Riley and Stacy discuss the war monuments
“Riley, come with me?” Stacy asked. “I want to check out the memorials and monuments in Rzhev to the Great Patriotic War.”*
“Since I have already decided to escort you, I’ll comply.”
“You sound like you would rather be doing something else?”
“I would normally not visit such memorials and monuments,” Riley answered simply. “That war had a bad ending for us. Lithuanians, I mean.”
“I understand. I’m not visiting these for fun. I’m here on my Mentor’s advice.”
…
The ZIL team was still new, and members did not know each other that well. Riley had no clue how Stacy might react to the war memorials. Even though Stacy was not ethnic Russian, she could still celebrate a victory that didn’t feel like victory to many Eastern and Central Europeans. And that would hurt Riley’s feelings.
As they approached the statues, Stacy suddenly spoke up.
“All these could have been avoided if only one man was less greedy.”
“Uh…”
“If Stalin had merely done nothing. If Stalin had kept a neutral course. No Motolov-Ribbentrop Pact. That’s all it would have taken to keep us from harm.
Hitler might still have waged war in Western Europe, of course. But the Soviet Union would have been insulated from Germany by buffer states. They wouldn’t have invaded. And because the Germans didn’t invade, all the disasters that Soviet minorities faced from a paranoid Stalin would never have happened. And all the future disasters for Eastern and Central Europeans would also not occur.
Then Stalin would be living comfortably. And we would be at peace. Soviets, Lithuanians, Poles, everyone.”
“I agree with everything you just said, except for Stalin living comfortably. You really want him to be comfortable?”
“Of course. When Stalin was uncomfortable, everybody suffered. I’m realistic. This is the flaw of an autocratic system. The autocrat must be kept happy for everybody to be living in peace.”
The two approached a large statue with a plaque underneath.
“… no one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten,” Riley read out the words by Olga Bergholz randomly. “What a joke.”
“No, that’s not it. The problem is with selective memory,” Stacy said. “The War memorials are dedicated to a period of great suffering, but the USSR also did tremendous evil to some of its own people during this time.
Such as the horrific ill treatment of the Chechens, the Ingush, the Crimean Tatars, the Baltic Germans, the Volga Germans, and more.
We shouldn’t forget the people who suffered for nothing. We shouldn’t forget the mistakes and paranoia and foolishness of the Soviet authorities. That is what we should never forget. The folly of autocracy.”
“Doesn’t it detract from your, well, love for the Soviet Union?” Riley was struggling to understand why Stacy said this. Riley still had the notion that Stacy had some kind of nostalgia for the USSR, hence her desire to travel and operate within these borders.
Stacy looked steadily at Riley.
“I don’t love the USSR, you know. I miss it, but it’s because it gave me an identity.”
…
“I was a Soviet person. A citizen belonging to a deeply flawed country. Now I am still in a deeply flawed country, but it belongs to an ethnicity.”
…
“This whole nation state thing: it works for preexisting nation states. Like Lithuania or Estonia. It doesn’t work for multiethnic countries whose populations overlap with other multiethnic countries.
When you have multiethnic populations, self determination for everybody means chaos and conflict. Which leads to self determination for nobody.”
The two stood in front of the memorial. Riley blinked as a cold wind blew over her face. Her bodysuit kept her body feeling perfectly comfortable, but Riley’s eyes felt like watering.
Stacy’s hazel eyes and Riley’s gray eyes met.
“We must remember the past and not forget it. Because knowing the authentic past is the way to learn from it. And therefore to have a better future.”
…
“You have been to Germany, Riley?”
Riley nodded. She didn’t know where this was going, so she didn’t say anything. But most Eastern and Central Europeans looked towards Germany as a symbol of progress and prosperity. Going to Germany for business or career development seemed natural. Many people put aside memories of German past misdeeds to focus on the present and future.
“I have been to Germany too,” Stacy said.
…
“Down here in Russia, in the ex-USSR, we still celebrate Victory Day every year. We have parades about how great our sacrifice was, how evil the fascists were, and so on.
