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THE GOOD DICTATOR

Part 1 – The Birth of an Empire

Gonçalo JN Dias

Copyright 2019 Gonçalo JN Dias

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 Gonçalo J. N. Dias

Title: The Good Dictator – The Birth of an Empire

Author: Gonçalo J. Nunes Dias

Translator: Ethan Mortimore

Cover: Suhar Izagirre

http://gjnd-books.blogspot.com/

"He who controls the past, controls the future; he who controls the present, controls the past."

George Orwell

To Iker, Xavier and to my grandparents.

# A COMFORTABLE LIFE

On a spring Monday morning, Gustavo took his car from the garage and headed to work. In his typical family car, driving in a relaxed manner and taking his time – he already knew the way by heart and his mind was absorbed in the work that awaited him that morning.

It was not, however, a regular and by-the-book morning. This time he was alone in the vehicle, listening to the music on the radio instead of his children's music – as it was usually the case – or giving instructions to his two children on the backseat. It was the school's Easter holidays and his two kids were with his parents-in-law in the Barrancos, Alentejo.

He parked his car by Vila Franca de Xira's bullring, in the free parking lot the city provided. Gustavo would much rather leave it here, even though it was not that close to his workplace. However, it was free, and on top of it, he didn't have to go across all of Vila Franca de Xira's downtown. It was a five-minute walk from the parking lot up to his workplace, unlike when he had to take his kids to school, they attended in the downtown area, near his workplace, then it took him twice the time.

Before leaving the car, Gustavo looked at the rearview mirror. He was thirty-seven years old and he already noted the years on him; he was becoming bald. He already had a respectable widow's peak that insisted on increasing over the years. Truth be told, the loss of hair had concerned him quite a bit when he first noticed, (back when he counted twenty-eight springs) that his hairline was receding. He did not want to become like his father or his grandfather; but after plenty of reading about the matter, he realized that he did not have that much to say on his fateful biological heritage. He had bright blue eyes and his wrinkles already began to stand out around them. His face was very round and his neck was slim. He once had had fleshy lips, but over the years, they had begun to become thinner and thinner. He was not the handsome boy he once were any more, but he was still an attractive man. He was 5'8 tall and had a dry, slim body – as a result of his weekly hundred miles-long bicycle ride.

He worked at Vila Franca de Xira's City Hall, an old building which had been restored many times, and that was right in the center of the city, along with the noisy and stinking city market. He had been working there as a senior computer technician for ten years. He had started when he was twenty-seven years old, after getting his degree in computer engineering from the University of Lisbon. This had been his job ever since he had arrived at the City Hall.

That Monday, he had decided to go visit some local schools that had been asking for some tech support for quite some time. After dropping his briefcase on his desk, he checked his messages, and whether his boss had already arrived, before heading out to the City Hall's car park to request a vehicle. At nine o'clock sharp, he was already cruising National Road 10, which he knew by heart, on his way to visit four schools at the extreme western end of the city.

After ten years in this line of work, Gustavo liked to schedule his work hours carefully: in the morning, he enjoyed visiting the schools, departments and other city places that had requested a tech support. That being said, during the afternoon, he would rather remain in his office, and he would usually manage to get away with not doing any real work for the city.

His morning went by quickly. Between nine and twelve, he managed to visit and solve the problems in all four schools. His boss called him twice to know where he was and ask some information about a certain case. During these three hours of work, he only stopped, as it was also a habit of his, at a well-known snack bar to take his usual coffee with milk and a slice of cake. Whenever he ate the cake, he thought it was about time he changed his order due to the high calories he was taking in, but he always convinced himself that his weekly bicycle ride would help him feel free to enjoy such pleasures.

At twelve, he made his way back to the City Hall's car park and returned the vehicle. Before he went back to his office, he had stopped to have a chat with the head of the car park's division, Sérgio Pereira; a man around his own age and possibly his only friend at City Hall. He waited for him to finish a call before approaching him:

"How did your weekend go?" – greeting him with a handshake.

"Same as always: depressing" – letting out such spontaneous laughter that Gustavo couldn't help but note his yellowed teeth; a testament of many years of smoking.

"Let's have lunch in half an hour?" – Gustavo asked, smiling.

"Sounds good to me; I'll wait for you here."

Gustavo made his way back to the office and went directly to see his boss, the engineer Mário Viláres, a man almost on his 60s, bald, short and very skinny; who smoked compulsively – which had earned him some chronic coughing and a yellowish heavy mustache. Viláres' desk was always full of papers, exactly the opposite of Gustavo's much more organized and meticulous desk.

"Good morning, boss."

"Good morning, how are you?" – and without waiting for an answer. – "They called right now from the Department of Environment to know if you already have the abandoned vehicles program finished."

"Ah, not yet. It should be ready this week, if all goes well."

"One more thing, do you think you can stop by the museum this afternoon? It seems they have a problem with the program you've coded for them."

Viláres knew Gustavo would not like this order. As a creature of habit, Gustavo only enjoyed going out in the morning. Still, their relationship was pretty good. Viláres knew Gustavo was certainly his best computer technician. When he arrived at City Hall, he had come to fill in the position of a programmer that did not exist. In addition to this task, he also fixed computers, printers, installed networks and was an employee who never caused trouble. That is why Viláres looked the other way when Gustavo spent the afternoons in his office doing his personal work.

"OK, boss, I'm going there after lunch" – he answered, without being able to conceal some disgust.

On the way to his desk, he kept on talking to his work colleagues about things without any real importance and, when he confirmed it was half past twelve, he took his wallet and went to the City Hall's lunchroom.

Most of his colleagues did not go to the City Hall's lunchroom. They much preferred some restaurant close in the downtown area, with some daily menus that had a better quality. Gustavo did not agree with them. He thought the City Hall's lunchroom served very well for an excellent price. Actually, he was a basic person when it came to gastronomy. Besides, he enjoyed the atmosphere they lived in the lunchroom. It was a place frequented mainly by poorer employees, who had been going there for years, just like him.

The lunchroom was at the car parking lot, so he stopped by his friend Sérgio's office, who was already waiting for him; and they headed to the waiting line that awaited them at the entrance of the lunchroom. Sérgio, just like him, was an engineer. He had gotten a degree in mechanics. Both of them started working at the City Hall at the same time, although Sérgio had been promoted a lot more quickly within the City Hall: he was head of his division. Sérgio was also more conservative than Gustavo, not only in the way he thought – he always voted center-right wing – but also in the way he dressed. He often wore a shirt with a tie and a light colored set of flannel pants. In turn, Gustavo dressed in a more easy-going way. He usually wore jeans along with sneakers in the summer or boots if it was winter. He also rarely wore a shirt, preferring a sweater with a t-shirt underneath or simply a stylish t-shirt in the summer. He always made sure that his clothes matched, especially with the color of his blue eyes. As such, blue and clear green were the colors that were mostly present in his closet. They quickly became friends and often had lunch together. They talked mainly of politics, economy and movies, but sometimes their discussions could include soccer or women.

During lunch, the conversation became more personal, Sérgio told Gustavo his wife was falling deeper and deeper into depression and that the mood at his place was sometimes too cold. Gustavo always listened to him and gave some advice, he was glad that his friend shared this kind of private matters with him. He had always thought Sérgio's wife to be very fragile and dull, he was still surprised that his friend had chosen to marry her. Sérgio, himself, was vain and manipulative, so maybe he actually wanted a weak woman to manipulate. The truth is that his wife's condition had gotten even worse after she gave birth to the couple's only son.

After they finished lunch and had gotten their coffee at the usual place, Gustavo went to the museum and solved the programming problem in less than ten minutes. He went back to his office planning not to go out again.

Gustavo dedicated his work afternoons as a public employee to his private work. He considered himself the most talented employee of the IT Department. He thought that what the city paid him was far too little for him to devote his afternoons to the City Hall's needs. He always dreamed of working at a renowned company or at some creative firm that would motivate him to improve his own skills. However, this never happened, and he had gotten used to his underpaid, yet safe, position.

He was a man with a mind full of projects. He had a personal blog, which he updated weekly, with computer information hints he had obtained from other web pages or from his own experience. He had some followers (a few) that also left comments and other hints, some even illegal, but they delighted Gustavo. One of these frequent followers was Norton, a friend of his who was from the same village as Gustavo's father and had had a few problems with the justice in France, curiously because of some computer related unlawfulness. In addition to his blog, Gustavo also worked for a company of a former college colleague who had a web-design business. Gustavo received "hard cash" monthly for each webpage he created and for each program he coded. He also watched free online courses, generally about computer information, but lately, he had become interested in human behavior and forestry production. There were even some moments when he watched a movie or simply surfed the Internet aimlessly.

At five o'clock, he left religiously. It was very rare for him to stay at the office even for one minute past the hour. He always left in a hurry and never said goodbye to his boss, because he was afraid he would give him some task that would delay him. On that day, he did not have to go pick up his kids, he missed them and the joy they always showed when they saw him. He walked to the bullring with a colleague from another department, who also had the car parked there.

As he made his way back to his house, he planned the rest of his afternoon. He intended to eat something light and then go for a ride, for a few miles, on his bicycle. Then he would take a quick shower and rest in front of the TV or the computer until it was time to take care of dinner, which he would share with his wife, Marta.

He lived in the district where he worked, to be more exact the parish of São João dos Montes, a very rural parish with a pretty low population density. Eight years ago, he had bought, with Marta, a small house in a very cheap place and with good access that was called Cotovios, in the same parish, but since both of them had a rather good salary and with their increasing family, they decided to buy a house in a new, middle-class neighborhood called A-de-Freire.

The house was big, with a good garage and a small backyard where he used to play with his children and make barbecue for his family and friends, who visited them now and then. He felt proud of his house, of being able to offer his kids a big and comfortable house and would often remind them that, he did not have his own bedroom when he lived in his parents' house. His wife worked at a yogurt factory in Arruda dos Vinhos, but she had a more complicated working time compared to Gustavo: she got in at nine in the morning and generally left at seven p.m. albeit she was responsible for quality control, her salary did not correspond to her responsibilities or to her dedication to her job. She was clearly exploited by the company.

After parking his car in the garage, he made himself a small snack, as he had planned, and left on his bicycle through the woods that were near his house. He had picked up riding several years ago to make up for the sedentary life he led; in addition, Gustavo was vain. He liked to make it to summer with a fit and muscular body even if, over the years, his goal was to not grow a belly.

When he got back home, he took a quick shower and began to cook dinner. At the same time, he cleaned up the kitchen to the sound of some music, he was a fan of 80's and 90's rock. He also enjoyed some national hip-hop, he was, after all, a suburban guy raised in Cacém. He did not like to cook, so he always prepared simple and quick dishes, usually something frozen that would be ready in five minutes.

At eight o'clock sharp, his wife arrived. Marta was 5'3 ft tall, but she was very thin, which made her seem taller. She had beautiful dark-brown long hair and tanned skin. An attractive woman, even though she had already had two children and was thirty-seven years old. One could clearly notice that she already had several wrinkles along her eyes and mouth; despite this, she wasn't too concerned with it. She hardly used any ointments and only used make-up on special occasions.

During dinner, the couple talked of the invoices to pay, the children and the tasks they had to take care of at home. Most of the time their conversations were always about these subjects. Seldom did they talk about themselves, their feelings or their relationship. After dinner, they cleaned up and Marta went to the living room to watch TV while Gustavo took the computer to his bedroom.

Marta liked to see soap operas and reality-shows of any kind, from unknown people inside a house to programs about how to remodel your home and even cooking contests. Gustavo thought it was all a huge waste of time, "television trash" as he commented and would rather be in his bedroom watching some movie he had illegally downloaded from the Internet or talking to some friend he had met through some social network. Obviously, this week was different: the kids were not at home and they could both be a bit more at ease, since otherwise they would usually be watching some children's program or reading some tale for them to go to sleep.

Before going to sleep, Gustavo read a little: he always had some book on his night table. He preferred the classics, but it took him months to finish any of them. After his reading session, he went to the living room and said:

"I'm going to sleep, are you staying?"

"Yes, I'll just stay up for a little bit, I won't take long."

Gustavo knew it was a lie; she would stay up until the last soap opera ended, way past midnight. They said goodnight with a light and cold kiss and Gustavo went to bed, masturbated as usual thinking of some work colleague and fell asleep after he had finished. The couple's life had become rather similar to the cold and light kiss they had shared. After the birth of their second son, the couple only had sex once a trimester, on average. Gustavo still felt attracted to his wife and still remembered with some nostalgia the first years of dating, and marriage, when they had sex on a daily basis. Over the years, however, his wife had begun avoiding physical contact and, tired of being rejected repeatedly, he gave up on reaching out to her and got in the habit of satisfying himself. Marta, on the other hand, felt tired and without any drive, even though she still loved her husband and found him to be attractive.

The rest of Gustavo's week resembled that Monday, without any big news. He missed his kids more and more, but the idea of having to go to his parents-in-law's next weekend filled him with some uneasiness. He did not have a tight relationship with them nor with the rest of Marta's family. He did not like Barrancos or their inhabitants and, most of all, he thought his parents-in-law's house was small and uncomfortable. He foresaw a really boring weekend, with the same old conversations, and the same old silent moments that had once been awkward and were now increasingly banaler. Little did Gustavo know that it would be an unforgettable weekend and maybe the last one in Barrancos.

That Friday, he had arranged with Marta to make a trip to her homeland. She would leave work earlier, at around six p.m., and she would leave her car at the bullring, then they would both go to Barrancos in Gustavo's car. At half past five, Marta called him saying she would be a little late; that came as no surprise to Gustavo who, after thirteen years of relationship, was more than used to her lack of punctuality. As he waited for Marta at a café in front of the bullring, while calmly reading a sports newspaper and drinking some coffee, a co-worker of his, from the department of public works, by whom he felt attracted, came in. Ana Paula was about forty-five years old, with white skin and her hair was dyed blonde. Their conversation was short but enjoyable, and Gustavo could not help but gaze at her white tight skirt, which favored her legs and her ass. Ana Paula wasn't the only co-worker to whom Gustavo felt attracted, but he never openly displayed such temptation – he always treated them with respect and professionalism.

Gustavo longed for an extramarital relationship, with a woman who sought the same as him: sex. However, he knew it would be nearly impossible; in his mind, women always looked for more than sex. In his ten years at the City Hall and thirteen of a relationship, he had betrayed Marta only once. They had met in the lunchroom; she was a lawyer from Leiria and had just started working at the Vila Franca's City Hall. She did not know anyone around, only her boyfriend who was from Lisbon. She was called Mafalda and was a few years younger than Gustavo. She was into swimming and had wide shoulders and fit legs. She had a snub nose and always wore tight, brand clothes. They immediately got along and began having lunch together. Gustavo loved her laughter and smile, and he found himself wishing that he had met Mafalda before he had met Marta. Mafalda's relationship had come to an end and she had begun to feel the need to go out, drink, go to parties, and to meet new people. Gustavo, realizing that, invited her for a ride to Coruche, a land where he was sure nobody would know him. Then, perceiving that Mafalda also wanted something more, he invited her for a fun night in Sintra. He came up with an excuse and told Marta he was going to spend the night at his parents' house. The next Saturday, after a dinner sided with some booze, they ended up in a cheap hotel. That night, they had sex twice and Gustavo, who liked things to be crystal clear, asked her what her intentions were at the end. Then, Mafalda answered as follows:

"You are a married man with a son and a home and I don't want to destroy that, nor get into trouble."

As far as Gustavo was concerned, that was a relief; he didn't want any problems either, but he still told her:

"If you want another night like this, just tell me."

"Maybe" – and she kissed his lips.

The truth is: Mafalda eventually got into a new relationship and stopped going to the lunchroom. They maintained a cordial relationship, and Gustavo still had some hope to make love with her again.

Marta arrived almost at seven, with a disturbed and stressed look on her face, apologizing for the delay, justifying it with a problem in an important machine. Gustavo did not care about her excuse. Actually, he hardly paid attention to what his wife said. When he sat behind the steering wheel of his car, he thought about how painful it would be to drive for 155 miles with Marta.

Gustavo played a Chico Buarque's CD to help make the trip a little lighter, thinking Marta would not complain since the music would be calm and peaceful. He would've preferred to make that trip with anyone else. He found his wife uninteresting, she did not have any cultural taste, she did not understand good music and she only watched comedies and romantic movies. She did not enjoy reading and did not know a thing about what was happening in the world since she did not watch or listen to the news. Gustavo did not love her anymore, he knew that much. He thought she was an attractive woman, he liked her scent and making love with her, but he had not loved her for some time. He did not think about getting divorced, Marta was a good mother for his children, they had both gotten a good home, they even had a comfortable life, but he was sure that, but for the children, he would have already filed for divorce. Sometimes he found himself thinking how it would be if Marta would die and he would keep her life insurance, but he quickly dismissed this idea every time, Marta was an excellent mother and Gustavo appreciated it.

On the other hand, Marta loved her husband and thought he loved her too. She knew they had different tastes, but that was normal in a relationship. She also thought it to be natural that couples would have less sex over the years, but she still saw her husband as an attractive man with beautiful blue eyes and a cute body, from riding his bicycle so often, and she even found his growing baldness charming. Marta was a happy woman who felt she was successful and was proud for having managed to make it in Lisbon.

During the travel, the conversations between them were trivial and bland, except for the vacations plans for the next summer. Gustavo liked to plan their vacations in a detailed fashion and in advance. He had searched for something in southern Spain, something like Alicante or Valencia. Marta, however, did not like great changes. For her the vacations would always be spent in the Algarve, between Lagos and Portimão, and always defended her position by saying these were cheaper, more comfortable for the kids and closer to home. They also talked about going to some Spanish place to have dinner this Saturday afternoon. Gustavo liked the different Spanish gastronomy with their tapas as he had seen in several Spanish taverns. However, he hated that Marta spoke Spanish; he thought she was a bad speaker with a ridiculous accent. She, in turn, thought she was bilingual, since she had been raised listening to Spanish on TV and on the streets. Gustavo felt incredibly embarrassed when she began to speak Spanish, and the worst of it all was that his father-in-law, Manuel Chalana, also had the illusion that he was bilingual, although he only knew about four words in Spanish. But that's how the Portuguese people are: always submissive towards other nations, Gustavo thought, and recalled the constant praises Manuel sang to the Spanish Nation: "Spain is good at it...", until he got sick of it one day and told him: "If Spain is as good as you say, then why don't Basques and Catalans want to be Spanish?". Manuel, not being a very cultured person and with little skill for more intellectual discussions, said: "those are all terrorists."

The relationship between Gustavo and his parents-in-law was not good. It hadn't always been like that, though: when they first started dating and up until their marriage, Gustavo made sure that he was the perfect, kind and talkative son-in-law, always ready to help, until one day, a few weeks before the marriage, he overheard a conversation between his parents-in-law and a homeland woman.

"I see your Marta will be getting married soon" – said a typical Alentejo woman, short and brunette, aged 50 years old, but wearing black clothes that made her look older.

"It's true, Conceição, it's due in two weeks" – said his mother-in-law, Maria Chalana was her name.

"And are you happy?"

"Well," – Maria looked aside to make sure nobody heard and then in a low voice she said: - "we would have preferred if she got married to some boy from here, but it was her choice."

His parents-in-law thought Gustavo was out of the house, that he had gone out with Marta to choose something for the marriage, but Gustavo had stayed at home to do some work on the computer and, just at that moment, he had entered the kitchen for a glass of water and overheard the conversation right in front of the entry door of the house.

Gustavo was petrified when he heard that. Eventually, he felt only hate and disgust of those people and, with a rash decision; he packed and left the house. When he walked by the entrance of the house, where his parents-in-law were sitting, they were surprised to see him as he said:

"So, you would've preferred if she was to get married to a guy from here, don't you? Did I do anything to deserve such a treatment?"

He left the house quickly, heading to his car as his mother-in-law pulled herself together from that bucket of cold water; she quickly made her way to his car with a face full of regret as she tried to apologize – he had misunderstood.

The situation was overcome thanks to Marta, who managed to convince Gustavo that the woman to whom her mother had been talking was the mother of her ex-boyfriend and that Maria had only said that as a courtesy; that she actually did not think that. Later, Maria also apologized personally, embarrassed. Since then, Gustavo stopped being as kind to his parents-in-law and began to have a more cordial, colder and even distant way of interacting with them. He felt like the black sheep of the house, like a foreigner.

His parents-in-law loved their only daughter and with their limited financial resources they managed to send her to a public university in Lisbon; Marta was their pride and joy – when she quit her long-lasting relationship with João Belo, the boy from her hometown, they were actually pleased because they thought she deserved someone better, with a higher education. When they met Gustavo, they were delighted: a man from Lisbon, whose father was also from a small land. A handsome, educated fellow with a degree in engineering to boot; an Engineer Gentleman. Unfortunately, after that incident, they felt Gustavo began treating them coldly and sometimes in an arrogant fashion.

This "arrogance" hit its peak during a summer lunch, while the table was full of family members and friends of both Manuel and Maria's. The famous parties of Barrancos were already close. These were famous because they were the only ones in Portugal where killing the bull in the arena was allowed, a tradition which, some years ago, had created an enormous controversy in the media. This subject happened to be brought up during lunch. They said that on TV they only told lies and that in Lisbon people did not understand their culture or the idea behind the celebration. At this point, one of the guests asked Gustavo, since he was from Lisbon, what he thought about the subject. Gustavo, who usually avoided such subjects and wasn't too fond of speaking in public, nor of being in the spotlight, saw this occasion as a unique moment to set himself apart from all the people he was growing to despise more and more.

"Well, I understand that people like to cling to their culture as a way of differentiating themselves from other cultures or people. Unlike those who aren't part of it, those who follow a certain tradition often can't see the forest for the trees. Killing an animal for fun, after having tortured it for an hour, is a cultural tradition as worthy as those age-old fights between angry dogs and bears that happen in Afghanistan, or the stoning of women in Iran, or even the public hangings of thieves that occur in Saudi Arabia. Yes, I know a man is different from an animal, but that's not the issue here, after all, who are we to stop allowing any kind of tradition?"

It was almost ten p.m. when they arrived at Marta's parents. Diogo and Alice, Gustavo and Marta's kids were still up, and about when they saw their father's car parking in front of the house. They rushed out to meet them. Diogo, the six-year-old hugged his father and said:

"I missed you, daddy."

"I missed you too, champ."

Then it was the girl, aged four-years-old, Alice, who also hugged Gustavo, and he soon forgot all about the long and boring journey, the bad relationship he had with his parents-in-law and the cold connection he had with his wife, during that moment, he was very happy with his two kids in his arms.

"I want to be with you, daddy" – said Alice.

"Don't worry, little princess, I will always be with you."

# AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

His parents-in-laws' place was simple and small, an indicator of how little money they had. Manuel was already sixty-two years old and was waiting, with some anxiety, for a chance to retire. He had worked all his life in several demanding jobs, especially as a construction worker. In the last twenty years, he had specialized as an electrician and traveled the country from North to South, but he did not always declare his earnings properly, even going as far as working illegally for a while; moreover, he did several odd jobs in Barrancos. Now he was old and after a small work accident in one of these odd jobs, he had been forced to quit taking on these jobs and he remained at home, without retirement, with poor health, barely making a living from some other jobs he could do, like selling vegetables and fruits that he planted in his garden.

Maria, who was five years younger than Manuel, had always lived in Barrancos, always looking after the house, and while her husband walked across the country in work; she looked after their daughter, the garden and the domestic animals they had. She gained some money by looking after the elderly. Once she even baked desserts for a restaurant in the village, but the restaurant closed after a while and the little family business disappeared.

The house was old, it had been passed down to Maria by her mother; it only had two bedrooms, one small kitchen, and a living room at the entrance of the house where the family met, which was its larger room. The original bathroom was in the backyard, an outhouse, but Manuel built another one inside. Recently Gustavo's parents-in-law wanted to increase the house, to make one more bedroom for their grandchildren. Since they had space in the backyard, they took the chance to start the work, but, when the walls were already raised, the City Hall put a stop to it since Manuel had not asked for the City Hall's permit. Furious, he had insulted the inspectors who had given him the notice, while his wife, more collected, advised him to pay something to the inspectors so that they would look the other way, but Manuel refused to do it vehemently. That is how, while the bedroom still awaited a green light, Gustavo and Marta slept with the children in the same bedroom.

Marta and Gustavo slept in a single extra-long bed, still from the time when Marta was single. It was actually a bit small for them. At the feet of the bed, there was another bed, where Alice and Diogo slept. Gustavo liked this situation for several reasons, first of all, because it was a nice change, it even seemed like they were camping, the four of them sharing a small room, which always led to some play-time with the kids and some laughter before bed-time. Secondly, since he was so close to Marta, he enjoyed feeling and touching his wife's body. She, in turn, also liked to feel his hands caressing her body as well as Gustavo's erection between her legs.

In the morning, after breakfast, Marta and Maria decided to go to downtown to buy some things; Manuel decided to go to the backyard to water some tomatoes and cabbages he had planted, while Diogo and Alice ate slowly and saw cartoons on TV. Gustavo, looking at the scene, decided to go ahead and do some running through the fields, he would rather ride his bicycle, but as he had not brought it, he decided to run. After his usual sit-ups and push-ups, he went out and ran for about thirty-five minutes, relatively less than usual, but he did not want to get too tired. Besides, he did not know the place that well and he was not fond of the idea some angry dog running after him. As he went back home, he met Marta's cousin; he even thought of stopping to greet her, but he didn't want to lose his rhythm, so he only said "good morning", as she raised her hand and said:

"Have you seen that Moon thing yet?"

Gustavo thought he had not understood her words, "that Moon thing". He thought that Marta's cousin was a card short of a full deck, just like half of the local population.

When he got home, he found it odd to find his father-in-law in front of the TV instead of his kids; instead of cartoons, the channel was some breaking news. "Unidentified object parked on the Moon" was in large letter on the screen, while it gave static images of what looked like a kind of green building with legs on the Moon. The journalist talked about this carefully, repeating himself often and showing he had little information on the subject.

Gustavo was perplexed and it began dawning on him that he was before an historic moment for humanity: a craft or unknown object was on the Moon, it was official. Automatically, he recalled something similar he had lived upon September 11, 2001, when he was in Hamburg, Germany, with Eva, his ex-girlfriend. He felt the former company was actually more pleasant than this, his father-in-law. With Manuel's permission, he changed channels to check other sources of information, but they all said the same and they all showed the same images. Manuel decided to pay the subject little importance and went to see the kids play. Gustavo thought it wasn't much of a surprising attitude coming from such a basic and simple person like Manuel and decided to take a quick shower. As he took his shower, he thought of what that could be, could it actually be an alien craft? Or maybe some country had sent a craft to the Moon claiming the territory as its? Or maybe it was some American maneuver to show its technological power. He thought how funny and ridiculous it would be if Portugal claimed the Moon as its territory, he let out a big laughter; it would be a return to the grandeur of the Discoveries Portugal did overseas, during the 15th and 16th centuries. But, unfortunately, Portugal was but a small and insignificant country, governed by incompetent people for over twenty years.

When he finished getting dressed, the women had already returned with their shopping done and were ready to take care of lunch. As Gustavo expected, the two of them did not make any comment on that historic happening. Since there was no news, Gustavo met up with his children, who played in the backyard throwing stones at a small and nearly dry well that Manuel had abandoned.

When the women called everyone for lunch, Gustavo was already very hungry and curious to know if there had been any progress on the subject of the flying object. He imagined that the Internet would be bustling with all sorts of fantastic theories about the subject and felt like forgetting about his family and indulging himself in all kinds of theories there could be. Unfortunately, for him, there weren't any news on TV concerning the unidentified object on the Moon and, so far, no country had made any comment about it.

"What do you make of it?" – asked Gustavo hoping to create an interesting discussion on the subject.

"American trash" - Marta said without any passion about the subject. – "You'll see. It's likely a publicity stunt for some movie or some other crap the Americans want to sell."

Gustavo was disheartened with that answer and with the thought that it could actually be some publicity stunt by the Americans. Maria and the kids had hardly realized what was happening, and Manuel was quiet, as he often was, without showing much interest in what was on TV. It was a shame he was not at home where his parents would certainly be much more interested in it and would be sure to have some theories of their own. On TV, they were already asking people on the street what they thought on the subject. Portuguese journalism was painfully depressing, Gustavo thought: they ask just about anyone what they think and they always choose the most stupid and illiterate people, who hardly know how to speak Portuguese correctly, but that's how the average national TV news works, they always have to find a way to stretch the news in order to fill in the half an hour allocated to the news.

After lunch, his cell phone rang. It was Norton, his friend from Lentiscais. Gustavo's mood immediately brightened up when he saw who it was. He promptly excused himself to answer his phone outside.

"How's it going, you nutjob? I already know why you're calling." – Gustavo said without containing a brief and joyful laughter.

"This is the end, my only friend, the end." – Norton sang, trying to mimic The Doors' mythical vocalist. – "They've already arrived, dude."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, it seems so obvious to me that I'm already putting together a survival manual" – he said it in such an adamant way that Gustavo was left wondering whether this was actually that serious or not. – "You see, Gustavo, I was looking at some pages on the Internet and this is looking really bad. From some reference pictures, we can confirm that there is no technology on our planet like that, besides, the craft's design is completely unusual and that alone is huge."

"Maybe it could be North Korean or Chinese" – said Gustavo without much conviction.

"You're crazy! They can't do anything like that. You'll see, no one will say a thing for now. Tomorrow maybe, due to the media's pressure, the leaders from the main countries will have to step up and speak. Then, you'll see, they will confirm that it is not man-made. So, we'll have to ask ourselves two questions: Have they come in peace? Or have they come to kill us?"

That afternoon, they arranged to go to eat some tapas in Spain and do some kind of light-dinner that would please everyone, but it was still early. Gustavo didn't resist and turned on his laptop and began to browse the Internet in search of more information and theories, but it was not an easy task since his kids wanted his attention and also wanted to see videos and cartoons on the computer. Still, he was scratching that itch and during the afternoon, he talked to one more friend.

He called Anabela, an old friend from high school, from the time when Gustavo had joined the school paper, and from when he had met many of his current friends back in his homeland, Agualva-Cacém. His friendship with Anabela proved that a boy and a girl could actually be just friends. There had never been anything between them for several reasons, but, above all, because they were too similar.

"So, Bela, you're freaking out, aren't you?"

"Absolutely, this is too much, what do you think?"

"I think it's not human."

"Are you sure, Gus?" – his friends from Cacém called him Gus. – "I don't know. It seems to me that we may be before a new Discoveries era. And that's from North Korea."

"You're going crazy! Those guys are starving, they don't even have the means to launch a proper missile."

"If it's not them, it's the Chinese. I'm telling you, it's a new age, Gus, they're looking for minerals or other power sources and this is the first step. Moreover, don't you try to tell me that it's aliens, what would they come here for? We're still a backwards planet with huge differences amongst ourselves; we aren't prepared to receive anybody yet. Changing subjects, when are you coming here?"

"I'm taking the kids to my parents tomorrow, they are on vacations. I'm in Barrancos right now. I've come to pick them up."

"Wow, Barrancos, how cool, you must be having a lot of fun there" – she said in an ironic manner.

"Let me tell, this Moon thing has made time fly, curiously. Look, I will be spending next weekend there, how about we make time for a coffee together."

"It sounds like a very good idea, my friend, but no children, right?"

"What? Don't tell me that you don't like to be with your nephews! They don't stop asking about you. Not to mention, you have to start thinking about it, you're turning forty soon."

"Don't be rude; I'm still too far from being forty years old..."

"Well, Anabela." – Gustavo interrupted. – "I've already arranged with the family to go to Spain to eat some tapas" – he said this with a forced and ridiculous Spanish accent.

"Vale, amigo." – Anabela followed him. – "In that case, we'll see each other next week. I will arrange with everyone here and I'll keep in touch."

"Ok, if I'm lucky, my parents will stay with the kids and we may all go drink some beers."

Gus was looking forward to the next weekend, as it would certainly be much more interesting than the current one. He felt blessed for having friends he considered cultured, people who read books, who liked independent and European movies and were up to date about the current political situation. Marta did not share the same opinion. As far as she was concerned, Gustavo's friends were some kind of pseudo-intellectuals who spent their nights drinking, smoking and talking about silly things, about slow and boring movies and about politicians nobody had heard of. She felt an authentic ignorant around them and felt like they thought her to be a dizzy woman and a lowly peasant that should not be there. Lately, she had gotten into the habit of always finding an excuse to dodge such meetings.

As the afternoon came to an end, the family headed to Oliva da Fuente, a small Spanish village with roughly five thousand inhabitants and with large cafés and taverns. Gustavo was curious to know how they were facing that morning's bombastic news, but he found the taverns to be as they always were: a lot of people along the counter and quite noisy. Moreover, he thought the Spanish people spoke pretty loudly, even, exaggeratedly so. That day, it wasn't any different, but they kept showing the unidentified object on TV and they were talking about the subject. Unfortunately, Gustavo was not as good with languages as he was with numbers and barely understood a thing of Spanish. His kids enjoyed the atmosphere; they always chose some large tortilla and sat between their parents so they would help them. Gustavo loved to see his children happy and also, felt glad for being with them.

That night, before going to sleep, he looked at the sky in search of the Moon, but there were too many clouds and he couldn't see anything. He took one last look through the Internet to know if there were any news on the subject, but he only found that some European leaders didn't quite know the origin of the object, reinforcing the possibility of it being extraterrestrial.

The next morning, there were only a few news relating to the lunar subject, and Gustavo packed his kids' clothes. The first week of Easter vacations was over and the last week was about to begin, but this time they would spend it with their paternal grandparents in Cacém. He had planned that, in the middle of the afternoon, they would depart to Cacém to take the children. Gustavo and Marta would spend the night there since they had to both returns to São João Montes on Monday. Fortunately, he managed to find some time at the end of the afternoon to meet up with his friend Raul for a beer and some chat while they watched a soccer match.

The hours spent in that house seemed to drag on. He could not do anything else besides looking after the kids, watching TV or surfing the web a little, and he was tired of his parents-in-law's company, who were truly uninteresting people in his eyes. That is why he felt at ease as soon as he sat down behind the steering wheel to leave that place.

He played some movie for his kids, in the backseats of the car, to keep them entertained during the trip; in the meantime, he could concentrate on the road and on his own thoughts. He did not intend to talk to Marta and he hoped she wouldn't tell him her cousins' gossips because he had no interest in the subject. As he drove, he remembered the first time he saw the strange craft on the Moon and he wondered where Eva was and what she would think about the subject.

Gustavo had first met Eva in Amsterdam, in the summer of 2000, when he and other two friends from college had gone on an inter-rail through the North of Europe, with little money, but with plenty of will to discover new places. He had met Eva in a bar close to the hostel where the three friends were staying. Eva had a Scandinavian look, tall, a little pudgy, blue eyes, blonde (almost white) and very straight hair, fair skin, but her cheeks had a slightly pinkish tone. No doubt, she was attractive, and Gustavo, who had seen her leave the hostel, decided to start a conversation with her over the counter when they were asking for a beer. Eva liked his courage to approach her and felt attracted by Gustavo's tanned skin, which complemented his greenish-blue eyes. They spent the night talking and drinking and ended up kissing in some other bar. Gustavo decided to remain in Amsterdam while his friends kept on the trip to Copenhagen and Eva left aside her friends too and decided to travel to Belgium with that Portuguese man. They fell in love, and, even though Eva was two years younger than Gustavo, she had more experience from past relationships.

As he was concerned, Eva was his first serious girlfriend, he had already had casual relation with other girls, but with Eva, for the first time, he knew what falling in love was. Eva, too, shared this love, and they were willing to make any sacrifice to be together. Thus, when the summer finished, Gustavo returned to college and asked to take up an Erasmus grant in Germany, but it would only be possible in February/March 2001. Therefore, they spent a long winter talking through the Internet at night and making all sorts of plans for when Gustavo went to Hamburg for the Erasmus grant.

In November, Eva saved up some money and traveled to Lisbon to be with Gustavo. His very liberal parents let the foreigner girl sleep in the same bed as their son and were always kind to her. Eva loved Lisbon and Gustavo's friends; he was already learning German at a Language School, but without much success. In February, Gustavo traveled to Hamburg, Eva's homeland, they lived months of love, parties, marijuana, alcohol, sex and discussions. Little by little, Gustavo realized that Eva was very egocentric and played the victim constantly. Eva, on the other hand, began realizing that Gustavo was selfish and an incurably manipulative man. Still, they stayed together until the end of September 2001, at which point Gustavo had to go back to Portugal. At the airport, Eva decided to break-up with him, saying she could not stand the distance anymore. Gustavo cried without reserves before her, but still stood proud, he asked for nothing more than a warm hug, and then he headed off to the airplane that awaited him, without looking back a single time. Eva lamented his departure and, ever since, she wondered several times if she had not made a mistake. They restarted talking sporadically through social networks. In less than one year, Gustavo met Marta and fell in love again. Now, Eva, like him, was married and had kids. Gustavo attentively followed the few news he got about her: she was logically older and fatter, but she still had a beautiful face. He still longed for the day she would get divorced from her husband and tell him he was the love of her life.

When Marta saw her husband concentrating so hard on the steering wheel, she was afraid he could fall asleep, and as such, she began talking about a dish she had learned from her mother that weekend. Gustavo did not pay her any attention and thought of the possibility of returning to Eva and leaving Marta. The idea pleased him, but he thought of his children and believed he would never abandon the two beings he loved the most in the world. He had committed many mistakes in his life, he had failed in many aspects, but he wanted to be a good father, and the best thing for his kids was to be close to their mother, even if this meant he had to spend the life with someone so futile like Marta.

Gustavo asked his wife if she would be upset if he went for a beer with Raul, before dinner. Marta did not like the idea, having to be alone with the kids and her parents-in-law didn't please her that much, but Gustavo had behaved so well in Barrancos that she was not able to deny his request.

Gustavo's parents were actually different from Marta's. Their names were Antónia and Joaquim. She was from Lisbon and she said it proudly, his parents and grandparents had lived in Castelo, in downtown Lisbon. She was now 70 years old and had retired; she had been a nurse for over thirty years in the Hospital of Desterro, in Lisbon. Joaquim, with the same age, had worked in the postal service in many positions, from a mail carrier up to division head. He was from a small village in Portugal and had come to Lisbon when he was only twenty years old. They were both left-wing sympathizers, but practicing catholic and enjoyed reading and traveling, although lately Joaquim's health was worsening and their trips were shorter and shorter, especially to spas. They were very fond of Marta and treated her like a daughter. Marta also felt comfortable and liked to be able to rest on the couch without being worried about food.

When they arrived at Cacém, Gustavo helped putting up the bags, kissed his parents and immediately went out to the café to meet Raul. He was already waiting for Gustavo and was drinking his second beer when he arrived. They greeted with a hug and immediately asked for one more beer. The owner of the café, who knew Gustavo since he was a kid, was over the moon when he saw him.

"So you came to see the poor?" – Said the old man of the bar with a slight smile.

"Poor? I'm the poor here." – Gustavo answered, trying to be kind.

After the usual questions about the family, Gustavo got to finally be alone with Raul, who was watching the Premier League match on TV.

"What do you think about that, Raul? What a bomb, isn't it?"

"Only Americans trying to advertise for some movie." – Raul answered with some despises for the subject.

"You're crazy! Just now, on the way, I heard on the radio that Israel's prime minister said that it could hardly be of human origin."

"Are you serious? I don't believe it. Maybe that's some attention-drawing-story of the Americans. I'm telling you."

Raul was Gustavo's best friend. They had met in high school – they both had been part of the school paper, Raul was two years younger than Gustavo and was still single, he lived with his parents and worked for a mattress factory in the Cacém industrial district. He was very relaxed; he had not had a girlfriend for some time and didn't seem worried about it. He loved soccer, beer and the company of his friends. Like a large number of people from Cacém, Raul was mulatto; his father was from Cape Verde and his mother from Coimbra. He liked reggae and had a Jamaican style of dressing, but curiously, he was one of the few friends of Gustavo who voted right-wing.

During the afternoon, they drank a few more beers and talked about soccer and UFOs, until Marta called Gustavo to warn him that dinner was ready. He left the café a little affected by the beer and went to his parents' house that was nearby. When he got home, he saw they were all watching TV. He approached quickly and saw that the North-American president was speaking: he said what he had suspected, the USA did not know the origin of that object, but they were willing to discuss the subject with anyone.

"That's it, this is official then. That is actually about aliens, there's no doubt!"

"There are still the Chinese, Koreans and Russians left to speak."

"Yeah, and you think the US don't know whether that is Chinese or Russian. It's clear we are before the first global alien contact."

"So, what should we expect now?" – Antónia asked with a worried tone.

"Now? We need to know if they come in peace or not." – Gustavo said brightly.

On TV, it was becoming clear that they were before an encounter with beings from other planets, and the question now was: did they come in peace? How would humanity react to this uncertainty? Who would lead mankind? Moreover, who would be our spokesperson? How would it all reflect on the stock exchange and in our everyday lives?

All these questions followed Gustavo when he went to sleep. He was tired and wanted to sleep right away. Alice had a fever and Marta had decided to sleep with their daughter in Gustavo's old bedroom, which he had shared with his brother, and Gustavo was going to sleep on the sofa with Diogo. The apartment had two bedrooms, an enormous living room with a balcony, a spacious kitchen and two bathrooms. It showed just how much better Gustavo's parents were doing compared to their counterparts from Alentejo.

As expected, Gustavo fell asleep quickly. In the middle of the night, he woke up suddenly because of a nightmare that had seemed to be real. He dreamt that he was in the car with his family and that Cacém, Lisbon and Vila Franca de Xira were on fire. Then he drove at high-speed and managed to escape from the fire. While he drove, the fire chased after him and burned down houses and cities. His wife and kids cried for him to drive faster. Finally, he got to Lentiscais, his father's village, where there was no fire: everything was calm and green and the four of them got out of the car and embraced the happiness of being alive. Suddenly, they spotted an airplane in the sky and, in a matter of seconds, it began to burn and crashing down towards them, who, without time to react, watched as that object approached at high-speed. Gustavo woke up in shock from this nightmare and decided to stand up to urinate and drink some water. Wide-awake, he went to the living room's balcony that had a magnificent view of the Sintra's mountains with Pena Palace in the background. That night, he could see the Moon above the mountains, the image was powerful and brutal, he could also distinguish a small green spot on the Moon and a quick and fleeting shooting star flew between the Moon and the mountains. Then he sat in a chair to contemplate this landscape as he tried to recall all the details of the dream. Later, Gustavo would say that dream was an omen from the Gods to him.

# THE LIST

For the rest of the night, he slept poorly and with a light sleep. He woke up very early, tried not to make any noise so as not to wake the children up, and had a quick breakfast with Marta, who usually did not have much appetite in the morning.

They said goodbye to Gustavo's parents and started the fifty-mile trip that separated Agualva-Cacém from Vila Franca de Xira. Gustavo decided to go through CREL, pay the 2,5 euros toll, and then avoid Segunda Circular and IC19 and consequently all the traffic there was at that time. During the trip, Gustavo turned on the radio in search of some new information, but there was nothing new. He then decided to listen to some music. Marta took the time to apply some cream; she cut the silence with a question that surprised Gustavo:

"Do you really think something bad may happen, Gus?" – He could not hide the look of surprise on his expression when faced with that question. He thought that, for the first time, Marta had left the futile and silly world behind and now she had realized something big was going to happen.

"Well, Marta." – He decided he was going to tell her his opinion as if she were a little child. – "Some aliens have come here and they may come in peace or not. So far, they have said nothing, but don't you think if they came in peace, they would have said something?"

"Do you think they are going to attack us?"

"I think it's a possibility to consider."

Until they got to the bullring, where Marta's car was parked, they did not talk again. When they said goodbye, instead of the cold and casual kiss, Marta gave him a long kiss and then held Gustavo and put her head on his chest, as if she was asking for protection. He was surprised by his wife's behavior that morning and even felt happy that she finally took this situation more seriously than in the beginning.

While he headed to the office, he thought of what he was supposed to do that morning. He had no plans, nor a will to do the usual things. When he got to his workplace, everything seemed to be normal. None of his colleagues had made any comment about the subject and Gustavo turned on his computer, starting by organizing some papers that were on his desk. He opened his e-mail and saw there was a message from Norton with the title "8 hints to surviving". He opened the e-mail, which contained the link to some guy's blog who had made a list of the necessary things in case of an alien attack.

