Episode 31

Episode 31

By Mordecai J Banda



Moses Dalton felt this ache in his spine almost every single minute now. Though it wasn’t the painful type of ache. It was ache of wanting to release himself from his frame and go BOOM. It was euphoria at having to be so lucky and rich. After his age-long child life and the dark teenage years, Mr Dalton was free. No more scrabble for the newest e-clothing and the fancy Terra-pods and a Holovision videogame. No more embarrassment for Moses Dalton, probably the last guy on Earth to have a biblical name.



Moses Dalton checked his Chronocle Digital display watch. It was expensive for its antiquity, and though others viewed him as slightly antediluvian, primitive, it was a proud title he wore. Unlike during the teenage period, of course Anyone’s opinions in that time were pure murder.

Moses had a wife and two daughters born 4 years apart. One, Xylene, named by his wife, was 10 years old. The other, a fast growing one already shoulder length to Dalton. He had named her Esther, but protected her ruthlessly from any scorn. He loved his family, and he liked their large hound, Roodle. If you guessed it was a ‘natural’ cross between a foreign Rottweiler and a test-tube grown Poodle.

There sure was still love in the world.



Dalton walked now with his briefcase towards a house that sat perched in a clump of trees. Next to a crystalline lake with the busy city gleaming in the distance. It was very secluded and even had tarmac leading through it. So Dalton had had to park his Peregrine Business Class car on an energy pod [fuelling semi-transparent solid oval] nearby. Dalton approached this strange house and felt a bout of nostalgia at the simplified building structure and its defiant early millennium style. Dalton loved it, and planned to spend as much time doing his work as possible in there.

Dalton had a job. In his Titanium/Carbon alloy briefcase [Probably his only high-tech gizmo] Was a formidable collection of bugs and spy cams enough to make any over imaginative teenager drool for the possibilities. Dalton worked for Super Spy, an MTV [Yes, its still there] and Discovery [Why not?] feature that was rapidly rising amongst the ranks of famous TV shows and community accepted features. Just like Cheaters or Larry Springer Junior [His father died of concussion due to some extravagant behaviour on a certain episode].

Dalton arrived on the steps and didn’t bother looking for the car. His scans had showed that no one was home, so it was a target for Super Spy. Super Spy Operatives were few. Three of them in fact, and when they detected no one was home; they rushed into the building, bugged it and drilled in some cameras, called beasting. Hm hm.

Dalton had got the alert and had driven here, and now he was at the doorstep of this holiday house that was all alone. He had to get in, bug n beast, and get out. Simple.

He opened his TC briefcase and chuckled with joy. The best thing of his job was that the whole idea had come to him. He had convinced his pals Gary-Alpha [a single name, mind you] and Gamma to help him. Soon they had gotten rich and now had 20 staff to share the massive profits. Dalton was officially just an ‘operative’ like he liked but even though Gary-Alpha was officially manager, they all knew the founder of the enterprise.

By the time he was done Dalton had calmed down a little and he had covered the whole house in a few minutes. It was a small house anyway, with a cosy living room with bear rugs and posh sofas and a fireplace. Dalton had bugged the fireplace with a fireproof bug. Set up a Window Hug camera that sealed itself onto the window and provided a wide-screen feedback to base. He had done the same to the bedroom where the best ratings on the show came from. And of course, the bathroom, and though the case was being debated amongst people, he dropped a bio-camera into the bowl of the toilet.



His work was done then, and he started off to his place. Turned and bowed down at the house that would be episode 31, Cabin House Gimmicks. The whole thing was being recorded by a silent Super Spy chopper above, and Dalton waved at it. Indicating he was done. The chopper footage was used in the opening scenes of any episode, and there the narrator made jokes to warm up the audience. Dalton smiled and knew this one would be a hit. The best thing was, Dalton thought as he entered his PCT, the whole thing was being broadcasted live.



Now in the van, the thing was starting off. The session was beginning. People hustled for the scripts, the codes, the cords and the plugs. They called up staff and sent off alerts on the Internet that was so amazingly fast these days people dialled 911 online. That is, if they didn’t have a weapon, which was as likely as a snail loving salt.