But does anyone realize that the enemy is gone?
Not only were the fascists defeated, Germany has also changed. Jews are coming back in large numbers. There are active and vibrant young Jewish communities in Germany again.
The Germans have changed. But Russians are stuck in the past.”
Stacy raised a hand towards the statue that towered above Riley and herself.
“My Mentor sent me some materials, and also wanted me to see these for myself. To feel the magic imbued in these monuments, which helps them cast Mind control spells.”
“Mind control spells…”
“When Moscow was silent in 1991, the Citadel lost control. The USSR fell apart. After half a generation, they are starting to retake control again.
The Benefactors do not know where this will lead. But as a precaution, they are nurturing people who can attain immunity to Mind spells.”
…
This was heavy going. After some more moments spent in silence, Stacy decided it was better to change the topic to more immediate things.
“My Benefactors told me that you should be second in command because you have some mind spell resistance. Did your Benefactors talk to you about magical awareness?”
“Yes. Set up a bunch of online courses and times that I’m supposed to take to nurture my potential,” Riley said. “Like you and everyone else, there’s also a lot of remote mentoring scheduled.”
Stacy nodded. “Naz and Marilyn also will be taking their own courses, tailored to their abilities. Only Angel has zero mana potential so she will not be taking any magic courses. Instead they will train her physique.”
“Naz and Marilyn can still learn magic?”
“To some extent, yes.”
“What makes Angel different?”
“Magic comes from the mind. Somebody who is completely straightforward cannot cast magic. But fortunately for Angel she has the potential to build her physique. So she will be spending much time in the gym.”
“I can see that a substantial number of time slots for the gym have been blocked off already,” Riley commented.
“Yes, I’m surprised at how fast it all went. On average the gym is reserved for half of all waking hours already!”
Stacy had initially hoped to be able to do yoga whenever she felt like. Since she had done the same when at home. But the available times for the gym were getting less and less so quickly!
“I haven’t even finished my own slot reservations,” Riley grinned at Stacy. “You want to join me when I’m done?”
“Meaning…?”
“We have to do some sessions together, sooner or later.”
“So much has been going on. I haven’t had time to talk to the Mentor in charge of training my physical self defense yet. It’s been Magic classes so far. I think they’re really prioritizing magic for me.”
“Well, I’ll tell you a bit about it,” Riley said. “The Mentors will definitely want you and I to train together for three hours a week, one hour each time. We must practice using taser weapons, as well as simulate gunfights, tense situations, and so on.
They will train our reflexes, judgment, agility, flexibility, all that kind of things.”
Riley went on to tell Stacy about how her training had involved running, ducking, evading, reacting to simulated shots using a virtual reality headset.
“We will have many scenarios where there are gunfights. We’re armed with taser guns, but the enemy is armed with pistols and rifles. In fights like these, the enemy is expected to be bold and take more risks since they know we do not have lethal weapons.
Or sometimes we have simulated fire support – say Naz is shooting with an AK-47 so the enemy is suppressed. Marilyn is lurking, so they don’t dare stick their heads out. So both sides are cautious and in a standoff. To take them down we will still need to be able to fire opportunistically. And to be able to seize opportunities, we need the training and the practice.”
Stacy nodded soberly.
They had only finished job negotiations barely a week ago, and already there were these sophisticated and structured training plans with mentorship set up. It seems the Benefactors were already expecting certain things from the ZIL team.
But it had all seemed so natural and correct. Stacy couldn’t think of any good reason why she might not want to accept these training sessions. If she was a serious investigator, a serious do-gooder, she needed to build skills like these.
As Marilyn had said, the Benefactors really seemed to know every ZIL member better than she knew herself.
Or maybe… the Benefactors just saw each person as what she might want to be, at her best.
Riley was talking.
“Since my training sessions involve a lot of setup work – putting obstacles and what not – I think your sessions and mine should be paired back to back. That way the same setup is used for two people.”