1 – Shelter

It is necessary to have a hiding place, like a bunker, where the invaders cannot get in;

2 – Food

We must buy canned food as soon as possible, such as grain, beans, tuna, sardines, etc.;

3 – Drinking water

The invaders could possibly contaminate our lands and waters, as such, there must be much drinking water;

4 – Weapons

The law of the strongest will rule, the more weapons we have, the better our chances of survival, we must also think of gas masks;

5 – Medicines

The people who need medicine to live must have a large stock prepared, and it's better to build a stock of first-aid kits;

6 – Seeds

As it has already been said, it is possible that the invaders might contaminate the environment, but should that not be the case, we must gather as many seeds as we can to start producing our food;

7 – Power

Our power supply will soon be over, thus we must accumulate as many batteries, solar power and fuel as possible;

8 – Information

If necessary, obtain information on how to do things, manuals on agriculture, power, electricity, computer information, etc.

At the office, everything seemed normal. His colleagues spoke briefly of the subject and some sounded more worried about Benfica's loss in the last round. His boss was in a meeting and Gustavo decided he would pretend he was working on some program. He replied to Norton's e-mail with a single sentence: "I will make a list". Then he received an answer: "I have already begun".

His mind was already going over the eight points. How to start? He decided to start with the easiest and simplest: point six, the seeds. The city market was just around the corner. So he decided to do a search on the Internet to know which crop seeds he could buy, he wanted maize, wheat, barley, soybean, several kinds of cabbage, parsley, lemon balm, spinach, garlic, pepper, broccoli, lettuce, strawberry, watermelons, tomatoes, carrots, cress, cucumber, pumpkin, etc. He went to the market to see if he could find something. There was a florist who did not have any seeds, but she gave him the address of an agricultural supply store in the city that had all types of seeds. He went by foot and took some fifteen minutes to get to the shop, where he found an endless selection of all kinds of seeds and agricultural tools. It was curiously a shop which he walked by many times, but it had never drawn his attention. The shop owner, a man of about seventy years old, had the looks of someone who had just left his farmland. His way of dressing was very careless, his nails were black and his clothes reminded him of the old retired men from Lentiscais, with a flannel-checked shirt, suspenders and black trousers that helped to highlight his big belly. A very strange character who looked straight out of some comic movie and who was intended to mock the typical appearance of the old farmers.

"How may I help you?" – Said the man, who thought Gustavo had certainly mistaken the store, for he was not the kind of client who used to get in his establishment.

"I'm looking for agricultural seeds; they told me you have many here."

"Yes, I have, what are you mainly looking for?" – Gustavo could not tell the truth, the man would deem him crazy, and he had to come up with some slightly logical story.

"You know, I have a farmland in the outskirts of Castelo Branco and I want to plant a little bit of everything – and I also want fertilizers and compost."

The man thought the order was strange, but he believed he could make a good sale and began handing him all kinds of agricultural seeds he had, and, at the end, as he realized Gustavo was buying a good amount, he had to restrict the purchase a bit fearing to run out goods for his usual customers. He was even afraid that Gustavo was a madman who would not have money to pay for all of it. Nevertheless, after giving him the full value of the purchase, Gustavo took a card from his wallet and completed the payment without any problems. When he left the store, the man was satisfied with the nice sale he had gotten and thought there could not be a better way to start the day. Gustavo also became happy for having completed one bullet-point. Still, he thought that if he happened to come across another store like that one, he would buy a few more seeds. As he headed back to his office, he thought about which bullet-point he should take care of next and that at night he had to talk to Marta about these financial expenditures. He hoped she would understand, but he was not too certain. At this moment, his mobile began to ring: Gustavo thought it was his boss, but when he looked at the small screen, he realized it was Norton.

"Hello, crazy Norton, how are you?"

"Fine. So, does this mean that we are following the list? About time, so you finally believe this may and will be a shitstorm?"

"I'm just playing it on the safe side, have you ever heard that forewarned is forearmed?"

"What have you done so far?"

"I've just left a seeds store; I almost emptied the old man's shop" – he said that in the same juvenile manner a smart boy would use after he finished setting up a prank.

"Yes, that's easy enough. But it's better to buy what is easier right now because when the paranoia spreads, there will be no more seeds. Look, I'm going to the city now to purchase food, water and seeds. I already have an idea as far as the guns are concerned" – he waited for Gustavo to become curious.

"What is it?"

Norton made a pause for the subject to gain more suspense and said:

"I'm going to talk to Zeca, he'll surely get me something."

"Don't forget about me, Norton."

"Don't worry, Gustavo. Ah, another thing that the list is missing is something essential" – another pause. – "Gold. Euro will be missing or will have no value and gold will rule."

"Do you think so?"

"I think so, although the currency may also be food, medicine or any other product."

After saying goodbye, Gustavo got to his office again and did not even hide the bags he brought from the agricultural store, causing some colleagues to look at him funny, but Gustavo walked in completely distracted and thinking about the list. He sat at his desk and began to think of which points to follow next. Both food and water seemed easy to find, he thought about accumulating both by buying these products on a daily basis. It was clear that he would not build a bunker in the garden of his house, it would be better to go to his father's land, Lentiscais, a lost little land in the middle of nowhere, where no alien would waste its time going. The shelter was chosen. Now he needed to think about how to take things there? When? He would have to prepare the logistics of such an operation, but there were other things to consider, how would he get power? Buying batteries would be easy, and several liters of fuel, but it would be important to obtain all kinds of sets and devices that run with renewable energy. He ran a search on the Internet for companies that would sell this kind of material, and found many of them. He decided to contact one that had its store in Vialonga, still in the Vila Franca council. First, he saw their catalog on the official page, and then he found the store was open every morning until twelve. He thought he would be rushing things if he went there on that day. He supposed it was better to study well what he was going to buy, and even to talk to Norton, who certainly would order the materials for him. Then he considers he was going too far with all of this. He was wasting money and mostly time with something he had not any kind of certainty. However, he was already too obsessed with the list, and he focused a point that would also be difficult: the medicine. He did not take any, he had many aspirins for when he had a headache, some pills and such for a sore throat and nothing else; but his parents, who were older, used an endless collection of drugs, especially his father who had hepatitis C and could not live without such drugs.

When he remembered his parents, he realized he would have to convince them to go to Lentiscais soon. Nothing too difficult since they enjoyed going there with their son and grandchildren. This time, however, he would have to tell them about his plan and he suspected his parents would think he was just blowing it out of proportion. He had a slight idea of the medicines his parents took; the worst part would be to obtain them from a normal drugstore. He would have to take a medical prescription. He thought of several completely absurd ways to get the medicines, until he recalled that the City Hall had a doctor who worked there on Wednesdays, in a small office in front of the parking lot. He considered checking if his prescriptions were in his drawers, but immediately discarded this possibility. He would always keep his prescriptions in his case. Then he recalled something that made him smile and think that he was really a genius. He reminded that four months ago, his boss had asked him to go to this office to install a new program from the health ministry and that replaced the paper prescriptions by updating them directly to the health user's card. A transition that had not had much success yet, but little by little was being implemented. Then he began to make a list, with the help of the Internet, of indispensable drugs, some of which did not need a prescription, but most of them required one. He planned that on Thursday he would go to the physician's office and do something illegal and dangerous for his career, but this plan required more health cards. He was surely going to ask Marta and as he was going to have dinner at his parents' on Wednesday, he would take the chance to get theirs too.

Fully concentrated in this plan, Gustavo did not notice that his boss had arrived from the meeting and was walking around. When he saw Gustavo concentrating so hard, Viláres went to the desk and asked him:

"What are you doing? Some program?" – It took Gustavo a little while to get out of the trance and he could not answer for a few moments.

"Yes," – he finally said – "I'm making a program..."

"For whom?"

"For..." – he hesitated, he did not remember anything, and he was blocked. – "For Jaime, from the cemetery."

"But hadn't you already done this?"

"Yes, but it wasn't very nice and I'm improving something."

"Ah, OK. Look. It seems the guys from topography are having problems with the computers. It must be the network. Can you go there, when you're finished with this?"

"Ah, sure, boss, no problem."

He took a bit more time planning his little paranoia, until he decided to go to get a coffee and then pass by the topography department. He took more time than he expected and when he was finished with it, it was time to have lunch at the lunchroom with his friend Sérgio. He was very curious to know what Sérgio thought of all that. Sérgio was very moderate and reasonable. If he told him about the list, he would surely say that Gustavo was wasting his time, that it was absurd.

When he arrived at Sérgio's office, he was hanging around waiting for Gustavo and after the usual greetings, they headed to the lunchroom. Sérgio immediately started the conversation:

"What do you think about that Moon thing?" – Gustavo did not know what to answer; he preferred to say it was nothing worth worrying about.

"We don't know anything, do we? That is, there are no certainties. They may or may not be aliens, it seems we have to wait and see."

"Well, it's something alien for sure, now all we need to know is whether there's a population inside the craft or not. The US president said they were going to send a craft to the Moon to see if there is anyone inside, and if there is, then they would be welcomed. This is to calm the population down, because people have already began to run to the supermarkets and buying everything."

Gustavo did not have the courage to tell him about the list. Surely, Sérgio would call him a lunatic like those panicking Americans.

"What if they attack, Sérgio?"

"If they were to attack, we'd have no chance to survive, with their technology, they would put an end to our planet in no time, but why would they attack us? I don't see a reason."

"Maybe because of our disregard for other living beings."

"No" – he said with disdain. – "Then they would do the same as us."

"If they attack, how do you think they would do it?"

"I don't know, perhaps a bomb with such a large impact that not even the roaches would survive, everything would be killed, but then there's the question: why would they do this?"

"Because they are bad, because they like destruction, because they see some threat in us."

"And why wouldn't they come in peace, Gustavo?" – Sérgio stopped eating and looked at Gustavo, waiting for a nonsense answer.

"If they came in peace, they would have already said something, wouldn't they? Why bother waiting for so long?"

Some workers listened to the conversation between the two of them with enthusiasm. They realized it and decided to change subjects. It was useless to discuss the intentions of something no one knew what it actually was.

After the usual coffee, Gustavo headed out to the bullring to take his car and went to purchase a large quantity of canned food and water. He chose the supermarket where he usually did the groceries for his house. He already knew the aisles and knew where everything was. It didn't take long until he filled up his trolley with cans and bottles. He also took the chance to buy some detergents, cleaning material and many batteries. He was distracted looking at the expiration date of the items when his mobile rang. Suddenly, he thought it would be his boss asking where he was and Gustavo was stuck without knowing what excuse he would use. Then he took off his mobile from his pocket and saw it was a number he did not know. He decided to take the call:

"Yes" – then he hoped it was nobody from the City Hall.

"Gustavo? It's me, Zeca." – Gustavo got relieved. It was José Carlos, known as Zeca, lived in Lentiscais and was a friend of Norton and his acquaintance.

"So, Zeca, is it all ok with you?"

"Yes. Look, I was talking to Norton and I want in on this purchasing solar and wind-powered products business."

"Ah ok, I was thinking of going there tomorrow to buy a few things for Norton and I, so I can also get you some. Take a look at their catalog on the Internet and tell me what you want."

"Whatever you buy for yourself, please buy it for me as well." – Gustavo thought that Zeca was certainly not a computer man; he surely did not even have one connected to the web. – "Ah, and, Gustavo. As gas masks and other warfare go, don't worry: I will put together a good arsenal."

"Cool, Zeca. Thanks."

"Look. Do you want help with carrying the goods?"

"Don't worry. I'm thinking of going there on Friday morning, then I'll be sure to take everything to each of you. Deal?"

"Done. Thank you. We'll keep in touch."

After having finished talking, Gustavo stood there for a few minutes thinking of that conversation, of the list, and how to take the materials to Lentiscais. He thought he was actually mad for spending so much money like this. He had just finished talking about weapons on the mobile with a man who had always seemed to him to be an authentic idiot. He admitted that what he was doing was a risk, especially given the amount of money he was spending. However, in case of an attack, he would be ready. He had a plan. When he got to the checkout line, he realized that he was the only one who had such a homogeneous selection; the other customers had trolleys filled with all kinds of products. The paranoia was not spread out yet.

He went back to the bullring to park his car and, as he drove, he thought about the kind of character José Carlos was: a fifty-five years old man, short and very skinny, always with a thin and black moustache, he was completely bold and had an incredible energy, he seemed to be unable to stand still for five minutes, and his eyes and mouth would twitch often. At the age of sixteen, he enlisted into the army, and later he completed high-school and got his driving license. He had a good sponsor in the official sergeants' academy who took him in as a student. Years after, Zeca was a proud sergeant and he enjoyed to strut around the village. Zeca loved to go hunting and every Sunday he went out with his friends to "shoot a few shells", that is how he usually referred to it, and maybe actually hunt something, if he was lucky. In addition to hunting, he was a fanatic for firearms and had a small collection at his house; little by little, and before he knew it, Zeca began negotiating army weapons with his hunting friends. He began to make a lot of money illegally and his taste for strutting around increased. He bought a good sports car and began to attend casinos and illegal game houses; he was single and a frequent client of hookers. Then, in order to sustain his high-maintenance lifestyle, he increased the theft and sale of the army material he sold to others, except to gypsies whom he hated with a passion. He was warned by his superiors to be careful with those operations. Some he managed to bribe, but not others, and when there came an economic crisis and the government decided to make a large cut on the army's budget, there needed to be a cut in personnel. Because of his underground business, Zeca was one of those who were dropped out. They paid him a good indemnity and when he turned fifty, he was back in Lentiscais. He did not care too much; he kept on trading weapons with some colleagues that had remained inside and who knew the tricks of the trade. Besides, he had plenty of land in Lentiscais to keep himself busy; with the indemnity money, he had purchased a large tractor and refused to admit that he had been fired, he stated it was a kind of pre-retirement.

After having turned around to find a place to park, Gustavo returned to his working place. He thought that today he had been an awful public employee, he had not done almost anything for the city and that in the remaining two hours, he would find some computer work, to make up for it. Upon arriving at his office, he confirmed that his boss was not around and that there weren't any messages waiting for him. He called Sérgio to ask for a large van for Friday morning:

"I need to take some computer materials to some schools" – Gustavo expected some questions.

"OK. Don't worry" – was Sérgio's answer, who was busy and obviously did not imagine Gustavo intended to take that vehicle full of renewable power supplies, food and water all the way up to the district of Castelo Branco.

As he had planned, he spent two hours fixing computers, printers, screens, etc., but his mind was miles away, it was stuck on the list, in the fight for survival, he was sure there would be a war and he wanted to be prepared. He even considers that he could be wrong; that the aliens had come in peace and he thought it a disgusting idea.

When he arrived home, he took the chance to open the windows and ventilate the house a little. It had been closed since Friday. As he took his canned food and water to the garage to pack it, he started thinking about how he would tell Marta about the list and about his recent decisions. He thought she would not understand and ask him to stop spending their marriage money with paranoia.

He began cooking dinner and turned on the TV on a news channel to know if there were any news. Society seemed to be gradually used to having something green on the Moon and the news began to become banal as usual. Even so, NASA and other space administrations were preparing a craft to get to the Moon and study that object, which should occur still this week. In addition, they said that through probes and high technology they had not captured any kind of heat, life or movement within said green object – which made them suppose it was empty. However, in some places, people began to buy first need goods in high amounts; others made all kinds of bunkers and shelters: from holes in their backyards or in their attics to building community bunkers with all sorts of things. There was clearly a generalized paranoia, which the governments tried to calm down without caring about the object parked on the Moon.

When Marta got home, Gustavo was kinder to her than in other days. He asked her how her day had been and tried to be interested in her daily routines at the yogurt factory. After dinner, Gustavo mustered the courage to talk about the subject.

"Have you seen the news that people are buying more and more food?"

"Yes, the fear is installed. At my work, nobody talked about anything else and many of us thought like you, that if they had come in peace, they would already have said so. Maybe it would be better for us to buy something as well" – the talk was flowing better than Gustavo had expected, he felt he had her in his hand, he saw in her eyes that she was afraid without knowing what to do in that situation, without knowing whom to listen to.

Gustavo seized the moment and told her about his plan, he did not hide any detail, his intention was to abandon the city as soon as the first signs of alert were given, and take shelter in Lentiscais, in a small site where no alien or invader would go.

The night seemed to go as usual, since the kids were not home, Gustavo was in the bedroom with the computer and Marta was watching the soap operas.

Gustavo approached the room to say goodbye to his wife.

"Wait, Gustavo, today I'm going with you" – she said this with the smile of a girl who was ready for some mischief; Gustavo was surprised by her attitude and thought he was lucky; he would make love with his wife again. He did not want to know the reason why she wanted it and simply thought about enjoying the situation as much as he could. He made a small mental effort to try to remember the last time they had had sex and could not recall it. While they were both taking off the clothes, Gustavo could not resist making a little joke:

"It's been so long since we've had sex that I think I'm a virgin again."

They laughed nervously and went to bed. Marta was agitated with the subject of the aliens and believed that she and her children, and even her parents would be safer if Gustavo guided them; as such, in a little unconscious way, she had decided to thank her husband for his commitment.

Since the beginning of their relationship, Gustavo realized the little compatibility there was between both of them in terms of intellect, but this incompatibility was compensated by their good sexual connection. Both, Marta and Gustavo, had had a few partners before they met and they both wanted to discover and experience a new world of pleasures without complex or shame. With the birth of the first child and mainly with routine, the thing that best connected them had been disappearing, and the sexual moments began to be less frequent and colder. Marta did not have an orgasm for a long time and she had even less will and pleasure for sex. Due to the constant advances of her husband, she excused herself with the tiredness, headaches and fear of waking up their children with the noise. That night everything happened liked in the old days. After the orgasm, Gustavo slept satisfied with himself.

The next morning, his head was already in the tasks he had to do in his work, but, above all, it was on the list. Today was the day he would buy renewable power supplies.

He arrived at his office a little wet, it was raining cats and dogs and there was a strong wind. It was actually an unpleasant day, he felt little will to go out, but he thought he would have to go to take care of the supplies. He began looking at the catalog of the power supplies' company, their capacity, features, functions, installation facility and obviously, the prices, when his boss approached with his usual cigarette, and said:

"Today I need you with me for a few hours." – Gustavo went cold; he could not believe his boss was going to spoil his plans. He thought that probably he even suspected something and now he was trying to inspect him.

"They have already finished the kennel works and we have to go there to set-up the computer network and install the disease control program for the dogs and some other stuff that I don't remember at the moment."

"And does it have to be today?" – Gustavo planned his attack, or rather, his escape.

"Yes, because on Thursday, the City Hall's mayor is going to inaugurate the place with the press."

"To inaugurate? But that has always been there!"

"Yes, I know, but they spent a lot of money in the reconstruction works and want to make a show out of it by calling it the - opening of the new dog kennel. You know, elections are near."

"Politicians" – Gustavo said with despises. – "They are the scum of our society, boss. This morning I have to go to Vialonga to take computer equipment and mount some networks there, but I can spend the whole afternoon at the kennel."

"Perfect, thanks, Gustavo, do you think you need me to go as well?"

"No, boss, unless you want to feed the dogs" – Gustavo was cheerful, although that afternoon would spoil his plans.

"I leave this task to you" – Viláres released a catarrhal laughter as he left.

Gustavo headed to the parking lot and asked for a car with a good trunk in order to transport the material he was going to buy. He thought it would be better to take some computer hardware as a disguise, but he decided it would only take up space; besides he had no intention of going to the schools.

It was even harder to find the warehouse and it was already a half past ten when he began to choose what supplies to buy. There was everything: solar kits, photovoltaic panels, batteries, converters, radiators, wind turbines, etc. He decided to make a good purchase for himself, but he also had to buy for Norton and Zeca. In the end, it would be an expensive acquisition that would leave a dent on his bank account, but he reckoned there would be time to return all of that, should the attack was not happen. When he got to the cashier to pay, the employee, who assisted him, thought it strange to see so much repeated material and almost asked that new customer what purpose would all of that serve – but he thought he was just one of those who had lately come in with the general paranoia of the end of the world, and preferred not to know and simply receive the money.

Gustavo had some trouble getting everything in the car; in addition to a full trunk, he had already filled up the car with material up to the passenger's seat. He thought it better not to ride like that through the district, and decided to take several secondary roads and put all of this material to his garage. Half an hour later, he had the car already emptied and the garage full, not only with the material, but also with canned food and water. Until Friday, he would keep filling up the garage even more, or at least he expected so.

After a normal lunch with Sérgio, he went to the city kennel that was in the Eastern district of Vila Franca, Castanheira do Ribatejo. When he arrived at the place, he hardly recognized the kennel. It was actually quite different, much larger, cleaner and more modern. They were still finishing the works at the place, rushing in a pretty stressed way. Gustavo knew the man responsible for the kennel – he was a vegetarian and an activist supporter of the Left Block political party too.

"Hi, Francisco, how's it going?" – Gustavo said the sentence with a Brazilian accent, because he knew Francisco loved Brazil and its male inhabitants.

"Hey, Gustavo, everything all right, dude?" – And without a heads-up, he hugged Gustavo, who was pretty surprised and made some workers look at them suspiciously. – "I have been waiting for you for a while; by the way, it's very difficult to get in touch with you at your phone extension."

"I'm a high demand guy, Francisco."

"I see, but this afternoon you're mine." – Francisco released a very feminine laughter taking Gustavo by his arm and guiding him to the new offices.

The two of them had known each other for a long time and, since the beginning, there had been a really good connection between them; they had exquisite and dark humor. Gustavo admired Francisco's attitude for coming out so openly and Francisco viewed in Gustavo an open-minded, interesting, intelligent and attractive person. During this afternoon, Gustavo had much work, but Francisco was always next to him telling him about his adventures during his last vacations at Rio de Janeiro. After five p.m., Gustavo concluded his work and Francisco invited him for a coffee around Castanheira. Gustavo apologized and said he had arranged to go shopping with his wife and went away to Vila Franca. Had he known he wouldn't ever see Francisco again, he would've spent more time in his company that day.

After returning the City Hall's car and taken his back, it was almost six p.m. and he took the time to pass by a supermarket and buy some more canned food and long-term validity food.

As he headed to his house, he thought about having dinner at his parents' the next day and he would take the chance to take their health-care cards in order to try and "steal" some prescriptions from the physician's computer. However, he believed it was difficult that his parents accepted that plan and supposed it would be better come up with a lie.

Wednesday was a day without surprises for Gustavo. In the morning, he worked for the City Hall and in the afternoon, he talked to Norton and surfed the web as usual. At six, he got home and waited for one hour until Marta came home for the two of them to leave to Cacém, to see their kids and have dinner with his parents. During the trip, Gustavo thought of some way to lie to his parents to get the health cards and, besides, he would have to know which medicines they needed.

He had a good relationship with his parents, especially since the birth of his children. Now, Gustavo looked at his progenitors and understood some things. He thought his parents had many flaws, but they managed to provide him with a happy childhood filled with plenty of love, plenty of pampering and he never had to starve or feel cold. He always received support from his parents in the different sports activities he dabbled in, and when he started college, he didn't need to find any part-time work – his parents supported all of his studies financially, and they even handed him some extra money for his small vices and for going out at night. Despite that, he was aware that they had little money, which was why they usually spent their vacations in his father's land, Lentiscais. Gustavo had a five years younger brother, Hélder, who curiously did not agree with Gustavo. Hélder thought his parents were sad and peasant people who lived in a depressing and third world place like Cacém, and who didn't spend vacations out of Lentiscais because they were not curious to learn about anything else or were afraid of getting out of their comfort zone.

Hélder had been born as a fruit of the will of his parents to give a younger brother to Gustavo so that the latter did not become the typical spoiled single son and had someone with whom he could play and grow-up. However, Gustavo had always seen his younger brother as "a kid" and very seldom did the two of them play together. Gustavo was more practical and focused, while Hélder was more sensitive and somewhat of a dreamer. When Hélder turned nineteen and finished high school, he didn't know whether he would continue studying or begin working; his older brother did not have this kind of doubt: at the age of eighteen, Gustavo went to college for the course of computer engineering, as his first option. Then, Hélder, without knowing the destiny he would give to his life, muddled through several odd jobs, he was a waiter, a pastry confectioner, a security guard, a stock person in a supermarket and an administrative clerk in a transport company. He always spent little time in any of these jobs, because he did not like what he did or because his superiors did not see him as being right for the job. At the age of twenty-one years old, he went to work in a stable in Sintra, where he would tend to the horses that pulled the carriages for the tourists visiting Sintra. He quickly realized he had finally found his vocation: handling animals. He spent full days along with the horses and the longer he spent with the animals the more he realized he did not want to deal with people; he preferred to spend the day cleaning the horse's crap than having to be with persons. Worried about his constant job-hopping and lack of ambition, his parents tried, on a daily basis, to tell him about superior education courses he would enjoy and often used Gustavo as the example of someone who had already taken up a superior education course and had found a good job. Hélder was convinced by his parents and friends and decided to try to get into a course of veterinarian in college. However, his marks were only reasonable and he had to study harder for better marks. During two years, after his work in the stable, he studied at night and, at the age of twenty-three years old, he took an opening at college, but not in his the first option in Lisbon, but in the fifth option of Biology in the University of Azores. He was upset, at first, for not having been accepted into his first choice, then he considered the hypothesis of not accepting the opening in Azores, because it was very far from home, from his parents and friends and for not being exactly what he wanted to study. But both his parents and friends managed to talk him into giving it a try and, if he didn't like it, he could return.

Against his expectations, Hélder adapted quickly to Ponta Delgada, to the island, to the several cows that grazed through the magnificent landscapes, to his college colleagues, to the course, to the new house he shared with other three students from different places of the country and, especially, to his new girlfriend – a relationship that would last until the end of the course. Before he knew it, Hélder began to radicalize his opinion in environmental matters, he changed his way of dressing, thinking and even eating – he became a vegetarian. He spent the whole year in the Azores, except for Easter, Summer and Christmas vacations, and only twice did Gustavo visit him in Ponta Delgada. The first time with their parents and the second time with Marta, during the week of Queima das Fitas in which Gustavo realized his brother was a daily consumer of hashish and marijuana. During that week, Gustavo also smoked and drank almost every day, and later had to listen to Marta's reproach of his behavior, because she was anti-drug and anti-alcohol. Hélder finished the course when he was thirty years old and for economic reasons, he had to return to his parent's house leaving behind his friends and his girlfriend.

His return to Agualva-Cacém was an authentic shock. Moving from a low population density island full of green spaces to a suburban city with one of the biggest population densities of the country and practically without any green areas at all was very hard for the Hélder's personality, who began searching for work in his area, and sending his curriculum vitae and applications almost every day, without any response. His father began pressing him to find some work outside of his area of expertise. To make matters worse, his course girlfriend, with whom he already had a many-year relationship, decided to break-up with him. Hélder, who no longer was the same man who had left Cacém, couldn't click with his old friends anymore, began feeling lost in that metropolis, and first losing his will to get out of the house and later to get out of his bedroom. He would be extremely anxious whenever he had to leave the house and it did not take long for him to develop a depression and start seeing a psychologist.

One year later, the winds began to change for Hélder: he found work in his area in Costa Vicentina Alentejana. During one year, he worked at the natural park, although the work conditions were low, he felt happy and began to feel confident again. Right after, he received a research scholarship of two years in Canada, more precisely in Northern Ontario, along with the Hudson Bay. Hélder became radiant and departed full of hope in that new adventure.

He now lived in a small coastal village and worked in an uninhabited island, studying the island's fauna. Although he did not like the cold that much, he was focused in heart and soul on his work and the university for which he worked had already let him know that they would renew the scholarship for two more years. During his stay there, he had gotten to known a woman from a neighbor island and apparently, they had gotten into a relationship.

Once a week, his mother phoned him and Hélder had promised to stop by next Christmas to plant more cork oaks with his brother and father and introduce his new companion.

Gustavo got along well his brother and their relationship improved over the years. When they met in the Azores, he had feared that he had got lost in a world of fanatic vegetarian environmentalists and marijuana smokers and later he felt pity to see him depressed, stuck in his bedroom after his return from college. Deep down, Gustavo believed his brother was mentally weak. He thought that depression was a Western disorder for those who did not have to fight to survive, as it happened in African and Asian countries. Even so, Gustavo tried to help his brother and would spend some time with him whenever he visited, as well as helping him find work in his expertise area. He was happy when he saw him leave again, but also sad to lose his almost daily company.

When they arrived at their parents' house, they received their children with much joy having missed them a lot. Before dinner, Gustavo was playing with them, building a garage with Lego pieces. At dinner, Gustavo already had ready the lie to try to get the cards.

"We have a new information program at City Hall, which is still under testing, to allow prescriptions to be handed out without the need for paperwork, the doctor told me to bring your health cards for a test so that he can prescribe the necessary drugs, need anything?"

Even though the lie came out a little strange to him, his Parents trusted him completely and did not see any reason to doubt him.

"I don't need anything, but I can give you my card." – Antónia said.

"I can't, son, I'm seeing the doctor on Friday and I need the card."

The answer did not please Gustavo very much, but, even so, he took his mother's card and checked their medicines in order to have a list of some of the pills they used. Along with his own card, Marta's and the ones of his two kids, he could already buy plenty of medicine.

On Thursday, Gustavo had an important mission: he would get into the physician's office, get into his program, steal his password and fill up his card with medicines he would only be able to obtain with a medical prescription. He left Marta at home, so she could take her own car to the yogurt factory, and he departed to Vila Franca de Xira.

When he arrived at his desk, he began preparing the operation. He looked up a manual on how to work with the physician's program and then he turned on his small portable computer, which had a program for cracking passwords. At this point, his boss walked in and asked him the reason why he was not at the opening of the kennel, to which he said he had some work at the doctor's office and that it would be impossible. Viláres still tried to talk him into going, saying that some big names from City Hall would be there and it that would be nice if he showed off his work.

"No, boss, thanks, you know I don't have the patience for those career politicians; you should be the one getting the praise for the work" – in another occasion, Gustavo would have gone, being among councilors and even the mayor would not be bad. Eventually, he would have to manage a department of his own, but that day his head was far away from that kind of circus.

Entering the physician's office was very easy; it was only a matter of asking for the key to the building from the security guard, who did not ask him any question when he saw Gustavo holding a printer along with a small notebook. Nevertheless, if up to this point everything had been fast and simple, things were about to become complicated for Gustavo. He had a difficult time obtaining the doctor's password. The health ministry program was actually good, with several levels of safety. Then it asked him for the employee's number and the number of the order of physicians, which were very hard to get. When he got past all of those requirements, he began trying to charge the medicines into the cards, but he quickly realized he could not prescribe them in large amounts; he could only prescribe two or three packages of each product. Besides, for his kids, he could only ask for children medicines. He was frustrated, so much effort for such little results. He left the room disappointed and upset; he would have to find another solution. He spent the rest of the day thinking of how to get a good amount of medicine and the only solution he could think of was robbing of a drugstore.

That night he had sex with Marta again. He thanked the aliens for creating fear in minds of the people and as he prepared to sleep, he thought of the trip that was in store for the next day; he would take all the material he had in the garage up to Lentiscais, the round trip would be a little more than 200 miles.

Then, in this morning, Gustavo went to the parking lot to brought the van he had requested at the beginning of the week, and made his way directly to his house to load the back part of the vehicle with all the material he had stored. He loaded the material as best as he could as not to damage anything and he hit the road. The first thing he did was to plan a minimally acceptable excuse in case his boss called him. Then, he decided to respect all the speed limits, so that no cop asked him to stop, since the sight of a car from the Chamber of Vila Franca de Xira, so far away from its city, would raise some suspicion, especially since it was loaded with different kinds of materials without any transport guide and that could cause him some problems. Unconsciously, his thoughts went back to the list. In that van, he took half of the list (food, water, seeds and power); in Lentiscais, there would be shelter and weapons; thus, the only thing missing was information and more medicine. The information would be easy to get, in one afternoon he could withdraw from Internet hundreds of manuals and information on different subjects he could need. The medicines would really be the most difficult thing to get.

The trip went by casually, he took the highway and the A23, which connected Torres Novas to Guarda, was almost empty. Neither his boss nor Norton or Zeca called, which left him a little suspicious of all of them. Before arriving at Castelo Branco, he turned to Sarzedas, avoided getting into the city and took the chance to ride through the country villages of the region.

He had a good relationship with his father's town. When he was a kid, he loved to go there, where he could run freely and ride his bicycle, spending the day playing with his cousins and his parents did not force him to study; to a child, Lentiscais meant freedom. When he reached his teen years, his parents kept on giving him plenty of freedom in the village and allowed him things that in Cacém he could not do. That is where he got drunk and smoked hashish for the first time, he also kissed girls of his age who were on vacations like him. However, after adolescence his relationship with the village began to grow cold, the freedom he felt before turned into boredom and soon he gave up visiting the place, and went, on occasion, to the annual party in August, to take the chance to get back in touch with his family and teenage and childhood friends.

When he turned thirty years old, Gustavo, who had always lived in the metropolitan area of Lisbon, was tired of the noise, the traffic, the pollution and especially of humanity, began visiting the village again. Once a month, he spent one weekend there. Marta enjoyed the place because she considered herself a countrywoman, and, as such, part of the village. Their children also liked as much as their father in the beginning, they enjoyed the freedom of being able to spend the day playing and obviously, Gustavo's father felt an enormous joy to see that his son liked the village and that he wouldn't abandon his ancestor's house. Joaquim insisted several times for his son to check the lands his grandfather had left behind, Gustavo agreed without much enthusiasm to get to know the limits of the lands that, for some time, had been abandoned without any use.

One of those weekends, Gustavo went to ride his bicycle through the woods and passed by the terrains that were previously of his grandparents; they were abandoned and full of weeds, they were, in total, about 13 acres and were about one mile from the village. Gustavo thought of his grandfather and of the hard work he would have to spend to purchase those lands and the sweat he would have to break for them to once again provide food for his family. He felt somewhat sad when he realized how both he and his father hadn't taken care of their ancestor's legacy. This thought made Gustavo think about recovering part of those lands, the idea of being able to plant some trees and become a forest producer pleased him. He supposed he could have something to show his friends and acquaintances, something to show-off, and then he began to read everything about forest production trees. He considers planting pines, oaks, eucalyptus, holm oaks, olive trees, but he ended up deciding upon eucalyptus. It was a tree that took only ten or twelve years to grow into the first lumbering season and, as a result, the first financial compensation; besides, its wood was better quoted than the pine; this one took forty years to be cut down and to provide some return. Logically, he knew that because eucalyptus was a fast growing tree, the lands would also be impoverished, but as these were abandoned in the first place, this would not be relevant. Hélder was in full disagreement, as a confessed environmentalist, he thought his brother's idea to be an environmental attack, between the two brothers and their father, they came to terms to plant cork trees. Gustavo accepted, it was a native tree that lived for about 200 years and would provide cork for him and later for his children and even grandchildren. In addition, he got informed about the cork marked and in little time, he became an expert in this matter. Then, every winter he would plant 500 small oak trees they bought from a seedbed in Castelo Branco, this plantation quickly became a family ritual, which none of them wanted to miss and among the three of them, they discussed the best techniques to plant and water the trees.

As Gustavo approached Lentiscais, with his van full of renewable-power materials, he wondered about his oak trees and how they would be in this dry spring; he thought about driving by the lands before meeting Norton and so he did. The first cork trees with six years were already almost his height and Gustavo liked to conceal himself between them and be in full silence, simply listening to the leaves rustling in the wind, the birds singing and the noise of the water running through the River Ponsul. He felt rested and relaxed and he loved to smell the scents that surrounded him, all natural and nothing usual to this nose. Sometimes, he felt like Jean-Baptiste Grenouilleo, the main character of the book Perfume by Patrick Süskind, one of his favorite books, who decided to isolate himself on a mountain away from humanity.

After a few long minutes, laying on the grass and almost falling asleep, Gustavo woke-up with the sound of his mobile phone, he soon returned to reality and thought it would be Norton or his boss, he looked at the screen and frowned, it was his boss:

"Yes, boss, good morning."

"Yes, good morning, Gustavo, where are you?" – It was a usual question for Viláres, wherein the City Hall would his best computer programmer employee be. After a pause, Gustavo answered:

"Boss, I had told you that I would stay the whole morning in Póvoa, today."

"Oh yes, I didn't remember it, got so many things on my mind. Say, when are you coming back? I need you to talk to the councilor this afternoon about something." – Gustavo was not liking where the conversation was headed, the department councilor wanted to talk to him? All the important subjects he dealt with Viláres, were strange to say the least.

"The councilor? With me? What for?"

"He wants to create a program for the collection of recycling trash from the district and he wants to talk to you to see whether his idea is feasible or not."

"Can't you check this out for me, boss?" - Gustavo suspected that maybe the councilor had discovered something: his entry into the physician's office, his schemes in the afternoons, his lack of professionalism that last week or maybe someone had alerted him that there was a van from Vila Franca de Xira very far away from its city.

"You are the programmer. Only you can give him the right answer."

"Ok, I'll have lunch here and I should arrive at around four o'clock."

"Ok, Gustavo. Go to his office when you arrive."

Gustavo stood there, for five minutes, thinking about the phone call. The day was going fine, but that call was causing him some discomfort. In order to be back by four, he could not waste any more time and went directly to Norton's house.

To get to Norton's house, he had to pass by the entire village. Norton lived in a large house built by his parents, who still lived in France. When he passed by his parent's house, he had a quick stop to leave the canned food and water he had brought. Then, he arrives at Norton's and pressed the horn. Norton appeared at the main door and headed to the gate to open it, signaled him to park behind the house, near some sort of warehouse that was there.

"Look what the cat dragged in. Gus, you took long."

Norton wore a black training jacket that did not favor him in anything; now aged forty-three years old, Norton had a big belly because of a diet of mostly fried food and a sedentary life; he was much shorter than Gustavo, but unlike him, he still had all of his hair without any white line.

"So I did. I should tell you, I don't have much time, my shitty boss has already called me and he's pissing me off. I have to be in Vila Franca by four" – and he began to open the van. – "How about Zeca?"

"I'm calling him now; we had arranged to meet when you showed up." – Norton began to use the mobile.

Zeca arrived some little time later and got satisfied to see the materials Gustavo had brought from the capital.

"Good, Gustavo. That's exactly what we wanted, wasn't it Norton?" – He looked at Norton for him to confirm.

"That it is, Zeca."

"You know, Gustavo, I don't understand anything of it, but we already have something for you" – he opened the small trunk of his sports car and Gustavo saw several guns. – "In addition to these, I have more, a lot more, this is only a sample. Which one do you want, Gustavo? Norton likes this one." – Zeca points to a gun with a very long bore.

Gustavo did not know which one to choose, all of them seemed elegant and dangerous; before he could settle for something, Norton approached the two of them to comment on something:

"Gus, Zeca and I are going this afternoon to buy hens, chicks, ducks, turkeys and even a pig for each of us."

"Really?" – That was not on the list, but it was obvious that if they were going to survive, those would be rather valuable. – "And where are you going to put it all?"

"This weekend I will make a chicken-coop. And the pig I can place in the warehouse, I will fix a pen."

"I have enough space in a land of mine that is at the base of the village." – Zeca said. – "If you want, I can keep yours until you come back."

"Ok, whatever you buy for you, please, buy for me too."

They all went to have lunch at Norton's, who lived with his girlfriend for a long time. She was a girl who had been born in the village and who seemed more like Norton's maid than his proper girlfriend. During lunch, they talked openly about all the subjects in front of Carla, Norton's girlfriend, but when they began to discuss the list, Gustavo nodded his head at Norton for Carla to leave the kitchen; then Norton spoke in French with Carla. He had been born in France and liked to use the language, Carla had learned it in school and liked to practice it – she felt like a cosmopolitan woman. Without answering, Carla left the kitchen.

"I can't stick around for much longer, but before I go, I have to tell about the medicines. I tried to get them after a bit of a stunt that I pulled, but the result was almost null. Therefore, I thought that there's only one solution left" – he made a pause to give some importance to what he was going to say. – "We have to break into a drugstore, but this must only happen if we actually realize that chaos has settled in, since robbing anything at all is on a whole different level."

There was a heavy silence among the three of them and Gustavo thought they would say he was crazy, that stealing was out of the question, and that it was too risky. Zeca was the first one to break the silence.

"Has it dawned on you that it's too dangerous? In a matter of days, it might be too late already and I need to have some medicines to feel safe. Which drugstore do you think would be better, Gus?" – At that moment, Gustavo confirmed that he was the leader of those paranoid nuts; the other two looked at him waiting for an order.

"Zeca, what you have to do is to find as much medicine as you can in a legal way, we shall only attack a drugstore, and it's indifferent which one it is, if everything is going to hell. We will not risk anything right now, this may be nothing but a fright and at the end, everything we are doing will be worth nothing. If society begins to fall, then we rob a drugstore with a well-worked out plan."

Gustavo did not waste much time in Lentiscais, by two o'clock, he headed to Vila Franca. During the trip he thought of what he would say to his boss and to the councilor, he reminded of the operation he was setting up in Lentiscais and that two things could happen: either he was preparing for a new age of mankind or he was going crazy and would be left with a slimmer bank account. He believed that the second case would actually be more likely to happen. Before leaving Norton's, he decided to bring along a small gun he packed under his jacket. He felt like a spy or an Italian gangster and was sure he was losing control of himself; so far, all he knew for sure was that there simply was a green object on the Moon, nothing else.

When he got back to his workplace, he was apprehensive about what he could expect. On top of that, he was tired from the trip and the gun he brought with him at his armpit did not make him feel any better. When he got to the councilor's office, his secretary approached him. She was not very kind, she hardly looked at him and said the councilor had been out of the office for a meeting and he had left a folder for him. Gustavo was relieved for not having to face the councilor and kept reading the notes as he headed to his working place. The councilor ordered him to make a program for Monday with the collection of waste of each parish council. A complex program that had to be finished by Monday... he would have to spend all weekend in front of the computer. He thought that was ridiculous and even a lack of respect because the deadline they gave him. He recalled of his oak trees and in the peace he had lived in those simple ten minutes and now, in the middle of that confusion, they asked for something impossible. He felt like taking the gun and killing the councilor's secretary, the councilor and his stupid boss who would always say yes to everything that came from above.

When he entered his office, he went directly to his boss' room; he was looking down at some papers, reading some reports, with a cigarette almost damped.

"Good afternoon boss, this is a joke, isn't it?" – Gustavo made an effort to sound calm and not to say any bullshit.

"Yes, I told him, but you know how he is."

"For this to be ready on Monday I needed to be two days without sleeping and I'll need some help."

"Do what you can." – Viláres said without much interest in keeping the conversation going.

Gustavo sat down at his office without any will to do any kind of work, he looked at the folder the councilor's secretary had handed him, and began to think of how he could turn that into a practical program and how much time he actually needed. Maybe a week, or even less, since if he were to spend all of his seven working-hours, each day, working on it. He looked at the watch and it was already five o'clock, he put the folder on his desk and went away without any will to say goodbye to his boss.

As he headed to his car, he felt very uncomfortable with the gun and thought of hiding it in a safe place at home, somewhere fully inaccessible to his kids.

He did not have to wait too much for Marta. At six he got home, had a little snack and they both departed to Cacém. They had arranged with Gustavo's parents to have dinner and to sleep there and on Saturday Gustavo had already planned a barbecue at his place's backyard. The trip took half an hour and Marta was looking forward to the weekend and to be able to be with her children, but Gustavo paid little attention to his wife's conversation and he was thinking that after dinner he had arranged for a coffee with his friends. He was enthusiastic about the idea of being able to discuss the unidentified object in the Moon.

Gustavo had a very strange relationship with his homeland, Agualva-Cacém. On the one hand, he loved his friends, he enjoyed having been born in a cosmopolitan city, composed of people who came from every part of Portugal and even from the old Portuguese colonies, and this was noticeable on the streets. Cacém was a city with mixed blood; as far as Gustavo was concerned, it was a great example of how people with different skin colors could actually co-exist. He believed that Cacém was for tough people, truly a large and populous city. On the other hand, it was often forgotten by Sintra's City Hall and underestimated by the rich boys from the center of Lisbon and Cascais. Cacém was a low to middle-class city, with a few infrastructures, a few gardens and a few parks without any walking tracks and with too much concrete. It had had an abrupt growth in the sixties and seventies with the agricultural exodus and with the arrival of the so-called returned from the colonies along with the first immigrants of the PALOPs. All this growth was used by the civil construction contractors which began setting up buildings without any rhyme or reason or any standard for their planning, everything with the Sintra's Hall joining in on the construction business, which Gustavo called "one of the biggest Portuguese, and even European, urbanistic crimes", he had a theory that all councilors of Portugal's urbanism should visit Cacém to check how things shouldn't be done in a city. Despite all of that, Gustavo had never felt ashamed to be from Cacém and even felt proud when he said from where he was. He knew that many people linked Cacém to theft, delinquency and black people.

