questionauthority | Riddle 020: Calling All Crooks

A. [At Mayfield High, Edward is taking to his new job as Ethics teacher with very little enthusiasm. Any kids in his class? Your first assignment is being written on the board in a neat, tidy scrawl:

"How far would you be willing to go to escape this place?"]

Discuss.

B. [Later on that afternoon, Edward makes a public phone call, filtered away from drones, Grady, the Mayor, the Smiths, and the like.]

Mayfield, Mayfield, Mayfield. You know what I like to do every Sunday night when I'm not scheming a daring escape? I like to think up riddles. Like this one, for example: "What is the one question you can ask at any point in the day, and still get a different answer?" Give up? Hmm?

Answer: "What time is it?" See? Simple. I could say "7:26" just as easily as I can say the time is 9 o'clock PM. Or this one---actually, my old college roommate, Andrew, was instrumental in helping me think this one up.

"Brothers and sisters have I none, but that man's father is my father's son!" I'll let you figure out the answer to that one on your own.

Hmm. Perhaps this Sunday night, I'll think up another good riddle. Or perhaps I'll finally find a way for all of you to get out of here. Who knows? Maybe I already have. Interested? Well---you already know where to find me. I've practically given you all the answers, regardless.

[He chuckles obnoxiously.]

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...I'll be honest with you, Ms. Liebert. I intend to create a rebellion. A resistance that carries out its actions through criminal activity.

[Yup. Just so happens he's a supercriminal.]

[Long, long pause. When she speaks, her voice is chilly.]

I see.

[Nina's tempted to just slam the receiver down right then and there, but desperation forces her to stay on the line.

Is there any difference between this, really, and the Major's admission? Nina takes a deep breath.]

What kind of criminal activity?

Simply put, criminal acts against drone authorities and the drone populace. Robberies. Arson. Vandalism, perhaps.

I know this might sound uncomfortable, perhaps morally reprehensible to you. But consider this: we will not be committing any acts against our fellow hostages. There's much that Mayfield has taken away from us. It's time to take it all back.

Are you really sure about that? If you're contracting the kind of people who like to commit robbery or arson, do you really think you can maintain enough control over them to keep them from acting out against any other hostages they don't like?

And, to some extent, it's the principle of the thing. Something is either wrong or it's not.

[Control has definitely been an issue with him before. In terms of his own hired help from back home often trying to rebel against him, and in terms of Grady not acting as favorably as he'd hoped. Still, Edward replies:]

If any of us truly want to get out of here, we're all going to have to take risks. And these are risks I'm willing to take.

So you're willing to risk the lives of your fellow citizens if it helps you escape? Or kill them? Is that right?

[Because it has come down to that, hasn't it? They all have to take risks and make sacrifices if they want to get out. They can't stay out and keep their hands clean. She had hoped maybe he would be different than the Major; would ask different things of her. Apparently not.

But still, she's thinking. Maybe if she's there she can help keep them in line. It's not that she doubts Edward specifically or knows anything about his control issues, but criminals are untrustworthy. All of them.]

[As untrustworthy of a criminal as he was, Edward wasn't an outright murderer. Okay. Maybe he did end up killing her brother, but she understood why. He wasn't in control that day, regardless.]

I'm willing to risk the lives of our fellow citizens so that we all can escape. But believe me when I say that I don't wish for any unnecessary casualties. I've never intended for anyone to die.

[It almost strikes a chord within him when he says that. He'd never intended for Ema and Scout to die, after all. And he'd never intended for himself to die, either.]

If another hostage does get in the way, whose responsibility is to make sure they don't get hurt? Ours or their own?

We're... all responsible for our actions. But if someone threatens to compromise us, we'll do what we can to ensure that we make our escape.

[Long, long pause.]

I'll help you on one condition.

Name it.

Please don't ask me to kill anyone. Not even a drone.

...Fine. You have my word.

Thank you, Edward.

Riddle 020: Calling All Crooks

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