Chapter 5 (Cont.)
But how can I relieve his absolution? When he stood by my mother, Krallice Gotard, as she picked me up, what were the contortions on his face? Were they the throbbing abscesses of his malice finally erupting into combustion much to his dismay, were they the reminders of the unsuspected (or suspected with forethought contravention) grand pitfall that was the vectorsum of the incessant foxholes he dug, or were they the misfires that dislodged a perfect vanguard formation towards unsalvageable doom? All of these scenarios imply that he felt guilt about his part in the Niqqson machine. But did he? Or was it always about his cherished state, the span of wealth he built, his honour as a key person in the Niqqson regime? But he was offered a prime position in the post-apocalyptic Eastern America, indeed he was. And in Tatterstown, no less: the de-facto capital of the loose nation called the New World Federation. Since the warhead-resistant technology was extremely rare and expensive, in procurement, construction. In establishment and sustenance. Endurance... There was no way of making an unbroken state that would be linked in and governed by the same authorial body. Experts came upon the dilemma very early in the starting of this clandestine process: the zones matching all the requirements to be considered utmost vital, were dispersed throughout all the states of Eastern America; and there was no possibility of aligning them into one without grand sacrifices. The whole plan was conceptualised when state analysts had foreseen the worst case scenario and there was not enough time to make a unified ultra-high-priority intranation from scratch and for the very specific purpose. As such, the socio-political bodies had to be configured into unbroken bodies not sprawling beyond the breadth of a city at their highest extent. Tatterstown, Gauntville, Steinstadt, Painicipality, Richterland, Craterbloom, Jargonranch etcetera, all of them and the others were dispersed throughout the nation. And the experts had also foreseen that, due to the potential collapsed communicative and physical channels, there was no real way to maintain a unified grasp on these isolated city-states where the term "federation" is merely nominal. Hence, the Niqqson regime, following the core protective measures, had bolstered the soon-to-be city-states according to a hierarchy derived from meritocracy, utilitarian pragmatism, strategic properties and post-apocalyptic viability prospects. What's currently known as Tatterstown was the most beneficent result of that judgement and hence, the de-facto capital of New World Federation. Although each state in the NWF maintains its own sovereign governance, Tatterstown was and still is the strongest and most influential. Even though, some time after the apocalypse, as it was already predicted by the Old World analysts, the nominal federation had started to dissolve. Some states are even outright hostile towards some others now and information warfare, espionage and even military intervention are a common spectacle in the present year, 2149. Digresses aside, Benzo Gotard was destined to be a key person in Tatterstown, just like he had been in the unified Eastern America. If material gain and power were all he was ever after, his grief would not have spiralled into total insanity. Was the mansion the only thing he was ever after? Or was it the old world, for the love of which, and for the exponentially growing costs to defend which he had gone down the path of destruction? And what was the endgame? There was no Eastern America to defend anymore. Mary Gotard, with nothing to attest my faith in him, I will turn to trust your judgement— perhaps your father was not completely devoid of conscience...
Junktitled #52
For Carlos Reygadas III / Post Tenebras Lux