Then, when he began to work at Vila Franca's City Hall, Gustavo knew that he didn't want to go back and live "in a Cacém", he searched around the city for a place which he could consider the opposite of his homeland. He wanted to see trees, green mountains, gardens and parks. Thus, whenever he returned to his homeland he had mixed feelings, in the one hand, he felt the joy of being back in his homeland and being able to see his friends again, while on the other hand, he knew he didn't live there, he had left that "hole" and found a place with a better welfare, a place that matched his perspectives and capacities.

At seven, they arrived at his parents and Joaquim make a quick signal for them to come in and see what was on TV, while Alice and Diogo ran to hug them. Only then, Gustavo managed to go to the living room and see what was up. On TV, they announced that for exactly ten minutes all the means of communications worldwide had received a short message in different languages, from the object parked on the Moon. His parents had already seen said message and were left with a concerned look, almost petrified. Gustavo was anxious to see the message. Marta still holding the kids did not understand well what was going on. Once again, the television presenting-person showed and read the message:

"We are from planet Axola and came to represent the Aspaldi system. After a hundred years of studying your planet, we have decided, by general agreement, that 85% of the human population will have to die to safeguard the balance of the remaining species of the planet, as well as to safeguard the future unbalance that your species might cause in other planets and systems. The choice of the 15% that will survive shall not be made at random. We will give you some time so that you may say goodbye to your relatives."

When he finished reading the message for the third time, the TV newscaster already had by his side many journalists ready to give their opinions about the matter. At home, Joaquim and Antónia had left the lethargy in which they were and began discussing the message, whether it was some computer information pirate's bad joke or the alien's arrogance. Gustavo could hear neither his parents nor the TV, he went to play with his kids in his old bedroom; his mind miles from there

Gustavo was a practical man who never discussed things like destiny or asked why things happened. At that moment, his mind was already making plans, he wanted to be part of those 15% and felt happy for being a week ahead of the majority of people. He had already covered pretty much the whole list, and he did not blame the aliens for coming and annihilating mankind, his head was already reckoning how to take his family to Lentiscais. Firstly, how to save them and secondly, how to survive in a world in which chaos would reign.

Marta was different from her husband, she was hysterical and very nervous; she made a strong effort to control her tears and kissed her children constantly. Gustavo approached and told her lowly.

"Calm down, Marta" – and he caressed her face with his hands. – "I have everything controlled, trust me, and don't let the kids get nervous."

Gustavo told her about the day he had been to Lentiscais to take the supplies and that the day after, while they were having lunch at the barbecue, he would tell them the plan for them all to survive. Marta embraced him very strongly and thanked him, then she became calmer and asked him to not forget her parents too.

When Antónia called for dinner, Gustavo turned off the television, he did not want his children to be contaminated by the hysterical people that appeared on TV discussing about the truthfulness of the message. The six of them had dinner with a false appearance of peace, talking about what the kids had done in the vacations, until Gustavo saw the situation normalized and decided to hold the leadership of his family.

"I have a plan and tomorrow I will tell you how we may be part of these 15%; in the meantime, I want you to keep calm, prepare for the arrival of difficult times and do as I tell you. I need you to" – and he looked at his parents – "make a list of the medicines you need, all of them."

Then, he assumed the conversation about the matter was finished, looked at Marta and asked her:

"Today I will have a coffee with my friends, I will say goodbye to them, do you want to come, Marta?"

"If you don't mind, I feel like staying home with the kids. I'm a little shocked with all of this."

It was clear that Gustavo did not mind and his friends would not surely care about not being with her. After those news, Gustavo imagined that the meeting today would be more delightful, he couldn't wait to hear the theories of his old colleagues from the school paper.

He had arranged to have the coffee in the usual meeting place, in the old mall 81. Although it was called a mall, that small commercial space had only nine shops and two cafés, one of which was where his group used to gather since their high-school days and, not by chance, they met at less than a three hundred feet from the school. It would be an ideal place for saying goodbye to his friends and even to Cacém, Gustavo thought, as he went down the main avenue, Av. dos Bons Amigos (Good Friends Avenue). Nevertheless, this time Gustavo found the avenue, which he knew so well, to be a little bit unfriendly. There was an unusual atmosphere around the place, a heavy tension; he felt uncertainty and fear in the eyes of the people passing by the avenue. Gustavo felt upset and recalled the gun he had left at home, he thought society was almost crumbling down and having a gun would help him to survive. When he got to the meeting place, some of his friends were already there and they were discussing the message with people from another table.

When he sat at the table, Anabela, Rafael and Lígia were already there, the two latter were boyfriends since the time of the school paper. Lígia worked in the edition of a local newspaper, it wasn't too popular, but it was a stable job and Rafael was a police officer in Lisbon and loved to spend the night telling his job's adventures against bandits who lived in Lisbon. Although, that night, he would not be able to do such a thing.

Letícia arrived soon later, she was an activist of the Portuguese communist party and the only one in the group who held the career of journalism; she worked in the Economic Gazette, curiously a paper which was not heavily read by the working class, still, sometimes she wrote some articles in the paper of her party and recently she was writing a book.

That day's subject could not be anything else: everyone was discussing the message, theories, opinions, comments by famous people, etc.

"I'm telling you now, this is all bullshit, a mockery. In my opinion, it's something like what Orson Welles did on the radio, do you remember?" – Said Rafael, waiting for the reactions.

"Yes, you are right" – stated his wife, and, after so many years together, they seemed to be the same person, both in the way of thinking and talking with their own quirks.

"Yes, The War of the Worlds, in 1938." – Anabela detailed as she slowly smoked her cigarette. The café was one of the few ones in Cacém where it was allowed to smoke inside, because as far as the owner was concerned, he had created a physical separation between tables for smokers and non-smokers, but, in practice, the entire place was filled with an enormous cloud of nicotine. – "But consider this, Rafael, that program was on air for a few hours and it was denied afterwards, on the other hand, that green thing has already been up there for a week."

"Ok, Bela, but things are more sophisticated nowadays, how much do you want to bet that when things become chaotic someone will be laughing at society's expenses?" – Rafael said certain of his opinion.

"And who could be behind it?" – Letícia asked.

"I'd say some tycoon with too much money who wants to go down in history and doesn't know how. Let's be frank, my friends, this alien deal is absurd." – Rafael was enthusiastic and felt like he was scoring over the other points of view.

At this moment, three friends arrived to complete the group. Raul came with his younger brother, Mário, who was also the youngest of the group and was one of the lasts to work in the school paper before its closure. The last element was Fausto, curiously the oldest in the group. He was a tram driver in Lisbon, a profession of which he was very proud, but he often complained about its low pay. He had three children from two failed marriages and the allowances he had to pay for the kids always let him at the edge of a financial abyss each every month. After the usual greetings, the discussion resumed:

"Lief cater-cousins, who is't did get h're too late, our eminent cousin Rafael wast declaring yond this is a completeth fleer'ry, yond it's possibly a magnate yond is behind t all, what doth thee bethink about t?" – Gustavo said that with a certain hint of joy in his face as if he was underestimating Rafael's theory.

"If someone is behind it, then he or she is doing things very well. Moreover, it couldn't be better." – Raul said as he ordered a tall coffee and sat on the chair.

"Did you know that the message was written in more than a hundred different languages and sent to a hundred newspapers and other media?" – Mário always knew interesting news. – "And those weren't google translations, the translations were perfect."

"I think it's about aliens." – Fausto said, lighting his first cigarette, after taking a sip of his coffee. – "Not even the American president knew anything, and what's more, they are sending a craft to the Moon to attempt some form of contact."

"But don't worry. We are fine here in Cacém. I've seen many movies about alien invasions and they always go to New York, they would never come to Cacém." – Gustavo never lost the chance to crack a joke, he got a general laughter and this made him happy.

"Nevertheless, I'd like to know how they are gonna choose 15% of the population" – said Letícia. – "Because if it's an ecological matter of, I recycle" – more laughter.

"It's not about that, it's about who goes to the church's mass, that is, who is or not a sinner." – Fausto advanced in a joke.

"Now I'm serious, guys." – Anabela tried to put some order at the table that already got lost into jokes about the choice for the 15%. – "Don't you think this may be the last time we see each other?"

There was a silence at the table that lasted for about fifteen seconds, but that appeared to be much longer. Those were fifteen seconds of some distress and sadness, as it sank in that it could really be the last time they would gather, after twenty years of friendship.

"I still didn't hear you say anything serious, Gus" – Rafael defied the silence with a true cop's expression. – "What do you really think about all of this?"

Everybody turned to Gustavo waiting for a serious answer, without jokes, everybody knew he was calculating, practical and very logical. Gustavo, in turn, was sometimes rather competitive and knew that if he exposed his theory, they would want to do the same and this could lower his percentages of survival. At this very moment, he hated himself for thinking in such a selfish and competitive way with his old friends and that he probably would not see them again.

"Look, Rafael, I don't know what that is or who they are, but one week ago they parked an object on the Moon and they didn't make any kind of contact with us until now. This message is not the work of a lunatic who wants to spend money; it would have already been discovered, this message is from someone who see us as a threat, some kind of plague, and, after an analysis on our consumerist, selfish and destructive behavior decided that six billion of us must die. I don't know how they are going to do this, but certainly, they will do this in a very technologically advanced way and if they are worried about other species, I understand that they will attack especially large cities, I don't believe they attack the Amazon region. As such, I believe our only possibility of survival would mean going to an isolated region from the rest of mankind."

When he finished he felt like smoking a cigarette to revel at that moment when all the eyes were on him and his words sounded sensible in the minds of his friends, but since the birth of his son, he had quit the twelve-year long addiction.

"But if they are such an advanced species, why will they behave like barbarians and make such a large slaughter?" – Anabela asked everyone, although she expected Gustavo to be the first to reply.

"Because they see us as just another species on this planet, just like we see a population of mosquitoes or rats spreading uncontrollably and we, humans, decide that we need to stop it."

"And why won't they talk to us?" – Letícia asked, looking sadder and sadder.

"Because we wouldn't get into a consensus with them. Reducing our numbers would be a process of years and of much education. In countries like India and China, they would surely choose to sacrifice the population with the less financial resource." – Gustavo kept talking as though he had thought too much about the subject. – "They surely considered several hypotheses and decided that the most practical and fair way would be killing the people who damage the environment the most without care for their financial power."

The conversation continued for hours, after the coffees the beers started coming, nobody was sure of anything and everyone would leave with more uncertainties than when they arrived. Eventually, Gustavo went to the toilet to empty the beer from his bladder and when he returned to the table he looked at his group of friends and he had a knot on his throat, he was sure he wouldn't see his friends that easily ever again. He wondered if there would be any meaning to live in a world without friends like those. He held back the tears and sat at the table in silence, listening and looking at all of them, he wanted to save that moment forever, to be able to say goodbye to them with a strong hug and say a "see you tomorrow", knowing that their story would likely end here. Although he managed to control the crying, he could not control his emotions, he was happy, cheerful and sweet; his friends thought this behavior was the result of too much beer, that he was drunk.

That would be his last night at his homeland, he would not miss it too much, but he would surely miss his friends.

##

# THE DECLINE

On Saturday morning, he woke up with the noise of his children arguing over some toy; he had a hangover, with his mouth dry and a splitting headache. He remembered the night before and thought he had exaggerated in the drinks, but in the end, he always ended up drinking many more with Raul and Mário, two real "alcohol warriors", as he called them.

He had arranged to make a barbecue at home with his parents and take the beautiful spring day to rest in his nice backyard, but actually, he was not willing to do anything at all, he would rather stay home alone without any noise and see some B-movie that was usually on air on Saturday afternoon TV. He made an effort to get dressed, wash himself, eat something and went to São João dos Montes.

After drinking a lot of water and warming up his ideas near the grill, he started thinking about how he would tell his parents about the plan to leave Lisbon; it also occurred to him that he would have to talk to his Lentiscais' partners about this novelty, the message that had been released last night could mean that it would be necessary to go through with the robbery, something that Gustavo wanted to avoid, but he knew that Norton and Zeca would be willing to do it.

After lunch, he felt like having a siesta, but he wanted to talk with his parents and wife about the plan and as he saw his kids were already playing within the house, he took the chance.

"Well, I want to talk to you about my plan. It's been one week since I began making a list of things that we are going to need in case of an attack. Eventually, I thought I was exaggerating, losing time and money, but today I feel glad for having been so careful. I bought plenty of canned food, medicines, seeds, drinking water, renewable power supplies, batteries, etc. and left everything in Lentiscais" – he saw a semblance of surprise of his parents face. – "I'm trustful that they will attack this Thursday; if you think about it, they came on a Saturday and yesterday, Friday, they announced their plan. All things considered, the attack should be next Thursday. I chose Lentiscais since it seemed to be the most logical place, no one would waste their time attacking a village with two hundred inhabitants; I may even be mistaken, but I believe we have better chances there than here. So, I ask you to trust me and prepare everything for us to go to Lentiscais on Tuesday. Marta has already talked to her parents and they are going there Tuesday or Wednesday."

"Perhaps you're right. I don't know what will happen, but I know that if I will die, I want it to be next to you. It seems to me that Lentiscais will be a suitable place for us to be together" – said his father, who seemed to have already thought a lot about the subject and saw few chances of survival.

"I don't care if I died" – said Antónia, her voice carrying her emotions. – "I've already lived a lot and had a beautiful life, but I am sad over my grandchildren, who are two little angels who haven't lived that long, and haven't harmed anyone, and it hurts me plenty that I won't see your brother Hélder anymore."

Only then did Gustavo think of his brother. How would he be handling the news? He would certainly be disconnected from everything, working hard with his wild animals.

"Don't worry, mother, today we will try to contact him through the Internet."

He stood up and helped clear the table and take the dishes to the kitchen. Afterwards, he went to his hammock, which was in the backyard, and laid down in it; before closing his eyes, his daughter, Alice, wanted to join him and they soon fell asleep holding each other.

He woke up two hours later, with a breeze that cooled him. Alice was not with him anymore, and his father walked through the yard taking care of the plants as usual. He still felt his body dazed and weak from the enormous amount of alcohol he had drank in the previous night. He decided to go to the living room and see something on TV without worrying about anything else. He started zapping through the channels in search of some American movie without much of a plot to think about, when he stopped on a news channel that showed images of riots that spread around the world. He thought that was better than any movie and kept watching. The news said that since the message had been broadcast there had been a race to the supermarkets to buy supplies and robberies had begun to hit shops of any kind, but the most affected had been the household appliances stores. Still, there weren't that many riots taking place yet, Los Angeles, Detroit, Rio de Janeiro, the suburbs of Paris and Johannesburg were the most troubled cities.

Gustavo felt uncomfortable. Society could be on the edge of rupture, it could be dangerous for his family. The first action he took was asking his parents to be at home at least that night. He thought if society fell to chaos, they would have to go to Lentiscais earlier, and then he remembered of his gun, hidden inside the house and of all the guns that Zeca had waiting for him and became calmer. Then his mother walked into the living room.

"Already awake? Look, can you call Hélder now?"

"Sure, when was the last time you talked to him, mother?" – Gustavo asked as he turned the computer on.

"Every weekend I try to talk to him, but there are some weekends that I cannot." – Antónia appeared to be a little uncomfortable with the subject and Gustavo realized it.

"When was the last time that you spoke with him?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe two weeks ago."

"And why can't you talk?" – Gustavo asked, thinking that the lack of communication between them was rather strange; sure, Hélder was so focused on his work that he even forgot that he had a family. He was actually a person with little common sense and mentally weak, Gustavo thought.

"I think the lines are not working, it seems he's in a place with few networks and sometimes there comes his girlfriend and she only speaks English, so we don't understand each other." – Antónia was feeling embarrassing and tried not to blame her other son. Gustavo did not want to discuss or hurt the feelings of his mother, so he did not say what he thought.

Gustavo had an application with which one could call other countries, he had used it a few times when a friend of his travelled abroad and even tried to use it with his brother, but he saw, since the beginning, that his brother wasn't interested in keeping in touch, then he looked up the number of his brother's Canadian mobile and dialed it, it was disconnected.

"The mobile is off, mother, let's try the home phone."

He thought that, as it happened in American movies, an answering machine would always get the calls, asking them to leave a message and it was this that Gustavo expected to find; but at the end of the second signal, his brother's girlfriend got it, and she took Gustavo by surprise. At first, he didn't know which language to use, then he tried to remember her name and he couldn't, when he began to talk in English he realized his spoken English was too rusty. The conversation was cold, especially from her side, it seemed she always replied without much will to talk and she always gave very little information. At the end of the conversation, Gustavo remained a little quiet trying to go over everything they had said and obtain some information, as his mother looked at him anxiously, waiting for some news.

"He was not at home, mother, it seems he was working, I told her to tell Hélder that we called when he arrives. By the way," – he tried to change subjects – "you could stay here today and I would take you back tomorrow morning. What do you think about it?"

"I'm worried about Hélder. Do you think something has happened to him? He never has the mobile on and, at home, she always answers the phone. I felt so much like talking to him, I fear that something bad has happened to him."

"Don't think too much about it, you know he's always been disconnected, it's the way he is. He spent weeks in the Azores without saying anything. If anything had happened, we would have already known." – Gustavo spoke in a sweet and soft tone so he wouldn't worry her, but something in his mind was troubling him, the conversation with that woman let him uneasy, it was possible that his brother was in some sort of trouble.

His parents agreed to spend the night with them. The riot news helped in the decision, but in the meanwhile, nothing was said of disturbances in Portugal. And, as Gustavo had expected, there had been no return call from Hélder.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, Gustavo went to take his parents to Cacém, a few cars circulated in the road as it was usual in a Sunday morning and Gustavo did not even get out of the car when he left his parents at the door of the building; he only reminded them he would be there on Tuesday morning to take them to Lentiscais.

Both Antónia and Joaquim had a driving license, but for different reasons, they had quit driving. Antónia thought that Lisbon people drove badly and were always in a hurry, that the roads were narrow and, especially over the years, she had less ability to drive in a big city. Joaquim gave up driving for medical reasons and mainly because of his wife and sons. He was the kind of person that, when he was behind the stirring wheel, he changed his personality. He became more aggressive and nervous, he insulted, honked the horn constantly and in two occasions he even left the car to interpolate other drivers in an almost violent manner.

As he drove back home he thought of what he would do this Sunday. He had not any priority or plan, he wanted to take a bicycle ride and spend the rest of the day with his family, but he realized it would be better to start packing. And so he did, during the day he was busy with the intermittent help of Marta to pack the suitcases of his entire family.

In the middle of the afternoon, he received a call from Norton, who Gustavo had already thought about calling.

"Is everything OK, Norton?"

"Yes, friend, you never call and I'm always the one who ends up paying for the call." - Gustavo gave a little laughter and then he asked him:

"How are things about there?"

"Here, in Lentiscais?" – Norton seemed surprised by the question. – "Calm as always, but you already saw what's been happening around the world, haven't you?"

"Yes, people are in search of food, pulling robberies, all sorts of "fun" rebellions."

"Exactly, Gus, and the outskirts of Lisbon may explode anytime. Are you coming on Tuesday?"

"Yes, on Tuesday, I will take my kids and parents there and on Thursday morning I'm coming with Marta. That reminds me, we haven't talked about the message, what did you think?"

"It's true. We haven't discussed it yet. It's pretty much what we've being saying, isn't it? It only confirmed that some paranoid people like us were right to make all that shopping and it's only a shame that we didn't buy more things, because I can already see that starting tomorrow the prices will shoot through the roof." – Norton made a small pause followed by a forced cough. – "But I'm calling you for another reason; you already know what it is, don't you?"

"The drugstore robbery" – Gustavo said without beating around the bush.

"Be careful, dude, this conversation may be being heard."

"By whom? FBI, Interpol, aliens..."

"What's the plan, Gus?"

Gustavo was surprised that neither Norton nor Zeca had a plan yet and were waiting for him to give them orders. He was happy for realizing his influence over them and his role in the group; but in all honesty, he had not thought of a plan.

"Tuesday morning I will get there, then we will go to Castelo Branco, I need a drugstore that is not in the downtown area, it's better to find a more isolated one. We'll go with our faces covered, there will surely be cameras and it's better not to risk too much. When there are no clients, we'll get in and close the door, then we will steal as many medicines as possible; and we must manage to ask the pharmacist to give us the medicines we are looking for. As for the gasoline truck, tell Zeca, it would be ideal to have a gasoline truck only for us."

"OK, I'll talk to him and when we choose the drugstore and the place to steal the truck, I'll let you know."

"All right, let's keep in touch, dear friend."

After the call, Gustavo felt lucky for having such a loyal friend as Norton, in addition, he felt strong, the leader of a mafia group that would pull a big heist, but later he thought that stealing a drugstore and a truck was something for thieves, that might cause a lot of trouble and even end up sending them to prison full of shame. He considered that those tricks were not for him, a simple City Hall employee – maybe it would be better not to commit any crime at all. He had doubts and felt he was at a crossroad, five minutes ago, he was giving orders for the execution of a robbery to his friend and now he faltered, he felt as if he was out of his league, that he could make a mistake. He had to find a solution without risking what he had obtained until then.

The arrival of the NASA's spacecraft (along with other space agencies) to the Moon was scheduled for ten p.m., and they would try to communicate with the aliens. There was a lot of expectation in society, the chaos expanded to other cities and in many countries, the army was already on the streets. Gustavo feared that, by trying to contact the unidentified object, the spacecraft would make the aliens angry and start an early attack.

On TV, there were several reports on this event, the arrival of the spacecraft was a source of hope for many, there were several rumors that it transported bombs, others said it took peaceful and welcoming messages. Such reports had begun after lunch and repeated the same information over and over again, all the channels had invited experts in any subject relating to physics or astronomy and were talking about a historic event we would witnessing. And that is how it happened – half an hour after the estimated time and the craft landed on the Moon, everything had been OK, the craft seemed to be in a good state and now the second step had started: getting out of the craft and contacting the object directly.

Marta and Gustavo had already taken their children to bed and now they were both in the couch stuck to the images that came from the television and the images that came directly from the spacecraft on The Moon, as well as from the hundreds of cameras spread out on earth that recorded the happening through telescopes. Between the two of them, there was as apprehension about what was going to happen. What if there was nothing or nobody in the craft? What if there was physical contact between them and everything was solved? What if they attacked our spacecraft? In addition, and this was the worst-case scenario, what if they attacked us right after that?

It was almost midnight when something began to happen, Gustavo was already sleepy, and Marta was already asleep on the couch. The anxiety and the nervousness became boredom. "It's a slow process", they said on TV. Then the human spacecraft opened and a kind of car got out of it with what appeared to be a man or a robot inside, it was difficult to distinguish. The vehicle advanced very slowly to the green object. Several minutes passed, and the car approached its objective. The emotion increased in the reporter that transmitted the happening, who did not get tired of repeating that we were in the middle of a historic moment. But, suddenly, the vehicle stopped. Minutes passed, and the car did not move, on TV they started talking of a defect in the car. The vehicle started going back and tried to advance again but it was held back. It went back again, got more momentum and tried to advance one more time, but this time it was clear that it crashed against some sort of obstacle, there was an invisible barrier that did not allow the car to pass through. Gustavo decided to go to sleep, finally, tomorrow would be a working day; he woke Marta up since she was completely asleep on the couch. She asked him how things had gone, but it was not even necessary to hear the answer from her husband; the television showed the car turning back and the reporter declared the first attempt of establishing contact a failure.

Monday morning Gustavo woke up in a bad mood, having slept way too little; and his kids, used to sleep-in during their vacations, took a long time to wake up. He left home in a hurry, thinking that he would arrive late to drop them at school and that he'd be late for work. At that moment, he recalled the project that the councilor had handed him. He had completely forgotten about it and he truly did not care about it.

As he drove to Vila Franca, he turned on the radio to know if there were any news, his kids had breakfast on the back-seat without much hunger. Alice fell asleep again with the cake in her hand. On the radio, they informed that an astronaut had tried to approach the craft on foot, but he had crashed on a kind of invisible barrier that did not allow any passage. In the meantime, NASA's craft continued parked there waiting for instructions from our planet, but there was a generalized opinion that the operation was a complete failure.

Gustavo looked around and everything seemed to be calm, there was traffic, people on the streets, the stores began to open, there was no chaos around him. Life continued to pass normally, or so it seemed.

It took him twice as long as had taken last week to go from the bullring up to the school. Alice did not want to go on foot and cried in the middle of the street for her father to carry her; with little time to think, Gustavo surrendered and took her daughter in his arms as he asked her older brother to walk faster. When they arrived at the school, everything appeared to be normal, as a sea of children ran to their classrooms as their parents headed back to the double parked cars along the school entry. He left his kids in their respective classrooms and left quickly to his work place.

When he entered the building, he saw some empty tables and found it strange, he looked at his boss' office and saw that he was on the phone. When he saw him, Viláres nodded at him to come in, he was talking to the department's director about the today's absences, Gustavo realized then there were many people who had not come to work. When he hung-up, Viláres looked at Gustavo.

"Did you come to work? I thought you wouldn't come either."

"Why?"

"Why?" – Viláres stood up. – "Because the world is going nuts, people think they are going to attack us and are buying everything they can, taking out all of their money from the banks and taking refuge at home or in their attics."

Gustavo thought that Viláres was going nuts. The world was actually almost being attacked and he kept on clinging onto his little life as always. Still, from his mouth something else got out:

"It's not worth it to fly into hysteria, right boss? By the way, boss, tomorrow I won't be able to come..." – he thought about finding some excuse, but he had not prepared anything and remained in silence.

"Only tomorrow or from tomorrow onward? Do you remember the program the councilor asked you to do?" – Viláres lit a cigarette.

"No, it's only tomorrow; I have to go see a doctor with Marta" – it was the first excuse he had in mind and even he didn't find it believable. – "And I didn't forget about the program, I'm going to start it today."

When he headed to his office, a colleague of his called him:

"Gustavo, come have a look at this."

Telmo, his colleague, showed him a video where a hypermarket in Lisbon had been pillaged by the population, which stole what they could and ran through the checkouts without paying. The hypermarket closed some time later. Then, another colleague asked for his attention to say that the main malls closed their doors and that several stores were closing, afraid of being robbed and that the gas stations were almost all closed. The office atmosphere was tense and some of Gustavo's colleagues picked up their things and started to leave. After seeing the images of chaos in Lisbon, it was possible to conclude that now it was not only the metropolises around the world that were falling into chaos; and this state of affairs was getting closer and closer to home.

Gustavo sat calmly and thoughtful at his desk, he believed that tomorrow there would not be any shops open, let alone a drugstore. They were unlikely to be able to pull their heist. As he thought about it, his mobile started ringing. It was his father, very nervous and altered, saying that he had heard shots in Cacém, very close to their building and that it would be better to depart now to Lentiscais. Gustavo had seen his father losing control only a few times, although he was a calm person, he was also insecure and fearful and now he was almost hysteric.

"Don't leave the house today, close the door and don't approach the windows too much. Pack up and tomorrow, at seven a.m, I'll be there to pick you up, OK?"

"Couldn't it be before seven?" – his father's voice was actually different. Gustavo expected more from his father than that. He sounded too lost and bewildered.

"At seven is an excellent time to depart. Try to rest, nothing will happen."

In less than one minute, the mobile rang again. Now it was Norton, who told him to check his email and see a link he had sent. Then Gustavo asked how the situation in Castelo Branco was. Norton stated that it was normal, no disorders and that next day morning they would go through with the robbery, they had already chosen the drugstore, but the truck theft was canceled. The gas station's supply had been canceled and many of them were closing down in the countryside.

Gustavo saw the link Norton had sent. It was a public TV report that showed several disorders in several countries in the world. In many countries, the army was already on the street keeping the order and in some cases, they had already enforced a curfew. Several world leaders tried to calm their citizens down, and there was even a rumor that they had already made contact with the aliens and the situation was being normalized. In Portugal, at the first sign of disorder in Lisbon, the government had sent the army onto the streets along with the police in order to stop further acts of vandalism and collective hysterics.

As he saw the piece, his mobile rang for the third time. Now it was Alice's teacher saying that far too many workers had abandoned their work and he would have to take his daughter at lunchtime.

Gustavo leaned back on his chair and thought that one of the reasons why he considered himself a winner, compared to the average of the other mortals, was because he planned ahead. He did not leave for tomorrow what could be done today. He was a planner who adapted quickly to the different realities and this made him a being more capable of winning than his fellow men. He felt he had the situation under control. Then he looked at the pile of papers he had on his table and saw the dossier the councilor wanted for today. Immediately he released a small laughter that made some colleagues look at him with some surprise.

He decided to leave to get his daughter and have a coffee on the way. As he headed to the coffee shop, he realized some shops had begun to close, but the atmosphere in the street was relatively calm. Then he went to the school to pick-up his daughter, who was peacefully painting and was happy to see her father. Gustavo did not ask anything to the teacher. He understood the situation and took his daughter by the hand.

The rest of the morning went by without distress. While Alice made her drawings and painted at a table next to him, Gustavo began to gather manuals that could help him in the future, from how to cook bread, to how to generate domestic power. He printed some manuals, and others he simply kept in his USB stick.

He went to have lunch with Sérgio, who wasn't too surprised to see that Gustavo had brought Alice. Obviously, the lunch talk was about how society was falling apart, the several City Hall workers who had not come to work and the first signals of chaos in Lisbon.

During the afternoon, Gustavo stuck to the same plan: collecting manuals of all kinds, as well as keeping classic books, music, pictures and things he thought were important to keep and especially to save. In the middle of all of this process, Gustavo had forgotten completely the councilor's order until the moment he saw him walking into the room beside Viláres. Gustavo was blocked without knowing what to do; he tried to pretend he was working on some program. The two men approached Gustavo.

"So, Gustavo, is this your girl?" – the councilor, Eládio Antunes, asked caressing the girl's hair. – "What a beautiful drawing, do you have a name little girl?"

After the typical mock-conversation most adults have with a three-year-old child, Antunes turned his look to Gustavo and changed his posture radically. Antunes was almost sixty years old and had been a councilor at City Hall for eight years. They said he could run for mayor in the next regional elections. He was a skinny, medium-sized man who always wore a dark-colored suit and had good taste for ties. He had a look full of confidence, serious and with his short white hair neatly combed.

Gustavo felt respect for the councilor as well as some frustration. For many times he wanted to tell him a few truths, but when he was face to face with Antunes, he lost his courage and ended up doing what he asked for. However, the reality was different that day.

"Have you finished the project I gave you on Friday, Gustavo?" – Antunes went straight to the point and took Gustavo by surprise. There was a pause and then he answered.

"No. I need at least a week to do what you're asking, if I can work only on this program, maybe next Monday it's ready."

Antunes didn't like the answer nor Gustavo's tone, which seemed to him a little defiant.

"Tell me what you've done."

"This morning, I was working on the project, thinking of how to put it into practice."

"Only this morning?" – Antunes attacked. – "You've had the dossier since Friday and only now, you started working on it. But didn't I make it clear that this project was extremely important and that it should be finished as soon as possible?"

Antunes turned the look from Gustavo to Viláres, who avoided the visual contact. Gustavo looked at his daughter, who had stopped drawing and now she looked a little frightened to her father because of the man who was talking to him with an aggressive tone. In any other situation, Gustavo would have been cordial and promise the councilor he would dedicate himself to the project and that it would be finished in record time, but the reality was another, his daughter's expression made Gustavo counter-attack.

"Dear councilor." – Gustavo's voice was firm and he looked directly at the eyes of Antunes. – "I received this folder near five p.m., curiously at the time I leave. The weekend came and today is Monday. This project is complex and takes time. It's impossible to finish it this week."

Antunes realized Gustavo was willing to argue, he felt a hint of defiance in Gustavo's gaze, he also knew it would be better to just order him to keep on working and walk away, but he thought Gustavo's comment was too pertinent and wanted to finish the fight on top.

"Do you know why you still aren't the head of a division, Gustavo?" – he made a pause, waiting for some reaction. – "Because you don't have any commitment, you do as little as possible; you have almost no ambition."

"But who told you I want to lead a division? Or do you even know what my ambition really is?" – Gustavo took a little step forward and his face approached the councilor's. Gustavo did not show fear. Quite the contrary, he showed hate and despise. Antunes felt uncomfortable and thought he had gone too far. He wanted to leave the situation as a winner, but now he felt cornered, he thought Gustavo only spoke like that because of the situation of society.

"Dear councilor, you are coming here to demand miracles, when half of the City Hall's workers are at home or trying to find food, instead of congratulating us for being here working even though society is going crazy" – he made a pause and delivered the last blow. – "This is the difference between a natural leader and someone the political party gave a hand to."

There was a cold silence in the room. A silence that lasted some ten seconds, but for those who were there it seemed to last for several minutes. Gustavo looked at the councilor with an air of victory and at the same time of repugnance, as if that person was a nasty worm. Viláres was paralyzed and stared dumbfounded at Gustavo with wide eyes. Antunes was a politician who had faced several dangerous and slippery battles along his policy life, but he was used to treat the City Hall's employees as easy preys. Now he was pale and rigid, humiliated and furious. He turned his back to Gustavo and headed to the door, but before he got out, he turned to Gustavo and said:

"When this confusion finishes and everything calms down, let's put things in their right places."

Without allowing time for an answer from Gustavo, he left rushing through the door. Gustavo knew he had just entered the City Hall's blacklist. Antunes could make his life a living hell, but he did not want to think about it, he was proud of himself for having faced that mean politician and for not having lowered his head as usual. His colleagues and his boss went to congratulate him for having fought Antunes. He thanked them without caring anymore about the subject and continued to search and save relevant information as he followed up his daughter's drawings and games.

At five p.m., he left with his daughter and went to bring Diogo from school. The three of them went to the bullring and then by car to their house. On the way, Gustavo told his kids that tomorrow they would go to Lentiscais and he wanted them to pack their favorite toys. He thought that would be the last night they slept at home and that they would see some of their toys. This thought made him feel pity and he had hope that soon their life would go back to normal and his children would be able to grow with all the comforts of his nice home, but this idea made him think of another reality: in case life returned to normality, he would have to face the councilor and he knew he would not have the advantage anymore.

He helped his kids pack and prepared dinner, he prevented them from being scared by the violent sensationalist images that the TV was broadcasting. But the two children hardly looked at the TV when it was not showing cartoons or commercial ads.

At eight p.m., they began to have dinner with Marta at home. She came frightened by the violent news that came from the outskirts of Lisbon and Porto, and that in her work, the production of yogurt had been lowered for the lack of people and the absent-mind of the others. The TV news transmitted cars and containers being burnt, stores being pillaged, broken shop windows, the army on the streets and the politicians trying to calm down the population.

They all went early to bed. Gustavo drew the plan for the next day: he would leave very early to bring his parents over and then take the kids and their respective bags. That night, Gustavo slept badly. He had checked twice whether all doors and windows of the house were well closed. Without his wife realizing, he decided the gun, that Zeca had given him, would be easily at his reach and that the following day he would spend all day with it. The few hours he slept were agitated and he woke up frequently waiting to hear some noise and thinking of the possible drugstore heist or about the dangers that might occur during the trip.

At six, the alarm clock rang and he got up. He thought it would be one of the most important days of his life. After having breakfast and putting on some comfortable clothes, he took the car from the garage and headed to Cacém. There was not much traffic and he did not come across any police car or even any army, nor did he see any kind of vandalism on the way, and when he arrived at Cacém, he saw the first shop's windows broken and the banks were protected with wooden barriers. He also saw the first police officers walking around with automatic rifles in their hands. He feared that they would ask him to stop and search him. They would find an illegal gun under his coat. This did not happen, and soon after parking the car, near his parents' building, they departed with relieved, but tired faces as if they had slept far too little. They brought several bags and Gustavo thought these would not all fit in the car since there would be his kids' cases. They left Cacém, and Gustavo considered it would be the last time he would be in Cacém. He remembered his friends and imagined what each of them was doing or planning to do in the coming days. He promised himself he would call them all before Thursday, the day he thought the aliens were going to attack.

When he returned home, his kids were already awake and the bags set for departure. Marta was already prepared for one more working day; and, at eight in the morning, after some struggle to make all the bags fit in the car, they left heading to Lentiscais, and Marta was left behind saying goodbye to the car with her eyes full of tears.

During the trip, his kids watched the cartoons Gustavo had played for them, as he talked to his parents. And with the course of the journey, they were becoming more relaxed.

"Honestly, all of this seems to me like a bad joke that has put society at war" – said Joaquim, who was sitting beside his son in the passenger's seat.

"How come, I don't understand?"

"Sooner or later everything will return to normal and for us, it will be a lesson for our bad behavior, for us to see how backwards we are and how violent we've become."

"So you think they are not going to attack us? That all this is but a bad taste joke."

"I think no one will attack us; if there are aliens, they will have proven that we are nothing but a hysterical and disorganized species."

"If you think like this, father, why are you going to Lentiscais?"

"In Lentiscais there will be no riots, we will be safer. Do you really think they are going to attack us?"

"Of course I do, otherwise, why did they send a big craft to the Moon and a message like that? And, if I'm going to Lentiscais it's because I think it will be a place they will not attack. I truly believe that the 15% of the surviving population, will be those who are living in the countryside, among nature. They are here for environmental reasons, and the problem is not the high amount of human beings in the world, but our behavior towards the planet. After all, we act as if we own the planet and constantly disrespect it."

The conversation was pleasurable, and Gustavo did not think about the drugstore heist or about the discussion with the councilor anymore. His mother had fallen asleep in the back seat and Alice was sleeping as well. It seemed to be a normal family trip, there were a few cars in the highway and until then there was no open gas station; still, Gustavo had an almost full tank of fuel.

"I think these environmental theories are bullshit, do you think mankind has done so much evil to the planet?"

"Are you kidding, father? Mankind has only committed atrocities, such as water, air and soil pollution, deforestation, global warming, causing the extinction of several animal and plant species, ozone layer destruction, etc., etc."

"Then, why spare 15% of the population? Do you have the answer for this too?" – Joaquim did not seem to be convinced.

"The population problem is simple: we've lived in a consumerist society that explores the natural resources in an unbalanced manner; we are a polluting society that consumes more than what it needs. Before the industrial revolution man had a closer relationship with nature, but after that revolution larger and larger cities were created and the connection of their inhabitants with nature has diminished until it became almost void nowadays. Before the industrial revolution, the world population was of one billion, today we have seven billion, and in 2025 perhaps ten billion, but the problem isn't even this number; but the behavior of this number towards the environment, this is the real problem."

"But even if they kill 85% of the population, the behavior will be the same: those who survive are equal to those who were killed."

"No, nothing will be the same with only 15% of the current population, that is, one billion people. These will have to start from zero, they will have to turn back to nature to survive, and it will be a new beginning."

"Yes, but later, everything will be the same again, we will live in large cities again and consume more than what we need."

"Then we haven't learned anything, but, at least, until we live in metropolises and have cars again, it will take decades or centuries, and in the meanwhile, nature will have recovered from all the damage we have done in the last years. I believe the 15% who survive will learn a lesson."

"A lesson? A lesson for me will be that a group of alien murderers have come to earth; and almost completely annihilated a species."

"No, the lesson is that they saved many other species from certain annihilation. Species that we would either kill or lock away in zoos."

It was ten a.m. and they were already close to Lentiscais. Gustavo preferred going by Retaxo and expected the gas station to be operating there; when he entered the village, he verified that everything was equal: a few cars and people, all the small shops open and a gas station open and without any waiting lines, although the prices were higher than usual. Gustavo laughed at the situation and compared it to Lisbon, where today it would be impossible to find gasoline or even a store open.

When they arrived at the house in Lentiscais, Gustavo helped his parents with their bags, said goodbye to his kids and parents and departed. He had told his parents he would have to return to work in the afternoon, because he did not want to abuse the good will of his boss. For his parents, work was always the most important and they advised him not to be absent anymore since he would be coming on vacations with Marta on Thursday. However, they did not know Gustavo had argued with the councilor, that he was not going to ask for vacations on Thursday, he would simply abandon his working place and worse than that, he would soon meet with Norton and Zeca to rob a drugstore.

He arrived at Norton's and made his way to the kitchen. Norton called Zeca afterwards and the three of them began to plan the robbery until lunchtime. Carla, who seemed aware of everything, cooked lunch. Right after the meal, the three men left in a car with a false license plate heading to Castelo Branco.

The city of Castelo Branco was the mirror of peace, exactly the opposite of the big cities that were in flames. Here everything seemed to be like before; the streets were clean and peaceful with citizens walking around without fear. There was no trash in the containers and it looked like all stores were open.

The chosen drugstore was in a new urbanization that was not very far from downtown. The clients of the drugstore were mostly the urban dwellers and its choice was because of the fact it was possibly the drugstore with the least business. They parked the car near the drugstore, not too close, but enough to see who got in and out of the place. The drugstore blinds were half-open and it was impossible to see from the outside if there was anyone inside.

The sound of the mobile interrupted the silence in the car. Norton and Gustavo looked with surprise at Zeca, who apologized as he hung up.

"Zeca, what did I tell you?" – Gustavo reproached him with an astonished look. – "No mobiles; they may get us through the signal they emit."

"Don't worry; this is not under my name." – Zeca tried to excuse himself with a forced smile.

"Well, so I hope. Now I will pass by the drugstore doorway to check if there is someone in and then we'll get in. To recapitulate, Norton, you close the blinds of the drugstore and will then collect all the medicines you can into these two bags, while I take care of the workers and hand them the list of medicines we're looking for. Zeca, you close the door and lower its blinds, make sure the coast is clear, especially when we're about to leave. Using our guns is completely out of question. Just in case we are caught, we simply say that we had the apocalypse panic and wanted to have medicines. Is it clear?"

Gustavo looked at Zeca, because he was sure that Norton wouldn't be an idiot to use the gun that he had. After having received an OK by Zeca, he continued:

"If the drugstore has cameras, you have to break them and destroy the video and the CD and at the end, we have to arrest the workers with handcuffs so that it takes them longer to call the police, but no violence is allowed. No names, let's call ourselves G, N and Z. Let's do it quickly and cleanly with our minds focused on our own task."

Gustavo got off the car, crossed the street and pretended to pass casually by the drugstore. He looked inside quickly and took a small turn to return to the car.

"There is a client there, and seems to be two workers."

He had not finished the sentence yet when a new client got in. They waited for both clients to leave and when it was finally the time, the three thieves got out of the car heading to the drugstore. Gustavo felt his legs trembling, his heart was racing, his hands were humid and his mouth dry, he doubted that he could utter a single word. He was a few seconds away from committing the worst deed of his life. His mind showed him everything he could lose if that robbery did not succeed, and for a single moment, he thought of canceling the operation, but this idea disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and he focused in what he was doing. He was the head of that gang, and his other two crime companions were relying on his leadership and bravery.

A little before getting inside the drugstore, the three criminals put on their balaclavas and entered the establishment. When he saw the three men getting through the door, Adelino, the owner of the drugstore, froze and had no reaction. He soon thought about his daughter, who was next to him, and feared that they would do her some harm and then he concluded that his wife was right: it was better to close the drugstore until things were at ease.

The thieves acted quickly and it didn't look like that was the first time they did something similar.

"We don't mean any harm, we just want the medicines" – said Gustavo, who handed Adelino a list of medicines with one hand while he took the gun in another hand.

Zeca had already closed the door and looked at the street through the blinds. Norton had just finished closing the remaining blinds of the store and advanced with the two cases for the medicines boxes that were behind Adelino and his daughter.

"Look for these medicines immediately and without noise. Is there anyone else in this drugstore?"

Adelino kept motionless and petrified, without any reaction, while his daughter, a beautiful girl, aged twenty-three years old, received the list with her hands trembling and with a weak voice, she said:

"Please, don't you do us any harm, take everything you want, you may take money. There's only the two of us."

"Don't worry, look for these medicines, we don't want money, nor do we want to do anything to anyone."

Norton filled up the two cases with all kind of drugs existing in the drugstore, while Adelino's daughter, along with her father, who had finally woken up from the trance, looked for the medicines that were in the list. Gustavo kept a close eye on both of them, not giving them much room to try anything. Zeca looked at the street without much interest and looked with more and more attention at the young pharmacist; he thought the young girl was beautiful and with the white coat, she looked even more attractive. He imagined her young body under the clothes and thought of violating her, but he knew that neither Gustavo nor Norton would allow him to do so.

When the two pharmacists finished the list, Norton put the cases along the door to leave; Gustavo took the handcuffs from his back pocket, as he looked at father and daughter. With an air of confidence, he asked Norton to break the cameras, video and CD.

"Hey, G, we could keep this recording to rewatch it later" – Zeca said with the smile of someone who was having a lot of fun.

"Focus on your task, Z." – and looked again at his two victims. – "Now, you come in with me."

"Shit, cops are here."

