Death Valley

 

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Introduction

    Many stories tell the tale of gallant heroes and heroines saving the day from the bad guys. In these stories, the good guys and the bad guys are easily distinguishable. In these stories, it's all clear cut and easy to see. In these stories, the villains are all bad and the heroes are all good. It's all very easy to see who the reader should be rooting for and who the reader should be against.

    This isn't one of those stories.

    This is one of those stories where the main character could just as easily be a villain as their nemesis. This is one of those stories where people's true nature is shown. In this story, people are complex people. In this story, people are equal parts good and equal parts bad. In this story, the characters are all just people trying to do what they can and what they hope is best. In this story, there are no heroes and villains.

Humanity's true nature is much more unclear than the stories usually say .....

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Chapter 1

        Chapter 1

    Good and Bad



 

    Gabby’s eyes glazed over as she listened to her government teacher drone on and on about Civitatis and Oligarchia. Gabby was already fully briefed on both. Her parents were agents in Civitatis so she knew a lot about the organization just from being around them, but she’d done her own research, too. She was that kid who always knew things before the teacher taught it because she’d researched it on her own. Sometimes, Gabby felt as if high school were completely pointless for people like her.

    In times like this, she’d often find her mind drifting off to thoughts about the lucky orphans who were claimed by the entirety of Civitatis rather than an actual family. Sure, Gabby loved her adopted family dearly, but classes like this made her wish for the sweet release of Civitatis orphan schooling.

    Gabby knew all the highly trained, highly ranking, and highly skilled members of Oligarchia and Civitatis by name and stats. She also knew that each one had been an orphan claimed by their organization, taught all the important lessons by other members, and taken care of by other members. Those members were the most attached to their organization. And how couldn’t you be when those same people and raised and taken care of you and taught you to love the organization?

    Gabby attempted to focus on her teacher again. She’d let her mind slip away again. Her wandering mind had often gotten her in trouble at school and she couldn’t risk getting in trouble again.

    “Civitatis was a movement that sought to bring about a governmental system of a commonwealth,” Ms. Gardiner said, writing this new term on the whiteboard and then continuing to write the definition next to it, all of it under the heading of ‘Civitatis’. “A commonwealth is a system in which the government is founded on law and united by a compact of the people for - what?”

    Ms. Gardiner turned to the class and waited for somebody to volunteer an answer.

    Gabby reluctantly rose her hand when Mr. Gardiner’s eyes landed on her, giving her the look that told her it was time to show what her parents had taught her considering Gabby’s parents were currently members of Civitatis.

    Ms. Gardiner nodded at Gabby when she saw her hand raised.

    “A compact of the people for the common good,” Gabby said.

    “Correct, Ms. Sterne,” Ms. Gardiner said, turning back to the board and writing the next term. “In the beginning, which was before even my time, Civitatis was merely a political movement, but then another group arose. This new group called itself Oligarchia and they wanted to transfer to the oligarchy form of government where - who had control?”

    Ms. Gardiner paused again and looked around the room.

    A thin boy with wispy blonde hair rose his hand.

    “Yes, Dev?” Ms. Gardiner asked.

    “A small group of already wealthy and power people have control in an oligarchy,” Dev answered.

    “Correct,” Ms. Gardiner said before continuing with her lesson. “While they began as mere opposing political movements, the tension between the two factions grew to point where things soon became bloody. The sides quickly became violent and soon their members were more like a militia, each set on destroying the other. And, since each side is mainly comprised of people with special powers, it was a fight with more than physical weapons. Fights of this nature could and has hurt civilians and families of members of the groups. These fights have also damaged infrastructure and homes as well as caused massive divides in our population. Why is it that each side fights so hard and goes to such extreme lengths? Are there any thoughts as to why so many people hold so firmly to their group’s ideals?”

    A black haired girl rose her hand and Ms. Gardiner nodded at her.

    “Because they’re all crazed?” the girl suggested.

    Gabby snorted derisively before she could control herself.

    “That’s one thought,” Ms. Gardiner conceded before turning to Gabby. “Ms. Sterne, do you have rebuttal to Chino?”

    “Yes,” Gabby said.

    “Go on then,” Ms. Gardiner said. “You have the floor.”

    “They’re not all crazed,” Gabby explained. “Some of them, maybe, but not all of them. They all hold so firmly to their beliefs, even to such dire ends, because to be wrong is to have wasted their entire lives on the wrong side and nobody wants that. They all want so much to believe that they are right and to be right that they will execute and condone such drastic measures such as this all out war with the opposing side. That simply cannot allow themselves to consider that they could be wrong. Not just for their own mental security, but also for their physical security. In these groups, if one person expresses even a small amount of doubt or questioning, they are automatically labeled as a traitor - as the enemy. And, as we’ve seen, traitors and enemies are treated as the worse thing a person could be. So, people must hold firmly to the ideals of the group or risk physical injury or death. Anything less than absolute belief and compliance with your faction is even more risky than continuing to fight in the bloody conflict.”

    “Very eloquently put,” Ms. Gardiner stated. “Never have I heard a more in depth explanation of the psychological status of Civitatis and Oligarchia.”

    “It’s a very interesting concept,” Gabby noted with a modest shrug. “I’m not a part of either faction at the moment because my parents have allowed me to stay out of the conflict for the time being, so it’s in my best interest to investigate all of my options before making a final decision, aside from how fascinating.”

    “Very smart,” Ms. Gardiner said. “Does anybody have any thoughts on the morality of Civitatis and Oligarchia? Are the members of either of them or both of them good or bad people? Who are the heroes? Who are the villains?”