The van was a huge monster usually associated with a mammoth. For this reason it was called that, and here everything happened. Today Dalton would be ‘inside’ meaning he had full control of the cameras and narration. The ‘outside’ man was Gamma and a regular TV crew with overhead support. In a certain time they would barge in on the people and surprise them. Another thing was that they chose people who seemed suspicious or crazy enough to be recorded. In this way they competed with other features and even brought in possible crime vidz or drug houses. The possibilities were endless.



“Camera check?” The supervisor/manager Gary-Alpha said in his mike to Dalton. Dalton winked at him and gave him the thumbs-up. They both smiled.

The numbers counted down, and Dalton, tense as he was, brought up the Goggles that were linked to the scene unfolding on the TV stations all across the world. As the numbers reached ‘10’ Daltons asked Gary-Alpha, who looked like he was suffering from Euphoria back-aches also:

“How many watching?”

“One point seven million. That’s Academia only.” Gary-Alpha looked like he would froth with pleasure. Dalton was stumped. Academia meant all the universities and schools and important science meetings at the moment. The highest ever reached was one million. And that was during the Second Twin Towers Bombing.

“Holy-”

“And start.” The time up was over. Dalton cleared his voice and brought up his goggles. The scene was awash with colour and Dalton felt like he had been there before. Then remembered fondly that he had. His current camera was facing a motor car that was rolling in.

“Welcome to another episode of the wise ass guys who can’t mind their own business, Super Spy” He started as the car rolled into view.

“Today’s episode is the Cabin Gimmick, where sources have discovered a couple living in solitude of a recently rented cabin.”

The scenes changed accordingly then focused on an overhead shot for the car, a Rolls Royce. Wow. A motor car was really rare. And a good motor car meant riches.

“It appears our subjects are, or at least one of them, is very very rich. And we all know what that means folks.”

The car stopped and the camera changed to an overhead. And two miniscule figures exited the car and headed for the cabin.

“A rich man, a girl, a what-appears-to be secluded place. What else could this be? We’ll find out soon enough.”

Dalton felt someone, probably Gary-Alpha, patting his back once with a full hand. That meant five-hundred more viewers were watching in the space of his narration.

The camera view changed to the interior of the house, then the camera view changed to a Black and blue X-ray vision. Picking out some dots that the onscreen designer pin-pointed with labels of “Bugs n Beasts”

“Our operator outdid himself, I guess.” Dalton mused, and then a cut-in came of his toilet bug. Act

“You can never be too careful…” Dalton commented in response to the image. He could hear the laughs behind him.



Finally, the interesting part came, the man and woman walked into the house. And everything went wrong for the man named Moses Dalton. He felt a lump of shock in his throat, and managed a few comments. Because though the man was unrecognizable, the woman definitely was known. Dalton had been married to her for 7 years, after-all. Someone noticed the whole thing was wrong and the goggles were torn from Dalton’s eyes. He looked around the room at his colleagues, who duly ignored him and the Heeley, the woman who had taken the goggles from him spared him a sympathetic look and gave the goggles to Gary-Alpha. A buff guy, Ted, walked up to Dalton and whispered,

“You might want to leave.”

“I’ll watch.”

“Its protocol.” Dalton wanted to shove that protocol stuff up you-know-where, but put on a faux happy face in the face of embarrassment and headed for his PBC. He got into the vehicle, engaged the flight module and floated to the highest vehicle altitude limit. Then he stared ahead at the busy energy roads, and drove ahead. He set the car on auto-drive to his home and looked at a button. When he pressed it the whole screen was filled with the feed of the Super Spy TV episode 31: Cabin Gimmick. Starring some guy and Mrs Dalton. If Super Spy TV was as effective as it was. It would have already identified the subjects and their backgrounds. The show was going to be a hit today.

The show was now in bug mode. Only audio could be heard. And that only happened when-

“Oh Geooorge.” Mrs Dalton moaned. The wobbling audio line shook with her tone.

“Uh huh?” The George guy asked in his baritone.

“Why am I stuck with my husband?”