When Zeca said this, he took the gun he had at the back of his pants. Norton remained still, perplexed and without knowing what to do. He looked at Gustavo with a look of fear. As soon as Zeca's words reached Gustavo he felt a strong heat going up from his feet to his head, for the first time, since he had got in the drugstore; he felt he was losing control of the situation and of himself. He did not know what to do first, his hands trembled and he thought everything was over, he would be arrested and judged for armed robbery, and he would be away from his kids because of a foolish and sickly paranoia. A voice in his mind asked him to calm down and take charge of the operation once more.

"Take it easy! N, keep on destroying everything. Z, where are they?"

"They are in their car, on the opposite side of the street; they are slowly heading to the roundabout."

"OK, keep the gun and keep them from seeing you, they are going away. It's just a patrol car. You, come with me."

While Gustavo expected some news from Zeca, he led father and daughter to the toilet, which was in the back part of the drugstore. Then he placed the handcuffs on the hands of each of them, behind the sink, as he had seen in some movie, so that they could not leave. He took the finger to his mouth for them to keep quiet.

"G, they turned the roundabout and now they come to this direction."

Gustavo and Norton approached Zeca and, like him, between the small holes there were on the blinds, they watched the patrol car pass in front of the drugstore in an idling speed, the car seemed ready to stop at any given moment and Gustavo felt again a very suffocating heat, as if he was inside a furnace, he felt it hard to breathe, and his clothes were stuck to his body with sweat. However, the police car did not stop and followed its slow pace out of the optical reach of the three men. Gustavo had a quick sigh of relief, but he was still tense and asked the others to wait a little bit. Then they took the cases, took the balaclavas off, got out to the street and closed the drugstore from outside, they headed to the car with a quick pace. Half an hour later, they were in Norton's garage and celebrated with champagne the success of the operation.

It was hard for Gustavo to leave his two partners in crime and depart to Vila Franca. They had been commenting every now and then the details of the robbery with great euphoria. After saying goodbye with hugs and screams of joy from Norton and Zeca, the trip began. He felt that he had possibly drunk too much or that he was so euphoric that he could hardly remain concentrated and quiet behind the stirring wheel. During the trip, he relived the assault over and over again; he liked his performance, he was satisfied with himself and he believed he was invincible, perfect, a genius, capable of anything. In the highway, he opened his window and began to howl like a wolf and to scream like a madman. He said many silly things and then he released some slightly forced laughter. He got calmer and followed a trip that to him seemed to be eternal.

He got home at six p.m., but unlike in Castelo Branco, he felt there was a heavy atmosphere in his neighborhood. There was nobody in the street, the cars were far and few between and there was trash in the containers without having been collected, along with stores and cafés closed. When he entered his house, he felt very tired. He felt like going directly to bed. All the euphoria and adrenaline had worn off into a weary hangover. Even though, he decided to do many things before sleeping. He wanted to pack and choose the essential things he would take to Lentiscais.

Marta arrived at seven, as usual, but this time she was pale and clearly bewildered. She sat on the sofa and asked her husband to bring her a glass of water with sugar.

"The factory will close, Gustavo. I cannot believe what it has got to; the director said there is no way to keep on, workers are missing, the suppliers failed to bring the material. People are afraid, nobody knows what is in store for us, and chaos is installed."

Gustavo tried to reassure her by saying that on Thursday morning, they would go away and that they would only return when things were peaceful again. Marta agreed and became a little calm, but she thought of asking her husband to go to see their children the very next day.

Right after dinner, Gustavo went to bed. It had been a long day and he was very tired to do whatever he wanted. Minutes after, he slept a deep sleep. Nevertheless, Marta was very emotional; she was anxious to depart and to be in safety with her kids. That night, not even the soap operas brought her any peace of mind and she decided to change channels without any defined objective, but with a nervous tic of someone who cannot remain still. When she passed by the news channels, she saw how the world headed into an abyss. The number of crimes, thefts, aggressions had increased, and the police seemed to be unable to detain vandalism. After one a.m., Marta decided to take some medicine to sleep and went to bed, but not even the drug helped her to calm down and she turned in bed to try to find a comfortable position to sleep, but it seemed impossible to her. She began to notice all the noises around her, from her husband's breathing to a dog's barking in the neighborhood. At four in the morning, she heard a strange noise and thought of waking up her husband, but then she wondered that perhaps it was nothing and decided to drink a glass of milk and check for the third time if all the doors and windows of the house were closed. When she entered the kitchen, she heard an argument from far away and what seemed to be some screams. She lost control again and decided to go to bed, but this time, when she got in the bedroom, she woke Gustavo, who asked her if everything is all right. Almost crying, Marta asked him for them to go to Lentiscais that day; she could not stand one more night at home. Gustavo promised they would go at the end of the afternoon. Only then did Marta manage to sleep.

Gustavo woke up in high spirits after ten hours of sleep. He followed his normal routine in the morning and left the house to go to work; he thought this could be his last day of work in the City Hall, after more than ten years. In his short trip to the bullring, it was evident there was something different: there were less cars, fewer people, more trash in the streets and more places to park the car.

When he arrived at the building, its door was closed and only then did he realize that there were more colleagues at the entry. For the first time, in the decade he had lived as a worker, did he see the building door closed at nine in the morning. The receptionist, who opened the door at eight, had not come to work and his colleagues discussed whether it was worth waiting for someone or do as a high percentage of the other City Hall's workers and go away to wait for the situation to normalize. However, someone had already called Viláres, who had a copy of the key and was already on the way.

When Viláres arrived, the few employees who waited there entered the building, and Gustavo headed to his working place. For that day, he had planned to copy as much information about different subject as possible, to obtain a kind of large library that would help him in the society that would be created. He downloaded manuals, books, movies, music, pictures and everything in which he had some interest for the new society that would emerge. During all morning, he dedicated himself to this task and his boss did not leave his office, which was strange.

At lunchtime, Gustavo decided to go have lunch at home; he was a little worried about Marta and wanted to give her some instructions about things to prepare to take. The city lunchroom was closed due to the lack of personnel and, above all, due to the lack of food. Marta welcomed him gladly, and they both made plans to depart as soon as possible.

The afternoon elapsed quickly, and, after having finished recording the enormous amount of material into his hard drives, he decided to pay Sérgio a quick visit, in the parking lot, to say goodbye to him. Gustavo told him he was going to spend some days in the village to wait for things to calm down, while Sérgio did not have any intention of abandoning his working place or his house.

He returned to his desk and began to get things ready to leave. He took plenty of material home, in addition to the hard drives, he took some of City Hall's IT material, which could even be considered theft, but before leaving, he went to say goodbye to his boss, Viláres.

"You've been hushed, boss, have you been planning any tricks?" – Gustavo said as he entered his room.

Viláres, who was looking deeply at the computer screen, smiled when he saw Gustavo coming in and leaned back against the chair, he took off his glasses and lit a cigarette. He was preparing to have a nice chat with Gustavo.

"What have you been preparing, Gustavo? I have found you strange these past few days."

Gustavo released a slight laughter.

"Strange, me? Or society?"

"Sure, but you've been planning something; today you certainly didn't do any of your work, what have you been planning?"

"Well, boss, I just want to be part of the 15% that will remain around, and in the last weeks, I've been preparing for this."

"You're a born programmer; you program your life as if it was a computer program" – they both laughed. – "You know, I think you will be here on Monday, working; to me, this is just an enormous joke."

"Perhaps you're right, and I will be pleased to be here on Monday to tell you that you're right, but, in my opinion, it's highly possible this is the last time we see each other."

Gustavo stood up and stretched his right hand to his boss for a handshake, who put the almost finished cigarette in the astray and approached Gustavo and embraced him.

"If this is our farewell, then I want you to know I enjoyed working with you, boy."

"Me too, boss, I learned a lot from you and I thank you for everything."

Gustavo left a little emotional from Viláres' office, with a knot in his throat, not only for the farewell, but also for leaving behind a decade of his life, one page of his life that was becoming history. As he made his way to the place where his car was parked, he remembered the good moments he had spent there, his colleagues, his contribution to the city, and he thought it would be a pity that all this would have an end, that maybe this was a lie and that next week everything would return to normal, but he recalled the robbery, the power and the adrenaline he had felt and he thought it was past the time to turn the page, he wanted to feel that power again and it wouldn't be in City Hall that he would feel it.

When he got home, he found Marta taking care of the last preparations for the departure. Gustavo began to put the bags and sacks in the car. One hour later, the car was full and ready to leave. He closed the main door of his house and kept the key in his pocket. Before getting into the car, he thought that maybe that was the last time he looked at the house, and he relived the memories of his kids running around the house, their smiles and some good moments he had lived there; once again, he had to struggle not to let the knot in the throat make him surrender. He sat behind the wheel and they drove to Lentiscais.

# THE EXPECTATION

The trip was fine and in less than two hours, they arrived at their destination. During the journey, Gustavo realized that Marta was uneasy, nervous, and with too much anxiety to see her kids. On more than one occasion, she called her parents in Barrancos to confirm that next day they would come to Lentiscais, and that they did not forget anything important.

They arrived late at night, the village seemed to be already asleep, there was nobody in the street, a few lights shone inside the houses, and only in the village's social center, some life could be seen.

At that time, Lentiscais had a little more than two hundred inhabitants who were mostly elderly people. The village was old, and as it was confirmed, it was created by a group of herders from Estrela Mountain, who had come from the mountain during the cold winters in search of more edible pastures for their cattle. Then, little by little, they settled in the village, which began to increase gradually in population. From those times, there were only two vestiges: the village's patron saint that was Blessed Mother of Estrela Mountain and the nickname many inhabitants and descendants of the village had: Serrano (Highland). At the beginning of the twentieth century, the village had a population of more than a thousand people, and all the lands around it were cultivated. But with the arrival of the fifties/sixties, occurred the agricultural exodus and the immigration of a large part of the young population, which left the village in search of a better quality of life. Since then, the village kept on losing its inhabitants. The elementary school was closed, the cafés closed-down until only the café of the so-called Casa do Povo remained, which also served as a social center and Day Center for the elder people. There were no supermarkets, and to acquire different products, the dwellers had to go to Castelo Branco, which was about 12 miles from there or wait for the street vendors who passed around every day. The village depended strongly on the closest city, Castelo Branco, and it was the only place with some public transport connection thanks to the buses. There were only two daily buses: the first one came around very early, at seven in the morning, and the one at the end of the afternoon, at seven p.m.

In the last years, they had seen an increase of the population during the weekend, namely from people who lived in some city, but that spent the weekend at the village in search of rest, fishing, hunting or simply delighting in nature. Thus, the number of second houses or country houses had increased. The urban core of the village was small and situated, especially, along the main road that crossed it. And those were in their majority, old houses that had been passed down through generations, while the houses that were away from the main road were very recent and some even had a swimming pool.

When they got home, both the children and Gustavo's parents were still awake. All were glad for being together, from outside the house they could hear happy voices, funny laughter and the screams of joy of children who had been allowed to keep the adults company that night.

Next day, Thursday, Gustavo was convinced that the attack would happen, he had calculated this because they had appeared on Saturday and made their threat the next Friday, so the attack had to take place that day. Marta was much more relaxed; she helped Antónia with lunch. It was arranged that her parents would arrive at lunchtime. Gustavo and Joaquim prepared the room for the future tenants.

The house that Joaquim inherited from his father had undergone several changes. Originally, the house was a two-story house, the ground floor was where the cattle remained and some five small rooms existed upstairs. The kitchen and the bathroom were separated from the main house. When he inherited the house, Joaquim transformed the ground floor completely: he built a garage for his car, a living room, that was seldom used, and a large bathroom with a huge bath. The five rooms upstairs became three. Now they were larger bedrooms and all of which a window to the outside. The kitchen remained separated from the main building, but now it was a modern kitchen with a small bathroom and between the main portion and the kitchen, there was a small space that was occupied with a barbecue, a small plastic swimming pool for their grandchildren to play in the summer and a hammock where Joaquim slept his summer siestas. In the back, there was an abandoned backyard 160 feet long and 50 feet wide. Gustavo's grandfather had used it previously as a home garden and an orchard; there were still many fruit trees that Joaquim watered religiously. In the backyard, there was also a pigsty and a chicken coop that fallen into disarrange with time and lack of use, but that Joaquim refused to take down.

A little before one p.m., Marta's parents arrived. They had come, especially due to the insistence of their daughter and because Maria wanted to go for a drive and leave Barrancos. They thought that society was hysterical and that nothing was going to happen, that being the reason why they had only brought a few things, a few clothes for the weekend and some pig meat of the last butchering. The relationship between the parents was good. They had similar ages and the women liked to cook, talk about the house tasks and about the grandchildren; while the men were quieter, they especially enjoyed drinking wine and talking about agriculture. They spent the afternoon between the kitchen and the single café in the village, A Casa do Povo. Gustavo could still find time to meet with Norton and talk about the eventual attack, but the afternoon and the night went by peacefully, and no attack occurred. At night, the three couples occupied their respective rooms, and Alice and Diogo slept with their parents in the same room, in an old sofa bed there was in the house.

Friday morning, Antónia asked Gustavo to call his brother again. She was more and more concerned, Hélder did not say anything and she was afraid that something had happened. Gustavo promised he would try again that afternoon.

"Couldn't it be now? Because we arranged with your parents-in-law to take a walk through some villages around the area."

"Really? When?"

"After lunch, don't you want to come with us?"

"We've come here to protect ourselves from society and from an eventual attack, and you tell me you're going to take a walk?"

"We will not get into trouble, we're going to a few small villages like Lentiscais, we need to go out a little. Besides, your parents-in-law think that nothing will happen and I'm starting to think that they're right."

"God willing, mother, but my parents-in-law live in a parallel world where, on Earth there have never been dinosaurs, where man didn't come from the monkey and where there's no craft on the Moon." – Gustavo lowered the tone of voice fearing that his parents-in-law could hear.

"Come on, forget about such prejudices, and go make the call."

"It's now still dawn in Ontario. I'll make the call when you come from the walk."

Before lunchtime, Gustavo had something important to say, he had bought several hens and one pig, and it was time to take them to the yard. He knew his father would not like the news, but he could not hide the animals. He managed to find his father alone in the backyard, watering the trees and saw it was the opportunity.

"Father, I bought some things in case we are stuck here for a while and that may solve a few problems." – Gustavo said with a resolute air, although inside he still feared his father's reaction. – "I bought some hens and a little piglet."

"What? Are you serious?" – Joaquim dropped what he was doing and looked at his son, both surprised and annoyed. – "Are you crazy? What are you going to do with these animals? Leave them here? You are throwing money through the window."

"Take it easy, what's the problem? The money is mine and the animals will solve the problem if there's an attack, otherwise, I will sell them to Norton, I have everything planned out." – Gustavo managed to defend himself and lied concerning the supposed sale to Norton; he knew that if he had to get rid of the animals, he would have to give them to someone in the village.

"You've been taking things too seriously, Gustavo. First, canned food and the solar sets, then the medicines and now the animals. Don't you think you're losing control?"

"Losing control? Half of Lisbon and half of the world are in chaos, there's a craft in the Moon that threatens to destroy everything and you hang around here planning walks and I'm the one who's going crazy? I honestly do hope that I'm the crazy one and that nothing happens, and that on Monday we may all go back to our little lives; but, just in case this doesn't happen, I'm prepared for a new beginning."

There was silence. They came to a conclusion that they had exaggerated, and Gustavo expected some words from his father, who made him wait a little more and then he said in a calm voice.

"Leave the animals here, but calm down. You've been taking this with too much paranoia."

When they went to have lunch, Gustavo realized by the face of his mother that she was aware of the animals and her expression was of disapproval. Right after lunch, all of them left for a walk, except for Gustavo, who would prepare the chicken coop and the pigsty for the animals to get in. He was afraid that the attack could happen then, but Marta did not pay attention to him and decided to take the kids with her.

Little by little, Gustavo felt he was losing credibility with his family. The more time went by, and no attack happened, the more they looked at Gustavo as a frantic paranoid, which increased with the arrival of his parents-in-law who mocked the population's general paranoia. He saw his family depart with some pain, he hoped that nothing happened, because he would not forgive himself for allowing them to go out and especially, he would not live without his children.

During the afternoon, he met Norton. The two of them prepared the chicken coop and the pigsty and then they brought the animals from Norton's warehouse to Gustavo's backyard. It was actually weird to have hens and pigs in that backyard again, so many years after. While they worked, Gustavo made Norton aware of his concern.

"I'm starting to think that the attack may come some weeks from now or even one month, or not even happen, Norton."

"There's no sense in what you're saying. In the message they said they would give time for the families to say goodbye, they've already given one week; I think it's enough."

"You think so, but they are ahead. I hope all of this work amounts to something. Have you heard them talking about our robbery in the local news?"

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, there was a little piece in the Castelo Branco's Columnist, they wrote there had been several robberies these days and one of which was the drugstore, but without victims and little material damages. The police were in search of clues."

"Do you think they'll be able to get to us?"

"I think it's difficult. The plan was as arranged, if someone saw us leaving we may have a problem, but they lack evidence, in addition, it was a small and insignificant crime in the middle of the current catastrophic situation."

After they finished the work, they went to the Casa do Povo to drink some beers and see who was around. The Casa do Povo was a two-story building, very large and had been constructed on the beginning of the eighties. The café was downstairs, but it had many other utilities, it served as a place for special lunches and dinners among the partners and dwellers, meetings, parties, small concerts and even gym classes for the elderly. The offices were upstairs, both for the Support Committee of Lentiscais and for the Day Center.

The Support Committee of Lentiscais was a dweller and partners' association whose objective was to improve the quality of life in the village and act as the advocate before the City Hall and the Parish Council of Castelo Branco; their representatives were elected by votes.

Behind the building, there was a small terrain with some olive trees planted and another building, the Day Center. This building was smaller and was mainly intended to support the elderly population with their daily problems.

After having greeted the people who were in the café, Norton and Gustavo sat at a table along with other men who were in the place. There were some clients and they noticed, by the passing of automobiles that there were more people arriving at the village. Normally the population at the weekend doubled, but in that one, it was an open question; on the one hand, a great part of the gas stations were closed, which made travelling around difficult, but, on the other hand, being able to escape the fear that was felt in the cities made Lentiscais attractive. In the café, the conversations were almost the same, between hunting, fishing, agriculture and soccer. Now they also talked about the increase in robberies and the lack of security they were living in the cities and the possible lack of products there could be if normality did not return.

No attack occurred, and Gustavo went back home crestfallen and a little drunk, thinking of the possibility of his parents-in-law being right: nothing would happen and society was a little nuts, and the blame was on the computers and the Internet, which only served to frighten people. When he got home, he found all his family preparing to have dinner; they were excited with the walk and his kids were happy and surprised for seeing a pig and hens in the backyard. His mother asked him to make the call to Hélder, and Gustavo agreed and went to get the computer.

Gustavo was expecting to find his unfriendly sister-in-law on the other side, giving him evasive answers, or not finding anyone. But to his surprise, his brother picked-up the phone quickly.

"Hélder, is it you?"

"Yes, Gus, how's going? How long!"

Gustavo was surprised, not only for talking to his brother, but also for his high spirits and happiness.

"Well, Brother, I missed you, are you OK?"

"I'm fine, here things are a little crazy with a few riots in the main cities, but I live in a small place and we're safe at the moment."

Soon after, his mother talked to Hélder. She could not hide the emotion to be able to talk to her son. Gustavo became even more surprised when Hélder asked to talk to Joaquim, and with his nephew, Diogo. At the end of the call, all were surprised by Hélder's behavior, who could be months without giving news and then showed an enormous joy to be able to talk to his family. It was evident that the atmosphere they lived in that house was of joy, satisfaction, relaxation and friendship. The only disagreeing element was Gustavo, who saw one more day elapse without any attack and saw through the news that little by little, society was becoming peaceful again. He was not happy; he was concerned that there was no attack, or worse, that the attack was actually a long time from now. The presence of his parents-in-law also did not help, he did not like them, they were too simple and ignorant, and the constant statements, in which they ridiculed his purchases, were putting him on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Gustavo slept badly at night and when he woke up in the morning, everything was the same. The only difference was some rain that fell. During the whole day, he looked at the sky waiting for something to happen, but from the sky only some drops fell, which made the earth smell different. The television showed that they began to re-open the stores, malls and hypermarkets in Lisbon and in the rest of the world, the situation was calming down. Marta talked on the phone to her boss and he had told her they would resume production on Monday. Obviously, Marta informed her husband that next day, Sunday, they had to return home. His parents-in-law were already packing, the following morning they would return to Barrancos. They only wanted to visit Maria's cousin in Castelo Branco, and then, they would depart. Gustavo felt defeated, he could not do anything for his family to remain there. Even worse, he felt disappointed with the aliens, who had threatened and not lived up to the threat. In addition, he couldn't stand anymore the jokes from his parents-in-law concerning the animals that were in the backyard.

"Now you can take back the piglet to your house, in Lisbon, and make a pigsty there in your backyard, I'm sure your neighbors have never seen a pig."

"Not in the backyard, put it in the bath. It's better" – his father-in-law said and couldn't finish the sentence from all the laughing.

It was a long and hard day for Gustavo, who, finally managed to convince Marta to leave Lentiscais on Monday very early, instead of Sunday. He slept badly again during the night. Just the idea of going back to work on Monday made him sleepless. He tried to find some logic for the delay in the attack and concluded that possibly the time notion varies from species to species, from planet to planet and if there would be an attack, it would be impossible to guess when it would be.

Sunday morning, almost everyone were packing to return to their everyday lives. His parents-in-law would visit said cousin in the morning, and then, they would still come to have lunch, before departing to Barrancos again. Gustavo and Marta also took the chance to start packing up the clothes and the kids' toys.

Marta went out with her parents in their car to see their relative in Castelo Branco, as Gustavo served breakfast to his children. Then he went to treat his new domestic animals. While he fed them, he thought about finding a solution for the animals as of tomorrow, and he figured he would give them to Norton or to Zeca. He went out through the backyard and got to his terrains that were a little more than ten minutes on foot from there. There, he sat down among his oak-trees; possibly his favorite place, and in silence, he heard, as usual, the water running through the Ponsul River, and the birds were singing around him. He looked at the oak-trees and confirmed how beautiful and healthy they were, that the rain that had fallen on the day before had been good for them. However, no matter how he wanted to contemplate nature, his head led him automatically to what was to happen the next day. He would return to Vila Franca's City Hall, go back to his routine; he would have to face the councilor, and this time he would be at a clear disadvantage. He would return to his life of a bad public employee and to his failed marriage. The creation of the list had brought some adrenaline to his life, some hope in something new, in some sort of change. And now, there he was in one of his favorite places and he was thinking that he had failed, that the poor emotion he had for life had led him to the exaggeration of spending too much money, putting at risk his working place, and even worse, putting in risk his freedom after an unnecessary robbery.

While he was immersed in these thoughts, he saw his father open the old gated of the property and approach him. Gustavo sighed and imagined that he would now have to hear his old father give him a moral lesson about life; accept your mistakes and don't fly into paranoia or exaggerations. That was exactly what he did not want right now, he had come to that place to be alone and now he would hear his father in a speech about common sense.

Joaquim approached and when he was at about ten ft. from Gustavo, they heard an enormous explosion in the distance; they felt the floor trembling as if it was an earthquake, they both looked at the direction of Castelo Branco and saw a large cloud of dust coming from the floor and over a very small craft. The explosions happened in a vertiginous manner and in little time, the craft disappeared among the dust and reached the entire city of Castelo Branco on its extension, going up higher and higher. Surprisingly, there was an airplane that tried to get away from the powder cloud, but it was reached by a kind of ray, lost control and fell away from the place where the two of them were. Gustavo recalled the airplane from his dream, and that moment looked like a déjà vu. Everything happened so quickly that they did not have time to react and only when they did not hear any more explosions, did they start running in the house's direction.

# A NEW BEGINNING

In the streets the inhabitants seemed to be incredulous about was happening; there was every kind of reaction, from those who cried and screamed in horror, to those who were quiet and looked at the enormous cloud that covered Castelo Branco in the horizon. Gustavo ran at high speed going home, followed by his father behind. He was relieved to see that his son was well, on a bicycle along with another friend as they looked at the dust cloud. In the backyard, Alice played with flowers and small stones without giving much importance to what was happening, while Antónia cried and prayed lowly with a crucifix in her hand. Gustavo thought of Marta, he was shocked when he recalled that she could still be in Castelo Branco. In an automatic reaction, he took his mobile and tried to call her; a few seconds later he realized there's no network, that possibly there will be no network and probably there will be no electricity.

Several minutes went by, and Gustavo stood in the backyard, trying to realize everything that was around him, but his mind was slow, almost without reaction, he didn't know what to do first; it was Norton who appeared with the car they had used for a few days to rob the drugstore.

"Do you want to come to Castelo Branco, to see this closely?" – Norton asked inside the car. Zeca was at the back of it.

"OK. Let's see it."

Gustavo said goodbye to his parents and children and promised he was coming back soon, that he was going to try to find Marta and his parents-in-law. His parents were very shocked and asked him to be careful.

During the trip, Zeca could not conceal his joy for what had happened. He spoke loudly and with euphoria about how they had prepared themselves and that now, they would have more chances of surviving. Gustavo realized that Norton was worried and sad, and that he did not share Zeca's gladness, surely, because he had someone in Castelo Branco or he would be concerned about his parents who were in Paris and had refused to come to Lentiscais.

"Zeca, my wife was in Castelo Branco when this happened; it's possible that I'm a widower. Certainly all of us have just lost relatives, friends and acquaintances."

Only then did Zeca realize that his two friends were not euphoric like him. He thought a little about Gustavo's words and could not think of anyone he could miss. The road to Castelo Branco was empty, usually it had a few cars, but now they seemed to be the only ones on the road. In the middle of the way, they stopped, looked at Ponsul River and observed something strange, the flow that was usually large and still was now much more narrow and low, as if it was a river with swift currents.

"What happened here?" – Zeca asked.

"They surely destroyed Monte Fidalgo's dam." – Norton answered.

They followed the road with the uncertainty of what they could find next. Until they arrived at Castelo Branco, they crossed two cars; their occupants made signals with the hands and shouted for them not to go to the city. There was tension inside the car that increased as they approached Castelo Branco.

When they finished a curve, Norton's car stopped. Before them was the limit of the city, but this city did not exist anymore. Instead, there was a lot of dust, a kind of mist that did not allow them to see anything. This mist did not twist, it seemed static, and it was like a white barrier that went from the soil to the clouds. It was astonishing and frightful.

After several minutes looking at that, Gustavo decided to advance slowly through the mist, the other two remained rigid, behind, asking him to beware. When Gustavo tried to advance through the white layer, he felt a repugnant odor and then his eyes start burning and he found himself with difficulty to breathe. He quickly returned coughing and his two fellows help him recompose. They sat in a stone that was behind them, for Gustavo to be able to recover and they all looked at that white phenomenon as if it was a terrible spectacle.

Then Gustavo realized the world he knew had ended. He had just watched the biggest massacre of all his life, hundreds or thousands of cities would be covered with that white smoke. Nothing would be the same, the planet Earth had been attacked. He remembered Marta and the first tear ran down his face, more than for his wife, he cried for the mother of his children. His kids from now on would grow without mother. He shed more tears for his friends of Cacém, for his workmates from Vila Franca, for Eva and for his brother. He was slowly piecing everything together and then he remembered his parents-in-law were also dead, he thought about the possibility that they had finally realized that he was right in having bought all that, he believed that the last thought in those simple beings' minds had been that he, Gustavo, had been right. He also remembered the councilor, Antunes, and let out a little laughter. His mood was changing, that was the past, and now there was a future and he was planning his future the best possible and, above all, the upbringing of his kids. It was time to get to work to survive.

When he returned to Lentiscais, his thoughts were already in the next tasks he would have. When he got home, he confirmed there was no water getting out of the faucet nor electricity. He began to install his renewable power sets through the house and backyard. That afternoon he decided to make a kind of nursery in the yard to germinate the seeds and begin to produce foods. His dedication and energy made his parents draw his attention.

"Stop this a bit, mourn your wife a little. It even seems that you're happy that this occurred."

Those two sentences made Gustavo think he could get back at them for all the humiliation and accusations of negligence they had made during this weekend.

"My dear parents" – Gustavo begins with a cynical air. – "What you have to do first is to thank me for the fact that we are alive. I've brought you here, I managed to make a list and purchase all the food we will certainly eat in the coming days, I bought these hens and the pig for us to eat, I bought power, gasoline, water, medicines, etc. What you did during this weekend was to mock me, laugh along with my sad parents-in-law for the things I have bought and that now are worth gold. I haven't walked around here to see the little villages, I have prepared myself for this, I'm your single chance to survive and it's obvious that I didn't want this to happen. But I couldn't do anything else aside from what I did, protecting my people, and please, mother, don't talk to me about mourning, because what we need to do is to start working to have food on the table and not stay around crying, especially for Marta and her parents who were warned by me about the risk they ran, but I was crazy, obsessed, paranoid. The solution now is organization, and what I expect from you is support."

After this speech, his parents remained some moments still, trying to assimilate all that their son had said, they were a little afraid of how he was dealing with the situation, he seemed to be happy for the attack, but they thought he was possibly right: with him, the possibilities of survival increased clearly.

The next days passed by in the village, and the resident population knew the solution for survival of each one was agriculture, hunting and fishing. The lands abandoned before or those dedicated for forest production were now once again being used by the population. The news that arrived in the village was that the main cities of the country did not exist anymore. Only the small villages like Lentiscais had survived.

Gustavo had already organized his house according to his ideas and rules. Antónia looked after the house, the grandchildren and fed the animals. Gustavo and Joaquim worked in the field, tried to cultivate his lands with potato, wheat, oat, rye, broad beans, pumpkins, etc. and in the nursery, they had species like cucumber, lettuce, strawberries, peas, etc. In addition, along with Norton and Zeca, they were trying to put solar panels on the roofs of their respective houses to obtain electricity, which they managed to do some time later.

It was obvious that the obtainment of electricity, along with a well-taken care of a nursery with several seeds led many people of the village to go to Gustavo's house in search of some help or a fair exchange. Gustavo began to commercialize the seeds and with the help of electricity, the production increased largely. This large production also brought some envy from others, but Gustavo always tried to be fair with everyone and supplied his products and services in exchange for something, from bread, eggs, wine, fruits, greens, cheese, etc. He rarely accepted money. He preferred to receive consumer goods. Little by little, his backyard was a business center, a kind of small market, where the money had less and less value.

Norton and Zeca, who also had solar panels on the roof, and consequently power, also lived much better than the other inhabitants did. The three friends also had three solar panels remaining, but Gustavo made them promise they would not tell anyone about the existence of such panels, he had a clear idea for each of them.

The village had several primary problems, the water deposit existing there had stopped distributing water due to the lack of power and people had turned to search for water in the old fountains that had previously served as a supply for the population. Only at the end of the eighties did the village leave the fountains for their tap water. The problem was that after so many years of abandonment these fountains were now dry and full of sludge. It took everybody's help to get some water from them again. Another problem was the lack of petrol, which caused more and more tractors to be stuck in place. In addition, there were far too few donkeys and carts to transport the materials. There were not any oxen either to cultivate the lands having been replaced by the tractors. Truth be told, there were no bovine species in the village, and for this reason, all the milk they had was from the goats. To make matters worse, many houses and lands without their owners present in the village were occupied without any rule, in a kind of law of the jungle. For all these reasons, the Lentiscais Support Committee, with an order from its president, Jorge Proença, issued a note for an extraordinary meeting with all the residents and stakeholders.

Jorge Proença was a seventy-year-old man, who had been the founder of the committee twenty years ago and its president since then, elected by the associates every four years. He was a man who knew everyone in the village and everybody knew him. During all of his life he had worked in the City Hall of Castelo Branco, he had started off as a street sweeper, but, as an intelligent and ambitious person, he studied and went up to the ranks all the way up to the position of a labor inspector. He took advantage of his position as a supervisor to charge illegally some extra money from the contributors, in addition to obtaining several kinds of favors, as rumors had it. He married a woman who was also from Lentiscais, and they had always lived there, in a simple and comfortable house, where they had had four children. The creation of the Committee was, to him, a project with two objectives: the first was helping the village's development and the second to be able to relate with the political class of Castelo Branco and get some points with the Democrat Social Party, in which he was an activist. As a president of the Committee, Proença was the target of several criticisms by the population, especially for his inertia and lack of transparency, and they said that he kept some of the funds he received from the City Hall; however, nobody had ever run against his list.

He was a widower for almost ten years, and he lived only with a single daughter who had remained there. The other sons lived either in Lisbon or in Castelo Branco and had all died in the attack. The death of his sons had led Proença to a state of great sadness and depression, all his patrimony, acquired with great effort, would be delivered to his only single daughter who had never shown a large interest in the properties of her father. Over time, Proença thought it was time the Committee played an important role to establish some order in the current situation of the village. He believed this would be his greatest and maybe the last contribution to his homeland and decided to request an extraordinary meeting where he would play the role of the wise leader who would bring peace and common sense to the population, he would arrange new elections for his position, where he would be willing to not participate should there be someone younger, in whom he could find capacity to lead; under the condition that he would be behind the curtains giving out the wise advice of an experimented person.

When Gustavo learned about the future meeting, he got very interested in its accomplishment, he wanted to know details of it and read several times the internal rules of the Committee. According to Proença's note, he had said they cooperated with the ideas and proposals to improve the relationship among all of them; this made Gustavo begin to outline, little by little, a speech with his ideas. First, he wrote these ideas and, over the next few days, he kept on including phrases and improving the speech; then he obliged himself to know it by heart to make it sound as if all of that speech was something natural and spontaneous.

Although Gustavo shared many of his neighbors' problems, his life was clearly easier. The simple fact of having electricity changed his position radically, in addition to having several canned foods and a good reserve of drinking water. However, he also had common problems with his neighbors; he had no tractor nor donkey or ox, which meant it was too difficult to cultivate the land and transport the agricultural materials. These difficulties made him think about contacting Afonso Serrano.

Afonso Serrano was a cattleman, a rancher, from a neighboring village of Lentiscais, named Alfrívida. He had a small exploration, from which he sold milk and meat for Castelo Branco's market, both he and his son lived from the business and obviously, like everyone else, they tried to adapt to those new times. When he learned of the existence of this exploration, Gustavo decided to go pay Afonso a visit, along with Norton. They drove the small seven-mile trip that separated the two villages. Gustavo, who had already little gasoline, expected to obtain great results from this contact.

Alfrívida was a village a little smaller than Lentiscais, with only a hundred and fifty inhabitants; the people lived with the same problems, except for the fact that in this village there was a bigger concentration of bovine cattle.

When Gustavo and Norton arrived at the exploration, Afonso and his son, Pedro, were at the door and were surprised to see someone still driving. The surprise turned into apprehension to see the two of them getting out of the car and heading towards them. Only when they were ten ft. away, did Pedro recognize Norton and the apprehension became surprise again.

"What brings you here, Norton?" – And he stretched his hand to greet him.

"I've come to introduce a friend and make you a proposal."

Before they began talking about business, the four of them complained about mankind's situation, the several dangers and the lack of first need goods.

"Norton and I have electricity in our houses, I know it sounds like bullshit, but it's true. And it's to show this that it would be a pleasure to take you to Lentiscais to see that with your own eyes and then we could drink a nice fresh beer."

"And why have you come here?" – Asked Pedro, who was a man Gustavo's age and was very perceptive as business was concerned.

"We have an electric panel sufficiently large for you to have electricity in your house and what we want in exchange is some of your cattle."

Gustavo went straight to the point, and in little time, he and Pedro got along perfectly and even seemed to know each other for a long time. Pedro Serrano was the kind of inhabitant who did not match that village. He had a degree in Agricultural Engineering, was divorced with one son, who lived with him, he had a rock band that on weekends played in little bars and festivals, he almost always wore black, had his hair always shaved and far more cultured than the typical Portuguese. Pedro quickly saw in this, not only a chance for business, but also of getting out of his banal life. They got in the car and went to confirm the veracity of those facts. For Pedro, meeting Gustavo was like the sea-breeze on a hot summer day, he was tired of dealing with the same people and saw in him a person of his same species.

When they arrived at Gustavo's, both Afonso and his son could not conceal their surprise for the comfortable way he lived with his family. They had light in the entire house, computers connected, music, a fridge and a freezer cabinet, microwave oven, a washing machine and all the facilities they had had, in addition to a nursery that works under electricity. After having obtained the reaction he expected from his visitors, Gustavo put the cards on the table.

"I will give you a solar panel, with the same capacity as mine, and I will mount it for you, and in exchange, I want two cows and two oxen."

"Both the cows and the oxen are worth more than this panel" – Pedro said.

"Before the attack they sure were, but not now. Keep in mind that I have something rare and very valuable in these times and you have bovine cattle that I can find in another village."

Pedro knew he could not let go of the opportunity to do business with Gustavo; he knew he was right and he did not want to get into a very complicated negotiation. Thus, in a short time, they came to an agreement: in addition to the two cows and two oxen that Gustavo asked, he also managed to take a plow and a cart. In exchange, he gave them some medicines he did not expect to use and a rifle from the immense arsenal supplied by Zeca; but the most important part of that negotiation was the creation of a friendship and trust between Gustavo and Pedro, which would soon grow. They both talked about creating a connection between the two villages, some form of cooperation for them to get out of the isolation to which they were confined. Gustavo invited Pedro for the committee meeting to be able to see and hear some of the ideas he and his companions had in mind.

With the change carried out, Gustavo now had the set of oxen with which he could replace the tractors in his work; he knew it would be a matter of time until the gasoline ended and then he would use these animals. As for the cows, these were treated as if they were in some place in India, they were sacred. Early in the morning, Joaquim milked the cows, a process Gustavo intended to learn, and then several people of the village appeared to trade. Gustavo never said no to anyone, he even gave milk for free to families, especially if they had children. Both in selling the milk and in renting the oxen, he was not a greedy businessman, quite the contrary, his objective was very different, he had in mind a sort of favor with interest, that is, today he was losing in the business, but should he need something he would want this favor repaid and he always said the same to people: "when I need you, don't you fail me, alright?" or "today you, tomorrow me".

Who did not like this kind of business was Zeca, his partner along with Norton. To Zeca, they were being ingenuous and they could get much more money or goods with those animals, but Gustavo always convinced Zeca by saying they would receive with interest and this return was forthcoming.

Gustavo, who had always been unnoticed in the village, was now possibly the most influent man in it. When he entered the Casa do Povo, there was always someone wanted to talk to him about some trading, some order or even some advice. He liked this position and he wanted even more, he had in mind a well-outlined plan for his future and for the future of the village. He was slowly earning the trust, and getting to know the most influential people of the place, he felt that everything was going according to plan, and the great strike would be given in the future meeting of Lentiscais' Support Meeting.

His everyday was hard and laborious. Early in the morning, he helped his father with the cows and made the trades with the people who wanted milk or some product from the nursery, later he went to his lands and worked with the oxen and if these were rented to someone, he worked in the cultivation of any species, taking off weeds or watering the plants, since summer was already beginning and until it ended it would be too hot and dry, as it usual is in those areas. When he returned home, after taking a shower with water from the fountain, he tried to teach his kids some school lessons from their books, especially Diogo, the oldest one. After dinner, he would always go to the Casa do Povo, where he met with the local population and generally, he ended up talking until late with Norton, about future plans.

His parents were proud of their son's behavior and for the attention and care he gave them, by increasing the volume of business; both Antónia and Joaquim remained at home taking care of the animals, the nursery and especially, their grandchildren, and occasionally Joaquim went to help Gustavo with the agricultural works in the lands. However, they had a doubt that consumed them, Gustavo kept an enormous amount of medicine that were impossible to have been obtained by legal means. One day, when they saw him in high spirits and willing to speak, they asked him about the origin of the said drugs. Gustavo gave them a poor excuse and changed both his mood and subject immediately. His parents confirmed the suspicions that there was something dark in the acquisition of those medicines and decided to harass him with more questions, still, they were thankful that he had managed to get so many and for being so dedicated to the family.

In addition to Alfrívida, two more villages were close to Lentiscais and had survived the attack. Malpica do Tejo and Monforte da Beira; the first was twelve miles southwest of Lentiscais and was the largest of the neighboring villages, with five hundred inhabitants and the only one to have its own Parish Council and even a small Republican National Guardhouse (GNR). It was the village with the greatest wealth of features, and had even an iron mine that had been deactivated a short time ago. It was administered both by the president of the Council and by the GNR commander, who had kept the people calm and tried to adapt to the new times in the best way. The lack of essential goods like food and medicines was the main problem, and then there was the abuse of some GNR officers, with the consent of the president of the council, with whom they had the partition of the lands, securing the best parts to them and their families.

The other village, Monforte da Beira, still had severe problems. It was eighteen miles Northeast of Lentiscais and thirteen miles North of Malpica, and its population, of four hundred inhabitants, were totally divided, on one side was the gypsy population and on the other side were the non-gypsies. The first had settled many years ago in the village and its number had increased. After the attack, a group of gypsies who lived close to Castelo Branco and had been saved from the attack had joined the Monforte da Beira's gypsies, making up 35% of the population. These complained that the best lands were in the hands of the non-gypsies and the partition of these lands was made in a racist manner. Then, the tension began to increase between them, little by little, making the non-gypsies accuse the gypsies of stealing animals and food during the night, while the gypsies said it was all a conspiracy to denigrate their image. Even during the day, it was possible to feel the tension between the two groups, which was increasing and let the village close to a civil war.

# THE MEETING

One month went by and the situation of Gustavo and Lentiscais did not change, everyone tried to adapt in the best way they could to the new reality and obtain food to be able to survive. The meeting arranged by Proença, and so anticipated by Gustavo, was finally about to take place. Gustavo already had his speech more than prepared; he had repeated it many times while he treated his agricultural tasks, or when he went to take water from the fountains and when he was at home, in front of some mirror.

Curiously, on the eve of the meeting, the village had undergone a theft during the night. Some thieves had got into the village and taken hens and vegetables, especially in the most isolated areas of the village. The damages were considerable and let the inhabitants in anger for this cowardice. Nobody knew nor had concrete proof, but almost all people blamed the gypsies from Monforte. Rumors had it that some agriculturists had seen gypsies prowling around the lands asking if there was work for them. To Gustavo, who had been unharmed from this theft, those news came to help him in his speech and he added a few sentences about this problem to his original speech.

The meeting was going to happen in the Casa do Povo, in the main area, the room was already prepared with several tables lined up together and five chairs behind them that belonged to the current direction of the committee, and in front of these tables there was a sea of chairs and seats for the interested people to be able to listen and take part in the meeting. Gustavo had arranged with Zeca, Norton and Pedro where each of them should seat, everybody should be away from each other and whenever there was a pause in his speech; one of them would cheer and encourage the crowd while the remaining ones would applaud and say some encouraging words or a few arranged phrases.

The room filled up with people and soon the chairs were all taken, there were people standing behind the chairs and even others outside of the building who tried to hear what was going on, through the open windows and doors. There was an enormous noise among those present and almost all conversations were about the theft. Gustavo was nervous, he had slept badly that previous night due to the anxiety he had because of this meeting, once again he thought of giving up speaking and pass unnoticed, but once more, he reminded himself that he was fed up with letting others decide his future, that his time had come, he would speak a rehearsed speech, that had been worked daily, and the worst that could happen was creating indifference among the people, and this wasn't a reason of concern for him either. He was ready to put the cards on the table; he had planned that move for too long.

The meeting began half an hour later than forecast due to the attempt of the committee to get more space for those who wanted to hear what was said. It was very hot in the room and there was a clear odor of sweat in the air. Proença finally started the meeting, he raised and lamented he had no microphone to prevent from screaming so much, he also lamented the fact of having prepared the points he wanted to address poorly, because he hadn't expected so many people.

"Well, I request from all of you a little of silence for us to begin this meeting of the Support Committee. The objective of this meeting is simple, we want to know your opinion about several things so that we can improve our village, and to inform you all that this committee reaches the end of its mandate, and that within one month there will be elections to choose the new board of directors. We have decided to do a change in our bylaws and instead of allowing only the partners of the committee, we have decided that the next directive board will be voted by all of Lentiscais' citizens aged above eighteen years old. Thus, we are open to any suggestion, criticism or ideas to improve whatever is necessary."

Proença sat down and drank a little water, he had never made a speech with so many people looking at him, he was nervous and had the impression he had forgotten half of what he had planned to say.

Gustavo's heart was beating at a thousand beats per minute. He recalled feeling like that a few days ago when he robbed the drugstore, but now, he would not do any criminal action, he would speak to many people and it was not a situation to which he was used. He raised and asked for the word with his hand up, the moment he had prepared and dreamed about so much had come.

