xp_logs | The Gates: Roads To Hell

Nathan and Angelo are in the middle of a fairly slow Tuesday afternoon when the Elpis newsfeed-minding program brings up some breaking news from Prague. After weeks of violence, the Czech government has finally decided to take steps.

"--no, Joel. No." Nathan's tone was polite, but very, very firm. "I'm serious," he said, making a face at Angelo, seated over at his own desk. His fingers tapped out an irritated rhythm on the edge of the desk, and then he made a face, resting the phone on his shoulder and typing rapidly on his keyboard. "You're just doing this to be a bastard... yes, I know it's good for me. Doesn't change the fact that I can't stand the bigoted son of a... no, I don't call him that to his face." He smiled darkly, raising an eyebrow. "Right. Well, I'll see what I can do. See you tomorrow."

He hung up the phone and sighed. "Joel is a sadist," he complained to Angelo. Juliette, working quietly away at her desk, didn't even look up.

Angelo sighed, looking up from his desk. "What's he want you to do now?"

"Apparently the Iranian ambassador to the UN wants to meet with me, even though it was Joel's little fishing expedition where he and I first butted heads." Nathan made a face. "Joel says he respects me because I speak fluent Farsi and didn't take any of his crap while still managing not to insult him. What Joel doesn't know is that if he knew I was a mutant he'd refuse to acknowledge my existence. He's that much of a bigot."

"...I could take the image inducer an' go instead?" Angelo suggested after a moment, reluctantly.

Nathan didn't quite roll his eyes, and in any case softened the gesture with a quick, rueful smile. "It's a game, Angelo. Or at least a test. He hates what we stand for, but I've proven I can deal with him as an equal. If I'm willing to come back and demonstrate at least a semblance of respect, I might actually get the information Joel's after. Besides," he said, and his tone was almost teasing now, "your Farsi's still on the very, um, basic side."

"It's gettin' better", Angelo protested. "I've been talkin' to Sooraya. She helps."

"I know." And that fact secretly - or maybe not-so-secretly -delighted him. "But don't worry about the ambassador. I'll handle it." His earlier pique was fading. Much as it was going to be an unpleasant meeting, he knew Joel had a point. He needed to learn how to deal better with people he loathed, or who loathed him. Yet another lesson in diplomacy...

Angelo grinned at him sympathetically. "If you're sure. What else needs doin', apart from what I've got?"

Nathan glanced at his computer screen, almost involuntarily. "You know, nothing right now," he said, then grinned at Angelo. "I'm sure you have some reading for classes to do, or something-" He was interrupted by a ping from the computer, and looked back at it. "Spoke too soon," he said, "it's the newsfeed-minder..."

That got Angelo out of his seat and wandering across the room to look over Nathan's shoulder. "What's it say?"

"It grabbed something about Prague again," Nathan said, calling up the program. It was becoming a regular thing, news from Prague. There had been all kinds of incidents while he'd been away in Tajikistan. Three days ago there'd been a series of murders, all of the victims visible mutants. The problems were, to put it mildly, worsening, even if no more bridges had been blown up lately.

A small CNN window popped up on the screen, showing a grim-faced man at a podium, speaking slowly and forcefully in a language that Nathan didn't recognize. Czech, he realized, seeing the caption. "It's Syrovy. The Czech Minister of the Interior," he said, unnecessarily because Angelo was standing right at his shoulder at this point. He closed his mouth and listened to the toneless voice of the translator.

"--unfortunate necessity will, we hope, be a short-term solution," the translator recited as Syrovy continued. "But for the safety and security of all of our citizens, such measures are necessary."

Angelo glared at the screen, not liking the sound of those words at all. But he stayed silent, just listening to the translator.

"Until the terrorists of both persuasions are found and brought to justice," the translator continued, "until the inhabitants of both the Smichov neighborhood and the rest of Prague can sleep safely, with no fear of attack from those who purport to support the 'mutant cause' or those willing to take violent action against mutants, Smichov will be sealed off from the rest of the city." Syrovy and the translator both paused, and there were audible reactions from the media in attendance. Before they could do more than shout a couple of questions, Syrovy picked up his speech again.

"Work crews have begun to construct a security barrier, and our armed forces will man checkpoints to control the flow of people and goods in and out of Smichov. Papers will be issued to the law-abiding inhabitants of Smichov. Performing the necessary security clearances may take some time, but it must be done. There must not be any further violence!" The translator's tone never altered, even as the minister smacked the podium with one hand, anger breaking through the grim look on his face.

"They are not," Nathan said, a look between horror and anger on his face, "actually doing this. Surely they're not..." But CNN cut away from the news conference, letting the translation of the minister's speech continue in audio as they showed the work crews to which he had referred, already establishing provisional barriers, tearing up the pavement and using the debris.

"We would ask for your patience, your forebearance, and most of all, your cooperation." Strangely, Syrovy was looking tired now, as if that flash of anger had drained his energy. "We are a peaceful society. This violence, these acts of terror... all right-minded people, whatever their genetic status, must stand together in opposition to those who would damage what we have built together."

"They are," Angelo said grimly, face tight. "They're turnin' it into an internment camp."

"The road to hell..." Nathan said dimly, the speech and the video from the site of the security-barrier-to-be melding in his mind into some sort of malign prophecy.

"Perhaps they are right. Perhaps we will look back on this choice and see it as a mistake. It is said that those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. But we must see it differently, we who live in the shadow of this summer's events in San Diego. We must defuse this situation, lest we be the site of the next explosion."

He didn't need to be a precog anymore to have a very strong sense that this was not going to end well.