Riley didn’t say the real reason was because she would be firing a lot with her taser gun. Taser gel would be squirted everywhere. So she would have a lot of cleaning to do afterwards, and really hoped to get a second pair of hands to help her!
As this conversation wound down, Stacy looked around her. She seemed to have her eyebrows knit tightly together.
“Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?” Riley asked. She was not completely certain how she was supposed to react to Stacy. This relationship between leader and second-in-command was still quite new.
“It’s a magic related thing, but no point including Marilyn and Naz for this,” Stacy replied. She lifted a hand up at the nearby statue, then turned around and gestured at the other things – flags, wreaths, obelisks, flowerbeds and more.
“Riley, what do you see?”
“An obscene misuse of public funds,” Riley said. “The people nearby are so poor. The roads are bad, the bridges look dangerous, the playgrounds are practically toxic…”
“Ah, but if you’ve taken your first magic course, do you sense anything?”
Riley paused. She closed her eyes and opened them. She looked up, down, left and right and up again at the statue standing near her.
“I’ve only taken my first course, and as you know that was for short ranged taser pistol support. Not magic. But come to think of it, there’s something. I just can’t place it. Haven’t been trained to recognize it.”
“I’m only a bit more magic-aware than you right now,” Stacy admitted. “Yet I’m starting to feel it.”
“Feel what?” Riley didn’t know how to describe what she was feeling at the moment.
“Feel the magic. Infused in these objects and the architecture,” Stacy replied.
“Hmmm….” Riley’s gray eyes rolled around in her sockets as Riley tried to process all her sensations. “All right, so what am I supposed to do?”
“Nothing. It’s just, well, to be aware,” Stacy said. “You know the Russian state is busy constructing such monuments all over the country now?”
“Taip, heard about it. Super waste of money. Probably a way of channeling funds to corrupt locals by overspending on granite or cement blocks. One hundred percent pathetic patronage politics, Russian style.”
“These monuments are more than just overpriced granite or cement. They’re being built for another purpose.”
Riley stopped. “You mean…”
“These monuments are supposed to be aids to the Kremlin’s wizards. For the purposes of casting Mind spells on the population.”
Riley did not respond. She put a hand to her chin and frowned.
Stacy looked over the empty grounds. A huge square like this cost a lot of money. There was probably more asphalt and bitumen in the grounds – as well as in the roads leading to these grounds – than the rest of Rzhev put together. More park benches than in the rest of Rzhev plus all surrounding villages combined. For the cost of building these monstrously massive monuments, probably all public roads and bridges and street lights in Rzhev could be refurbished, reconstructed or resurfaced.
But roads are just roads. Pavements are just pavements. One could hardly cast any Mind spells on a random road that cars zoom past, and expect people passing through to be brainwashed just like that.
These, on the other hand, are public parks. Tourist attractions. Civic squares.
What would happen if the government deliberately neglected all other parts of town, but focused resources on building this area up to make it attractive and comfortable?
People would gather. School trips could be taken here. Work groups might take a group trip here. There would be picnics and dates. People would spend time here in the company of other people, hanging around these grand monuments and impassive plaques that were now infused with Mind magic.
An uncomfortable look crossed Riley’s face.
“Say, if there’s magic here, doesn’t it mean that the rest are vulnerable?”
“Nah, it’s all right for now,” Stacy said. “It takes suitable setups with the appropriate planning, preparatory work, artifacts, incantations and so on. Or, the correct emotional state.”
Stacy gestured at a figure in a military coat walking around and talking. Apparently Marilyn was having no problem striking up random conversations.
“Our teammates are like most people. They have no resistance to Mind Spells. But at this moment there is little danger.
It takes magical power to just grab random passer bys and control their minds. It’s not feasible or sustainable for the builders to cast spells here, depart, and expect the monument to grab our teammates like a trap catches fish.”