"I'd like to say some words to all of you present here. First of all I'd like to thank the committee for holding this meeting, which is very necessary in my opinion, and then to thank the enormous affluence of the population present here, which only shows that they are worried about the future. There are many points that are important to be discussed here, the first of which is that we are here alone, there's no State, nor police that may help, as such we will have to create, ourselves, the institutions and guarantee some cooperation so we can have a little bit of order in this society."

First small pause and first round of applause.

"If we don't organize quickly, what happened yesterday may happen with more frequency. Yesterday, some gypsies came from another land and stole what is ours. What was so hard to get and what happened? Nothing. They stole and got away. It's clear that they will come more times; they will steal more and if they are organized and we aren't, they will come in broad daylight and they won't steal only hens and potatoes, they will steal our children and wives, as such, it this is urgent that we get organized."

Pause, and now there was a standing ovation that made Gustavo gain courage and go up on his chair.

"This organization will not serve only to protect against thieves, it will also have to provide conditions for us to have a better quality of life, and for this, it's necessary that all of us are ready to cooperate somehow in society. We have people here that may help our village in several ways, the physician Grilo, or my mother, who is a nurse, they are both retired, but they surely may help in the medical part. We also have mechanics, fishers, hunters, dentists, and teachers for the children, computer technicians, like me, there are electricians, police officers and firefighters. All of us may bring something to help this society."

One more round of applause that Gustavo gently asked to stop, because he wanted to go on.

"For us all to be able to help, we need to stop thinking only of ourselves and realize that we live in a new society. A society that may be better than the one in which we lived before and that now we may help to build. We must have an opinion that counts and a non-selfish or greedy attitude. I never refused to give milk to anyone, nor took advantage from anyone who looked for products in my nursery or even to use electricity in my house; I don't intend to be richer, I want to give my children a better world to live in. As an example of good will, and without asking for anything in exchange, I'd like to grant the last photoelectric panels that I have to the Casa do Povo and allow anyone to use electric power."

Standing applause that takes about two minutes and some cheering for Gustavo.

"In addition, I will leave a computer here with plenty of information about everything we can imagine, from how to make honey or bread, cookies, chocolate, up to how to prepare medicines, medical herbs, plant any cultivation, cooking recipes, etc., etc., and for those who don't enjoy computers, I have plenty of printed material which I will make available. It's important too that we are fair with ourselves, the law of the strongest is not valid, there were plenty of houses and lands occupied in an illegal manner and this has to change. All of us are entitled to the best lands and houses of the village, but not through the law of the stronger, but in an equitable manner and in a way in which all of us win."

A new wave of applause, which Gustavo thanks and asks to stop.

"And to finish, I'd like to say that it's essential that we don't get isolated, there are other neighboring villages that live in peace and harmony like us, as is the case of Alfrívida that is today here represented by Pedro Serrano" – small applause. – "And I'd like to ask for volunteers for a project that some fellows and I have at hand. There was a wind park in Oleiros that I believe was not destroyed, I believe we may bring the power from this park to our village, this would improve our life very much, it will not be easy, but will be clearly possible."

When he finished the speech, Gustavo lowered from the chair and heard an explosion of applause and cheerful screams, around him, people smiled and congratulated him. Gustavo was euphoric and felt like the most important man in the world, like a prodigy. He did not pay attention to the rest of the meeting, he was fully taken by his speech, with what he had said, and the faces and reactions of the people present.

After Gustavo's speech, several people spoke on many subjects, but the main subject was the general fear of the possible gypsy threat and the need for union to face that evil. One hour and a half from its beginning, Proença finished the meeting and arranged the elections for one month from then, and the candidates' lists had ten days to submit their applications.

When the meeting was finished, everyone got up and went to the street since the heat inside the Casa do Povo was unbearable, all spoke of the meeting giving their opinions in an environment of cheerful voices, among them was Gustavo, surrounded by people who congratulated him for his magnificent speech and tried to convince him to submit a list to lead the committee. Gustavo thanked them all gently, but his eyes searched for two people: Ramiro and Gisela. For some time he had decided these two persons would be perfect to enter a list headed by him to compete for the committee direction. Along with Norton and Zeca, the list would be more complete.

In the middle of the sea of heads, Gustavo finally found Ramiro and with much difficulty, he managed to advance through the crowd and get beside him.

"Ramiro, how are you?"

"I'm fine, congratulations for the speech, I loved what you said and I entirely agree. And you know that you may count me in to go to the wind park; actually, I demand to go with you there."

He said the last sentence laughing, and Gustavo, with an immense smile, put his hand on his shoulder and said.

"I was counting on you; I know you're a good mechanic. I want to ask you something and I don't accept no as an answer" – the talk between them was pleasant; they were in high spirits and had known each other for a long time. – "I will submit the list to lead the committee and I thought of you for the group."

Ramiro was not expecting that offer, and his reaction was of genuine surprise. Before that, while Gustavo spoke, he had thought he could be a good candidate to lead and organize the village, but he had never thought that he would invite him to take part in the list. Two hours ago, he would have asked Gustavo twenty-four hours to consider, but now, after his speech, he was willing to accept without a shadow of a doubt.

"It's a pleasure, Gustavo, thank you for the invitation; I will be pleased to help somehow. Who are the other members?"

"Both of us, Norton, Zeca and Gisela, who still doesn't know."

They laughed and Ramiro, with a perfect smile, stretched his hand to Gustavo to seal the deal and said:

"Excellent group, Gisela will certainly accept it."

Gustavo and Norton had thought about picking Ramiro for a long time. Ramiro was from Lisbon, but his parents were from Lentiscais; when they were younger, they had been to Lisbon. Ramiro had always loved Lentiscais, where he spent his vacations as a child, a habit which had lasted until those days. In the summer, when he was a student, he spent the three months of vacations in his grandparents' house and was known by everyone in the village, and everybody liked him for his outgoing, kind and funny manner. During his teen years, he had several summer affairs, both in the village and in the neighboring villages. When he traveled around for the usual summer parties, his ease to raise interest in the opposite sex was not limited to his charming personality; his physical characteristics also played an important role with the girls. Ramiro was dark with strong and straight black hair, wide black eyes, and fleshy lips with always white and perfect teeth. He measured 5'9 and now he started putting on some more weight, but it was still possible to notice the well-toned body from years of gym and swimming. Ramiro had married a girl from Lentiscais and they lived in the suburbs of Lisbon, but every weekend they came to the village to be in peace with their two young daughters. It was evident that Ramiro was one of the most popular individuals of the village: he joined the hunters when it was hunting time and fished in the Ponsul River whenever he had a companion to spend the day. He also liked wine and appetizers, and he was invited to try wines from several winemakers of the village. For all this, the choice of Ramiro was certain.

"Gisela, wait a minute." – Ramiro shouted when he saw her pass by some feet away. – Gustavo wants to tell you something.

Gisela stopped and smiled at them, she expected them to order some of her cakes or pastries, which were her specialty.

"We're going to submit a list for the committee direction and we'd like to count you in."

"Are you serious? Me? Why?"

"Because you are a hard worker and know the situation of the elderly people from here."

"And because we like you." – Ramiro added with his smile.

"We think you can help us improve life in the village."

"Count on me and thank you very much."

Gisela kissed each one in the face and went to her house, which was nearby. Gustavo and Ramiro said goodbye and mixed among the crowd too.

The choice of Gisela was rather quick between Gustavo and Norton. To compete for the direction, the listed required five people. Ramiro's name came quickly to them and then there was missing only one person. They thought it should be a woman, in order to provide an image of plurality and equality. This woman would have to be a resident of the village, for the majority of the people on the list to be resident and not weekend visitors. Therefore, the name of Gisela appeared right after. Gisela was a forty-five-year-old woman, short and of dark complexion, burnt by the sun, and with some more weight, which she had put on, especially on the belly and hips. She had lived all her life in the village, married early, and, along with her husband, they had opened a café in the village's downtown, when there were a lot more people, but the business was worsening and they became tired of their old and grumpier clients and decided to close the establishment. Gisela began working with the elderly people of the village, who asked her to clean their houses or help in the household, which they could not do because of their age. In the meanwhile, her husband began to work in Castelo Branco as a bricklayer, but this work did not last too long because of his problems with alcohol and Gisela was soon the sole source of income of the family, which had increased with the birth of the twins. When the Day Center was built in the village, Gisela was hired, and the family breathed a little better with a fixed salary coming every month, while her husband did some odd jobs; but his problems with alcohol increased. She was loved by the elderly population and became an easy choice for the list that was now concluded.

When Gustavo joined Zeca, Norton and Pedro, they had a large smile on their faces, everything had gone as planned.

"You were perfect, Gustavo, we have them in our hands." – Zeca said as he slapped his back.

"Did you talk to Gisela and Ramiro?" – Norton asked.

"Yes, they accepted."

All of them smiled and began to talk about the details each of them had lived; from their perspective, they had tasted the flavor of victory and had the hope that they would start doing something big and important.

"Well, guys, I see you're all in a good mood."

Proença appeared behind Gustavo and put his hand on his left shoulder. He was wearing black, as usual, and his shirt was soaked in sweat. His odor bothered Gustavo, who got slightly away from Proença.

"Hey, Gustavo, you had a good speech, could I talk to you in private?"

"Yes, sure."

Norton and Zeca looked very curiously at them as they walked away and felt pity for not being able to hear what Proença, the old fox, wanted from Gustavo. When they were far enough away from the crowd, Proença began to speak:

"You see, Gustavo, about twenty years ago I created this committee. I never thought that one day we'd get through this, nor that the committee would have such an important task ahead. From now on, the committee will have to organize this village, lead it, including the new and difficult times ahead. I got old, I'm already seventy and I cannot keep up with this project. I believe it will have to be a person like you, young, dynamic, intelligent, with innovative ideas that should lead this committee. I want to become vice-president and I want you to be the president of the committee. I'd be by your side to advise and give hints from my experience after all these years, and you would take ahead all the projects you mentioned previously."

Proença smiled openly; he felt as if he was offering a wonderful gift to a child who had never received anything. Gustavo only felt repugnance for the figure of Proença, while he spoke his mouth spat saliva to his shirt and his bad breath was actually unbearable. In addition, the quirk Proença had of always catching the arms of the person to whom he talked, disturbed Gustavo.

"Thank you for your support, Mr Proença; it's pretty generous of yours, but unfortunately, I cannot accept. I intend to run for the committee as president, but the group of people who will figure with me is already chosen. Anyhow, it'll be a pleasure to take advice and hints to deal with matters that demand the experience you have. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart, and excuse me, I need to go back to talk with my friends."

Gustavo walked away wondering if he had hurt old Proença's feelings, but also relieved for leaving behind that being that caused him repudiation. In turn, Proença stood still for some time, perplexed with Gustavo's words. Before the meeting, he intended to give his place to someone younger of his trust and when he heard Gustavo, he thought he could be the honest person to take responsibility. He had never thought someone could apply for the committee without him to be in the head of the list or at least, in the list. He had created the committee, represented the village for twenty years, and now a city boy came in with the intention of taking his place without even asking for permission. His perplexity turned indignation and then to anger and humiliation. He decided he would not go out like this, through the back door. His work and his legacy deserved the recognition of his fellow citizens. He went home thinking of a way to get his revenge for the humiliation Gustavo put him through. He was decided he would continue to be the president of the committee, even if for that he had to convince or even force everyone to vote for him.

# AN ELECTORAL ADVENTURE

The day after, Gustavo and Norton spent the day working at the Casa do Povo, aiming to set up, on that very day, said solar panel. This would be the fifth house where they installed panels. Then they connected it to the power generator and accumulator and finally connected to the normal electric tension. They were gaining experience in this matter, but it still was a somewhat complicated process, because of the lack of material, and, especially, lack of knowledge on the subject. However, at the end of the day, the Casa do Povo had free electricity, which caused an immense happiness in the population who thanked both workers endlessly for the job they had just made.

That very night, under the light that illuminated the Casa do Povo, Norton, Ramiro and Gustavo decided to prepare for the trip to the wind park. The main points were the choice of the people who would go with them in the travel, and, above all, all the logistics of the expedition, which, according to their calculation, would take some five days.

On the following days, the operation was planned out. They announced who were the selected personnel. They gathered in a meeting, where all the details were discussed and a date was chosen to start what some called "the great adventure in search of light". Gustavo was happy with all that hustle and bustle in organizing the trip and with competing for the chair of the committee. He left precise orders to his parents and children about what to do in his absence. He began to look at his previous life as something boring and without importance to mankind; he felt he passed from a greyish and depressed employee to someone who could leave an important mark, someone who was building something better.

Before leaving, he delivered his candidacy to a member of the committee and, at this moment, he learned that Proença had already submitted an application and that he would have to fight with him in the elections. He could not believe those news. He expected that there could eventually be another application, but not from Proença. He concluded that possibly, he did not want to see himself out of the committee, and when he saw he could not rely on Gustavo, he decided to go ahead with a proper application. In Gustavo's mind this changed everything. He was now going to make a trip lasting at least five days with some of his trustful men and would leave the village practically prone to Proença's electoral application. He felt angry at his rival and was glad that it was not Proença the one who received his application; otherwise, he would safely delight to see his astonished face. At that moment, he knew that the result of his expedition would be very important for his possible victory.

Six men, in addition to Gustavo, Norton and Ramiro, composed the trip. The other three were chosen for their electric knowledge. Zeca, very outraged, would remain in Lentiscais, according to Gustavo, to help Gisela with the campaign and face Proença's men; but actually, Zeca had been set aside for his high conflict personality and his ignorance in terms of electric systems. The six men traveled by horses that the local inhabitants had kindly offered, and they also took a cart where they placed the tools, guns and food. They did not know what they could find in the way, hence they took an arsenal of arms and, besides, the food provisions were limited. They expected to find some game while they advanced to their destination.

They departed in a warm August morning in which some people made sure they were present to give the last advice and support. The six men left emotional and with some fear of what they could find ahead. The night before, Gustavo had said goodbye to his kids with a strong hug and thought of the possibility of not seeing them again, in case something in the trip went wrong. As he rode on his horse in the first miles that put them away from the village, he felt like the protagonist of some adventure movie or a raider who goes in search of treasure and who will have many adventures, surprises and even undesired encounters. He expected a quick five-day trip, but actually the days out of Lentiscais would be many more.

The first day of the trip went by in full silence with the men watching the land in search of some sign of danger, but especially in search of some wild animal that could be a good meal. They stopped every three hours to stretch their legs a bit and let the horses eat herbs. During the hours of most heat, they rested under some tree that could provide them with some good shadow and they did it at shifts while others watched. At twilight, they made a bonfire and prepared what they had hunted. They slept near the fire while one of them watched. They passed by some villages that seemed to be abandoned. They saw that some roads made of tar give place to the force of nature, which began to reclaim its place. It seemed they had traveled in a time machine and that they were in an age before the homo sapiens had dominated the planet. When they passed by Castelo Branco, they confirmed that the smoke cloud had disappeared for a while, and there was no trace of what the district capital had been. In its place, there was now an extended forest with native species. Ramiro told Gustavo that when the attack occurred, they still tried to go to Lisbon to see if they could find his wife's parents, who had stayed there, but soon they saw that all the villages and cities were immersed in smoke and that they were thirty miles away from Lisbon, they saw it was impossible to pass through and they went back. The two of them made the trip most together, exchanging ideas about what they could do in Lentiscais; they had several projects about a way to create a fairer society than that in which they had lived.

As planned, in two days they got to the wind park in Oleiros. They were tired of the hard horse riding, the strong heat, the little water and lack of a good bed to recover their energy. As they had thought, the wind park was intact, they had not attacked their twenty wind turbines, the propellers of their large towers continued spinning with the little wind they felt on that day. Gustavo felt some relief to see the first part of the mission was almost accomplished; he contemplated the towers at the top of the mountain and in his mind, he could already picture how to take the power they contained up to Lentiscais. In the last days, he had read a lot about wind parks and power transportation, and he felt he dominated the theory, but in practice, things were always different and he expected the other members to help him in this situation.

When they were already under the towers, Gustavo gave a short lecture on how those iron monsters worked and how to put that energy into the electric system and guide it all the way to the village. Everyone pitched in to share their knowledge. They were cheerful because they felt they could accomplish their mission. They started by visiting each tower to check how it worked and repair some occasional problems they might have. They cleaned the bushes that began to grow around the mills, and checked that the power transformer still worked perfectly and that it still sent this power to the electric system; but this system was damaged in its course and they soon realized that their work would focus exactly at this point. They decided to spend the night under the towers that span very slowly and enjoy the fresh breeze that ran through the air and the immense sky full of stars that was one of the most beautiful spectacles they had seen. While they enjoyed that moment, Norton recalled something that would change the plans of the team.

"I remember now, some miles from here there's a golf course; I think it's even the only one in the region. It's near Proença-a-Nova, thirty miles from here. I was there once and I remember they were very criticized by the environmentalists, because a golf course would require a lot of water and damage the environment. Then, the owners of the golf course tried to please everybody and placed solar panels in every building and the water was fully obtained by the rain, which they recovered through a giant container they had built."

"Yes, I remember that" – said one of the men. – "They even had electric golf carts."

Gustavo enjoyed the idea of going to the golf course and check what they could use, but he thought that would delay the expedition too, and they could arrive late for the elections and easily give the victory to Proença. While he thought of the pros and cons, the other elements had already decided it was worth going to the golf course, and Gustavo could do nothing but accept the popular decision.

After the first sunshine, the group departed to Proença-a-Nova. Gustavo hoped it was a short trip without any delays. He didn't want this unforeseen detour to spoil his plans and drew the attention of Norton, in private, for suggesting it and forgetting that they were competing for the elections.

Gustavo went ahead at a faster rhythm than usual; he was distressed and annoyed, although he tried to conceal his feelings. Norton, who knew him, saw he was anxious to get to the golf course and to depart as soon as possible. However, when, at the end of the morning, they arrived at the golf course, his opinion about that detour changed and he later recognized that it was the right choice.

What was previously a golf course, with well-treated grass, pruned trees and well-cared pedestrian tracks was no more than a memory. The grass had been overtaken by scrub, the trees were not cared for anymore and what before would be a pedestrian track was now only a recall of it, because different herbs had already taken over the land. The main building was very large, with two floors: the offices and a bar with an esplanade were upstairs, with a view to a magnificent landscape, and downstairs there was a classroom for beginners and an area to train the first strike. In a shack, some feet from there, were the maintenance services.

The six men divided into three groups and explored the area. Gustavo and Ramiro went to the shack and what they found made their eyes shine. There were five electric golf carts – the typical cars the golf players used to circulate within the course. They were in good condition and what was more curious was that they were loaded by power. In addition to the carts, they found several interesting tools and different chemicals and fertilizers for the plants and drinking water too. At the back part of the shack, there was an enormous rainwater accumulator tanker that served to water all of the golf course. Now it was abandoned, and it was the home of frogs and toads and some water species that Gustavo didn't have the slightest idea of how they had arrived there. Still, the most interesting thing for the two men was having verified that the tank had two solar panels hanging over and that served to give power to the enormous vessel so that its propellers moved the water inside so it wouldn't be stagnant, and allowing it to be pumped to channels that departed from the subsoil and covered the entire course.

A short time later, the three groups gathered and each reported on what there was in each site, and they decided what would be the material to take. They had several limitations, the horse cart they took was too small for all the solar panels they had found. On the roof of the main building, there were also many computers and IT equipment that were worth taking, but the horses couldn't carry so many things. It was clear that the electric carts were essential, but they were too weak to transport a big load and, besides, there was the problem that they could not make a three-day return trip without being reloaded. Even though, they took the five cars loaded with the most material as possible, they gathered the five horses in front of the horse cart to take the enormous weight of the panels, generators and other materials. All this work made the group decide to spend the night at the golf course's facilities. For the first time, since the beginning of the trip, they slept under a ceiling and had dinner at a table sitting in chairs. Gustavo had already improved his mood, since he had arrived at the golf course, and now he only asked to wake up very early, because they had a long journey to make, and especially, much work ahead. Take electricity to Lentiscais looked like a pipe-dream when they departed from the village, but now they felt it was possible.

In the next morning, very early, the caravan departed, painting a very bizarre picture: five horses pulling a cart full of solar panels and IT equipment, while five electric cars followed the horse cart, these also with an excess of material transported. Therefore, the caravan went back slowly and arrived at the wind park at the beginning of the afternoon, without lunch prepared. They had to split into groups to hunt some game; they only got a deer at the end of the afternoon. They spent the night there and took the chance to load the cars from the electric center generator.

According to Gustavo's estimates, in that rhythm, they could arrive in Lentiscais within four days, which would be fifteen days before the elections. He thought that now Proença was in the lead if he knew how to play well, and that both Zeca and Gisela were the weakest elements of his team, they could not face Proença. Zeca's weakness was his lack of education and in being too easy to throw an insult and Gisela would be more worried about her future and that of her twins than about who would win. At that moment, he had no way of knowing what was going on there, only forty miles away, this provoked a smile in him, because less than one year ago, he could know in real time what was going on in any part of the world and now everything seemed to be too large and distant.

Gustavo's estimates were wrong. The goal of taking electric power from that wind park up to Lentiscais would be more laborious than he had thought. The way by which they came would have to be different. Now they would have to follow the high-tension electric towers that transported the power. They would have to work hard on some of them in order to direct the power to where they wanted it to go. It was a hard, dangerous and high instruction work – it was not for a mechanic and two computer technicians. For this very reason, the other three men had been chosen for being electricians or able to understand the matter. One of whom, the eldest of the group, had worked over twenty years in the electric company and, according to him, he had put up several high-tension towers and electricity accumulator centers; he was the most qualified of all and now all the operation was around him.

Gustavo's four days went by too quickly before he was any closer to returning home. Plenty of problems delayed the caravan's progress. The main one was the difficulty they had to conduct the electricity to the location they desired. There were damaged posts and electric cables; there was the lack of knowledge of how things worked and the lack of material to make it a safe and fast work. Another problem was the weight and the mobility of the caravan. The golf carts could not ride through the bushes and had to go around to arrive at the arranged sites. In addition, the horses were tired of having to carry so much weight and often had to stop to rest. The men were tired too and in many cases, they felt the mission was impossible and doomed to fail. They constantly argued and some even talked about abandoning the expedition. All of this, Gustavo always tried to solve with a speech of union and hope, but which was seen by the others as a broken record without being able to suggest a practical solution.

Twelve days since their departure from the wind park and with only six days to the elections, the men arrived at the small electric central that supplied the villages of Lentiscais and Alfrívida, that was exactly in the middle of the two locations, along the tar road that connected the two villages. They felt they were finally close to their early objective and that only thanks to a miracle had they made it so far. That moment was now a dream, so many had the difficulties been in conducting the power to there. They were all emotional, and they were three miles away from their houses, their families and a few hours away from giving their relatives a new life, free electricity for everyone. Unlike the last days, morale was high. Gustavo was flushed with joy. There were only six days for the elections and he had managed to come through to the population, a great promise had been met. Something that Proença could never give, not even during his twenty years of the presidency did he achieve anything of the sort. Even though, he had some doubts deep inside, how would the situation in the village be? Would Proença have managed to convince the population with his contacts and experience that he was the most loyal person for this new era? Would there have been new thefts? How would his kids and parents be? He wanted to go to the village now. He was extremely curious, but they had to finish that last step.

When they finally finished the work, the three miles that separated them from the village were run with full ecstasy, victory screams and joy, hugs, kisses, everything was permitted. They had won and they expected to be received in the village as heroes. And that is how it was; no sooner did they arrive at Street Palheirinhos, the first street of the village for those who came from Alfrívida, that the population realized they were coming their way and others had already noticed that, so many months later, they would finally have artificial light in their homes again. When they arrived at the center of the village, in the church square, there was already a small group around them to congratulate and thank them.

That very night, they made an improvised party in honor of the six men who had brought electricity to the people. The entire village danced and sang at the sound of music that came from a radio. Wine and fresh beer watered their throats until the early hours in the morning. At high night, the village had all of its streets illuminated. Everyone was happy and felt that their lives were going to improve with such a breakthrough, except for Proença, who was sitting on his sofa in the full darkness of his living room. He knew that Gustavo's success was going to make his hypotheses to win the committee elections null. He hated Gustavo and the other five expedition men for having managed to get what seemed to be impossible, he hoped they had come back in failure or even that they had died with some attack from any other village or group, but no, they had managed to perform a miracle and now his situation was awful.

After the departure of the expedition, Proença had begun to make a well thought out campaign; he tried to give his list an image of experience, moderation and humbleness. He felt some boredom in some people over his twenty-year figure before the committee, but he still thought that day after day, he was gaining a lead and that even his old friend, priest Xavier, had made him the favor on the last Sunday to make the comment of: "it's worthier to vote for experience and wisdom than for inexperienced youth that has more heart than reason, especially in these times." Proença was convinced that before the six had arrived with the light, he would possibly have some advantage, but now everything seemed to be lost.

Gustavo, in turn, drank and sang along with his kids and parents, thankful for the greeting of the local population and embracing his five journey companions. He felt he was the happiest man in the world. He was together with the people he loved, his kids and his parents, and saw in their eyes that they were proud of him. He thought the elections were won and he was only sorry for not having any woman to be able to finish the night making love to. Then, a group of people asked Gustavo to give a speech. Gustavo declined at first, because he was tired, drunk and mainly because he had not prepared anything before-hand and he knew better than anyone it was no good to improvise, his best territory was in estimating and programming, but he could not deny it forever and went up to the cart that served as an improvised stage.

"Lentiscais people, dear friends and colleagues, let me tell you that these last twenty-four days were the hardest ones I've ever lived in my whole life. For many times, I thought that our mission was going to fail, but we always had the hope that things could turn out as they did. This light is not mine nor Ramiro's nor Norton's. It's ours. It's free and will be free, no man in a suit will come here to charge anything or turn off the light, nobody here will pay anything to the State. This is ours, this is ours, this is ours."

He ended up screaming, which led those present in complete euphoria to scream with him. When he was tired from so much alcohol and releasing all that adrenaline, he decided to go home. Zeca approached and handed him a folder.

"What's this, Zeca?"

"A report of what happened while you were away."

Gustavo looked at the set of sheets that Zeca gave him and realized that was a very interesting spy work. Each sheet had information about a person, what the person thought about the expedition, the committee, for whom they would vote, phrases he had said. The work was excellent, and Gustavo was admired by the precision of Zeca, thinking he had judged him badly. There was a character who drew his attention, priest Xavier, a man he had forgotten about completely and he now saw that in addition to the committee there was another power in the village.

"Did the priest really say this?"

"Yes, he said, and the church was full."

Gustavo became thoughtful, it would be important that after his victory, he and the priest had a conversation about the competences of each one, but this would be for later, now it was time to finally sleep in his comfortable bed along with his family.

On the few days that remained for the elections, Gustavo stayed always with his family, working in the lands or in the nursery, looking after his small kids and spending as much time as he could with them. Although, unconsciously the elections appeared all the time, Gustavo felt that he could not make more campaign to win, the die was cast, getting power back to the village was, as he understood, the best possible electoral campaign. He felt that considering the population, his victory would be clear, in the street or in the café, people were thankful and promised they would vote for him, but Gustavo was suspecting that they did the same to Proença. Nevertheless, he did not trust the local population, he had the idea that a large part of them was uncultured, with a very low education, especially the elderly, who loved to make value judgements about the personal life of each one. More than one inhabitant approached Gustavo about the fact that he did not attend the mass, especially on Sunday morning, which let Gustavo annoyed; although he tried not to show it, he had a bad image about the Catholic Church, and since the report by Zeca this image worsened. The priest's figure represented all that he hated in the institution, an organization stuck in time, which castrated the most brilliant minds in the name of a merciless, unscrupulous and punishing God.

Gustavo woke up at half past seven with much brightness getting into his room. Before standing up he felt a suffocating heat in the air and he estimated easily that would be another summer day of intense heat, but his mind quickly flew to what he expected: it was the elections day. He had had a bad and agitated night with senseless dreams and he woke up many times wishing that the darkness of the night was to be replaced by the daylight. He thought he could lose the elections and this thought almost made him tremble; then he noticed he was too nervous and anxious. He wanted to know he was already the winner and it was clear he was not prepared to lose, the defeat would be for him an enormous humiliation, and he even considered not accepting the results in case it did not please him; but all these thoughts disappeared from his mind; he had arranged to have breakfast with Norton, who would be at the voting table that day.

He arrived quickly at Norton's on one of the electric cars. Norton was already awake and prepared to sit at the table.

"Nervous, Gustavo?"

"A little, why? Does it show?"

"Yes, you look a little pale; do you doubt our victory?"

Gustavo began to fill his glass with cold milk and looked at the bread without deciding whether to make toasts or not.

"I have some doubts. If we don't win, what will happen?"

"If we don't win? Are you crazy! Victory is more than certain, it's just a matter of knowing by how much."

"I'm not that sure. Proença has his influence and priest Xavier supports him. It's clear that there's the chance that we might lose these elections, no matter how little it might be. What do we do if this happens?"

Norton ate at a good rhythm and spoke with his mouth a little full, without any regard for etiquette.

"First, the people are tired of Proença; twenty years in the committee, that only served for his vanity; second, the priest is an orthodox guy who still thinks we are in the middle ages and the population knows this and does not take him seriously. If we lose the elections, which I doubt, we'll have two hypotheses: either we accept and each one goes to his way or we don't accept and start a civil war, what do you think?"

"I think it's better that we win, otherwise, there will be a civil war."

At nine, the voting booths were opened and Norton with another element of Proença's group and a third neutral element took part at the voting table. The population adhered in a large number to vote in the first hour and, at ten, they went to the mass, the participation lowered a little, but from this moment on, the number of voting people increased until it reached lunchtime, a time when it lowered again and only returned at the end of the afternoon, when the heat was not as strong anymore. Gustavo spent the entire electoral journey at Zeca's, which was between the Casa do Povo and the church, and through the blinds, he could see the street's movement. Zeca brought him all the news, from the number of participants to the comments made on the street and even the sermon of father Xavier was transmitted to him almost integrally. Gustavo was nervous, as a planner, he thought of what he would do depending on the result. If he lost, he would not start a civil war, as he had said to Norton, but he was willing to prepare a scheme to weaken the power and defeat it. He had to greet the winner and safely wanted to stay alone and away from everything, but if he won, it would be convenient to write a speech and prepare it. He even tried to make a draft of something, but he quickly realized he was too excited to write anything, if he won he would have to improvise and he knew he was not good at this, but if he won, the speech was not the most important.

At eight, they closed the voting booths and started the counting of the votes. While the three elements counted the votes, the outside part of the Casa do Povo was crowded with curious inhabitants to know the results at first hand, among whom were Proença and Gustavo. The first had voted right after the mass, which he had attended, as usual. The latter went in the middle of the afternoon accompanied by his parents and children. At twenty past eight, the Casa do Povo's doors were open, and the population was invited to come in to hear the results. Gustavo was one of the first to get in and he looked immediately at Norton's face, who looked at a paper without paying attention to the crowd that came in. Gustavo became apprehensive, with his heart beating wildly; he saw in Norton's reaction an announced defeat, and he felt a kind of uneasiness and felt like puking: "how come the population can be so stupid and not to vote for whom has brought it light", he thought as he tried to control his restlessness. The president of the table called for everybody to settle down and after a little wait for silence, he began:

"From 310 electors older than 18 years and able to vote, there was an abstention of only 15%, and the results of this participation were the following: List A led by Jorge Proença, 17%. List B, led by Gustavo Correia, 82%, void or white votes correspond to 1%."

Gustavo could not believe, 82% was better than his most optimistic estimates. Right after the announcement of the results, there was an enormous noise in the room and Gustavo saw himself in a big crowd who tried to get to him to greet him and congratulate him. He felt like crying in ecstasy, he wanted to be next with Norton, Zeca and Ramiro, and close to his parents to be able to celebrate with all, but the crowd seemed to be bigger and bigger and he had to stand on a chair for the room to applaud him effusively. On a chair before everybody's gaze, Gustavo could not conceal the enormous emotion he felt and his blue eyes seemed like they would release an ocean of tears at any moment. From up the chair he could see his father and the other elements of his list. He pointed them out with the finger and thanked with an applause. When the crowd stopped clapping hands, and calmness reigned again in the room, Gustavo made the victory speech that he had not prepared:

"Thank you very much, I'm very emotional and it's very difficult to speak. I sincerely didn't expect these numbers, and I am deeply touched to know about the great support that our list received. I want to thank Norton, Zeca, Ramiro and Gisela for all the work they had during these days and ask you to keep on with the same commitment, and if possible, I ask you to dedicate more, not to defraud all those who have voted for us. I don't want to promise anything at this moment, but I'd like to state here that we have three close objectives: impose fair rules for our village with the cooperation and help as a basis. The surveillance of our people and property, because having electricity makes us the envy of all the neighbor villages and a target for the thieves and criminals, and finally to put into practice a project of capture and distribution of drinking water. Thank you very much."

In the middle of the speech, Proença left through the emergency exit, trying not to be seen and omit his deep disappointment with the results. He decided to avoid the main street in fear of finding someone who would ask him some question or made any comment. He turned a large turn by usually deserted streets to get to his house and remain alone, thinking of that storm that had just happened. When he finally arrived at home, he locked himself in the living room and decided that his sole companion would be an old whisky bottle, a gift from his older son, for his sixtieth birthday. The number seventeen did not get out of his mind, only 17% of the population had voted for him, that is, from the little more than three hundred inhabitants entitled to vote, about fifty voted for him. The result was an authentic nightmare; while Gustavo was out, he and his people made a good and serious campaign, relying even on the support of father Xavier, he felt he could win the election, but with the arrival of Gustavo, and especially electricity, the possibility to win was more difficult, but he never expected such a humiliation. All he had built and done for the village did not deserve those miserable seventeen percent. For the first time in his life, he thanked that his wife and sons were not alive not to watch this dishonor and he wished he was dead too. After having drunk half a bottle of whisky, he even thought of some way to kill himself, but as a wise man, he had a thought that things change quickly, that what is true today, tomorrow is a lie, and perhaps he still had a word to say.

In the middle of the agitation, Gustavo relished the victory, almost everybody present in the room wanted to greet him, Norton called him to a corner of the room.

"I want you to hear what this man has to tell you." – Norton showed an old man, who Gustavo hardly knew and approached afterwards.

"Good evening, congratulations for the victory, it was already time to send home that dodgy dealer Proença." – Gustavo thanked him and did not understand why Norton wanted him to hear that man. – "As I had told Norton, my grandson Cesar, always liked computers and radios, and in my house, in my attic, he has there a lot of material that he used to use when he lived here, before dying. You may go there and check it out, and if you're interested in anything, you may take it from there."

"Thank you very much, we'll pass by for sure some day to see what's there."

"Not some day, we're going there now" – said Norton, who watched the talk at a certain distance, but now he approached. – "What do you think of going now, Gustavo?"

Gustavo did not understand Norton's enthusiasm, that old man would possibly be talking of old appliances without any interest and Norton wanted to go there today, precisely on the day they had just won the committee with over 80% of the votes. He still looked at Norton with a look of surprise and with a low voice, he asked:

"Am I missing anything?"

"Come with us and I'll tell what I expect to find on the way, you will love it."

The answer sharpened Gustavo's eyes and the three of them crossed the room with difficulty up to the door. From the Casa do Povo to the house of Cesar's grandfather they spent five minutes walking calmly, enough time for Norton to tell the story, without the old man hearing it.

"I don't know if you remember Cesar, but he was a fellow of my age who lived in Lisbon and came here during the weekends and vacations, and he even lived here for some time. He died of cancer some seven or eight years ago. He was a cool guy, a good friend who loved to smoke hashish and amateur radio. When the pirate radios blew up in the eighties, he and I made a joke here in Lentiscais and created a pirate radio that even had some success then" – Norton released a laugher and then made a pause as if he was reliving those moments. In turn, Gustavo had a weak memory of this Cesar and he certainly did not remember anything of a pirate radio in Lentiscais. – "Well, but what we can find in that attic may be very interesting, he was into amateur radio, do you image there may be a radio with a transmitter and an antenna? Have you imagined us creating a radio?"

Now Gustavo understood all of Norton's excitement and interest. The creation of radio would be almost as important as getting electricity. It would be the beginning of communications. When they arrived at the old house, its owner took them to the attic. It was a large and dark space full of old things and with immense spider webs. The roof did not have any protection and the tiles could be seen. It was very hot, the illumination was tenuous and Gustavo thought that they would hardly find any valuable thing in the middle of that mess. However, Norton headed quickly to the place where a kind of large CD reader could be. When Gustavo managed to get to Norton, he had already examined all the appliances that were there.

"What do you think, Norton?"

Norton looked like an expert in the subject and answered:

"Today we're in lucky, in front of you, there's a radio of 2000mgw, with a processor and a small antenna capable to transmit in FM for a range of perhaps eighty to a hundred miles."

"Are you serious? How do you know all that?"

"Cesar and I were close friends."

For the first time that day, Gustavo saw an air of sadness in Norton's face, who now looked with a distracted expression at the transmitter. Trying not to disturb his friend, Gustavo began thinking that he had always dreamed of working on the radio and playing his favorite music, he imagined having an hour or two long program in which he would play country or indie music, but then he thought this radio would also be a good way to transmit news and entertainment to the entire population, it would be one more contribution to this new society.

In the following days, Gustavo and the elements of his list became very busy, in addition to their household tasks; they also had daily meetings to take care of the committee's matters. Besides, Gustavo and Norton tried to start said radio, which now was in Norton's attic, and he tried to put the radio on air for hours and hours, but without great success.

From the meetings that they had daily in the Casa do Povo, the new chairmanship quickly realized that the powers the committee had were limited and actually they were very few, and that they could not dictate laws without getting out of the act of the proper committee, which made Gustavo and Ramiro propose the creation of new acts that would give the committee the law-making power to create laws, the executive power to make these laws to be executed, and the legal power that would be an independent agency that would connect the three powers. They concluded that to obtain this power, a consultation with the population would be necessary – whether they were interested in giving the committee such power that would transform the committee into a kind of State.

In a few days, the five elements made a public notice in which they proposed to try and turn Lentiscais' Support Committee into a governmental agency with the power to impose standards, rules and laws and make them to be met, even if it was necessary to create a police force and a judgement room. The bylaws would be submitted to a referendum of the population in fifteen days. The proposal of the regulations brought up a few discussions among the inhabitants, in their majority; they saw the bylaws as being necessary or even indispensable. Among the few people who questioned these policies was priest Xavier, who made negative references, many times in public and sometimes even in the mass, about the excessive power the members of the committee were going to have and alerted that a society turned to the single redeemer, Jesus Christ and the Church, was necessary.

The five elements of the committee made another statute too: this one would be for the neighboring villages that wanted electricity or protection from Lentiscais. In this statute, the neighboring villages were obliged to elect democratically a president and a respective board of directors that would be forced to adopt the internal statute existing in Lentiscais and its respective laws, and would be clearly submitted to the committee represented by Gustavo. If the internal bylaws created almost no disagreement, the external ones, for the neighbor villages, gave rise to enormous discussions, especially, between Ramiro and Gustavo.

"Gustavo, what we're doing is imposing our laws on those who come to ask for electricity."

"And doesn't it sound good to you? Or do you prefer giving electricity to any nuts that come here to ask? The laws we're creating and, above all, that we will create after approval of the bylaws, will be fair laws and adoptable by any other village."

"Yes, but automatically we will be commanding them, this sounds like colonization, that is, we impose the laws, and, if they don't agree, we cut their light."

Ramiro knew it was a lost cause, Gustavo and Norton were the head of the group and Zeca was always besides the two friends, while Gisela hated conflicts and discussions and constantly tried to appease the discussions and always voted in favor of the majority, that is, of Gustavo. Even though, Ramiro thought it was important to give his opinion, according to him, it gave the group another view, a different panorama of the problem.

"Keep in mind, Ramiro, to the bylaws for the neighbor villages. We want to emphasize that they have to vote for the acceptance of the bylaws and may at any time vote to get out of the bylaws. It's obvious that either of these situations has consequences. In addition, when there are more than four villages that accept the bylaws, it seems to me that it's necessary to create a kind of inter-villages committee, or rather, a general government."

"It seems you have everything very well planned, Gustavo, sometimes you frighten me."

Ramiro said the sentence with a smile and in a funny fashion, but actually, Gustavo did frighten him, the more time he spent with him discussing the committee subjects, the more he realized Gustavo had a well-traced plan, with little margin for new ideas. He continued thinking he was the indicated person to lead those times, but his ambitions frightened him.

Gustavo still felt blessed and once again, he could sense lady luck by his side before the referendum about the bylaws. Finally, Norton had managed to put the radio in operation, after many hours of work and despair. Two days before the voting, Norton had managed to transmit a signal from his house in an FM frequency for a range of over a hundred miles.

The news was forecast in high speed throughout the village that quickly became euphoric with one more conquest. The radio began to be the company in all the homes, this success made Norton, and Gustavo create a plan to take advantage of the situation. They named it Radio Serrano, in memoir of the older owner of the radio, Cesar Serrano, but also because Serrano was a common nickname in the region. Then they decided that it would be especially a musical radio and that every hour they would drop news. They had a few means, but the idea was to keep on improving the content and use the radio as a way to promote the spreading of their ideas. However, they knew that it didn't matter if the radio covered a range of a hundred miles, in the other villages there was no electricity and the alkaline batteries had already been worn out, therefore, their only public was the people from Lentiscais.

As expected, the participation to vote the bylaws was high, and their approval by 90% of the population did not surprise them, and even the several attempts of the priest to block this announced victory were seen as ridiculous. Gustavo and his team had brought order, union, but more importantly, electricity and now a radio-station. The victory was announced by the radio with great excitement and with typical summer party music all night long. There was an enormous trust in the committee by the population, and all expected from them great discoveries and innovations for the place. However, not everyone was satisfied. Proença followed all these happenings from the sidelines, he had been one of the few ones to vote against the bylaws, although he did not publicly assume it. Another inhabitant against it was father Xavier.

Xavier Dias had been a priest in this location for less than ten years. In addition to Lentiscais, he also headed the parish of Afrívida. He had been born sixty-two years ago in Fafe, in the North of the country, his parents were destitute and devoted people, and they gave him five brothers and four sisters. Xavier was the fifth son and he soon started helping his parents and sisters in the different household and agricultural tasks. His parents, unable to provide for all of their children, put Xavier in a friary when he was only ten years. Eighteen years after his entry to the Catholic institution, Xavier obtained the title of priest and, as a consequence, his first parish in a small Trans Montana parish. Until he arrived at Lentiscais, his course in the Catholic Church was discreet, he was known for being an orthodox person, who was fully against any innovation or modernization of the church, he was against abortion or any birth control, did not marry anyone who had not been baptized, he was in favor of a higher interference of the church with the power and defended the middle age inquisition as a necessary evil. He was a priest of the hardest wing of the Church and perhaps, for this reason, he had never been too popular in the parishes by which he passed. Over the years, he became more and more tired of the overcrowding and when one day he knew that two small villages from the country-side were without a priest, he decided to take the place. He lived in a simple house in the Palheirinhos Street, which had this name because in the past it was composed by haystacks [palheiros] for the cattle and that today were transformed into small houses or garages.

He was a 6'1ft tall, although he seemed to be shorter due to a hunchback he had. He used an always short haircut and his hair was already white, and he had a slightly long nose. He was very skinny and always wore black, which made him look even skinnier. He always walked with a large black hat on whether it was in the winter or in the summer, and he was seldom seen out of the church or out of his house. For this reason, it was an authentic surprise for those who saw him in daylight heading to Gustavo's house.

Gustavo had just had lunch with his parents and kids and thought of sleeping a siesta, he had worked all morning on his lands and part of the afternoon would be dedicated to the governmental tasks with his team. When someone rang at the door, he thought his siesta was at risk, but he never imagined who it was on the other side of the door.

"Father, what a surprise!"

"Good afternoon, my son, if the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain."

"Sure, father, please come in, I don't know if you've had lunch?"

"Yes, but thank you for the offer."

Xavier entered a small room, where Gustavo and his parents used to receive the visits, there was a sofa that was still turned to the TV that hadn't worked for quite some time. The room was not cleaned up, with the kid's toys spread around, for which what Gustavo apologized and they sat at only three feet away from each other.

"I know you're not a very Catholic man, Gustavo," – a little pause – "but I've come to try to change this situation a little. I know your parents are practicing Catholics, you were baptized in this village by my predecessor, but now you don't attend the mass, I'd like to know why?"

Father Xavier always spoke very slowly, as if he was thinking seriously of each word that got out of his mouth.

"There's no problem, father, only that I am not a Catholic."

"Don't worry, Mr Gustavo, I have no intention to try and convert you, I don't come as a Jehovah's Witness."