There was a brief shuffling of positions. Their deed was finished for the moment, apparently.

“Move in with me.” George prompted. Dalton gaped at the screen. The car drove on. Oblivious.

“I can’t. Not yet anyway. Maybe next week.”

“But Xylene…” George whined playfully.

[“-I’m the one who says it like that. NOT YOU YOU BASTARD!” Dalton shouted]

“-Xylene what stops you? The daughters are mine. I gave you the dog for the family.”

“I know I know…” She laughed and hiccupped. Probably drunk. “Can you believe I’ve hidden the kid thing from him? I mean, he even thought I brought him the dog. His like sooo gullible?”

Dalton couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t.

“Maybe that’s why you married him… apart from the riches.”

“His not richer than you.”

“Are you kidding? The man’s a genius. With his Spy thingy-majig. He’ll get rich.”

“Not for long. His “Friends” called me and you know what they said?”

“This?” George said and there was shuffling… Then Sound of kissing and heavy moaning, then the camera view came up and portrayed the two in bed, naked and not even in the sheets. George was kissing Xylene viewer sensitive places. Blurs promptly appeared.

The narrator started talking gibberish, and then was muted. Dalton guessed the narrator didn’t want anyone to hear-

“They said… Gary-Alpha said they reviewed the documents and that Dalton is pulling them down and they’re going to fire him.” She giggled. It sounded harsh on the good recording quality.

“No ways.” Then the blurred head rose and pounced on Xylene. Literally. Dalton watched with detached interest. His conscious struggled with the ideas forming in his mind. But the timing hadn’t been good; circumstances in his opinion called for action. As he rabidly disengaged autopilot he took out his laser letter opener, switched it on and watched the glowing laser light with interest.





This was more than Gamma had bargained for. His friend’s wife on live TV saying Dalton’s children weren’t his at all. Not even the damn dog was his. And on top of that Gary-Alpha was going to fire the guy. Gamma had seen it hinted but hadn’t thought of it much. He wished he had acted earlier. He was fixing his camera and still in his chameleon camouflage suit alone on the ground. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a black speck in the distance directly opposite the cabin. When he turned he saw a familiar looking Peregrine Business Class Vehicle swooping by. He saw the insane face in the car and just knew it was coming in too fast. He also knew it wasn’t exactly aiming at the cabin. And figured it was sad that the guy thought that he, Gamma, would take part in-





“Wow.  OH MY G-!” The secretary of Super Spy shouted.

Gary-Alpha wore his goggles again and saw the commercial was over. He also saw a headless, smashed body on the ground. Gamma’s. He saw the black hull of a Peregrine can, and the camera view was lifted up. Dalton smiled into the camera, “Hey buddy.” He said.

“Doing you a favour.” He also said, and showed the camera lens his laser letter opener. Then hoisted the camera on his shoulder. People were shouting,

“Call the cops! NOW!”

“No no” Gary-Alpha said quickly. They were probably watching and would make it in due time anyway. Let the guy do his stuff. “Wait.” He said, licking his lips.

The camera bobbed up and down and Dalton shouted with convincing apology,

“I’m sorry Gary but I can’t handle this thing well with a knife in my hand. I’m dropping it, but you can check me out with the beasts okay? I know I placed em real good.”

Man this guy is good, was all Gary thought. The van held its breath.

The Window Hug camera view flickered on. And over a billion eyes watched the exact image on whatever screen they used.

Dalton walked into the cabin and headed to the room. The couple had frozen in their beds. Dreading to know if indeed the voice outside was the voice of-

“Moses!” Xylene screamed and tried to cover herself with the blankets. Leaving George out.

Gary-Alpha felt an uneasy, no-longer-certain bead of sweat appear on his brow. Dalton walked forward with the letter opener. The secretary rushed for the phone and called the cops. It was too much. And too late.

No one thought of turning off the video feed, and everyone, The President, lecturers, a pre-school somewhere in Ohio, two Alaska expedition parties, a village, a passenger plane, The Cops themselves… e.t.c, saw a newly crowned psychopath show how effective a laser-letter opener is on human flesh:

Very effective, it turned out.