The Grasshopper

Chapter 51

The entire time watching on the monitor the final image that was being aired, in the corner of her eye, Babe saw that the director of the interview and the guy handling the video mixer were keeping to their agreement. She had created a special script – that they must not film when she showed Prince the lace and buttocks, when she bore her breast, when she licked her lips. And to show Prince. And they showed him.

“That wrinkled old lady of his saw how my Prince looked me in front of the entire world, how he leaned towards me, how he was going mad. Pack your stuff you old hag and get out of my palace!”

This deal hadn’t been cheap. She had to give the two of them half of the fee she received from the Company sector for fashion accessories.

“It’s ok. I don’t mind. It wasn’t a great expense. That was the best investment that any girl has ever made.”

“Miss Babe, do you know what the False Balance was?” Mr. Kaella interrupted Babe’s thoughts.

“A False Balance? Of course, Mr. Kaella. Our history teacher made us learn that by heart,” Babe smiled.

“Did he? Good teacher. Tell us…”

“A False Balance was a period without serious wars…” Babe hesitated.

“When did this period start?” Mr. Kaella helped her with another question.

“In the second half of the twentieth century, after some war. I guess the Third...”

“The Second. They still counted them back then. Just before the permanent war,” said Mr. Kaella.

“And how long did the False Balance period last?

“Less than century, I think...”

“Excellent. What was the False Balance based on?”

“States becoming indebted.”

“Bravo, Miss Babe! And how did it end?”

“It burst. The states couldn’t even pay the interest. There, I remember everything!”

“Very good, very good!”

“And then there was a war of money…” Babe continued the history lesson.

“Currencies.”

“Yes, currencies.”

“And what happened next?”

Babe stopped for a moment. Mr. Kaella helped her.

“The collapse…”

“Ah, yes,” Babe remembered. “Then came the collapse of the global financial system.”

“Bravo. Next…”

“Then protectionism… then isolationism…”

“Wonderful, next… what thin line had been crossed?”

“I know that!” Babe shouted excitedly. “The national social states crossed the thin line and became national socialist states.”

“Which led to…”

“To bloody wars…”

“For…”

“In the beginning for raw materials, for natural resources… and over time, with the destruction of the planet’s ecosystem, for water, for food, for shelter… for survival.”

“The national socialist states…”

“Fell apart.”

“Because…”

“Even within them people fought for rivers and lakes that were drying up… they fled from the ocean shores inland…”

“This led to…”

“The great migrations of the hungry and the thirsty…”

“Did hunger and thirst account for the most victims?”

“They didn’t…”

“What did?”

“It was skirmishes with nuclear warheads.”

“That too. But the greatest number of human lives were taken by…”

“The pandemics!” Babe remembered.

“Because…”

“Because viruses mutated at an accelerated rate due to the climate changes.”

“Bravo! Bravo! Bravo, Miss Babe! And what happened to the survivors?”

“I don’t know what you mean, Mr. Kaella.”

“People…”

“Oh, yes! People melted together”

“They created…”

“New, ad hoc communities around sources of drinking water and fertile land.”

“Until…”

“Until your grandfather discovered Cosmic Energy, Mr. Kaella!”

“Miss Babe, you are wonderful, you are a jewel!” the thrilled Mr. Kaella shouted.

Babe, proud and happy, looked at Prince. He was completely stiff in the armchair, with both hands on the armrests, as though he couldn’t take it anymore, like he was about to jump up and pounce on her. Having seen this, Babe announced a commercial break.