Xavier made a pause and set himself more comfortably on the old sofa. He had changed his attitude, one of his favorite proverbs was "if you can't beat them, join them", then he came in an open attitude, something like burying the hatchet.

"You and many youngsters of our society are not practicing and lost your faith in the Church, which today is seen as an old and medieval institution, and I understand this disillusionment by the youth, but now, a new era has opened up, the old institutions have fallen and only those that have strong pillars will stand. Nowadays, I see with sadness that the attendees of my mass are people with a very high average age and this makes me feel that it's necessary to attract young people to the congregation, that's why I'm here."

Gustavo was surprised with the speech of the priest and even with some fear of what could come next – he remained quiet.

"I think religion has to play an important role in people's lives, a spiritual role and it shouldn't interfere with politics, leaving this for those who have been elected. I feel we're living something important and I'd like to thank you on behalf of the Church, thank you, Mr. President, for what you've done until now in the village and I ask you for help, because with me, we can all renew and captivate the new generations for the Church to be an important pillar in your system."

The good move of priest Xavier let Gustavo almost without reaction, as Gustavo understood, the priest was supporting him with the condition that he helped him to take his supporters, especially the younger ones, to the Church.

"Mr Priest, I don't know what to say, the renewal of your institution is important and necessary at this moment, with this new age, but I doubt that I may be helpful at this point."

"You're mistaken, dear president, your ideas and contributions for the new Church that I want to create may be highly helpful, not only for me, who would see a more updated church, but also for you, who would have a spiritual ally loyal to your causes. It would be important for the good of everyone that in the set of laws you will soon release that they should read that the official religion was the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church."

Gustavo felt perplexed with the offer of the priest and thought that the best he could do was not to enter any discussion with him, who was unquestionably an old fox that played hard. He was giving the support of the Church and for exchange, he asked Gustavo for its official status as the religion of the "new State".

"Father, let me take advice with the other elements of the committee and later I'll tell you something."

"Sure, Mr President, take your time, and before leaving, I'd like you to consider another request, if you don't mind. The radio is already in operation and I'd like to know if it would be allowed that the Sunday mass was transmitted directly to the bedridden and disabled who cannot move to the mass."

"I will check this proposal too, Mr. priest, don't worry."

As soon as priest Xavier left his house, Gustavo remained for a moment still and thinking of that strange conversation. He felt that the priest was more intelligent than he thought and he had made a very interesting offer, but it opposed what he believed was the best for the village. A society where each one could freely choose their religion, but on the other hand, it was doubtlessly tempting to have on his side the support of a strong church that would give him strength and power in these times of so much insecurity and instability, this support could be very welcome.

# THE NEIGHBORS

On the following days, along with the other elements of the committee, Gustavo released several laws to the new society; these laws were placed on a cork board on one of the walls of the Casa do Povo and they were also announced by the radio during all day, and the several elements of the committee defended the reasons for such law. Each member had their folder, Zeca had the internal defense and security; Norton had justice and economics; Ramiro had the folder of agriculture, environment and education; Gisela had the folder of health. The four of them worked frequently together, and all the laws had to be approved by Gustavo, he always had the last word and was who also had the folder of foreign relationships and businesses. An almost empty folder, since the foreign relationships were practically void, but Gustavo knew that it would be for a short time: having electricity was too alluring and they would soon come to visit him.

The first visitor came from Alfrívida, the neighboring village that had good relationships with Lentiscais, especially because of the friendship created between Gustavo and Pedro when they traded solar panels for pack animals.

When Afrívida's population learned that Lentiscais had electricity, they began to request Pedro and his father to intervene with Gustavo so that the village could have light as well. Pedro promised them that he would soon go to Lentiscais to talk to the president of the committee after the election of the bylaws. And so he did, two weeks after the elections, Pedro chose his best horse and decided to make the trip to be received by Gustavo; he knew he had to offer something in exchange for them to give them electricity, but he also knew that if there was no pre-agreement, the future of Alfrívida was at risk, since some people already considered the possibility of changing villages and going to live in Lentiscais.

In the middle of the way, he stopped in front of the electric central that now sent power to a single village, and he saw with surprise that there were two men keeping it with rifles. He recognized one of the men as being from Lentiscais, but the other one he did not know who he was and he thought he was some immigrant that had arrived at the village, because since the arrival of the light, they said the population in Lentiscais was increasing day after day. When he arrived at the village, he noticed clearly that there was more activity than in his own, there was an electric noise in the background, in one of the streets close to the Casa do Povo they were rebuilding a house, and when he approached the entrance of the Casa do Povo, he was met by a familiar smell that he had not felt for a long time: coffee, and for a brief moment he forgot that there had been an attack.

Whilst he waited for Gustavo to meet him, he talked to some local people and they told him the news. Pedro took the chance to have a coffee and at that moment he thought of asking for exile in Lentiscais, he did not want to go back home, he wanted to be part of that development. When they finally called him to join Gustavo, he felt he was small, he felt he had nothing to give in exchange, that he would beg. Gustavo, on the other hand, made sure he received the representatives of the neighboring villages alone; he had precise plans for each of them.

"Welcome, Pedro, how are you?"

"Well, just fine, but not as fine as you are, Mr President."

"Forget about it, I want you to treat me normally, please."

"Ok, Gustavo, I see your village is advancing at a great scale."

"No doubt, my friend, we have done a lot of work already, in addition to electricity, we have a radio station, some small works have been created, food, clothes, we have a small health space, another café has opened, as you can see, this is moving forward."

"That's great. Well, you already imagine the reason why I'm here."

"I have an idea, but I'd prefer you to tell me."

"How could I take electricity to Alfrívida?"

"Straight to the point, right? How? What do you give us in exchange?"

Pedro had always been a good dealer, he had learned the art from his father, but now he had a clear disadvantage, there was nothing or almost nothing that he could offer. Gustavo raised from his chair and headed to the small window of this office, which led to the main street and said:

"Don't worry, I don't want anything in exchange, it will be my pleasure to share electricity with your village freely, but for this, you will have to accept The Villages Bylaws, which we have created."

Gustavo handed him a folder where the bylaws were detailed; Pedro accepted the dossier and made a request with mistrust.

"Could you make a summary of these bylaws?"

"Surely, Pedro. These bylaws will have to be approved by the majority of your population in a democratic consultation, in which a committee will also result with the respective president who will have to apply the standards that were released from my presidency. Is it clear?"

"Not very much, let me see. If I understand it well, you and your committee would begin to command Alfrívida? And the committee that won the elections would become your police."

"Not quite, Pedro, think about it, I'm willing to share the electricity with you or with any other village, but I demand that, in exchange, this society is prepared to receive it. I won't give electricity to villages that are immersed in chaos, in inequalities or feudal lords. To receive this power, they have to meet the basic rules of a proper democratic lifestyle, and to that end, I demand there to be elections in any village to elect their representatives and, in case the village is interested in receiving our electricity, they will also have to receive the laws that are made here, this does not exclude whatsoever that any village may request the approval of laws or its modification."

"That is, briefly, you would be the leader of Alfrívida if we accepted the bylaws."

"Briefly, yes." – Gustavo made a pause and sat in his chair again, it was noticed he felt more comfortable than Pedro did. – "However, there's one important point in these bylaws. When there are more than four villages with them approved, an over-government elected by the presidents of each committee in each village will have to be created. When this day comes, and we believe that it won't take too long, you could play an important role in this government."

Pedro browsed the bylaws, without actually being concentrated in the reading, he knew he had no alternative for his village, the easiest and wisest way would be become allied to Lentiscais; the opposite way would be suicide, but the price to pay for the alliance was giving the destiny of the village to foreign people. There was a thought growing more and more in his mind, that of becoming the president of the committee in Alfrívida and in the future, being part of the over-government. What Gustavo offered him personally was tempting and since there was no alternative that could please both parties, he decided to accept the proposal and return to his village to inform his fellow citizens.

After a month, The Villages Bylaws were voted for and approved by the majority of the population who did not see favorably that now they were governed by the neighboring village, but being able to have electricity at home was an opportunity that they did not want to lose. Pedro was now the representative of the village, he competed without any opposition and he boasted to have been the one to, through his endowments for the business, bring light to the village. In his victory speech, he promised they would build a railway line to connect the villages, an idea that Gustavo had mentioned before, since Lentiscais produced many products and it was necessary to drain them. As a way to thank them, Gustavo gave some of the golf cars to the village and promoted the creation of weekly fairs between the two villages in a way to create a closer connection.

Gustavo did not need to wait too much for another important person from another neighboring village to approach him to request electricity. We were already at the beginning of autumn and the local population demanded improved security, once again, they had been robbed during the night and this time the thefts were almost in the downtown area of the village. Nobody had been captured, but the suspects were the same, the gypsies of Monforte da Beira, but this time, several citizens had seen gypsies crossing the village. Thus, Gustavo and his team approved a set of laws to fight crime. The first one was to create a guard station in the two main entrances of the village, with patrols of two well-armed men during the twenty-four hours of the day. The second would be to put cameras at the center of the village, including around the village in the lands and especially on the roads to these lands. In third place, they'd create a control tower where they could see all the cameras and act quickly in case of an attack and in fourth place, professionalize or semi-professionalize a group of police officers, who would be paid and trained by the State, which would imply the payment by all citizens of a small tax. This first and new tax would now be paid in material goods, but soon the committee would implement the circulation of the new currency.

As such, Gustavo did not get surprised when Anselmo asked to talk to him. Anselmo Carneiro was possibly the most well-known and respected person in Monforte da Beira, a man aged sixty-eight-year-old who had spent his whole life in the village, firstly as a producer of tobacco, with an enormous plantation and later when the business of tobacco lowered too much, as an owner of an oil press with his own brand. He was a tall, thin man with white hair in contrast with the dark complexion of so many hours and years under the sun. He was a man with good principles and very moderate, who had had success in the businesses he had created and had always treated his workers well.

The two men met in Gustavo's office, and, after introductions and greetings, Anselmo took the word.

"It's incredible what you are creating here, unfortunately in Monforte, instead of going ahead in the same direction, we're going down and down."

"What is the current situation, there?"

"Almost civil war, if we can say that about a village with less than five hundred inhabitants. We have one side of gypsies that are a numerous group, in general younger and demand more equitable portion of the lands, while on the other side there are the natives who live with fear and sleep with a pistol or a knife at their bedside."

"I've heard them say the partition of lands was made without counting the gypsies."

"Yes, it's true" – Anselmo was a man who did not lie and knew how to easily recognize his own mistakes. – "We were surely wrong in this situation, but we've already tried to sit with them to get into an agreement, but it was not possible."

"And how can I help?"

"Perhaps you can act as an intermediate between the two parts, we have already tried it with the former-commander of the police in Malpica, but the gypsies didn't trust him, and as they don't know you, maybe we could get some results. If the situation keeps worsening, more people will leave Monforte and will come to Lentiscais, which will leave you in a complicated situation to manage."

"There's a reason why we're closing and controlling the entries, only those we allow can actually come in. Do you think it's possible for the gypsies to live in harmony with the other inhabitants?"

"Obviously so, within a gypsy community there are honest, hard-working people who want a pacific and fair solution just like me."

Gustavo was not enjoying the conversation, he would much rather that someone would come to ask him to help fight the gypsies, who were all scoundrels and thieves, but Anselmo was the complete opposite, a man in the middle of the confusion that could see clearly and did not lose his cool or his reason. He was even surprised that such an honest man could have made it in the world of business, but he had plans for Monforte, but they did not cross a fair, not even pacific solution.

"What would my role be like an intermediate?"

"Well, I believe the best thing would to listen to both parts and decide for the fairest one."

"What if one of the parts doesn't accept?"

"If it's fair for both parts, they will surely accept."

The conversation finished soon after, with Gustavo promising to think about the subject and make a decision soon. When Anselmo left, he remained for over one hour thinking of how to act towards Monforte and wondered when someone from Malpica would come, it was the biggest village of the four and still nobody had come to request or demand power.

The former commander of the GNR's station in Malpica do Tejo was a well-known man in his village, for more than thirty years he was the commander of the station and when there were only two months left to retire, the attack occurred and he was left without retirement nor salary, but he continued to be respected and treated as if he was still the GNR commander. Behind his back people called him "The Fatty", understandably, since he was 5.6 ft. tall, but he weighed more than a 240 pound, and curiously, all the fat was accumulated in his enormous belly. He had a very round face and a heavy mustache that popped out on his face giving him a comic air. He always used short hair, almost shaved, and only now, at sixty-five, did he begin to observe his first signs of balding. Contrary to Anselmo, The Fatty did not have the virtue of being honest; during his life, he closed his eyes to many crimes and received several bribes, used his power for his own advantage and abused his authority in several situations within the police force and even sexually abused immigrants without documents.

Although the village had a Parish Council and its respective president, the commander was the one who led the village and who called out the shots. One of the first measures he took after the attack was to expel the few gypsies that were in the village to Monforte and then he started to split the lands in a poorly equitable fashion, which led the population to protest without any results, since The Fatty had the guns and would have no problem in using them, in addition, now there was nobody who kept an eye on him in the city. He knew perfectly well what was up in Lentiscais and did not like what he heard. During the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, he saw some local population abandoning the place to live in Lentiscais and this made him decide to go to Lentiscais with the clear objective of bringing electricity without giving anything in return.

He decided to depart with two more men, both former police officers, and the three men took guns, and, while they rode slowly through the thirteen miles that separated the two villages, the former commander remembered that he had been called to go to Lentiscais or Alfrívida a few times. They were both peaceful villages with an almost exclusively aged population, who did not cause any trouble, far different from the hunters and anglers who came by during the weekends and broke many laws which he let go in exchange for some small bribe, this memory made him miss those times. He had always looked down at the population of Lentiscais, he thought people from there had a complex of inferiority when compared with Malpica and tried to build a rivalry, while those from Malpica, almost did not notice the existence of this sad village.

When he arrived at the entrance of Lentiscais, he was surprised with what he saw: two armed men wearing black stood guard at the gate, there was a small gate blocking the entry. He knew one of them and with a greeting he had the man raise the gate and the three men from Malpica walked in without any problems. The more he looked at the village, the more surprised and apprehensive he got, around him, there was a small civilization emerging and he confirmed the rumors that he had heard in the streets of Malpica, that Lentiscais was much more developed than any other neighboring village. He didn't intend to talk to Gustavo, he was going to Proença's house, his old friend from other fights, and he wanted to know what had happened for him to lose the presidency of the committee and what the village's current situation was. He still considered himself the commander of the local police and in his mind, Gustavo should look for him and ask for authorization to use guns and armed guards. When he arrived at Proença's, the owner was surprised to see The Fatty and asked him to come in immediately, while the other former police officers remained outside, waiting for their boss.

Before The Fatty arrived at Proença's, Gustavo learned about his presence in the village, he was a little surprised for him to have gone straight to Proença's and not directly to the Casa do Povo, but he did not pay too much attention; he knew that sooner or later, he would end up knowing everything, it was not possible to keep secrets in such a small village.

The former commander's visit to his friend Proença went on for about two hours, and the main subject was the appearance of both Gustavo and electricity. As far as Proença was concerned, The Fatty's visit had been very important, not only because he had gone to see him before meeting with Gustavo, but because his friend had asked him to act as intermediate in the new committee. He felt that maybe he could still be useful, and what better way than by being in an important position as a mediator between the interests of both villages, after all, he was a man who had been born there, and he knew the reality of the situation very well. As such, on the next day, in the afternoon, Proença went to the Casa do Povo to talk to Gustavo and maybe start a process to draw both villages closer. Proença finally felt like the main character again. When he arrived at the Casa do Povo's top floor he made his way to the committee's secretary, who was Carla, Norton's girlfriend, and she told him to wait a minute, because they were in a meeting. Half an hour later, she sent him in, Proença dressed elegantly in black and greeted all of them and went straight to the point.

"As you may know, yesterday, I received in my house Malpica do Tejo's former commander of the GNR, who was a little apprehensive to see the use of so many arms in the village and asked for electricity to be connected to Malpica do Tejo too, as soon as possible."

Gustavo, Norton and Zeca released spontaneous laughs when they heard Proença, which were followed by Ramiro and Gisela, although more controlled. Gustavo could not stop laughing and the more he looked at Proença's uncomfortable face, the more he felt like laughing. Once he managed to control his laughter, Gustavo approached Proença, raising from his chair.

"So, the great commander wants electricity, in that case, we're going to connect him to the current right now, we don't want to bother him" – a new laugh and he looked at the other members waiting for them to second him, everybody laughed, except for Ramiro, who seemed a little uncomfortable. – "Since Mr Proença is now the Malpica's ambassador in this village, I hand you The Villages Bylaws to deliver to The Fatty for him to read and approve them along with the population, otherwise, he will remain in the dark."

"Be careful, Gustavo, he's an important man, take much care" – Proença felt hate for Gustavo, for his arrogance and for his attempt to humiliate him before the other members of the committee.

"I already know that you know each other well, I could see in some old account books of the committee that you and The Fatty did a lot of embezzlement, but these are different times, so why judge it now? As such, seeing how we find ourselves in a different time than before, the commander's influence is... let's say... it is not as strong anymore; there's no state police, he doesn't have any power here."

Proença felt dizzy, he remembered the accounting books that during years were part of the dead files of the committee and that were now under the new committee's power, which had found, rather quickly, financial holes, poorly managed finances and unlawfully used money. He received the bylaws from Gustavo and left the room with a lowered head, ashamed and with the sensation that he was dealing with someone much more intelligent and perceptive than him.

Time went by, the hot and dry days of summer gave way to the shorter and rainier days of autumn. In Lentiscais, one could notice several changes daily. An enormous tank was built to collect the water from the rain and to connect that precious liquid to the houses, now they hoped for a rainy winter for the tank to have the capacity to respond to such high demand.

A currency was also created, Escudo was the name chosen in honor of the old Portuguese currency. Marcos, a bank clerk of middle age coming from Monforte, remained in charge of the currency's release. First, it was necessary to find metal, then work it and then the new currency was created. Along with the currency, the first bank was created and, by law, it would be the single one with the objective of helping the population obtain credit, with almost ridiculous interests that would simply serve to pay for the costs of the currency and the bank clerks. Marcos was the manager.

The old school, which had been closed down for over two decades, underwent some remodeling and refitting works in order to reopen its doors, there were not many children who lived in the village, but the young population kept growing and one of the pillars of the committee was education.

The security around the village was strengthened. All over the village, there were now cameras at the different entries and on the lands in the vicinity, which monitored everybody and everything. The images went straight to the police center, which was an old abandoned shack that now served as the command station for the village's security.

Gustavo had a busy life, he woke up very early to look after his lands, cattle and nursery, during the morning, he worked exclusively for himself and only in the afternoon did he go to the Casa do Povo to take care of the villages' business that demanded more and more of his time. He liked to be aware of everything and there was always some new problem he had to solve, therefore, he arrived home when his kids were already asleep. Every night, before sleeping, he promised himself that in the future, he would spend more time with them, and he missed the scent of a woman beside him before falling asleep.

Winter came and little by little, it began to show that the population in both Lentiscais and in Afrívida had increased. This increase in the population was not too worrying because the old population, who relied on medicines and healthcare, died more easily. Health was one of the problems that existed in the village, not only due to the lack of qualified personnel, but also for the lack of medicines. The committee created a plan to tackle this problem, firstly they would create a pharmacology lab, to prepare medicines and secondly, they would encourage people with a higher education to share their knowledge with the younger generations. Winter also brought more water and consequently started the long-awaited sanitation of the village. The faucets received water again.

It was at the beginning of this season too, that the former commander of the GNR, along with the old president of the Parish Council of Malpica do Tejo, and two more old police officers decided to go to Lentiscais. After his first failed visit, the former commander pressed by the former president of the council, but especially by the local population, who began to leave the village to live in Lentiscais and Alfrívida, made The Fatty swallow his pride and go talk directly to Gustavo. Even though only a little more than two months had passed since his first visit, he quickly noticed that things had changed, right at the entry there was a barrier and next to it a small house. It looked like a kind of work shack, there were more than one camera overlooking that entire place, the zone reminded him of the old customs on the border with Spain, more than thirty years ago.

Waiting for them were two men in black, with thick coats and caps on their heads and two rifles on their hands, The Fatty did not recognize them and with a quick greeting waited for them to raise the barrier. The two soldiers stood still and from within the shack a third soldier got out and asked them:

"Good morning, what might your business be?"

"We want to pass" – he said immediately in a slightly impatient tone.

"OK, but to pass you will have to lower from the horses and be searched, if we find any guns, they will be kept by us until your departure."

The former commander forced a laughter and looked at his two colleagues in search of complicity, which he received immediately, and had them adopt a more rigid posture.

"Young man, I'm the commander of the GNR of Malpica do Tejo and this is the council's president. If someone has the right to search someone here, that person is me. Lift this barrier right now or we will have some troubles."

The soldier did not even move one centimeter and from his face no one could read any emotion, with a lot of patience and kindness he repeated that he was just following orders and that nobody could pass without being searched. The president of the council was a very wise man and tried to create some consensus among all of them, but he soon saw that nobody wanted to give in, which made the soldier call his superior, Zeca. Fifteen minutes later, Zeca arrived at the place as everybody waited for him. Zeca did not know the president of the council personally, but he knew pretty well The Fatty and the two former police officers who always followed him, their relationship was not very cordial, they used to talk trash behind each other's back and when the former commander saw that Zeca was the head of those soldiers, he knew he would have a problem. Quickly, Zeca placed himself beside his soldiers and for more than five minutes, there was an argument between Zeca and The Fatty about the legality of the action, but in the end, thanks to the president's serenity, The Fatty gave in, delivered his gun and allowed himself to be searched by the soldiers. Zeca watched that search with satisfaction and could not conceal a small smile on his face.

The four of them were allowed to pass and headed to the center of the village in a bad mood. Even so, they couldn't help but notice, what had been a half-dead village one year ago, was a village in quick expansion nowadays, there were more houses, more people in the streets, plenty of horses and donkeys, smoke leaving the warehouses which seemed to have been turned into factories and when they arrived at the Casa do Povo they saw a railway that left from there and they imagined it would go up to Alfrívida. All were impressed and felt pretty small in comparison upon seeing so much difference between their villages, which were only thirteen miles apart. When they got into the building, the people that were in the café were extremely surprised to see them, and the president asked, very kindly, to the barista how they could talk to Gustavo, and he pointed them towards the stairs near the entrance. Both the former president and the former commander went up the stairs while the two former police officers remained in the café with orders to wait; when they arrived upstairs, they found Carla.

"We'd like to talk to Gustavo."

"Have you scheduled a meeting?" – Carla already knew that the answer was no. – "If not you will have to wait a little bit, he's now in a meeting, it will be finished soon, then I will see if he can see you, what are your names?"

Due to the incident at the entrance of the village, Gustavo had already learned of their presence in Lentiscais and for that, he would make them wait, show them that they were not important there. Meanwhile, he was with Norton, rehearsing everything he would say to the foreigners. In the meantime, Carla asked them if they would like some coffee; the two men accepted after having been teased by its pleasant smell for so long.

After twenty minutes of waiting, both of them were called into Gustavo's office.

"My my, what a nice surprise, welcome, kind sirs. Have a seat, please."

"Thank you, Mr. President, I don't know if I should address you this way" – said the former president, testing Gustavo.

"Oh no, for God's sake, my name is Gustavo."

"Let me tell you, it was truly difficult to arrive here" – continued the former president. – "But I have to admit that you have truly done an admirable work here in the village."

While Gustavo and the former president were kind to one another, trying to create a relaxed atmosphere in the room, The Fatty looked at Gustavo without disguising his interest in the character, as if he was trying to enter his thoughts or simply intimidate him.

"So and what brings you here?" – Gustavo asked leaning back on his chair and putting his hands together, supporting his elbows on the chair's arms.

"You know perfectly well why we're here" – The Fatty replied in a not-so-kind manner, making the former president a little uncomfortable. – "Certainly, Mr Proença has already told you and you know the reason why we're here."

"In that case, you also know my answer" – Gustavo answered in the same tone of voice.

"Your answer does not satisfy us, the power is not yours, it's everybody's."

"Exactly, the power is for everybody, we have created ours and you may create yours."

"No, you haven't created anything, you brought this electricity from the wind park and that park is as much ours as it is yours."

"So why don't you do the same?"

The conversation was going back and forth with plenty of tension between both sides, Gustavo and The Fatty who looked mutually in the eyes, without anyone wanting to surrender. Gustavo continued with the attack.

"You can't because you don't know how to do it, and you're here to beg, or rather, demand that we supply you our energy, because you see that your village is dying, either because the elderly doesn't have enough medicine or because the younger ones come to our village. What's more, you know that in order to get power you have to take the bylaws to the voting booths."

"These bylaws are ridiculous; they have no legitimacy, just like the army you have created is completely illegal."

"Illegal?" – Gustavo gave a small laugh. – "What law? You still think you're the commander of the GNR station? Dear friend, that institution is over, it doesn't exist, it disappeared along with the State of Portugal, and even the country itself doesn't exist anymore, what remains from Portugal is its language and cultural traces. We're in a new age and you have to adapt to these new times. You want power, you want light, then accept the bylaws."

"But do understand, Mr Gustavo" – The former president interrupted to try and ease the situation. – "What you request is that, in exchange for your power-supply, we grant you control over our village and lands and this is a little too much."

"Don't misread the bylaws; we don't want to command Malpica, nor any other land; our objective with these bylaws is to ensure that electricity is connected to villages where there is a democratic process, justice and equality among all, and this is the basis of our laws. Sure, Malpica would be under the control of a government composed by people who would represent all the other villages. Moreover, the representatives of each village, which would have been elected in a democratic fashion, like you and me, would be the ones in charge of the over-government."

Little by little, the former president seemed to be interested in the subject and began to like Gustavo, who seemed to be a well-educated cultured person and perhaps with good principles. He thought that the proposal was not actually that bad; in a way it even seemed reasonable, and he was willing to negotiate, but next him he had the former commander who felt his partner was falling for Gustavo's charms, and to him his speech seemed to be pure madness.

"You can't apply the same bylaws to a little village like Alfrívida and to one of the biggest villages in Southern Castelo Branco like us" – The Fatty said with defiance.

"There's no Castelo Branco anymore, and every day the difference between Alfrívida and Malpica is smaller. Dear Sirs," – Gustavo made a pause so as to suggest that the meeting was coming to an end – "we offer power and development in exchange for the bylaws."

"You misunderstand" – blew the former commander. – "We don't want your bylaws, we want your light and in exchange, we will not start a war."

No one expected those words, the own former president asked for calm and moderation to The Fatty, but everybody raised from their chairs and Gustavo, approaching the foreigners and shouted:

"Get out of here, if you want war, you'll have it."

The Fatty left the room immediately, while the former president apologized in a servile manner for the words of his companion.

# RUTE

A few days before Christmas and Gustavo was at the main entrance to the village, along with Norton. It rained softly and they both decided to get into the shack that worked as a customs, and guard the entrance from inside. In the last weeks, Gustavo was feeling tired of dealing with the local population and he decided to hide at that point in order to be able to work and address the subjects of the village more calmly. His popularity had lowered, after having increased the tax he had created a short time ago; the reason for this increase was the expenses with the distribution of water and electricity, the payment of the salary for teachers, health personnel and soldiers. He did not like to deal with the population and he had less will to explain his decisions. In addition to the population, father Xavier also pressed him to make Catholicism the official religion of the village and to allow him to broadcast over the radio the Sunday mass; Gustavo replied with evasive answers, trying to gain more time, but he knew that his decision would not please the priest and he feared the consequences.

Outside, the panorama was not brilliant either: Gustavo did what Anselmo Carneiro had asked and went to talk to the gypsy leader of Monforte. He took Ramiro, for his peacemaking attitude, in order to try and get some positive result, but the meeting was a true disaster: the gypsy leader had taken armed men thinking that Gustavo wanted to bait him into some trap and had a very arrogant speech. The meeting came to a close in little more than thirty minutes, without any results, and not even the prospect of a second round of conversations. With the other neighbors, the ones of Malpica, the situation was rather dangerous. Gustavo had met secretly with the former president of the council and they had got to an agreement that it was necessary to get The Fatty out of the way, but at that moment he was the one who had the guns and there was a rumor that he had a plan to attack the power central between Lentiscais and Alfrívida. Gustavo thanked him for his support, but he did not trust him, indeed, he suspected he was playing both sides. Considering all of this, for the first time since a long time ago, Gustavo felt the load on his shoulders was too heavy for him; he missed his comfortable life of a Chamber employee, his small everyday problems, he felt like being a programmer again and not having to deal with people, but only with computers. He even thought about the possibility of waiving to the presidency of the committee and becoming a simple citizen, but he concluded that he was the most suitable person to see that task through.

As he talked to Norton, he saw at the bottom of the road a figure dressed in black that approached very slowly, he grabbed the binoculars and confirmed it was a woman. He left the shack and remained next to the soldier that was on patrol with his hand at the rifle, but he quickly realized that the woman did not constitute any danger. Her walk was slow and she hobbled a little of the right leg, her clothes were actually black rags and when she approached, Gustavo noticed her boots were worn out and torn letting water in. When she was at less than 30 feet, she screamed with the hoarse voice denoting exhaustion:

"I come in peace."

Gustavo nodded for her to come closer and gave the order to raise the barrier. The woman approached fearfully and Gustavo softly sent her to the shack. He gave her a blanket for her to cover herself and served her some hot coffee. He thought she would be one more immigrant that would possibly have some terrible story behind her, the death of her relatives, hunger, cold, maybe even violence or sexual abuse. It seemed to him she was aged fifty years old or more, her hair was messy, with white lines from the roots, although the tips were of a light maroon. She had very bright and dark eyes with deep dark circles, her skin was fair and she was very skinny. It was obvious that she suffered from malnutrition, even though, there was something in her that drew attention, something about her eyes, and in the way she carried herself that showed she was a feminine and exquisite woman. Maybe for this reason, he decided to take care of her and, differently from what he did with the immigrants, he did not send her directly to the Day Center.

"My mother is a nurse and she's now at home, I see you have several wounds, I'll take you home so you can take a hot shower and she will give you a check-up."

Norton was surprised with Gustavo's hospitality, but he did not make any comment, and the woman, after a little silence, said:

"My name is Rute."

Gustavo helped her walk over to the golf car and took her home. Then he rang the bell and seconds later, his mother appeared.

"Mother, this is Rute, an immigrant that has just arrived, she has some wounds, let her take a shower and check her situation, please. I'll return to the control station."

"Stay with me, please" – Rute besought, holding Gustavo by the arm and staring him straight in his eyes, as if she was asking for mercy for some sin she had committed.

"It's ok, there's no problem, don't be afraid, you will be treated as a human being and I will be with you for a bit longer."

Rute was incredulous with what was happening, drinking hot coffee, riding a golf cart and being in a house with electricity, house appliances and pipe water made her feel like she was in a scientific movie. For several months, she had lost hope in mankind, and now, once again, she saw there was an oasis in the barren desert that she had crossed in the last months. The disinterested kind gesture of Gustavo had filled up her heart with veneration for him and she feared that if he disappeared all would be like before, an enormous nightmare.

Rute had been born in Castelo Branco, at the end of the sixties; she was the daughter of a college philosophy professor, and fanatical communist, who had been arrested several times in the sixties for inadequate behavior against the political system. After the revolution of 1974, he even became a candidate for the Hall of Castelo Branco in his party, but he had no success. He spent a large part of his days closed in the office of his house, reading and writing – very early, he instilled the taste for reading in his single daughter. Rute's mother was the opposite of her father, a homemaker who spent the days in the kitchen, she loved to hear the Catholic radio station and try new cooking recipes. As Rute was concerned, it had always been a mystery how her parents were married; they were very different people that seldom talked to each other.

Rute admired her father and soon she became involved with the Castelo Branco's communist party youths. However, at the beginning of the eighties, at the age of fifteen, Rute traveled with her parents to the Soviet Union. This trip was her father's dream, who had saved plenty of money to spend over three weeks in the country he worshiped so much. Nevertheless, the vacations were not as they expected. They remained in a building in Moscow with comrades from other countries, but the building had problems with its power supply; as did the entire city. Buying food was an almost impossible task, because there was hardly any cereals and the lines in the supermarkets were immense, the population was unsatisfied and they talked badly about the system. When they returned to Portugal, Rute decided to abandon the Communist Party, her father understood her decision and drifted slightly away from the party and none of them was surprised when years after, the Soviet Union did not exist anymore.

When she was seventeen years old, Rute found her first love, a charming youngster who was ready to join the police. Two years later, they got married, without her father's blessing who wanted her to finish her college degree and who, in addition, thought a police officer too simple for his daughter.

At the age of twenty-two years, Rute gave birth to her first daughter, and three years later, she finished her course and had her second daughter. When she hit thirty years old, she became a high school mathematics teacher and had a comfortable middle-class life. However, her relationship with her husband was more and more distant and only her daughters made them stay together; just like her parents, Rute and her husband had nothing in common aside from their daughters, and as such, they spent most of their free time apart. At the age of forty-six years, her younger daughter had a son and Rute got depressed because she felt she was old, without projects and ambitions, sharing a marriage with a man whom she hadn't loved for a long time. She registered at a gym and began to take walks to stay fit and try to fight back the inevitable aging signs. One Sunday morning, as she was taking one of her long and lonely walks, the alien attack occurred, and Rute, who was just out of the limits of the city, saw how her homeland became an enormous cloud of dust.

On the days following the attack, she saw herself bewildered, she did not want to believe she had lost everything, she did not want to believe that Castelo Branco had disappeared and with it, her entire family and property. She thought there would be no meaning to continue to live and she felt regret for not having disappeared in the immense white dust cloud as well. She found some lost people like her going to a small village close to Castelo Branco, which had been saved from the attack, Benquerenças. In the beginning, she was well sheltered and the population was rather helpful with a cooperative spirit, but when food began to run short, Rute was excluded from the group and decided to leave the village without direction.

During the summer months, she lived in the middle of the woods. She starved a lot and her meals were almost exclusively fruits, insects and berries. She drank water from rivers and from the morning dew. She slept in the open and began to feel afraid of finding any human being. She considered the possibility of suicide, but she had no willpower to do it. With the end of the summer and the arrival of the rain and cold, she looked for some place to be sheltered and accidentally she found a group of hunters from Monforte who took her to their village. When she arrived there, she found the village in a kind of cold war, from one side the gypsies and the other the non-gypsies. They let her sleep in a haystack along with animals and since the first day, she heard the population speak about the development of Lentiscais, which made her very curious. Still, she felt comfortable in Monforte, working as a herder for a hunter that had found her; but one night, Rute was visited by the hunter who tried to have sexual relations with her and, when she refused, she was violently assaulted by him and her screams for help were heard by the hunter's wife, who saved her from being raped, but demanded that she left the village immediately. Then, Rute departed to Lentiscais with rags glued to her body and very little will to keep on living.

Gustavo reassured her and promised her he would be back for dinner, Rute took a hot shower, then put on the clothes that Antónia had given her and that had belonged to Marta. Little by little, Rute began to feel better and when she returned to the kitchen, there was a plate of roasted lamb with potatoes and a fire on. In the kitchen, there was only Antónia.

"Eat, child" – said Antónia and went back closer to the fire.

A bit later, Diogo and Alice came in returning from school with their grandfather Joaquim; they behaved as if Rute was part of the family and sat near the fireplace to warm themselves. After eating, Antónia treated Rute's wounds of and right after, she joined the family by the fire. She was thankful and wished that that moment wouldn't end so soon. She talked about her past and asked many questions about the situation of the village, but there was a matter she longed to see resolved.

"Whose clothes are these?"

"They are of my daughter-in-law" – Antónia said quickly without realizing the hint of disappointment in Rute's face, which soon dissipated. – "Unfortunately, she's not with us anymore." – Antónia caressed Alice's head.

Even if she knew that it was a selfish attitude, Rute was actually happy to know that Gustavo was a widower, she desired to see him once again and before the dinner she returned to the bathroom to comb her hair and compose herself a little bit more; she looked at the mirror and tried to remind herself of the last time she had freshened up for a man, or the last time she had actually been nervous to meet someone of the opposite sex and she realized that she could not remember. She thought that her attitude was absurd; she was clearly older than he was, she was a mess, he would never be interested in her, and she felt like she was old and ridiculous.

Dinner was pleasant, with the family talking about how their day had been and giving their guest some peace on the side, almost as if she was an observer; then they all shared the fireplace for an hour and they went to sleep. Gustavo was curious to know more information about Rute, but out of politeness, he did not ask her any questions. Now that she wore Marta's clothes and was clean, she did not appear as old, and right now, he saw in her now an attractive and exquisite woman.

"You'll sleep in the guest's room tonight, tomorrow I will take you to the Day Center to start the citizenship process. I see that my mother gave you my ex-wife's clothes, if you want, you can choose whatever you want from the closet."

Rute was tired and soon after going to bed, she fell asleep, but before she had a fancy of a dream about Gustavo, she pictured them both going to a nice restaurant, dressing elegantly and having interesting conversations between looks in love and later they would have a long walk along the sea in a hot summer night.

In turn, Gustavo took long to sleep, he imagined Rute would get up in the middle of the night to lay down with him and that, without any need for words, they would make love.

The next morning, they had breakfast together, Gustavo practically prepared her the meal since Rute did not know where anything was, and they spoke calmly about no subject in particular while they listened to Radio Serrano, which was broadcasting music from the eighties. They went to the Casa do Povo, where it was normally Gisela who was in charge of the new immigrants; but this time, Gustavo wanted to welcome the new immigrants that had arrived in the last twenty-four hours. In addition to Rute, a family composed by the parents and two children of eight and ten years old had also arrived. Gustavo joined all of whom at the table.

"First of all, I'd like to welcome you all; I'm going to give you a little summary of your rights and obligations as new citizens. I will also hand you all the standards specified in this small book to each of you. I'd like to emphasize that you will have to adapt to our way of life and not us to yours. Let's begin now with your rights: you will be treated as local citizens entitled to health, electricity and drinking water; you will have the same rights as any other native citizen. Now, there are some houses that we can still deliver, although they are not in that good of a condition; as a family, you will be entitled to one hectare of land to cultivate, while you, Rute, to half a hectare; in case this land is not cultivated, it will be removed from you. I advise you, starting now that you talk to the committee's secretary, who will give you suggestions about what you can cultivate, the most looked for products and the ones that are missing. You can create your own business, and the State will not create any complication, quite the opposite, we will support the promotion of businesses and new ideas. As an obligation, you will have to pay a citizenship tax that will serve to cover the State's costs, to who you will be able to work to, even if only in part-time jobs at the moment and the salaries are low. Should you commit any crime, you will be judged and convicted, and after serving the sentence, you will be expelled from our territory. You may go out and come into our territory as many times as you want, nobody is forced to live here forever, but if you stay away for over one year, you will lose the right to the house and the land. I'll hand you the keys to your houses, but I suggest that you get in touch with the civil-works company to help you improve the conditions of your house, and you might have to ask for a loan from our bank, which is a non-profit institution, so the interest will be lower. Do you have any questions?"

After delivering the keys to the respective houses, Gustavo went away, but Rute followed him right away.

"I don't want to be a nuisance, you've done a lot for me already, but would it be possible for me to go to your house to pick some of your wife's clothes?"

"Of course it is, if you want to take them all, along with her makeup and her creams."

"I wouldn't like to do it without you being there, because...all things considered, it's your wife's property and some of those things may have sentimental value for you and for your children."

"All right, it seems fair, let's do it like this: go see your house, take care of the necessary papers and have lunch at the Day Center. At two, I will come here to the Casa do Povo and then we'll pick the clothes that you want."

At two in the afternoon both of them were drinking coffee at the Casa do Povo, even if Gustavo tried to pay attention to Rute, he was constantly requested by the locals with doubts and pleas. When they left the café, Gustavo was finally able to ask her about her new house.

"Well, it's pretty good, at least concerning the roof and the walls, in the kitchen there's a stove that runs on wood, but besides that, it has no furniture or even a bed, but I'm very satisfied."

"As for the bed, I can find an old bed we have kept in the attic, the mattress is old, but until you find something better it might do the trick, as for the other things, it's better to ask for some money at the bank to buy anything essential. Have you talked to Gisela about the possibility of being a maths teacher at the school?"

"Yes, she was very kind and told me that they needed both maths and physics teachers, so I'm going to begin next Monday."

During the rest of the day, Gustavo helped Rute settling down in her new house. It was a small house with a kitchen right at the entry and then a small bedroom and bathroom; it was actually a small space, but Rute was happy for having her own place and she loved that Gustavo dedicated so much time and attention to her.

"I'll ask you something and you may not decline." – Said Rute with a seductive look.

"Tell me."

"Today, you will have to have dinner with me as a way to repay you for all of your work."

Gustavo gave a little laugh and placed his right hand on Rute's left arm.

"You don't have to repay me; I did it because I like your company."

"I won't accept a no, please."

At that moment, Gustavo felt like kissing her thin lips, but he thought that perhaps he was misreading her signs and feared being rejected.

"I accept the invitation, then. But first, I will go home, take a shower, change, and bring some wine to water the food."

"Perfect." – Rute answered with a pleasant smile.

While he dressed up for dinner, Gustavo found himself a little nervous, he liked Rute and felt attracted to her, but he wondered if she felt the same way and it everything seemed so fast and recent that it was best to just have a single peaceful, relaxed night, in good company, and not to try any foolishness. He left home very elegant, with two bottles of red wine and with his hands sweating in anxiety.

When he arrived, Rute was already dressed in one of Marta's beautiful dresses, which was somewhat weird for Gustavo. She was still cooking dinner, and they had an exciting talk which lasted the entire dinner, always watered with red wine, which soon made Rute a little tipsy, since she had not drunk for a long time. They talked about the past and their previous relationships. Rute confessed that she missed her two daughters and her father a lot, but she did not mention her grandson, because she did not want to give the image of being a grandmother, she didn't even mentioned having missed her husband, because she actually did not feel that way. Gustavo talked about the list, his obsession with the attack, his idiotic parents-in-law, how they had gotten hold of power and the complicated political situation in which he was involved.

He did not know whether or not he should kiss her, if he should make a move, if he was mistaking things. Rute, on the other hand, felt like kissing him, but she was afraid he took her as an old woman, that the nine-year difference would be too much for him. A little after finishing dinner, there was an uncomfortable silence; Gustavo did not know what to say, nor what subject to bring up, he thought silence was a signal it was time to depart, besides, tomorrow he would have to wake up early for the agricultural tasks. He got up, and when he was ready to speak, Rute got up with him and caught his hand softly. She thought of saying something to keep him from going, but she simply looked at Gustavo's blue eyes; he was filled with courage and approached Rute's face and lips slowly. After the first kiss, many others came and their hands ran across both of their bodies with more and more intensity. They got into the small bedroom without stopping their kisses as they took off their clothes in a clumsy manner and ended up naked on the old bed that Gustavo had brought a few hours ago. Gustavo confirmed that Rute's body was very thin and both her tits and ass were starting to sag as the years passed, but she still looked feminine and sensual. Rute, in turn, was pleased that Gustavo did not have hair on his chest and that he didn't have a big belly, unlike her husband. Perhaps it was due to lack of practice, but the intercourse barely lasted one minute and let Gustavo a little ashamed and frustrated with himself. However, Rute reassured him and they restarted kissing, drinking wine and talking like two people in love; a little time later, Gustavo penetrated Rute again and this time they could reach a sweaty orgasm, and as exhausted as they were, they slept clinging to each other.

Since they lived in a small village, they did not want to hide that they had a relationship; therefore, shortly after, everyone knew that Rute and Gustavo were the new couple in Lentiscais. Rute had an excellent adaptation not only with Gustavo's family, but also with the entire village. During the morning, she taught maths and physics at school to different classes, she had lunch at her small house, generally alone. In the afternoon, she went to work in her half a hectare, where she had chosen to plant aromatic herbs that had a good acceptance by the population and in little time, she had a good client base. At the end of the afternoon, she went to Gustavo's, where she helped his mother with dinner and helped the children with their homework. She had dinner with Gustavo and after the kids slept, they remained until late talking and dating. Rute always slept in Gustavo's bedroom.

They were in love and the moment they waited for the most was when they would meet at dinnertime. However, it was only after dinner that they had some time alone; they talked mostly about the current political situation, but also of movies, music or books. Little by little, Rute became a counselor for Gustavo as political matters were concerned. He always heard her opinions, which were becoming more and more important. Rute would tell him about her years of youth in the Communist Party, the great disappointment she and her father had had when they arrived at the Soviet Union, the book her father wrote in the nineties about the reason for the fall of the communism, which had been badly received by his party's comrades. From all the advice Rute gave him, a special paragraph remained in Gustavo's mind:

"When we're in perturbed times like these, it's necessary that a strong and decisive government appears, without fear of making radical cuts or changes; it's important that it controls the public opinion and education, that inside of it there is no internal wars or divisions and that, if necessary, it has to use some unorthodox methods to obtain results of union and homogeneity. History is written by the victorious."

