PACE (Practical Accessibility and Control of Emotions)

Chapter 7 Part 1

Chapter 7

Knowledge

Razaks dry hands nudged Elliot's warm bicep just outside Bounds Green. Before Elliot fell asleep in the cab it was sunny and a relatively clear day but when Elliot came out, like any typical autumn day in London, it was pouring down: some of the newsagents shelters that covered the entrance to their shops was flooded with rain and the floor seemed like a horizontal waterfall; the rain splattered down and began to run down the chewing gum littered floor and into the gutter. As Elliot looked up he saw there was only grey in the clouds above the unaware London. "It's not going to get clear by looking at it!" Razak shouted at Elliot under the cover of Bounds Green tube station; which shifted Elliot's perspective as he walked towards him. He realised Razaks attitude towards Elliot had changed. He was going for a more independent and free approach rather than the 'sit down and shut up' tactic Elliot had seen when they first met. Maybe Razak becoming Atomic, released any anger in side of him? As Elliot came into the tube station it was noticeably dryer and clearer. There were no people in and around the tube station, mainly because it was raining so nobody would be out and it was 12:00 meaning most people would be at work; "you ready?" Razak asked

Elliot sighed "Are we really doing this again-"

"Yeap" Razak said instantly and suddenly they were in Pandoras Box. "Okay so-" Elliot paused because the vomit was rising, but he recovered and coughed a little before he continued "... what else do I need to know?"

"We'll start from the beginning" Elliot noticed for the first time that Pandoras Box had no ceiling, only a lamp in the centre suspended from something that Elliot couldn't see. Razak clicked his fingers and a large 5x5 feet wood-chipped pin board with many different signs and pictures up came forward from the concrete and the shadows. Razak went to the right hand side of the board and picked up a long wooden stick with a pointy end; it was bright white and it had groves at the bottom end of it which seemed to fit Razaks hand perfectly. "We have almost no idea about how PACE came into existence..." Razak said pointing to a large question mark on the left side of the pin board "... although we do know that it arose somewhere in the late 18th century by an innovative, ambitious and..." Razak coughed then said two words quickly "drug-addicted scientist..."

"Stop. Why was he a drug addict?"

"Nobody knows. But if Galileo drank wine whilst going over his work, then a small mad and drug addicted scientist can figure out what PACE is."

Razak moved on and pointed to the right of the question mark with a man who had a large beard, bald head, wide eyes and a nose that spread out across his face which didn't really suit his cheeks which seemed to curve outwards towards his chin, there wasn't much else to describe him, as the picture cut off his at his shoulders and just a few centimetres above that was a pin with many different colours of string that lead to pictures and maps of what Elliot interoperated to be the scientists home and his road, Elliot kept listening to Razak; "... we have little or no intelligence as to why or how he discovered it but his teachings and transcripts about the results of his experiments are the foundations of how we teach PACE to different people-"

"How many people do you teach?" Elliot interrupted, Razak went silent

"Only you"

"Why?"

"Because the Immunity believe that every teacher should have one student up until the student can become the teacher..." he paused and sighed “...no matter how long it takes"

"Wait wha-"

"Moving on..." Razak said, Elliot just ignored what had just happened and took it light heartedly. Razak just continued and moved the pointer even more to the right to, what seemed like a logo of a navy blue 'I' with a diagram of a DNA strand behind it with different shades of blue. "This is the Immunity, 12 men and women who are in charge and part of PACE, some of them speak to the government and work with them" Razak pointed to some of the pictures that were at the bottom of the logo, 12 people that looked as grumpy as hell. Like any politician. "However some aren't as interested in the world around them other than themselves. But, you'll learn that when you meet them. Unfortunately they have been known to be bribed and boycott elections and votes, which does create a lot of controversy around other PACE teachers but this is rare and easily negotiable. Their main priority however is to maintain PACE as a self sustained organisation and keep it true to our polices, I won't go into all of that because it's just a bunch of paper work."

"Is there anything else i should know about the Immunity?"

"Well there is a saying that goes around the teachers; some will be there when you fall, whereas others will help you rise. Which sums up The Immunity in a lot of ways. Now, we have suffered many different obstacles in our time for example we tried to stop a group of people who use PACE in the wrong ways but they ended up burning down half of London or trying to stop a member of a foreign royalty from being assassinated."

"Do you have a name for 'people who use PACE wrongly'. Sounds a bit... awkward."

"Well i call them twa-“

“Lets not go down that road” Elliot interrupted, Razak looked at Elliot then had a brain wave; “I think you’re ready for your first project.”

Elliot went blank and didn’t know what Razak was talking about “Huh?”

“Follow me” Razak walked towards one end of Pandora ’s Box and found that the concrete shifted and turned to create a doorway and a dark wooden door with a stainless steel handle. Razaks warm hand turned the handle and it creaked and cracked, he stopped halfway and then turned it back the whole way again. Lifted the door slightly and then opened to show a floor of a work office. Razak went through the door until Elliot followed getting out of his chair and walking slowly towards the doorway. As Elliot stepped into the office floor and could feel the soft carpet on his shoes, he could see the computers were all turned off that sat on the wooden desks with some plastic chairs next to it. The whole office space had windows all around it and they appeared to be on the 20th floor or so. It smelled like an air freshener had been recently spayed. It reminded him of home and then he realised; “What about my parents don’t they know where I am?” Elliot then looked back to see the door but as he expected, it wasn’t there

“I called them before you even took the class and explained that we needed you to stay overnight because we would be ‘working hard on your obstacle’”.

“Oh… how did you know that they would agree?”

“I didn’t” Razak said walking to a fire exit in the corner of the floor, were the stairs were concrete and it was heavily lit with a lamp in every corner that was attached to each corner. “Come on, we need to get to the roof.”