“So…”
“Monuments work in two ways. One is that they are indeed Mind spell casting devices that function like radioactive things. Casual passer bys are not much affected. But if you live in the shadow of these monuments, if you keep passing by them in your daily life for years, your mind will be affected.
And that’s how Confederate monuments work in the United States. They keep sending a message to the black people who pass by these monuments, trying to tell the black people to accept certain social arrangements.”
“I don’t think that has been very successful?” Riley asked.
“Not at all. Because black people are put off by the Confederate monuments, they stay away. They keep a wide berth and don’t spend time in the park sitting in the shadow of slave owners. The magic activity of these monuments only work on white people, to keep them thinking in certain ways. For example, sometimes white people would drive black people out of places where the blacks are deemed as ‘not belonging’. Often a Confederate monument or memorial nearby is responsible for the white person thinking in this manner.”
“I see.”
“Then as my Mentor told me, these monuments could work in another way. As aids and amplifiers that will help strengthen the right spells for those casting Mind magic.”
Stacy looked around her again.
“Right now there’s nobody here.”
“Real waste of funds,” Riley mumbled again.
“But if they should bring a school with impressionable children? Or a youth movement filled with enthusiastic teens? Or the employees of a state owned company who have already been exposed to mind spells in their daily work?
Then if you have a tour guide, a teacher or an authority figure, they could cast Mind spells with the help of these statues and displays.”
Riley looked somber. “So that’s how it works?”
“That’s what I learned in my first lesson. To watch out for parks, monuments and historical displays across the country. These help extend the Citadel’s mind control over the population in a cost-effective and delegable manner. That way Moscow doesn’t have to rely on the top Mind spellcasters to brainwash anybody. Even a normal school teacher with a bit of training, in the right place at the right time with the right textbook and the right magical support could do it.”
“Hmm…” Riley put a finger to her chin. “No longer the centralization of Soviet days.”
“Yeah, they’ve learned their lesson. Can’t control everything from Moscow,” Stacy observed. “My materials say that a lot of the mind spellcasting will be done by people lower down the hierarchy.”
…
Stacy put a finger to her mouth, thinking.
Wasn’t this the way Mind spellcasting worked in democratic countries? The center, or the government, or the executive branch – they didn’t cast all or even most Mind spells. It was people throughout the society who did the casting on their own.
The Federal Government of the United States didn’t build any Confederate monuments or museums. All these were done by civil society.
Wrong
Stacy soon found that her thinking was wrong. Riley and her had some Mind spell immunity, so they had been unaffected by the presence and grandeur of the monuments. But the other ZIL members were not so fortunate. And if they were walking past when Mind spells were being cast, they could be affected.
Marilyn, Naz and Angel had wandered randomly near another statue. A teacher was standing in front of her class, talking.
At least, this was probably a teacher. No guarantees, really. She had short black hair and a tight, truncated black top along with a tight black leather miniskirt. The miniskirt was so short that the waistband of her red thong panties showed. And if she lifted a leg, it revealed the crotch of the red panties. This ‘teacher’ looked a lot more like some mistress for an Oligarch – or a witch assigned by the Citadel.
Whether it was because of her getup or her words, all the schoolboys were transfixed. They gawped mindlessly at their teacher. These lower secondary boys were completely taken with the teacher’s words. Nobody was misbehaving or fidgeting.
Marilyn had been the first to come to the statue. Angel and Naz had only just arrived. So when Stacy waved for her teammates to go, Angel and Naz turned to go. But Marilyn didn’t move.
“Marilyn?”
Marilyn was fixated on the teacher with eyes that were extra large, green, and completely cloudy.
“Hey, time to go.”
“The Russians truly saved the world from fascism…” Marilyn mouthed.
“Yes, they did. Russian self sacrifice made the difference. But it’s time to go,” Naz said.
“Russians are true heroes. They singlehandedly defeated the most evil…” Marilyn mumbled.
Sensing that something was wrong, Stacy came by. She could see that ZIL’s most vivacious member had turned into a zombie. Something had to be done immediately!
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