Gustavo loved Rute, he saw in her an exquisite, educated, intelligent and very feminine woman; secretly he felt jealous of her past life, of having had a relationship of so many years with another man. They had intercourse regularly and Gustavo loved that she took the initiative and that she never denied his desires or fantasies. He feared that, after the passion disappeared, the relationship would fall into routine and monotony, but that wouldn't come to pass any time soon, and, sometimes, at lunchtime, Gustavo visited her at her small house in search of five minutes of pleasure. Since the beginning, he noticed that she had more experience than he did and an almost unexpected lack of inhibition towards Gustavo who sometimes felt like a student in her hands and this only increased his veneration for Rute.

Rute, in turn, loved Gustavo too, she saw in him an improved example of her father. He was a leader, calculating and manipulative, sometimes anxious, which she tried to calm down. She felt that he listened to her opinions and was interested in everything that she had to say, which made her feel important. She feared that one day he found some younger and more beautiful woman, that the difference of nine years would be a problem, therefore, she decided that her man was always appeased with love and sex so as not to search anybody else. She was sad that she was not able to give him kids, but she looked after her two stepchildren as if she was a close aunt and was always present.

In a dark and cold February night, a soldier who was on duty woke Gustavo up in the early hours of the morning to inform him that they had been robbed and that two thieves were fenced. Gustavo got dressed quickly and went to the control center in his golf car, where Zeca was already waiting for Gustavo to give the last order with a tired semblance.

"How many are they?"

"They were five, they appeared in the middle of the night, coming with horses and guns, trying to get into the village through the woods, without knowing that we also have cameras there. When they felt the presence of the soldiers they opened fire against us and three of them disappeared, but we have two of them here, what should we do?"

"I want them alive, or at least one of them."

Gustavo and Zeca approached the site where they were, a stretch of wood with tall pine-trees, close to a road to the village and where the night's darkness hid everything from sight. They heard a couple of shots, then a long silence which made Gustavo think that they were dead, until a voice watered with pain shouted very loud.

"We surrender, but please, help us, my brother will die."

They all approached, armed with guns, walking to the place from where the scream of help had come, they saw a man with his hands full of blood, putting pressure on the chest of a second man who was lying in the floor, breathing with some difficulty.

"Take this man to the doctor right now, and the other one will be taken to the control center, make sure he's properly tied" – said Gustavo, who could not hide an enormous joy.

The man was left in a dark room, where there was only one chair; he was scared and had his hands and feet tied; he remained in full darkness for ten minutes, alone, confused and without knowing the reason why they had saved his life and sent his brother to a doctor. He was angry at the three other elements of his group for leaving them alone and without horses. He felt like crying and decided that in the middle of the darkness nobody would see him, then he allowed the knot in his throat to untie and began to cry in silence. Suddenly, the ceiling light flashed, the immense light hurt his eyes and when he could see again, there was a tall, thin man in front of him with brilliant blue eyes, dressed in black, who sat in the chair and gave order for the soldier to untie his hands and leave them alone.

"Are you thirsty? I guess so, that's why I brought you a glass of water."

Gustavo offered him a glass of water, which the man meant to accept at first, but then he thought it could be poisoned and refused. Gustavo realized the gesture and took a little sip, then he stretched his arm and only then did the prisoner accepted the glass.

Gustavo observed that man for some time, he seemed to be thirty years old; he had a black beard, likely several months old, he was not enough dressed for the season of the year and was slightly shorter than him, he had big hands and his back was very broad, like of some Olympic swimmer's.

"I was waiting for you."

Gustavo said with a smile. He made a pause waiting for a reaction, but there was no answer, the prisoner looked at him without showing any feelings.

"I don't know who you are, where you come from, and I don't want to know, but I'll give you two options. The first one is that you are judged by our court, where you will certainly be convicted to forced labors during many and long years, or you have a second option, in which you will go to our court, you will say what I want you to say and you will be arrested for some time and will be free in less than two years. Which one do you want?"

"Who are you? Are you my lawyer?"

Gustavo released an enormous laugh and felt pity for being alone and not sharing that moment with Zeca or Norton.

"Lawyer? Do you think you're in Hollywood? Suppose I'm the sheriff of this city, that you and your friend tried to rob, and I may become either your guardian angel or your worst nightmare."

"I can tell all the truth; we were just looking for food, nothing else."

"Sure, sure, it's much easier to steal than produce, right? If you want me to help you, you will have to say what I want to be the truth and I promise you, you will be free within one or two years, otherwise, I promise you will never leave anymore."

"I can say whatever you want, but is my brother included in this agreement?"

"You brother? I'm sorry to tell you this, but he died on the way to the doctor."

There was silence in the small room, the prisoner lowered his head and could not hold back the tears for his brother. Gustavo remained silent and allowed him to recover from the news. Then he thought of his own brother, without knowing whether he was alive or dead; he hoped he had survived, since he lived in a small village, but the possibility of seeing him again was slim; if he was alive, it would certainly be a perfect world for him, nature dominating mother Earth again. His mother prayed constantly for him and filled up the house with pictures of Hélder.

"What do I have to say?"

"You will say that you and your brother are gypsies from Monforte da Beira, who were sent by your leader to steal whatever you could, that this is the second time you came to steal, and that you have succeeded once already."

"But I'm not a gypsy, nor do I know any gypsies from Monforte. This is a lie."

"From now on, it's the truth and within an hour, I will give you a script that you will have to memorize and recite before the judge, and you will say the same in the radio for all to hear."

The trial took place in the Casa do Povo, in an open session for all to watch. It was the first trial in the village and they noticed their lack of experience. There was no professional judge and it was Norton, who had the justice folder, who played this role. There were also five citizens named by sorting who would dictate the verdict along with Norton, in a North-American way. There were no lawyers nor a well-structured penal code; therefore, the trial seemed to be a theater play where the people seemed to be untalented actors and who had not read the script. The prisoner was very nervous in the middle of that confusion and said, in an automatic voice and without much conviction, that he was a gypsy and was under the orders of the leader of the community. In less than two hours, they found the verdict: fifteen years of prison in forced labor, which was received with applause by the furious population and without any reaction from the prisoner. Later the prisoner read at the radio a confession of his crime and listed several plans, some surrealistic, that the gypsies were coming to steal and cause chaos in the village.

The plan Gustavo had drawn had been perfect, the village was convinced of the danger of the gypsies, who had now become the public enemy number one, the people trusted more and more in Gustavo's ability and his committee. Even though, not all were satisfied with the last happenings and Ramiro was the best example of this.

"Gustavo, I'd like to talk to you when you can." – Ramiro caught Gustavo's arm softly and spoke in a low tone.

"Right away, let's go to my office."

Once they arrived there, before closing the door and making sure that there was nobody near, Ramiro turned to Gustavo.

"The trial seemed to be an authentic farce. That was a circus, we have no penal code, nor do we have the competent personnel to judge anyone, and letting five people without any preparation judge the life of a man is too dangerous. Gustavo, this is not right."

Gustavo felt uncomfortable, his plan was going fine and he relied on the populism he had created to justify his purposes. Nevertheless, Ramiro was an intelligent person, a moderate and prudent man who saw the entire situation wisely, which Gustavo disliked.

"Ramiro, I agree we have too much to learn concerning justice, we have to improve, but for the moment, we've done the best we could, there are large flaws in terms of justice, but we'll improve little by little."

"Gustavo, pay attention, we've sentenced a man who was hungry and I still doubt that he is a gypsy to forced labor for fifteen years."

"Fifteen years seems too much for you?"

"Sure, for someone who is hungry and searching for food. I have no doubt that it is."

"He came with more people, they had guns and shots were exchanged, we're lucky none of our soldiers died and you think these were too many years? Imagine if one of our guards had died" – he made a little pause. – "He didn't kill anyone because he didn't get a chance, but he was ready for that, without a shadow of doubt and that's what was on trial today. Whether he's gypsy or not, why would he lie? Why would he say he's gypsy if he's not?"

"I don't understand why. But the statement he did on the radio was ridiculous, I think the radio should be used in a more serious and impartial way, as it stands it's a means of propaganda for the committee. And I don't understand why the trial can be broadcast directly in the radio, but the father's mass may not."

"Ramiro, perhaps within a year or so we can have a radio with proper journalism, but not right now. We need unity, we need to speak the same language as these people. And please, don't even suggest that we're playing favorites here as religions and beliefs go."

"I'm sorry for being so blunt, Gustavo, but ever since Rute came to the village, you've changed, you're governing in a totalitarian and populist manner."

"Don't be jealous" – Gustavo said with a slight laughter. – "It's just your impression."

A few days went by before Gustavo received some great news: four villages that were west of Alfrívida wanted to vote and approve the bylaws. Cebolais de Cima, Vale das Pousadas, Monte Fidalgo e Cedilhe, the latter on the Spanish side of the border, which requested the presence of Gustavo to clarify eventual doubts. The adhesion process occurred quickly; in a very short time, the date of the elections was scheduled and while this process was taken care of, the first assault by Lentiscais along with the allied villages took place.

# THE ATTACK

The plan was clear, they would silently make their way into Monforte da Beira at three in the morning, break into the gypsy houses and capture everyone.

It was a dark night in March and the sky was covered with clouds and there was a crescent moon, which illuminated the way a little, revealing twenty-three men armed with an impressive arsenal. Nothing had been left to chance, for months Zeca with, a retired sergeant from Monforte, had outlined a plan of attack on the village and was just waiting for Gustavo's approval to go advance.

Gustavo wanted the population's support for the assault; therefore, he waited patiently for a thief to be captured so that he could blame the gypsies for it and thus justify the attack. Both Gustavo and Zeca had chosen the twenty-three men who would act in this offensive; almost all of them had been soldiers or police officers and were completely trustworthy. The assault had been planned in absolute secrecy, the soldiers involved in it were only told about it the night before it took place. Gustavo made sure to let aside both Ramiro and Anselmo, the man who had asked him to talk to the gypsies.

All of the twenty-three men had maps on them with the location of the houses where the gypsy community lived and had orders to kill in case of resistance. They had received individual instructions for the operation to be swift, clean and organized.

At the scheduled time, the men arrived at the vicinity of Monforte and left their horses behind, approaching the village on foot so as to not make any noise. They went dressed fully in black with their faces covered and with machine guns, rifles and handguns. At three in the morning, the attack took place. Confusion was installed almost immediately, shouts, shots, smoke and cries filled the previously quiet night. The men in black broke into the houses quickly and removed their residents who, among screams and blows tried to defend themselves. The non-gypsy population, who woke up with all that commotion, did not want to believe in the horrific spectacle their eyes witnessed, but when they saw that the ones being attacked were their neighboring gypsies, they began to applaud the operation and insulting the captured people. Gustavo was in the middle of the street where the prisoners were taken; he helped to handcuff them and shut their mouths with a tissue. Whenever someone resisted, Gustavo removed, from his pocket, a Taser and knocked the person unconscious.

At five in the morning, the operation had come to an end with the fall of the last gypsy house; all of them had been captured. Those had been two hours of much violence, with five gypsies dead and one of the assaulting men injured. It was astonishing and unforgettable to see the main square of the village full of men and women dressed in their pajamas, or even less, showing signs of violence, wounds, blood, tears, suffocated screams and children who held onto their parents crying helplessly. It would be impossible for any human being to remain indifferent to that degree of violence, but still, the native population gathered around the captured and shouted: "get out of here" or "Serranos, Serranos"; this recognition, along with the name of the radio-station, led Gustavo to later suggest that the region governed by him and the committee would be called Serrano.

Gustavo ordered for the gypsy community leader to be brought before him, outside of the village, near a bunch of oak-trees at the limit of Monforte. José Lino had been the patriarch of the community for less than one year, due to his father's death right after the attack caused by a lack of medicine. He was aged fifty and had long, mostly white and very dirty hair which reached down to his shoulders. When he approached Gustavo, he thought he was going to die; he regretted not having listened to that individual some months ago and, especially, felt he was a lousy leader. He had his hands tied and had a tissue on his mouth, which Gustavo removed and asked him to get on his knees while he sat in front of him, in the trunk of an old oak-tree.

"Well then, good morning, dear José Lino; how nice to see you again."

He made a signal to the men that followed him to leave them alone.

"The last time we met, our positions were different, you had an arrogant look about you, and you had brought armed men and practically didn't allow me to speak. And I had brought the most tolerant and wise people of my team; but, since it didn't work then, today I brought another kind people."

"You're mad if you think you'll get away with this."

Gustavo released a spontaneous laugh and seemed to have a lot of fun with the situation.

"Oh, do tell me what's going to happen. Are the police coming to save you? The State? Some organization or left-winged party that supports ethnic minorities?"

José Lino felt frustrated; Gustavo was right, there was anybody who could help him, he was at the mercy of a crazy man who had just finished an atrocious act towards his people and he could be close to witnessing a massacre. He preferred to stay quiet and hear what that insane man had to tell him, but only after clarifying one point.

"The thief you caught is not a gypsy."

"I know that; he is a simple thief who was unlucky enough to get caught. He was the perfect excuse we needed in order to carry out this attack; now, we're going to say that we found, in your houses, plans to attack and assault our village. You know, José Lino, every great empire and regime needs to find a common enemy in order to create a mutual goal; you gypsies were clearly the perfect choice for an enemy for my own regime."

Gustavo made a pause and touched the oak tree's trunk where he was sitting.

"I love oak-trees, I've always thought it was amazing how a tree could evolve and create a bark, the corkwood, so perfectly that it could even protect the trunk from fires. The roots of these trees reach astonishing depths to obtain water and in these roots there are mitochondria, which are small organisms that, in exchange for shelter along the roots, give mineral salts to the plant, this process is called symbiosis, which is a mutually advantageous relationship for both parts. Another kind of relationship in the environment is called parasitism, which you certainly know better than anyone. I believe your people are experts in this matter; as far as I can remember, you have always lived in the limits of society, not wanting to mix yourselves with us, believing you're too good for this, making a living from less-than-clear businesses, like selling drugs, selling thing of doubtful quality, declaring very low incomes to the State, always in search of subsidies, help, support, new houses, making yourself look like the victims of discrimination and racism when you're the biggest racists of all, the ones who don't want to mingle with us. You are the perfect example of parasitism, those who give nothing to society, but demand equal treatment. I've always wondered why you, like other people without a nation, didn't want to build a country in a place maybe between Romania and Bulgaria, but then again," - Gustavo laughs again – "who would you steal from? Who would you deceive? Now, we're at a new age, an era in which there's no place for you in this new land we're creating and, because I'm a good and generous leader, I'm here to give you two options. The first is: you will be taken outside the limits of the region, then you'll all be murdered, except for the small children, your bodies will be given to the pigs which will eat pretty much anything, officially you were expelled from the region and were not seen anymore. The second option is: you will work for me, always in your area of expertise: deceit, causing confusion, stealing, that is, being yourselves, but when and where I tell you to do so. Should you choose this, you will be taken outside the limits of the region, and you will be able to mount your camp freely, but I want some of you to settle camps in some of the villages that still haven't joined us or that still have their doubts; there you will have carte blanche to do as you please and use your tricks to strike chaos and fear until we step in and save it, chasing you away. Then you will do the same in another village and so on. For this to work properly, you will be given some guns. In case you try to deceive us, I will be more than happy to make use of the first option, and trust me on this; we have plenty of guns and means to do so. And naturally, officially you don't work for me, your orders will be given to you by someone on my behalf. Which option will you choose, Mr José Lino? The first one or the second one?"

José Lino remained quiet, he could not even utter a word, could what his ears had just heard be true? That mad man's plan was really Machiavellian; someone should stop him, shoot him and give the power to someone with more common sense and moderation. And the worst part was that the population was by his side and he used every means he could to have more power and impose his laws, and now they would also be one more means for the ambition of that nuts; but the options he gave him were clear – to survive, they would have to join his play and do what the crazy playwright ordered.

"I need an answer now. Let's put an end to the parasitism or let's turn it into symbiosis? Which option do you choose?"

"The second one." – José Lino answered between teeth.

Gustavo gave the order and all the gypsies were lined up, tied to each other and forced to leave the village, only the elderly, the diseased and the children went by horse carts. Anselmo Carneiro looked in amazement at that image; it made him remember the old movies where black men and Indians were treated like animals. He felt ashamed of that situation, especially since next to him, the population applauded Gustavo and insulted and spat on the gypsies, who left the village crestfallen and in tears.

Minutes after the departure of the gypsies, Gustavo gave a well-planned speech to the population where he thanked them for their support; he talked of new times, of freedom and that they should choose a committee for the approval of the bylaws. After the speech, the population, who treated him like a God or a saint, took him by the shoulders. Gustavo felt like crying of so much emotion and he was fully convinced that he had just finished performing one of the best actions of his life.

At the end of the day, tired and feeling like returning to Lentiscais, he still had one last task to take care of: speaking to Anselmo. In Gustavo's mind, he would be the ideal man to lead Monforte, an honest and entrepreneurial man – well seen by the population. Curiously, Gustavo had not seen him the whole day and began to suspect that Anselmo was not on his side. He went alone to Anselmo's house and when he knocked on the door, Anselmo left with his grandson aged some eight years old, his only direct living relative.

"Do you mind me coming in, Anselmo?"

"Please do, Gustavo."

Anselmo had a basic house, even though he had been one of the richest men of the village, but his house was its proprietary's mirror, without great luxuries, only what was essential.

"I want you to be very frank with me, what did you think about what happened today in your village?"

"Honestly?" – Anselmo made a pause to wait for Gustavo's consent. – "It was one of the biggest injustices and humiliations I've ever seen until today, and believe me, I've seen a lot of things, I have even been to the war overseas."

"There wasn't another solution, you know I tried."

"Your attempt was ridiculous, without any conviction. Those human beings were treated in an inhuman way. They hadn't done any wrong; they just wanted to have some more lands and justice to be able to maintain their traditions and their culture. Among those people, I can assure you that 90% of them are honest, hard-working people, ready to help."

"So, why is the population on our side? They are not angry at me like you are."

"They are mistaken; they live on the idea that every gypsy is a thief."

That conversation, at the end of the day, was spoiling what for Gustavo had been a perfect day.

"I was willing to support you, so that you could take over the committee's presidency of your village, but I see now that you perhaps don't want my support."

"I have no ambition for power and I'll never be able to support what happened today in my village. As far as I'm concerned, it was the darkest day of your story. If you don't mind, I'll see you at the door because I want to have dinner with my grandson."

Gustavo felt offended the way Anselmo had treated him felt impolite, having been kicked out of his house, he did not expect such a hostile reaction from one of the most influential people in the village, and he feared the population would listen to Anselmo and all the operation ended up having been for naught. He even considered that Anselmo might have a point and that maybe thing could've been solved in a peaceful way, but he reminded himself that Monforte was on his side and that Anselmo did not have any say on this. Now the plan moved onto the next stage, having the gypsies to instill fear in Malpica do Tejo, a delicate but very appealing operation.

Already with six villages in the nation called Serrano, it was time to constitute the over-government. A government that should stop thinking locally, and would now think on behalf of the whole region. The six presidents of their respective committees gathered and decided to create a government composed by elements of the six villages that would meet once a week to discuss and legislate any new laws and then apply them to their villages. Gustavo became the president of the government, as expected, with Pedro from Alfrívida as vice-president.

The population had a feeling of unity, hope in the future and pride for the accomplishments achieved so far. The railway between Lentiscais and Alfrívida had been finished with the voluntary help of the citizens, and the locomotive was an old train, spared from the attack, which ran on coal. At first, it traveled every other day, but its success was overwhelming and it quickly began to travel daily and a company was created to take over the business. Then the other villages requested that the railway was expanded so that everyone could use it. Both Lentiscais and Alfrívida were the economic poles of the new country, but with the arrival of the new villages, Gustavo wanted the development to grow equitably, and as such the power supply was a priority, followed by the introduction of the Escudo, the creation of street markets, the incentive for the creation of companies and businesses in the new villages and, consequently, the migration of the population in search of new opportunities. Another priority was a basic health and education service in all the villages.

Gustavo's popularity was on the rise; he had the respect and admiration of the majority of the population. Now the president of the government relished these feelings and the days when he had been just a simple computer technician seemed to be too far, part of another life in which his opinion had never mattered for anything; now he felt like a powerful man with an ambitious project ahead, but not everybody supported his leadership and among those was Ramiro.

After Monforte's assault, Ramiro had started to avoid going to the Casa do Povo and to the committee. Gustavo quickly noticed his absence and thought that it was because of the attack, which certainly Ramiro disapproved. Gustavo did not make any effort to communicate with Ramiro; he preferred to wait for things to settle down, and, in addition, his increasingly greater responsibilities left him constantly busy. It came as no surprise that, a week after the attack, he saw Ramiro walk into his office very displeased.

"Welcome, Ramiro, I was already concerned about your disappearance."

Ramiro walked in and sat down quickly without Gustavo needing to invite him to sit.

"I wanted to come with a cool head, had I come right after the attack, I would've said things I'd regret at a later time."

Gustavo became a little worried, he knew since the beginning that Ramiro would be against the assault, but he had believed that he could convince him that it had been a necessary evil and that nothing had changed in their struggle to build a better society. Now he doubted that he could convince him. Ramiro's face and attitude denoted that he had decided something important, he imagined he would resign.

"I'm obviously interested to hear you" – said Gustavo, leaning back on the chair and putting his hands together.

"First, I want to clarify what you already know, that I'm completely against the cowardly and unscrupulous attack that happened in Monforte. As a member of the committee, I wasn't informed about what was going to take place, which seemed to me to be a huge lack of trust in me. Besides, we had begun a process of dialog with the gypsies that apparently was only a disguise, since I doubt that you wanted to talk to them at all and you took advantage of a prisoner to justify this shameful attack."

"I understand your position, but, Ramiro, you saw that despite our best efforts, the meeting with the gypsy leader turned out to be a failure; they didn't have any interest in talking things through, the plans and evidence we found in their houses to attack us prove that. And let me clarify something, you were not informed about this attack because it was a secret matter that only Zeca, the soldiers and I were aware of."

"I don't believe in your words, Gustavo, the evidence you talk about is false, as well as the origin of the prisoner, since there are people that recognize him as a being from Maxiais, he has never been of gypsy ethnicity. Gustavo, please, don't lie to me because we both know Norton was aware of this operation."

Gustavo remained quiet, feeling uncomfortable that Ramiro was better prepared than he was. He would've liked to have had a few minutes to think about some excuses, but he remained still, with no excuses, awaiting another wave of accusations and with some fear of what would come. Ramiro continued:

"My lack of trust in your leadership doesn't come only from this attack and all the lies involved in it. It also has to do with the way you've followed economically and democratically. As far as the economical part goes, you said at first that there would be no taxes, that electricity would be free for all, but little by little you've created a tax that has been already increased and you prepare yourself to create a company to manage the business, which means that, those who have money, have power, those who haven't got it, will be in the dark."

"Sorry, Ramiro, but you know that creating a tax for the population to have security, health, education and other services was inevitable. Nobody is an eternal volunteer, no matter how much good will the population has, people want to see their work compensated. Besides, I don't want to create a socialist society that believes in the utopia that the State has to be in every business, nor do I want to create a society that lives in the wild capitalism in which those who have more money call the shots. No, I want to use the best from both systems in terms of economy, as such, let them create private companies that manage money and works, but we'll have a limit on how much they can earn, so that they don't give birth to the massive economical differences from our time. We need to make sure that the system is healthy and respectful towards the worker, environment and society in general, while making sure to allow it to be creative, innovative and, why not even a little competitive. Moreover, our intention is that there are no monopolies, that people may choose the companies that offer better quality-cost ratios, except for some areas where we see there is no advantage in this, as is the case of the bank: there will be only one bank, which will have the objective to facilitate the credit for the population and the companies, because we mustn't forget that they were the responsible for the economic crisis we lived before."

"As far as monopolies are concerned, when will the law give us the freedom to create political parties? When will you let the radio be run by some independent company? Currently, the radio is a means of government propaganda, that doesn't accept any kind of different opinion from the official one. And why not encourage new means of communication? It's come to my attention that you didn't allow the creation of a newspaper. Because, while I find it easy to agree with you in the economic aspect, in terms of individual freedom I'm having a far harder time."

"As for the means of communication, my opinion and consequently the policy we follow is clear, the media are a dangerous instrument that, in wrong hands, may cause a lot of damage. It's impossible for the media to be completely impartial, there's always some sort of interest, some economic or political group behind. We may not allow this power to be at the mercy of everyone, nor should we allow it to fall into sensationalism, the sort of sensationalist news that only serve to sell more, without any concern for the consequences. Yes, the media will be controlled, with the right to different opinions, but without giving in to irresponsibility, which can create controversy and confusion. I also agree that radio Serrano is still wet behind the ears, without great journalistic rigor, but so is this nation, it's just been born, give it more time. As for the political parties, you know perfectly well that I believe in democracy, moreover, our bylaws must be voted in every village, and you know as well as I do, because you have written them with me, that a new leader for each village must be chosen, every four years, through democratic elections. Anyone can be a candidate, he or she doesn't need to be bound to any party, it's enough to collect signatures and apply for it. What do you want parties for? We know they only serve to satisfy the interests of their partners and the companies that support their campaigns. Democracy is much better without parties."

"I disagree with you, Gustavo, and do allow me to disagree. I can't agree with the control of the media and the news, I don't agree that democracy is better without parties, quite the contrary, they represent the plurality of society. And after having said this, I'd like to inform you that I'm not a member of this committee anymore and that I'd like to have airtime in Radio Serrano to give my point of view and inform everybody about the creation of a political party or a political association."

There was a silence in the room, for Gustavo this news were like a punch in the stomach that let him almost out of breath. During the discussion he felt like he was winning, both of them had had a similar discussion when they traveled to the wind park and they wanted to build an improved society, but now the inevitable had happened, he knew that sooner or later someone would ask him for the same.

"So, are you letting me talk on the radio or is it only for your own voice?"

"One week from now, you'll have one hour of right to airtime during prime time."

"I don't need a week, but I thank you for the fair-play."

Ramiro left the room and Gustavo stayed alone, he felt as if he had an arrow in his chest that didn't allow him to breathe well; that wasn't what he had wanted for his new society, his dream of a democracy where political parties wouldn't exist and where the people voted for the individual, for his work, his experience and his projects were in risk. He now saw a society divided by left and right wings, by people who entered politics to make a career for themselves, by voters who saw the parties as if they were soccer clubs and that they supported until death, even if they knew they were full of corrupt people and thieves. He had one week to decide what to do: let Ramiro speak openly or shut him up by force, but if he chose the second option, who was there to say that there wouldn't be someone else asking for the same in the near future? It was time to meet his comrades Norton and Zeca, he would decide, with them, what to do, but before that, he wanted to be with Rute, he needed some consolation, he was needy.

# WITCH-HUNT

Gustavo left his house with what Rute had told him in his mind:

"Our old society has created a fringe of the population that tried to take the chance to impose their own interests on the general interests of people and that used every means possible to get to a position of power. At this point, we have to separate the wheat from the chaff, we can't repeat the same mistakes from the past; it may be difficult to take hard measures, but it will be necessary to cut the evil by the root for the new society to grow correctly."

The fact that Rute always had a clear opinion about political subjects was one of the reasons why he loved her. She was unquestionably more cultured, intelligent and interesting than Marta ever was. His ex-wife would not have an opinion on this subject, moreover, in almost all political or social matters Marta was ignorant. He did not miss her whatsoever and was even thankful that she had died in the attack. He was much better with Rute by his side and even thought that she was a better influence on his children.

When he arrived at Norton's for the urgent meeting, he had in mind what he was going to say to his two companions. Gustavo knew that he was the one who would decide if he would allow Ramiro to speak on the radio and to create a party or prohibit any kind of political parties or associations. He was sure that both Zeca and Norton would support any decision he made. Before talking to Rute, he mentioned the hypothesis of letting Ramiro form the party and allow some room for a political party, but after talking to her, he thought it would be better to forbid political parties. In the meeting that night, it was agreed that it would be necessary to start an operation aiming to eliminate the opposition, this operation was called "virus" by Gustavo, and he was the mentor of the whole process, who outlined and planned each step of the operation as if he was coding a computer information program to eliminate a computer virus.

The meeting lasted little more than three hours and it was agreed that both Norton and Zeca would learn who was with Ramiro, for this it was necessary to talk to the population and check the surveillance footage in order to know Ramiro's steps after Monforte's assault. Another subject that had to be taken care of was Proença's entry into the police force.

Proença had requested admission into the police because of a certain matter, mostly economic, he was old and tired of working so many hours in the fields and asked the committee to be allowed to do perform some guard duty, in which, rather than proper police work, he would work in surveillance. He felt a little humiliated in asking for such a thing, after Gustavo had accused him of stealing the committee's money in front of everybody, but his needs spoke louder and despite knowing that he had a very few chances to be accepted because of his age, he sent the request with some hope. The day after the meeting, Zeca called Proença to begin his formation in the control tower. Proença was very emotional with this call and thanked Zeca for the opportunity; he thought to himself that the committee was constituted by good and understanding people, except, obviously, for Gustavo.

The meeting finished with the three of them scheduling a new meeting within days to carefully go over all the steps of the "virus" operation. The days before the new meeting saw some political agitation. Two news had reached Gustavo's ears: the first one had to do with the gypsies in Malpica do Tejo. José Lino and some of his men wandered around the vicinity of the village, where they stole some crops and cattle during the night, and during the day, they rode among the population on horse and armed with guns, like in the old American Wild West. The population was frightened and asked The Fatty to expel the gypsies. The other news was that the elections for Monforte da Beira were already scheduled: there were two candidates to the presidency of the village, both supported the integration of Monforte into the Serrano's nation, and none of them was Anselmo. Gustavo was sorry that Anselmo did not want to enter this race, he thought he was an honest man, but he knew this feeling was not mutual, and that Anselmo did not support the new system, therefore, perhaps it was even better that Anselmo remained on the sidelines.

Three days after the first meeting, Gustavo, Norton and Zeca met again. The meeting had been arranged by Zeca who had under his possession the list of names that had the intention to form a party along with Ramiro. The list had nine names, most of them did not surprise Gustavo, but there were some names that he did not expect to see in the list. He knew perfectly that if they eliminated the core of the party, the remaining elements would run, hide or simply pray not to be identified with the party that never happened. The meeting began right after dinner and lasted all night long until the first sunshine arrived. The night was long and exhausting for the three men who discussed and prepared in detail how, and when, to execute the operation. They remembered when they had robbed the drugstore and also, all the plans they had outlined aback then. They laughed and talked about the details and feelings that operation had given them, as if they were soldiers accustomed to complicated situations. Once again, Gustavo was the one to lead all of it, he worked with his portable computer in front of him and he frantically typed what each one would have to do during the next few days, forcing his two companions to repeat their tasks until they had been fully learned by heart. The meeting that had taken place in Norton's kitchen, as usual, finished when Gustavo heard the first roosters sing, Zeca was too tired to go home and asked Norton to sleep some hours in some room, Gustavo, in turn, preferred to go home.

When he left Norton's, Gustavo took a deep breath and filled up his lungs with fresh air which contrasted with the cloud of smoke there was in Norton's kitchen due to the cigarettes of his two smoking friends. We were at the end of March and the air was still cold and wintry, although the sky was clean, the temperature was low, and Gustavo desired to get home and slip under the blankets and warm-up along with his wife. Curiously, he felt more physically than psychologically tired, his mind kept on working continually around the programming of the "virus" operation.

He got home and tried to be as quiet as possible, he would like to be able to tell Rute about his doubts and fears and to hear her opinion, feel her peace. The plan that he had spent the whole night preparing was cruel and wicked and perhaps there was another way to do things, but when he got in the bedroom, he kept from making too much noise and slowly lied down on his side of the bed. Rute realized her man had arrived in the room; she felt the scent of tobacco on his clothes and was afraid to find some feminine odor too. She was curious to know how the meeting had been, but she knew he would be too tired to speak. When he lied beside her, Rute noticed Gustavo was uneasy and had not found a position to sleep, she decided to join him and without any exchange of words, they made love. Despite the fact that Rute had no special desire to make love, she wanted to show Gustavo that she was better than any hooker, she knew he would be tense, and she did not want anything in exchange, but to reward him with a quick coitus. For Gustavo, it was something merely physical, the unloading of a load that allowed him to enter a heavy and peaceful sleep.

Every Saturday, during the first hours of the morning, Ramiro headed to his kitchen garden. It was a land with ten square foot that was one mile away from the limits of the village. The terrain was limited in the North with a public stretch of flattened land very attended by the agriculturists, and a security camera aiming to watch who got in and out of the village guarded this path, but it could also record Ramiro's land.

That last Saturday of March, the sky was very cloudy and it looked like it could start raining cats and dogs at any given minute. The camera was focusing on the path, watching everyone who could pass there, as usual. Watching the images from this camera and as well from many others was Proença in the control-center along with Norton. Proença expected a calm morning without any incidents, therefore, doesn't seem odd when Norton told him he would be alone for a couple of hours for him to go take care of some papers; but Norton had previously invited him to drink a hot coffee. Before Proença had finished his coffee, Norton had already left the security control room, and shortly after drinking the rest of his coffee, Proença fell into a sleep as a result of the tranquilizers they had dropped in his coffee.

To prevent people from passing through the path, the accesses were cut off with the excuse of it being necessary to do some quick repairs in the area. At the agreed time, Gustavo left the eucalyptus woods that were on the other side of the path, in front of Ramiro's terrain, and walked through the old and rough gate that gave entry to Ramiro's property and approached to him.

"What a surprise, Gustavo, what are you doing here at this hour?"

Ramiro received Gustavo with a smile; he thought it was a pure coincidence, nothing else. Gustavo smiled too and he was willing to give Ramiro, whom he considered a friend, a chance. A few minutes before, while he waited in the eucalyptus wood to make his move, he thought about the childhood years they had spent there during those summers, their street games, or when they went to steal fruits from some gardens even though they had fruit at home, the night swimming in the Ponsul River, the hot afternoons they spent playing soccer without a shirt. There was a story he had recalled which made him release a slight laugh, some twenty years ago in the Malpica do Tejo yearly party, a group from Lentiscais, about twenty people, including Gustavo and Ramiro, had decided to take part in the dance contest that would allegedly be only for couples of different sex, but the rules did not mention that it had to be with the opposite sex. Then ten couples registered, all boys coming from Lentiscais. It was pure madness: twenty boys dancing with each other, the elderly people laughing about the situation, while some young people criticized the effrontery of Lentiscais' boys, a delicious memory he felt like sharing with Ramiro.

"Look, Ramiro, I come here wearing my heart on my sleeve to talk to you, from friend to friend. We've lived a lot of stuff in this land, we spent here a great part of our childhood and now it's where we live and raise our children, that's why I want to try and reach an agreement with you."

"Are you coming to tell me that I cannot speak on the radio tomorrow?"

"No, I come here to convince you not to form any party; I come here for us both to be able to do things in a different fashion without political parties or associations."

"But there's no other solution, what do you want to do? Only allowing your political party to exist?"

"I don't want to have a political party, Ramiro. Think about it, if you have a party and I have another: we will fight to win the elections, we'll never agree on anything and we will be campaigning with the money from partners and companies interested in our victory. Which we will have to later pay back with interest for the willful contribution they gave to the campaign. We know politics is a corrupt and dirty deal; how many youngsters got into youth movements, never doing any actual work, jumping from big business to big business looking down on the ordinary and average citizen as a kind of slave or fool? They made their careers in politics, where they started off as secretaries then advisors and eventually became councilors, and once they lost the race they moved onto semi-public companies' directors. Is that what you want?"

Ramiro listened peacefully, he was very calm. Gustavo, on the other hand, was getting angrier and angrier.

"But politics don't have to be that way, the politicians represent the plurality of our society, it doesn't matter if the parties have a lot of parasites and people with personal interests, there are also people who believe in improving the society, who cooperate without interest in campaigns, people who get into politics and gain less money than in their usual works. We can make laws for parties to combat internal corruption, but the political parties are the basis of democracy."

"But the plurality of society may be achieved through the individual, why not choose an individual instead of a party, an individual who introduces themselves before their fellow citizens without a hidden agenda behind them, people who may pick the most suitable individual for each job without having the obligation to have to choose those that please their political party. I chose you and the other members because I thought you were the most capable people for each folder, I didn't have any obligation towards a party, nor any economic interests, nor did I give jobs to "my boys". I believe in democracy, but I don't believe in the political party democracy because it has shown not to be the best solution."

"But I believe so; I believe that the parties are the best way to protect freedom of speech, freedom of thought, to protect personal freedom and obviously the freedom of the media. I don't believe in your project, or in the people who surround you."

There was a higher and higher tension between the two, it seemed clear that their opinions were very distant and the discussion would not lead anywhere. Gustavo realized this and let his hands fall limp, he could not abort the plan, and unfortunately, he had to exterminate the "virus".

"Freedom and political parties don't play in the same championship, within the parties all the activists have to have the same opinion and try and manipulate papers and television. When they are in the opposition, they talk bad of any measure the government adopts, but when they reach the power, they forget their electoral promises and only talk about numbers to be able to prove that they aren't as bad as the previous ones. Your party won't be different from these, look at the other members, Proença: who stole from the contributors for years, if anybody in the village were to do anything without the City Hall's approval, there they found Proença filing a complaint and splitting the extortion with his inspector friends, and we can't forget that even the very committee suffered because of his greed. Another: father Xavier, a man who still lives in the middle ages, and thinks that The Inquisition was a lesser evil, who doesn't baptize kids with parents married through the State, who thinks it's a sin to use condoms and lives obsessed with the official status of his religion in the new society."

Ramiro was surprised with the knowledge that Gustavo had of his party members, this surprise turned into fear for his future, as well as that of his comrades.

"But there's still one element in this group of yours who is the icing on the cake, Cebolais' banker, the one I declined the creation of a private bank to, is now part of your team, a greedy man who wants to use the most naive and needy to impose very high interests and obtain great profits, and wants to be able to create a bank to launder money and create tax havens so that the richest ones aren't be obliged to declare their big bucks. Are these the people with whom you want to form a party?"

Gustavo didn't mention Anselmo in the list since he had nothing to call him out for. Ramiro was awestruck and feared for his life.

"Have you been watching me, Gustavo?" – he said slowly in a low tone.

"This village is too small, everybody knows everything, Ramiro."

"Has power driven you crazy, Gustavo?"

"I don't do this for the power, Ramiro. I do this for our children, so that the future generation doesn't have to live in an unequal, corrupt and unprincipled society. I don't want to be in power forever, I'm in favor of creating a law that one will only be able to be in public positions no more than eight years; after which, no privileges or special treatment are rewards so that they have to go back to their work. Politics will be seen as a contribution to society and not as an opportunity to get rich and find well-paid state jobs for your friends. I do this so that your daughters and my children only hear about Swiss banks, tax havens and stock exchanges, like Wall Street, as things of a dark and greedy past from a lost society. I won't allow you and your friends to change my view of the future."

"And what are you going do to shut me up?"

Ramiro feared Gustavo's answer, he predicted something was going to happen, he looked around and saw nobody, the camera was aimed at the path and Gustavo seemed to be unarmed.

"You will be the new Che Guevara. Do you know that Fidel Castro sent Che to Bolivia because he was tired of him and his opinions in Cuba? Che was too honest and too much of a good person and that isn't too helpful in a dictatorship, so by sending him to die in Bolivia, he created a myth for a generation, a symbol of fight and resistance. Ramiro, you will be our Che, there will be statues and flags with your face and streets with your name."

Gustavo removed a walkie-talkie radio from the pocket in the coat and said the word "beginning" while staring at Ramiro. He first thought that the radio was a gun, he trembled and then he became apprehensive, but he soon understood that they were going to kill him. He would not run away, he wanted to, at least, die with dignity. He looked at Gustavo, who had started to walk away and said:

"How about my daughters?"

"Don't worry. They will be treated as if they were mine."

A horse riding at high speed approached the place, Gustavo went to the woods formed by eucalyptus, through which he walked away, and after a few seconds, José Lino was already getting into Ramiro's property.

The word Gustavo had transmitted over the radio had arrived at two locations in addition to José Lino: Norton had received the message and entered the control room where Proença slept deeply; he woke him up quickly and both watched the movements of José Lino through the camera. Proença, still numb pressed the alarm button that made the barrack's bell ring. Gustavo and Zeca saw how José Lino aimed at Ramiro, who, with his hands in the air at the level of his chest was shot, and, once on the floor, was shot twice again; then José Lino headed to the old and rusty gate where he had left his horse, looked at the camera and smiled with a grin of satisfaction. He soon disappeared at high speed before the police arrived at the place.

Ramiro was dead, and moments before he had been shot he had realized that he had been a pawn used by Gustavo to win the election and that José Lino was another pawn, who played the role of public enemy number one – evil itself. He realized that just like Gustavo, his new companions from his political party had also used him to be able to face Gustavo and so that they each could get their own interests secured; but his last thoughts were with his two daughters. He recalled the two of them on a summer day at the beach, when they, aged three and five years old, had hugged him as they built a sandcastle. He remembers the sound of their laughter and a flavor of sand and saltwater.

One hour after Ramiro's death, the occurrence was officially transmitted in the radio without many details, only emphasizing that there had been a cowardly and shameful murder. Dozens of people gathered in front of the Casa do Povo appalled with the news and listening to the Radio Serrano waiting for more information about the subject. Two hours later, Gustavo arrived at the Casa do Povo with two CDs at hand and a well-prepared speech to be heard by the people present, but especially by those who waited for news about the death of Ramiro throughout the Serrano region.

First he gave a speech in which he remembered his friend and fight companion Ramiro, then he offered his condolences to his close family and promised he would find and judge the guilty ones, showing for this the two CDs that he brought at hand: one of which showed that José Lino was Ramiro's killer and the second CD showed the images inside the security control room, where Proença slept at the table and did not sound the alarm to indicate that the intruder was in the protected area.

After the images had been shown, the revolt in the room was enormous: firstly against the cold and cowardly manner in which such a beloved man like Ramiro had been killed, leaving behind a widow with two small daughters. They wanted the gypsy to pay in blood and some asked Gustavo to send soldiers around Malpica to catch as many gypsies as they could, but nobody forgot the immense negligence by Proença. Because of him, José Lino had managed to get in and kill; the population wanted to see Proença pay for his incompetence and laziness. Tempers were rising and Gustavo thought that his plan was going better than expected, he felt like smiling, even laughing, but with some effort, he kept his happiness in check, he tried to put on the look of someone who was so angry and indignant as those who surrounded him.

Proença had been escorted and taken to a room inside the control building; he was still a little confused with everything that was happening, he woke up dizzy with Norton screaming at him to press the alarm and then he saw what seemed to be a cowboy movie with his own eyes: the death of Ramiro. That could not be real, there should have been some mistake, he was certainly having a nightmare and everything would return to normal. A little bit later, he was taken to a room so he could rest and think about everything that had taken place. Half an hour later, Zeca told him what had just happened, and Proença did not resist and cried like a boy seeking forgiveness from Zeca as if he was his father and had caught him causing some mischief.

"You will be in this room for your own safety, if people see you outside, they will kill you, there will be a trial on the failure of security that took place, and you may be convicted for murder by negligence. Try to sleep, Proença."

Nevertheless, Proença was now more awaken than ever, he could not understand how he could have slept in that room. For a moment he considered the hypotheses that Norton had put something in his coffee, but he quickly refused this hypothesis; truth be told he was old and usually he slept anywhere and at any time. He felt it was time to face the consequences with what remained of dignity and face the neighbors and friends of his entire life. Once again, he wished he was dead and not in the middle of all that, since the attack, his life had been one accident after another, in addition to have lost his sons and grandchildren, he lost the committee and now he was the most hated man in Lentiscais. Then he thought of his ex-wife, already dead for many years, and thought back on them walking with their kids, still young, in a beautiful garden of Castelo Branco. Proença cried, missing those times and asked Jesus in a loud voice to meet his wife and kids again, as soon as possible.

Many hundreds of people attended to Ramiro's funeral; not only from Lentiscais, but also from the neighboring villages, the streets were full of people and there was no more room in the church to watch Ramiro's funeral mass. For the first time, Gustavo went to the church, it was a special moment, and his absence on that day could give rise to some severe misunderstanding, which Gustavo did not want to deal with. Father Xavier made a sober mass, and, at times, a little emotional, not making any attack against Gustavo or even to the gypsies. He spoke especially of the good character of a working and happy Ramiro and all the good memories he had left and that should never be forgotten.

