvert and destroy the USSR. She blamed them for the death of Comrade Odezvan and abolished the Supreme Soviet, our representative body." Svetlana paused to make sure Lara-Su was following all this.
"After that, she began purging the Party of all but her own cronies and outlawed all other political parties that Comrade Odezvan allowed, like the Socialist Party, the Pacifist Party, and the trade unions, declared them agents of reactionaries. She gave total sweeping power to her friends in the secret police and they started spying on EVERYONE. People were arrested without charge, exiled or imprisoned without trial, and even beaten and tortured. Our constitutional rights were abolished and Colleton declared Martial Law, saying that the Kingdom of Acorn assassinated Premier Odezvan and was preparing for war."
"I don't remember ever hearing about this." Lara said, awestruck. "I mean, I was only four at the time but I think I would remember SOMETHING!"
"I envy you." Svetlana said sadly. "I remember it all too well. People were denounced and taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Party intellectuals and rank and file members were arrested and everyone became suspect. Then that bitch Colleton began her 'Four Truths Campaign.' War is Peace! Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is-"
"Strength. Work is Freedom!" Lara-Su finished.
"That's them." Svetlana said. "Anyway, one of the Popular Democracies (That's another word for the Soviet Republic), decided they'd had enough of Colleton and seceded from the USSR. Colleton bombed that republic, Atlantis, and killed over a thousand people, most of them civilians. Then other Soviet Republics threatened secession and it looked like Civil War might break out. Then, not a month after she took power, Comrade Odezvan came back saying that HER agents had attempted to assassinate him. Which of course, is what really happened. He denounced her as a traitor and an enemy of the people. Everyone flocked to his banner and Colleton and her lackeys fled the capitol. She raised a small army of mercenaries and anti-Communists, claiming she was on their side all the time."
"She didn't mind betraying communism?" Lara asked. Svetlana snorted derisively.
"A bitch like Colleton would join any cause if it offered her the best chance of acquiring power. Communism, capitalism, fascism, imperialism, so long as it gave her power she would shout any slogan and wave any flag. She tried getting the military on her side, but they remained loyal to Comrade Odezvan and the REAL government of the Soviet people. Her forces were crushed in short order, though not without losses. Atlantis was so distraught over their losses that they stayed independent of the USSR until they felt that such a thing would never happen again. They just re-joined about three years ago."
"What happened to Alynna Colleton?" Lara asked.
"She died when her army was smashed and good riddance. All that's left of her is that stone face on the Wall of Shame and a song in her honor."
"She has a song in her honor?" Lara said in disbelief. "What song?" Svetlana just grinned.
"Ding, Dong the Bitch is Dead. Quite suiting I think. But tell me, why did you ask?"
"Well, I-" Lara thought about telling her about the weird things that had been happening to her; the nightmares, the visions of devastation, and that poster shouting Colleton's Four Truths. Lara thought about telling her about how she heard voices ever since she arrived in Moscow, voices only she could here and the cryptic messages she was constantly hearing. She wanted to tell her how afraid she was, about how she KNEW something dreadful was going to happen. But she didn't. "No reason, no reason at all."
* * *
I hate to kvetch, but I'm kind of disappointed by the lack of reviews. Is anyone even reading this? Not to get dictatorial, but unless I start seeing at least a couple of reviews I may just stop uploading this story here and now. So, in the future, a few reviews every once in a while would be really appreciated. Thank you.
Naomi and Christopher weren't the only ones having a private conversation. No sooner had Lara and the others taken a look the dorm room, then she discreetly pulled Svetlana aside for a private talk.
"What is it?" Svetlana asked when Lara pulled her aside.
"There's something I wanted to ask you about." She looked over her shoulder to make sure her friends couldn't overhear. "About one of the faces on the Wall of Shame."
"Which one?"
"Alynna Colleton." Lara answered, her voice barely above a whisper. "I-I want to know more about her and why she's so reviled."
