Obsolution ✔

Chapter 9.2

"You made a vid of the beating?" Damon struggled to keep a neutral tone.

"Hell yeah. Prominent doctrine encourages re-education."

None of them had even worn masks. Damon hoped his face wouldn't show too much.

Uploading the vid was the last thing he did for the group. Gromer messaged different meeting areas and times, but Damon stopped showing.

Now, he realized his involvement with the group meant nothing. No extra Prominent-goody points, only a mar on his spirit.

Homos, gays he corrected himself, weren't like pedophiles, even if they weren't normal either. That guy was a person, like me, and I let him get hurt.

Damon thought he deserved any bad luck coming to him, but he wished he could absorb all the shit being tossed at his brother, too.

~*~

Sam couldn't remember the last time she'd gone to church. Had to be ten years ago or more. Technically, she had never gone to church. Ty had.

Looking around Prominent Church 102, she thought it would be the last religious spectacle she would choose to participate in. Although, she hadn't chosen to be there. She was forced.

In the center of the prayer room stood a well-groomed man. Different people kept approaching him, their eyes shining with a mixture of worship and sexual yearning.

Must be the priest.

Ticket in hand, Sam interrupted the patron speaking to the man. She thrust the ticket in the priest's face, demanding to know the number of days she would be required to attend church.

He wasn't as shocked by her behavior as Sam had hoped. The man first apologized to the other patron, and then told Sam to call him Group Leader Campion.

"Well, Group Leader Campion, when the fuck will my time here be up?"

One woman gasped. The ten or so other in the room fell quiet.

Group Leader Campion smoothed his hand over his grey beard, staring at Sam like she was a puzzle he had to solve. Finally, the stare ended. He took the citation, noted her name, and folded it carefully back into Sam's hands. Then he gave her a patronizing smirk, along with a light squeeze on her shoulder.

"Brothers and sisters, some of you are here by choice." He smiled at the familiar members, who smiled right back. "And some of you are lost, like Samantha here." Campion gestured to the disgusted clone. "Those that are lost need guidance."

Without Ty around to keep her in check, Sam spoke her mind: "I'm not lost. This bullshit ticket says I have to be here, or I go to jail."

Campion was unfazed at her outburst. His eyes maintained the sympathetic shine while he again spoke to the group.

"Obviously, we have a lot of work to do." The uneasy silence broke with a few relieved titters. "Soon, all of you will come to see a Prominent Church member makes for a stronger citizen."

Cheering and clapping followed Campion's announcement. Sam was incredulous, her eyes sweeping from each face of the members, searching for what made them different, what made them eat up the utter ridiculousness. Then she noticed one of her fellow inmates was as uninterested as she was.

Amidst the smattering of clapping, Sam crossed the room to greet Martine. They talked about why they were at Prominent Church 102, both of them being forced on due to Un-Diligent Conduct. In Martine's case, she had bad-mouthed the kiosk system at Good Time Emporium, though she'd done so while walking with friends to a bar. Somehow, Pen had found out and suspended her three days ago. She had thought that the end of it, until a citation was mailed. From her story, Sam figured Pen had been informed of her anti-kiosk words from an observation drone, though Martine hadn't guessed at it. She told Sam it was a mystery as to how she had been discovered.

Campion broke up their discussion, declaring the official start of the meeting. For two hours, he read Bible passages aloud. He spoke of Prominent values, and the safety of citizens under Prominent control. Most of the attendees swallowed Campion's castor oil, but Martine and Sam exchanged knowing glances throughout.

When the meeting was over, Sam caught up with Campion. For the third time, she asked how long she would be forced to attend meetings. His answer was,

"As long as it takes for you to see what's right."

She stared, waiting for him to make actual sense, but he moved on to the next anxious patron.

Martine met Sam at the exit.

"How'd you like your first meeting?" she asked.

"I'd rather be a man."

Martine laughed, but Sam was serious. During Campion's readings, she had noticed the unequal female to male ratio in the group. There had been eleven women and two men.

"I would say you'll get used to Campion, but I haven't yet, and this is my second meeting."

From her previous meetings, Martine had observed a pattern to the Prominent's philosophy: citizen protection was the number one priority. The way to enforce it was to promote the Prominent religion, combined with a promotion of gun ownership. Campion promised safety to those who became full-fledged party members.

"As long as you own a gun, too," Sam reiterated.

"Yeah. Didn't you see the sale table? It was set up after the meeting."

Sam hadn't noticed any table, and Martine took her blank face as an invitation to give her details.

"At the end of the meeting, they always set up a gun exchange. There's catalogs of the latest models, ready to be ordered from kiosks."

Sam was glad she hadn't seen it.

"Are you gonna join, become a lifetime member?"

"Hmm." Martine pretended to think it over. "Hell no."

The two women laughed.

"Do you wanna get a drink?"

The twinkle in Martine's eye suggested she wanted more than a drink, but Sam chose to ignore it. She accepted the invitation, reminding herself she had committed to Antoinella weeks ago. She could trust herself to have one drink with Martine. No big deal.