The walk from the church to the cemetery, which was little more than one mile, was full of people crying at the passage of the coffin and who made sure to touch, for one last time, the coffin of the man who would be one of the greatest symbols of Gustavo's system.

All that emotion had let Gustavo with some remorse concerning his plan, mainly when he had to face the widow and her two small daughters, who were as old as his children. Gustavo had cried in public and even Norton and Zeca knew those tears were not fake. He felt real regret over that situation and in his mind the doubt of whether or not he had made a grave mistake kept growing; no country, no ideal, nor system may be right when it causes such pain. Gustavo never told Rute the details of his actions; it was not necessary, she knew enough and did not want to know all the facts. That night, Rute once again spoke to Gustavo's soul, and gave him the strength to follow through with his hard task, reassuring him that he was in the right way and that certain sacrifices had to be done to be able to live in a cleaner and purer society than the one before the attack.

Two days after the funeral, Proença's trial for murder by negligence was started. This second trial was not much different from the first one, of the false gypsy thief. The penal code had undergone only a few changes and the professionalism of the lawyers and the judge was not sufficient. The room was full of curious people that, as Proença made his way in, insulted him for several minutes until the judge managed to appease the tempers and threaten to turn that into a secret trial. The entire process was transmitted directly over the radio that, at that time, was heard attentively in every village from Serrano. The trial advanced quickly, Proença confessed himself guilty and did not want to submit any kind of justification to attenuate the penalty; therefore, he was convicted to ten years of prison without forced works due to his advanced age. Proença wouldn't see the sentence through: four years later, he would die due to breathing problems. During those four years, he would try to find some peace and would become a fanatically religious man. He would always be seen with some religious book on hand and would try to spiritually help the prisoners that would keep on arriving. He would die happy with the certainty that he would go to a better place, near his loved ones.

After Tuesday's mass at six p.m., father Xavier returned home, he wanted to have a hot tea, light a fire and sit in his small sofa near the window to read a book of a famous friar from the eighteenth century, but when he got home, he had an enormous surprise. Sitting on his sofa was Gustavo and, behind him, was Norton. Gustavo was sitting with the legs crossed and with his left hand, he stroked his small beard; while with the right one, he tapped his fingers on the sofa arm, like a watch. Norton was behind, stern and without showing any reaction or feeling, his beard was longer, black and his belly could be seen through his tight shirt. Xavier could not conceal the surprise to see them.

"I apologize, Father, for the audacity to enter your house without your consent, but the door was open and we wanted to talk to you." – Said Gustavo, making a sign for Xavier to sit in front of him.

"My house is open to all; would you like to have some tea?"

"No, thank you, Father." – Gustavo answered while Norton did not even reply.

Xavier got nervous with the presence of those men there, he took time to prepare the tea and carry it to the small table that separated both sofas, where he and Gustavo met face to face.

"What brings you here?"

"Well, Father Xavier, we've come to give you an answer concerning our request."

Gustavo made a pause waiting for the priest's reaction.

"Oh, yes, do tell me, please."

"Father, our answer is no, concerning both of your petitions." – Gustavo clasped his hands together and put them close to his mouth. – "There will be no radio program with religious content and there will be no kind of official religion in our new country, moreover, we think you should give up celebrating further masses."

"And why is that? If you don't even go to the mass?"

"Because if there's something we want in this country is that religion learns its due place, it should simply serve to satisfy the spiritual need of man and not intervene with areas it has no business with."

"Poverty, social inequalities, individual liberties these are needs of man that I can address as well, and give the best answers and advice to those who go to the mass, it's not only spiritual, Mr Gustavo."

"But I don't agree with you, Mr. priest, I think you must deal with the spiritual evils and not interfere with what is not of your concern, nor should you constantly criticize the political power, and most of all, you shouldn't give your personal opinion on who is the best candidate."

"I receive orders from God and the Pope; you don't give me orders yet."

The conversation's tone flared up, Xavier tried to keep his cool in the little sofa and had already lost the will to drink his tea, the subject of the talk had already heated him up too much. Gustavo, in turn, was willing to make the priest angry and annoy him as much as he could.

"Father, there's no Vatican, nor Pope, nor bishops anymore, these have all found their end, we're at a new era in which I call the shots, I decide what is good for the country, I decide who remains and who goes away. I'm God."

When he said that, he released a small laugh in high spirits that were followed by Norton. Gustavo, then, looked behind to confirm his friend was having fun with the spectacle, with that motion, Gustavo's coat opened a little and father Xavier saw a gun around Gustavo's waist. He realized then that he had come to kill him and immediately flew into a panic, which let him without any thoughts or reaction, his strength abandoned him and he was stuck to the sofa. Little by little, he began to recover from the shock and thought about crying for help, or of running to the kitchen, grabbing a knife and fighting back, but he felt too tired and weak to start a fight. Gustavo had not realized what had happened and continued:

"You took part in meetings with other elements to create a new party. You, who should only wander around in your parish, wandered around sticking your nose where you didn't belong, who told you to do so? The Vatican? The Pope? No, your ego did, your wish of wanting to be someone important in this new age, of wanting to be the one who would create an inquisitor State with clergy and the power to cut-off heads and burn innocent people. And you, who knows, would even be the new Pope, the man behind the politician who spoke in the name of God. Such a neutering, punishing and cruel God. No, no way! I'm here to stop you, and to tell you that any religion will have rules and standards and nobody will die in the name of God, and there will be no war for religious differences, nor any discrimination towards people who have other religions or beliefs."

Xavier had stopped listening to Gustavo's speech as he had understood that Ramiro's death and the Proença's blame had not occurred purely by chance. He felt small, naive, intellectually inferior to the man he had in front of him, he thought he had committed an enormous mistake in not having joined him instead of trying to fight him, his biggest mistake had been underestimating Gustavo, he concluded. Then his mind traveled to his homeland, Fafe, and he thought about the day when his father had sent him to the seminary and how he cried on the following days missing his brothers, sisters and, mainly his mother. During all those years his greatest wish was to be the pride of his parents; for all the sacrifice he went through, he expected approval, praise and the pride of his parents and remaining family. Now that death stared at him, he had nothing else to show to anyone, they were all dead or maybe lost in some village. Now that death was taking care of him, he summarized that his passage through church had gone fully unnoticed, a conservative priest, without friends or the kindness of the population of all the congregations where he passed by. He felt he had never had his own life, aside from what others wanted him to be, he had always been afraid of change and never had had the courage to let his feelings for the opposite sex flow from a dark place in his atrophied mind. He wanted to believe that he could still convince Gustavo that he wanted to leave religion aside, get out of there and begin a new life in a place where he was unknown – perhaps he could still become an agriculturist and if he were fortunate he would find a female partner to grow old with.

Gustavo followed with its speech:

"I already have a plan for the Catholic church, it will be headed by someone of my approval who will play the basic role of modernizing the church to the new times, stuff like priests not being able to get married or women not being able to celebrate mass, or even homosexuals being seen as sick people... it has its days counted. The future of the church will be to serve especially as a support to society, to educate people to deal with their fellow citizens, with the environment and with the other living beings of this planet. What we know as the Roman Catholic Church ends here."

When he saw that his time was ending, Xavier got on his knees before Gustavo with his hands together and tears falling on his face, supplicating:

"Please, mister Gustavo, it may sound like a big lie to you, but while you spoke I felt a kind of revelation, all my life I've done what others wanted me to do, I have never had my own will and now I feel that it was a lost, useless life. I ask you for an opportunity, I'll quit religion and if you want I'll go away from Serrano's region, but I want to start again, perhaps as a simple peasant and find a female companion. From now on, I renounce God; I renounce all the saints and the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church."

His voice was growing louder and he already seemed to be in trance when he spoke his last sentence. Gustavo, who kept sitting in the sofa, was perplexed with the change of attitude on father Xavier. He took long to react, but eventually, he got up slowly, pushed the little sofa where he was sitting back and removed the black gun he had on his waist; he unlocked the revolver and aimed it to Xavier's head, who remained on his knees.

"Please, give me an opportunity; I renounce God, all the saints and the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church" – he screamed with his red eyes full of tears.

Gustavo did not hesitate, and with a perfect shot, he saw how the head of the priest fell against the floor; the noise had been louder than expected, and they decided to leave the house immediately, leaving on the little table, which was between the two sofas, a suicide note and Gustavo's lethal gun in the hands of the priest. As he left the crime scene, Gustavo thought about how little dignity father Xavier had displayed before he had died, on his knees and screaming against his God, asking for an opportunity to find a woman; really different from Ramiro, who, until the moment of his murder had retained his dignity. He felt no remorse for having killed priest Xavier, unlike what had happened with Ramiro, who he still thought of on a daily basis, which made him question some of his methods.

The father Xavier's death did not shock the village. Gustavo soon named a replacement, a former seminarian who had left his possible gospel career for a wife and kids, they had outlined what would be the future of the Catholic Church and with the support of the committee, the presence of believers on Sundays had doubled and in some occasions, even Gustavo was present. The population soon forgot Xavier and he was only remembered as an old-school priest who had killed himself due to a lack of charisma and chemistry with the population.

There were still two elements of the "virus" operation who Gustavo still had to deal with. Thus, two weeks after Xavier's death, Gustavo and some of his more trustworthy men traveled by horse to Cebolais, to meet with the banker. During the trip, Gustavo passed by Alfrívida, took care of some matters, talked to the respective committee and showed a good face to the many citizens who approached him, most of them to congratulate and thank him his work, others to make some request or give him a suggestion. At midday, he arrived at Cebolais and went straight to the banker's house.

The banker's house was a reflection of his personality. It was possibly the biggest house in the village, with an enormous wall surrounding the property and a very large swimming pool behind the house. For more than thirty years, he had worked in a big national bank and when he hit fifty-five years old, he retired with a good monthly paycheck. During those thirty years, he was also a director of several branches of the bank and manage to make a small fortune with investments in tax havens and stock exchange businesses where most of the times he had privileged and secret information. As he was from Cebolais, he decided to make a big house in his village to show everyone how well succeeded he was, but above all, to show-off to the French emigrants for whom he had a strong hate.

Fortunately, the attack took place during the weekend of his 58th birth and he had gathered his entire closer family in his house, and even if he had had enormous financial losses, his entire family was alive and that was the most important for him. He applied for his village's committee and lost by a few votes, curiously enough, to a cousin of his, who had been working in France for several years. He asked Gustavo for permission to open a bank and Gustavo had declined, then he made his dissatisfaction be known about the way Gustavo and his system worked. Sometime later, he had received a visit from Proença who invited him to create a political alternative. After learning about the death and imprisonment of some of the members in those meetings, he began to fear that he would be the next to die; he thought about taking his family and get out of there, he was obsessed with security in the house, sleeping badly and always carrying a rifle and he even stopped going to the local cafés. Little by little, the days went by and the banker had begun to believe that he would be safe, that he was too small for Gustavo deal with.

The day Gustavo and his men walked up to his gate, the banker was taking care of the small kitchen garden he had in front of the house, with his wife; when he saw the visitors, he went pale, he felt in low spirits, almost fainting and it was his wife who welcomed Gustavo and asked them all in.

"It's not necessary for them to get in; I've come to talk to you in private."

The banker received him with an apprehension he could not disguise, he wiped his sweat in a hurry and he behaved in a servile fashion. They went inside, and Gustavo became amazed by the amount of marble there was in that large house, the entry gave way to a set waving stairs, all carved from well-worked marble, of an astonishing beauty. Both the stairs and the handrails sparkled with a perfect white color, the steps were a little darker and the walls that followed the stairs up to the second floor had famous pictures hanging. He was taken to the banker's study, which was downstairs at the end of the corridor; during the small way to the office, Gustavo could not but notice that house's exquisite decoration; more than monetary exuberance, there was a concern for each piece, each picture and each carpet were duly sorted to fit in with the environment. The office was a large room with carpet, with dark brown furniture matching both the colors of the carpet and the curtains that covered the windows. Behind the desk, and the dark and expensive chair, was a large piece of furniture covered with books. The rest of the place had decorative souvenirs from many parts of the world, travels he and his wife had taken over the thirty years of marriage. His wife brought a fresh drink for both and left the room. Gustavo looked interested in the pictures and books that there were in the room. There was an uncomfortable silence, and the banker feared the worst, Gustavo was going to kill him and his entire family. He missed the times he had a lot of money and when, at times of trouble, he always managed to solve the situation with a good payment of dirty money, but now this option did not exist, he was trapped and felt weak and poor without knowing what to do, nor how to behave.

"On Thursdays, my wife cooks a delicious chicken, you will surely..."

"Shut up. I haven't come here to have lunch with you."

Gustavo continued to look at the pieces and books of the room without showing interest in the person that was present, quite the contrary, the banker panicked, he felt short of breath and an almost unbearable heat in the room, he wanted to go to the toilet, he felt too much like urinating.

Gustavo turned directly to him and invited him to sit down as if the roles had reversed and he was the owner of the house.

"I don't come here to have any conversation with you, I'm here for you to listen, that is, this is a monologue."

Gustavo saw in his host's face fear and dread and this gave him more pleasure and confidence.

"I know that you took part in meetings for the creation of a political party and please, spare us both and don't deny it, because I hate a liar. I'm convinced that you could be a magnificent college teacher when one is created here in the region and I believe that the opening of a college here is close. A college in which people like you would be chosen to teach the new generation the gross mistakes we lived in the old age; you, more than anyone here in the region, dealt closely with a lot of money, you saw how it decided public positions, bought presidents, how it doubled in tax havens or how it laundered itself in false companies. You could tell the students how money transformed natural parks into urbanizations and golf courses and how the lack of it led people to live under bridges without pity or sympathy. You could teach them how the bank denied loans to youngsters or forced them to pay very high interests while for the richest there was an immense range of choices on how to duplicate their money. But you can only tell these stories when you change your tune, do understand that the times have changed, there won't be banks to make interest plays with other banks in order to obtain larger profits, there won't be any tax havens, nor stock exchange, that is, when you understand this and mostly the fact that we live in a new age, in which people are valued for their principles and achievements and not for the money they make; then you'll be very helpful to our society and I hope that day arrives, because educated and cultivated people like you, are the ones our society needs. Therefore, think about your principles and values and when you're ready do let me know, because I won't give you a second chance if you try to face me again: I will crush you with your entire family."

Gustavo left the room swiftly, without giving the banker any time to form any sentence, he reunited with his men and all of them headed to meet the president of Cebolais' committee. António João, known as Tó João, had won the elections against the banker by half a dozen votes. This victory was especially because of the kind and joyful manner of his personality. He had been an emigrant in France for thirty-five years; this fact was noticed clearly when he spoke with a strong French accent. He was not cultivated, but his joy and determination were contagious, therefore, he had won the heart of a large part of the population. Lunch was pleasant and Gustavo promised to return with more time to try and help with the problems of the village and, above all promote the creation of employment, because a great part of the population departed to Lentiscais or Alfrívida. Right after lunch, Gustavo and his men said their goodbyes and started their journey, they had to ride thirty miles until they arrived at Monforte, it was time to talk to the last member of the ghost party and conclude the "virus" operation.

Along the trip, Gustavo was thinking about what he was going to say to Anselmo Carneiro; he tried to think of all possible answers and tried to prepare an argumentative labyrinth so that finally Anselmo had no other solution but accept and agree with the prohibition of political parties.

Monforte was now a village like the others, it was no longer in a cold war with the gypsies and in the main square, which a short time ago had been the stage for an enormous humiliation, was now full of cattle, since it was Thursday, the day of the bovine and goat market in the village. The passage of Gustavo with his men didn't go unnoticed and both traders and clients received them with an enormous applause, especially the leader of the group, who thanked without a great will to stop or say anything kind. He went straight to Anselmo's house, who was not in at the time, only his grandson was in the small yard in front of the house; he was playing with a small toy.

Gustavo dismissed a large part of his delegation and remained simply with two more men waiting for Anselmo to come back home; during that time, he played and talked to the boy. Ten minutes later, Anselmo arrived at his house; when he saw that Gustavo was with two more men and with his grandson at the door of his house, he froze, almost petrified, even though his head told his legs to keep moving, these refused to comply. Eventually, the cold became heat that invaded his body and he felt that he was starting to sweat; he resumed walking and tried to recover as well as he could on the way to his house. Gustavo realized Anselmo's shocked reaction and could not help but take some delight in seeing the fear and panic in his eyes; his grandson was the single living relative he had and that was Anselmo's weakness.

"Good afternoon, Anselmo, I came for a visit, but since you weren't, I was playing with your grandson."

Gustavo soothed the head of the boy with this hand and delighted in the tension it caused in his grandfather, while the grandson was distracted with the toy in his hands.

"Do you want to come in?"

"I don't know, the last time you weren't very kind to me." – Gustavo headed to the door with a defiant voice.

The grandfather, the grandson and Gustavo entered the house, the boy ran straight to his bedroom to play or maybe do his homework, while the two adults sat at the same table from a few months ago.

Gustavo was able to see for himself the difference between Anselmo's simple and humble house and the banker's luxurious house.

"Have you come to kill us?" – Anselmo was sitting with his hands on the table, nervous, but also with a brave attitude and with his head held high.

"To kill you? Who do you take me for? A murderer? I've come to talk to you, that's all" – Gustavo was enjoying the moment, although he tried, he could not hide a smile from his face. – "I've come to inform you personally that the party you wanted to create will not be possible to legalize. This week we have created a law that forbids any party or political association within the Serrano region. I've come right now from Cebolais to tell your banker friend about this."

There was a silence between the two of them, from which Gustavo understood that Anselmo wanted to know what had happened with the Cebolais man, but he was afraid.

"Anselmo, you've always spoke frankly with me, without fear, but now I notice you're afraid to speak. As I've told you, I've come here to inform you about the prohibition of your party, I don't mean any harm to you or to your grandson. The banker is well, alive and in good health."

"So, does that mean I can be frank with you?"

"Please."

Anselmo took a deep breath, he felt like pointing the finger at Gustavo and accuse him of several atrocities, wickedness and murders that had been happening, but he controlled his impulses as much as he could.

"Don't think that all of us are blind or idiots. I don't believe that Ramiro and Xavier's deaths, or Proença's arrest aren't connected to the creation of a new party, it's too much of a coincidence that Ramiro got murdered the day before he would announce the creation of the party."

"The images don't lie, surely you saw who killed Ramiro, what Proença was doing and the priest's suicide note."

"It was a stroke of genius on your part."

"A stroke of genius? One of these days, you're going say I'm to blame for the gypsies who are attacking Malpica, that the alien attack was also a plan of mine."

"Doesn't it sound like an enormous coincidence the way it has happened? And now the parties' prohibition? As far as I'm concerned you're not much of a democrat, and I think that what our civilization had managed to achieve until now will be destroyed by your system."

"I'm not a democrat, yet I was elected by the people, I'm not a democrat, but I convinced the new villages to hold elections in order to be part of our small State. Political parties are organizations that only serve to safeguard their own interests. I believe in people, therefore, as far as I'm concerned political parties are gone for good, but if in the future, the population so desires..." - Gustavo made a small pause. – "You speak of everything the society had managed to achieve as if we had once lived in a perfect State, in an Eden. Tell me, what are those good things that we had that according to your words my system is destroying?"

"In addition to political parties and political associations, there was freedom of speech, personal, intellectual and religious liberty and by the means of communication, Radio Serrano reminds me of the kind of radio we had before April 25, 1974. There were rights for the workers, a right to manifest, a right to strike, a right to join unions. Each citizen was treated in an equal manner before justice. Everyone had a right to proper healthcare and an education system that was equal for everybody. Every citizen were treated in the same way by the governors. There was a strong and educated middle class, with a proper salary, some purchasing power and, most of all, there was no fear."

"Which country did you live in? I agree that our society had achieved very important things, but from what you say, it sounds like we lived in an exemplar country and society where workers managed to get their rights secured. However they were cut off in the name of a crisis that certainly didn't come to be because of them, but they had to pay for it. Our justice system didn't treat every citizen equally, those who had money were able to hire the best lawyers and even bought certain judges. For those who had less money, starting something in court basically required them to get a loan, and the sluggishness of the whole thing was immense and shameful. Naturally, that means that corruption and other white-collar crimes were seldom punished, that was for the poor who had no money to pay for a good lawyer and who couldn't pay their bail. And prison was some sort of summer camp, where the prisoners, in addition to counting the days left to leave, lifted weights in the gym and learned new tricks and stunts from one another, there was no reinsertion nor forced labor. The same goes for education, which for me is the basis of any civilized and prosperous society. Those who didn't have money, couldn't pay for college, while those who had money could go to private universities and even pay for courses without attending any classes. There wasn't any planning and the government instead of organizing colleges in order to promote the courses in deficit in society was only interested in granting diplomas to students who ended up not being able to find a job and, as such, had to travel abroad. It's better to not even mention our health system. Sure, in the north of Europe, the conditions were great, but here, you had to wait years for a simple procedure and on top of that, you had to pay for everything, were it a simple consultation with the family doctor or even an urgent case. Could anyone truly praise the Portuguese health system? And to end this, let me thank God that we actually had a middle class, but it's also true that we were living in a society with absurd inequalities, what some made in a day, others took a month or a year to make. I understand that those who have more responsibility, more initiative or entrepreneurship deserve a better remuneration, but the difference should never be as unfair as it was and it's at this point that our society began to rot, money was the most important thing and things like ideals and citizenship came last."

Gustavo was tired of speaking and kindly asked for a glass of water to his host, giving him time to speak.

"I've never said we lived in a perfect society or close to it, obviously there was too much to improve, but to get where we were, society needed several years, even centuries and I fear that your system will destroy all of that work. It's not even for me, but for my grandson, because I would like to see a future in which he may express himself freely. I'd like to hear from you on this matter, freedom of speech."

"Any person is free to have their own ideas and express them freely." – Gustavo answered quickly.

"Ah yes, so why don't you allow the creation of a political party, why don't you allow the creation of a newspaper out of the control of the State, and even why don't you deliver radio Serrano to the area's professionals?"

Gustavo took a little while to respond, he seemed to be in search of the right words.

"I'm not in favor of the State holding any monopolies, but there are sectors that must be within the control of the State, because they may be used in a dangerous way otherwise. I'm talking about the bank, I believe there must only be one bank, and that it must be under the State's control, so that it will serve the population without a personal interest in extraordinary profits and gains. Another such sector is social communications. I haven't known any paper or TV channel to be fully impartial, there has always been some group behind them, some economic interest, or even just a strategy to sell more newspapers and get more views, even if they needed to exaggerate or twist the news. I'm in favor of having the proper people operating the media, without censorship, as long as the only purpose they serve is to inform. As for the political parties, I've already told you they are unnecessary, any citizen can run for elections by themselves without parties or lobbies behind them."

"The way you speak am I wrong in supposing that you may leave the presidency of the Serrano region?"

"Obviously. The citizens of Lentiscais elected me, and later the villages' presidents did so as well. On the next elections, I might lose in Lentiscais or my fellow presidents may believe that there's someone more capable for the place."

"I don't think you would let this happen."

Gustavo didn't reply to Anselmo's confession, he himself did not believe this could happen one day either, he had the web too well spun, but his own committee had created that law and there was the chance that Gustavo could lose some day.

"Anselmo, I don't want to keep you for longer than needed, I've come here to inform you about the prohibition, but also to invite you to be part of the team of teachers at the university we're opening in September. And since you're an experienced businessman who has always worked in a clean way, you're a great role model, in my opinion."

Anselmo thanked him for the praise and liked the offer; he thought to himself that it would be an interesting challenge. This time, he said goodbye to Gustavo with a handshake and with a little pat on his back, thanking him for the visit and for the offer. He said that he was going to think about it in the coming days. When Gustavo departed, Anselmo remained alone in the room where the meeting had taken place and began to think that, all things considered, Gustavo was not a monster, maybe it was possible to make a fairer society, with less inequalities, with a better justice system and even a more ecologic civilization. He wanted to believe that the death of Ramiro was but a coincidence and there was no doubt that José Lino was the perpetrator of the crime. At that moment, the means that Gustavo had enforced to expel the gypsies from his lands began to seem fair, perhaps there really had been no alternative. He felt bad for the way he had treated Gustavo on that day, by expelling him from his house, and he was thankful for the fact that Gustavo was not a rancorous man, since he had even offered him an important position and taken the time to justify his actions. He had been wrong in judging Gustavo the way he did. He was willing to fight by his side for a better society, he did not want to be part of an opposition with the objective to criticize just to obtain power, he wanted to thank him for all the trust he had given him and to be at his disposal for the construction of this new country.

# OMEN

The "virus" operation had been executed with a resounding success, and Norton wanted to commemorate this victory with a little celebration with those who had been the core of the operation. In addition to annihilating the ghost party, they had imposed a law that prohibited the formation of other political parties or political associations. To improve the party's atmosphere, more than ten villages had requested to join the Serrano region, some of which more than a hundred miles away.

Gustavo had not confirmed his presence in the event, because he was tired from the long horse trip, but after having dinner at home with his family, Rute talked him into spending a little with his friends and to keep a close eye on them.

The core men of the "virus" operation and by proxy the core men of the system, were present at the party. They were little more than seven in total, but they were not alone, Zeca had brought some hookers he had found in other villages. They were mostly women with economic problems who had found themselves forced to pursuit the oldest profession in the world. In addition to the women, there was plenty of alcohol and a scent Gustavo had not smelled in many years – marijuana.

All the presents were apprehensive with how Gustavo would react when he saw prostitutes, alcohol and drugs. They were afraid he would end the party and scold them for their behavior; but Gustavo did not make any observation nor comment, he only asked for a drink and wandered through the main salon talking with the guests and let a couple of hookers approach him. He played a seduction game with them which he knew to be fake, but he still enjoyed it. Zeca was happy to see that Gustavo was in high spirits, willing to drink and talk with the women, but he was afraid he'd became offended to see that some guests had brought marijuana, so he approached his ear and said:

"Some guys brought drugs, even though I told them not to do it, because you wouldn't like it, I warned them."

"And why wouldn't I like it?"

Gustavo asked with an unfriendly look on his face while looking directly at the eyes of Zeca, who felt uncomfortable and lowered his head without knowing what to do.

"Zeca, in the country we're creating, every one is always free to do what he or she wants, as long as this doesn't affect the freedom of the rest, do you understand this?"

Zeca nodded, but he did not understand how Gustavo could actually justify the presence of drugs.

"In this country prostitution and consumption of light drugs will be legal, let's not return to the hypocrisy that reigned before, alright?"

Zeca felt small, he did not know how to answer, he did not want to have an argument with Gustavo because he knew he would either lose, or be humiliated before the others, therefore he preferred to put on a yellow smile and get Gustavo a drink. Gustavo, however, preferred to approach Pedro and Norton, who were smoking marijuana and share the cigarette with them. Two hours later, with alcohol and marijuana taking charge, some of the men went into the different rooms at Norton's house with the hookers and it was at this moment that Gustavo decided it was time to go back home. Deep inside, he felt like having relationships with some of the women there, who were mostly young and attractive; but his relationship with Rute was of mutual respect and, besides, she never denied him. He thought that was he still with Marta, or even with his German girlfriend, Eva, today he would have been unfaithful, but with Rute it was different, she was much more important than fleeting pleasure with an unknown girl.

He left the party with some cigarettes of marijuana in his pocket and wishing to smoke them some day with Rute. Before he left, he scheduled the next meeting with some of the men where the main subject would be how to checkmate Malpica do Tejo.

Little by little, several villages joined the "Serrano project" and, therefore, the area that comprised the territory was increasing, forcing the government to adjust and adapt quickly. Although the area grew at a good rhythm, communication between the villages was almost none. There were no telephones, public transportation was still in its early stages, and there was no fuel to make the cars run. The resources Gustavo's government had were very few and spent mostly on security, instead of areas like transportation, electric power and health.

Malpica do Tejo was now an island surrounded by villages which had converted to the Serrano Region. The population already showed a higher and higher dissatisfaction both with the former president of the parish and with The Fatty, they demanded them to schedule a meeting with Gustavo to try and find a solution for the current situation. In addition to this isolation, the village was attacked more and more frequently by the gypsies, which instilled fear in the population and caused it to turn on their representatives. Seeing that the merge with the Serrano Region was imminent, the former president had abandoned his old political partner a while ago and he now prepared to lead the inevitable transition. Just like the village, the former commander of the GNR was becoming isolated, in addition to the former president, the population was losing their respect for him little by little and asked them to either talk to Gustavo or send someone else to do it. However, his pride did not allow him to take the necessary steps to put an end to the strife, he did not want to ask anything of Gustavo, he did not want to allow his arm to be twisted by that foreigner, and especially, he did not want to lose the power he had enjoyed for years, which was now disappearing inch by inch. He was conscious that he had to submit to Gustavo's orders, but he wanted to safeguard his position and also that of his village as one of the larger places and with more resources of the region. Gustavo knew that time was running out for The Fatty and that soon he would have to request a meeting with him, but he had other plans for Malpica, that did not involve a pacific resolution and therefore he had to work quickly.

Gustavo outlined, with his right-hand men, a plan to attack Malpica do Tejo. The plan involved an enormous living theater-like play in which some disguised soldiers joined the gypsies and attacked the village and its population, when the situation became unbearable the Serrano soldiers would appear along with Gustavo and save the place reestablishing the peace. A few nights after the meeting, the plan was put into practice.

It was two in the morning on a mild night in May. Little more than a year ago, an alien craft had landed on the Moon, and now, one year later, Gustavo was on his horse to prepare to head to Malpica do Tejo to execute the attack he had planned out for that place. Ahead of him, there were some thirty soldiers, some on their horses, some on foot speaking to one another casually, waiting for an order from their superior. Gustavo was behind them along with Norton and Rute, who begged to take part in this operation. Although he tried to appear calm and confident, Gustavo was nervous, he did not know what awaited them on the seven miles ahead, and there was no noise, no light. He looked at his wristwatch again and decided to depart with two more soldiers, before which he kissed Rute's lips.

He rode at a slow pace with the soldiers, they had too much time left, and they headed to the place arranged with Zeca and José Lino. They were in full darkness, only the Moon's soft light bathing them; their eyes were slowly getting accustomed to the dark and when they went up a little mount. Gustavo saw on the horizon and to his right-hand-side the lights that came from Lentiscais and around them an immense sea of darkness. He remembered that only a short time ago, in nights with a clear sky like that one, the city of Castelo Branco emanated an enormous light from that site. He recalled the night pictures captured by satellites that showed the ocean of lights that existed in Europe at night; today those pictures would be monochromatic, fully black.

As they approached Malpica, they began to hear the first noises and to see the first lights. They had arranged to meet in the south of the village in a small hill, it was clear that they would not pass through the village, but they would go around it, so that they could analyze the attack situation. As they went around the village, under the cover of darkness, Gustavo verified that his plan was being put into practice and confirmed that even the infiltrated soldiers had gone above the call of duty with the degree of violence. Some of the houses had been set ablaze and they heard an endless noise, from fire consuming any inflammable material to people shouting and crying. He was reminded immediately of the operation in Monforte and it seemed to him that, this time, the terror was on a greater scale. From the darkness, he saw how his soldiers, with their faces covered and dressed like gypsies, killed, humiliated and violated the citizens. He felt like intervening and asking the soldiers to stop or even taking his rifle and killing some of those animals that behaved in such a primitive manner. He felt hate for the soldiers and got annoyed with Zeca for allowing the situation to get completely out of control. He strokes the horse and rode at high speed to the arranged position where he expected to meet the commander of the soldiers and ask for a justification for the unjustifiable.

When he arrived at the hill, he got down of the horse and waited as Zeca and José Lino approached, the place was illuminated by some torches placed on the floor.

"Zeca, what's happening there?"

Gustavo could not contain his anger and pointed out from the hill to the village where he saw fire focuses on some points.

"What do you mean? I don't understand."

Zeca was surprised with the aggressive way that Gustavo spoke. To him, the operation was currently a success and he himself was proud of the way in which he was commanding the attack.

"Are you blind or simply nuts? Your soldiers are killing, burning and violating without rhyme or reason, they're an authentic band of wild animals without any control. I had told you that I wanted to keep the number of victims to a minimum and I could never think you'd give orders to violate women."

"But, Gustavo, you're talking about soldiers, men prepared to fight that are sent to create the chaos, what did you expect?"

Zeca was nervous and his pride in the operation had faded away fearing that Gustavo would not trust him in a future attack.

"I expected that you had understood my orders; I expected that your men were a little bit more intelligent and capable of creating chaos without the need for killing innocent people or violating any woman. Your men are far worse than the gypsies, no offense, Zé Lino." – José Lino, who was beside him, nodded his head to let him know that he was not offended, moreover, from his expression, one could see that he was enjoying watching Zeca be scolded. – "This will have consequences, Zeca; this week I want the name of those soldiers on my table and a detailed report of the exaggeration that took place here."

Zeca lowered his head letting his shoulder fall ahead; he felt the way Gustavo treated him was unfair, he felt that no matter how hard he tried he would never satisfy him, they were from different worlds and origins. For the first time an idea began to settle in his mind, a military coup. He was the one commanding the soldiers, it would not be that difficult to eliminate Gustavo. It would be an idea to be thought about carefully and germinated later.

José Lino saw that Gustavo was calmer and took the chance to change subjects.

"We've already got the two gifts that you asked for."

"Great."

From the assault on Monforte up until that point, José Lino had had some meetings with Gustavo. His initial hate and aversion were changing, now he knew that he was a crazy man with some principles and that it was better to be by his side rather than fighting against him. Now his people lived peacefully in a kind of camp near the disappeared city of Castelo Branco, they were in peace and united. For José Lino, the most important thing was that the gypsy culture did not die, and to make sure that gypsy people wouldn't disappear, and he as a leader was the one responsible for them. For a while, he had thought about the best alternative for the survival of his people and had come to the conclusion that the only solution was through Gustavo and the Serrano region, since fleeing was out of the question. It wouldn't take long for the soldiers to catch the older and the weaker ones. Therefore, his objective was to get closer to Gustavo, winning his trust, doing everything he ordered, in a professional manner without mistakes, then to ask him to clean the name of the gypsies, rid them of the "evil" tag and help them get out of their isolation. Once, he had had the opportunity to talk to Gustavo alone about the future of the gypsy community, to know the plans he had for the people of his congregation and to ask that if, in the future, his community could share land within society, and perhaps even live in small reserves as the Indians did in the United States. Gustavo promised to think about the subject and that José Lino's idea was very interesting; that if they worked together in the next two or three years, they would be compensated. Therefore, after having finished the attack in Malpica, José Lino was happy that no gypsy had been injured or killed during the operation and, on top of that, Zeca had been scolded by Gustavo.

"I want to give those two gifts a surprise, Zé Lino, come with me."

Gustavo put the balaclava on his head and walked about 300 feet where they could see the former president of the council and the commander of the GNR. He enjoyed a good laugh and he wanted to see their faces when he removed the balaclava. The two prisoners were on their knees, with their hands and feet tied, they were in the dark with their backs to the village. When they saw the gypsy leader with another man they did not care much. The Fatty looked at them with hate and despise, it was noticeable that he was tired of kneeling down and he wanted to end that nightmare soon, while the former president tried to save his life by offering money and gold to José Lino and promising houses and lands to the gypsy community. Gustavo removed the balaclava and released an enormous laugh when he saw the reaction on both of their faces.

"Come here, Zeca, you should have seen the face of these two."

He laughed loudly again followed by José Lino, who, with one hand held his stomach and with the other pointed the finger to the face of the former president. Zeca, who was sorrowful from the scolding, now joined the two and also laughed and hugged Gustavo, who could hardly stand upright with the burst of laughter he had had.

"Well... the two of you" – he approached two soldiers that followed him. – "Bring this nasty fat man to the edge of this hill and bring a torch too, I want to have a talk with him, as for the other" – he made a pause looking at the former president. – "Shoot him, a quick death. I don't want the next president of the Malpica Committee to be a career politician, a turncoat, an unscrupulous individual without principles."

"Can I shoot him myself?" – Asked Zeca, who was ready to get his gun with a smile on his lips.

"Sure."

Gustavo answered and advanced to the edge of the hill, which had a fantastic overview of the village. The two soldiers dragged the former commander and put him on his knees next to Gustavo, right after, they brought the torch to provide some light.

Gustavo was quiet, waiting to hear Zeca's shot and for the former president to stop begging for his life. He heard the gunshot, which was followed by an enormous silence. It took a few seconds for the former commander to speak, between the teeth, to Gustavo:

"You will pay for this, you scumbag."

Gustavo laughed again, he looked down with an amused look and saw the great hate that emanated from The Fatty.

"Do you know why it came down to this? You on your knees and me standing and observing your village in flames? Because you're the weakest link. You know, you fatty, in the animal world, the ones who adapt the better to the environmental conditions are the ones who survive, and just between you and me, we both have the best example of it. You, who still think you are the GNR commander and that someone will come from the past to make me pay for my deeds. While I have quickly adapted to the new reality: as soon as the craft landed on the Moon, I made a list of indispensable things, I spent a lot of money on this list, I robbed a drugstore and was considered to be crazy by my family, but when the attack occurred, this crazy one was the one who had adapted the best to the new environment. And, let me tell you: I longed for this attack. I was fed up with living my comfortable and gray life behind a computer. It's your fault."

Gustavo pointed out to the village, from which, on that hill, one could hear the bustling noise of gunshots and could clearly see the fire inside the village and on the fields around it.

"Your pride and your attempt to keep your status-quo have brought us to this point. If you had known how to read the new winds, you would have understood that the only way was to join us and you'd certainly hold some important position in Malpica's Committee or even as an officer in my army, but your lack of foresight has made your own village pay for it. Anyhow, it seems to me that it's for the best that people like you have no place in this new society – so as not to contaminate it. You've always taken advantage of your position to bring benefits to your house, you forgave fines, received bribes and gifts and certainly, you'd do the same in this new society if you were given a chance. But believe me, people like you, corrupt people who use their political or professional position to fill their pockets have their days numbered. For them, there will be a hard penalty, forced labor in prison along with the murderers, thieves and the remaining scum. The prisons in the Serrano Empire will be a place where there will be an average of work of twelve hours a day and if they get out of prison and commit another crime, there will be no second chance."

"In the future, Gustavo, you will be remembered as a crazy and mad dictator."

The former commander spoke now without any anger or hate, he had resigned himself to his cruel destiny and his look was serene and lost in the direction of his village. Gustavo also looked towards Malpica as if he watched a giant theater play and without shifting his eyes, he went on:

"Perhaps, history is written by the victors and the same goes for the truth, there are always different perspectives. For instance, Napoleon is considered a hero in France, while in Portugal and Spain we see him as an assassin. Marquês de Pombal ordered the killing of the Távoras in the center of Lisbon, but he's still considered a Portuguese hero. I will tell you my view for the future: little by little, the Iberian Peninsula villages will enter the Serrano Empire, on their own free will or through the method I have just used on your village. There will be a time when we'll pass the Pyrenees and then we'll find societies already with some organization, I won't be able to use gypsies anymore, it will be necessary to train an elite group that knows how to destabilize such societies and, step by step, the Serrano Empire will be the single light in a very dark world. I strongly believe that the future will be much fairer and more equitable even if, for this to happen, it has to go through such tortuous ways."

The Fatty did not say anything, and Gustavo thought it was time to finish the conversation.

"Any last words or request?"

"Pull the trigger quickly, nasty dog!"

Even though he had insulted him, Gustavo thought The Fatty was going to die in a worthier manner than the former president or father Xavier. He removed the gun from the holster and, in a quick movement, he aimed the revolver at the head of the former commander, who idly contemplated his village for the last time. After the shot to the head, Gustavo shot him twice more in his already inanimate body, then he turned to Zeca and José Lino and checked the corpse of the former president.

"I will leave immediately, along with the troops and when we get to the entry of the village, we will shoot in the air, then your men will disappear, except for some who will pretend to be prisoners, as we have agreed, and, this time, don't you fail me, Zeca. By the way, there's one of your soldiers who I saw raping a woman, I remember his face quite well, bring him to me, because he'll be the single death of our side."

Along with the two soldiers who had followed him, Gustavo went back. This time he did not stop on the way to check the situation at the village, he was in a hurry and afraid to see anything that brought him shame, especially concerning the behavior of his soldiers. When he got to his the troops, they jumped to his command and prepared to depart, but before this, Gustavo talked to Norton and Rute and then spearheaded the battalion and gave the order to depart.

The seven miles were covered at full gallop, at high speed. Gustavo went in through the front and kept kicking his horse so that it wouldn't lower its pace, sometimes he looked back to confirm that Rute followed him with the group. The sound that the hooves made against the tar, as they broke the silence of that dark night was something powerful and astonishing to hear. In a short time, they were at the main entrance of Malpica do Tejo, where they saw the lights coming from the fires. Gustavo and the other soldiers pulled their rifles and gave some shots to the air as a way to announce that, from then on, they were the ones who commanded that village.

The tar road that led them up to the first houses of the village gave place to the old Roman sidewalk, which was an iconic symbol of the village. The village of Malpica do Tejo was constituted mainly by narrow streets with two-story family houses, that did not follow any rule or architectural style, there were houses of different sizes, colors and construction materials. All that area was coated with pavement for the passage of ox-carts or donkey carts, unsuited for motor vehicles. The old side was the heart of the village, where the majority of the population lived, the commerce and all the streets led to the church and to a square, where the local parties were often held. There was a considerable climb to be made from the entrance of the village up to the church.

Gustavo and his men arrived quickly at the village and the slope down to the church's square felt dizzying, in a few seconds everyone was there and they began to capture the men both Zeca and José Lino had left behind, to play the role of captured gypsies. Little by little, the population left their hideouts and gathered in the square; when they saw it was the Serrano troops that occupied the space, and that they had already captured various gypsies, they began to appear without fear, and in only half an hour the square and the adjacent streets were crowded.

Gustavo had built an improvised stage with a cart to be able to relish in that victory; by his side were Norton, Rute and Zeca who went on and off the stage according to the orders of their boss. The population's spirits began to lift gradually and when they saw the prisoners held among the Serrano soldiers, they demanded justice, they wanted to see blood in the square. Gustavo was dressed in black, with the clothes of a soldier, he had a megaphone at hand and asked the population to calm down, saying that those prisoners would have a harsh trial and end up in forced labors in prison, but to give them a little of blood and a taste of victory to the population, he ordered the release of the disguised soldier who he had seen violating a woman and delivered him to the population, screaming:

"Show your justice to this rapist pig."

There was an enormous mob around the prisoner and in a few seconds, he was already dead in the middle of so many hits, kicks and stabs. The population shouted of joy to see the false gypsy dead and began to scream: "Serranos, we're Serranos, Serranos", in the crowd they saw some people with the black and red flag that had been chosen to represent the new Serrano State, other people jumped with the radio in their hands as if they were to say they were hearing Radio Serrano, as if it was a symbol of resistance. For the first time, Gustavo proved the nationalist ecstasy of the State he had created, the euphoria of the people who cried his name as if he was a savior or even a messiah, it sent a shiver down his spine and, moved him with such a strong emotion, he picked up his megaphone to address the crowd:

"Dear ladies and gentleman of Malpica, the tyranny is over, you're free, you're free!"

There was a shout of joy by those present there; who jumped, cried and embraced each other and who screamed in chorus again and again both the name of Gustavo and hurrahs to the Serrano Nation.

On the stage, Gustavo was infected with the raw emotion of the population, he turned to embrace Norton, Zeca and Rute, who he kissed on the lips, then hand in hand with her, he contemplated the crowd and the Moon that illuminated them. Suddenly he saw an enormous falling star crossing the sky and he recalled his dream when he was at his parents' house in Cacém and understood then that the dream had been an omen sent by God to him. He concluded that he was justified, this was the path that God had wanted him to follow.

End of part one.

Part II – The Expansion - will be published at the end of 2019.

Books from this author:

Trilogy – The Good Dictator
Part I – Birth of an Empire (2017)

Part II – Expansion (2019) - will be published at the end of 2019.

Part III – Succession (2020)

Manual for a Murder (2018)

Video about the book

Gonçalo JN Dias was born in Lisbon in 1977. He holds a degree in Environmental Engineering and Natural Resources. He currently lives in the Basque Country, in Spain.

He is an independent author. The Good Dictator I – Birth of an Empire has been translated into several languages.

Special thanks to: João Rosa de Castro

A COMFORTABLE LIFE,

AN UNEXPECTED GUEST,

THE LIST,

THE DECLINE,

THE EXPECTATION,

A NEW BEGINNING,

THE MEETING,

AN ELECTORAL ADVENTURE,

THE NEIGHBORS,

RUTE,

THE ATTACK,

WITCH-HUNT,

OMEN,