Svetlana sighed. "She is despised because for a time SHE was in charge. She tried launching a putsch to unseat Premier Odezvan-"
"What's a potsh?" Lara asked.
"Putsch. It's like a Coup. Anyway, she was worming her way into the government, trying to seize power. Then, in 3243 Comrade Odezvan apparently 'died' in a plane crash in the Ural Mountains. She seized power and made herself General-Secretary of the Communist Party. After that she began talking about 'spies and counter-revolutionaries in the pay of foreign governments' who sought to subvert and destroy the USSR. She blamed them for the death of Comrade Odezvan and abolished the Supreme Soviet, our representative body." Svetlana paused to make sure Lara-Su was following all this.
"After that, she began purging the Party of all but her own cronies and outlawed all other political parties that Comrade Odezvan allowed, like the Socialist Party, the Pacifist Party, and the trade unions, declared them agents of reactionaries. She gave total sweeping power to her friends in the secret police and they started spying on EVERYONE. People were arrested without charge, exiled or imprisoned without trial, and even beaten and tortured. Our constitutional rights were abolished and Colleton declared Martial Law, saying that the Kingdom of Acorn assassinated Premier Odezvan and was preparing for war."
"I don't remember ever hearing about this." Lara said, awestruck. "I mean, I was only four at the time but I think I would remember SOMETHING!"
"I envy you." Svetlana said sadly. "I remember it all too well. People were denounced and taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Party intellectuals and rank and file members were arrested and everyone became suspect. Then that bitch Colleton began her 'Four Truths Campaign.' War is Peace! Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is-"
"Strength. Work is Freedom!" Lara-Su finished.
"That's them." Svetlana said. "Anyway, one of the Popular Democracies (That's another word for the Soviet Republic), decided they'd had enough of Colleton and seceded from the USSR. Colleton bombed that republic, Atlantis, and killed over a thousand people, most of them civilians. Then other Soviet Republics threatened secession and it looked like Civil War might break out. Then, not a month after she took power, Comrade Odezvan came back saying that HER agents had attempted to assassinate him. Which of course, is what really happened. He denounced her as a traitor and an enemy of the people. Everyone flocked to his banner and Colleton and her lackeys fled the capitol. She raised a small army of mercenaries and anti-Communists, claiming she was on their side all the time."
"She didn't mind betraying communism?" Lara asked. Svetlana snorted derisively.
"A bitch like Colleton would join any cause if it offered her the best chance of acquiring power. Communism, capitalism, fascism, imperialism, so long as it gave her power she would shout any slogan and wave any flag. She tried getting the military on her side, but they remained loyal to Comrade Odezvan and the REAL government of the Soviet people. Her forces were crushed in short order, though not without losses. Atlantis was so distraught over their losses that they stayed independent of the USSR until they felt that such a thing would never happen again. They just re-joined about three years ago."
"What happened to Alynna Colleton?" Lara asked.
"She died when her army was smashed and good riddance. All that's left of her is that stone face on the Wall of Shame and a song in her honor."
"She has a song in her honor?" Lara said in disbelief. "What song?" Svetlana just grinned.
"Ding, Dong the Bitch is Dead. Quite suiting I think. But tell me, why did you ask?"
"Well, I-" Lara thought about telling her about the weird things that had been happening to her; the nightmares, the visions of devastation, and that poster shouting Colleton's Four Truths. Lara thought about telling her about how she heard voices ever since she arrived in Moscow, voices only she could here and the cryptic messages she was constantly hearing. She wanted to tell her how afraid she was, about how she KNEW something dreadful was going to happen. But she didn't. "No reason, no reason at all."
* * *
I hate to kvetch, but I'm kind of disappointed by the lack of reviews. Is anyone even reading this? Not to get dictatorial, but unless I start seeing at least a couple of reviews I may just stop uploading this story here and now. So, in the future, a few reviews every once in a while would be really appreciated. Thank you.