Page 78 of The Pacifist
I was quiet.
“Jonah?”
Letting out a deep sigh, I groaned. “I’ve been so focused on my speech that I didn’t consider… I mean every person in that room is allowed to read it.”
“Yes, but the rest of us aren’t and your speech was broadcast to the whole world. You know everyone is going to want a copy of that book now, right?”
“I feel sick!” In a slow movement, I banged my head against the table.
“Hey, don’t do that, your hologram just disappeared.”
“Sorry. If you have your mood reader around, we could meet in VR…”
“No, this is fine. As long as you keep your head up.”
“I should have used the quote.”
“What quote?”
“It was a quote I found while researching and it just summed it up perfectly. It said, ‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’”
“Not bad. Who said it?”
“A man called Benjamin Franklin who lived half a millennium ago. He was a politician who helped end a great war and form a nation.”
“So why didn’t you use his quote?”
I groaned. “I wrote and rewrote that speech so many times, Mila. I had another section about free thought being an illusion, but Pearl wasn’t sure about it, so I cut that part too.”
“But if you liked that quote, why did you cut it out?”
“Because I figured that the moment I mentioned his name it would lose power. They don’t want to listen to men. Especially not men who lived prior to the Toxic War.
As always, Mila tried to cheer me up. “I liked your arguments about tolerance.”
“You did?”
“Yes.” She smiled at me. “Tell me how it went with Anne.”
“Oh, right.” I blew out my cheeks and exhaled noisily through my nose. "She’s remorseful, but the mess she created is huge.”
“She’s got quite a fan group up here, did you know that?”
“Who – Anne?”
“Yes. She’s been in the News a lot with pictures of her modeling in swimwear.”
“But they don’t know her.”
Mila smiled. “Almost two thousand men signed up to fight for me in my tournament and none of them know me either.”
“Huh. I should tell her that.”
“You talk to her?”
I gave a small nod. “Yes. My mom is bringing Anne back into the family and insisting that what happened was a terrible tragedy that we need to put behind us.”
“Your mom is a saint.”