    A few people offered answers, but they were exactly what Gabby was expecting. Some gave vehement defenses of either side and demonized the opposing side. Some said that both sides were villains. All the answers followed the same patterns. Gabby was bored. She knew she’d end up raising her hand and offering her thoughts even though she’d rather stay out of it.

    But, she did raise her hand and Ms. Gardiner gave her the floor.

    “Morality is a concept of no merit in this class and in this discussion. Morality is a relative concept. What’s moral for one culture is taboo for another. We cannot bring morality into this discussion to evaluate the two sides objectively,” Gabby began. “And, to boil the members of each group down to binaries such as ‘good and bad’ and ‘hero and villain’ is to take away the humanity of the people, not to mention that those terms are, as well, relative concepts. Humans are complex individuals. There is no one who has lived, is living, or will live that can be simply describing as one thing or the other.”

    “So, are you saying that Hitler and Stalin weren’t bad guys?” a boy at the front piped in.

    “Yes and no,” Gabby answered. “Again, to classify what they did as good or bad is hard to do. They believed what they did was right. We believe what they did was wrong. It is impossible to say whether we are right in this or they were. Not only that, but, just because they did things we consider despicable, does not mean that they didn’t also have good qualities. We are considering people here not concepts. People are the sum of their parts and their parts can contain equal parts good and bad or unequal parts of each. We cannot divide them down to one thing and say whether that one thing makes them good or evil. This is to take away their humanity and, to take away the humanity of people, makes us no better than Hitler because he did that exact thing when he decided to execute anyone who wasn’t what he wanted. As far as villains and heroes go, this is real life not a fairy tale. People cannot be one thing, as I’ve said. No one is a hero. No one is a villain. We can be the heroes of our own stories and have villains in our own stories, but, in the grand scheme of things, we cannot be either of those. We are merely people trying to make sense of things on a strange rock spinning through space. We are all merely human trying to do what we each think is best and what we each think we can do. And that’s all we can really ask of ourselves and others. To be as good as we know how to be and believe we should.”

    “Very well put,” Ms. Gardiner said. “I’m going to very much enjoy reading what you have to say in your essays throughout the year.”

    Gabby shrugged ducked her head down, trying to hide.

    Thayne reached across the aisle and patted her knee.

    “Now, that leads me to your project,” Ms. Gardiner continued, addressing the whole class once again. “I want you all to get into groups of three since our class is easily divisible by three. As a group, I want you to pick a prominent figure from both Civitatis and Oligarchia and do character investigations of them. I want you to do research about their lives before and during and after the faction they are affiliated with, if applicable. I want you to show good things about them and bad. See if you can figure out what made them join the group. Finally, I want you to make a statement on the morality of both of the people you investigate, but this can only be done after your research. You must not make any assumptions in your project before first doing your research. Keep an open mind, class. You might surprise yourself! Oh, and remember to cite your sources!”

    As Ms. Gardiner finished speaking, the bell rang. All the students in the class began packing up their bags.

    “Be in my group?” Gabby asked Thayne.

    “Of course,” he said with a smile. “Gotta lock in the brainiac before everybody else pulls you into their group.”

    Gabby laughed.

    “Should we ask Dev to join?” Gabby asked. “I mean, we know where he lives and there’s no commute. No chance of having a partner not do their share.”

    “Yeah. That’s a good idea,” Thayne said. “Don’t need to have an issue like we did with Shel Harrison last year.”

    “Yeah. I don’t want to worry about all that again,” Gabby noted.

    “That was a nightmare,” Thayne agreed.

    “Hey, Dev!” Gabby called. “Come here.”

    The thin boy’s head popped up from it’s craned position over his backpack and he quickly jogged over to Thayne and Gabby, his backpack unzipped and letting some papers fly out and his ungainly frame knocking into some desks.

    “No running, Dev!” Ms. Gardiner called, but Dev didn’t respond.

    “What’s up, Gabby?” Dev asked as he reached the corner.

    “Do you wanna join our group?” Gabby asked.

    “Of course!” Dev answered enthusiastically.

    “Cool,” Gabby said with a smile. “How about we all meet at my house and later and we’ll decide on our subjects. We can use my dad’s Civitatis Library access to get some research done.”

    “Will I be allowed in there?” Thayne asked.

    “There are plenty of people working for Civitatis that are non-powered,” Gabby said. “They’re not exclusively for powered people or anything. Besides, Dev and I don’t have powers.”

    “Well, not yet,” Dev said.

    “Yeah,” Thayne said. “Dev is almost guaranteed to get powers and it’s highly likely that you will.”

    “The Sterne’s may be powered, but you know as well as I do that there’s quite a large chance my birth parents were non-powered people,” Gabby said. “Really, I might be happier that way. Powers seem like more trouble than they’re worth.”

    “Not true!” Dev interjected. “Powers are the best! I can’t wait to see what I get!”

    “Okay, Dev,” Gabby said with a laugh at his wistful look, patting him on the arm. “We’d better get a move on. See ya later.”

    “Okay! See ya!” Dev called after them as they walked away and he lingered to clean up his papers.

    “Poor guy,” Thayne noted as they left the room and he placed a kiss on top of Gabby’s black curls.

    “What?” Gabby asked.

    “He’s so mad about you he doesn’t know what to do with himself,” Thayne said. “I feel for him.”

    “Yeah. Me, too,” Gabby said. “I wish he’d get over it just a little bit. He should be able to like someone and function normally.”

    Gabby and Thayne strode down the hall, headed to their next class in sweet, high school relationship bliss.

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